They have record profits, record share prices, and record monopoly power — which is why Biden must threaten them with real consequences unless they stop shafting consumers
Let's see: Larry Summers. Is that the same Summers that told the congress , contrary to the insistent
warnings of Brooksley Born, that no laws were needed to regulate the exotic securities and that Wall Street could regulate itself? Heap big financial crash resulted.. If so, why does this man have currency anywhere anymore?
I’d love to see an unrestricted interview of Trump by John Stewart! But Trump of course is chicken. He’d talk about it, then come up with a lame excuse not to. Just like him perpetually saying he was going to testify in his legal cases.
After Summers tanked the the Glass/Seigle act allowing brokerage firms to become banks under Clinton Obama made him Treasury Secretary.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Carolyn, yes, not the brightest bulb in any string! Why is it guys keep calling on the men who pretend to know so much, but really don't? Summers just keeps hanging around and being consulted when he has no positive meaningful ideas. Maybe men aren't smart enough to be at Harvard or to talk about economics. Hmmm!
Joan, unfortunately, that loss of the "cloak of invincibility" for Harvard and those other "top" schools is not happening fast enough. Men have been on top of limiting women's admissions to those "august" institutions when they can get away with it, and making sure women are losing our bodily autonomy, along with their female surrogates since the men have convinced them that abortion is against god. How those men know that is impossible to say and they should be ignored.
That’s my recollection too. This as 30% of the scientists and engineers at my former place of employment were women. Most businesses guys don’t have a clue what it takes to excel at science or engineering as a career, regardless of them being men or women.
Men are not staying in college long enough to acquire a degree. There are more women than men enrolling and staying the course to get their degrees. That’s another trend that freaks out Rs because women are getting degrees and getting higher level jobs as a result. That messes up the plan to turn women into birthing machines to reverse the trend of an impending white minority population.
We must right now stop failing to imagine at what lengths they will go to force women to produce more children. We already know they are working on making contraception illegal. I imagine they also will attempt to take ownership of unused eggs, embryos and maybe even try to take frozen sperm not intended for sperm banks. Next will be attempting to harvest eggs as donations from women who have died. Just imagine someone 20 years from now getting their DNA tested and learning their biological mother’s eggs were harvested and used by right wingers to gain power through manipulating the census to their benefit. It is very possible that they are already doing it as part of their plot to reverse what they call “the browning of America”.
Failure to imagine how low Rs will go to get and keep power will be this country’s doom.
I think the following would disagree and I think maybe their 'spirit' could give him something to think about and a quick Google shows the following:
Tiera Guinn; Marie Curie; Elizabeth Blackwell; Jane Goodall; Mae C. Jemison; Jennifer Doudna; Katherine Freese; Rachel Carson (author of Silent Spring 1960's); Maria Goeppert Mayer; Sara Seager; Jane Cooke Wright; Vera Rubin; Sau Lan Wu; Rosalind Franklin; Barbara McClintock; Rita Levi-Montalcini and Gertrude Elion.
No wonder patriarchy gets a bad wrap with myopic opinions like that.
Exactly! It's the same Summers that advised Obama at the start of his first term not to spank his Wall Street buddies too hard for crashing the economy and killing the wealth of the middle class.
Why, you ask, is this con man still credible? It's because he's an agent of the Democratic arm of the Corporate Ruling Class (CRC), which tells the three branches of government how it's gonna be, regardless of which party is "in control". On an org chart it would be the CRC at the top of the pyramid, the DNC, RNC and their respective party apparatus on the next level down, the three branches of the federal government on the next tier, and the great amorphous unwashed reporting upward to them.
Sure folks, the economy is doing great! (If you're in the upper 5 percent and well invested in the stock market.... For now).
Sharrod Brown should be running against Trump. In your wildest dream!
You got that right ..corporate ruling class like musk is where the crapification of America comes from, bleeding the middle class, destroying the working poor, with their abusive workplaces and monopolistic torments....
After Summers tanked the the Glass/Seigle act allowing brokerage firms to become banks under Clinton Obama made him Treasury Secretary.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
It's just like I said in my reply: America, both Americans and Traitors alike, have a memory span of SECONDS! They already forgot about how desperate things were during Bunkerboy's covid lockdown. (Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but you KNOW she would have not surrendered to Covid-19 and pretended it didn't exist.)
IIRC, the COVID lock down wasn't Trumps, It was a recommendation by the CDC, and implemented by the states, counties and municipalities. It actually saved lives, and it wasn't a lock down either, it simple discouraged congregating in public and in some places required masks.
Like I said it saved lives.
If I were Fauci I would have said, all those interested in living and saving lives, wear masks and stay away from public gatherings, those that aren't concerned about their own lives and those of their loved ones, Go about business as usual. In fact hundreds of thousands rebelled (MAGAts) and refused towear masks, and many of them got COVID and died, which is a good thing, less MAGAt voters.
When COVID was new in early 2020 and masks were in short supply for staff in hospitals nationwide, Fouci told an outright lie, stating there was no evidence that masking was of any benefit, and potentially harmful because they might instill a false sense of security in the general public's mind. Presumably he lied to prevent a run on masks, preserving such supplies as existed for his cohert in the medical community. They already knew at that point that it is an airborne virus. Masks have been used in hospitals forever to decrease the spread of such viruses, and a guy with his background would have known this. In issuing that false statement, then reversing himself soon after he generated more uncertainty and doubt about masking than anyone else possibly could have due to his position of authority, thereby probably causing hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. I will never forgive that imperious little creep for that singular act!
No. I watched him say it, staining right next to Debbie Birx and Donald Trump, and multiple times. You don't recall the almost daily briefings on Covid ? Every channel, every day? You know, where the orange menace speculated on drinking Clorox as a treatment?
You know, my memory isn't the best but I do know that my daughter and her husband wore masks and made sure I had them as well. If I did go out I wore one. I don't know if I directly relied on Dr Fauci for my mask advice, but everyone I knew wore one and so did I. I believe in the last several months studies have shown that masks may not Covid proof us, but they don't hurt. And yes, the Covid virus spreads much further than they thought it did initially. But anyone with common sense knows enough to avoid breathing in contaminated air. My parents were born during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1919/1920. They did not get it because their parents were smart enough to avoid crowds and wear masks. They passed that info onto their kids and grandkids so we grew up knowing masks are a great safety precaution. So is common sense. Trying to blame Dr Fauci in retrospect for anything, is simply assine. As far as I am personally concerned, all those people who simply disregarded what he and many others said and ended up with Covid and died from it. Well too fucking bad..... Darwin was right.
I did what you asked. Then I googled it, and found that his statement was taken out of context, though you did admit there were shortages, but he later amended his statement.
In truth, the past is a cancelled check and tomorrow is a promissory note. The past is interesting only in the context of history and stepping stones leading up to the present, which all too often have to be dredged up, because of squabbling about the present.
I don't care for beating dead horses, or trying to make water flow backwards,under the bridge. Fauci is history, so is COVID, what I care about is tomorrow and the day after.
If you were to hold my personal history against me, and others do or try to, I was securely ensconced in the extreme right wing, not a Republican, not an independent, not a Democrat, I most certainly said a lot of things, that I would not say today. And if the 85 year old William Farrar sat down with a 40 year old William Farrar there would be violent arguments., well maybe not violent, but heated and angry for sure.
I would take Fauci's comments in context, but not hold it against him, because he did come around, and everyone is entitled to a change of mind and heart.
I am an atheist, and atheists are not born, should I be held to account for being a traditional radical Catholic, a member of the Catholic Truth, Pius XII Society and Knights of Columbus?
Biden should be listening to Jared Bernstein, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren on the economy, not Summers. But Buden also listens to Obama, who listens to Summers...
because many people-and voters-still believe the old canard that's been drilled into them that no regulation means freedom-when it really means disaster
Likely emotion in the form of a charismatic authoritarian. The German people were down after WWI and Hitler gave them hope and spirit. Just like MAGA, Hitler could do no wrong. They knew he was but he wanted to Make Germany Great Again. Ignorance and feelings were the culprits then as they are now. Address those two things, especially the latter, and you get elected every time.
It’s overwhelmingly similar- people only remember parts of what Trump did, but forget the insurrection, the lying about voter fraud, the attack of the CDC, Fauci “ the covid bleach treatment” the 1.4 million dead, the Muslim Ban, the 10 million lost jobs, the supply shortages. Something happened and it’s called social media being able to lie right to the face of Americans.
Democrats need marketing people.... Trump knows how to market himself....and put nasty labels on his opposition that focus on the negatives. Dems are too proud to do that?
I agree, and that is why we got Trump. Hillary spoke the truth about a basket of deplorables , it helped cost her, her election as it gave the media another excuse to attack her. The DNC should have done some oppo research on Trump and pounded the airways with it, day in and day out. His grifting, racism, crimes and perversions didn't start on Jan 21st 2016.
Hillary and the DNC paid for oppo lies. After they cheated Bernie and the American people of a Nominee worthy of enthusiastic support. You’re reaping what the DNC sowed. And defending Hillary?
Dems will lose because of advertising. They have allowed MAGA to own the stage. As you say Dems need to
1 Daily attacks by Biden/supporters on gouging and naming names.
2. Daily attacks on MAGA lies about the border/immigration
( EG what is the problem, what are the statistics, how compare to MAGA years with trump. So far all we hear is millions of diseased, addicts and mental cases are freely coming into the country and causing huge increases in crime.......NONE of which are true but Bidens team is asleep. Maybe hire some third year journalist students to mount a campaign of truth.
These two area will cause Biden to lose the election
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
I agree, Terry. While taking the high road is morally preferable, it is sometimes necessary to meet the slime lords on the lower road in order to beat them at their own game.
Terry, yes there are a lot of similarities which means people can be manipulated into believing almost anything if they think their well-being will be enhanced. The reality, though for most Germans was not very positive. Everything tanked for them when they started a massive war that most nations opposed. Would Trump and Kump start a war, who knows. The one guarantee, they may put on the uniforms as Hitler's crew did, but they will not fight unless it is against totally unarmed civilians they can convince themselves they can defeat. Vengeance will be the rule of the land, for themselves, not anyone else. Because history is often so poorly taught, most people have no clue who Hitler and his crazies were and the real harm they did. So many Trumpers and Trumpetttes want to believe the Holocaust didn't happen so they can roll along merrily believing in their own righteousness as they commit "small" acts of hate against neighbors and people they don't understand: insulting neighbors, flying flags that extol criminal behavior, disparage groups they have been primed to hate, claiming their hate is from god, make racist or misogynistic comments, act as though they, themselves are not descendants of immigrants who probably didn't come here "the right way." Those "small" acts add up and help to polarize a society and that is deliberately set up by the guys and it is nearly all men who want power, money, and other benefits they have no right to. Anger, fear, resentment, and outright hatred are so easily manipulated. The positives of love, joy, peace, and hope are harder to pull people into because they don't seem as real as the negative emotions that tear one up inside as though that proves those are the real emotions; they're not, just four among many both positive and negative.
I'm afraid that instead AI ChatBot will create the new improved deep fake Big Brother who can easily morph to your personal preferences every time you log on. And everyone has their own personalized Big Brother while they all think there is A Big Brother who will save them from the Libs. It's quite feadible.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
You wouldn't know Fascism if it ran over you or you would know that the only sign of Fascism in this country is the Biden /Larry Fink project ESG. Now that's Fascism.
Government comes from the French or prior to that Latin. Its original meaning was to direct or steer, as a ship. Not control the mind. Stop the BS please.
Companies use stock buy backs to manipulate their stock share price and earnings per share. Stock manipulation using buybacks was illegal once and should be illegal again. Unlike dividends where taxes are paid in the year received, stock buy backs allow shareholders to defer paying taxes on their share of corporate profits until the stock is sold. Unfair tax loophole!
Chtistiane Ianneli : my conversation 10 hours ago with Fay was about how hard it is to get legislation passed to limit greed. Which feeds the kind of wealth that causes power imbalances and wealth nequality. There are many Americans who are powerless. Any country can have power and wealth imbalances. Hopefully we can get past this challenge to self rule and the dream of self rule, in a Democracy. Corruption must be fought. Freedom is not free. The pen is mightier than the sword. If all else fails : There is power in numbers! We will vote!
It inflates stock market prices by what is essentially a book manipulation. Honestly they should be making acquisitions, or be paying down their corporate debt.
What a genius you are. Please explain to me how paying off corporate debt will lower gas prices in California. Gas is priced at over $7 a gallon at some stations for premium, while regular gas is high to mid $6 everywhere in the state.
Stocks are not debt. Two different things. Debts have to be paid off, stocks can only be sold, receive dividends are become worthless junk.
Stock buy backs are nor paying off corporate debt. The price of gas is a factor of exploitation by oil producing countries, like OPEC, and supply restriction or even market manipulation by oil refineries.
BTW the biggest Oil refinery in the country is in Port Arthur Texas, Motiva, and it is owned by the Saudi's.
I thought gas prices were higher in California because a special blend of gasoline is used and the state imposes higher excise taxes. Gas prices in Virginia are $ 3.28 regular and around $ 4.00 for premium.
Over $5.00 where I live, but it comes to us via a special ferry barge.
The dock from which it leaves is located about 5 miles from a refinery owned by the Koch Foundation., and the prices throughout my part of the state are over $4.00 a gallon up to $4.50 a gallon,, higher in some places. Costco or an Indian Reservation is the best deal. Indian Reservations because there is no sales tax, CostCo because it has buying power.
Paying out the debt will increase their profit margins because they will not have to pay interest on that debt. The higher profit margins will put pressure on them to lower prices.
Biden only does what suits him and not the people. He is an incrementalist, player, and backer of corporate rule: he and Trump are both fools on the hill. America is reaching the end, sadly, of its endeavor to uplift humanity; i.e. military support allowing massive destruction in Gaza is just the tip of the iceberg. What's next? I dare not think of it.
“Partly, I think, because he’s uncomfortable attacking corporations directly.”
This has been the Democrat’s problem since about 1980. And then we got completely screwed by Citizens United. How much money do the grocery store conglomerates shovel out to our senators and representatives? Where is the price gouging litigation? How about antitrust enforcement? How about price controls? Even Nixon was able to implement price controls… and guess what? They work. Duh.
William, I agree with your assessment. I see the problem as the embedding of corporate rule within our governance administrative systems so things aren't changing; plus, too many of our fellow citizens/neighbors are so stressed out by the wealth gap that they can or do rarely fight back. So here we are in a huge mess!
I didn't realize that there was an article in the constitution that says that America has a mission to uplift humanity?
Gaza is a bitch isn't it, a conundrum, a dilemma,if only HAMAS hadn't started it by slaughtering and raping Jews, and using Jews and their own people as human shields, maybe, just maybe those 12, 000 innocent women and children, and those 15,000 HAMAS fighters would not have been killed
Yeh right, blame the Jews, Israeli oil, Jews lobby for high gas prices to enrich the Arabs. The Saudi's own Motiva the largest oil refinery in the US in Pt Arthur Texas, and have stock in others, as well as control OPEC, but it is all the Jew,dumb shit.
Imagine that the Jewish lobby trying to make the Arabs even richer. Why didn't I think of that.
War cannot resolve problems but dialogue can if people have the will to cooperate and collaborate--that's missing on our planet due to the reliance on our reptilian brains instead of our parasympathetic nervous system. We need help from neuroscientists on rewiring our brains that can function better for the 21 century. I suggest folks read "Mind Magic" by Dr. James Doty--a neuro surgeon and scientist at Stanford. He offers a way out of our societal nightmares! It takes practice and commitment but works.
I totally agree, it takes commitment first of all, and the question now becomes how do we get people to stop oppressing others, to sit down and work things out?
I think that is impossible, a great thought, but considering the human condition of the need for dominance, quite impossible.
Problems have solutions. I do not know anyone who has come up with a solution, especially when it has to do with identity.
I've read, literally thousands of books, and hundreds of solutions, compelling ones at that, but not realistic.
Even when an idea (ideology) system dominates, it evenutually fractures, schisms and we start all over again.
Charlemagne created an Empire, when he died he left it to his sons, and before you know it his descendants were at it again, fighting for dominance and who owned what.
Same shit happened with the Mongols, in China, in Russia, in Tajikestan, same thing happened with the Arabs, the Turks.
The very worst conflict is over religion,whether it is the other religion, or a schism within a religion.
Your 100% right! I noticed these last couple of weeks the stores near me are advertising that they're slashing prices on thousands of items. If they can do this now, why did they raise them in the first place? They knew they could get away with it. I keep hearing that the economy is good but I've been waiting for it to trickle down to me yet! Keep slashing those prices please!
I had a neighbor who worked for Sears and Roebuck, before they dropped the Roebuck
And she told us that when they advertised a sale, they actually raised prices on many items, not lowered them.. People think a sale means reduced prices. The primary definition of a sale is:
.
the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.
I recall watching prices go sky high before inflation was ever mentioned, but corporations insisted their prices skyrocketed as a result of inflation. They must really believe consumers are stupid.
Well, PART of that IS true. When the pandemic shut down the supply chain world wide, what do you think would happen when all of that pent up demand for goods is unleashed at the end of the pandemic? Because supplies were low and demand high, prices rose as did delivery times. The problem here, is that corporations didn’t feel the need nor pressure to lower prices as the supply chain rebounded. Forget that consumers spent like there was no tomorrow? The consumer does have the power to force prices down on some commodities. Take Target as an example, they have had to cut prices to get clients back in the store. Nothing at this scale ever happens fast. That’s both a financial problem and a psychological conundrum for consumers. American’s want everything to happen with a snap of their fingers. It just doesn’t happen that way. Life is not a TV show, it’s typically very complicated. So too for global economies. On top of that, some oil companies shuttered or permanently closed refineries, because demand was low. They take time to start up, and are dependent of the timely delivery of crude oil. If one bothered to look at the costs of commodities over the course of the pandemic and beyond, they will find that energy costs were the most inflationary aspects. And those costs drove everything else up. And now, OPEC, is trying to cut supplies to maintain prices. So what do we think is going to happen? But of course, all Trump has to do is snap his fingers and everything will fall in line. If the voters are that stupid, then we deserve Trump. What I’ve witnessed so far from the public, doesn’t give me confidence that they have thought through what it takes to run an economy, much less regulate their own spending. Which IS part of the problem. Just look at consumer debt. And people cry about the national deficit?
And consumers prove that they are stupid Dave, That is what the election campaigning about Inflation is all about.
There is short term inflation, when the Fed expands the money supply by lowering interest rates, and there is the long term inflation, that will continue to rise, because of the interest on all debts (public and private). That is why a car that costs $2,000 in 1964, costs $35,000 today, long term inflation.
I never believe these numbers including employment and unemployment numbers !
By the way, I am as old as Biden, I gave up on my Medicare benefits, I don’t see any doctors nor I buy any medicine, I have a health insurance for drugs and doctor visits, I was pissed off two years ago after visiting a doctor and the medical bills ! Enough !
Same here. At 80 I keep my distance from the medical establishment. I take responsibility for my own health and it has nothing to do with prescriptions and/or surgery.
Too bad. My cancer was caught at a quarterly check up for my insulin resistance. I had left side blindness (not blind in the left eye, but on the left side as a tumor was depressing the right occipital in the brain.
I mentioned this to my primary care physician at my quarterly diabetes check up and was sent down to have a CT Scan immediately the scan revealed a tangerinesized tumor, 2 days later I was in surgery, they removed the turmor, tested it, found it was non small cell carcinemoa, and that it originated in the lung. After 10 bouts of radiation on the head, I spent the next two years, receiving triweekly infusions of immunotherapy (Keytruda) and have been in remission for five years.
My primary care physicians saved my life Terry.. If the cancer hadn't caused a long, slow agonizing death, I would have probably died in a car accident, because with left side blindness I couldn't make safe left turns.
Sir whatever. I don't believe you. You can't give up on Medicare. If you are on Social Security then you were automatically enrolled, and the only way to "give up" is to enroll in Medicare Advantage, and then you get screweed blue and tatooed.
I am on Medicare and have a 2nd ary, through CalPers, blue shiled. I am in remission from brain and lung cancer for five years now, I get quarterly CT Scans and semi annual MRI's, If I had to pay it would have cost me millions for treatment, surgery, SCANS, MRI's. I have paid nothing and will pay nothing. Just had a CT Scan this month another one in Sep and an MRI in Dec, no expense.
Medicare only pays 80%, you or your insurance pays the 20%, so you don't have secondary Insurance and have to pay yourself,
When Medicare was first signed you didn't pay anytihng, but the Republicans, changed the laws and the rules.
Also you didn't pay taxes on Social Security, but the Republicans and George Bush also changed those rules.
Taxing Social security is double taxing. First your gross income is used to compute your Federal Insurance Compensation Act (FICA) payment, then when you receive it,you are taxed on your allowance.
FICA is not a tax, it is an insurance payment, old age insurance,
My wife worked for Municipalities that had elected the Social Security Replacement Program (501 (a), She was taxed on gross income, then the equivalent of the Social Security payment (FICA) was taken out of her pay and invested, along with employer contribution) into a program managed by a company, then sold to another, she hasn't touched it yet, but must by the age of 72 1/2, but when she does it will be taxed as income, bumping us into the top tax bracket, and that is only one year away.
Why is it you Robert, can see where the truth lies but so many chose to believe Trump's fabrications. During the covid pandemic manufacture's saw how the public was able to withstand the elevated prices caused by product scarcity and now they see no reason to lower prices to pre-virus levels. Its greed that's holding prices at the current inflationary level, not anything Joe can be held responsible for.
Because, Patricia, the people that he appeals to and who are snowed, are actually doing pretty well, and their priorities are the culture war. They feel threatened by blacks, queers, brown people, and women attaining equal rights and status,
I am showing my age, but when I was young a game we played was king of the Mountain, there is only so much room at the top of the mountain (social pyramid)
Also men, well many men, have a need to feel in control,of not only women, but of their herd or pack, just like wolves and steers. When knocked out of their place as alpha's, they are in effected chemically neutered, in human males testosterone drops, Neutered males have difficulty erecting and penetrating.. Among wolves they are either beta's, gamma's, delta's or kicked out the pack and become lone wolves, also in Meerkat colonies, horse and cow herds.
MAGA men, can't feel manly unless the woman is submissive. Submissive women, even though they occupy political positions like Boebert , MTG, and ACB, enable men because they believe that they are the beneficiaries of male domination., the status quo, and thus not only enable the status quo, but actively support and strengthen it.
William, I disagree strongly. Many of the Trump supporters that I know or have met "actually" are NOT "doing well," and the majority are hoping Trump can reverse their fortunes and make food, gas, rent/mortgage, electricity, affordable again. They were doing better four years ago, pre-pandemic, regardless of race, age, gender identity, and education. Biden has expenses far higher than just a few years ago, has entangled us in two hot regional wars, has allowed our defensive weapons to lapse into disrepair, has engaged in malicious lawface, has splintered the unity of our military, has stirred racial, religious, and gender hate, and more. Among the millions who entered illegally, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of terrorists and/or covert soldiers who wish us ill and who are beginning to emerge. The Trump advocates just want a better life.
You are bitter, hateful, condescending, bigoted, and full of faux superiority. You don't sound like you have a nanogram of hope or good will. This is the MO of the left. Your problems are mostly from your crabbed perspective. You will suffer a miserable life twisted by your perspective. You can choose to succeed during a Trump presidency, and I sincerely hope you do.
Wow, you do sound like a Trump ad. Enjoy your dictator.
As regards your personal estimation of me, keep them to yourself. I really don't care what you think of me, and your opinion will not change me or what I think.
Now that you got that off your chest, do you feel better? I hope that it was cathartic.
"AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Inflation was at 1.4% in 2021 as Biden assumed the presidency, having risen from a low of 0.1% in May 2020, two months into the COVID-19 pandemic. It continued to increase steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency, reaching a peak of 9.1% in June 2022."
There is short term inflation and long term inflation. short term inflation is when the money supply is expanded by borrowing, driven by the Federal Reserves Open Market Window rate, Jerome Powell set it at 0.25%, raised to # and 4 % under Biden.
However the expansion of the money supply results in immediate exuberance in the market, jobs created, consumers go into debt, but there is a time lag, for it to catch up, and that time lag is about four years
You pump money into an economy and the prices doesn't go up the next day, it takes time for the ripple effect to be felt.
When Republicans assume power, they go on a spending spree, like drunken sailors and tax cuts for the wealthy, By the time the cycle is over and the bill comes due, it is usually time for another administration and that is Democrats and then the Republicans bitch about the deficit and inflation that they caused, and the Democrats then cut back federal spending, contract the economy and piss off their base.
Google Jude Wassinski and the Two Santa Claus Theory.
Cynicism can lead to not voting, or at worst voting for the very tools of the money power. Trump is simply a despicable person, always has been, reason enough to reject him and his bullshit. Call it "lesser of two evils", but there it is.
As the President, he is permitted, required, and as our nations leader, has the obligation to do something about higher than reasonable prices as a direct result of price manipulation based on greed and excessive profit using rules concerning monopolization, collusion, price fixing and a host of other profit support/control options. He has the right and obligation to protect the general public from excessive profiteering pricing tactics and behaviors as it effects the welfare of his citizens. He has the power to erect the guard rails to protect Democracy and Capitalism and the general welfare of the population, fair market competition theories and practices. We as a purchasing public would and/or should have options to control greed on unreasonable structured pricing by not purchasing outrageously priced items. We as a public purchasing group, if we could organize effectively, would buy from sellers who were less expensive. We don't have that option for the most part due to corporate control over the Supreme Court, Congress, imposed restrictions, monopolization, etc. . The President... as the third leg of the governing stool does.
Why do we insist on putting tariffs on perfectly good products from overseas? To protect a small segment of businesses that have no problem overcharging us for products that make them outrageous profits. They convince us that the products they sell, more than half of which... are made overseas, are different from the products that are made over seas...yeah what? Would you rather pay 13k for a perfectly suitable EV or 65k for essentially the same thing. The wealthy couldn't care less whereas the working class/middle class/lower middle class and lower still, would be the beneficiary of the less expensive purchase option to save the planet, money on fuel, and maintenance. The difference of 40 to 50k would allow the immediate sales of EV's and solar energy items to skyrocket and we would instantly be on our way to helping to solve the issue of climate change. The savings would be pumped back into the economy further strengthening our economy. The overall multiplier effect of the increased sale of items that we can produce more efficiently would increase and the auto industry in this country would be forced to be more competitive...but only if they had to.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Inflation was at 1.4% in 2021 as Biden assumed the presidency, having risen from a low of 0.1% in May 2020, two months into the COVID-19 pandemic. It continued to increase steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency, reaching a peak of 9.1% in June 2022."
Yep, as we get closer to November, the Trump humping bots and AI trolls are showing up i will only get worse. I wonder how many will hang on after Novemer 5 or January 20th.
AS I said selective sources. Your sources don't mention the cause of inflation or temporary or long term inflation. just headlines to grab attention and sell eyeballs and clicks..
Bad news, controversy sells, people are by and large dolts,like the dude that posted the above two links, they are looking for stuff that confirms their bias, or excites their glands and amygdala.
When the news isn't bad,then they twist it. By the way CNN is Fox lite and has been as far as I can remember.
Fox grabs the major audience share, which means advertising revenue, leaving the other networks scrambling for market differentiation, grabbing what is left,like MSNBC, or trying to make inroads and carve off the fringes of Fox.
Selective sources from corporations that do selective reporting.
Uncle Joe has declared himself “a capitalist” — I think the occasion was the State of the Union address. As a self-declared “capitalist,” he’s boxed himself into accepting profit-making as the highest good of our economics. Maybe he should retreat on this topic by pointing out that, under our capitalist model, the freedom to pursue profit can and does steer businesses to overdo it whenever they get the chance; and therefore that price controls are a temporary answer to the gouging — until, of course, the captains of industry come to their senses.
With regard to the greed of the large cooperations. If I add to that greed the fact that the majority of the billionaires are Republicans, then why would they not keep the prices high, it would make people blame Biden and vote for Trump, and as such their profits would only get higher because Trump wants to reduce taxes even more.
I understand that a rather large number of billionaires support Trump, and I find it very hard to accept that if you have so much money that you will still cheat and manipulate to get even more, and don't care about others.
We're fighting an uphill battle. As long as we have the Citizens United case in the books, everything we do is at best patching a hole. I'd say, Biden needs to go big. How about promising that he will fight to: 1. eliminate the Electoral College system, so everyone's vote counts; 2. get Citizens United reversed, so we can reduce corruption; 3. bring integrity and impose accountability with real penalty to lawmakers, so they won't be able to flat out lie; and 4. overhaul Supreme Court and impose strict ethics guidelines that will be administered by a 3rd party. Yes, people are suffering, but they also think that the American Idealism is dead. It's time to bring some light into the political system.
Democrats should broadcast widely that Trump's Project 2025 is to a large extent driven and funded by Corporate and Billionaire greed and is designed to benefit them, not the people and the people will end up paying for their benefits so COL will go up instead of coming down.
All election in America are paid for by the AIPAC Zionist Lobby ! By the way, I stopped all my campaign contributions to my favourite party led by my unfavourite leader !
There is proof that Sir alphabet is an AI bot, It actually liked my ridicule,because I said Yes they are, and didn't catch the significance of Snicker. Since AI's aren't human, they don't catch ridicule colloquialisms or irony
Why is Larry Summers still around? He had a HUGE hand in causing the Great Recession of 2007 to 2012. He also supported the bailout for the bailout of the very people who did cause the recession, the criminal people in banks, brokerages, were NOT charged for their crimes they were REWARDED. And who paid for the mess? Why us of course! The millions of us who lost their homes when they suddenly lost their jobs and owed double or more what those houses cost. And people like me, whose pension funds had widely invested in the criminal actors, I can't believe Summers is anywhere near Joe Biden.
That rant aside, I agree, Biden needs to call out specific companies, Exxon whose ads lie about how they are "saving the planet" by using algae to produce oil. If you believe that - shame on you. And definitely the junk food industry Pepsi and Coke. The meat price gougers and BTW the plant based meat industry too. I had a heart attack (mild) in 2018 and was advised to stop eating red meat, so I've switched to fish, poultry and plant based meat. Those prices keep rising too. Have soy beans suddenly become scarce? How can they justify $10 to $20 a pound for plant based "meat"
Larry Summers has been a big fool for a long time. Yet his karma is such that media, politicians, academics, keep treating him with reverence, soliciting his opinions, and elevating him as a source. It doesn't seem to have much to do with how often he's been wrong or the blather he mouths. Some people just seem to be exempt from consequences.
100% in total agreement with this, Professor Reich!! Living on a very limited, fixed income is hard even at the best of times but here lately I find I have to cinch my belt even tighter than before!! Using Aldi's, Ollie's, Sav-a-Lot, Dollar store, thrift stores, Farmer's Markets, U-Pick fields and vegetable stands have made it possible for me to live on what I make each month but even cutting every corner it seems the prices continue to climb!! I am all for President Biden campaigning on what and how he will go after these greedy corporations. I would like for him to spell it out as to how he is going to do that in his second term. trump will not do anything about these corporations but he will spoon-feed his followers into believing 'he alone can fix it' only it will happen in two weeks. He will tease his cult with something big is going to happen to these corporations and we will lay it out for you in two weeks. It will be the bigliest, bestest, most wonderful plan in the history of the world! I would like to see President Biden tick off point by point what is happening with these monopolistic corporations and what he intends to do about them in the next four years. He needs to warn citizens of how dangerous these companies are with their price gouging, insanely huge profits going to their CEOs and shareholders instead of some of it going back to the employees and treating them like serfs - easily replaceable. He does talk in his campaign speeches about taking on the greed of corporations to curtail the cost of gas, food, rent and junk fees but he needs to be very clear to the American public about how he is going to do that. Fingers crossed this will become one of his main talking points! Vote Blue, America!!
Thank you! Every time the Biden campaign asks for a donation (at least once a day), I wonder if they know how little expendable cash I have and how the last thing I want is to meet up with them and some celebrity. One of my indulgences is good news sources, like this substack, that keep me sane. I'm mostly writing some postcards and hoping that the recipients (provided that the snall's pace of the Post Office delivers them on time) are able to get to the polls and that when they do, that vote will be counted.
Applause for you, Progwoman! Everyone is trying to do all they can to help President Biden with another four years! I, too, get hit all the time for donations. All I can say is I give when I can which isn't very often! Vote Blue, America!!
Did you notice that today's responses to RR's column are filled with unfamiliar names and arguments? I suspect that he hit some nerve in the right wing, because the trolls are out.
Progwoman, good catch. It could explain why I noticed that some of the new posts were fairly incoherent. Makes me think of troll farms in foreign countries, where computer operators are paid by the sheer number of spammy things they spew out--doesn't matter much what or how they say it.
Definitely progwoman. I mad this comment months ago, I noticed Trump humpers, people, bots and now AI's showing up, they dominated Shitter and FB, and now substack, at least the sites where they can post free,. It is getting worse, their objective is to disrupt discourage and dismay liberals. There is a war going on, and they are not difficult to identify, inevitably it will lead to rationalizing, apologizing for Putin, like Putin was only defending himself, because America started it.,or the military industrial complex is behind it all
They even couch their propaganda in terms that they know the left will bite on, like imperialism and colonialsim. They love to accuse the U.S.A. of imperialism, while ignoring Russia's, and when they can't, they claim that Putin is "forced" into his genocidal invasion of Ukraine.
And when they don't devolve to Putin, remember a vote for Trump is a vote for Putin, Kim Jong Un, XI , Orban and every tyrant on the face of the earth.
Trump and Xi are thick as sheeps wool, he Chinese government granted a total of 41 trademarks to companies linked to Ivanka Trump by April of 2019—and the trademarks she applied for after her father became president got approved about 40% faster than those she requested before Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 election, according to a new book by Forbes
Progwoman, the amount of trolls will increase quite rapidly the closer we get to the election. They will use whatever means necessary to combat our truth and awareness about the election! Don't give in to their baiting tactics, just scroll on by. Vote Blue, America!!
I don’t hang around sidewalks, I don’t look down on them, but I grew up in a different environment where there was no sidewalks 😃
I am a Democrat, but it is very uncomfortable to be a Biden Democrat and his bunch of amateur boys around him ! I don’t see any grown ups including Biden, an old fool ! I am sorry, but the plane he is piloting dropped suddenly something in the order of 10,000 feet !
True Joan, but for me, President Biden is what is best for America right now. I refuse to vote for the orange man because of everything he represents, his plans for revenge, Project 2025, and an obvious dislike for the country he wants to lead!
The Democratic Party can always nominate someone more convincing at their upcoming convention. It can happen. I think Biden should bow out gracefully now since he promised to only be a one-term president if I recall.. We cannot live in fear about Trump when we have no idea what will happen tomorrow. But we can strategically position the country to do much better.
Good video! I've told US citizens I know about this, but people who know how, need to get through to Biden's advisors, that being _seen_to tackle monopolies i.e. the optics of it, could win or cost him the election in November - and Congress too. That should get them moving!
I 100% agree that the number one issue is inflation! You mention Biden isn’t comfortable addressing these big corporations. Well that’s the role of being president: making tough decisions - this is a trait of leadership.
You know as well as anybody, that the engine of campaigning runs on money, and who is the source of money?
None other than those big corporations and billionaires.
And where do they put most of their money?
Behind Republicans and Trump.
So lets see, Biden tells the big corporations to fuck off, like a brave man making a tough decision, and where does that leave us on Nov 5th this year.
With a big corporation political party, a fascist dictatorship, rounding up 11 million immigrants and Muslims, subjugating women, imprisoning queers, and turning this country into a Christian theocracy., those Arabs (Muslims) will really love that.
Hahaha — i think the people who believe Bin Ladin was the one who attacked the US may be the same people who really believe we went to the moon in the 60s lol
There is plenty of evidence that bin Laden was behind the attack on 9/11, Franklin and to your point the ones who don't are the same idiots who don't believe that we went to the moon.
You are on the wrong site, well maybe you are if you are a Qanon freak, bot or troll. lol.
Why doesn’t President Biden tell the American People, how the GOP voted against his “Windfall Profits Tax” by 100%! That they were aware their wealthy donors, would gouge us for record profits after the Pandemic, but were unconcerned for the public? No one understands unless they have to make a decision between picking up a prescription, the mortgage or food! I foresaw this months ago, right here! I posted the food prices had to be addressed! When you have a good income you pay the higher prices, some families have to make choices, even with both parents working! @POTUS
The Debates are coming. Just wait until they begin. Biden has just caught, I understand, EIGHT IS cockroaches trying to infiltrate the US southern border. Biden will be able to turn the Border Issue against tRump. As for high prices, timing is also important. The best time to attack tRump on "high prices" will be during the Debates. Biden can trump (pun fully intended) tRump at this time also. First, there is the cap on insulin prices--with "negotiation" coming on other prescription prices to follow. Second, I understand, the Biden Administration caught a senior executive of a large Texas oil fracker colluding with OPEC+ to keep US oil production down and oil prices up. Biden--and the threat of jail time for the executive--can take credit for lowering the price of gas. It would also be a good time for Biden to attack corporate collusion and greed.
You could be right and at this point, I don’t believe a debate would influence anyone. President Biden should take every opportunity to educate anyone who listens about Trump’s agenda, his past performance, his corruption, and the Fascism that we will face.
I don't think so. Only the threat of imprisonment can make him do anything he doesn't want to do. That's how he ended up in a New York court. He won't go to jail if he doesn't participate in a debate. Money doesn't mean anything to him except as a mark of prestige. He can always squeeze more out of his marks. He is not capable of shame, only of his appearance looking bad (according to his peculiar standards). Meanwhile, I'm expecting his Supreme Court to render all of this meaningless anyway.
Let's see: Larry Summers. Is that the same Summers that told the congress , contrary to the insistent
warnings of Brooksley Born, that no laws were needed to regulate the exotic securities and that Wall Street could regulate itself? Heap big financial crash resulted.. If so, why does this man have currency anywhere anymore?
Listening to Larry Summers is bad for your brain. He's a Charlatan, always has been. Watch John Stewart take him apart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU3rGFyN5uQ
I’d love to see an unrestricted interview of Trump by John Stewart! But Trump of course is chicken. He’d talk about it, then come up with a lame excuse not to. Just like him perpetually saying he was going to testify in his legal cases.
I doubt he'll show up on the 27th. Something will come up. Poor boy.
After Summers tanked the the Glass/Seigle act allowing brokerage firms to become banks under Clinton Obama made him Treasury Secretary.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
Exactly. U. of Chicago school of economics, which both Obama and Summers subscribe to.
He was the Harvard president who said something about the other gender ?
He said women were not smart enough for careers in science.
I don’t recall hearing a woman say just inject Lysol into your veins to prevent from getting COVID 🤔
Because women are smart ! Couple of years ago my daughter gave me a T-shirt with Feminist printed in the back, on my Birthday !
My daughters know me that I am on their side and on all women’s side !
Correction: not Lysol but disinfectant😉
Judi, women didn't suggest that or bleach either. No woman said Trump could live to be 200 either. interesting!
Yes, very interesting! That was Dr. Ronny Jackson! Trump’s personal doctor.
I remember that and the Guy in the Hollywood Tape said that !
Bleach, actually
Bleach
Carolyn, yes, not the brightest bulb in any string! Why is it guys keep calling on the men who pretend to know so much, but really don't? Summers just keeps hanging around and being consulted when he has no positive meaningful ideas. Maybe men aren't smart enough to be at Harvard or to talk about economics. Hmmm!
I also wonder why ?, about not only this guy, but any other guys too !
Remember "Male Chauvanism"?
Guys like Larry Summers are helping Harvard lose their cloak of invincibility.
Joan, unfortunately, that loss of the "cloak of invincibility" for Harvard and those other "top" schools is not happening fast enough. Men have been on top of limiting women's admissions to those "august" institutions when they can get away with it, and making sure women are losing our bodily autonomy, along with their female surrogates since the men have convinced them that abortion is against god. How those men know that is impossible to say and they should be ignored.
My Mom said many men are afraid of women. And she was right. I know alot of women who have more common sense and brains than many many men.
There is some truth in what you say, but I would say, be yourself and never be concerned about others when you are right about something !
Some men can’t hide their attitude !
That’s my recollection too. This as 30% of the scientists and engineers at my former place of employment were women. Most businesses guys don’t have a clue what it takes to excel at science or engineering as a career, regardless of them being men or women.
Men are not staying in college long enough to acquire a degree. There are more women than men enrolling and staying the course to get their degrees. That’s another trend that freaks out Rs because women are getting degrees and getting higher level jobs as a result. That messes up the plan to turn women into birthing machines to reverse the trend of an impending white minority population.
We must right now stop failing to imagine at what lengths they will go to force women to produce more children. We already know they are working on making contraception illegal. I imagine they also will attempt to take ownership of unused eggs, embryos and maybe even try to take frozen sperm not intended for sperm banks. Next will be attempting to harvest eggs as donations from women who have died. Just imagine someone 20 years from now getting their DNA tested and learning their biological mother’s eggs were harvested and used by right wingers to gain power through manipulating the census to their benefit. It is very possible that they are already doing it as part of their plot to reverse what they call “the browning of America”.
Failure to imagine how low Rs will go to get and keep power will be this country’s doom.
Unbelievable
I can’t click on‘Like’ , because I don’t like what he said ! But I appreciate that you remembered that incident !
Yes, you remember it correctly !
not what he said
Didn't he say women were not good at mathematics? Please refresh our memories.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/02/18/what-larry-summers-said
https://www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/archive/wp/january-2009_what-larry-summers-said-and-didnt-say.html
I think the following would disagree and I think maybe their 'spirit' could give him something to think about and a quick Google shows the following:
Tiera Guinn; Marie Curie; Elizabeth Blackwell; Jane Goodall; Mae C. Jemison; Jennifer Doudna; Katherine Freese; Rachel Carson (author of Silent Spring 1960's); Maria Goeppert Mayer; Sara Seager; Jane Cooke Wright; Vera Rubin; Sau Lan Wu; Rosalind Franklin; Barbara McClintock; Rita Levi-Montalcini and Gertrude Elion.
No wonder patriarchy gets a bad wrap with myopic opinions like that.
And aren't corporate welfare and deregulation cornerstones of the GOP? That's reason enough to tackle them.
Exactly! It's the same Summers that advised Obama at the start of his first term not to spank his Wall Street buddies too hard for crashing the economy and killing the wealth of the middle class.
Why, you ask, is this con man still credible? It's because he's an agent of the Democratic arm of the Corporate Ruling Class (CRC), which tells the three branches of government how it's gonna be, regardless of which party is "in control". On an org chart it would be the CRC at the top of the pyramid, the DNC, RNC and their respective party apparatus on the next level down, the three branches of the federal government on the next tier, and the great amorphous unwashed reporting upward to them.
Sure folks, the economy is doing great! (If you're in the upper 5 percent and well invested in the stock market.... For now).
Sharrod Brown should be running against Trump. In your wildest dream!
You got that right ..corporate ruling class like musk is where the crapification of America comes from, bleeding the middle class, destroying the working poor, with their abusive workplaces and monopolistic torments....
After Summers tanked the the Glass/Seigle act allowing brokerage firms to become banks under Clinton Obama made him Treasury Secretary.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
MAGA: Rootin' for Putin!
VOTE BIDEN '24!
It's just like I said in my reply: America, both Americans and Traitors alike, have a memory span of SECONDS! They already forgot about how desperate things were during Bunkerboy's covid lockdown. (Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but you KNOW she would have not surrendered to Covid-19 and pretended it didn't exist.)
IIRC, the COVID lock down wasn't Trumps, It was a recommendation by the CDC, and implemented by the states, counties and municipalities. It actually saved lives, and it wasn't a lock down either, it simple discouraged congregating in public and in some places required masks.
Like I said it saved lives.
If I were Fauci I would have said, all those interested in living and saving lives, wear masks and stay away from public gatherings, those that aren't concerned about their own lives and those of their loved ones, Go about business as usual. In fact hundreds of thousands rebelled (MAGAts) and refused towear masks, and many of them got COVID and died, which is a good thing, less MAGAt voters.
When COVID was new in early 2020 and masks were in short supply for staff in hospitals nationwide, Fouci told an outright lie, stating there was no evidence that masking was of any benefit, and potentially harmful because they might instill a false sense of security in the general public's mind. Presumably he lied to prevent a run on masks, preserving such supplies as existed for his cohert in the medical community. They already knew at that point that it is an airborne virus. Masks have been used in hospitals forever to decrease the spread of such viruses, and a guy with his background would have known this. In issuing that false statement, then reversing himself soon after he generated more uncertainty and doubt about masking than anyone else possibly could have due to his position of authority, thereby probably causing hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. I will never forgive that imperious little creep for that singular act!
How do you know this? Did you hear it? Read it? Word of mouth it? Facebook it? I really missed the facemask price fixing conspiracy ....was it included in this?https://goodjobsfirst.org/illegal-corporate-price-fixing-conspiracies-are-widespread-in-u-s-economy/
No. I watched him say it, staining right next to Debbie Birx and Donald Trump, and multiple times. You don't recall the almost daily briefings on Covid ? Every channel, every day? You know, where the orange menace speculated on drinking Clorox as a treatment?
Nope. I only needed to be told once and not even then really. Common sense was drummed into as kids....polio and all that. Remember?
You know, my memory isn't the best but I do know that my daughter and her husband wore masks and made sure I had them as well. If I did go out I wore one. I don't know if I directly relied on Dr Fauci for my mask advice, but everyone I knew wore one and so did I. I believe in the last several months studies have shown that masks may not Covid proof us, but they don't hurt. And yes, the Covid virus spreads much further than they thought it did initially. But anyone with common sense knows enough to avoid breathing in contaminated air. My parents were born during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1919/1920. They did not get it because their parents were smart enough to avoid crowds and wear masks. They passed that info onto their kids and grandkids so we grew up knowing masks are a great safety precaution. So is common sense. Trying to blame Dr Fauci in retrospect for anything, is simply assine. As far as I am personally concerned, all those people who simply disregarded what he and many others said and ended up with Covid and died from it. Well too fucking bad..... Darwin was right.
Interesting. I don't remember that event.
I don't' either.
William, please see my reply to Terry Franzman above.
I did what you asked. Then I googled it, and found that his statement was taken out of context, though you did admit there were shortages, but he later amended his statement.
In truth, the past is a cancelled check and tomorrow is a promissory note. The past is interesting only in the context of history and stepping stones leading up to the present, which all too often have to be dredged up, because of squabbling about the present.
I don't care for beating dead horses, or trying to make water flow backwards,under the bridge. Fauci is history, so is COVID, what I care about is tomorrow and the day after.
If you were to hold my personal history against me, and others do or try to, I was securely ensconced in the extreme right wing, not a Republican, not an independent, not a Democrat, I most certainly said a lot of things, that I would not say today. And if the 85 year old William Farrar sat down with a 40 year old William Farrar there would be violent arguments., well maybe not violent, but heated and angry for sure.
I would take Fauci's comments in context, but not hold it against him, because he did come around, and everyone is entitled to a change of mind and heart.
I am an atheist, and atheists are not born, should I be held to account for being a traditional radical Catholic, a member of the Catholic Truth, Pius XII Society and Knights of Columbus?
Biden should be listening to Jared Bernstein, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren on the economy, not Summers. But Buden also listens to Obama, who listens to Summers...
because many people-and voters-still believe the old canard that's been drilled into them that no regulation means freedom-when it really means disaster
Same guy
Likely emotion in the form of a charismatic authoritarian. The German people were down after WWI and Hitler gave them hope and spirit. Just like MAGA, Hitler could do no wrong. They knew he was but he wanted to Make Germany Great Again. Ignorance and feelings were the culprits then as they are now. Address those two things, especially the latter, and you get elected every time.
It’s overwhelmingly similar- people only remember parts of what Trump did, but forget the insurrection, the lying about voter fraud, the attack of the CDC, Fauci “ the covid bleach treatment” the 1.4 million dead, the Muslim Ban, the 10 million lost jobs, the supply shortages. Something happened and it’s called social media being able to lie right to the face of Americans.
Democrats need marketing people.... Trump knows how to market himself....and put nasty labels on his opposition that focus on the negatives. Dems are too proud to do that?
I agree, and that is why we got Trump. Hillary spoke the truth about a basket of deplorables , it helped cost her, her election as it gave the media another excuse to attack her. The DNC should have done some oppo research on Trump and pounded the airways with it, day in and day out. His grifting, racism, crimes and perversions didn't start on Jan 21st 2016.
Hillary and the DNC paid for oppo lies. After they cheated Bernie and the American people of a Nominee worthy of enthusiastic support. You’re reaping what the DNC sowed. And defending Hillary?
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/11/politics/steele-dossier-fbi-durham-danchenko/index.html
Dems will lose because of advertising. They have allowed MAGA to own the stage. As you say Dems need to
1 Daily attacks by Biden/supporters on gouging and naming names.
2. Daily attacks on MAGA lies about the border/immigration
( EG what is the problem, what are the statistics, how compare to MAGA years with trump. So far all we hear is millions of diseased, addicts and mental cases are freely coming into the country and causing huge increases in crime.......NONE of which are true but Bidens team is asleep. Maybe hire some third year journalist students to mount a campaign of truth.
These two area will cause Biden to lose the election
Roy : MAGAs do own the stage. They own media. For the most part.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
I agree, Terry. While taking the high road is morally preferable, it is sometimes necessary to meet the slime lords on the lower road in order to beat them at their own game.
Terry : or maybe too broke? It costs to have good. ethical promotion, in trusted media.
Dems need to take a gun to a gun fight. So far it still looks like a knife to me. :)
Insulting John McCain(w/ brain cancer),insulting retarded people,calling Liz Warren pocahontas
Terry, yes there are a lot of similarities which means people can be manipulated into believing almost anything if they think their well-being will be enhanced. The reality, though for most Germans was not very positive. Everything tanked for them when they started a massive war that most nations opposed. Would Trump and Kump start a war, who knows. The one guarantee, they may put on the uniforms as Hitler's crew did, but they will not fight unless it is against totally unarmed civilians they can convince themselves they can defeat. Vengeance will be the rule of the land, for themselves, not anyone else. Because history is often so poorly taught, most people have no clue who Hitler and his crazies were and the real harm they did. So many Trumpers and Trumpetttes want to believe the Holocaust didn't happen so they can roll along merrily believing in their own righteousness as they commit "small" acts of hate against neighbors and people they don't understand: insulting neighbors, flying flags that extol criminal behavior, disparage groups they have been primed to hate, claiming their hate is from god, make racist or misogynistic comments, act as though they, themselves are not descendants of immigrants who probably didn't come here "the right way." Those "small" acts add up and help to polarize a society and that is deliberately set up by the guys and it is nearly all men who want power, money, and other benefits they have no right to. Anger, fear, resentment, and outright hatred are so easily manipulated. The positives of love, joy, peace, and hope are harder to pull people into because they don't seem as real as the negative emotions that tear one up inside as though that proves those are the real emotions; they're not, just four among many both positive and negative.
I'm afraid that instead AI ChatBot will create the new improved deep fake Big Brother who can easily morph to your personal preferences every time you log on. And everyone has their own personalized Big Brother while they all think there is A Big Brother who will save them from the Libs. It's quite feadible.
Trump has obviously been both a low IQ moron and a fascist all his life, his first attorney was Roy Cohen Christ's sake. For here's precisely how he became the Perfect GOP Candidate: A supreme Narcissist who first builds Hotels with his last Name plastered all over the top of each with a Will To Power Fixation that drives him to become a TV Star where the whole game was to have the contestants kiss his ass to see who was His most 'competent' Apprentice, Firing all the Losers before finally picking the Winner, Like Me. Which sets him up to run for President, Wrapping Himself In MAGA Flag to Beat all those Loser Politicians in the Primary and Lock Her Up Hillary in the 2016 Electoral College. Rejoice, rejoice an absolute field day for all the fascists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, plutocrat billionaires, corporatists, corporate media, evangelical preachers and six Supreme Court Justices all Backing a Moronic and now progressively Demented Fuhrer for the MAGA Masses Who Worship Him Like A God, Further Feeding Its Insatiable Sociopathic Narcissism!!!
You wouldn't know Fascism if it ran over you or you would know that the only sign of Fascism in this country is the Biden /Larry Fink project ESG. Now that's Fascism.
But, human biology is not an exact science. As a result, one NEEDS placebos as a control group to better interpret results statistically.
Edward Bernays in the early 1900s told us that our congress, politicians and governments are run by a “secret government” : https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/who-are-the-bad-guys
Government comes from the French or prior to that Latin. Its original meaning was to direct or steer, as a ship. Not control the mind. Stop the BS please.
Time to put a heavy tax on corporate stock buy backs. Make them pay up corporate debt before buying back equity.
Christiane, I would like for the President and Congress to prohibit corporations from stock buy backs. I feel it has only made things worse!
Companies use stock buy backs to manipulate their stock share price and earnings per share. Stock manipulation using buybacks was illegal once and should be illegal again. Unlike dividends where taxes are paid in the year received, stock buy backs allow shareholders to defer paying taxes on their share of corporate profits until the stock is sold. Unfair tax loophole!
Most pass on the capital gains to their heirs and nobody ever gets to pay taxes.
Yeah it's ridiculous, Biden should really push to heavily tax, or eliminate this ..
Agreed
...and don't forget "carried interest" for big fund managers!!!!
But taxing would be faster,
Not feasible with bought lawmakers,
Need to sweep. It can be done.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
That won't deter them from voting for their Orange Jesus.
FAY : Corruption lives!
Corruption makes the corrupt powerful, and Americans love power and the powerful.
Chtistiane Ianneli : my conversation 10 hours ago with Fay was about how hard it is to get legislation passed to limit greed. Which feeds the kind of wealth that causes power imbalances and wealth nequality. There are many Americans who are powerless. Any country can have power and wealth imbalances. Hopefully we can get past this challenge to self rule and the dream of self rule, in a Democracy. Corruption must be fought. Freedom is not free. The pen is mightier than the sword. If all else fails : There is power in numbers! We will vote!
If only it would pass, and they would pay!
That's why we need a landslide and trifecta this fall. We need a wealth tax, not an income tax. which the uber wealthy never pay anyway.
I doubt the government has the power to forbid buybacks. But taxing the buybacks is a legitimate option.
It inflates stock market prices by what is essentially a book manipulation. Honestly they should be making acquisitions, or be paying down their corporate debt.
You mean that’s what you’ve been told to think. It’s preferable to look at actual evidence.
I think it is best to, again, outlaw stock buybacks!
What a genius you are. Please explain to me how paying off corporate debt will lower gas prices in California. Gas is priced at over $7 a gallon at some stations for premium, while regular gas is high to mid $6 everywhere in the state.
Stocks are not debt. Two different things. Debts have to be paid off, stocks can only be sold, receive dividends are become worthless junk.
Stock buy backs are nor paying off corporate debt. The price of gas is a factor of exploitation by oil producing countries, like OPEC, and supply restriction or even market manipulation by oil refineries.
BTW the biggest Oil refinery in the country is in Port Arthur Texas, Motiva, and it is owned by the Saudi's.
I thought gas prices were higher in California because a special blend of gasoline is used and the state imposes higher excise taxes. Gas prices in Virginia are $ 3.28 regular and around $ 4.00 for premium.
Over $5.00 where I live, but it comes to us via a special ferry barge.
The dock from which it leaves is located about 5 miles from a refinery owned by the Koch Foundation., and the prices throughout my part of the state are over $4.00 a gallon up to $4.50 a gallon,, higher in some places. Costco or an Indian Reservation is the best deal. Indian Reservations because there is no sales tax, CostCo because it has buying power.
Paying out the debt will increase their profit margins because they will not have to pay interest on that debt. The higher profit margins will put pressure on them to lower prices.
Put an excise tax on exporting oil, and create a domestic oil glut!
This is just inaccurate. In the east bay about the highest premium high octane is about $5.79, bargain low octane is about $4.39.
You've covered the entire state? Apparently you missed $4.39 in Chuka Vista
Agreed
Hard for politicians to bite the hand that feeds them. Biden has two mega problems, big corporations and the Jewish Zionism lobby.
And , like any politician ; the ones who voted for him, and he has served well enough under the circumstances faced today.
Biden only does what suits him and not the people. He is an incrementalist, player, and backer of corporate rule: he and Trump are both fools on the hill. America is reaching the end, sadly, of its endeavor to uplift humanity; i.e. military support allowing massive destruction in Gaza is just the tip of the iceberg. What's next? I dare not think of it.
“Partly, I think, because he’s uncomfortable attacking corporations directly.”
This has been the Democrat’s problem since about 1980. And then we got completely screwed by Citizens United. How much money do the grocery store conglomerates shovel out to our senators and representatives? Where is the price gouging litigation? How about antitrust enforcement? How about price controls? Even Nixon was able to implement price controls… and guess what? They work. Duh.
William, I agree with your assessment. I see the problem as the embedding of corporate rule within our governance administrative systems so things aren't changing; plus, too many of our fellow citizens/neighbors are so stressed out by the wealth gap that they can or do rarely fight back. So here we are in a huge mess!
Agreed. Our federal administrative agencies are so captured that we’re debating whether or not the EPA has the authority to regulate air pollution.🤯
Joan ; I hope the voters prove that theory wrong.
Excellent Comment Tom. Most excellent. I agree with every sentence.
Tom: Then Einstein helped to give us the atomic bomb. "Then he went off sniffing drainpipes, and reciting the alphabet" Bob Dylan.
I didn't realize that there was an article in the constitution that says that America has a mission to uplift humanity?
Gaza is a bitch isn't it, a conundrum, a dilemma,if only HAMAS hadn't started it by slaughtering and raping Jews, and using Jews and their own people as human shields, maybe, just maybe those 12, 000 innocent women and children, and those 15,000 HAMAS fighters would not have been killed
And? Does that justify HAMAS using them as human shields? Hmaslover?
Tom, thanks for sharing this excellent reporting. Our MSM probably won't pick it up but maybe The Guardian will.
Yeh right, blame the Jews, Israeli oil, Jews lobby for high gas prices to enrich the Arabs. The Saudi's own Motiva the largest oil refinery in the US in Pt Arthur Texas, and have stock in others, as well as control OPEC, but it is all the Jew,dumb shit.
Imagine that the Jewish lobby trying to make the Arabs even richer. Why didn't I think of that.
War cannot resolve problems but dialogue can if people have the will to cooperate and collaborate--that's missing on our planet due to the reliance on our reptilian brains instead of our parasympathetic nervous system. We need help from neuroscientists on rewiring our brains that can function better for the 21 century. I suggest folks read "Mind Magic" by Dr. James Doty--a neuro surgeon and scientist at Stanford. He offers a way out of our societal nightmares! It takes practice and commitment but works.
I totally agree, it takes commitment first of all, and the question now becomes how do we get people to stop oppressing others, to sit down and work things out?
I think that is impossible, a great thought, but considering the human condition of the need for dominance, quite impossible.
Problems have solutions. I do not know anyone who has come up with a solution, especially when it has to do with identity.
I've read, literally thousands of books, and hundreds of solutions, compelling ones at that, but not realistic.
Even when an idea (ideology) system dominates, it evenutually fractures, schisms and we start all over again.
Charlemagne created an Empire, when he died he left it to his sons, and before you know it his descendants were at it again, fighting for dominance and who owned what.
Same shit happened with the Mongols, in China, in Russia, in Tajikestan, same thing happened with the Arabs, the Turks.
The very worst conflict is over religion,whether it is the other religion, or a schism within a religion.
Your 100% right! I noticed these last couple of weeks the stores near me are advertising that they're slashing prices on thousands of items. If they can do this now, why did they raise them in the first place? They knew they could get away with it. I keep hearing that the economy is good but I've been waiting for it to trickle down to me yet! Keep slashing those prices please!
Marta, they raise prices so they can have sales.
I had a neighbor who worked for Sears and Roebuck, before they dropped the Roebuck
And she told us that when they advertised a sale, they actually raised prices on many items, not lowered them.. People think a sale means reduced prices. The primary definition of a sale is:
.
the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.
Must be food that couldn’t be delivered to Gaza got diverted to stores near you ?
I recall watching prices go sky high before inflation was ever mentioned, but corporations insisted their prices skyrocketed as a result of inflation. They must really believe consumers are stupid.
Inflation is always going up, if anyone wants to know the real inflation, the numbers must be done by a non-Partisan Economists !
Government cooked numbers serve no purpose except for fooling the people !
Well, PART of that IS true. When the pandemic shut down the supply chain world wide, what do you think would happen when all of that pent up demand for goods is unleashed at the end of the pandemic? Because supplies were low and demand high, prices rose as did delivery times. The problem here, is that corporations didn’t feel the need nor pressure to lower prices as the supply chain rebounded. Forget that consumers spent like there was no tomorrow? The consumer does have the power to force prices down on some commodities. Take Target as an example, they have had to cut prices to get clients back in the store. Nothing at this scale ever happens fast. That’s both a financial problem and a psychological conundrum for consumers. American’s want everything to happen with a snap of their fingers. It just doesn’t happen that way. Life is not a TV show, it’s typically very complicated. So too for global economies. On top of that, some oil companies shuttered or permanently closed refineries, because demand was low. They take time to start up, and are dependent of the timely delivery of crude oil. If one bothered to look at the costs of commodities over the course of the pandemic and beyond, they will find that energy costs were the most inflationary aspects. And those costs drove everything else up. And now, OPEC, is trying to cut supplies to maintain prices. So what do we think is going to happen? But of course, all Trump has to do is snap his fingers and everything will fall in line. If the voters are that stupid, then we deserve Trump. What I’ve witnessed so far from the public, doesn’t give me confidence that they have thought through what it takes to run an economy, much less regulate their own spending. Which IS part of the problem. Just look at consumer debt. And people cry about the national deficit?
And consumers prove that they are stupid Dave, That is what the election campaigning about Inflation is all about.
There is short term inflation, when the Fed expands the money supply by lowering interest rates, and there is the long term inflation, that will continue to rise, because of the interest on all debts (public and private). That is why a car that costs $2,000 in 1964, costs $35,000 today, long term inflation.
Justifiably so.
Aren’t they right?
I never believe these numbers including employment and unemployment numbers !
By the way, I am as old as Biden, I gave up on my Medicare benefits, I don’t see any doctors nor I buy any medicine, I have a health insurance for drugs and doctor visits, I was pissed off two years ago after visiting a doctor and the medical bills ! Enough !
Now, I am healthy because I don’t want to see doctors !
Same here. At 80 I keep my distance from the medical establishment. I take responsibility for my own health and it has nothing to do with prescriptions and/or surgery.
I have been going to the Gym and recently I also got back into my Yoga that I did regularly during my youth years !
All the best to you !
Too bad. My cancer was caught at a quarterly check up for my insulin resistance. I had left side blindness (not blind in the left eye, but on the left side as a tumor was depressing the right occipital in the brain.
I mentioned this to my primary care physician at my quarterly diabetes check up and was sent down to have a CT Scan immediately the scan revealed a tangerinesized tumor, 2 days later I was in surgery, they removed the turmor, tested it, found it was non small cell carcinemoa, and that it originated in the lung. After 10 bouts of radiation on the head, I spent the next two years, receiving triweekly infusions of immunotherapy (Keytruda) and have been in remission for five years.
My primary care physicians saved my life Terry.. If the cancer hadn't caused a long, slow agonizing death, I would have probably died in a car accident, because with left side blindness I couldn't make safe left turns.
All the best to you, be strong and I am happy that your primary care physician is a good doctor and took good care of you !
🙏
Sir whatever. I don't believe you. You can't give up on Medicare. If you are on Social Security then you were automatically enrolled, and the only way to "give up" is to enroll in Medicare Advantage, and then you get screweed blue and tatooed.
I am on Medicare and have a 2nd ary, through CalPers, blue shiled. I am in remission from brain and lung cancer for five years now, I get quarterly CT Scans and semi annual MRI's, If I had to pay it would have cost me millions for treatment, surgery, SCANS, MRI's. I have paid nothing and will pay nothing. Just had a CT Scan this month another one in Sep and an MRI in Dec, no expense.
Medicare only pays 80%, you or your insurance pays the 20%, so you don't have secondary Insurance and have to pay yourself,
When Medicare was first signed you didn't pay anytihng, but the Republicans, changed the laws and the rules.
Also you didn't pay taxes on Social Security, but the Republicans and George Bush also changed those rules.
Taxing Social security is double taxing. First your gross income is used to compute your Federal Insurance Compensation Act (FICA) payment, then when you receive it,you are taxed on your allowance.
FICA is not a tax, it is an insurance payment, old age insurance,
My wife worked for Municipalities that had elected the Social Security Replacement Program (501 (a), She was taxed on gross income, then the equivalent of the Social Security payment (FICA) was taken out of her pay and invested, along with employer contribution) into a program managed by a company, then sold to another, she hasn't touched it yet, but must by the age of 72 1/2, but when she does it will be taxed as income, bumping us into the top tax bracket, and that is only one year away.
Thank you, Sir.
It was such an ordeal and I have to give up !
Now, I am doing alright with physical exercise, little bit of yoga !
Why is it you Robert, can see where the truth lies but so many chose to believe Trump's fabrications. During the covid pandemic manufacture's saw how the public was able to withstand the elevated prices caused by product scarcity and now they see no reason to lower prices to pre-virus levels. Its greed that's holding prices at the current inflationary level, not anything Joe can be held responsible for.
I’m glad to see the mention of greed and I also find it impossible to understand how individuals can be so blind to the lies and evil that is Trump.
Because, Patricia, the people that he appeals to and who are snowed, are actually doing pretty well, and their priorities are the culture war. They feel threatened by blacks, queers, brown people, and women attaining equal rights and status,
I am showing my age, but when I was young a game we played was king of the Mountain, there is only so much room at the top of the mountain (social pyramid)
Also men, well many men, have a need to feel in control,of not only women, but of their herd or pack, just like wolves and steers. When knocked out of their place as alpha's, they are in effected chemically neutered, in human males testosterone drops, Neutered males have difficulty erecting and penetrating.. Among wolves they are either beta's, gamma's, delta's or kicked out the pack and become lone wolves, also in Meerkat colonies, horse and cow herds.
MAGA men, can't feel manly unless the woman is submissive. Submissive women, even though they occupy political positions like Boebert , MTG, and ACB, enable men because they believe that they are the beneficiaries of male domination., the status quo, and thus not only enable the status quo, but actively support and strengthen it.
William, I disagree strongly. Many of the Trump supporters that I know or have met "actually" are NOT "doing well," and the majority are hoping Trump can reverse their fortunes and make food, gas, rent/mortgage, electricity, affordable again. They were doing better four years ago, pre-pandemic, regardless of race, age, gender identity, and education. Biden has expenses far higher than just a few years ago, has entangled us in two hot regional wars, has allowed our defensive weapons to lapse into disrepair, has engaged in malicious lawface, has splintered the unity of our military, has stirred racial, religious, and gender hate, and more. Among the millions who entered illegally, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of terrorists and/or covert soldiers who wish us ill and who are beginning to emerge. The Trump advocates just want a better life.
You are bitter, hateful, condescending, bigoted, and full of faux superiority. You don't sound like you have a nanogram of hope or good will. This is the MO of the left. Your problems are mostly from your crabbed perspective. You will suffer a miserable life twisted by your perspective. You can choose to succeed during a Trump presidency, and I sincerely hope you do.
Wow, you do sound like a Trump ad. Enjoy your dictator.
As regards your personal estimation of me, keep them to yourself. I really don't care what you think of me, and your opinion will not change me or what I think.
Now that you got that off your chest, do you feel better? I hope that it was cathartic.
Better than a soap suds enema. Have a nice day. At least my dictator is coherent, continent, and somewhat amusing.
Creeps like you make life suck for all those around you. I'm glad I'm far away.
I love you too.
This inflationary period started only with Biden.
Bullshit. Read a little history.
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-biden-inflation-9-percent-740342231608
"AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Inflation was at 1.4% in 2021 as Biden assumed the presidency, having risen from a low of 0.1% in May 2020, two months into the COVID-19 pandemic. It continued to increase steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency, reaching a peak of 9.1% in June 2022."
There is short term inflation and long term inflation. short term inflation is when the money supply is expanded by borrowing, driven by the Federal Reserves Open Market Window rate, Jerome Powell set it at 0.25%, raised to # and 4 % under Biden.
However the expansion of the money supply results in immediate exuberance in the market, jobs created, consumers go into debt, but there is a time lag, for it to catch up, and that time lag is about four years
You pump money into an economy and the prices doesn't go up the next day, it takes time for the ripple effect to be felt.
When Republicans assume power, they go on a spending spree, like drunken sailors and tax cuts for the wealthy, By the time the cycle is over and the bill comes due, it is usually time for another administration and that is Democrats and then the Republicans bitch about the deficit and inflation that they caused, and the Democrats then cut back federal spending, contract the economy and piss off their base.
Google Jude Wassinski and the Two Santa Claus Theory.
Inflation had been tamed since 1981 or so.
Looking at the official stats.
Yes, and ...? In Biden III, what does he plan to do to get inflation control -- TAX EVERYTHING
Change "Biden III" to "Biden II"
Nonsense.
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
See for yourself
And Biden is helping you pay for your rent, groceries, gas, and Big Mac's?
It's called Dunning Kruger Effect
Both sides lie.
You can't see the difference?
I see difference in shades of gray: choice of fascism or corporate authoritarian rule already embedded in our governance.
Cynicism can lead to not voting, or at worst voting for the very tools of the money power. Trump is simply a despicable person, always has been, reason enough to reject him and his bullshit. Call it "lesser of two evils", but there it is.
OK. I understand your nuance now. Thanks.
Perhaps...
As the President, he is permitted, required, and as our nations leader, has the obligation to do something about higher than reasonable prices as a direct result of price manipulation based on greed and excessive profit using rules concerning monopolization, collusion, price fixing and a host of other profit support/control options. He has the right and obligation to protect the general public from excessive profiteering pricing tactics and behaviors as it effects the welfare of his citizens. He has the power to erect the guard rails to protect Democracy and Capitalism and the general welfare of the population, fair market competition theories and practices. We as a purchasing public would and/or should have options to control greed on unreasonable structured pricing by not purchasing outrageously priced items. We as a public purchasing group, if we could organize effectively, would buy from sellers who were less expensive. We don't have that option for the most part due to corporate control over the Supreme Court, Congress, imposed restrictions, monopolization, etc. . The President... as the third leg of the governing stool does.
Why do we insist on putting tariffs on perfectly good products from overseas? To protect a small segment of businesses that have no problem overcharging us for products that make them outrageous profits. They convince us that the products they sell, more than half of which... are made overseas, are different from the products that are made over seas...yeah what? Would you rather pay 13k for a perfectly suitable EV or 65k for essentially the same thing. The wealthy couldn't care less whereas the working class/middle class/lower middle class and lower still, would be the beneficiary of the less expensive purchase option to save the planet, money on fuel, and maintenance. The difference of 40 to 50k would allow the immediate sales of EV's and solar energy items to skyrocket and we would instantly be on our way to helping to solve the issue of climate change. The savings would be pumped back into the economy further strengthening our economy. The overall multiplier effect of the increased sale of items that we can produce more efficiently would increase and the auto industry in this country would be forced to be more competitive...but only if they had to.
Seems that it's Biden who is the fabricator of lies:
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-biden-inflation-9-percent-740342231608
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Inflation was at 1.4% in 2021 as Biden assumed the presidency, having risen from a low of 0.1% in May 2020, two months into the COVID-19 pandemic. It continued to increase steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency, reaching a peak of 9.1% in June 2022."
Yep, as we get closer to November, the Trump humping bots and AI trolls are showing up i will only get worse. I wonder how many will hang on after Novemer 5 or January 20th.
Are you saying that AP is a troll?
AI, not AP. Trolls use selective sources to promote their POV.
Or this:
https://www.factcheck.org/2024/05/factchecking-biden-on-inflation-other-claims/
Like this I suppose:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/14/politics/fact-check-biden-inflation-when-he-became-president/index.html
AS I said selective sources. Your sources don't mention the cause of inflation or temporary or long term inflation. just headlines to grab attention and sell eyeballs and clicks..
Bad news, controversy sells, people are by and large dolts,like the dude that posted the above two links, they are looking for stuff that confirms their bias, or excites their glands and amygdala.
When the news isn't bad,then they twist it. By the way CNN is Fox lite and has been as far as I can remember.
Fox grabs the major audience share, which means advertising revenue, leaving the other networks scrambling for market differentiation, grabbing what is left,like MSNBC, or trying to make inroads and carve off the fringes of Fox.
Selective sources from corporations that do selective reporting.
No fucking wonder we are a mess.
Uncle Joe has declared himself “a capitalist” — I think the occasion was the State of the Union address. As a self-declared “capitalist,” he’s boxed himself into accepting profit-making as the highest good of our economics. Maybe he should retreat on this topic by pointing out that, under our capitalist model, the freedom to pursue profit can and does steer businesses to overdo it whenever they get the chance; and therefore that price controls are a temporary answer to the gouging — until, of course, the captains of industry come to their senses.
With regard to the greed of the large cooperations. If I add to that greed the fact that the majority of the billionaires are Republicans, then why would they not keep the prices high, it would make people blame Biden and vote for Trump, and as such their profits would only get higher because Trump wants to reduce taxes even more.
I understand that a rather large number of billionaires support Trump, and I find it very hard to accept that if you have so much money that you will still cheat and manipulate to get even more, and don't care about others.
They don't have to care regarding others so they don't.
We're fighting an uphill battle. As long as we have the Citizens United case in the books, everything we do is at best patching a hole. I'd say, Biden needs to go big. How about promising that he will fight to: 1. eliminate the Electoral College system, so everyone's vote counts; 2. get Citizens United reversed, so we can reduce corruption; 3. bring integrity and impose accountability with real penalty to lawmakers, so they won't be able to flat out lie; and 4. overhaul Supreme Court and impose strict ethics guidelines that will be administered by a 3rd party. Yes, people are suffering, but they also think that the American Idealism is dead. It's time to bring some light into the political system.
Democrats should broadcast widely that Trump's Project 2025 is to a large extent driven and funded by Corporate and Billionaire greed and is designed to benefit them, not the people and the people will end up paying for their benefits so COL will go up instead of coming down.
All election in America are paid for by the AIPAC Zionist Lobby ! By the way, I stopped all my campaign contributions to my favourite party led by my unfavourite leader !
Yeh they are. Snicker. , snicker, ROTFLMAO
You aren't even American, You are a Brit, or a bot, I can tell by the way you spell favorite.
There is proof that Sir alphabet is an AI bot, It actually liked my ridicule,because I said Yes they are, and didn't catch the significance of Snicker. Since AI's aren't human, they don't catch ridicule colloquialisms or irony
And Trump will raise tariffs even more. That will drive up prices.
It shouldn't be so hard for Dems to lay greedflation at the feet of the greediest corporations.
Why is Larry Summers still around? He had a HUGE hand in causing the Great Recession of 2007 to 2012. He also supported the bailout for the bailout of the very people who did cause the recession, the criminal people in banks, brokerages, were NOT charged for their crimes they were REWARDED. And who paid for the mess? Why us of course! The millions of us who lost their homes when they suddenly lost their jobs and owed double or more what those houses cost. And people like me, whose pension funds had widely invested in the criminal actors, I can't believe Summers is anywhere near Joe Biden.
That rant aside, I agree, Biden needs to call out specific companies, Exxon whose ads lie about how they are "saving the planet" by using algae to produce oil. If you believe that - shame on you. And definitely the junk food industry Pepsi and Coke. The meat price gougers and BTW the plant based meat industry too. I had a heart attack (mild) in 2018 and was advised to stop eating red meat, so I've switched to fish, poultry and plant based meat. Those prices keep rising too. Have soy beans suddenly become scarce? How can they justify $10 to $20 a pound for plant based "meat"
Larry Summers has been a big fool for a long time. Yet his karma is such that media, politicians, academics, keep treating him with reverence, soliciting his opinions, and elevating him as a source. It doesn't seem to have much to do with how often he's been wrong or the blather he mouths. Some people just seem to be exempt from consequences.
Yes, and therein lies the problem, what is good advice for corporate America is bad to rotten for the 90% of us
Good question. Could it be price gouging?
100% in total agreement with this, Professor Reich!! Living on a very limited, fixed income is hard even at the best of times but here lately I find I have to cinch my belt even tighter than before!! Using Aldi's, Ollie's, Sav-a-Lot, Dollar store, thrift stores, Farmer's Markets, U-Pick fields and vegetable stands have made it possible for me to live on what I make each month but even cutting every corner it seems the prices continue to climb!! I am all for President Biden campaigning on what and how he will go after these greedy corporations. I would like for him to spell it out as to how he is going to do that in his second term. trump will not do anything about these corporations but he will spoon-feed his followers into believing 'he alone can fix it' only it will happen in two weeks. He will tease his cult with something big is going to happen to these corporations and we will lay it out for you in two weeks. It will be the bigliest, bestest, most wonderful plan in the history of the world! I would like to see President Biden tick off point by point what is happening with these monopolistic corporations and what he intends to do about them in the next four years. He needs to warn citizens of how dangerous these companies are with their price gouging, insanely huge profits going to their CEOs and shareholders instead of some of it going back to the employees and treating them like serfs - easily replaceable. He does talk in his campaign speeches about taking on the greed of corporations to curtail the cost of gas, food, rent and junk fees but he needs to be very clear to the American public about how he is going to do that. Fingers crossed this will become one of his main talking points! Vote Blue, America!!
Thank you! Every time the Biden campaign asks for a donation (at least once a day), I wonder if they know how little expendable cash I have and how the last thing I want is to meet up with them and some celebrity. One of my indulgences is good news sources, like this substack, that keep me sane. I'm mostly writing some postcards and hoping that the recipients (provided that the snall's pace of the Post Office delivers them on time) are able to get to the polls and that when they do, that vote will be counted.
Well said progwoman. Get real! A contest to meet Biden and celebrities if we donate? I'm not a groupie. Don't insult us.
Applause for you, Progwoman! Everyone is trying to do all they can to help President Biden with another four years! I, too, get hit all the time for donations. All I can say is I give when I can which isn't very often! Vote Blue, America!!
Did you notice that today's responses to RR's column are filled with unfamiliar names and arguments? I suspect that he hit some nerve in the right wing, because the trolls are out.
Progwoman, good catch. It could explain why I noticed that some of the new posts were fairly incoherent. Makes me think of troll farms in foreign countries, where computer operators are paid by the sheer number of spammy things they spew out--doesn't matter much what or how they say it.
Definitely progwoman. I mad this comment months ago, I noticed Trump humpers, people, bots and now AI's showing up, they dominated Shitter and FB, and now substack, at least the sites where they can post free,. It is getting worse, their objective is to disrupt discourage and dismay liberals. There is a war going on, and they are not difficult to identify, inevitably it will lead to rationalizing, apologizing for Putin, like Putin was only defending himself, because America started it.,or the military industrial complex is behind it all
They even couch their propaganda in terms that they know the left will bite on, like imperialism and colonialsim. They love to accuse the U.S.A. of imperialism, while ignoring Russia's, and when they can't, they claim that Putin is "forced" into his genocidal invasion of Ukraine.
And when they don't devolve to Putin, remember a vote for Trump is a vote for Putin, Kim Jong Un, XI , Orban and every tyrant on the face of the earth.
Trump and Xi are thick as sheeps wool, he Chinese government granted a total of 41 trademarks to companies linked to Ivanka Trump by April of 2019—and the trademarks she applied for after her father became president got approved about 40% faster than those she requested before Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 election, according to a new book by Forbes
Progwoman, the amount of trolls will increase quite rapidly the closer we get to the election. They will use whatever means necessary to combat our truth and awareness about the election! Don't give in to their baiting tactics, just scroll on by. Vote Blue, America!!
I am a real far left winger !
That sentence alone, proves that you aren't what you claim to be Sir whatever. The syntax is garbage.
And if you are by chance far left wing, then look up the ideological horseshoe, it is where the far left and the far right meet.
Like in the campus idiots standing one side of the sidewalk shouting Fuck Biden and the Proud Boys on the other side shouting Fuck Biden.
I don’t hang around sidewalks, I don’t look down on them, but I grew up in a different environment where there was no sidewalks 😃
I am a Democrat, but it is very uncomfortable to be a Biden Democrat and his bunch of amateur boys around him ! I don’t see any grown ups including Biden, an old fool ! I am sorry, but the plane he is piloting dropped suddenly something in the order of 10,000 feet !
Just imagine what happened to the passengers !
Vote what's best America: not red or blue.
True Joan, but for me, President Biden is what is best for America right now. I refuse to vote for the orange man because of everything he represents, his plans for revenge, Project 2025, and an obvious dislike for the country he wants to lead!
Waiting for one to be born !
At the same time, I think there many good people in America, but they don’t want to be in the Occupied Territory of Washington DC !
The Democratic Party can always nominate someone more convincing at their upcoming convention. It can happen. I think Biden should bow out gracefully now since he promised to only be a one-term president if I recall.. We cannot live in fear about Trump when we have no idea what will happen tomorrow. But we can strategically position the country to do much better.
Good video! I've told US citizens I know about this, but people who know how, need to get through to Biden's advisors, that being _seen_to tackle monopolies i.e. the optics of it, could win or cost him the election in November - and Congress too. That should get them moving!
I 100% agree that the number one issue is inflation! You mention Biden isn’t comfortable addressing these big corporations. Well that’s the role of being president: making tough decisions - this is a trait of leadership.
I also this this financial crisis could be a financial attack on the American people known as the act of “Democide” : https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/democide-and-menticide
Stomping for Trump are you Franklin.
You know as well as anybody, that the engine of campaigning runs on money, and who is the source of money?
None other than those big corporations and billionaires.
And where do they put most of their money?
Behind Republicans and Trump.
So lets see, Biden tells the big corporations to fuck off, like a brave man making a tough decision, and where does that leave us on Nov 5th this year.
With a big corporation political party, a fascist dictatorship, rounding up 11 million immigrants and Muslims, subjugating women, imprisoning queers, and turning this country into a Christian theocracy., those Arabs (Muslims) will really love that.
I think you mean Economic Genocide ! I think it sounds very woke !
Please don't misuse that term...
Hahaha — i think the people who believe Bin Ladin was the one who attacked the US may be the same people who really believe we went to the moon in the 60s lol
There is plenty of evidence that bin Laden was behind the attack on 9/11, Franklin and to your point the ones who don't are the same idiots who don't believe that we went to the moon.
You are on the wrong site, well maybe you are if you are a Qanon freak, bot or troll. lol.
Now we have to contend with Qanon trolls.
Why doesn’t President Biden tell the American People, how the GOP voted against his “Windfall Profits Tax” by 100%! That they were aware their wealthy donors, would gouge us for record profits after the Pandemic, but were unconcerned for the public? No one understands unless they have to make a decision between picking up a prescription, the mortgage or food! I foresaw this months ago, right here! I posted the food prices had to be addressed! When you have a good income you pay the higher prices, some families have to make choices, even with both parents working! @POTUS
The Debates are coming. Just wait until they begin. Biden has just caught, I understand, EIGHT IS cockroaches trying to infiltrate the US southern border. Biden will be able to turn the Border Issue against tRump. As for high prices, timing is also important. The best time to attack tRump on "high prices" will be during the Debates. Biden can trump (pun fully intended) tRump at this time also. First, there is the cap on insulin prices--with "negotiation" coming on other prescription prices to follow. Second, I understand, the Biden Administration caught a senior executive of a large Texas oil fracker colluding with OPEC+ to keep US oil production down and oil prices up. Biden--and the threat of jail time for the executive--can take credit for lowering the price of gas. It would also be a good time for Biden to attack corporate collusion and greed.
l doubt the debates are actually going to happen. Trump is going to beg off, citing Biden's refusal to participate in one on Fox "News."
You could be right and at this point, I don’t believe a debate would influence anyone. President Biden should take every opportunity to educate anyone who listens about Trump’s agenda, his past performance, his corruption, and the Fascism that we will face.
You are being rational but politics is not.
Trump can run, but he can't hide. Eventually, he will be forced to debate.
I don't think so. Only the threat of imprisonment can make him do anything he doesn't want to do. That's how he ended up in a New York court. He won't go to jail if he doesn't participate in a debate. Money doesn't mean anything to him except as a mark of prestige. He can always squeeze more out of his marks. He is not capable of shame, only of his appearance looking bad (according to his peculiar standards). Meanwhile, I'm expecting his Supreme Court to render all of this meaningless anyway.