The vast majority of Americans (who wrongly think they are capitalists) are already indentured to America's capitalist oligarchs via mortgages, credit card debt, and car loans. It is now a short step to full fascism in America. As Judy Woodruff reported on PBS NewsHour last night, George Pullman indentured his workforce. He mandated that all employees who built his train cars live in company housing and pay him rent. In response to the market Panic of 1893, the Pullman Company cut wages by 25% without reducing rents on company-mandated housing. It was a classic case of indenturement that led to riots.
Today, "No Kings Day" is as close to proletariat workforce riots in our capitalist autocracy. This November is a do-or-die event. Voting will not be enough. We will also have to stymie Trump's efforts, already in progress, to upend our votes. We are on the verge of reacting to a MAGA Reichstag fire coup.
Insurance and the cost of healthcare are making Americans delay or skip treatment much of the time. This is true of young, old and in-between. This is THE issue that binds us all in 2026.
Dems need to hammer home their position and solutions on this issue in every debate and interview. It is time to decouple health insurance and the workplace and to explain that it would mean more freedom.
Thanks for your excellent Reports, Thom. We have a lot of work and explaining to do before and after this election. See you in the streets.
Corporate Democrats dedicated to pleasing their owners, undermining their left flank rather than combatting corruption on the right, and spineless conflict avoidance. Corporate legacy MSM reduced to shallow stenography, false equivalencies, and spineless conflict avoidance. These may well be greater enemies than the fascists they effectively protect. We’re seeing how to beat them. Keep the faith.
The only people with a clear conscience and a clear vision are the progressives (as it always has been). But the rest of the political landscape is littered with corporate sell-outs and sycophants, who have no objective left but to hang on to power any way they can. That involves throwing money at elections, war, tax cuts, and cranking up a 24/7 campaign of deceit and fear. Yet it always seems to be the accuser who turns out to be guilty.
I subscribe to you and read you every day. I'm a typical Hartman reader. Reading you today, I thought of Wolfgang Streeck and Karl Polanyi. And I am insulated! My vote hasn't been enough in this culture for a long time. It is that 90% of voters that have never heard of you that will vote in the new "New Deal!" Reading you has done nothing to change my vote. But your readings have gotten me off my ass and involved in local politics. You have made me a better citizen! THANKS!
For those of us who pay attention, I think this is all true and we will try to make it happen. I worry, though, about those who need this but 1) don't vote or 2) are persuaded by social media bots and vote MAGA. Living in a red state, I'm constantly discouraged by real voters who just keep voting their own economic suicide but are swayed by the culture wars. Our first step is to regain power in November. Then we must win in 2028 and make this a reality.
It will take more than votes, especially when the fascist have the election rigged. Mussolini's fascism fell, not from within, but from without, same with Germany, Franco died, Stalin died, Maos; China lives on, except that the New Class own cars.
Magyar came from Fidesz, Orban's party, and the only substantial difference is that he is not a Putinphile, corrupt or as corrupt as Orban, and although not gay friendly, not gay oppressive.
Meanwhile Europe is turning right ward, fascism is on the ascendant, over one issue, immigration and a clash of cultures.
Here is why people vote against their own self interests: Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
The basic need is food, clothing and shelter, and even the lowest white man has those needs met, and he is told to blame his inability to climb upthe hierarchy is because of "them", the other.
Once his basic needs are fuffilled, he has a need for dominance, to dominate others must be subjugated, and that is where the culture war comes in..
Americans are so well off, that even the poor have a cell phone and a provider.
The thing about Hungary is that the entire political spectrum united around Maygar because he was (and is) anti-corruption. We need to choose the Democrat who will fight corruption (yes, Democrat) and unite around them to make drastic changes to the system, and then hammer out the actual policy moves. No more single issue purity tests.
I followed the election of Orban, and the central theme was immigration. He promised to build a wall and he did it, then he promised to deport immigrants and he started on that.
I am enjoying your latest book, “Who killed the American Dream”. The astonishing fact that all the corrupt legal claims that corporations are “people” with the same rights as actual, living people started as a complete fraud over 150 years ago is stunning. All these years later, our “so called” legal system has been hoodwinking us with this incredible lie. Amazing!
I see my democratic America as the silhouetted man tumbling through the opening credits of MAD MEN — a figure in free‑fall against mid‑century skyscrapers, their clean lines plastered with "Blade Runner" sized ads that radiate an ominous dread.
And then there are the 77,300,000 idiots and rubes who elevated a con artist, a liar extraordinaire, an NBC-trained political actor. A prop, a fake man on a fake set. A bargain‑bin Pied Piper who marched the country toward the edge. Their [the R electorate's] stupidity created the silhouetted Mad Man's drop.
But the falling man doesn’t meet pavement. He lands safely, settled comfortably into a mid‑century sofa, one arm draped casually across its back.
No cigarette in this analogy; just the calm of someone who’s learned to sit comfortably inside a functioning democracy — having effectively dodged a fusillade of incoming fascist fire.
RIP those who tragically could not dodge it in time: Ms. Good; Mr. Pretti
#VOTE for HOPE #SPARE Ivanka the attack of the Mushroom
We need to spell out the policies that will do this job. Revising corporate charters to reflect public interest rather than shareholder value, redefining fiduciary duty to serve communities, not shareholders. We need to create public financial institutions to provide accessible credit at low rates for strapped families, and to invest in science and technology for future advances -- well before corporations swoop in to seize our ideas for profit. Tax-payers deserve the profit put back into our health care, education, and infrastructure. You have outlined many of these. It's time to ramp it up! Project 2027 needs to get written now! There are things to do before the next presidency, to prepare us for that huge event. Find ways to work around the current bobblehead catastrophe.
The appetite is certainly there, but are we ready with institutions and awareness to accomplish our goals? There are capable and well-oriented people with the right ideas, but until the general public understands exactly what needs to be done, we cannot usher in a new era. Propaganda has subverted our knowledge of what and how, and confused us about the tactics of the oligarchs. We need a lot more political acumen to charge forward with the requisite speed and momentum.
Yes the debt of $40T is no problem and America can ignore it. But the underlying issue is that the purchasing power of the dollar is a problem. If an economy egregiously overprints its currency eventually the currency is debased and becomes worthless and inflation the result. And now with a looming debt trap an economy cannot print its way out of the problem. Yes there will be manipulations to bail out the economy but they will eventually fail.
Keynesians and MMT'ers will protest but the fact is that a currency is credit and historically from Roman times gold is real money. In order for Keynes to make his case to FDR he had to deny Say's Law and declare that gold was a "dangerous relic". But even America's Constitution sets out a metallic standard in Article 1 Section 8 after there was a currency failure of the Continental in the early 1780's.
In terms of gold the purchasing power of the dollar is going down, now 3-4cents of what it was in 1971 when Nixon "temporarily" took the country domestically off a gold standard. It's not that the price of gold is going up, the purchasing power of the dollar is going down due to excessive money printing. It's a clear fact that when gold is matched with market price of a commodity such as a barrel of oil the gold price remains steady while there are fluctuations in the price of oil.
History is littered with examples of currency failures due to lack of reining in government spending which becomes political opioid until the addiction becomes overwhelming.
My father, bless him, loved the races. He always had his racing form sheets that would indicate which horses in each race ran well on a given track, well in the mud, liked day time races etc., etc.
I wish I had a racing form to tell me which of the Democrats (or Independents) deserve my "bet" and which are -- as my father would say -- lemons.
I already know to delete immediately anything from the Clintons, Pelosi, Obama, Carvell, the Dem's House of Reps. whatever his title is, and from my Senator Schumer, as being dead ends.
But I need a scorecard!! Hundreds of organizations requesting money or attention. Help, anyone!
The vast majority of Americans (who wrongly think they are capitalists) are already indentured to America's capitalist oligarchs via mortgages, credit card debt, and car loans. It is now a short step to full fascism in America. As Judy Woodruff reported on PBS NewsHour last night, George Pullman indentured his workforce. He mandated that all employees who built his train cars live in company housing and pay him rent. In response to the market Panic of 1893, the Pullman Company cut wages by 25% without reducing rents on company-mandated housing. It was a classic case of indenturement that led to riots.
Today, "No Kings Day" is as close to proletariat workforce riots in our capitalist autocracy. This November is a do-or-die event. Voting will not be enough. We will also have to stymie Trump's efforts, already in progress, to upend our votes. We are on the verge of reacting to a MAGA Reichstag fire coup.
For the first time, I finished reading your commentary with a smile on my face.
In addition to the practical, what kind we do, its time to roll up our sleeves and get to work, you added that "we can do this".
I always appreciate the knowledge you disseminate and the determination with which you do it and call us to action.
But hope?! Espcially here? Inspiring and with relief...thank you
Insurance and the cost of healthcare are making Americans delay or skip treatment much of the time. This is true of young, old and in-between. This is THE issue that binds us all in 2026.
Dems need to hammer home their position and solutions on this issue in every debate and interview. It is time to decouple health insurance and the workplace and to explain that it would mean more freedom.
Thanks for your excellent Reports, Thom. We have a lot of work and explaining to do before and after this election. See you in the streets.
Corporate Democrats dedicated to pleasing their owners, undermining their left flank rather than combatting corruption on the right, and spineless conflict avoidance. Corporate legacy MSM reduced to shallow stenography, false equivalencies, and spineless conflict avoidance. These may well be greater enemies than the fascists they effectively protect. We’re seeing how to beat them. Keep the faith.
The only people with a clear conscience and a clear vision are the progressives (as it always has been). But the rest of the political landscape is littered with corporate sell-outs and sycophants, who have no objective left but to hang on to power any way they can. That involves throwing money at elections, war, tax cuts, and cranking up a 24/7 campaign of deceit and fear. Yet it always seems to be the accuser who turns out to be guilty.
I subscribe to you and read you every day. I'm a typical Hartman reader. Reading you today, I thought of Wolfgang Streeck and Karl Polanyi. And I am insulated! My vote hasn't been enough in this culture for a long time. It is that 90% of voters that have never heard of you that will vote in the new "New Deal!" Reading you has done nothing to change my vote. But your readings have gotten me off my ass and involved in local politics. You have made me a better citizen! THANKS!
Same here!
For those of us who pay attention, I think this is all true and we will try to make it happen. I worry, though, about those who need this but 1) don't vote or 2) are persuaded by social media bots and vote MAGA. Living in a red state, I'm constantly discouraged by real voters who just keep voting their own economic suicide but are swayed by the culture wars. Our first step is to regain power in November. Then we must win in 2028 and make this a reality.
It will take more than votes, especially when the fascist have the election rigged. Mussolini's fascism fell, not from within, but from without, same with Germany, Franco died, Stalin died, Maos; China lives on, except that the New Class own cars.
Magyar came from Fidesz, Orban's party, and the only substantial difference is that he is not a Putinphile, corrupt or as corrupt as Orban, and although not gay friendly, not gay oppressive.
Meanwhile Europe is turning right ward, fascism is on the ascendant, over one issue, immigration and a clash of cultures.
Here is why people vote against their own self interests: Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
The basic need is food, clothing and shelter, and even the lowest white man has those needs met, and he is told to blame his inability to climb upthe hierarchy is because of "them", the other.
Once his basic needs are fuffilled, he has a need for dominance, to dominate others must be subjugated, and that is where the culture war comes in..
Americans are so well off, that even the poor have a cell phone and a provider.
The thing about Hungary is that the entire political spectrum united around Maygar because he was (and is) anti-corruption. We need to choose the Democrat who will fight corruption (yes, Democrat) and unite around them to make drastic changes to the system, and then hammer out the actual policy moves. No more single issue purity tests.
And we need to start by meeting the basic needs of the people.
I followed the election of Orban, and the central theme was immigration. He promised to build a wall and he did it, then he promised to deport immigrants and he started on that.
I am enjoying your latest book, “Who killed the American Dream”. The astonishing fact that all the corrupt legal claims that corporations are “people” with the same rights as actual, living people started as a complete fraud over 150 years ago is stunning. All these years later, our “so called” legal system has been hoodwinking us with this incredible lie. Amazing!
I see my democratic America as the silhouetted man tumbling through the opening credits of MAD MEN — a figure in free‑fall against mid‑century skyscrapers, their clean lines plastered with "Blade Runner" sized ads that radiate an ominous dread.
And then there are the 77,300,000 idiots and rubes who elevated a con artist, a liar extraordinaire, an NBC-trained political actor. A prop, a fake man on a fake set. A bargain‑bin Pied Piper who marched the country toward the edge. Their [the R electorate's] stupidity created the silhouetted Mad Man's drop.
But the falling man doesn’t meet pavement. He lands safely, settled comfortably into a mid‑century sofa, one arm draped casually across its back.
No cigarette in this analogy; just the calm of someone who’s learned to sit comfortably inside a functioning democracy — having effectively dodged a fusillade of incoming fascist fire.
RIP those who tragically could not dodge it in time: Ms. Good; Mr. Pretti
#VOTE for HOPE #SPARE Ivanka the attack of the Mushroom
MAD MEN Opening Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5-sdHP0YQ
Minimum wage should be $30/ hour in 2026. That would equal purchasing power of 1980.
We need to spell out the policies that will do this job. Revising corporate charters to reflect public interest rather than shareholder value, redefining fiduciary duty to serve communities, not shareholders. We need to create public financial institutions to provide accessible credit at low rates for strapped families, and to invest in science and technology for future advances -- well before corporations swoop in to seize our ideas for profit. Tax-payers deserve the profit put back into our health care, education, and infrastructure. You have outlined many of these. It's time to ramp it up! Project 2027 needs to get written now! There are things to do before the next presidency, to prepare us for that huge event. Find ways to work around the current bobblehead catastrophe.
The appetite is certainly there, but are we ready with institutions and awareness to accomplish our goals? There are capable and well-oriented people with the right ideas, but until the general public understands exactly what needs to be done, we cannot usher in a new era. Propaganda has subverted our knowledge of what and how, and confused us about the tactics of the oligarchs. We need a lot more political acumen to charge forward with the requisite speed and momentum.
Please gods 🙏 definitely what I’m working for
A Case For A Metallic Standard
Yes the debt of $40T is no problem and America can ignore it. But the underlying issue is that the purchasing power of the dollar is a problem. If an economy egregiously overprints its currency eventually the currency is debased and becomes worthless and inflation the result. And now with a looming debt trap an economy cannot print its way out of the problem. Yes there will be manipulations to bail out the economy but they will eventually fail.
Keynesians and MMT'ers will protest but the fact is that a currency is credit and historically from Roman times gold is real money. In order for Keynes to make his case to FDR he had to deny Say's Law and declare that gold was a "dangerous relic". But even America's Constitution sets out a metallic standard in Article 1 Section 8 after there was a currency failure of the Continental in the early 1780's.
In terms of gold the purchasing power of the dollar is going down, now 3-4cents of what it was in 1971 when Nixon "temporarily" took the country domestically off a gold standard. It's not that the price of gold is going up, the purchasing power of the dollar is going down due to excessive money printing. It's a clear fact that when gold is matched with market price of a commodity such as a barrel of oil the gold price remains steady while there are fluctuations in the price of oil.
History is littered with examples of currency failures due to lack of reining in government spending which becomes political opioid until the addiction becomes overwhelming.
We can only hope!
My father, bless him, loved the races. He always had his racing form sheets that would indicate which horses in each race ran well on a given track, well in the mud, liked day time races etc., etc.
I wish I had a racing form to tell me which of the Democrats (or Independents) deserve my "bet" and which are -- as my father would say -- lemons.
I already know to delete immediately anything from the Clintons, Pelosi, Obama, Carvell, the Dem's House of Reps. whatever his title is, and from my Senator Schumer, as being dead ends.
But I need a scorecard!! Hundreds of organizations requesting money or attention. Help, anyone!
DL