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Brilliant, as usual, Thom. There is a modest anti-monopoly movement that could be a popular, progressive issue. Keith Ellison uses the term "monopoly capitalism" to differentiate from "anti-capitalism." David Korten prefers "market economy" instead of capitalism to focus on local economies and sustainability. I am an advocate of MMT economics and linked it to the anti-monopoly movement here: https://medium.com/@chucklynd/big-picture-news-modern-monetary-theory-mmt-and-the-anti-monopoly-movement-45e07aec7ded

I also like Robert Hockett's framing of the Fed's Quantitative Easing (QE) policy to bail out the rich versus Biden's Build Back Better policies that invest in the American people, aka "Community QE."

I trust Thom (or anyone reading this) will come up with a positive # that will appeal to our progressive base.

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A stark, terrifying turning-point. I just don't know how you pierce thru the fascist/Trump religious cult, which looks pretty assured to take over minority rule by way of custom-tailored voter selection across the country. So many are multi-generation conditioned to a fight response to the word "communist," for instance: sort of like those lights that turn on/off when somebody claps their hands. Light don't know who's clappin' or why.

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I’d like to add two more pieces of evidence that also prove why neoliberalism is bad, at least if your purpose is to promote the general welfare of our citizens and protect us from those that do things adverse to our rights and our communities' interests. First, there’s Professor of Economics at UCCS Daphne Greenwood’s 2014 book (found in https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/the-decision-to-contract-out-understanding-the-full-economic-and-social-impacts/) which shows precisely why the private sector is inferior to the public sector when it comes to managing our commons, or as Greenwood concluded, “unless there is real innovation that leads to greater efficiency or higher quality, communities will see a net negative effect on the wider social and economic level.” Second, Fortune magazine published a great article last week about income inequality (https://fortune.com/2022/04/06/income-inequality-worker-pay-shareholders-buybacks/) supporting the points Thom made about how the morbidly rich have persistently been exploiting the same folks that they have bamboozled into voting against their own economic self-interest for decades. And the grift goes on.

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And while we try to tell people about the history, we should also bring up what is currently happening with corporations cashing in on inflation. PBS News Hour just did a segment that you can view called: "Why corporations are profiting from rising inflation".

Unfortunately, the national news is reveling in the result not the cause of the high prices. This is the replacement issue to make Biden look responsible for something bad, since they can no longer use job creation to beat him up.

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The wealthy elites now control all three branches of government and they have always controlled the U.S. military. Not really any hope for change as the game has been rigged in their favor for the past 400 years and only the propaganda of the elites has improved to the point were deluded workers vote for a Reagan or a Trump or a Romney.

The baby boomers were the last generation to have a chance at the American Dream and few appreciate or care how bad the situation has become for their successors. We have had price increases of 50% for food, housing, utilities, and increases in unnatural disasters from global warming but few take to the streets and if they do then the elite's dogs in police and military uniforms with weapons in hand are there to beat them down.

The mistake is failing to realize that the various fascist regimes have always enjoyed the support of the country's elites as the last thing they want is a democracy and sharing the economic pie with workers. The 25 wealthiest men of Germany agreed to support the Nazi Party and Hitler and what they got in return was assurances that worker unions would be outlawed. In the United States the Republicans and the Democrats supported the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 which was the first of a series of very succcessful attacks on unions by the ruling elites.

We have never had a democracy nor have we ever had a representative republic. Small wonder the elites write the school textbooks and control the media so only the official narrative is presented and Americans continue to drink the Kool-Aid.

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