One area of disappointment I've had with Presidents Biden, Obama, and Clinton has been and still is the abandonment of the United States Postal Service which represents a huge cohort of unionized workers. The only President who openly expressed contempt and destruction for American institutions appointed people whose entire corrupt objectives were to implement destruction of those institutions (Betsy DeVos, et al) with Louis DeJoy being the prime example of that. Biden made some campaign statements about DeJoy and the USPS and he has appointed two members of the USPS board but DeJoy is still there and still undermining the USPS - and in this election season, no less, with mail-in voting being a target from his and Trump's beginnings.
The USPS is a body of union workers, many women and Black workers, many veterans, and it is a beloved, valued institution. This would be a good place to start to stand up and speak out for American labor and a large American union - the USPS. The undermining of the USPS began 2 or 3 decades ago and while it has been largely a Republican plan to dismantle and hamstring it, the undermining got plenty of aiding and abetting from Democrats. What happened is shameful; that it continues to this day is despicable.
Biden and the USPS oversight board has a very short time to fire DeJoy and take a strong stand to reform, save, protect, defend the USPS and the myriad American workers it employs.
Yes! I hoped Biden would make it a priority to straighten out the board that appoints to postmaster and get rid of DeJoy, a man badly misnamed. I remember that Bernie Sanders had plans to make our post offices centers for low cost banking as well as moving the mail, which we badly need. In our tiny rural desert Utah town, the PO is place where everyone comes together. Yet, our sole postal guy is no longer a "postmaster" but has been downgraded to something less. Meanwhile, we have no USPS delivery and our UPS driver has been subjected to almost unbearable heat in her unair-conditioned van. If the PO were to disappear, it would be just one more isolating factor of many. We're on the edge of the Navajo reservation, and without those mailboxes and the information provided inside the PO, plenty of people would have little connection to the outside world, since wi-fi on the rez is often weak or nonexisitent. This is a badly needed human service, and it's not going to be solved digitally.
Oh Proud Woman, you have spoken for many people in this country. The way the postal workers have been treated in the past 2 years and some beyond is disgraceful. I also wish the USPS could handle basic banking. The people in my community have been regularly taken advantage of by payday lenders (some connected with big banks) and can never seem to get out of debt. Had there been postal banking, with reasonable interest rates, people would be so much better off. Another problem for me is that DeJoy attempted to sabotage an election but is still in office. How is that possible? There should be a way to get him out.
Progwoman, you tell the truth succinctly. This is something National Media needs to report, I have been complaining for a long time about the lack of air conditioning in delivery vehicles. My granddaughter drives for UPS. I wrote to my Congressman and he said he'd look into it. After the elections I will start an email campaign to both my Congressman again and also my two senators. See my response to DeJoy above.
when I read up on this several months back I concluded that Biden was not in a position to remove DeJoy.the postmaster position was deliberately made to be difficult for A president to remove him
Biden did replace 2 whose terms were up, that leaves 7 more. You can see their names on line and I suppose if I dug deeper I could find when their terms are up and who appointed them. You're right that democrats aren't full speed ahead. Clinton wanted to be 'loved' Obama wanted to work with the Republicans, who hated him because he was black. Biden wants to work at least with all Democrats and the DNC and DCCC are so glutted with corporate finances they might as well declare for the trumpster. Biden, maybe with the help of Bernhie Sanders, needs to clean house, find better candidates for the Democrats. Nobody is perfect, but surely out of 350,000,000 people we could find at least 10 persons of intellect in each of the 50 States who put Country and Citizens ahead of personal gain.
You did NOT understand my comment. The post office has been able to survive the past few years because they handle the shipping of packages for Amazon. People quit sending mail 15 years ago and the post office did not adapt. With Amazon they were able to keep alive.
@Cecelia. You don't understand. What was said is that the Post Office is part of dignified and productive work in this country. The commercial carriers are only in business, charging way more than the Post Office for the same packages, because of perverted support in Congress for undermining an institution founded in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Government doesn’t work because it has been made to fail. Federal employment job growth since Jack Kennedy is 1% per year, I think. Private sector employment for Federal chores is beaucoup more. So why aren’t you chortling about how Private Enterprise turned around Federal inefficiency? Maybe 60 more years?
I think Cecelia has some valid points. I hardly have sent a greeting card in 10 years. But De joy needs to go. He tried to stop people from voting and almost succeeded. It seems that even the normal political parties don’t even have any clout anymore, only the Trump party. Today’s example of being unable to get Donald Trump‘s tax records even though they’ve been trying since 2017 is an example of how the courts only work for Donald, no matter how many times Democrats another’s trying to straighten up things they come up against a maze of Trump-like maneuvers Using every branch of the government to stymie them. Then when that doesn’t work people stormed the capitol for the radical right. Like climate change the clock is ticking and if the Trump people win the November election, it may be too late.
People quit sending letters and mail over 15 years ago. The post office did not adapt to the changing technology revolution. Amazon has kept the post office in business due to their influx of packages being handled now. Once again, capitalism propping up government agencies that are over bloated and out of touch with what is happening in the USA.
thanks for bringing that up. how is it that a man who intentionally tried to sabotage vote by mail still runs the post office. he should be subpoenaed by the jan 6 committee. also whatever happened to the conflict of interest investigation into his awarding of contracts? is the justice dep't just so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of malfeasance by drumpf appointees that he's "just on the list"? Also, why is Bernie's idea for a postal banking system not being acted on?
DeJoy has appeared before Congressional committees and he has invariably been rude, arrogant, uncooperative, and high-handed. It is possible that his Congressional testimony is still available on C-Span archived materials, but I don't know that.
DZK, I remember that USPS trouble. They were looking for better working conditions and pay. I remember hearing a lot of folks complaining the cost of stamps would go up so they didn't want to stand with the workers. My dad, a union man was for the workers and thought a strike might be the only answer since it would make everyone pay attention. Strikes don't always work, but sometimes, they can change a lot of people's minds and lives.
Annie, thank you so much for speaking for the USPS. The workers, union workers do an amazing job getting the mail to everyone 6 days a week, under challenging conditions and with a boss who would rather they all be fired and the USPS be absorbed into private corporations (who by the way are having trouble with their own delivery process). I understand Biden wanting to be bipartisan, but sometimes it is necessary to just stop and dump the other party's appointees. DeJoy and Jerome Powell are two who need to go.
Right on, Annie. The current problem is the Board of Directors of the USPS are the only ones who can fire DeJoy. I don't know what kind of pressure we need to employ. There are 9 appointed governors, the deputy postmaster and DeJoy, the Postmaster General. So Biden appointed two, they would need at least 4 more ayes to dispense with DeJoy. I suppose an e-mail campaign could be started, but I have no idea if that would be effective. I know the the California Retired Teachers Association (CRTA is a union) has had a letter, email, text and phone call campaign for years (at least 10) to overturn the WEP (Windfall Elimination Program) and GPO (Government Pension Offset) and we always come up 1 to 10 short for passage.
I am 65 years old I came to California from New Mexico as a 27 year old on my own. I earned two masters degrees and a PhD in Psychology. Due to illness my husband could not help and I had two children to raise by myself. Thus my student loan is balloon more than $400,000. I've tried those phony income repayment opportunities which were lies and I had to sign a paper saying I would not Sue the federal government for having lied. Remember the federal government doesn't owe the $400,000 Plus, I do. Despite the fact that my two children and I have neurological illnesses we have gone on to work very hard. My 34-year-old daughter is now almost $200,000 in debt because of getting an MSW. She was a citizen of Arizona the second year but they wouldn't count it because they decided she wasn't going to stay. I guess they were right. My daughter my son and myself all work way under what we could be making. Our neurological illnesses are only one small part. I have left many jobs in Psychology that pay a lot more because they are just as corrupt as the governmental figures you have mentioned and I'm not going to play that game. I had to sell my house at some point but I bought another house 5 years ago and my house payment is less than $1,400. My son and his fiance and their niece are renting an apartment and not the best area of town for over $1,700 a month. My daughter is renting a room in Washington for $700 a month. Neither child can make enough money to ever buy a house at this point. I am hoping to pay off this house so they could have something. This is absolutely ridiculous all of it and playing out in our lives. The mental health crises I deal with are overwhelming everyday as I am in private practice. In my 30 plus years as a therapist I have never seen such suicidal, anxious, and depressed teenagers young people and people in their 30s and 40s. They're all having similar lives to mine and to what you've discussed no hope for any kind of security and just hoping that we don't get sick and screw over our children some more. Not that we've done it but this government sure has. I'm so glad you call out Obama and Clinton and I hope you keep doing it. They're worse than the Republicans cuz they should have known better. I'm sick of Obama always so concerned about his legacy get a clue look at what you did to us. So my biggest hope is that you will run for president or somebody who carries your exact values. And of course I'm very glad that you continue to speak out and include us all. One of my biggest causes is bringing back bankruptcy protection for student loans. Myself and my daughter should not have our lives ruined because we went to school and worked hard. My son was just slightly younger and like most second children around here in the Fresno Clovis area had to give up the UCS and go to City College because the economy had fallen apart in 2008. Thus he doesn't have a degree so at least he doesn't have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to stop him he just has a completely underpaying job. So keep up the good work Dr Reich. Know that you're speaking out has given me a lot of Hope and all of us here on the thread. Have a great day, Alexia
Alexia, that's such a moving and difficult story. I just retired from psychology practice and have much experience with what you discuss, but not your level of hardship because of financial privilege. We will not have enough professionals for mental health services if people can't afford to obtain the necessary education and credentials and support a family after all of that work -- not to mention the lack of a social or medical safety net for people like you and your family.
Thank you so much and I don't know if you know this but part of Obamacare that has not been implemented entirely but has to some extent here is that Obamacare wants Psychotherapy to go to 15 minutes only and only quote on quote evidence-based treatment such as weight loss and smoking I'm not kidding one of the places that I quit is already on the 15 minute therapy session evidence-based issues only. It's a scandal
Yikes! When serving Medicare and even Medicaid patients, it wasn't that bad, and that was last year. I was on insurance panels because that's who pays most of these bills. Teletherapy is growing and generally offers more coverage. You have parity illnesses like Major Depressive Disorder where they wouldn't cut you off, but after awhile the insurer is looking over your shoulder. I recently read somewhere that the average Ph.D. psychologist income is about $81K. It's difficult to see how you support a family and pay off a huge student debt on that income. And if you're struggling with neurological issues -- I'm sorry it's so tough.
Thank you for having the empathy to know what's happening. I'm involved with a group called student loan justice.org I wish you would look them up. One guy, Alan, Works practically single-handedly to try to get the bankruptcy protection Bill through which of course still is not through. You have a great day. We have to focus on all the positive there really is.
Alexia, I am sorry to hear that. Fifteen minutes is not enough time for anything related to therapy, but alas, even ACA is being taken over by the rich medical insurance industry as is Medicare. I don't know how to stop that move because the Medical Insurance industry is one of the most powerful lobbying groups and they donate A ALOT! Perhaps we need to severely limit lobbying, maybe no paid lobbyists, or under a certain number from any industry. That could help all of us.
Gary, you are right about the problem obtaining sufficient mental health counselors/therapists in the future. I graduated in 1975 and my final year cost $3,000 for the whole year in a small private college. Now that same school costs around $70,000 a year. That is obscene. I had an amazing education and the professors were paid a decent salary for the time. It didn't work out well for the school which was absorbed by a larger nearby university. We do tend to forget that both Clinton and Obama only got 2 years to get everything done and had to compromise the rest of the time they were in office because they couldn't fix everything in those 2 years and Republicans took over the Congress. Biden has actually done really well trying to fix things in his first 2 years, but it doesn't matter. There is a good chance that next Tuesday, Dems will lose both houses of Congress and Biden will get nothing done the rest of his time in office. I am not sure how that makes the Dems as bad as the Republicans who sabotage every effort to help people other than just the rich. People really are nuts.
And another point is Governor Newsome is really pushing people to get into psychology get their masters get their doctorate because we need to fix the mentally ill through the court system another huge overstatement of reality. So I see all these especially minority women who I supervise for their masters degrees who are going to be stuck in the same old circle of debt with all the false promises
Alexia, the governor is right, but without serious financial support, that education is not going to happen. There was a time when the state schools in California were nearly free for CA students. Thank you Gov. Reagan for your lack of insight and foresight, and general ignorance.
And sadly to Ruth sheets I was not lacking an Insight or foresight and general ignorance I was very prepared and I had all the numbers written back and forth as to how quickly I could pay it back and how I would do that. I forgive you for your lack of insight and foresight and general ignorance when it came to my situation period
What a shame that my husband myself and our two children had severe neurological illnesses that required much Medical Care and hospitalization. Again I forgive you for your lack of insight and your general ignorance
Unless you met Reagan had the lack of inside and judgment but you couldn't meant that because it seemed like you think what they did was purposeful which is what I think was true since I know it was because I know President Bush ordered people not to give the student loan repayment even though we were ordered to have it
Bullshit. This "American" corporate capitalist system has become the fellatorium of Mammon. Most of our European contemporaries enjoy higher median living standards, and nearly universal access to higher education.
William, you are right, but I wonder if the European institutions have to provide for a massive sports complex, state of the art dorms and health centers, and so many other perks students are forced to subsidize here today with their tuition and fees.
As I recall from my three semesters at Heidelberg back in the 1960s, following my graduation from college in upstate NY five years earlier, the housing was varied in facilities and cost, and meals at the Studenten Mensa were around 32¢ U.S. Not fancy, but healthy. Tuition was less than $50/semester, though.
I got my MA in Dublin at UCD back in '83. i went there because I could afford it. Ireland subsidizes its universities about 90% so the Tuition was only a few hundred dollars. Tuition at Rutgers, my state public university, would have cost about $30k. This is just one small aspect of the huge problem Reich is far too deep in the weeds trying to address.
I dream of an America where idealists who dream of bettering the world are admired and not exploited. A psychologist-that’s hardly some moonbeam path, no?! Why are they chewed up, then??
There are 44 million Americans in student loan hell as we speak. Also I think to respond contrary to being idealized I made out all the facts and figures and knew I had the money to pay back the loan within 10 years Etc. Never imagined the illness and hospitalizations that my husband went through the illnesses in hospitalizations that I went through and the illnesses and hospitalizations that my children went through
This is a helpful overview, but I think that it misses some crucial points.
1. Manchin was not removed from his positions of power within the Democratic caucus because he could have chosen to change parties. In so doing, he would have flipped the Senate. Democrats had to bargain with a corporate colleague who was already too powerful.
2. I wish this weren't true, but I fear that Trumpism has already won and we are looking at a colossal car wreck in slow motion. Democrats have failed to protect voting rights at the federal level, with Manchin and Sinema refusing to eliminate the filibuster. Republicans are electing Trump loyalists to positions like Secretary of State in battleground states. There are election deniers running in many safe Congressional districts. The Supreme Court is stacked with reactionary loyalists who will uphold legal challenges to MAGA shenanigans.
3. "Executive underreach," (Pozen and Scheppele*) in government is an established means of oppression that leaves people so busy trying to survive and creates such agitation that they are more vulnerable to propaganda -- something that I believe happened with Trump's mishandling of the pandemic. * "Executive Underreach, in Pandemics and Otherwise." American Journal of International Law, Vol. 114, pp. 608-17, 2020. Pozen, D. and Scheppele, K.L. (Available for free download here): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3649816
4. Trump went even further when he sent troops to the Portland demonstrations to stir up conflict that was settling down, a strategy also pursued by Assad in Syria. (Friedman**) That strategy turns people against each other and decimates resistance against tyrants. ** "Trump's Wag-the-Dog War." Friedman, T. The New York Times. July 21, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/trump-portland-syria.html
5. The inability to manage chaos and catastrophe of the pandemic saw escalating homelessness and crime in Portland and may flip Oregon from Democrat to Republican. (Goldberg) This is one example of a narrative MAGA Republicans are pushing nationwide. "If Oregon Turns Red, Whose Fault Will That Be?" (Goldberg, M.) The New York Times. Oct. 31, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/opinion/oregon-governor-race.html
We have to build a stronger movement, but we're in for rough times, especially with climate change taking hold while we're caught up in culture wars and held down by oligarchic rule.
Gary, Though I have posted this before, it bears repeating that each day I carry on my person a statement from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who once wrote, “Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” I suppose, having met with repeated frustration and failure, I view Brandeis’s statement as a reminder that only in retrospect might we garner a glimpse indicating that our individual efforts might have mattered.
Huh? People win if you let them win. Get out the vote today-- for the mid-terms. Participate in local democratic structures-- make a difference. The Republican party represents a minority. Vote them out of office.
AWESOME! It's a gift in a way-- getting out and interacting with others in the community. I'm also getting out the vote.
I just hope younger people understand what Republicans have in mind for their civil rights, their ability to have a stable and comfortable economic future.
We are local activists and are working to figure out how to reach and encourage more young voters. I see part of our job as elders as mentoring and celebrating young campaign staff and activists. They need to lead, and we can support them.
Very comprehensive! And I also fear things have gone too far. I would add: We have let the Trump aligned right wing own practically all of the media, so that all the news is now slanted, so that Hillary‘s emails became equal to all of Donald Trump‘s criminal activity, so a small event involving blacks looting is equivalent to the storming of the Capitol. “There a good people on both sides” seems to be absorbed by the news media. In reality we were negotiating with terrorists, many of whom seem to be in pivotal government positions. We have played nice and only brought a knife to an AR-15 fight. We keep playing by the rules while they keep undermining them and changing them and taking away our rights. We have somehow allowed Black men to be murdered by police for having cell phones or minor traffic violations, yet we cannot put the most notorious criminal in jail and somehow he can still run for president. I hope it hasn’t gone too far, but it sure looks like it has. If we win the November elections maybe we have a chance, but that’s not looking too good either. If the Republicans lose in 2024 they will storm the Capitol and if the Democrats lose in 2024 because they believe the election was stolen from them, what will they do? Will they storm the Capitol As a last resort? So I think democracy has already been destroyed because 1/2 the country will be Attacking the Capitol in 2024, thinking that they have exhausted all other alternatives. How will the very rich make manage to money on that?
Gary, your points are spot on. When one group has most of the money, most of the power, and no moral compass, there is nothing they won't do. Stressed out workers are prime targets for their propaganda, lies, deceit, and more. Those stressed folks would rather be with the ones that look like they have power than those whom they perceive to be weak, even though the powerful have only contempt for them. The rallies and rah rah stuff keep them distracted from what is being done to them and puts a laser beam the wrong culprits. When Republicans and their corporate puppet masters make up a BS conspiracy, the Democrats can say "that isn't true," but it sounds like they are saying like children do "no it isn't" so the Repubs can say "Yes it is and you can't prove it isn't true." How can anyone prove that Caesar Chavez, dead for years, didn't interfere with an election when people want so much to believe in magic?
George Floyd was murdered by police and this was captured on camera. The police who did this were convicted. You have helped make my point. Did tfg incite violence on purpose in Portland? Would he ever do that? He did so on another occasion, January 6, 2021, as shown in detail in videos and supported by the testimony of Republican witnesses. Read the Thomas Friedman article I linked and think for yourself. That’s an opinion piece. It may be right or it may be wrong. It fits a pattern. But you see that’s the difference between me and a MAGA acolyte. I can be right or wrong. But I am willing to learn what’s true even if I may not like it.
It is clear that we are further away from Economic Justice in America. Citizens United has permitted politicians to be bought. They increasingly represent their buyers & not we the people.
I have watched Bernie Sanders work hard to even out the playing field in his support of the unions & pray that he has planted enough seeds to make Unions grow. We have seen the harm of Big Oil, Big Banks & Big Corporations on the quality of life, health, education & welfare. There has been an increasing drive in the press, & social media to double down on propaganda wars to support their agendas.
The pandemic made these elite institutions nervous because without the masses of people keeping their financial wheels turning they would loose.
Only by the masses uniting, rising& working together can they be empowered to better their lives. Only with reinforcing the power of we the people- with Democracy can we protect ourselves, our planet & achieve the Economic Justice all people deserve.
In some ways, this piece understates the risks that society faces and what is needed.
The statistics and the analysis are, understandably, entangled with economic data representing the financialization of most Western economies. Wall Street's trading alone is somewhere above 4x of the real U.S. economy. Split the "financialized economy" from the real value economy and the picture will look even worse.
The house of cards will, at some point, collapse--and collapse hard. From a societal and civic education process that collapse will provoke a choice represented by the choices made in Germany and the U.S. in the 1930s. If the grievance mentality is allowed to continue dominating civic dialogue then Autocracy, Inc. will be able to step in easily and take over. We should rather focus on real economic value, not financial games, and build the message for Democracy, Inc. with a good economy for all of us.
Where attention goes so we go.
We have a national press focused on easy-to-get information. This creates a focus on central points of information, e.g. performance politics in D.C., Twitter and similar platforms, and the mechanically harvested data from the New York financial hub, but not explaining real economic value.
Our leaders need to focus on real value and hammer that home every day, all the time. Biden's calling out of share buybacks in by the oil companies was refreshing. Let's have more!
Power? Trump's power has less to do with class and economics than it does to demagoguery to the racist collective subconscious of the vast majority of his cult.
@Daniel. I think so too, but please take a deep breath and re-read what Dr. Reich wrote. Trump is a symptom; moneyed interests STRIVE to create sides and play them off. It's the money. I personally agree with your assessment - bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, resentment and a "righteous indignation" are present in many citizens. But it is this pre-condition that makes them ripe for exploitation. So, have the wisdom to know what you can change... You can't change human nature. Better to focus on the moneyed interests and their manipulation of cultural symbols, and the money they use to both pursue that manipulation AND the money they use to co-opt politicians who nominally would be/should be working to mitigate corporate and oligarchic power.
I know it's anecdotal, but MOST rich people I know are Democrats, even if they are full of trickle down BS. Andrew K. Mellon wanted the income tax because it meant that few if any strivers would ever become as wealthy as his family. Some in Pa were Anti-Mellon. Check out the Heinz family. FDR. Gates, Buffet, Democratic donors. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/most-influential-democratic-donors-2020-elections.html
@Daniel. Again, I largely agree with you. But forgive me, I just think you are giving the reasons why the bad actors among the moneyed interests have not completely taken over. It's a pretty optimistic thing to think that absolute wealth does NOT corrupt absolutely! Many people are better than that. We have lots of wealthy nice people. I myself was in the 3% range when I had an income (last year!) and I am very much on the liberal/progressive/socialist spectrum.
I respectfully disagree. I don't know that evidence clearly supporting a decisive conclusion one way or the other can be marshaled however.What I take Reich to be saying, and what I believe,is that the power that Trump gets by appealing to race, ,and other things, is greatly increased because there is such a large inequity in wealth. when people are economically insecure or distressed they're more likely to fall victim to scapegoating and contention generally.
@Steve and Jane. I don't think you need a degree in psychology to understand how people blame others for their problems, i.e. the contention part of what you say, and then as Daniel and I were discussing the pre-conditions some people carry make them vulnerable, as you say. I think we are all in some form of agreement with nuances. Cause for a bottle of wine and time to enjoy it!
The growth rate of the national debt profoundly exceeds the 1-3% growth of wealth from real productivity. That is unsustainable watering of the currency. We seem to no longer care. What is unsustainable, ends, said Laurance J Peter.
Yes, it is a train wreck coming. As economist Michael Hudson surveyed history in his 2012 presentation to an INET conference (https://michael-hudson.com/2012/04/debts-that-cant-be-paid-wont-be/) to show that debts that cannot be repaid won't be repaid. Hudson noted that even Adam Smith had reached the same conclusion. A more detailed analysis is in his book "The Bubble and Beyond".
Usually there is a triggering event that sets a workout crises in motion. The politicians that think they can ride the tiger and cleverly use a debt ceiling debate to impose austerity on the public may wish they had not. Taken too far this may well be the triggering event.
Much of U.S. governmental debt is really taxes that should have been collected from the wealthy and may be turned into that in a crisis of workout. The efforts at control by the financial elites would seem to say that some of them understand this.
The US did a very dangerous thing under Reagan - it split the currency into a dual-type currency while maintaining the fiction that a dollar meant a dollar.
At the time Reagan came into office, the median US household SAVED 10% of earnings, unspent. Anyone who could not save was considered poor, and perhaps in need of assistance. Nowadays, that would make the vast majority of Americans "poor" by the Carter days standard.
The US had taken two massive excursions into debt for WWI and WWII. The next President in measure of the size of expansion of debt was Ronald Reagan, who discovered that wartime spending during peacetime gave the illusion of prosperity, in the way that a new credit card gives you more buying power. Republican "prosperity" has followed that principle for years - you can be the favored parent if you give all the kids $100 when they come over for custody time. Make the mean ex-wife forbid them from spending it. Oh, and deduct it from your "child support expenses." What's not to like?
Reagan did wartime spending in a peacetime economy. The only way to do it was to print "Government dollars" that looked just like "savings dollars" and throw it around to corporate pals. Government dollars quietly inflated off savings. The Treasury Department substantively restructured the way they measured inflation in 1980 and 1990 to disguise underlying inflation, which has been running at about 10% per year for the last few decades. [added] I looked it up, and the BASELINE rate has been about 8%-10% by the pre-1980 measurements, which were notably unbuggered. They have been subsequently fudged 30 and 40 years ago, to disguise the real inflation rate by things like, "oh, you have computers now, so that's like an increase in pay!" No it isn't. The Trump puppets are shrieking because the inflation rate has jumped to 15-20% in pre-1980 statistics. They're now bleeding to death at twice the rate! But bleeding is bleeding. Under Trump, if you couldn't get 10% interest on your investment, you were losing money to REAL inflation. Even Walter White can't get you 10%, or now 20%, unless he diversifies into fentanyl.[end]
Part of the economy generates unspent earnings from profitable production of tangible goods. That's generally the 'little guy' economy, the productivity from work, real profit, whatever you want to call it.
The bigwigs just get a separate sluice of "government dollars" which dilute the pool of real dollars. It doesn't show up as long as the government sluice stays open.
It kills savings, interest and profitable investment by driving the interest rates down, punishing thrift. But thrift is only for the small people.
The only way to get these billionaire rich folks is when they receive "government dollars" i.e. dollars produced by fiat and not by labor. Musk is "mega-wealthy," but mega-wealthy in terms of what, compared to real money?
Excellent Comment. The financialization of our economy makes our secular economy unstable, subjecting it to the ebbs and flows of greed and fear. I lived in the markets for quite a few years, and it was exciting. But that is a place for professionals. Most people do not want or deserve that life.
When I grew up, mom and dad and workers put money in “passbook savings “ which earned a rate above inflation. Let the bankers use capital to build stuff. The risk is now dumped on the little guy, and the fat cats buy Twitter and yodel about themselves.
Saturday morning, the doorbell rings. It’s a man passing out campaign brochures. I look at the brochure, then the man and grin, you’re him? He nods. I introduce myself. We shake hands. If you have time, I have questions, want to come inside and talk? He nods and takes a seat in the living room.
After 50 years in civic life, I know a qualified candidate when I meet one. And this man is qualified. Turns out, he was born and raised in Kentucky, and knows this state inside out. Don has been here an hour when I ask the question that weighs on me.
Don, they say Kentucky is a red state, is that true? He looks down, like he’s thinking, then looks back at me and says “we’ve never been Republicans” and doubts it will ever happen. That tracks with me, and so I ask… Okay, then, how do you explain Mitch McConnell, how does that man stay in office?
I wish I could convey the pained expression on his face, and the sorrow in his voice when he replies, “poor people don’t vote” anymore.
I’ve worked with activists, organizers and political campaigns in almost every state in the union, and every single one has told me the same damned thing: “poor people don’t vote” anymore.
We traded info on our networks (connections, resources and name names). Suffice to say, after the mid-terms are over, Don, the candidate, and I plan to meet again. I’ve already laid the groundwork out west. All we need are connections and those resources will start flowing into Kentucky. The Democratic Party is too stupid to do it, let alone help. Judging by the last 30 years, the Democratic Party will fight us tooth and nail. I’m ready for that fight. It’s time to start welcoming rural Americans back home, to America.
Admittedly, not a direct reply to the Professor’s analysis, a week out from the midterm election, I’ve noted that the closing argument for Democrats, aside from punctuating democracy, abortion care, and a record of accomplishments, increasingly has focused on Republican threats to default on the U.S. national debt as pretext for extracting concessions on protections, including Social Security, Medicare, Veterans benefits, funding for Ukraine, and more. While a befitting closing argument, the case, as I posted on Oct. 24th, is insufficient unless Democrats also call out record corporate profits (a 54% increase) as the biggest driver of inflation.
Considering, as previously posted, the American people in poll after poll report the economy and inflation as their two major issues, barring an occasional word from President Biden calling out corporate gouging or the occasional Congressional hearing unearthing data confirming that the biggest driver of inflation is corporate pricing, I am troubled that Democrats, overall, have declined to enact a united, laser-focused effort to expose how corporate profits account for over half of the increased prices people are paying.
While some might defend a party’s reluctance to bite the hand that feeds it, I believe the benefits of pinning corporate pricing as the biggest driver of inflation would outweigh the costs. I further contend, with 60% of the people in this country living paycheck to paycheck and millions working for starvation wages, not only should Democrats not ignore this biggest driver of inflation; they should make it clear to working families throughout this country, many of whom are prepared to vote Republican, that if they vote Republican, the Party that has been silent on this issue, their vote will run counter to their interests and concerns. In a word, we need Democratic leadership to be focused and disciplined and not to allow Republican deceptions and distortions related to the state of the economy to go unanswered.
Well stated, Barbara. The comments of Dr Reich today focus blame on mistakes by Clinton and Obama administrations during turbulent years with a combative congress. Joe Biden deserves credit for getting so much done so late but unforgiving voters fail to see that support for Biden's policy may be the only anecdote to correct present government dysfunction. Trump is a walking, talking waste of tax dollars as an elected official. Biden is taking on and addressing tough issues while the Democratic Party responds with factional, selfish motives by Manchin, Sinema, and progressives left and middle. I am a SW Florida democrat recovering from storm damage, have already voted by mail and I will try to be patient as I wait for the election outcome. IF democrats prevail Citizen's United, the filibuster, USPS, voting rights, immigration reform, employment education for blue collar workers should top the democratic agenda. The Democratic Party would do well to find leadership from the ranks to give new direction to Build Back Better instead of pursuing selfish concerns. Where is the Democratic leadership?
Robert, While I appreciate much of your response, aside from Manchin and Sinema, who blocked passage of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB) and joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster voter protection legislation, I don’t understand your critique of other House and Senate Democrats, all of whom supported both pieces of legislation. As a reminder, the reconciliation package included a $15 hourly minimum wage (regrettably removed by the Senate’s Parliamentarian), paid family and medical leave, extension of the child tax credit, affordable, quality childcare, universal Pre-K, investments in housing, in eldercare, in climate, and more, all of which received zero Republican support.
Daniel, While I don’t expect Republican threats to extract concessions on protections like Social Security and Medicare to exert much, if any, impact on far right MAGA extremists, I do imagine there are sufficient numbers of “persuadables,” who could help Dems hold the House, pick up some Senate seats, and also win contests in battleground state and local elections.
You would think, huh? From what I have read however, there are a good many MAGAs who are so deep into their little bubble of hatred that they don't care if they get hurt by stupid GQP policies just so long as those they hate get hurt worse. How sad is that mental state for a US citizen?
Very well put. And the solution, as you say, is political. In election year 2016 I followed 538 closely (still do). I was blown away by the hypothetical matchups between Sanders and Trump, as well as those between Hillary Clinton and Trump. In poll after poll, Sanders beat Trump 2:1, with about 5% of potential voters undecided. Hillary, on the other hand was level-pegging Trump throughout 2016, with about 30% undecided. Then the DNC sandbagged Sanders. and in November the horror show began.
The point is, left wing populism is POPULAR, and the DNC has let us all down. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9vncWKPngE for the beginning of all this nonsense about government being the problem, hurting corporations through taxation.
It is also instructive to hear the weasel-words of Milton Friedman, maligning Keynes while at the same time saying that the post-WWII system that Keynes helped set up - a system which made possible the great economic and societal achievements of America between 1948 and 1980 - was inherently flawed to the point that Keynes would have changed his mind
Or look up Friedman's interview with Phil Donahue in 1980, where Friedman singled out the Department of Energy as being a loathsome part of government. "There are 20,000 people who work for the DOE, " he said. "Do you know what the cost of this is? 10 cents for every American. Every time you buy a gallon of gas, add on 10 cents for the DOE." And Donahue just sat there, not even questioning this verbal shell game, his mouth agape at Friedman's magnificent intellect.
Here were the beginnings of the assault on government, TV interviews supported by corporate America, which would have Adam Smith - who believed in strong government and progressive taxation - spinning in his grave. That is, the misrepresentation of the free market as something to which government is inherently opposed. On the contrary, free markets depend upon strong government.
I fully agree, this 40 year descent into madness will only be stopped by a strong Democratic platform from the left. Believe 538.
Racism and Republican use of the tried, proven and adaptable, 'Southern Strategy' (to win the votes of racists, without sounding racist), was a significant catalyst for the transition to "government being the problem". As Lee Atwater explained when working for Reagan in 1981- "You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.” "1968" is after the Civil Rights Act and a reference to the gains of the Civil Rights Movement/legislation- when it became illegal to discriminate against race so it hurt you to say 'N_gger, N_gger" and black American's could now access the same Government benefits that they had been excluded from following the Great Depression and WWII (The New Deal, GI Bill, The National Housing Act and the FHA, and other public resources like access to public pools). Now Republicans began to successfully paint the Government as 'bad' for providing government/public resources (tax dollars) to unworthy people who hadn't earned them (black Americans). White Americans, by in large, fell for it hook, line and sinker. Today, that transition to "government being the problem", negatively impacts ALL Americans, including white Americans, many of whom ultimately cut off their noses to spite their faces! (1981 Lee Atwater interview- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_8E3ENrKrQ)
Looking at the graph, things might have been better if Al Gore had become president in 2001. The Bush administration inherited a budget surplus and promptly blew it on the trademark Republican tax cuts for the wealthy. And Bush appointed the virulently pro-plutocrat John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, where they gave us the democracy-destroying Citizens United decision.
Biden is working to correct some of the problems, but I agree that his advocacy often seems less than energetic. In his public statements, he'll mention something every so often, but doesn't keep pounding on it.
I think the news media must take some responsibility as well. They persistently equate Bernie Sanders, who works hard to improve people's lives and to solve the problems mentioned, with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk, who are just show horses who don't want to govern. Shame on the media!
I wrote a short version of this analysis months ago & received no support. Humans, even the so called educated, are SHEEP. All levers of US power have been redirected to the current Oligarchy of corporations & the richy rich. We are so far beyond just vote!. Trumpty, the cherry on the Sundae! All effective leaders are SHOT. I keep wondering why no one shoots these republicans, but I guess the Oligarchal democrats don’t operate that way. They marginalize , minimize, destroy in other ways. Corporations & Government = Facism, it is in place. US institutions are ‘hollowed out’ of all regulatory function & effectiveness. Watch Robert Kennedys film, very well done, to see how Corporations & Billionaires, including Gates, Facebook investors have sidelined US public health with their ‘initiatives’, read investments , after decades of infiltration. The only way forward, after the tepid work of vote, is boycott, unionize, stop buying, patronizing, travel to make these Oligarchs listen. We can not take to the streets as we will be shot now. That would come later in non violent demonstrations, if US citizens can begin to Think for themselves. There is also a path forward where Blue states use Secession, (which I favor) to move the dials. But, democrats are as enchanted with $$$$$ & power as anyone. Read the Nation article on line by Nathan Newman on blue state secession. We could become like Europe, with humane values lived in Blue states & as the Red states cannot dip into our economic engines, see how fast their ‘tunes’ change. McConnell is one of the most dangerous men ( like Gingrich) here with his sheer love of POWER, & skill at it. Wake Up!!
No link. It was short but the same basic message as Reichs today which we educated will fawn over.
Also, Kennedy’s film is poorly named & available free for the next day or so. It is ‘the real Anthony fauci’. For decades, Kennedy’s family worked to improve public health, mental health, DD standards, substance abuse care. So, Kennedy has known the characters, their facades & their new alliances are visible to his in depth history.
We have a week to push forward and try to get more voters to the polls. We see what we are up against, Professor Reich.
Perhaps you might print a piece that the average American can read to convince them of what is at stake here… and I mean for someone who isn’t quite as smart as you, like me for example. Not all of us “get” statistics and not all of us know of whom you are referring to in each paragraph of this piece. I had to read it three times before most of it sunk in. I don’t mind admitting I don’t understand some of it which is why it might help if you wrote something once in a while that the average high school graduate who didn’t have the opportunity to go to college will understand.
Please write a piece telling us what you would do if you were President someday, and then send it to yourself…
"I didn't leave the democratic party, the democratic party left me" is a very common phrase I hear when door, knocking, campaigning and talking to voters in central KY area. An organized truthful heartfelt dedicated long term consistent effort around what Dr. Reich is saying would help us here. Thanks.
Joe, you are right on. As a straight white male, from a working class background, I sometimes I feel there is no middle ground in the Democratic Party anymore. The Democratic Party is so driven by identity politics, what it is easy to imagine is that that our demographic and vote doesn't matter anymore.
Today I heard the WSJ report on how suburban white women are switching to the Republican Party all of a sudden due to worries about the economy. That poll should be a wake-up call to democrats of all stripes to get out and vote. I of course vote democratic, because the alternatives is authoritarianism or fascism by another name
I say "Hear, hear" to your "Democrats cannot defeat authoritarianism without an agenda of radical democratic reform — an anti-establishment movement. Democrats must stand squarely on the side of democracy against oligarchy. They must form a unified coalition of people of all races, genders, and classes to unrig the system."
How do "we" move the Democratic party to do this? I can't prove this, but it felt as if the corporate globalist pro-deregulation powers were pulling strings to see that Sanders could not become the candidate. They seem to have a strangle-hold on the Democratic party and certainly on the media.
Do you have specifics about how "we" move the Democratic party to rediscover its true interest?
It was a great summary that Robert Reich gave.I look forward to part 3 that tells us more about what the way forward looks like.
We didn't get into this fix overnight and we're probably not going to get out of it overnight either. So I think a legislative agenda geared toward short, medium and long-term outcomes is needed. I think we know there are severe constraints on what kind of quote "radical agenda" can be passed in the near term.But beyond the legislative agenda it is obvious the party needs new direction from the top,and from the bottom.Part of the problem is the East and West coasts concentration of Democratic Party leadership.I don't mean to be entirely down on Democrats.Much has been accomplished by this Democratic Congress.
Hearing many Democrats in positions of power speak is frustrating. You wonder why Schumer and Pelosi haven't got George Lakoff conducting classes so Democrats in Congress would know better how to Market their goals. What is being done in the way of leadership development?
so whose job is it to ensure the DNC and the D Triple C are all they should be? when Hillary ran she said the DNC was basically a shell, broke.
have you ever noticed how the media generally adopts the Republican framing of issues? how can Democrats change that ?
here's the party platformhttps://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ if you click on any of the topics you will get a very lengthy narrative of what Democrats want to do.That is not useful. Save the long narratives for the 3rd or 4th level down for the one out of a hundred persons who has more interest.But this sort of thing is an indicator of how Market dense Democrats often are. and let's get over hating Democrats over the Bernie thing. If we want change it will have to come from most likely new people coming into leadership positions in the Party
Just a clarification: I AM a Democrat, I don't hate myself, I love what the Democratic Party used to stand for and still does, in my view. That was before Bill Clinton and others worked to destroy the legacy of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ and, instead of making progress, took a big, bad U-turn.
We need not "get over" that. We need to Reject it and get on with addressing the need for strong unions in this country, Medicare for all, free/affordable public education for all through college and graduate school, and more.
I think RR's voice is prophetic. Has the polarization, the division gotten so ingrained in today's politics that we are faced with Republican authoritarianism on the one hand or Democratic "populism" on the other? Our representative democracy is neither pure capitalism nor pure socialism. Whittling sticks into spears and crafting stones into weapons will break the backbone of "We the People". We are made up of captialist incentives and public safety nets, "infrastructure". BOTH/AND, not Either/Or. Thank you, RR, for calling us back to our roots. Not our shoots.
Again, I totally agree with all of that. It paints a picture of why Democrats always seem to be on the defensive -- because they haven't done enough to help the public, and because they, too, are beholden to corporate donors.
I was thinking again yesterday that, more and more, young people will find no financial reason to pursue higher education because, along with corporate tycoons, another population segment has vastly increased their wealth: small trades businesses. Three years ago, I paid $1000 for two people to cut down a few dead trees on my property. This year, the utility company informed me they refuse to fix the 14,000 volt electric line running down our privately owned, shared road, despite the fact that every expert has told us they've never seen private homeowners be required to manage such high-voltage lines because it's too dangerous. I called the Dept of PUBLIC Utilities. They sided against us, the public, and with the big corporation. So I now have to pay to trim trees around our power lines. The same company that charged me $1000/day 3 years ago to cut trees now wants $600/hr, for 2 people, no matter what the job. After much searching, I found someone to do the job for $3000. Then we paid a private lineman $3000 to fix a downed line. In a big storm, it will be impossible to hire a lineman. We'll be left without power, freezing, for longer than our propane will last. (I get no electric bill rebate, and in fact, I supply electricity TO the electric company from my solar panels.) The next day, I paid $1100 for a 15 minute plumbing job requiring a $2 part. Painters want absurd amounts for a simple job. The young boy who cuts my lawn has gone from $30 to $60 for the 20-minute job. He can do 2 jobs per hour, for $120/hr with no overhead beyond a ride-on lawnmower and old truck. So, tradespeople with no education beyond high school are making between $120 and about $400 per hour or more, with no cap on increases. Even if as much as half goes (to big corporations) for insurance and equipment, they're still making more profit than many highly educated "professionals." That and (big-corporation) materials prices are key reasons for sky-rocketing housing prices. Auto-repeair is the same, as are all other trades that I encounter. Why bother to incur education debt or even waste those earning years? And, with no schooling in logic or humanities, every one of those budding mini-corporation tycoons that I've met in our "blue" state blindly sports Trump stickers on their trucks or otherwise makes their GOP affiliation clear. More trend toward demise of democracy.
Brilliant! A simple way to think of this is Mr Smith’s bank that used deposits by local residents to help other residents. We put our money into savings and loan banks, collected interest, and helped each other and our community. Now, we put money into investments, save for retirement in 401ks, lose our savings when greed crashes the market, and give power to international corporations and Wall Street. When Obama and Hillary both gave speeches to Wall Street, I knew the Democrats were on the dark side. No one, I repeat, no one is worth $250,000 as a speaker to Wall Street. No one.
One area of disappointment I've had with Presidents Biden, Obama, and Clinton has been and still is the abandonment of the United States Postal Service which represents a huge cohort of unionized workers. The only President who openly expressed contempt and destruction for American institutions appointed people whose entire corrupt objectives were to implement destruction of those institutions (Betsy DeVos, et al) with Louis DeJoy being the prime example of that. Biden made some campaign statements about DeJoy and the USPS and he has appointed two members of the USPS board but DeJoy is still there and still undermining the USPS - and in this election season, no less, with mail-in voting being a target from his and Trump's beginnings.
The USPS is a body of union workers, many women and Black workers, many veterans, and it is a beloved, valued institution. This would be a good place to start to stand up and speak out for American labor and a large American union - the USPS. The undermining of the USPS began 2 or 3 decades ago and while it has been largely a Republican plan to dismantle and hamstring it, the undermining got plenty of aiding and abetting from Democrats. What happened is shameful; that it continues to this day is despicable.
Biden and the USPS oversight board has a very short time to fire DeJoy and take a strong stand to reform, save, protect, defend the USPS and the myriad American workers it employs.
Yes! I hoped Biden would make it a priority to straighten out the board that appoints to postmaster and get rid of DeJoy, a man badly misnamed. I remember that Bernie Sanders had plans to make our post offices centers for low cost banking as well as moving the mail, which we badly need. In our tiny rural desert Utah town, the PO is place where everyone comes together. Yet, our sole postal guy is no longer a "postmaster" but has been downgraded to something less. Meanwhile, we have no USPS delivery and our UPS driver has been subjected to almost unbearable heat in her unair-conditioned van. If the PO were to disappear, it would be just one more isolating factor of many. We're on the edge of the Navajo reservation, and without those mailboxes and the information provided inside the PO, plenty of people would have little connection to the outside world, since wi-fi on the rez is often weak or nonexisitent. This is a badly needed human service, and it's not going to be solved digitally.
Oh Proud Woman, you have spoken for many people in this country. The way the postal workers have been treated in the past 2 years and some beyond is disgraceful. I also wish the USPS could handle basic banking. The people in my community have been regularly taken advantage of by payday lenders (some connected with big banks) and can never seem to get out of debt. Had there been postal banking, with reasonable interest rates, people would be so much better off. Another problem for me is that DeJoy attempted to sabotage an election but is still in office. How is that possible? There should be a way to get him out.
Progwoman, you tell the truth succinctly. This is something National Media needs to report, I have been complaining for a long time about the lack of air conditioning in delivery vehicles. My granddaughter drives for UPS. I wrote to my Congressman and he said he'd look into it. After the elections I will start an email campaign to both my Congressman again and also my two senators. See my response to DeJoy above.
when I read up on this several months back I concluded that Biden was not in a position to remove DeJoy.the postmaster position was deliberately made to be difficult for A president to remove him
And I read elsewhere that the problematic board member's term expired, but who knows?
Democrats just aren't organized for a full court press, IMO.
Biden did replace 2 whose terms were up, that leaves 7 more. You can see their names on line and I suppose if I dug deeper I could find when their terms are up and who appointed them. You're right that democrats aren't full speed ahead. Clinton wanted to be 'loved' Obama wanted to work with the Republicans, who hated him because he was black. Biden wants to work at least with all Democrats and the DNC and DCCC are so glutted with corporate finances they might as well declare for the trumpster. Biden, maybe with the help of Bernhie Sanders, needs to clean house, find better candidates for the Democrats. Nobody is perfect, but surely out of 350,000,000 people we could find at least 10 persons of intellect in each of the 50 States who put Country and Citizens ahead of personal gain.
The Post Office is perfect example of a bloated unproductive government. Thank gosh for Amazon!
Sorry, but I disagree. I don't want Jeff Bezos for my postmaster.
You did NOT understand my comment. The post office has been able to survive the past few years because they handle the shipping of packages for Amazon. People quit sending mail 15 years ago and the post office did not adapt. With Amazon they were able to keep alive.
@Cecelia. You don't understand. What was said is that the Post Office is part of dignified and productive work in this country. The commercial carriers are only in business, charging way more than the Post Office for the same packages, because of perverted support in Congress for undermining an institution founded in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Government doesn’t work because it has been made to fail. Federal employment job growth since Jack Kennedy is 1% per year, I think. Private sector employment for Federal chores is beaucoup more. So why aren’t you chortling about how Private Enterprise turned around Federal inefficiency? Maybe 60 more years?
@Cecelia. Go home troll.
Benjamin. YOU must be a democrat. Democrats name call. I am not a troll. Just so you know.
I think Cecelia has some valid points. I hardly have sent a greeting card in 10 years. But De joy needs to go. He tried to stop people from voting and almost succeeded. It seems that even the normal political parties don’t even have any clout anymore, only the Trump party. Today’s example of being unable to get Donald Trump‘s tax records even though they’ve been trying since 2017 is an example of how the courts only work for Donald, no matter how many times Democrats another’s trying to straighten up things they come up against a maze of Trump-like maneuvers Using every branch of the government to stymie them. Then when that doesn’t work people stormed the capitol for the radical right. Like climate change the clock is ticking and if the Trump people win the November election, it may be too late.
Could you give an example? Sounds like a union-busting talking point.
People quit sending letters and mail over 15 years ago. The post office did not adapt to the changing technology revolution. Amazon has kept the post office in business due to their influx of packages being handled now. Once again, capitalism propping up government agencies that are over bloated and out of touch with what is happening in the USA.
thanks for bringing that up. how is it that a man who intentionally tried to sabotage vote by mail still runs the post office. he should be subpoenaed by the jan 6 committee. also whatever happened to the conflict of interest investigation into his awarding of contracts? is the justice dep't just so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of malfeasance by drumpf appointees that he's "just on the list"? Also, why is Bernie's idea for a postal banking system not being acted on?
DeJoy has appeared before Congressional committees and he has invariably been rude, arrogant, uncooperative, and high-handed. It is possible that his Congressional testimony is still available on C-Span archived materials, but I don't know that.
Actually, the attempt to undermine has lasted for a half a century, ever since: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._postal_strike_of_1970
DZK, I remember that USPS trouble. They were looking for better working conditions and pay. I remember hearing a lot of folks complaining the cost of stamps would go up so they didn't want to stand with the workers. My dad, a union man was for the workers and thought a strike might be the only answer since it would make everyone pay attention. Strikes don't always work, but sometimes, they can change a lot of people's minds and lives.
The slicing up of America happened in stages.
Annie, thank you so much for speaking for the USPS. The workers, union workers do an amazing job getting the mail to everyone 6 days a week, under challenging conditions and with a boss who would rather they all be fired and the USPS be absorbed into private corporations (who by the way are having trouble with their own delivery process). I understand Biden wanting to be bipartisan, but sometimes it is necessary to just stop and dump the other party's appointees. DeJoy and Jerome Powell are two who need to go.
Right on, Annie. The current problem is the Board of Directors of the USPS are the only ones who can fire DeJoy. I don't know what kind of pressure we need to employ. There are 9 appointed governors, the deputy postmaster and DeJoy, the Postmaster General. So Biden appointed two, they would need at least 4 more ayes to dispense with DeJoy. I suppose an e-mail campaign could be started, but I have no idea if that would be effective. I know the the California Retired Teachers Association (CRTA is a union) has had a letter, email, text and phone call campaign for years (at least 10) to overturn the WEP (Windfall Elimination Program) and GPO (Government Pension Offset) and we always come up 1 to 10 short for passage.
I am 65 years old I came to California from New Mexico as a 27 year old on my own. I earned two masters degrees and a PhD in Psychology. Due to illness my husband could not help and I had two children to raise by myself. Thus my student loan is balloon more than $400,000. I've tried those phony income repayment opportunities which were lies and I had to sign a paper saying I would not Sue the federal government for having lied. Remember the federal government doesn't owe the $400,000 Plus, I do. Despite the fact that my two children and I have neurological illnesses we have gone on to work very hard. My 34-year-old daughter is now almost $200,000 in debt because of getting an MSW. She was a citizen of Arizona the second year but they wouldn't count it because they decided she wasn't going to stay. I guess they were right. My daughter my son and myself all work way under what we could be making. Our neurological illnesses are only one small part. I have left many jobs in Psychology that pay a lot more because they are just as corrupt as the governmental figures you have mentioned and I'm not going to play that game. I had to sell my house at some point but I bought another house 5 years ago and my house payment is less than $1,400. My son and his fiance and their niece are renting an apartment and not the best area of town for over $1,700 a month. My daughter is renting a room in Washington for $700 a month. Neither child can make enough money to ever buy a house at this point. I am hoping to pay off this house so they could have something. This is absolutely ridiculous all of it and playing out in our lives. The mental health crises I deal with are overwhelming everyday as I am in private practice. In my 30 plus years as a therapist I have never seen such suicidal, anxious, and depressed teenagers young people and people in their 30s and 40s. They're all having similar lives to mine and to what you've discussed no hope for any kind of security and just hoping that we don't get sick and screw over our children some more. Not that we've done it but this government sure has. I'm so glad you call out Obama and Clinton and I hope you keep doing it. They're worse than the Republicans cuz they should have known better. I'm sick of Obama always so concerned about his legacy get a clue look at what you did to us. So my biggest hope is that you will run for president or somebody who carries your exact values. And of course I'm very glad that you continue to speak out and include us all. One of my biggest causes is bringing back bankruptcy protection for student loans. Myself and my daughter should not have our lives ruined because we went to school and worked hard. My son was just slightly younger and like most second children around here in the Fresno Clovis area had to give up the UCS and go to City College because the economy had fallen apart in 2008. Thus he doesn't have a degree so at least he doesn't have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to stop him he just has a completely underpaying job. So keep up the good work Dr Reich. Know that you're speaking out has given me a lot of Hope and all of us here on the thread. Have a great day, Alexia
Alexia, that's such a moving and difficult story. I just retired from psychology practice and have much experience with what you discuss, but not your level of hardship because of financial privilege. We will not have enough professionals for mental health services if people can't afford to obtain the necessary education and credentials and support a family after all of that work -- not to mention the lack of a social or medical safety net for people like you and your family.
Thank you so much and I don't know if you know this but part of Obamacare that has not been implemented entirely but has to some extent here is that Obamacare wants Psychotherapy to go to 15 minutes only and only quote on quote evidence-based treatment such as weight loss and smoking I'm not kidding one of the places that I quit is already on the 15 minute therapy session evidence-based issues only. It's a scandal
Yikes! When serving Medicare and even Medicaid patients, it wasn't that bad, and that was last year. I was on insurance panels because that's who pays most of these bills. Teletherapy is growing and generally offers more coverage. You have parity illnesses like Major Depressive Disorder where they wouldn't cut you off, but after awhile the insurer is looking over your shoulder. I recently read somewhere that the average Ph.D. psychologist income is about $81K. It's difficult to see how you support a family and pay off a huge student debt on that income. And if you're struggling with neurological issues -- I'm sorry it's so tough.
Thank you for having the empathy to know what's happening. I'm involved with a group called student loan justice.org I wish you would look them up. One guy, Alan, Works practically single-handedly to try to get the bankruptcy protection Bill through which of course still is not through. You have a great day. We have to focus on all the positive there really is.
Alexia, I am sorry to hear that. Fifteen minutes is not enough time for anything related to therapy, but alas, even ACA is being taken over by the rich medical insurance industry as is Medicare. I don't know how to stop that move because the Medical Insurance industry is one of the most powerful lobbying groups and they donate A ALOT! Perhaps we need to severely limit lobbying, maybe no paid lobbyists, or under a certain number from any industry. That could help all of us.
Gary, you are right about the problem obtaining sufficient mental health counselors/therapists in the future. I graduated in 1975 and my final year cost $3,000 for the whole year in a small private college. Now that same school costs around $70,000 a year. That is obscene. I had an amazing education and the professors were paid a decent salary for the time. It didn't work out well for the school which was absorbed by a larger nearby university. We do tend to forget that both Clinton and Obama only got 2 years to get everything done and had to compromise the rest of the time they were in office because they couldn't fix everything in those 2 years and Republicans took over the Congress. Biden has actually done really well trying to fix things in his first 2 years, but it doesn't matter. There is a good chance that next Tuesday, Dems will lose both houses of Congress and Biden will get nothing done the rest of his time in office. I am not sure how that makes the Dems as bad as the Republicans who sabotage every effort to help people other than just the rich. People really are nuts.
And another point is Governor Newsome is really pushing people to get into psychology get their masters get their doctorate because we need to fix the mentally ill through the court system another huge overstatement of reality. So I see all these especially minority women who I supervise for their masters degrees who are going to be stuck in the same old circle of debt with all the false promises
Alexia, the governor is right, but without serious financial support, that education is not going to happen. There was a time when the state schools in California were nearly free for CA students. Thank you Gov. Reagan for your lack of insight and foresight, and general ignorance.
And sadly to Ruth sheets I was not lacking an Insight or foresight and general ignorance I was very prepared and I had all the numbers written back and forth as to how quickly I could pay it back and how I would do that. I forgive you for your lack of insight and foresight and general ignorance when it came to my situation period
What a shame that my husband myself and our two children had severe neurological illnesses that required much Medical Care and hospitalization. Again I forgive you for your lack of insight and your general ignorance
Unless you met Reagan had the lack of inside and judgment but you couldn't meant that because it seemed like you think what they did was purposeful which is what I think was true since I know it was because I know President Bush ordered people not to give the student loan repayment even though we were ordered to have it
I’m sorry but you are an example
Of ‘idealists’ thinking they can take
On exorbitant debt. How could you think of paying back $200,000. In the field Of Psychology.
What’s worse is ‘the system’ let you!
Bullshit. This "American" corporate capitalist system has become the fellatorium of Mammon. Most of our European contemporaries enjoy higher median living standards, and nearly universal access to higher education.
William, you are right, but I wonder if the European institutions have to provide for a massive sports complex, state of the art dorms and health centers, and so many other perks students are forced to subsidize here today with their tuition and fees.
As I recall from my three semesters at Heidelberg back in the 1960s, following my graduation from college in upstate NY five years earlier, the housing was varied in facilities and cost, and meals at the Studenten Mensa were around 32¢ U.S. Not fancy, but healthy. Tuition was less than $50/semester, though.
I got my MA in Dublin at UCD back in '83. i went there because I could afford it. Ireland subsidizes its universities about 90% so the Tuition was only a few hundred dollars. Tuition at Rutgers, my state public university, would have cost about $30k. This is just one small aspect of the huge problem Reich is far too deep in the weeds trying to address.
I dream of an America where idealists who dream of bettering the world are admired and not exploited. A psychologist-that’s hardly some moonbeam path, no?! Why are they chewed up, then??
Ever hear of interest, M Virginia? I doubt the loans totaled hundreds of thousands. Time and interest add up to that.
Who cares which piranha bit your butt?
There are 44 million Americans in student loan hell as we speak. Also I think to respond contrary to being idealized I made out all the facts and figures and knew I had the money to pay back the loan within 10 years Etc. Never imagined the illness and hospitalizations that my husband went through the illnesses in hospitalizations that I went through and the illnesses and hospitalizations that my children went through
I do agree and everything else you said though about the system
This is a helpful overview, but I think that it misses some crucial points.
1. Manchin was not removed from his positions of power within the Democratic caucus because he could have chosen to change parties. In so doing, he would have flipped the Senate. Democrats had to bargain with a corporate colleague who was already too powerful.
2. I wish this weren't true, but I fear that Trumpism has already won and we are looking at a colossal car wreck in slow motion. Democrats have failed to protect voting rights at the federal level, with Manchin and Sinema refusing to eliminate the filibuster. Republicans are electing Trump loyalists to positions like Secretary of State in battleground states. There are election deniers running in many safe Congressional districts. The Supreme Court is stacked with reactionary loyalists who will uphold legal challenges to MAGA shenanigans.
3. "Executive underreach," (Pozen and Scheppele*) in government is an established means of oppression that leaves people so busy trying to survive and creates such agitation that they are more vulnerable to propaganda -- something that I believe happened with Trump's mishandling of the pandemic. * "Executive Underreach, in Pandemics and Otherwise." American Journal of International Law, Vol. 114, pp. 608-17, 2020. Pozen, D. and Scheppele, K.L. (Available for free download here): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3649816
4. Trump went even further when he sent troops to the Portland demonstrations to stir up conflict that was settling down, a strategy also pursued by Assad in Syria. (Friedman**) That strategy turns people against each other and decimates resistance against tyrants. ** "Trump's Wag-the-Dog War." Friedman, T. The New York Times. July 21, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/trump-portland-syria.html
5. The inability to manage chaos and catastrophe of the pandemic saw escalating homelessness and crime in Portland and may flip Oregon from Democrat to Republican. (Goldberg) This is one example of a narrative MAGA Republicans are pushing nationwide. "If Oregon Turns Red, Whose Fault Will That Be?" (Goldberg, M.) The New York Times. Oct. 31, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/opinion/oregon-governor-race.html
We have to build a stronger movement, but we're in for rough times, especially with climate change taking hold while we're caught up in culture wars and held down by oligarchic rule.
Gary, Though I have posted this before, it bears repeating that each day I carry on my person a statement from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who once wrote, “Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” I suppose, having met with repeated frustration and failure, I view Brandeis’s statement as a reminder that only in retrospect might we garner a glimpse indicating that our individual efforts might have mattered.
Janet, Quoting a subscriber’s reply to me some time back, “From your keyboard to God’s eyes.”
"Trumpism has already won"
Huh? People win if you let them win. Get out the vote today-- for the mid-terms. Participate in local democratic structures-- make a difference. The Republican party represents a minority. Vote them out of office.
We are in our 70s and are going out every day canvassing voters. Please read my entire post.
AWESOME! It's a gift in a way-- getting out and interacting with others in the community. I'm also getting out the vote.
I just hope younger people understand what Republicans have in mind for their civil rights, their ability to have a stable and comfortable economic future.
We are local activists and are working to figure out how to reach and encourage more young voters. I see part of our job as elders as mentoring and celebrating young campaign staff and activists. They need to lead, and we can support them.
Very comprehensive! And I also fear things have gone too far. I would add: We have let the Trump aligned right wing own practically all of the media, so that all the news is now slanted, so that Hillary‘s emails became equal to all of Donald Trump‘s criminal activity, so a small event involving blacks looting is equivalent to the storming of the Capitol. “There a good people on both sides” seems to be absorbed by the news media. In reality we were negotiating with terrorists, many of whom seem to be in pivotal government positions. We have played nice and only brought a knife to an AR-15 fight. We keep playing by the rules while they keep undermining them and changing them and taking away our rights. We have somehow allowed Black men to be murdered by police for having cell phones or minor traffic violations, yet we cannot put the most notorious criminal in jail and somehow he can still run for president. I hope it hasn’t gone too far, but it sure looks like it has. If we win the November elections maybe we have a chance, but that’s not looking too good either. If the Republicans lose in 2024 they will storm the Capitol and if the Democrats lose in 2024 because they believe the election was stolen from them, what will they do? Will they storm the Capitol As a last resort? So I think democracy has already been destroyed because 1/2 the country will be Attacking the Capitol in 2024, thinking that they have exhausted all other alternatives. How will the very rich make manage to money on that?
why is everyone you quote a jew?
Gary, your points are spot on. When one group has most of the money, most of the power, and no moral compass, there is nothing they won't do. Stressed out workers are prime targets for their propaganda, lies, deceit, and more. Those stressed folks would rather be with the ones that look like they have power than those whom they perceive to be weak, even though the powerful have only contempt for them. The rallies and rah rah stuff keep them distracted from what is being done to them and puts a laser beam the wrong culprits. When Republicans and their corporate puppet masters make up a BS conspiracy, the Democrats can say "that isn't true," but it sounds like they are saying like children do "no it isn't" so the Repubs can say "Yes it is and you can't prove it isn't true." How can anyone prove that Caesar Chavez, dead for years, didn't interfere with an election when people want so much to believe in magic?
George Floyd was murdered by police and this was captured on camera. The police who did this were convicted. You have helped make my point. Did tfg incite violence on purpose in Portland? Would he ever do that? He did so on another occasion, January 6, 2021, as shown in detail in videos and supported by the testimony of Republican witnesses. Read the Thomas Friedman article I linked and think for yourself. That’s an opinion piece. It may be right or it may be wrong. It fits a pattern. But you see that’s the difference between me and a MAGA acolyte. I can be right or wrong. But I am willing to learn what’s true even if I may not like it.
Not sure where you see the fantasy.
It is clear that we are further away from Economic Justice in America. Citizens United has permitted politicians to be bought. They increasingly represent their buyers & not we the people.
I have watched Bernie Sanders work hard to even out the playing field in his support of the unions & pray that he has planted enough seeds to make Unions grow. We have seen the harm of Big Oil, Big Banks & Big Corporations on the quality of life, health, education & welfare. There has been an increasing drive in the press, & social media to double down on propaganda wars to support their agendas.
The pandemic made these elite institutions nervous because without the masses of people keeping their financial wheels turning they would loose.
Only by the masses uniting, rising& working together can they be empowered to better their lives. Only with reinforcing the power of we the people- with Democracy can we protect ourselves, our planet & achieve the Economic Justice all people deserve.
In some ways, this piece understates the risks that society faces and what is needed.
The statistics and the analysis are, understandably, entangled with economic data representing the financialization of most Western economies. Wall Street's trading alone is somewhere above 4x of the real U.S. economy. Split the "financialized economy" from the real value economy and the picture will look even worse.
The house of cards will, at some point, collapse--and collapse hard. From a societal and civic education process that collapse will provoke a choice represented by the choices made in Germany and the U.S. in the 1930s. If the grievance mentality is allowed to continue dominating civic dialogue then Autocracy, Inc. will be able to step in easily and take over. We should rather focus on real economic value, not financial games, and build the message for Democracy, Inc. with a good economy for all of us.
Where attention goes so we go.
We have a national press focused on easy-to-get information. This creates a focus on central points of information, e.g. performance politics in D.C., Twitter and similar platforms, and the mechanically harvested data from the New York financial hub, but not explaining real economic value.
Our leaders need to focus on real value and hammer that home every day, all the time. Biden's calling out of share buybacks in by the oil companies was refreshing. Let's have more!
Power? Trump's power has less to do with class and economics than it does to demagoguery to the racist collective subconscious of the vast majority of his cult.
@Daniel. I think so too, but please take a deep breath and re-read what Dr. Reich wrote. Trump is a symptom; moneyed interests STRIVE to create sides and play them off. It's the money. I personally agree with your assessment - bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, resentment and a "righteous indignation" are present in many citizens. But it is this pre-condition that makes them ripe for exploitation. So, have the wisdom to know what you can change... You can't change human nature. Better to focus on the moneyed interests and their manipulation of cultural symbols, and the money they use to both pursue that manipulation AND the money they use to co-opt politicians who nominally would be/should be working to mitigate corporate and oligarchic power.
Nope.
I know it's anecdotal, but MOST rich people I know are Democrats, even if they are full of trickle down BS. Andrew K. Mellon wanted the income tax because it meant that few if any strivers would ever become as wealthy as his family. Some in Pa were Anti-Mellon. Check out the Heinz family. FDR. Gates, Buffet, Democratic donors. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/most-influential-democratic-donors-2020-elections.html
Pretty hard for minorities of any stripe to support racists. Also many of the Christians I knew, and some of them were rock solid Republicans, believed in noblesse oblige/ the beatitudes. https://theconversation.com/how-the-social-gospel-movement-explains-the-roots-of-todays-religious-left-78895
@Daniel. Again, I largely agree with you. But forgive me, I just think you are giving the reasons why the bad actors among the moneyed interests have not completely taken over. It's a pretty optimistic thing to think that absolute wealth does NOT corrupt absolutely! Many people are better than that. We have lots of wealthy nice people. I myself was in the 3% range when I had an income (last year!) and I am very much on the liberal/progressive/socialist spectrum.
Robert has looked the gift horse in the mouth.
Attack our REAL enemies. Trump holds the power. He turns RINOS into Democrats. In order to have power, we need to win. We win if we get out the vote.
I respectfully disagree. I don't know that evidence clearly supporting a decisive conclusion one way or the other can be marshaled however.What I take Reich to be saying, and what I believe,is that the power that Trump gets by appealing to race, ,and other things, is greatly increased because there is such a large inequity in wealth. when people are economically insecure or distressed they're more likely to fall victim to scapegoating and contention generally.
@Steve and Jane. I don't think you need a degree in psychology to understand how people blame others for their problems, i.e. the contention part of what you say, and then as Daniel and I were discussing the pre-conditions some people carry make them vulnerable, as you say. I think we are all in some form of agreement with nuances. Cause for a bottle of wine and time to enjoy it!
The growth rate of the national debt profoundly exceeds the 1-3% growth of wealth from real productivity. That is unsustainable watering of the currency. We seem to no longer care. What is unsustainable, ends, said Laurance J Peter.
Yes, it is a train wreck coming. As economist Michael Hudson surveyed history in his 2012 presentation to an INET conference (https://michael-hudson.com/2012/04/debts-that-cant-be-paid-wont-be/) to show that debts that cannot be repaid won't be repaid. Hudson noted that even Adam Smith had reached the same conclusion. A more detailed analysis is in his book "The Bubble and Beyond".
Usually there is a triggering event that sets a workout crises in motion. The politicians that think they can ride the tiger and cleverly use a debt ceiling debate to impose austerity on the public may wish they had not. Taken too far this may well be the triggering event.
Much of U.S. governmental debt is really taxes that should have been collected from the wealthy and may be turned into that in a crisis of workout. The efforts at control by the financial elites would seem to say that some of them understand this.
The US did a very dangerous thing under Reagan - it split the currency into a dual-type currency while maintaining the fiction that a dollar meant a dollar.
At the time Reagan came into office, the median US household SAVED 10% of earnings, unspent. Anyone who could not save was considered poor, and perhaps in need of assistance. Nowadays, that would make the vast majority of Americans "poor" by the Carter days standard.
The US had taken two massive excursions into debt for WWI and WWII. The next President in measure of the size of expansion of debt was Ronald Reagan, who discovered that wartime spending during peacetime gave the illusion of prosperity, in the way that a new credit card gives you more buying power. Republican "prosperity" has followed that principle for years - you can be the favored parent if you give all the kids $100 when they come over for custody time. Make the mean ex-wife forbid them from spending it. Oh, and deduct it from your "child support expenses." What's not to like?
Reagan did wartime spending in a peacetime economy. The only way to do it was to print "Government dollars" that looked just like "savings dollars" and throw it around to corporate pals. Government dollars quietly inflated off savings. The Treasury Department substantively restructured the way they measured inflation in 1980 and 1990 to disguise underlying inflation, which has been running at about 10% per year for the last few decades. [added] I looked it up, and the BASELINE rate has been about 8%-10% by the pre-1980 measurements, which were notably unbuggered. They have been subsequently fudged 30 and 40 years ago, to disguise the real inflation rate by things like, "oh, you have computers now, so that's like an increase in pay!" No it isn't. The Trump puppets are shrieking because the inflation rate has jumped to 15-20% in pre-1980 statistics. They're now bleeding to death at twice the rate! But bleeding is bleeding. Under Trump, if you couldn't get 10% interest on your investment, you were losing money to REAL inflation. Even Walter White can't get you 10%, or now 20%, unless he diversifies into fentanyl.[end]
Part of the economy generates unspent earnings from profitable production of tangible goods. That's generally the 'little guy' economy, the productivity from work, real profit, whatever you want to call it.
The bigwigs just get a separate sluice of "government dollars" which dilute the pool of real dollars. It doesn't show up as long as the government sluice stays open.
It kills savings, interest and profitable investment by driving the interest rates down, punishing thrift. But thrift is only for the small people.
The only way to get these billionaire rich folks is when they receive "government dollars" i.e. dollars produced by fiat and not by labor. Musk is "mega-wealthy," but mega-wealthy in terms of what, compared to real money?
People always survive collapse; high-complexity organizations don’t.
Excellent Comment. The financialization of our economy makes our secular economy unstable, subjecting it to the ebbs and flows of greed and fear. I lived in the markets for quite a few years, and it was exciting. But that is a place for professionals. Most people do not want or deserve that life.
When I grew up, mom and dad and workers put money in “passbook savings “ which earned a rate above inflation. Let the bankers use capital to build stuff. The risk is now dumped on the little guy, and the fat cats buy Twitter and yodel about themselves.
Saturday morning, the doorbell rings. It’s a man passing out campaign brochures. I look at the brochure, then the man and grin, you’re him? He nods. I introduce myself. We shake hands. If you have time, I have questions, want to come inside and talk? He nods and takes a seat in the living room.
After 50 years in civic life, I know a qualified candidate when I meet one. And this man is qualified. Turns out, he was born and raised in Kentucky, and knows this state inside out. Don has been here an hour when I ask the question that weighs on me.
Don, they say Kentucky is a red state, is that true? He looks down, like he’s thinking, then looks back at me and says “we’ve never been Republicans” and doubts it will ever happen. That tracks with me, and so I ask… Okay, then, how do you explain Mitch McConnell, how does that man stay in office?
I wish I could convey the pained expression on his face, and the sorrow in his voice when he replies, “poor people don’t vote” anymore.
I’ve worked with activists, organizers and political campaigns in almost every state in the union, and every single one has told me the same damned thing: “poor people don’t vote” anymore.
We traded info on our networks (connections, resources and name names). Suffice to say, after the mid-terms are over, Don, the candidate, and I plan to meet again. I’ve already laid the groundwork out west. All we need are connections and those resources will start flowing into Kentucky. The Democratic Party is too stupid to do it, let alone help. Judging by the last 30 years, the Democratic Party will fight us tooth and nail. I’m ready for that fight. It’s time to start welcoming rural Americans back home, to America.
Admittedly, not a direct reply to the Professor’s analysis, a week out from the midterm election, I’ve noted that the closing argument for Democrats, aside from punctuating democracy, abortion care, and a record of accomplishments, increasingly has focused on Republican threats to default on the U.S. national debt as pretext for extracting concessions on protections, including Social Security, Medicare, Veterans benefits, funding for Ukraine, and more. While a befitting closing argument, the case, as I posted on Oct. 24th, is insufficient unless Democrats also call out record corporate profits (a 54% increase) as the biggest driver of inflation.
Considering, as previously posted, the American people in poll after poll report the economy and inflation as their two major issues, barring an occasional word from President Biden calling out corporate gouging or the occasional Congressional hearing unearthing data confirming that the biggest driver of inflation is corporate pricing, I am troubled that Democrats, overall, have declined to enact a united, laser-focused effort to expose how corporate profits account for over half of the increased prices people are paying.
While some might defend a party’s reluctance to bite the hand that feeds it, I believe the benefits of pinning corporate pricing as the biggest driver of inflation would outweigh the costs. I further contend, with 60% of the people in this country living paycheck to paycheck and millions working for starvation wages, not only should Democrats not ignore this biggest driver of inflation; they should make it clear to working families throughout this country, many of whom are prepared to vote Republican, that if they vote Republican, the Party that has been silent on this issue, their vote will run counter to their interests and concerns. In a word, we need Democratic leadership to be focused and disciplined and not to allow Republican deceptions and distortions related to the state of the economy to go unanswered.
Well stated, Barbara. The comments of Dr Reich today focus blame on mistakes by Clinton and Obama administrations during turbulent years with a combative congress. Joe Biden deserves credit for getting so much done so late but unforgiving voters fail to see that support for Biden's policy may be the only anecdote to correct present government dysfunction. Trump is a walking, talking waste of tax dollars as an elected official. Biden is taking on and addressing tough issues while the Democratic Party responds with factional, selfish motives by Manchin, Sinema, and progressives left and middle. I am a SW Florida democrat recovering from storm damage, have already voted by mail and I will try to be patient as I wait for the election outcome. IF democrats prevail Citizen's United, the filibuster, USPS, voting rights, immigration reform, employment education for blue collar workers should top the democratic agenda. The Democratic Party would do well to find leadership from the ranks to give new direction to Build Back Better instead of pursuing selfish concerns. Where is the Democratic leadership?
Robert, While I appreciate much of your response, aside from Manchin and Sinema, who blocked passage of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB) and joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster voter protection legislation, I don’t understand your critique of other House and Senate Democrats, all of whom supported both pieces of legislation. As a reminder, the reconciliation package included a $15 hourly minimum wage (regrettably removed by the Senate’s Parliamentarian), paid family and medical leave, extension of the child tax credit, affordable, quality childcare, universal Pre-K, investments in housing, in eldercare, in climate, and more, all of which received zero Republican support.
YES! Hear, hear and Amen!
The DNC's silence on this issue--not to mention the silence of state-level Dem orgs, as well--is beyond frustrating.
Fear wins. Fear of losing Social Security and Medicare should shake up the amygdalas of even racist MAGAt cultists.
Daniel, While I don’t expect Republican threats to extract concessions on protections like Social Security and Medicare to exert much, if any, impact on far right MAGA extremists, I do imagine there are sufficient numbers of “persuadables,” who could help Dems hold the House, pick up some Senate seats, and also win contests in battleground state and local elections.
You would think, huh? From what I have read however, there are a good many MAGAs who are so deep into their little bubble of hatred that they don't care if they get hurt by stupid GQP policies just so long as those they hate get hurt worse. How sad is that mental state for a US citizen?
Only need to turn about 5% of MAGATs. Check out Rachel Bitecofer. In the rust belt 10% are Slavic Americas who think Ukraine is the primary issue.
https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Very well put. And the solution, as you say, is political. In election year 2016 I followed 538 closely (still do). I was blown away by the hypothetical matchups between Sanders and Trump, as well as those between Hillary Clinton and Trump. In poll after poll, Sanders beat Trump 2:1, with about 5% of potential voters undecided. Hillary, on the other hand was level-pegging Trump throughout 2016, with about 30% undecided. Then the DNC sandbagged Sanders. and in November the horror show began.
The point is, left wing populism is POPULAR, and the DNC has let us all down. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9vncWKPngE for the beginning of all this nonsense about government being the problem, hurting corporations through taxation.
It is also instructive to hear the weasel-words of Milton Friedman, maligning Keynes while at the same time saying that the post-WWII system that Keynes helped set up - a system which made possible the great economic and societal achievements of America between 1948 and 1980 - was inherently flawed to the point that Keynes would have changed his mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXLWd_avNT8
Or look up Friedman's interview with Phil Donahue in 1980, where Friedman singled out the Department of Energy as being a loathsome part of government. "There are 20,000 people who work for the DOE, " he said. "Do you know what the cost of this is? 10 cents for every American. Every time you buy a gallon of gas, add on 10 cents for the DOE." And Donahue just sat there, not even questioning this verbal shell game, his mouth agape at Friedman's magnificent intellect.
Here were the beginnings of the assault on government, TV interviews supported by corporate America, which would have Adam Smith - who believed in strong government and progressive taxation - spinning in his grave. That is, the misrepresentation of the free market as something to which government is inherently opposed. On the contrary, free markets depend upon strong government.
I fully agree, this 40 year descent into madness will only be stopped by a strong Democratic platform from the left. Believe 538.
Racism and Republican use of the tried, proven and adaptable, 'Southern Strategy' (to win the votes of racists, without sounding racist), was a significant catalyst for the transition to "government being the problem". As Lee Atwater explained when working for Reagan in 1981- "You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.” "1968" is after the Civil Rights Act and a reference to the gains of the Civil Rights Movement/legislation- when it became illegal to discriminate against race so it hurt you to say 'N_gger, N_gger" and black American's could now access the same Government benefits that they had been excluded from following the Great Depression and WWII (The New Deal, GI Bill, The National Housing Act and the FHA, and other public resources like access to public pools). Now Republicans began to successfully paint the Government as 'bad' for providing government/public resources (tax dollars) to unworthy people who hadn't earned them (black Americans). White Americans, by in large, fell for it hook, line and sinker. Today, that transition to "government being the problem", negatively impacts ALL Americans, including white Americans, many of whom ultimately cut off their noses to spite their faces! (1981 Lee Atwater interview- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_8E3ENrKrQ)
Looking at the graph, things might have been better if Al Gore had become president in 2001. The Bush administration inherited a budget surplus and promptly blew it on the trademark Republican tax cuts for the wealthy. And Bush appointed the virulently pro-plutocrat John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, where they gave us the democracy-destroying Citizens United decision.
Biden is working to correct some of the problems, but I agree that his advocacy often seems less than energetic. In his public statements, he'll mention something every so often, but doesn't keep pounding on it.
I think the news media must take some responsibility as well. They persistently equate Bernie Sanders, who works hard to improve people's lives and to solve the problems mentioned, with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk, who are just show horses who don't want to govern. Shame on the media!
I wrote a short version of this analysis months ago & received no support. Humans, even the so called educated, are SHEEP. All levers of US power have been redirected to the current Oligarchy of corporations & the richy rich. We are so far beyond just vote!. Trumpty, the cherry on the Sundae! All effective leaders are SHOT. I keep wondering why no one shoots these republicans, but I guess the Oligarchal democrats don’t operate that way. They marginalize , minimize, destroy in other ways. Corporations & Government = Facism, it is in place. US institutions are ‘hollowed out’ of all regulatory function & effectiveness. Watch Robert Kennedys film, very well done, to see how Corporations & Billionaires, including Gates, Facebook investors have sidelined US public health with their ‘initiatives’, read investments , after decades of infiltration. The only way forward, after the tepid work of vote, is boycott, unionize, stop buying, patronizing, travel to make these Oligarchs listen. We can not take to the streets as we will be shot now. That would come later in non violent demonstrations, if US citizens can begin to Think for themselves. There is also a path forward where Blue states use Secession, (which I favor) to move the dials. But, democrats are as enchanted with $$$$$ & power as anyone. Read the Nation article on line by Nathan Newman on blue state secession. We could become like Europe, with humane values lived in Blue states & as the Red states cannot dip into our economic engines, see how fast their ‘tunes’ change. McConnell is one of the most dangerous men ( like Gingrich) here with his sheer love of POWER, & skill at it. Wake Up!!
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/secession-constitution-elections-senate/
Here's the link
No link. It was short but the same basic message as Reichs today which we educated will fawn over.
Also, Kennedy’s film is poorly named & available free for the next day or so. It is ‘the real Anthony fauci’. For decades, Kennedy’s family worked to improve public health, mental health, DD standards, substance abuse care. So, Kennedy has known the characters, their facades & their new alliances are visible to his in depth history.
We have a week to push forward and try to get more voters to the polls. We see what we are up against, Professor Reich.
Perhaps you might print a piece that the average American can read to convince them of what is at stake here… and I mean for someone who isn’t quite as smart as you, like me for example. Not all of us “get” statistics and not all of us know of whom you are referring to in each paragraph of this piece. I had to read it three times before most of it sunk in. I don’t mind admitting I don’t understand some of it which is why it might help if you wrote something once in a while that the average high school graduate who didn’t have the opportunity to go to college will understand.
Please write a piece telling us what you would do if you were President someday, and then send it to yourself…
Respectfully yours, Anne M. 🌻
"I didn't leave the democratic party, the democratic party left me" is a very common phrase I hear when door, knocking, campaigning and talking to voters in central KY area. An organized truthful heartfelt dedicated long term consistent effort around what Dr. Reich is saying would help us here. Thanks.
Joe, you are right on. As a straight white male, from a working class background, I sometimes I feel there is no middle ground in the Democratic Party anymore. The Democratic Party is so driven by identity politics, what it is easy to imagine is that that our demographic and vote doesn't matter anymore.
Today I heard the WSJ report on how suburban white women are switching to the Republican Party all of a sudden due to worries about the economy. That poll should be a wake-up call to democrats of all stripes to get out and vote. I of course vote democratic, because the alternatives is authoritarianism or fascism by another name
I say "Hear, hear" to your "Democrats cannot defeat authoritarianism without an agenda of radical democratic reform — an anti-establishment movement. Democrats must stand squarely on the side of democracy against oligarchy. They must form a unified coalition of people of all races, genders, and classes to unrig the system."
How do "we" move the Democratic party to do this? I can't prove this, but it felt as if the corporate globalist pro-deregulation powers were pulling strings to see that Sanders could not become the candidate. They seem to have a strangle-hold on the Democratic party and certainly on the media.
Do you have specifics about how "we" move the Democratic party to rediscover its true interest?
I would like to know the answer to that question as well.
It was a great summary that Robert Reich gave.I look forward to part 3 that tells us more about what the way forward looks like.
We didn't get into this fix overnight and we're probably not going to get out of it overnight either. So I think a legislative agenda geared toward short, medium and long-term outcomes is needed. I think we know there are severe constraints on what kind of quote "radical agenda" can be passed in the near term.But beyond the legislative agenda it is obvious the party needs new direction from the top,and from the bottom.Part of the problem is the East and West coasts concentration of Democratic Party leadership.I don't mean to be entirely down on Democrats.Much has been accomplished by this Democratic Congress.
Hearing many Democrats in positions of power speak is frustrating. You wonder why Schumer and Pelosi haven't got George Lakoff conducting classes so Democrats in Congress would know better how to Market their goals. What is being done in the way of leadership development?
so whose job is it to ensure the DNC and the D Triple C are all they should be? when Hillary ran she said the DNC was basically a shell, broke.
have you ever noticed how the media generally adopts the Republican framing of issues? how can Democrats change that ?
here's the party platformhttps://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ if you click on any of the topics you will get a very lengthy narrative of what Democrats want to do.That is not useful. Save the long narratives for the 3rd or 4th level down for the one out of a hundred persons who has more interest.But this sort of thing is an indicator of how Market dense Democrats often are. and let's get over hating Democrats over the Bernie thing. If we want change it will have to come from most likely new people coming into leadership positions in the Party
Just a clarification: I AM a Democrat, I don't hate myself, I love what the Democratic Party used to stand for and still does, in my view. That was before Bill Clinton and others worked to destroy the legacy of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ and, instead of making progress, took a big, bad U-turn.
We need not "get over" that. We need to Reject it and get on with addressing the need for strong unions in this country, Medicare for all, free/affordable public education for all through college and graduate school, and more.
I think RR's voice is prophetic. Has the polarization, the division gotten so ingrained in today's politics that we are faced with Republican authoritarianism on the one hand or Democratic "populism" on the other? Our representative democracy is neither pure capitalism nor pure socialism. Whittling sticks into spears and crafting stones into weapons will break the backbone of "We the People". We are made up of captialist incentives and public safety nets, "infrastructure". BOTH/AND, not Either/Or. Thank you, RR, for calling us back to our roots. Not our shoots.
Again, I totally agree with all of that. It paints a picture of why Democrats always seem to be on the defensive -- because they haven't done enough to help the public, and because they, too, are beholden to corporate donors.
I was thinking again yesterday that, more and more, young people will find no financial reason to pursue higher education because, along with corporate tycoons, another population segment has vastly increased their wealth: small trades businesses. Three years ago, I paid $1000 for two people to cut down a few dead trees on my property. This year, the utility company informed me they refuse to fix the 14,000 volt electric line running down our privately owned, shared road, despite the fact that every expert has told us they've never seen private homeowners be required to manage such high-voltage lines because it's too dangerous. I called the Dept of PUBLIC Utilities. They sided against us, the public, and with the big corporation. So I now have to pay to trim trees around our power lines. The same company that charged me $1000/day 3 years ago to cut trees now wants $600/hr, for 2 people, no matter what the job. After much searching, I found someone to do the job for $3000. Then we paid a private lineman $3000 to fix a downed line. In a big storm, it will be impossible to hire a lineman. We'll be left without power, freezing, for longer than our propane will last. (I get no electric bill rebate, and in fact, I supply electricity TO the electric company from my solar panels.) The next day, I paid $1100 for a 15 minute plumbing job requiring a $2 part. Painters want absurd amounts for a simple job. The young boy who cuts my lawn has gone from $30 to $60 for the 20-minute job. He can do 2 jobs per hour, for $120/hr with no overhead beyond a ride-on lawnmower and old truck. So, tradespeople with no education beyond high school are making between $120 and about $400 per hour or more, with no cap on increases. Even if as much as half goes (to big corporations) for insurance and equipment, they're still making more profit than many highly educated "professionals." That and (big-corporation) materials prices are key reasons for sky-rocketing housing prices. Auto-repeair is the same, as are all other trades that I encounter. Why bother to incur education debt or even waste those earning years? And, with no schooling in logic or humanities, every one of those budding mini-corporation tycoons that I've met in our "blue" state blindly sports Trump stickers on their trucks or otherwise makes their GOP affiliation clear. More trend toward demise of democracy.
Brilliant! A simple way to think of this is Mr Smith’s bank that used deposits by local residents to help other residents. We put our money into savings and loan banks, collected interest, and helped each other and our community. Now, we put money into investments, save for retirement in 401ks, lose our savings when greed crashes the market, and give power to international corporations and Wall Street. When Obama and Hillary both gave speeches to Wall Street, I knew the Democrats were on the dark side. No one, I repeat, no one is worth $250,000 as a speaker to Wall Street. No one.
Truman Wouldn’t take speaking engagements after he was president. He didn’t think it was right to profit in that way. We’ve come a long way baby.