Often in nature a snake will become confused and eat its own tail. This is what we are seeing now with the oligarchs, they keep consuming more and more of the economy until it is totally destroyed. As most "advanced" countries have discovered we are not meant to live like this. But not us.
Unless we get money out of politics and limit the power of corporations our future is dim. The snake will perish with the tail deep in its gullet.
Now this is what true speak feels like. The facts and the numbers do not lie. "America", in practice, truly sucks. I'd love to be patriotic, to believe in something we are not - the America "as seen on TV" - but I can't. Yesterday was the sum of what we are: an anniversary of insurrection *celebrated* by certifying the insurrectionist in chief as our next president. That, is America.
I don't normally quote Wikipedia as anybody can write anything on it, but the article "Income inequality in the United States" puts it well:
The U.S. has the highest level of income inequality among its (post-)industrialized peers. When measured for all households, U.S. income inequality is comparable to other developed countries before taxes and transfers, but is among the highest after taxes and transfers, meaning the U.S. shifts relatively less income from higher income households to lower income households.
I was a wiki editor doc. It is worse than "anyone can write anything". The staff, the contributors are all volunteers, and the committees that make rulings are not only volunteers but close knit cabal. I wrote or rather started 9 articles,I don't own them, because they have been edited by hundreds. You can edit anything or start an article by you need a reliable secondary source, that can be verirified, so it is difficult o post a non fact as a fact.
On the other hand, each article has a watch list, and people with a special interest in a subject or person, put that article on their watch list, and anytime there is an edit made to that article, they are notified.
Articles with political, social, cultural relevance and controversy are closely watched by people who have a vested interest in that subject or person.
I have tried to edit the treason of Reagan and Nixon, both of them well documented in reliable secondary sources, and I quoted the sources, and I was immediately reverted by a Reagan and Nixon hall monitor. Whey you revert you are suppose to make a comment on the Talk Page (a tab on the left), the talk page is where you find the interesting comments and arguments.
Anyway, if you revert a revert, and the original reverter reverts your revert, you wind up being brought before a committee (of volunteers, who probably know the reverter) and you can be banned or blocked. Blocked
I got tired of that shit, and refused to play nice, so I called out the assholes, and got permanently banned, like I give a shit anyway. Submission is compliance, submission is acceptance.
Very interesting William. I've written a few articles there and informally corrected or added to hundreds of others. I was thinking more of my (college) students who too often use material from it as "research". They have to be taught the difference between referred journals, which as you know are properly reviewed by an author's peers, and casual articles that can be from any biased source. Not understanding this is one facet of how critical thinking is sliding in America, with predictable results.
My son is an editor, when bored, my granddaughter has written a couple of articles a few years ago during a Xmas break, on female scientists. Wikipedia does have policies and guidelines as you known, they do not accept primary sources, just as self published (biased) sources, secondary sources are sources that report about a subject, but those can be biased.
I had an running revert war with a dude who,obviously, believed he was descended from a pilgrim (a puritan).
One factoid he didn't like was that the Mayflower stopped at Massachusetts Bay, because they ran out of beer, and had to replenish their stores, their destination was to land in what is now the Hudson river
I also used known physics and logic to explain why Mars could no be colonized.
Gravity of .38ge inhibited the ability to create an atmosphere of lighter gases, and liquid water. That got reverted, by a watcher (probably a Muskrat).
I beg to differ somewhat. Many times Wikipedia's error rate has been compared with those of major encyclopedia publishers. Every time it compares favorably. You might think that open source knowledge would be plagued by bias. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true because on major and controversial issues your likely to have a wide-diversity of belief, but they all are as likely to care as much about such an issue and would actually moderate each other.
Differ as you please. On some subjects wikipedia is very helpful, but when it comes to "touchy" subjects, i.e. politics, religion and even national myths, like that of the "Pilgrims" proceed with caution.
I know for a fact that some "touchy" subjects are dominated by ideologues and people with an agenda.
While wealth ruling American politics is new, or at least to the nominally informed citizenry, that particular phenonmenon is the oldest and most practiced in the long history of any political rule. Where wealth-controlled politics in any nation prevailed, the distinction between the wealthy and the poor was dramatically divided. It was always intentional. You could be be-headed for killing the king's deer, your last resort for feeding your family. The political intend of the billionaire class, now OPENLY, directly in political control, is best elucidated by Musk. He quite clearly outlines that the masses should be furthur fleeced for their own good, (ensured fascist control unmentioned), made poorer by government enforcement, intentionally made to suffer even furthur lack of survival funds--to teach them a good lesson! Here his mania for schadenfruede revelry reveals his true lunacy. It is a macabre evolution of separation of wealth vrs poverty, even besting the cruelty of the past via its open, brass endorsement.
Billionaires today in our society can be compared to huge prehistoric creatures that became bloated and oversized because of the plenitude available to feed their needs, at the time; however, now we are grossly overpopulated with this aspect of creature. There are just not enough feeding grounds for them.
The fear that brought them to this state of hoarding and manipulation of our economy in order to become this bloated creature is also that which ultimately kills them. Because like all creatures who over feed in order to protect themselves only, nature does not ultimately protect them. They are a freak in nature. They just don’t want to cooperate with the vastness of diversity and cooperation necessary for life to be balanced. They want it all. They need too much in order to exist. And like an ocean too filled with whales or sharks, they will begin to destroy themselves by their own fear and greed.
The real danger is that more and more of the rest of the population aspires and wants to emulate these freaks. They see advantages to having the luxuries, insulation from the problems of survival and need, along with unlimited cover from dirty deeds and abuses.
The population continues to get more and more ignorant and not take responsibility for their stupid decisions like electing a convicted criminal for its highest office and here he is once again taking office.
It’s not just the media’s fault (owned by these strange creatures) for Trump’s repeat performance as he begins to pillaging our country, once again. Over 77 million of our fellow countrymen approve of these assholes—get a kick out of them! We need to start asking ourselves important questions about our society as a whole. Why do we allow this behavior and cater to it and protect it?
Can you really blame corporations from heaping favors on Trump? Garland couldn't be bothered to hold accountable until two years after the crime. If the DOJ couldn't be bothered, corporate America needs to do business in this Trump economy and that makes me sick.
Garland couldn't be bothered, because Garland was complicit. He was vetted to Obama, who needed a win for the sake of posterity, so he asked the most right wing Senator of the time for a name of one who he thought might pass muster with a senate that had a Republican filibuster, and Orrin Hatch R-UT gave him Garland's name.
Biden, the great bipartisan compromiser, (for that is what he learned in his 34 years in the Senate being mentored by racist Dixiecrats), chose the same man (Garland, who had also worked as moderator, 10 times, for the Federalist Society) as his AG and that decision, plus his reluctance to use the AG as his AG, but give him free reign to pursue his own agenda, cost him dearly, and us too.
Garland only appointed Smith after being shamed into it, but his peers and the press.
Garland is, by all appearances, a conservative Republican and Federalist Society member.
I'm going to add one comment, for those who would confer sainthood on Obama, check out the funeral service for Jimmy Carter, Trump and Obama laughing it up, made me sick to my stomach.
Inequity is the great sweetener of revolution tea. By example, Marie Antoinette’s infamous “let them eat cake” catches nicely the Elon Musk et al sentiment. In effect, you must suffer so I may enrich myself. He isn’t new. In the 80’s the movie Wall Street’s principal character (Gecko) proclaimed ‘greed is good.’ It was too true to be funny. As noted by Hartmann, our country was in the Reagan thrall. Some actually believed and still do the government was the enemy. The deep state? Hell, that is the bureaucracy winding the clock of governance. DOGE won’t fix it; rather, it will create governmental chaos. Too many believed the Reagan welfare queen BS. And, of course, we heard the great stalking horse: SOCIALISM! Thing is our country emerged from egalitarian reform: all are created equal. A good country looks out for all, not just the wealthy. As our Constitution so nicely puts its “to provide for the common Defense and General Welfare.”
The rich decry any friction on wealth accumulation. Pay equitable taxes for the benefits of our country, hell let the little guys suck it up. Pay for labor in an equitable manner reflecting profit? Good bye Unions, they are communists (SOCIALISTS!). Skilled and cheap labor abroad, you bet our companies went to China and other exotic locations. But now to sell it? Buy the GOP, they come cheap it seems. Need a good leader, get a con man. Need a message to explain a disappearing middle class? Blame it on the little brown people (you know the ones eating your pets). Blame it on welfare queens who cause the price of groceries to go up.
So, we are sipping our tea. Enjoy the MAGA moment America, because the hard reality of unfettered wealth and privilege is starting to wear thin.
So, yesterday Jan. 6 2025 no motion was filed by congressional Dem's to stop the certification of Trumps victory under section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Nothing happened. Very telling.
"Their silence was not a peaceful transfer of power. It was complicity in the violation of the peaceful transfer of power four years ago, and a sanction for any upheaval to come. The violence of silence". This statement came from Jessica Denson yesterday after a brave effort over the weekend to try and change this outcome.
14th Amendment/Section 3
Prohibits those who had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof" from serving in the government.
Well, there you have it, everybody pulling their hair out about what should have gone differently during the campaign, DOJ Garland, the Money etc. Let's not forget the Elephant in the room, the fact that Trump is even allowed to hold office again. Sad day for our country.
Seems we not only have an oligarch problem, we have a megalomaniac problem. Actually we have 2 megalomaniac problems, each more disgusting than the other.~~~
Now trump wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. He's not ruling out use of military force in Panama & Greenland, he has eyes on Canada as the 51st state! ~~~
America first my ass! America an abomination if trump tries this shit.
So we can assume the Trumsk administration will be hard at work undoing what's left of Dodd-Frank, dismantling the CFPB, and what ever else stands in the way of Billionaires becoming Trillionaires "legally".
Until most of the bottom 99% of the American economy revise the notion that wealthy people deserve their power and are better than they are, America’s untouchable oligarchy will continue to grow and exploit them. In a few more years, it is possible that the dominant oligarchs will be the trillionaires.
A fortunate few of us chose careers that were fulfilling and satisfying rather than ones that merely make one super-rich. Healthcare providers, civil servants, the military, police, educators, and even many local politicians live modest lifestyles and have modest standards of living. However, they still have a higher quality of life than most billionaires and super-rich celebrities. Mentoring, inspiring, and enabling a better tomorrow for - in many cases, total strangers - imparts a very satisfying life.
Ironically, most billionaires, look at the bottom 99% smugly as, in Donald Trump’s words, “losers and suckers.” Of course, billionaires all got super rich by exploiting the bottom 99% via America’s rigged economy. Our free-market capitalist democracy does offer all Americans the opportunity to be obscenely wealthy and to live like royalty through the ruthless exploitation of others. Ironically, most Americans overlook that obscene wealth and celebrity comes at a very high cost. Billionaires forfeit their soul, their anonymity, and their freedom to trust others - because, like you, even other billionaires might wish to befriend you merely to exploit YOUR wealth and celebrity. Is this really how we want to continue to live?
I have no idea what the hell is going on in this country. Fewer people voted than voted in 2020. There appears to be evidence that in EVERY swing state, so-called bullet ballots were well above typical percentages of all ballots cast. This, if true, begs the question if there was tampering with the election. Why would swing states and, only swing states, report such anomalous increases in bullet ballots? Why would so many millions of Americans who are either actual members of the Democratic Party or lean toward that Party choose not to vote in an election as critically important as this last one? This math ain't mathing.
Actually, we have no idea if fewer people voted this year that in 2020. What we do know is that fewer people's votes WERE COUNTED this year. What caused that is still a subject for investigative reporting, IMHO.
19 million people who voted for Biden did not vote in 2024. Trumps percentage of all eligible voters stayed roughly the same. Why didnt they vote? Couldn't vote for a woman of colour or couldnt vote Democrat?
I agree that there needs to be a forensic investigation of the voting machines
Wealth over well-being was a choice that was made by movers and shakers and slipped into the breakfast cereal of our citizens and citizens-to-be long before Reagan. At the risk of repeating what I have said a million times prior, capitalism, competition, preparation for employment to drive the national economy, making bank, and ‘keeping up with or beating the Joneses’ have been the common core curriculum in our schools since long before that miserable term was invented. The schools which so many remember so fondly are and have always been primarily about duty, discipline, calculations, evaluations, one’s cumulative file, behavioral modification, obedience, national pride and security, and passivity. Pissy PISA scores dominate the attention of educators and others who worry more about bettering the Chinese than advancing intellectual pursuits, science, and sanity. Well-being has never even registered on the radar or shown up on the horizon. As long as people, and particularly people who should know better (you know who I am talking about), continue to deny that fact, we will plunge headlong down that same treacherous path. Trump and Musk represent it well.
Often in nature a snake will become confused and eat its own tail. This is what we are seeing now with the oligarchs, they keep consuming more and more of the economy until it is totally destroyed. As most "advanced" countries have discovered we are not meant to live like this. But not us.
Unless we get money out of politics and limit the power of corporations our future is dim. The snake will perish with the tail deep in its gullet.
If I may offer a correction, "America Chose CONCENTRATED Wealth over Well-Being...."
Now this is what true speak feels like. The facts and the numbers do not lie. "America", in practice, truly sucks. I'd love to be patriotic, to believe in something we are not - the America "as seen on TV" - but I can't. Yesterday was the sum of what we are: an anniversary of insurrection *celebrated* by certifying the insurrectionist in chief as our next president. That, is America.
Land of 800 problems and growing.
I don't normally quote Wikipedia as anybody can write anything on it, but the article "Income inequality in the United States" puts it well:
The U.S. has the highest level of income inequality among its (post-)industrialized peers. When measured for all households, U.S. income inequality is comparable to other developed countries before taxes and transfers, but is among the highest after taxes and transfers, meaning the U.S. shifts relatively less income from higher income households to lower income households.
And there you have it.
I was a wiki editor doc. It is worse than "anyone can write anything". The staff, the contributors are all volunteers, and the committees that make rulings are not only volunteers but close knit cabal. I wrote or rather started 9 articles,I don't own them, because they have been edited by hundreds. You can edit anything or start an article by you need a reliable secondary source, that can be verirified, so it is difficult o post a non fact as a fact.
On the other hand, each article has a watch list, and people with a special interest in a subject or person, put that article on their watch list, and anytime there is an edit made to that article, they are notified.
Articles with political, social, cultural relevance and controversy are closely watched by people who have a vested interest in that subject or person.
I have tried to edit the treason of Reagan and Nixon, both of them well documented in reliable secondary sources, and I quoted the sources, and I was immediately reverted by a Reagan and Nixon hall monitor. Whey you revert you are suppose to make a comment on the Talk Page (a tab on the left), the talk page is where you find the interesting comments and arguments.
Anyway, if you revert a revert, and the original reverter reverts your revert, you wind up being brought before a committee (of volunteers, who probably know the reverter) and you can be banned or blocked. Blocked
I got tired of that shit, and refused to play nice, so I called out the assholes, and got permanently banned, like I give a shit anyway. Submission is compliance, submission is acceptance.
Very interesting William. I've written a few articles there and informally corrected or added to hundreds of others. I was thinking more of my (college) students who too often use material from it as "research". They have to be taught the difference between referred journals, which as you know are properly reviewed by an author's peers, and casual articles that can be from any biased source. Not understanding this is one facet of how critical thinking is sliding in America, with predictable results.
My son is an editor, when bored, my granddaughter has written a couple of articles a few years ago during a Xmas break, on female scientists. Wikipedia does have policies and guidelines as you known, they do not accept primary sources, just as self published (biased) sources, secondary sources are sources that report about a subject, but those can be biased.
I had an running revert war with a dude who,obviously, believed he was descended from a pilgrim (a puritan).
One factoid he didn't like was that the Mayflower stopped at Massachusetts Bay, because they ran out of beer, and had to replenish their stores, their destination was to land in what is now the Hudson river
I also used known physics and logic to explain why Mars could no be colonized.
Gravity of .38ge inhibited the ability to create an atmosphere of lighter gases, and liquid water. That got reverted, by a watcher (probably a Muskrat).
I beg to differ somewhat. Many times Wikipedia's error rate has been compared with those of major encyclopedia publishers. Every time it compares favorably. You might think that open source knowledge would be plagued by bias. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true because on major and controversial issues your likely to have a wide-diversity of belief, but they all are as likely to care as much about such an issue and would actually moderate each other.
Differ as you please. On some subjects wikipedia is very helpful, but when it comes to "touchy" subjects, i.e. politics, religion and even national myths, like that of the "Pilgrims" proceed with caution.
I know for a fact that some "touchy" subjects are dominated by ideologues and people with an agenda.
While wealth ruling American politics is new, or at least to the nominally informed citizenry, that particular phenonmenon is the oldest and most practiced in the long history of any political rule. Where wealth-controlled politics in any nation prevailed, the distinction between the wealthy and the poor was dramatically divided. It was always intentional. You could be be-headed for killing the king's deer, your last resort for feeding your family. The political intend of the billionaire class, now OPENLY, directly in political control, is best elucidated by Musk. He quite clearly outlines that the masses should be furthur fleeced for their own good, (ensured fascist control unmentioned), made poorer by government enforcement, intentionally made to suffer even furthur lack of survival funds--to teach them a good lesson! Here his mania for schadenfruede revelry reveals his true lunacy. It is a macabre evolution of separation of wealth vrs poverty, even besting the cruelty of the past via its open, brass endorsement.
Billionaires today in our society can be compared to huge prehistoric creatures that became bloated and oversized because of the plenitude available to feed their needs, at the time; however, now we are grossly overpopulated with this aspect of creature. There are just not enough feeding grounds for them.
The fear that brought them to this state of hoarding and manipulation of our economy in order to become this bloated creature is also that which ultimately kills them. Because like all creatures who over feed in order to protect themselves only, nature does not ultimately protect them. They are a freak in nature. They just don’t want to cooperate with the vastness of diversity and cooperation necessary for life to be balanced. They want it all. They need too much in order to exist. And like an ocean too filled with whales or sharks, they will begin to destroy themselves by their own fear and greed.
The real danger is that more and more of the rest of the population aspires and wants to emulate these freaks. They see advantages to having the luxuries, insulation from the problems of survival and need, along with unlimited cover from dirty deeds and abuses.
The population continues to get more and more ignorant and not take responsibility for their stupid decisions like electing a convicted criminal for its highest office and here he is once again taking office.
It’s not just the media’s fault (owned by these strange creatures) for Trump’s repeat performance as he begins to pillaging our country, once again. Over 77 million of our fellow countrymen approve of these assholes—get a kick out of them! We need to start asking ourselves important questions about our society as a whole. Why do we allow this behavior and cater to it and protect it?
Can you really blame corporations from heaping favors on Trump? Garland couldn't be bothered to hold accountable until two years after the crime. If the DOJ couldn't be bothered, corporate America needs to do business in this Trump economy and that makes me sick.
Garland couldn't be bothered, because Garland was complicit. He was vetted to Obama, who needed a win for the sake of posterity, so he asked the most right wing Senator of the time for a name of one who he thought might pass muster with a senate that had a Republican filibuster, and Orrin Hatch R-UT gave him Garland's name.
Biden, the great bipartisan compromiser, (for that is what he learned in his 34 years in the Senate being mentored by racist Dixiecrats), chose the same man (Garland, who had also worked as moderator, 10 times, for the Federalist Society) as his AG and that decision, plus his reluctance to use the AG as his AG, but give him free reign to pursue his own agenda, cost him dearly, and us too.
Garland only appointed Smith after being shamed into it, but his peers and the press.
Garland is, by all appearances, a conservative Republican and Federalist Society member.
I'm going to add one comment, for those who would confer sainthood on Obama, check out the funeral service for Jimmy Carter, Trump and Obama laughing it up, made me sick to my stomach.
Tells me it is all a charade.
"Chose" Russia.
Inequity is the great sweetener of revolution tea. By example, Marie Antoinette’s infamous “let them eat cake” catches nicely the Elon Musk et al sentiment. In effect, you must suffer so I may enrich myself. He isn’t new. In the 80’s the movie Wall Street’s principal character (Gecko) proclaimed ‘greed is good.’ It was too true to be funny. As noted by Hartmann, our country was in the Reagan thrall. Some actually believed and still do the government was the enemy. The deep state? Hell, that is the bureaucracy winding the clock of governance. DOGE won’t fix it; rather, it will create governmental chaos. Too many believed the Reagan welfare queen BS. And, of course, we heard the great stalking horse: SOCIALISM! Thing is our country emerged from egalitarian reform: all are created equal. A good country looks out for all, not just the wealthy. As our Constitution so nicely puts its “to provide for the common Defense and General Welfare.”
The rich decry any friction on wealth accumulation. Pay equitable taxes for the benefits of our country, hell let the little guys suck it up. Pay for labor in an equitable manner reflecting profit? Good bye Unions, they are communists (SOCIALISTS!). Skilled and cheap labor abroad, you bet our companies went to China and other exotic locations. But now to sell it? Buy the GOP, they come cheap it seems. Need a good leader, get a con man. Need a message to explain a disappearing middle class? Blame it on the little brown people (you know the ones eating your pets). Blame it on welfare queens who cause the price of groceries to go up.
So, we are sipping our tea. Enjoy the MAGA moment America, because the hard reality of unfettered wealth and privilege is starting to wear thin.
So, yesterday Jan. 6 2025 no motion was filed by congressional Dem's to stop the certification of Trumps victory under section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Nothing happened. Very telling.
"Their silence was not a peaceful transfer of power. It was complicity in the violation of the peaceful transfer of power four years ago, and a sanction for any upheaval to come. The violence of silence". This statement came from Jessica Denson yesterday after a brave effort over the weekend to try and change this outcome.
14th Amendment/Section 3
Prohibits those who had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof" from serving in the government.
Well, there you have it, everybody pulling their hair out about what should have gone differently during the campaign, DOJ Garland, the Money etc. Let's not forget the Elephant in the room, the fact that Trump is even allowed to hold office again. Sad day for our country.
Seems we not only have an oligarch problem, we have a megalomaniac problem. Actually we have 2 megalomaniac problems, each more disgusting than the other.~~~
Now trump wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. He's not ruling out use of military force in Panama & Greenland, he has eyes on Canada as the 51st state! ~~~
America first my ass! America an abomination if trump tries this shit.
He is emulating Putin in every respect. I don’t think that he can pull it off.
So we can assume the Trumsk administration will be hard at work undoing what's left of Dodd-Frank, dismantling the CFPB, and what ever else stands in the way of Billionaires becoming Trillionaires "legally".
Until most of the bottom 99% of the American economy revise the notion that wealthy people deserve their power and are better than they are, America’s untouchable oligarchy will continue to grow and exploit them. In a few more years, it is possible that the dominant oligarchs will be the trillionaires.
A fortunate few of us chose careers that were fulfilling and satisfying rather than ones that merely make one super-rich. Healthcare providers, civil servants, the military, police, educators, and even many local politicians live modest lifestyles and have modest standards of living. However, they still have a higher quality of life than most billionaires and super-rich celebrities. Mentoring, inspiring, and enabling a better tomorrow for - in many cases, total strangers - imparts a very satisfying life.
Ironically, most billionaires, look at the bottom 99% smugly as, in Donald Trump’s words, “losers and suckers.” Of course, billionaires all got super rich by exploiting the bottom 99% via America’s rigged economy. Our free-market capitalist democracy does offer all Americans the opportunity to be obscenely wealthy and to live like royalty through the ruthless exploitation of others. Ironically, most Americans overlook that obscene wealth and celebrity comes at a very high cost. Billionaires forfeit their soul, their anonymity, and their freedom to trust others - because, like you, even other billionaires might wish to befriend you merely to exploit YOUR wealth and celebrity. Is this really how we want to continue to live?
I have no idea what the hell is going on in this country. Fewer people voted than voted in 2020. There appears to be evidence that in EVERY swing state, so-called bullet ballots were well above typical percentages of all ballots cast. This, if true, begs the question if there was tampering with the election. Why would swing states and, only swing states, report such anomalous increases in bullet ballots? Why would so many millions of Americans who are either actual members of the Democratic Party or lean toward that Party choose not to vote in an election as critically important as this last one? This math ain't mathing.
Actually, we have no idea if fewer people voted this year that in 2020. What we do know is that fewer people's votes WERE COUNTED this year. What caused that is still a subject for investigative reporting, IMHO.
19 million people who voted for Biden did not vote in 2024. Trumps percentage of all eligible voters stayed roughly the same. Why didnt they vote? Couldn't vote for a woman of colour or couldnt vote Democrat?
I agree that there needs to be a forensic investigation of the voting machines
Wealth over well-being was a choice that was made by movers and shakers and slipped into the breakfast cereal of our citizens and citizens-to-be long before Reagan. At the risk of repeating what I have said a million times prior, capitalism, competition, preparation for employment to drive the national economy, making bank, and ‘keeping up with or beating the Joneses’ have been the common core curriculum in our schools since long before that miserable term was invented. The schools which so many remember so fondly are and have always been primarily about duty, discipline, calculations, evaluations, one’s cumulative file, behavioral modification, obedience, national pride and security, and passivity. Pissy PISA scores dominate the attention of educators and others who worry more about bettering the Chinese than advancing intellectual pursuits, science, and sanity. Well-being has never even registered on the radar or shown up on the horizon. As long as people, and particularly people who should know better (you know who I am talking about), continue to deny that fact, we will plunge headlong down that same treacherous path. Trump and Musk represent it well.
"Saudi billionaires jumped in to help billionaire Musk purchase Twitter for $44 billion,"
Saudis fund Musk’s global attack on democracies: Follow the money!
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/01/01/saudis-fund-musks-global-attack-on-democracies-follow-the-money/