Right on: "It’s not enough to just do a good job at governing; you must make sure everybody knows about it. Deep down in their bones. Every day. Month after month, year after year. In that, Biden, Harris, and Harrison all failed, while Trump performed like an Olympic athlete."
I think billionaires owning the major media outlets / Twitter etc. helps them control what people get to see / hear. Distort reality with disinformation. That's why Substack and your newsletter is valuable because it provides an alternate way to get the facts to people.
DemLabs in its own small way tries to take facts and share them visually (maps / infographics) and in audio form so that people can see how an issue impacts them directly by clicking on a map and seeing who is making money of their misery. Here's an example:
Why do billionaire owned media outlets promote Trump? Follow the money!
An example that you may have seen is Modi's unending promotion of his work and accomplishments. Every village I have visited in India has a picture of Modi and often a local first minister with some list of accomplishments such as new infrastructure, new social help, or economic development. The public buses are plastered with his picture and accomplishments. In today's media environment, that is the level of intensity needed.
Modi's constant communication has kept him in power for far longer than I would have imagined. Biden did a very poor job by comparison.
Agree with Thom regarding the lack of communication and announcements regarding Pres.Biden’s administration successes. I rarely saw anything on my SoCal local news channels about legislation passed in the last four years that helped Americans. The fact that the majority of BS “news” coverage is from Fox and their 24/7 propaganda machine and watched by millions really has damaged our nation. I don’t watch much on major networks anymore, maybe MSNBC for Lawrence O’Donnell or Ali Velshi and I have switched to online sources and a variety of You Tube channels so I at least try to scan for information and news that I can filter through. But it takes effort and time to find accurate sources and many Americans don’t have the time, or the understanding of the facts since they watch only the click bait propaganda that represents our national “news “ these days. Many Americans don’t get how they have been played by a conman, or if they do they are complicit in the assault on our institutions and don’t care because they feel comfortable expressing their bigotry and misogyny.
I didn't have time to read this all before work, but it looked like it was giving Trump and MAGA too much credit for "vision", I feel like they function more on "gut", and that includes racism and sexism.
I don't think it's hate as much as fear and frustration. We need to deliver a better message and work towards making things better for the working class.
Yes Chris, fear is the root of hate, and frustration from not having the power to exert one's dominance and be able to say aloud words like nigger and fag, without having to say "n" word and gay.
Trump was elected dictator for life, because of the InCel and Viagra vote, because Imams and their congregation endorsed, voted for Trump or did not vote at all, and black males, and Hispanic males particularly Gen X and GenY voted with the InCels and Viagra vote, and their women are camp followers.
I remember the euphoria that most of us felt when Bernie was running for President in 2016. He offered hope and change for a different path forward. Unfortunately he was crushed by the power brokers in the Democratic party whom gave us Hillary instead. I hope that the Dems have learned a hard lesson and are ready with a new message. The fact that Reagonomics stripped $50 trillion from the economy since 1980 with the proceeds going mainly to the ultra-wealthy and select corporations, needs to be hammered home over and over again. It should have been brought up by Harris because it's what the working class Americans needed to hear.
Harris doesn't have a clue. She was saying what her hired handlers told her to say. Political parties are now perpetual fundraising businesses that run ads to scare people into donating more money. This morning, I received another Harris ad asking for money to protect the Democrats. I heard Adam Schiff say about three years ago that we need a strong Republican Party. Schiff is a Democrat. I don't get it unless both parties are just a circus to distract and keep us in line. We need a strong working class! We need to fix the broken mess that we call a healthcare system. We need housing and child care. We need to raise corporate taxes, but is there a way to raise taxes on the wealthiest? Who is lending the money for the national debt at interest that the taxpayers must pay back? How long can this system keep going?
The Democratic party is a business Gloria. It provides jobs and publicity for people, like Biggs, Carville, Begala, Brazile, and hundreds more. I fucked up again, I actually believe in Harris, what a sucker I was.
She didn't even wait until all of the votes were counted, before she sanctified the dictator in waiting on election day.. The Democrats now have no basis for complaining or challenging, and the dictatorship that Trump promised will come to pass,with Harris's blessing.
My enthusiasm for Harris waned when I noticed that her speeches, response in interviews were the same, almost verbatim, talking points, and when asked a question if there was anything different between what she would do and Biden did, she said ..No.
If anyone thinks that Biden was progressive, you have another thought coming.
His choice of Merrick Garland was the first tell, and the conviction of nepotistic Hunter was just pay back, I expect Biden to pardon him on the way out of the door.
Whatever lesson the Dems have or may learn Chris is moot, totally irrelevant because on Jan 21st the Democratic party becomes, outwardly, irrelevant as it has been since Reagan.
I knew the minute Harris stated she could not think of a single issue she varied from Biden that the game was over. People wanted see a new agenda, and if she had cogently voiced one she might well have won. Instead, she read from a provided script. The country wanted Biden gone. Each day his refusal to step down gave incremental gain sway to Trump. His mind clearly had deteriorated, but his egotism only festered bigger. The maudlin loyalty is unity is loyalty is unity bullshit poisoned her run.
The country wanted change, not more rehashed Biden. Read yesterday that Merrick Garrland was told by Biden to refrain from direct prosecution following Jan 6--remember Garland, a Republican, was appointed by Biden to AG first legal power. Another thing that keeps nagging my mind was the great wounded wailing that the MAGAs reacted to when Biden finally stepped aside. The MAGA elite shouted 'unconstitutional' etc. Trump called it indictable 'treason'. Seemed a bit of over-reaction that they would claim such pain. Could have been just that they knew they could beat Biden, could have been more quid pro, we won't ever know. Everything but popcorn is for sale these days in DC on BOTH sides, and the prices (or grift gains) will now go through the roof. One other thing, everybody on the Left finally began to use the word 'fascism' true to its reality, but since the election, the word seems to have evaporated from the vocabulary by the Left, replaced with words like 'accomodation', 'both sides', 'across the aisle'. Fear, real fear, has already set in.
To the feckless, cowardly punditocracy, greater “influencer” community, and corporate media:
You did this. With very few exceptions, you allowed a group of oligarchs, theocrats and foreign dictators to take over America, leaving hundreds of millions of real human beings vulnerable to a fascist, genocidal dictatorship whose underlying ideology is great replacement theory.
You spent weeks covering Fani Willis’s sex life. You spent months attacking Joe Biden’s mental capacity to lead while you ignored the frothing, demented lunatic literally telling us — through “The Weave” — what he’s going to do. Remember when he told us he was going to do Kristallnacht? Just Trump being Trump, right?
No. It was not. The people around him, infested with literal Russian agents, like Susie Wiles, who it was announced will be Trump’s chief of staff, Peter Thiel’s android JD Vance, who is very likely to become the President, not to mention people like Erik Prince & Mike Flynn, who is openly threatening Barack Obama and hundreds more people on his “Deep State Target List,” will absolutely do everything Trump said. On Day ONE.
The only story is the Fall of America — and what do to about our impending autocracy. Every moment you spend on Democratic finger-pointing is not just fiddling on the Titanic, it’s hypnotizing people into not getting on a life boat. You must be honest about the potential horrors of a man like Donald Trump having the nuclear codes and the legal right, per the theocratic crime cult on SCOTUS, to hunt down anyone he wants and execute them.
You must cover the fact that there are numerous individuals in the crosshairs of violence, arrest, imprisonment and death. You must cover the fact that every vulnerable group will be at the complete mercy of a fascist dictatorship.
Instead of musing about “what went wrong” in the Democratic messaging, imagine for a fucking moment how women, LGBTQ+, brown, Black, Jewish, Native and numerous other vulnerable people are going to die — systematically, intentionally, by a regime of misogynist white supremacists who see women as subservient and anyone not in the ruling class as subhuman.
Here are just a few alternate ideas for what to talk about instead of a fantasy comeback of the Democrats in the “next election” — that will never happen.
How to survive autocracy
Strategies for resistance
Protecting the vulnerable
Personal security against government surveillance and violence
How State governments need to step up to protect people
How this actually happened, psychological warfare, active measures
How the US is being turned into the Western States of Russia
How to protect yourself from indoctrination and brainwashing into the cult that has taken over the government
Historical parallels, what are the potential ways out of this
I know everyone is scared. You have editors, managers, studio heads, whatever. There are so many excuses to chew up the Last Days of America with empty garbage. But I’m begging you to step up, just once.
The Fourth Estate has fallen along with the rest of our formerly protected rights. This is your last chance to show what a “free press” was for.
In 1933, Weimar Germany voluntarily handed over power to Adolf Hitler. Speaking for myself, I feel abandoned by you and my government just as the people of Weimar must have. After 50 years of allegedly fighting for our democracy, you are capitulating to a Fourth Reich. They told us what they are going to do, and you are just letting them do it.
Franz von Papen, Adolf Hitler, 1933; Joe Biden 11/7/24
Are you really going to be the Franz von Papen of the 21st century, Joe?
You had the power to fix this. You should have had the information to understand the threat that we were facing. Instead you treated it like just another Democratic presidency, hoping that if the economy were good enough it would fix the problem with all the “MAGA extremists.”
You were wrong. You didn’t listen to those of us who told you who tried to steal the election from you in 2020. You let your DOJ and FBI drag their feet with the perfect timing to let Donald Trump and his co-conspirators go free. You prosecuted all the foot soldiers and never went after the “generals.” You prioritized “norms” and the “independence” of the DOJ over us. You failed to lead, to demand accountability — from Merrick Garland, Chris Wray and the others who let this happen on your watch.
I hear you talking now about “all that we accomplished” in your “historic administration” as if that will have any impact on the psychopaths who will destroy everything that you have done. You could have been the inflection point to preserve our world and make it better, instead you presided over a transition into an authoritarian global nightmare.
To hear this is just a “setback” is insulting. You are leaving your nation to the wolves and you won’t even be honest about it. I put myself in the crosshairs for this country, Joe Biden, as did many patriots who fought alongside me. Instead of hearing us, you are just letting them pull the trigger.
I have deep respect for you, Joe. I fought hard for you. But in this moment, as you gaslight us that it’s all going to be fine, my loyalty is shattered.
I definitely agree with you on Bernie in 2016, the Democrats are pretty lame until it comes to handling the Progressives. They decided to run Joe Biden and kneecap Bernie, who had a clear message that gave people hope. I know Biden did what he could to help the working class, but it was too little too late. I think people just had enough of hanging on by their fingernails.
I was 30 years old in 1980. I bought into the snarky republican ads & voted against Jimmy Carter for president. I am ashamed of that decision to this day. I have never again voted for any republican.
Biden had tried to brag about how Bidenomics (but didn't have time to explain) was working and the media would talk about how people just don't feel it and GOP would say that Bidenomics brought pain through record high inflation and high gas prices. It seems like they had to stop bragging about the economy.
I had felt for a long time that something had happened economically in the 1980s without figuring out what it was. Thom and Robert Reich blew my mind by showing that a lot of systematic changes had happened due to a gameplan beginning with Lewis Powell. I think that if people could see how the economy worked before 1980 and what changed, that people would obviously be on board with ending Neoliberalism. There just isn't a way to get the message to enough people. Without any decent messaging platforms compared to everything that the GOP has, no one hears it. And not enough people are searching for the truth, as opposed to just blame the current person in office.
Bret, the corporate media, their paid puppets, kept talking about inflation and the economy
The clue is in the adjective, corporate:, the media is owned by corporations, and the purpose, sole purpose of a corporation is to provide investors with a positive return on investment, and that also means survival.
Corporations thrive, make profit, survive in the absence of regulations. Thus are conservative, meaning business oriented, thus Republicans
Inflation, the economy is (was) an abiding concern created by the media, Trump realized the power of reporting when he tried to stop reporting of COVID deaths, George W Bush, the same, when he forbade any media coverage of planes unloading caskets or the DOD announcing military funerals. In fact the only way anyone knew how many had dided in Iraq and Afghanisan, was because the bureaus scoured all of the local papers.
But the Incel and Viagra vote,the Muslim vote, the Gen X,Y and Boomer vote was not about the economy, it was about masculine fears and grievance over loss of power and dominance.
An the media didn't cover that, they kept us distracted over the price of eggs, milk and gas.
Back then, I thought that because Nixon opened the door to China, the industry finally had access to cheaper labor than in the U.S., so it left for China. I had no idea our policies forced them to go overseas.
Our policies Gloria, were labor rights, that a person had the right be rewarded for his or her contribution to the owners wealth. Corporations are charged with maximizing profits, labor is a variable expense, reduce the expense and there is more profit
Our policies required that manufacturers protect the health and safety of the workers, as well as the health and safety of the community and society.
Those restraints,wages, health, safety, community, society, were not required or enforced by needy, hungry, third world nations. They don't care if 25%of the population suffers, dies because of manufacturing if the air and water is poisoned, so long as 75% of the population and 100% of the leadership prospers.
The much former President of Panama, Omar Torrijos, forbade the mechanization of sugar cane harvesting,because it meant unemploying tens of thousands of campesinos
A stick in the forest is just a stick until it is picked up and whittled into a cane,whistle or toy.
Coal and ore are useless until burned and melted and poured into molds and made into something useful.
It is not the person that owns the means of production that is solely responsible for the wealth that production produces, with the minds, legs and hands of those that actually produce the product, they would be sitting on a pile of worthless money, because it took hands, arms and legs, to produce the factory, machines, mine and transport the coal and ore he uses.
Each of them are entitled to a share of the wealth that they produce, but the problem is that humans are a self renewing resource, and in competition with each other for the crumbs needed for survival, thus a resource as easy to exploit as minerals in the ground
When they were building the Golden Gate bridge, there was an army of unemployed men camped on the shore of San Francisco bay, watching,hoping and praying that a worker would fall to his death, that they could get in line to claim his job.
Along the gulf coast their are families who died from the carcinogens emitted by refineries, they make documentaries, there have been suits, attempt to pass laws by or in behalf of those families, they complain, but they do not move;
The same is true in any town that suffers from pollution and carcinogens, like Crossett Arkansas, where Koch's Georgia Pacific,has a cardboard and Paper mill and had the reputation of being the cancer capital of the US, a distinction now owned by the State of Kentucky, which also has the highest rate of opioid death and addiction and is notoriously religious, racist and homophobic.
So long as people are willing to put themselves in harms way, to gamble on their health and the health of their family, then labor will always be exploited.
The attitude of a corporation when confronting a strike is "what are you bitching about, you have a job don't you" They see themselves doing us a favor, and themselves as beneficent.
The Dems always lacks the understanding that Kabuki theater is number one. You have to let everyone know what you are about in the most dramatic way possible. The lack of constant repeated messaging did not exist. Nobody knows what the Harris campaign slogans were because they were not done and the media did not cover it one bit. Trump had every media show case his incoherent phrases. People at least knew what they were. I did not watch but I could tell you his main points even if they were lies. I also bet none of the failed runners of the Dem campaign will be fired. All of them are corporate elites while Bernie Sanders simple and repeated messaging created a landslide in his favor. I repeated for the entire 2 months of campaigning that a simple 3 or 4 economic issues repeated to the point that everyone on the planet knew it would have gotten the 14 million low information Dem voter base out and voting that did not show up exactly as in 2022. This was a self inflicted wound, but I have not heard that the lesson was learned. Has anyone heard that they need a media outlet like Fox?
What the failed runners of the Democratic party do is moot. A post mortem is an exercise in futility, because there won't be a second chance to correct in 4 years. Oh there might be a plebiscite or a fake election like in Hungary, Russia or Turkey, but not a real election where there will be a radical course correction away from a right wing theocratic dictatorship.
We have a substantial tax deferred 401(a) and 457a) account that we will be closing out before jan 21st, and Canada is only an hour or two away. We should have enough money to get a resident Visa, maybe beat the rush of those seeking political asylum.
I am aware that Canada is on the downhill towards right wing fascism as well, but at least buying enough time, for me to die a natural and peaceful death.
You'll be pleased to know that this article this morning ☕ is the Feature piece over at "Polytricks" author Bob Lewis. Brilliant read Thom, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
I just tried to find that link for you and it's disappeared? How odd ? IT caught my eye because the article has the same picture as your piece this morning? I'll keep my eye out for you though.🙏
I do not buy anything advertised on TV, anything. If they have to advertise then they are unsought goods, and do not perform. And if a product of PhRMA will kill you. I pay attention to the warnings that they have to advertise to avoid law suits.
Systematic governance failure! Can we finally be honest about the fact that we need more than an 18th-century governance model for this country?
Some chaotic movement will probably happen as the new administration tries to gut regulations only to find that some progressive States do the opposite. You may ask, "what about the Supremacy Clause?". With the current SCOTUS outcomes may not be so predictable. Much national regulation relies on the "negative implications" of the commerce clause. Given the hostility towards implied rights, those doctrines may fall.
We need to move towards a different governance model and probably a different constitutional framework. No model is perfect, but the EU has shown some ways to do this with a mix of EU and national institutions.
A first item to go needs to be the elected monarch of a president. Wherever an imperial presidential model exists, there is a risk of or the actual existence of autocracy. Parliamentary democracies with a ceremonial president do not have the same issues.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the better model of an executive consisting of a federal council as used uniquely in Switzerland. The Swiss presidency is shared among the seven federal council members for one-year terms. Changing the U.S. executive branch to be led by a council of regionally elected members with a rotating presidency would be a vast improvement.
The only hope I have is that the West Coast secedes.
What is not fully understood is the real meaning of the United States.
The 50 states are each and every one of them sovereign countries (states), and the constitution binds them only to the extent that they agree to be bound, and they agreed at the outset of being bound by a majority vote in Congress and approval by the Executive.
The Supreme Court has no authority, compliance by the court is voluntary. Andrew Jackson was correct when he said "Justice Marshall has ruled, not let him enforce his ruling, and then set about evicting Indians.
California has the 7th largest economy in the nation, and virtually keeps the rest of America afloat, Combine the economy of California, with Oregon and Washington, if those three secede it will bring the rest of the country to it's knees, and if all blue states seceded it would disrupt any attempt by the dictatorship to thwart the process.
When Trump fulfills his promise, and he will, I believe him, there will no longer be a federal government, but a 4th Reich of the Rich.
I wanted to ask about that. What has to happen for a state to declare independence? They will need the trappings of an independent country. but what else? Diplomats, currency, military, laws to replace previously national laws?
Agree. I’ve long advocated a parliamentary democratic model for US. Problem is how to get there from here. And I think that road is permanently blocked. It would still be good to talk about it openly and push. Unfortunately, rational comparative analyses are dismissed from the git-go here. Exceptionalism pervades our major parties, and hypernationalism pervades the working classes.: “USA, USA, USA…” ad nauseum.
One would think that witnessing years of Repugnican disinformation would encourage Democrats to reevaluate their messaging. One would be wrong. Establishment Democrats remain tone deaf, as exemplified by Jamie Harrison’s insulting response to Bernie Sanders, clinging to the lame notion that some vague, innocuous “centrism” will win the day. Geriatric main stream Democrats (buoyed by uninspiring wannabes like Harrison) pointing fingers at “the left”, utterly failing to work a shiny object focused MSM while embracing working-class Americans, have cost us the Whitehouse, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, and an overwhelming percentage of the electorate. If we are to recover, voices like those of Bernie Sanders, AOC, Thom Hartmann, and so many others must be heard and honored. Continuing on the current path is the definition of insanity; fear that we will do so is even more discouraging than this week’s loss.
As an outsider looking in, I have maintained for years that the reason America cannot have nice things and is still stuck in the19th century in many ways is the fault of the Democratic Party trying to stay "Centrist" instead of being progressive. A great deal of that is the constant electioneering with elections every two years and a fixed election date. It takes money and lately it takes more and more money. The first duty of a politician is to get elected. Once that meant policies people wanted and would vote for. Now it means sell your soul for the money to get elected.
This plea is for any news media that still has a shred of decency, and hasn’t yet been gobbled-up by a rightwing billionaire.
The Fourth Estate used to keep a running list of every lie Trump ever told, until you lost count and had to give up. And in the end, none of it was enough to break his diabolical spell upon half the electorate.
I propose that at least one journalist’s new job, is to document and compile a list, updated daily, of every atrocity, injustice, and Dickensian-level horror, complete with names (unless withheld for privacy), dates, places, suffered by our citizens and immigrants, whether they are high-placed, midrange, or peon, who are the indirect victims of disenfranchising policy, or direct assault by inflamed fanatics —
So that those who are now saying “the terrible things you anticipate, won’t ever happen,” we can show them proof that yes, they ARE happening. It isn’t Real enough to them yet. We need to be able to say “We Told You So,” their vote caused this.
The road to fascism is lined with people telling us to stop overreacting. Let the stories of the ruined peoples be told, neither forgotten nor erased. Call the list “If Harris Had Won, This Wouldn’t Have Happened.”
No longer criticize him, what he says, what he does — you’ll probably be jailed for that. Instead, report on the downstream effects. You may have to deliver it with a sing-song tone, a smile that does not reach your eyes, and a nervous twitch in one eye.
But also report on real good news: ordinary people’s genuine acts of decency and compassion in spite of everything. Maybe call *that* list, “If Harris Had Won, This Wouldn’t Have Been Necessary.”
This is helpful to understand why this happened. But a lot of the country voted on cultural issues, not economic. Trump spent the most on ads about transgender surgeries in prison at the end. How do we deal with cultural issues? What if half the country wants to have slavery? at what point is this really about half the society wanting something we can’t agree to?
You’ll find the answers to why Trump unfortunately won in my book, A Graver Danger, at WhiteChalkCrime.com. It’s time that people who have a voice listen to a teacher who has had no voice. We could have fixed this. I’ve been sounding this alarm since 1995. Learn about it before our now autocratic government bans my voice
We’re here because the media never reported the corruption in our schools that I, a teacher, tried to report since 1995. In fact, I wrote a 2008 book about it. Oprah’s researcher phoned me with my book in hand and then did nothing. The list of people I begged to help us is heart wrenching.
Abraham Lincoln correctly said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation, will be the philosophy of government in the next."
I was up against the hidden education mafia when I taught. The next has happened partly because the people that know our schools are corrupt demanded change and partly because the schools stopped producing citizens. When you read my book you’ll wonder why it took this long.
I agree. Reagan started the attack on the Universities, particularly in the 'useless' courses like History and Civics. The Republicans continued throughout the years until now they reached Kindergarten and public schools in general. No Child Left Behind meant all children left behind as they conclude with eliminating the Department of Education, drafting kids from public schools only, eliminating child labor laws, and banning books.
History and civics are not useless, if they were actually taught, and not the bullshit we receive their might not have been a Tea Party and it's offspring MAGA.
George Santyana said He who does not remember the past will relive it.
George Orwll: He who controls the past ,controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.
In Russia the people are taught about the Great Patriotic war and the NAZI threat is kept alive and as real as yesterday.
In Arab countries the crusades are not ancient history, they are yesterday.
History is very important, civics even more so, but the question is whose history and whose version of civics.
I agree William as Americans have very short attention spans and our general knowledge of history seems to consist of Hollywood movies. And as for knowledge about other countries, that is at best spotty and certainly doesn't extend to how other developed countries have succeeded with "socialized" medical care and higher education available to all. Also, science is barely understood by many, which was certainly evident during the pandemic and as well as in how climate change is not being addressed.
But what else is needed is an understanding of economics. Biden seems to have been blamed for the inflation of the last few years without any public understanding of the Fed's role in putting money out during the pandemic...but then the Fed isn't understood either. (The Democrats should have addressed this whole topic head on, but they didn't.) Of course if people knew how to manage money they wouldn't get high interest loans and maybe they would control their spending much better, taking on less debt. So I guess there's a reason why personal finances isn't taught well either.
docrhw I am going to be trite here, but all one needs to understand is supply and demand and marginal utility., fixed and variable costs, all the rest is mumbo jumbo and my Bachelors is in Economics.
People don;t manage their budgets because they are addicted to and expect immediate gratification and pass it on to our children. Look at the mad rush for Christmas Shopping. Your child won't love you unless they have an iPhone and an iPhone 16 at that.
It has nothing to do with personal finances. shit people don't even balance their checkbook, they overspend and get hit with fees, and even buy food on the credit card. They pay interest on shit, created 8 hours after they eat, but pay the interest for years.
Your right about the Fed, and I bet you don't understand it either.
Why is it the Fed uses interest rates to cool inflation?
That is because our money supply,responds to supply and demand.
Raise interest rates and theoretically you reduce the money supply, however theory doesn't hold, in a society that is addicted to debt.
Browse the floor of a casino and you will see what I mean.
What people don't know and are not told by economists or the "experts" on TV,is that ours, and the worlds mostly, is a fractional reserve system.
What that means is that lending institutions must have on reserve a fraction of the money that the create when they loan money for a mortgage, a car loan or even credit cards.
Reserves, in the U.S. are Government Securities. Corporate Bonds and check accounts (demand deposits, not savings accounts or time deposits)
If they have, say $100 in reserve, they can create money by loaning $1,000
It is just a book keeping entry,and as the debt is paid off or paid down, the portion of the principle is paid off.
However the loan does not include the interest that is to be paid, the interest is not paid off and paid down, and that is what causes long term inflation that is why a candy bar that cost $.25 cents in 1978, and costs $.05 cents in 1968, costs $1.50 today
Short term inflation, the price of gas, eggs,bread and milk, are the result of supply and demand, as well as price gouging by middlemen and producers.
Price gouging only works if the item is perishable (milk, eggs) and supply exceeds demand (gasoline).
I am not sure about bread, manufacturers can store cereal grains, but they can't store eggs. the only way to affect the price of eggs is to slaughter the chickens, but that is financial suicide.
Yes that can happen but when my students don't understand that they can get cheaper car loans from credit unions than large banks, or don't realize what their mortgage is going to cost them over time then clearly there is a gap in their education. And forget about using credit cards to pay off last month's luxuries with next month's salary! Compound interest and how to make it work for you (like an IRA) rather than against you (bad debt) should be studied in high school. It rarely is.
Yes I mention this started with Reagan in my book. People have no idea like they had no idea about a Harvey Weinstein. Same power structure but this one is intellectual rape.
I tried to understand the problem, but I didn't until I was elected to the school board. The parents blamed the teachers, and the teachers blamed the parents when intentional policies that came down from the top were the problem. The system was working the way they wanted it to.
You have no idea how much it helped to hear this. I am agonizing whether to give up my 29 year mission to expose what’s really going on in our schools thinking it won’t matter. Autocracies don’t have schools to maintain a democracy. He will put his henchmen in and the schools will remain as is. They are perfect for him.
I have a solid plan for genuine schools but that doesn’t matter anymore. In my book I said if he wins I’m done. I did what I did to save democracy. Now I’m thinking will people feel better knowing what I know? Is my calling to teach clicking in now as I so didn’t fit in those schools? I’m not sure what to do from here. My book has been #1 on Amazon; it’s a shame to abandon it. My only plan was to get an international publisher before he bans it. I write so much about him he will ban it. I want it in German so those people can feel better about their bad choice.
So it really helped to hear what you said. If I can offer peace of mind understanding how Trump happened then I can move onto a new mission. And although I have a great plan to fix our schools, I know the door is shut for that. I’m having a hard time figuring out where to go with what I know so well. Your comment helps me understand how much people need to read my book.
What then is the solution Karen, you have aptly defined the problem written a book about it, but what is the solution?
Father funded education?
Parochial education?
No education?
Charter schools?
Until Horace Mann, the apostle of public education, made an impact in the second half of the 19th Century, all education was private If the father had the means he could tutor his sons, if he was wealthy enough he could hire a tutor.
My 9th great grandfather and name sake,was on of the original settlers in Jamestown, and his family became wealthy planters, sheriffs and members of the House of Burgess, but they bred themselves into obscurity, and eventually a younger son of 5th generation was not tutored, is father had died after he tutored his eldest son, and there was not enough of an estate to pass on to or educate his other sons, one of them died in the revolution, left a will but signed by an X.
The sons of this man and their grandsons and great grandsons, were not tutored, could not read nor write, and thus could not engage in business and were at the mercy of those that could.
Until in the latter part of the 19th Century, one state, probably others, this one Arkansas listened to Horace and adopted publicly funded education. A man was born in 1850, he had never been taught to read and write, however his son born in 1883 was, and he graduated 8th grade, he had a son that graduated HS, and he had a son that earned a Masters degree and he had a son who earned a PhD, who has a daughter that is also a scientist with a PhD.
So what is the cure or alternative for public education Karen?
I bought the audio version of your book and look forward to beginning it later today. I now have Hartmann's book, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and Caste by Wilkerson, so it seems there aren't enough hours in the day.
Right on: "It’s not enough to just do a good job at governing; you must make sure everybody knows about it. Deep down in their bones. Every day. Month after month, year after year. In that, Biden, Harris, and Harrison all failed, while Trump performed like an Olympic athlete."
I think billionaires owning the major media outlets / Twitter etc. helps them control what people get to see / hear. Distort reality with disinformation. That's why Substack and your newsletter is valuable because it provides an alternate way to get the facts to people.
DemLabs in its own small way tries to take facts and share them visually (maps / infographics) and in audio form so that people can see how an issue impacts them directly by clicking on a map and seeing who is making money of their misery. Here's an example:
Why do billionaire owned media outlets promote Trump? Follow the money!
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/06/11/billionaire-owned-media-promotes-trump-for-tax-cuts/
An example that you may have seen is Modi's unending promotion of his work and accomplishments. Every village I have visited in India has a picture of Modi and often a local first minister with some list of accomplishments such as new infrastructure, new social help, or economic development. The public buses are plastered with his picture and accomplishments. In today's media environment, that is the level of intensity needed.
Modi's constant communication has kept him in power for far longer than I would have imagined. Biden did a very poor job by comparison.
Agree with Thom regarding the lack of communication and announcements regarding Pres.Biden’s administration successes. I rarely saw anything on my SoCal local news channels about legislation passed in the last four years that helped Americans. The fact that the majority of BS “news” coverage is from Fox and their 24/7 propaganda machine and watched by millions really has damaged our nation. I don’t watch much on major networks anymore, maybe MSNBC for Lawrence O’Donnell or Ali Velshi and I have switched to online sources and a variety of You Tube channels so I at least try to scan for information and news that I can filter through. But it takes effort and time to find accurate sources and many Americans don’t have the time, or the understanding of the facts since they watch only the click bait propaganda that represents our national “news “ these days. Many Americans don’t get how they have been played by a conman, or if they do they are complicit in the assault on our institutions and don’t care because they feel comfortable expressing their bigotry and misogyny.
I didn't have time to read this all before work, but it looked like it was giving Trump and MAGA too much credit for "vision", I feel like they function more on "gut", and that includes racism and sexism.
America has more hate in it than I thought. It's going to be hard work getting our country back.
I'm in for the long haul.
I don't think it's hate as much as fear and frustration. We need to deliver a better message and work towards making things better for the working class.
I agree the messaging needs improvement.
Yes Chris, fear is the root of hate, and frustration from not having the power to exert one's dominance and be able to say aloud words like nigger and fag, without having to say "n" word and gay.
Trump was elected dictator for life, because of the InCel and Viagra vote, because Imams and their congregation endorsed, voted for Trump or did not vote at all, and black males, and Hispanic males particularly Gen X and GenY voted with the InCels and Viagra vote, and their women are camp followers.
I remember the euphoria that most of us felt when Bernie was running for President in 2016. He offered hope and change for a different path forward. Unfortunately he was crushed by the power brokers in the Democratic party whom gave us Hillary instead. I hope that the Dems have learned a hard lesson and are ready with a new message. The fact that Reagonomics stripped $50 trillion from the economy since 1980 with the proceeds going mainly to the ultra-wealthy and select corporations, needs to be hammered home over and over again. It should have been brought up by Harris because it's what the working class Americans needed to hear.
Harris doesn't have a clue. She was saying what her hired handlers told her to say. Political parties are now perpetual fundraising businesses that run ads to scare people into donating more money. This morning, I received another Harris ad asking for money to protect the Democrats. I heard Adam Schiff say about three years ago that we need a strong Republican Party. Schiff is a Democrat. I don't get it unless both parties are just a circus to distract and keep us in line. We need a strong working class! We need to fix the broken mess that we call a healthcare system. We need housing and child care. We need to raise corporate taxes, but is there a way to raise taxes on the wealthiest? Who is lending the money for the national debt at interest that the taxpayers must pay back? How long can this system keep going?
The Democratic party is a business Gloria. It provides jobs and publicity for people, like Biggs, Carville, Begala, Brazile, and hundreds more. I fucked up again, I actually believe in Harris, what a sucker I was.
She didn't even wait until all of the votes were counted, before she sanctified the dictator in waiting on election day.. The Democrats now have no basis for complaining or challenging, and the dictatorship that Trump promised will come to pass,with Harris's blessing.
My enthusiasm for Harris waned when I noticed that her speeches, response in interviews were the same, almost verbatim, talking points, and when asked a question if there was anything different between what she would do and Biden did, she said ..No.
If anyone thinks that Biden was progressive, you have another thought coming.
His choice of Merrick Garland was the first tell, and the conviction of nepotistic Hunter was just pay back, I expect Biden to pardon him on the way out of the door.
Whatever lesson the Dems have or may learn Chris is moot, totally irrelevant because on Jan 21st the Democratic party becomes, outwardly, irrelevant as it has been since Reagan.
I knew the minute Harris stated she could not think of a single issue she varied from Biden that the game was over. People wanted see a new agenda, and if she had cogently voiced one she might well have won. Instead, she read from a provided script. The country wanted Biden gone. Each day his refusal to step down gave incremental gain sway to Trump. His mind clearly had deteriorated, but his egotism only festered bigger. The maudlin loyalty is unity is loyalty is unity bullshit poisoned her run.
The country wanted change, not more rehashed Biden. Read yesterday that Merrick Garrland was told by Biden to refrain from direct prosecution following Jan 6--remember Garland, a Republican, was appointed by Biden to AG first legal power. Another thing that keeps nagging my mind was the great wounded wailing that the MAGAs reacted to when Biden finally stepped aside. The MAGA elite shouted 'unconstitutional' etc. Trump called it indictable 'treason'. Seemed a bit of over-reaction that they would claim such pain. Could have been just that they knew they could beat Biden, could have been more quid pro, we won't ever know. Everything but popcorn is for sale these days in DC on BOTH sides, and the prices (or grift gains) will now go through the roof. One other thing, everybody on the Left finally began to use the word 'fascism' true to its reality, but since the election, the word seems to have evaporated from the vocabulary by the Left, replaced with words like 'accomodation', 'both sides', 'across the aisle'. Fear, real fear, has already set in.
More from Stewardson
https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2023
To the feckless, cowardly punditocracy, greater “influencer” community, and corporate media:
You did this. With very few exceptions, you allowed a group of oligarchs, theocrats and foreign dictators to take over America, leaving hundreds of millions of real human beings vulnerable to a fascist, genocidal dictatorship whose underlying ideology is great replacement theory.
You spent weeks covering Fani Willis’s sex life. You spent months attacking Joe Biden’s mental capacity to lead while you ignored the frothing, demented lunatic literally telling us — through “The Weave” — what he’s going to do. Remember when he told us he was going to do Kristallnacht? Just Trump being Trump, right?
No. It was not. The people around him, infested with literal Russian agents, like Susie Wiles, who it was announced will be Trump’s chief of staff, Peter Thiel’s android JD Vance, who is very likely to become the President, not to mention people like Erik Prince & Mike Flynn, who is openly threatening Barack Obama and hundreds more people on his “Deep State Target List,” will absolutely do everything Trump said. On Day ONE.
The only story is the Fall of America — and what do to about our impending autocracy. Every moment you spend on Democratic finger-pointing is not just fiddling on the Titanic, it’s hypnotizing people into not getting on a life boat. You must be honest about the potential horrors of a man like Donald Trump having the nuclear codes and the legal right, per the theocratic crime cult on SCOTUS, to hunt down anyone he wants and execute them.
You must cover the fact that there are numerous individuals in the crosshairs of violence, arrest, imprisonment and death. You must cover the fact that every vulnerable group will be at the complete mercy of a fascist dictatorship.
Instead of musing about “what went wrong” in the Democratic messaging, imagine for a fucking moment how women, LGBTQ+, brown, Black, Jewish, Native and numerous other vulnerable people are going to die — systematically, intentionally, by a regime of misogynist white supremacists who see women as subservient and anyone not in the ruling class as subhuman.
Here are just a few alternate ideas for what to talk about instead of a fantasy comeback of the Democrats in the “next election” — that will never happen.
How to survive autocracy
Strategies for resistance
Protecting the vulnerable
Personal security against government surveillance and violence
How State governments need to step up to protect people
How this actually happened, psychological warfare, active measures
How the US is being turned into the Western States of Russia
How to protect yourself from indoctrination and brainwashing into the cult that has taken over the government
Historical parallels, what are the potential ways out of this
I know everyone is scared. You have editors, managers, studio heads, whatever. There are so many excuses to chew up the Last Days of America with empty garbage. But I’m begging you to step up, just once.
The Fourth Estate has fallen along with the rest of our formerly protected rights. This is your last chance to show what a “free press” was for.
Good letter to an editor.
We share concerns
From Jim Stewardson https://www.mind-war.com/p/abandoned?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=9q8rt&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Mr. President,
In 1933, Weimar Germany voluntarily handed over power to Adolf Hitler. Speaking for myself, I feel abandoned by you and my government just as the people of Weimar must have. After 50 years of allegedly fighting for our democracy, you are capitulating to a Fourth Reich. They told us what they are going to do, and you are just letting them do it.
Franz von Papen, Adolf Hitler, 1933; Joe Biden 11/7/24
Are you really going to be the Franz von Papen of the 21st century, Joe?
You had the power to fix this. You should have had the information to understand the threat that we were facing. Instead you treated it like just another Democratic presidency, hoping that if the economy were good enough it would fix the problem with all the “MAGA extremists.”
You were wrong. You didn’t listen to those of us who told you who tried to steal the election from you in 2020. You let your DOJ and FBI drag their feet with the perfect timing to let Donald Trump and his co-conspirators go free. You prosecuted all the foot soldiers and never went after the “generals.” You prioritized “norms” and the “independence” of the DOJ over us. You failed to lead, to demand accountability — from Merrick Garland, Chris Wray and the others who let this happen on your watch.
I hear you talking now about “all that we accomplished” in your “historic administration” as if that will have any impact on the psychopaths who will destroy everything that you have done. You could have been the inflection point to preserve our world and make it better, instead you presided over a transition into an authoritarian global nightmare.
To hear this is just a “setback” is insulting. You are leaving your nation to the wolves and you won’t even be honest about it. I put myself in the crosshairs for this country, Joe Biden, as did many patriots who fought alongside me. Instead of hearing us, you are just letting them pull the trigger.
I have deep respect for you, Joe. I fought hard for you. But in this moment, as you gaslight us that it’s all going to be fine, my loyalty is shattered.
I definitely agree with you on Bernie in 2016, the Democrats are pretty lame until it comes to handling the Progressives. They decided to run Joe Biden and kneecap Bernie, who had a clear message that gave people hope. I know Biden did what he could to help the working class, but it was too little too late. I think people just had enough of hanging on by their fingernails.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/why-donald-trump-won-election-white-house/
Agree, however, if Harrison"s words are any indication, it does not look like they have or will understand what the hell is going on out here.
I was 30 years old in 1980. I bought into the snarky republican ads & voted against Jimmy Carter for president. I am ashamed of that decision to this day. I have never again voted for any republican.
Biden had tried to brag about how Bidenomics (but didn't have time to explain) was working and the media would talk about how people just don't feel it and GOP would say that Bidenomics brought pain through record high inflation and high gas prices. It seems like they had to stop bragging about the economy.
I had felt for a long time that something had happened economically in the 1980s without figuring out what it was. Thom and Robert Reich blew my mind by showing that a lot of systematic changes had happened due to a gameplan beginning with Lewis Powell. I think that if people could see how the economy worked before 1980 and what changed, that people would obviously be on board with ending Neoliberalism. There just isn't a way to get the message to enough people. Without any decent messaging platforms compared to everything that the GOP has, no one hears it. And not enough people are searching for the truth, as opposed to just blame the current person in office.
Bret, the corporate media, their paid puppets, kept talking about inflation and the economy
The clue is in the adjective, corporate:, the media is owned by corporations, and the purpose, sole purpose of a corporation is to provide investors with a positive return on investment, and that also means survival.
Corporations thrive, make profit, survive in the absence of regulations. Thus are conservative, meaning business oriented, thus Republicans
Inflation, the economy is (was) an abiding concern created by the media, Trump realized the power of reporting when he tried to stop reporting of COVID deaths, George W Bush, the same, when he forbade any media coverage of planes unloading caskets or the DOD announcing military funerals. In fact the only way anyone knew how many had dided in Iraq and Afghanisan, was because the bureaus scoured all of the local papers.
But the Incel and Viagra vote,the Muslim vote, the Gen X,Y and Boomer vote was not about the economy, it was about masculine fears and grievance over loss of power and dominance.
An the media didn't cover that, they kept us distracted over the price of eggs, milk and gas.
Back then, I thought that because Nixon opened the door to China, the industry finally had access to cheaper labor than in the U.S., so it left for China. I had no idea our policies forced them to go overseas.
Our policies Gloria, were labor rights, that a person had the right be rewarded for his or her contribution to the owners wealth. Corporations are charged with maximizing profits, labor is a variable expense, reduce the expense and there is more profit
Our policies required that manufacturers protect the health and safety of the workers, as well as the health and safety of the community and society.
Those restraints,wages, health, safety, community, society, were not required or enforced by needy, hungry, third world nations. They don't care if 25%of the population suffers, dies because of manufacturing if the air and water is poisoned, so long as 75% of the population and 100% of the leadership prospers.
The much former President of Panama, Omar Torrijos, forbade the mechanization of sugar cane harvesting,because it meant unemploying tens of thousands of campesinos
A stick in the forest is just a stick until it is picked up and whittled into a cane,whistle or toy.
Coal and ore are useless until burned and melted and poured into molds and made into something useful.
It is not the person that owns the means of production that is solely responsible for the wealth that production produces, with the minds, legs and hands of those that actually produce the product, they would be sitting on a pile of worthless money, because it took hands, arms and legs, to produce the factory, machines, mine and transport the coal and ore he uses.
Each of them are entitled to a share of the wealth that they produce, but the problem is that humans are a self renewing resource, and in competition with each other for the crumbs needed for survival, thus a resource as easy to exploit as minerals in the ground
When they were building the Golden Gate bridge, there was an army of unemployed men camped on the shore of San Francisco bay, watching,hoping and praying that a worker would fall to his death, that they could get in line to claim his job.
Along the gulf coast their are families who died from the carcinogens emitted by refineries, they make documentaries, there have been suits, attempt to pass laws by or in behalf of those families, they complain, but they do not move;
The same is true in any town that suffers from pollution and carcinogens, like Crossett Arkansas, where Koch's Georgia Pacific,has a cardboard and Paper mill and had the reputation of being the cancer capital of the US, a distinction now owned by the State of Kentucky, which also has the highest rate of opioid death and addiction and is notoriously religious, racist and homophobic.
So long as people are willing to put themselves in harms way, to gamble on their health and the health of their family, then labor will always be exploited.
The attitude of a corporation when confronting a strike is "what are you bitching about, you have a job don't you" They see themselves doing us a favor, and themselves as beneficent.
The Dems always lacks the understanding that Kabuki theater is number one. You have to let everyone know what you are about in the most dramatic way possible. The lack of constant repeated messaging did not exist. Nobody knows what the Harris campaign slogans were because they were not done and the media did not cover it one bit. Trump had every media show case his incoherent phrases. People at least knew what they were. I did not watch but I could tell you his main points even if they were lies. I also bet none of the failed runners of the Dem campaign will be fired. All of them are corporate elites while Bernie Sanders simple and repeated messaging created a landslide in his favor. I repeated for the entire 2 months of campaigning that a simple 3 or 4 economic issues repeated to the point that everyone on the planet knew it would have gotten the 14 million low information Dem voter base out and voting that did not show up exactly as in 2022. This was a self inflicted wound, but I have not heard that the lesson was learned. Has anyone heard that they need a media outlet like Fox?
Damn Clayton we have to stop meeting like this.
What the failed runners of the Democratic party do is moot. A post mortem is an exercise in futility, because there won't be a second chance to correct in 4 years. Oh there might be a plebiscite or a fake election like in Hungary, Russia or Turkey, but not a real election where there will be a radical course correction away from a right wing theocratic dictatorship.
We have a substantial tax deferred 401(a) and 457a) account that we will be closing out before jan 21st, and Canada is only an hour or two away. We should have enough money to get a resident Visa, maybe beat the rush of those seeking political asylum.
I am aware that Canada is on the downhill towards right wing fascism as well, but at least buying enough time, for me to die a natural and peaceful death.
Bidenomics brought back jobs and created new ones. It didn't matter. Here in Texas, the race was about immigration and trans women playing sports.
You'll be pleased to know that this article this morning ☕ is the Feature piece over at "Polytricks" author Bob Lewis. Brilliant read Thom, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Got a link?
I just tried to find that link for you and it's disappeared? How odd ? IT caught my eye because the article has the same picture as your piece this morning? I'll keep my eye out for you though.🙏
I do not buy anything advertised on TV, anything. If they have to advertise then they are unsought goods, and do not perform. And if a product of PhRMA will kill you. I pay attention to the warnings that they have to advertise to avoid law suits.
Systematic governance failure! Can we finally be honest about the fact that we need more than an 18th-century governance model for this country?
Some chaotic movement will probably happen as the new administration tries to gut regulations only to find that some progressive States do the opposite. You may ask, "what about the Supremacy Clause?". With the current SCOTUS outcomes may not be so predictable. Much national regulation relies on the "negative implications" of the commerce clause. Given the hostility towards implied rights, those doctrines may fall.
We need to move towards a different governance model and probably a different constitutional framework. No model is perfect, but the EU has shown some ways to do this with a mix of EU and national institutions.
A first item to go needs to be the elected monarch of a president. Wherever an imperial presidential model exists, there is a risk of or the actual existence of autocracy. Parliamentary democracies with a ceremonial president do not have the same issues.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the better model of an executive consisting of a federal council as used uniquely in Switzerland. The Swiss presidency is shared among the seven federal council members for one-year terms. Changing the U.S. executive branch to be led by a council of regionally elected members with a rotating presidency would be a vast improvement.
The only hope I have is that the West Coast secedes.
What is not fully understood is the real meaning of the United States.
The 50 states are each and every one of them sovereign countries (states), and the constitution binds them only to the extent that they agree to be bound, and they agreed at the outset of being bound by a majority vote in Congress and approval by the Executive.
The Supreme Court has no authority, compliance by the court is voluntary. Andrew Jackson was correct when he said "Justice Marshall has ruled, not let him enforce his ruling, and then set about evicting Indians.
California has the 7th largest economy in the nation, and virtually keeps the rest of America afloat, Combine the economy of California, with Oregon and Washington, if those three secede it will bring the rest of the country to it's knees, and if all blue states seceded it would disrupt any attempt by the dictatorship to thwart the process.
When Trump fulfills his promise, and he will, I believe him, there will no longer be a federal government, but a 4th Reich of the Rich.
I wanted to ask about that. What has to happen for a state to declare independence? They will need the trappings of an independent country. but what else? Diplomats, currency, military, laws to replace previously national laws?
Agree. I’ve long advocated a parliamentary democratic model for US. Problem is how to get there from here. And I think that road is permanently blocked. It would still be good to talk about it openly and push. Unfortunately, rational comparative analyses are dismissed from the git-go here. Exceptionalism pervades our major parties, and hypernationalism pervades the working classes.: “USA, USA, USA…” ad nauseum.
One would think that witnessing years of Repugnican disinformation would encourage Democrats to reevaluate their messaging. One would be wrong. Establishment Democrats remain tone deaf, as exemplified by Jamie Harrison’s insulting response to Bernie Sanders, clinging to the lame notion that some vague, innocuous “centrism” will win the day. Geriatric main stream Democrats (buoyed by uninspiring wannabes like Harrison) pointing fingers at “the left”, utterly failing to work a shiny object focused MSM while embracing working-class Americans, have cost us the Whitehouse, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, and an overwhelming percentage of the electorate. If we are to recover, voices like those of Bernie Sanders, AOC, Thom Hartmann, and so many others must be heard and honored. Continuing on the current path is the definition of insanity; fear that we will do so is even more discouraging than this week’s loss.
As an outsider looking in, I have maintained for years that the reason America cannot have nice things and is still stuck in the19th century in many ways is the fault of the Democratic Party trying to stay "Centrist" instead of being progressive. A great deal of that is the constant electioneering with elections every two years and a fixed election date. It takes money and lately it takes more and more money. The first duty of a politician is to get elected. Once that meant policies people wanted and would vote for. Now it means sell your soul for the money to get elected.
This plea is for any news media that still has a shred of decency, and hasn’t yet been gobbled-up by a rightwing billionaire.
The Fourth Estate used to keep a running list of every lie Trump ever told, until you lost count and had to give up. And in the end, none of it was enough to break his diabolical spell upon half the electorate.
I propose that at least one journalist’s new job, is to document and compile a list, updated daily, of every atrocity, injustice, and Dickensian-level horror, complete with names (unless withheld for privacy), dates, places, suffered by our citizens and immigrants, whether they are high-placed, midrange, or peon, who are the indirect victims of disenfranchising policy, or direct assault by inflamed fanatics —
So that those who are now saying “the terrible things you anticipate, won’t ever happen,” we can show them proof that yes, they ARE happening. It isn’t Real enough to them yet. We need to be able to say “We Told You So,” their vote caused this.
The road to fascism is lined with people telling us to stop overreacting. Let the stories of the ruined peoples be told, neither forgotten nor erased. Call the list “If Harris Had Won, This Wouldn’t Have Happened.”
No longer criticize him, what he says, what he does — you’ll probably be jailed for that. Instead, report on the downstream effects. You may have to deliver it with a sing-song tone, a smile that does not reach your eyes, and a nervous twitch in one eye.
But also report on real good news: ordinary people’s genuine acts of decency and compassion in spite of everything. Maybe call *that* list, “If Harris Had Won, This Wouldn’t Have Been Necessary.”
This is helpful to understand why this happened. But a lot of the country voted on cultural issues, not economic. Trump spent the most on ads about transgender surgeries in prison at the end. How do we deal with cultural issues? What if half the country wants to have slavery? at what point is this really about half the society wanting something we can’t agree to?
If Bernie Saunders had been the Democratic candidate, he would have defeated Trump. What a different America would now be.
You’ll find the answers to why Trump unfortunately won in my book, A Graver Danger, at WhiteChalkCrime.com. It’s time that people who have a voice listen to a teacher who has had no voice. We could have fixed this. I’ve been sounding this alarm since 1995. Learn about it before our now autocratic government bans my voice
We’re here because the media never reported the corruption in our schools that I, a teacher, tried to report since 1995. In fact, I wrote a 2008 book about it. Oprah’s researcher phoned me with my book in hand and then did nothing. The list of people I begged to help us is heart wrenching.
Abraham Lincoln correctly said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation, will be the philosophy of government in the next."
I was up against the hidden education mafia when I taught. The next has happened partly because the people that know our schools are corrupt demanded change and partly because the schools stopped producing citizens. When you read my book you’ll wonder why it took this long.
It is more than schools Karen, much more.
I encapsulate it as the Incel Viagra vote.
Trump won because he got the lion share of the Incel Viagra vote.
I agree. Reagan started the attack on the Universities, particularly in the 'useless' courses like History and Civics. The Republicans continued throughout the years until now they reached Kindergarten and public schools in general. No Child Left Behind meant all children left behind as they conclude with eliminating the Department of Education, drafting kids from public schools only, eliminating child labor laws, and banning books.
History and civics are not useless, if they were actually taught, and not the bullshit we receive their might not have been a Tea Party and it's offspring MAGA.
George Santyana said He who does not remember the past will relive it.
George Orwll: He who controls the past ,controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.
In Russia the people are taught about the Great Patriotic war and the NAZI threat is kept alive and as real as yesterday.
In Arab countries the crusades are not ancient history, they are yesterday.
History is very important, civics even more so, but the question is whose history and whose version of civics.
I agree William as Americans have very short attention spans and our general knowledge of history seems to consist of Hollywood movies. And as for knowledge about other countries, that is at best spotty and certainly doesn't extend to how other developed countries have succeeded with "socialized" medical care and higher education available to all. Also, science is barely understood by many, which was certainly evident during the pandemic and as well as in how climate change is not being addressed.
But what else is needed is an understanding of economics. Biden seems to have been blamed for the inflation of the last few years without any public understanding of the Fed's role in putting money out during the pandemic...but then the Fed isn't understood either. (The Democrats should have addressed this whole topic head on, but they didn't.) Of course if people knew how to manage money they wouldn't get high interest loans and maybe they would control their spending much better, taking on less debt. So I guess there's a reason why personal finances isn't taught well either.
docrhw I am going to be trite here, but all one needs to understand is supply and demand and marginal utility., fixed and variable costs, all the rest is mumbo jumbo and my Bachelors is in Economics.
People don;t manage their budgets because they are addicted to and expect immediate gratification and pass it on to our children. Look at the mad rush for Christmas Shopping. Your child won't love you unless they have an iPhone and an iPhone 16 at that.
It has nothing to do with personal finances. shit people don't even balance their checkbook, they overspend and get hit with fees, and even buy food on the credit card. They pay interest on shit, created 8 hours after they eat, but pay the interest for years.
Your right about the Fed, and I bet you don't understand it either.
Why is it the Fed uses interest rates to cool inflation?
That is because our money supply,responds to supply and demand.
Raise interest rates and theoretically you reduce the money supply, however theory doesn't hold, in a society that is addicted to debt.
Browse the floor of a casino and you will see what I mean.
What people don't know and are not told by economists or the "experts" on TV,is that ours, and the worlds mostly, is a fractional reserve system.
What that means is that lending institutions must have on reserve a fraction of the money that the create when they loan money for a mortgage, a car loan or even credit cards.
Reserves, in the U.S. are Government Securities. Corporate Bonds and check accounts (demand deposits, not savings accounts or time deposits)
If they have, say $100 in reserve, they can create money by loaning $1,000
It is just a book keeping entry,and as the debt is paid off or paid down, the portion of the principle is paid off.
However the loan does not include the interest that is to be paid, the interest is not paid off and paid down, and that is what causes long term inflation that is why a candy bar that cost $.25 cents in 1978, and costs $.05 cents in 1968, costs $1.50 today
Short term inflation, the price of gas, eggs,bread and milk, are the result of supply and demand, as well as price gouging by middlemen and producers.
Price gouging only works if the item is perishable (milk, eggs) and supply exceeds demand (gasoline).
I am not sure about bread, manufacturers can store cereal grains, but they can't store eggs. the only way to affect the price of eggs is to slaughter the chickens, but that is financial suicide.
I agree except a family emergency sometimes requires debt and interest is too high.
Yes that can happen but when my students don't understand that they can get cheaper car loans from credit unions than large banks, or don't realize what their mortgage is going to cost them over time then clearly there is a gap in their education. And forget about using credit cards to pay off last month's luxuries with next month's salary! Compound interest and how to make it work for you (like an IRA) rather than against you (bad debt) should be studied in high school. It rarely is.
Yes I mention this started with Reagan in my book. People have no idea like they had no idea about a Harvey Weinstein. Same power structure but this one is intellectual rape.
I tried to understand the problem, but I didn't until I was elected to the school board. The parents blamed the teachers, and the teachers blamed the parents when intentional policies that came down from the top were the problem. The system was working the way they wanted it to.
You have no idea how much it helped to hear this. I am agonizing whether to give up my 29 year mission to expose what’s really going on in our schools thinking it won’t matter. Autocracies don’t have schools to maintain a democracy. He will put his henchmen in and the schools will remain as is. They are perfect for him.
I have a solid plan for genuine schools but that doesn’t matter anymore. In my book I said if he wins I’m done. I did what I did to save democracy. Now I’m thinking will people feel better knowing what I know? Is my calling to teach clicking in now as I so didn’t fit in those schools? I’m not sure what to do from here. My book has been #1 on Amazon; it’s a shame to abandon it. My only plan was to get an international publisher before he bans it. I write so much about him he will ban it. I want it in German so those people can feel better about their bad choice.
So it really helped to hear what you said. If I can offer peace of mind understanding how Trump happened then I can move onto a new mission. And although I have a great plan to fix our schools, I know the door is shut for that. I’m having a hard time figuring out where to go with what I know so well. Your comment helps me understand how much people need to read my book.
What then is the solution Karen, you have aptly defined the problem written a book about it, but what is the solution?
Father funded education?
Parochial education?
No education?
Charter schools?
Until Horace Mann, the apostle of public education, made an impact in the second half of the 19th Century, all education was private If the father had the means he could tutor his sons, if he was wealthy enough he could hire a tutor.
My 9th great grandfather and name sake,was on of the original settlers in Jamestown, and his family became wealthy planters, sheriffs and members of the House of Burgess, but they bred themselves into obscurity, and eventually a younger son of 5th generation was not tutored, is father had died after he tutored his eldest son, and there was not enough of an estate to pass on to or educate his other sons, one of them died in the revolution, left a will but signed by an X.
The sons of this man and their grandsons and great grandsons, were not tutored, could not read nor write, and thus could not engage in business and were at the mercy of those that could.
Until in the latter part of the 19th Century, one state, probably others, this one Arkansas listened to Horace and adopted publicly funded education. A man was born in 1850, he had never been taught to read and write, however his son born in 1883 was, and he graduated 8th grade, he had a son that graduated HS, and he had a son that earned a Masters degree and he had a son who earned a PhD, who has a daughter that is also a scientist with a PhD.
So what is the cure or alternative for public education Karen?
I bought the audio version of your book and look forward to beginning it later today. I now have Hartmann's book, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and Caste by Wilkerson, so it seems there aren't enough hours in the day.