All true, all true. Trump and his supporters are now using glamor to launder the oligarchic takeover (see Lauren Sanchez/Bezos at the Met), and they’re winning the messaging war. Facts, figures and white papers aren’t cutting through, and as long as we permit Fox News to lie to 38% of the nation, they never will. Taking the tax issue into the legal system, Trump / Blanche and the DOJ have outright lied about the Southern Poverty Law Center in federal court, and are defending their false pleadings on Fox News, because that is the only audience that matters to them. It's clear to me that nothing will righted until we return to requiring accuracy in the news.
Thom, Can you write about Corbin Trent and A Fight Worth Having? They've published a detailed platform that progressives could run on. Their basic argument is that the US has to invest in public services, built and run by public funds, in order to remake our economy and society -- basically a 21st Century Green New Deal built on the principles of Roosevelt's New Deal. It's very interesting, and I would like to see what a veteran of the barricades such as yourself thinks about it. If it seems as sound to you as it seems to me, it should be something progressives actively support. There is no Democratic Party platform, no clear plan emerging for how a Democratic Party would govern, which means that there is no coherent message against the emerging GOP agenda. Is A Fight Worth Having worth supporting? Please let us know what you think about it. They've done a lot of detailed work. Their position that UBI can't work is something in particular that I would appreciate your analysis of. Thanks!
trump loves debt because he never pays it back & that's what he is doing now in spades! Plus he gets to scam people on a massive scale, enrich himself, his family, his Mar a Lago cronies on the tax payer "dime"!
The New York Times has a lengthy article on that topic today. Thom has a good history of it in one of his books, probably "The Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America."
The only free press is Free Speech TV, and small scale publications and even those are under threat from lawfare by the Trump Crime family and its associates. Father and son team Larry and David Ellison own CBS and CNN, Bezo's owns WAPO, NYT is gun shy of being sued, again and again, by the Trump crime family and it's assoicates.
ABC and NBC are controlled by Robrt Iger and Brian L Roberts, and live in fear of Brendan Carr, Trump's FCC.
Independent media are sued or threatned to be sued constantly, such as Meidas touch, and Jim Stewardsons Mindwar..
Are we really in a different place than Hungary under Orban.?
We are already living in a surveillance/police state, with Palantir, AI, the NSA server farm at Bluffdale, UT.
We need our own Peter Magyar, but one not so right wing.
While the perspective is appreciated, let's not forget that Democrats sold us out to the for-profit health care conglomerates further robbing us and our treasury, and over the past 50 years they have approved $60 trillion for the military and their false wars. Biden could have negotiated a peace with Putin before he invaded Ukraine, but instead pundits like you perpetuated the Red Scare and spread propaganda to justify his rejection of any shred of diplomacy. Another $150 billion down the drain. Not to mention the wasted lives and ravaged infrastructure of both Ukraine and Russia. So while the Republicans are as awful as you say, Democrats are just as wasteful and while they've thrown us a few more scraps than Republicans they still do the bidding of the ruling class. The proof is in where our country is today. Last time I checked there was supposed to be an opposition party but how precisely has that opposition protected us? https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/no-democrats-its-not-republicans
It is worth noting that the Democrats have done little to reverse this rising national debt trend. With the exception of the Clinton era, the debt has been on the rise since Reaganomics started trickling down on us. Also, some of the steepness is due to inflation. Of course, that is no excuse for forcing average Americans to live paycheck to paycheck.
I will never forget Rep Ocassio-Cortez pointing out that "Nobody earns a billion dollars, they take a billion dollars." That makes it easy to see that taxation is the easiest fix, and that means eliminating or putting an income ceiling on deductions (loopholes) used mainly by the super-rich.
Money worries are not enough for them. Donald's Zombies will not "Get It" until MTG, Tucker, or Alex leads a demonstration that the Federales massacre.
#Vote to kick Rupert and his yellow-rag back to Oz.
The current Republican solution is to take healthcare and food from the poorest Americans to continue giving tax cuts to the richest. I propose the opposite solution to this debt crisis. Since the rich gained the most from these deficits they should have to pay off the National debt.
I propose a National Debt Elimination Wealth Tax (NDEWT), which tax revenue can only be used to finance the deficit or purchase the National Debt. This would be a progressive tax structure. The first $10 million of wealth would be exempted. Between $10 to $100 Million would have a 2% rate, with a maximum tax of $1.8 Million.
$100 Million to-$1 Billion 3% rate, max tax $27 Million.
$1-$100 Billion 4% tax rate , max tax $4 Billion
Over $100 Billion 5% tax rate.
The tax would be paid by purchasing special National Debt bonds that would pay zero interest. The bonds will only be used to finance the deficit and once a surplus has bee reached to retire national debt. The bonds could not be cashed in or traded. At the time of the bond holders death the bonds would be returned to the government to eliminate that amount of national debt.
Wealth would be determined by stock value at end of year, property value would be appraised, insured or purchase price, whichever is most current. Billionaires that have a trust to give all or most of their wealth away would not be taxed on that wealth since they are already helping the less fortunate. The National Debt should be paid off as a percentage of private wealth, not as currently calculated per capita.
Sorry, but to me, what you propose sounds like trying to fix something by giving it a new coat of paint. I do like the idea of forcing a percentage of tax revenue to buy down the debt. But until we all pay our fair share of taxes (restore higher rates for those benefitting the most from government services (e.g., corporate America), there will always be loopholes to skirt taxes.
Wealth is more important than income especially stock value. Capital gains tax rate cuts and carried interest for hedge fund managers have created the New Gilded Age. Need to restore inheritance tax and capital gains taxes for stock appreciation not just when it is sold. Restoring the old tax rates will not work.
All true, all true. Trump and his supporters are now using glamor to launder the oligarchic takeover (see Lauren Sanchez/Bezos at the Met), and they’re winning the messaging war. Facts, figures and white papers aren’t cutting through, and as long as we permit Fox News to lie to 38% of the nation, they never will. Taking the tax issue into the legal system, Trump / Blanche and the DOJ have outright lied about the Southern Poverty Law Center in federal court, and are defending their false pleadings on Fox News, because that is the only audience that matters to them. It's clear to me that nothing will righted until we return to requiring accuracy in the news.
Thom, Can you write about Corbin Trent and A Fight Worth Having? They've published a detailed platform that progressives could run on. Their basic argument is that the US has to invest in public services, built and run by public funds, in order to remake our economy and society -- basically a 21st Century Green New Deal built on the principles of Roosevelt's New Deal. It's very interesting, and I would like to see what a veteran of the barricades such as yourself thinks about it. If it seems as sound to you as it seems to me, it should be something progressives actively support. There is no Democratic Party platform, no clear plan emerging for how a Democratic Party would govern, which means that there is no coherent message against the emerging GOP agenda. Is A Fight Worth Having worth supporting? Please let us know what you think about it. They've done a lot of detailed work. Their position that UBI can't work is something in particular that I would appreciate your analysis of. Thanks!
I think their "Santa" is actually the Grinch, and Whoville has been occupied by ICE.
trump loves debt because he never pays it back & that's what he is doing now in spades! Plus he gets to scam people on a massive scale, enrich himself, his family, his Mar a Lago cronies on the tax payer "dime"!
Kleptocracy by the Oligarchy!
Thom, can you repost your work on the backstop of citizens united?
The New York Times has a lengthy article on that topic today. Thom has a good history of it in one of his books, probably "The Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America."
The only free press is Free Speech TV, and small scale publications and even those are under threat from lawfare by the Trump Crime family and its associates. Father and son team Larry and David Ellison own CBS and CNN, Bezo's owns WAPO, NYT is gun shy of being sued, again and again, by the Trump crime family and it's assoicates.
ABC and NBC are controlled by Robrt Iger and Brian L Roberts, and live in fear of Brendan Carr, Trump's FCC.
Independent media are sued or threatned to be sued constantly, such as Meidas touch, and Jim Stewardsons Mindwar..
Are we really in a different place than Hungary under Orban.?
We are already living in a surveillance/police state, with Palantir, AI, the NSA server farm at Bluffdale, UT.
We need our own Peter Magyar, but one not so right wing.
While the perspective is appreciated, let's not forget that Democrats sold us out to the for-profit health care conglomerates further robbing us and our treasury, and over the past 50 years they have approved $60 trillion for the military and their false wars. Biden could have negotiated a peace with Putin before he invaded Ukraine, but instead pundits like you perpetuated the Red Scare and spread propaganda to justify his rejection of any shred of diplomacy. Another $150 billion down the drain. Not to mention the wasted lives and ravaged infrastructure of both Ukraine and Russia. So while the Republicans are as awful as you say, Democrats are just as wasteful and while they've thrown us a few more scraps than Republicans they still do the bidding of the ruling class. The proof is in where our country is today. Last time I checked there was supposed to be an opposition party but how precisely has that opposition protected us? https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/no-democrats-its-not-republicans
It is worth noting that the Democrats have done little to reverse this rising national debt trend. With the exception of the Clinton era, the debt has been on the rise since Reaganomics started trickling down on us. Also, some of the steepness is due to inflation. Of course, that is no excuse for forcing average Americans to live paycheck to paycheck.
I will never forget Rep Ocassio-Cortez pointing out that "Nobody earns a billion dollars, they take a billion dollars." That makes it easy to see that taxation is the easiest fix, and that means eliminating or putting an income ceiling on deductions (loopholes) used mainly by the super-rich.
Democratic “leadership” regards people like AOC as “radical” annoyances.
Money worries are not enough for them. Donald's Zombies will not "Get It" until MTG, Tucker, or Alex leads a demonstration that the Federales massacre.
#Vote to kick Rupert and his yellow-rag back to Oz.
Citizens United has been the icing on this corrupt cake.
National Debt Elimination Wealth Tax
The current Republican solution is to take healthcare and food from the poorest Americans to continue giving tax cuts to the richest. I propose the opposite solution to this debt crisis. Since the rich gained the most from these deficits they should have to pay off the National debt.
I propose a National Debt Elimination Wealth Tax (NDEWT), which tax revenue can only be used to finance the deficit or purchase the National Debt. This would be a progressive tax structure. The first $10 million of wealth would be exempted. Between $10 to $100 Million would have a 2% rate, with a maximum tax of $1.8 Million.
$100 Million to-$1 Billion 3% rate, max tax $27 Million.
$1-$100 Billion 4% tax rate , max tax $4 Billion
Over $100 Billion 5% tax rate.
The tax would be paid by purchasing special National Debt bonds that would pay zero interest. The bonds will only be used to finance the deficit and once a surplus has bee reached to retire national debt. The bonds could not be cashed in or traded. At the time of the bond holders death the bonds would be returned to the government to eliminate that amount of national debt.
Wealth would be determined by stock value at end of year, property value would be appraised, insured or purchase price, whichever is most current. Billionaires that have a trust to give all or most of their wealth away would not be taxed on that wealth since they are already helping the less fortunate. The National Debt should be paid off as a percentage of private wealth, not as currently calculated per capita.
Sorry, but to me, what you propose sounds like trying to fix something by giving it a new coat of paint. I do like the idea of forcing a percentage of tax revenue to buy down the debt. But until we all pay our fair share of taxes (restore higher rates for those benefitting the most from government services (e.g., corporate America), there will always be loopholes to skirt taxes.
Wealth is more important than income especially stock value. Capital gains tax rate cuts and carried interest for hedge fund managers have created the New Gilded Age. Need to restore inheritance tax and capital gains taxes for stock appreciation not just when it is sold. Restoring the old tax rates will not work.