Great article. The propaganda of Reagan as a great president is so ingrained in our society I’m not sure when this segment of the population will wake up to the fact that Reagan and the oligarchs who supported him betrayed the middle class.
I have to add that it makes no sense for big business to oppose because public medicine reduces their exposure for fringe benefits. It could reduce the cost of goods sold of every American made product.
I also have to add that the biggest benefit would occur if the collateral source rule were eliminiated. IMHO elimination would decrease the cost of Medicare Part B and practically all other insurance as, for example, future medical exposure is far greater than cost of indemnity coverage. I think this would reduce damages for pain and suffering in negligence cases. The cost of future medical in workers' comp would be markedl;y reduced and premiums would be minimal.
It would eliminate the need for the Medicare lien. Medicare has a statutory right to recover costs incurred for medical care related to an injury or illness for which a beneficiary has a claim against a third party.
Liens and Conditional Payments:
Medicare's lien arises from conditional payments made for covered medical services. These liens are attached to the beneficiary's settlement funds.
Daniel, all good points based on the details. It’s clear that following a plan that benefits all flies in the teeth of oligarchs and criminals who first and foremost think of their continued profit and control. And they gaslight with threats, bullying and crafted lies.
The budget chaos is exacerbated by the many adds to the annual budget before the cuts. They are huge:
• Add $150 billion for Defense
• Add $60 billion for Immigration Hardball
• Add $50 billion for a farmer bailout.
• Add $10 billion tax cut of tips and overtime
• Add $450 billion for the end of the TCJA
They begin by adding $720 billion in deficit spending to the $6.9 trillion annual outlay. We currently run a $1.8 trillion deficit annually. Over 10 years that would be $25 trillion added to current $33 trillion deficit. Think $58 trillion vs $33 trillion. Before any cuts, the deficit will be $58 trillion. So they must come up with new budget cuts. They said like about an annual $1.5 trillion ($10.5 trillion over 10 years). It is crazy to increase the deficit by 50% and then ask for a tax cut that then has to be added to that deficit. Sure. I get it. Same as the 2017 TCJA: a 100% deficit-funded tax cut. The wealthy get a tax break benefit that your children and grandchildren must pay back. Trump does not care from where the money going Into his pocket comes, and he does not pay his bills. You get to pay it. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/hornswaggling-over-100-days?r=3m1bs
And the DEBT would not be what it is without Bush/Cheney wars and tax-cuts. We truly could have been the richest country in the world that provides health care, humanitarian aid, and most importantly a decent living for our workers.
GWB took $3 trillion OFF the books. We could not determine how much was stolen in Iraq/Afghanistan. I had a friend who was a military governor. We bribed inumerable groups of hostiles to support us....off the books.
Part of my work at DOL involved Defense Base Act mercenaries. Contractors hired from Africa, South America besides locals and Americans. The budget rationale was we were supposed to be hiring Americans and nation bulilding....
I also support asking our allies whether the Treasury can borrow at their domestic rates. E.G. Japan at 1%. Japanese borrow at 1% to borrow to buy our treasuries...... 29% of our national debt is held by foreigners arbitraging.
Seen some documentaries that showed the officers and cash bundles. Goddam crazy rip-offs on BOTH sides of the deals, no doubt.
On today's thefts and schemes, please listen to NYT's The Daily for May 1st. It explains the Trump crypto nightmare and their bank to compete with the dollar. Just what "The Bro's" wanted. The Trumps are getting richer on fees and manipulation.
The polls say that Trump has a 40% approval rating, which is about the same percentage of the population that is die hard MAGAt, and was enough to make him president.
As I read about the groups being shafted by Trusk, I keep thinking of Farmers, who despite getting in the shorts, still stand by Trump because of DEI and "woke", the Civil servants that lost their jobs, but voted for Trump, because Trump was going to get rid of the slacker in the next cubicle, or the person struggling to pay off a student loan, but voted for Trump because of his DEI, "Woke" policies or maybe thought he would improve the economy and their situation.
There is no doubt that he has one very loyal following. His blue army, sheriffs and cops, local, state, federal.
Yes I know Daniel. Trump is a liar, Putin's whore, his expertise is in going bankrupt and he is nuts.
All that is true, no argument here.
I also know the polls are shit, for one thing they don't ask the right questions and we don't know what portion of the population they sample and how they choose that portion.
Here is the thing though, The same people who cast aspersions on the polls when they are favorable to Trump are the same that quote them when they are embarassing to Trump.
The current polls show Trump is underwater in popularity and on the economy, so are you saying that those polls are wrong, and that he is really in positive territory?
Why voters oppose a national healthcare service - free medical care - is beyond reason. Some voters assert that national healthcare is communism – like so what? Others assert that you must wait weeks to see a doctor in “those other countries.” They will wrongly argue that our pricy US medical care is the best in the world even though America has the lowest life expectancy of any developed nation (all of which have free national healthcare services). Such arguments are all Wall Street gaslight and lies elected officials spread at the behest of lobbyist “contributors.”
Health insurance premiums in America are obscenely high because vulture capitalists buy up hospitals and local private-practice doctors calling them "Health Groups." Those same vultures then jack up the price for all procedures and stick it to people’s health insurance companies, which then jack up their premiums as corporate America literally bleeds the bottom 90% of most Americans to death.
I am fortunate to be a member of the only free American national health service plan. Yes, there is one, and it is great. Retired, I only pay Medicare B insurance premiums (deducted from my SSA Pension) and the Defense Department pays what is not covered. I freely choose which doctor and hospital to go to. A few years ago, I had prostate surgery at Mayo Clinic. I do not wait for service any longer than you do because we have the same primary care doctor, ENT doctor, dermatologist, rheumatologist, hospitals, etc.
Of course, the only way to obtain my free insurance is to avoid being killed on the job and retire from military service. In contrast, all my European friends have free healthcare services too - Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Bulgaria... they do not wait any longer for health services than I do. But, they outlive us in America.
It is reasonable to wonder why voters prefer a lower standard of living just to pay obscene insurance premiums to billionaires and doctor fees to vulture capitalist corporations for second-rate healthcare. But if you could explain that irrationality, you would be able to explain why we have a demented megalomaniac president who is destroying the American economy, whittling away civil rights, and lowering the standard of living of its citizens.
All voters have to do is rant at their legislators. They do not. The MSM could help stoke that fire. I mean, even Luigi Mangioni tried to animate voters to no avail.
Have to jump in here. Huge majority of voters want health care as a right, Democrats want it, but REPUBLICANS DO NOT WANT IT. Their ideology is killing our economy as well as people.
If you want to Make America Great Again, we have to go back to the policies, processes, regulations and tax codes that MADE it that way. To drastically CHANGE the process, but expect the SAME results, is a sign of insanity. A partial list:
-Enforce anti-trust.
-Raise the marginalized top tax rates.
-Raise corporate “windfall” profit taxes.
-Require hospitals and health insurance companies to be non-profit.
Trickle down aka Reaganomics was/is a scam. It has NEVER worked. It is not a viable model.
I am constantly reminded of an adolescent boy with an ant farm. Sir Donnie gets such glee from shaking it up daily while we ants are forced to get back to work trying to remake a world that no longer exits.
I graduated from a state university in 1981, the beginning of the Reagan revolution. My tuition was never more than $250 a semester, or $50 per credit hour, never to exceed 250. I believe I got as good an education as any of my friends who attended Ivy League schools. My degree was multidisciplinary in film, electronics engineering and liberal arts. It has served me well in life and career. Today, tuition at the very same school is well over $10,000! My son who is now 38 is saddled with crushing student loan debt. He opted for a private school, and it has not served any of us well. The future was bright in the 1970's. Then Reagan happened.
It's such a no-brainer. We've gotten used to this abuse by the corporatists and right-wing abusers. Our children should be educated for free or, at the most, minimal tuitions. The easiest way to destroy a society is to put insane, greedy costs of education and healthcare on the backs of our citizens rather than looking at both as an obligation of society itself to make this a greater, and intelligent, country. The burden in these two areas alone would end any society, let alone one that has words written in its Constitution and Bill of Rights that all men are created equal and deserve equal rights. We have failed at this as we're failing now with everything Trump and his cronies and Project 2025ers have put in his place. And the silence from Democrats is deafening. The head of Project 2025 was on PBS last night absolutely gloating about the great successes of Trump and his eagerness to dismantle the government. These are all buzz words for "this is a White male-dominated Christo-fascist country" and they'll take it back for themselves at all costs. But, we need to prove them wrong. It belongs to all of us and we now need to be out in the streets every day and take it back. That is the only way we will not all end up in concentration camps. It's come to that.
So many maga brainwashed people will say the exact talking point Thom mentioned.
“It’s not fair that I had to pay for my education and these people are going to get theirs for free.”
Even my own mother in her early 80s, who watches Fox News nonstop, casually asked me once “what do you think about forcing people to pay for college for other people‘s kids?” my response was that had been going on for a long time with public universities and no one previously complained about it because people got good jobs as a result. The extreme right is always complaining that nobody wants to work. Why would she be against people getting good jobs?
The only reason that she didn’t know is because she didn’t go to a university herself like I did. Maga voters are looking through a filter that tells them that anyone that is a perceived opponent is either evil or insane.
That's an interesting point about health care costs being so high that the tariff effort is doomed. Of course their logical answer is to destroy unions and give the workers no health care benefits at all. But the same kind of backwards thinking shows up in many areas (and to be fair has in other governments). Trump's sad effort to bring back the dying coal industry while much of the world is desperately trying to reduce carbon output is one example. Another is the lunacy of seriously discussing how to raise the birth rate and so eventually make more workers while right now they are deporting thousands and thousands of productive workers. Smoke, mirrors and madness.
Since transitioning from a manufacturing-dominant economy to a rentier-dominant economy, the big corporations and banks keep us bent over a barrel, whipping us good and hard, through "the miracle of compound interest". A thirty-year mortgage was hard enough, but now the burden includes high-interest credit card debt and non-dischargeable (through bankruptcy) college debt, and then medical debt as we age. So they control us throughout our adult lives by keeping us deep in debt. What a scam.
I wonder how many veterans will be included in Trump's collection plans. Who else will take their life because they can't pay for housing? How many will end-up on the street knowing their government doesn't care.
F-ing "President Bone Spurs" is a coward right to the bitter end. All us vets know who the losers and suckers really are. His Administration is filled with them!
From a Times article titled: U.S. Tells Its Diplomats in Vietnam to Avoid War Anniversary Events
"Mr. Terzano said that in a proud nation that cares deeply about symbolism, the U.S. decision to avoid the events looks “petty and nonsensical.”
He argued that the absence would strengthen the world’s gathering storm of doubt about America.
“You take a look at the chaos that has transpired,” he said. “Nations around the globe are all questioning: ‘Where is the U.S.? What does it mean?’”
Thom, you have once again hit on the heart of our biggest issues. I remember those old times well. Everything was financially much more possible. First house: $13,000. Health insurance provided, first 2 children $40 co-pay to hospital. Even in the 1990’s, I was able to pay off a $34,000 student loan with some strategic moves using a 0-interest credit card balance transfer and making large payments (plus an employer who provided a monthly benefit to go toward student loans). I am grateful to be free from all those concerns now, but heartbroken that a great granddaughter is unable to consider making me a great great grandma because she can’t afford to. 😥😥😥
Decades ago, the sage mind of Dr. Loren Eiseley observed that humanity resembles the common slime mold fungus. When that organism devours all its host(s), it begins to eat itself.
This is not the first iteration of that ecological truism, but it may certainly be the last. I have studied and worked in the biological fields for decades. Most probably due to the necessity of entropy to guarantee genetic evolution, biotic mistakes are baked into the cake of life. I actually like many humans, being one in this lifetime, and several others that I am aware of. But as to the rapacious nature of the species itself, I conclude that, at this point in time and space, the entanglement of the quantum field is cleansing itself of the human experiment.
This experiment did not last long by evolutionary standards, but its impact in geological/paleontological terms has been a tragic doozy. The development of that big brain was way too quick. Some keen insights were lost very quickly in the mad dash toward narcissistic obsessions. The learning curve was/is just too steep.
All around humanity are/were myriad examples of the right way to live a life, a much cleaner and less messy way of life, an elegant one, a disciplined one, a magical one based in 'real time.' Not without its difficult challenges, for sure, but mostly loaded with 'good stress' and rapid learning curves that were numerous but not so steep they ended in extinctions. The Earth and its more mature biota was our friend, our home, our sustenance, our teacher.
We paid little attention until it became apparent, at or about the year1500 AD, that the bubble was not holding air, at least not breathable stuff.
Thom's essay today on the confused economy of ecology has depicted 'sapiens' as not only not so smart, but incapable of learning such a simple truth as Not Eating Yourself. I am paraphrasing Dr. Barry Commoner, who said something to the effect of; 'when you finally see how bad it is, you realize it is much worse than you thought it could be.'
What can be salvaged, I have no clue. DNA is resilient, but not bullet-proof. Earth is but one rock in a very big space filled with, well, space. Time will tell - tick, tock, tick, tock.
The best article I have read today!!! It needs to be on the front page of all the legitimate news outlets… oh, that’s right they don’t exist either.
Well , when we make education and healthcare a powerful part of a growing middle class and when we demand that housing isn’t existing anymore because
the greedy fucks never have enough!
Does it not amaze everyone that the people who complain the most and the loudest always have more than everyone else?
It is way past time that we educate our dear neighbors about the power of a large middle class. One that works for all. Aren’t you sick and tired of the morbidly greedy grifters taking everything from you???? You America!
Organizing and protest marching is one thing (if you don't get arrested) - organizing and boycotting is another. Yes, boycott everything for a day, a week, a month? i.e., Boycotting specific farm products will get the farmers attention ( Chavez proved it worked). It's OK to go after those supporting our own demise. Maybe that stops that support of Orange Man. Read - Dying of Whiteness and you won't have to ask "why are those voters voting this way". Because they can in their truly contorted view of America.
Even in the mid 70's I could work my way through college on my own, factory welding in the summer, and 20-30 hrs/wk working in a dormitory cafeteria.
Room, board, books, etc. topped out around $3,500 in '76 at University of Illinois. There was an uproar that year when a full load tuition/semester was going to $1,000. Reagan fucked it all up.
Dr. Richard Wolff did an interview about that. He made the observation that many of his students cannot afford to live. He explained the differences in how things were economically when he was a student. He also explained how professors are now not paid adequately so people avoid going into academia.
Great article. The propaganda of Reagan as a great president is so ingrained in our society I’m not sure when this segment of the population will wake up to the fact that Reagan and the oligarchs who supported him betrayed the middle class.
I agree with Thom.
I have to add that it makes no sense for big business to oppose because public medicine reduces their exposure for fringe benefits. It could reduce the cost of goods sold of every American made product.
I also have to add that the biggest benefit would occur if the collateral source rule were eliminiated. IMHO elimination would decrease the cost of Medicare Part B and practically all other insurance as, for example, future medical exposure is far greater than cost of indemnity coverage. I think this would reduce damages for pain and suffering in negligence cases. The cost of future medical in workers' comp would be markedl;y reduced and premiums would be minimal.
It would eliminate the need for the Medicare lien. Medicare has a statutory right to recover costs incurred for medical care related to an injury or illness for which a beneficiary has a claim against a third party.
Liens and Conditional Payments:
Medicare's lien arises from conditional payments made for covered medical services. These liens are attached to the beneficiary's settlement funds.
Daniel, all good points based on the details. It’s clear that following a plan that benefits all flies in the teeth of oligarchs and criminals who first and foremost think of their continued profit and control. And they gaslight with threats, bullying and crafted lies.
Actually NO IT DOESN'T.
The only big businesses adversely affected are medical insurance and Big PHARMA.
The other major objetors are idiologues who oppose "socialzed medicine".
Not socialized medicine -- it's socialized INSURANCE.
Regarding the medicine side. There is not much profit in wellness compared to sickness. And that opens a whole can of worms.
The budget chaos is exacerbated by the many adds to the annual budget before the cuts. They are huge:
• Add $150 billion for Defense
• Add $60 billion for Immigration Hardball
• Add $50 billion for a farmer bailout.
• Add $10 billion tax cut of tips and overtime
• Add $450 billion for the end of the TCJA
They begin by adding $720 billion in deficit spending to the $6.9 trillion annual outlay. We currently run a $1.8 trillion deficit annually. Over 10 years that would be $25 trillion added to current $33 trillion deficit. Think $58 trillion vs $33 trillion. Before any cuts, the deficit will be $58 trillion. So they must come up with new budget cuts. They said like about an annual $1.5 trillion ($10.5 trillion over 10 years). It is crazy to increase the deficit by 50% and then ask for a tax cut that then has to be added to that deficit. Sure. I get it. Same as the 2017 TCJA: a 100% deficit-funded tax cut. The wealthy get a tax break benefit that your children and grandchildren must pay back. Trump does not care from where the money going Into his pocket comes, and he does not pay his bills. You get to pay it. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/hornswaggling-over-100-days?r=3m1bs
Thanks for the link. Thought this was really on point too.
'This is Called Extortion' Rep. Melanie Stansbury
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G1_ON6ulVQ
How about DOGE has been a disaster?
DOGE says it has saved $160 billion. Those cuts have cost taxpayers $135 billion, one analysis says.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-cuts-cost-135-billion-analysis-elon-musk-department-of-government-efficiency/
DOGE cuts could help Elon Musk companies avoid $2 billion in liabilities: Senate report
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/28/elon-musk-doge-trump-legal-liabilities-senate-democrats.html
The $1.8 trillion annual deficit mostly comes from the 2017 Trump "tax cuts."
They expire Dec. 31, 2025. If they aren't extended we could get to a balanced bujtget in a few years.
And the DEBT would not be what it is without Bush/Cheney wars and tax-cuts. We truly could have been the richest country in the world that provides health care, humanitarian aid, and most importantly a decent living for our workers.
GWB took $3 trillion OFF the books. We could not determine how much was stolen in Iraq/Afghanistan. I had a friend who was a military governor. We bribed inumerable groups of hostiles to support us....off the books.
Part of my work at DOL involved Defense Base Act mercenaries. Contractors hired from Africa, South America besides locals and Americans. The budget rationale was we were supposed to be hiring Americans and nation bulilding....
I also support asking our allies whether the Treasury can borrow at their domestic rates. E.G. Japan at 1%. Japanese borrow at 1% to borrow to buy our treasuries...... 29% of our national debt is held by foreigners arbitraging.
Seen some documentaries that showed the officers and cash bundles. Goddam crazy rip-offs on BOTH sides of the deals, no doubt.
On today's thefts and schemes, please listen to NYT's The Daily for May 1st. It explains the Trump crypto nightmare and their bank to compete with the dollar. Just what "The Bro's" wanted. The Trumps are getting richer on fees and manipulation.
The polls say that Trump has a 40% approval rating, which is about the same percentage of the population that is die hard MAGAt, and was enough to make him president.
As I read about the groups being shafted by Trusk, I keep thinking of Farmers, who despite getting in the shorts, still stand by Trump because of DEI and "woke", the Civil servants that lost their jobs, but voted for Trump, because Trump was going to get rid of the slacker in the next cubicle, or the person struggling to pay off a student loan, but voted for Trump because of his DEI, "Woke" policies or maybe thought he would improve the economy and their situation.
There is no doubt that he has one very loyal following. His blue army, sheriffs and cops, local, state, federal.
How many times do I have to say the polls are not valid. Evidence shows that respondents say what they think the pollster wants to hear.
I agree that Trump's strength comes from racism.
But apparently only a couple of polls address Trump's real weaknesses.
1. He's a liar.
2. He's Putin's whore.
3. His expertise is in how to go bankrupt.
4. He's nutsy koo koo.
Yes I know Daniel. Trump is a liar, Putin's whore, his expertise is in going bankrupt and he is nuts.
All that is true, no argument here.
I also know the polls are shit, for one thing they don't ask the right questions and we don't know what portion of the population they sample and how they choose that portion.
Here is the thing though, The same people who cast aspersions on the polls when they are favorable to Trump are the same that quote them when they are embarassing to Trump.
The current polls show Trump is underwater in popularity and on the economy, so are you saying that those polls are wrong, and that he is really in positive territory?
I'd estimate only 5% or so want to join the axis of evil. Fewer want to attack Canada, Panama and Greenland.
I'd estimate only 1% are better off with Trump as president.
That may be true, but at least 37 - 40% of the voting public belong to a cult.
Why voters oppose a national healthcare service - free medical care - is beyond reason. Some voters assert that national healthcare is communism – like so what? Others assert that you must wait weeks to see a doctor in “those other countries.” They will wrongly argue that our pricy US medical care is the best in the world even though America has the lowest life expectancy of any developed nation (all of which have free national healthcare services). Such arguments are all Wall Street gaslight and lies elected officials spread at the behest of lobbyist “contributors.”
Health insurance premiums in America are obscenely high because vulture capitalists buy up hospitals and local private-practice doctors calling them "Health Groups." Those same vultures then jack up the price for all procedures and stick it to people’s health insurance companies, which then jack up their premiums as corporate America literally bleeds the bottom 90% of most Americans to death.
I am fortunate to be a member of the only free American national health service plan. Yes, there is one, and it is great. Retired, I only pay Medicare B insurance premiums (deducted from my SSA Pension) and the Defense Department pays what is not covered. I freely choose which doctor and hospital to go to. A few years ago, I had prostate surgery at Mayo Clinic. I do not wait for service any longer than you do because we have the same primary care doctor, ENT doctor, dermatologist, rheumatologist, hospitals, etc.
Of course, the only way to obtain my free insurance is to avoid being killed on the job and retire from military service. In contrast, all my European friends have free healthcare services too - Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Bulgaria... they do not wait any longer for health services than I do. But, they outlive us in America.
It is reasonable to wonder why voters prefer a lower standard of living just to pay obscene insurance premiums to billionaires and doctor fees to vulture capitalist corporations for second-rate healthcare. But if you could explain that irrationality, you would be able to explain why we have a demented megalomaniac president who is destroying the American economy, whittling away civil rights, and lowering the standard of living of its citizens.
Tom. VOTERS aren't opposed.
It's the insurance industry, Big PHARMA, etc and they control Congress. Unfortunately people like Clinton/HRC had a mandate and fucked it up.
I laid out how big business benefis above.
All voters have to do is rant at their legislators. They do not. The MSM could help stoke that fire. I mean, even Luigi Mangioni tried to animate voters to no avail.
Actually they have..... I was on several commissions....
Unfortunately Congress prizes its donors.
Good job on this Tom.
Have to jump in here. Huge majority of voters want health care as a right, Democrats want it, but REPUBLICANS DO NOT WANT IT. Their ideology is killing our economy as well as people.
With Medicaid cuts, they may have awakened the sleeping giant and we will finish what FDR started.
If you want to Make America Great Again, we have to go back to the policies, processes, regulations and tax codes that MADE it that way. To drastically CHANGE the process, but expect the SAME results, is a sign of insanity. A partial list:
-Enforce anti-trust.
-Raise the marginalized top tax rates.
-Raise corporate “windfall” profit taxes.
-Require hospitals and health insurance companies to be non-profit.
Trickle down aka Reaganomics was/is a scam. It has NEVER worked. It is not a viable model.
It's a Hardknock Life in our Plantation Economy; a place where DEI is a Fact, in that
"We (the 99%) are ALL Slaves."
Wage slaves, anyway. Regardless of race, creed, or color.
Donny's next Executive Order is to change his Job Title to "Massa."
I am constantly reminded of an adolescent boy with an ant farm. Sir Donnie gets such glee from shaking it up daily while we ants are forced to get back to work trying to remake a world that no longer exits.
I graduated from a state university in 1981, the beginning of the Reagan revolution. My tuition was never more than $250 a semester, or $50 per credit hour, never to exceed 250. I believe I got as good an education as any of my friends who attended Ivy League schools. My degree was multidisciplinary in film, electronics engineering and liberal arts. It has served me well in life and career. Today, tuition at the very same school is well over $10,000! My son who is now 38 is saddled with crushing student loan debt. He opted for a private school, and it has not served any of us well. The future was bright in the 1970's. Then Reagan happened.
It's such a no-brainer. We've gotten used to this abuse by the corporatists and right-wing abusers. Our children should be educated for free or, at the most, minimal tuitions. The easiest way to destroy a society is to put insane, greedy costs of education and healthcare on the backs of our citizens rather than looking at both as an obligation of society itself to make this a greater, and intelligent, country. The burden in these two areas alone would end any society, let alone one that has words written in its Constitution and Bill of Rights that all men are created equal and deserve equal rights. We have failed at this as we're failing now with everything Trump and his cronies and Project 2025ers have put in his place. And the silence from Democrats is deafening. The head of Project 2025 was on PBS last night absolutely gloating about the great successes of Trump and his eagerness to dismantle the government. These are all buzz words for "this is a White male-dominated Christo-fascist country" and they'll take it back for themselves at all costs. But, we need to prove them wrong. It belongs to all of us and we now need to be out in the streets every day and take it back. That is the only way we will not all end up in concentration camps. It's come to that.
So many maga brainwashed people will say the exact talking point Thom mentioned.
“It’s not fair that I had to pay for my education and these people are going to get theirs for free.”
Even my own mother in her early 80s, who watches Fox News nonstop, casually asked me once “what do you think about forcing people to pay for college for other people‘s kids?” my response was that had been going on for a long time with public universities and no one previously complained about it because people got good jobs as a result. The extreme right is always complaining that nobody wants to work. Why would she be against people getting good jobs?
The only reason that she didn’t know is because she didn’t go to a university herself like I did. Maga voters are looking through a filter that tells them that anyone that is a perceived opponent is either evil or insane.
That's an interesting point about health care costs being so high that the tariff effort is doomed. Of course their logical answer is to destroy unions and give the workers no health care benefits at all. But the same kind of backwards thinking shows up in many areas (and to be fair has in other governments). Trump's sad effort to bring back the dying coal industry while much of the world is desperately trying to reduce carbon output is one example. Another is the lunacy of seriously discussing how to raise the birth rate and so eventually make more workers while right now they are deporting thousands and thousands of productive workers. Smoke, mirrors and madness.
Since transitioning from a manufacturing-dominant economy to a rentier-dominant economy, the big corporations and banks keep us bent over a barrel, whipping us good and hard, through "the miracle of compound interest". A thirty-year mortgage was hard enough, but now the burden includes high-interest credit card debt and non-dischargeable (through bankruptcy) college debt, and then medical debt as we age. So they control us throughout our adult lives by keeping us deep in debt. What a scam.
Excellent Report as usual, Thom.
I wonder how many veterans will be included in Trump's collection plans. Who else will take their life because they can't pay for housing? How many will end-up on the street knowing their government doesn't care.
F-ing "President Bone Spurs" is a coward right to the bitter end. All us vets know who the losers and suckers really are. His Administration is filled with them!
From a Times article titled: U.S. Tells Its Diplomats in Vietnam to Avoid War Anniversary Events
"Mr. Terzano said that in a proud nation that cares deeply about symbolism, the U.S. decision to avoid the events looks “petty and nonsensical.”
He argued that the absence would strengthen the world’s gathering storm of doubt about America.
“You take a look at the chaos that has transpired,” he said. “Nations around the globe are all questioning: ‘Where is the U.S.? What does it mean?’”
Thom, you have once again hit on the heart of our biggest issues. I remember those old times well. Everything was financially much more possible. First house: $13,000. Health insurance provided, first 2 children $40 co-pay to hospital. Even in the 1990’s, I was able to pay off a $34,000 student loan with some strategic moves using a 0-interest credit card balance transfer and making large payments (plus an employer who provided a monthly benefit to go toward student loans). I am grateful to be free from all those concerns now, but heartbroken that a great granddaughter is unable to consider making me a great great grandma because she can’t afford to. 😥😥😥
Decades ago, the sage mind of Dr. Loren Eiseley observed that humanity resembles the common slime mold fungus. When that organism devours all its host(s), it begins to eat itself.
This is not the first iteration of that ecological truism, but it may certainly be the last. I have studied and worked in the biological fields for decades. Most probably due to the necessity of entropy to guarantee genetic evolution, biotic mistakes are baked into the cake of life. I actually like many humans, being one in this lifetime, and several others that I am aware of. But as to the rapacious nature of the species itself, I conclude that, at this point in time and space, the entanglement of the quantum field is cleansing itself of the human experiment.
This experiment did not last long by evolutionary standards, but its impact in geological/paleontological terms has been a tragic doozy. The development of that big brain was way too quick. Some keen insights were lost very quickly in the mad dash toward narcissistic obsessions. The learning curve was/is just too steep.
All around humanity are/were myriad examples of the right way to live a life, a much cleaner and less messy way of life, an elegant one, a disciplined one, a magical one based in 'real time.' Not without its difficult challenges, for sure, but mostly loaded with 'good stress' and rapid learning curves that were numerous but not so steep they ended in extinctions. The Earth and its more mature biota was our friend, our home, our sustenance, our teacher.
We paid little attention until it became apparent, at or about the year1500 AD, that the bubble was not holding air, at least not breathable stuff.
Thom's essay today on the confused economy of ecology has depicted 'sapiens' as not only not so smart, but incapable of learning such a simple truth as Not Eating Yourself. I am paraphrasing Dr. Barry Commoner, who said something to the effect of; 'when you finally see how bad it is, you realize it is much worse than you thought it could be.'
What can be salvaged, I have no clue. DNA is resilient, but not bullet-proof. Earth is but one rock in a very big space filled with, well, space. Time will tell - tick, tock, tick, tock.
The best article I have read today!!! It needs to be on the front page of all the legitimate news outlets… oh, that’s right they don’t exist either.
Well , when we make education and healthcare a powerful part of a growing middle class and when we demand that housing isn’t existing anymore because
the greedy fucks never have enough!
Does it not amaze everyone that the people who complain the most and the loudest always have more than everyone else?
It is way past time that we educate our dear neighbors about the power of a large middle class. One that works for all. Aren’t you sick and tired of the morbidly greedy grifters taking everything from you???? You America!
Organizing and protest marching is one thing (if you don't get arrested) - organizing and boycotting is another. Yes, boycott everything for a day, a week, a month? i.e., Boycotting specific farm products will get the farmers attention ( Chavez proved it worked). It's OK to go after those supporting our own demise. Maybe that stops that support of Orange Man. Read - Dying of Whiteness and you won't have to ask "why are those voters voting this way". Because they can in their truly contorted view of America.
Even in the mid 70's I could work my way through college on my own, factory welding in the summer, and 20-30 hrs/wk working in a dormitory cafeteria.
Room, board, books, etc. topped out around $3,500 in '76 at University of Illinois. There was an uproar that year when a full load tuition/semester was going to $1,000. Reagan fucked it all up.
Dr. Richard Wolff did an interview about that. He made the observation that many of his students cannot afford to live. He explained the differences in how things were economically when he was a student. He also explained how professors are now not paid adequately so people avoid going into academia.