British prime minister Liz Truss resigned today after just 44 days in office. Modeling herself on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who pushed the same sorts of supply-side economic policies U.S. president Ronald Reagan did, Truss had taken office on September 6 promising to fix the country’s rising cost of living by slashing taxes on the country’s corporations and highest earners and thereby, she argued, spurring growth.
I wonder how many insurrectionists and other MAGA and GOP voters can tell you who Thatcher was or Liz Truss is, or what supply-side economic mythology is, or why Brexit continues to hurt the UK and Europe, or what mega-donors demand from the GOP. Even scarier, I wonder how many of them even care. Fox News isn't going to tell them the truth, and it's easier to just believe what Fox and Trump and other demagogues tell them.
I hope I can come back in about 30-50 years to see what the history books, including Dr. Richardson, have to say about these intense recent decades. Whew!
Agree, Laurie. I kinda doubt that MAGA crazies, Trump, or Fox folks understand or care about what supply side economic mythology is. And some days WaPo, NYT and their journalists also seem rather ignorant and uninterested. The subject takes them away from their obsession with simplistic and meaningless polls asking stupid questions about voter fears of inflation, prices, etc. The level of ignorance and failure to educate and inform the public about economic issues is depressing.
Please read Kenneth Vogel's recent NYTimes reporting on Leonard Leo. (Sadly the Times has not given it the play it deserves. But it is still available.)
"An investigation by The New York Times of Mr. Leo’s activities reveals new details of how he has built that network, with relatively little public attention, into one of the best-funded and most sophisticated operations in American politics, giving him extraordinary influence as he pushes a broad array of hot-button conservative causes and seeks to counter what he sees as an increasing leftward tilt in society."
Thank you, though knowledge is a terrifying thing. I’m left feeling hopeless and helpless. As a right-there-in-the-middle class American, my feeble attempts at saving our democracy seem just that. How can writing postcards come up against such indecent amounts of dark money? What good does passing out voter materials door-to-door, standing on corners waving signs, marching, sending paltry amounts of donations to candidates do? All of you wonderful people who offer so much knowledge daily, what do we do?
Hi, Sue, it is so tempting to accept the hopelessness that is triggered by the kind of news you referred to. That's one of the reasons I call on the following:
* I subscribe to Robert Hubbell along with HCR, because his whole premise is optimism + action. So there are lots of stories of action and successes in the comments
* I hold in my heart Dr. King, "Hatred does not drive out hatred. Only love can do that." I believe in the power of love (in spiritual terms, God's love) and the notion of oneness, which means that each positive action any one of us takes affects the whole.
* Rachel Maddow's new podcast tells the story of an attempted coup in the 1940's promoted by a Catholic priest whose fascist based radio show reached an equivalent of 30 million listeners in today's population. There were calls to arms, planned bombings and lots more, and it was stopped. We've been through this before and we will get through it again. There are thousands and thousands of activists whose energy is focused on supporting true democracy.
*And finally, my very favorite Frank Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington about a young senator's efforts to challenge the greed and power and corruption of the state's power grabbing villain. Smith is so discouraged and about to give up, when his assistant (who used to be so cynical but is inspired by him) finds him at the Lincoln memorial and encourages him to continue his fight. She reminds him that the power grabbers of the world are not more powerful, "Their kind just makes more noise that's all." Blessings,
While I applaud your power of positivism, there is the factor of super wealth being concentrated into the hands of the few. The potency of the war being waged from the political right is fueled substantially by the very wealthy, who also happen to be more on the side of right-wing thought. The political "left" is not aggressive; too passive. Being aggressive and pugilistic does not translate into hatred. It does translate into taking a stand on solid footing, being unwilling to compromise unless there is compromise in its most authentic context. I do not see current-day Republicans as willing to compromise in any context. They do not want to share the universe. They want to rule the universe.
I urge you NOT to be hopeless. The helpless part I get. If we lose hope, they have us right where they want us. We automatically become victim to their treachery.
I am sitting here feeling exactly the same way. This is scary. My small donations and my steadfast belief that right will still prevail seem so very small and futile. Better angels where are you?
The press should be doing more of this sort of reporting. This has been my complaint. One has to be like a detective to find these articles. This is why I read press outside of the US as much as inside. One needs to. I have been concerned about the Opus Dei contingent which is what Leo is. The Theocracy that our nation has become is not what it is supposed to be moving towards. We are supposed to be gaining understanding of what this country can be, not moving back in history. They are all about putting themselves at the top and holding onto that power. Clarence Thomas is just a flunkey who helps them as is Amy Coney Barrett. They are helping the White men hold and consolidate power. Rich, propertied white men keep what they had when the constitution was written and not give an inch. They want subservient women and everyone else to be slaves and indentured servants.
Trevor Noth made some potent obervations on MSNBC Tuesday (maybe Wednesday) night with Alex Wagner. His take is that news media either needs to tell the truth and consequences to educate the public - or - come flat out and say they are presenting "stories" because they are good for ratings (which translates into $$$ for the network). The news networks were much more valuable before the demise of the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan.
From what I have read about Leo, which I admit has not been a whole lot, I conclude he has a very dark and sinister aspect which propels him to be an overlord. Our constitutional democracy is being upended by Leo and his cohorts. The average American who is out of touch with this treachery will suffer sudden and painful whiplash when they learn about what has been taking place before their very eyes.
Amazing how demonic and satanic the Roman Church is and has been. NOW, six RC's sit at the Supreme Court. Cruelty is one of the Roman Catholic afflictions. I also am reminded of Pope Pius XII, who hated the Jews and turned them over to the Nazis. It has been written that Pius DID change his ways, but not before a lot of damage had been done. Do those people and their kind ever consider the fact that without Judaism, Christianity would not exist?
He is only one of the horde with money to influence the nuts on the side of money. The people be damned. Scream socialism or libtard, and the poor sods vote Republican while cashing their SS checks. National insanity never turns out well, even for the rich bastards who are already licking their chops.
Funny story for you. I had a friend (he was older and passed now) who lived out in the sticks where my farm is so I helped and befriended him but he was a big Trump lover and Fox watcher. A good guy though. Smart as a whip.
Well, this guy graduated high school, here in NY, and he went to work for the NY Public School system as a janitor back when they had something called Tier 1 retirement. Tier 1 retirement was the GOLDEN retirement none of us will ever have.
It offered 80% of final pay and free health care for life and the Tier 1 people paid essentially nothing in. Hence, I pay for their 80% of final pay and free health care, all day, every day, with my taxes here in NY.
This guy retired, as a Janitor, making $45,000 per year. Salaries are public here.
He retired at 60 and passed last summer at 89. You can do the math at 80% how much he pulled in after he retired from my taxes.
At any rate, one morning I was having breakfast with him obviously right after a fake blonde on Fox got him all excited about Socialism because he was ranting about Democrats wanting everything to go to "Socialism".
So, I asked him: "Bill, Socialism is sure working for you though right". He looked puzzled for a second and growled in an ugly way: "What the hell do you mean by that Mike".
I said, well, "Bill, you spent your entire career collecting a spectacular salary from the state, paid for by me, and, now, in retirement, you are probably going to offer to pay for my breakfast because you have money running out of your ears in retirement......paid for by me".
"Bill, your entire adult life was made wonderful by Socialism but apparently you don't want me to share in the fun party you are having".
Jeri, he glowered at me for LONG time. Then, he said: "Mike, PEACE".
And never brought it up again.
All over America people are benefitting from Government support, but, the more they get, the less they recognize it and definitely they don't want to share.
Like, for example: FARMERS. Farmers would not exist in this country without government support but? They will all vote for Trump or whatever deadhead Republican the Billionaires pick next time.
In fact, FARMERS get huge "crop subsidies".
Which? Really means Welfare for White People right? There are almost NO black farmers.
But, we don't call "crop subsidies" Welfare for White People right? We only call welfare that help we give to black people.
I hereby and henceforth call Crop Subsidies: Welfare for WHITE PEOPLE.
Like I have said: "The Problem with America..is"..well.....you already know and agree.
I bet your friend also benefited from Medicare another socialist program and perhaps even had a mortgage interest tax dodge as well. Both are also mostly White People welfare.
Thanks for the comment and story Mike. "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis, is an related eye opener if by chance you haven't read it. The story of Valejo, CA and "Henry the Pheasant", particularly. The Henry story illustrates the importance of something other than-"getting whatever one can, whenever one can, just because one can" and being blind to the consequences-such as the janitor and farmers in your post.
Henry was a pheasant, living on a Churchill estate in the UK-that found himself a tourist attraction-people constantly fed him-so he ate whenever he wanted, just because he could-and became so overweight that he couldn't fly-and was eaten by a fox. As I recall, the moral of the story from Lewis was that on the human side of things, realizing the consequences of our actions and changing accordingly is a choice-and if we don't change-things can get so bad that the consequences cannot be ignored.
As with the GI Bill and voting rights, Black farmers have been written out of government subsidies for farmers and flagrantly denied access. Many have not been able to continue farming. There is a back to farming the land movement and litigation to remedy some of the injustices.
I want to read storied of a Liberal machine empowered with a mission support, train and refine thinking of young idealistic law students throughout the leading educational institutions of our country. More desperately needed than ever.
What a beautiful illustration of finding the moment and acting on it. Normally we’ve learned to not waste our breath on Trumpers, but this sure worked out!
Sorry but not all farmers are Trumpers and I dare say that you might have a poor understanding of farm subsidies. Don’t generalize until you’ll know the facts. Also, do not lump all farmers together as some are the wealthy corporate types and the rest are trying to eek out a living with long hours of work and sacrifice. We need them and their work products. If I sound a little offended it’s because I grew up on a small farm, still own the farm, and don’t fit your stereotype.
What fraction of those struggling farmers voted for Trump? I gather you didn’t vote for Trump at either opportunity, and good for you if that’s the correct inference, but it’s the percentage that tells us how to assess the group. Not all white people are racists, for example, but most are, and that’s important to know.
What you have written is the truth. It is also true for every public servants employed by any government agency from public schools, police, fire departments, etc. all the way up to the elected members of our government. I'd like to see ONE Republcan who complains about Social Security/Medicare give back their perpetual salaries/benefits received after serving a minimum amount of time in office. (We won't make them more uncomfortable in reminding them they have approved benefits and regulations that either apply only to them - without the voters' consent - or exempt them from rules that apply to others.)
"I'd like to see ONE Republcan who complains about Social Security/Medicare give back their perpetual salaries/benefits received after serving a minimum amount of time in office." NO KIDDING!
Good guy? No. Hell no! People like that guy, 74 million of them, are “The Problem with America,” as you put it. You are a good guy. Your friend wasn’t. Good riddance to him. One down, 74 million to go.
Rex, thanks for the comment. For what it's worth-I understand and agree with your angst towards the guy that Mike mentioned. Maybe I took you too literally and my apologies if I did.
That said, some thoughts to consider. The importance of honor and decency in a democracy has been mentioned many times in this forum. It comes from Dr. HRC's interview with President Biden. If we focus on honor and decency as a measure of how best to move forward, then we can recognize and constructively act upon several things:
-A bunch of indecent, dishonorable people thought it was OK to not only "write off" millions of Americans with whom they disagree-they also saw no problem in a violent insurrection.
-Wouldn't it be better to acknowledge that we CAN disagree with even 74 million Americans, without just writing them off? ...Educate people with whom we disagree-ask them to focus more on honor and decency and hope if not expect that they will follow our example?
So, our ballots arrived yesterday here in Salem, Oregon. We are in the new US House district 6. However, on the state level house race, we have a guy running as both a R and a D who is a total nut case. We think we were sacrificed to get the US House district drawn as it is. So we have contacted our friend in the know as to who we can write in. We used to have Ds at the state level for both house and senate. But not now.
I believe Oregon Indivisibles are backing Andrea Salinas (Democrat/ Working Families Party / Independent Party). I've heard good things about her. I'm in Astoria.
I agree about Salinas. She did a remarkable job, and it appalls me that she is not on the ballot. Please do your best to convince people to write her in. You all deserve her, and you will not regret having her if she wins. Remarkable, hard-working, insightful. She has my respect, for what that's worth. Wish I were back in Oregon to help out.
Our friend says its bright red and not worth the time or money for a D to run. She suggested we donate to others and we have. She also included a dinner invite to go out on New Year's Eve, so there's that. We did this before the pandemic and it's good we can do it once again.
The head of Patagonia just gave away his company. I bought from them for years. A wonderful man. Yvon Chouinard. I tried to share the NYT article from a week or so ago. Look him up. He is fighting climate change with his donation.
Agree, Lin. It was an excellent article. One question is how NYT and other media can give these investigations more attention. I’m thinking that many journalists lack a basic understanding of inflation, how oil and gas pricing works, etc. They then focus on the simple stuff, ie summarizing what uninformed voters think. Honestly, I’m glad I turned 80 and don’t have to watch it all for another 30-50 years.
The “conservative” rich people paying for this political “transformation” are coming to light. The rich liberals who created our current government are not as well organized and apparently not as well funded. Defense is a difficult operation….
The rest of us seem to be only pawns in this rich vs rich battle for the soul of our country.
Mike, thank you for sharing and gifting this story. Is there no way to stop this train wreck? Are we bound to destroy our Democracy with Leo and his dark money legacy at the helm? His influence is so deeply entrenched in the courts and the politics of the repugs how can we fight against this machine? It’s a disease that is now part of the genetic makeup of the GOP, and ((USA?) beyond who is elected or in office. Capitalism out of control and beyond the control of the rule of law?
lin! I have thought of you often. Are you in the photo, complete with chalk script, of the protestors at L.L.'s home? I hope you are still there defending our democracy! Bless you!
The Republican scare tactics have ensured that most of the MAGA folks are looking the other way at those things that frighten them, ie. difference, change, inclusivity etc. They've been convinced to vote against their own economic interests and instead, continue to externalize their problems on "those people" - fill in whichever group they fear the most.
That level of ignorance, willful or otherwise, is also essential to the success of people like McCarthy, McConnell and the failed insurrectionist. The Democrats need to be about educating people in thoughtful, patient but no uncertain terms about what they would do to deal with the economic and social concerns we currently face.
While I agree that the Dems need to be more focused on informing people, especially those who aren't all that savvy about economics etc., but it's not just a lack of information that leads them to keep voting for those Repubs. It's also their fears about being "replaced" by non-whites and passed by, by technological changes. Many of them yearn for a time that will never be again, a time when it was clear who was in charge, and what the future held for themselves and their children.
No doubt about that, but so far the Democrats have offered nothing positive as an option other than access to abortion which doesn't impact most of them in a practical way and an assortment of large scale economic programs that also don't have an immediate practical impact. Something like legislation to support Social Security by removing the income cap, possibly accompanied by an increase in the full eligibility age, is highly visible and, given the current GOP attacks on Social Security and Medicare, also immediately impactful both emotionally and financially.
Love your verbiage, hate the image of chump’s ugly arse though. That so many MAGAts love him is a testimony to the poor taste of the cult nuts. But the repub “elite” abhor him and use his ugly arse as the means to rob the country blind.
Our fall colors in the Wisconsin's Driftless Area have also been especially spectacular this year. My 3-year old granddaughter was out to our farm and exclaimed," Grandma, the trees are yellow and orange!
Mike, friends from around the country have been commenting on spectacular colors. In the Chicago area, there was a radio news clip a few days back from the Morton Arboretum talking about the colors. Sadly, my mind goes to "is this a harbinger of climate change extinction?" which is the state of mind these days. Thanks to the support and encouragement of others here, I am up to 50 postcards and 80 letters to voters. Perhaps crazy, but as I write each one, I put some positive vibes out into the universe as I think on them as I address the envelopes.
If they manage to take control of the Federal government (or even enough state governments), I think you'll find their power is a lot more substantial than you think.
You want to know how the kind of filth being spewed over at The Federalist turns out? Read some history. It doesn't even have to be recent history. The result is always violent and ugly and eventually everybody loses.
"Don't worry too much"? Seriously? Maybe if Germans had worried more about Hitler or the Russians had worried more about Stalin or the Chinese had worried more about Mao or the Spanish had worried more about Franco or, for that matter, if the Romans had worried more about Caligula a lot of unnecessary bloodshed and destruction might have been avoided.
Sure, there will be beautiful falls even if the USA falls apart completely. Also if Western civilization collapses and the human race is reduced to a state of Medieval barbarism or, better yet, finally kills itself off. Hell, they'll probably be MORE beautiful when we're all gone.
Oh, I take mental health breaks on a regular basis. I just think we need to avoid adopting "don't worry be happy" as a general philosophy. I prefer "do what you can and try to let the rest go."
Mike, there is a book I read quite a few years back ‘How It Ends: From You to the Universe’ by Chris Impey, professor of Astronomy. Despite the subject, it is in no way depressing and is a fascinating read.
I believe the sun will expand into red giant state, which will absorb most of the planets in our solar system, but hey that is 4.5 billion years away, so nothing to worry about.
I’ve thought that too. I’ve had to face the fact I won’t be here 15 years from now when the history of tfg’s criminality and administration is written (I soaked up the books on Watergate). I hope there’s a library in heaven, or first row seats to watch what’s going on on earth.
As the lyrics say….’we are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon’…closest to religion that I can come is ‘may the force be with you’…and know that nothing is ever really lost, it just transmutes into the elements of our universe. I mean, really, how cool is that?!
The 'Truth Teller' on Liz Truss was the Bond Market. The market seized and started to not function requiring Bank of England liquidity intervention, the Pound crashed and the economic train was heading to a head on collision with at least a Recession or worse. That is before we toss in inflation and crushing energy prices.
The crash of the pound was such that had I gotten paid in mid-September (as should have) for the work I did on a book project for a publisher over there, rather than yesterday as I was, my bank account would have been $500 better off with the exchange rate in September. But I am glad they waited till they did to make payment, since if it had been a week earlier the loss would have been $1,000.
TC, While you might be right, as one who has vowed never to pull back from taking the fight to the Republican Party, I understood HCR’s final 2 paragraphs to imply that the only failure would be quitting.
The Dems that I hear from whine, predict defeat, and never mention the Republican vow to destroy the working man’s world. Surely the “free press” would carry a press conference or two.
Jeri, While I’m not clear how your reply relates to my comment, I would note that I believe Dems must go on the offensive and take the fight to Republicans who have opposed every bit of legislation introduced by Democrats to redress the massive income and wealth inequality that decade after decade increases exponentially.
Interesting idea, Free Press. This NYT article on Leonard Leo and dark money is so important for every citizen to read and know about. But it’s not freely available, except thanks to the generosity of a subscriber. My subscription lapsed when the accounts department messed up my account. And I spent too many hours trying to fix it. So thanks again for sharing.
I plan on looking on from planet Earth in 30 days to see what is said about the blue tsunami that will crush the puny, shortsighted, selfish, traitorous, stupid MAGAts agenda. And please remember, “stupid” is a choice they have made.
Democracy is as strong as its people. I’m confident.
"Democracy is as strong as its people." Yes, it is. That's the problem. If a large enough minority don't want a democracy, we won't have one. We're seeing that in action right now in states that have Gerrymandered a minority into permanent power. It doesn't matter what the majority thinks or even how they vote if the minority has the power to stop them from voting or simply decides to ignore their votes entirely.
"You know, comrades, what I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how." Josef Stalin, quoted in Boris Bazhanov's "Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary", 1992. The "Republican" party is working from Stalin's playbook.
Very few! I bet they know a lot about Michael Flynn! I watched Frontline on PBS last night! "Michael Flynn's Holy War". It explains a whole lot about the January 6th insurrection. Hopefully, there are more of us than of them. I was shocked at the people and comments. And to think that they are doing this in the name of Christianity!
I watched it too, and it really put fear into my heart! That traitor, Flynn, has a lot of power and is building his own "Christian" warrior cult. These people are serious.
Yes, good point. And Dems simply have not figured out how to use and focus on the word myth or mythology as a way of responding to GOP focus on inflation etc. Many blue collar folks blindly think GOP is better with business.
I have to confess that when I see projections about all sorts of things into the future, I always think if we are still here. It is clear to me that we are in the process of destroying the planet with incredible greed among other things. One of the problems i see locally in terms of making any change for any problem is that we have a set of people who can't seem to understand that it may take a number of smaller steps. They want it all or they won't vote for it. An example is a state wide proposition which takes some steps to address the gun problem. It isn't perfect, but it was put on the ballot by a coalition of people, religious leaders among them, to make a start. I belong to a few progressive Facebook pages here in Salem and sure enough, someone was not going to vote for it because it doesn't go far enough. Then there was an ongoing fight on who should even belong to a group which was devolving into a purity contest. That attitude helped bring us death star.
Could be. It's also true that we humans have managed to survive for thousands of years and accomplished some marvelous things as well, so perhaps we'll manage to overcome our worst faults.
Britain is sure giving us a preview of the chaos America will have if the MAGA Republicans gain power in our next two elections. The tax cuts of 2016 showed Reaganomics never works and never will. What we're seeing in our economics today is greedy corporations who have no incentive to share the wealth with the middle class. While corporations are free to raise prices to maintain a gluttony of profit, middle class workers receive no cost of living increase. Corporations don't seem to realize they are biting the hand that feeds them since capitalism is based on the consumers ability to buy. Today's capitalism is about profits to shareholders while starving the consumer and hollowing out the middle class. Economics now is about moving money upward in the food chain of income disparity. This is all moving toward America becoming a failed state unless we can turn this around! President Biden is on the right track by building wealth from the bottom up and the middle out. We, the People, all of us this time sharing the wealth !
“Corporations don’t seem to realize...”, they most certainly do realize what they are doing and they are laughing all the way to the bank. Inhumane treatment of those who consume their products at any cost. I agree with you, Cathy, that Biden is trying to build the country back up again but if we don’t do something about the evil takeover of the Pro-Rape Party, we are doomed.
I'm going to do my part by holding the entire Republican Party accountable for the evil they are unleashing on the rest of us by vowing to not vote for any Republican - local, state and federal level. We, the People, all of us protecting and enjoying our Freedoms this time!
My whole family made that decision a long time ago, for the simple reason that the republican party in general failed to stop Trump when they could have, and then went on to make excuses for what he did. Many of them still are, and those who have spoke out have been sidelined by the Republicans themselves. There is no such thing as a moderate Republican anymore, for the simple reason that the Trumplican have taken over the Republican name and have sidelined real Republicans. There was an opening after Jan 6 rebellion when the Republicans could have regrouped and shut off their radical wing. But they didn't. So all my votes will be for Dems, especially progressive Dems. No, they are not all perfect, and there will be ups and downs, and there will be different perspectives, but at least they will keep working together for the benefit of the American people. I no longer trust anyone who identifies as Republican to be able to do that. I know that sounds extreme, but I am watching this play out not just nationally, but even right here in Vermont, and it is scaring me.
Pro-rape party. Republicans of 2016 would recoil in horror at such a label. Not anymore. They’re working hard to put women in a solid second class citizenship. Meaning crimes against women and POC will not be prosecuted or treated as seriously as crimes against white men. Kinda like it is now, but without the facade of equal legal protections.
I yhink they are fully aware of the short term consequences of their actions - profits - but they remain oblivious of the longer term consequences, which are likely ro include their failure.
How many times must we recall Will Rogers in 1932. “The money was always appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.” Maybe Mr. Hoover didn’t know but the Republicans of today surely do.
It's not just 2016, Cathy but, EVERY cycle the GOP has charge of. They leave the economy in tatters and the Dems always clean up the mess. Why the Dems can seem to figure out how to message this from the mountaintops is perhaps the greatest mystery of all. Below are just two articles that tell the details for talking points. Rachel Maddow also regularly brings out a chart over time showing Rep vs Dem economic success that looks like a roller coaster. I can't find it right now but will look for it as it is even more direct in showing the difference.
BK, You are right on! I do NOT understand why the polls show that voters think Republicans handle the economy better than the Democrats. Look at how George W left the U.S. economy for President Obama to fix in 2008. President Obama put the economy on a very strong positive track and even reduced the deficit. Then, the minute DT became President he took all the credit for the trajectory the Democrats had put the economy on. President Biden has to deal with the impact of COVID on the economy plus DT's friend, Putin has done to disrupt the world's economy. I agree with you that the Democrats need to tout the Rep vs Dem economic success and change the narrative. Something like Republicans only do trickle up economy increasing income disparity while Democrats spread the wealth and opportunity for all. We, the People, all of us this time with well-being for all.
This pattern goes way back. Forty years ago my uncle, who had been active in urban Republican politics, explained to me that it was a deliberate practice.
Yes. And so why are his approval ratings so low? Why is he being blamed for inflation that is affecting the whole world? And why are corporations reporting record profits when they are supposedly raising prices because their costs are going up? The free market, as regressionists continue to want to envision it, is an unattainable utopian dream and will never have a chance of even being approximated as long as the 0.1% collude. The regressionists continue to tout the glories of the free market as a means of keeping government regulation out of the economy specifically so the 0.1% can continue to collude.
Supply side economics can absolutely work if a government can initially finance itself. Britain found out the hard way that investors don’t care about domestic British economic policy given the country’s D/GDP is approaching 100%. If streamlining taxes and spending grows GDP faster a country can take on more spending. In a high debt, slow growth highly regulated economy it cannot. That’s the U.S. today. But we spent anyway and the premium on our debt, $4 trillion + and the rollover of our total debt gets more expensive every day. It’s called Stagflation. This is the path we are on. Our treasury market is becoming less welcoming. We should all be concerned. Austerity may be around the corner for you cannot tax your way alone into a solvent future.
Hi David, I certainly agree that the U.S. needs to manage its debt and reduce it. All legislation must show how the programs will pay for themselves or be paid for by other cuts or taxes. I believe the current administration is trying to do just that. Even with the stimulus programs which are creating jobs the current estimate reduces the budget deficit by $1.4 Trillion for this year with the 15% minimum tax for corporations. And, yes, budget deficit is different than total debt but a good place to start reducing debt. It has been ridiculous for 60 of the largest corporations together to pay less tax than I do as an individual! The biggest mistake in the 2016 huge corporate tax reduction is for not to include any incentives to increase wages so almost all benefit of the tax reduction went straight to the shareholders rather than trickling down to the wage earners. Trickle down economics has never been shown to work. I do think we put too much emphasis on GDP and my dream is that we measure any legislation with a Well Being Index WBI as important as GDP on how the legislation or policy improvements the well-being of all rather than just the few at the top of the income disparity tower. There is balance in everything and we certainly aren't finding a good balance point of a strong economy and well-being of all the citizens. We, the People, all of us this time.
Corporate taxes are a double tax on investors. WBI sounds nice but our creditors including the Saudi’s, Chinese, Russians and Japanese might not care. They want cash principe and interest. That means GDP.
One could also argue the individual tax payers are paying double to make up for the unfair tax loopholes corporations get. WBI and GDP are NOT mutually exclusive. I believe you can have both and the synergy of that will benefit both the workers and the investors. Right now with Citizens United the corporations can buy the Congressional votes. That's legalized corruption. Again, I'm an AND person, a Synergist. Too much of our politics is now OR thinking. One is one up or one down; it us versus them, it is ALL with me or ALL against me. Most issues have a lot of gray areas or other colors -- like women's rights -- the no exceptions for even the life of the mother and the vigilante injustice we're seeing in laws like Texas's Anti-abortion law -- is not justice for all. sI think there is a huge amount of ground in the middle where we don't have to split the pie; we can bake more pies for all. I'm one of the few people in the world who has been both a corporate executive (in a very ethical Fortune 100 company who treated its employees very well) and a member of the AFL-CIO (Musicians Union; before right to work laws...) so have been the perspective of both. Understanding all perspectives leads to better solutions for all. Synergy! We, the People, all of us this time!
Do you have even one actual example of a case where funneling more money to the already rich actually helped grow a country's economy for everyone?
What we have seen in the US since Reagan is money funneled upward, everyone else gets poorer, then the plutocrats use that increasing hardship as an argument to give themselves ever more power.
Gladly. JFK was the first post war tax cutter. He lamented the misallocation of investment and capital as a result of punitive high absolute tax rates especially on the rich. Interestingly effective tax rates have changed little over the decades. Wealthy people either find tax sheltered investments or don’t invest at all. It hurts the little guy. An economy with punitive tax rates is typified by slow capital formation and growth. JFK was the progenitor of RR.
The federalist society owns the supreme court, much of the lower courts, the fbi and much of congress and senate. And yet the senior editor of their official organ calls for radical revolution, mass incarceration, the end of democracy in a rant redolent of fascism. The most vile racism and sexism pours from the mouths of right wing media personalities. Kevin McCarthy is threatening to take the government hostage after the midterms. MTG has gone from gibberish about Jewish space lasers to being seated next to McCarthy. Steve Bannon’s project of stealing local elections has met almost no pushback. A few election denying AGs will be able to throw the next presidential election to whichever of the trumpist thugs has emerged with the GOP nomination, or at the very least throw the election into chaos. Meanwhile Garland still has not prosecuted anyone of consequence from the January 6 insurrection. It seems, does it not, that the right is preparing for war? And that we on the left and center have no real idea what is about to hit us?
I think men like Leonard Leo of immigrant Italian Catholic background and African American Clarence Thomas clawed their way to the top taking every advantage of the opening up and liberalization of American society. Then they've dedicated their lives to reinstating a status quo which would have denied them the opportunity.
Thomas has said civil rights legislation is the new slavery. But in truth it's like he's serving the same racist masters as of old.
It is interesting on Mount Desert Island. Leo is trying to white wash his reputation by throwing money around - big tipper at local restaurants, floating his Catholic church, donations to hospitals - but socially I am not sure it's buying him acceptance. Many of his neighbors give thumbs up to community activists demonstrating outside his estate. Even Rockefeller heirs and other big money people here are liberal in their outlook and politics.
Although Leo seems to have bought purchase with the Town Manager and Town Council of liberal Bar Harbor. But not the police department leadership. Go fig.
Thanks for the regular reports from my favorite state. We honeymooned in Bar Harbor. And enjoyed 15 years of Maine residence. I miss it so much.
Good luck with the election. You have the dubious distinction of having had 8 years of the most monstrous governor in the history of the nation. And now he has returned to haunt you!
May he be crushed at the voting booth and be sent packing back to Florida where his ilk would be welcomed by the death squads of DeSantis. Please tell me he will lose...
I’m horrified that yet another arch conservative anti-democratic white Christian nationalism activist has invaded the sacred beauty of Maine, even my favorite Mt. Desert Island ( I live in MA.) I hope Leonard Leo continues to be shunned by the other local wealthy. Tucker Carlson also retreats to the serene beauty of Maine when he is not spouting his paranoid fascist lies on Faux “News.”
Why do we Democrats always always bring policy wonk verbiage and tea cozies to the (figuratively and maybe soon literally) gunfight with Republicans and all these so-called christian white nationalists? I am NOT advocating physical violence but jeez, Dem leaders, can we at least get better at matching their guts-grabbing lies and fascist propaganda with simple, guts-grabbing truth and a Democratic vision that appeals to more than just us “coastal elites”?
Our manner of fighting reminds me of the chaste spinster who concludes her life certain that she never lowered her standards while bemoaning never being loved or passionate.
I wish I had begun the above comment with this: Dr. Richardson sheds so much light! I would not have heard about the Federalist editor’s call to obliterate our free society had she not written about it. One of my observations about religious conservatives is that they are addicted to black and white thinking and a super simple set of rules that let them decide They are Good and everyone who does not think exactly the way they do is Bad (corrupt, socialist, communist, etc.) They cherish the self-gratifying notion that they are the “faithful” who follow (their definition of) “God’s law” and this entitles and even obligates them to go on a crusade=jihad to impose their draconian religionist, sexist, White-ist vision on all the rest of us, to “rescue” America. And preach their fire an brimstone sermons from pulpits like the Federalist Society’s journal. Sigh.
Ah, finally a comment about that horrid opinion piece from The Federalist website. While the funders of the disinformation website are obscure, according to Wikipedia, the Federalist Society expressly disavows any connection with The Federalist website. Please see the excerpt below from the Federalist Society FAQ page:
Q. Is the Federalist Society affiliated with any publications?
A. All members of the Society receive a subscription to The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, a student-run law review for conservative and libertarian legal thought. The Society publishes a magazine, The Federalist Paper, which highlights recent and upcoming Federalist Society events. The Federalist Society Practice Groups also produces an online legal journal, The Federalist Review. We do not have any affiliation with the web magazine known as The Federalist.
I was confused and terrified, too, when I thought that the Federalist website was the same as the Federalist Society -- it was like hearing that Justice John Roberts was advocating for the rape and dismemberment of losing plaintiffs. Instead, it's just a hard-right crew of Handmaid's Tale wannabe's trying to imitate something more respectable than themselves. While I do not agree with many of the Federalist Society's positions, I've never heard that they were a terrorist organization like the website that bears the same name.
@Dirk, thank you for doing that research! I hope you’re right, that the Federalist website truly has no connection to the Federalist Society. I shared your alarm at the idea that this piece was their work, for exactly the reasons you cite.
Why am I not surprised that Liz Truss blew up her premiership before it could gather up a full head of steam. I could almost hear her chortling, "Ooh, Ooh, TAX CUTS, EVERYBODY!! LET'S PARTY!!"
Before anyone starts mouthing that awful cliché, 'What were they thinking?', we know what it was, and it wasn't thinking. These so-called 'conservatives' are as predictable as ants at a picnic. It's all about supply-side 'let's-pretend'; and here they are, trying to rescue a battered economy when the obvious response needs to be redirecting money from wherever it can be found into keeping people from starving, and losing their homes, and ensuring that people have a job to go to every day. You would think that these people would not have to be told that the fiscal policies of Sir Robert Peel, back in the 1830s, would most definitely not be welcome in a world in which Russian aggression has precipitated the worst energy crisis in memory, together with the ratcheting up of obscene profit-taking by OPEC and its domestic admirers; shortages of natural gas due to shortsighted policies that placed all of their bets on cheap Russian gas that gas consuming countries in Western Europe had to know would make them politically vulnerable as long as Vladimir Putin held sway in Russia. It's been said that no one ever lost money betting on the stupidity of the American public; likewise, no one ever lost money on betting on the shortsighted greed of vulture capitalists the world over. Finally, the intellectual universe of conservative political parties is a mere fraction of the size of the ambition of those parties to rule, and with the least amount of accountability and self-reflection as they can manage. Conservative political parties, as with authoritarianism and fascism, live entirely in the present. For them, both past history and their future prospects are cautionary warnings about what so often goes wrong when political movement conservatives are allowed to hold sway for too long, and thereafter run amok.
It is the implicit job of government to ensure that those seeking rents, and short-term profits, are kept firmly under control. Capitalism may be the finest method civilization has happened upon to create unbridled wealth, but like fossil fuels, it needs to be confined in secure spaces and put to work making the machinery of civilization move forward. Otherwise, it's too explosive a commodity to be left in reckless hands. Liz Truss and her band of merry adventurers styling themselves as 'conservatives' are like people playing with matches in the drought stricken forest. To call them irresponsible, is to understate the severity of what they've done. The fact that one or two of them have advanced degrees in economics belies the fact that the coursework they apparently took to qualify for those academic degrees bears no awareness of the dire realities that the government and country they were selected to lead are in dire economic straits; and that the policy choices that they pontificate about, while garnering nods of approval in a faculty lounge, are now about to crash on the shoals of reality. These people are, and always have been, sophomoric fools.
I'm so glad you approve. Watching Liz Truss & Company going through their paces, with what amounts to their prancing around on hobby horses, waving their wooden stick swords, and with their folded paper hats askew on their heads, promising to outdo everyone else in economic derring-do was almost too much to stomach. When I think of men, women, and children suffering and dying in Ukraine to protect their national existence from a rapacious monster in the form of Putin's Russia, and then turning my gaze toward Liz Truss, and her Cabinet's positively absurd behavior, and supported by her Conservative Party's insensate mindlessness about the way the world works, I have to wonder just what it is that keeps the British public sane enough to go to the polls to vote for someone else to hold the premiership and to assemble a Cabinet of responsible adult politicians who can find their way out of the mess the UK is presently in. Clearly, the Conservatives have dropped a heavy anvil on their toes, so to speak, but at the same time, they are still nominally in charge. From the former PM, Boris Johnson, and now with Johnson's successor capsizing and sinking under her own weight, it's hard to imagine that anyone affiliated with the Conservatives having the gravitas to go forward with governing policies that the British public would at least be willing to hear and debate. The problem is that the Conservatives have no gravitas to speak of; it's all been dissipated, first by a boorish blowhard, and now by a Reaganite/Thatcherite Savonarola whose vision of reform is to destroy whatever is left in the UK economy.
<<I have to wonder just what it is that keeps the British public sane enough to go to the polls to vote for someone else to hold the premiership and to assemble a Cabinet of responsible adult politicians who can find their way out of the mess the UK is presently in.>>
There lies the rub. The Tory party process for choosing a leader or a replacement leader (as has happened 3 times in the past few years after the departures of Cameron, May and Johnson), has no place for the electorate at large to voice their opinion or cast a vote. Ms Truss would likely have lost a general election (GE) 45+ days ago, had there been one, hence the Tory grandees doing everything to avoid that then and now.
Why do people continue to vote Tory? I have read a theory, quite plausible, that it is similar to those voting or supporting Trump and his ilk. Despite their definitely voting against their own self-interest (social ,economic, fiscal etc) their aspiration to be like them (rich, not held accountable for bad behavior, able to push others around, etc in the US; rich or better off, not held accountable for bad behavior, socially accepted as middle to upper class etc in the UK) all make them blind to the reality of what they are doing.
Change will come when these good people wake up to the insanity of what they are doing.
Every English person I am in contact with is appalled by what is happening, especially since they were against Brexit and predicted what would result. They just thought it would take longer.
X a million, thank you. They are nothing except clones (no argument about who was the most evil first) of the greedy bastards masquerading as republicans in the US
As Liz Truss announced a plan to address rising prices with tax cuts and energy deregulation, I wondered how THAT could possibly work, then watched with amazement that elected officials had the good sense to admit “no way to pay for it” was an impending disaster. In the US, too many officials, pundits and Larry Kudlows pretend tax cuts will “pay for themselves” or pretend there IS a plan. Americans buy into pretending.
I agree with your statement, but I also believe that it requires some clarification as to which elected officials admitted to the facts by acknowledging that the British government hasn't a clue how to pay for what needs to be done to keep the UK solvent. It was Ms. Truss and her Chancellor of the Exchequer with the unpronounceable name who started this dumpster fire, and now both of them are history along with the remainder of her Cabinet. In the history of political routes, this was a star-spangled spectacular! In European history, there are numerous events leading to immediate failure. I am reminded of the loss of the Vasa, the largest ship of the line commissioned by the King of Sweden in 1626, launched in March 1627, and on her maiden voyage in August 1628, sank after sailing for approximately 1300 meters, having been blown over by a like gust of wind. The fact that the vessel was un-seaworthy, and greatly top-heavy, is an apt metaphor for the Truss premiership, which, metaphorically speaking, went down with all hands after 41 days of experiencing stiff headwinds from world financial markets. No surprise there; but the speed with which the debacle occurred can be chalked up to the utter inanity of the project.
Their continuing education involves rereading old memos praising each other and does not include assessment of knowledge or skills improved. Beware those who believe their own press releases.
Before Roe, Women died by bleeding out from botched abortions, many were married, Catholic (nobirth control), mothers and good people. I got to tell their family mommy is dead with her blood on my shoes. The crime is not providing safe medical care. There are no medical reasons for prohibiting abortion. The only reason is religious beliefs. The Constitution gives us freedom of and from religion. Prohibiting abortion is unconstitutional.
In an article relating how the British people were fed a bunch of lies to get them to vote for Brexit (with most of the English believing them), the author states “Once the electorate can no longer trust what they are told, democratic debate is denied.” The same can be said about the lies told by TFG when he declared there were thousands of dead people voting in Georgia (there were four). Far too often, when confronted by facts, MAGA Republicans refuse to believe them because they believe that any news not touted by F** News or similar sources is Fake News. As the author stated, this prevents democratic debate. We can only hope that independent voters can believe facts and vote accordingly.
My cousins live in London. They voted for Brexit. Their children were thoroughly angry at them for going that route. Putin is responsible for the disarray in England too. The world is a mess.
Like Marlene Lerner-Bigley's cousins, my brother-in-law and sister voted for Brexit. My nieces and their families were not amused, least of all by the sabotaging of London as a major economic center.
But the entire operation was a gross abuse, a caricature of democracy. The very tight majority was secured by a strong to-hell-with-the-Tories protest vote, the old and on their way out slammed the doors to the future on the rising generation, Brexit Tories championed a new English nationalism, riding roughshod over Scots and Northern Irish and insulting them as irrelevant... The then Prime Minister, Theresa May, saw "Taking Back Control" as her personal control freak's opportunity to grab it all, and with the rise and fall of (now regurgitating) Boris Johnson, a narcissistic pervert if ever there was one, all hope of any control over the UK's destiny was thrown to the wind.
I fear that wind may not take long to turn to hurricane.
Unfortunately, the BoJo, like a certain unmentionable product of New York City... and cronies... regards facts, truth and morality as whatever he may find convenient at any given moment.
It was in the '80s in England that I first encountered the phrase "being economical with the truth". Was this during and inspired by the regime of Maggie Thatcher? Why, yes.
Somehow we need to better convey a practical strategy for determining which purported facts are likely to prove reliable. I recall one afternoon in elementary school during when we were instructed how to recognize classic logical fallacies, but for only for an hour or two. There was no specific follow-up course material to give us practice in spotting them. As an adult, it is not the data, which was most of what the testing was about, that I came to value, it was the incorporated skills. Not that this in the whole answer, and our circumstances are very complicated, but how we choose to identify information worthy of confidence is a very big deal to how our fates as individuals and as a society are likely to work out, and lies and delusions have sometimes proved to be exceedingly dangerous.
It seems as if the Brits are in a spiral dive. I think it may be driven by hubris. The more I read of English history and how it viewed the rest of the world - as colonies to be exploited - the more I think this may be a classic case of cultural karma crashing down on a failed empire.
There are of course, many wonderful English people. But there is an overarching arrogance that has been bred into the nation. And since we were "founded" by the same folks, we seem to have followed the tradition of ignorant disregard for others and the common person. Perhaps we will wake up before it's too late. Or not.
I'm with Barbara. I want to live forever - just to see how it all turns out. :)
My take on history is very much the same, Bill. I have no desire to live forever though. I just want to do what I can to keep things from imploding so my children and grandchildren and their progeny have a chance to make things better.
I'm reminded of the scene in "Cabaret" where Brian Roberts (Michael York) realizes just what his good friend Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) is, when "Max" shows up in his SS uniform.
The Federalist, run by confessed plagiarist Ben Domenech (who John McCain would have run out of the house the first time Megan brought him home to meet dad), at least is willing to let us know that "National Conservatism" is to Conservatism as "National Socialism" is to Socialism.
Now we can clearly see them as the Enemy they are.
As to Brexit, as my British (they're not all English, HCR, that's the most obvious and common American mistake) friends explained at the time, all David Cameron had to do was add in that the plebiscite had to get a majority in each part of the United Kingdom. The Scots, Welsh and Irish all voted Remain, it was just "the buggers in Yorkshire and Liverpool" as one friend described them, who voted Leave.
The vote was merely 'advisory'. It required 60% (got more) to join the EU. It was just a bunch of radical 'Conservatives' hijacking the country and destroying it. Sound familiar?
TC - thank you for educating me on the federalist Ben Domenech. I dug into that a little bit. From his comments after being busted on the plagiarism rap, it sounds like he enjoyed the notoriety. His apology was a watery gruel. My mama taught me in my childhood that it's a bad idea to have your name show up in the morning police blotter.
CBS used him for awhile on the Face The Nation panel with John Dickerson several years back. I’m familiar with who he is and who he’s married to. Are we too late in recognizing the only way to overcome the high jacking of the courts Federalist (l liken them to deep state Russian operatives) have done to making the stealing of democracy completely legal? Our foundation is being washed away from under us. Families are being torn apart by lies and deceit, it makes no sense. It’s like watching loved ones standing on the train tracks with a locomotive barreling down towards them while they wave flags and smile. Our hope is the blue votes will derail this train. 💙
The federalist society is so clearly affiliated with a radical right wing political ideology, that I think membership should be automatically disqualifying for appointment to any federal court.
One element that made the difference was the large number of English pensioners who'd retired to Wales...
I fear we may all be about to see a repeat of what British civil servants were told by the locals when they were posted to west Wales in WW2: "Why are you bringing your war to us?"
Cameron was so confident that 'remain' would win any day of the week, that he did not even require a qualified majority to make such an important decision. That would have been self evident, I think, as it was deciding something at that level.
"EU is where empires go when they have lost their last colonial war" (Timothy Snyder). I guess that was just too recent in Britain, so some nostalgia could still linger about.
Yep, Davidson has that unhinged, ready-to-start-quoting-Ilyin vibe to him. Wonder if Sabatini knows what flavor of "god" Franco, Mussolini, Codreanu, Ilyin, and of course The Austrian Corporal were conjuring? Ironically, I suspect not--mostly because he's a tool--but also because it doesn't matter for him just as it didn't for them. Their "god" is whatever they want it to be to justify enacting their childish, brutish, lashing-out narcissoscape. Yep, THAT deranged. The only thing missing from Davidson's self-righteous rant was saying "will to power." (also suspiciously hypocritical. I ALWAYS suspect people who hate so many things as usually being guilty of habitually doing at least one of those "unmentionables" themselves. I've been proven correct in this numerous times. My all-time favorite: Ted Haggard).
So, we're gonna vote in record numbers and sweep these idiots from our halls of power, right? Right? No excuses if we don't. If you think voting is hard, just wait. Beatings will continue until morale improves...
For a brief moment, I'd hoped against hope, that the Truss debacle was an avant-garde happening. A herald of international rejection of the dysfunctional conservative enterprise. As if. Truss is out only because of her clumsy execution. Where was her Mitch McConnell? Her Newt Gingrich? Her Leonard Leo sucking the teat of big money and crapping corrupt government. A significant number of Americans' taste for eating shit seems insatiable. The Republican dystopia of our nightmares is the apocalypse now of their enraptured dreams. The big money behind it isn't betting their lives on any assumption of heaven - they're building equally fantastical bunkers. Is Putin holding off using nuclear weapons, hedging his bets on a GOP Congress playing its trump card and withdrawing aid from Ukraine? A Trump second coming withdrawing America from NATO?
Canvassing Saturday in a very poor section of Ellsworth, in subsidized housing literally behind our own Pillow Man's strip mall temple of trumpism, I spoke with a young couple in their early twenties. Three children under 5 years and the license plate GOP216. Today canvassing high on a hill above Bar Harbor at a rich man's aerie, I listened to a former Democratic voter now devout anti-vaxxer vent spleen. Later I listened to a 30 something, still voting Democrat, detail almost exactly as HCR has here, how we got here and where we seem to be heading. They were hopeless about their prospects but still in the fight. They are my hope. GOTV. Whether, we win or lose, has to be the beginning of our efforts.
Let GOP extremists have their perversions of 1776 and their cons of originalism. We can build on the example of the early Civil Rights Movement and its rightful heirs who eschew exclusivity for alliance and understand the importance of voting as a strategy and unity as a tactic.
Hello everyone; short interruption: Postcards To Voters is asking for more writers for the final push to get out the vote in the crucial state of Georgia. It is easy to join. Either text JOIN to (484) 275-2229 or email Join@TonyTheDemocrat.org. We only have two more weeks to get cards in the mail. Handwritten postcards to voters have proven surprisingly effective. Please help in doing all we can to save our democracy.
Truss lasted 44 days with her far right-wing proposals... the trouble with the US is if those kinds get into office they'll stay there spewing their poison for years! In the case of reagan, decades! Oh, lordy me!
Keep an eye on Italy too. It seems that Berlusconi rocked the boat by making love to Putin with some bottles of Lambrusco. He is letting everyone know that Zelenskiy is at fault for starting the war because Putin had to rescue people in the newly illegally annexed Ukrainian territories because they were begging him to save them from their misery. So, Putin thought he would be in and out but because of the US he was not able to be. Now, Berlusconi is capable of interfering with Giorgia Meloni's taking over as PM because he is basically insulting her and her boyfriend, and undermining her authority. The left is saying do not support Ukraine either. So, Giorgia may have a short lived time as PM if she even makes it that far thanks to bellicose Berlusconi. So, in addition to worrying about Russia and China we have to keep an eye on the European countries that are being added to the Right wing faction. Italy, and Sweden are the new face of fascism. Hungary and Serbia can cause problems too. And, reading that Trump had Iranian and Chinese intelligence laying around in Mar-a-lago is concerning as well. Who knows what sources were compromised there. There again is the complexity that I prefer to have Biden handling not these ridiculous Republican posers who would not know a foreign policy position paper or location of a country on a map if it bit them in the head.
We need a group to grade Congressional and Presidential candidates on their embrace of democracy versus authoritarianism. All reputable rational actors of any stripe, mainstream news, Left and Right 'fact based' Think Tanks, etc. can have a vote and tally the consensus. NRA grades Congress on Second Amendment, Environmental Groups rank Congress people on their environmental chops, multiple news outlets have 'Fact Check' columns and so should national politicians be ranked based upon their embrace of democracy or authoritarianism. It would be easier to say 'Ted Cruz got a D- grade on his Democracy evaluation, Trump an F-, Liz Cheney an A+, Mitt Romney got a B- etc. instead of only pointing to specific instances and trying to persuade people.
The politics are truly screwed up in the two English-speaking countries that take pride in a Constitution that British Prime Minister Gladstone declared was the ‘greatest living political document’ and the 13th century ground-breaking Magna Carta.
The Brits hoisted themselves on their own petard by a false fact campaign resulting in Brexit—the painful and financially stupid divorce from the European Union. This ‘insurrection’ was triggered by Boris Johnson who, though brighter and more literate than Donald Trump, shared many of the same massive character flaws that distinguish Bone Spur Donald.
The Conservative Party has been in power for well over a decade. It has experienced a succession of prime ministers who I would characterize as worse, worse,w orse, and worst, with limpid Elizabeth Truss crashing in only 44 days. In a desperate search for a replacement, Braggart Boris, who had recently crashed like an expended rocket, is hopefully waiting in the wings for an encore performance (ain’t going to happen).
Meanwhile the United Kingdom is a soggy mass of fiscal failure, poorly functioning public services, high inflation and energy prices, and dismal economic growth prospects.
By contrast the United States, with admirable government accomplishments and policies at this moment under President Biden’s administration, seems on a Trumpublican precipice that could plunge the country into a dreadful sink hole.
All this is reflected in the Donald Trump cult, where a charlatan specialist in bankruptcy and false facts has coalesced a frightening mass of American citizens and politicians into a nihilistic coalition.
There is a frightening possibility that these Trumpublican nihilists, who already have captured the Supreme Court, will control one or both houses of Congress after November with the prospect of a deSantis-type president in 2024.
I recall, during World War II, being extremely proud of the Anglo-American alliance under the inspirational leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Today I feel despair for the short-term future of the United States and Great Britain.
"the Donald Trump cult, where a charlatan specialist in bankruptcy and false facts has coalesced a frightening mass of American citizens and politicians into a nihilistic coalition."Well said Keith. This is a concise description of what we have to deal with and, we hope, unravel. Those seduced by the MAGA lie know little of "supply side" and their grasp of democracy is slim.
Hatred, bigotry, a steady diet of misinformation has created a severely malnourished
faction of Americans who seem terrifyingly capable of embracing fascism. It was a strong force here in the thirties and the political operatives embracing it have deeper pockets and more tools to promote it today. Everything rides on the composition of the 118th Congress.
You miss the point. MMT here and in Britain is being called to the mat. The Markets are voting. We are in for a brutally rough road of likely austerity and taxes. Biden’s spending was the final match. Our financial health is beyond the danger zone due to Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump is truly delusional. He is a product of calling half of America Deplorable. Trump actually took page out of FDR’s book and stood up with the non elitist on the coasts. FDR would pray on his radio broadcasts with his followers. Both unlikely characters that circumstances elevated. This is where we are https://nypost.com/2022/10/22/truss-worthy-biden-prezs-economic-mess-could-bring-doom/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app
Nazi Germany and Gilead all wrapped up into one lovely prison. In some ways I am glad that they are finally, clearly, coming out of the fascist closet. Perhaps this rhetoric will open those eyes that have been looking everywhere but under their noses.
Yes, just finished the Handmaid TV and the books. Horrifying. As a dual US and Uk citizen I have no place to run and hide. Only standing up and fighting delusion and bloody minded evil stupidity is on the cards in this pivotal moment. May the force be with us.
We stand at the precipice of our democracy and so many fools are ready to jump into the jaws of Fascism, autocracy and dictatorship with its attendant hatefulness and unbridled violence and murder. I just hope that enough Americans recognize the danger and vote to keep these hateful monsters out of power.
I wonder how many insurrectionists and other MAGA and GOP voters can tell you who Thatcher was or Liz Truss is, or what supply-side economic mythology is, or why Brexit continues to hurt the UK and Europe, or what mega-donors demand from the GOP. Even scarier, I wonder how many of them even care. Fox News isn't going to tell them the truth, and it's easier to just believe what Fox and Trump and other demagogues tell them.
I hope I can come back in about 30-50 years to see what the history books, including Dr. Richardson, have to say about these intense recent decades. Whew!
Agree, Laurie. I kinda doubt that MAGA crazies, Trump, or Fox folks understand or care about what supply side economic mythology is. And some days WaPo, NYT and their journalists also seem rather ignorant and uninterested. The subject takes them away from their obsession with simplistic and meaningless polls asking stupid questions about voter fears of inflation, prices, etc. The level of ignorance and failure to educate and inform the public about economic issues is depressing.
Please read Kenneth Vogel's recent NYTimes reporting on Leonard Leo. (Sadly the Times has not given it the play it deserves. But it is still available.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html
"An investigation by The New York Times of Mr. Leo’s activities reveals new details of how he has built that network, with relatively little public attention, into one of the best-funded and most sophisticated operations in American politics, giving him extraordinary influence as he pushes a broad array of hot-button conservative causes and seeks to counter what he sees as an increasing leftward tilt in society."
Gift link. The article about Leo reads like a dark, conspiracy laden novel:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html?unlocked_article_code=L1c3CQCOFDuGZBMrRXA_MpGZ24Ort_ATLxQ8t0B5FcWvO8EeoQZ9wCxplz6dBhm6V-ZYK_lbjHY-0Ij6ueS2-Ha9T2MTAmX4tHHtJK2g2CCnIeseCGYgiBzqK0cBVEziidg2tXwTgXCl2PEzZTa06mLg4CTIuginguFoGaiqQ4OYsdYz-Sj9o_LSi9xj8rfViQ6Ub3Co0A7QA91mtVgfiNmQ84B4aRljs0CpCQ4zpHzeS1pUT2pHtpzRpc_pF-v-_pOKXT6ETNXaraqBd_SYfsLzhZ30frdasVd4hQMWT4fBW8aLX_MhiCrdhwSrQJwUiIw-rnvdJmz5_MaGtbZNKI_lBD89DC0rBnc2&smid=share-url
ThankYou Mike S. for thinking of that and correcting my error. I am sorry I did not think of that.
No problem. The article is well worth reading and thank YOU for pointing it out.
Mike
Great use of gift links.
I love these gift links. Thx. -saw-
Thank you, though knowledge is a terrifying thing. I’m left feeling hopeless and helpless. As a right-there-in-the-middle class American, my feeble attempts at saving our democracy seem just that. How can writing postcards come up against such indecent amounts of dark money? What good does passing out voter materials door-to-door, standing on corners waving signs, marching, sending paltry amounts of donations to candidates do? All of you wonderful people who offer so much knowledge daily, what do we do?
Hi Sue, This is what helps me.
"Darkness marches on, but so does illumination. Hatred marches on, but so does love. Greed marches on. So does charity.
"Fascists march on. We will march on also.
"Evil doesn’t get extinguished—it just gets beaten back and beaten down over and over and over again.
"Right now it’s our turn to do the beating.
"If we do our jobs well, future generations will be able to take their turns more ably. That’s why we’re here; that’s why we act."
--Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water, Substack, October 6, 2022
Thank you.
Laurie and Jessica Craven, bless you both.
I feel so much as you do! But at least we can keep on with what we're doing.
Hi, Sue, it is so tempting to accept the hopelessness that is triggered by the kind of news you referred to. That's one of the reasons I call on the following:
* I subscribe to Robert Hubbell along with HCR, because his whole premise is optimism + action. So there are lots of stories of action and successes in the comments
* I hold in my heart Dr. King, "Hatred does not drive out hatred. Only love can do that." I believe in the power of love (in spiritual terms, God's love) and the notion of oneness, which means that each positive action any one of us takes affects the whole.
* Rachel Maddow's new podcast tells the story of an attempted coup in the 1940's promoted by a Catholic priest whose fascist based radio show reached an equivalent of 30 million listeners in today's population. There were calls to arms, planned bombings and lots more, and it was stopped. We've been through this before and we will get through it again. There are thousands and thousands of activists whose energy is focused on supporting true democracy.
*And finally, my very favorite Frank Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington about a young senator's efforts to challenge the greed and power and corruption of the state's power grabbing villain. Smith is so discouraged and about to give up, when his assistant (who used to be so cynical but is inspired by him) finds him at the Lincoln memorial and encourages him to continue his fight. She reminds him that the power grabbers of the world are not more powerful, "Their kind just makes more noise that's all." Blessings,
While I applaud your power of positivism, there is the factor of super wealth being concentrated into the hands of the few. The potency of the war being waged from the political right is fueled substantially by the very wealthy, who also happen to be more on the side of right-wing thought. The political "left" is not aggressive; too passive. Being aggressive and pugilistic does not translate into hatred. It does translate into taking a stand on solid footing, being unwilling to compromise unless there is compromise in its most authentic context. I do not see current-day Republicans as willing to compromise in any context. They do not want to share the universe. They want to rule the universe.
I urge you NOT to be hopeless. The helpless part I get. If we lose hope, they have us right where they want us. We automatically become victim to their treachery.
I am sitting here feeling exactly the same way. This is scary. My small donations and my steadfast belief that right will still prevail seem so very small and futile. Better angels where are you?
The press should be doing more of this sort of reporting. This has been my complaint. One has to be like a detective to find these articles. This is why I read press outside of the US as much as inside. One needs to. I have been concerned about the Opus Dei contingent which is what Leo is. The Theocracy that our nation has become is not what it is supposed to be moving towards. We are supposed to be gaining understanding of what this country can be, not moving back in history. They are all about putting themselves at the top and holding onto that power. Clarence Thomas is just a flunkey who helps them as is Amy Coney Barrett. They are helping the White men hold and consolidate power. Rich, propertied white men keep what they had when the constitution was written and not give an inch. They want subservient women and everyone else to be slaves and indentured servants.
Trevor Noth made some potent obervations on MSNBC Tuesday (maybe Wednesday) night with Alex Wagner. His take is that news media either needs to tell the truth and consequences to educate the public - or - come flat out and say they are presenting "stories" because they are good for ratings (which translates into $$$ for the network). The news networks were much more valuable before the demise of the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan.
I'm sure they were! It should be revived.
I believe you mean Trevor NoAH.?
From what I have read about Leo, which I admit has not been a whole lot, I conclude he has a very dark and sinister aspect which propels him to be an overlord. Our constitutional democracy is being upended by Leo and his cohorts. The average American who is out of touch with this treachery will suffer sudden and painful whiplash when they learn about what has been taking place before their very eyes.
Leo is DARK, a soulless power-wielding ideologue who will rain terror down upon a free society.
Not unlike his Catholic predecessor, Pope Innocent XIII, who defined both witchcraft and the torture to be applied to those practicing it.
Amazing how demonic and satanic the Roman Church is and has been. NOW, six RC's sit at the Supreme Court. Cruelty is one of the Roman Catholic afflictions. I also am reminded of Pope Pius XII, who hated the Jews and turned them over to the Nazis. It has been written that Pius DID change his ways, but not before a lot of damage had been done. Do those people and their kind ever consider the fact that without Judaism, Christianity would not exist?
Mike
I really appreciate your gifting articles. Thanks a bunch.
He is only one of the horde with money to influence the nuts on the side of money. The people be damned. Scream socialism or libtard, and the poor sods vote Republican while cashing their SS checks. National insanity never turns out well, even for the rich bastards who are already licking their chops.
Jeri,
Funny story for you. I had a friend (he was older and passed now) who lived out in the sticks where my farm is so I helped and befriended him but he was a big Trump lover and Fox watcher. A good guy though. Smart as a whip.
Well, this guy graduated high school, here in NY, and he went to work for the NY Public School system as a janitor back when they had something called Tier 1 retirement. Tier 1 retirement was the GOLDEN retirement none of us will ever have.
It offered 80% of final pay and free health care for life and the Tier 1 people paid essentially nothing in. Hence, I pay for their 80% of final pay and free health care, all day, every day, with my taxes here in NY.
This guy retired, as a Janitor, making $45,000 per year. Salaries are public here.
He retired at 60 and passed last summer at 89. You can do the math at 80% how much he pulled in after he retired from my taxes.
At any rate, one morning I was having breakfast with him obviously right after a fake blonde on Fox got him all excited about Socialism because he was ranting about Democrats wanting everything to go to "Socialism".
So, I asked him: "Bill, Socialism is sure working for you though right". He looked puzzled for a second and growled in an ugly way: "What the hell do you mean by that Mike".
I said, well, "Bill, you spent your entire career collecting a spectacular salary from the state, paid for by me, and, now, in retirement, you are probably going to offer to pay for my breakfast because you have money running out of your ears in retirement......paid for by me".
"Bill, your entire adult life was made wonderful by Socialism but apparently you don't want me to share in the fun party you are having".
Jeri, he glowered at me for LONG time. Then, he said: "Mike, PEACE".
And never brought it up again.
All over America people are benefitting from Government support, but, the more they get, the less they recognize it and definitely they don't want to share.
Like, for example: FARMERS. Farmers would not exist in this country without government support but? They will all vote for Trump or whatever deadhead Republican the Billionaires pick next time.
In fact, FARMERS get huge "crop subsidies".
Which? Really means Welfare for White People right? There are almost NO black farmers.
But, we don't call "crop subsidies" Welfare for White People right? We only call welfare that help we give to black people.
I hereby and henceforth call Crop Subsidies: Welfare for WHITE PEOPLE.
Like I have said: "The Problem with America..is"..well.....you already know and agree.
I bet your friend also benefited from Medicare another socialist program and perhaps even had a mortgage interest tax dodge as well. Both are also mostly White People welfare.
Thanks for the comment and story Mike. "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis, is an related eye opener if by chance you haven't read it. The story of Valejo, CA and "Henry the Pheasant", particularly. The Henry story illustrates the importance of something other than-"getting whatever one can, whenever one can, just because one can" and being blind to the consequences-such as the janitor and farmers in your post.
Henry was a pheasant, living on a Churchill estate in the UK-that found himself a tourist attraction-people constantly fed him-so he ate whenever he wanted, just because he could-and became so overweight that he couldn't fly-and was eaten by a fox. As I recall, the moral of the story from Lewis was that on the human side of things, realizing the consequences of our actions and changing accordingly is a choice-and if we don't change-things can get so bad that the consequences cannot be ignored.
Thanks again for your post.
Michael Lewis is incredible. Thanks.
As with the GI Bill and voting rights, Black farmers have been written out of government subsidies for farmers and flagrantly denied access. Many have not been able to continue farming. There is a back to farming the land movement and litigation to remedy some of the injustices.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/historically-denied-pivotal-loans-black-farmers-still-struggle-to-get-support
I want to read storied of a Liberal machine empowered with a mission support, train and refine thinking of young idealistic law students throughout the leading educational institutions of our country. More desperately needed than ever.
Sad, isn't it? Same as the folks who scream, " Keep the government out of my Medicare!"
And those who condemn government and turn to government when the floods and fires come.
What a beautiful illustration of finding the moment and acting on it. Normally we’ve learned to not waste our breath on Trumpers, but this sure worked out!
Silence does not indicate agreement.
Worked out? How do you figure?
Sorry but not all farmers are Trumpers and I dare say that you might have a poor understanding of farm subsidies. Don’t generalize until you’ll know the facts. Also, do not lump all farmers together as some are the wealthy corporate types and the rest are trying to eek out a living with long hours of work and sacrifice. We need them and their work products. If I sound a little offended it’s because I grew up on a small farm, still own the farm, and don’t fit your stereotype.
I try to remember that not ALL of any group are the same - either for the good or not. Thank you for reminding us.
What fraction of those struggling farmers voted for Trump? I gather you didn’t vote for Trump at either opportunity, and good for you if that’s the correct inference, but it’s the percentage that tells us how to assess the group. Not all white people are racists, for example, but most are, and that’s important to know.
Tell it!
Terrific story, Mike. Would that we all could be that effective with our known holdouts in friends and family!!
Wise words Mike!
Great story Mike.
What you have written is the truth. It is also true for every public servants employed by any government agency from public schools, police, fire departments, etc. all the way up to the elected members of our government. I'd like to see ONE Republcan who complains about Social Security/Medicare give back their perpetual salaries/benefits received after serving a minimum amount of time in office. (We won't make them more uncomfortable in reminding them they have approved benefits and regulations that either apply only to them - without the voters' consent - or exempt them from rules that apply to others.)
"I'd like to see ONE Republcan who complains about Social Security/Medicare give back their perpetual salaries/benefits received after serving a minimum amount of time in office." NO KIDDING!
Good guy? No. Hell no! People like that guy, 74 million of them, are “The Problem with America,” as you put it. You are a good guy. Your friend wasn’t. Good riddance to him. One down, 74 million to go.
Rex, thanks for the comment. For what it's worth-I understand and agree with your angst towards the guy that Mike mentioned. Maybe I took you too literally and my apologies if I did.
That said, some thoughts to consider. The importance of honor and decency in a democracy has been mentioned many times in this forum. It comes from Dr. HRC's interview with President Biden. If we focus on honor and decency as a measure of how best to move forward, then we can recognize and constructively act upon several things:
-A bunch of indecent, dishonorable people thought it was OK to not only "write off" millions of Americans with whom they disagree-they also saw no problem in a violent insurrection.
-Wouldn't it be better to acknowledge that we CAN disagree with even 74 million Americans, without just writing them off? ...Educate people with whom we disagree-ask them to focus more on honor and decency and hope if not expect that they will follow our example?
Thanks again and have a great weekend.
Mike S, right on 👏
So, our ballots arrived yesterday here in Salem, Oregon. We are in the new US House district 6. However, on the state level house race, we have a guy running as both a R and a D who is a total nut case. We think we were sacrificed to get the US House district drawn as it is. So we have contacted our friend in the know as to who we can write in. We used to have Ds at the state level for both house and senate. But not now.
I believe Oregon Indivisibles are backing Andrea Salinas (Democrat/ Working Families Party / Independent Party). I've heard good things about her. I'm in Astoria.
Yes, they are. Nasty ads about her from Erickson. We have donated. Now we that we have our ballots, we will vote.
I agree about Salinas. She did a remarkable job, and it appalls me that she is not on the ballot. Please do your best to convince people to write her in. You all deserve her, and you will not regret having her if she wins. Remarkable, hard-working, insightful. She has my respect, for what that's worth. Wish I were back in Oregon to help out.
Our friend says its bright red and not worth the time or money for a D to run. She suggested we donate to others and we have. She also included a dinner invite to go out on New Year's Eve, so there's that. We did this before the pandemic and it's good we can do it once again.
Are there no billionaires out there who support democracy and democratic initiatives?
The head of Patagonia just gave away his company. I bought from them for years. A wonderful man. Yvon Chouinard. I tried to share the NYT article from a week or so ago. Look him up. He is fighting climate change with his donation.
Saw that.
George Soros. For one.
But, boy, does the new Republican Party blame him for everything in their conspiracies.
Agree, Lin. It was an excellent article. One question is how NYT and other media can give these investigations more attention. I’m thinking that many journalists lack a basic understanding of inflation, how oil and gas pricing works, etc. They then focus on the simple stuff, ie summarizing what uninformed voters think. Honestly, I’m glad I turned 80 and don’t have to watch it all for another 30-50 years.
I hit the pay wall. 😕
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html?unlocked_article_code=L1c3CQCOFDuGZBMrRXA_MpGZ24Ort_ATLxQ8t0B5FcWvO8EeoQZ9wCxplz6dBhm6V-ZYK_lbjHY-0Ij6ueS2-Ha9T2MTAmX4tHHtJK2g2CCnIeseCGYgiBzqK0cBVEziidg2tXwTgXCl2PEzZTa06mLg4CTIuginguFoGaiqQ4OYsdYz-Sj9o_LSi9xj8rfViQ6Ub3Co0A7QA91mtVgfiNmQ84B4aRljs0CpCQ4zpHzeS1pUT2pHtpzRpc_pF-v-_pOKXT6ETNXaraqBd_SYfsLzhZ30frdasVd4hQMWT4fBW8aLX_MhiCrdhwSrQJwUiIw-rnvdJmz5_MaGtbZNKI_lBD89DC0rBnc2&smid=share-url
The “conservative” rich people paying for this political “transformation” are coming to light. The rich liberals who created our current government are not as well organized and apparently not as well funded. Defense is a difficult operation….
The rest of us seem to be only pawns in this rich vs rich battle for the soul of our country.
Mike, thank you for sharing and gifting this story. Is there no way to stop this train wreck? Are we bound to destroy our Democracy with Leo and his dark money legacy at the helm? His influence is so deeply entrenched in the courts and the politics of the repugs how can we fight against this machine? It’s a disease that is now part of the genetic makeup of the GOP, and ((USA?) beyond who is elected or in office. Capitalism out of control and beyond the control of the rule of law?
lin! I have thought of you often. Are you in the photo, complete with chalk script, of the protestors at L.L.'s home? I hope you are still there defending our democracy! Bless you!
The Republican scare tactics have ensured that most of the MAGA folks are looking the other way at those things that frighten them, ie. difference, change, inclusivity etc. They've been convinced to vote against their own economic interests and instead, continue to externalize their problems on "those people" - fill in whichever group they fear the most.
That level of ignorance, willful or otherwise, is also essential to the success of people like McCarthy, McConnell and the failed insurrectionist. The Democrats need to be about educating people in thoughtful, patient but no uncertain terms about what they would do to deal with the economic and social concerns we currently face.
While I agree that the Dems need to be more focused on informing people, especially those who aren't all that savvy about economics etc., but it's not just a lack of information that leads them to keep voting for those Repubs. It's also their fears about being "replaced" by non-whites and passed by, by technological changes. Many of them yearn for a time that will never be again, a time when it was clear who was in charge, and what the future held for themselves and their children.
No doubt about that, but so far the Democrats have offered nothing positive as an option other than access to abortion which doesn't impact most of them in a practical way and an assortment of large scale economic programs that also don't have an immediate practical impact. Something like legislation to support Social Security by removing the income cap, possibly accompanied by an increase in the full eligibility age, is highly visible and, given the current GOP attacks on Social Security and Medicare, also immediately impactful both emotionally and financially.
Good ideas. They would need to be "sold" as providing financial security no matter what the economy is doing, and insuring yearly "raises" as in COLA.
Exactly. Removing the income cap would increase OASDI revenue by about $200billion annually.
As I have long opined, the only reason I want to live forever is to find out how it all turns out (on oh so many issues!).
Barbara,
How it turns out?
It turns out that the world keeps spinning on its axis, at least for roughly another 4.5 Billion years or so before the sun goes out.
Look around. This fall?? It was the MOST, MOST beautiful fall I have seen in my lifetime.
virus free google photo link below. Life is filled with beauty EVEN with MAGA people spending all their time puckering up to Trump's arse.
In the below link you can zoom in and fly around by rolling your mouse forward then moving your mouse around......almost like being there.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WHMUHYHb4E7SALnEA
Fall happened and MAGA Republicans could not stop it EVEN with bear spray.
Think about that. MAGA cannot do much EXCEPT suck up to Trump really.
Their power is in their lips mostly. PUCKER power for Trump's arse.
Don't worry too much.
Love your verbiage, hate the image of chump’s ugly arse though. That so many MAGAts love him is a testimony to the poor taste of the cult nuts. But the repub “elite” abhor him and use his ugly arse as the means to rob the country blind.
Thanks for the compliment and my greatest apologies for Trump's huge and unattractive arse.
I will see what I can do (in Photoshop) to make it ever uglier.
:-)
Nice photo, Mike!
And your "life balance" advice is just what I needed between coffee one and coffee two. Thanks.
Thanks Bill.
I am just lucky. And thankful for it.
Our fall colors in the Wisconsin's Driftless Area have also been especially spectacular this year. My 3-year old granddaughter was out to our farm and exclaimed," Grandma, the trees are yellow and orange!
SO beautiful, Mike. Thank you for the breath of fresh air.
Beautiful fall foliage and farm field photo, Mike!
Thank you Rose.
The picture is a tiny fraction of the real feeling standing there watching the sun come up.
I could feel "God". Whatever that means. (not much, but, I could).
No, that IS God. Or at least one manifestation of him/her.
And while I’m reading these responses, we just had the most glorious sunrise!
Mike, friends from around the country have been commenting on spectacular colors. In the Chicago area, there was a radio news clip a few days back from the Morton Arboretum talking about the colors. Sadly, my mind goes to "is this a harbinger of climate change extinction?" which is the state of mind these days. Thanks to the support and encouragement of others here, I am up to 50 postcards and 80 letters to voters. Perhaps crazy, but as I write each one, I put some positive vibes out into the universe as I think on them as I address the envelopes.
Oh, my, Mike. I have been lamenting the lack of colorful foliage this year. Glad to hear it's still rockin' in your neck of the woods!
If they manage to take control of the Federal government (or even enough state governments), I think you'll find their power is a lot more substantial than you think.
You want to know how the kind of filth being spewed over at The Federalist turns out? Read some history. It doesn't even have to be recent history. The result is always violent and ugly and eventually everybody loses.
"Don't worry too much"? Seriously? Maybe if Germans had worried more about Hitler or the Russians had worried more about Stalin or the Chinese had worried more about Mao or the Spanish had worried more about Franco or, for that matter, if the Romans had worried more about Caligula a lot of unnecessary bloodshed and destruction might have been avoided.
Sure, there will be beautiful falls even if the USA falls apart completely. Also if Western civilization collapses and the human race is reduced to a state of Medieval barbarism or, better yet, finally kills itself off. Hell, they'll probably be MORE beautiful when we're all gone.
Not much comfort right now, though.
All true. But if you followed Mike's usual comments you would be just happy he was trying to take a break and have a nice day. Balance.
Oh, I take mental health breaks on a regular basis. I just think we need to avoid adopting "don't worry be happy" as a general philosophy. I prefer "do what you can and try to let the rest go."
Mike, there is a book I read quite a few years back ‘How It Ends: From You to the Universe’ by Chris Impey, professor of Astronomy. Despite the subject, it is in no way depressing and is a fascinating read.
I love your "look on the bright side' philosophy!
"PUCKER power for Trump's arse" 🤣🤣
I believe the sun will expand into red giant state, which will absorb most of the planets in our solar system, but hey that is 4.5 billion years away, so nothing to worry about.
I’ve thought that too. I’ve had to face the fact I won’t be here 15 years from now when the history of tfg’s criminality and administration is written (I soaked up the books on Watergate). I hope there’s a library in heaven, or first row seats to watch what’s going on on earth.
Barbara makes me Laugh Out Loud for real (again).
As do I, Barbara; keeping in mind the spin that will accompany how it all turned out!
Yeah, can you imagine the super massive whirly-gig!
Let's form The HCR Site in the Sky for out future news.
Nah, when I'm gone I'm gone. What I want is to try to leave enough good for my grandkids and their descendants to work with.
As the lyrics say….’we are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon’…closest to religion that I can come is ‘may the force be with you’…and know that nothing is ever really lost, it just transmutes into the elements of our universe. I mean, really, how cool is that?!
💫
💙
The 'Truth Teller' on Liz Truss was the Bond Market. The market seized and started to not function requiring Bank of England liquidity intervention, the Pound crashed and the economic train was heading to a head on collision with at least a Recession or worse. That is before we toss in inflation and crushing energy prices.
The crash of the pound was such that had I gotten paid in mid-September (as should have) for the work I did on a book project for a publisher over there, rather than yesterday as I was, my bank account would have been $500 better off with the exchange rate in September. But I am glad they waited till they did to make payment, since if it had been a week earlier the loss would have been $1,000.
You may have to hold a seance to let me know as I’d be 97 in 30-years never mind in 50-years! 🙃
There won't be a United States for you to come back to.
TC, While you might be right, as one who has vowed never to pull back from taking the fight to the Republican Party, I understood HCR’s final 2 paragraphs to imply that the only failure would be quitting.
With which I completely agree.
The Dems that I hear from whine, predict defeat, and never mention the Republican vow to destroy the working man’s world. Surely the “free press” would carry a press conference or two.
Jeri, While I’m not clear how your reply relates to my comment, I would note that I believe Dems must go on the offensive and take the fight to Republicans who have opposed every bit of legislation introduced by Democrats to redress the massive income and wealth inequality that decade after decade increases exponentially.
Interesting idea, Free Press. This NYT article on Leonard Leo and dark money is so important for every citizen to read and know about. But it’s not freely available, except thanks to the generosity of a subscriber. My subscription lapsed when the accounts department messed up my account. And I spent too many hours trying to fix it. So thanks again for sharing.
And what will happen to Canada?
I have wondered if Russia will use the newly opened sea lanes Inthe Arctic to "access" Canada.
They'll have to build a Big Beautiful Wall. And maybe prepare a flood of political refugees.
And economic or social collapse in the USA will affect Canada, as well. They are one of our biggest trading partners.
I plan on looking on from planet Earth in 30 days to see what is said about the blue tsunami that will crush the puny, shortsighted, selfish, traitorous, stupid MAGAts agenda. And please remember, “stupid” is a choice they have made.
Democracy is as strong as its people. I’m confident.
Unita. 🗽
"Democracy is as strong as its people." Yes, it is. That's the problem. If a large enough minority don't want a democracy, we won't have one. We're seeing that in action right now in states that have Gerrymandered a minority into permanent power. It doesn't matter what the majority thinks or even how they vote if the minority has the power to stop them from voting or simply decides to ignore their votes entirely.
"You know, comrades, what I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how." Josef Stalin, quoted in Boris Bazhanov's "Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary", 1992. The "Republican" party is working from Stalin's playbook.
We the People are not.
Give all your energy to Democracy.
Unita. 🗽
Very few! I bet they know a lot about Michael Flynn! I watched Frontline on PBS last night! "Michael Flynn's Holy War". It explains a whole lot about the January 6th insurrection. Hopefully, there are more of us than of them. I was shocked at the people and comments. And to think that they are doing this in the name of Christianity!
Do you recommend watching it?
Yes!
I watched it too, and it really put fear into my heart! That traitor, Flynn, has a lot of power and is building his own "Christian" warrior cult. These people are serious.
I believe they are dangerous...in the name of Christianity!
No surprise, MAGAs interviewed on CBS Mornings yesterday said they were very happy to have tfg doing their vetting for them.
Laurie, I won't be here in 30-50 years, and that knowledge offers me some comfort. After the last six years, I can't take much more insanity.
Where TF is that Extinction Level Asteroid?
It would be more honorable for this "dominant" Species to be wiped out by a natural event not of its own making.
(Damn, now we are working on preventing the ELE) :(
Thanks Rob. I'm laughing out loud for the first time in weeks! You keep it real.
How optimistic of you to assume we will have history books.
And 50 more years of the republic.
It's easy to see why Republicans want to defund and control education.
I love the use of the word mythology when referring to supply-side economics. It is certainly the unicorn 🦄 of economic theory.
Yes, good point. And Dems simply have not figured out how to use and focus on the word myth or mythology as a way of responding to GOP focus on inflation etc. Many blue collar folks blindly think GOP is better with business.
Well put Laurie! You saved me the time of writing the exact same thing. Thank you
We may be coming back in 50 years to a smoldering wasteland destroyed by the stupidest creature; the human. 💥💥💥💥
I have to confess that when I see projections about all sorts of things into the future, I always think if we are still here. It is clear to me that we are in the process of destroying the planet with incredible greed among other things. One of the problems i see locally in terms of making any change for any problem is that we have a set of people who can't seem to understand that it may take a number of smaller steps. They want it all or they won't vote for it. An example is a state wide proposition which takes some steps to address the gun problem. It isn't perfect, but it was put on the ballot by a coalition of people, religious leaders among them, to make a start. I belong to a few progressive Facebook pages here in Salem and sure enough, someone was not going to vote for it because it doesn't go far enough. Then there was an ongoing fight on who should even belong to a group which was devolving into a purity contest. That attitude helped bring us death star.
Could be. It's also true that we humans have managed to survive for thousands of years and accomplished some marvelous things as well, so perhaps we'll manage to overcome our worst faults.
I would put my trust in wolves before humans🐺
We will have killed them all. I put my money on viruses and bacteria.
I’ve often said that humans are a cancer on the planet.
Britain is sure giving us a preview of the chaos America will have if the MAGA Republicans gain power in our next two elections. The tax cuts of 2016 showed Reaganomics never works and never will. What we're seeing in our economics today is greedy corporations who have no incentive to share the wealth with the middle class. While corporations are free to raise prices to maintain a gluttony of profit, middle class workers receive no cost of living increase. Corporations don't seem to realize they are biting the hand that feeds them since capitalism is based on the consumers ability to buy. Today's capitalism is about profits to shareholders while starving the consumer and hollowing out the middle class. Economics now is about moving money upward in the food chain of income disparity. This is all moving toward America becoming a failed state unless we can turn this around! President Biden is on the right track by building wealth from the bottom up and the middle out. We, the People, all of us this time sharing the wealth !
“Corporations don’t seem to realize...”, they most certainly do realize what they are doing and they are laughing all the way to the bank. Inhumane treatment of those who consume their products at any cost. I agree with you, Cathy, that Biden is trying to build the country back up again but if we don’t do something about the evil takeover of the Pro-Rape Party, we are doomed.
I'm going to do my part by holding the entire Republican Party accountable for the evil they are unleashing on the rest of us by vowing to not vote for any Republican - local, state and federal level. We, the People, all of us protecting and enjoying our Freedoms this time!
Me too!
With you. Want my vote, run with the Democrats. Prove you bonifides, care for the lower 3/4 of Americans.
My whole family made that decision a long time ago, for the simple reason that the republican party in general failed to stop Trump when they could have, and then went on to make excuses for what he did. Many of them still are, and those who have spoke out have been sidelined by the Republicans themselves. There is no such thing as a moderate Republican anymore, for the simple reason that the Trumplican have taken over the Republican name and have sidelined real Republicans. There was an opening after Jan 6 rebellion when the Republicans could have regrouped and shut off their radical wing. But they didn't. So all my votes will be for Dems, especially progressive Dems. No, they are not all perfect, and there will be ups and downs, and there will be different perspectives, but at least they will keep working together for the benefit of the American people. I no longer trust anyone who identifies as Republican to be able to do that. I know that sounds extreme, but I am watching this play out not just nationally, but even right here in Vermont, and it is scaring me.
Pro-rape party. Republicans of 2016 would recoil in horror at such a label. Not anymore. They’re working hard to put women in a solid second class citizenship. Meaning crimes against women and POC will not be prosecuted or treated as seriously as crimes against white men. Kinda like it is now, but without the facade of equal legal protections.
Call it what it is: "The Pro-Rape Party." (Think the short version is "Perp")
I yhink they are fully aware of the short term consequences of their actions - profits - but they remain oblivious of the longer term consequences, which are likely ro include their failure.
How many times must we recall Will Rogers in 1932. “The money was always appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.” Maybe Mr. Hoover didn’t know but the Republicans of today surely do.
It's not just 2016, Cathy but, EVERY cycle the GOP has charge of. They leave the economy in tatters and the Dems always clean up the mess. Why the Dems can seem to figure out how to message this from the mountaintops is perhaps the greatest mystery of all. Below are just two articles that tell the details for talking points. Rachel Maddow also regularly brings out a chart over time showing Rep vs Dem economic success that looks like a roller coaster. I can't find it right now but will look for it as it is even more direct in showing the difference.
https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-presidents-us-economy-recession-democrat-presidents-save-it-2021-1
https://newrepublic.com/article/166274/economy-record-republicans-vs-democrats
BK, You are right on! I do NOT understand why the polls show that voters think Republicans handle the economy better than the Democrats. Look at how George W left the U.S. economy for President Obama to fix in 2008. President Obama put the economy on a very strong positive track and even reduced the deficit. Then, the minute DT became President he took all the credit for the trajectory the Democrats had put the economy on. President Biden has to deal with the impact of COVID on the economy plus DT's friend, Putin has done to disrupt the world's economy. I agree with you that the Democrats need to tout the Rep vs Dem economic success and change the narrative. Something like Republicans only do trickle up economy increasing income disparity while Democrats spread the wealth and opportunity for all. We, the People, all of us this time with well-being for all.
This pattern goes way back. Forty years ago my uncle, who had been active in urban Republican politics, explained to me that it was a deliberate practice.
Vote! vote! Get out the vote!
The Experiment that is America is failing. Unfettered greed has destroyed it.
👍🏼
Couldn’t have explained it any better. Sending it to my grandchildren. They’re our only hope.
Yes. And so why are his approval ratings so low? Why is he being blamed for inflation that is affecting the whole world? And why are corporations reporting record profits when they are supposedly raising prices because their costs are going up? The free market, as regressionists continue to want to envision it, is an unattainable utopian dream and will never have a chance of even being approximated as long as the 0.1% collude. The regressionists continue to tout the glories of the free market as a means of keeping government regulation out of the economy specifically so the 0.1% can continue to collude.
Supply side economics can absolutely work if a government can initially finance itself. Britain found out the hard way that investors don’t care about domestic British economic policy given the country’s D/GDP is approaching 100%. If streamlining taxes and spending grows GDP faster a country can take on more spending. In a high debt, slow growth highly regulated economy it cannot. That’s the U.S. today. But we spent anyway and the premium on our debt, $4 trillion + and the rollover of our total debt gets more expensive every day. It’s called Stagflation. This is the path we are on. Our treasury market is becoming less welcoming. We should all be concerned. Austerity may be around the corner for you cannot tax your way alone into a solvent future.
Hi David, I certainly agree that the U.S. needs to manage its debt and reduce it. All legislation must show how the programs will pay for themselves or be paid for by other cuts or taxes. I believe the current administration is trying to do just that. Even with the stimulus programs which are creating jobs the current estimate reduces the budget deficit by $1.4 Trillion for this year with the 15% minimum tax for corporations. And, yes, budget deficit is different than total debt but a good place to start reducing debt. It has been ridiculous for 60 of the largest corporations together to pay less tax than I do as an individual! The biggest mistake in the 2016 huge corporate tax reduction is for not to include any incentives to increase wages so almost all benefit of the tax reduction went straight to the shareholders rather than trickling down to the wage earners. Trickle down economics has never been shown to work. I do think we put too much emphasis on GDP and my dream is that we measure any legislation with a Well Being Index WBI as important as GDP on how the legislation or policy improvements the well-being of all rather than just the few at the top of the income disparity tower. There is balance in everything and we certainly aren't finding a good balance point of a strong economy and well-being of all the citizens. We, the People, all of us this time.
Corporate taxes are a double tax on investors. WBI sounds nice but our creditors including the Saudi’s, Chinese, Russians and Japanese might not care. They want cash principe and interest. That means GDP.
One could also argue the individual tax payers are paying double to make up for the unfair tax loopholes corporations get. WBI and GDP are NOT mutually exclusive. I believe you can have both and the synergy of that will benefit both the workers and the investors. Right now with Citizens United the corporations can buy the Congressional votes. That's legalized corruption. Again, I'm an AND person, a Synergist. Too much of our politics is now OR thinking. One is one up or one down; it us versus them, it is ALL with me or ALL against me. Most issues have a lot of gray areas or other colors -- like women's rights -- the no exceptions for even the life of the mother and the vigilante injustice we're seeing in laws like Texas's Anti-abortion law -- is not justice for all. sI think there is a huge amount of ground in the middle where we don't have to split the pie; we can bake more pies for all. I'm one of the few people in the world who has been both a corporate executive (in a very ethical Fortune 100 company who treated its employees very well) and a member of the AFL-CIO (Musicians Union; before right to work laws...) so have been the perspective of both. Understanding all perspectives leads to better solutions for all. Synergy! We, the People, all of us this time!
The US fell into a bad recession in 1958. All through the 50’s we remained on a war tax footing and as the rest of the world caught up, the U.S. became stagnant. JFK was the first supply side growth President. https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-on-the-economy-and-taxes
Do you have even one actual example of a case where funneling more money to the already rich actually helped grow a country's economy for everyone?
What we have seen in the US since Reagan is money funneled upward, everyone else gets poorer, then the plutocrats use that increasing hardship as an argument to give themselves ever more power.
Gladly. JFK was the first post war tax cutter. He lamented the misallocation of investment and capital as a result of punitive high absolute tax rates especially on the rich. Interestingly effective tax rates have changed little over the decades. Wealthy people either find tax sheltered investments or don’t invest at all. It hurts the little guy. An economy with punitive tax rates is typified by slow capital formation and growth. JFK was the progenitor of RR.
What exactly did JFK do to tax rates, and how did that help “the little guy”?
What You Said, Cathy!! Thanks!
The federalist society owns the supreme court, much of the lower courts, the fbi and much of congress and senate. And yet the senior editor of their official organ calls for radical revolution, mass incarceration, the end of democracy in a rant redolent of fascism. The most vile racism and sexism pours from the mouths of right wing media personalities. Kevin McCarthy is threatening to take the government hostage after the midterms. MTG has gone from gibberish about Jewish space lasers to being seated next to McCarthy. Steve Bannon’s project of stealing local elections has met almost no pushback. A few election denying AGs will be able to throw the next presidential election to whichever of the trumpist thugs has emerged with the GOP nomination, or at the very least throw the election into chaos. Meanwhile Garland still has not prosecuted anyone of consequence from the January 6 insurrection. It seems, does it not, that the right is preparing for war? And that we on the left and center have no real idea what is about to hit us?
I think men like Leonard Leo of immigrant Italian Catholic background and African American Clarence Thomas clawed their way to the top taking every advantage of the opening up and liberalization of American society. Then they've dedicated their lives to reinstating a status quo which would have denied them the opportunity.
Thomas has said civil rights legislation is the new slavery. But in truth it's like he's serving the same racist masters as of old.
It is interesting on Mount Desert Island. Leo is trying to white wash his reputation by throwing money around - big tipper at local restaurants, floating his Catholic church, donations to hospitals - but socially I am not sure it's buying him acceptance. Many of his neighbors give thumbs up to community activists demonstrating outside his estate. Even Rockefeller heirs and other big money people here are liberal in their outlook and politics.
Although Leo seems to have bought purchase with the Town Manager and Town Council of liberal Bar Harbor. But not the police department leadership. Go fig.
"Thomas has said civil rights legislation is the new slavery. But in truth it's like he's serving the same racist masters as of old."
Uncle Tom meets Supreme Court?
I prefer the word "flunkey" to Uncle Tom.
Thanks for the regular reports from my favorite state. We honeymooned in Bar Harbor. And enjoyed 15 years of Maine residence. I miss it so much.
Good luck with the election. You have the dubious distinction of having had 8 years of the most monstrous governor in the history of the nation. And now he has returned to haunt you!
May he be crushed at the voting booth and be sent packing back to Florida where his ilk would be welcomed by the death squads of DeSantis. Please tell me he will lose...
On the bus to Dem headquarters to phone bank.
It is all a toss up.
I’m horrified that yet another arch conservative anti-democratic white Christian nationalism activist has invaded the sacred beauty of Maine, even my favorite Mt. Desert Island ( I live in MA.) I hope Leonard Leo continues to be shunned by the other local wealthy. Tucker Carlson also retreats to the serene beauty of Maine when he is not spouting his paranoid fascist lies on Faux “News.”
Why do we Democrats always always bring policy wonk verbiage and tea cozies to the (figuratively and maybe soon literally) gunfight with Republicans and all these so-called christian white nationalists? I am NOT advocating physical violence but jeez, Dem leaders, can we at least get better at matching their guts-grabbing lies and fascist propaganda with simple, guts-grabbing truth and a Democratic vision that appeals to more than just us “coastal elites”?
Our manner of fighting reminds me of the chaste spinster who concludes her life certain that she never lowered her standards while bemoaning never being loved or passionate.
I wish I had begun the above comment with this: Dr. Richardson sheds so much light! I would not have heard about the Federalist editor’s call to obliterate our free society had she not written about it. One of my observations about religious conservatives is that they are addicted to black and white thinking and a super simple set of rules that let them decide They are Good and everyone who does not think exactly the way they do is Bad (corrupt, socialist, communist, etc.) They cherish the self-gratifying notion that they are the “faithful” who follow (their definition of) “God’s law” and this entitles and even obligates them to go on a crusade=jihad to impose their draconian religionist, sexist, White-ist vision on all the rest of us, to “rescue” America. And preach their fire an brimstone sermons from pulpits like the Federalist Society’s journal. Sigh.
Ah, finally a comment about that horrid opinion piece from The Federalist website. While the funders of the disinformation website are obscure, according to Wikipedia, the Federalist Society expressly disavows any connection with The Federalist website. Please see the excerpt below from the Federalist Society FAQ page:
Q. Is the Federalist Society affiliated with any publications?
A. All members of the Society receive a subscription to The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, a student-run law review for conservative and libertarian legal thought. The Society publishes a magazine, The Federalist Paper, which highlights recent and upcoming Federalist Society events. The Federalist Society Practice Groups also produces an online legal journal, The Federalist Review. We do not have any affiliation with the web magazine known as The Federalist.
I was confused and terrified, too, when I thought that the Federalist website was the same as the Federalist Society -- it was like hearing that Justice John Roberts was advocating for the rape and dismemberment of losing plaintiffs. Instead, it's just a hard-right crew of Handmaid's Tale wannabe's trying to imitate something more respectable than themselves. While I do not agree with many of the Federalist Society's positions, I've never heard that they were a terrorist organization like the website that bears the same name.
Thank you!
@Dirk, thank you for doing that research! I hope you’re right, that the Federalist website truly has no connection to the Federalist Society. I shared your alarm at the idea that this piece was their work, for exactly the reasons you cite.
Why am I not surprised that Liz Truss blew up her premiership before it could gather up a full head of steam. I could almost hear her chortling, "Ooh, Ooh, TAX CUTS, EVERYBODY!! LET'S PARTY!!"
Before anyone starts mouthing that awful cliché, 'What were they thinking?', we know what it was, and it wasn't thinking. These so-called 'conservatives' are as predictable as ants at a picnic. It's all about supply-side 'let's-pretend'; and here they are, trying to rescue a battered economy when the obvious response needs to be redirecting money from wherever it can be found into keeping people from starving, and losing their homes, and ensuring that people have a job to go to every day. You would think that these people would not have to be told that the fiscal policies of Sir Robert Peel, back in the 1830s, would most definitely not be welcome in a world in which Russian aggression has precipitated the worst energy crisis in memory, together with the ratcheting up of obscene profit-taking by OPEC and its domestic admirers; shortages of natural gas due to shortsighted policies that placed all of their bets on cheap Russian gas that gas consuming countries in Western Europe had to know would make them politically vulnerable as long as Vladimir Putin held sway in Russia. It's been said that no one ever lost money betting on the stupidity of the American public; likewise, no one ever lost money on betting on the shortsighted greed of vulture capitalists the world over. Finally, the intellectual universe of conservative political parties is a mere fraction of the size of the ambition of those parties to rule, and with the least amount of accountability and self-reflection as they can manage. Conservative political parties, as with authoritarianism and fascism, live entirely in the present. For them, both past history and their future prospects are cautionary warnings about what so often goes wrong when political movement conservatives are allowed to hold sway for too long, and thereafter run amok.
It is the implicit job of government to ensure that those seeking rents, and short-term profits, are kept firmly under control. Capitalism may be the finest method civilization has happened upon to create unbridled wealth, but like fossil fuels, it needs to be confined in secure spaces and put to work making the machinery of civilization move forward. Otherwise, it's too explosive a commodity to be left in reckless hands. Liz Truss and her band of merry adventurers styling themselves as 'conservatives' are like people playing with matches in the drought stricken forest. To call them irresponsible, is to understate the severity of what they've done. The fact that one or two of them have advanced degrees in economics belies the fact that the coursework they apparently took to qualify for those academic degrees bears no awareness of the dire realities that the government and country they were selected to lead are in dire economic straits; and that the policy choices that they pontificate about, while garnering nods of approval in a faculty lounge, are now about to crash on the shoals of reality. These people are, and always have been, sophomoric fools.
So well stated Yes, a thousand times yes.
I'm so glad you approve. Watching Liz Truss & Company going through their paces, with what amounts to their prancing around on hobby horses, waving their wooden stick swords, and with their folded paper hats askew on their heads, promising to outdo everyone else in economic derring-do was almost too much to stomach. When I think of men, women, and children suffering and dying in Ukraine to protect their national existence from a rapacious monster in the form of Putin's Russia, and then turning my gaze toward Liz Truss, and her Cabinet's positively absurd behavior, and supported by her Conservative Party's insensate mindlessness about the way the world works, I have to wonder just what it is that keeps the British public sane enough to go to the polls to vote for someone else to hold the premiership and to assemble a Cabinet of responsible adult politicians who can find their way out of the mess the UK is presently in. Clearly, the Conservatives have dropped a heavy anvil on their toes, so to speak, but at the same time, they are still nominally in charge. From the former PM, Boris Johnson, and now with Johnson's successor capsizing and sinking under her own weight, it's hard to imagine that anyone affiliated with the Conservatives having the gravitas to go forward with governing policies that the British public would at least be willing to hear and debate. The problem is that the Conservatives have no gravitas to speak of; it's all been dissipated, first by a boorish blowhard, and now by a Reaganite/Thatcherite Savonarola whose vision of reform is to destroy whatever is left in the UK economy.
Say it again, on every social platform in this crazy world.
Arthur,
<<I have to wonder just what it is that keeps the British public sane enough to go to the polls to vote for someone else to hold the premiership and to assemble a Cabinet of responsible adult politicians who can find their way out of the mess the UK is presently in.>>
There lies the rub. The Tory party process for choosing a leader or a replacement leader (as has happened 3 times in the past few years after the departures of Cameron, May and Johnson), has no place for the electorate at large to voice their opinion or cast a vote. Ms Truss would likely have lost a general election (GE) 45+ days ago, had there been one, hence the Tory grandees doing everything to avoid that then and now.
Why do people continue to vote Tory? I have read a theory, quite plausible, that it is similar to those voting or supporting Trump and his ilk. Despite their definitely voting against their own self-interest (social ,economic, fiscal etc) their aspiration to be like them (rich, not held accountable for bad behavior, able to push others around, etc in the US; rich or better off, not held accountable for bad behavior, socially accepted as middle to upper class etc in the UK) all make them blind to the reality of what they are doing.
Change will come when these good people wake up to the insanity of what they are doing.
Every English person I am in contact with is appalled by what is happening, especially since they were against Brexit and predicted what would result. They just thought it would take longer.
That was very well said. Thank you.
X a million, thank you. They are nothing except clones (no argument about who was the most evil first) of the greedy bastards masquerading as republicans in the US
As Liz Truss announced a plan to address rising prices with tax cuts and energy deregulation, I wondered how THAT could possibly work, then watched with amazement that elected officials had the good sense to admit “no way to pay for it” was an impending disaster. In the US, too many officials, pundits and Larry Kudlows pretend tax cuts will “pay for themselves” or pretend there IS a plan. Americans buy into pretending.
I agree with your statement, but I also believe that it requires some clarification as to which elected officials admitted to the facts by acknowledging that the British government hasn't a clue how to pay for what needs to be done to keep the UK solvent. It was Ms. Truss and her Chancellor of the Exchequer with the unpronounceable name who started this dumpster fire, and now both of them are history along with the remainder of her Cabinet. In the history of political routes, this was a star-spangled spectacular! In European history, there are numerous events leading to immediate failure. I am reminded of the loss of the Vasa, the largest ship of the line commissioned by the King of Sweden in 1626, launched in March 1627, and on her maiden voyage in August 1628, sank after sailing for approximately 1300 meters, having been blown over by a like gust of wind. The fact that the vessel was un-seaworthy, and greatly top-heavy, is an apt metaphor for the Truss premiership, which, metaphorically speaking, went down with all hands after 41 days of experiencing stiff headwinds from world financial markets. No surprise there; but the speed with which the debacle occurred can be chalked up to the utter inanity of the project.
Too bad continuing education is not a requirement for office.
Their continuing education involves rereading old memos praising each other and does not include assessment of knowledge or skills improved. Beware those who believe their own press releases.
Before Roe, Women died by bleeding out from botched abortions, many were married, Catholic (nobirth control), mothers and good people. I got to tell their family mommy is dead with her blood on my shoes. The crime is not providing safe medical care. There are no medical reasons for prohibiting abortion. The only reason is religious beliefs. The Constitution gives us freedom of and from religion. Prohibiting abortion is unconstitutional.
In an article relating how the British people were fed a bunch of lies to get them to vote for Brexit (with most of the English believing them), the author states “Once the electorate can no longer trust what they are told, democratic debate is denied.” The same can be said about the lies told by TFG when he declared there were thousands of dead people voting in Georgia (there were four). Far too often, when confronted by facts, MAGA Republicans refuse to believe them because they believe that any news not touted by F** News or similar sources is Fake News. As the author stated, this prevents democratic debate. We can only hope that independent voters can believe facts and vote accordingly.
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/case-for-brexit-built-on-lies-five-years-later-deceit-is-routine-in-our-politics
https://www.ajc.com/politics/alleged-dead-georgia-voters-found-alive-and-well-after-2020-election/DAL3VY7NFNHL5OREMHD7QECOCA/
It was the English who voted Leave. The Scots, Irish and Welsh all voted Remain.
My cousins live in London. They voted for Brexit. Their children were thoroughly angry at them for going that route. Putin is responsible for the disarray in England too. The world is a mess.
Oh yeah, it was all over, but only a majority in England. And then only 52%.
Like Marlene Lerner-Bigley's cousins, my brother-in-law and sister voted for Brexit. My nieces and their families were not amused, least of all by the sabotaging of London as a major economic center.
But the entire operation was a gross abuse, a caricature of democracy. The very tight majority was secured by a strong to-hell-with-the-Tories protest vote, the old and on their way out slammed the doors to the future on the rising generation, Brexit Tories championed a new English nationalism, riding roughshod over Scots and Northern Irish and insulting them as irrelevant... The then Prime Minister, Theresa May, saw "Taking Back Control" as her personal control freak's opportunity to grab it all, and with the rise and fall of (now regurgitating) Boris Johnson, a narcissistic pervert if ever there was one, all hope of any control over the UK's destiny was thrown to the wind.
I fear that wind may not take long to turn to hurricane.
Also important--the public was lied to (I know, shocking) . They were told by Boris the money saved by Brexit would go to the National Health Service.
Unfortunately, the BoJo, like a certain unmentionable product of New York City... and cronies... regards facts, truth and morality as whatever he may find convenient at any given moment.
Thank Mr. Farage for being such a loyal servant to Putin in all that misleading propaganda.
It was in the '80s in England that I first encountered the phrase "being economical with the truth". Was this during and inspired by the regime of Maggie Thatcher? Why, yes.
And do your cousins regret it, or are they doubling down like the American mistakers?
Somehow we need to better convey a practical strategy for determining which purported facts are likely to prove reliable. I recall one afternoon in elementary school during when we were instructed how to recognize classic logical fallacies, but for only for an hour or two. There was no specific follow-up course material to give us practice in spotting them. As an adult, it is not the data, which was most of what the testing was about, that I came to value, it was the incorporated skills. Not that this in the whole answer, and our circumstances are very complicated, but how we choose to identify information worthy of confidence is a very big deal to how our fates as individuals and as a society are likely to work out, and lies and delusions have sometimes proved to be exceedingly dangerous.
Must have learned that somewhere. I can smell bull Schitt a mile off. I told my Fox loving friends back in the 90’s, but they loved the smell.
It seems as if the Brits are in a spiral dive. I think it may be driven by hubris. The more I read of English history and how it viewed the rest of the world - as colonies to be exploited - the more I think this may be a classic case of cultural karma crashing down on a failed empire.
There are of course, many wonderful English people. But there is an overarching arrogance that has been bred into the nation. And since we were "founded" by the same folks, we seem to have followed the tradition of ignorant disregard for others and the common person. Perhaps we will wake up before it's too late. Or not.
I'm with Barbara. I want to live forever - just to see how it all turns out. :)
I see the United States in much the same way.
Maybe we could make Britain our colony.
For god's sake, why in the world would we do that?
My take on history is very much the same, Bill. I have no desire to live forever though. I just want to do what I can to keep things from imploding so my children and grandchildren and their progeny have a chance to make things better.
I have the following pinned to the top of my Twitter feed in hopes people will understand the role that social media (primarily Facebook or META) played in getting the BREXIT enacted. People need to understand how the right uses social media to gain what it wants. -saw- https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy
A dream since MSM has jumped on the Fox gravy train.
I'm reminded of the scene in "Cabaret" where Brian Roberts (Michael York) realizes just what his good friend Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) is, when "Max" shows up in his SS uniform.
The Federalist, run by confessed plagiarist Ben Domenech (who John McCain would have run out of the house the first time Megan brought him home to meet dad), at least is willing to let us know that "National Conservatism" is to Conservatism as "National Socialism" is to Socialism.
Now we can clearly see them as the Enemy they are.
As to Brexit, as my British (they're not all English, HCR, that's the most obvious and common American mistake) friends explained at the time, all David Cameron had to do was add in that the plebiscite had to get a majority in each part of the United Kingdom. The Scots, Welsh and Irish all voted Remain, it was just "the buggers in Yorkshire and Liverpool" as one friend described them, who voted Leave.
The vote was merely 'advisory'. It required 60% (got more) to join the EU. It was just a bunch of radical 'Conservatives' hijacking the country and destroying it. Sound familiar?
It does, watching it happen here…
TC - thank you for educating me on the federalist Ben Domenech. I dug into that a little bit. From his comments after being busted on the plagiarism rap, it sounds like he enjoyed the notoriety. His apology was a watery gruel. My mama taught me in my childhood that it's a bad idea to have your name show up in the morning police blotter.
CBS used him for awhile on the Face The Nation panel with John Dickerson several years back. I’m familiar with who he is and who he’s married to. Are we too late in recognizing the only way to overcome the high jacking of the courts Federalist (l liken them to deep state Russian operatives) have done to making the stealing of democracy completely legal? Our foundation is being washed away from under us. Families are being torn apart by lies and deceit, it makes no sense. It’s like watching loved ones standing on the train tracks with a locomotive barreling down towards them while they wave flags and smile. Our hope is the blue votes will derail this train. 💙
The federalist society is so clearly affiliated with a radical right wing political ideology, that I think membership should be automatically disqualifying for appointment to any federal court.
TC, like Cornwall, like northeast England, all heavily subsidized by the EU, the Welsh voted for Brexit. https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1387
One element that made the difference was the large number of English pensioners who'd retired to Wales...
I fear we may all be about to see a repeat of what British civil servants were told by the locals when they were posted to west Wales in WW2: "Why are you bringing your war to us?"
Thanks for that correction.
By now, the Welsh have gotten the point. No people appreciates being treated as a mere appendage.
The very name "Welsh" is bad enough, when applied to the original inhabitants of the island. It means "foreigner"...
Cameron was so confident that 'remain' would win any day of the week, that he did not even require a qualified majority to make such an important decision. That would have been self evident, I think, as it was deciding something at that level.
"EU is where empires go when they have lost their last colonial war" (Timothy Snyder). I guess that was just too recent in Britain, so some nostalgia could still linger about.
Yes. Remember how happy they were to beat Argentina in the Falklands War.
Mark Knopfler wasn’t happy. His reflection upon that war resulted in one of the finest anti-war songs ever written: Here’s Brothers-in-Arms:
https://youtu.be/EMRJT2ebvAk
The Federalist, senior editor John Daniel Davidson said the quiet part out loud that MAGA isn't the fringe, it's the core.
MAGAts rule or are the MAGAts the fools. Same question for chump…
Yep, Davidson has that unhinged, ready-to-start-quoting-Ilyin vibe to him. Wonder if Sabatini knows what flavor of "god" Franco, Mussolini, Codreanu, Ilyin, and of course The Austrian Corporal were conjuring? Ironically, I suspect not--mostly because he's a tool--but also because it doesn't matter for him just as it didn't for them. Their "god" is whatever they want it to be to justify enacting their childish, brutish, lashing-out narcissoscape. Yep, THAT deranged. The only thing missing from Davidson's self-righteous rant was saying "will to power." (also suspiciously hypocritical. I ALWAYS suspect people who hate so many things as usually being guilty of habitually doing at least one of those "unmentionables" themselves. I've been proven correct in this numerous times. My all-time favorite: Ted Haggard).
So, we're gonna vote in record numbers and sweep these idiots from our halls of power, right? Right? No excuses if we don't. If you think voting is hard, just wait. Beatings will continue until morale improves...
There is a “God” because Sabatini was voted out in the primary..
Ted Haggard, I had forgotten him, so many of his ilk, plying their lying
For a brief moment, I'd hoped against hope, that the Truss debacle was an avant-garde happening. A herald of international rejection of the dysfunctional conservative enterprise. As if. Truss is out only because of her clumsy execution. Where was her Mitch McConnell? Her Newt Gingrich? Her Leonard Leo sucking the teat of big money and crapping corrupt government. A significant number of Americans' taste for eating shit seems insatiable. The Republican dystopia of our nightmares is the apocalypse now of their enraptured dreams. The big money behind it isn't betting their lives on any assumption of heaven - they're building equally fantastical bunkers. Is Putin holding off using nuclear weapons, hedging his bets on a GOP Congress playing its trump card and withdrawing aid from Ukraine? A Trump second coming withdrawing America from NATO?
Canvassing Saturday in a very poor section of Ellsworth, in subsidized housing literally behind our own Pillow Man's strip mall temple of trumpism, I spoke with a young couple in their early twenties. Three children under 5 years and the license plate GOP216. Today canvassing high on a hill above Bar Harbor at a rich man's aerie, I listened to a former Democratic voter now devout anti-vaxxer vent spleen. Later I listened to a 30 something, still voting Democrat, detail almost exactly as HCR has here, how we got here and where we seem to be heading. They were hopeless about their prospects but still in the fight. They are my hope. GOTV. Whether, we win or lose, has to be the beginning of our efforts.
Let GOP extremists have their perversions of 1776 and their cons of originalism. We can build on the example of the early Civil Rights Movement and its rightful heirs who eschew exclusivity for alliance and understand the importance of voting as a strategy and unity as a tactic.
Thank you!
Hello everyone; short interruption: Postcards To Voters is asking for more writers for the final push to get out the vote in the crucial state of Georgia. It is easy to join. Either text JOIN to (484) 275-2229 or email Join@TonyTheDemocrat.org. We only have two more weeks to get cards in the mail. Handwritten postcards to voters have proven surprisingly effective. Please help in doing all we can to save our democracy.
Thanks for the push.
Thank you!
Truss lasted 44 days with her far right-wing proposals... the trouble with the US is if those kinds get into office they'll stay there spewing their poison for years! In the case of reagan, decades! Oh, lordy me!
Fox is still king here, Rupert tainted his arse in the UK.
Keep an eye on Italy too. It seems that Berlusconi rocked the boat by making love to Putin with some bottles of Lambrusco. He is letting everyone know that Zelenskiy is at fault for starting the war because Putin had to rescue people in the newly illegally annexed Ukrainian territories because they were begging him to save them from their misery. So, Putin thought he would be in and out but because of the US he was not able to be. Now, Berlusconi is capable of interfering with Giorgia Meloni's taking over as PM because he is basically insulting her and her boyfriend, and undermining her authority. The left is saying do not support Ukraine either. So, Giorgia may have a short lived time as PM if she even makes it that far thanks to bellicose Berlusconi. So, in addition to worrying about Russia and China we have to keep an eye on the European countries that are being added to the Right wing faction. Italy, and Sweden are the new face of fascism. Hungary and Serbia can cause problems too. And, reading that Trump had Iranian and Chinese intelligence laying around in Mar-a-lago is concerning as well. Who knows what sources were compromised there. There again is the complexity that I prefer to have Biden handling not these ridiculous Republican posers who would not know a foreign policy position paper or location of a country on a map if it bit them in the head.
We need a group to grade Congressional and Presidential candidates on their embrace of democracy versus authoritarianism. All reputable rational actors of any stripe, mainstream news, Left and Right 'fact based' Think Tanks, etc. can have a vote and tally the consensus. NRA grades Congress on Second Amendment, Environmental Groups rank Congress people on their environmental chops, multiple news outlets have 'Fact Check' columns and so should national politicians be ranked based upon their embrace of democracy or authoritarianism. It would be easier to say 'Ted Cruz got a D- grade on his Democracy evaluation, Trump an F-, Liz Cheney an A+, Mitt Romney got a B- etc. instead of only pointing to specific instances and trying to persuade people.
So many get an A+ on hypocrisy.
Short answer: no one will pay attention.
The politics are truly screwed up in the two English-speaking countries that take pride in a Constitution that British Prime Minister Gladstone declared was the ‘greatest living political document’ and the 13th century ground-breaking Magna Carta.
The Brits hoisted themselves on their own petard by a false fact campaign resulting in Brexit—the painful and financially stupid divorce from the European Union. This ‘insurrection’ was triggered by Boris Johnson who, though brighter and more literate than Donald Trump, shared many of the same massive character flaws that distinguish Bone Spur Donald.
The Conservative Party has been in power for well over a decade. It has experienced a succession of prime ministers who I would characterize as worse, worse,w orse, and worst, with limpid Elizabeth Truss crashing in only 44 days. In a desperate search for a replacement, Braggart Boris, who had recently crashed like an expended rocket, is hopefully waiting in the wings for an encore performance (ain’t going to happen).
Meanwhile the United Kingdom is a soggy mass of fiscal failure, poorly functioning public services, high inflation and energy prices, and dismal economic growth prospects.
By contrast the United States, with admirable government accomplishments and policies at this moment under President Biden’s administration, seems on a Trumpublican precipice that could plunge the country into a dreadful sink hole.
All this is reflected in the Donald Trump cult, where a charlatan specialist in bankruptcy and false facts has coalesced a frightening mass of American citizens and politicians into a nihilistic coalition.
There is a frightening possibility that these Trumpublican nihilists, who already have captured the Supreme Court, will control one or both houses of Congress after November with the prospect of a deSantis-type president in 2024.
I recall, during World War II, being extremely proud of the Anglo-American alliance under the inspirational leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Today I feel despair for the short-term future of the United States and Great Britain.
"the Donald Trump cult, where a charlatan specialist in bankruptcy and false facts has coalesced a frightening mass of American citizens and politicians into a nihilistic coalition."Well said Keith. This is a concise description of what we have to deal with and, we hope, unravel. Those seduced by the MAGA lie know little of "supply side" and their grasp of democracy is slim.
Hatred, bigotry, a steady diet of misinformation has created a severely malnourished
faction of Americans who seem terrifyingly capable of embracing fascism. It was a strong force here in the thirties and the political operatives embracing it have deeper pockets and more tools to promote it today. Everything rides on the composition of the 118th Congress.
You miss the point. MMT here and in Britain is being called to the mat. The Markets are voting. We are in for a brutally rough road of likely austerity and taxes. Biden’s spending was the final match. Our financial health is beyond the danger zone due to Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump is truly delusional. He is a product of calling half of America Deplorable. Trump actually took page out of FDR’s book and stood up with the non elitist on the coasts. FDR would pray on his radio broadcasts with his followers. Both unlikely characters that circumstances elevated. This is where we are https://nypost.com/2022/10/22/truss-worthy-biden-prezs-economic-mess-could-bring-doom/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app
Your journaloist's reference to Biden as"Sleepy Joe" undermines his already fragile credibility.
Nazi Germany and Gilead all wrapped up into one lovely prison. In some ways I am glad that they are finally, clearly, coming out of the fascist closet. Perhaps this rhetoric will open those eyes that have been looking everywhere but under their noses.
Yes, just finished the Handmaid TV and the books. Horrifying. As a dual US and Uk citizen I have no place to run and hide. Only standing up and fighting delusion and bloody minded evil stupidity is on the cards in this pivotal moment. May the force be with us.
We stand at the precipice of our democracy and so many fools are ready to jump into the jaws of Fascism, autocracy and dictatorship with its attendant hatefulness and unbridled violence and murder. I just hope that enough Americans recognize the danger and vote to keep these hateful monsters out of power.