100% in agreement professor, which is why I don’t even bother listening to his nonsense. It appears RFK Jr. isn’t the only one infected with brain worms..:)
Up to60% of Americans' have reduced Anxiety because it's cured by placebo.
BEWARE THE HIDDEN COSTS OF INSIDIOUS PLACEBOS!!!
In this remake of the Blockbuster movie TITANIC... our flaw of exaggerating threats is symbolized by the Ocean surrounding the TITANIC... of the "ocean of possible BS" that humans can believe, SOME BS MAKES IT PAST OUR PROTECTIVE HULL...BUT IT SUDDENLY DISAPPEARS WHEN CURED BY A PLACEBO CALLED ANGER...!!!...(symbolized by being boiled alive in a carcinogenic sludge)
Before Purdue Pharmacy BSed their way down the entire pain pill supply chain.(A million opioid dead.... and counting...).. they brainwashed our culture that we no longer needed to face our fears. and that required part of treatment was replaced by Valium, etc
I remember while book editor at a monthly newsjournal in the early 80s that a couple of major books appeared hailing new prescription drugs as a revolutionary alternative to talk therapy: cheaper & faster: a psychic Drano, you might say.
I know what you mean. I assumed it was a rage against the protean postwar Cetus monster of corporate advertising. It’s duplicitous pushing of drugs and dreams to send us to sleep to enable profiteers to rip us off.
Bobby, your father would be so proud. You have managed to stay out of jail, you haven’t been institutionalized, and you’ve thrown in with a guy who wants to overthrow the government. Good for you! Croak, croak, ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!
Tariffs don't just function like a tax; they ARE a tax by definition. I think this would be a different conversation if Democrats would start calling tariffs "import taxes" or "taxes on imported goods" and not let supposedly anti-tax Republicans get away with this deception.
It seems like most of Trump’s supporters believe that an import tax is a tax on the country that’s actually exporting. They don’t realize it means tax the US is paying. They have confused it just like they have confused Mexico paying for the wall.
A friend of mine said that’s why we should be more worried about Vance. He’s better spoken and can sound intelligent. Luckily, Kristen Welker did shoot a few truths back at him and wouldn’t let him escape the “childless cat ladies” crap.
I’m in total agreement with you, @MusingMissouriMusician.
My husband, who’s beginning to show signs of intellectual old age, let’s just say, told me how articulate Vance was in some TV interview a few days ago. I cringed, and in my case, I knew that arguing with him would get nowhere. But this is very scary to me. He can be articulate, much, much more so than trump, and my fear is that he’s going to brainwash and gaslight many, many people, including my husband. P.S.: I do know that hubby is voting for Harris.
They are confused. A 60-year-old Trump supporter from Shamokin, PA, Robert Bridy, said he is voting for Trump and has done since 2016 because "he's a working class guy just like us." We have to find a careful way to counter this degree of rampant confusion.
Reading the Reuters article you would think that "all he wants is to be treated fairly"--in fact, that's his standard claim. Yet many small merchants cut their bids to "curry favor" from him in the first place, so how are they being treated fairly when he tries to beat them down?
I am recalling one small businessman who was approached by Trump and asked to bid (??) supplying pianos for an casino and was mostly stiffed on payment. There is nothing there in the first place for a small businessman to eat. It was disastrous for him.
When we read these stories me must remember that for Trump, all this is business as usual because he has a lot of projects going on at once. For a small music store to provide many pianos is several years worth of business! To have to give up what is basically all the profit on a transaction like that means you don't stay in business.
Leftie/progressives make so many mistakes thinking people are stupid. Take a look at sociologist Arlie Hochschild, author of "Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right" as she discusses the people she found to be drawn to Trump:
I genuinely don’t understand how going to bat for someone who transparently won’t do anything to help you or your community just because he tells a half-coherent lie about why you’re in the shit to begin with doesn’t fit within the conventional understanding of ‘stupid’.
ON - I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what it has always been about - till now, amazingly. (Part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton). I'd love to know who is behind the "research" Mr Reich refers to.
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
By the way, I provide my full name because (1) I sometimes defend unpopular opinions, and (2) people can check my name against my Facebook page and thus, to some extent, ascertain that I'm not a troll or a computer-derived entity.
By being able to get away with giving the whole political establishment the middle finger salute and laugh his Republican opponents off the debate stage. Remember?
All working class guys get aillion dollar loan from dad. And that's 7 million in today's dollars. A million was just Trump change, I guess. Actually, he might be the worst businessman in history to bankrupt a cash cow casino.
Oh, c'mon. Roosevelt was one of the old Dutch "patroon"class that controlled the Hudson Valley from 1609 on. Working class? Roosevelt's formidable mother would have eaten you alive for even thinking that. Believe me, his peers did not consider him working class.
You know very well what I meant, Diggit - I am well aware that FDR wasn't OF the working class. What I meant was that both Trump's and Roosevelt' policies SUPPORTED the working class.
Even if his base did understand how tariffs work, they would still go along with the ruse, because the MAGA true believers believe everything he says, regardless of the facts, no questions asked. Just like a cult. EXACTLY like a cult. He is the only one they trust.
I'm afraid you're right, by now. The job of Democrats is to ask these people what they see in Trump, listening empathically instead of just looking for ammo buried in what we hear. That opens the other person up to, to a real conversation, an interest in what each other has to say. That is a cult-busting exercise anyone can do.
I've tried that many times, and I have yet to find a single Republican or conservative who will actually try to defend Trump's character, competency, values, policies, or anything. I'm pretty sure that even people who like Trump really don't. They've just had a deep fear of liberals drilled into them so hard that they'll accept any alternative. Conservatives and Republicans and not stupid, but they've been badly misled by people they thought they could trust and the fear their media blasts them with all day long keeps them from being receptive to any alternatives. To just dismiss them as inferior (and ourselves as thereby superior) ignores the fact that we could be misled as easily if we're not vigilant.
You may be interested in Braver Angels, an org I work with that brings together red-leaning and blue-leaning people to get to understand each other. One motto of theirs I particularly like: "Come as you are. Leave as you are."
Empathic listening enables me to hear myself saying something that I've always had to either defend or work hard to articulate at all. So now have an opportunity to examine it from all kinds of new angles, seeing new facets and implications of what I'm saying.
And it's a gift to the listener too, enabling one to experience the fullest possible expression of something.
My favorite people are those who are just as much fun to disagree with as to agree. All it takes is mutual interest and respect. But that can be hard won, in the beginning. Have a look at https://www.braverangels.org
Yes! I've been a dues-paying member of Braver Angels for a couple of years, and I took a bunch of their trainings, but I haven't been able to attend one of their workshops yet. (I'm in Idaho, so the nearest in-person gatherings are several hours away.) But yes, I think the work this group does is amazing. Thank you for sharing the suggestion!
Dwain - Braver Angels is a very good idea in its attempt to depolarise the United States. However, I just logged-in and found that you charge a membership fee.
I am dead against membership fees. This is why I am against the substack system that charges a membership fee. I believe that opinions should circulate freely. This includes my own opinions. I'd never charge for my contributions (such as they are) - I'd like to give and receive FREELY.
Besides, I'm as poor as a church mouse. And I suspect that many, many people, especially on the Trump side of the voter spectrum, are similarly poor - and they, it could be argued, are maybe the ones most in need of a membership of Braver Angels!
And remember that many religious conservatives don't necessarily idealize Trump or his family---but recognize that going along with them is essential, if we are to get to the hyper Christian New Age they thirst for.
"Tariffs are taxes on goods brought into America that are passed on to American consumers by the corporations that import the goods and pay increased the taxes on them. Corporations pass the increased cost along to the consumers. It's estimated the Trump tariffs will cost the average family $3,900 extra each year."
And therein is where the problem lies. Most Americans don’t understand how tariffs work and how and when they are applied and paid by whom and ultimately passed on, remembering, if they even do, the one day in high school history tariffs were mentioned as used by the federal government in the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries to protect domestic industries while still in their infancy.
Now as applied in a global economy, the cost of an import tariff paid by an importer, not the country of origin, is passed through the supply chain and eventually through wholesale and retail markets to the end consumer.
The potential problem of Harris/Walz or any candidate or politician calling it a tax, as correct as that might be in effect, is there will always be some industry or business line where to protect a small, infant, or nationally strategic producer a tariff can be justified. And once threatened or tariffs applied, some group will scream “there they go again, raising taxes and consumer prices.” Or on the flip side, if not protected, “their trade policies will benefit China [or fill in name of country] and is a job killer”.
Threading the needle is at times difficult and proper messaging matters.
Yes, Christina, there may be something in that - until U.S. domestic industries pick up the slack and start producing the goods that were previously imported.
But the basic purpose of protectionism is to protect the domestic job market. And isn't it better to pay somewhat more for goods but KEEPING one's safe full-time job rather than paying less for cheap imported goods but losing one's livelihood? Keeping one's full-time job will make it relatively easy to pay the extra $3,900 that you quote. It's not so easy to find a job replacement in a tight labour market with lots of unemployed or semi-employed people.
I put it to you that the reason for the rise and polularity of Donald Trump is that he broke with the Republican and Democraic Parties dogma that 'free trade' is somehow cost-free to the American industrial worker. It has proven to have been very costly to them - since Reagan's presidency. Not just costly in money terms but costly to the cohension and sense of union with the United States. Ignoring blue-collar and calling them a 'basket of deplorables' was both insulting and divisive. And it was a Democrat contender who did it.
That was truly one of the worst moments in American history. In terms of defining forever the contempt that the well-educated and prosperous have for everyone else who isn't, including unionized people who make decent livings.
There are no safe domestic jobs. And most likely those items made overseas are not going to become American-made. That $3900 in extra costs will show up as inflation which angers most Americans.
I can only speak of England, Frank (where I live), but England used to produce a diverse range of goods both for home consuption and for export. Like the U.S. (I assume) its range is much less. But I see no reason why both Britain and the U.S. can't diversify again - it depends on tariff protection and market demand.
Some reasons why the U.S. and U.K. will not diversify again: With what factories? On what land? And what raw materials from what other countries?
And what power will run those factories: water, from the rivers that are now undammed? Coal, from the mines that are completely tapped out? Nuclear? Solar?
And who is going to underwrite this industrial effort? Are unionized grocery store clerks and flight attendants going to save their nickels for one big push? Do mainstream computer folk have any belief at all in working people, that they would underwrite the effort? Or do you seriously think Peter Thiel and Elon Musk would be interested, being as how they are such humanists?
Reich hits the nail on the finger about the popular misunderstanding of tariffs: It is all too easy to promote tariffs as a tax on another country for its products. But tariffs are actually charges on our own importers.
There is no way to tax another nation, but calling a tax a 'tariff' makes it look like the politicians are 'doing something' to China or some other country.
I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what it has always been about - till now, amazingly. (Part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton). I'd love to know who is behind the "research" Mr Reich refers to.
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
This seems like a skewed version of the Lost Cause myth. The South wanted to protect their "peculiar institution": That's it. Northern industry, if it was vulnerable, was not vulnerable from the South. It would not need to be protected from the South.
Southern enslavers thought the world would be brought to their knees if Southern cotton was blockaded by the North or boycotted by other nations. Other nations found better and closer sources of cotton.
I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what has always been asserted in the past - till now, amazingly. (In fact, I undestand that part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern secondary industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton).
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
Money can grease transactions, or poor dry sand on them. Tariffs reduce trade by making it more expensive. This decreases what the seller gets for their goods, and increases what the buyer must pay to obtain those goods. Tax rebates on trade do the opposite. Who pays depends on how the market reacts to the traiff or rebate.
The secondary effect of a tariff is to make it easier for business that receive the tariffed goods to compete with the products being imported. But, that requires investing in the means of production. It takes time. In the case of China, a lot of US companies are doing production in China.
I feel DJT from the sense of "blasphemous" sustainability: how the Heck do we incentivize American made goods and services if there's no flat tax/equal rate of affordability across the market spectrum? I can't imagine https://puri.sm/products/liberty-phone/ being accessible to folks who'd otherwise be stuck with mediocre/readily disposable ♻️ Affordable Connectivity Program 🤳🏼📱 until we have tax equity which internalizes the disgusting disaster of capitalist globalization
Yes a tariff is a tax but so is a subsidy/USFG grant for every market regulation which makes something economically sustainable here in 🇺🇲
And Trump has been clear that he supports co-ops it's just a matter of divesting from Big Tech in social libertarian ways of interdependence
Moreover if We The People are going to get over Trump's threatening antics (out of his own personal insecurities like growing up with an alcoholic mother as an Intersex person) we must stop demonizing him for saying stupid shit as collective intelligence only works well when we trust in mutual respect REGARDLESS of perceived political alliance
"When they go low, we go high"
Or as my father figure riffs: "Buy on the downlow, get higher than a 🪁"
It is a shame that Americans are so ignorant of economics that they can't call bullshit on bullshit. What's worse, the media report this shit without fact checking.
Betsy - Do we? I'm not sure that I do. I'm simply asking basic economics questions because I DON'T know. What I have noticed is a shift from what was "common knowledge" not so long ago and what we are today told is "common knowledge". So, we used to be told that protectionism DID protect vulnerable domestic industries and DID protect the domestic job market. But now, Mr Reich is telling us that protectionism is not good for the consumer. But I ask, it may not be good for the consumer but maybe it's good for the blue-collar worker who needs a safe well-paid job?
@Laurie. The people that will tolerate immoral behavior in pursuit of a tax break will bring us all down with them. Better Kamala's plan. Remove the cap on Social Security taxes so that wealthy and high income people pay at least something. Also, tax credits for children, higher minimum wage, revoke the "carried interest" loophole, and other fair taxation policies.
Laurie - Yes they get tax breaks from Trump. But they're also defenders of free-market Reaganomics (neoliberalism) - and neoliberalism also favours tax breaks for the rich. And the Democratic Party machine seems very luke warm about changing all this; they, too, depend on Big Business to fund their election campaigns. And Robert Reich has written about this, brilliantly.
The economy has tanked so the government calls in the top 5 economists for advice, and then call each into the room, one by one. Their first question to each of them is, "What has gone wrong with our economy?"
They get five completely different answers, and each answer ends up by blaming the other 4 for their lack of understanding of economics!
So after some confusion amongst the government bods, they call all of the economists back in, and ask each of the five to write down, in detail, their preferred solution to the problems.
They end up with 8 solutions, each one guaranteed to be the only one that will work!
Az - Well, broadly speaking there are two economic schools: the one by John Maynard Keynes (Keynesianism) and Reagonmics/Thatcherism (both referred to as neoliberalism or free-market economics - how free is a matter of dispute). Keynesianism looks for solutions that will protect our welfare system and the welfare state, so that those of us who need government support will receive it - unemployment benefits, old age pension, and so on. Neoliberalism says, with various degrees of emphasis, that we are responsible for our own health care and income in our old age; it is up to us as individuals and families, they say, to plan for our future and ensure we have private superannuation on which we can support ourselves in our old age, and somehow we must see to it that we can afford private health insurance. Neoliberalism really addresses the well-to-do middle class, not the lower middle class and the working class who don't have money to spare for super and insurance. And neoliberalism was dreamt up by members of the wealthy middle class, right from the start - by people who were unhappy with liberalism - people like Ronald Reagan, for example, who never tired telling the same story: "There is nothing as scary as a knock on your door and a voice saying, "I'm from the government!""
For more, look up "Mont Pelerin Society".
Without "the government", a sizeable part of our communities would live in third-world poverty and their children would be without schools. Reagan created a myth and a zeitgeist which is still with us.
Before Joe Biden went into neurological decline, he made preliminary moves to extract the U.S. from the curse of neoliberalism by appointing Janet Yellen. This move was a sign of recognition that the Democratic Party acknowledged that neoliberalism had failed too many Americans as an economic reality and ideology. It is for Kamala Harris to move the U.S. further away from Reaganomics and blue-collar destitution and declining neighbourhoods to something like a functioning welfare state. Whether she has the brains and the integrity I don't know. Trump seems to know about the welfare state but whether he really supports it, I don't know. He certainly knows about protectionism - and that is a start.
The problem for the American voter is that you are voting for two ambiguous candidates - two Rorschach ink-blot tests on which you can project anything you want/like/fear/hate onto. And both appear to support Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. I'm not saying there is much to choose from, but neither Trump nor Harris is really showing their hand; she seems to prefer to remain ambiguous.
THE book to read is "The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society", by Dardot and Laval (2013). The last three chapters in this book seek to explain what kind of scociety the neoliberals seek to put in place.
Big News Media thinks Bunkerboy will make them money THIS time, even though he already told his cult he WILL shut them down on day one . . . yeah, makes no sense to me too.
He doesn’t have great reasoning powers and evidently doesn’t understand first grade math.
So, if I make something for $100 and want to make a $100, I sell it for $200. If there’s a 10% tariff, I’m going to sell it for $220. If people won’t buy it at that price, I may knock a few dollars off or not export to the US at all, but I’m unlikely to swallow the whole tariff. If my item is a component and other components are also imported, the price of the finished good can increase significantly.
Susan - But this issue is not just about price, it is ALSO about the job market and job security for those whose jobs are insecure. The trade off, if we support protectionism, may be higher prices but a more secure job market tending towards full employment.
John, the MAGAs believe the lies but we have to reach the independents and undecideds and make sure they understand exactly what the orange man is selling!
Again luckily, even many TRUMPLICAN CULT MEMBERS seem to be waking up to his severe Alzheimers. Even FUCKING MORONS can see that morbidly obese weirdo is not up to snuff.
Agree, and don't forget the Do-Nothing Congress, not up to snuff and mouthing pure unadulterated BS all the time. Now Comer is attacking Walz for traveling to China to teach. He's going to launch major, expensive, long-term probes into Walz to "find" the "financial gain" Walz "must have" gotten from these teaching trips. Why don't we get a Democratic attack dog to probe Donald Trump for taking $10 million bribes from Egypt and Big Oil? That's actually illegal. I need Democrats to fight back.
It has nothing to do with picking battles. It's about how the vast majority of our best & brightest like Robert are mostly clueless about obvious pathological narcissism in maga.
I normally wouldn’t dream of disputing economic matters with the estimable Mr. Reich. But implementing tariffs (essentially a SALES tax) while cutting INCOME taxes is not irrational—IF you want to shift more of the burden to ordinary wage earners and lessen it on high-income earners—which is exactly what “Conservatives” want to do.
It’s not only dangerous, it’s deadly. With the help of his dark money puppeteers and media masters, Trump has infected/brainwashed his MAGATs into becoming an army of pathological liars totally dependent on his continuing diarrhea of BS to maintain their mental slavery to him. There are many ways to stop him and his followers beginning with the original punishment for treason: public hanging on the National Mall. Of course this is pure barbarism but the threat of such a spectacle might be enough to shut them all up. Nothing else seems to scare them.
His master' s voice. Whichever billionaire is waving money under his nose. Usually a Putin or any old oligarch will do. Musk seems to have influence 🤔 these days. 45 mil/month donations to tfg will do that.
Tariffs raise prices on domestic goods that compete with imports too. Monetary policy can either accommodate these price changes, or, if not, some other prices will have to decrease. You just know that will be labor. This doesn’t get talked about enough.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high about the ‘debate’ clarifying anything other than *Rump being an out of control madman. Harris won’t let him get away with much, and may land a few solid punches, but it won’t be a tutorial on the salient issues of the campaign.
Agree! Does Trump have any policy? 1) tax cuts for billionaires and 10% tariffs on imports? 2) banning abortion? (some days he's for it and some days he waffles); 3) Project 2025? "I had it written, but I never heard of it." What ARE Trump's policies on anything? What is Trump's policy on Gaza? He won't say. Does the media ask him that? No. They just attack Harris. "She has no policy." What about tax cuts for the middle class? Fighting corporate price gouging? Passing the bi-partisan border bill Trump killed? Capping drug costs? Working night and day to bring the hostages home? Strengthening NATO to defend the free world? Giving some homebuyers a $25,000 assist for down payments? No, again. Today I read an idiotic "journalist" in The Hill claiming Harris policies are an all-green economy, a ban on fracking, and medicare for all. I think Harris mentioned these things in 2020 when she first ran for president. I guess the corporate-owned MAGA media is going to ignore everything Harris says about policy in 2024, and keep attacking her for a select few of the things she said years ago. I guess that means the MAGA media doesn't think their guy Trump can win against Harris' actual 2024 policies.
For the Republicans, this election has turned into game of lies. They have no foundation or platform from which to preach so they invent what they need, and they demean what they fear.
I never cease to be amazed at how folks without a clue about how to reconcile their checking account have all this economic wisdom. And I’m not necessarily talking about Vance. It’s all the numbnuts that buy the lies these 2 constantly spew.
Yes! My neighbor told me, "The housing market is going to crash in 2 years." I asked her why. She said, "If Harris gets in, and gives first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment, that will force the home sellers to buy more expensive homes. That will drive up the housing market, and that will cause it to crash." ???? But she is utterly convinced of this.
We need to make MAGA voters understand they are voting against their best interests. Legal immigrants, women, and people of color are not the enemy. Most of the wealthy and powerful are, and 45 and JD cater to them, want to be one of them (see Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum). Private equity, big corporations, and venture capitalists control food prices, drug prices, housing prices. 45 has lied over 30,000 times, is not a good Christian, and was not chosen by "god." He will not favor white men unless they have something he wants, and then he will try to take it. Social security and Medicare will be privatized and slowly robbed and the reasons lied about. Harris and Walz will fight for the ordinary folk. WE NEED TO GET THIS MESSAGE ACROSS!!!
Capital favors protectionism to real redistributive policies like raising corporate taxes or taxing the capital stock precisely because that tax will be passed on to consumers and margins will not be compressed. Any consumptive tax, be it a tariff or a VAT is inherently a regressive tax because it disproportionately affects lower income people who consume more of their income.
Tell people this. Income taxes if honored are more progressive, because they tax your income proportionately. But sales tax...If I buy a TV for $500 and pay a sales tax, that's the same dollar amount I pay with my low income as a billionaire pays out of their huge income. Keeps me from eating out for a month. Means nothing to the billionaire.
100% in agreement professor, which is why I don’t even bother listening to his nonsense. It appears RFK Jr. isn’t the only one infected with brain worms..:)
There seems to be an epidemic of brain worms within the ranks of the GOP these days.
Which is starting to explain a lot….:)
Up to60% of Americans' have reduced Anxiety because it's cured by placebo.
BEWARE THE HIDDEN COSTS OF INSIDIOUS PLACEBOS!!!
In this remake of the Blockbuster movie TITANIC... our flaw of exaggerating threats is symbolized by the Ocean surrounding the TITANIC... of the "ocean of possible BS" that humans can believe, SOME BS MAKES IT PAST OUR PROTECTIVE HULL...BUT IT SUDDENLY DISAPPEARS WHEN CURED BY A PLACEBO CALLED ANGER...!!!...(symbolized by being boiled alive in a carcinogenic sludge)
🤔😐
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN7rXLJGTXM
PREEMPT ANY NEED FOR PLACEBO BY TAKING THE INOCULATION RECOMMENDED BY THE WHITE HOUSE: "Do one thing every day that scares you." Eleanor Roosevelt...
aka FREEDOM FROM FEAR ...as FDR established and the UN.org ratified
Before Purdue Pharmacy BSed their way down the entire pain pill supply chain.(A million opioid dead.... and counting...).. they brainwashed our culture that we no longer needed to face our fears. and that required part of treatment was replaced by Valium, etc
I remember while book editor at a monthly newsjournal in the early 80s that a couple of major books appeared hailing new prescription drugs as a revolutionary alternative to talk therapy: cheaper & faster: a psychic Drano, you might say.
I have no idea what you're talking about, PowerCorrupts. You may be correct, but what you write is unintelligible to me.
I know what you mean. I assumed it was a rage against the protean postwar Cetus monster of corporate advertising. It’s duplicitous pushing of drugs and dreams to send us to sleep to enable profiteers to rip us off.
Gunnar, I AGREE!!!
What Else Is New ?
Trumpet 🎺 is a Coward and A Liar
Vance is Simply Following His Masters Voice . Good Doggy!!!
Sit Beg and Do What I Do..Do..Do
More Poop On The AirWaves…
Sit Beg or Sieg Heil?
I am having second thoughts about the question sign.
Citizen J - “like” Thanks for the laugh with “Good Doggy”! ;O
Even brain worms have better taste than that…
Literally in at least one case!
Rick - “Like” Sad but true.
Maybe RFK needs some ivermectin...
Bleach is the only cure for corrupt .
and the worms ate lots of facts about Project 2025 on the FactCheker used by PBS.
Bobby, your father would be so proud. You have managed to stay out of jail, you haven’t been institutionalized, and you’ve thrown in with a guy who wants to overthrow the government. Good for you! Croak, croak, ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!
Robert - “LIKE” Spot on!
Based on Vance's and Trump's "nonsense" Biden's 100% Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles is going to cost China a lot of money. Stupid on its face!
They can be 'infectious'. Lol
Tariffs don't just function like a tax; they ARE a tax by definition. I think this would be a different conversation if Democrats would start calling tariffs "import taxes" or "taxes on imported goods" and not let supposedly anti-tax Republicans get away with this deception.
It seems like most of Trump’s supporters believe that an import tax is a tax on the country that’s actually exporting. They don’t realize it means tax the US is paying. They have confused it just like they have confused Mexico paying for the wall.
I’m not sure Trump understands. Vance does, but he doesn’t mind lying.
A friend of mine said that’s why we should be more worried about Vance. He’s better spoken and can sound intelligent. Luckily, Kristen Welker did shoot a few truths back at him and wouldn’t let him escape the “childless cat ladies” crap.
I’m in total agreement with you, @MusingMissouriMusician.
My husband, who’s beginning to show signs of intellectual old age, let’s just say, told me how articulate Vance was in some TV interview a few days ago. I cringed, and in my case, I knew that arguing with him would get nowhere. But this is very scary to me. He can be articulate, much, much more so than trump, and my fear is that he’s going to brainwash and gaslight many, many people, including my husband. P.S.: I do know that hubby is voting for Harris.
If he shows so much as a modicum of intellect, the maga morons will turn on him like a pack of rabid dobermans.
“That’s what I heard them say”
They are confused. A 60-year-old Trump supporter from Shamokin, PA, Robert Bridy, said he is voting for Trump and has done since 2016 because "he's a working class guy just like us." We have to find a careful way to counter this degree of rampant confusion.
One good way would be to point out all the working people he's stiffed.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/mike-kelly/2020/01/24/donald-trump-still-owes-money-to-contractors-who-built-taj-mahal-atlantic-city/4547037002/
And brags that he never pays a bill.
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/special-report-trumps-art-of-the-deal-dispute-your-bills-idUSKCN0T214P/
It amazes me that these stories have been out there even before he became president and yet they are not heard by the people he hurts most.
Reading the Reuters article you would think that "all he wants is to be treated fairly"--in fact, that's his standard claim. Yet many small merchants cut their bids to "curry favor" from him in the first place, so how are they being treated fairly when he tries to beat them down?
I am recalling one small businessman who was approached by Trump and asked to bid (??) supplying pianos for an casino and was mostly stiffed on payment. There is nothing there in the first place for a small businessman to eat. It was disastrous for him.
When we read these stories me must remember that for Trump, all this is business as usual because he has a lot of projects going on at once. For a small music store to provide many pianos is several years worth of business! To have to give up what is basically all the profit on a transaction like that means you don't stay in business.
Can’t Fix Stupid !!!
Leftie/progressives make so many mistakes thinking people are stupid. Take a look at sociologist Arlie Hochschild, author of "Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right" as she discusses the people she found to be drawn to Trump:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?416749-3/strangers-land
Also see this article: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-do-white-working-class-people-vote-against-their-interests-they-dont/
Agreed. Scared and misled, but not stupid.
While the person as a whole may not be stupid, given the chance, anybody is fully mission qualified to do stupid things.
I genuinely don’t understand how going to bat for someone who transparently won’t do anything to help you or your community just because he tells a half-coherent lie about why you’re in the shit to begin with doesn’t fit within the conventional understanding of ‘stupid’.
ON - I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what it has always been about - till now, amazingly. (Part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton). I'd love to know who is behind the "research" Mr Reich refers to.
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
By the way, I provide my full name because (1) I sometimes defend unpopular opinions, and (2) people can check my name against my Facebook page and thus, to some extent, ascertain that I'm not a troll or a computer-derived entity.
Yes, within that understanding, stupid certainly fits.
Sorry, can't help but ask, do you prefer to be called by your first name or your middle name? Or more formally, your last?
It’s not confusion. It’s delusion! And how did someone who sits on a gold toilet ever pass himself off as one of the “common” people?
By being able to get away with giving the whole political establishment the middle finger salute and laugh his Republican opponents off the debate stage. Remember?
Come help us find a way:
http://www.mobilize.us/wisdems/event/595372/
Christina, I would bother to try. An idiot stays an idiot, how ever many times you slap him around the head!
All working class guys get aillion dollar loan from dad. And that's 7 million in today's dollars. A million was just Trump change, I guess. Actually, he might be the worst businessman in history to bankrupt a cash cow casino.
Maybe Trump is a "working class guy", Christina. FDR, with his New Deal, was.
Oh, c'mon. Roosevelt was one of the old Dutch "patroon"class that controlled the Hudson Valley from 1609 on. Working class? Roosevelt's formidable mother would have eaten you alive for even thinking that. Believe me, his peers did not consider him working class.
You know very well what I meant, Diggit - I am well aware that FDR wasn't OF the working class. What I meant was that both Trump's and Roosevelt' policies SUPPORTED the working class.
So every working class family has a home like Mar a Lago?
Somehow I missed that boat!
( What i dont miss is having to clean that mansion)
Do you think that's how Melania spends her weekdays?
Even if his base did understand how tariffs work, they would still go along with the ruse, because the MAGA true believers believe everything he says, regardless of the facts, no questions asked. Just like a cult. EXACTLY like a cult. He is the only one they trust.
I'm afraid you're right, by now. The job of Democrats is to ask these people what they see in Trump, listening empathically instead of just looking for ammo buried in what we hear. That opens the other person up to, to a real conversation, an interest in what each other has to say. That is a cult-busting exercise anyone can do.
I've tried that many times, and I have yet to find a single Republican or conservative who will actually try to defend Trump's character, competency, values, policies, or anything. I'm pretty sure that even people who like Trump really don't. They've just had a deep fear of liberals drilled into them so hard that they'll accept any alternative. Conservatives and Republicans and not stupid, but they've been badly misled by people they thought they could trust and the fear their media blasts them with all day long keeps them from being receptive to any alternatives. To just dismiss them as inferior (and ourselves as thereby superior) ignores the fact that we could be misled as easily if we're not vigilant.
https://hopeanyway.substack.com/p/questions-for-trump-supporters
You may be interested in Braver Angels, an org I work with that brings together red-leaning and blue-leaning people to get to understand each other. One motto of theirs I particularly like: "Come as you are. Leave as you are."
Empathic listening enables me to hear myself saying something that I've always had to either defend or work hard to articulate at all. So now have an opportunity to examine it from all kinds of new angles, seeing new facets and implications of what I'm saying.
And it's a gift to the listener too, enabling one to experience the fullest possible expression of something.
My favorite people are those who are just as much fun to disagree with as to agree. All it takes is mutual interest and respect. But that can be hard won, in the beginning. Have a look at https://www.braverangels.org
We are learning how to have Braver Arguments!
Yes! I've been a dues-paying member of Braver Angels for a couple of years, and I took a bunch of their trainings, but I haven't been able to attend one of their workshops yet. (I'm in Idaho, so the nearest in-person gatherings are several hours away.) But yes, I think the work this group does is amazing. Thank you for sharing the suggestion!
Dwain - Braver Angels is a very good idea in its attempt to depolarise the United States. However, I just logged-in and found that you charge a membership fee.
I am dead against membership fees. This is why I am against the substack system that charges a membership fee. I believe that opinions should circulate freely. This includes my own opinions. I'd never charge for my contributions (such as they are) - I'd like to give and receive FREELY.
Besides, I'm as poor as a church mouse. And I suspect that many, many people, especially on the Trump side of the voter spectrum, are similarly poor - and they, it could be argued, are maybe the ones most in need of a membership of Braver Angels!
And remember that many religious conservatives don't necessarily idealize Trump or his family---but recognize that going along with them is essential, if we are to get to the hyper Christian New Age they thirst for.
People need role-playing experience to get through their own prejudices. I say this because I recognize my problems here.
Heather - “Like”
Yes! So one wonders if some journalists aren't just taking dictation.
Junior High brain engaged: dicktation.
Lol Ally !
Ally - “like” Thanks for the smile!
😂😂😂
progwoman--Dictation--that sounds like Trump. The man wants to rule in a "Dic-nation."
Donald - “Like”
No wondering.
progwoman - “like”
That's a good idea! It's hard to explain what these tariffs will do to the middle class and poor pocketbooks!
"Tariffs are taxes on goods brought into America that are passed on to American consumers by the corporations that import the goods and pay increased the taxes on them. Corporations pass the increased cost along to the consumers. It's estimated the Trump tariffs will cost the average family $3,900 extra each year."
And therein is where the problem lies. Most Americans don’t understand how tariffs work and how and when they are applied and paid by whom and ultimately passed on, remembering, if they even do, the one day in high school history tariffs were mentioned as used by the federal government in the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries to protect domestic industries while still in their infancy.
Now as applied in a global economy, the cost of an import tariff paid by an importer, not the country of origin, is passed through the supply chain and eventually through wholesale and retail markets to the end consumer.
The potential problem of Harris/Walz or any candidate or politician calling it a tax, as correct as that might be in effect, is there will always be some industry or business line where to protect a small, infant, or nationally strategic producer a tariff can be justified. And once threatened or tariffs applied, some group will scream “there they go again, raising taxes and consumer prices.” Or on the flip side, if not protected, “their trade policies will benefit China [or fill in name of country] and is a job killer”.
Threading the needle is at times difficult and proper messaging matters.
Yes, Christina, there may be something in that - until U.S. domestic industries pick up the slack and start producing the goods that were previously imported.
But the basic purpose of protectionism is to protect the domestic job market. And isn't it better to pay somewhat more for goods but KEEPING one's safe full-time job rather than paying less for cheap imported goods but losing one's livelihood? Keeping one's full-time job will make it relatively easy to pay the extra $3,900 that you quote. It's not so easy to find a job replacement in a tight labour market with lots of unemployed or semi-employed people.
I put it to you that the reason for the rise and polularity of Donald Trump is that he broke with the Republican and Democraic Parties dogma that 'free trade' is somehow cost-free to the American industrial worker. It has proven to have been very costly to them - since Reagan's presidency. Not just costly in money terms but costly to the cohension and sense of union with the United States. Ignoring blue-collar and calling them a 'basket of deplorables' was both insulting and divisive. And it was a Democrat contender who did it.
That was truly one of the worst moments in American history. In terms of defining forever the contempt that the well-educated and prosperous have for everyone else who isn't, including unionized people who make decent livings.
There are no safe domestic jobs. And most likely those items made overseas are not going to become American-made. That $3900 in extra costs will show up as inflation which angers most Americans.
I can only speak of England, Frank (where I live), but England used to produce a diverse range of goods both for home consuption and for export. Like the U.S. (I assume) its range is much less. But I see no reason why both Britain and the U.S. can't diversify again - it depends on tariff protection and market demand.
Some reasons why the U.S. and U.K. will not diversify again: With what factories? On what land? And what raw materials from what other countries?
And what power will run those factories: water, from the rivers that are now undammed? Coal, from the mines that are completely tapped out? Nuclear? Solar?
And who is going to underwrite this industrial effort? Are unionized grocery store clerks and flight attendants going to save their nickels for one big push? Do mainstream computer folk have any belief at all in working people, that they would underwrite the effort? Or do you seriously think Peter Thiel and Elon Musk would be interested, being as how they are such humanists?
Peggy: The "tariffs" AKA taxes will make everyone pay more for goods. It is that simple.
Not hard. Easy. To pick our pockets clean. Like everything else Rethuglicons do.
Why is it hard? Examples abound.
Reich hits the nail on the finger about the popular misunderstanding of tariffs: It is all too easy to promote tariffs as a tax on another country for its products. But tariffs are actually charges on our own importers.
There is no way to tax another nation, but calling a tax a 'tariff' makes it look like the politicians are 'doing something' to China or some other country.
I don't think it's that simple, Dwain.
I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what it has always been about - till now, amazingly. (Part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton). I'd love to know who is behind the "research" Mr Reich refers to.
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
This seems like a skewed version of the Lost Cause myth. The South wanted to protect their "peculiar institution": That's it. Northern industry, if it was vulnerable, was not vulnerable from the South. It would not need to be protected from the South.
Southern enslavers thought the world would be brought to their knees if Southern cotton was blockaded by the North or boycotted by other nations. Other nations found better and closer sources of cotton.
No it isn't Peggy!
I am not an economist but I very much doubt Robert Reich's assertion that higher tariffs don't protect American industries and American workers' jobs in the long run. Protectionism is about protecting domestic industries and jobs - that is what has always been asserted in the past - till now, amazingly. (In fact, I undestand that part of the reason for the outbreak of the American Civil War was about protecting vulnerable Northern secondary industries whilst the South wanted free trade to export their cotton).
I'm sorry but it seems to me that someone on the Democrat side is trying to rewrite economic history.
Money can grease transactions, or poor dry sand on them. Tariffs reduce trade by making it more expensive. This decreases what the seller gets for their goods, and increases what the buyer must pay to obtain those goods. Tax rebates on trade do the opposite. Who pays depends on how the market reacts to the traiff or rebate.
The secondary effect of a tariff is to make it easier for business that receive the tariffed goods to compete with the products being imported. But, that requires investing in the means of production. It takes time. In the case of China, a lot of US companies are doing production in China.
Exactly and that is what they should call them.
Can I post your comment? It is so good.
Of course!
So shared.
I feel DJT from the sense of "blasphemous" sustainability: how the Heck do we incentivize American made goods and services if there's no flat tax/equal rate of affordability across the market spectrum? I can't imagine https://puri.sm/products/liberty-phone/ being accessible to folks who'd otherwise be stuck with mediocre/readily disposable ♻️ Affordable Connectivity Program 🤳🏼📱 until we have tax equity which internalizes the disgusting disaster of capitalist globalization
Yes a tariff is a tax but so is a subsidy/USFG grant for every market regulation which makes something economically sustainable here in 🇺🇲
And Trump has been clear that he supports co-ops it's just a matter of divesting from Big Tech in social libertarian ways of interdependence
Moreover if We The People are going to get over Trump's threatening antics (out of his own personal insecurities like growing up with an alcoholic mother as an Intersex person) we must stop demonizing him for saying stupid shit as collective intelligence only works well when we trust in mutual respect REGARDLESS of perceived political alliance
"When they go low, we go high"
Or as my father figure riffs: "Buy on the downlow, get higher than a 🪁"
"an alcoholic mother as an intersex person"??? What's this about?
Diggit - Don't ask! It's not relevant.
Bingo! Ryan
Ryan - “like”
Good point Ryan.
It is a shame that Americans are so ignorant of economics that they can't call bullshit on bullshit. What's worse, the media report this shit without fact checking.
More people need to follow Professor Reich.....he makes it make sense.
Don't lump all "Americans" into your pot of ignoramuses. Many of us DO understand basic economics and perhaps even more.
Sorry. Slip of the tongue. Should say too many Americans are ignorant of economics. this I think is true.
Yes ; It is also less insulting to the uninformed, who did not have a say in their school curriculum, and neither did their parents.
Betsy - Do we? I'm not sure that I do. I'm simply asking basic economics questions because I DON'T know. What I have noticed is a shift from what was "common knowledge" not so long ago and what we are today told is "common knowledge". So, we used to be told that protectionism DID protect vulnerable domestic industries and DID protect the domestic job market. But now, Mr Reich is telling us that protectionism is not good for the consumer. But I ask, it may not be good for the consumer but maybe it's good for the blue-collar worker who needs a safe well-paid job?
The media are owned by the obscenely wealthy who don't care about the average wage earner. At all. They get tax breaks from tRUMP.
@Laurie. The people that will tolerate immoral behavior in pursuit of a tax break will bring us all down with them. Better Kamala's plan. Remove the cap on Social Security taxes so that wealthy and high income people pay at least something. Also, tax credits for children, higher minimum wage, revoke the "carried interest" loophole, and other fair taxation policies.
Laurie - Yes they get tax breaks from Trump. But they're also defenders of free-market Reaganomics (neoliberalism) - and neoliberalism also favours tax breaks for the rich. And the Democratic Party machine seems very luke warm about changing all this; they, too, depend on Big Business to fund their election campaigns. And Robert Reich has written about this, brilliantly.
Benjamin, even Economists seem to be ignorant of economics much of the time! As do bankers, finance ministers, corporate finance directors.......
There is an old joke......
The economy has tanked so the government calls in the top 5 economists for advice, and then call each into the room, one by one. Their first question to each of them is, "What has gone wrong with our economy?"
They get five completely different answers, and each answer ends up by blaming the other 4 for their lack of understanding of economics!
So after some confusion amongst the government bods, they call all of the economists back in, and ask each of the five to write down, in detail, their preferred solution to the problems.
They end up with 8 solutions, each one guaranteed to be the only one that will work!
Az - Well, broadly speaking there are two economic schools: the one by John Maynard Keynes (Keynesianism) and Reagonmics/Thatcherism (both referred to as neoliberalism or free-market economics - how free is a matter of dispute). Keynesianism looks for solutions that will protect our welfare system and the welfare state, so that those of us who need government support will receive it - unemployment benefits, old age pension, and so on. Neoliberalism says, with various degrees of emphasis, that we are responsible for our own health care and income in our old age; it is up to us as individuals and families, they say, to plan for our future and ensure we have private superannuation on which we can support ourselves in our old age, and somehow we must see to it that we can afford private health insurance. Neoliberalism really addresses the well-to-do middle class, not the lower middle class and the working class who don't have money to spare for super and insurance. And neoliberalism was dreamt up by members of the wealthy middle class, right from the start - by people who were unhappy with liberalism - people like Ronald Reagan, for example, who never tired telling the same story: "There is nothing as scary as a knock on your door and a voice saying, "I'm from the government!""
For more, look up "Mont Pelerin Society".
Without "the government", a sizeable part of our communities would live in third-world poverty and their children would be without schools. Reagan created a myth and a zeitgeist which is still with us.
Before Joe Biden went into neurological decline, he made preliminary moves to extract the U.S. from the curse of neoliberalism by appointing Janet Yellen. This move was a sign of recognition that the Democratic Party acknowledged that neoliberalism had failed too many Americans as an economic reality and ideology. It is for Kamala Harris to move the U.S. further away from Reaganomics and blue-collar destitution and declining neighbourhoods to something like a functioning welfare state. Whether she has the brains and the integrity I don't know. Trump seems to know about the welfare state but whether he really supports it, I don't know. He certainly knows about protectionism - and that is a start.
The problem for the American voter is that you are voting for two ambiguous candidates - two Rorschach ink-blot tests on which you can project anything you want/like/fear/hate onto. And both appear to support Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. I'm not saying there is much to choose from, but neither Trump nor Harris is really showing their hand; she seems to prefer to remain ambiguous.
THE book to read is "The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society", by Dardot and Laval (2013). The last three chapters in this book seek to explain what kind of scociety the neoliberals seek to put in place.
Blame The Chicago School for spreading outright lies for decades
Yes, Benjamin R, ; All of those.
Reichwing billionaires' wetdreams are the successful dumbing-down of Americans. Defunding our once-prized public schools has brought us here.
And those billionaires toast on their 4th luxury yacht...
How are those guys allowed to promote lie after lie without consequences?
Why is the media not calling them out for their easily debunked lies?
How can we really-enact the Fairness Doctrine to bring equality back to the news media?
Big News Media thinks Bunkerboy will make them money THIS time, even though he already told his cult he WILL shut them down on day one . . . yeah, makes no sense to me too.
They want some of his promised 5 trillion $ in tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy.
Boycott their advertisers and find more truthful sources of news, if possible and affordable. Stop paying for their misinformation.
They keep telling this whopper, even if they know it’s a lie. Trouble is the MAGATs believe them.
I think trump himself believes it.
He doesn’t have great reasoning powers and evidently doesn’t understand first grade math.
So, if I make something for $100 and want to make a $100, I sell it for $200. If there’s a 10% tariff, I’m going to sell it for $220. If people won’t buy it at that price, I may knock a few dollars off or not export to the US at all, but I’m unlikely to swallow the whole tariff. If my item is a component and other components are also imported, the price of the finished good can increase significantly.
Does Vance have an NFT? https://www.tradingview.com/news/benzinga:159236254094b:0-how-much-has-donald-trump-made-from-nft-sales-it-s-more-than-you-might-think/#:~:text=His%20Ethereum%20and%20Polygon%20wallets%20are%20generating%20substantial,has%20earned%20from%20The%20Apprentice%20in%20recent%20years.
Does JD Vance have morals? He has some explaining to do, and we must demand it. He could be our next president.
Susan - But this issue is not just about price, it is ALSO about the job market and job security for those whose jobs are insecure. The trade off, if we support protectionism, may be higher prices but a more secure job market tending towards full employment.
John, the MAGAs believe the lies but we have to reach the independents and undecideds and make sure they understand exactly what the orange man is selling!
More and more of US are independents. Like me.
Peggy - First you must understand what the Democratic Party is selling. Is it any better?
Oh yes, so, so much better! Kamala will work hard for ALL of us just like President Biden has.
You don't seem to understand much if you believe your question is valid.
Again luckily, even many TRUMPLICAN CULT MEMBERS seem to be waking up to his severe Alzheimers. Even FUCKING MORONS can see that morbidly obese weirdo is not up to snuff.
Anything that comes out of Vances mouth is pure unadulterated bullshit.
Just like his lord and master, Jabber the Frump.
Agree, and don't forget the Do-Nothing Congress, not up to snuff and mouthing pure unadulterated BS all the time. Now Comer is attacking Walz for traveling to China to teach. He's going to launch major, expensive, long-term probes into Walz to "find" the "financial gain" Walz "must have" gotten from these teaching trips. Why don't we get a Democratic attack dog to probe Donald Trump for taking $10 million bribes from Egypt and Big Oil? That's actually illegal. I need Democrats to fight back.
Robert is being far too kind in his interpretation of Vance. He's fascist Peter Thiel's sock puppet.
https://samray.substack.com/p/jd-vance-a-psychological-profile
I think Robert knows how to pick his battles.
It has nothing to do with picking battles. It's about how the vast majority of our best & brightest like Robert are mostly clueless about obvious pathological narcissism in maga.
Whenever dealing with challenges, priorities must be set. Going in several directions can waste energy and distract .
Like your comments here?
I normally wouldn’t dream of disputing economic matters with the estimable Mr. Reich. But implementing tariffs (essentially a SALES tax) while cutting INCOME taxes is not irrational—IF you want to shift more of the burden to ordinary wage earners and lessen it on high-income earners—which is exactly what “Conservatives” want to do.
That makes sense to me.
Yes. Maybe Trump can add another plank to his 2-plank economic plan: "Zero taxes forever for billionaires!"
I can smell the ‘freedom!’
Yes, 'just' what billionaires need.
Yes, Roger, libertarians want to replace the income tax with sales taxes.
Administratively, it would just be easier to make the income tax regressive. Terrible for us, great for the rich.
What Else Is New ?
Trumpet 🎺 is a Coward and A Liar
Vance is Simply Following His Masters Voice . Good Doggy!!!
Sit Beg and Do What I Do..Do..Do
More Poop On The AirWaves…
Who is Trump listening to?
he is responding to what he feels will keep his base wedded to him. it’s visceral. it’s reactive. it’s thoughtless. it’s horrible and dangerous
It’s not only dangerous, it’s deadly. With the help of his dark money puppeteers and media masters, Trump has infected/brainwashed his MAGATs into becoming an army of pathological liars totally dependent on his continuing diarrhea of BS to maintain their mental slavery to him. There are many ways to stop him and his followers beginning with the original punishment for treason: public hanging on the National Mall. Of course this is pure barbarism but the threat of such a spectacle might be enough to shut them all up. Nothing else seems to scare them.
Himself, as usual
Fox News and the Heritage fascists.
The Voices from His Wallet
His master' s voice. Whichever billionaire is waving money under his nose. Usually a Putin or any old oligarch will do. Musk seems to have influence 🤔 these days. 45 mil/month donations to tfg will do that.
Tariffs raise prices on domestic goods that compete with imports too. Monetary policy can either accommodate these price changes, or, if not, some other prices will have to decrease. You just know that will be labor. This doesn’t get talked about enough.
Robert, I am hoping that Kamala Harris will be able to explain this during the debate so that the viewers can understand it.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high about the ‘debate’ clarifying anything other than *Rump being an out of control madman. Harris won’t let him get away with much, and may land a few solid punches, but it won’t be a tutorial on the salient issues of the campaign.
Agree! Does Trump have any policy? 1) tax cuts for billionaires and 10% tariffs on imports? 2) banning abortion? (some days he's for it and some days he waffles); 3) Project 2025? "I had it written, but I never heard of it." What ARE Trump's policies on anything? What is Trump's policy on Gaza? He won't say. Does the media ask him that? No. They just attack Harris. "She has no policy." What about tax cuts for the middle class? Fighting corporate price gouging? Passing the bi-partisan border bill Trump killed? Capping drug costs? Working night and day to bring the hostages home? Strengthening NATO to defend the free world? Giving some homebuyers a $25,000 assist for down payments? No, again. Today I read an idiotic "journalist" in The Hill claiming Harris policies are an all-green economy, a ban on fracking, and medicare for all. I think Harris mentioned these things in 2020 when she first ran for president. I guess the corporate-owned MAGA media is going to ignore everything Harris says about policy in 2024, and keep attacking her for a select few of the things she said years ago. I guess that means the MAGA media doesn't think their guy Trump can win against Harris' actual 2024 policies.
If he even shows up.
This question always comes up before a debate, but he always shows
I completely agree. Besides, if you’re explaining you’re losing.
Peggy : I think she can manage.
He’s second in command of the Liar’s Club
For the Republicans, this election has turned into game of lies. They have no foundation or platform from which to preach so they invent what they need, and they demean what they fear.
Trump demeans the "woke" so that white, straight males can feel proud of themselves. It's the old John C. Calhoun gambit.
And let’s not forget: Dems 50, Repubs 1.
Bill Clinton triple-check the score.
I never cease to be amazed at how folks without a clue about how to reconcile their checking account have all this economic wisdom. And I’m not necessarily talking about Vance. It’s all the numbnuts that buy the lies these 2 constantly spew.
Yes! My neighbor told me, "The housing market is going to crash in 2 years." I asked her why. She said, "If Harris gets in, and gives first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment, that will force the home sellers to buy more expensive homes. That will drive up the housing market, and that will cause it to crash." ???? But she is utterly convinced of this.
We need to make MAGA voters understand they are voting against their best interests. Legal immigrants, women, and people of color are not the enemy. Most of the wealthy and powerful are, and 45 and JD cater to them, want to be one of them (see Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum). Private equity, big corporations, and venture capitalists control food prices, drug prices, housing prices. 45 has lied over 30,000 times, is not a good Christian, and was not chosen by "god." He will not favor white men unless they have something he wants, and then he will try to take it. Social security and Medicare will be privatized and slowly robbed and the reasons lied about. Harris and Walz will fight for the ordinary folk. WE NEED TO GET THIS MESSAGE ACROSS!!!
Capital favors protectionism to real redistributive policies like raising corporate taxes or taxing the capital stock precisely because that tax will be passed on to consumers and margins will not be compressed. Any consumptive tax, be it a tariff or a VAT is inherently a regressive tax because it disproportionately affects lower income people who consume more of their income.
Tell people this. Income taxes if honored are more progressive, because they tax your income proportionately. But sales tax...If I buy a TV for $500 and pay a sales tax, that's the same dollar amount I pay with my low income as a billionaire pays out of their huge income. Keeps me from eating out for a month. Means nothing to the billionaire.
That makes sense.