We would be ignorant without your historically accurate lessons in every post. I can hardly think of anything to say that doesn’t involve swear words. They want to strangle our country. And now we have a guy who wants to kill our democracy and make it into an authoritarian dictatorship. God. In Missouri, the voters voted overwhelmingly for paid sick leave - 1 hour per 30 hours worked- nothing extreme obviously, but the high school educated governor and the corrupt attorney general simply overturned it. Against the will of the majority of voters. They did the exact same thing with abortion that was supported by the majority of voters.
And there is no Missouri RECALL for governor, Elizabeth. They haven't been able to pass an amendment for it. Something else you can curse the Republicans about.
My room-mate worked for a bank managing accounts in the '70's. She found out that she was being paid $5000 a year less than men doing the same job. Management refused to make her wages equal---she quit. We needed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Hell, that just happened; President Obama signed it.
Four more years of progress concerning work down the drain, because of childish voters thinking "big (white) daddy" was coming home to take care of them. The Psychopath isn't going to take care of anyone but himself.
I just watched a FAFO piece about electricians in Maine losing their solar work. Green-energy jobs from Biden's bill are being killed.
This Administration of, by, and for the filthy rich is going to eliminate anyone that gets in the way of them getting richer, while they screw or deport the people and their families doing all the work. Time to get in some good trouble. See you in the streets on the 17th.
In the 1950's my mom worked as an analyst in a bank, she was even a trainer. Come Christmas and time for raises (she earned $1 an hour, then the minimum wage), the men got a raise, including the guy she trained. She complained and was told that he had a family, she said I have one two, three children I am raising on my own. Her bosses response was find a husband.
My guess is that the majority of who post here are superannuated. Impermanence becomes clearer by the day.
As for Sartre, although he looked like Hell, I think at least part of his life was enjoyable, even delightful; imagine having Simone de Beauvoir as your lifelong companion.
Alis what you say is true. I am ashamed equal rights for women have been so long in the making, and taking until Obama to sign a Fair Pay Act. Equal rights have still not been completed legislatively.
Bless her for not accepting the discrimination by bank management. At least she could say she did what was right when others would not. Even the fight in Congress for women’s rights was allowed to founder due to ill founded reasons used to block women’s rights for equality.
Many employers offer daycare as a fringe benefit. In 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 14% of full-time private industry workers and 8% of part-time workers had access to employer-provided childcare benefits.
When I worked at DOL, the agency had an employee child care benefit. Some people would bring their kids to work, leave them at a daycare center at "Main Labor." The DOL Child Development Center is operated by KinderCare and "aims to provide a safe, fun, and stimulating environment for children's development and creativity. The center offers flexible scheduling, affordable pricing, and financial assistance to eligible families."
Consider that simultaneously, many DOL jobs were cut by DOGE and the Trump budget cuts even more positions.
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government spent about $25.3 billion on programs solely focused on child care and early childhood. Several other large funding streams allow portions of funds to be spent on child care, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
According to Google, the Big Crappy bill includes an enhanced child tax credit, increasing it to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, and makes this change permanent. The bill also retains the current, higher income phase-out thresholds for the credit, which are $200,000 for singles and $400,000 for married couples filing jointly. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/07/12/trump-child-care-tax-credit-changes-details/84505810007/
According to AI, the average cost of child care varies widely, but families can expect to pay anywhere from $6,552 to $15,600 annually for full-day care, depending on location, age of the child, and type of care. In Florida, the average annual cost for infant care is around $13,021.
During the short time I worked as an investigator for Insurance Corps, I found that women who were single and over 30 yrs were charged an added high fee for insurance due to "obvious moral issues."
The written word in Chinese for insurance is exactly the same as for the word extortion.
In another venue, we discussed medical costs. One reader said, the problem, of course, is that universal healthcare doesn't generate the profit margins for the medical and insurance professions that our current system does. Doctors earn an average of $300,000 a year and that is across the entire country including states with much lower costs of living. Specialists earn an average of $500,000+ and extreme specialities like neurosurgery, the average can exceed $1,000,000. Nurses earn (ACROSS THE US) an average of $92,000/year. A universal healthcare system would lower those averages significantly. It would effect the insurance industry to an even greater level, as commissions on medical insurance would drop precipitously.
Another, a doctor said that many physicians graduate medical school several hundred thousand dollars in debt.( advanced education is free or lower cost in many countries with universal healthcare) Those in subspecialties delay income for many years in training. "You still want some of the best and the brightest to choose medicine as a career. My family practice was 11 years of post high school training. I would love to see the money that is currently channelled into insurance companies' bloated bureaucracies and multimillion dollar salaries for executives directed into care for all. The reimbursement offered through medicare alone would bankrupt many hospitals and medical practices. Not sure what the answer is, but there has to be something better than what we have now."
Many of the physicians we have here in Baghdad By the Sea are displaced Canadians here to make the big buck. My wife and I have both Medicare A&B plus federral BC/BS. We are patients in a university health systerm, so our docs don't have to worrry about dealing with ins and outs of insurance, whereas many docs at other medical practices spend as much time administering to insurance paperwork than they do to patients.
The AMA used to be opposed to Medicare for all but they're coming around.
The entities that most benefit most from Medicare for all if it were accompanied with elimination of the collateral source rule in litigation, which could make the cost of most insurance, like workers' comp, Medicare Part B, and PI drop like a rock, is manufacturing. The cost to manufacture a car in Windsor, Ontario is less than the same in Detroit, 5 minutes away due to the exposure to medical expenses.
Consider the cost of being a high earning physician includes malpractice insurance. Google says medical malpractice insurance premiums in Florida vary significantly depending on factors like specialty, location, and experience, but generally, they are higher than in many other states. For example, some OB/GYNs in Baghdad By the Sea can face premiums exceeding $226,000 annually.
According to Google, although the median settlement payout is about $250,000, the average payout for medical malpractice or negligence claims in the United States is approximately $242,000. For cases that go to trial and extend all the way to a jury verdict, the average payout to the plaintiff is right around $1 million.
Florida caps contingency fees for medical malpractice cases at 30 percent of the first $250,000 recovered and 10 percent of any amount above that.
My doctors are virtually all on staff at UM. University of Miami (UM) typically provides medical malpractice insurance coverage for physicians employed by the university. This coverage is part of the benefits package offered to residents and other employed physicians at the Miami Miller School of Medicine. UM's risk management department administers this program, which includes coverage for defense costs and payments of claims resulting from patient injury arising from the rendering of or failure to render professional services.
When I practiced law, many years ago, hospitals knew via incident reports of pending claims, most which were never filed. I don't know this as a fact, but hiospitals are rated for insurance risk and the individual physicians who are on staff or are affiliates are also. This stuff is not available to the public.
Scope of Coverage:
The coverage at UM extends to employees, students, volunteers, and others acting within the scope of their university duties.
The cost of coverage at some other competing facilities are huge.
Mr. Solomon, when I was chair of my county Democratic Party I was told an interesting story by our Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. She went to Japan and talked to executives of auto companies asking them to build factories in Michigan. She pointed out that Michigan has a highly skilled, experienced auto work force. And Mazda had already built, in Flat Rock [just south of Detroit] the largest stamping plant in the world in partnership with Ford.
The Japanese execs told her they intended to expand their footprint in North America. But they would build their factories in Ontario because in that venue they would not be required to bargain over health care with unions. Ontario has single payer.
I had my left hand butchered by an incompetent surgeon and I consulted the law firm which handled the most such cases in Michigan. I was told I had a winning case, no doubt about it. But I was also told that in Michigan the insurance company covering me gets to collect their expense first before I get to receive any payment. This, added to the law firm's share, would have left only a small amount for me. So it was not worth the hassle to sue. Watta system! The message is: Leave Michigan if you need surgery.
“There are in the State of Georgia, canning factories working ... women 10 hours a day for $4.50 a week. Can the canning factories of Indiana, Connecticut, and New York continue to exist and meet such competitive labor costs?”[cxliii]
Really? Did that Indiana politician give a damn about the women working for starvation wages? Looks like his real sympathies lie only with the capitalists of Indiana, Connecticut and New York.
William Politt you mistyped, Surely the women in Georgia earn more then $.450 a week, an hour maybe, but isn't the mininum Federal Wage $7.25 an hour. Hell I am retired disabled and I pay $50 an hour for weed whipping, and other handyman chores. And the same for house cleaning.
Absolutely mind-blowing how fucked up Republican economic and legislative theories are. Economically it is illogical, and legislatively immoral.
That they have rigged voting with gerrymandering and suppression, while at the same time brainwashed the very electorate they are screwing will be fodder for historians to dissect and nauseum.
Paid sick leave? Want socialism, go back to the USSR, Commie bastard!
On a less jocular note, since 1970 the Democrats have had majorities in both the House and Senate 11 times. For two of those, the 94th and 95th Congresses, they held supermajorities. Healthcare, or anything else they wanted, could have been passed without a second thought. By 1980, over 20 countries had already established universal health care so this was not a new idea. Since the opportunities presented themselves, why did the Dems not act when they had the chance?
Excellent point Mr. Herreshoff, the answer is: the Democrats, led by people similar to Pelosi and Schumer did not and do not want us to have universal healthcare. Capitalists own both parties. Not just the Republican Party. When are we going to realize; the decisive power lies in the economic system, not the political system?
Mr. Hartmann does an excellent job of laying out the social problems of America.
We must finally realize that our system is not "broken" and in need of "fixing." Our economic/political system is doing exactly what it is structured to do: Provide continuously increasing profits for owners/employers regardless of the pain experienced by the millions of us common folk. We have been trying since Abraham Lincoln to "fix" a system which has been functioning exactly as it was designed to function beginning in 1776: enrich the owners. Those "fixes" are not sufficient; a message my Black friends and colleagues have been the first to recognize and tell me since my youth.
We must stop wasting our time trying to "fix" the system. We must destroy it, tear it down, and replace it with something fundamentally different.
In all likelihood that change will happen eventually. World History is against us. The American Empire is collapsing. Rather than resisting the inevitable collapse of a doomed system; we should leap like tigers to create a new, better one.
And yes, you're right. The only fix I foresee is the one a male cat gets when he's sprayed one time too many.
I'm all for leaping (metaphorically anyway, age having its burdens) but the questions that bedevil me are how and what to. Not much dialogue, though ultimately it can't happen on the Internet for obvious reasons.
Robert, the best way to "leap"might be through unions. But they must be modified to be more universal. I have worked at International Harvester, Ford Motor and Fisher Body and have been a member of the UAW. I also was a member of the National Education Association [NEA] affiliated with the Michigan Education Association [MEA]. My experience with those unions left me with a mixed impression. They were both far too concerned with internal bureaucratic procedures and somewhat out of touch with the members. The UAW more so than the NEA-MEA. We had a wildcat walkout at the Fisher Body plant in Flint because of union management's indifference. Nothing like that ever happened with the NEA-MEA.
Furthermore, UAW management were narrowly concerned only with auto workers and NEA-MEA management were only interested in teachers. We need in the U.S., a truly universal worker's union which is capable of pulling off a general strike. Country-wide. This would bring the corporate/capitalist owners to their knees. It worked in Czarist Russia and it has worked more than once in France.
Sean Fain has occasionally shown signs of possibly trying to organize such a universal national walkout. Martin Luther King might very well have pulled off such an action; had he lived through his "Poor People's March". He was assassinated just as he began it. I walked in the "Poor People's March" down Woodward Ave in Detroit, the day after he was assassinated. My belief has always been that he was tolerated as long as he was concerned with the narrow issues of Black citizens. When he began to take up the mantle of leadership for all Americans, middle class or poor, Black or White; that is when he became truly dangerous to the elite corporate owners and had to be assassinated.
The same was true of Malcolm X. After his return from a world tour Malcolm X realized that Black people were not the only U.S. citizens being harmed by our econo-political system. He began to develop sympathy for Whites as well as Blacks. This change in him is what got him assassinated. Because, he too became no longer tolerable; but instead, he was a real threat to the powerful elite. This is also why W.E. B. Dubois was imprisoned during a key election cycle in America.
When the appeal to Americans becomes truly universal; the appeal is then effective for positive change. That wildcat walkout in Flint was a thing to behold! One could feel the power of spontaneous action over the hearts of workers in a way no regular, organized strike could produce. When this becomes universal, we call it a "revolution."
I had no clue about Biden's efforts to help the workers in this country nor anything about how much other countries help theirs. Thank you for the education I get every time I read you, Thom.
I barely heard anything about this either Robin, and I try to keep up with the news (TV, radio, Internet and newspapers). All I can suggest is that: 1) The media played it down, and 2) The Democrats don't know how to get a solid message out. Probably both occurred. I know it is far harder to reach the general public today than it was in FDR or LBJ's times. There are so many more sources and people tend to stick with what they already follow, if they even pay attention at all. But they simply have to do a better job getting information out there. Otherwise the well-organized GOP will beat them every time.
O, Captain my Captain and squeeze hard they do. Taking away protections for children to eat and have health care that could save their lives. Taking from the people who already don’t have a security net. I do see this as it is though. No, help for anybody but the billionaires, the people who really need the help get nothing. This is bad. The lie is the truth and the truth is the lie. Trump says so, and the minions are too cowardly to not agree. Women’s rights to their bodies and so many other things, my Captain. Thanks for your voice of reason, always.
This is OT but relevant. I am just now reading how Erdogan changed Turkey from a secular democracy to an Islamist autocracy.
Historically, Turkey’s military positioned itself as the guardian of Atatürk’s secular revolution and the republic’s stability. Under early AKP rule, however, the government systematically reduced the armed forces’ political influence. High-profile trials and purges — most notably the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases — targeted senior officers accused of plotting coups, while civilian courts and disciplinary boards sidelined numerous generals and admirals. The AKP government also reshaped military education and command structures, ensuring loyalty to elected leadership rather than the old secular façade. Consequently, the military, once the ultimate checkpoint against political upheaval, receded from its role as the republic’s protector, paving the way for unchecked executive power in Turkey.
Hegseth is doing the same in the Pentagon And the 40% that are MAGA is not countervailed by the 60% that aren't because half of 60% don't even know that the nations capital is in Washington D.C. much less the name of their own states capital.
I appreciate reviewing our history, but I disagree that it is hidden history; all one has to do is research. I just read an article from Harper's magazine from 1990 entitled 'WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE DEMOCRATS? The Democrats themselves define the problem and whether they have the will to repair their divisions and agree on a unified presidential message.
The sum of the parts takes place in a discussion of the problems and attempts to discover a promising message for the 1992 race, featuring Bruce Babitt, Benjamin Barber, Barbara Boxer, Roland Burris, Barney Frank, Robert Reich, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. What ensues in their discussion is a contest of egos (how smart they are) rather than a debate about how to win the race. Barbara Boxer made the least contribution, which was my opinion of her back in the day as a Californian.
The Democrats had ample opportunity when they were in control of the House and Senate to push healthcare for all. I am sure they spent hours rehashing past events.
Remember the "Latchkey children" of the Reagan years? Democrats should have campaigned against the "Latchkey economy." They didn't; and to a great extent, perhaps even greater, the Latchkey still rules us. But, just wait until the updated version comes mainstream: All women (preferably white) will become moms who must stay home, teach their children (the plural is deliberate), and keep the domestic scene in satisfactory order. Success in these duties might get the woman of the house a new pair of shoes. No employment outside the home; no latchkey required. Simple.
Yes. I believe the win was a plurality of 42 percent or so, not an impressive win for someone of Clinton's charm, skill, and intelligence. To a significant degree, GHWBush defeated himself, plus there was Ross Perot's third candidacy. As Republicans have long known, a catchy slogan is worth it's weight in gold in politics. Campaigning against a Latchkey Economy likely would not have countered Perot's 19 percent of voters, but it would have been memorable. Dems still struggle with finding zingers that get people's attention so that the message hits home. It's been a long spell since Obama's fantastic "Yes We Can!"
I was drawn to Ross Perot through his slogans - 'do you hear that big sucking sound?' and his graphics that didn't lie.
Ultimately, what matters most is what the party accomplishes for 'we the people' while in office, and there are too many groups in the House and Senate that cancel each other and get no votes to pass meaningful legislation.
We would be ignorant without your historically accurate lessons in every post. I can hardly think of anything to say that doesn’t involve swear words. They want to strangle our country. And now we have a guy who wants to kill our democracy and make it into an authoritarian dictatorship. God. In Missouri, the voters voted overwhelmingly for paid sick leave - 1 hour per 30 hours worked- nothing extreme obviously, but the high school educated governor and the corrupt attorney general simply overturned it. Against the will of the majority of voters. They did the exact same thing with abortion that was supported by the majority of voters.
Yup. I saw that in today's Missouri Independent. That's not the first time the GOP controlled MO Legislature has thwarted the will of the voters.
And there is no Missouri RECALL for governor, Elizabeth. They haven't been able to pass an amendment for it. Something else you can curse the Republicans about.
My room-mate worked for a bank managing accounts in the '70's. She found out that she was being paid $5000 a year less than men doing the same job. Management refused to make her wages equal---she quit. We needed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Hell, that just happened; President Obama signed it.
Four more years of progress concerning work down the drain, because of childish voters thinking "big (white) daddy" was coming home to take care of them. The Psychopath isn't going to take care of anyone but himself.
I just watched a FAFO piece about electricians in Maine losing their solar work. Green-energy jobs from Biden's bill are being killed.
This Administration of, by, and for the filthy rich is going to eliminate anyone that gets in the way of them getting richer, while they screw or deport the people and their families doing all the work. Time to get in some good trouble. See you in the streets on the 17th.
In the 1950's my mom worked as an analyst in a bank, she was even a trainer. Come Christmas and time for raises (she earned $1 an hour, then the minimum wage), the men got a raise, including the guy she trained. She complained and was told that he had a family, she said I have one two, three children I am raising on my own. Her bosses response was find a husband.
There's always room in Hell for one more misogynist.
There are times I wish there were a hell.
According to Sartre, it's us.
Yeh, hell on earth, Sartre must have been quite miserable.
My life like all lives has its ups and downs, but I find myself quite comfortable, but it doesn't look like it is going to stay that way
My guess is that the majority of who post here are superannuated. Impermanence becomes clearer by the day.
As for Sartre, although he looked like Hell, I think at least part of his life was enjoyable, even delightful; imagine having Simone de Beauvoir as your lifelong companion.
Alis what you say is true. I am ashamed equal rights for women have been so long in the making, and taking until Obama to sign a Fair Pay Act. Equal rights have still not been completed legislatively.
Bless her for not accepting the discrimination by bank management. At least she could say she did what was right when others would not. Even the fight in Congress for women’s rights was allowed to founder due to ill founded reasons used to block women’s rights for equality.
Typical R/MAGA ignorance. They want the people to have more babies, yet they won't do anything that will ease the burden of those babies.
The embryo is sacred, the baby not.
Many employers offer daycare as a fringe benefit. In 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 14% of full-time private industry workers and 8% of part-time workers had access to employer-provided childcare benefits.
When I worked at DOL, the agency had an employee child care benefit. Some people would bring their kids to work, leave them at a daycare center at "Main Labor." The DOL Child Development Center is operated by KinderCare and "aims to provide a safe, fun, and stimulating environment for children's development and creativity. The center offers flexible scheduling, affordable pricing, and financial assistance to eligible families."
Trump is cutting it. https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2025/03/13/childcare-subsidies-department-of-labor.
Consider that simultaneously, many DOL jobs were cut by DOGE and the Trump budget cuts even more positions.
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government spent about $25.3 billion on programs solely focused on child care and early childhood. Several other large funding streams allow portions of funds to be spent on child care, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
According to Google, the Big Crappy bill includes an enhanced child tax credit, increasing it to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, and makes this change permanent. The bill also retains the current, higher income phase-out thresholds for the credit, which are $200,000 for singles and $400,000 for married couples filing jointly. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/07/12/trump-child-care-tax-credit-changes-details/84505810007/
According to AI, the average cost of child care varies widely, but families can expect to pay anywhere from $6,552 to $15,600 annually for full-day care, depending on location, age of the child, and type of care. In Florida, the average annual cost for infant care is around $13,021.
During the short time I worked as an investigator for Insurance Corps, I found that women who were single and over 30 yrs were charged an added high fee for insurance due to "obvious moral issues."
The written word in Chinese for insurance is exactly the same as for the word extortion.
In another venue, we discussed medical costs. One reader said, the problem, of course, is that universal healthcare doesn't generate the profit margins for the medical and insurance professions that our current system does. Doctors earn an average of $300,000 a year and that is across the entire country including states with much lower costs of living. Specialists earn an average of $500,000+ and extreme specialities like neurosurgery, the average can exceed $1,000,000. Nurses earn (ACROSS THE US) an average of $92,000/year. A universal healthcare system would lower those averages significantly. It would effect the insurance industry to an even greater level, as commissions on medical insurance would drop precipitously.
Another, a doctor said that many physicians graduate medical school several hundred thousand dollars in debt.( advanced education is free or lower cost in many countries with universal healthcare) Those in subspecialties delay income for many years in training. "You still want some of the best and the brightest to choose medicine as a career. My family practice was 11 years of post high school training. I would love to see the money that is currently channelled into insurance companies' bloated bureaucracies and multimillion dollar salaries for executives directed into care for all. The reimbursement offered through medicare alone would bankrupt many hospitals and medical practices. Not sure what the answer is, but there has to be something better than what we have now."
Many of the physicians we have here in Baghdad By the Sea are displaced Canadians here to make the big buck. My wife and I have both Medicare A&B plus federral BC/BS. We are patients in a university health systerm, so our docs don't have to worrry about dealing with ins and outs of insurance, whereas many docs at other medical practices spend as much time administering to insurance paperwork than they do to patients.
The AMA used to be opposed to Medicare for all but they're coming around.
The entities that most benefit most from Medicare for all if it were accompanied with elimination of the collateral source rule in litigation, which could make the cost of most insurance, like workers' comp, Medicare Part B, and PI drop like a rock, is manufacturing. The cost to manufacture a car in Windsor, Ontario is less than the same in Detroit, 5 minutes away due to the exposure to medical expenses.
Consider the cost of being a high earning physician includes malpractice insurance. Google says medical malpractice insurance premiums in Florida vary significantly depending on factors like specialty, location, and experience, but generally, they are higher than in many other states. For example, some OB/GYNs in Baghdad By the Sea can face premiums exceeding $226,000 annually.
According to Google, although the median settlement payout is about $250,000, the average payout for medical malpractice or negligence claims in the United States is approximately $242,000. For cases that go to trial and extend all the way to a jury verdict, the average payout to the plaintiff is right around $1 million.
Florida caps contingency fees for medical malpractice cases at 30 percent of the first $250,000 recovered and 10 percent of any amount above that.
My doctors are virtually all on staff at UM. University of Miami (UM) typically provides medical malpractice insurance coverage for physicians employed by the university. This coverage is part of the benefits package offered to residents and other employed physicians at the Miami Miller School of Medicine. UM's risk management department administers this program, which includes coverage for defense costs and payments of claims resulting from patient injury arising from the rendering of or failure to render professional services.
When I practiced law, many years ago, hospitals knew via incident reports of pending claims, most which were never filed. I don't know this as a fact, but hiospitals are rated for insurance risk and the individual physicians who are on staff or are affiliates are also. This stuff is not available to the public.
Scope of Coverage:
The coverage at UM extends to employees, students, volunteers, and others acting within the scope of their university duties.
The cost of coverage at some other competing facilities are huge.
Mr. Solomon, when I was chair of my county Democratic Party I was told an interesting story by our Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. She went to Japan and talked to executives of auto companies asking them to build factories in Michigan. She pointed out that Michigan has a highly skilled, experienced auto work force. And Mazda had already built, in Flat Rock [just south of Detroit] the largest stamping plant in the world in partnership with Ford.
The Japanese execs told her they intended to expand their footprint in North America. But they would build their factories in Ontario because in that venue they would not be required to bargain over health care with unions. Ontario has single payer.
I had my left hand butchered by an incompetent surgeon and I consulted the law firm which handled the most such cases in Michigan. I was told I had a winning case, no doubt about it. But I was also told that in Michigan the insurance company covering me gets to collect their expense first before I get to receive any payment. This, added to the law firm's share, would have left only a small amount for me. So it was not worth the hassle to sue. Watta system! The message is: Leave Michigan if you need surgery.
W-O-W
Oh we women had moral issues all right, just not the ones these creeps were talking about!
Chinese got it right, though. Thanks Gerald.
WOW is right. What on earth were the ‘obvious moral issues’ -knowing what they were makes all the difference in my next response.
“There are in the State of Georgia, canning factories working ... women 10 hours a day for $4.50 a week. Can the canning factories of Indiana, Connecticut, and New York continue to exist and meet such competitive labor costs?”[cxliii]
Really? Did that Indiana politician give a damn about the women working for starvation wages? Looks like his real sympathies lie only with the capitalists of Indiana, Connecticut and New York.
William Politt you mistyped, Surely the women in Georgia earn more then $.450 a week, an hour maybe, but isn't the mininum Federal Wage $7.25 an hour. Hell I am retired disabled and I pay $50 an hour for weed whipping, and other handyman chores. And the same for house cleaning.
You miss-read, William. Politt was quoting Thom's article about what was happening in 1937.
But hey, kudos on paying a good wage to your helpers!
And so I have been informed, but they way it was written was as if you were speaking for yourself.
Absolutely mind-blowing how fucked up Republican economic and legislative theories are. Economically it is illogical, and legislatively immoral.
That they have rigged voting with gerrymandering and suppression, while at the same time brainwashed the very electorate they are screwing will be fodder for historians to dissect and nauseum.
Paid sick leave? Want socialism, go back to the USSR, Commie bastard!
On a less jocular note, since 1970 the Democrats have had majorities in both the House and Senate 11 times. For two of those, the 94th and 95th Congresses, they held supermajorities. Healthcare, or anything else they wanted, could have been passed without a second thought. By 1980, over 20 countries had already established universal health care so this was not a new idea. Since the opportunities presented themselves, why did the Dems not act when they had the chance?
Excellent point Mr. Herreshoff, the answer is: the Democrats, led by people similar to Pelosi and Schumer did not and do not want us to have universal healthcare. Capitalists own both parties. Not just the Republican Party. When are we going to realize; the decisive power lies in the economic system, not the political system?
Mr. Hartmann does an excellent job of laying out the social problems of America.
We must finally realize that our system is not "broken" and in need of "fixing." Our economic/political system is doing exactly what it is structured to do: Provide continuously increasing profits for owners/employers regardless of the pain experienced by the millions of us common folk. We have been trying since Abraham Lincoln to "fix" a system which has been functioning exactly as it was designed to function beginning in 1776: enrich the owners. Those "fixes" are not sufficient; a message my Black friends and colleagues have been the first to recognize and tell me since my youth.
We must stop wasting our time trying to "fix" the system. We must destroy it, tear it down, and replace it with something fundamentally different.
In all likelihood that change will happen eventually. World History is against us. The American Empire is collapsing. Rather than resisting the inevitable collapse of a doomed system; we should leap like tigers to create a new, better one.
Just Robert.
And yes, you're right. The only fix I foresee is the one a male cat gets when he's sprayed one time too many.
I'm all for leaping (metaphorically anyway, age having its burdens) but the questions that bedevil me are how and what to. Not much dialogue, though ultimately it can't happen on the Internet for obvious reasons.
Robert, the best way to "leap"might be through unions. But they must be modified to be more universal. I have worked at International Harvester, Ford Motor and Fisher Body and have been a member of the UAW. I also was a member of the National Education Association [NEA] affiliated with the Michigan Education Association [MEA]. My experience with those unions left me with a mixed impression. They were both far too concerned with internal bureaucratic procedures and somewhat out of touch with the members. The UAW more so than the NEA-MEA. We had a wildcat walkout at the Fisher Body plant in Flint because of union management's indifference. Nothing like that ever happened with the NEA-MEA.
Furthermore, UAW management were narrowly concerned only with auto workers and NEA-MEA management were only interested in teachers. We need in the U.S., a truly universal worker's union which is capable of pulling off a general strike. Country-wide. This would bring the corporate/capitalist owners to their knees. It worked in Czarist Russia and it has worked more than once in France.
Sean Fain has occasionally shown signs of possibly trying to organize such a universal national walkout. Martin Luther King might very well have pulled off such an action; had he lived through his "Poor People's March". He was assassinated just as he began it. I walked in the "Poor People's March" down Woodward Ave in Detroit, the day after he was assassinated. My belief has always been that he was tolerated as long as he was concerned with the narrow issues of Black citizens. When he began to take up the mantle of leadership for all Americans, middle class or poor, Black or White; that is when he became truly dangerous to the elite corporate owners and had to be assassinated.
The same was true of Malcolm X. After his return from a world tour Malcolm X realized that Black people were not the only U.S. citizens being harmed by our econo-political system. He began to develop sympathy for Whites as well as Blacks. This change in him is what got him assassinated. Because, he too became no longer tolerable; but instead, he was a real threat to the powerful elite. This is also why W.E. B. Dubois was imprisoned during a key election cycle in America.
When the appeal to Americans becomes truly universal; the appeal is then effective for positive change. That wildcat walkout in Flint was a thing to behold! One could feel the power of spontaneous action over the hearts of workers in a way no regular, organized strike could produce. When this becomes universal, we call it a "revolution."
I had no clue about Biden's efforts to help the workers in this country nor anything about how much other countries help theirs. Thank you for the education I get every time I read you, Thom.
I barely heard anything about this either Robin, and I try to keep up with the news (TV, radio, Internet and newspapers). All I can suggest is that: 1) The media played it down, and 2) The Democrats don't know how to get a solid message out. Probably both occurred. I know it is far harder to reach the general public today than it was in FDR or LBJ's times. There are so many more sources and people tend to stick with what they already follow, if they even pay attention at all. But they simply have to do a better job getting information out there. Otherwise the well-organized GOP will beat them every time.
TY!
O, Captain my Captain and squeeze hard they do. Taking away protections for children to eat and have health care that could save their lives. Taking from the people who already don’t have a security net. I do see this as it is though. No, help for anybody but the billionaires, the people who really need the help get nothing. This is bad. The lie is the truth and the truth is the lie. Trump says so, and the minions are too cowardly to not agree. Women’s rights to their bodies and so many other things, my Captain. Thanks for your voice of reason, always.
This is OT but relevant. I am just now reading how Erdogan changed Turkey from a secular democracy to an Islamist autocracy.
Historically, Turkey’s military positioned itself as the guardian of Atatürk’s secular revolution and the republic’s stability. Under early AKP rule, however, the government systematically reduced the armed forces’ political influence. High-profile trials and purges — most notably the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases — targeted senior officers accused of plotting coups, while civilian courts and disciplinary boards sidelined numerous generals and admirals. The AKP government also reshaped military education and command structures, ensuring loyalty to elected leadership rather than the old secular façade. Consequently, the military, once the ultimate checkpoint against political upheaval, receded from its role as the republic’s protector, paving the way for unchecked executive power in Turkey.
Hegseth is doing the same in the Pentagon And the 40% that are MAGA is not countervailed by the 60% that aren't because half of 60% don't even know that the nations capital is in Washington D.C. much less the name of their own states capital.
And then they wonder why young people don't want to have children...
I appreciate reviewing our history, but I disagree that it is hidden history; all one has to do is research. I just read an article from Harper's magazine from 1990 entitled 'WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE DEMOCRATS? The Democrats themselves define the problem and whether they have the will to repair their divisions and agree on a unified presidential message.
The sum of the parts takes place in a discussion of the problems and attempts to discover a promising message for the 1992 race, featuring Bruce Babitt, Benjamin Barber, Barbara Boxer, Roland Burris, Barney Frank, Robert Reich, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. What ensues in their discussion is a contest of egos (how smart they are) rather than a debate about how to win the race. Barbara Boxer made the least contribution, which was my opinion of her back in the day as a Californian.
The Democrats had ample opportunity when they were in control of the House and Senate to push healthcare for all. I am sure they spent hours rehashing past events.
Remember the "Latchkey children" of the Reagan years? Democrats should have campaigned against the "Latchkey economy." They didn't; and to a great extent, perhaps even greater, the Latchkey still rules us. But, just wait until the updated version comes mainstream: All women (preferably white) will become moms who must stay home, teach their children (the plural is deliberate), and keep the domestic scene in satisfactory order. Success in these duties might get the woman of the house a new pair of shoes. No employment outside the home; no latchkey required. Simple.
I must note that Bill Clinton did win the 1992 presidential election, garnering more electoral votes and popular votes than George H.W. Bush Sr.
Yes. I believe the win was a plurality of 42 percent or so, not an impressive win for someone of Clinton's charm, skill, and intelligence. To a significant degree, GHWBush defeated himself, plus there was Ross Perot's third candidacy. As Republicans have long known, a catchy slogan is worth it's weight in gold in politics. Campaigning against a Latchkey Economy likely would not have countered Perot's 19 percent of voters, but it would have been memorable. Dems still struggle with finding zingers that get people's attention so that the message hits home. It's been a long spell since Obama's fantastic "Yes We Can!"
I was drawn to Ross Perot through his slogans - 'do you hear that big sucking sound?' and his graphics that didn't lie.
Ultimately, what matters most is what the party accomplishes for 'we the people' while in office, and there are too many groups in the House and Senate that cancel each other and get no votes to pass meaningful legislation.