Just watched a documentary series about the Roman Empire. Interesting story about Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BCE. He attempted a land reform to deal with the homeless situation, and to reverse the plundering of public land by the wealthy elite. Dude was brutally murdered by hired assassins. Fast forward to Emiliano Zapata. Too much is never enough for the obscenely rich. Whether they are Southern plantation owners or Petro billionaires or Pharma kings, their ceaseless urgency to retain all of their plunder never lags, even at the cost of the social structure itself. Communist revolutions like those in Russia and Cuba were only successful because of the stubborn greed and insensitivity of the oligarchy. They bring revolution upon themselves. How they hated FDR for trying to fix an America their insatiable greed had destroyed.
Oligarchs is a term most people have to look up. Robber barons is a term more easily understood. The morbidly wealthy are thieves in fine clothing. Some like Charles Koch think they are more brilliant, more special, more deserving than anyone else.
See Robert Mercer, the extreme right's biggest and baddest financier. He believes human worth is proportionate to their assets. Apparently religious? Hope he has a lovely interview at the Pearly Gates.
Jenn, I like the term "Robber Barren." It has the two words that say it all, thieves who think they are some kind of royalty. Now that we have a good name for this group of people who are endlessly needy, we need to start figuring out how we are going to deal with them, bring them down to size. Of course those mostly white men think they are god-given. That is the only way they can dismiss their fellow human beings so callously. I love the way they "support" the arts while they are making it hard for anyone else to support the arts or anyone/anything as we just survive on the low wages and artificially high prices that We the People are being blamed for. The media could do a lot to positively address this, but our FCC and other entities have permitted oligarchs (robber barrens) to own many TV and radio stations, and newspapers where they can cause endless havoc. We have decided less than well-educated rich white guys can own huge social media platforms and set up algorithms that put We the People at a severe disadvantage while the other robber barrens get every opportunity to undermine our democracy and the people who are trying to protect it and live it. How did we ever allow this? I suspect it is due in part to the culture wars conservatives/Republicans have been arming for decades. The media LOVES these "wars" because they distract everyone from the giant theft that is actually going on over there. The "war" is really rich conservative /scared white Christians using their warped faith and power to take away people's rights, to keep non-white men from positions of power, and promoting whiteness and maleness as the high mark of life. Those scared white men own almost everything and can get their messages out in many ways at the expense of everyone but them. I don't know what we can do about this insanity, but we need to do something!
I would say that Charles Koch is MORE similar than everyone else, as his ONLY claim to fame is stealing money from the 99.99%. At least Bunkerboy ALSO had a failed meat business, a failed water business, and a mildly successful gameshow!
When I found out that the Koch Brothers (David now deceased & Charles) home base
was Wichita KS, my home town, it appalled me. And even though I haven't visited there
(now in Seattle) in over 40 years, I won't ever go back. Besides I've no living relatives there anymore anyway. Sigh and sadness because I have fond memories growing up there as a kid.
I grew up in Idaho. Fond memories will stay with me. Idaho has been “used and abused” A sanctuary for “skin heads, white supremes, gun cowboys ,
The main obvious name was Simplot who built the biggest house on the hill above Boise, and the American flag he flew in his yard was so big it was very loud “ when the wind blew it, “ snap, crackle and pop”. People below in the town center complained.
But I will remember the trees , the clear ( then) streams and rivers and the mountains rising up with the sun setting.
Odd how we have these recollections. I was one of few that grew up in Phoenix. East coast transplant from the late 40s. I will not go there anymore. Tucson is more bearable. Iirc, there was discussion about a moratorium on growth when I was there in the 70s. Can you imagine? Robert R is correct. This is going to be “look here, not there”.
Interestingly, we have two contrasting experiments underway. The U.S. is on a track of oligarchic excess, while the PRC has introduced a model of "Common Prosperity", and there is some element of wealth forfeiture. For example, Jack Ma has been sidelined from his companies and the company was broken up.
The means to the trend involves demagoguery for anti Wokeism; support for white supremacy, zelophobia, "Christian" nationalism, hatred for the "other," etc. They espouse cultural war, but benefit economically.
A dispassionate perspective of historical trending leads one in a very dark direction. Climate change, overpopulation, and wealth imbalance will all combine to create conditions ripe for fascism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and tribal violence. The oligarchs are fueling the fires that will one day consume them, and it is not certain that New Zealand has enough survival bunkers to hold them all.
Kerry, it does seem the rich white Republican men and some women are OK with over-population and want to stop all abortions to bring about the crisis you are speaking of more quickly than it would otherwise come. These are not good people; they are folks who want everyone who is not them to be their servants or even slaves while they keep piling on the money and resources, thinking they won't suffer because somehow they will escape the horrors of global warming and the upheaval. They're wrong, but they can't think that far ahead while they are grabbing money and power to feed their addiction.
They are NOT interested in stopping abortions. They want to reduce the influence of women in business and the easiest way is to keep them pregnant, watching the kids, and keeping house.
People with children also make it easier to press desperate people into taking worse and worse jobs with less buying power year after year.
If you're single, you can decide to give up the game and go backpacking in South America for awhile. If you have kids to feed, you're going swallow your pride and ignore your dignity to take the job that pays in company scrip, even when you know it's just slavery with extra steps.
" But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. AND FROM SUCH PEOPLE TURN AWAY!"
Certainly an apt description of our former helmsman, the orange blowhard. But alas, to the delight of our corporate hucksters whose presence subsidizes our communal forum, the people simply CANNOT turn away. More, they cry! Give us more MAGA to entertain our miserable lives!
Fyiurban, seems like we are already in an abbreviated form of such end times predictions! Must be the trial edition right now! If government can’t contain the Oligarch’s power & control over our economy, what are ordinary Americans able to do about it?? We are all playing the losing game here! Gone are the days of boycotting a business that abuses its clientele. Monopolies have taken over just about every area of business leaving us no choices where to spend our money! That’s what has hurt low & middle income & retired families the most I believe! Leaves people feeling hopeless.
Yes! Is it THE end or the end of a Nation, end of a party? End of the status quo? Who knows what God's time is, but this type of selfishness leads to destruction of some kind! We can sit by and let it happen or try to effect change. If they seek to divide us, we know one of the solutions is Unity=power-in-numbers (via democracy, via unions, via collective action, via pooling our resources, via capitalizing on our diversity of skills and experiences so there is someone that is strong, where I am weak). They seek to lie and misinform, so another solution is to keep our lines of dialogue open, in an effort to expose the lies and misinformation... a lie, unchallenged, becomes the truth to someone (this goes for all the "tough" conversations about the things/issues they use to divide us- race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, education/history, politics, etc.) This can be challenging, but if you can help one person and they that person help another, etc, etc., progress can be made. NOW is the time to boycott and or create a competing business that does the right thing... If we lose the safety net or democracy, boycotts/protests will require major sacrifices- one's livelihood or even ones life. We have to reward, appreciate and encourage selflessness and sacrifice for the greater good, while society is rewarding selfishness and greed. Too many have decided, 'since i can't beat the lairs, thieves, and cheaters, I'll join them'. Life has got to be about more than making money. If so, I may not sale my business to the highest bidder to get rich (giving the oligarchs more wealth, power and monopoly), I may retain it so I can focus on it's impact on the greater good.
fyi, Wow, that could describe any age in history. Somehow it seems those people start out as a fringe then become prominent when they can convince enough people to go along with their hatred, lack of faith, and the rest. There are always the disgruntled who are just waiting for someone to come by, claiming he (and rarely she) will resuce them from all their trials and make life so wonderful! Those folks who get ensnared can't seem to get out of the trap of a built-up ego where they can feel important, basking in the light of this supposedly "great" person. Once that "great" person has them entrapped, they can get those people to do just about anything and do it willingly, even gratefully. That, unfortunately is one way to be human. The user is another.
Daniel, you are right about the wolves in the cloak, but I am thinking they don't even hide under the cloak anymore. They seem so sure no one will act to stop their bad behavior they don't care who knows what they are doing. They seem to have shaped laws that will by some kind of loopholes keep themselves from even being prosecuted, or if prosecuted, they will wiggle out by whining to the jury, making themselves seem pathetic and at the mercy of all us really terrible people who are out for blood. The gaslighting generally works quite well. I don't know how we address this blatant activity on the part of less than noble robber barons.
Most MAGAts think they are supporting cultural issues when they are screwing themselves economically and physically.
The wolves get huge returns for funding this illusion.
The obvious insurrectionists are NOT oligarchs. In the vernacular of 50s conservatism, they are willing idiots who may lose their liberty while the wolves will not be touched.
Daniel, you are right about the visible insurgents. They are what I think of as the servants (even slaves) of the oligarchs (robber barons/barrens). They have already lost so much of anything like independence and humanity they can be used gleefully by the guys who are trying to pull the strings on their loud-mouthed, pretty ignorant puppet troops. Just listening to a Green or Boebert, I get the impression they were mean girls already who were bothered by someone poorer or darker or smarter than they, so when the opportunity came along to join the Klan of the robber barons/barrens, they were ready. Only a few women actually make it to the higher levels but they are usually blatantly ridiculous, but do enormous harm because of their recruitment potential. Those fools were both re-elected in districts that should have chosen better, but somehow just couldn't let their little loud-mouths go and the puppetmasters were fueling the insanity. An opponent had no chance.
"Its top donors are billionaires — banking scion Timothy Mellon, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, as well as the Koch network." Thank you Mr. Reich, we have got to keep calling these people out, by name and industry/company. "The oligarchy doesn’t want to destroy government. It needs government subsidies, loan guarantees, bailouts, and contracts. It just wants lower taxes (which requires less government spending) and fewer regulations." They want MORE/ALL money and power. Lowering taxes puts more money in their pockets, but it simultaneously, de-funds government agencies that would regulate them, weakens governments power to help the 99+% and enables them to hide their nefarious intent while gaining the support of those they take advantage of (who think they also benefit from miniscule tax cuts, in comparison)-everyone else. They also seek to weaken our power through government by manipulating the voting process (gerrymandering, weakening voting rights, attaching the voting rights act, pursuing 'states rights' to control elections without challenge!) to facilitate majority rule- just in case we wake up and realize that Democracy- power-in-numbers, is the only tool we can use to keep them a bey. In the mean time, they do all they can to keep us fighting each other (culture wars to 'divide and conquer) and distracted from their true intent and their methods. They endeavor to avoid and/or weaken Civil Juries (power of the people) in favor of arbitration or decisions made by a judge (fewer people to control with their money or threats), they have purchased control of the courts, by which they can influence legislation, while using the filibuster, gerrymandering, unlimited dark money to keep congress from taking action. They want to privatize government functions and/or monopolize government contracts to further enrich themselves while at the same time gaining more power to control our pay, benefits and right-to-work because we are their corporate employees vs government employees. They want to weaken/defund the social safety net, to put money in their coffers while making it harder for us to protest (don't work, don't eat, without safety net) They want to weaken our collective power through unions and government... "In reality, the MAGAs and oligarchs are jockeying for positions in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Each group is testing the other’s power, making small compromises and adaptations where necessary." YES, There is a battle between the Oligarchs and Trump, because trump is a greedy/selfish narcissist who is challenging their power (status quo), in an attempt to have all power to himself! Can this be exploited for the better good???
“I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence,” McCarthy said. “I was just talking to [Trump] tonight, helping get those final votes.”
Washington, — "In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the US Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did." “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy. McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump’s supporters and begged Trump to call them off." https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html
Did Trump suborn perjury? Apparently, based on what he said on Jan 7, 2021, McCarthy was a witness against Trump.
Was support by Trump another quid pro quo, obstruction of justice incident that needs to be heard by a grand jury?
House Republicans are promising to "investigate" open DOJ criminal investigations of January 6, the general effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the Mar-a-Lago papers. To me, this would also constitute obstruction of justice, using oversight as a pretext, especially since some members of Congress might be participants in any offenses.
In June, the Jan. 6 committee sent a five-page letter to Gym Jordan, would be House Judiciary Committee chair, outlining his involvement in a series of key events that the panel wanted to question him about in detail.
“Cooperation with our investigation would also give you the opportunity to resolve, on the record, inconsistencies in your public statements about the events of Jan. 6. For instance, you have offered inconsistent public statements regarding when and how many times you spoke with President Trump on Jan. 6,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, said in the letter.
“Given that you have said all along ‘I have nothing to hide,’ we expect that you would be willing to clarify these statements for us.”
Among the 10 reasons the select committee listed for wanting to hear from Jordan were two items not disclosed until the June letter:
*He requested a call with then-attorney General William Barr on Nov. 6, the day before the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden.
*The same day he asked to talk with Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows about “efforts to pressure Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe to audit his state’s election results.”
*Jordan told Meadows the afternoon of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that Trump’s “various congressional supporters seemed increasingly less excited now that their revolt would be covered only by C-SPAN.”
Other Jordan involvement cited by the committee:
*A Nov. 9, 2020, meeting with senior White House officials in which a “blueprint” was developed to “hammer home the idea that the election was tainted.”
*A meeting Nov. 14 of the same year with Trump campaign officials and members of Congress in which Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani outlined a strategy to falsely question the integrity of Dominion Voting Systems -- which makes voting machines used in Ohio and several other states -- and link them to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
*On Dec. 21, 2020, Jordan and several members of Congress met with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s legal team to review options on challenging certification of the election.
*The same month, Trump told the Department of Justice that Jordan was “trying to find out what happened” to election fraud allegations.
*On Jan. 5, the day before the 2021 riot, Jordan passed along advice to Meadows that Pence should refuse to certify “unconstitutional” votes.
*Starting almost immediately after the election, Jordan repeatedly called the integrity of the vote into question, and advised Trump not to concede the election even after results were certified Jan. 6.
*Jordan talked with Trump the morning of Jan. 6 shortly before the Capitol riot began, and later the same day after congressional members were moved to a secure location.
Plenty of opportunities to put his responses to these accusations into the Federal Register.
Gym is absolutely a criminal and part of the insurrection. The fact that HE WILL CHAIR THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE is incredible and terrible, to say the least. Of course he wanted Mac elected! He'd been promised that position by Mac! I feel so very sad about the entire thing.
Carolyn Herz ; Also there are some Republican congress members out of office for their participation in the legitimate investigation, who also received death threats.
Right. I'm sorry to report that a lot of the leads are not investigated.
The 1/6 House Committee only had so much time to follow up. We've had some prosecutions here in Florida involving some threats but I understand that practically everyone on the Committee were threatened, as well as potential witnesses.
The 1/6 Committee did a phenomenal job. If only, if only they could have had two more years. (I remember that the FBI didn't follow up on calls from the many women who reported that they'd been sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh over the years.) (And now the repugs in the House plan to remove the 700? additional IRS agents so there would be enough to do "complex investigations" into the billionaires in this country. Excuse for zero complete audits for the Orange Sadist was lack of personnel. )
I just posted this same exchange to make a related point before I got to scroll down to your post. This is a wrinkle I hadn't even considered and it makes more sense in light of the Mar-a-Lago candlelight dinners McCarthy shared with TFG after his mob nearly killed him.
It's true that wealth inequity remains a central fact of American life, and it's driven largely by fundamental issues built in to our political system. Perhaps Dr. Reich could remind us what percent of America's wealth is owned by the top 1%. As I recall, it's about a third, but Dr. Reich would know better than I.
I remain unpersuaded by the chronic whiney rant of Democratic Party culture that we are tragic victims, and it's always somebody else's fault, and never our fault. To take a more objective look could we please reserve some time for talking about all the Democratic Party politicians who have sucked up to Wall Street and the other super rich?
Who specifically does Dr. Reich consider to be part of the oligarchy? Let's identify them, and find out if you and I are buying their products. If we are, then you and I aren't victims, we're fools, and hypocrites. Let's place primary focus on that which we have the most control over, our own behavior.
I get that tossing red meat to the base is a very common political tactic, and that it works at getting people out to the polls. But if we're going to always tell a totally one sided story that always leaves out our own failures and mistakes, and always places blame elsewhere in a hysterical manner, then why should voters choose us over the MAGAs?
Do you want to see a durable Democratic Party majority in America? That's going to require peeling off some of the Republicans who haven't lost their minds. There are millions of such people all over the country. We need to present ourselves as the honest party, the responsible party, the emotionally mature party, the adults who can be trusted with the nation's future. And that requires us to stop acting like red meat MAGAs.
What are we doing wrong that we can fix? Why are we always in danger of losing to the cartoon character Donald Dumpster? What is it about our message that doesn't resonate with so many Americans?
If all we've got in the way of answer to such questions is the claim that those whose votes we need are idiots, then it's us that are the idiots.
In the USA, if you're not white, if you're a woman, if you're not heterosexual, if you're not able-bodied, if you're an immigrant, if you're a renter, if you're old, then you're a victim of systemic structures designed to marginalize you financially and politically. Realize this, please. And - It isn't your fault. It's systemic. It is tragic. It is inequitable access to resources. If you want to know what percent of America's wealth is owned by the top 1% you could actually look it up yourself.
If you were reading this space last year, you might have read about the events that led to the requirement that every single member of Congress spend several hours a day reaching out to donors for money. If you don't remember and can't find the thread, someone here might repeat it for you.
This is what I mean about the Democratic culture of victim tripping.
In a democracy, everything is the fault of we the citizenry. We're the owners of this operation. If we've let unfair systemic structures persist over the entire history of the nation, that's on us. If we've tried to change these systems and failed, that's our failure. The problem is not "those people over there" it's us, the American people, all of us. It's our country, and our responsibility.
If you want to actually fix the systemic issues you reference, that's going to require a broad agreement among the American people. We don't get to broad agreement on systemic issues by demonizing our fellow Americans every chance we get. We don't get to broad agreement by spending all our time getting our egos off on polarizing red meat slogans that divide the country.
Want to fix those systemic issues? Stop demonizing those whose votes you will need to make it happen. Democrats can stop playing the victim card, and take responsibility for our own self defeating behavior.
Really? Let's see. If it's all on us the citizenry, what about those of us who were slaughtered for becoming Christians? See the Praying Indians. Were we at fault? What about those of us who forbidden to bear arms, vote, learn to read and write? Were we at fault for not fighting back? Ah, but actually, we did fight back and the results were bloody, and frequent. See Nat Turner, for example. OK, how about those of us who were the victims of the Fugitive Slave Act? I'll include the citizens of the United States. We were all victims of that law. Whom do you fault for failing to stop Congress from passing this law? You're a black man named Homer Plessy. What did he fail to do? How was he at fault? How did we the people fail to stop the U.S. Supreme Court from ruling that segregation laws did not violate the Constitutional protection of the 14th Amendment?
If you want to actually fix the systemic issues, it's necessary to realize we the people can't get broad agreement on things like sexism, racism, the right to vote, a woman's right to her own body, protection of planet earth, the end of fossil fuels, and more. The reason is, as we repeatedly point out, that the system is rigged - increasingly - against voters, against voting, against large parts of the citizenry. Maybe you can identify: What victim card do you think is being played by Democrats? If I, a Democrat, state that the laws are rigged against consumers, on what basis do you read that as playing the victim card? Maybe you haven't been a consumer. . .If I, a Democrat, state that the playing field isn't level, and redlining has created slums, on what basis do you read that as playing the victim card? Maybe you haven't been redlined.
It seems to me that you have not actually spent time in the Capitol, or in a Congressional office, and that your views about how things work come from mainstream media. It might surprise you to know that there is a very great deal of bipartisan legislation created in both Senate and House, and you don't read about it. You can read about it, though, on plenty of Congressional websites.
In the meanwhile, it would be best to understand that there is no unification of the American public and that this is not, in fact, the determining factor in fixing systemic issues. The determining factors are money, blackmail, public media, and the views of the large donor class. When the guys who own the meat puppets in Congress decide they want to back away from fossil fuel, then we'll see changes in the systemic destruction of earth. When Jamie Dimon decides he doesn't want his bank to fund greenhouse gas production anymore, we'll see a change in Congress.
Anything meaningful and durable you want to accomplish will require cooperation from lots of Republicans. If either party tries to do anything big on it's own, whatever they pass will just be reversed the next time the other party is in power. I'll know you're serious about systemic issues when you start to get this.
I think compassion is one of the keys. People want to feel safe and have their voices heard. Not frightened or shouted at. That doesn’t mean agreeing, just listening with compassion for what they have experienced to reach this point in their journey.
A well-stated - and well-taken - call for political introspection. I particularly like: "What is it about our message that doesn't resonate with so many Americans?"
Thank you. If I'm a salesman and I'm trying to sell you a car, and I can't close the deal, the most productive question is... What can I do better next time?
What both Dems and Repubs are doing instead is yelling that the customer they just lost is an idiot, a threat, a traitor etc etc. And surprise, surprise, omg how did this happen, that message doesn't resonate with the customer.
We're getting too carried away with chomping on the red meat. That's not in our interest. Our egos love it. The future of the nation does not.
Quoth Robert: MAGA cultural warriors keep America divided over non-economic issues (abortion, gay rights, immigration, voting rights, religious freedom) so most Americans won’t look up and see where all the money has gone.
Not a "deal" or "No deal" proposition. False analogy.
We are victims of crime. People died in 1/6/ Our national security was breeched. Foxes are in the henhouse.
Fear often crowds out reason. Repubs are very good at stirring fears so that the more reasoned message is lost. They also encourage zero sum thinking which, once utilized is difficult to shift. Again, fear is the driving force. Couple this with religious absolutism, and external locus of control which many people use, you get a MAGA and many other Republicans.
Apologies to Dr. Reich, but this blog is doing the very same thing. Stirring up fear, and encouraging zero sum thinking. And it's not just Dr. Reich, it's pretty much the entire Democratic Party. And I agree, the same thing is happening on the Republican side. And of course corporate media on BOTH sides of the political divide is making tons of money poring fuel on the fire.
I find that idea offensive. It says that you actually believe what Fox et al say. It would be useful to compare "our message" with what "so many Americans" say they want and need. Spoiler Alert: There is no difference. You've been conned.
How does my comment say I actually believe what Fox has to say? I've been banging on about messaging for months. I see no connection between wondering what it is about our messaging isn't connecting with the voters we need to win critical elections and believing the Fox bullshit.
1) I said >nothing< about the messaging not connecting with >the American people.< Indeed, I was clearly talking about connecting with >the voters we need to win critical elections.< That would be the undecided and swing voters. That would suggest we need to figure out how to effectively counter the Fox bullshit that sways those voters.
2) I know nothing of a party line of Fox that suggests anything about Democratic messaging. If there is something like that, it doesn't mean they're wrong. A stopped clock shows the correct time twice a day. Besides, a basic big lie principle is to obscure your lie within a context of truth. From within a context of truth is where you can tell your whoppers most effectively.
I appreciate your thinking because I want this same question asked. Dr. Reich is very good at pointing out problems, not so good at offering solutions we can implement. We worked hard to turn out voters at the mid-terms and lookie! We kept the Senate and reduced the House Republican majority to a handful of votes.
And YET--all the attention is once again focused on the "Freedom" Caucus (God what a stupid, inaccurate name) and Trump. Democrats with a backbone and a clear message win (Katie Porter, AOC), those who are floundering around following whatever talking points the DNC sends out that day are lost. We need to unify as a national party and speak with one voice, the way the RWNJs do.
How do we get there? Surely not by playing the "poor me, I'm a victim" card. Suggestions are most welcome because I'm beyond frustrated with the megaphone given to the right while the left is silenced.
One of my suggestions is expressing Contrast in real time. The other day there was a split tv screen of Biden in Kentucky talking about bridges and infrastructure and the other screen the sh-t show in Congress.
Clear Communicators with IPads (Katie Portman) showing contrast in real time. Images express much more than words and young people relate to images these days. Structurally we are kinda screwed until money is mostly out of the political system.
We the people need to stay focused on who’s pulling the strings, and who actually controlling these idiots in the Republican Party. I have no doubt that the so called Freedom Caucus, MAGA takers that were elected by some of the voters were installed where they are by corporate power and money that few possess in order to do just what they’re doing, disrupt and dismantle both the power and ability to tax and regulate big corporations. They vote the way they are told to vote on bills and told what to support and what to kill.
It’s about money and power--not good government or protecting citizen’s rights. It’s about making laws and distributing tax money in a way that benefits those who believe they have a right to control our country to benefit their business and personal interests above the citizens of the country.
The businesses that pollute and destroy our country and the world’s environment have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
More not less regulation is needed, big corporate interest will never allow that. What I want to know is have we lost our ability to control these chemical, oil, and defense corporations, and all the corporations that support these mega corporations who pollute environment, promote a old worn out way of life, and have not a shed of real interest in the kind of change that will clean up air, water, or stop our constant wars and conflicts, nor are they interested in affordable energy for all. And it’s not just the polluters it’s the people who finance these polluters. The banks as we have seen, have become so blatant that they are in our face with their dares for regulation.
None of this will ever happen if we don’t zero in on who we are really talking about. Politicians are merely the public face to who really receives the outcome of regulatory laws of all kinds. PACs and lobbyists are paid big bucks to influence but it’s gone beyond that now.
Our people can’t continue to be held hostage by these interests who control so much power and influence on our daily lives. The Democratic Party needs to be overhauled to reflect this. We the voters need to make it clear that taking money from donors who espouse or promote corporate rights over the citizens of this country will no longer be allowed. Citizen’s United needs to be overturned.
Our elected officials should protect and uphold the people’s interests not corporations who seem to forget that they are just legal entities built on profit for a few. We need to strip them of their power to influence through laws and tax benefits before we’ve completely lost our ability to control these conglomerates, at all.
I agree with everything you wrote. The question is: HOW? Of course elected officials are supposed to uphold the people's interest -- but they don't. Far too many have increased their personal wealth dramatically while in office and/or once they leave office as lobbyists. As I wrote somewhere else: who's going to bell the cat? Look at the SCOTUS we currently have. Look at the House we now have. WHEN can this be done? A lot of new elections with Democrats in the majority in all three branches of government must occur. Replacing the SCOTUS judge appointed by the Orange Sadist may take decades. I worry about Sotomayor, given her Type I diabetes. (Also, I will mention that in my younger days, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies were not allowed to advertise at all. Somehow the right to advertise was taken away from cigarette companies -- good thing, and transferred to the above -- bad thing.)
It seems the capitalistic system itself co-ops well intentioned public servants in the process of being elected. The higher up the food chain one goes the more an individual is swallowed by power/money. While government is changing slowly it’s still predominantly white men and a culture of fear and war. The rule of law was set up by men to protect power and wealth and that system still exists. Dems can effect change by supporting clear communicators expressing values, vision and showing contrast between progressives and conservatives in real time.
I've banged-on about that for decades! Capitalism is to societal health as some vitamins are to personal health. Too much can be a deadly poison. I view socialism >exactly the same way.< Parochial capitalism is as inherently inimical to democracy as parochial socialism. >Nobody< seems to >get< that!
This doesn't even take into consideration the Supreme Court. The SC is a total tool of the oligarchs, maintaining their power by supporting every line item on their agenda to maintain power at all costs. They continually make decisions in the interests of big corporations and the wealthy by not making them responsible for the climate change they have amply helped to create, the huge disparity in income they have created and stripping away of voter rights, among their other decisions. It's depressing ☹️
As I have said many times before, the Supreme Court is the wealthy's last bastion to protect THEIR standing in the U.S.A. Nothing more. If you actually read the Constitution, it does NOT state that Supreme Court Justices have "LIFETIME" appointments (Read it yourself), but rather states that they can keep their positions based on their continued "good behavior" (might not have the exact wording, but very close). A very ambiguous term. People with an agenda have repeated over and over again that they have LIFETIME appointments. However, this is the monied interests who have an agenda and have interpreted this document to mean just that. Repeat the lie enough times and people believe it to be the truth. Protect their wealth is their game. The Supreme Court MUST have TERM LIMITS. ONE term of eight years and, if you have done NO wrong (LYING is a wrong, NOT recusing yourself from cases that you have a conflict of interest is a wrong, etc.) you are rotated back into the lower courts. If you have done WRONG, you are IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM OFFICE with NO government pension or other perks. If you sit on the Supreme Court, your honesty and unbiased decisions should be beyond reproach. Also, these people should NOT appear on Leonard Leo's or others lists that the President MUST choose from. Dark Money and Shell Companies (money purchasing decisions) must have no place in their selection, but their own work ethic and merit does.
GENIAL. What further breakdown does anyone need on the matter? This is like a full chemical analysis down to its most basic components. It is a dissection of all the parts laid down on the table in full view. It is the complete autopsy of the living and breathing system that comprise the forces which link the financial powers that be with the propaganda they need to operate as functionally and stealth-fully as possible. If we hadn't quite seen it before, let's read that over again and again. This is, or should be, public education. Talk about knowing who the "enemy" is! This is IT; it couldn't be more masterfully or definitively done for us. Ah, what thought and language will do! Thank you.
Yes, it is. I doubt that will happen. The GOP is hell bent on destroying the public school systems. Charter schools, faith based schools, and home schooling. Not too sure the last three will teach much more than Jesus rode into his rallies on a dinosaur. This is where we're headed.
I forgot half of the comment. Should read charter schools, faith based schools, and home schooling is the goal of the right wing GOP. Not enough coffee this morning.
Just follow the money you’ll find the crime. I find it amusingly sad that McCarthy talks of using subpoenas when he and the rest of his ilk refused to honor the ones sent to them by the January 6th committee.
Dr. Reich, what can we "small fry" do to combat this when so many of us are focused on equally important issues such as voting rights and climate change? Is there anything we deep blue Californians can do to warn people in states that have primarily state and federal Republican legislators? I (at 73) must admit to being frightened on behalf of our young Americans.
At 72, I likewise and concerned about future generations. I am deeply concerned about changes in education curriculum regarding history and the importance of civics.
At 72, all lingering regret over my conscious decision to father no children has completely vanished. While half of my decision involved my personal temperament as a parent, the other half involved the kind of world any children I might have sired have to face.
Many Millenials and now Zoomers are making the same choice. Our fertility rate is now 1.64, well below replacement rate. Now that we have flipped our demographic pyramid upside down, the only people that can save us are immigrants.
Citizens United must be overturned. The gerrymandering of our voting districts must be constantly defeated. And all of us must affirm the values we wish to see in our culture - honesty, decency, kindness, and the willingness to help those in need. What goes around, comes around. The Maga Extremists will encounter their own creations at some point. I just hope they can be contained.
Somehow, someway, someday. Campaign finance reform. Until then things have little chance in a true transformation. But that’s a big ditch to fill. Until then it’s a grifters game, less so for democrats but not completely. Most people know this, but somehow politicians think we are all blind out here. Why there are many more independents now than ever.
Most people do know this. Polling shows that people overwhelmingly support campaign Finance reform and want to see citizens united overturned.
But it's not a big enough Factor in influencing how people vote.Not enough people either don't see the importance of this issue,or are unaware of how their elected official will vote on this issue ,or both.So part of the task is to
help more people understand what is at stake,and what is at stake for them personally. Otherwise it's just " politics"
I think many do not see the relationship of this issue to their well being.that's the problem
I agree Steve & Jane. The issue is people know this but don’t think they can change it, especially after the Unsupreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United. To work, I think it needs a sizable group of politicians from both parties that would have to pledge to defend this movement with their voices and pocketbooks but nobody wants to go first (except Bernie and maybe Elizabeth Warren)~ we need an MLK like figure to lead this. It is core to everything else.
Insightful analysis. What is presented front and center is the tendency of the capitalist system to use extractive means to deplete a resource base and then move on to the next depletion opportunity. That works as long as there is a next opportunity. When not, it leads to system collapse.
Oligarchic depletion of the U.S. government resource base by continuing to run up debt may lead to low taxes with specular subsidies, contracts, and payments in the near term. But, at some time the system will reach a tipping point and unravel, especially around the Dollar as reserve currency in a global financial system.
One only needs to look at the course charted by the British Empire to see a potential progression of events. It reached its height in 1922 after a disastrous war. By 1940 it was in a state of rapid decline in the face of global turmoil leading to the loss of nearly all colonies. By 1945 the Pound Sterling was no longer the global reserve currency.
Rather than far flung colonies around the globe, the U.S. is built on an internal colonization of resource areas. Unlike many British colonies, state boundaries do not clearly define naturally occurring resource and ethnic areas. An unraveling would be painful and the resulting reconfiguration of regions hard to fathom.
At this point Biden is still president. He added the 10% corporate tax. The SSA trust funds are still solvent. Antitrust laws are still on the books. He understands that if the pump is primed.....
@Doug Gilbert. False analogy - the US is nothing like the British pre-war structure, and the reasons for UK decline sit squarely at the feet of the oligarchs who executed Brexit. "Running up debt" is a totally false and misleading trope. See Dr. Reich's explanation in this forum AND in his classroom series ran early last year.
Who was the last person to turn down appointment to the Supreme Court after being confirmed?
I thought Robert Reich's writing today was excellent."It’s between the oligarchy — corporate and Wall Street monied interests — and everybody else."
it's interesting.The other day on right-wing MAGa radio the host railed against Amazon and generally the power of Corporations who hold Monopoly or near Monopoly power.I swear to God,he sounded like Robert Reich.Except of course he didn't use words like antitrust-----that would be
Democratic-speak.
But I don't think things will change until the conditions which have brought us to this present Point are changed.
And chief among such "conditions" are the Supreme Court rulings which have weakened, upended, the people's voting power upon which everything else rests.
Once again we are led back to the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs FEC. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained And it is the Republican Party that has stood repeatedly against attempts to right or ameliorate this wrong. In the Missouri 2nd District my representative Wagner https://www.annwagnerforcongress.net/ voted against HR1 which expands voting rights, changes campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, and bans partisan gerrymandering.Getting rid of citizens united.Getting rid of citizens united is obviously not a real high priority with voters.
the last person to decline appointment to the Supreme Court was Roscoe Conkling in 1882-----he was a really big deal in our nation's history. the book We The Corporations which details how American businesses won their civil rights,points to Roscoe as the guy who argued before The Supreme Court that the word "persons" in the 14th Amendment ,which he Roscoe had helped to draft, was meant to include corporations,including Southern Pacific Railroad, which he was much biased toward. Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad
A more truthful name for SCOTUS is Supporting Corporations of the United States.
"Getting rid of citizens united is obviously not a real high priority with voters." And how terrible that is. When the group, "Citizens United" formed during the Reagan administration in the 1980's, my Dad said, "Well, there goes democracy." How tragically correct he was. Your information about Roscoe is all new to me -- and very disturbing.
On 14 Amendment cases heard between 1868 and 1912 the Supreme Court decided 28 cases dealing with the rights of African-Americans but 312 cases dealing with the rights of Corporations.At the time the court was upholding Jim Crow laws and Plessy versus Ferguson the justices were invalidating minimum wage laws curtailing collective bargaining efforts, voiding manufacturing restrictions, and even overturning the law regulating the weight of commercial loaves of bread, The 14th Amendment adopted to Shield the former slaves from discrimination was transformed into a sword used by corporations to strike at unwanted regulation, to quote the author Adam Winkler
Uh, WOW! Or, should I say, "OH, SHIT!" I don't know that I've read any article quite as depressing as this one. Informative, yes. Necessary, undoubtedly. Depressing, overwhelmingly so.
Here's what is so daunting to me about this article. I'm a 65-year-old retired public school educator. I can make small donations to candidates, I can write letters and postcards, I can put yard signs out, and do other small things to work toward the political ends I hope to see come about. But, your article today pretty much told me, "You're helpless. Fight all you want, but there really isn't much you can do to stop these big-money bulldozers from doing what they want."
I guess I'll just keep fighting the fights I can, but after reading this I have a sense of dread more than I have in quite sometime...and that is saying a lot.
Forewarned is forearmed..... There are many more people on your side than on the other. Take some comfort in that. Plus your side is smarter and has mostly good intentions. The other side thinks mostly about themselves and tearing things down and oh yeah, keeping as much away from 'those people' as they can..
Do you mean - like Bill Gates buying up farm land? Is he doing it to leave the land empty to make the soil renew itself or like you said Nancy buying America
His ex-wife, Melinda, is the force behind Bill Gates's philanthropy. So is Zuckerberg's wife, Pediatrician Dr. Priscilla Chan. This seems to be the case in many marriages when the rich man develops a conscience about other people (or his conscience is revived). I suspect that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt played that role in FDR's life, as well. Among her countless activities was establishment of the Social Security system; ensuring that the New Deal continue under FDR's administration; first U.S. delegate to the new United Nations; and an outspoken champion of Civil Rights for African-Americans (a very unpopular stance at that time).
I don't fault your analysis, but I think it needs to extend to both parties. The majority of the Democrats in Congress will not give voters what they want (Medicare for All, etc.) because they are beholden to their corporate sponsors. The chance to reform our financial system after the crash of 2008 died with Obama. Today, Manchin is just the tip of the iceberg. And the Democratic establishment spends money to prevent populist Democrats like Nina Turner, etc. from getting elected. We need to spend more time looking within.
Just watched a documentary series about the Roman Empire. Interesting story about Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BCE. He attempted a land reform to deal with the homeless situation, and to reverse the plundering of public land by the wealthy elite. Dude was brutally murdered by hired assassins. Fast forward to Emiliano Zapata. Too much is never enough for the obscenely rich. Whether they are Southern plantation owners or Petro billionaires or Pharma kings, their ceaseless urgency to retain all of their plunder never lags, even at the cost of the social structure itself. Communist revolutions like those in Russia and Cuba were only successful because of the stubborn greed and insensitivity of the oligarchy. They bring revolution upon themselves. How they hated FDR for trying to fix an America their insatiable greed had destroyed.
Oligarchs is a term most people have to look up. Robber barons is a term more easily understood. The morbidly wealthy are thieves in fine clothing. Some like Charles Koch think they are more brilliant, more special, more deserving than anyone else.
See Robert Mercer, the extreme right's biggest and baddest financier. He believes human worth is proportionate to their assets. Apparently religious? Hope he has a lovely interview at the Pearly Gates.
There will BE no "interview!" St. Peter will see who it is and have him tossed to hell without looking up.
yes, sir!
Jenn, I like the term "Robber Barren." It has the two words that say it all, thieves who think they are some kind of royalty. Now that we have a good name for this group of people who are endlessly needy, we need to start figuring out how we are going to deal with them, bring them down to size. Of course those mostly white men think they are god-given. That is the only way they can dismiss their fellow human beings so callously. I love the way they "support" the arts while they are making it hard for anyone else to support the arts or anyone/anything as we just survive on the low wages and artificially high prices that We the People are being blamed for. The media could do a lot to positively address this, but our FCC and other entities have permitted oligarchs (robber barrens) to own many TV and radio stations, and newspapers where they can cause endless havoc. We have decided less than well-educated rich white guys can own huge social media platforms and set up algorithms that put We the People at a severe disadvantage while the other robber barrens get every opportunity to undermine our democracy and the people who are trying to protect it and live it. How did we ever allow this? I suspect it is due in part to the culture wars conservatives/Republicans have been arming for decades. The media LOVES these "wars" because they distract everyone from the giant theft that is actually going on over there. The "war" is really rich conservative /scared white Christians using their warped faith and power to take away people's rights, to keep non-white men from positions of power, and promoting whiteness and maleness as the high mark of life. Those scared white men own almost everything and can get their messages out in many ways at the expense of everyone but them. I don't know what we can do about this insanity, but we need to do something!
I would say that Charles Koch is MORE similar than everyone else, as his ONLY claim to fame is stealing money from the 99.99%. At least Bunkerboy ALSO had a failed meat business, a failed water business, and a mildly successful gameshow!
He also wanted to claim Michigan as the first fascist state.
When I found out that the Koch Brothers (David now deceased & Charles) home base
was Wichita KS, my home town, it appalled me. And even though I haven't visited there
(now in Seattle) in over 40 years, I won't ever go back. Besides I've no living relatives there anymore anyway. Sigh and sadness because I have fond memories growing up there as a kid.
I grew up in Idaho. Fond memories will stay with me. Idaho has been “used and abused” A sanctuary for “skin heads, white supremes, gun cowboys ,
The main obvious name was Simplot who built the biggest house on the hill above Boise, and the American flag he flew in his yard was so big it was very loud “ when the wind blew it, “ snap, crackle and pop”. People below in the town center complained.
But I will remember the trees , the clear ( then) streams and rivers and the mountains rising up with the sun setting.
Haven’t gone back....
Odd how we have these recollections. I was one of few that grew up in Phoenix. East coast transplant from the late 40s. I will not go there anymore. Tucson is more bearable. Iirc, there was discussion about a moratorium on growth when I was there in the 70s. Can you imagine? Robert R is correct. This is going to be “look here, not there”.
If only......
Interestingly, we have two contrasting experiments underway. The U.S. is on a track of oligarchic excess, while the PRC has introduced a model of "Common Prosperity", and there is some element of wealth forfeiture. For example, Jack Ma has been sidelined from his companies and the company was broken up.
We will know the results in about 30 years.
US track is "back to the future." Predators.
The means to the trend involves demagoguery for anti Wokeism; support for white supremacy, zelophobia, "Christian" nationalism, hatred for the "other," etc. They espouse cultural war, but benefit economically.
Wolves under the cloak.
A dispassionate perspective of historical trending leads one in a very dark direction. Climate change, overpopulation, and wealth imbalance will all combine to create conditions ripe for fascism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and tribal violence. The oligarchs are fueling the fires that will one day consume them, and it is not certain that New Zealand has enough survival bunkers to hold them all.
Kerry, it does seem the rich white Republican men and some women are OK with over-population and want to stop all abortions to bring about the crisis you are speaking of more quickly than it would otherwise come. These are not good people; they are folks who want everyone who is not them to be their servants or even slaves while they keep piling on the money and resources, thinking they won't suffer because somehow they will escape the horrors of global warming and the upheaval. They're wrong, but they can't think that far ahead while they are grabbing money and power to feed their addiction.
They are NOT interested in stopping abortions. They want to reduce the influence of women in business and the easiest way is to keep them pregnant, watching the kids, and keeping house.
People with children also make it easier to press desperate people into taking worse and worse jobs with less buying power year after year.
If you're single, you can decide to give up the game and go backpacking in South America for awhile. If you have kids to feed, you're going swallow your pride and ignore your dignity to take the job that pays in company scrip, even when you know it's just slavery with extra steps.
Do you think Elon Musk can sell them Mars-a-'Lago through Space X?
" But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. AND FROM SUCH PEOPLE TURN AWAY!"
Certainly an apt description of our former helmsman, the orange blowhard. But alas, to the delight of our corporate hucksters whose presence subsidizes our communal forum, the people simply CANNOT turn away. More, they cry! Give us more MAGA to entertain our miserable lives!
The oligarchs hide behind the curtain.
Fyiurban, seems like we are already in an abbreviated form of such end times predictions! Must be the trial edition right now! If government can’t contain the Oligarch’s power & control over our economy, what are ordinary Americans able to do about it?? We are all playing the losing game here! Gone are the days of boycotting a business that abuses its clientele. Monopolies have taken over just about every area of business leaving us no choices where to spend our money! That’s what has hurt low & middle income & retired families the most I believe! Leaves people feeling hopeless.
Yes! Is it THE end or the end of a Nation, end of a party? End of the status quo? Who knows what God's time is, but this type of selfishness leads to destruction of some kind! We can sit by and let it happen or try to effect change. If they seek to divide us, we know one of the solutions is Unity=power-in-numbers (via democracy, via unions, via collective action, via pooling our resources, via capitalizing on our diversity of skills and experiences so there is someone that is strong, where I am weak). They seek to lie and misinform, so another solution is to keep our lines of dialogue open, in an effort to expose the lies and misinformation... a lie, unchallenged, becomes the truth to someone (this goes for all the "tough" conversations about the things/issues they use to divide us- race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, education/history, politics, etc.) This can be challenging, but if you can help one person and they that person help another, etc, etc., progress can be made. NOW is the time to boycott and or create a competing business that does the right thing... If we lose the safety net or democracy, boycotts/protests will require major sacrifices- one's livelihood or even ones life. We have to reward, appreciate and encourage selflessness and sacrifice for the greater good, while society is rewarding selfishness and greed. Too many have decided, 'since i can't beat the lairs, thieves, and cheaters, I'll join them'. Life has got to be about more than making money. If so, I may not sale my business to the highest bidder to get rich (giving the oligarchs more wealth, power and monopoly), I may retain it so I can focus on it's impact on the greater good.
fyi, Wow, that could describe any age in history. Somehow it seems those people start out as a fringe then become prominent when they can convince enough people to go along with their hatred, lack of faith, and the rest. There are always the disgruntled who are just waiting for someone to come by, claiming he (and rarely she) will resuce them from all their trials and make life so wonderful! Those folks who get ensnared can't seem to get out of the trap of a built-up ego where they can feel important, basking in the light of this supposedly "great" person. Once that "great" person has them entrapped, they can get those people to do just about anything and do it willingly, even gratefully. That, unfortunately is one way to be human. The user is another.
Daniel, you are right about the wolves in the cloak, but I am thinking they don't even hide under the cloak anymore. They seem so sure no one will act to stop their bad behavior they don't care who knows what they are doing. They seem to have shaped laws that will by some kind of loopholes keep themselves from even being prosecuted, or if prosecuted, they will wiggle out by whining to the jury, making themselves seem pathetic and at the mercy of all us really terrible people who are out for blood. The gaslighting generally works quite well. I don't know how we address this blatant activity on the part of less than noble robber barons.
Most MAGAts think they are supporting cultural issues when they are screwing themselves economically and physically.
The wolves get huge returns for funding this illusion.
The obvious insurrectionists are NOT oligarchs. In the vernacular of 50s conservatism, they are willing idiots who may lose their liberty while the wolves will not be touched.
Daniel, you are right about the visible insurgents. They are what I think of as the servants (even slaves) of the oligarchs (robber barons/barrens). They have already lost so much of anything like independence and humanity they can be used gleefully by the guys who are trying to pull the strings on their loud-mouthed, pretty ignorant puppet troops. Just listening to a Green or Boebert, I get the impression they were mean girls already who were bothered by someone poorer or darker or smarter than they, so when the opportunity came along to join the Klan of the robber barons/barrens, they were ready. Only a few women actually make it to the higher levels but they are usually blatantly ridiculous, but do enormous harm because of their recruitment potential. Those fools were both re-elected in districts that should have chosen better, but somehow just couldn't let their little loud-mouths go and the puppetmasters were fueling the insanity. An opponent had no chance.
Did you ever read Wendy Brown's, Undoing The Demos? She is as much a philosopher as a political scientist.
Thank you for enjoyable educational reading!
Countries do have a life cycle so we may be living through a stage of a country in decline.
The thought occurs.
"Its top donors are billionaires — banking scion Timothy Mellon, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, as well as the Koch network." Thank you Mr. Reich, we have got to keep calling these people out, by name and industry/company. "The oligarchy doesn’t want to destroy government. It needs government subsidies, loan guarantees, bailouts, and contracts. It just wants lower taxes (which requires less government spending) and fewer regulations." They want MORE/ALL money and power. Lowering taxes puts more money in their pockets, but it simultaneously, de-funds government agencies that would regulate them, weakens governments power to help the 99+% and enables them to hide their nefarious intent while gaining the support of those they take advantage of (who think they also benefit from miniscule tax cuts, in comparison)-everyone else. They also seek to weaken our power through government by manipulating the voting process (gerrymandering, weakening voting rights, attaching the voting rights act, pursuing 'states rights' to control elections without challenge!) to facilitate majority rule- just in case we wake up and realize that Democracy- power-in-numbers, is the only tool we can use to keep them a bey. In the mean time, they do all they can to keep us fighting each other (culture wars to 'divide and conquer) and distracted from their true intent and their methods. They endeavor to avoid and/or weaken Civil Juries (power of the people) in favor of arbitration or decisions made by a judge (fewer people to control with their money or threats), they have purchased control of the courts, by which they can influence legislation, while using the filibuster, gerrymandering, unlimited dark money to keep congress from taking action. They want to privatize government functions and/or monopolize government contracts to further enrich themselves while at the same time gaining more power to control our pay, benefits and right-to-work because we are their corporate employees vs government employees. They want to weaken/defund the social safety net, to put money in their coffers while making it harder for us to protest (don't work, don't eat, without safety net) They want to weaken our collective power through unions and government... "In reality, the MAGAs and oligarchs are jockeying for positions in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Each group is testing the other’s power, making small compromises and adaptations where necessary." YES, There is a battle between the Oligarchs and Trump, because trump is a greedy/selfish narcissist who is challenging their power (status quo), in an attempt to have all power to himself! Can this be exploited for the better good???
Just heard a relevant comment I think everyone should spend the 5 minutes to consider:
https://youtu.be/IY98n0V9Jfs
It ain't over 'till it's over!
Beau. Always look forward to listening to him.
Down to earth he is in delivery. He and I share the same sartorial aspect, as well, although I tend a bit more towards Red Green!
Great Canadian comedy. Nothing duct tape can’t fix
I love 'Red Green' = "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess !" ( the Man's Pledge at Possum Lodge).
Like I said, I tend a bit more toward Red Green! LOL!
(Compare with the AA pledge!)
His brother Gaius got nailed too. As did Saturninus, even Cataline. Cicero's denunciation of him was a defense of the 99/1 split of the time ..
“I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence,” McCarthy said. “I was just talking to [Trump] tonight, helping get those final votes.”
Washington, — "In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the US Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did." “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy. McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump’s supporters and begged Trump to call them off." https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html
Did Trump suborn perjury? Apparently, based on what he said on Jan 7, 2021, McCarthy was a witness against Trump.
Was support by Trump another quid pro quo, obstruction of justice incident that needs to be heard by a grand jury?
House Republicans are promising to "investigate" open DOJ criminal investigations of January 6, the general effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the Mar-a-Lago papers. To me, this would also constitute obstruction of justice, using oversight as a pretext, especially since some members of Congress might be participants in any offenses.
"Participants" may be "criminals."
In June, the Jan. 6 committee sent a five-page letter to Gym Jordan, would be House Judiciary Committee chair, outlining his involvement in a series of key events that the panel wanted to question him about in detail.
“Cooperation with our investigation would also give you the opportunity to resolve, on the record, inconsistencies in your public statements about the events of Jan. 6. For instance, you have offered inconsistent public statements regarding when and how many times you spoke with President Trump on Jan. 6,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, said in the letter.
“Given that you have said all along ‘I have nothing to hide,’ we expect that you would be willing to clarify these statements for us.”
Among the 10 reasons the select committee listed for wanting to hear from Jordan were two items not disclosed until the June letter:
*He requested a call with then-attorney General William Barr on Nov. 6, the day before the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden.
*The same day he asked to talk with Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows about “efforts to pressure Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe to audit his state’s election results.”
*Jordan told Meadows the afternoon of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that Trump’s “various congressional supporters seemed increasingly less excited now that their revolt would be covered only by C-SPAN.”
Other Jordan involvement cited by the committee:
*A Nov. 9, 2020, meeting with senior White House officials in which a “blueprint” was developed to “hammer home the idea that the election was tainted.”
*A meeting Nov. 14 of the same year with Trump campaign officials and members of Congress in which Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani outlined a strategy to falsely question the integrity of Dominion Voting Systems -- which makes voting machines used in Ohio and several other states -- and link them to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
*On Dec. 21, 2020, Jordan and several members of Congress met with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s legal team to review options on challenging certification of the election.
*The same month, Trump told the Department of Justice that Jordan was “trying to find out what happened” to election fraud allegations.
*On Jan. 5, the day before the 2021 riot, Jordan passed along advice to Meadows that Pence should refuse to certify “unconstitutional” votes.
*Starting almost immediately after the election, Jordan repeatedly called the integrity of the vote into question, and advised Trump not to concede the election even after results were certified Jan. 6.
*Jordan talked with Trump the morning of Jan. 6 shortly before the Capitol riot began, and later the same day after congressional members were moved to a secure location.
Plenty of opportunities to put his responses to these accusations into the Federal Register.
Another fox in the hen house. The cover ups are continuing. Tragic for Democracy.
Gym is absolutely a criminal and part of the insurrection. The fact that HE WILL CHAIR THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE is incredible and terrible, to say the least. Of course he wanted Mac elected! He'd been promised that position by Mac! I feel so very sad about the entire thing.
Carolyn Herz ; Also there are some Republican congress members out of office for their participation in the legitimate investigation, who also received death threats.
Right. I'm sorry to report that a lot of the leads are not investigated.
The 1/6 House Committee only had so much time to follow up. We've had some prosecutions here in Florida involving some threats but I understand that practically everyone on the Committee were threatened, as well as potential witnesses.
It would be truly Great to see the DOJ , with Jack Smith's help, get something in the way of justice done.
The 1/6 Committee did a phenomenal job. If only, if only they could have had two more years. (I remember that the FBI didn't follow up on calls from the many women who reported that they'd been sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh over the years.) (And now the repugs in the House plan to remove the 700? additional IRS agents so there would be enough to do "complex investigations" into the billionaires in this country. Excuse for zero complete audits for the Orange Sadist was lack of personnel. )
kdsherpa ; I have read that the Senate can do investigations too, that can't be stopped. Democrats hold a Senate majority.
Do you know if they can simply pick up the 1/6 investigation and move forward? I HOPE so!
"Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out." Choose your poison wisely.
OK, I Claudius!
I just posted this same exchange to make a related point before I got to scroll down to your post. This is a wrinkle I hadn't even considered and it makes more sense in light of the Mar-a-Lago candlelight dinners McCarthy shared with TFG after his mob nearly killed him.
It's true that wealth inequity remains a central fact of American life, and it's driven largely by fundamental issues built in to our political system. Perhaps Dr. Reich could remind us what percent of America's wealth is owned by the top 1%. As I recall, it's about a third, but Dr. Reich would know better than I.
I remain unpersuaded by the chronic whiney rant of Democratic Party culture that we are tragic victims, and it's always somebody else's fault, and never our fault. To take a more objective look could we please reserve some time for talking about all the Democratic Party politicians who have sucked up to Wall Street and the other super rich?
Who specifically does Dr. Reich consider to be part of the oligarchy? Let's identify them, and find out if you and I are buying their products. If we are, then you and I aren't victims, we're fools, and hypocrites. Let's place primary focus on that which we have the most control over, our own behavior.
I get that tossing red meat to the base is a very common political tactic, and that it works at getting people out to the polls. But if we're going to always tell a totally one sided story that always leaves out our own failures and mistakes, and always places blame elsewhere in a hysterical manner, then why should voters choose us over the MAGAs?
Do you want to see a durable Democratic Party majority in America? That's going to require peeling off some of the Republicans who haven't lost their minds. There are millions of such people all over the country. We need to present ourselves as the honest party, the responsible party, the emotionally mature party, the adults who can be trusted with the nation's future. And that requires us to stop acting like red meat MAGAs.
What are we doing wrong that we can fix? Why are we always in danger of losing to the cartoon character Donald Dumpster? What is it about our message that doesn't resonate with so many Americans?
If all we've got in the way of answer to such questions is the claim that those whose votes we need are idiots, then it's us that are the idiots.
In the USA, if you're not white, if you're a woman, if you're not heterosexual, if you're not able-bodied, if you're an immigrant, if you're a renter, if you're old, then you're a victim of systemic structures designed to marginalize you financially and politically. Realize this, please. And - It isn't your fault. It's systemic. It is tragic. It is inequitable access to resources. If you want to know what percent of America's wealth is owned by the top 1% you could actually look it up yourself.
If you were reading this space last year, you might have read about the events that led to the requirement that every single member of Congress spend several hours a day reaching out to donors for money. If you don't remember and can't find the thread, someone here might repeat it for you.
This is what I mean about the Democratic culture of victim tripping.
In a democracy, everything is the fault of we the citizenry. We're the owners of this operation. If we've let unfair systemic structures persist over the entire history of the nation, that's on us. If we've tried to change these systems and failed, that's our failure. The problem is not "those people over there" it's us, the American people, all of us. It's our country, and our responsibility.
If you want to actually fix the systemic issues you reference, that's going to require a broad agreement among the American people. We don't get to broad agreement on systemic issues by demonizing our fellow Americans every chance we get. We don't get to broad agreement by spending all our time getting our egos off on polarizing red meat slogans that divide the country.
Want to fix those systemic issues? Stop demonizing those whose votes you will need to make it happen. Democrats can stop playing the victim card, and take responsibility for our own self defeating behavior.
Really? Let's see. If it's all on us the citizenry, what about those of us who were slaughtered for becoming Christians? See the Praying Indians. Were we at fault? What about those of us who forbidden to bear arms, vote, learn to read and write? Were we at fault for not fighting back? Ah, but actually, we did fight back and the results were bloody, and frequent. See Nat Turner, for example. OK, how about those of us who were the victims of the Fugitive Slave Act? I'll include the citizens of the United States. We were all victims of that law. Whom do you fault for failing to stop Congress from passing this law? You're a black man named Homer Plessy. What did he fail to do? How was he at fault? How did we the people fail to stop the U.S. Supreme Court from ruling that segregation laws did not violate the Constitutional protection of the 14th Amendment?
If you want to actually fix the systemic issues, it's necessary to realize we the people can't get broad agreement on things like sexism, racism, the right to vote, a woman's right to her own body, protection of planet earth, the end of fossil fuels, and more. The reason is, as we repeatedly point out, that the system is rigged - increasingly - against voters, against voting, against large parts of the citizenry. Maybe you can identify: What victim card do you think is being played by Democrats? If I, a Democrat, state that the laws are rigged against consumers, on what basis do you read that as playing the victim card? Maybe you haven't been a consumer. . .If I, a Democrat, state that the playing field isn't level, and redlining has created slums, on what basis do you read that as playing the victim card? Maybe you haven't been redlined.
It seems to me that you have not actually spent time in the Capitol, or in a Congressional office, and that your views about how things work come from mainstream media. It might surprise you to know that there is a very great deal of bipartisan legislation created in both Senate and House, and you don't read about it. You can read about it, though, on plenty of Congressional websites.
In the meanwhile, it would be best to understand that there is no unification of the American public and that this is not, in fact, the determining factor in fixing systemic issues. The determining factors are money, blackmail, public media, and the views of the large donor class. When the guys who own the meat puppets in Congress decide they want to back away from fossil fuel, then we'll see changes in the systemic destruction of earth. When Jamie Dimon decides he doesn't want his bank to fund greenhouse gas production anymore, we'll see a change in Congress.
Anything meaningful and durable you want to accomplish will require cooperation from lots of Republicans. If either party tries to do anything big on it's own, whatever they pass will just be reversed the next time the other party is in power. I'll know you're serious about systemic issues when you start to get this.
Yes, Martha, it IS tragic.
I think compassion is one of the keys. People want to feel safe and have their voices heard. Not frightened or shouted at. That doesn’t mean agreeing, just listening with compassion for what they have experienced to reach this point in their journey.
Yes, and what you suggest is not just good morality. It's good tactics too.
A well-stated - and well-taken - call for political introspection. I particularly like: "What is it about our message that doesn't resonate with so many Americans?"
Thank you. If I'm a salesman and I'm trying to sell you a car, and I can't close the deal, the most productive question is... What can I do better next time?
What both Dems and Repubs are doing instead is yelling that the customer they just lost is an idiot, a threat, a traitor etc etc. And surprise, surprise, omg how did this happen, that message doesn't resonate with the customer.
We're getting too carried away with chomping on the red meat. That's not in our interest. Our egos love it. The future of the nation does not.
BS. NOT OUR FAULT.
Quoth Robert: MAGA cultural warriors keep America divided over non-economic issues (abortion, gay rights, immigration, voting rights, religious freedom) so most Americans won’t look up and see where all the money has gone.
Not a "deal" or "No deal" proposition. False analogy.
We are victims of crime. People died in 1/6/ Our national security was breeched. Foxes are in the henhouse.
I would never buy a car from you......
Nor would I.
Fear often crowds out reason. Repubs are very good at stirring fears so that the more reasoned message is lost. They also encourage zero sum thinking which, once utilized is difficult to shift. Again, fear is the driving force. Couple this with religious absolutism, and external locus of control which many people use, you get a MAGA and many other Republicans.
Apologies to Dr. Reich, but this blog is doing the very same thing. Stirring up fear, and encouraging zero sum thinking. And it's not just Dr. Reich, it's pretty much the entire Democratic Party. And I agree, the same thing is happening on the Republican side. And of course corporate media on BOTH sides of the political divide is making tons of money poring fuel on the fire.
I find that idea offensive. It says that you actually believe what Fox et al say. It would be useful to compare "our message" with what "so many Americans" say they want and need. Spoiler Alert: There is no difference. You've been conned.
How does my comment say I actually believe what Fox has to say? I've been banging on about messaging for months. I see no connection between wondering what it is about our messaging isn't connecting with the voters we need to win critical elections and believing the Fox bullshit.
It is not the case that Democrats' message/ing doesn't connect with the American people. It is the case that that's the party line of Fox et al.
Two items:
1) I said >nothing< about the messaging not connecting with >the American people.< Indeed, I was clearly talking about connecting with >the voters we need to win critical elections.< That would be the undecided and swing voters. That would suggest we need to figure out how to effectively counter the Fox bullshit that sways those voters.
2) I know nothing of a party line of Fox that suggests anything about Democratic messaging. If there is something like that, it doesn't mean they're wrong. A stopped clock shows the correct time twice a day. Besides, a basic big lie principle is to obscure your lie within a context of truth. From within a context of truth is where you can tell your whoppers most effectively.
Well said. I admire Robert Reich and trust his experience and opinions but I, too, want to see a better Dem party unhinged from Wall Street.
I appreciate your thinking because I want this same question asked. Dr. Reich is very good at pointing out problems, not so good at offering solutions we can implement. We worked hard to turn out voters at the mid-terms and lookie! We kept the Senate and reduced the House Republican majority to a handful of votes.
And YET--all the attention is once again focused on the "Freedom" Caucus (God what a stupid, inaccurate name) and Trump. Democrats with a backbone and a clear message win (Katie Porter, AOC), those who are floundering around following whatever talking points the DNC sends out that day are lost. We need to unify as a national party and speak with one voice, the way the RWNJs do.
How do we get there? Surely not by playing the "poor me, I'm a victim" card. Suggestions are most welcome because I'm beyond frustrated with the megaphone given to the right while the left is silenced.
Some are now calling it the "Sedition Caucus." Personally, I like the "Quisling Front."
"They put the 'Q' in Quisling!"
Hi Karla,
One of my suggestions is expressing Contrast in real time. The other day there was a split tv screen of Biden in Kentucky talking about bridges and infrastructure and the other screen the sh-t show in Congress.
Clear Communicators with IPads (Katie Portman) showing contrast in real time. Images express much more than words and young people relate to images these days. Structurally we are kinda screwed until money is mostly out of the political system.
Contrast creates better choices.
We the people need to stay focused on who’s pulling the strings, and who actually controlling these idiots in the Republican Party. I have no doubt that the so called Freedom Caucus, MAGA takers that were elected by some of the voters were installed where they are by corporate power and money that few possess in order to do just what they’re doing, disrupt and dismantle both the power and ability to tax and regulate big corporations. They vote the way they are told to vote on bills and told what to support and what to kill.
It’s about money and power--not good government or protecting citizen’s rights. It’s about making laws and distributing tax money in a way that benefits those who believe they have a right to control our country to benefit their business and personal interests above the citizens of the country.
The businesses that pollute and destroy our country and the world’s environment have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
More not less regulation is needed, big corporate interest will never allow that. What I want to know is have we lost our ability to control these chemical, oil, and defense corporations, and all the corporations that support these mega corporations who pollute environment, promote a old worn out way of life, and have not a shed of real interest in the kind of change that will clean up air, water, or stop our constant wars and conflicts, nor are they interested in affordable energy for all. And it’s not just the polluters it’s the people who finance these polluters. The banks as we have seen, have become so blatant that they are in our face with their dares for regulation.
None of this will ever happen if we don’t zero in on who we are really talking about. Politicians are merely the public face to who really receives the outcome of regulatory laws of all kinds. PACs and lobbyists are paid big bucks to influence but it’s gone beyond that now.
Our people can’t continue to be held hostage by these interests who control so much power and influence on our daily lives. The Democratic Party needs to be overhauled to reflect this. We the voters need to make it clear that taking money from donors who espouse or promote corporate rights over the citizens of this country will no longer be allowed. Citizen’s United needs to be overturned.
Our elected officials should protect and uphold the people’s interests not corporations who seem to forget that they are just legal entities built on profit for a few. We need to strip them of their power to influence through laws and tax benefits before we’ve completely lost our ability to control these conglomerates, at all.
I agree with everything you wrote. The question is: HOW? Of course elected officials are supposed to uphold the people's interest -- but they don't. Far too many have increased their personal wealth dramatically while in office and/or once they leave office as lobbyists. As I wrote somewhere else: who's going to bell the cat? Look at the SCOTUS we currently have. Look at the House we now have. WHEN can this be done? A lot of new elections with Democrats in the majority in all three branches of government must occur. Replacing the SCOTUS judge appointed by the Orange Sadist may take decades. I worry about Sotomayor, given her Type I diabetes. (Also, I will mention that in my younger days, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies were not allowed to advertise at all. Somehow the right to advertise was taken away from cigarette companies -- good thing, and transferred to the above -- bad thing.)
It seems the capitalistic system itself co-ops well intentioned public servants in the process of being elected. The higher up the food chain one goes the more an individual is swallowed by power/money. While government is changing slowly it’s still predominantly white men and a culture of fear and war. The rule of law was set up by men to protect power and wealth and that system still exists. Dems can effect change by supporting clear communicators expressing values, vision and showing contrast between progressives and conservatives in real time.
I've banged-on about that for decades! Capitalism is to societal health as some vitamins are to personal health. Too much can be a deadly poison. I view socialism >exactly the same way.< Parochial capitalism is as inherently inimical to democracy as parochial socialism. >Nobody< seems to >get< that!
Who are you calling "whiny victims"? Phil, I think you have your political parties backwards.
This doesn't even take into consideration the Supreme Court. The SC is a total tool of the oligarchs, maintaining their power by supporting every line item on their agenda to maintain power at all costs. They continually make decisions in the interests of big corporations and the wealthy by not making them responsible for the climate change they have amply helped to create, the huge disparity in income they have created and stripping away of voter rights, among their other decisions. It's depressing ☹️
As I have said many times before, the Supreme Court is the wealthy's last bastion to protect THEIR standing in the U.S.A. Nothing more. If you actually read the Constitution, it does NOT state that Supreme Court Justices have "LIFETIME" appointments (Read it yourself), but rather states that they can keep their positions based on their continued "good behavior" (might not have the exact wording, but very close). A very ambiguous term. People with an agenda have repeated over and over again that they have LIFETIME appointments. However, this is the monied interests who have an agenda and have interpreted this document to mean just that. Repeat the lie enough times and people believe it to be the truth. Protect their wealth is their game. The Supreme Court MUST have TERM LIMITS. ONE term of eight years and, if you have done NO wrong (LYING is a wrong, NOT recusing yourself from cases that you have a conflict of interest is a wrong, etc.) you are rotated back into the lower courts. If you have done WRONG, you are IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM OFFICE with NO government pension or other perks. If you sit on the Supreme Court, your honesty and unbiased decisions should be beyond reproach. Also, these people should NOT appear on Leonard Leo's or others lists that the President MUST choose from. Dark Money and Shell Companies (money purchasing decisions) must have no place in their selection, but their own work ethic and merit does.
GENIAL. What further breakdown does anyone need on the matter? This is like a full chemical analysis down to its most basic components. It is a dissection of all the parts laid down on the table in full view. It is the complete autopsy of the living and breathing system that comprise the forces which link the financial powers that be with the propaganda they need to operate as functionally and stealth-fully as possible. If we hadn't quite seen it before, let's read that over again and again. This is, or should be, public education. Talk about knowing who the "enemy" is! This is IT; it couldn't be more masterfully or definitively done for us. Ah, what thought and language will do! Thank you.
Time to start teaching
History and Civics again.
Yes, it is. I doubt that will happen. The GOP is hell bent on destroying the public school systems. Charter schools, faith based schools, and home schooling. Not too sure the last three will teach much more than Jesus rode into his rallies on a dinosaur. This is where we're headed.
I forgot half of the comment. Should read charter schools, faith based schools, and home schooling is the goal of the right wing GOP. Not enough coffee this morning.
do it. find out what your state is doing.
Thank you Robert for being the only person that really understands what is really going on in our country.
Or one of the few people with a platform willing to say what’s going on.
Just follow the money you’ll find the crime. I find it amusingly sad that McCarthy talks of using subpoenas when he and the rest of his ilk refused to honor the ones sent to them by the January 6th committee.
Dr. Reich, what can we "small fry" do to combat this when so many of us are focused on equally important issues such as voting rights and climate change? Is there anything we deep blue Californians can do to warn people in states that have primarily state and federal Republican legislators? I (at 73) must admit to being frightened on behalf of our young Americans.
At 72, I likewise and concerned about future generations. I am deeply concerned about changes in education curriculum regarding history and the importance of civics.
At 72, all lingering regret over my conscious decision to father no children has completely vanished. While half of my decision involved my personal temperament as a parent, the other half involved the kind of world any children I might have sired have to face.
Many Millenials and now Zoomers are making the same choice. Our fertility rate is now 1.64, well below replacement rate. Now that we have flipped our demographic pyramid upside down, the only people that can save us are immigrants.
DZK, I made the same decision and for the same reasons when I turned 30. It feels like a different world ago.
Citizens United must be overturned. The gerrymandering of our voting districts must be constantly defeated. And all of us must affirm the values we wish to see in our culture - honesty, decency, kindness, and the willingness to help those in need. What goes around, comes around. The Maga Extremists will encounter their own creations at some point. I just hope they can be contained.
Somehow, someway, someday. Campaign finance reform. Until then things have little chance in a true transformation. But that’s a big ditch to fill. Until then it’s a grifters game, less so for democrats but not completely. Most people know this, but somehow politicians think we are all blind out here. Why there are many more independents now than ever.
Most people do know this. Polling shows that people overwhelmingly support campaign Finance reform and want to see citizens united overturned.
But it's not a big enough Factor in influencing how people vote.Not enough people either don't see the importance of this issue,or are unaware of how their elected official will vote on this issue ,or both.So part of the task is to
help more people understand what is at stake,and what is at stake for them personally. Otherwise it's just " politics"
I think many do not see the relationship of this issue to their well being.that's the problem
I agree Steve & Jane. The issue is people know this but don’t think they can change it, especially after the Unsupreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United. To work, I think it needs a sizable group of politicians from both parties that would have to pledge to defend this movement with their voices and pocketbooks but nobody wants to go first (except Bernie and maybe Elizabeth Warren)~ we need an MLK like figure to lead this. It is core to everything else.
we could have made a great deal of progress with HR 1 but it did not pass in the Senate.
hr1 did pass in the House however, strictly along party lines.
Insightful analysis. What is presented front and center is the tendency of the capitalist system to use extractive means to deplete a resource base and then move on to the next depletion opportunity. That works as long as there is a next opportunity. When not, it leads to system collapse.
Oligarchic depletion of the U.S. government resource base by continuing to run up debt may lead to low taxes with specular subsidies, contracts, and payments in the near term. But, at some time the system will reach a tipping point and unravel, especially around the Dollar as reserve currency in a global financial system.
One only needs to look at the course charted by the British Empire to see a potential progression of events. It reached its height in 1922 after a disastrous war. By 1940 it was in a state of rapid decline in the face of global turmoil leading to the loss of nearly all colonies. By 1945 the Pound Sterling was no longer the global reserve currency.
Rather than far flung colonies around the globe, the U.S. is built on an internal colonization of resource areas. Unlike many British colonies, state boundaries do not clearly define naturally occurring resource and ethnic areas. An unraveling would be painful and the resulting reconfiguration of regions hard to fathom.
"Continuing to run up debt." BS brought to us by the same people who gave us the trickle down theory.
When the little people have money, they spend it, causing a ripple effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States
Our oligarchs are not our aristocracy.
At this point Biden is still president. He added the 10% corporate tax. The SSA trust funds are still solvent. Antitrust laws are still on the books. He understands that if the pump is primed.....
@Doug Gilbert. False analogy - the US is nothing like the British pre-war structure, and the reasons for UK decline sit squarely at the feet of the oligarchs who executed Brexit. "Running up debt" is a totally false and misleading trope. See Dr. Reich's explanation in this forum AND in his classroom series ran early last year.
Who was the last person to turn down appointment to the Supreme Court after being confirmed?
I thought Robert Reich's writing today was excellent."It’s between the oligarchy — corporate and Wall Street monied interests — and everybody else."
it's interesting.The other day on right-wing MAGa radio the host railed against Amazon and generally the power of Corporations who hold Monopoly or near Monopoly power.I swear to God,he sounded like Robert Reich.Except of course he didn't use words like antitrust-----that would be
Democratic-speak.
But I don't think things will change until the conditions which have brought us to this present Point are changed.
And chief among such "conditions" are the Supreme Court rulings which have weakened, upended, the people's voting power upon which everything else rests.
Once again we are led back to the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs FEC. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained And it is the Republican Party that has stood repeatedly against attempts to right or ameliorate this wrong. In the Missouri 2nd District my representative Wagner https://www.annwagnerforcongress.net/ voted against HR1 which expands voting rights, changes campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, and bans partisan gerrymandering.Getting rid of citizens united.Getting rid of citizens united is obviously not a real high priority with voters.
the last person to decline appointment to the Supreme Court was Roscoe Conkling in 1882-----he was a really big deal in our nation's history. the book We The Corporations which details how American businesses won their civil rights,points to Roscoe as the guy who argued before The Supreme Court that the word "persons" in the 14th Amendment ,which he Roscoe had helped to draft, was meant to include corporations,including Southern Pacific Railroad, which he was much biased toward. Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad
A more truthful name for SCOTUS is Supporting Corporations of the United States.
"Getting rid of citizens united is obviously not a real high priority with voters." And how terrible that is. When the group, "Citizens United" formed during the Reagan administration in the 1980's, my Dad said, "Well, there goes democracy." How tragically correct he was. Your information about Roscoe is all new to me -- and very disturbing.
On 14 Amendment cases heard between 1868 and 1912 the Supreme Court decided 28 cases dealing with the rights of African-Americans but 312 cases dealing with the rights of Corporations.At the time the court was upholding Jim Crow laws and Plessy versus Ferguson the justices were invalidating minimum wage laws curtailing collective bargaining efforts, voiding manufacturing restrictions, and even overturning the law regulating the weight of commercial loaves of bread, The 14th Amendment adopted to Shield the former slaves from discrimination was transformed into a sword used by corporations to strike at unwanted regulation, to quote the author Adam Winkler
WOW!!! (Saving this, too. I want to read more.)
Uh, WOW! Or, should I say, "OH, SHIT!" I don't know that I've read any article quite as depressing as this one. Informative, yes. Necessary, undoubtedly. Depressing, overwhelmingly so.
Here's what is so daunting to me about this article. I'm a 65-year-old retired public school educator. I can make small donations to candidates, I can write letters and postcards, I can put yard signs out, and do other small things to work toward the political ends I hope to see come about. But, your article today pretty much told me, "You're helpless. Fight all you want, but there really isn't much you can do to stop these big-money bulldozers from doing what they want."
I guess I'll just keep fighting the fights I can, but after reading this I have a sense of dread more than I have in quite sometime...and that is saying a lot.
Forewarned is forearmed..... There are many more people on your side than on the other. Take some comfort in that. Plus your side is smarter and has mostly good intentions. The other side thinks mostly about themselves and tearing things down and oh yeah, keeping as much away from 'those people' as they can..
This is so depressing. Is there nothing we the people can do to keep the uber rich from buying America?
Do you mean - like Bill Gates buying up farm land? Is he doing it to leave the land empty to make the soil renew itself or like you said Nancy buying America
His ex-wife, Melinda, is the force behind Bill Gates's philanthropy. So is Zuckerberg's wife, Pediatrician Dr. Priscilla Chan. This seems to be the case in many marriages when the rich man develops a conscience about other people (or his conscience is revived). I suspect that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt played that role in FDR's life, as well. Among her countless activities was establishment of the Social Security system; ensuring that the New Deal continue under FDR's administration; first U.S. delegate to the new United Nations; and an outspoken champion of Civil Rights for African-Americans (a very unpopular stance at that time).
Interesting, the juxtaposition between your comment, and that of Jacko, just above yours!
Those corporations made a deal with the devil. When the debt ceiling collapses so, too, does their wealth.
Humpty Dumpty?
You realize the debt ceiling is artificial and that no other country (except Denmark, kinda) has one?
I don't fault your analysis, but I think it needs to extend to both parties. The majority of the Democrats in Congress will not give voters what they want (Medicare for All, etc.) because they are beholden to their corporate sponsors. The chance to reform our financial system after the crash of 2008 died with Obama. Today, Manchin is just the tip of the iceberg. And the Democratic establishment spends money to prevent populist Democrats like Nina Turner, etc. from getting elected. We need to spend more time looking within.