Friends, good morning. Our fifth class begins our focus on power — and on the relative weakness of workers and the relative power of big corporations. Just double-click below, and you’re in the class. Background: It’s one of the oldest struggles inside the American economy and within capitalism worldwide: between labor and capital. And it has a direct effect on inequality.
CNN is providing Donald Trump an exclusive, prime-time platform in his campaign for president.
OPEN LETTER TO CNN,
Dear CNN,
I am writing to express my utter disgust and disappointment with your coverage of a former president who attempted to orchestrate a violent insurrection against the United States because he did not win a second term. It is beyond comprehension that you would give any airtime or column inches to someone who has shown such blatant disregard for democracy and the rule of law.
Donald Trump has repeatedly lied to the American people, incited violence, and attempted to undermine the very foundations of our democracy. He has shown himself to be a danger to our country and a threat to our national security. And yet, you continue to give him a platform to spew his hateful rhetoric and dangerous lies.
What message does this send to the rest of the world? That we condone and even celebrate those who seek to overthrow our government and destroy our democracy? That we are willing to overlook the most egregious violations of our laws and values in the name of ratings and clicks?
I implore you to reconsider your coverage of this individual and to take a stand for what is right and just. The media has a responsibility to inform and educate the public, not to provide a platform for those who seek to tear down our institutions and sow division and hatred.
In conclusion, I urge you to do better. The future of our democracy depends on it.
In their messaging going into the 2024 elections, Democrats should establish that votes for our party provide the only means of ending the disproportionate influence of corporations and billionaires on policy, budget, and oversight.
This nightmare of impending oligarchy will only end when Democrats are in full control of the White House and Congress. Only then can there be campaign finance and lobbying reforms, as well as legislation and oversight muscle to pull back power from corporations.
All things considered we have a halfway decent Country. In order to form a more perfect union we all have to pull in the same direction. No one ever said our Country is perfect because people are not perfect!
America will never come anywhere near perfection until we improve the lives of everyone. I believe that income inequality is the kryptonite. Money, or the lack of, breeds crime and corruption! We see it everywhere. In our SCOTUS, in our Government, in almost all walks of life.
Another big reason for our Country’s downturn is we CONDONE BAD BEHAVIOR!We need stronger penalties for those who turn against our Constitution, especially those in leadership positions. These people are not Patriots. They took the oath to uphold the Constitution not to work against members of the other party! Their job is to make our Country better for all Americans not to tear our Country apart!
Term limits, or the lack of, (SCOTUS), make these problems even worse. Obviously the Government isn’t weeding out the incompetent , i.e. George Santos, MTG, etc…
So the voting public has to wait until they can vote them out of office. How Sad!
All the jobs I had throughout my life I was held Accountable to do what was required or I would be fired. There were no term limits!
Unions are a necessity for workers. I grew up in a union family my father was a member of the Operating Engineer Union in New Orleans for a great portion of his adult life. He hung the steel on many buildings and the 3 major bridges in and around New Orleans.
I remember his patiently answering my questions about the how's and why's of unions, and his lengthly replies that I hung on. He explained how a union's main purpose was to represent its members to an often unconcerned management in order to insure fair salary and benefits to their employees. How unions were response for instituting pensions for construction workers based on a portion of their collected dues and fought for fair overtime benefits through collective bargaining and when necessary through striking workers. They also fought for work safety standards to be instituted and then monitored them to be upheld.
One if the most important tasks was instituting training for the next generation of people to effectively operate the cranes with their high gantries that were necessary to hang the steel for tall buildings and bridges.
The power of the many stood toe to toe with large concerns who were more interested in profits than they were with safety standards or a livable wage for their employees.
When I was grown I also found out that unions could have a dark side. The seemingly same dark side as some of the corporations they fought against, that of --greed and the desire for power to exercise this greed. Like all big organizations, and the people that represent them, who deal with millions of dollars of other peoples' money, there can also be corruption. Yes, unions are necessary in this world. For many it's the only defense against corporations with way too much power over the people and little or no respect for those whose work makes their company possible. But like all other organizations with access to large amounts of collected money, they need to be actively monitored and regulated.
Well it’s Easy to understand once the Supreme Court was bought and paid for by the corporations more than a century ago. The Supremely CROOKED MEMBERS OF SUPREME CROOKED COURT DECLARED CORPORATIONS HAD THE SAME RIGHTS under the constitution as citizens ( human beings).
It’s been a battle ever since in general corporations have more money to BUY THE SUPREME COURT LAWYERS. THe Corporations have used their money to buy the RULINGS THEY WANT TO ALMOST OUTLAW UNIONS CIVIL RIGHTS ETC FOR THEIR MONETARY ADVANTAGE.
The cure for this is civil war or rewrite the constitution ; I’m rewrite the Constitution advocate because I don’t have enough money to BUY the votes of the SUPREME ( gods of law) justices . Currently Our Supreme Court is blatantly for sale the worst in a long time. Just cover your bribery by using the justices families as “Bag People” to funnel money into Supreme Court pockets maintains the illusion of honesty...... J
One good place to start is to change the corporate law. As it stands, fiduciaries must act in the best interest of the corporation. In particular, the directors have a fiduciary duty to shareholders' wealth. And unfortunately, the best interest of the corporation in most cases does not include climate or public well-being. There are serious consequences to fiduciaries that do not act in the corporations best interest. So, sadly, these corporations are behaving as they should. And a bunch of people can hide behind the current system. If we tweaked the law, so that fiduciaries must act in the best interest of climate and public well-being before the wealth of the corporation or its shareholders, we can have a very different landscape.
We need more labor unions. And labor unions need to be more aggressive in struggling for worker safety and wages, but also on education, preparing workers for the new modalities and technologies. Robert Reich is such a powerful voice for the truth!
As almost always, I am struck with how good you are at teaching, and how difficult the subject matter is.
I feel that something went wrong in the USA, and with me during my adult lifetime.
I am trying to write a book that tells me what I can and should do to make the world better. I doubt that I can.
Watching you teach, and hearing you tell stories, remind me how hard it is, I suspect you would tell me that simply trying is good for me... and perhaps the world.
As great a danger and as repugnant a person DT is, I refuse to devote any more attention to him. He is unworthy of wasting one second more of my time on even acknowledging him. I have better things to do. I never watched his show before and I have tuned out now.
I think that Bob’s question can be explained a different way:
On one hand, corporations traditionally fight tooth and nail to prevent union organizing, or limit the pay and benefits that their already-unionized workers try to negotiate for themselves.
Nobody, to the best of my knowledge, has ever framed it this way (maybe I just don’t get out enough or read the right things, I don’t know), but the collusion between corporations to control markete, fix prices and limit wages, often in flagrant violation of antitrust laws, is also a de facto union, only in their case it’s an infinitely deep-pocketed one as it holds virtually all the reins of our economy. Paraphrasing Gertrude Stein, a union is a union is a union.
So, corporations hate only those unions that call themselves unions. Paraphrasing again, this time one of Shakespeare’s best-known lines, To corporations, that which is a sub rosa union would, by that name smell far less sweet.
URGENT
CNN is providing Donald Trump an exclusive, prime-time platform in his campaign for president.
OPEN LETTER TO CNN,
Dear CNN,
I am writing to express my utter disgust and disappointment with your coverage of a former president who attempted to orchestrate a violent insurrection against the United States because he did not win a second term. It is beyond comprehension that you would give any airtime or column inches to someone who has shown such blatant disregard for democracy and the rule of law.
Donald Trump has repeatedly lied to the American people, incited violence, and attempted to undermine the very foundations of our democracy. He has shown himself to be a danger to our country and a threat to our national security. And yet, you continue to give him a platform to spew his hateful rhetoric and dangerous lies.
What message does this send to the rest of the world? That we condone and even celebrate those who seek to overthrow our government and destroy our democracy? That we are willing to overlook the most egregious violations of our laws and values in the name of ratings and clicks?
I implore you to reconsider your coverage of this individual and to take a stand for what is right and just. The media has a responsibility to inform and educate the public, not to provide a platform for those who seek to tear down our institutions and sow division and hatred.
In conclusion, I urge you to do better. The future of our democracy depends on it.
(PASS IT ON) Comments@cnn.com
In their messaging going into the 2024 elections, Democrats should establish that votes for our party provide the only means of ending the disproportionate influence of corporations and billionaires on policy, budget, and oversight.
This nightmare of impending oligarchy will only end when Democrats are in full control of the White House and Congress. Only then can there be campaign finance and lobbying reforms, as well as legislation and oversight muscle to pull back power from corporations.
LIFE’S TOO SHORT STOP THE HATE
All things considered we have a halfway decent Country. In order to form a more perfect union we all have to pull in the same direction. No one ever said our Country is perfect because people are not perfect!
America will never come anywhere near perfection until we improve the lives of everyone. I believe that income inequality is the kryptonite. Money, or the lack of, breeds crime and corruption! We see it everywhere. In our SCOTUS, in our Government, in almost all walks of life.
Another big reason for our Country’s downturn is we CONDONE BAD BEHAVIOR!We need stronger penalties for those who turn against our Constitution, especially those in leadership positions. These people are not Patriots. They took the oath to uphold the Constitution not to work against members of the other party! Their job is to make our Country better for all Americans not to tear our Country apart!
Term limits, or the lack of, (SCOTUS), make these problems even worse. Obviously the Government isn’t weeding out the incompetent , i.e. George Santos, MTG, etc…
So the voting public has to wait until they can vote them out of office. How Sad!
All the jobs I had throughout my life I was held Accountable to do what was required or I would be fired. There were no term limits!
Unions are a necessity for workers. I grew up in a union family my father was a member of the Operating Engineer Union in New Orleans for a great portion of his adult life. He hung the steel on many buildings and the 3 major bridges in and around New Orleans.
I remember his patiently answering my questions about the how's and why's of unions, and his lengthly replies that I hung on. He explained how a union's main purpose was to represent its members to an often unconcerned management in order to insure fair salary and benefits to their employees. How unions were response for instituting pensions for construction workers based on a portion of their collected dues and fought for fair overtime benefits through collective bargaining and when necessary through striking workers. They also fought for work safety standards to be instituted and then monitored them to be upheld.
One if the most important tasks was instituting training for the next generation of people to effectively operate the cranes with their high gantries that were necessary to hang the steel for tall buildings and bridges.
The power of the many stood toe to toe with large concerns who were more interested in profits than they were with safety standards or a livable wage for their employees.
When I was grown I also found out that unions could have a dark side. The seemingly same dark side as some of the corporations they fought against, that of --greed and the desire for power to exercise this greed. Like all big organizations, and the people that represent them, who deal with millions of dollars of other peoples' money, there can also be corruption. Yes, unions are necessary in this world. For many it's the only defense against corporations with way too much power over the people and little or no respect for those whose work makes their company possible. But like all other organizations with access to large amounts of collected money, they need to be actively monitored and regulated.
Well it’s Easy to understand once the Supreme Court was bought and paid for by the corporations more than a century ago. The Supremely CROOKED MEMBERS OF SUPREME CROOKED COURT DECLARED CORPORATIONS HAD THE SAME RIGHTS under the constitution as citizens ( human beings).
It’s been a battle ever since in general corporations have more money to BUY THE SUPREME COURT LAWYERS. THe Corporations have used their money to buy the RULINGS THEY WANT TO ALMOST OUTLAW UNIONS CIVIL RIGHTS ETC FOR THEIR MONETARY ADVANTAGE.
The cure for this is civil war or rewrite the constitution ; I’m rewrite the Constitution advocate because I don’t have enough money to BUY the votes of the SUPREME ( gods of law) justices . Currently Our Supreme Court is blatantly for sale the worst in a long time. Just cover your bribery by using the justices families as “Bag People” to funnel money into Supreme Court pockets maintains the illusion of honesty...... J
One good place to start is to change the corporate law. As it stands, fiduciaries must act in the best interest of the corporation. In particular, the directors have a fiduciary duty to shareholders' wealth. And unfortunately, the best interest of the corporation in most cases does not include climate or public well-being. There are serious consequences to fiduciaries that do not act in the corporations best interest. So, sadly, these corporations are behaving as they should. And a bunch of people can hide behind the current system. If we tweaked the law, so that fiduciaries must act in the best interest of climate and public well-being before the wealth of the corporation or its shareholders, we can have a very different landscape.
Power is all the republicans want so they can rule as a minority government. Power leads to corruption and that is where we are now
Your virtual classroom awaits a working link to Lesson 5. My coffee is getting cold and I waited all week for my next dose of my favorite professor.
We need more labor unions. And labor unions need to be more aggressive in struggling for worker safety and wages, but also on education, preparing workers for the new modalities and technologies. Robert Reich is such a powerful voice for the truth!
Professor
As almost always, I am struck with how good you are at teaching, and how difficult the subject matter is.
I feel that something went wrong in the USA, and with me during my adult lifetime.
I am trying to write a book that tells me what I can and should do to make the world better. I doubt that I can.
Watching you teach, and hearing you tell stories, remind me how hard it is, I suspect you would tell me that simply trying is good for me... and perhaps the world.
Thank you again
As great a danger and as repugnant a person DT is, I refuse to devote any more attention to him. He is unworthy of wasting one second more of my time on even acknowledging him. I have better things to do. I never watched his show before and I have tuned out now.
Democratic presidents do not work for workers.
Republican presidents certainly will never work for workers.
Third party candidates are NEVER viable with a one-vote system that we currently have.
We need ranked-choice-voting to get a president - and senators - who are actually close to representative of the electorate.
Just got up and haven't listened to your recording yet. But this is an enormous "of personal interest" topic. Thank you for bringing it.
5th video on cops wasn't present...can you help?
Wow! Great article by David Dayen about Warren the Oligarch Buffet
I think that Bob’s question can be explained a different way:
On one hand, corporations traditionally fight tooth and nail to prevent union organizing, or limit the pay and benefits that their already-unionized workers try to negotiate for themselves.
Nobody, to the best of my knowledge, has ever framed it this way (maybe I just don’t get out enough or read the right things, I don’t know), but the collusion between corporations to control markete, fix prices and limit wages, often in flagrant violation of antitrust laws, is also a de facto union, only in their case it’s an infinitely deep-pocketed one as it holds virtually all the reins of our economy. Paraphrasing Gertrude Stein, a union is a union is a union.
So, corporations hate only those unions that call themselves unions. Paraphrasing again, this time one of Shakespeare’s best-known lines, To corporations, that which is a sub rosa union would, by that name smell far less sweet.