I continue to read critiques of US institutions which correctly point to the rot of (pick your choice) US institutions. Each critique warns that the US is on the precipice of losing our democracy. Senator Durbin made the point yesterday that the US came within a half step of a Constitutional crisis in the waning days of the Trump administration. No...we are no longer a democracy. Other than lower courts and the military leadership, every institution has been gutted, corrupted, or infiltrated. One party is fully authoritarian, and we are on the brink of financial default. We can't pass police reform, voting rights, violence against women, a healthcare public option, aid to children and seniors, environmental protections, etc. Garland is refusing to hold anyone in the Trjmp administration responsible for the nearly successful (and continuing) attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and our democracy. Craven corruption continues unabated. We have a myth of a democracy but not the reality. No accountability, no equal justice under the law, minority rule, corporate oligarchs, oceans of dark money corrupting SCOTUS, the GOP, and likely more than a few Democrats. At best, we're a barely functioning oligarchy sliding quickly into authoritarianism, but we're not a democracy. The failure of Democratic leadership to inform the public of the dangers is just emboldening and accelerating full authoritarianism.
I agree with you in many respects, but to me the greatest danger now is the American public becomes so cynical and fatalistic about all this that we give up on democracy -- which is exactly what the forces arrayed against democracy want us to do. No. Democracy is the legacy granted us, and we are morally obligated to continue to fight for it.
It would help a lot if some form of the 'fairness doctrine' could be put in place. Fox news and other sources of disinformation and/or lies can make anyone feel cynical or fatalistic or nihilistic. Truth itself has been obscured. The enemies of Democracy may succeed if we can't solve this.
I wish I could click the "heart" icon numerous times, into infinity! I've been touting reinstating the Fairness Doctrine for years now, and sometimes I feel like I'm shouting against the wind. Thank you for bringing it up.
It's nice to know that others can see that the FCC is not doing a job it was supposed to do. If the citizenry of a democracy can't get reliable information how will they know what to vote on or for? Someone told me that it was Ronald Reagan who 'got rid of' the Fairness Doctrine right around the time that he fast tracked Rupert Murdock's citizenship, which took only a year or so. Now we have Fox 'news'! And disinformation, and an historic attack on the people's House! Doubt is the cruelest thing! Belief in lies is worse!
He was working on an agenda long before his mob descended on the People's House. It's amazing to me when a pundit will start handwringing about the 'difficult to prove' intent of our last 'President' in the courts! There is something very wrong when our Justice system is so obtuse!
Aye rite ! Without the occasional revolution, democracy dies ! ! Where is the anti-trust and anti-monpoly legislation of days past ?And where are our elected officials who put it in motion ?
Thank you for your thoughts. An effective robust response requires a clear understanding of the danger. The reason that there haven't been massive protests (until the recent SCOTUS shadow docket dismantling of abortion in Texas) is that people still cling to trust in Democratic leadership to take bold action. This will never happen unless we force it to happen. Women's outrage and protests forced Garland to take a stand...the district court judge wrote an extraordinary opinion that was a slap in the face of a blatantly partisan, undemocratic SCOTUS. But abortion has not been saved...the Mississippi case will essentially gut abortion nationwide. We can't wait for Congress to pass legislation, it won't happen. We need to form a pro-democratic anti-authoritarian coalition - it has to happen from the ground up...neither the DNC nor the DCCC is even marginally capable of such work. But it won't happen unless people understand how high the stakes really are.
I honestly believe that Americans are beginning to understand how high the stakes are - thanks to people like Robert Reich, Bernie Sanders,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc. AND thanks to people like you and I, who also keep at it one step at a time. It is happening from the ground up. Seeds of truth, knowledge, hope, inspiration - share. Simplistic, but it is making the difference.
One thing needs to be understood. I think it’s pretty certain that a massive protest will arise if Roe v. wade is overturned, or for that matter before it’s overturned. But should be noted and probably already understood, that the armed extreme right militants may not sit back and quietly observe the proceedings. Just a thought in case the obvious wasn’t so obvious. 🤔
Ah! If families still took the time to sit down and have dinner together each night and quality local newspapers were still available. The roots of democracy would be nourished.
The triumvirate has been making bad options since the mid to late 70s, in the days of Robert Bork, I am not saying it was Bork, it was everything, the laissez faire laissez passer, to witch we call these days neo liberalism.
Now we will need decades of bottom up polices, and safety nets, with a minimum income and some sort of job guaranty, to stave off gradually the stoked fire of violence we see these days. We are living in a violence industry social environment, nearing or heading to the Robot Cop society, I heard a bit the DoJ budget discussion, more money for judicial support and other support to victims of this nefarious and toxic social environment, stoked by social injustice and inequality.
The USA needs a continued family of blanket policies.
In fact what China and other nations have been doing, and now are eating the USA lunch in its head.
No wonder the SCOTUS, the Fed, and the Big Tech (and also the Big Pharma to some extent, or other systemic institutions both governmental or private), trip themselves over.
Even supranational institutions are bracing themselves, with refugees, pandemics, terrorism and endless wars.
This is in fact WW3, with multiple conflicts at home and abroad. We will never be able to quench all this in the fell swoop of one administration. Low rates for example would be more wood in the fire. Let churches for example pay taxes over what they have parked offshore, all must pay it up, that is the only way of all having skin in the game, not only those at the bottom. I would raid the banks all of them, with the UN Secretary General, and go to extremes.
I would just add 2 points to the bleak present moment we face: 1) The son of Afghanistan 's former defense minister just bought a home in Beverly Hills for >$20M, and 2) Rick Wilson published a video on Twitter re sources who have confirmed that the Jan 6th commission plans to 'slow-walk' the investigation and is currently refusing to 'refer for criminal sanctions' any potential witnesses who defy subpoenas. This encapsulates 2021 and what led us to this point. Decades of corruption and cowardice by elected leaders.
It would be interesting to see an accurate accounting of the trillions spent in the war in Afghanistan. I guess we know where 20 M $ is. If it is true that the January 6th commission plans to slow walk their investigation that is extremely disappointing and naively surprising to me. I stopped using Twitter quite some time ago. Can you provide more sources to substantiate? Thanks.
I think the hyperbolic curves Al Gore presented to us a while back are now evident, manifesting in increased general fear and confusion. Lost people will naturally gravitate toward the simple illusion of certainty which is the very essence of conservative politics, religion (7 Catholics on the Supreme Court), and high tech. "What a fool believes, no wise man has the power to reason away."
We cannot have accountability without factual news to the entire population. SCOTUS is part of the rt wing alternate world. Without the return to freedom of the press, access to the truth, research journalists who ask questions, we will just keep spinning our wheels. It has to start with this. But the next step should be expanding the Supreme Court while it can happen!
I continue to believe that cable and internet (like broadcast TV and radio) must be thrust under the auspices of the FCC, which needs to bring back, in some form, and enforce the Fairness Doctrine to stop the lies. Whatever Facebook's algorithms do to coarsen public discourse is the same business model already employed daily by Fox News: weaponize and monetize bigotry and hate. Neither Facebook nor Fox has a solution. They simply enjoy watching the subsequent fireworks and listening to their cash registers ring.
I hate to say it, but regulation of the tech industry is required. It's going to make software development less fun, but society will benefit from regulation.
The reality is that programmers rule the world. Programmers are writing the rules we abide by every day. Programmers have been writing code that can kill you for a very long time, and the impact of that truth is expanding.
Here's a great view into this reality from a respected member of the collective of software developers.
Ever since the former president became the president I have done everything I can to reduce and eliminate their (scotus, fed, big tech) influence and control over me. I’ve long been out of debt, live well within my means and stay away from 99% of social media. I have and always will vote in-person. My current challenge is how to purchase internet and phone services. IMHO, they should be a made a matter of national security, become a “utility” and the current monopolies be broken-up. Next to school/property taxes my cable bill is my second highest expense. But, Congress will do nothing to protect or benefit us because it is bought and paid for by the very people who are screwing us.
What you say is absolutely correct and of great concern. I still feel powerless and at the whim of a very slow process and system which is uncertain about using its power to do what needs to be done. I'm sick and tired of standing on the edge of the cliff and waiting for our Democratic leaders to made the hard decisions and take the action that is necessary to set our tanker back on course. We have been hijacked by pirates.
I think what we need, Jeff, is a pro-Democracy movement here in the United States -- a national grassroots movement to expand and reinvigorate democracy.
The most frightening, and arguably the biggest power center, is Congress itself. It doesn’t matter how much the general public supports any particular policy, be it raising the minimum wage, increasing gun safety, reducing inequality, protecting woman’s right to control their own bodies, and protecting voting rights, nothing gets through Congress unless its members have consulted with their own paymasters and special interests.
We don’t have much of a democracy left anyway, as far as I can see.
Of these 3, the one that bothers me the most is the Supreme Court. NO ONE should be appointed for life!! NO ONE!! So, we must pass term limits for them. (And, while we're at it, pass term limits for Congress!)
I won't stop saying this: Money in Govt is the only political issue. We will never do anything to really change these situations until we get Money from controlling our politicians. Remember
the Voting Rights Act? What happened to it? Remember the Civil Rights Act? What happened to it? Remember Roe v Wade? What happened to it? The same thing happened to all of them. We thought our work was done by defeating the bad guys, but we did not disarm them. We did not change the laws they now use to fund their counter-attack: the campaign finance and the lobbyist laws. They came back better armed (money in hand, laws passed, legislatures and courts imballanced) and blindsided us. We now debate what we should have done 20 years ago, but still don't address: Money rules our democracy. We have to change that.
These three areas are symptoms of the larger systemic cause of corporations having inalienable constitutional rights and the fact that money is considered their free speech. The second applies to the rich as well. The Fed. legislature and most state's are also controlled by that money. (I live in TX, where and oil and gas rule our state govt.) Until that changes, the focus of those in power will remain on pleasing their moneyed constituents and not the common people. Move to Amend seeks to do this with the passage of HJR48, the We the People Amendment.
It also makes the disclosure of all political contributions public.
Those changes will result in the ending of the rich and corporation's power to control our government, forcing our representatives to listen to the voices of the people to get elected and stay in office. The more of use who back and fight for the passage of it, the sooner we will have a govt. that is far more receptive to changing all the ills pointed out in this article and so many others.
I so admire your insight and common sense. However, as an old retiree who is easily upset by DC, I am content to read your words and watch senseless, predictable movies to survive. Time is short and it needs calm moments, less medication. At any rate, thank you for your solid explanations. They are appreciated.
The Fed doesn't need to keep interest rates low to fuel the economy - it needs to do so or interest on our national debt is going to destroy us well before global warming. Even 5% rates on govt debt would result in a trillion per year in interest payments.
IMO, protracted low rates have caused institutional investors to buy large swaths of single family homes, driving up prices and rents and making housing unaffordable for many. There is no free lunch.
The country needs massive public demand for a law to restore the limit to TV and radio licenses that can be held by a single owner with provisions assuring there are no secret owners .
I think the Biden administration should start ignoring the Supreme Court. Unelected judges are making policy according to their own personal preferences, and those of their Big Money funders, that should be left to the political branches. The Constitution tasks the president with taking care that the laws be faithfully executed. There is no asterisk saying, "subject to unelected judges' approval." Likewise, the Constitution clearly gives legislative authority to Congress. It does not allow courts to judicially repeal Acts of Congress by [often arbitrarily] declaring them "unconstitutional." Otherwise, Congress can go to all the work of enacting a voting rights law, for example, and unelected judges follow right behind to judicially repeal it. The decision in the case Marbury v. Madison, which effectively unconstitutionally amended the Constitution by judicial fiat, needs to go. I think the Citizens United, Shelby County, and Buckley v. Valeo opinions, along with many others, constitute unconstitutional judicial meddling in the work of the elected political branches. We are being ruled by a de facto oligarchy.
I think the Supreme Court got it right in the case Chevron USA. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 467 U.S. 837, 865-866 (1984):
"Judges are not experts in the field, and are not part of either political branch of the Government. Courts must, in some cases, reconcile competing political interests, but not on the basis of the judges' personal policy preferences."
Before we get to this point (if we ever do), we need to expand the size of the court. Short of this, set term limits for how long a justice will serve on the high court before then moving on to one of the nation's appellate courts and is replaced on the high court by an appellate judge (the Constitution would permit this).
Thank you for hosting this forum, where we can express ideas with feedback. I have to say, I do not favor expanding the number of justices, unless there is a workload problem, because it could spark a race of more and more expansion. I would support term limits. The Constitution says that Article III judges and justices hold office "during good behaviour." To me, that is not synonymous with "for life," unless you believe that federal judges are paragons of perfection. In reality, there is almost no monitoring of judges' behavior in office. The judicial complaint process established by Congress is nearly useless, and generally addresses only the most egregious behavior, such as overt bribery or sexual assault of a staff member.
We have each of the most conservative on SCOTUS claiming not to be political in efforts to defend their political acts.
We've been hearing big tech spin factory on how well they do in addressing their problems for more than 30 hearings; noteworthy that we did not have a whistleblower for big tobacco or fossil fuel industry misinformation campaigns and thus have a chance to act on tech sooner.
We are a republic using democratic practices in some areas, yet never all especially on the economy. The only accountability the Fed seems to have is to financial institutions; seems a redesign may be needed there for balancing power and not have those those who benefit from secrecy and megamoney flow be sole accountability. Why has not rattling Wall Street now an economic motivator? Another unaccountable area of power and influence...
I continue to read critiques of US institutions which correctly point to the rot of (pick your choice) US institutions. Each critique warns that the US is on the precipice of losing our democracy. Senator Durbin made the point yesterday that the US came within a half step of a Constitutional crisis in the waning days of the Trump administration. No...we are no longer a democracy. Other than lower courts and the military leadership, every institution has been gutted, corrupted, or infiltrated. One party is fully authoritarian, and we are on the brink of financial default. We can't pass police reform, voting rights, violence against women, a healthcare public option, aid to children and seniors, environmental protections, etc. Garland is refusing to hold anyone in the Trjmp administration responsible for the nearly successful (and continuing) attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and our democracy. Craven corruption continues unabated. We have a myth of a democracy but not the reality. No accountability, no equal justice under the law, minority rule, corporate oligarchs, oceans of dark money corrupting SCOTUS, the GOP, and likely more than a few Democrats. At best, we're a barely functioning oligarchy sliding quickly into authoritarianism, but we're not a democracy. The failure of Democratic leadership to inform the public of the dangers is just emboldening and accelerating full authoritarianism.
I agree with you in many respects, but to me the greatest danger now is the American public becomes so cynical and fatalistic about all this that we give up on democracy -- which is exactly what the forces arrayed against democracy want us to do. No. Democracy is the legacy granted us, and we are morally obligated to continue to fight for it.
It would help a lot if some form of the 'fairness doctrine' could be put in place. Fox news and other sources of disinformation and/or lies can make anyone feel cynical or fatalistic or nihilistic. Truth itself has been obscured. The enemies of Democracy may succeed if we can't solve this.
I wish I could click the "heart" icon numerous times, into infinity! I've been touting reinstating the Fairness Doctrine for years now, and sometimes I feel like I'm shouting against the wind. Thank you for bringing it up.
It's nice to know that others can see that the FCC is not doing a job it was supposed to do. If the citizenry of a democracy can't get reliable information how will they know what to vote on or for? Someone told me that it was Ronald Reagan who 'got rid of' the Fairness Doctrine right around the time that he fast tracked Rupert Murdock's citizenship, which took only a year or so. Now we have Fox 'news'! And disinformation, and an historic attack on the people's House! Doubt is the cruelest thing! Belief in lies is worse!
He essentially did as he added 3 new members to the FCC Board of Directors.
He was working on an agenda long before his mob descended on the People's House. It's amazing to me when a pundit will start handwringing about the 'difficult to prove' intent of our last 'President' in the courts! There is something very wrong when our Justice system is so obtuse!
Aye rite ! Without the occasional revolution, democracy dies ! ! Where is the anti-trust and anti-monpoly legislation of days past ?And where are our elected officials who put it in motion ?
Thank you for your thoughts. An effective robust response requires a clear understanding of the danger. The reason that there haven't been massive protests (until the recent SCOTUS shadow docket dismantling of abortion in Texas) is that people still cling to trust in Democratic leadership to take bold action. This will never happen unless we force it to happen. Women's outrage and protests forced Garland to take a stand...the district court judge wrote an extraordinary opinion that was a slap in the face of a blatantly partisan, undemocratic SCOTUS. But abortion has not been saved...the Mississippi case will essentially gut abortion nationwide. We can't wait for Congress to pass legislation, it won't happen. We need to form a pro-democratic anti-authoritarian coalition - it has to happen from the ground up...neither the DNC nor the DCCC is even marginally capable of such work. But it won't happen unless people understand how high the stakes really are.
I honestly believe that Americans are beginning to understand how high the stakes are - thanks to people like Robert Reich, Bernie Sanders,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc. AND thanks to people like you and I, who also keep at it one step at a time. It is happening from the ground up. Seeds of truth, knowledge, hope, inspiration - share. Simplistic, but it is making the difference.
One thing needs to be understood. I think it’s pretty certain that a massive protest will arise if Roe v. wade is overturned, or for that matter before it’s overturned. But should be noted and probably already understood, that the armed extreme right militants may not sit back and quietly observe the proceedings. Just a thought in case the obvious wasn’t so obvious. 🤔
Ah! If families still took the time to sit down and have dinner together each night and quality local newspapers were still available. The roots of democracy would be nourished.
Maybe it’s my own brand of nostalgia but I sure do miss Walter Cronkite…
As Ed Harris said in APOLLO 13: "Failure is not an option!" Thank you Robert--we need more of such moral obligations!
It is a good description totally accurate or not.
The triumvirate has been making bad options since the mid to late 70s, in the days of Robert Bork, I am not saying it was Bork, it was everything, the laissez faire laissez passer, to witch we call these days neo liberalism.
Now we will need decades of bottom up polices, and safety nets, with a minimum income and some sort of job guaranty, to stave off gradually the stoked fire of violence we see these days. We are living in a violence industry social environment, nearing or heading to the Robot Cop society, I heard a bit the DoJ budget discussion, more money for judicial support and other support to victims of this nefarious and toxic social environment, stoked by social injustice and inequality.
The USA needs a continued family of blanket policies.
In fact what China and other nations have been doing, and now are eating the USA lunch in its head.
No wonder the SCOTUS, the Fed, and the Big Tech (and also the Big Pharma to some extent, or other systemic institutions both governmental or private), trip themselves over.
Even supranational institutions are bracing themselves, with refugees, pandemics, terrorism and endless wars.
This is in fact WW3, with multiple conflicts at home and abroad. We will never be able to quench all this in the fell swoop of one administration. Low rates for example would be more wood in the fire. Let churches for example pay taxes over what they have parked offshore, all must pay it up, that is the only way of all having skin in the game, not only those at the bottom. I would raid the banks all of them, with the UN Secretary General, and go to extremes.
I would just add 2 points to the bleak present moment we face: 1) The son of Afghanistan 's former defense minister just bought a home in Beverly Hills for >$20M, and 2) Rick Wilson published a video on Twitter re sources who have confirmed that the Jan 6th commission plans to 'slow-walk' the investigation and is currently refusing to 'refer for criminal sanctions' any potential witnesses who defy subpoenas. This encapsulates 2021 and what led us to this point. Decades of corruption and cowardice by elected leaders.
I have more faith in Adam Schiff than you do. The values he espouses would preclude him from doing what you suggest.
It would be interesting to see an accurate accounting of the trillions spent in the war in Afghanistan. I guess we know where 20 M $ is. If it is true that the January 6th commission plans to slow walk their investigation that is extremely disappointing and naively surprising to me. I stopped using Twitter quite some time ago. Can you provide more sources to substantiate? Thanks.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/human-and-budgetary-costs-date-us-war-afghanistan-2001-2022
Look for Costs of War where to try to keep up with cost of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/
No the Lower Courts and Administration are at the same Corrupt level as the municipal
Amen!
I think the hyperbolic curves Al Gore presented to us a while back are now evident, manifesting in increased general fear and confusion. Lost people will naturally gravitate toward the simple illusion of certainty which is the very essence of conservative politics, religion (7 Catholics on the Supreme Court), and high tech. "What a fool believes, no wise man has the power to reason away."
We cannot have accountability without factual news to the entire population. SCOTUS is part of the rt wing alternate world. Without the return to freedom of the press, access to the truth, research journalists who ask questions, we will just keep spinning our wheels. It has to start with this. But the next step should be expanding the Supreme Court while it can happen!
I continue to believe that cable and internet (like broadcast TV and radio) must be thrust under the auspices of the FCC, which needs to bring back, in some form, and enforce the Fairness Doctrine to stop the lies. Whatever Facebook's algorithms do to coarsen public discourse is the same business model already employed daily by Fox News: weaponize and monetize bigotry and hate. Neither Facebook nor Fox has a solution. They simply enjoy watching the subsequent fireworks and listening to their cash registers ring.
I hate to say it, but regulation of the tech industry is required. It's going to make software development less fun, but society will benefit from regulation.
The reality is that programmers rule the world. Programmers are writing the rules we abide by every day. Programmers have been writing code that can kill you for a very long time, and the impact of that truth is expanding.
Here's a great view into this reality from a respected member of the collective of software developers.
https://youtu.be/ecIWPzGEbFc?t=4463
Ever since the former president became the president I have done everything I can to reduce and eliminate their (scotus, fed, big tech) influence and control over me. I’ve long been out of debt, live well within my means and stay away from 99% of social media. I have and always will vote in-person. My current challenge is how to purchase internet and phone services. IMHO, they should be a made a matter of national security, become a “utility” and the current monopolies be broken-up. Next to school/property taxes my cable bill is my second highest expense. But, Congress will do nothing to protect or benefit us because it is bought and paid for by the very people who are screwing us.
What you say is absolutely correct and of great concern. I still feel powerless and at the whim of a very slow process and system which is uncertain about using its power to do what needs to be done. I'm sick and tired of standing on the edge of the cliff and waiting for our Democratic leaders to made the hard decisions and take the action that is necessary to set our tanker back on course. We have been hijacked by pirates.
I think what we need, Jeff, is a pro-Democracy movement here in the United States -- a national grassroots movement to expand and reinvigorate democracy.
Time, I feel FOR Ghandiesk peaceful, yet meaningful revolution to get the U.S.S.-U.S. back on course !
The most frightening, and arguably the biggest power center, is Congress itself. It doesn’t matter how much the general public supports any particular policy, be it raising the minimum wage, increasing gun safety, reducing inequality, protecting woman’s right to control their own bodies, and protecting voting rights, nothing gets through Congress unless its members have consulted with their own paymasters and special interests.
We don’t have much of a democracy left anyway, as far as I can see.
Of these 3, the one that bothers me the most is the Supreme Court. NO ONE should be appointed for life!! NO ONE!! So, we must pass term limits for them. (And, while we're at it, pass term limits for Congress!)
I won't stop saying this: Money in Govt is the only political issue. We will never do anything to really change these situations until we get Money from controlling our politicians. Remember
the Voting Rights Act? What happened to it? Remember the Civil Rights Act? What happened to it? Remember Roe v Wade? What happened to it? The same thing happened to all of them. We thought our work was done by defeating the bad guys, but we did not disarm them. We did not change the laws they now use to fund their counter-attack: the campaign finance and the lobbyist laws. They came back better armed (money in hand, laws passed, legislatures and courts imballanced) and blindsided us. We now debate what we should have done 20 years ago, but still don't address: Money rules our democracy. We have to change that.
These three areas are symptoms of the larger systemic cause of corporations having inalienable constitutional rights and the fact that money is considered their free speech. The second applies to the rich as well. The Fed. legislature and most state's are also controlled by that money. (I live in TX, where and oil and gas rule our state govt.) Until that changes, the focus of those in power will remain on pleasing their moneyed constituents and not the common people. Move to Amend seeks to do this with the passage of HJR48, the We the People Amendment.
It also makes the disclosure of all political contributions public.
Those changes will result in the ending of the rich and corporation's power to control our government, forcing our representatives to listen to the voices of the people to get elected and stay in office. The more of use who back and fight for the passage of it, the sooner we will have a govt. that is far more receptive to changing all the ills pointed out in this article and so many others.
I so admire your insight and common sense. However, as an old retiree who is easily upset by DC, I am content to read your words and watch senseless, predictable movies to survive. Time is short and it needs calm moments, less medication. At any rate, thank you for your solid explanations. They are appreciated.
The Fed doesn't need to keep interest rates low to fuel the economy - it needs to do so or interest on our national debt is going to destroy us well before global warming. Even 5% rates on govt debt would result in a trillion per year in interest payments.
IMO, protracted low rates have caused institutional investors to buy large swaths of single family homes, driving up prices and rents and making housing unaffordable for many. There is no free lunch.
The country needs massive public demand for a law to restore the limit to TV and radio licenses that can be held by a single owner with provisions assuring there are no secret owners .
I think the Biden administration should start ignoring the Supreme Court. Unelected judges are making policy according to their own personal preferences, and those of their Big Money funders, that should be left to the political branches. The Constitution tasks the president with taking care that the laws be faithfully executed. There is no asterisk saying, "subject to unelected judges' approval." Likewise, the Constitution clearly gives legislative authority to Congress. It does not allow courts to judicially repeal Acts of Congress by [often arbitrarily] declaring them "unconstitutional." Otherwise, Congress can go to all the work of enacting a voting rights law, for example, and unelected judges follow right behind to judicially repeal it. The decision in the case Marbury v. Madison, which effectively unconstitutionally amended the Constitution by judicial fiat, needs to go. I think the Citizens United, Shelby County, and Buckley v. Valeo opinions, along with many others, constitute unconstitutional judicial meddling in the work of the elected political branches. We are being ruled by a de facto oligarchy.
I think the Supreme Court got it right in the case Chevron USA. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 467 U.S. 837, 865-866 (1984):
"Judges are not experts in the field, and are not part of either political branch of the Government. Courts must, in some cases, reconcile competing political interests, but not on the basis of the judges' personal policy preferences."
Before we get to this point (if we ever do), we need to expand the size of the court. Short of this, set term limits for how long a justice will serve on the high court before then moving on to one of the nation's appellate courts and is replaced on the high court by an appellate judge (the Constitution would permit this).
Thank you for hosting this forum, where we can express ideas with feedback. I have to say, I do not favor expanding the number of justices, unless there is a workload problem, because it could spark a race of more and more expansion. I would support term limits. The Constitution says that Article III judges and justices hold office "during good behaviour." To me, that is not synonymous with "for life," unless you believe that federal judges are paragons of perfection. In reality, there is almost no monitoring of judges' behavior in office. The judicial complaint process established by Congress is nearly useless, and generally addresses only the most egregious behavior, such as overt bribery or sexual assault of a staff member.
No one gives up power gladly.
We have each of the most conservative on SCOTUS claiming not to be political in efforts to defend their political acts.
We've been hearing big tech spin factory on how well they do in addressing their problems for more than 30 hearings; noteworthy that we did not have a whistleblower for big tobacco or fossil fuel industry misinformation campaigns and thus have a chance to act on tech sooner.
We are a republic using democratic practices in some areas, yet never all especially on the economy. The only accountability the Fed seems to have is to financial institutions; seems a redesign may be needed there for balancing power and not have those those who benefit from secrecy and megamoney flow be sole accountability. Why has not rattling Wall Street now an economic motivator? Another unaccountable area of power and influence...