It is easy for Republicans to treat Americans with such bad policies as compared to Europeans because we are separated from Europe by a vast ocean and Americans do not regularly come into contact with Europeans on a daily basis. Consequently the vast majority of Americans are geographically isolated and do not know how much better off Europeans are. The ordinary European can easily jump into a car or board a train and cross their county's border. This allows them to see how other citizens, in other countries are living. This cultural exposure also makes Europeans multilingual and more cosmopolitan than Americans who are typically narrow-minded and uninformed about such things.
Don't forget arrogant - we're known for our arrogance & rudeness throughout the world. Only WE think we are the best, richest & much-loved nation of nations. Must be how well our 'free press' keeps us informed on a wide range of things, right?
Can the vast amount of Americans read? Have the Christian righteous and pious mean spirited haters ever heard the Christian teaching, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
How can anyone be so cruel, so righteous, so smug!
So called Bible Believes and Muslims have never read theBible or Quran, while atheists, like myself, have, 1st time at age 12, front to cover, last time in my 40s, which why I have been an atheist since age 12, prior to that merely a kid forced to go to Sunday school, by Mom, who benefited from the largess of the church at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Well put. Add to that, that the ER, economic royalists, that FDR mentioned, consider all who are not in their club as serfs, and serfs have no value, other than their labor, which is disposable and replaceable, and social benefits, cut into their wealth and thus power, especially health care, as lack of adequate health care, means that the lives of non or barely contributing serfs, cut into their bottom line, and the ER would be better off by disposing of the weak, aged, non productive, life extension is only for the ER.
The recent incident in Seattle, where a patrolman, VP of the Police union, laughed at the death of a 26 year old woman, a POC, that was hit and killed by another cop. He was caught on his own body camera, laughing and saying just pay her family $10,000, she was only 26 and of limited value... laughter again.
His words and behavior are evidence that cops actually think they are part of the ruling class, despite their low wages, because the badge gives them power to be the law, And very few cops are really disciplined, fired or even indicted for murder and theft, or reckless driving, especially DUI. If they cause an accident or even get killed by their own drunk driving, or recklessness, the cop union demands that they get a hero's funeral.
Pretty ironic, because cops are near the bottom of the social ladder, they compensate for their inferiority, by pulling people over, issuing commands and called sir. What an ego boost.
Traffic cops generally target expensive cars, they get an orgasm having a person on a higher social rung, groveling and calling them sir. Even black cops.
We the people have become a mere consumable in an economic plundering which has no sustainable mission statement.
We are viewed as nothing more than "human capital stock" - as Trump White House adviser, Kevin Hassett, so eloquently vomited the quiet part out loud back in 2020.
It seems reasonable the garden of Life is dangerously close to sterility as a result of these policies and morally criminal beliefs which exclusively promote "take from" - not "tend to".
Though not spoken out loud by the corrupt corporate media, including MSNBC and NPR, the younger generations seem to be aware, instinctively, because fewer and fewer are getting married, and with the current cost of raising a child at $243,000 very few want to burden themselves with penury for life.
You would think that they want children to look after them, in old age, when they can't take care of themselves, but unlike in Central and South America, Africa, Mid east and Asia..
Parents are made ward of the state, or shunted off into nursing homes,warehoused until they die.
I lived in Panama for three years, married a Panamanian mixed blood, African, Chinese and Guyami, lived on weekends with her extended family, mother, brother, sister and their families, under one roof, with different compartments. Never heard of a nursing home, or mental institution the family took care of themselves,unlike America Also they shared responsibility for looking after each others children
Very interesting, your life in Panama. Have you published about it in detail?
It is generally the case that, historically, as "undeveloped" countries industrialize and become more urban and less rural there is a great shift in the institution of the Family. A shift in how children are educated and reared, elderly are cared for, food is produced and consumed, work and medical practices are organized. Religion, unfortunately survives in spite of scientific advances in knowledge. More to be said here.
Worldwide the shift to urban living has also resulted in lower birthrates. Many countries are no longer producing the 2.1 children per female which is necessary for a population to maintain its size into the future. This is well documented and is often called the third stage of "The Demographic Transition." Greedy capitalists view this with alarm because each new human being is another potential producer and another potential consumer for their profit-making system. I believe the world would be better off if total human populations shrank. We can adjust. I say this not out of inherent pessimism about humans. What topic is more important than life? As for myself I have spent my entire adult life in a professional pursuit of learning about our social existence. It is called Sociology. There are simply too many of us and we have devised institutions which are ironically destroying us.
I totally agree. I always say that Rev Malthus was correct, only he got his time line wrong, because he had no idea of technological advances, such as machines to plow, sow, irrigate, reap, transport and produce food (like grains).
Malthus had no idea of technological advances.
I have mentioned before on other internet spaces, that world pppulations is increasing at a geometric pace, not an arithemetric pace. At the time of the Roman Empire the worlds population had barely reached 300,000 , and slowly crept up, plagues and wars slowed the growth of population, yetWorld population did not reach one billion until 1804. It took 123 years to reach 2 billion in 1927, 33 years to reach 3 billion in 1960, 14 years to reach 4 billion in 1974 and 13 years to reach 5 billion in 1987. . 6 Billion by 1999, 12 years from 1987, and 7 billion by 2011, and in 11 years (2022) it reached 8 Billion.
See where that is going, 10 years or less another billion, and it is getting worse, minus a world wide pandemic or war, maybe another genetic bottleneck like the one that happened 12,000 BCE, at the end of the ice age., when the ice dams broke and flooded the earth, leaving survivors (about 25,000) that lived at higher elevations.
Billions of hungry mouths clamoring for resources, wiping out the Earth's lungs, to provide access to minerals, gold, land to feed cattle (a major source of global warming..methane), and to provide grain for starving populations. Not to mention digging up and destroying the Earth for oil and minerals to meet the demands for products of billions of people.
It can only get worse, but wait Gaia has a self defense. Global warming, the more people the more methane and carbon dioxide and the more in number and violence, become catastrophic events, especially as human activity pushes the earths temperature to the fatal (for mammals, and almost all living creatures) a wet bulb of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature already reached in some parts of the world, especially the Kingdom. Which by the way has a water problem. they tapped the 12,000 year old water table, to irrigate the desert and the land collapsed, they have turned to desalination of the Red Sea, but that can't keep up with demand, on top of which they have been using reverse osmosis, which quickly clogs up the membranes, and leaves them with a salt disposal problem. rWorld population did not reach one billion until 1804. It took 123 years to reach 2 billion in 1927, 33 years to reach 3 billion in 1960, 14 years to reach 4 billion in 1974 and 13 years to reach 5 billion in 1987. Replacing the millions of membranes used and disposed off, is in itself a major industry, which requires the total devotion of industrial and mineral resources Saudi Arabia has the largest overall desalination plant in the world in its east-coast city of Jubail, with an output capacity of 1.4 million m3/d.Jan 7, 2021
And people don't know that these membranes get clogged with salt, and have to be replaced frequently. the alternative is to built many distillation plants, but they add to the problem of global warming, and the distillers have to be cleaned almost daily, to get rid of the salt.
I have a small, gallon sized home distiller for my CPAP machines. and I only run it about once or twice a month,and it builds up scale quickly and my water is well water in the country, so no chemicals , like fluoride, chlorine, or estrogen, testosterone, progesterone or other forever chemicals.
Bottom line, the species is SOL, as is other species, so make hay while the sun shines. The cure for racism, religion and greed is on it's way., like a runaway train.
Everything is coming at us at break neck speed, geometrically not mathematically.
I taught Population for years and Malthus was in my syllabus. He earned honors in Mathematics at Cambridge. But, of course he could not foresee the future (who can?) and what Massive urbanization would do to fertility. I showed my students how he developed the equation for exponential growth: P=ae to the power of in. Unfortunately my computer does not allow me to correctly write out the equation. You can find it in most elementary college Algebra textbooks.
Malthus had another serious theoretical problem: he was a clergyman in the Church of England, and so he misunderstood the true checks on population. He had a childish (by our standards) view of "homosexuality," "beastiality" and many other long forgotten, discarded topics of interest only to Fanatical Christians. But he was brilliant nevertheless. He was an acknowledged inspiration to Darwin a generation later.
Other countries do not spend half their tax revenues on the military, as the U.S. does. If we stopped spending money on aircraft carriers, fighter planes, drones, A.R. fifteens, 800 military bases around the world, the CIA (plus 14 other intelligence agencies), and atomic bombs there would be more tax money available for domestic programs. Plus, the world would be a safer place, especially for people who have suffered from American meddling in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Greece, Italy, Libya, East Timor, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Panama, Haiti, Grenada, Bolivia, Colombia, for example. Not even mentioning all the well meaning, misled American youths who died serving the military in various empire-building endeavors. But empire building for the rich is more important than a good life for ordinary American taxpayers.
Very well said! I guess maybe bankrupting the USA is GOP's back-up plan, then the Billionaires can bail us out & own the Country the old-fashioned way...buy it for cheap.
Hey, GOP (& their wealthy puppet masters/owners) need a back-up plan, just in case the voter supression, limiting voting, gerrymandering & Trump believers they installed in election positions for 2024 don't work out as they plan.
True Gerald. But not all MIC spending is welfare for the MIC and it's investors.
There are enemies of Democracy, that need to be kept at bay, but I share your concerns about the 800 world wide bases, and our subsidy of international corporations like Exxon Mobil, by intruding in their affairs. Note America does not get involved in foreign countries, that do not produce a valuable, thus profitable, resource.
Or aren't used as an experiment, as in the likes of Milton Friedman's competitive advantage theory such as the fascist coup of Democratically elected socialist Allende in Peru, to back a murderous fascist Pinochet who was all to glade to engage in Friedman's competive advantage.
After the coup, we find Chile exporting agriculture goods to the U.S. while American agricultural products were shipped to Asia and south America (like wheat and corn), apples to Japan, where they fetched a higher price.
Now you see central and south America, establish partnerships with China and Russia, while France has been tossed out of Africa
The migration problem that Europe and America is having was born in the colonial policies cum Economic policies of the West. Chickens are coming home to roost, and as such providing fodder for the racist, fascist right wing of Europe and America.
Those that created the problem,own or control the means of communication,print and electronic press not to mention much of Congress and have influence in the Executive.
Thus are able to deflect their culpability, by agitating the lizard brain of the racist right.
Granted there are racists on the left, in fact racism knows no boundaries of religion, ideology, or color (Hutu and Tutsi for example) or Bantu vs Khoisan as another.
But the left is not building border walls, like Trump, Orban, Poland and Slovakia
The situation in Europe is a real culture war. These job seeking immigrants are bringing with them a culture that is alien to European culture and when it reaches a critical mass, Europe will no longer be European, but Muslim
America's immigration problem is different, it is racial mostly, because the immigrants from the south belong to Christian culture, and are very socially conservative and patriarchal, as they are Catholics , Pentecostals and Evangelicals. and thus misogynistic, homophobic and anti abortion
I agree with you, "There are enemies of Democracy" like China and Russia and the cult of the Republican "Party."
Don't you mean to say Allende was President of Chile? Not Peru?
I also believe you are correct about the importance of where raw materials are located worldwide. This is why I think the French Physiocrats were on the right path which leads to my Economic emphasis on:
1) Raw Materials
2)Labor
3) markets
I read Marx when I was young. I have since come to modify his theory in my own mind with the thinking of the Physiocrats and the modern Democratic Socialists. A violent revolution by Communists may still be in the cards. Look at the movements Mao and Ho Chi Min led. But I think that historical door is closed now, even in China and Vietnam (for better or worse, I don't know). Notice I leave Lenin and Stalin out of this because the violent movement they led as you seem to know better than I do, was essentially Bastardized State Capitalism; also known as Fascism. The Soviet system of "Councils" or "Committees" was neither Democratic nor Socialistic.
I believe it would be better to try for a peaceful, Political Revolution by Social Democrats as in Scandinavia. I think this is what might be going on in Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua right now. They are not following the violent path of Castro. They are trying to follow an independent , peaceful, political path of their own. Nevertheless our elite establishment cannot stomach them.
Incidentally, I really liked your sarcasm in an earlier Hartman blog when you said: "Imagine the Venezuelans thinking that oil under their ground belonged to them." Or something like that.
Thanks Gerald, calling Chile Peru is a brain fart. I often do that when fast typing. I learned touch typing when I was 17 and got up to 132 wpm. My brain outpaces itself, and I often confuse their and there. And when I proof read before hitting the enter button or posting, I don't immediately see the error. Your comment has spurred me to be more cautious.
You are right that are political,social, economic elite can not allow real democracies to stand.
A real democracy is one that is based on our preamble to the constitution. The Common Good, anything else is a sham, devised, designed, run and manipulated by our own homegrown oligarchs, and real democracies mean little profit for the oligarchs, and a reduction in dollars, means a reduction in political power and a further degradation of their wealth. Money to gain power, power to keep the money. Simple equation.
Medieval serfs were bound to the land, modern serfs are bound to the job.
Spot on about Lenin he indeed said that the USSR was State capitalism, in other words a corporate state, the same as Mussolini's fascists Italy, where members of the Chamber of Deputies were appointed by corporations, and often the heads of corporations.
Now a days, they have improved their public relations, by buying politicians, rather than have their CEO's, COO's, and Chairmen sit as Senators. They simply buy them, and Reps.
As I posted previously, in researching a paper for my Masters, I dug through the attic of my university and came upon a 1922 issue of Fortnightly. It revealed that the USSR was actually a combine of seven trusts organized along resource lines, with the KGB in charge of human resources, which they sold to other trusts, like transportation, mining, forestry, agriculture.
Each trust had its own bank, accounts were settled between trusts, first with barter, then with gold, and all of it was managed by the GosBank, the central bank of the USSR, and there was the window to the west in Paris, called the NordBank. Where holders of rubles (not Russians) could redeem their rubles for gold.
To safeguard their supply of gold, they made the attempt to take (smuggle) rubles out of Russia a capitol crime, because as the stock of gold went down, the number of rubles in circulation decreased, thus causing even longer lines for bread, meat, and scarce goods.
Goods were scarce because the USSR was in a perpetual depression, because of the shortage of money. The populations concern was assuaged by the Kremlin blaming the west for the Cold War, which meant patriotic Russians had to buck up, eat it, and support the leadership.
The problem was caused by their adherence to Marx. Marx was, as I have said, a proto libertarian and the USSR and Stalin were the role models of Fred Koch.
Back to my rant. The USSR defined a ruble as . 9851 grams fine gold and only put in circulation the number of rubles that the gold represented. Russian citizens could not redeem their rubles, but foreigner and nations could, via the NordBank, Russia always tried to resolve debts by barter, first, then at last moment by gold.
Thus the Bolsheviks/Stalinists did what William Jennings Bryant said in his "Cross of gold speech" created a permanent depression, a perpetual shortage of rubles.
Unless all the babies are raised together in communes from conception, where all their needs are met, I don't think the lizard brains of any races willl ever get along. Especially with overpopulation and poverty.
Notice, I said "where all their needs are met". No more sibling rivalry, neglect, helicopter parenting, poverty, yelling, hitting, drug abuse... I'm all for trying anything but the family unit. It seems I'm on the wrong planet?
Yes you are. It is the family unit where one learns bigotry,, racism, hatred and it starts with religion. There are two Jesus's in the NT, he is schizo. Jesus of Matthew is loving, forgiving and feeds the masses.
Jesus of Luke is angry, jealous and murderous. Luke 19:17 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.' Basically the same as the Muslim Allah in the Quran and haddiths
Luke 22:36 Jesus says, "Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one." This is the Jesus of the modern Republican. Not just the Maggots, for if there were good Republicans there would be no Maggots.
in the long run, It's always cheaper to do the right thing than to do the wrong thing. Raising criminals and anarchists due to poverty, car society much more money to lock them up in prison for example. The policies the right wingers proposed will bankrupt America completely. Capitalist healthcare, the trickle down theory, no minimum wage and no social spending. If America votes for the right wingers again, I'm just going to fiddle while Rome Burns this time!
I am going to try to move to Canada, only a ferry ride away. But currently Canada is only accepting refugees running for their lives. To get a residence visa, you must have a quarter of a million dollars, and bring a business that will bring employment.
They don't want Americans leeching off their socialist health care. And only wealth Canadians migrate to America.
Here is irony. Thomas C Douglas is the father of Canada's "socialist" health care, his grandson was Frederick Sutherland, the father of Donald Sutherland, father of Kiefer Sutherland. Donald was an actor, and left Canada (St John's, New Brunswick, for the UK where he studied in London, had some parts in films, then left England for Hollywood, as there was more chances of employment and better wages., and now he can afford America's healthcare, ostensibly, per the right and insurance companies (which are financial institutions as well), translation best health care money can buy, and for shit if you don't have any money. Even Medicare sucks, as it only covers 80%, and your 20% is life threatening if you don't have the resources and have cancer, an expensive operation, or anything that requires very (needlessly) expensive medication and doctors visit (for prescription and renewal)
When I was a young man and drafted because I dropped out of ROTC in college; I applied for citizenship in a Windsor, Ontario gov't. office. the bureaucrat in charge told me to fill out the application and sign it and I would be accepted. He was an elderly man and very sympathetic to me. Canada was a different place then. I decided to stay in the U.S. and fight the draft. However, later on, I took my wife to Canada for the births of our two children for more than one reason: the health care for my wife was better and our children have the option of choosing to be Canadian citizens, eh? I also taught at a Canadian University for a short time. I was happy when jimmy Carter, the "True Christian," exonerated all those thousands of American exiles.
Few of them returned to the U.S. I don't blame them.
Yes, this all started with “government is the problem “ as stated by Reagan. He and the Republicans have been trying to cut programs and social services for the middle class since 1980. But for some reason, massive cuts for the rich are perfectly alright.
We can all see what a difference is occurring now that Biden is creating good paying jobs for the middle class, bringing back manufacturing and high tech to America! Build the middle class and we all flourish!
Republicans will NEVER propose or support childcare legislation, unless lightning strikes twice at the same location somewhere, say Congress. The elephant in the room is the R word. Racism. Black families and other undeserving families will be on the dole and procreate like rabbits in order to receive childcare money. Welfare queens will multiply and game the system! So, let all suffer. But just imagine what a beautiful country this would be if we did not legislate through the the prism of racial animus. If America were populated by people like the Nordic people, providing for all children would be a no-brainer. How sad.
One of my favorite tees concerning people's rights says "It isn't a pie!". Even though these childcare and family leave issues should be about human rights, they are still a part of the budget "pie". We all know defense gets the big piece.
That F-35 that just went down was $100 million; the Ospreys we keep losing are $85 million. Are we getting what we pay for? Is it defense or dominance that we are after? I think we all know the answer to that dominance question.
Republicans will do anything, pay anything to make America "great". They will do nothing to actually secure the future of an AMERICAN.
My understanding of UBI is that it would eliminate the need for these sorts of programs. We struggle with what's on the surface, trying to move those deck chairs instead of dealing with what's causal that keeps unworkable things in place. So, UBI would be eliminating the poverty that makes for all the legislation to try to help the poor.
But what about healthcare?????? Is that not a right that has been given to many exisating first tier countries?? Why not the US? It is not just the Republicans who are dragging their feet, the Democrats want nothing to do with healthcare at all. The parties have very little differences....both are corporate owned.....MOVE TO AMEND!
The Republicans , in general , oppose any measure that might take its citizens out of the dungeon of third world philosophy regarding work and child care.
They are backwards, period.
In their efforts to keep the money in the coffers of the very wealthiest Americans, ( they enjoy the fall out from that wealth) as they are supported by the wealthiest in order to keep
Their greedy selves powerful in politics.
Look at the Supreme Court openly being bribed by the greediest and defending it to the death.
Of course there have been no cases in which people have benefited. Keeping it medieval and dark.
The stone around the necks of average or poor people is shored up under the Republicans lies and their insistence on sacrificing children of average and poorer families in this wealthiest nation.
Republicans are incapable of empathy. They appear to be ignorant about what those other countries are doing or about the benefits to the country of nurturing families and children and lifting up hard-working working people. They are incredibly cynical about human nature. They assume the worst about anyone who lacks the sort of privilege or the kind of support they have had when they were in their youth or dealing with difficulties of one kind or another. They are not usually exceptionally ignorant, however. They have just closed their minds to certain kinds of information. They tune out certain things they do not want to hear and ignore the facts and reality which challenge their preconceived notions. They are not critical thinkers.
I wonder what caused Republicans to be so obtuse, indifferent, and often cruel. Where could they possibly have developed their attitudes of superiority, and what kind of experiences might they have had which would lead to such awful behavior? Where did they acquire their habit of tuning out to avoid unpleasantries or uncomfortable thoughts? It seems as if many have been imbued with the same fundamental beliefs and orientations and an especially strong tendency to deny the humanity and value of others. What extensive experiences or pernicious influences do they have in common? I sure would like answers to these questions.
I think it's because they went to Sunday school and were brainwashed at a very young age. They were taught fairy tales were fact and that facts were fantasy, and that they were special and were one of the few saved ones, everyone else is just inferior to them.?
Religion definitely explains a lot. Even those who were not brainwashed in a church have been affected by the ideas and memes which pervade our society and institutions which originate in religion. However, I don't believe that explains the meanspiritedness, rank cynicism, and exceptionalism as well as certain other influences do. Where did most of us spend a lot of time observing hypocrisy, pretension, bullying, demoralization, victim blaming, disrespect, and the devaluation of our time and attention? I know - that's a really hard question to answer honestly.
How many billionaires are from the "war machine" sector of economy -- the weapons makers/arms dealers who make BIG Bucks selling what we pay for them to make? Must include the makers of those very large & costly drones & fighter jets...& bombs of course; need alot of those cuz' we keep using them up!
Corporations in the war machine, are managed by CEO's,. CFO's, COO's, that are hired by the boards of directors, to ensure that the corporations make a positive rate of return for investors. The greater the rate of return (profit) the more they get paid, they are simply very well paid employees of the Board of Directors (BoD).
Boards are comprised of directors, who are themselves shareholders in other corporations (not necessarily the MIC) as well as paid to sit on other BoD.s
As I replied to Gerald, here and in yesterdays Report, the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is beans compared to the financial instituties in particular the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Seccurities
Here is a current list, and of all Goldman Sachs is the most powerful, as it reaped the biggest benefit from the bank bailout of 2008 (Too big to fail), by buying out the competition like Leham Brothers, with government money.
Notice that most are also foreign and sovereign funds. The APDGS is who the Fed sells the National debt to, in the form of government bonds. It then resells them to the Fed and to foreign funds, sovereign funds and central bank. That is why Congress not re authorizing the national debt, will wreak world wide havoc, and even depression.
Which in turn motivates the rest of the world, to divest in American securities, and use some other currency as the international base.
It is through debt, that the American financial system controls much of the world, especially those dependent on the IMF and World Bank.
Historically the way financiers were able to reclaim their losses, has been through force, either war or in the case of personal debtors, via the courts and police, which use force to evict the debtor in default. Only a nations financial powers use armies as police.
What was the real reason for the American revolution. The debtor (the Bank of England) used the Royal army and navy, to force the colonies to repay their debt, which they falsely claimed was incurred by Britain in fighting the French and Indian war, when in actuality, it was a minor expense compared to the ongoing war with France..
The reason that Britain gave up on the War of 1812, is because it had been concurrently fighting a war with Napoleon, and that really sapped it's resources.
It is easy for Republicans to treat Americans with such bad policies as compared to Europeans because we are separated from Europe by a vast ocean and Americans do not regularly come into contact with Europeans on a daily basis. Consequently the vast majority of Americans are geographically isolated and do not know how much better off Europeans are. The ordinary European can easily jump into a car or board a train and cross their county's border. This allows them to see how other citizens, in other countries are living. This cultural exposure also makes Europeans multilingual and more cosmopolitan than Americans who are typically narrow-minded and uninformed about such things.
Don't forget arrogant - we're known for our arrogance & rudeness throughout the world. Only WE think we are the best, richest & much-loved nation of nations. Must be how well our 'free press' keeps us informed on a wide range of things, right?
Right
Can the vast amount of Americans read? Have the Christian righteous and pious mean spirited haters ever heard the Christian teaching, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
How can anyone be so cruel, so righteous, so smug!
So called Bible Believes and Muslims have never read theBible or Quran, while atheists, like myself, have, 1st time at age 12, front to cover, last time in my 40s, which why I have been an atheist since age 12, prior to that merely a kid forced to go to Sunday school, by Mom, who benefited from the largess of the church at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Well put. Add to that, that the ER, economic royalists, that FDR mentioned, consider all who are not in their club as serfs, and serfs have no value, other than their labor, which is disposable and replaceable, and social benefits, cut into their wealth and thus power, especially health care, as lack of adequate health care, means that the lives of non or barely contributing serfs, cut into their bottom line, and the ER would be better off by disposing of the weak, aged, non productive, life extension is only for the ER.
The recent incident in Seattle, where a patrolman, VP of the Police union, laughed at the death of a 26 year old woman, a POC, that was hit and killed by another cop. He was caught on his own body camera, laughing and saying just pay her family $10,000, she was only 26 and of limited value... laughter again.
His words and behavior are evidence that cops actually think they are part of the ruling class, despite their low wages, because the badge gives them power to be the law, And very few cops are really disciplined, fired or even indicted for murder and theft, or reckless driving, especially DUI. If they cause an accident or even get killed by their own drunk driving, or recklessness, the cop union demands that they get a hero's funeral.
Pretty ironic, because cops are near the bottom of the social ladder, they compensate for their inferiority, by pulling people over, issuing commands and called sir. What an ego boost.
Traffic cops generally target expensive cars, they get an orgasm having a person on a higher social rung, groveling and calling them sir. Even black cops.
We the people have become a mere consumable in an economic plundering which has no sustainable mission statement.
We are viewed as nothing more than "human capital stock" - as Trump White House adviser, Kevin Hassett, so eloquently vomited the quiet part out loud back in 2020.
It seems reasonable the garden of Life is dangerously close to sterility as a result of these policies and morally criminal beliefs which exclusively promote "take from" - not "tend to".
Though not spoken out loud by the corrupt corporate media, including MSNBC and NPR, the younger generations seem to be aware, instinctively, because fewer and fewer are getting married, and with the current cost of raising a child at $243,000 very few want to burden themselves with penury for life.
You would think that they want children to look after them, in old age, when they can't take care of themselves, but unlike in Central and South America, Africa, Mid east and Asia..
Parents are made ward of the state, or shunted off into nursing homes,warehoused until they die.
I lived in Panama for three years, married a Panamanian mixed blood, African, Chinese and Guyami, lived on weekends with her extended family, mother, brother, sister and their families, under one roof, with different compartments. Never heard of a nursing home, or mental institution the family took care of themselves,unlike America Also they shared responsibility for looking after each others children
Very interesting, your life in Panama. Have you published about it in detail?
It is generally the case that, historically, as "undeveloped" countries industrialize and become more urban and less rural there is a great shift in the institution of the Family. A shift in how children are educated and reared, elderly are cared for, food is produced and consumed, work and medical practices are organized. Religion, unfortunately survives in spite of scientific advances in knowledge. More to be said here.
Worldwide the shift to urban living has also resulted in lower birthrates. Many countries are no longer producing the 2.1 children per female which is necessary for a population to maintain its size into the future. This is well documented and is often called the third stage of "The Demographic Transition." Greedy capitalists view this with alarm because each new human being is another potential producer and another potential consumer for their profit-making system. I believe the world would be better off if total human populations shrank. We can adjust. I say this not out of inherent pessimism about humans. What topic is more important than life? As for myself I have spent my entire adult life in a professional pursuit of learning about our social existence. It is called Sociology. There are simply too many of us and we have devised institutions which are ironically destroying us.
I totally agree. I always say that Rev Malthus was correct, only he got his time line wrong, because he had no idea of technological advances, such as machines to plow, sow, irrigate, reap, transport and produce food (like grains).
Malthus had no idea of technological advances.
I have mentioned before on other internet spaces, that world pppulations is increasing at a geometric pace, not an arithemetric pace. At the time of the Roman Empire the worlds population had barely reached 300,000 , and slowly crept up, plagues and wars slowed the growth of population, yetWorld population did not reach one billion until 1804. It took 123 years to reach 2 billion in 1927, 33 years to reach 3 billion in 1960, 14 years to reach 4 billion in 1974 and 13 years to reach 5 billion in 1987. . 6 Billion by 1999, 12 years from 1987, and 7 billion by 2011, and in 11 years (2022) it reached 8 Billion.
See where that is going, 10 years or less another billion, and it is getting worse, minus a world wide pandemic or war, maybe another genetic bottleneck like the one that happened 12,000 BCE, at the end of the ice age., when the ice dams broke and flooded the earth, leaving survivors (about 25,000) that lived at higher elevations.
Billions of hungry mouths clamoring for resources, wiping out the Earth's lungs, to provide access to minerals, gold, land to feed cattle (a major source of global warming..methane), and to provide grain for starving populations. Not to mention digging up and destroying the Earth for oil and minerals to meet the demands for products of billions of people.
It can only get worse, but wait Gaia has a self defense. Global warming, the more people the more methane and carbon dioxide and the more in number and violence, become catastrophic events, especially as human activity pushes the earths temperature to the fatal (for mammals, and almost all living creatures) a wet bulb of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature already reached in some parts of the world, especially the Kingdom. Which by the way has a water problem. they tapped the 12,000 year old water table, to irrigate the desert and the land collapsed, they have turned to desalination of the Red Sea, but that can't keep up with demand, on top of which they have been using reverse osmosis, which quickly clogs up the membranes, and leaves them with a salt disposal problem. rWorld population did not reach one billion until 1804. It took 123 years to reach 2 billion in 1927, 33 years to reach 3 billion in 1960, 14 years to reach 4 billion in 1974 and 13 years to reach 5 billion in 1987. Replacing the millions of membranes used and disposed off, is in itself a major industry, which requires the total devotion of industrial and mineral resources Saudi Arabia has the largest overall desalination plant in the world in its east-coast city of Jubail, with an output capacity of 1.4 million m3/d.Jan 7, 2021
And people don't know that these membranes get clogged with salt, and have to be replaced frequently. the alternative is to built many distillation plants, but they add to the problem of global warming, and the distillers have to be cleaned almost daily, to get rid of the salt.
I have a small, gallon sized home distiller for my CPAP machines. and I only run it about once or twice a month,and it builds up scale quickly and my water is well water in the country, so no chemicals , like fluoride, chlorine, or estrogen, testosterone, progesterone or other forever chemicals.
Bottom line, the species is SOL, as is other species, so make hay while the sun shines. The cure for racism, religion and greed is on it's way., like a runaway train.
Everything is coming at us at break neck speed, geometrically not mathematically.
I taught Population for years and Malthus was in my syllabus. He earned honors in Mathematics at Cambridge. But, of course he could not foresee the future (who can?) and what Massive urbanization would do to fertility. I showed my students how he developed the equation for exponential growth: P=ae to the power of in. Unfortunately my computer does not allow me to correctly write out the equation. You can find it in most elementary college Algebra textbooks.
Malthus had another serious theoretical problem: he was a clergyman in the Church of England, and so he misunderstood the true checks on population. He had a childish (by our standards) view of "homosexuality," "beastiality" and many other long forgotten, discarded topics of interest only to Fanatical Christians. But he was brilliant nevertheless. He was an acknowledged inspiration to Darwin a generation later.
Other countries do not spend half their tax revenues on the military, as the U.S. does. If we stopped spending money on aircraft carriers, fighter planes, drones, A.R. fifteens, 800 military bases around the world, the CIA (plus 14 other intelligence agencies), and atomic bombs there would be more tax money available for domestic programs. Plus, the world would be a safer place, especially for people who have suffered from American meddling in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Greece, Italy, Libya, East Timor, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Panama, Haiti, Grenada, Bolivia, Colombia, for example. Not even mentioning all the well meaning, misled American youths who died serving the military in various empire-building endeavors. But empire building for the rich is more important than a good life for ordinary American taxpayers.
Very well said! I guess maybe bankrupting the USA is GOP's back-up plan, then the Billionaires can bail us out & own the Country the old-fashioned way...buy it for cheap.
Hey, GOP (& their wealthy puppet masters/owners) need a back-up plan, just in case the voter supression, limiting voting, gerrymandering & Trump believers they installed in election positions for 2024 don't work out as they plan.
True Gerald. But not all MIC spending is welfare for the MIC and it's investors.
There are enemies of Democracy, that need to be kept at bay, but I share your concerns about the 800 world wide bases, and our subsidy of international corporations like Exxon Mobil, by intruding in their affairs. Note America does not get involved in foreign countries, that do not produce a valuable, thus profitable, resource.
Or aren't used as an experiment, as in the likes of Milton Friedman's competitive advantage theory such as the fascist coup of Democratically elected socialist Allende in Peru, to back a murderous fascist Pinochet who was all to glade to engage in Friedman's competive advantage.
After the coup, we find Chile exporting agriculture goods to the U.S. while American agricultural products were shipped to Asia and south America (like wheat and corn), apples to Japan, where they fetched a higher price.
Now you see central and south America, establish partnerships with China and Russia, while France has been tossed out of Africa
The migration problem that Europe and America is having was born in the colonial policies cum Economic policies of the West. Chickens are coming home to roost, and as such providing fodder for the racist, fascist right wing of Europe and America.
Those that created the problem,own or control the means of communication,print and electronic press not to mention much of Congress and have influence in the Executive.
Thus are able to deflect their culpability, by agitating the lizard brain of the racist right.
Granted there are racists on the left, in fact racism knows no boundaries of religion, ideology, or color (Hutu and Tutsi for example) or Bantu vs Khoisan as another.
But the left is not building border walls, like Trump, Orban, Poland and Slovakia
Poland continues to welcome millions of Ukrainians, while pushing back asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. Poland has completed building a new steel wall at its border with Belarus to curb the flow of undocumented asylum seekers https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/eu-countries-are-building-fences-all-around-their-borders-with-third-countries-this-is-how-they-look/
The situation in Europe is a real culture war. These job seeking immigrants are bringing with them a culture that is alien to European culture and when it reaches a critical mass, Europe will no longer be European, but Muslim
America's immigration problem is different, it is racial mostly, because the immigrants from the south belong to Christian culture, and are very socially conservative and patriarchal, as they are Catholics , Pentecostals and Evangelicals. and thus misogynistic, homophobic and anti abortion
I agree with you, "There are enemies of Democracy" like China and Russia and the cult of the Republican "Party."
Don't you mean to say Allende was President of Chile? Not Peru?
I also believe you are correct about the importance of where raw materials are located worldwide. This is why I think the French Physiocrats were on the right path which leads to my Economic emphasis on:
1) Raw Materials
2)Labor
3) markets
I read Marx when I was young. I have since come to modify his theory in my own mind with the thinking of the Physiocrats and the modern Democratic Socialists. A violent revolution by Communists may still be in the cards. Look at the movements Mao and Ho Chi Min led. But I think that historical door is closed now, even in China and Vietnam (for better or worse, I don't know). Notice I leave Lenin and Stalin out of this because the violent movement they led as you seem to know better than I do, was essentially Bastardized State Capitalism; also known as Fascism. The Soviet system of "Councils" or "Committees" was neither Democratic nor Socialistic.
I believe it would be better to try for a peaceful, Political Revolution by Social Democrats as in Scandinavia. I think this is what might be going on in Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua right now. They are not following the violent path of Castro. They are trying to follow an independent , peaceful, political path of their own. Nevertheless our elite establishment cannot stomach them.
Incidentally, I really liked your sarcasm in an earlier Hartman blog when you said: "Imagine the Venezuelans thinking that oil under their ground belonged to them." Or something like that.
Thanks Gerald, calling Chile Peru is a brain fart. I often do that when fast typing. I learned touch typing when I was 17 and got up to 132 wpm. My brain outpaces itself, and I often confuse their and there. And when I proof read before hitting the enter button or posting, I don't immediately see the error. Your comment has spurred me to be more cautious.
You are right that are political,social, economic elite can not allow real democracies to stand.
A real democracy is one that is based on our preamble to the constitution. The Common Good, anything else is a sham, devised, designed, run and manipulated by our own homegrown oligarchs, and real democracies mean little profit for the oligarchs, and a reduction in dollars, means a reduction in political power and a further degradation of their wealth. Money to gain power, power to keep the money. Simple equation.
Medieval serfs were bound to the land, modern serfs are bound to the job.
Spot on about Lenin he indeed said that the USSR was State capitalism, in other words a corporate state, the same as Mussolini's fascists Italy, where members of the Chamber of Deputies were appointed by corporations, and often the heads of corporations.
Now a days, they have improved their public relations, by buying politicians, rather than have their CEO's, COO's, and Chairmen sit as Senators. They simply buy them, and Reps.
As I posted previously, in researching a paper for my Masters, I dug through the attic of my university and came upon a 1922 issue of Fortnightly. It revealed that the USSR was actually a combine of seven trusts organized along resource lines, with the KGB in charge of human resources, which they sold to other trusts, like transportation, mining, forestry, agriculture.
Each trust had its own bank, accounts were settled between trusts, first with barter, then with gold, and all of it was managed by the GosBank, the central bank of the USSR, and there was the window to the west in Paris, called the NordBank. Where holders of rubles (not Russians) could redeem their rubles for gold.
To safeguard their supply of gold, they made the attempt to take (smuggle) rubles out of Russia a capitol crime, because as the stock of gold went down, the number of rubles in circulation decreased, thus causing even longer lines for bread, meat, and scarce goods.
Goods were scarce because the USSR was in a perpetual depression, because of the shortage of money. The populations concern was assuaged by the Kremlin blaming the west for the Cold War, which meant patriotic Russians had to buck up, eat it, and support the leadership.
The problem was caused by their adherence to Marx. Marx was, as I have said, a proto libertarian and the USSR and Stalin were the role models of Fred Koch.
Back to my rant. The USSR defined a ruble as . 9851 grams fine gold and only put in circulation the number of rubles that the gold represented. Russian citizens could not redeem their rubles, but foreigner and nations could, via the NordBank, Russia always tried to resolve debts by barter, first, then at last moment by gold.
Thus the Bolsheviks/Stalinists did what William Jennings Bryant said in his "Cross of gold speech" created a permanent depression, a perpetual shortage of rubles.
Unless all the babies are raised together in communes from conception, where all their needs are met, I don't think the lizard brains of any races willl ever get along. Especially with overpopulation and poverty.
Even being raised together does not bring harmony. Look for instance at the Duggars or even siblings.
Notice, I said "where all their needs are met". No more sibling rivalry, neglect, helicopter parenting, poverty, yelling, hitting, drug abuse... I'm all for trying anything but the family unit. It seems I'm on the wrong planet?
Yes you are. It is the family unit where one learns bigotry,, racism, hatred and it starts with religion. There are two Jesus's in the NT, he is schizo. Jesus of Matthew is loving, forgiving and feeds the masses.
Jesus of Luke is angry, jealous and murderous. Luke 19:17 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.' Basically the same as the Muslim Allah in the Quran and haddiths
Luke 22:36 Jesus says, "Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one." This is the Jesus of the modern Republican. Not just the Maggots, for if there were good Republicans there would be no Maggots.
Our religion until at least age 27!
in the long run, It's always cheaper to do the right thing than to do the wrong thing. Raising criminals and anarchists due to poverty, car society much more money to lock them up in prison for example. The policies the right wingers proposed will bankrupt America completely. Capitalist healthcare, the trickle down theory, no minimum wage and no social spending. If America votes for the right wingers again, I'm just going to fiddle while Rome Burns this time!
I am going to try to move to Canada, only a ferry ride away. But currently Canada is only accepting refugees running for their lives. To get a residence visa, you must have a quarter of a million dollars, and bring a business that will bring employment.
They don't want Americans leeching off their socialist health care. And only wealth Canadians migrate to America.
Here is irony. Thomas C Douglas is the father of Canada's "socialist" health care, his grandson was Frederick Sutherland, the father of Donald Sutherland, father of Kiefer Sutherland. Donald was an actor, and left Canada (St John's, New Brunswick, for the UK where he studied in London, had some parts in films, then left England for Hollywood, as there was more chances of employment and better wages., and now he can afford America's healthcare, ostensibly, per the right and insurance companies (which are financial institutions as well), translation best health care money can buy, and for shit if you don't have any money. Even Medicare sucks, as it only covers 80%, and your 20% is life threatening if you don't have the resources and have cancer, an expensive operation, or anything that requires very (needlessly) expensive medication and doctors visit (for prescription and renewal)
When I was a young man and drafted because I dropped out of ROTC in college; I applied for citizenship in a Windsor, Ontario gov't. office. the bureaucrat in charge told me to fill out the application and sign it and I would be accepted. He was an elderly man and very sympathetic to me. Canada was a different place then. I decided to stay in the U.S. and fight the draft. However, later on, I took my wife to Canada for the births of our two children for more than one reason: the health care for my wife was better and our children have the option of choosing to be Canadian citizens, eh? I also taught at a Canadian University for a short time. I was happy when jimmy Carter, the "True Christian," exonerated all those thousands of American exiles.
Few of them returned to the U.S. I don't blame them.
It was Tommy Douglas’ daughter, Shirley Douglas, who married Donald Sutherland and became parents to Kiefer Sutherland.
OOPS. Costs society much more money.
If Republican care so much about fetuses, why do they stop caring once they are born??? Hmmm.... is that part of their “family values”?
They are pro birth, not pro life. No health care, no food stamps, no child care.
Yes, this all started with “government is the problem “ as stated by Reagan. He and the Republicans have been trying to cut programs and social services for the middle class since 1980. But for some reason, massive cuts for the rich are perfectly alright.
We can all see what a difference is occurring now that Biden is creating good paying jobs for the middle class, bringing back manufacturing and high tech to America! Build the middle class and we all flourish!
Republicans will NEVER propose or support childcare legislation, unless lightning strikes twice at the same location somewhere, say Congress. The elephant in the room is the R word. Racism. Black families and other undeserving families will be on the dole and procreate like rabbits in order to receive childcare money. Welfare queens will multiply and game the system! So, let all suffer. But just imagine what a beautiful country this would be if we did not legislate through the the prism of racial animus. If America were populated by people like the Nordic people, providing for all children would be a no-brainer. How sad.
One of my favorite tees concerning people's rights says "It isn't a pie!". Even though these childcare and family leave issues should be about human rights, they are still a part of the budget "pie". We all know defense gets the big piece.
That F-35 that just went down was $100 million; the Ospreys we keep losing are $85 million. Are we getting what we pay for? Is it defense or dominance that we are after? I think we all know the answer to that dominance question.
Republicans will do anything, pay anything to make America "great". They will do nothing to actually secure the future of an AMERICAN.
My understanding of UBI is that it would eliminate the need for these sorts of programs. We struggle with what's on the surface, trying to move those deck chairs instead of dealing with what's causal that keeps unworkable things in place. So, UBI would be eliminating the poverty that makes for all the legislation to try to help the poor.
But what about healthcare?????? Is that not a right that has been given to many exisating first tier countries?? Why not the US? It is not just the Republicans who are dragging their feet, the Democrats want nothing to do with healthcare at all. The parties have very little differences....both are corporate owned.....MOVE TO AMEND!
The Republicans , in general , oppose any measure that might take its citizens out of the dungeon of third world philosophy regarding work and child care.
They are backwards, period.
In their efforts to keep the money in the coffers of the very wealthiest Americans, ( they enjoy the fall out from that wealth) as they are supported by the wealthiest in order to keep
Their greedy selves powerful in politics.
Look at the Supreme Court openly being bribed by the greediest and defending it to the death.
Of course there have been no cases in which people have benefited. Keeping it medieval and dark.
The stone around the necks of average or poor people is shored up under the Republicans lies and their insistence on sacrificing children of average and poorer families in this wealthiest nation.
Republicans are incapable of empathy. They appear to be ignorant about what those other countries are doing or about the benefits to the country of nurturing families and children and lifting up hard-working working people. They are incredibly cynical about human nature. They assume the worst about anyone who lacks the sort of privilege or the kind of support they have had when they were in their youth or dealing with difficulties of one kind or another. They are not usually exceptionally ignorant, however. They have just closed their minds to certain kinds of information. They tune out certain things they do not want to hear and ignore the facts and reality which challenge their preconceived notions. They are not critical thinkers.
I wonder what caused Republicans to be so obtuse, indifferent, and often cruel. Where could they possibly have developed their attitudes of superiority, and what kind of experiences might they have had which would lead to such awful behavior? Where did they acquire their habit of tuning out to avoid unpleasantries or uncomfortable thoughts? It seems as if many have been imbued with the same fundamental beliefs and orientations and an especially strong tendency to deny the humanity and value of others. What extensive experiences or pernicious influences do they have in common? I sure would like answers to these questions.
I think it's because they went to Sunday school and were brainwashed at a very young age. They were taught fairy tales were fact and that facts were fantasy, and that they were special and were one of the few saved ones, everyone else is just inferior to them.?
Religion definitely explains a lot. Even those who were not brainwashed in a church have been affected by the ideas and memes which pervade our society and institutions which originate in religion. However, I don't believe that explains the meanspiritedness, rank cynicism, and exceptionalism as well as certain other influences do. Where did most of us spend a lot of time observing hypocrisy, pretension, bullying, demoralization, victim blaming, disrespect, and the devaluation of our time and attention? I know - that's a really hard question to answer honestly.
How many billionaires are from the "war machine" sector of economy -- the weapons makers/arms dealers who make BIG Bucks selling what we pay for them to make? Must include the makers of those very large & costly drones & fighter jets...& bombs of course; need alot of those cuz' we keep using them up!
Corporations in the war machine, are managed by CEO's,. CFO's, COO's, that are hired by the boards of directors, to ensure that the corporations make a positive rate of return for investors. The greater the rate of return (profit) the more they get paid, they are simply very well paid employees of the Board of Directors (BoD).
Boards are comprised of directors, who are themselves shareholders in other corporations (not necessarily the MIC) as well as paid to sit on other BoD.s
As I replied to Gerald, here and in yesterdays Report, the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is beans compared to the financial instituties in particular the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Seccurities
Here is a current list, and of all Goldman Sachs is the most powerful, as it reaped the biggest benefit from the bank bailout of 2008 (Too big to fail), by buying out the competition like Leham Brothers, with government money.
Notice that most are also foreign and sovereign funds. The APDGS is who the Fed sells the National debt to, in the form of government bonds. It then resells them to the Fed and to foreign funds, sovereign funds and central bank. That is why Congress not re authorizing the national debt, will wreak world wide havoc, and even depression.
Which in turn motivates the rest of the world, to divest in American securities, and use some other currency as the international base.
It is through debt, that the American financial system controls much of the world, especially those dependent on the IMF and World Bank.
Historically the way financiers were able to reclaim their losses, has been through force, either war or in the case of personal debtors, via the courts and police, which use force to evict the debtor in default. Only a nations financial powers use armies as police.
What was the real reason for the American revolution. The debtor (the Bank of England) used the Royal army and navy, to force the colonies to repay their debt, which they falsely claimed was incurred by Britain in fighting the French and Indian war, when in actuality, it was a minor expense compared to the ongoing war with France..
The reason that Britain gave up on the War of 1812, is because it had been concurrently fighting a war with Napoleon, and that really sapped it's resources.
ASL Capital Markets Inc
Bank of Montreal, Chicago Branch
Bank of Nova Scotia, New York Agency
BNP Paribas Securities Corp.
Barclays Capital Inc.
BofA Securities, Inc.
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
Daiwa Capital Markets America Inc.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.
Jefferies LLC
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC
Mizuho Securities USA LLC
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
NatWest Markets Securities Inc.
Nomura Securities International, Inc.
RBC Capital Markets, LLC
Santander US Capital Markets LLC
Societe Generale, New York Branch
TD Securities (USA) LLC
UBS Securities LLC.
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
Wow, really good explanation Mr. Farrar. Were you once a teacher?