My biggest concern is that those who benefit from another Trump presidency will be pouring money and brain power into getting him reelected no matter how crazy he gets or presents himself. Much of the electorate is uneducated in critical thinking and therefore vote on the basis of not logic but sentiment and emotion. This flaw in the American electorate will be exploited to the max by brilliant (although evil) minds. Billions in profit are riding on the outcome of this election.
Towards the end of your Klatch, you mentioned that the Republican National Convention was full of “Anger and testosterone.” We should not underestimate the power of anger, not only to motivate but to be utilized to override rationality and joy. People are carrying resentment and anger over the economic pain they have endured and they will remember Trump’s promise that “I will be your retribution.” Hitler was a complete nut case also, but he and some of his brilliant henchmen utilized the anger and the resentment that the German populace was still carrying over past lost wars.
We have good reason to be joyous at the rise of Harris and Walz, but the journey ahead will be challenging and arduous. Even those with great intellectual capacity are not necessarily intelligent in their use of that intellect. Wisdom is a much more precious resource and we must be prepared to put that wisdom into messaging that will assuage the anger and frustration that the long exploited working people are carrying. They need to know that the promises of the Democratic candidates will be immediately put into meaningful actions.
Absolutely. We need our own Dr Goebbels equivalent but working for the Common Good. Someone who is able to flap the butterfly wings of mass media to utterly transform the narrative. As WB Yeats wrote:
Monnina, right now, I'm going to give Lena Kahn the Dr Goebbels equivalent because she is going after these monopolistic corporations and pulling them apart one by one. I hope that when Harris and Walz are in the White House, they will give her more help and then we will see things get done!
Of course not. However, one truth is that the mass mediation of truth is always going to be tricky. There is a difference between being skilled in the successful communication of shared ideals and the stark telling of truths. They are not mutually exclusive. The motive of good or ill of the skilled individual is what matters in this context.
I like what you say. Donny Boy is a very good politician (demagogue). Not a very good human being. But if civility breaks down then force trumps reason. We aren't out of the woods yet.
Biden bent over backwards to be bipartisan, even keeping Postmaster General DeJoy (who seems intent on sabotaging the USPS, and its role in voting). IMO, Harris should bring some non-MAGA GOP folks to the Democrats' convention, like Kinzinger, and say she'll be President to everyone, so they & their ideas would have a place in her Cabinet.
Mitch, President Harris' nomination of non-MAGA Republicans to the Cabinet reminds me of Doris Kearns Goodwin"s book about Lincoln, "Team of Rivals." It would be a smart move on her part. (I may have mistaken the author's name; senior moment.)
Like this thinking, Mitch. I kind of was almost hoping that Harris would do something way beyond radical and and name someone like Mitt Romney as her vice-presidential pick. I know, crazy. But I think it would have snagged every single non-MAGA republican, and there's got to be 70 million of them. Would have isolated Trump as MAGA, and not Republican. I don't actually consider the MAGA people republican anymore.
I agree with Marjorie. I wish Harris would've put Kinzinger on her veep vetting list, to counter any false claims that she's too far to the left. There's still a lot to navigate delicately about Gaza at the convention, and Bibi wanting to do whatever he can to support Trump (such as at his speech at Congress, and West Bank provocations)
Kinzinger is a nice man and his politics at VP would have continued our slow but constant drift right ward! The democratic party has been too dependent on corporate money and centrist ideas for far too long as the super rich keep getting richer and our climate gets worse and workers economics stagnate. Walz is a perfect working class candidate with teaching and military experience. Perhaps you all forget that Bill Clinton pushing NAFTA into law cost 4-5 million rust belt workers their union jobs and that set the stage for too many of them to vote for Trump, instead of another Clinton, whose husband had cost them their union wages, benefits and retirement.
You are right, anger most certainly works. That is exactly why Trump wants to keep it going. As we sit here fearing it Biden continues to change the economical problems neutralizing all of Trump's arguments.
Anger , fear and testosterone is what handed Trump the presidency, fear and disgust is why he lost in 2020. Anger and testosterone is back today, and his campaign plays on fear, fear of the other, but this tactic while glue in 2016, has hardened and is now a rubber ball, that bounces, not sticks, to the wall,except of course for the MAGAt realm.
As regards inflation, prices rise but never come down. Gasoline will fluctuate, but not much. I remember when I would fill up with Texaco or Gulf for $.29 a gallon. which I paid in Riverside, CA and when I got to Pt Neches Texas, two days later, gas was still $.29 a gallon at the pump, two blocks from the Texaco refinery.
Inflation is an issue hyped by the media. The corporate media controls us by telling us what to fear, how to feel, what to think, if we let them, and most do.
The people who work for the media, are like all the rest of us, working for a paycheck, and the paycheck comes from the revenue generated, and the revenue comes from advertisers, and subscribers, advertisers pay for overhead, and contribute to variable costs (labor, energy, paper, ink, etc).
Since the media's life blood is advertising revenue, and advertising revenue is controlled by a "5th Avenue" cabal that places ads from large corporations and industries, guess who the corporate media works for.
Tell me who signs a paycheck and I will tell you what opinions that person holds.
I believe more, but that is nationally and national popular vote doesn't win.
I am worrried about the Swing states, in particular the Muslim vote, they have threatened to sit out the election, but if they do they will elect Trump , Netanyahu's brother from another mother. We've discussed that already, but I am not talking about focus groups, but actually threats.
If not them then voter suppression laws and planned activities, Georgi'as is just the latest. Even in California, San Bernadino county for instance, MAGATS drove honest election officials out of office,afraid for their lives, only to have MAGAts take their place, and that is in just one couty and one state.RNC has trained 100,000 poll watchers armed where possible.
Steve Bannon said that the will have alternate electors and legal suits already typed up, ready to go,with lawyers sitting on courthouse and state capitol steps.
I hope that the DNC is listening and has it's own lawyers and poll watchers lined up. I don't have a problem where I live, all voting is by mail or dropped at the ballot box in front of the court house.
1. Some Moslems are Democratic candidates. Plus the stats show they amount to nothing.
2. Lots of election lawsuits filed already. I get the Marc Elias, Common Cause updates. I don't think it will be a problem. GA is an outlier. If Harris wins the blue wall * 1 more state, she wins.
That is true, Ilhan Omar for one, but since the Israel Gaza thing, the Muslims have threatened to sit out the election. It doesnt mater in red states, only in the swing states of MI, PA, WI and MN which has no been a swing state. the Muslim population of those states exceeds the margins by which Biden won in2020, I've done the numbers., not only them but Gen z, and campus idiots.
They are pissed because Biden supported Israel against the heinous Jihadists of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad.
They think they can blackmail the Democrats, and flip them the finger, well if they do, if they carry through, they will find out how fucked up they were, because Trump is Netanyahus butt buddy, brother from another mother, and there won't even be an attempt to help the Gazan's remember Trump gave the thumbs up to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The MAGAt crowd hates Muslims, and Trump wants to round them up and deport them.
DJT may be defeated in this 2024 Election... He will eventually leave this Plain-Of-Existence... However I Fear that the Evil Siths will persevere with their Nefarious Plans, and then pick a much capable Agent.... Ted Cruz? The Struggle will Continue...
You may think that Hitler was a nut case however his speeches were not rambling nonsense he knew exactly what topics would influence the public and he also wrote his own speeches and practiced in front of a mirror how he wanted to present the speech and his planned gesticulations. By the way in 1933 Hitler was only 44 years old. He also knew how to get influential politicians, high ranking military and industrialists on his side. He was also keenly aware of anyone trying to usurp his power like Ernst Roehm and his followers by having them killed as in the "Night of the Long Knives".
All want to be and actual dictators are basically all the same and very dangerous when they achieve power.
Unfortunately it's not History that repeats itself it's People that repeat themselves.
I would counter that it was FALSE testotserone. Bunkerboy's bitchiness, age and weight have him flooded with ESTROGEN. Don't get mad at me, Trumplicans! Fat old men HAVE no testosterone.
I agree, Marc, the 1930s German population was angry, but I believe it was more because of economic persecution and inflation/greedflation than over lost wars. As I remember history lessons, everyday Germans had to bring, literally, a wheelbarrow full of money to the bakery to buy one loaf of bread. No wonder they were angry. Victorious allies acted stupidly to punish their vanquished foes, and corporations in Germany gladly went along, I guess. After the second world war, George Marshall's genius and compassion put the U.S. and allied efforts strongly into rebuilding a vanquished Germany, not subjugating it economically. And except for the skinheads, Germany has been a model of enlightened democracy for almost 75 years.
If Trump were in a coma, he would serve his purpose VERY well. Those who would benefit from his presidency would install his corpse in the oval office, if necessary.
Some people live in deep Trump enclaves where they dare not acknowledge they won't vote for him. In the secrecy of the voting booth they will not vote for him.
Those people that are responsible will certainly keep pouring money into his campaign. They've been benefiting off the Reagan 'trickly down economics' so they most certainly want that policy to continue.
I'm also concerned because regular people believe their crap (Reagan trickly down economics crap). I was at the Dollar Store today. I was checked out by a pleasant 60-ish cashier. He told me that prices are high "because companies have trouble getting raw material to make their products so they have to charge more." He told me otherwise, they would raise people's wages. (??!!) And he told me, "People don't want to work." These are all opinions that conflict with each other. But he solemnly believed them all, and they constitute his economic world view. Harris has to craft messages that break up this logjam of harmful and incorrect beliefs. I have some hope she will; she's made a good start. But she has to ramp up that game another 100-200%.
From what the news is reporting Trump is loosing a lot of his own party.
I'm sure there are a bunch that still believe the crap that the party is putting out. We just have to keep up correcting it. We can win in November. We have a winning combination in our corner. Trump don't, Just look, first Vance and then an old man that is loosing it. Like I said, every time Trump gets in front of the camera he shows how much he's loosing it.
Precisely bluecollar types with little education think emtionally rather than with analytics. The union roofer down the street with a trump flag is the perfect example. The big 3 items in this guys life are his military service and his union and trumpo. Trumpo derides and makes fun of veterans especially those who were injured or POWS. His wealthy backers want to destroy all unions. Yet these guys can't see this. They get all tangled up with migrant nonsense. Stealing their jobs and that all migrants are killers and crimminals etc. Yes billions and billions in profit are riding on the outcome. As mentioned the Kroger-Albertsons merger is a perfect example!!
I know, it's "weird". I want to ask (as I have) if they know an actual migrant, if it was an undocumented migrant, and if they took the person's job or the job of anyone they knew. I live in Vermont, and we have many migrant farm workers. We also have an unemployment rate of 2.1%. So far, I haven't found anyone who's job has been jeopardized by an immigrant nor have I even spoken to anyone who is a MAGA who has met an immigrant. Some other of my friends have stepped up to help refugees that have been welcomed to our state.
The billionaires under estimate the rest of us all the time. They also underestimate the power of hope. They don’t understand it because they are too mired and wrapped up in money buying happiness. Well, I believe the Harris/Walz ticket will succeed spectacularly because they are appealing to the human need for joy. It is addicting and has been so lacking in politics for years! We will win and we will win big because we are drawn to the feeling being projected by the smiles and positivity of Kamala and Tim. Money can’t buy that. Which is why the oligarchs won’t win this one.
Trump has told his voters, "We have plenty of votes. I don't need your votes." My greatest fear is that his drones have the mechanism set up to disrupt the election process by salting the voting districts with moles who will either skew the vote counts and/or, in the event of a Harris win, refuse to certify the vote. They've done it before, they'll do this, or worse, this time. As Marc has pointed out, the big money people know more than ever what's at stake for them, and, rather than give up that money for taxes to support progressive government programs, would rather direct it toward further fattening their bloated wallets.
Kamala seems to be blowing the wind out of everything coming out of the right. From the polls I am seeing she is turning 'ALL' the swing states she has visited. Trump had better keep up his hate talk against her. He has nothing else going for him righty now. I can't wait for the Democrat Convention next week. Maybe Texas will turn blue too. I noticed Trump has turned against Kemp (Ga) too. KEEP IT UP BIG TRUMP!!!
Harris is doing so great, it's heart-warming, and even more heart-warming that millions of people are flocking to her message and her joy and her smile and her laugh. But I want to see her take a second level of offense: she's already started but must continue. By that I mean, she needs to attack. Americans like a fighter (and Joe Biden did not fight). For instance: now Vance and Trump are calling her a communist. (For heaven's sake.) But she has to attack in return, she can't just let that label stick (because it will). She has to peel it off herself with an attack. She could (a) float an attack on Trump's communist roots, since he has been richly funded by Vladimir Putin and he and his MAGA cohorts spout Putin's agenda every day. Or (b) she could laugh/make fun of Trump, and point out "Communists? There are no communists anymore! What a funny old notion! How ridiculous you are, Trump, for using such a name. Now, in 2024, they are dictatorships, and you, Trump, are in bed with Putin and you worship Xi. And you, Trump, want to be a "dictator on day one." So who's really the "communist"? We need Harris to hit back.
I agree completely. The "MAGA's" that attend his rallies could not have gotten Trump where he is politically. Our super wealthy can't stand him, but support him for purely selfish reasons. And, as an aside, I don't think Trump chose Vance--more like Peter Thein. The problem, I think, was discussed in a Public Radio program (Left, Right, and Center?) Too much of the electorate votes not for policies but for "vibes". Pretty sad, but I hear things like: "Trump is strong" because he is a bully. Yet, asked about policies, again, but "Trump is strong".
What scares me is that your sword cuts both ways. GOP wins and our fears are realized, but if the Dems win in the exact same ways, i.e. sentiment/emotion rules and evil genius take charge, and we make their worst fears come true.
I would suggest there are several reasons for American food prices being so high:
- Inflation is actually the devaluation of money, so the $ in your pocket simply doesn't buy as much food. Or anything else.
- American industrialised food production turns fossil fuels into food, because all the inputs in agriculture, from farm machinery to fertilisers to dryers to pesticides to processing to transportation, all use fossil-derived chemicals or energy. So a high oil and gas price means higher food prices.
- some years ago, food prices became tied to oil prices because food crops were used to produce ethanol. Therefore raw food prices will always rise with energy prices.
- yes, monopoly manufacturing and supermarkets control almost all production and sale of food, so they can control prices. The test for monopoly power is the net profits declared by those companies. If they are excessive, say more than 7% or 8%, then that would indicate monopoly manipulation of prices. In Europe those companies may have excess profits taxed.
- Big Ag has also monopolised other aspects of farm production, from land ownership to access to seeds and fertilisers. That has driven up prices and favoured Big Ag corporations, so whilst American production costs are lower, the end product prices are higher than most other countries. Obviously that drives up consumer prices.
Of course, there is a very simple answer that could solve the problem overnight:
If every American halved what they eat, then their food bill would halve and there would be a food production surplus and prices would quickly drop too!
And everyone would be healthier and happier and live longer and save money on food and medical help and bigger clothes and they could drive smaller cars and save fuel and........
Start small...just quit buying chips or cookies or soft drinks or plastic bottles...simplify. It takes about 3 weeks to give up soft drinks and you will find that no matter how tempting a sweaty can looks, it is undrinkable!
Sharon - I'm addicted to chips! what do I do? I feel noble if I only eat half a bag. But seriously, my wife is a vegetarian and I only eat meat when we go out to eat. So it's amazing when I look at the prices of meat and realized how much I'm saving on groceries. Philosophically I don't like being carnivorous for all kinds of reasons, but that taste....
If you buy them you will eat them. So don't buy them!
Only go shopping after a meal so you are full. Make a list. And stick to it. If you want treats,buy healthy ones, because at 10pm you will eat them if nothing else is in the house.
And imagine how hard it is for me, living in France amidst so much excellent, delicious food and deserts, and decent French wine from $3 a bottle, and European beer from around 70 cents a bottle, and surrounded by restaurants, and...... well, you'll appreciate my struggles!
I am insulin resistant, and before I was diagnosed my weight since I was in my 20's was 135 lbs, even into my 60's, then my body went haywire (it is genetic) and I gained weight, I went up to 240,. I didn't change my diet or the way I ate until February 2023, then cut back to two meals a day, one between 10 and 12, the other between 5 and 6 pm, I cut back on simple carbs, and quantities, I've always been eat to live not live to eat, and would cook a pot of beans and eat it for three days, also spinach and broccoli, my weight dropped to 177 (160 is my goal), I lost the diabetic stomach (it rides high, unlike a pot belly from beer and gluttony).
I plateaued and couldn't get below 177, fluctuated to 180 and down again.
But found myself craving snacks, and gave in, weight has climbed again, 186.2 this morning.
Back to discipline and regimen and fighting my body. The body resists giving up fat, it will give up muscle before fat. My blood glucose is relatively stable, still prediabetic
Ranging from 94 - 104, but the fat will not go away. Maybe if I just starved, but that wold destroy my kidney's.
For me, the trick is exercise. Walking my dog 3 or 4 times a day, whatever the weather. And making life harder and more strenuous than falling into the trap of 'labor saving devices'.
I don't think the weight is as important as the fitness. I have a friend, 5 years younger than I, that has half my strength and fitness because he does nothing energetic and his life is sedentary. He visits the doctor monthly, has a list of medications, and is continually wearing a bandage or splint or support for this or that joint.
I am fortunate to be in rude good health, and treat aches and pains with more stretches and yoga and exercise. But I doubt my relative longevity is genetics - my father died of a heart attack and my mother of cancer, both young!
AZ, other than diabetes, and self inflicted lung cancer (in remission), I am in good health, just had an annual Medicare funded Wellness exam (it is your right if on medicare to have one annually). full blood panel, all is good and normal, at age 84, BP 116/68 optimum is 120/70
I use to exercise, spent a 26 year career in special ops, ran 2 1/2 miles a say, an hour of rigorous PT, 5 and 10 miles on weekends.
I am living of reserves, and good genes.
I recently read that vigorous exercise routines are bad for you.
I haven't been able to exercise since 2017, they found stage 4 lunc cancer, that metastasized to the brain, they removed a tangerine sized tumor on the right occipital (caused left side blindness), 10 bout of radiation and I had to undergo months of rehab, I lost my sense of balance, can no longer ride my bike (I was doing 5 miles per day), i can't climb on the roof to clean the gutters, many things I can't do anymore including long walks. The best I can do is work out with a Qubi, sitting in my chair, and I walk my cat on a leash once a death, but carefully as I can easily fall, and have.
I have fallen twice in the last five year,outside, the reason I don't fall inside is because there are too many places to grab hold of and catch myself.
My muscles have atrophied as a result. I use to do 100 push ups and squat thrusts all day, now I can't get up from sitting on the floor or kneeling without an assist from furniture.
Yet I persevere, and cut the property and weed whip around the garage, the house and barn. A few weeks ago I edged the sidewalks and I have a lot of hem.
William - I also struggle with weight. what makes it into a moral issue for me is while i eat, others starve. i know it's not rational, maybe i'm addicted to guilt also. it really extends to lots of areas - my taxes pay for weapons of war, capitalism preys on the poor and defenseless (to my benefit), my pension funds are probably in energy stocks or defense industries. it goes on and on. so i eat more chips.
Paul. I discussed my weight problem, genetic,diabetes, my wife has a problem too,also genetic not diabetes, she can go on acrash diet, and has, loses weight, but the moment she stops she gains it all back, she doesn't eat junk, she eats real food, fresh fruit and veggies, no meat, no sugar, except ice creamat night, her mother, aunts and sisters have a problem as well, they are all pear shaped,so genetic it is.
As regards spending money on defense, while i agree with you in other areas, in that I take exception.
Military spending is why you have the ability and freedom to voice your opinion. If we had no defense structure, no department of defense, America would have been-overrun by now, and perhaps we wouldn't even have an internet, in fact we wouldn't have an internet, cellphones or computers.
The Republicans ridiculed Al Gore for claiming that he invented the internet.
He never said that. What he said and this is the truth, that because of him there is an internet. That is because Senator Al Gore pushed for DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, to have funds to develop what was at that time a defense orient intranet, which of course broke out and became the internet.
Defense spending has not onlyh provided you with the security to enjoy your life and live in safety and comfort, but it has also provided a lot of the things that you enjoy., just like NASA has.
The development of he Atom bomb, has led to uses for nuclear products,and in April I had a PET scan, using a radioactive contrast to detect a cancerous growth in my lungs. So far it has diminished, and that is a good sign.
Don't jump overboard because of hype and propaganda. There is a lot of waste in defense spending, especially when a project provides jobs in so many districts.
The AF wanted to cancel some planes, and Congress wouldn't let them, the Navy wants to cancel some ships, and Congress won't let them.
We need to eliminate the waste, but to do that we need to elimnate a bunch of congresscritters.
I have to disagree about American military spending. America spends between 3 and 6 times the expenditure of other developed countries, most of which are far more likely to 'be overrun'. In fact, who could or would want to overrun America? Certainly not Russia or China, and who else is there?
Next, American weapons production is almost all offensive, and American policy is to use the military offensively by 'bringing democracy to any country that disagrees with us. Or has oil!'
Then there is the inevitable human cost, and not just abroad. How many Americans have lost sons and daughters? How many Americans are struggling with their lives after injuries from service, including mental health issues?
And when America sells or gives aid (weapons) to other countries, they are offensive weapons systems, not defensive.
Like Israel, where American offensive battlefield weapons paid for by American taxpayers have and are being supplied and used to kill civilians, making Biden, and every American, knowingly complicit in Netanyahu's continuing genocide in Gaza.
If I recall correctly, under American law, the guy that supplied the gun for a murder is also complicit. Is that right? Does that mean just the American government in power? Or all Americans that have not objected and stopped Biden?
Lastly, there is the financial cost. All that money getting sucked into military expenditure, only to be blown up, means far less money for schools, healthcare, infrastructure, a modern high speed railway system, transition to renewables, proper management of pollution, etc, etc, etc....
Oh yes, and BTW, Sir Tim Berners Lee, a Brit, invented the World Wide Web. (And non-Americans also invented many of the other things Americans like to claim to have invented!)
I forgot to mention one other issue with international food prices - commodity speculation.
A shipload of wheat, for example, may be traded on the commodities markets a dozen times between being loaded in, say Ukraine, and arriving in a destination port in Europe. Each trade increases the price so, by the time it is with the end user, the middlemen and dealers may have doubled the price or worse.
This is nothing new of course, but increasing risks in times of troubles, and increasing number of traders and speculators (middlemen), mean that food and commodity prices are reflecting the middlemen's profits as much as the cost of primary production.
I personally think that 90% of the gambling middlemen in the commodity markets are just parasitic and serve no discernable useful function. I think those markets need better regulation and control.
Az, this is why I promote Economic Democracy and the Progressive Utilization Theory. Food, production and distribution should be as local as possible and controlled by the community that produces these items or trades with other communities that cannot grow them. Depending on cooperatives rather than large food, corporations would move us far in this direction. There is still much room for a local farmers or what used to be called Truck farms To supply our local food needs. The rapid growth of farmers markets clearly demonstrate both the need for local food production and distribution as well as the public’s acceptance of locally produced foods.
Much of the organically grown produce that I buy in the local food co-op or the local Albertsons is trucked hundreds of miles from huge agricultural producers far away. Now I find that I am able to grow much of what I need to consume well designed raised bed gardens, in the high desert of New Mexico right in my backyard. initially it cost a significant investment to set these up and get them irrigated but now my produce is quite local. In fact, it is only 50 yards from my back door!
Marc - I taught middle school for 20 years and ran and maintained year round a 1/3 acre garden. I taught my 6th graders so much in that garden. Food went home. Science, soil, weather, erosion, biology, seeds, cooperation. Many of our students live in apartments, and had never experienced that. I've been advocating for making school gardens a required part of public school education for years. Imagine a 1/2 acre plot on every school yard dedicated to growing food.
Also, it doesn't take much space in a back or front yard to raise more than enough leafy greens for year round salads. But if kids aren't exposed to how to do it...
I did raised beds at our school, and it worked really well. Easy to maintain, looks neat and organized (which kept admin happy. admin were always skeptical, until finally after about 10 years they realized I really was committed)
Another way to get local organic foods is from a Farmers Market. They are not just in California anymore. Another is community gardens. We have an itty bitty backyard and also belong to a community garden.
Paul, I love that you taught your students about gardening. We have many apartment dwellers in our community garden. Perhaps some of your past students could join together and make a community garden.
I guarantee you that if America cuts their food intake to half, prices will still go up. Yes lower demand should as a rule decrease prices. But greed comes into play here as well - we have way too many overly rich people at the top who have a vision clouded by excessive greed.
Companies took advantage and added on prices. The FTC doesn't have authority to do anything about it, but states like California have price gouging cases. The biggest is against Amazon.
Az, there is a tremendous amount of food waste because those who have the economic means are buying way much more food than they can consume or need to consume. However, there is a significant proportion of the population who are making decisions whether to pay rent or buy enough food to keep their children fed. These people have already Cut their food consumption and purchases to the bone. We need to see that everyone gets sufficient food, education, clothing, shelter, and appropriate medical care. This is accomplished through appropriate and logical distribution of wealth..
I've sort of gone the other direction. I'm lucky, I live in Vermont. When I buy meat at all, it is locally grown. Ditto for most vegetables in season. Fish from a south Alaskan fishterman flash frozen and sold locally. Grocery store is locally family owned with locally sourced foods. Yeah, it's a little more, but not that much. I am so lucky!
Az, you are correct there is more than one reason for inflation, and there are two kinds of inflation, long term inflation, the reason why a $.25 candy bar in 1970 costs $1.50 today, what a $3,000 car in 1970 costs $50,000 today.
And short term inflation, like gas praces that go up and down, only prolblem is that once prices go up, they become the new floor and never go down.
Supply chain issues, caused by everything from lack of resources, lack of labor, transportation
problems and management decisions, made possible by monopolization and collusion.
The last two are classical economics, supply and demand, where the producer controls the supply, they can only do this if the demand is inelastic, like food and housing, or the supply is highly competitive, but it is the consumer who makes the decision and is responsible. The $100 pair of sneakers that people buy, cost less than $5,00 to produce and $1 to transport, but the consumer is willing to pay the price asked, and unlike consumers in other countries, does not dicker but pays the asking price.
The intrinsic value of a barrel of oil -- the top producers of OPEC+ have the lowest costs compared to the rest of the world. Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia can all produce a barrel of crude oil for about $10 or less. These countries have large oil fields that produce oil relatively easily and require little to no well stimulation. https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/2021-09_Petroleum_Watch_ADA.pdf
With such a profit margin that is why Riyadh is the swankiest and cleanest city in the world and why the Saudis plan to build a 105 mile, glass walled city named NEOM,in the desert, and how the Emirate can build what is in essence a city walled off from the world with artificial islands shaped like a palm tree and the worlds tallest skyscraper the Khalifa Burj.,and why the drive around in Lamborghinis and gold plated Mercedes and when the break down for lack of oil change, they walk away and leave them.
However Saudi oil is running out, so I heard, so they have to make hay while the sun shines.
Very clever idea. Reminds me of approaches to controlling illicit drugs. Controlling supply by waging war on the production process and/or controlling demand through public health prevention measures and treatment options. The analogy has its limits but it makes sense to have both supply side and demand side strategies.
The Portugal solution. Legalize drugs. But the Association of Sheriffs and Peace Officers, the DEA, and counties and municipalies who profit from the W.O.D, the legal profession from defense attorney's to prosecutor's, to judges and of course PhRMA are the forces opposing legalizing drugs. Otherwise Clinton, Obama and Biden would have had the FDA revise it's schedule, for Drugs, It does not take an act of congress, but an administrative decision by the FDA, not even the president has to issue an executive order, just the FDA.
You are correct and drugs will never be legalized,because they provide jobs, social status and political opportunity for politicians, lawyers, Law Enforcement, and local governments which confiscate property and resell it, not to mention the fines, and of course the prison industrial complex and it's graft.
The problem could have been solved,in large part, at least marijuana, by Clinton, Obama and Biden, all they had to do was tell their head of the FDA to reschedule marijuana from a Class A drug to a Class C drug or remove it from the schedule. Is alcohol on the drug schedule?No. Despite being legal, alcohol is considered by science to be a drug.
This can not work. Dealers are users. They will know soon if not immediately that this is a bad product and go back to where they've got a sellable product in the past..
If the threat of arrest was enough the industry wouldn't exist. Addicts denied their satisfaction can be very threatening in their own ways. I see this lasting about 3 months and resulting in a much uglier and more brutal market.
Smoky, it was actually the beginnings of capitalism at the end of the middle ages where the common man gained economic power. That system worked hundreds of years ago. Now it is time to evolve to higher level of economic functioning that puts the power back in the hands of the people.
Yes, that makes sense. But labor was in short supply after Europe was depopulated. Possibly this contributed to the rise of capitalism? The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution? The dialectic inherent in capitalism will continue to cause the system to evolve. It will be interesting to see whether humanity figures it out before it destroys the biosphere. I will fortunately not be around to see the outcome. (What is in this tea I'm drinking???)
The Black Death caused a shortage in labor, and resulted in the end of serfdom and the expansion of free men. It made possible the industrial revolution.
I will look into his work! Re "virus" -- yes! Homo sapiens acts like a virus that mindlessly grows until all resources are spent before dying back. Even with our big brains we cannot seem to develop a plan for sustainable living. 8 billion people and counting!
The most immediate effect of deportations will be a skyrocketing of food prices, due to shortages brought on by food rotting in the fields because there is no cheap labor to pick it.
Oh, wait, King Donald I can solve that by using labor by concentration camp inmates (that's us).
I know what you are saying Smokey. Donald claimed that immigrants are taking jobs from black and Hispanics. And what is his stereotype of black and Hispanic jobs?
Duemto the merging of many of the food detailers like Albertsons and Kroger (tube determined) and the consolidation of the world's shipping into only10 companies and the consolidation the trucking lines, the prices are higher for groceries and other food stuffs. Why don't voters see that the Republicans will only continue to screw the common man and woman, reduce families' incomes and eliminate health care so the big money interests can have more money. And what do they do with that money? Buy Republican politicians so they can get more money. Wake up America.
Commodities are a hedge against inflation, so buying before periods of high inflation is a good investment strategy; however, predicting when inflation will occur can be tough. The index for food at home rose 1.1 percent over the last 12 months. The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index rose 3.0 percent over the last 12 months and the nonalcoholic beverages index increased 1.9 percent. Over the same period, the index for other food at home rose 0.9 percent. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm#:~:text=The%20index%20for%20food%20at%20home%20rose%201.1%20percent%20over,at%20home%20rose%200.9%20percent.
I can afford it, and I have the storage room so I buy like the Coneheads, mass quantities, of stuff that I regularly use, even canned goods by the case.
Currently if your income exceeds $25,000 a year, 50 % of your SS benefit get taxed. It is not just an impact on higher wage earners. I would never vote for Trump, but do we really think seniors need to pay Federal income tax on a $25,000 income? The max SS benefit is $4873 a month for anyone which amounts to $58,746 a year. In this day and age that is not an overly rich income for seniors who still have to also pay property taxes or lose their homes. Meanwhile rich people stop paying SS payroll taxes after they reach $168,600 of income in a any given year,, which is ludicrous. Apply the SS payroll tax equally to ALL incomes and the problem is solved, and quit making seniors pay tax on the employers half contribution to your SS benefit as well.
@ Susan Hall. Taxation of Social Security began in 1984 following passage of a set of Amendments in 1983, which were signed into law by Reagan. Was part of the Dole/Greenspan "fix".
My net Social Security is $1,300 a month. I pay 85% of it is taxable. I have a military retirement so I can draw SS if my other income was other than military I would not be eligible to draw Social Security.
If you're younger than full retirement age, you can earn up to $22,320 before your benefits may be reduced. For every $2 you earn above that limit, your benefit will be reduced by $1. For example, if you earn $10,000 more than the limit, your benefits would be reduced by $5,000
It does not apply to military retirements, IIRC that change happened under Dubya.
During the pandemic when transport became difficult, grocers saw an opportunity to make more money...so they raised prices. Never waste a crises if you can make money. That's what they did and are still doing because people got used to it. Now everyone is looking for a direction to point the finger in so that the biggest faults will be exposed and prices can back off. Are groceries still higher in parts of the world that were most affected by the pandemic? It's a question that has more than one strong answer. This could be one of the long COVID problems.
My local grocer is part of the community, no chains, no franchises, where I live, he owns the supermarket, and a smaller market which services tourists and a marina. The smaller market carries lesser brands, mostly brand names, has a small deli and features a local bakery, the supermarket has more selection especially of gluten free and organic products, and the prices are cheaper than his tourist market, which also features some high end products that the larger market doesn't carry.
The point is the tourists and people who live or park in the marina, can afford higher prices, but he keeps the prices down in the market that serves the community, they are higher than prices in a store, 20 crow miles away, because they are ferried over.
Please explain how the federal government can combat price gouging by big corporations and their CEO's. Sounds like a Good Idea, but hard to implement.
In France during Covid, many manufacturers (especially American ones) and the supermarkets themselves kept raising their prices and increasing their profits. President Macron called the CEO's of all the major French supermarkets to a meeting and told them that they could either drop prices to normal profits and squeeze suppliers, or he would impose a one-off tax on any profits in excess of previous years.
Within a couple of weeks there were banners on the supermarkets saying 'prices slashed!' and 'big reductions on our new basic lines', etc. And inside the stores, there were empty shelves (notably Coca Cola) where mainstream suppliers wouldn't reduce their prices, and banners warning that the particular product had suffered 'shrinkflation' and the package was smaller than before, to shame suppliers.
I love this! I have lived in France on and off for many years, but was in the US during COVID, so missed Macron's response to price gouging. Another reason to love France.
Coca Cola is poison, It is a major cause of diabetes and other health problems, along with other "sugary" drinks. Coca cola also hired death squads to take out union organizers and eventually pulled a coup in Honduras. Obama played the game of resisting to recognize the new coup government, but only a few weeks. Not the first hint that Obama was not really Captain of the ship of state.
Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Snapple, Diet Anything has aspartame, which is a toxic chemical, a by product of aluminum smelting. They didn't know what to do with it, but then hired found it was an artifical sweetner, Searle chemical bought the poison, and Donald Rumsfeld used his connections to have the FDA approve it for human consumption.
It causes cancer, but also actually causes weight gain, users of products with aspartame, actually gain weight, because it fools the body into thinking that it has ingested sugar, the pancreas floods the zone , wipes out the glucose, one gets hypoglycemic and then ingests great quantitites of sugary junk food like Twinkies.
When you see a person in a super market with a case of Diet Coke, or Pepsi, you will notice that they also have a box or two of Twinkies or some other junk food in the cart.
I've been to French speaking Belgium, and visited a local market. In America people will mix deviled ham with mayonnaise and relish to make a sandwich spread. In Belgium they sell it in the deli as Salad American.
I had spaghetti in a restaurant and instead of meat balls, they had shaved ham.
Outside of he bread, pastries and cheese I really don't care for French food, but it is a step up from English food.
Definitely unequal to me. I never could stand the taste of fresh pork and poultry, thousands of pigs,geese, ducks,doves and chickens have lives because of me. I love greens, spinach, collards, beets, and cruciforms, and legumes. I do eat grains but only complex carbohydrates. I love Italian and Mexican food. If I were Brit itwould be Indian and Pakistani food, but never quite developed a taste for curry and Indian spices, though I do eat Amy's Palak Paneer (cause it has spinach)
Combating price gouging is not just a good idea, but it is a necessity. However in a few short months the voting electorate must be convinced that the Democrats will effectively and immediately bring down to cost of food, consumer goods and decent housing. In other words the message of the Harris Walz campaign must be “We will bring sown your cost of living immediately."
Marc, I do believe that Lena Kahn will help with that problem. Harris/Walz need to provide more help to the Federal Trade Commission. The DOJ needs to be given more help prosecuting those corporations that have acted illegally. I truly believe Harris/Walz will provide answers that will truly help the middle-class and poor and finally make the rich at least pay their fair share.
Yes, I would also like an explanation how the Federal government can reign in food prices! I live in New York City and certain things keep going up week after week long ke a tuna fish sandwich or a chicken sandwich or turkey sandwich and even sushi! My market even stopped including ginger with the sushi and charg d $4.99 fo it! I stopped buying it! Eggs and milk seem to have stabilized so far. Bread is also going up.
Switch from grain products to bean products, from simple carbs to complex carbs. You will live longer and ahve fewer health problems, while saving money.
Don't forget...their store rent goes up, their workers wages go up, there are so many middlemen in the food chain. Every one needs refrigerated storage. Transportation to get the products to the store. Now they need security. Everyone gets a piece of the pie. It is ruthless to enlarge the containers and short the product and to sell product that has no nutritional value or addicts people to sugar or other things harmfull to us...So, basically, you're right, Lisa. It's greed and taking advantage of people and not caring about your neighbors, children, animals even.
That was a totally spot on Coffee Klatch! Everything you talked about, I was in 100% agreement! Right now, there are so many people totally turned on by the excitement and joy Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are bringing to this election. For too long we have lived with anger, hate, chaos and lies brought to us by the far-right MAGAs and their orange cult leader. He is floundering because the majority of Americans are just plain sick of his over-played litany of fear and bullying. Every single address he gives is the same old tired replay of every other address he has given. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fresh and giving Americans hope for a better future. I will vote blue up and down the ticket in 2024! I understand the anger about Gaza and that war. I understand the need for peace talks. What I don't understand is why some Democrats would want to divide our party over one thing. The most important thing right now is getting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz elected and avoid having the orange man anywhere near the White House! Once we have done that, it is imperative to address the concern about Gaza and the war there. Don't divide until we have united behind our candidates. The truth is, I would trust Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to do what is needed before I would ever trust the orange man. Vote blue, America!!
89 years ago FDR created Social Security that became the life line for millions of Americans. Trump and his robber barons want to eliminate antitrust laws. and they would be happy to roll back Social Security and or privatize it. Trump is a trapped man riddled with lies and criminality and needs a get out of jail card. And that card is Project 2025..
One of the learnings from the recent UK election - a useful pointer on how to beat the right-wing - is steer towards the center in your rhetoric to capture those undecided voters who are not ready to see the benefits of the policies you would enact when power. The gain of an undecided is worth two votes - you win and your opponent losses.
Also, as a progressive, consider what policies would be enacted if your opponent wins - more right wing carnage. So the importance of winning is not just to enact what you wish for but to stop it getting much worse.
Therefore accept if your candidate i.e. Harris seems to be tentative on social equality or economic fairness then accept it. It's required to pull across those social or economic conservatives. Once in power she can be bolder and stop what would have happened without her.
I so agree with you Martin. It's skillful means, to message in the middle of the road while being a true progressive at heart. Pick your battles, and just work every day to move the needle a little, using whatever means (short of lying cheating and stealing) necessary, to the left.
The stupidity and ignorance of Americans who continue to bow before Trump is beyond comprehension. It signals intelligence is America literally does not exist, nor does any reality of morality. This is a VERY dangerous sign as to where this country is headed . . .
--- Enjoyed it! And it is plain to me that "they" are stupid. But they say the same thing back at me. The crux, I think, is that reality is plastic. There is no ultimate authority that we can consult to tell us what is up, what is down. So in human society, truth is probably a function of power.
Me too! What strikes me is how "history rhymes." We fought this war of ideas 50 years ago! [BTW, thank you for your service. I lotteried out of that bullshit.]
Trump's asinine efforts to overturn Roe-vs-Wade will in the end cost him the election. Oppenheimer said "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," Trump would be satisfied by simply destroying ours.
Glad to read Kamala is using the term greedflation which the Brits have been using for 2 years or more. They kicked the Tories out. By extension we should kick the GOP out lol
In the language of addiction medicine, Trump is addicted to power and money. He has enablers who have their own wicked reasons for wanting him re-elected, and are working towards that. BUT his biggest enabler and evil-doer is in prison -Steve Bannon. Whenever I need a lift, I think about this and it makes me smile.
My biggest concern is that those who benefit from another Trump presidency will be pouring money and brain power into getting him reelected no matter how crazy he gets or presents himself. Much of the electorate is uneducated in critical thinking and therefore vote on the basis of not logic but sentiment and emotion. This flaw in the American electorate will be exploited to the max by brilliant (although evil) minds. Billions in profit are riding on the outcome of this election.
Towards the end of your Klatch, you mentioned that the Republican National Convention was full of “Anger and testosterone.” We should not underestimate the power of anger, not only to motivate but to be utilized to override rationality and joy. People are carrying resentment and anger over the economic pain they have endured and they will remember Trump’s promise that “I will be your retribution.” Hitler was a complete nut case also, but he and some of his brilliant henchmen utilized the anger and the resentment that the German populace was still carrying over past lost wars.
We have good reason to be joyous at the rise of Harris and Walz, but the journey ahead will be challenging and arduous. Even those with great intellectual capacity are not necessarily intelligent in their use of that intellect. Wisdom is a much more precious resource and we must be prepared to put that wisdom into messaging that will assuage the anger and frustration that the long exploited working people are carrying. They need to know that the promises of the Democratic candidates will be immediately put into meaningful actions.
Absolutely. We need our own Dr Goebbels equivalent but working for the Common Good. Someone who is able to flap the butterfly wings of mass media to utterly transform the narrative. As WB Yeats wrote:
And wisdom is a butterfly
And not a gloomy bird of prey.
Monnina, right now, I'm going to give Lena Kahn the Dr Goebbels equivalent because she is going after these monopolistic corporations and pulling them apart one by one. I hope that when Harris and Walz are in the White House, they will give her more help and then we will see things get done!
Sounds good to me 🐈⬛
Except I can't buy the Goebels analogy. There's nothing wrong with the truth.
Of course not. However, one truth is that the mass mediation of truth is always going to be tricky. There is a difference between being skilled in the successful communication of shared ideals and the stark telling of truths. They are not mutually exclusive. The motive of good or ill of the skilled individual is what matters in this context.
"Truth is the baby of the world. It never gets old"
American writer Mary Oliver
Agree, Miriam. There was nothing good about Goebbels. Let's not use evil as a metaphor for strength. He was a crazy, evil, barely-human horror.
I like what you say. Donny Boy is a very good politician (demagogue). Not a very good human being. But if civility breaks down then force trumps reason. We aren't out of the woods yet.
Biden bent over backwards to be bipartisan, even keeping Postmaster General DeJoy (who seems intent on sabotaging the USPS, and its role in voting). IMO, Harris should bring some non-MAGA GOP folks to the Democrats' convention, like Kinzinger, and say she'll be President to everyone, so they & their ideas would have a place in her Cabinet.
Mitch, President Harris' nomination of non-MAGA Republicans to the Cabinet reminds me of Doris Kearns Goodwin"s book about Lincoln, "Team of Rivals." It would be a smart move on her part. (I may have mistaken the author's name; senior moment.)
Like this thinking, Mitch. I kind of was almost hoping that Harris would do something way beyond radical and and name someone like Mitt Romney as her vice-presidential pick. I know, crazy. But I think it would have snagged every single non-MAGA republican, and there's got to be 70 million of them. Would have isolated Trump as MAGA, and not Republican. I don't actually consider the MAGA people republican anymore.
I agree with Marjorie. I wish Harris would've put Kinzinger on her veep vetting list, to counter any false claims that she's too far to the left. There's still a lot to navigate delicately about Gaza at the convention, and Bibi wanting to do whatever he can to support Trump (such as at his speech at Congress, and West Bank provocations)
Kinzinger is a nice man and his politics at VP would have continued our slow but constant drift right ward! The democratic party has been too dependent on corporate money and centrist ideas for far too long as the super rich keep getting richer and our climate gets worse and workers economics stagnate. Walz is a perfect working class candidate with teaching and military experience. Perhaps you all forget that Bill Clinton pushing NAFTA into law cost 4-5 million rust belt workers their union jobs and that set the stage for too many of them to vote for Trump, instead of another Clinton, whose husband had cost them their union wages, benefits and retirement.
Romney has no backbone.
You are right, anger most certainly works. That is exactly why Trump wants to keep it going. As we sit here fearing it Biden continues to change the economical problems neutralizing all of Trump's arguments.
Anger , fear and testosterone is what handed Trump the presidency, fear and disgust is why he lost in 2020. Anger and testosterone is back today, and his campaign plays on fear, fear of the other, but this tactic while glue in 2016, has hardened and is now a rubber ball, that bounces, not sticks, to the wall,except of course for the MAGAt realm.
As regards inflation, prices rise but never come down. Gasoline will fluctuate, but not much. I remember when I would fill up with Texaco or Gulf for $.29 a gallon. which I paid in Riverside, CA and when I got to Pt Neches Texas, two days later, gas was still $.29 a gallon at the pump, two blocks from the Texaco refinery.
Inflation is an issue hyped by the media. The corporate media controls us by telling us what to fear, how to feel, what to think, if we let them, and most do.
The people who work for the media, are like all the rest of us, working for a paycheck, and the paycheck comes from the revenue generated, and the revenue comes from advertisers, and subscribers, advertisers pay for overhead, and contribute to variable costs (labor, energy, paper, ink, etc).
Since the media's life blood is advertising revenue, and advertising revenue is controlled by a "5th Avenue" cabal that places ads from large corporations and industries, guess who the corporate media works for.
Tell me who signs a paycheck and I will tell you what opinions that person holds.
Everyone has a price.
As for gas prices, if one looks at gas prices adjusted for inflation, they really haven't risen much, if at all.
At the moment, the "smart money" shows that Harris leads by 7%. https://substack.com/@danielsolomon/p-147759122
I believe more, but that is nationally and national popular vote doesn't win.
I am worrried about the Swing states, in particular the Muslim vote, they have threatened to sit out the election, but if they do they will elect Trump , Netanyahu's brother from another mother. We've discussed that already, but I am not talking about focus groups, but actually threats.
If not them then voter suppression laws and planned activities, Georgi'as is just the latest. Even in California, San Bernadino county for instance, MAGATS drove honest election officials out of office,afraid for their lives, only to have MAGAts take their place, and that is in just one couty and one state.RNC has trained 100,000 poll watchers armed where possible.
Steve Bannon said that the will have alternate electors and legal suits already typed up, ready to go,with lawyers sitting on courthouse and state capitol steps.
I hope that the DNC is listening and has it's own lawyers and poll watchers lined up. I don't have a problem where I live, all voting is by mail or dropped at the ballot box in front of the court house.
1. Some Moslems are Democratic candidates. Plus the stats show they amount to nothing.
2. Lots of election lawsuits filed already. I get the Marc Elias, Common Cause updates. I don't think it will be a problem. GA is an outlier. If Harris wins the blue wall * 1 more state, she wins.
That is true, Ilhan Omar for one, but since the Israel Gaza thing, the Muslims have threatened to sit out the election. It doesnt mater in red states, only in the swing states of MI, PA, WI and MN which has no been a swing state. the Muslim population of those states exceeds the margins by which Biden won in2020, I've done the numbers., not only them but Gen z, and campus idiots.
They are pissed because Biden supported Israel against the heinous Jihadists of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad.
They think they can blackmail the Democrats, and flip them the finger, well if they do, if they carry through, they will find out how fucked up they were, because Trump is Netanyahus butt buddy, brother from another mother, and there won't even be an attempt to help the Gazan's remember Trump gave the thumbs up to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The MAGAt crowd hates Muslims, and Trump wants to round them up and deport them.
DJT may be defeated in this 2024 Election... He will eventually leave this Plain-Of-Existence... However I Fear that the Evil Siths will persevere with their Nefarious Plans, and then pick a much capable Agent.... Ted Cruz? The Struggle will Continue...
The Republican National Convention should herewith be referred to as Felon-fest
You may think that Hitler was a nut case however his speeches were not rambling nonsense he knew exactly what topics would influence the public and he also wrote his own speeches and practiced in front of a mirror how he wanted to present the speech and his planned gesticulations. By the way in 1933 Hitler was only 44 years old. He also knew how to get influential politicians, high ranking military and industrialists on his side. He was also keenly aware of anyone trying to usurp his power like Ernst Roehm and his followers by having them killed as in the "Night of the Long Knives".
All want to be and actual dictators are basically all the same and very dangerous when they achieve power.
Unfortunately it's not History that repeats itself it's People that repeat themselves.
Marc, I deeply agree.
I would counter that it was FALSE testotserone. Bunkerboy's bitchiness, age and weight have him flooded with ESTROGEN. Don't get mad at me, Trumplicans! Fat old men HAVE no testosterone.
Hence Mssr Laemmerhirt, the profitability of Viagra and Androgel, Axiron and Nutrigen's Total T.
I agree, Marc, the 1930s German population was angry, but I believe it was more because of economic persecution and inflation/greedflation than over lost wars. As I remember history lessons, everyday Germans had to bring, literally, a wheelbarrow full of money to the bakery to buy one loaf of bread. No wonder they were angry. Victorious allies acted stupidly to punish their vanquished foes, and corporations in Germany gladly went along, I guess. After the second world war, George Marshall's genius and compassion put the U.S. and allied efforts strongly into rebuilding a vanquished Germany, not subjugating it economically. And except for the skinheads, Germany has been a model of enlightened democracy for almost 75 years.
Yes!
@ Marc: IMHO companies are supporting Trump by price gouging, to make prices a political issue.
If Trump were in a coma, he would serve his purpose VERY well. Those who would benefit from his presidency would install his corpse in the oval office, if necessary.
I have to laugh at your comments. His health in already deteriating and he show it every time he gets up in front of the cameras.
That would go great with what we laughingly call the mainstream media press corpse.
That would be a hilarious movie
Some people live in deep Trump enclaves where they dare not acknowledge they won't vote for him. In the secrecy of the voting booth they will not vote for him.
Let us HOPE so! It won’t matter in WV or Miss, but would certainly help in the swing states.
Those people that are responsible will certainly keep pouring money into his campaign. They've been benefiting off the Reagan 'trickly down economics' so they most certainly want that policy to continue.
I'm also concerned because regular people believe their crap (Reagan trickly down economics crap). I was at the Dollar Store today. I was checked out by a pleasant 60-ish cashier. He told me that prices are high "because companies have trouble getting raw material to make their products so they have to charge more." He told me otherwise, they would raise people's wages. (??!!) And he told me, "People don't want to work." These are all opinions that conflict with each other. But he solemnly believed them all, and they constitute his economic world view. Harris has to craft messages that break up this logjam of harmful and incorrect beliefs. I have some hope she will; she's made a good start. But she has to ramp up that game another 100-200%.
From what the news is reporting Trump is loosing a lot of his own party.
I'm sure there are a bunch that still believe the crap that the party is putting out. We just have to keep up correcting it. We can win in November. We have a winning combination in our corner. Trump don't, Just look, first Vance and then an old man that is loosing it. Like I said, every time Trump gets in front of the camera he shows how much he's loosing it.
Bet that store doesn't have profit sharing.
Precisely bluecollar types with little education think emtionally rather than with analytics. The union roofer down the street with a trump flag is the perfect example. The big 3 items in this guys life are his military service and his union and trumpo. Trumpo derides and makes fun of veterans especially those who were injured or POWS. His wealthy backers want to destroy all unions. Yet these guys can't see this. They get all tangled up with migrant nonsense. Stealing their jobs and that all migrants are killers and crimminals etc. Yes billions and billions in profit are riding on the outcome. As mentioned the Kroger-Albertsons merger is a perfect example!!
I know, it's "weird". I want to ask (as I have) if they know an actual migrant, if it was an undocumented migrant, and if they took the person's job or the job of anyone they knew. I live in Vermont, and we have many migrant farm workers. We also have an unemployment rate of 2.1%. So far, I haven't found anyone who's job has been jeopardized by an immigrant nor have I even spoken to anyone who is a MAGA who has met an immigrant. Some other of my friends have stepped up to help refugees that have been welcomed to our state.
The billionaires under estimate the rest of us all the time. They also underestimate the power of hope. They don’t understand it because they are too mired and wrapped up in money buying happiness. Well, I believe the Harris/Walz ticket will succeed spectacularly because they are appealing to the human need for joy. It is addicting and has been so lacking in politics for years! We will win and we will win big because we are drawn to the feeling being projected by the smiles and positivity of Kamala and Tim. Money can’t buy that. Which is why the oligarchs won’t win this one.
Their smiles radiate and in doing so they fill my heart with hope.
Yes, Marc, but I am giddy with hope for the 1st time in years! Call me Pollyanna, but call me (and all the others) to vote!!!!
Trump has told his voters, "We have plenty of votes. I don't need your votes." My greatest fear is that his drones have the mechanism set up to disrupt the election process by salting the voting districts with moles who will either skew the vote counts and/or, in the event of a Harris win, refuse to certify the vote. They've done it before, they'll do this, or worse, this time. As Marc has pointed out, the big money people know more than ever what's at stake for them, and, rather than give up that money for taxes to support progressive government programs, would rather direct it toward further fattening their bloated wallets.
Kamala seems to be blowing the wind out of everything coming out of the right. From the polls I am seeing she is turning 'ALL' the swing states she has visited. Trump had better keep up his hate talk against her. He has nothing else going for him righty now. I can't wait for the Democrat Convention next week. Maybe Texas will turn blue too. I noticed Trump has turned against Kemp (Ga) too. KEEP IT UP BIG TRUMP!!!
Harris is doing so great, it's heart-warming, and even more heart-warming that millions of people are flocking to her message and her joy and her smile and her laugh. But I want to see her take a second level of offense: she's already started but must continue. By that I mean, she needs to attack. Americans like a fighter (and Joe Biden did not fight). For instance: now Vance and Trump are calling her a communist. (For heaven's sake.) But she has to attack in return, she can't just let that label stick (because it will). She has to peel it off herself with an attack. She could (a) float an attack on Trump's communist roots, since he has been richly funded by Vladimir Putin and he and his MAGA cohorts spout Putin's agenda every day. Or (b) she could laugh/make fun of Trump, and point out "Communists? There are no communists anymore! What a funny old notion! How ridiculous you are, Trump, for using such a name. Now, in 2024, they are dictatorships, and you, Trump, are in bed with Putin and you worship Xi. And you, Trump, want to be a "dictator on day one." So who's really the "communist"? We need Harris to hit back.
Your concerns are also my concerns. How to we educate such a gullible public? We need to take money out of politics?
You're right, Marc, and that is extremely scary!
I agree completely. The "MAGA's" that attend his rallies could not have gotten Trump where he is politically. Our super wealthy can't stand him, but support him for purely selfish reasons. And, as an aside, I don't think Trump chose Vance--more like Peter Thein. The problem, I think, was discussed in a Public Radio program (Left, Right, and Center?) Too much of the electorate votes not for policies but for "vibes". Pretty sad, but I hear things like: "Trump is strong" because he is a bully. Yet, asked about policies, again, but "Trump is strong".
What scares me is that your sword cuts both ways. GOP wins and our fears are realized, but if the Dems win in the exact same ways, i.e. sentiment/emotion rules and evil genius take charge, and we make their worst fears come true.
*Money. Those that STILL support the old vaccuumbrain HAVE no a-brain power to speak of. Just look at musk: EVERYTHING he touches dies!
Sorry. An election is not a final exam. The alternative is authoritarian rule, Father Knows Best.
I would suggest there are several reasons for American food prices being so high:
- Inflation is actually the devaluation of money, so the $ in your pocket simply doesn't buy as much food. Or anything else.
- American industrialised food production turns fossil fuels into food, because all the inputs in agriculture, from farm machinery to fertilisers to dryers to pesticides to processing to transportation, all use fossil-derived chemicals or energy. So a high oil and gas price means higher food prices.
- some years ago, food prices became tied to oil prices because food crops were used to produce ethanol. Therefore raw food prices will always rise with energy prices.
- yes, monopoly manufacturing and supermarkets control almost all production and sale of food, so they can control prices. The test for monopoly power is the net profits declared by those companies. If they are excessive, say more than 7% or 8%, then that would indicate monopoly manipulation of prices. In Europe those companies may have excess profits taxed.
- Big Ag has also monopolised other aspects of farm production, from land ownership to access to seeds and fertilisers. That has driven up prices and favoured Big Ag corporations, so whilst American production costs are lower, the end product prices are higher than most other countries. Obviously that drives up consumer prices.
Of course, there is a very simple answer that could solve the problem overnight:
If every American halved what they eat, then their food bill would halve and there would be a food production surplus and prices would quickly drop too!
And everyone would be healthier and happier and live longer and save money on food and medical help and bigger clothes and they could drive smaller cars and save fuel and........
Ok, it was just an idea....... 😬
Start small...just quit buying chips or cookies or soft drinks or plastic bottles...simplify. It takes about 3 weeks to give up soft drinks and you will find that no matter how tempting a sweaty can looks, it is undrinkable!
Sharon - I'm addicted to chips! what do I do? I feel noble if I only eat half a bag. But seriously, my wife is a vegetarian and I only eat meat when we go out to eat. So it's amazing when I look at the prices of meat and realized how much I'm saving on groceries. Philosophically I don't like being carnivorous for all kinds of reasons, but that taste....
If you buy them you will eat them. So don't buy them!
Only go shopping after a meal so you are full. Make a list. And stick to it. If you want treats,buy healthy ones, because at 10pm you will eat them if nothing else is in the house.
And imagine how hard it is for me, living in France amidst so much excellent, delicious food and deserts, and decent French wine from $3 a bottle, and European beer from around 70 cents a bottle, and surrounded by restaurants, and...... well, you'll appreciate my struggles!
I am insulin resistant, and before I was diagnosed my weight since I was in my 20's was 135 lbs, even into my 60's, then my body went haywire (it is genetic) and I gained weight, I went up to 240,. I didn't change my diet or the way I ate until February 2023, then cut back to two meals a day, one between 10 and 12, the other between 5 and 6 pm, I cut back on simple carbs, and quantities, I've always been eat to live not live to eat, and would cook a pot of beans and eat it for three days, also spinach and broccoli, my weight dropped to 177 (160 is my goal), I lost the diabetic stomach (it rides high, unlike a pot belly from beer and gluttony).
I plateaued and couldn't get below 177, fluctuated to 180 and down again.
But found myself craving snacks, and gave in, weight has climbed again, 186.2 this morning.
Back to discipline and regimen and fighting my body. The body resists giving up fat, it will give up muscle before fat. My blood glucose is relatively stable, still prediabetic
Ranging from 94 - 104, but the fat will not go away. Maybe if I just starved, but that wold destroy my kidney's.
For me, the trick is exercise. Walking my dog 3 or 4 times a day, whatever the weather. And making life harder and more strenuous than falling into the trap of 'labor saving devices'.
I don't think the weight is as important as the fitness. I have a friend, 5 years younger than I, that has half my strength and fitness because he does nothing energetic and his life is sedentary. He visits the doctor monthly, has a list of medications, and is continually wearing a bandage or splint or support for this or that joint.
I am fortunate to be in rude good health, and treat aches and pains with more stretches and yoga and exercise. But I doubt my relative longevity is genetics - my father died of a heart attack and my mother of cancer, both young!
So far, so good.
AZ, other than diabetes, and self inflicted lung cancer (in remission), I am in good health, just had an annual Medicare funded Wellness exam (it is your right if on medicare to have one annually). full blood panel, all is good and normal, at age 84, BP 116/68 optimum is 120/70
I use to exercise, spent a 26 year career in special ops, ran 2 1/2 miles a say, an hour of rigorous PT, 5 and 10 miles on weekends.
I am living of reserves, and good genes.
I recently read that vigorous exercise routines are bad for you.
I haven't been able to exercise since 2017, they found stage 4 lunc cancer, that metastasized to the brain, they removed a tangerine sized tumor on the right occipital (caused left side blindness), 10 bout of radiation and I had to undergo months of rehab, I lost my sense of balance, can no longer ride my bike (I was doing 5 miles per day), i can't climb on the roof to clean the gutters, many things I can't do anymore including long walks. The best I can do is work out with a Qubi, sitting in my chair, and I walk my cat on a leash once a death, but carefully as I can easily fall, and have.
I have fallen twice in the last five year,outside, the reason I don't fall inside is because there are too many places to grab hold of and catch myself.
My muscles have atrophied as a result. I use to do 100 push ups and squat thrusts all day, now I can't get up from sitting on the floor or kneeling without an assist from furniture.
Yet I persevere, and cut the property and weed whip around the garage, the house and barn. A few weeks ago I edged the sidewalks and I have a lot of hem.
The only exercise I get is making visits to the doctor.
Good for you for trying so hard.
William - I also struggle with weight. what makes it into a moral issue for me is while i eat, others starve. i know it's not rational, maybe i'm addicted to guilt also. it really extends to lots of areas - my taxes pay for weapons of war, capitalism preys on the poor and defenseless (to my benefit), my pension funds are probably in energy stocks or defense industries. it goes on and on. so i eat more chips.
Paul. I discussed my weight problem, genetic,diabetes, my wife has a problem too,also genetic not diabetes, she can go on acrash diet, and has, loses weight, but the moment she stops she gains it all back, she doesn't eat junk, she eats real food, fresh fruit and veggies, no meat, no sugar, except ice creamat night, her mother, aunts and sisters have a problem as well, they are all pear shaped,so genetic it is.
As regards spending money on defense, while i agree with you in other areas, in that I take exception.
Military spending is why you have the ability and freedom to voice your opinion. If we had no defense structure, no department of defense, America would have been-overrun by now, and perhaps we wouldn't even have an internet, in fact we wouldn't have an internet, cellphones or computers.
The Republicans ridiculed Al Gore for claiming that he invented the internet.
He never said that. What he said and this is the truth, that because of him there is an internet. That is because Senator Al Gore pushed for DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, to have funds to develop what was at that time a defense orient intranet, which of course broke out and became the internet.
Defense spending has not onlyh provided you with the security to enjoy your life and live in safety and comfort, but it has also provided a lot of the things that you enjoy., just like NASA has.
The development of he Atom bomb, has led to uses for nuclear products,and in April I had a PET scan, using a radioactive contrast to detect a cancerous growth in my lungs. So far it has diminished, and that is a good sign.
Don't jump overboard because of hype and propaganda. There is a lot of waste in defense spending, especially when a project provides jobs in so many districts.
The AF wanted to cancel some planes, and Congress wouldn't let them, the Navy wants to cancel some ships, and Congress won't let them.
We need to eliminate the waste, but to do that we need to elimnate a bunch of congresscritters.
I have to disagree about American military spending. America spends between 3 and 6 times the expenditure of other developed countries, most of which are far more likely to 'be overrun'. In fact, who could or would want to overrun America? Certainly not Russia or China, and who else is there?
Next, American weapons production is almost all offensive, and American policy is to use the military offensively by 'bringing democracy to any country that disagrees with us. Or has oil!'
Then there is the inevitable human cost, and not just abroad. How many Americans have lost sons and daughters? How many Americans are struggling with their lives after injuries from service, including mental health issues?
And when America sells or gives aid (weapons) to other countries, they are offensive weapons systems, not defensive.
Like Israel, where American offensive battlefield weapons paid for by American taxpayers have and are being supplied and used to kill civilians, making Biden, and every American, knowingly complicit in Netanyahu's continuing genocide in Gaza.
If I recall correctly, under American law, the guy that supplied the gun for a murder is also complicit. Is that right? Does that mean just the American government in power? Or all Americans that have not objected and stopped Biden?
Lastly, there is the financial cost. All that money getting sucked into military expenditure, only to be blown up, means far less money for schools, healthcare, infrastructure, a modern high speed railway system, transition to renewables, proper management of pollution, etc, etc, etc....
Oh yes, and BTW, Sir Tim Berners Lee, a Brit, invented the World Wide Web. (And non-Americans also invented many of the other things Americans like to claim to have invented!)
I forgot to mention one other issue with international food prices - commodity speculation.
A shipload of wheat, for example, may be traded on the commodities markets a dozen times between being loaded in, say Ukraine, and arriving in a destination port in Europe. Each trade increases the price so, by the time it is with the end user, the middlemen and dealers may have doubled the price or worse.
This is nothing new of course, but increasing risks in times of troubles, and increasing number of traders and speculators (middlemen), mean that food and commodity prices are reflecting the middlemen's profits as much as the cost of primary production.
I personally think that 90% of the gambling middlemen in the commodity markets are just parasitic and serve no discernable useful function. I think those markets need better regulation and control.
Az, this is why I promote Economic Democracy and the Progressive Utilization Theory. Food, production and distribution should be as local as possible and controlled by the community that produces these items or trades with other communities that cannot grow them. Depending on cooperatives rather than large food, corporations would move us far in this direction. There is still much room for a local farmers or what used to be called Truck farms To supply our local food needs. The rapid growth of farmers markets clearly demonstrate both the need for local food production and distribution as well as the public’s acceptance of locally produced foods.
Much of the organically grown produce that I buy in the local food co-op or the local Albertsons is trucked hundreds of miles from huge agricultural producers far away. Now I find that I am able to grow much of what I need to consume well designed raised bed gardens, in the high desert of New Mexico right in my backyard. initially it cost a significant investment to set these up and get them irrigated but now my produce is quite local. In fact, it is only 50 yards from my back door!
Why you old hippie! There hasn't been that spirit here since 1969.
Marc - I taught middle school for 20 years and ran and maintained year round a 1/3 acre garden. I taught my 6th graders so much in that garden. Food went home. Science, soil, weather, erosion, biology, seeds, cooperation. Many of our students live in apartments, and had never experienced that. I've been advocating for making school gardens a required part of public school education for years. Imagine a 1/2 acre plot on every school yard dedicated to growing food.
Also, it doesn't take much space in a back or front yard to raise more than enough leafy greens for year round salads. But if kids aren't exposed to how to do it...
I did raised beds at our school, and it worked really well. Easy to maintain, looks neat and organized (which kept admin happy. admin were always skeptical, until finally after about 10 years they realized I really was committed)
Another way to get local organic foods is from a Farmers Market. They are not just in California anymore. Another is community gardens. We have an itty bitty backyard and also belong to a community garden.
Paul, I love that you taught your students about gardening. We have many apartment dwellers in our community garden. Perhaps some of your past students could join together and make a community garden.
The middle men are speculators, who never touch the product.or don' own any equipment, warehouse, trucks, trains, boats.
Use OPM. Other peoples' money.
I guarantee you that if America cuts their food intake to half, prices will still go up. Yes lower demand should as a rule decrease prices. But greed comes into play here as well - we have way too many overly rich people at the top who have a vision clouded by excessive greed.
Actually it happened during the pandemic.
This is not currently still from the pandemic. The supply chain recovered a while ago.
There was decreased demand during the pandemic.
Companies took advantage and added on prices. The FTC doesn't have authority to do anything about it, but states like California have price gouging cases. The biggest is against Amazon.
Az, there is a tremendous amount of food waste because those who have the economic means are buying way much more food than they can consume or need to consume. However, there is a significant proportion of the population who are making decisions whether to pay rent or buy enough food to keep their children fed. These people have already Cut their food consumption and purchases to the bone. We need to see that everyone gets sufficient food, education, clothing, shelter, and appropriate medical care. This is accomplished through appropriate and logical distribution of wealth..
Easier said than done!
I've sort of gone the other direction. I'm lucky, I live in Vermont. When I buy meat at all, it is locally grown. Ditto for most vegetables in season. Fish from a south Alaskan fishterman flash frozen and sold locally. Grocery store is locally family owned with locally sourced foods. Yeah, it's a little more, but not that much. I am so lucky!
Az, you are correct there is more than one reason for inflation, and there are two kinds of inflation, long term inflation, the reason why a $.25 candy bar in 1970 costs $1.50 today, what a $3,000 car in 1970 costs $50,000 today.
And short term inflation, like gas praces that go up and down, only prolblem is that once prices go up, they become the new floor and never go down.
Supply chain issues, caused by everything from lack of resources, lack of labor, transportation
problems and management decisions, made possible by monopolization and collusion.
The last two are classical economics, supply and demand, where the producer controls the supply, they can only do this if the demand is inelastic, like food and housing, or the supply is highly competitive, but it is the consumer who makes the decision and is responsible. The $100 pair of sneakers that people buy, cost less than $5,00 to produce and $1 to transport, but the consumer is willing to pay the price asked, and unlike consumers in other countries, does not dicker but pays the asking price.
The intrinsic value of a barrel of oil -- the top producers of OPEC+ have the lowest costs compared to the rest of the world. Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia can all produce a barrel of crude oil for about $10 or less. These countries have large oil fields that produce oil relatively easily and require little to no well stimulation. https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/2021-09_Petroleum_Watch_ADA.pdf
With such a profit margin that is why Riyadh is the swankiest and cleanest city in the world and why the Saudis plan to build a 105 mile, glass walled city named NEOM,in the desert, and how the Emirate can build what is in essence a city walled off from the world with artificial islands shaped like a palm tree and the worlds tallest skyscraper the Khalifa Burj.,and why the drive around in Lamborghinis and gold plated Mercedes and when the break down for lack of oil change, they walk away and leave them.
However Saudi oil is running out, so I heard, so they have to make hay while the sun shines.
Very clever idea. Reminds me of approaches to controlling illicit drugs. Controlling supply by waging war on the production process and/or controlling demand through public health prevention measures and treatment options. The analogy has its limits but it makes sense to have both supply side and demand side strategies.
The Portugal solution. Legalize drugs. But the Association of Sheriffs and Peace Officers, the DEA, and counties and municipalies who profit from the W.O.D, the legal profession from defense attorney's to prosecutor's, to judges and of course PhRMA are the forces opposing legalizing drugs. Otherwise Clinton, Obama and Biden would have had the FDA revise it's schedule, for Drugs, It does not take an act of congress, but an administrative decision by the FDA, not even the president has to issue an executive order, just the FDA.
You are correct and drugs will never be legalized,because they provide jobs, social status and political opportunity for politicians, lawyers, Law Enforcement, and local governments which confiscate property and resell it, not to mention the fines, and of course the prison industrial complex and it's graft.
The problem could have been solved,in large part, at least marijuana, by Clinton, Obama and Biden, all they had to do was tell their head of the FDA to reschedule marijuana from a Class A drug to a Class C drug or remove it from the schedule. Is alcohol on the drug schedule?No. Despite being legal, alcohol is considered by science to be a drug.
This can not work. Dealers are users. They will know soon if not immediately that this is a bad product and go back to where they've got a sellable product in the past..
If the threat of arrest was enough the industry wouldn't exist. Addicts denied their satisfaction can be very threatening in their own ways. I see this lasting about 3 months and resulting in a much uglier and more brutal market.
In the Middle Ages, the common man finally gained economic power once half of the European population was wiped out by plague. More plague anyone?
Smoky, it was actually the beginnings of capitalism at the end of the middle ages where the common man gained economic power. That system worked hundreds of years ago. Now it is time to evolve to higher level of economic functioning that puts the power back in the hands of the people.
Yes, that makes sense. But labor was in short supply after Europe was depopulated. Possibly this contributed to the rise of capitalism? The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution? The dialectic inherent in capitalism will continue to cause the system to evolve. It will be interesting to see whether humanity figures it out before it destroys the biosphere. I will fortunately not be around to see the outcome. (What is in this tea I'm drinking???)
The Black Death caused a shortage in labor, and resulted in the end of serfdom and the expansion of free men. It made possible the industrial revolution.
Wow -- James Lovelock lived to be 103!
I will look into his work! Re "virus" -- yes! Homo sapiens acts like a virus that mindlessly grows until all resources are spent before dying back. Even with our big brains we cannot seem to develop a plan for sustainable living. 8 billion people and counting!
The most immediate effect of deportations will be a skyrocketing of food prices, due to shortages brought on by food rotting in the fields because there is no cheap labor to pick it.
Oh, wait, King Donald I can solve that by using labor by concentration camp inmates (that's us).
Donald has a black job in mind for you and me.
I know what you are saying Smokey. Donald claimed that immigrants are taking jobs from black and Hispanics. And what is his stereotype of black and Hispanic jobs?
https://manufacturinginmexico.org/maquiladora-in-mexico/
Thank goodness. I am so tired of just sitting around the house all day.
Duemto the merging of many of the food detailers like Albertsons and Kroger (tube determined) and the consolidation of the world's shipping into only10 companies and the consolidation the trucking lines, the prices are higher for groceries and other food stuffs. Why don't voters see that the Republicans will only continue to screw the common man and woman, reduce families' incomes and eliminate health care so the big money interests can have more money. And what do they do with that money? Buy Republican politicians so they can get more money. Wake up America.
Well said!
Greed!
Follow the money.
Commodities are a hedge against inflation, so buying before periods of high inflation is a good investment strategy; however, predicting when inflation will occur can be tough. The index for food at home rose 1.1 percent over the last 12 months. The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index rose 3.0 percent over the last 12 months and the nonalcoholic beverages index increased 1.9 percent. Over the same period, the index for other food at home rose 0.9 percent. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm#:~:text=The%20index%20for%20food%20at%20home%20rose%201.1%20percent%20over,at%20home%20rose%200.9%20percent.
Do grocers hedge? Is the FTC on top of this?
I can afford it, and I have the storage room so I buy like the Coneheads, mass quantities, of stuff that I regularly use, even canned goods by the case.
Big difference is they can fix prices and bet simultaneously.
Currently if your income exceeds $25,000 a year, 50 % of your SS benefit get taxed. It is not just an impact on higher wage earners. I would never vote for Trump, but do we really think seniors need to pay Federal income tax on a $25,000 income? The max SS benefit is $4873 a month for anyone which amounts to $58,746 a year. In this day and age that is not an overly rich income for seniors who still have to also pay property taxes or lose their homes. Meanwhile rich people stop paying SS payroll taxes after they reach $168,600 of income in a any given year,, which is ludicrous. Apply the SS payroll tax equally to ALL incomes and the problem is solved, and quit making seniors pay tax on the employers half contribution to your SS benefit as well.
THIS! Thank you, Susan Hall!
@ Susan Hall. Taxation of Social Security began in 1984 following passage of a set of Amendments in 1983, which were signed into law by Reagan. Was part of the Dole/Greenspan "fix".
My net Social Security is $1,300 a month. I pay 85% of it is taxable. I have a military retirement so I can draw SS if my other income was other than military I would not be eligible to draw Social Security.
My wife was a federal employee and will get nothing if and when I expire. She retired in 1997. https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf
The Reagan administration, like Trump's, did everything it could to penalize federal employees. We pay more in income tax than most people make.
If you're younger than full retirement age, you can earn up to $22,320 before your benefits may be reduced. For every $2 you earn above that limit, your benefit will be reduced by $1. For example, if you earn $10,000 more than the limit, your benefits would be reduced by $5,000
It does not apply to military retirements, IIRC that change happened under Dubya.
During the pandemic when transport became difficult, grocers saw an opportunity to make more money...so they raised prices. Never waste a crises if you can make money. That's what they did and are still doing because people got used to it. Now everyone is looking for a direction to point the finger in so that the biggest faults will be exposed and prices can back off. Are groceries still higher in parts of the world that were most affected by the pandemic? It's a question that has more than one strong answer. This could be one of the long COVID problems.
My local grocer is part of the community, no chains, no franchises, where I live, he owns the supermarket, and a smaller market which services tourists and a marina. The smaller market carries lesser brands, mostly brand names, has a small deli and features a local bakery, the supermarket has more selection especially of gluten free and organic products, and the prices are cheaper than his tourist market, which also features some high end products that the larger market doesn't carry.
The point is the tourists and people who live or park in the marina, can afford higher prices, but he keeps the prices down in the market that serves the community, they are higher than prices in a store, 20 crow miles away, because they are ferried over.
Please explain how the federal government can combat price gouging by big corporations and their CEO's. Sounds like a Good Idea, but hard to implement.
In France during Covid, many manufacturers (especially American ones) and the supermarkets themselves kept raising their prices and increasing their profits. President Macron called the CEO's of all the major French supermarkets to a meeting and told them that they could either drop prices to normal profits and squeeze suppliers, or he would impose a one-off tax on any profits in excess of previous years.
Within a couple of weeks there were banners on the supermarkets saying 'prices slashed!' and 'big reductions on our new basic lines', etc. And inside the stores, there were empty shelves (notably Coca Cola) where mainstream suppliers wouldn't reduce their prices, and banners warning that the particular product had suffered 'shrinkflation' and the package was smaller than before, to shame suppliers.
It worked. So it is possible.
Az,
I love this! I have lived in France on and off for many years, but was in the US during COVID, so missed Macron's response to price gouging. Another reason to love France.
Yes! Let's urge Kamala Harris to do the same.
Vote Blue down ballot, turn the entire Congress blue, pass new legislation to put SCOTUS back to a non-partisan court, and watch Kamala go. 🌊
My favorite color: Blue!
Just painted my house blue.
Blue is good!
Coca Cola is poison, It is a major cause of diabetes and other health problems, along with other "sugary" drinks. Coca cola also hired death squads to take out union organizers and eventually pulled a coup in Honduras. Obama played the game of resisting to recognize the new coup government, but only a few weeks. Not the first hint that Obama was not really Captain of the ship of state.
Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Snapple, Diet Anything has aspartame, which is a toxic chemical, a by product of aluminum smelting. They didn't know what to do with it, but then hired found it was an artifical sweetner, Searle chemical bought the poison, and Donald Rumsfeld used his connections to have the FDA approve it for human consumption.
It causes cancer, but also actually causes weight gain, users of products with aspartame, actually gain weight, because it fools the body into thinking that it has ingested sugar, the pancreas floods the zone , wipes out the glucose, one gets hypoglycemic and then ingests great quantitites of sugary junk food like Twinkies.
When you see a person in a super market with a case of Diet Coke, or Pepsi, you will notice that they also have a box or two of Twinkies or some other junk food in the cart.
I've been to French speaking Belgium, and visited a local market. In America people will mix deviled ham with mayonnaise and relish to make a sandwich spread. In Belgium they sell it in the deli as Salad American.
I had spaghetti in a restaurant and instead of meat balls, they had shaved ham.
Outside of he bread, pastries and cheese I really don't care for French food, but it is a step up from English food.
Definitely unequal to me. I never could stand the taste of fresh pork and poultry, thousands of pigs,geese, ducks,doves and chickens have lives because of me. I love greens, spinach, collards, beets, and cruciforms, and legumes. I do eat grains but only complex carbohydrates. I love Italian and Mexican food. If I were Brit itwould be Indian and Pakistani food, but never quite developed a taste for curry and Indian spices, though I do eat Amy's Palak Paneer (cause it has spinach)
Combating price gouging is not just a good idea, but it is a necessity. However in a few short months the voting electorate must be convinced that the Democrats will effectively and immediately bring down to cost of food, consumer goods and decent housing. In other words the message of the Harris Walz campaign must be “We will bring sown your cost of living immediately."
Marc, I do believe that Lena Kahn will help with that problem. Harris/Walz need to provide more help to the Federal Trade Commission. The DOJ needs to be given more help prosecuting those corporations that have acted illegally. I truly believe Harris/Walz will provide answers that will truly help the middle-class and poor and finally make the rich at least pay their fair share.
The DOJ is a joke, it is haven for Trump humping attorney's led by a right wing scourge.
Tax and/or penalize in any fashion their excessive profits. Other countries have done it. Vote in a blue Congress and watch it happen. 🌊
Yes, I would also like an explanation how the Federal government can reign in food prices! I live in New York City and certain things keep going up week after week long ke a tuna fish sandwich or a chicken sandwich or turkey sandwich and even sushi! My market even stopped including ginger with the sushi and charg d $4.99 fo it! I stopped buying it! Eggs and milk seem to have stabilized so far. Bread is also going up.
Switch from grain products to bean products, from simple carbs to complex carbs. You will live longer and ahve fewer health problems, while saving money.
Woody, it will be hard, but at least it's being discussed in the light of day.
Professor Reich: the cause of insanely high food prices that never come down is GREEDY GROCERS.
It’s called Greedflation!
Don't forget...their store rent goes up, their workers wages go up, there are so many middlemen in the food chain. Every one needs refrigerated storage. Transportation to get the products to the store. Now they need security. Everyone gets a piece of the pie. It is ruthless to enlarge the containers and short the product and to sell product that has no nutritional value or addicts people to sugar or other things harmfull to us...So, basically, you're right, Lisa. It's greed and taking advantage of people and not caring about your neighbors, children, animals even.
IMHO they have an irresistible impulse to gouge their customers, many who have .no competition.
Don’t agree. Our food production is controlled by about 5 massive monopolies. Grocery stores are as affected as customers.
That was a totally spot on Coffee Klatch! Everything you talked about, I was in 100% agreement! Right now, there are so many people totally turned on by the excitement and joy Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are bringing to this election. For too long we have lived with anger, hate, chaos and lies brought to us by the far-right MAGAs and their orange cult leader. He is floundering because the majority of Americans are just plain sick of his over-played litany of fear and bullying. Every single address he gives is the same old tired replay of every other address he has given. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fresh and giving Americans hope for a better future. I will vote blue up and down the ticket in 2024! I understand the anger about Gaza and that war. I understand the need for peace talks. What I don't understand is why some Democrats would want to divide our party over one thing. The most important thing right now is getting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz elected and avoid having the orange man anywhere near the White House! Once we have done that, it is imperative to address the concern about Gaza and the war there. Don't divide until we have united behind our candidates. The truth is, I would trust Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to do what is needed before I would ever trust the orange man. Vote blue, America!!
Peggy, well said!!
Right on!
Bring in and beef up the Sherman antitrust tanks...also support more efforts at food rescue...
89 years ago FDR created Social Security that became the life line for millions of Americans. Trump and his robber barons want to eliminate antitrust laws. and they would be happy to roll back Social Security and or privatize it. Trump is a trapped man riddled with lies and criminality and needs a get out of jail card. And that card is Project 2025..
One of the learnings from the recent UK election - a useful pointer on how to beat the right-wing - is steer towards the center in your rhetoric to capture those undecided voters who are not ready to see the benefits of the policies you would enact when power. The gain of an undecided is worth two votes - you win and your opponent losses.
Also, as a progressive, consider what policies would be enacted if your opponent wins - more right wing carnage. So the importance of winning is not just to enact what you wish for but to stop it getting much worse.
Therefore accept if your candidate i.e. Harris seems to be tentative on social equality or economic fairness then accept it. It's required to pull across those social or economic conservatives. Once in power she can be bolder and stop what would have happened without her.
I so agree with you Martin. It's skillful means, to message in the middle of the road while being a true progressive at heart. Pick your battles, and just work every day to move the needle a little, using whatever means (short of lying cheating and stealing) necessary, to the left.
Realpolitik.
The stupidity and ignorance of Americans who continue to bow before Trump is beyond comprehension. It signals intelligence is America literally does not exist, nor does any reality of morality. This is a VERY dangerous sign as to where this country is headed . . .
The YouTube animation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Theory of Stupidity" explains this very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc
--- Enjoyed it! And it is plain to me that "they" are stupid. But they say the same thing back at me. The crux, I think, is that reality is plastic. There is no ultimate authority that we can consult to tell us what is up, what is down. So in human society, truth is probably a function of power.
Forty thousand Red men couldn't make me change my mind
If I had to take the choice between the deafman and the blind
I had that Traffic LP in HS -- circa 1969.
Me too! What strikes me is how "history rhymes." We fought this war of ideas 50 years ago! [BTW, thank you for your service. I lotteried out of that bullshit.]
Trump's asinine efforts to overturn Roe-vs-Wade will in the end cost him the election. Oppenheimer said "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," Trump would be satisfied by simply destroying ours.
It’s the blind elevation of his own that’s the only thing concerning his ego …
Come on. We're your faithfull readers. What kind of a poll is this?
Agreed. I think it would be interesting to have the subscribers take the Pew Political Typology Quiz and report the results here. I bet there are no “Faith and Flag” Conservatives here’s. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/quiz/political-typology/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlIG2BhC4ARIsADBgpVTp3FXDb1NEvc639FpWWXuhhYQrcp3UPnzhDYPVJTFpCiGos1bvL68aApkVEALw_wcB
Glad to read Kamala is using the term greedflation which the Brits have been using for 2 years or more. They kicked the Tories out. By extension we should kick the GOP out lol
In the language of addiction medicine, Trump is addicted to power and money. He has enablers who have their own wicked reasons for wanting him re-elected, and are working towards that. BUT his biggest enabler and evil-doer is in prison -Steve Bannon. Whenever I need a lift, I think about this and it makes me smile.