Ain't it crazy how there's no money for wages to keep up with inflation, but BOOM, record profits! So wild how that happens. Harris/Walz need to target corporate greed. They must do it loudly and proudly, otherwise people will see them as nothing more than another Democratic pro-corporate puppet pretending to be progressive.
People can also become more Proactive by forming Co-Operatives... They have worked well in diverse places like Berkeley, and Utah... L.A.'s DWP has contributed to stable Utility Bills for L.A. for over a Century now... DWP was formed about a Century ago as a product of the Left-Wing Populism of the early 20th Century... Compare DWP's charges which is City owned, with PGE's, and American Water's which are privately owned...
But the Fortune500 I'm meant to investigate is NOT my passion... my passion is the HIGH PRICE OF GULLIBILITY (Up to 60% of all anxious people are cured by placebo).
If 60% of Americans are cured by Trump then we're sunk.
Please help me spend the $50 billion opioid settlement to undo what Purdue Pharma did: they convinced Americans to ignore anxiety science ... this led to heavy use of placebos and gullibility like MAGA, Fascism, Racism, etc
People can also Shop Local.... Farmer's Markets... Fisherman's Markets... The whole intent is to take Power Back from the Giant Conglomerates which are mostly owned by the 1%... The Dark Siths... Food is a substantial Component of most People's Budget especially for Young Families...
Similar things have happened with Internet providers. In those places where cities and towns are providing the service to their citizens prices are a lot lower than any of the corporate providers (Verizon, Frontier, etc.).
Of course, the corporate providers don't like this at all. You can tell by how much they lobby against allowing municipalities to do it. They won't provide the service themselves ("not profitable enough") and then fight tooth-and-nail to prevent the town from providing it.
Apache, Marc Nevas has talked about Co-ops as well. I like the idea; however, I do not know how to get one started. Do you know of any resources I could use to figure out how to form a Co-Operative?
A co-op is just a business structure. You can Google how to form a business co-op - there are low-cost legal services that can help you file with your secretary of state, etc.
Don't make the mistake of conceiving of any business structure as a top heavy institution requiring anything expensive. Basically, if you just say "now I am a business" then you are. Maybe to be careful, have a computer, a telephone and a set of business cards. That's more than enough. I started several businesses this way, including a corporation. I never registered with the state and all their fees. Legally if others believe you are a corporation, than legally, facing them, you are one, with the basic protections. You can take care of the rest as the need arises, later, when you are better established. Non-profits are harder.
In a co-op, either the customers or the workers are the “owners“ of the business entity. The co-op members elect a board generally annually to oversee the operation of the co-op . The board, then hires, a professional manager, who knows and understands that particular business. For example, if you were to operate a cooperative natural food store, you would need to hire those who have experience in the natural foods grocery business to oversee employees and advise the board on what steps to take for best business practices. The manager is answerable to the board and the board is answerable to the members. Any profits from the co-op go back either to the members as cash dividends, discounts on the products or the profits are used for further development of the enterprise.
That definitely sounds like a win/win for everyone involved! I'm working on getting one going here where I am. Thanks, Marc! You always have such good information and comments!
People first, profits second. Enact a rational windfall profits tax. A sane economy must discourage speculation. Megabanks and giant corporations must be either regulated or broken up.
And trading in derivatives should be outlawed! There also needs to be a semi-permeable Iron Wall built between enforcement and employment. You can work in the industry then move to enforcement, but never investigate your former company or colleagues, but you cannot go from enforcement to industry. No industry should be able to get rid of an investigation by hiring the investigator for 10X the salary he's making as an investigator because he can understand the complicated calculations.
I can appreciate that sentiment... However, they add Capacity to the Mortgage Market... Ideally that means lower Rates for Borrowers... MBS Securities started small in the '70s, then became popular in the '80s as Financialization of the U.S. Economy occurred starting with Reagan... They Blew-Up when the traceability of their components was lost, and the Adjustable Rate Mortgages started to adjust upwards in 2006-2007 ... When the Bankers lost confidence in each other, they panicked... The Market Crashed because Wall Street moves in Herds, and no one wanted to be the Last Out The Door...
Derivatives didn't start until the early 70s. Don't be fooled - it doesn't mean lower rates for consumers, it meant greater profits for the banks. I also think mortgages have to be re-envisioned. After 30 years, a "homeowner" pays about 3X the value of the house (the cost of the house and 2X in interest) when interest is around the 7%. Maybe they need to change the amortization calculation formula so more goes to the principal when you start paying. Nothing's worse than when you look at your first year of payments and see you've only paid $1000 towards the principal and $27,000 in interest!
People ignore that Obama rescued the big Wall-Street Banks primarily, and abandoned the Auto-Workers who then became Trumpers.... The Big Banks then became Bigger...
The world economy depends on the big banks. Obama had to rescue them to prevent another Great Depression. He should have rescued many victims of the banks, and he should have vented people's outrage more forcefully. He rescued General Motors to prevent mass unemployment. Chrysler was bought by Fiat. Ford had been rescued by a private loan. All three automakers failed because they had invested in stocks instead of their own products.
The Big Banks that were rescued were the Big Banks that had bet on questionable Mortgage-Backed-Securities... The Bankers that made those Investments received their Annual Bonuses regardless... Only one Banker went to Prison for Fraud... Contrast that with the S&L Crisis where thousands were prosecuted, and sentenced to Prison for Fraud... That was under the G.H.W.Bush Regime... He was an Old School Republican... Millions lost their Homes under the G.W.Bush, and Obama Regimes... Wealth Disparity increased under both... The Big Banks, and Investment Funds such as BlackRock swooped into the Housing Market... BlackRock is allegedly the largest Home Owner in the U.S. ... We went from Housing Surplus in 2008, to a Shortage on 2024.... Market Manipulation? Corporate America Loves Stock Buybacks... The CEOs, and Directors are paid mostly in Stock Awards, and Options... Raising the maximum Tax-Rate would help curtail that... Under Eisenhower, the Maximum Federal Tax-Rate was about 91% for Incomes over $4,000,000 in 1955... DJT wants to cut taxes again for the Dark Siths... No Wonder They Love Him...
Read Arnold Toynbee's 'A Study Of History'... The Chapter on Elites postulates that Elite's arise when a System is established... They seldom evolve until the System collapses as change is constant.... They become frozen in the Old Way Of Doing Things... DJT is so 1980s... I recently saw the film 'Superman' filmed in the '80s... The Cast looked like they were wearing Clown Suits... A.I., and Climate Change is coming, and happening NOW... Those are potentially Civilization Traumatic Events... Does DJT even acknowledge that they are happening?
They do like to argue that they're more efficient when they are consolidated and vertically integrated ...why is that good? An LED light bulb uses less electricity. Good. Higher corporate efficiency means same profit for lower cost.. that means less pay to the people who produced it. That's not communism, it's math.
Don't forget about the individuals. No one person should command many millions of dollars, making it easy for him to buy political actors. Businesses are not the only megathings that need to be outlawed. Alternatively, it can be REALLY STRICTLY not allowed to pay anyone for any legal, legislative or political favors under a strict legal system but this is hard to enforce. It's best to just not allow billionaires. There is no need for them. The legal system could easily be designed so they did not exist.
Yes, Paul. This is a huge, unprecedented problem. When a single individual has the resources to buy a whole country that individual is a threat not only to democracy but to government itself. No wonder that some of these billionaires are anarchists. It reminds me of the Middle Ages, when some of the feudal lords were more powerful than kings. Hopefully we will avoid the violence that prevailed then.
Most democrats are pro corporate mouth pieces of the rich same as the republicans. Antitrust legislation enforcement was abandoned by both parties. Biden and Lina Kahn got the ball rolling again and hopefully Kamala gives the FTC unlimited resources to go after illegal corporate collusion and greed which can be found everywhere if you actually look for it. . If the dems actually fought for the people like FDR they would never lose another national election. Fuck the rich.
I said essentially the same thing the other day, Andy. If the DNC had nominated Bernie eight years ago, instead of installing Big Corp's pet, HRC, the Dems wouldn't be in the fight of their lives today. And the orange fungus would have long since been in the dustbin.
Liberal application of the Sherman act and deconstruction of wealth networks are the long term necessary structural fixes. Morbid wealth is the cancer.
Could not agree more, Ian. I've seen Harris' ads, wherein she talks about people being able to survive on one job. For that to happen, prices---for housing, above all, but also food and other things---need to come down. If the Dems want to survive as a party, they're gonna have to walk the talk. The change will have to be real to us here outside the Beltway, and not just a bunch of numbers thrown at us while we're told how good things are.
Get rid of Citizens' United; corporations are not people. When Ford decided not to recall the Pinto because it was cheaper to pay the wrongful death lawsuits, Ford didn't go to jail; when it was discovered that Purdue Pharma knew OxyContin was highly addictive but sold it by saying it wasn't, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, Purdue Pharma didn't end up behind bars. Neither did Lee Iacocca nor did the Sackler Family. People can't hide behind corporations to get away with murder. Reinstitute the parts of McCain-Feingold the Supreme Court struck down; rewrite the IRS code to differentiate between people and corporations. That's a start.
Definitely! When consumers ask why is the price of everything so high? I say, the high price of energy makes the price of anything high. And, in a fair "price economy" market system, where inflation is going down, but the CPI remains, either unaffected, or going up, the reading on the reading on the pricing scale has to be, "Corporate Greed!" In 2021, Exxon Mobile had a structural cost of $2 billion.
The question is, How could Exxon Mobil be able to make an annual net profit of $23 Billion in 2021? Or, net $55.7 Billion (their highest ever) in 2022; or, $36 billion in 2023? I can tell you how. It is called "price gouging!"
So how does the government fix it? The government can impose a progressive surtax on the tax that begins to eat into all net profits above 90% of cost.
We shall see; but it should be remembered that corporations may be legal entities that have owners, and those record profits go in part to their owners in the form of dividends. Not all owners are wealthy individuals; many of them are pension plans, IRAs and insurance companies.
Annie Lowrey just did a great piece on this in The Atlantic. "The Truth about High Prices: The White House simply does not have great tools to bring the cost of living under control."
Kamala has to be extremely meticulous in HOW she sets expectations. The problem has been decades in the making.
And as usual, Thomas, the problem will also take time to fix. This is where Kamala will have to be careful. Our society is an 'I want it now' society and when things are not fixed right away, they will blame whoever is in the White House. I don't know how she will address it, but she will need to get people to understand the problems are definitely being worked on.
Peggy, in my mind, this where Coach Walz is going to perform. Oh yes...
"People, getting from a team that could not win a game to a state championship took time -- but we've got a plan, and we're going to execute it EVERY step of the way. AND, we're going to keep you informed -- and let you know what YOU can do to help make this happen. We're here, and we're not going back."
"I promise that if we dig here, we will find water."
But you can't give up when you dig four feet and no water -- move to another place, dig four feet and give up again. All you end up with is a lot of holes.
There IS water there -- and we just have to keep digging.
What most people fail to understand is that when inflation goes down, prices don’t go down. That’s not how inflation works. Inflation is the rate of INCREASE. When prices actually do go down, that’s not “lower inflation,” that’s DEFLATION.
Put it this way: suppose you have 10% inflation one year. At the end of the year, prices are 10% higher. Then for the next year, inflation “goes down” to zero. At the end of that year, are prices lower? Not by a single penny. The point is, they didn’t GO UP in the second year.
If you want lower prices, costs and profits have to fall. Lower costs are usually at the expense of workers, including suppliers. Increased “productivity” is a way of reducing cost, but often that just means working people harder. Lower profits reduce the income of the investors. When they demand high profits or else refuse to invest, that gums up the works.
Stan, thank you for clarifying the point about inflation. Now we know why prices hardly ever go down. Our taxation system was originally designed to encourage investment and punish profiteering. It works best why taxes are high. Right?
The only good reason for high taxes is the proper costs of government. A better solution (in my opinion) is greed limits, aka profit held to a margin necessary for justifiable expansion, not to pour money into investor’s bank accounts. (Profit is what you get after all operating expenses are covered; its best use is for expansion, if that is desirable.)
A government can punish excessive profit by taking it (taxes), but taxes can be seen as simply another cost of doing business, and prices can go up to cover it, then just add more on to fill the outstretched hands of the investors, and the spiral upwards goes on.
The only way to stop it is to stop greed. So instead of taxing excess profit, take away the CEO/CFO’s (whoever decides the profit margin) stock. If they are looking at sleeping by a shopping cart under a bridge, they might make better decisions.
Competition is supposed to serve the same purpose, and it works when antitrust laws are actually enforced. Which they aren’t.
You are right. High taxes by themselves make no sense. However, when combined with generous tax deductions for legitimate business expenses,they can encourage investment and growth. Lowering taxes undermines the carrot-stick mechanism.
I have a 15 year old car as do many of my colleagues in State and County government. Most of us are renters and could never afford the EVs even with te tax breaks 😢. The only people that I know who could benefit from this one example earn 6 figure salaries, which not most people! It will take over 1 year for the drug price reductions to take effect and that's only a few drugs. I would really like to see alot more bullet trains and busses that go to where people work, shop, and have fun!
Despite multiple reasons for being confident that the Democratic party has its finger on the pulse of a majority of Americans, I worry about the direction of the party under a Harris administration on financial and regulatory matters.
One of the superstars of the Biden team is Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who, more than anyone, has erased the memories of the Clinton/ Obama neo-liberal policies that contributed mightily to the exodus from the Democratic party of working class Americans. Since then, the Democratic party has been scratching and clawing to get these folks back into the party, with Ms. Khan’s achievements leading the way.
However, it is as clear as a bell that the Democratic party is in the midst of a civil war, with a sturdy and enlightened regulatory regime at risk of being steamrolled and swallowed by capital. A case in point is LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman, a Harris friend and donor, who, along with Democratic donors Barry Diller and Barry Sternlicht, publicly demanded that Harris fire Ms. Khan. These folks have raised millions of dollars for the Harris campaign and exert great influence on the party’s decision makers. What are Khan’s chances of surviving a Harris administration intact with friends like Hoffman and Diller and Sternlicht hanging around? Not likely, it would seem.
Another example: the cozy relationship between the law firm Paul Weiss, a major Harris donor, and Democratic big wigs, which, cut in any possible way, is antithetical to the Biden regulatory scheme. Paul Weiss is a favorite of big tech and Wall Street. It represented big banks that were investigated by Federal and State governments--including then Attorney General Kamala Harris--over mortgage-backed securities and cut sweetheart deals with the government. (On the other side of the table, representing the U.S. Attorney General, was Tony West, the number three man at Eric Holder’s Justice Department, brother-in-law of Harris, and former counsel for Uber.)
Karen Dunn, a partner at Paul Weiss, who co-leads the firm’s litigation group, is lead counsel for Google at an anti-trust trial scheduled in September 2024 in the USDC in Virginia. This lawsuit, initiated by the Justice Department and the States, accuses Google of abusing its dominance in digital advertising. (Ms. Dunn moonlights as a member of Harris’ debate preparation team.) And if you’re keeping score, other actions against Google are lining up, including a 25 March 2025 case in USDC in Texas, challenging Google’s ad tech practices, and, perhaps most importantly, closing arguments on the remedies phase of the government’s case in which Judge Mehta found that Google was a monopolist, having dominated web search, by, among other things, paying Apple $26b a year in exchange for not competing with Google.
Beyond that, seeded within Paul Weiss are former members of the neo-liberal Obama administration, ready to do the bidding of big tech, big banks, and Wall Street. Paul Weiss can count as former Democratic administration officials former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former U.S. Attorney Melinda Haas, and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. With no exaggeration, the very future of big tech and the internet, along with billions of dollars, are at stake in these cases.
Democratic surrogates also appear to be in full throttle toward advancing the neo-liberal cause. A case in point are recent comments by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a presumed leading light among liberal and progressive folks. His observations in an interview on CNBC were revealing, foreboding, and right out of the neo-liberal playbook. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/08/07/maryland-governor-wes-moore-harris-antitrust-regulation-would-be-different-than-biden.html. As such, we need to be cautious and careful about a Harris administration turning its back on the people who vote her into office under the premise that she will act in their interests when aligned against corporations.
Moore’s message: Harris will not go Left; she will cut “red tape” so that businesses can compete again; she will restore “free markets” so that small and large businesses can grow again; and Harris will abandon the Biden regulatory regime, including either putting the brakes on Lina Khan at the FTC or outright shit-canning her. On this last point, though, Harris needs to be careful, because, as the banker Roger Altman said in another recent interview, (https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/08/08/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-evercore-founder-roger-altman.html) the sidelining of Khan can only be done by those folks who are not billionaires, because otherwise it would energize progressives. Rather than having a billionaire wield the ax, the job would presumably go to Tony West, Harris’ brother in law and a corporate lawyer, who, in an earlier iteration as the number three man in the Obama Attorney General’s office, negotiated sweet heart deals with the likes of JP Morgan Chase following the bank’s corrupt and illegal handling of mortgages and derivatives--crimes for which nobody went to jail-- or to other Obama/Clinton Democrats who are no friends of the 99%. It is apparent to those who have eyes to see that the overthrow of common-sense and effective business regulation by powerful folks close to Harris is being planned and executed, while we naively satisfy ourselves with tallying up the positive cultural issues favored and advanced by the Democratic party.
Governor Moore talks in word salads--"free markets,” “capital and liquidity,” “cutting red tape,”promoting free markets--that are contradictory at a minimum, ignorant at best and totally contrary to what the American people seek from a Democratic administration. His observations come from a list of neo-liberal talking points, with absolutely no substance. We've tried the neo-liberal strategies, and they contributed to an exodus of working-class folks from the Democratic party. We now risk more flight, this time from Black women--the backbone of the Democratic party--progressives, and the working-class folks, including unions, who have returned to the Democratic fold because of Joe Biden’s policies. Why go back? Because the 1% are the source of massive donations to the Harris campaign and feel neglected and need to be coddled and cosseted. And, of course, their need to amass more power through M + A and to extract even more wealth from regular Americans need to be sated.
Progressives and other folks of good will cannot simply stand by and count our cultural bonafides. Unless we start paying attention to financial and regulatory issues, we risk losing everything, including a Democratic base on whose behalf Joe Biden has worked tirelessly.
Let's hope that a Harris/Walz admistration leans heaving into, and expands, the Biden administration's whole of government approach to market concentation.
Maron, it seems CNBC doesn't think much of Harris's word to the people. They assume she will be just like the liars of the Trump Administration and previous Republican and a couple of Democratic administrations. She knows what people are going through and has surrounded herself with a lot of people who expect her to work for the people, not hide behind some BS about letting corporations do whatever they want for "jobs" which, of course never seem to materialize when corporations are bowed down to. I am standing with Harris and Walz, knowing they are going to do their best to make our economic system better. Alas, Democrats are always having to clean up after Republican administrations and because it takes a long time because the messes are usually really bad. In addition, the American people's attention span is very short and too often, they buy the Republican economic BS that is based on absolutely nothing except the idea of "making the rich even richer and who cares what happens to the rest because it is their own fault they are not rich."
Ruth, speaking of cleaning up after Republicans, (not unlike cleanup up after the elephants at the circus), I am sitting here watching Bill Clinton speak at the DNC. He provided a stat that continues to swirl around in my head: Since the end of the Cold War, America has produced 51 million jobs; of those 51 million, Dems have produced 50 million! Dem policies employ people, and when a Republican administration totally botches an epidemic, like Trump did during Covid, it takes a Dem to clean that up as well. Unfortunately, the policies of the Biden administration, while important and necessary, generated inflation for which he and VP Harris are being blamed. However, the Biden/Harris focus on monopolies and their investigation into surge pricing and pricing dictated by algorithms are now being investigated and suits filed as the investigations are completed. Let's hope that a President Harris keeps Lina Khan at the FTC and builds on Joe Biden's antitrust policies.
Maron, thank you for this thoughtful, well informed comment. Our politicians are all too often the playthings of the ruling class (hence the term). Perhaps not surprisingly, our ruling class is as polarized as the country as a whole. Harris will have to ally herself with factions that pose the least danger to the rest of us.
I despise Trump for all the usual reasons while recognizing that those who support him do so because he presents an illusion of "prosperity first" while ignoring common good. Kamala Harris honeymoon will be short lived if her democratic administration is unable to produce prosperity for the middle class. The 1% are not the enemy. Unfair tax enforcement legislation and weak regulation policy is. Truth is powerful against a liar like Trump. Spearheading government policies that emphasize common good will require balancing Build Back Better with a friendly environment allowing corporate profit. Governor Wes Moore is facing problems in Maryland that require word salads and a progressive agenda to solve. Lina Khan represents a force in the right direction and Kamala Harris' civility suddenly makes progress seem possible when compared to the political shit storm of the past 6 years.
However, everyone on the right will tell you Kamala Harris is an extreme progressive who selected a progressive governor as her VP and her administration will drive the US off the communist cliff. So, which is it?
I read an allegation that billionaire Reid Hoffman gave a large contribution to the Harris campaign. He subsequently proclaimed that he wants Lina Khan fired, as do many in the plutocrat class. I hope Kamala Harris resists the pressure and keeps Lina Khan on if she is elected. I also hope they can find a way around the corrupt judges who will try to block their efforts.
The high rates medicine of the 70s and 80s was needed to slow down consumer competiion for too few resources. Today the working classes (everyone who doesn't own a big stock portfolio) are being pushed into debt by unavailale credit, or being forced to use credit cards to fill the gap in meeting their bills, while the Fed hands a fraction of what the less well off pay to the banks and their cash rich corporate clients. A windfall tax on corporations that ar colluding - going back 7 years, and clawback all corporate tax subsidies (talk about mooching off the taxpayer) - how many voters will go against that?
why doesn't the media message tell the voters that the trump anticipated trillions of dollar tax cuts to the rich will take the money from the economy and must be paid for by someone somehow. That someone is everybody else.
Thank you, Professor Reich, for that talking point. I will use it when I engage with republicans wanting to scream at me about Kamala Harris! These monopolistic corporations do NOT want Kamala to become president because they know she will work hard to break them up. Also, she will stop the price gouging they have been practicing. I am all in for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz! Vote blue, America!
I am also a bit disappointed with the idea of giving $25k down payment assistance. There are many DPA programs around. I would suggest that an instant fully refundable tax credit for purchase of American made home appliances, lawn mowers, or energy efficient HVAC or window replacement for income qualified buyers. Those types of purchases won't put more upward pressure on home prices and create/sustain manufacturing jobs. A portion of that spending circulates within the community -rural & urban. Hand-up, not hand-out.
I also urge pre-purchase training about homeownership for people who don't know that they are now their own landlord.
And again, the Seven Deadly Aspects of The Human Paradigm stand as a warning to we as private citizens. Foremost of these being gluttony, greed, avarice. They stand as a closely held set of daily instructions that the corporate citizens LIVE BY ! ! In there lies 'the rub' and THE reason we absolutely need to see some concrete legislation to revoke Citizens United. Sen Sanders and AOC know and speak to this ! "UNFETTERED CAPITALISM DOES NOT WORK."
Robert--How would any policy Ms. Harris might decide to entertain be destressing. In order to follow one must first trust. I see no reason for concern, the goal is the retirement of Donald Trump from this election and then let Father time do the rest. The Republicans boosted of the coming "Red Wave" during the mid-term elections. It was more of a blue crush to me. However, what is developing now in the Democratic party is more in the line of a tidal wave, no scratch that, it's more like a tsunami.
It is impressive just how little the American people understand economics. Because of that lack of understanding, Republicans for nearly a half-century have been able to sell the people all kinds of voodoo economics which have been used by Republicans and their corporate friends to steal regularly from this nation and the American people. When we took a step forward during the 1974-75 gas crisis, we produced smaller cars and larger ones were seen as over indulgent. Then, Reagan got into office and lied that people should have as big a car as they could possibly drive, even trucks. Gas guzzling was in and has set us all back generations in our ability to deal with global warming and greenhouse gasses. Republicans told us that if the very rich are given lots of money, that money will trickle down to those under the rich guys. We should have been warned when the word was "trickle-down" not gush down. Even with that nothing trickled anywhere, but money gushed upward. Trump must have failed economics because he has no clue how any economy works, but is well aware of how to gift the very rich, those who never need to be given anything because they have so much more than they could use in many lifetimes. We need Harris and Walz to gradually start educating the public on how the economy works: it's not like a family household, it's now way way off-balance with a few at the top "earning" (collecting) more oney than the bottom half of the people in this country, some of them having more money than whole countries. Use examples, tell stories that explain and give examples, etc. Avoid the big numbers because people can't work with them in a meaningful way and they can become confused at what the numbers are actually informing them about.
Harris and Walz seem to know even less than the esteemed host here - and that's an accomplishment. Harris was a prosecutor - what do you think she knows about economics?
Joshua, I bet Harris knows a lot about economics, but she doesn't have to know it all herself. She has Gov. Walz, and a whole team of people to help, including a range of economists. The problem with Trump and Kump, none of them know anything about economics yet pretend they do, and everyone pays.
How long will it take to reduce prices by breaking up monopolies? People need lower prices now, especially those losing their jobs. Why do we give the Fed Reserve private bankers the right to put people out of work while keeping interest rates higher for themselves? Then they will foreclose and repossess property. There are better ways.
The US has needed much stronger antitrust enforcement for decades. That people can be convinced that this is some kind of price fixing shows how poorly they understand their government and what antitrust laws can accomplish. So many markets have so few competitors, consumers find stand a chance. We need strong competition and that’s what antitrust laws do.
Ain't it crazy how there's no money for wages to keep up with inflation, but BOOM, record profits! So wild how that happens. Harris/Walz need to target corporate greed. They must do it loudly and proudly, otherwise people will see them as nothing more than another Democratic pro-corporate puppet pretending to be progressive.
People can also become more Proactive by forming Co-Operatives... They have worked well in diverse places like Berkeley, and Utah... L.A.'s DWP has contributed to stable Utility Bills for L.A. for over a Century now... DWP was formed about a Century ago as a product of the Left-Wing Populism of the early 20th Century... Compare DWP's charges which is City owned, with PGE's, and American Water's which are privately owned...
Reich:"When four or fewer firms dominate an industry, it’s easy for them to coordinate price increases..."
The DOJ deputized me to stop price gouging. Please help me find more victims(which is what the DOJ told me to do).
But the Fortune500 I'm meant to investigate is NOT my passion... my passion is the HIGH PRICE OF GULLIBILITY (Up to 60% of all anxious people are cured by placebo).
If 60% of Americans are cured by Trump then we're sunk.
Please help me spend the $50 billion opioid settlement to undo what Purdue Pharma did: they convinced Americans to ignore anxiety science ... this led to heavy use of placebos and gullibility like MAGA, Fascism, Racism, etc
Subscribe for more info... let's collaborate?
Absolute power corrupts absolutely 💯!!!!
People can also Shop Local.... Farmer's Markets... Fisherman's Markets... The whole intent is to take Power Back from the Giant Conglomerates which are mostly owned by the 1%... The Dark Siths... Food is a substantial Component of most People's Budget especially for Young Families...
Farmers markets are great
Cannot cut food out of family budget! Fatal consequences! 😬
I want the state to take over PGE, they have no interest in other than dividends and profits.
And Duke Energy in North Carolina is a scourge. And socialize Amazon.
Similar things have happened with Internet providers. In those places where cities and towns are providing the service to their citizens prices are a lot lower than any of the corporate providers (Verizon, Frontier, etc.).
Of course, the corporate providers don't like this at all. You can tell by how much they lobby against allowing municipalities to do it. They won't provide the service themselves ("not profitable enough") and then fight tooth-and-nail to prevent the town from providing it.
"A city decides to get into the Internet business and then lawmakers and telecom industry try to stop it." https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/875548059/why-wilson-n-c-became-its-own-internet-provider#:~:text=A%20city%20decides%20to%20get%20into%20the%20Internet%20business%20and%20then%20lawmakers%20and%20telecom%20industry%20try%20to%20stop%20it.
Apache, Marc Nevas has talked about Co-ops as well. I like the idea; however, I do not know how to get one started. Do you know of any resources I could use to figure out how to form a Co-Operative?
A co-op is just a business structure. You can Google how to form a business co-op - there are low-cost legal services that can help you file with your secretary of state, etc.
Don't make the mistake of conceiving of any business structure as a top heavy institution requiring anything expensive. Basically, if you just say "now I am a business" then you are. Maybe to be careful, have a computer, a telephone and a set of business cards. That's more than enough. I started several businesses this way, including a corporation. I never registered with the state and all their fees. Legally if others believe you are a corporation, than legally, facing them, you are one, with the basic protections. You can take care of the rest as the need arises, later, when you are better established. Non-profits are harder.
Thank you, Leah, I appreciate the info!
In a co-op, either the customers or the workers are the “owners“ of the business entity. The co-op members elect a board generally annually to oversee the operation of the co-op . The board, then hires, a professional manager, who knows and understands that particular business. For example, if you were to operate a cooperative natural food store, you would need to hire those who have experience in the natural foods grocery business to oversee employees and advise the board on what steps to take for best business practices. The manager is answerable to the board and the board is answerable to the members. Any profits from the co-op go back either to the members as cash dividends, discounts on the products or the profits are used for further development of the enterprise.
That definitely sounds like a win/win for everyone involved! I'm working on getting one going here where I am. Thanks, Marc! You always have such good information and comments!
Indeed, for example, Winco Foods is worker-owned, and their prices are lower than even Mall-Wart.
People first, profits second. Enact a rational windfall profits tax. A sane economy must discourage speculation. Megabanks and giant corporations must be either regulated or broken up.
And trading in derivatives should be outlawed! There also needs to be a semi-permeable Iron Wall built between enforcement and employment. You can work in the industry then move to enforcement, but never investigate your former company or colleagues, but you cannot go from enforcement to industry. No industry should be able to get rid of an investigation by hiring the investigator for 10X the salary he's making as an investigator because he can understand the complicated calculations.
I can appreciate that sentiment... However, they add Capacity to the Mortgage Market... Ideally that means lower Rates for Borrowers... MBS Securities started small in the '70s, then became popular in the '80s as Financialization of the U.S. Economy occurred starting with Reagan... They Blew-Up when the traceability of their components was lost, and the Adjustable Rate Mortgages started to adjust upwards in 2006-2007 ... When the Bankers lost confidence in each other, they panicked... The Market Crashed because Wall Street moves in Herds, and no one wanted to be the Last Out The Door...
Derivatives didn't start until the early 70s. Don't be fooled - it doesn't mean lower rates for consumers, it meant greater profits for the banks. I also think mortgages have to be re-envisioned. After 30 years, a "homeowner" pays about 3X the value of the house (the cost of the house and 2X in interest) when interest is around the 7%. Maybe they need to change the amortization calculation formula so more goes to the principal when you start paying. Nothing's worse than when you look at your first year of payments and see you've only paid $1000 towards the principal and $27,000 in interest!
Good point, Brenda!
People ignore that Obama rescued the big Wall-Street Banks primarily, and abandoned the Auto-Workers who then became Trumpers.... The Big Banks then became Bigger...
The world economy depends on the big banks. Obama had to rescue them to prevent another Great Depression. He should have rescued many victims of the banks, and he should have vented people's outrage more forcefully. He rescued General Motors to prevent mass unemployment. Chrysler was bought by Fiat. Ford had been rescued by a private loan. All three automakers failed because they had invested in stocks instead of their own products.
The Big Banks that were rescued were the Big Banks that had bet on questionable Mortgage-Backed-Securities... The Bankers that made those Investments received their Annual Bonuses regardless... Only one Banker went to Prison for Fraud... Contrast that with the S&L Crisis where thousands were prosecuted, and sentenced to Prison for Fraud... That was under the G.H.W.Bush Regime... He was an Old School Republican... Millions lost their Homes under the G.W.Bush, and Obama Regimes... Wealth Disparity increased under both... The Big Banks, and Investment Funds such as BlackRock swooped into the Housing Market... BlackRock is allegedly the largest Home Owner in the U.S. ... We went from Housing Surplus in 2008, to a Shortage on 2024.... Market Manipulation? Corporate America Loves Stock Buybacks... The CEOs, and Directors are paid mostly in Stock Awards, and Options... Raising the maximum Tax-Rate would help curtail that... Under Eisenhower, the Maximum Federal Tax-Rate was about 91% for Incomes over $4,000,000 in 1955... DJT wants to cut taxes again for the Dark Siths... No Wonder They Love Him...
Greed, arrogance, wishful thinking make a terrible combination. We need a strong constitutional government to keep them in check.
Read Arnold Toynbee's 'A Study Of History'... The Chapter on Elites postulates that Elite's arise when a System is established... They seldom evolve until the System collapses as change is constant.... They become frozen in the Old Way Of Doing Things... DJT is so 1980s... I recently saw the film 'Superman' filmed in the '80s... The Cast looked like they were wearing Clown Suits... A.I., and Climate Change is coming, and happening NOW... Those are potentially Civilization Traumatic Events... Does DJT even acknowledge that they are happening?
President Biden brought auto-workers back to
the Dem party.
Hello Susan... Let's Hope that is true... However, Biden may have lost more voters by being out-played by Netanyahu regarding Gaza...
You think? I’m not so sure. I think Putin had his
computer people stir up trouble among U.S.college
students re Gaza to hurt Biden.
Sadly 😥 there is some truth to that statement 😕
They do like to argue that they're more efficient when they are consolidated and vertically integrated ...why is that good? An LED light bulb uses less electricity. Good. Higher corporate efficiency means same profit for lower cost.. that means less pay to the people who produced it. That's not communism, it's math.
Concentration of wealth means less competition, more fragility, and, when other people's resources are involved, moral hazard.
Don't forget about the individuals. No one person should command many millions of dollars, making it easy for him to buy political actors. Businesses are not the only megathings that need to be outlawed. Alternatively, it can be REALLY STRICTLY not allowed to pay anyone for any legal, legislative or political favors under a strict legal system but this is hard to enforce. It's best to just not allow billionaires. There is no need for them. The legal system could easily be designed so they did not exist.
Yes, Paul. This is a huge, unprecedented problem. When a single individual has the resources to buy a whole country that individual is a threat not only to democracy but to government itself. No wonder that some of these billionaires are anarchists. It reminds me of the Middle Ages, when some of the feudal lords were more powerful than kings. Hopefully we will avoid the violence that prevailed then.
Most democrats are pro corporate mouth pieces of the rich same as the republicans. Antitrust legislation enforcement was abandoned by both parties. Biden and Lina Kahn got the ball rolling again and hopefully Kamala gives the FTC unlimited resources to go after illegal corporate collusion and greed which can be found everywhere if you actually look for it. . If the dems actually fought for the people like FDR they would never lose another national election. Fuck the rich.
I said essentially the same thing the other day, Andy. If the DNC had nominated Bernie eight years ago, instead of installing Big Corp's pet, HRC, the Dems wouldn't be in the fight of their lives today. And the orange fungus would have long since been in the dustbin.
Well put! I'm old enough to remember when there were more Democrats like Bernie in Congress. I voted for him twice
Liberal application of the Sherman act and deconstruction of wealth networks are the long term necessary structural fixes. Morbid wealth is the cancer.
Could not agree more, Ian. I've seen Harris' ads, wherein she talks about people being able to survive on one job. For that to happen, prices---for housing, above all, but also food and other things---need to come down. If the Dems want to survive as a party, they're gonna have to walk the talk. The change will have to be real to us here outside the Beltway, and not just a bunch of numbers thrown at us while we're told how good things are.
Get rid of Citizens' United; corporations are not people. When Ford decided not to recall the Pinto because it was cheaper to pay the wrongful death lawsuits, Ford didn't go to jail; when it was discovered that Purdue Pharma knew OxyContin was highly addictive but sold it by saying it wasn't, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, Purdue Pharma didn't end up behind bars. Neither did Lee Iacocca nor did the Sackler Family. People can't hide behind corporations to get away with murder. Reinstitute the parts of McCain-Feingold the Supreme Court struck down; rewrite the IRS code to differentiate between people and corporations. That's a start.
Maybe 'Change-You-Can-Believe-In' FOR REAL?
Definitely! When consumers ask why is the price of everything so high? I say, the high price of energy makes the price of anything high. And, in a fair "price economy" market system, where inflation is going down, but the CPI remains, either unaffected, or going up, the reading on the reading on the pricing scale has to be, "Corporate Greed!" In 2021, Exxon Mobile had a structural cost of $2 billion.
The question is, How could Exxon Mobil be able to make an annual net profit of $23 Billion in 2021? Or, net $55.7 Billion (their highest ever) in 2022; or, $36 billion in 2023? I can tell you how. It is called "price gouging!"
So how does the government fix it? The government can impose a progressive surtax on the tax that begins to eat into all net profits above 90% of cost.
We shall see; but it should be remembered that corporations may be legal entities that have owners, and those record profits go in part to their owners in the form of dividends. Not all owners are wealthy individuals; many of them are pension plans, IRAs and insurance companies.
She needs to go after it as corruption—which it is.
Annie Lowrey just did a great piece on this in The Atlantic. "The Truth about High Prices: The White House simply does not have great tools to bring the cost of living under control."
Kamala has to be extremely meticulous in HOW she sets expectations. The problem has been decades in the making.
And as usual, Thomas, the problem will also take time to fix. This is where Kamala will have to be careful. Our society is an 'I want it now' society and when things are not fixed right away, they will blame whoever is in the White House. I don't know how she will address it, but she will need to get people to understand the problems are definitely being worked on.
Peggy, in my mind, this where Coach Walz is going to perform. Oh yes...
"People, getting from a team that could not win a game to a state championship took time -- but we've got a plan, and we're going to execute it EVERY step of the way. AND, we're going to keep you informed -- and let you know what YOU can do to help make this happen. We're here, and we're not going back."
The problem with modern society is the instant gratification nightmare
I love it!
I have only heard Michelle Obama's speech this afternoon. What she said is SOOOo powerful and true. I have never felt more proud to be living today.
She was dynamite! Powerful words!
For ALL Of US
When you are hungry, you want it now.
So true, Gloria!
Yes, Thomas. Promising what you cannot deliver will discredit you. Consider Biden's Inflation Reduction Act: for all too many it has not delivered.
"I promise that if we dig here, we will find water."
But you can't give up when you dig four feet and no water -- move to another place, dig four feet and give up again. All you end up with is a lot of holes.
There IS water there -- and we just have to keep digging.
What most people fail to understand is that when inflation goes down, prices don’t go down. That’s not how inflation works. Inflation is the rate of INCREASE. When prices actually do go down, that’s not “lower inflation,” that’s DEFLATION.
Put it this way: suppose you have 10% inflation one year. At the end of the year, prices are 10% higher. Then for the next year, inflation “goes down” to zero. At the end of that year, are prices lower? Not by a single penny. The point is, they didn’t GO UP in the second year.
If you want lower prices, costs and profits have to fall. Lower costs are usually at the expense of workers, including suppliers. Increased “productivity” is a way of reducing cost, but often that just means working people harder. Lower profits reduce the income of the investors. When they demand high profits or else refuse to invest, that gums up the works.
Stan, thank you for clarifying the point about inflation. Now we know why prices hardly ever go down. Our taxation system was originally designed to encourage investment and punish profiteering. It works best why taxes are high. Right?
The only good reason for high taxes is the proper costs of government. A better solution (in my opinion) is greed limits, aka profit held to a margin necessary for justifiable expansion, not to pour money into investor’s bank accounts. (Profit is what you get after all operating expenses are covered; its best use is for expansion, if that is desirable.)
A government can punish excessive profit by taking it (taxes), but taxes can be seen as simply another cost of doing business, and prices can go up to cover it, then just add more on to fill the outstretched hands of the investors, and the spiral upwards goes on.
The only way to stop it is to stop greed. So instead of taxing excess profit, take away the CEO/CFO’s (whoever decides the profit margin) stock. If they are looking at sleeping by a shopping cart under a bridge, they might make better decisions.
Competition is supposed to serve the same purpose, and it works when antitrust laws are actually enforced. Which they aren’t.
You are right. High taxes by themselves make no sense. However, when combined with generous tax deductions for legitimate business expenses,they can encourage investment and growth. Lowering taxes undermines the carrot-stick mechanism.
I have a 15 year old car as do many of my colleagues in State and County government. Most of us are renters and could never afford the EVs even with te tax breaks 😢. The only people that I know who could benefit from this one example earn 6 figure salaries, which not most people! It will take over 1 year for the drug price reductions to take effect and that's only a few drugs. I would really like to see alot more bullet trains and busses that go to where people work, shop, and have fun!
Hopefully, self-driving busses will significantly reduce the cost of commuting.
Prices had been under control (i.e low inflation) since about 1981/2.
Despite multiple reasons for being confident that the Democratic party has its finger on the pulse of a majority of Americans, I worry about the direction of the party under a Harris administration on financial and regulatory matters.
One of the superstars of the Biden team is Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who, more than anyone, has erased the memories of the Clinton/ Obama neo-liberal policies that contributed mightily to the exodus from the Democratic party of working class Americans. Since then, the Democratic party has been scratching and clawing to get these folks back into the party, with Ms. Khan’s achievements leading the way.
However, it is as clear as a bell that the Democratic party is in the midst of a civil war, with a sturdy and enlightened regulatory regime at risk of being steamrolled and swallowed by capital. A case in point is LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman, a Harris friend and donor, who, along with Democratic donors Barry Diller and Barry Sternlicht, publicly demanded that Harris fire Ms. Khan. These folks have raised millions of dollars for the Harris campaign and exert great influence on the party’s decision makers. What are Khan’s chances of surviving a Harris administration intact with friends like Hoffman and Diller and Sternlicht hanging around? Not likely, it would seem.
Another example: the cozy relationship between the law firm Paul Weiss, a major Harris donor, and Democratic big wigs, which, cut in any possible way, is antithetical to the Biden regulatory scheme. Paul Weiss is a favorite of big tech and Wall Street. It represented big banks that were investigated by Federal and State governments--including then Attorney General Kamala Harris--over mortgage-backed securities and cut sweetheart deals with the government. (On the other side of the table, representing the U.S. Attorney General, was Tony West, the number three man at Eric Holder’s Justice Department, brother-in-law of Harris, and former counsel for Uber.)
Karen Dunn, a partner at Paul Weiss, who co-leads the firm’s litigation group, is lead counsel for Google at an anti-trust trial scheduled in September 2024 in the USDC in Virginia. This lawsuit, initiated by the Justice Department and the States, accuses Google of abusing its dominance in digital advertising. (Ms. Dunn moonlights as a member of Harris’ debate preparation team.) And if you’re keeping score, other actions against Google are lining up, including a 25 March 2025 case in USDC in Texas, challenging Google’s ad tech practices, and, perhaps most importantly, closing arguments on the remedies phase of the government’s case in which Judge Mehta found that Google was a monopolist, having dominated web search, by, among other things, paying Apple $26b a year in exchange for not competing with Google.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harris-presidential-campaign-finds-legal-world-booster-paul-weiss-firm-2024-08-12/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily-Docket&utm_term=081224&user_email=fb85cc1d110d6cad546643139f900012e56865170c396577fd4a05d6a18c3b45&lctg=65d7b48739d7cfd1b207fec2.
Beyond that, seeded within Paul Weiss are former members of the neo-liberal Obama administration, ready to do the bidding of big tech, big banks, and Wall Street. Paul Weiss can count as former Democratic administration officials former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former U.S. Attorney Melinda Haas, and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. With no exaggeration, the very future of big tech and the internet, along with billions of dollars, are at stake in these cases.
Democratic surrogates also appear to be in full throttle toward advancing the neo-liberal cause. A case in point are recent comments by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a presumed leading light among liberal and progressive folks. His observations in an interview on CNBC were revealing, foreboding, and right out of the neo-liberal playbook. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/08/07/maryland-governor-wes-moore-harris-antitrust-regulation-would-be-different-than-biden.html. As such, we need to be cautious and careful about a Harris administration turning its back on the people who vote her into office under the premise that she will act in their interests when aligned against corporations.
Moore’s message: Harris will not go Left; she will cut “red tape” so that businesses can compete again; she will restore “free markets” so that small and large businesses can grow again; and Harris will abandon the Biden regulatory regime, including either putting the brakes on Lina Khan at the FTC or outright shit-canning her. On this last point, though, Harris needs to be careful, because, as the banker Roger Altman said in another recent interview, (https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/08/08/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-evercore-founder-roger-altman.html) the sidelining of Khan can only be done by those folks who are not billionaires, because otherwise it would energize progressives. Rather than having a billionaire wield the ax, the job would presumably go to Tony West, Harris’ brother in law and a corporate lawyer, who, in an earlier iteration as the number three man in the Obama Attorney General’s office, negotiated sweet heart deals with the likes of JP Morgan Chase following the bank’s corrupt and illegal handling of mortgages and derivatives--crimes for which nobody went to jail-- or to other Obama/Clinton Democrats who are no friends of the 99%. It is apparent to those who have eyes to see that the overthrow of common-sense and effective business regulation by powerful folks close to Harris is being planned and executed, while we naively satisfy ourselves with tallying up the positive cultural issues favored and advanced by the Democratic party.
Governor Moore talks in word salads--"free markets,” “capital and liquidity,” “cutting red tape,”promoting free markets--that are contradictory at a minimum, ignorant at best and totally contrary to what the American people seek from a Democratic administration. His observations come from a list of neo-liberal talking points, with absolutely no substance. We've tried the neo-liberal strategies, and they contributed to an exodus of working-class folks from the Democratic party. We now risk more flight, this time from Black women--the backbone of the Democratic party--progressives, and the working-class folks, including unions, who have returned to the Democratic fold because of Joe Biden’s policies. Why go back? Because the 1% are the source of massive donations to the Harris campaign and feel neglected and need to be coddled and cosseted. And, of course, their need to amass more power through M + A and to extract even more wealth from regular Americans need to be sated.
Progressives and other folks of good will cannot simply stand by and count our cultural bonafides. Unless we start paying attention to financial and regulatory issues, we risk losing everything, including a Democratic base on whose behalf Joe Biden has worked tirelessly.
Let's hope that a Harris/Walz admistration leans heaving into, and expands, the Biden administration's whole of government approach to market concentation.
Maron, it seems CNBC doesn't think much of Harris's word to the people. They assume she will be just like the liars of the Trump Administration and previous Republican and a couple of Democratic administrations. She knows what people are going through and has surrounded herself with a lot of people who expect her to work for the people, not hide behind some BS about letting corporations do whatever they want for "jobs" which, of course never seem to materialize when corporations are bowed down to. I am standing with Harris and Walz, knowing they are going to do their best to make our economic system better. Alas, Democrats are always having to clean up after Republican administrations and because it takes a long time because the messes are usually really bad. In addition, the American people's attention span is very short and too often, they buy the Republican economic BS that is based on absolutely nothing except the idea of "making the rich even richer and who cares what happens to the rest because it is their own fault they are not rich."
Ruth, speaking of cleaning up after Republicans, (not unlike cleanup up after the elephants at the circus), I am sitting here watching Bill Clinton speak at the DNC. He provided a stat that continues to swirl around in my head: Since the end of the Cold War, America has produced 51 million jobs; of those 51 million, Dems have produced 50 million! Dem policies employ people, and when a Republican administration totally botches an epidemic, like Trump did during Covid, it takes a Dem to clean that up as well. Unfortunately, the policies of the Biden administration, while important and necessary, generated inflation for which he and VP Harris are being blamed. However, the Biden/Harris focus on monopolies and their investigation into surge pricing and pricing dictated by algorithms are now being investigated and suits filed as the investigations are completed. Let's hope that a President Harris keeps Lina Khan at the FTC and builds on Joe Biden's antitrust policies.
AMEN 🙏
Well said, Ruth.
Maron, thank you for this thoughtful, well informed comment. Our politicians are all too often the playthings of the ruling class (hence the term). Perhaps not surprisingly, our ruling class is as polarized as the country as a whole. Harris will have to ally herself with factions that pose the least danger to the rest of us.
I despise Trump for all the usual reasons while recognizing that those who support him do so because he presents an illusion of "prosperity first" while ignoring common good. Kamala Harris honeymoon will be short lived if her democratic administration is unable to produce prosperity for the middle class. The 1% are not the enemy. Unfair tax enforcement legislation and weak regulation policy is. Truth is powerful against a liar like Trump. Spearheading government policies that emphasize common good will require balancing Build Back Better with a friendly environment allowing corporate profit. Governor Wes Moore is facing problems in Maryland that require word salads and a progressive agenda to solve. Lina Khan represents a force in the right direction and Kamala Harris' civility suddenly makes progress seem possible when compared to the political shit storm of the past 6 years.
Sad, but true!!! The Democratic Party has gone way too far to the Right!
However, everyone on the right will tell you Kamala Harris is an extreme progressive who selected a progressive governor as her VP and her administration will drive the US off the communist cliff. So, which is it?
This is an important argument! Price restraint in monopolized markets brings you closer to efficient outcomes! Thank you Professor!
I read an allegation that billionaire Reid Hoffman gave a large contribution to the Harris campaign. He subsequently proclaimed that he wants Lina Khan fired, as do many in the plutocrat class. I hope Kamala Harris resists the pressure and keeps Lina Khan on if she is elected. I also hope they can find a way around the corrupt judges who will try to block their efforts.
The high rates medicine of the 70s and 80s was needed to slow down consumer competiion for too few resources. Today the working classes (everyone who doesn't own a big stock portfolio) are being pushed into debt by unavailale credit, or being forced to use credit cards to fill the gap in meeting their bills, while the Fed hands a fraction of what the less well off pay to the banks and their cash rich corporate clients. A windfall tax on corporations that ar colluding - going back 7 years, and clawback all corporate tax subsidies (talk about mooching off the taxpayer) - how many voters will go against that?
why doesn't the media message tell the voters that the trump anticipated trillions of dollar tax cuts to the rich will take the money from the economy and must be paid for by someone somehow. That someone is everybody else.
Thank you, Professor Reich, for that talking point. I will use it when I engage with republicans wanting to scream at me about Kamala Harris! These monopolistic corporations do NOT want Kamala to become president because they know she will work hard to break them up. Also, she will stop the price gouging they have been practicing. I am all in for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz! Vote blue, America!
I am also a bit disappointed with the idea of giving $25k down payment assistance. There are many DPA programs around. I would suggest that an instant fully refundable tax credit for purchase of American made home appliances, lawn mowers, or energy efficient HVAC or window replacement for income qualified buyers. Those types of purchases won't put more upward pressure on home prices and create/sustain manufacturing jobs. A portion of that spending circulates within the community -rural & urban. Hand-up, not hand-out.
I also urge pre-purchase training about homeownership for people who don't know that they are now their own landlord.
And again, the Seven Deadly Aspects of The Human Paradigm stand as a warning to we as private citizens. Foremost of these being gluttony, greed, avarice. They stand as a closely held set of daily instructions that the corporate citizens LIVE BY ! ! In there lies 'the rub' and THE reason we absolutely need to see some concrete legislation to revoke Citizens United. Sen Sanders and AOC know and speak to this ! "UNFETTERED CAPITALISM DOES NOT WORK."
Robert--How would any policy Ms. Harris might decide to entertain be destressing. In order to follow one must first trust. I see no reason for concern, the goal is the retirement of Donald Trump from this election and then let Father time do the rest. The Republicans boosted of the coming "Red Wave" during the mid-term elections. It was more of a blue crush to me. However, what is developing now in the Democratic party is more in the line of a tidal wave, no scratch that, it's more like a tsunami.
It is impressive just how little the American people understand economics. Because of that lack of understanding, Republicans for nearly a half-century have been able to sell the people all kinds of voodoo economics which have been used by Republicans and their corporate friends to steal regularly from this nation and the American people. When we took a step forward during the 1974-75 gas crisis, we produced smaller cars and larger ones were seen as over indulgent. Then, Reagan got into office and lied that people should have as big a car as they could possibly drive, even trucks. Gas guzzling was in and has set us all back generations in our ability to deal with global warming and greenhouse gasses. Republicans told us that if the very rich are given lots of money, that money will trickle down to those under the rich guys. We should have been warned when the word was "trickle-down" not gush down. Even with that nothing trickled anywhere, but money gushed upward. Trump must have failed economics because he has no clue how any economy works, but is well aware of how to gift the very rich, those who never need to be given anything because they have so much more than they could use in many lifetimes. We need Harris and Walz to gradually start educating the public on how the economy works: it's not like a family household, it's now way way off-balance with a few at the top "earning" (collecting) more oney than the bottom half of the people in this country, some of them having more money than whole countries. Use examples, tell stories that explain and give examples, etc. Avoid the big numbers because people can't work with them in a meaningful way and they can become confused at what the numbers are actually informing them about.
Harris and Walz seem to know even less than the esteemed host here - and that's an accomplishment. Harris was a prosecutor - what do you think she knows about economics?
Joshua, I bet Harris knows a lot about economics, but she doesn't have to know it all herself. She has Gov. Walz, and a whole team of people to help, including a range of economists. The problem with Trump and Kump, none of them know anything about economics yet pretend they do, and everyone pays.
Rutb, don't forget how Kamala's husband earned a living.
Her bachelor's degree is in economics and political science. She may know a little.
How long will it take to reduce prices by breaking up monopolies? People need lower prices now, especially those losing their jobs. Why do we give the Fed Reserve private bankers the right to put people out of work while keeping interest rates higher for themselves? Then they will foreclose and repossess property. There are better ways.
Spot on Madam Vice President!
This is why I follow you,Mr. Reich, you make complicated issues easy to understand. You are a national treasure, Thank You 💯💙🇺🇸
The US has needed much stronger antitrust enforcement for decades. That people can be convinced that this is some kind of price fixing shows how poorly they understand their government and what antitrust laws can accomplish. So many markets have so few competitors, consumers find stand a chance. We need strong competition and that’s what antitrust laws do.