With the recent Supreme Court decisions gutting federal enforcement of civil rights and business regulation and the public hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, economic news has been pushed out of the center of public conversation. That’s a shame for two reasons.
Brilliant. I so wish everyone in America was reading this. And that all Democrats , the media, and the country would be praising and supporting Biden for his focus and work. It's working. The Republicans focus on the 1 percent did not and is not. Thanks for putting this all together
Timothy Snyder" On Tyranny" is instructive. Then read his "Black Earth" and see what happens when fascism takes over and established governments which singularly lie, rape, torture, murder and keep violence and misinformation as their tools which resulted in millions dying in WWII. In the USA we have Republican governments in at least 19 states (a) repressing the vote (b) passing laws so that they determine the validity of their own elections , essentially setting about to defraud the voters, (c) passing anti-privacy laws, (d) punishing innocent rape victims or careless teens, (e) not believing in separation of church and state .....need I say more. We have 18-30 year olds (30 million) not voting, we have disabled people unable to gain fair access to the ballot box and a US Senate using a non constitutional filibuster to stop legislators from doing their jobs.
WAKE UP AMERICA: WE ARE ON A very slippery slope. PLEASE CALL YOUR US SENATORS AND DEMAND THEY END THE FILIBUSTER FOR THE JOHN R LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT.
It is not just that inflation and SCOTUS stripping away our rights dominate the news, it is IMHO, that the news really fails to give full reports of things that matter. Media fails to interview Biden supporters, instead reporting on and showing individuals who seem inflamed or outraged by inflation or gas prices only. This amplifies the message that Biden is failing to act. I know many who defend and support the President, but I so rarely see such individuals present in any media interviews. Such focus on the negative reaffirms distrust of government and undermines truth when it is presented. Truth, facts, reality matter little to citizens whose outrage is inflamed by half-truths and lack of balance in reporting the news. Media companies, like any business, exist to make money. Truth is no longer their primary concern.
I was recently out of college when Reagan was elected. At the time I thought the Laffer Curve really should have been called the Laugher Curve because it was a joke to think that the beneficiaries of those massive tax cut would actually share any of their new wealth with the masses. I’m still waiting for the benefits of Reagan’s economic programs to trickle down to me. About the closest I’ve come to receiving that economic trickle is the feeling that those in the top 1% of wealth have (metaphorically) been pissing on my shoes for the past 4 decades.
SCOTUS certainly shook things up, even if IS in the wrong direction on two hot-button issues. I think Biden has gotten far more done than he gets credit for, but who can expect fair winds when the first half of his term was marked by the first and biggest pandemic in 100 years and the biggest war in 50 years upsetting world trade? And all the pundits can talk about is gas and food prices? Wages are nearly keeping pace with inflation, but no one finds that comforting. What's going to drive me nuts if the mid-terms work out like they historically do is 2 more years where the Party of NO produces stagnation in the way our government normally addresses problems. Our government has done a good job addressing those two cataclysmic events, making vaccines broadly available in record time and rallying the liberal democracies of the world to respond to Russian aggression in a united fashion. All the while, the domestic economy has come roaring back from pandemic pandemonium.
What's not to like? We really have a case of the "magic wand" syndrome; we want our chief executive to pull one out, wave it a few times and watch every disruptive world event magically evaporate before our eyes.
It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who once said that taxes are the “price we pay for a civilized society”. He was right and the Republicans, who see tax cuts as the solution to everything, are wrong.
Thank you, Heather, for focusing on President Biden's economic plan and its successes. The far right is scaring their base by saying there will be run-away hyper-inflation next year. We need to talk more about these successes and make sure people know it is to President Biden's leadership. The media time given to Bannon and his ilk would better used to talk about the strength in the economy!!
I detest McConnell. I detest him with increasing agitation. What a rich and completely horrid person.
What’s sad, is that he thinks so little of 45, in whose image he is so perfectly formed - that he can’t see he’s exactly like him. In fact, hear tell he can’t stand that “xxx.” (McConnell won’t even say 45’s name.)
Me? I’m so touchy around republicans that I avoid at any length - but if I can’t avoid then I shut down. They’re truly turning into terrorists.
I would like to hear Mitch McConnell explain to his constituents how "placing a 3.8% tax on income “pass throughs” taken by individuals making more than $400,000 a year and would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, significantly lowering costs to consumers" is not something Kentuckians should support. Perhaps I've missed something and the vast majority of Kentucky households are making over $400k per year. I think I'll talk to my wife about moving.
One of the major losses in American education in not so recent years was the cutting of what was called Social Sciences... looking at what made governments and other social entities work. That and the growth of the Republican Party, thanks Ronnie. Now for the coming election the Dem's have to get their act on track... this article and ones like it might help, but the voters must be taught the damage of letting the world turn while watching tv or any of the social media. Pushing and educating the public is the best thing the Dem Party can do... proving over and over the positive work being done by Biden. Keep up the good work, Heather.
Dr. Richardson. Thank you for a great summary around both the history of the destruction of the middle class by Republican Policy (often supported by Democratic votes in Congress to pass those tax cut bills and bills to gut regulations).
Unfortunately, I tuned away from my normal NPR listening last week to listen to my local AM radio station while driving. Wow. So much hate, lies and and fakery I have never heard.
All over America, radio and TV is, 24/7, spinning lies, hate, anger, and more lies all day every day. One local radio announcer even pointed to a specific part of our city here, the African American part, and noted all crime came from that part of the city. This same guy referred to our black mayor as an Orangutan one time.
The vast majority of the media apparatus in our country is doing everything possible to keep Republican policy going and push America into dictatorship by lazy, fat, white men.
I am not optimistic after one week of listening to AM radio. Not at all. The stuff they are putting out is not quite "There are UFO's coming" but it is close.
Lastly, the AM radio is positively hysterical about "concealed carry" laws that Kathy Hochul has put in place that limit their ability to conceal carry on private property.
What? Gun owners want to conceal their weapons on private property AND keep it a secret from property owners? What is wrong with these people? Do they view the entire world as a threat to them?
Cowards and fraidy cats, one and all, are these Republicans with guns.
This is one powerful letter. This little tidbit should make us all want to scream "Stop! Thieves!"
"...more than $50 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% to the top 1%"
Think about how even a fraction of that could have addressed homelessness, mental health issues, education and job retraining, drug addiction, hunger, affordable housing, gun buy backs, developing a new electric grid, funding fusion, providing clean potable water....make your own list.
The theft of a nation's treasure should outrage ALL of us. Why doesn't it? When are we going to reach the "Let them eat cake" moment?
Americans are angry, but they are angry at the wrong people
Democrat messaging should say, “we know you are angry about inflation, jobs, shortages, supply chain, but here’s why AND Here’s what we’re trying to do about it. Be angry at those refuse to help fix it”
Brilliant. I so wish everyone in America was reading this. And that all Democrats , the media, and the country would be praising and supporting Biden for his focus and work. It's working. The Republicans focus on the 1 percent did not and is not. Thanks for putting this all together
Timothy Snyder" On Tyranny" is instructive. Then read his "Black Earth" and see what happens when fascism takes over and established governments which singularly lie, rape, torture, murder and keep violence and misinformation as their tools which resulted in millions dying in WWII. In the USA we have Republican governments in at least 19 states (a) repressing the vote (b) passing laws so that they determine the validity of their own elections , essentially setting about to defraud the voters, (c) passing anti-privacy laws, (d) punishing innocent rape victims or careless teens, (e) not believing in separation of church and state .....need I say more. We have 18-30 year olds (30 million) not voting, we have disabled people unable to gain fair access to the ballot box and a US Senate using a non constitutional filibuster to stop legislators from doing their jobs.
WAKE UP AMERICA: WE ARE ON A very slippery slope. PLEASE CALL YOUR US SENATORS AND DEMAND THEY END THE FILIBUSTER FOR THE JOHN R LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT.
It is not just that inflation and SCOTUS stripping away our rights dominate the news, it is IMHO, that the news really fails to give full reports of things that matter. Media fails to interview Biden supporters, instead reporting on and showing individuals who seem inflamed or outraged by inflation or gas prices only. This amplifies the message that Biden is failing to act. I know many who defend and support the President, but I so rarely see such individuals present in any media interviews. Such focus on the negative reaffirms distrust of government and undermines truth when it is presented. Truth, facts, reality matter little to citizens whose outrage is inflamed by half-truths and lack of balance in reporting the news. Media companies, like any business, exist to make money. Truth is no longer their primary concern.
I was recently out of college when Reagan was elected. At the time I thought the Laffer Curve really should have been called the Laugher Curve because it was a joke to think that the beneficiaries of those massive tax cut would actually share any of their new wealth with the masses. I’m still waiting for the benefits of Reagan’s economic programs to trickle down to me. About the closest I’ve come to receiving that economic trickle is the feeling that those in the top 1% of wealth have (metaphorically) been pissing on my shoes for the past 4 decades.
Mitch McConnell should no longer be in a position to kill anything. And yet, here he (still) is.
An underground railroad is being devised for women, in 2022.
Ponder that.
SCOTUS certainly shook things up, even if IS in the wrong direction on two hot-button issues. I think Biden has gotten far more done than he gets credit for, but who can expect fair winds when the first half of his term was marked by the first and biggest pandemic in 100 years and the biggest war in 50 years upsetting world trade? And all the pundits can talk about is gas and food prices? Wages are nearly keeping pace with inflation, but no one finds that comforting. What's going to drive me nuts if the mid-terms work out like they historically do is 2 more years where the Party of NO produces stagnation in the way our government normally addresses problems. Our government has done a good job addressing those two cataclysmic events, making vaccines broadly available in record time and rallying the liberal democracies of the world to respond to Russian aggression in a united fashion. All the while, the domestic economy has come roaring back from pandemic pandemonium.
What's not to like? We really have a case of the "magic wand" syndrome; we want our chief executive to pull one out, wave it a few times and watch every disruptive world event magically evaporate before our eyes.
It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who once said that taxes are the “price we pay for a civilized society”. He was right and the Republicans, who see tax cuts as the solution to everything, are wrong.
What a gold mine of extraordinary data and political analysis! Thank you for another outstanding letter, Professor. Every voter should read this.
Thank you, Heather, for focusing on President Biden's economic plan and its successes. The far right is scaring their base by saying there will be run-away hyper-inflation next year. We need to talk more about these successes and make sure people know it is to President Biden's leadership. The media time given to Bannon and his ilk would better used to talk about the strength in the economy!!
I detest McConnell. I detest him with increasing agitation. What a rich and completely horrid person.
What’s sad, is that he thinks so little of 45, in whose image he is so perfectly formed - that he can’t see he’s exactly like him. In fact, hear tell he can’t stand that “xxx.” (McConnell won’t even say 45’s name.)
Me? I’m so touchy around republicans that I avoid at any length - but if I can’t avoid then I shut down. They’re truly turning into terrorists.
I would like to hear Mitch McConnell explain to his constituents how "placing a 3.8% tax on income “pass throughs” taken by individuals making more than $400,000 a year and would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, significantly lowering costs to consumers" is not something Kentuckians should support. Perhaps I've missed something and the vast majority of Kentucky households are making over $400k per year. I think I'll talk to my wife about moving.
One of the major losses in American education in not so recent years was the cutting of what was called Social Sciences... looking at what made governments and other social entities work. That and the growth of the Republican Party, thanks Ronnie. Now for the coming election the Dem's have to get their act on track... this article and ones like it might help, but the voters must be taught the damage of letting the world turn while watching tv or any of the social media. Pushing and educating the public is the best thing the Dem Party can do... proving over and over the positive work being done by Biden. Keep up the good work, Heather.
Dr. Richardson. Thank you for a great summary around both the history of the destruction of the middle class by Republican Policy (often supported by Democratic votes in Congress to pass those tax cut bills and bills to gut regulations).
Unfortunately, I tuned away from my normal NPR listening last week to listen to my local AM radio station while driving. Wow. So much hate, lies and and fakery I have never heard.
All over America, radio and TV is, 24/7, spinning lies, hate, anger, and more lies all day every day. One local radio announcer even pointed to a specific part of our city here, the African American part, and noted all crime came from that part of the city. This same guy referred to our black mayor as an Orangutan one time.
The vast majority of the media apparatus in our country is doing everything possible to keep Republican policy going and push America into dictatorship by lazy, fat, white men.
I am not optimistic after one week of listening to AM radio. Not at all. The stuff they are putting out is not quite "There are UFO's coming" but it is close.
Lastly, the AM radio is positively hysterical about "concealed carry" laws that Kathy Hochul has put in place that limit their ability to conceal carry on private property.
What? Gun owners want to conceal their weapons on private property AND keep it a secret from property owners? What is wrong with these people? Do they view the entire world as a threat to them?
Cowards and fraidy cats, one and all, are these Republicans with guns.
Heather,
This is one powerful letter. This little tidbit should make us all want to scream "Stop! Thieves!"
"...more than $50 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% to the top 1%"
Think about how even a fraction of that could have addressed homelessness, mental health issues, education and job retraining, drug addiction, hunger, affordable housing, gun buy backs, developing a new electric grid, funding fusion, providing clean potable water....make your own list.
The theft of a nation's treasure should outrage ALL of us. Why doesn't it? When are we going to reach the "Let them eat cake" moment?
Americans are angry, but they are angry at the wrong people
Democrat messaging should say, “we know you are angry about inflation, jobs, shortages, supply chain, but here’s why AND Here’s what we’re trying to do about it. Be angry at those refuse to help fix it”