It becomes very difficult to advocate for supporting Democrats with news like this. Maintaining Powell, to say nothing of DeJoyless and the other Trumpers Biden strangely decided to keep on, has sent a very sad message about whether the party truly cares about the working class, democracy, and everything else they yelled about in their GOTV efforts. What does a worker gain if he elects a Dem but loses his wages, regulations, and job security? Well, the same misery they would have gotten with a Republican. Once again, the Dems reveal themselves to be too beholden to corporate interests. This is making those of us who have to try to mobilize voters with the lesser evil argument have to work even harder given how small that gap of evilness appears to Americans who get their money from paychecks, not from trusts, investments, and financial schemes.
The widening wealth gap which is the result of decades of policies designed by the rich for the rich will create increasing instability. No wonder there are so many disaffected Americans who will vote for a candidate who promises to tear it all down. While Biden was probably the best candidate for the Dems, he was by far way too conservative for me. We need a major change in the taxation rules, and the lobbying rules, and we need people in leadership with a new vision for our country that will actually help those at the bottom of the economic heap. That's probably the only way we can prevent the pending chaos those extremists right wingers are intent on creating.
"One possibility: Any large corporation in an industry dominated by five or fewer giant corporations that raises its prices more than the Fed’s target of 2 percent should be presumed to have monopoly power, and slammed with an antitrust lawsuit."
Five or fewer seems generous - many industries have no more than three "competitors" (and, in some cases, there are only two that are relevant!)...
Imagine a mechanic who had only one tool, one that was almost useless to begin with. The mechanic wouldn’t be able to repair or adjust very effectively. The mechanic would be darned good at damaging things that the tool doesn’t fit. Powell and the Fed are this mechanic and they are the only unchecked shop in town.
It is virtually criminal behavior by corporate giants who in the past 50 years have essentially gained control of our political process. I cannot agree more that these giants should be penalized for their predatory practices and the DOJ should become trustbusters.
In addition, stock buy-backs should be unlawful as they make a mockery of our capital system!
Yeah that’s just sad. I thought the feds major assignment was to keep employment high, and now they want to cut it so that we get paid less. The boomer generation worked 30 years under stagnant wages, my whole adult life. Retrained twice, still ended up “low income” aka: poor.
I am so glad I am retired and all income coming in is indexed. This country is not for workers and not just the Fed. Restricting unions, ignoring raises to minimum pay and the bigger they get the more the top earns.
The people making these interest rate/pricing/wage decisions are the very ones personally unaffected by price explosions. First, they're all in bed together-the same schools, the same Wall Street "Too Big to Fail" bamboozler revolving doors, a monetary orgy of privilege, grift, greed, and arrogance. Second, they're all part of that 10% owning 90% of stocks; the very ones making the decisions, the rules, are not only not negatively affected by increasing prices but are rewarded by such. Sickening.
Ken Simpson - We have just been told that inflation was 7.1% this year. How accurate is this? it seems that price increases are in fact probably higher than this. A couple of years ago, A doughnut at Dunkin's was 83cents, it is now $1.30. A couple of years ago, a McDonald's McChicken sandwich was 79 cents, it is now $1.49. Less than a year ago, a slice of cheese pizza was $1.06 at Cumberland farms, a couple of months ago I dropped in to buy such a slice, it was $1.59. Some of these jagged price increases predate covid 19 and the war in the Ukraine. It is frightening; I am a retiree living on a Civil Service pension and Social Security, and neither is increasing like this. A recent mailing from the Senior Citizens League said Social Security recipients have lost 40% of their purchasing power over the past 20 years since cost of living adjustments have failed to keep up with inflation.
Do you remember when ATT was THE ONLY phone company . You paid Seven Dollars to speak for 15 minutes long distance. The breakup of ATT is why phone calls are cheaper than when ATT had no competition. Phone communication is getting cheaper because of competition from TMUS (T Mobile ) is driving the cost of communication down.
Reich's analysis of the Fed's approach is yet another indicator of how BOTH parties are controlled by big money. Why isn't Reich's analysis a centerpiece of the progressive political agenda? It's simple enough that most people should get it.
The Fed is representing the billionaire class. The raising of interest rates is really about killing jobs so that there is more competition for employment and this weakens workers and there pursuit for workers rights as a result of increased demand for employment in comparison available workers.
Wow! Appropriately depressing on a depressing day, a day when we are reminded over and over that insurrectionists attacked our Capitol and Capital and would have killed elected members of Congress had reinforcements not shown up to stop them, and, that little has been done to hold the insurgents accountable. Oh yes, a few guys who put themselves on social media to brag of their efforts to overthrow our government have been sentenced to tiny amounts of time in jail, but nothing has been done to the ringleaders, the ones who planned the event and who continue to sit in Congress voting and not voting for a non-entity, Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. One smugly directs actions of his "forces from his resort in Florida and state legislatures are swimming with either insurgents or those who are in total support of them and their efforts. It is disgusting, but what can we do. Due to a filibuster in the Senate that only requires a single man to whine that he doesn't like something Democrats are for, even if it would make things better in this nation, has kept a voting rights act from going into place that would outlaw gerrymandering (cheating no matter what one calls it), a requirement that everyone has the right to vote, not just ones Republicans like, and other important provisions. The Supreme Court sits smugly gloating over the bad decisions they made for our nation last year and plan to make this year. On one hand, the chief brings up Brown v. Board of Education while knowing he plans to vote to destroy affirmative action which is the only thing that has helped to realize Brown V. Board. The hypocrite in chief has proven just because you are a white guy who is not unattractive and who went to an elite school does not make you worthy of a high office of responsibility. On the other hand, Clarence Thomas has questionable activities in his background and a wife who is an unabashed insurgent. Biden made a huge mistake letting Jerome Powell, a Trumper, remain in charge of the fed. He seems to be OK with chaos and workers being unemployed so huge corporations can cheat the people while they rake in the bucks. I can't help but wonder whose pocket Powell is in. It is certain it is not the pocket of the American people. What a jerk!
Frankly, I think it's time to take a look at eliminating The Federal Reserve. I really believe discussions should be taking place for some way to reduce the role of the central bank. By all accounts, the central bank has ALWAYS favored the wealthy, the upper class, corporations, what have you. Working people have been the force that BUILT AMERICA. TODAY, largely thanks to the central bank and Reaganomics, working people have been left behind. FAR behind.
It becomes very difficult to advocate for supporting Democrats with news like this. Maintaining Powell, to say nothing of DeJoyless and the other Trumpers Biden strangely decided to keep on, has sent a very sad message about whether the party truly cares about the working class, democracy, and everything else they yelled about in their GOTV efforts. What does a worker gain if he elects a Dem but loses his wages, regulations, and job security? Well, the same misery they would have gotten with a Republican. Once again, the Dems reveal themselves to be too beholden to corporate interests. This is making those of us who have to try to mobilize voters with the lesser evil argument have to work even harder given how small that gap of evilness appears to Americans who get their money from paychecks, not from trusts, investments, and financial schemes.
The widening wealth gap which is the result of decades of policies designed by the rich for the rich will create increasing instability. No wonder there are so many disaffected Americans who will vote for a candidate who promises to tear it all down. While Biden was probably the best candidate for the Dems, he was by far way too conservative for me. We need a major change in the taxation rules, and the lobbying rules, and we need people in leadership with a new vision for our country that will actually help those at the bottom of the economic heap. That's probably the only way we can prevent the pending chaos those extremists right wingers are intent on creating.
"One possibility: Any large corporation in an industry dominated by five or fewer giant corporations that raises its prices more than the Fed’s target of 2 percent should be presumed to have monopoly power, and slammed with an antitrust lawsuit."
Five or fewer seems generous - many industries have no more than three "competitors" (and, in some cases, there are only two that are relevant!)...
Imagine a mechanic who had only one tool, one that was almost useless to begin with. The mechanic wouldn’t be able to repair or adjust very effectively. The mechanic would be darned good at damaging things that the tool doesn’t fit. Powell and the Fed are this mechanic and they are the only unchecked shop in town.
It is virtually criminal behavior by corporate giants who in the past 50 years have essentially gained control of our political process. I cannot agree more that these giants should be penalized for their predatory practices and the DOJ should become trustbusters.
In addition, stock buy-backs should be unlawful as they make a mockery of our capital system!
Yeah that’s just sad. I thought the feds major assignment was to keep employment high, and now they want to cut it so that we get paid less. The boomer generation worked 30 years under stagnant wages, my whole adult life. Retrained twice, still ended up “low income” aka: poor.
I am so glad I am retired and all income coming in is indexed. This country is not for workers and not just the Fed. Restricting unions, ignoring raises to minimum pay and the bigger they get the more the top earns.
The people making these interest rate/pricing/wage decisions are the very ones personally unaffected by price explosions. First, they're all in bed together-the same schools, the same Wall Street "Too Big to Fail" bamboozler revolving doors, a monetary orgy of privilege, grift, greed, and arrogance. Second, they're all part of that 10% owning 90% of stocks; the very ones making the decisions, the rules, are not only not negatively affected by increasing prices but are rewarded by such. Sickening.
Ken Simpson - We have just been told that inflation was 7.1% this year. How accurate is this? it seems that price increases are in fact probably higher than this. A couple of years ago, A doughnut at Dunkin's was 83cents, it is now $1.30. A couple of years ago, a McDonald's McChicken sandwich was 79 cents, it is now $1.49. Less than a year ago, a slice of cheese pizza was $1.06 at Cumberland farms, a couple of months ago I dropped in to buy such a slice, it was $1.59. Some of these jagged price increases predate covid 19 and the war in the Ukraine. It is frightening; I am a retiree living on a Civil Service pension and Social Security, and neither is increasing like this. A recent mailing from the Senior Citizens League said Social Security recipients have lost 40% of their purchasing power over the past 20 years since cost of living adjustments have failed to keep up with inflation.
Next we'll be hearing from the powers that be the following: Stop complaining! At least you're no longer physical slaves.
Do you remember when ATT was THE ONLY phone company . You paid Seven Dollars to speak for 15 minutes long distance. The breakup of ATT is why phone calls are cheaper than when ATT had no competition. Phone communication is getting cheaper because of competition from TMUS (T Mobile ) is driving the cost of communication down.
Reich's analysis of the Fed's approach is yet another indicator of how BOTH parties are controlled by big money. Why isn't Reich's analysis a centerpiece of the progressive political agenda? It's simple enough that most people should get it.
The Fed is representing the billionaire class. The raising of interest rates is really about killing jobs so that there is more competition for employment and this weakens workers and there pursuit for workers rights as a result of increased demand for employment in comparison available workers.
Why aren't the feds breaking these monopolies up? Could it be their lobbying power? Governments are corporations, too.
Wow! Appropriately depressing on a depressing day, a day when we are reminded over and over that insurrectionists attacked our Capitol and Capital and would have killed elected members of Congress had reinforcements not shown up to stop them, and, that little has been done to hold the insurgents accountable. Oh yes, a few guys who put themselves on social media to brag of their efforts to overthrow our government have been sentenced to tiny amounts of time in jail, but nothing has been done to the ringleaders, the ones who planned the event and who continue to sit in Congress voting and not voting for a non-entity, Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. One smugly directs actions of his "forces from his resort in Florida and state legislatures are swimming with either insurgents or those who are in total support of them and their efforts. It is disgusting, but what can we do. Due to a filibuster in the Senate that only requires a single man to whine that he doesn't like something Democrats are for, even if it would make things better in this nation, has kept a voting rights act from going into place that would outlaw gerrymandering (cheating no matter what one calls it), a requirement that everyone has the right to vote, not just ones Republicans like, and other important provisions. The Supreme Court sits smugly gloating over the bad decisions they made for our nation last year and plan to make this year. On one hand, the chief brings up Brown v. Board of Education while knowing he plans to vote to destroy affirmative action which is the only thing that has helped to realize Brown V. Board. The hypocrite in chief has proven just because you are a white guy who is not unattractive and who went to an elite school does not make you worthy of a high office of responsibility. On the other hand, Clarence Thomas has questionable activities in his background and a wife who is an unabashed insurgent. Biden made a huge mistake letting Jerome Powell, a Trumper, remain in charge of the fed. He seems to be OK with chaos and workers being unemployed so huge corporations can cheat the people while they rake in the bucks. I can't help but wonder whose pocket Powell is in. It is certain it is not the pocket of the American people. What a jerk!
Frankly, I think it's time to take a look at eliminating The Federal Reserve. I really believe discussions should be taking place for some way to reduce the role of the central bank. By all accounts, the central bank has ALWAYS favored the wealthy, the upper class, corporations, what have you. Working people have been the force that BUILT AMERICA. TODAY, largely thanks to the central bank and Reaganomics, working people have been left behind. FAR behind.