I would love to know if Pepsi and Coke are doing this in other countries esp European ones that have a lot of consumer protection. We were in Italy last month and food was 1/3 the cost of the US...we were told by a friend that lives in Italy that their prices went up during COVID but they returned to normal when it was over. In the US the prices are still essentially COVID prices at least where I live in DC
My recent stay in Denmark and I was shocked at how much less expensive food was there. And no red dye #5 or whatever is poisoning all of us to prop up the medical industry. The week I got back, I was so sick with headaches and upset gut, the only change was the food. I eventually got used to it, but I didn’t need to adjust to Danish foods 🤔 … but so much cheaper.
Shanna, the truly wild idea is that we can somehow reform capitalism. The House is broken, the Senate is hamstrung and the Supreme Court is purchased. Some capitalism can work for small countries, small economies and small business. In the United States it is now the untamable runaway horses carrying the economy and the government swaying behind them on a wild ride over the cliff. Large scale capitalism is beyond reformation. They support Trump, Fascism and the worst impulses of what was once the fiscally concerned Republican party.
We need a new vision and to implement the replacement for the monster of capitalism now.
Biden is doing all that a President can do to stem the tide of greed and authoritarianism, but it is like building higher dikes to hold back the rising waters caused by climate change, it is not along term solution.
We can talk politics till the cows come home but politics is not the solution, economics is. Install a progressive economic system such as Economic Democracy that gives power back to the local people and rebuild politics from that. Capitalism is an ancient system that has as its foundation greed and power. Old foundations cannot hold modern egalitarian structures and capitalism will never solve oncoming climate catastrophe, only we can.
We have to fix democracy first. End gerrymandering, implement new voting methods (one nonpartisan primary followed by a ranked choice vote in the general), then get the money outta politics via public matching programs and then finally a constitutional amendment which clarifies that money is not speech and only humans have constitutional rights. Only then we can re-regulate capitalism, dump our 6,871 page tax code, re-implement a progressive tax structure, bust up giant corporations and restore competition.
Jim Crist, you are right on! Corporations are not people and must be barred from political donations. Only U.S. voters should be allowed to contribute to politicians - ban PAC's. The political season should be shortened to about 6 weeks, and every redistricting should be the responsibility of the Census Bureau to take politics out of the equation.
Where does one learn about other models like Economic Democracy that you mention? We live on a finite planet - every year using up more of its resources -basing one measure of success on economic "growth"... too much growth by too many (in the natural world) - results in the imbalance of something and at worst partial extinction, and ecosystem failure. It would be good to learn about the models and the various pros and cons?
Or these listings of economic models to save the planet-https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/928841468327556975/100-ideas-to-save-the-planet-innovative-solutions-from-50-countries
Trying to think back at the grocery selection and I can’t recall there being an organic vs organic selection, but my BIL grows most of his veg in his backyard, so we never had to buy much of that… all his stuff is organic; my SIL insists on it! (She won’t even fly anymore; the climate news over the summer was quite upsetting to her… though she was glad to have us stay with them.. but she felt guilty for it because she knew we all flew to get there…) no diet soda anywhere, no antibiotics in the meats, no GMOs anywhere… and we ate like kings, I even lost a few pounds!! and let’s just say there was less… waste 🤷♂️ 🧻🚽 … there are a ton of benefits to producing foods that don’t kill us…
And the bicycles! And the people. My husband was hurt playing in a soccer tournament for old guys (really). Nothing serious but lots of blood. A total stranger drove us to the emergency room and explained at reception. As foreigners, we were billed $65 for doctor, tetanus shot, and extra bandages, plus calling a taxi.
Its such a turn-around. When my husband and I were in Sweden and Denmark visiting family on our honeymoon in 1967, food was so expensive there compared to the US, that no one went out to dinner. And while gasoline in the US was $0.29 a gallon, it was $5.00 a gallon in Sweden and Denmark.
That’s only sorta half true. The issue is large agribusiness and food production companies have largely ignored the realities of climate change in the region and pushed more fossil fuel use and pesticides, squeezing the farmers to produce more for less while stoking the fears against governments trying institute climate regulations. It was always gonna come to a head but it was also gonna keep advancing until the fields got too hot and barren to produce crops. The farmers are bring used as pawns and they are lashing out at the wrong “enemy.” As also in America, the enemy isn’t government; it’s the unrestrained, greedy capitalist who DGAF if the farmer dies. But you can’t protest against a capitalist…
The only sin really the Dutch Gov compared here us not moving fast is deep enough; but you can’t entice someone to pivot out of a lifestyle if they don’t want to. Recently, they have been giving incentives to farmers who voluntarily give up farming and a lot if farmers have taken the deal; they can see the temps rising… this summer was particularly worrisome. So… yeah, farmers may have a point but we ALL have a point. The climate is changing and for any of us to expect continue living like it ain’t is just not realistic. Just some of us don’t have big tractors to go throw a temper tantrum in.
FWIW, my BIL was a pig farmer in Denmark until about 2017. He had to shutter his farm for many reasons the Dutch farmers are now facing. He pivoted his skills and now has a landscaping business, employing seven FT people, making more money that he knows what do with! (No, he isn’t giving out loans! 😂) He is an example of how government can and will help folks make life changes, but they have to be willing. Change is the only constant in life… gotta accept that.
I'm a farmer, and I feel that your comment is ignorant. Having fewer farmers is not a good thing. Calling it a "Lifestyle"...it reminds me of the way people used to refer to gay people as having a "lifestyle." (with the implication that it was something that should be changed) Having lots of smaller farms creates vital small towns. Many practices that are good for the environment, work well on moderately sized farms.
That is certainly one point of view, though it really doesn’t follow from what I said. The problem isn’t small to medium sized farms surrounding a smaller village or town, but the consolidation and squeezing of the land and farm labor by big agribusiness and food production companies. Instead of finding ways to provide food for a local economy, they salt the earth with pesticides and use fossil fuels to overproduce for a large and wider economy, ie, exports which in turn drives the shipping and logistics industries which further pollute the earth causing temperatures to rise more, a longer distance from the actual farmer.
How you solve this issue is a choice governments and the communities — assuming self governance — make in concert with each other, outside of the influence of the more greed-based agribusiness who may not even be based in the Netherlands! They don’t care about the farms or the farmers; they care about their profits. So, if they can stoke up a culture war and it preserves their flow of profit, what the hell do they care if farmers starve eventually through the effects of climate change? As long as the farmers work to the last harvest and they get to keep all the profits.
The agribusiness and food companies have convinced the farmers to fight for their own suppression rather than their own long-term survival as farmers. Nowhere have they floated the option of the farmers remaining farmers, living on farms, etc. They have floated the option of THEIR business model not changing! That’s the flashpoint here.
The biggest error the Dutch government made here is not acting sooner. Smaller changes over time are more successful than rapid, sweeping changes. In their defense, though, climate change has rapidly accelerated and sweeping actions will need to be taken or we will reach a point where an effective slowdown or reversal will simply be too late.
I do need to address a point; being a farmer and being LGBTQIA+ is NOT EQUIVALENT! Being a farmer is an occupation, a choice one can make. Being LGBTQIA+ is not a choice any more than being Black is a choice. This is reminiscent of cops in America equating Black Lives to Blue Lives.
Furthermore, redefining the word “lifestyle” with a different context than the one used to construct an argument is also a fallacy (equivocation) that reminds me of what Rush Limbaugh used to do for hours on end every day. The word “lifestyle” in the context of LGBTQIA+ was incorrect then, while used within the context of a farmer is. Perhaps “way of life” may have been less charged and I will use that going forward as American conservatives have essentially hijacked the word “lifestyle” for their own agenda and I don’t wish to have to have this argument again.
I take grave offense at the implication you have levied at me with these fallacies and request that you argue more accurately in any further response to me. Thank you.
PARIS (AP) — Global supermarket chain Carrefour will stop selling PepsiCo products in its stores in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy over price increases for popular items like Lay's potato chips, Quaker Oats, Lipton Iced Tea and its namesake soda.Jan 8, 2024
Porter, yeah, the prices things should be are now the sale price which is designed to make us all think the sale price is giving us a deal. It would be one thing if the quality of the products were improved or the amount in the package increased, but in reality, the products have become poorer and the quantity less or smaller in size.
Hey how about an old fashioned boycott ,think about it ,nothing they sell is good for any of us ,we’re all getting fat ,diabetic,clogged arteries and colons it’s the crap that they’ve addicted us to since childhood , and they’ll keep at it ,if not stopped !Its self inflicted,we let them do it to us,and after they’ve poisoned us with all their over priced junk food ,and we’re all dead,it keeps going with the kids ,and grand kids ! What a business model they have it’s a win ,win,win forever formula! Think about it over a 4.00$ Pepsi !
OFF TOPIC - but I'd likely to have forgotten about it by the time the issue was raised:
AFTER MUSING UPON THE "BORDER CONFLICT:"
If Biden wants to >really< confound the TX governor, his supporters, and allies about the razor wire at the border, he should order relief drops to the MX side of the border, of the kinds of industrial wire cutters used to cut razor wire. He should include the kind of protective gear those who work with that kind of wire must use to deploy it. (Of course, that might include a secret phone call to the MX president. Hell! He could solicit Mexican aid in delivering it!) Of course, Biden should make sure to avoid telling anyone what to do with that materiel. Of course, if they can figure out what to do with it on their own, well . . .
Those crazy ass cowboys don’t need another reason to start Gaza 2.0 right here in the New Texas Republic, they’ll claim the cutters looked like weapons!
The New Texas Republic ‽ WOW! That one got by me. Since you live there, I'll make sure to keep your response in mind. Sounds like secession is under way! I wonder how they'll respond to losing all electoral college influence on the presidential election, as well as all representation in Congress. Of course, the National Guard would be federalized & redeployed, military bases decommissioned and shut down, and all federal agencies and any federal support withdrawn. I'm absolutely >certain< they'd hate losing NASA. (Houston. We have a problem.) You might pass that along to any sane Texans you know.
DZK, I have been thinking about this since I heard about Gov. Abbott's move to ignore the Supreme Court. Those crazy Republicans love their court when it does what they want but ignore it when it says people other than them have rights. Texas has always pretended it was better than any other state and somehow more independent. Well, I am OK with them leaving and we can just stop paying them so much of our tax money to behave so badly. I want no war this time. They can take their BS and stay home. They have little to nothing to offer the rest of us. We could allow immigration for the "liberals" among them but that's pretty much it. OK, I am kidding about some of it. I think Abbott and his lacky legislature has to go if we are to continue to support them.
I think if they left, the others who deployed their state police and National Guard to help TX - especially if Biden makes any move to uphold the SCOTUS ruling - would try going with them if those 25-cent brains in Austin declare independence from the US. I wonder how many would want to join together as that "New Texas Republic" Mr Runkal mentions. Although getting rid of them may seem desirable, I think that maybe wishful oversimplification. Sooner or later, national interest & national security would clash and clash disastrously, particularly if those rebellious states should decide - as they surely will - to >take back< what they'll claim is rightfully theirs. Remember, "taking back" has been a >big< legend among those @$$#0!3$ for decades - ever since November 6, 1865!
Needless to say, I take a TX resident referencing a New Texas Republic seriously, mainly because I have already come to suspect that intention, from the TX governor's consistent public statements & behavior, for a while now.
Keep in mind, TX is currently thumbing its nose at >this< SCOTUS' ruling supporting federal jurisdiction over the US border - it's a renewed attempt at enforcing the "nullification" principle of the 1850's that rejects the Constitution's Supremacy Clause citing 10th Amendment States' Rights. They're just not calling it that, these days.
Politicians and pundits toss around interest rates and inflation, and no one seems to understand the relationship or even curious enough to ask the question.
Ours is a debt money system (the Fed calls it a fractional reserve system.. Meaning a bank can create money out of thin air, in response to a demand for credit (like your credit card, a mortgage a car loan, corporate debt, and public debt including Treasury securities)
The demand for debt is supposed be elastic, meaning that as interest rates go up, demand goes down, and as demand goes down the amount of money in circulation decreases.
(Here it is instructful to know as any debts are paid down, and paid off, the money created out of debt is wiped off the books, it is called double entry bookkeeping)
The myth, perpetuated by he Fed is that the supply of money, exceeds demand for goods, in other words too much money chasing too few goods., or printing press money. Like in 3rd world countries or Germany in 1922.
That is no the case however, For one thing we are addicted to debt, and our demand for debt is inelastic, check the rates on your credit cards, I would be surprised if they were under 20%, make minimum payments and you never pay them off, and the bank loses nothing, because most of the principal is a simple book keeping entry. same with home mortgages and car loans, that is why they can sell your debt, at discount, and make a profit.
If debts were not paid off, and if there weren't bankruptcies, then we would be awash in money, and then there would be real inflation.
What is responsible for continuously rising prices, and there is no solution to the problem, is the interest we have to pay on the debts.
The debt we or a government or corporation incurs, comes with interest to be paid. the act of indebtedness enables the bank to create money (double entry book keeping) but there was no money created to pay the interest.
Reducing the example to the simplest possible. If I loan you $100 at 10% interest for a year, and you have no other access to money, at the end of the year you owe me $110, but there is only $100 in existence..;that 100 I loaned you. The $10 interest is what causes inflation.
I consider myself to be pretty well versed on the Fed and Capitalism.
But what is happening in the Levant is not because of capitalism, it is a religious war, one that started about 1400 years ago, when Arabs came flying out of the desert on the backs of camels and horses, waving gtheir scimitars and crying Allah akbar.
It started with some desert caravan raider name of Muhammad had his band of thieves and cuthroats, separate 600 Jews of the Banu Quarayza from their bodies in the market place of Medina, in groups of six at a time, this is why Medina is sacred to Muslims.
Exasperated when the war against the Jews was expaneded to a holy war, Jihad,
From sahih 1295/1296, Book 56, Hadith 139 al Bukhari
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).
The way for a Jew to avoid this "punishment" is to accept 2nd class status as a dhimmi, and pay the poll tax (jizzyah) also prescribed in their sacred text.
Israel on the other hand has 2 million Arab citizens who have the right to vote, and even held seats in the Knesset.
Show me one Muslim country that has the same for not just Jews, but non muslims as well.
2 Million Arabs citizens in Israel, a country of 12 million at most, and how many Jews in Muslim countries, most are zero, Iran has 500, the most in any other country is 100 to 200, there are only 3 Jews in Egypt, none in Saudi Arabia. none in Jordan.
Icing on the cake, neither Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Egypt want the Palestinians, in fact Egypt is building a wall and demolishing tunnels to keep them out.
Price of doing business in NYC! Average can of coke in most of US $0.55 when purchased at market or discount store in six pack. Do you know that for a dime you once could get coffee and donut, but now that is over $3.00!
Robert, it is very clear that we have reached the breaking point of monopoly control of all of our major industries. This acts as a big privatization and creates a roadmap that directly leads to Fascism. And the monopoly is in the hands of right wing extremists, almost exclusively. This is such a danger to our country.
Fascist has been the hallmark of the present administration: censorship, arrests and convictions against political opponents, rigged primaries with few opponents sidelined by DNC rule changes, one sided mass media, and rules made by unelected administrators. The DNC are the fascists
Roger-we can recognize that you are a troll. The orange criminal is a traitor to this country. The J6 committee proved beyond a shadow of doubt that trump is guilty of incitement, he has 91 indictments. In addition orange psychopath committed rape, so that means you support rape and sedition. Trump is a fraud and you are a human without a brain and likely, like trump, without friends. Go to your MAGA friends with this BS.
You're right about 1-sided (corporate/right-wing) media. And I actually agree with you about the DNC (& RNC). But most of the rest is false right-wing propaganda.
Yes. BUT corporate Dems are only less greedy & unscrupulous than Repubs. They’re not generous. They need to know that the mandate is to do their job: represent We The People, not Them The Corporations.
Yes ; Jan Churchwell ; Selling out is selling out, no matter who does it. It interferes with our desire to self rule in a Democratic Republic. When our 'representatives' 'sell out' to the Kings and Queens of the money pyramid, we are not enjoying self government. They have bought and paid for their interference, and our reps sold off our representation. It should be illegal again! Some things should not be for sale! "Make America Virtuous Already!"
If tRUMP should get in again (gods and voters forbid) monopolization would probably get worse, especially if the orange waste would profit off any prospective mergers.
On what basis do you say the large corporations are in the hands of right wing extremists? I ask because most if the large corps are big into diversity, equity and inclusion, which is not right wing.
Paul, look up Judd Legum. He has done extensive research into companies who say they support LGBTQIA & diversity. He followed the money. All, including Target and most major retailers gave money to anti LGBTQIA groups snd politicians. Republicans care only about keeping themselves in office and hoarding wealth. As always, follow the money, the truth is there. These large corporations cater to what will make them money, not actual caring.
Paul, also, you can look up media ownership by googling Who ultimately owns NBC,ABC, CNN etc and you can find the owners..ultra right-ring. That has proven to be very dangerous. That is why orange traitor and rapist can get away with going out in public while waiting for trial on 91 indictment & and inciting a deadly coup attempt. In addition, he was found guilty of rape. What other terrorist & psychopath would get that treatment? The media is run by the right and lies for the right.
It's a public relations ploy to attract certain segments of the population, that obviously backfired as far as their relations with another segment of the population, but it hasn't been reflected in their spending on elections, which continues to generally favor Republicans.
Great article by Mr Reich. There is absolute price gouging byu Giant orporations but you are not going to hear much about it including from Biden because thanks to the Citizen United decision Giant corporations get to buy the Govt and disguise it as free speech. The Supreme court is an absolute disgrace to the country and all 6 right wingers on it should be impeached and held in contempt by the American people. Even though Scalia who is now gone was a big part of that decision he should not be forgotten .
Humans are people: The corporations have bought the right to say they are, too. "Separate but equal?" I think not. Money unlimited wrecks it! .Inequality of wealth kills Democracy. It drowns out the speech of the humans, the workers, and the poor.!
Fully agree with the topic of the economy and why it is ailing. The takeaway was that profits are high, and wages are low. All the companies mentioned have directly and indirectly, while feeding the masses, engaged in acts involving unhealthy diet decisions and choices, conspicuous consumption of consumer goods beyond reasonable need, and transportation to places for leisure travel at great peril (due to high-level CO2 emissions) to the planet. The profit-taking coupled with, including me, failing to act swiftly and continuously enough to avoid the situation I and many find ourselves in. To not go down a rabbit hole too far, I need to change and adapt further; government needs to regulate and tax not for control but for functionality, and dammit, the profanely rich need to give it a break before it all breaks regarding giving up some small percentage of wealth and power for the common good.
Fair enough, Laurie. But, while our present so-called “capitalist” system certainly has resulted in inequality, I prefer it to any government administered system designed to assure “fairness and equity”, because all prior attempts at a fair system have resulted in far worse situations than what we have. You might say that we have the lesser of several possible evil systems. Bj
Carolyn: Corporations are giant gangs of humans, with CEOs that are obscenely wealthy.. Some corporations are as wealthy as an entire country! Besides, they cannot be jailed: they do not bleed or cry. Or feel pain,, like human bein:gs If challenged in court and found guilty, they can settle out of court, with a slap on the wrist, at best. "The cost of doing business". There is very little personal 😳 skin in the game, let alone. Embarrassment.
I'm a conservative. For a time I worked as a manager in a large corporation. At some point the executives decided to create a PAC and appointed a public affairs manager to lead the effort. Next managers at all levels received a memo suggesting we contribute to the PAC. The first year I did because I enjoyed working for a very successful company. After that year I stopped contributing. Why? Because I didn't like where the money went. I took a position that contributors should have a voice in use of the PAC funds. I support legislation to overcome the Citizens United decision.
And I support Robert's goal of antimonopoly action. The only things worse than corporate monopolies would be a government monopoly such as fascism. And I believe the Democrat Party is way more likely to form such a government than the Republicans.
Bill, the republicans are supporting a deadly coup inciter, a traitor and a rapist to run for party leader. Trump has quoted Hitler. Your party is banning books, removed women’s rights to privacy, choice, safe abortions. Only YOUR party politicians have said, if the SCOTUS doesn’t vote the way we want, we’ll tell them to “go to hell” - Chip Roy. The republicans already are Fascists and you think the Democratic party would go that route? ONLY Democrats have helped the working people of this country. You are confusing social safety nets and seem to be unaware of what Fascism is. It also makes a person sound unintelligent to use the phrase Democrat party. It’s Democratic party. Republicans are supporting a clearly psychopathic rapist. Worry about that instead.
Well you can remain anonymous by giving yourself the handle "SeekingReason". But your reply definitely doesn't seek reason. Writing off those who support Trump in such a manner will get you nowhere. And as for being unintelligent, I have a BS, MBA, and PhD from some top universities so I will call your party whatever I want, free speech and all that.
You certainly don't sound like one with any if those degrees. My name is Joleen and BTW I have a masters. And I call you ignorant. Free speech and all…
So check it out Joleen, BS Engineering Physics, Montana State University; MBA Operations Research, UC Berkeley (where I met Bill Buckley); and PhD Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern U in Evanston IL.
I gather you are a Nurse Practitioner. Congratulations. Your life focus has been very different from mine. I am ignorant of much of the healthcare field. And I suspect you may not know much about my life's work in manufacturing. Still, I'm not going to call you names. Maybe you just follow Robert Reich in doing so, free speech and all.
Don't open the enveope from your home and auto insurance company while you are eating your overpriced food, it will make you sick. Double digit increases, reason.....just because they all can.
Neil, How much do you estimate that insurance companies increased your bill due to record hurricane home losses last Year and the horrible auto accidents due to the distractions of texting, eating and high speed crashes?
To Reagan, the "free market" was leaving corporations free to do whatever they want, and the enemy was government. Remember his little joke: The scariest 9 words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"? Ho Ho, Ron!
In fact it's the exact opposite. Free market capitalism REQUIRES strong government, to break up monopolies and enforce antitrust legislation in order to free up the market. Without strong government corporations can be expected to collude against the public interest.
What you're calling capitalism is actually just a realization of economic organization - specifically within the context of a democracy; absent checks on inequality, that "capitalism" is really just fascism (with all its attendant ills), which is what made Reagan such a harbinger of right-wing nightmares to come...
Sorry, but I disagree. Capitalism is misunderstood because of the current Reagan-Friedman misinterpretation, but also the Marxist misinterpretation, as the RIGHT of the strong to exploit the weak.
It was never intended that way by Adam Smith, a moral philosopher who sketched capitalism as the way to a congenial materialistic society. Smith warned of the tendency of corporations to collude against the public interest, something which is exactly what we see in modern America, and he urged strong government to regulate them.
Smithian capitalism is congruent with democracy. We had it in America between 1946 and 1980, when the train was derailed by Friedman and Reagan, acting on behalf of wealthy people who don't want to pay their taxes....
Misunderstood... on Professor Reich's blog? (What does Piketty say about why that 1946 to 1980 period stands in contrast to the rest of the history of capitalism? Clearly democracy is not the sufficient condition but, rather, *necessary* - which is why abandonment of norms is (again & again) at issue, i.e. when "the party of Reagan" takes the reigns: rents are rents!)
Well, that's a part of where the inequality is coming from, i.e. loss of democratic norms (Reagan didn't have to cheat to win - though he did do so anyway, per the Iran-Contra affair)...
Gaza is a problem, yo. That does not imply that the system Adam Smith advanced 240 years ago is flawed. Long before Smith, Christians killed babies, Muslims killed infidels, and Israelis killed anyone outside their tribe, an action sanctioned by God. What exactly is your point?
No matter the reality, bad-faith actors will continue to enrage their base with reckless fabrications. So it's not really "It's the economy, stupid" any longer. "It's the lack of shared facts, stupid" is much closer to our sad state of affairs.
You got it, Anthony, and we need to put as much on our side as possible- we’ll never have total consensus- but maybe just enough people will recognize the truth of corporate greed, for example, to quiet the Maga roar.
OMG that is so funny that you say that. My BF who isn't all maga, but still likes drumpf, was griping about the economy last week. He was all, we have to get that idiot out of the WH before he screws us even more and we can't afford to have anything!"
So I came back with, "What do you want him to do?! Inflation is going down...it's going to take time to get back to normal, but it's going; your gas prices are down again, they are adding jobs, the unemployment is low. The parts you are really complaining about are the grocery bills, and the internet costs, and the electricity, and gas, insurance, and almost anything else that is controlled by big, corporations! Those corporations who HAD to raise prices because of supply chain issues, and covid lockdowns, and whatever reason.... but now that supply chains are smooth again, and covid is manageable... why in the world are the prices still high, right?!
Because they don't care! People are still buying! If they are still buying, what's the problem?! But if we don't keep buying, do they just "restructure" and lay off a bunch of hard workers?? These are issues that the president doesn't really have any control of. The only way these corporations are going to lower their prices, is if hell freezes over, or if they overturn the Citizens United decision."
I can tell him, - it's not the president - it's the corporate greed until I am blue in the face. He agrees, but still thinks he's just supposed to tell them to lower their prices.
Shanna : President Biden is pursuing anti trust law enforcement, which should break up monopolies and prevent more mergers that allow just a few companies to hike prices. With little or no competition.
We need organized boycotts. There needs to be a list published of products whose prices are inflated due to gouging, preferably with suggested alternative products. Just having their product appear on the list could cause some companies to lower their prices, and other companies to avoid gouging for fear of appearing on the list. This was done in the 70s. Why isn't it being done now?
Andrew, let’s do it! At the end of the day, no one needs Coke and Pepsi products. A boycott list gone viral could put a dent in profits and earn attention.
I have suggested this in the past, Andrew, but in the U.S. we lack a sense of solidarity. When I lived in Europe there were times when there would be a "general strike" when everything would shut down. Try doing that here. It won't happen- most people are only concerned with their own job, their own purse, there own health insurance, etc. The Beatles had a song about it- "I, Me, Mine."
We in the U.S. lack a sense of solidarity because so many of us are living in precarity thanks to the shoddy "safety net" and weak-to-none worker protections. When you are choosing between food and rent payments you have no energy left to join with others. Sad.
ed, the conditions you describe are the very ones that existed when labor unions formed and workers stuck together. I tend to think there is a different reason for the lack of solidarity- the oligarchs, through right wing media, and malevolent governments like Russia, China and Iran on social media, have pitted us against one another with social issues and the advancement of an orange huckster who kills everything he touches.
Astute comment; We are also mesmerized by social media where we vent our anger but are easily ignored/dismissed, unlike real physical actions like protests and strikes.
The Republikkkan party are using the typical fascist method, lying and gaslighting. They all need to be voted out and dumped into the trashcan of history, before they attempt another coup.
I agree, Peter, but when voting (subject to threats) is our only option and calls/letters to our state representatives are ignored or answered with form letters, how?
All traitors who engaged in insurrection : the Congress members who refused to vote to certify President Biden's win should be removed from office because that refusal betrayed their oaths of office. They disqualified themselves according to the 14th amendment, section 3. The disqualification clause! They are disabled! And cannot hold office in our government.
Laurie, I guess those who choose to ignore the 14th amendment would have been just fine had Jefferson Davis decided to run for the presidency after the Civil War. It infuriates me that none of the traitors in Congress who were in on the insurrection have been taken to task. I think Liz Cheney had something to do with that. And those same traitors are now on Putin's payroll.
Trump operates just like a mob boss. He needs to be in jail where he can't threaten judges and juries. Why does our justice department put up with him?
Dave ; It's insane and frustrating that he is even out on bail! The judges impose gag orders, and he violates them. Even though there were threats to jail him. Then , nothing happens except he acts like a victim and bilks his clueless followers for more 'contributions'. I do think it's fear that he will incite terrorist attacks on the populace, for which they , the judges, would be blamed! I think Gitmo, or another 'undisclosed location' until all trials and hearings are over.
Laurie, I tell people who say they plan to vote for Trump that they will be voting for a mob boss who is also a rapist, a tax cheat, a crook and un-American. If jailing him leads to violence, then so be it- we've got to stand up for what is right. We have to protect our fellow Americans who are brave enough to serve on juries for cases involving a mobster.
Peter; the coup is ongoing. We can't help Ukraine defend their Democracy, because there are traitors in Congress who are working for Putin , as tRump orders them to. 147 is the number I saw ; there could be more!
Since they had disqualified themselves by betraying their oath of office, they should be removed from their seats in Congress. I will try to contact my Congress member to stop those who work for tRump ; not their constituents. And tRump works for Putin. Is that what we want?!? Congress (Speaker Johnson), holds the purse strings, and will not give the money needed that President Biden promised Ukraine, to help them defend themselves and their Democracy.
No. That is just one of MANY reasons we cannot afford to have Trump as President. He will keep giving to the rich at the expense of the poor and the middle class.
WE NEED TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN! He is on a roll! We are seeing the many benefits of his administration. YOU GO JOE!! 🇺🇸 🫡
I hate to pour cold water on a good piece, but I will. Inflation is bad, I am glad it is dropping. We need to break up corporations. They are way too consolidated, especially in the food sector, though the transportation sector is not far behind. However, growth is problematic when the resource base is limited. We do not have the metals, the energy, the forest products, and other resources for rapid continuous growth. Companies want us to continue to grow. They have a growth model, and so do the politicians they support, and this growth primarily benefits the already well-to-do (rich) and hurts most everyone else over the long term. We do need to slow down, reduce the amount we take out of the ground, reduce the number of new products unknown to nature (like glyphosate, neonicotinoids and bis-phenol A), and stop harvesting natural resources faster than they recover. This involves not growing, in fact in may mean degrowth. We do need a vast redistribution of wealth as we degrow and in that I agree, but our and the global economy needs to just slow down. (Demilitarization is an essential part of that equation as well.)
problem, the cost of the military. We are the police officers of the world. Would you have Russia or China fill this role? Too many despots use the U. S. As the scrape goat for their problems. Without the military , we would not last a month and millions Around the world would die. Thus your solution would require more years than you and I and our children have.
As to food we need more unknown products. The Composition of the
Microbiomes of soils for specific crops
And conditions is not known, we need crops with disease and drought resistance, we need better vaccines for animals and humans. We need more treatments, unknown at this time, for cancer and disease.
You’re absolutely correct about the need for a major simplification, Wayne. And demilitarization is essential. We have to prioritize human flourishing.
Capitalism works when it is local: when the investors, employees, and customers all share the same community, economy, and environment. Then a product or service improves the community, and the community can control bad behavior.
External capitalism seeks maximum return regardless of local consequences. We all pay the price.
Gas prices are the prime example...over 90% of the increases in gas and diesel have gone right into the pockets of the top executives and shareholders...and even though gas prices have come down, diesel is still ridiculously high...in a normal circumstance, diesel is cheaper than gas because it takes less processing from the basic oil product than gas...
What sorts of products fall into that category, Tim? I mentioned farmers’ markets above. What else can we support locally besides restaurants and shops?
Prices are bad because the Big Donors are bad. Biden Administration, please keep enforcing antitrust laws. And make some new rules and enforce them too.
You're at UC Berkeley, so you certainly know all about this, but many of the other readers may not: California is a huge oil producing state. We also have refineries all over the place; the north lobes of San Francisco Bay (they actually have their own separate names) are rimmed with refineries. Same for Los Angeles. Yet gasoline in the state as a whole, and especially in the large metropolitan areas, consistently costs about a dollar more, give or take a bit, than the national average. Some of that is due to high state taxes, but far from all. And the oil companies with major facilities in CA have a few regular ploys they screw us with. First, whenever OPEC or other foreign producers announce a future production reduction, gas prices shoot up immediately. They say they need to take the cost of replacement into the price they charge for the gas made from previously purchased, cheaper petroleum. But when wholesale oil prices plummet, gas prices, like food and beverage prices, stay high. And when gas prices sink in the rest of the country, the prices in California do not do so as rapidly, or in the same way.
Second, California mandates different gasoline formulas for summer and for winter, so the producers close down one or several refineries to make the conversion. Frequently, they stay off-line for longer intervals than are reasonable. In addition, during these times of formula switchover, a surprisingly large number of additional refineries are taken offline for "maintenance" and prices skyrocket because of artificially "diminished supply".
Every now and then, a California governor or attorney general will announce a forthcoming investigation into high retail gasoline pricing. Whenever that happens, prices immediately plummet. Quelle surpise.
Personally, I can't wait for the e-car and home solar revolutions to put these thieves out of business, and at the same time take down the monopolistic regional electricity providers. But talking about those "public utilities" would take a whole additional story, so I'll stop. For now.
We need both. Also a massive investment in transforming our power ecosystem into a decentralized one based on renewable energy sources, primarily solar and wind. And more.
I'm a huge fan of public transportation, but public transportation infrastructure doesn't magically appear with the snap of a finger - it takes decades and, to cover a country of our size, probably longer, if ever at all, given the brain-dead opposition of the Right. We don't have decades before we pass far too many more disastrous global warming tipping points; we - and by that I mean the world, but every country has to do its part - need to get the hell off fossil fuels, and we need to do it not just ASAP, we need to have done it years ago. The climate has already changed in ways that will take a century or more to repair, and during that time we will lose huge numbers of species to extinction, will see local resource wars all across the globe (and I pray they stay local), will see unparalleled climate migration of huge masses, and will see global societies irreversibly changed.
We can't afford to wait for public transportation to save the world, even though, yes, we have to start pushing it as fast and as hard as we can. We also have to take as many short-term initiatives as we can that can slow global warming, and that includes electric vehicles. And universal home solar. And everything else we can think of.
As for your calling electric vehicles capitalist bullshit, I suggest you reflect for a while on the fact that the main opposition to them has always been, and will continue to be, the capitalist bullshitters who run the fossil fuel industries and a significant fraction of the motor vehicle industries and their related industrial sectors. Start with Joe Manchin.
The hell of it all is that the oil giants, once they discovered decades ago the deadly global future their industry was creating, could have decided that they were energy companies, not fossil-fuel companies, and they could have put their incredible financial resources into developing alternative, renewable, clean energy sources. Instead, they chose to suck every last dime they can out of the economy, and to hell (literally) with the future. Those are the worst of your capitalist bullshitters.
Elon Musk my be as annoying as hell and as politically f*ucked up as is imaginable, but his Tesla company provided a massive kick-start to the move way from gas guzzling motor vehicles and fossil-fuel burning home utilities. I don't like him at all, but I appreciate some of what he's done very much.
Sheer corporate greed and outrageous compensation for CEOs and senior executives in the USA. It really makes you question the benefits of Capitalism to the average citizen. While I certainly don’t consider myself a socialist, I do believe in a more equitable society.
Graham, we have Socialism already, for major corporations. US workers and consumers get predatory Capitalism. European countries seem to do quite well with Democratic Socialism. 🇺🇸
If only we could remove those in Congress and government who are actively working against Democracy and the rule of law (Constitution), It would be in our best interests. There should be much more support and demand to enforce the rules that were designed to keep our Democratic Republic going and keep those who betray their oaths of office from keeping their seats, and the real power that goes with them!
Where Pepsi and Coke hurt is they control shelf space, so smaller brands can't get seen. If they do, then Pepsi and Coke buy them out i.e. Naked Juices and San Pellegrino and Chica Water by Coke and Honest Tea by Pepsi. These companies have influence over the supply chain, the distribution chain, the shelf space and end-user and the government... The internet has somewhat alleviated the problem by enabling smaller brands to compete, but, the internet is not well suited for food brands that are perishable, require refrigeration or special handling....But Bob you're right. Look at the stock market. MAG 7 ( Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia) up almost 70% last 2 years. These companies all cash cow monopolies with government influence. Most of the microcap stock indexes down 40% over the same period. The irony is the 80%-90% of the people who do the hard work at the MAG 7 cannot afford to buy homes and raise families... No politician wants to hear it, but a good way to empower the hard humping aspiring middle class would be to initiate a wealth transfer estate tax. Heirs could receive one residence and one million dollars tax free. The rest would be swept into a mortgage fund that would give qualified first time homebuyers a 2.5% 30yr mortgage. There's a lot of good ideas to improve our system, but it takes vision, leadership and political will all of which are scarce as hen's teeth right now
I would love to know if Pepsi and Coke are doing this in other countries esp European ones that have a lot of consumer protection. We were in Italy last month and food was 1/3 the cost of the US...we were told by a friend that lives in Italy that their prices went up during COVID but they returned to normal when it was over. In the US the prices are still essentially COVID prices at least where I live in DC
My recent stay in Denmark and I was shocked at how much less expensive food was there. And no red dye #5 or whatever is poisoning all of us to prop up the medical industry. The week I got back, I was so sick with headaches and upset gut, the only change was the food. I eventually got used to it, but I didn’t need to adjust to Danish foods 🤔 … but so much cheaper.
yep it's a different world when the government treats protecting consumers (not businesses) as their primary job.
The government protecting consumers??!? Well that's a wild idea!! ;0)
Shanna, the truly wild idea is that we can somehow reform capitalism. The House is broken, the Senate is hamstrung and the Supreme Court is purchased. Some capitalism can work for small countries, small economies and small business. In the United States it is now the untamable runaway horses carrying the economy and the government swaying behind them on a wild ride over the cliff. Large scale capitalism is beyond reformation. They support Trump, Fascism and the worst impulses of what was once the fiscally concerned Republican party.
We need a new vision and to implement the replacement for the monster of capitalism now.
Biden is doing all that a President can do to stem the tide of greed and authoritarianism, but it is like building higher dikes to hold back the rising waters caused by climate change, it is not along term solution.
We can talk politics till the cows come home but politics is not the solution, economics is. Install a progressive economic system such as Economic Democracy that gives power back to the local people and rebuild politics from that. Capitalism is an ancient system that has as its foundation greed and power. Old foundations cannot hold modern egalitarian structures and capitalism will never solve oncoming climate catastrophe, only we can.
We have to fix democracy first. End gerrymandering, implement new voting methods (one nonpartisan primary followed by a ranked choice vote in the general), then get the money outta politics via public matching programs and then finally a constitutional amendment which clarifies that money is not speech and only humans have constitutional rights. Only then we can re-regulate capitalism, dump our 6,871 page tax code, re-implement a progressive tax structure, bust up giant corporations and restore competition.
Jim Crist, you are right on! Corporations are not people and must be barred from political donations. Only U.S. voters should be allowed to contribute to politicians - ban PAC's. The political season should be shortened to about 6 weeks, and every redistricting should be the responsibility of the Census Bureau to take politics out of the equation.
Wish I could give you multiple likes, Marc. 👏👏👏👏👏 Instead.
OK Marc,
Where does one learn about other models like Economic Democracy that you mention? We live on a finite planet - every year using up more of its resources -basing one measure of success on economic "growth"... too much growth by too many (in the natural world) - results in the imbalance of something and at worst partial extinction, and ecosystem failure. It would be good to learn about the models and the various pros and cons?
I know of a few like
https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/green-economy/what-we-do/economic-and-trade-policy/green-economy-modelling
Or these listings of economic models to save the planet-https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/928841468327556975/100-ideas-to-save-the-planet-innovative-solutions-from-50-countries
Thanks Jan
Every single country has the type of government that the people deserve to have.
History has already played the trailer of our future.
Have they NO SHAME!!???!!
Apparently not!
Is that a rhetorical question, David? 🙂
Hmmmmmmmmmmm,
could B Jan, VERY WELL could B!!!
And yet on another of Mr Reich’s Substack posts a reader disagreed with me for saying the FDA was dangerous to our health.
Jon, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it “wants” to kill us. That implies purpose.
Imo the FDA is a tool of Big Bus. which is mindless, & it therefore doesn’t CARE whether (or how) we live or die.
And, ironically, Europeans learned the playbook for regulation from the U. S., back when we USED to regulate.
In June 2022 we saw organic and not-organic products in Denmark priced the same.
Trying to think back at the grocery selection and I can’t recall there being an organic vs organic selection, but my BIL grows most of his veg in his backyard, so we never had to buy much of that… all his stuff is organic; my SIL insists on it! (She won’t even fly anymore; the climate news over the summer was quite upsetting to her… though she was glad to have us stay with them.. but she felt guilty for it because she knew we all flew to get there…) no diet soda anywhere, no antibiotics in the meats, no GMOs anywhere… and we ate like kings, I even lost a few pounds!! and let’s just say there was less… waste 🤷♂️ 🧻🚽 … there are a ton of benefits to producing foods that don’t kill us…
And the bicycles! And the people. My husband was hurt playing in a soccer tournament for old guys (really). Nothing serious but lots of blood. A total stranger drove us to the emergency room and explained at reception. As foreigners, we were billed $65 for doctor, tetanus shot, and extra bandages, plus calling a taxi.
Danes will act like stand-offish, but when you need help, they are all over it!! yes, the bicycles...
Intersting and not surprising in a Scandinavian country. My daughter lives in London and food prices are much higher than here.
Its such a turn-around. When my husband and I were in Sweden and Denmark visiting family on our honeymoon in 1967, food was so expensive there compared to the US, that no one went out to dinner. And while gasoline in the US was $0.29 a gallon, it was $5.00 a gallon in Sweden and Denmark.
The Dutch government has been trying to shut down many farms to which there has been a revolt of sorts
That’s only sorta half true. The issue is large agribusiness and food production companies have largely ignored the realities of climate change in the region and pushed more fossil fuel use and pesticides, squeezing the farmers to produce more for less while stoking the fears against governments trying institute climate regulations. It was always gonna come to a head but it was also gonna keep advancing until the fields got too hot and barren to produce crops. The farmers are bring used as pawns and they are lashing out at the wrong “enemy.” As also in America, the enemy isn’t government; it’s the unrestrained, greedy capitalist who DGAF if the farmer dies. But you can’t protest against a capitalist…
The only sin really the Dutch Gov compared here us not moving fast is deep enough; but you can’t entice someone to pivot out of a lifestyle if they don’t want to. Recently, they have been giving incentives to farmers who voluntarily give up farming and a lot if farmers have taken the deal; they can see the temps rising… this summer was particularly worrisome. So… yeah, farmers may have a point but we ALL have a point. The climate is changing and for any of us to expect continue living like it ain’t is just not realistic. Just some of us don’t have big tractors to go throw a temper tantrum in.
FWIW, my BIL was a pig farmer in Denmark until about 2017. He had to shutter his farm for many reasons the Dutch farmers are now facing. He pivoted his skills and now has a landscaping business, employing seven FT people, making more money that he knows what do with! (No, he isn’t giving out loans! 😂) He is an example of how government can and will help folks make life changes, but they have to be willing. Change is the only constant in life… gotta accept that.
I'm a farmer, and I feel that your comment is ignorant. Having fewer farmers is not a good thing. Calling it a "Lifestyle"...it reminds me of the way people used to refer to gay people as having a "lifestyle." (with the implication that it was something that should be changed) Having lots of smaller farms creates vital small towns. Many practices that are good for the environment, work well on moderately sized farms.
That is certainly one point of view, though it really doesn’t follow from what I said. The problem isn’t small to medium sized farms surrounding a smaller village or town, but the consolidation and squeezing of the land and farm labor by big agribusiness and food production companies. Instead of finding ways to provide food for a local economy, they salt the earth with pesticides and use fossil fuels to overproduce for a large and wider economy, ie, exports which in turn drives the shipping and logistics industries which further pollute the earth causing temperatures to rise more, a longer distance from the actual farmer.
How you solve this issue is a choice governments and the communities — assuming self governance — make in concert with each other, outside of the influence of the more greed-based agribusiness who may not even be based in the Netherlands! They don’t care about the farms or the farmers; they care about their profits. So, if they can stoke up a culture war and it preserves their flow of profit, what the hell do they care if farmers starve eventually through the effects of climate change? As long as the farmers work to the last harvest and they get to keep all the profits.
The agribusiness and food companies have convinced the farmers to fight for their own suppression rather than their own long-term survival as farmers. Nowhere have they floated the option of the farmers remaining farmers, living on farms, etc. They have floated the option of THEIR business model not changing! That’s the flashpoint here.
The biggest error the Dutch government made here is not acting sooner. Smaller changes over time are more successful than rapid, sweeping changes. In their defense, though, climate change has rapidly accelerated and sweeping actions will need to be taken or we will reach a point where an effective slowdown or reversal will simply be too late.
I do need to address a point; being a farmer and being LGBTQIA+ is NOT EQUIVALENT! Being a farmer is an occupation, a choice one can make. Being LGBTQIA+ is not a choice any more than being Black is a choice. This is reminiscent of cops in America equating Black Lives to Blue Lives.
Furthermore, redefining the word “lifestyle” with a different context than the one used to construct an argument is also a fallacy (equivocation) that reminds me of what Rush Limbaugh used to do for hours on end every day. The word “lifestyle” in the context of LGBTQIA+ was incorrect then, while used within the context of a farmer is. Perhaps “way of life” may have been less charged and I will use that going forward as American conservatives have essentially hijacked the word “lifestyle” for their own agenda and I don’t wish to have to have this argument again.
I take grave offense at the implication you have levied at me with these fallacies and request that you argue more accurately in any further response to me. Thank you.
Most of the temperature reading stations are located in urban areas and have different reading compared to more rural areas
Oh… this summer… June-Aug
I read one EU grocery chain dropped Pepsi products because they could not agree on pricing,
I saw that too. I think it might even have been Tesco, which is a huge chain all over Europe.
i would love to see that article!
PARIS (AP) — Global supermarket chain Carrefour will stop selling PepsiCo products in its stores in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy over price increases for popular items like Lay's potato chips, Quaker Oats, Lipton Iced Tea and its namesake soda.Jan 8, 2024
Over to you America (US) ….
America, where prices never go down...
Porter, yeah, the prices things should be are now the sale price which is designed to make us all think the sale price is giving us a deal. It would be one thing if the quality of the products were improved or the amount in the package increased, but in reality, the products have become poorer and the quantity less or smaller in size.
Here is an article about this: https://www.thestreet.com/retail/french-supermarket-drops-pepsico-and-it-can-happen-in-the-u-s
Hey how about an old fashioned boycott ,think about it ,nothing they sell is good for any of us ,we’re all getting fat ,diabetic,clogged arteries and colons it’s the crap that they’ve addicted us to since childhood , and they’ll keep at it ,if not stopped !Its self inflicted,we let them do it to us,and after they’ve poisoned us with all their over priced junk food ,and we’re all dead,it keeps going with the kids ,and grand kids ! What a business model they have it’s a win ,win,win forever formula! Think about it over a 4.00$ Pepsi !
Thanks for sharing this good news!
OFF TOPIC - but I'd likely to have forgotten about it by the time the issue was raised:
AFTER MUSING UPON THE "BORDER CONFLICT:"
If Biden wants to >really< confound the TX governor, his supporters, and allies about the razor wire at the border, he should order relief drops to the MX side of the border, of the kinds of industrial wire cutters used to cut razor wire. He should include the kind of protective gear those who work with that kind of wire must use to deploy it. (Of course, that might include a secret phone call to the MX president. Hell! He could solicit Mexican aid in delivering it!) Of course, Biden should make sure to avoid telling anyone what to do with that materiel. Of course, if they can figure out what to do with it on their own, well . . .
Those crazy ass cowboys don’t need another reason to start Gaza 2.0 right here in the New Texas Republic, they’ll claim the cutters looked like weapons!
The New Texas Republic ‽ WOW! That one got by me. Since you live there, I'll make sure to keep your response in mind. Sounds like secession is under way! I wonder how they'll respond to losing all electoral college influence on the presidential election, as well as all representation in Congress. Of course, the National Guard would be federalized & redeployed, military bases decommissioned and shut down, and all federal agencies and any federal support withdrawn. I'm absolutely >certain< they'd hate losing NASA. (Houston. We have a problem.) You might pass that along to any sane Texans you know.
DZK, I have been thinking about this since I heard about Gov. Abbott's move to ignore the Supreme Court. Those crazy Republicans love their court when it does what they want but ignore it when it says people other than them have rights. Texas has always pretended it was better than any other state and somehow more independent. Well, I am OK with them leaving and we can just stop paying them so much of our tax money to behave so badly. I want no war this time. They can take their BS and stay home. They have little to nothing to offer the rest of us. We could allow immigration for the "liberals" among them but that's pretty much it. OK, I am kidding about some of it. I think Abbott and his lacky legislature has to go if we are to continue to support them.
I think if they left, the others who deployed their state police and National Guard to help TX - especially if Biden makes any move to uphold the SCOTUS ruling - would try going with them if those 25-cent brains in Austin declare independence from the US. I wonder how many would want to join together as that "New Texas Republic" Mr Runkal mentions. Although getting rid of them may seem desirable, I think that maybe wishful oversimplification. Sooner or later, national interest & national security would clash and clash disastrously, particularly if those rebellious states should decide - as they surely will - to >take back< what they'll claim is rightfully theirs. Remember, "taking back" has been a >big< legend among those @$$#0!3$ for decades - ever since November 6, 1865!
Just in case you - rightly - suspect any of that is hyperbolic, consider:
https://youtu.be/GGQjDOYNuAM?si=3NuejkDw3pJoeQYp
What state did Nikki Haley govern? What was the first state to secede in response to Lincoln being elected president? A lot of rhyming history here!
Also consider: https://youtu.be/OHQWIbaxtUE?si=hgdqFiVkpuJDTbxW
Needless to say, I take a TX resident referencing a New Texas Republic seriously, mainly because I have already come to suspect that intention, from the TX governor's consistent public statements & behavior, for a while now.
Keep in mind, TX is currently thumbing its nose at >this< SCOTUS' ruling supporting federal jurisdiction over the US border - it's a renewed attempt at enforcing the "nullification" principle of the 1850's that rejects the Constitution's Supremacy Clause citing 10th Amendment States' Rights. They're just not calling it that, these days.
Makes one think that MTG’s secessionist rants aren’t drivel after all. 🙂
I’ve thought for some years now that the US is broke & the only way to fix it is to admit it’s broke. Stop talking about “united states” — we’re not.
They put a stop to this in many other countries and it needs to happen here.
Politicians and pundits toss around interest rates and inflation, and no one seems to understand the relationship or even curious enough to ask the question.
Ours is a debt money system (the Fed calls it a fractional reserve system.. Meaning a bank can create money out of thin air, in response to a demand for credit (like your credit card, a mortgage a car loan, corporate debt, and public debt including Treasury securities)
The demand for debt is supposed be elastic, meaning that as interest rates go up, demand goes down, and as demand goes down the amount of money in circulation decreases.
(Here it is instructful to know as any debts are paid down, and paid off, the money created out of debt is wiped off the books, it is called double entry bookkeeping)
The myth, perpetuated by he Fed is that the supply of money, exceeds demand for goods, in other words too much money chasing too few goods., or printing press money. Like in 3rd world countries or Germany in 1922.
That is no the case however, For one thing we are addicted to debt, and our demand for debt is inelastic, check the rates on your credit cards, I would be surprised if they were under 20%, make minimum payments and you never pay them off, and the bank loses nothing, because most of the principal is a simple book keeping entry. same with home mortgages and car loans, that is why they can sell your debt, at discount, and make a profit.
If debts were not paid off, and if there weren't bankruptcies, then we would be awash in money, and then there would be real inflation.
What is responsible for continuously rising prices, and there is no solution to the problem, is the interest we have to pay on the debts.
The debt we or a government or corporation incurs, comes with interest to be paid. the act of indebtedness enables the bank to create money (double entry book keeping) but there was no money created to pay the interest.
Reducing the example to the simplest possible. If I loan you $100 at 10% interest for a year, and you have no other access to money, at the end of the year you owe me $110, but there is only $100 in existence..;that 100 I loaned you. The $10 interest is what causes inflation.
I consider myself to be pretty well versed on the Fed and Capitalism.
But what is happening in the Levant is not because of capitalism, it is a religious war, one that started about 1400 years ago, when Arabs came flying out of the desert on the backs of camels and horses, waving gtheir scimitars and crying Allah akbar.
It started with some desert caravan raider name of Muhammad had his band of thieves and cuthroats, separate 600 Jews of the Banu Quarayza from their bodies in the market place of Medina, in groups of six at a time, this is why Medina is sacred to Muslims.
Exasperated when the war against the Jews was expaneded to a holy war, Jihad,
From sahih 1295/1296, Book 56, Hadith 139 al Bukhari
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).
The way for a Jew to avoid this "punishment" is to accept 2nd class status as a dhimmi, and pay the poll tax (jizzyah) also prescribed in their sacred text.
Israel on the other hand has 2 million Arab citizens who have the right to vote, and even held seats in the Knesset.
Show me one Muslim country that has the same for not just Jews, but non muslims as well.
2 Million Arabs citizens in Israel, a country of 12 million at most, and how many Jews in Muslim countries, most are zero, Iran has 500, the most in any other country is 100 to 200, there are only 3 Jews in Egypt, none in Saudi Arabia. none in Jordan.
Icing on the cake, neither Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Egypt want the Palestinians, in fact Egypt is building a wall and demolishing tunnels to keep them out.
I got a coke in london last winter and remember being shocked that a can of Coke was £0.60!
Meanwhile I just paid $3 for a small bottle of coke in nyc this week
Price of doing business in NYC! Average can of coke in most of US $0.55 when purchased at market or discount store in six pack. Do you know that for a dime you once could get coffee and donut, but now that is over $3.00!
So messed up
Robert, it is very clear that we have reached the breaking point of monopoly control of all of our major industries. This acts as a big privatization and creates a roadmap that directly leads to Fascism. And the monopoly is in the hands of right wing extremists, almost exclusively. This is such a danger to our country.
Seeking Reason: Another reason to vote 🗳 blue!❤👍
Hey Laurie! I agree. Democracy or Fascism is the literal choice in this election.
Very obviously! Democracy or fascism.
but are we just being given the illusion of choice ? and even when we choose, the damn electoral college is giving the loser the W.
Jesse-we can only overcome electoral college if we overwhelmingly win
Sad but true
Yes
Fascist has been the hallmark of the present administration: censorship, arrests and convictions against political opponents, rigged primaries with few opponents sidelined by DNC rule changes, one sided mass media, and rules made by unelected administrators. The DNC are the fascists
Roger-we can recognize that you are a troll. The orange criminal is a traitor to this country. The J6 committee proved beyond a shadow of doubt that trump is guilty of incitement, he has 91 indictments. In addition orange psychopath committed rape, so that means you support rape and sedition. Trump is a fraud and you are a human without a brain and likely, like trump, without friends. Go to your MAGA friends with this BS.
🤣🤣🤣 Thx for the laugh, troll.
You're right about 1-sided (corporate/right-wing) media. And I actually agree with you about the DNC (& RNC). But most of the rest is false right-wing propaganda.
Yes. BUT corporate Dems are only less greedy & unscrupulous than Repubs. They’re not generous. They need to know that the mandate is to do their job: represent We The People, not Them The Corporations.
Yes ; Jan Churchwell ; Selling out is selling out, no matter who does it. It interferes with our desire to self rule in a Democratic Republic. When our 'representatives' 'sell out' to the Kings and Queens of the money pyramid, we are not enjoying self government. They have bought and paid for their interference, and our reps sold off our representation. It should be illegal again! Some things should not be for sale! "Make America Virtuous Already!"
👏👏👏👏, Laurie.
Voting Blue is merely reinforcing the great WEF Reset program of Corporate Golbalism.
Adios Troll.
He wins the 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 award of the day
Trumpanzee snuck into the conversation.
Roger Hopkins ; that is your view, not mine.
If tRUMP should get in again (gods and voters forbid) monopolization would probably get worse, especially if the orange waste would profit off any prospective mergers.
On what basis do you say the large corporations are in the hands of right wing extremists? I ask because most if the large corps are big into diversity, equity and inclusion, which is not right wing.
Paul, look up Judd Legum. He has done extensive research into companies who say they support LGBTQIA & diversity. He followed the money. All, including Target and most major retailers gave money to anti LGBTQIA groups snd politicians. Republicans care only about keeping themselves in office and hoarding wealth. As always, follow the money, the truth is there. These large corporations cater to what will make them money, not actual caring.
Paul, also, you can look up media ownership by googling Who ultimately owns NBC,ABC, CNN etc and you can find the owners..ultra right-ring. That has proven to be very dangerous. That is why orange traitor and rapist can get away with going out in public while waiting for trial on 91 indictment & and inciting a deadly coup attempt. In addition, he was found guilty of rape. What other terrorist & psychopath would get that treatment? The media is run by the right and lies for the right.
Gotta keep the stockholders happy.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/08/top-business-execs-more-polarized-than-nation-as-whole/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/14/business/republican-democrat-ceos/index.html
https://www.axios.com/2019/03/31/ceo-political-giving-republicans
https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/04/02/the-politics-of-ceos/
It's a public relations ploy to attract certain segments of the population, that obviously backfired as far as their relations with another segment of the population, but it hasn't been reflected in their spending on elections, which continues to generally favor Republicans.
Great article by Mr Reich. There is absolute price gouging byu Giant orporations but you are not going to hear much about it including from Biden because thanks to the Citizen United decision Giant corporations get to buy the Govt and disguise it as free speech. The Supreme court is an absolute disgrace to the country and all 6 right wingers on it should be impeached and held in contempt by the American people. Even though Scalia who is now gone was a big part of that decision he should not be forgotten .
Yes, corporations are people, but actual human beings are not.
Humans are people: The corporations have bought the right to say they are, too. "Separate but equal?" I think not. Money unlimited wrecks it! .Inequality of wealth kills Democracy. It drowns out the speech of the humans, the workers, and the poor.!
Fully agree with the topic of the economy and why it is ailing. The takeaway was that profits are high, and wages are low. All the companies mentioned have directly and indirectly, while feeding the masses, engaged in acts involving unhealthy diet decisions and choices, conspicuous consumption of consumer goods beyond reasonable need, and transportation to places for leisure travel at great peril (due to high-level CO2 emissions) to the planet. The profit-taking coupled with, including me, failing to act swiftly and continuously enough to avoid the situation I and many find ourselves in. To not go down a rabbit hole too far, I need to change and adapt further; government needs to regulate and tax not for control but for functionality, and dammit, the profanely rich need to give it a break before it all breaks regarding giving up some small percentage of wealth and power for the common good.
Henry: Profits are high & wages are low relative to each other. Think red queens (& kings) running in place.
Henry Hunt ; Yes, it is the old fashioned notion of Stewardship. A truly conservative idea, that eschews greed.
Fair enough, Laurie. But, while our present so-called “capitalist” system certainly has resulted in inequality, I prefer it to any government administered system designed to assure “fairness and equity”, because all prior attempts at a fair system have resulted in far worse situations than what we have. You might say that we have the lesser of several possible evil systems. Bj
Carolyn: Corporations are giant gangs of humans, with CEOs that are obscenely wealthy.. Some corporations are as wealthy as an entire country! Besides, they cannot be jailed: they do not bleed or cry. Or feel pain,, like human bein:gs If challenged in court and found guilty, they can settle out of court, with a slap on the wrist, at best. "The cost of doing business". There is very little personal 😳 skin in the game, let alone. Embarrassment.
They try to replace US, and take away our self rule: liberty: Democracy.
Great point, Carolyn!
I'm a conservative. For a time I worked as a manager in a large corporation. At some point the executives decided to create a PAC and appointed a public affairs manager to lead the effort. Next managers at all levels received a memo suggesting we contribute to the PAC. The first year I did because I enjoyed working for a very successful company. After that year I stopped contributing. Why? Because I didn't like where the money went. I took a position that contributors should have a voice in use of the PAC funds. I support legislation to overcome the Citizens United decision.
And I support Robert's goal of antimonopoly action. The only things worse than corporate monopolies would be a government monopoly such as fascism. And I believe the Democrat Party is way more likely to form such a government than the Republicans.
Bill, the republicans are supporting a deadly coup inciter, a traitor and a rapist to run for party leader. Trump has quoted Hitler. Your party is banning books, removed women’s rights to privacy, choice, safe abortions. Only YOUR party politicians have said, if the SCOTUS doesn’t vote the way we want, we’ll tell them to “go to hell” - Chip Roy. The republicans already are Fascists and you think the Democratic party would go that route? ONLY Democrats have helped the working people of this country. You are confusing social safety nets and seem to be unaware of what Fascism is. It also makes a person sound unintelligent to use the phrase Democrat party. It’s Democratic party. Republicans are supporting a clearly psychopathic rapist. Worry about that instead.
Well you can remain anonymous by giving yourself the handle "SeekingReason". But your reply definitely doesn't seek reason. Writing off those who support Trump in such a manner will get you nowhere. And as for being unintelligent, I have a BS, MBA, and PhD from some top universities so I will call your party whatever I want, free speech and all that.
You certainly don't sound like one with any if those degrees. My name is Joleen and BTW I have a masters. And I call you ignorant. Free speech and all…
So check it out Joleen, BS Engineering Physics, Montana State University; MBA Operations Research, UC Berkeley (where I met Bill Buckley); and PhD Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern U in Evanston IL.
I gather you are a Nurse Practitioner. Congratulations. Your life focus has been very different from mine. I am ignorant of much of the healthcare field. And I suspect you may not know much about my life's work in manufacturing. Still, I'm not going to call you names. Maybe you just follow Robert Reich in doing so, free speech and all.
You are right. I do not know the world of manufacturing. Sorry for name-calling. You are right.
Don't open the enveope from your home and auto insurance company while you are eating your overpriced food, it will make you sick. Double digit increases, reason.....just because they all can.
Neil, How much do you estimate that insurance companies increased your bill due to record hurricane home losses last Year and the horrible auto accidents due to the distractions of texting, eating and high speed crashes?
To Reagan, the "free market" was leaving corporations free to do whatever they want, and the enemy was government. Remember his little joke: The scariest 9 words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"? Ho Ho, Ron!
In fact it's the exact opposite. Free market capitalism REQUIRES strong government, to break up monopolies and enforce antitrust legislation in order to free up the market. Without strong government corporations can be expected to collude against the public interest.
Go Joe, go!
What you're calling capitalism is actually just a realization of economic organization - specifically within the context of a democracy; absent checks on inequality, that "capitalism" is really just fascism (with all its attendant ills), which is what made Reagan such a harbinger of right-wing nightmares to come...
Sorry, but I disagree. Capitalism is misunderstood because of the current Reagan-Friedman misinterpretation, but also the Marxist misinterpretation, as the RIGHT of the strong to exploit the weak.
It was never intended that way by Adam Smith, a moral philosopher who sketched capitalism as the way to a congenial materialistic society. Smith warned of the tendency of corporations to collude against the public interest, something which is exactly what we see in modern America, and he urged strong government to regulate them.
Smithian capitalism is congruent with democracy. We had it in America between 1946 and 1980, when the train was derailed by Friedman and Reagan, acting on behalf of wealthy people who don't want to pay their taxes....
Misunderstood... on Professor Reich's blog? (What does Piketty say about why that 1946 to 1980 period stands in contrast to the rest of the history of capitalism? Clearly democracy is not the sufficient condition but, rather, *necessary* - which is why abandonment of norms is (again & again) at issue, i.e. when "the party of Reagan" takes the reigns: rents are rents!)
Well, that's a part of where the inequality is coming from, i.e. loss of democratic norms (Reagan didn't have to cheat to win - though he did do so anyway, per the Iran-Contra affair)...
Do you think there are no poor people in Russia? Or China? Or North Korea? What would you rather have, aristocracy?
Gaza is a problem, yo. That does not imply that the system Adam Smith advanced 240 years ago is flawed. Long before Smith, Christians killed babies, Muslims killed infidels, and Israelis killed anyone outside their tribe, an action sanctioned by God. What exactly is your point?
No matter the reality, bad-faith actors will continue to enrage their base with reckless fabrications. So it's not really "It's the economy, stupid" any longer. "It's the lack of shared facts, stupid" is much closer to our sad state of affairs.
Spot on Anthony!
You got it, Anthony, and we need to put as much on our side as possible- we’ll never have total consensus- but maybe just enough people will recognize the truth of corporate greed, for example, to quiet the Maga roar.
OMG that is so funny that you say that. My BF who isn't all maga, but still likes drumpf, was griping about the economy last week. He was all, we have to get that idiot out of the WH before he screws us even more and we can't afford to have anything!"
So I came back with, "What do you want him to do?! Inflation is going down...it's going to take time to get back to normal, but it's going; your gas prices are down again, they are adding jobs, the unemployment is low. The parts you are really complaining about are the grocery bills, and the internet costs, and the electricity, and gas, insurance, and almost anything else that is controlled by big, corporations! Those corporations who HAD to raise prices because of supply chain issues, and covid lockdowns, and whatever reason.... but now that supply chains are smooth again, and covid is manageable... why in the world are the prices still high, right?!
Because they don't care! People are still buying! If they are still buying, what's the problem?! But if we don't keep buying, do they just "restructure" and lay off a bunch of hard workers?? These are issues that the president doesn't really have any control of. The only way these corporations are going to lower their prices, is if hell freezes over, or if they overturn the Citizens United decision."
I can tell him, - it's not the president - it's the corporate greed until I am blue in the face. He agrees, but still thinks he's just supposed to tell them to lower their prices.
I guess the teaching continues...
Sorry, I guess I needed to vent.
Shanna : President Biden is pursuing anti trust law enforcement, which should break up monopolies and prevent more mergers that allow just a few companies to hike prices. With little or no competition.
I’d say : “ It’s the weapons of mass truth decay,
stupid “ .
to plagiarize your original thoughts
So true!
Real and alternate reality do not make a reasonable public.
We need organized boycotts. There needs to be a list published of products whose prices are inflated due to gouging, preferably with suggested alternative products. Just having their product appear on the list could cause some companies to lower their prices, and other companies to avoid gouging for fear of appearing on the list. This was done in the 70s. Why isn't it being done now?
One thing you can do is patronize farmers’ markets. They’re much less expensive and the food is fresher.
Good idea -hit them in the wallet - stop buying their products
Andrew, let’s do it! At the end of the day, no one needs Coke and Pepsi products. A boycott list gone viral could put a dent in profits and earn attention.
The Right did it with beer!
I have suggested this in the past, Andrew, but in the U.S. we lack a sense of solidarity. When I lived in Europe there were times when there would be a "general strike" when everything would shut down. Try doing that here. It won't happen- most people are only concerned with their own job, their own purse, there own health insurance, etc. The Beatles had a song about it- "I, Me, Mine."
We in the U.S. lack a sense of solidarity because so many of us are living in precarity thanks to the shoddy "safety net" and weak-to-none worker protections. When you are choosing between food and rent payments you have no energy left to join with others. Sad.
ed, the conditions you describe are the very ones that existed when labor unions formed and workers stuck together. I tend to think there is a different reason for the lack of solidarity- the oligarchs, through right wing media, and malevolent governments like Russia, China and Iran on social media, have pitted us against one another with social issues and the advancement of an orange huckster who kills everything he touches.
Astute comment; We are also mesmerized by social media where we vent our anger but are easily ignored/dismissed, unlike real physical actions like protests and strikes.
The Republikkkan party are using the typical fascist method, lying and gaslighting. They all need to be voted out and dumped into the trashcan of history, before they attempt another coup.
I agree, Peter, but when voting (subject to threats) is our only option and calls/letters to our state representatives are ignored or answered with form letters, how?
That sounds like a good topic for a post. The only thing I can think of is to support a strong challenger.
All traitors who engaged in insurrection : the Congress members who refused to vote to certify President Biden's win should be removed from office because that refusal betrayed their oaths of office. They disqualified themselves according to the 14th amendment, section 3. The disqualification clause! They are disabled! And cannot hold office in our government.
Laurie, I guess those who choose to ignore the 14th amendment would have been just fine had Jefferson Davis decided to run for the presidency after the Civil War. It infuriates me that none of the traitors in Congress who were in on the insurrection have been taken to task. I think Liz Cheney had something to do with that. And those same traitors are now on Putin's payroll.
Dave ; that seems possible ; Or they are saving their skin from getting attacked ; their families too? tRump is not a generous boss with the money.
Trump operates just like a mob boss. He needs to be in jail where he can't threaten judges and juries. Why does our justice department put up with him?
Dave ; It's insane and frustrating that he is even out on bail! The judges impose gag orders, and he violates them. Even though there were threats to jail him. Then , nothing happens except he acts like a victim and bilks his clueless followers for more 'contributions'. I do think it's fear that he will incite terrorist attacks on the populace, for which they , the judges, would be blamed! I think Gitmo, or another 'undisclosed location' until all trials and hearings are over.
Laurie, I tell people who say they plan to vote for Trump that they will be voting for a mob boss who is also a rapist, a tax cheat, a crook and un-American. If jailing him leads to violence, then so be it- we've got to stand up for what is right. We have to protect our fellow Americans who are brave enough to serve on juries for cases involving a mobster.
I totally agree, they should all be arrested before they try another coup.
Peter; the coup is ongoing. We can't help Ukraine defend their Democracy, because there are traitors in Congress who are working for Putin , as tRump orders them to. 147 is the number I saw ; there could be more!
Since they had disqualified themselves by betraying their oath of office, they should be removed from their seats in Congress. I will try to contact my Congress member to stop those who work for tRump ; not their constituents. And tRump works for Putin. Is that what we want?!? Congress (Speaker Johnson), holds the purse strings, and will not give the money needed that President Biden promised Ukraine, to help them defend themselves and their Democracy.
I hope the Democrats make good use of the prospects of restraining prices via anti-monopoly legislation.
No. That is just one of MANY reasons we cannot afford to have Trump as President. He will keep giving to the rich at the expense of the poor and the middle class.
WE NEED TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN! He is on a roll! We are seeing the many benefits of his administration. YOU GO JOE!! 🇺🇸 🫡
Agree! VOTE BLUE AS IF YOUR LIFE AND THAT OF YOUR LOVED ONES DEPENDS ON IT-BECAUSE IT DOES!
I hate to pour cold water on a good piece, but I will. Inflation is bad, I am glad it is dropping. We need to break up corporations. They are way too consolidated, especially in the food sector, though the transportation sector is not far behind. However, growth is problematic when the resource base is limited. We do not have the metals, the energy, the forest products, and other resources for rapid continuous growth. Companies want us to continue to grow. They have a growth model, and so do the politicians they support, and this growth primarily benefits the already well-to-do (rich) and hurts most everyone else over the long term. We do need to slow down, reduce the amount we take out of the ground, reduce the number of new products unknown to nature (like glyphosate, neonicotinoids and bis-phenol A), and stop harvesting natural resources faster than they recover. This involves not growing, in fact in may mean degrowth. We do need a vast redistribution of wealth as we degrow and in that I agree, but our and the global economy needs to just slow down. (Demilitarization is an essential part of that equation as well.)
Wayne, your last sentences detail the
problem, the cost of the military. We are the police officers of the world. Would you have Russia or China fill this role? Too many despots use the U. S. As the scrape goat for their problems. Without the military , we would not last a month and millions Around the world would die. Thus your solution would require more years than you and I and our children have.
As to food we need more unknown products. The Composition of the
Microbiomes of soils for specific crops
And conditions is not known, we need crops with disease and drought resistance, we need better vaccines for animals and humans. We need more treatments, unknown at this time, for cancer and disease.
You’re absolutely correct about the need for a major simplification, Wayne. And demilitarization is essential. We have to prioritize human flourishing.
Capitalism works when it is local: when the investors, employees, and customers all share the same community, economy, and environment. Then a product or service improves the community, and the community can control bad behavior.
External capitalism seeks maximum return regardless of local consequences. We all pay the price.
Gas prices are the prime example...over 90% of the increases in gas and diesel have gone right into the pockets of the top executives and shareholders...and even though gas prices have come down, diesel is still ridiculously high...in a normal circumstance, diesel is cheaper than gas because it takes less processing from the basic oil product than gas...
What sorts of products fall into that category, Tim? I mentioned farmers’ markets above. What else can we support locally besides restaurants and shops?
Tim - How small? UK is in a terrible mess.
Thatcher
Can you elaborate please, Phil? We are thinking of moving to the UK. Thanks!
Prices are bad because the Big Donors are bad. Biden Administration, please keep enforcing antitrust laws. And make some new rules and enforce them too.
You're at UC Berkeley, so you certainly know all about this, but many of the other readers may not: California is a huge oil producing state. We also have refineries all over the place; the north lobes of San Francisco Bay (they actually have their own separate names) are rimmed with refineries. Same for Los Angeles. Yet gasoline in the state as a whole, and especially in the large metropolitan areas, consistently costs about a dollar more, give or take a bit, than the national average. Some of that is due to high state taxes, but far from all. And the oil companies with major facilities in CA have a few regular ploys they screw us with. First, whenever OPEC or other foreign producers announce a future production reduction, gas prices shoot up immediately. They say they need to take the cost of replacement into the price they charge for the gas made from previously purchased, cheaper petroleum. But when wholesale oil prices plummet, gas prices, like food and beverage prices, stay high. And when gas prices sink in the rest of the country, the prices in California do not do so as rapidly, or in the same way.
Second, California mandates different gasoline formulas for summer and for winter, so the producers close down one or several refineries to make the conversion. Frequently, they stay off-line for longer intervals than are reasonable. In addition, during these times of formula switchover, a surprisingly large number of additional refineries are taken offline for "maintenance" and prices skyrocket because of artificially "diminished supply".
Every now and then, a California governor or attorney general will announce a forthcoming investigation into high retail gasoline pricing. Whenever that happens, prices immediately plummet. Quelle surpise.
Personally, I can't wait for the e-car and home solar revolutions to put these thieves out of business, and at the same time take down the monopolistic regional electricity providers. But talking about those "public utilities" would take a whole additional story, so I'll stop. For now.
Great comment, Don!
We need both. Also a massive investment in transforming our power ecosystem into a decentralized one based on renewable energy sources, primarily solar and wind. And more.
I'm a huge fan of public transportation, but public transportation infrastructure doesn't magically appear with the snap of a finger - it takes decades and, to cover a country of our size, probably longer, if ever at all, given the brain-dead opposition of the Right. We don't have decades before we pass far too many more disastrous global warming tipping points; we - and by that I mean the world, but every country has to do its part - need to get the hell off fossil fuels, and we need to do it not just ASAP, we need to have done it years ago. The climate has already changed in ways that will take a century or more to repair, and during that time we will lose huge numbers of species to extinction, will see local resource wars all across the globe (and I pray they stay local), will see unparalleled climate migration of huge masses, and will see global societies irreversibly changed.
We can't afford to wait for public transportation to save the world, even though, yes, we have to start pushing it as fast and as hard as we can. We also have to take as many short-term initiatives as we can that can slow global warming, and that includes electric vehicles. And universal home solar. And everything else we can think of.
As for your calling electric vehicles capitalist bullshit, I suggest you reflect for a while on the fact that the main opposition to them has always been, and will continue to be, the capitalist bullshitters who run the fossil fuel industries and a significant fraction of the motor vehicle industries and their related industrial sectors. Start with Joe Manchin.
The hell of it all is that the oil giants, once they discovered decades ago the deadly global future their industry was creating, could have decided that they were energy companies, not fossil-fuel companies, and they could have put their incredible financial resources into developing alternative, renewable, clean energy sources. Instead, they chose to suck every last dime they can out of the economy, and to hell (literally) with the future. Those are the worst of your capitalist bullshitters.
Elon Musk my be as annoying as hell and as politically f*ucked up as is imaginable, but his Tesla company provided a massive kick-start to the move way from gas guzzling motor vehicles and fossil-fuel burning home utilities. I don't like him at all, but I appreciate some of what he's done very much.
But, yes, only some.
For the sake of everyone’s health, stop drinking this toxic brew!
Sheer corporate greed and outrageous compensation for CEOs and senior executives in the USA. It really makes you question the benefits of Capitalism to the average citizen. While I certainly don’t consider myself a socialist, I do believe in a more equitable society.
I say it's "weaponized capitalism."
Graham, we have Socialism already, for major corporations. US workers and consumers get predatory Capitalism. European countries seem to do quite well with Democratic Socialism. 🇺🇸
If only we could remove those in Congress and government who are actively working against Democracy and the rule of law (Constitution), It would be in our best interests. There should be much more support and demand to enforce the rules that were designed to keep our Democratic Republic going and keep those who betray their oaths of office from keeping their seats, and the real power that goes with them!
Where Pepsi and Coke hurt is they control shelf space, so smaller brands can't get seen. If they do, then Pepsi and Coke buy them out i.e. Naked Juices and San Pellegrino and Chica Water by Coke and Honest Tea by Pepsi. These companies have influence over the supply chain, the distribution chain, the shelf space and end-user and the government... The internet has somewhat alleviated the problem by enabling smaller brands to compete, but, the internet is not well suited for food brands that are perishable, require refrigeration or special handling....But Bob you're right. Look at the stock market. MAG 7 ( Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia) up almost 70% last 2 years. These companies all cash cow monopolies with government influence. Most of the microcap stock indexes down 40% over the same period. The irony is the 80%-90% of the people who do the hard work at the MAG 7 cannot afford to buy homes and raise families... No politician wants to hear it, but a good way to empower the hard humping aspiring middle class would be to initiate a wealth transfer estate tax. Heirs could receive one residence and one million dollars tax free. The rest would be swept into a mortgage fund that would give qualified first time homebuyers a 2.5% 30yr mortgage. There's a lot of good ideas to improve our system, but it takes vision, leadership and political will all of which are scarce as hen's teeth right now