From Harding’s trickle-down promises to Hoover’s prosperity pitch to Reagan’s tax cut hustle to Trump’s factory announcements, Republicans have a long history of pushing scams before Election Day…
If the lies fail to stop a Blue Wave, Trump will again try to steal the election. Economist Dean Baker thinks the billionaires will stop him because such a steal would crash the world market https://www.patreon.com/BeatThePress/posts/market-will-if-170891334. I am not so sure that billionaires are any smarter than the rest of us - just more ruthless and greedy. Sadly, if there is a crash, there is noplace to hide.
Check with the Carthusians or Discalced Carmelites, to see if they sell hair shirts, it looks all of us will, . Bright side, that might be the straw that broke the Orangutans back.
I lived most of my life like a Carthusian in a figurative sense. I worked for the gratification I experienced when my efforts made things better for others. I couldn't afford to buy a little condo until age 37. Rather than spend my paychecks, I invested them - well whatever was left after rent, utilities, and groceries. It was not until retirement, when I officially became a capitalist, that I realized I was rich in the economic sense. I wonder how many people share my sense that if I had my life to live over again, I wouldn't change a thing - even two painful tours in Nam.
We are kindred souls Tom, only you are one helluvalot, and nicer a human being than I.
Looking back on my life, I can honestly say that the only reason I worked, because work was my ethos. I had been at it since age 7, shoveling snow, hauling papers and magazines to the junkyard for maybe $.07 a pound. Bought my first radio (the kind made of wood and shaped like a church, my first bike, a bisque doll for mom and a string of artificial pink pearls. The bike was a 26 inch English Racer, could not reach the pedals until I was 15. Work is all I knew, Caddied, set pins in a bowling alley, dug up lead from the battery dump at Exide, across the street, sold it, had three paper routes, tried four but it was too much: The Morning Enquirer, I would pick up papers at a drop off, started at 0 dark thirty, finished in time for school, maybe, whistling through the graveyard was tough. I was 15.
I did have one goal, and that is to get a military retirement, and then I go out and volunteered to join a special ops unit.Some close calls on that one,but it was fun.
I am not a capitalist because I have never bought stocks or bonds. I have a Masters in finance, and learned enough there that the only way to make it, and make it out alive is using OPM, and having inside knowledge.
Rather i spent my time, managing the money I had, getting out of and staying out of debt, making good choices. So far so good, but Trump is going to screw that up.
I have a case against ideologues of all stripes. to be an ideology means to give up responsibility for rational and critical thought
What I am getting to here is capitalism. It seems the big thing among the left is to be "anti capitalist" and Marxist, but Marx was a free trading, libertarian gold bug
And where it not for capitalism, none of us would be here, there would be no U.S.A. no TV, no washing machine, no Xray machines, no pharmaceuticals that keep a lot of folk alive.
Capitalism, as socialism, are not the problem, the problem is excess, extremism and ideologues, and religion is just another ideology.
Every ism needs constraints, discipline, a watchman,otherwise you have a teen age kid that runs wild, doing whatever feels good at the moment.
I was groomed by the nuns in grammar school to pursue a vocation rather than a career. Vocation is a calling. A career is a ladder. The higher you climb, the more money and power you get. People cannot believe it when I say that I never applied for a job in my life. I was always asked/invited - even to join the Navy(draft).
Like you, as a kid I pulled weeds and mowed lawns, shagged golf balls, caddied, bussed tables, etc. I put myself thru college, and after the war, worked thru grad school to get a PhD in Organizational Psychology. My 3rd year on the UT Med School faculty, I got a call from the Navy Surgeon General "inviting me" to get back in uniform to run a big fleet-wide study. The SG liked my work so much that I was soon at the Pentagon working for the Deputy CNO, which led to doing projects for JCS, calls for help from admirals, generals, agency heads, and eventually, Bill Clinton, then Al Gore too.
Of course, all my projects (usually 4 - 6 at any given moment) were gratifying. I retired and moved over to NIH when told I was selected for flag - a role I knew all too well. I considered the rank to be a career ender for a psychologist who diagnosed and healed organizations. NIH gave me a long leash, so about 1/3 of my projects were overseas, mostly for the EU (I was NIH's EU liaison). Instead of a ladder, the best metaphor for my worklife is a plate of spaghetti. Even though DOD and NIH had ranks, I just got promoted by happy clients - no competition. That is a vocation, just not like the religious nuns, monks, and priests.
If they are smart and have some untouchable hidden assets, maybe. I often remind folks that billionaires are not smarter than the rest of us, just more greedy and ruthless. Trump clearly does not even know how to "shop" for groceries, much less how to turn them into supper. If there were a nukewar or climate disaster, they would likely be less equipped to survive than those of us who worked our way thru life.
Oh come now, Mr. Hartmann. You well know that Smitty is Making Amerika Great Again. How do I know, you muse? Ha! I just went to fill up (mind you I had a quarter tank already) my ancient Audi Quattro 2.0 T. Now, I had to take a trip a couple of days ago and filled up. The price: $6.49 per gallon (89 octane). Today, two days later, it was $6.79.9 per gallon ( I just love that "point nine" thingy). My circuitous route notwithstanding, I found chicken on sale for $1.99 cents per pound and sang spirituals. No small feat for a heretic hoping to Make Amerika Great...
The capitalists would like to repeal the Constitution, and democracy along with it; but the trick is that they have to go through the democratic process to do it. So obviously, it is necessary to lie, cheat, and steal. They are ceaseless and relentless in their desire for power, and this is why we have to be ever vigilant, and build a wall of separation between business and state.
Respectfully- I don’t know how accurate this is, but gross oligarch & government contract holder, Peter Thiel has been VERY vocal about wanting democracy in America to completely disappear. So, I don’t think all the money addicts are working on any kind of recovery (sobriety) plans that include retaining or improving US democracy.
I like to read TH’s history lessons where we’re reminded oligarchs actually had a 70+% tax rate- not the 25% one that they still cry about paying- if they pay at all… what a time that must have been!!!!
There’s a sucker born every minute. A sane-washing legacy media repeating at the expense of reporting. A supine Democratic “leadership” dedicated to supporting an eroding status quo. Will independent media and boat-rocking Democrats save us? Not if Schumer, Gillibrand, Jeffries, and Third Way centrists, etc., can help it.
It is almost impossible to convince a duped person that he has been duped. He ( or she) has too much invested in believing the lies. And thus the krasnov approval rating remains stuck at 34%. Before any attempts are made to repair our country (universal healthcare, abortion rights, elimination of ICE, and more), a commitment to education must be made. Without it there is no hope for those 34% and therefore for the rest of us. It’s like a boat sailing dragging its anchor.
- 20% of Black males failed [i.e., voted for a racist who truly hates them]
- 49% of Hispanics [same as above. Oh, and Marco, you are not White.]
- 53% of White women [voted for an unreconstructed kiddie rapist.]
- 60% of White men [same]
So, there you have it. Screw children? Rape women? Hate much? You're aces w/ the GOP.
As long as a candidate says what the GOP electorate thinks, the GOP leaders are just crickets.
e.g., Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, calling for the executions of those he calls "Obama conspirators," drooling for the death of former President Barack Obama. . . . Crickets.
Got Hate for kids? Hate women, too? . . . You are in like Flynn.
Kick me in my economic-teeth after the election?
I don't care. Just bring me a heaping helping of Krazy Kiddie Hate.
"If the horses (rich people) were fed more oats (through tax cuts), more of those oats would pass undigested into the horse manure that then littered the streets of American cities. The sparrows (working class Americans) could then pick the extra oats out of the manure."
What an apt metaphor! What we get from the uber-wealthy is excrement, and they love the idea that we should be content to wallow in it to search for negligible nuggets of inedible sustenance. The time has come to make it very clear that the people who produce the wealth will no longer wait for them to consume, digest, and excrete waste that is inadequate for a decent existence. Screw them. Our message must be unmistakable. No Mas. No way Jose. Down with the exploiters and arrogant, greedy slave masters.
The history is completely accurate, the results we all know. The issue remains: How do we translate historical, factual knowledge of what happened/is happening? Displaying, in a well-crafted, repeatable and evolving way, to scorn and ridicule the names of those who invented, scripted, and then transmitted the lies and fantasies to poison the nation's mind?
FDR was a master at doing it... JFK pretty good... LBJ somewhere between the two.
No one since. Until we have progressive leadership that can frame and deliver a counter message that takes control of the enemy's brand and presents it as poison, while also framing a progressive message that moves the broad base of the American people, we will continue the downward spiral.
Since the national Dem Party is beholden to much of the same "money" that owns the enemy, they are adverse to framing a clear Progressive vision, and then delivering it. So they pursue a wishy washy, kinda sorta feel good message that rightfully falls flat with many, if not most, Americans.
And this "It's a small world, after all..." superficial cultural messaging only creates targets that the right-wing echo chamber salivates over as they pick it apart with "War on Christmas" or "All lives matter", Limousine Liberal hits that deflect peoples' minds from the real issues.
What we need is:
(a) A single, cohesive collection of folks who focus upon the difference between community- and private-ownership, and can communicate their CLEAR position on where the balance between the two should lie for the country;
(b) Target the enemies brand and take control of it. Right now the the right owns the Progressive brand: To many Americans, we are LIBETARDS, and Tree-huggers, Femmanazis, etc.
WE NEED TO BRAND THEM AS NEGATIVELY AS POSSIBLE, AND SHOW NO MERCY!
We are in a knife fight, and the sooner we have people who know how to win a knife fight, the better.
That's the problem: we think wen are in a knife fight, but Trump and the MAGA, military and law enforcement have guns - and are willing to use them - and, in fact, already have.
Completely agree. The establishment DNC has failed the electorate. The Indivisible organization has a plan to restructure the party with candidates that are not bought off and have a progressive vision and hopefully will create a leader with that vision.
"If the horses (rich people) were fed more oats (through tax cuts), more of those oats would pass undigested into the horse manure that then littered the streets of American cities. The sparrows (working class Americans) could then pick the extra oats out of the manure."
Sorry, Donald--we sparrows have been force-fed quite enough horse manure from you!!!
Mos Def rhetorical. Thom's readers know the answer. Tell them what they want to hear.
Trump was losing in Iowa, a rock solid base,so ne tells a lie about India building steel plants in Iowa.
All Steel plants are sited along the Great Lakes, for a reason. They require barge loads of coke and iron ore. Such loads can only be delivered by water, most definitely not by truck,not even by train. Also, IIRC, Ohio has it's own source of Iron ore
the whole region, especially Appalachia and Kentucky basically exist because of coal mining.
Iowa has neither coal, iron ore the whole region, especially Appalachia and Kentucky basically exist because of coal mining.
It is economically inefficient to build a steel plant in Iowa,, there is no infrastructure to support it, and with the cost of diesel, which is used not only to fuel trucks, but trains, it makes no sense.
Let's see if Iowa politicians (which are Republican) and the Iowa press are honest enough to tell the truth. Again a rhetorical question.
In the early70's I was entering the work force. College was not paying off for the college graduates I knew. I never was much for school and found myself in the construction industry. I was actually pretty successful at it and I made more than engineers graduating from college at the time. I knew college graduates that wound up selling vacuums at Montgomery Wards to get by. Belonging to a union in, Minnesota at least, was the only way to stay gainfully employed in construction at the time. The 80's came along and much higher wages were being demanded by union workers and the entire housing in the greater Minneapolis area went non union literally overnight. Anyone in the housing industry gave up their union cards along with their benefits and their higher wages. Why?
While I understood the benefits that existed by belonging to a union I also understood the hard headed, narrow minded ass hole mentality that existed in the unions. I wasn't the only one, I believe most of us did. Unions were very fair to a few and very unfair to many. If you wanted to start a business they were worse. I tried to get into the bricklayers apprentice program and was turned down because I was too old at 28 years old. I started my own company. Non union. I became a brick and block layer. A good one. I became a cement finisher. A good one. I taught hundreds and hundreds of people to do the same things I learned how to do. some became better than me.
There's a lot of talk these days of going back to unionized labor force. I believe that could be a great thing for the young folks coming into the labor force. It should be a good thing for businesses that want qualified workers to produce their products. But just like government tyrants in the republican trump regime there will be the greedy asshole in the unions just waiting to cash in on laborers backs, just like the unions were crooked tyrants in the 70's and 80's and still exist today. The lies and schemes to take advantage of labor aren't just coming from the wealthy businesses, they have also come from leaders of unions, meant more to help the people on top than the people actually doing the work. I believe a tyrant will ALWAYS be over thrown, but the cost is in it's over throw.
My father lived to be 92 with the pension he earned with a contract they gave them 30 years and out. They were on strike for a very difficult year to get that contract. We need organized labor as long as we have the wage system of labor.
The only thing I fault labor unions for was using healthcare as a carrot to organize rather than supporting single-payer universal healthcare.
Truly Gloria. Union officials put their own jobs and careers ahead of the people that they represent, but isn't that they way of humans.
Any organization that sets out as it's charter, to do something, risks termination as soon as the objective is achieved, thus the case of the March of Dimes.
Founded by Elanor Roosevelt to find a cure for polio, it did not invest one penny into polio research.
The Vaccine discovered by Jonas Salk, was not funded by the MOD, but eventually as victims died off, the MOD was left with no problem to solve, so it reinvented itself, the new charter has no cure; Birth defects.
I’ve been listening to Thom Hartmann since the days of Air America, and I’ve always found him to be honest and forthright about what’s been happening in our country and what we should be doing to fix it. I’m thankful that he’s still devoting his time and determination to counteract the lies and corruption being spread like radioactive chemicals throughout our government and major media. My sincere gratitude to you, Thom, and concern for your safety. I’m sure those evil people committed to destroying our democracy and replacing it with a fascist authoritarian regime would not hesitate to wipe you (and everyone else who continues to call them out for their criminal actions) off the face of the earth if they thought they could get away with it. So please be careful and stay at least one step ahead of them! Oh, and btw, I just listened to Louise’s song about Jack Smith—I absolutely love it. Now I’m going to have to listen to all her other songs. I hope she has them archived somewhere so I can find them.
For the generic Republican over the last century as Hartmann points out the political career is characterized by repackaging theories/scams and hoping that the American public will buy it, all the while garnering benefits for the wealthy.
Interestingly it's red states that seem to bilk their electorates the most by keeping the voting public suppressed, illiterate, and incapable of critical thinking.
As usual the public catches up with the scams and the Republican fascists have to collectively regroup under a rock only to resurrect themselves as "newly created" in later election cycles.
But this most recent scam will bring about a Hoover moment and this time the "chicken in the pot" is escaping and coming home to roost in the form of another Great Depression 2.0, with the failure of America's fiat currency and catastrophic consequences. Republican politicians are in large part responsible for this economic collapse due to extravagant Great Gatsby overspending leading to a $40T deficit and a debt to GDP ratio(DGR) of 120%. They could escape the overspending problem in the 1980's when DGR was 30% but not now. Buy metals to protect yourself as China is doing to protect it's yuan with failure of the fiat currency system.
If the lies fail to stop a Blue Wave, Trump will again try to steal the election. Economist Dean Baker thinks the billionaires will stop him because such a steal would crash the world market https://www.patreon.com/BeatThePress/posts/market-will-if-170891334. I am not so sure that billionaires are any smarter than the rest of us - just more ruthless and greedy. Sadly, if there is a crash, there is noplace to hide.
Check with the Carthusians or Discalced Carmelites, to see if they sell hair shirts, it looks all of us will, . Bright side, that might be the straw that broke the Orangutans back.
I lived most of my life like a Carthusian in a figurative sense. I worked for the gratification I experienced when my efforts made things better for others. I couldn't afford to buy a little condo until age 37. Rather than spend my paychecks, I invested them - well whatever was left after rent, utilities, and groceries. It was not until retirement, when I officially became a capitalist, that I realized I was rich in the economic sense. I wonder how many people share my sense that if I had my life to live over again, I wouldn't change a thing - even two painful tours in Nam.
We are kindred souls Tom, only you are one helluvalot, and nicer a human being than I.
Looking back on my life, I can honestly say that the only reason I worked, because work was my ethos. I had been at it since age 7, shoveling snow, hauling papers and magazines to the junkyard for maybe $.07 a pound. Bought my first radio (the kind made of wood and shaped like a church, my first bike, a bisque doll for mom and a string of artificial pink pearls. The bike was a 26 inch English Racer, could not reach the pedals until I was 15. Work is all I knew, Caddied, set pins in a bowling alley, dug up lead from the battery dump at Exide, across the street, sold it, had three paper routes, tried four but it was too much: The Morning Enquirer, I would pick up papers at a drop off, started at 0 dark thirty, finished in time for school, maybe, whistling through the graveyard was tough. I was 15.
I did have one goal, and that is to get a military retirement, and then I go out and volunteered to join a special ops unit.Some close calls on that one,but it was fun.
I am not a capitalist because I have never bought stocks or bonds. I have a Masters in finance, and learned enough there that the only way to make it, and make it out alive is using OPM, and having inside knowledge.
Rather i spent my time, managing the money I had, getting out of and staying out of debt, making good choices. So far so good, but Trump is going to screw that up.
I have a case against ideologues of all stripes. to be an ideology means to give up responsibility for rational and critical thought
What I am getting to here is capitalism. It seems the big thing among the left is to be "anti capitalist" and Marxist, but Marx was a free trading, libertarian gold bug
And where it not for capitalism, none of us would be here, there would be no U.S.A. no TV, no washing machine, no Xray machines, no pharmaceuticals that keep a lot of folk alive.
Capitalism, as socialism, are not the problem, the problem is excess, extremism and ideologues, and religion is just another ideology.
Every ism needs constraints, discipline, a watchman,otherwise you have a teen age kid that runs wild, doing whatever feels good at the moment.
I was groomed by the nuns in grammar school to pursue a vocation rather than a career. Vocation is a calling. A career is a ladder. The higher you climb, the more money and power you get. People cannot believe it when I say that I never applied for a job in my life. I was always asked/invited - even to join the Navy(draft).
Like you, as a kid I pulled weeds and mowed lawns, shagged golf balls, caddied, bussed tables, etc. I put myself thru college, and after the war, worked thru grad school to get a PhD in Organizational Psychology. My 3rd year on the UT Med School faculty, I got a call from the Navy Surgeon General "inviting me" to get back in uniform to run a big fleet-wide study. The SG liked my work so much that I was soon at the Pentagon working for the Deputy CNO, which led to doing projects for JCS, calls for help from admirals, generals, agency heads, and eventually, Bill Clinton, then Al Gore too.
Of course, all my projects (usually 4 - 6 at any given moment) were gratifying. I retired and moved over to NIH when told I was selected for flag - a role I knew all too well. I considered the rank to be a career ender for a psychologist who diagnosed and healed organizations. NIH gave me a long leash, so about 1/3 of my projects were overseas, mostly for the EU (I was NIH's EU liaison). Instead of a ladder, the best metaphor for my worklife is a plate of spaghetti. Even though DOD and NIH had ranks, I just got promoted by happy clients - no competition. That is a vocation, just not like the religious nuns, monks, and priests.
THE BILLIONAIRE CLASS WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE TO HIDE.
IT IS THE REST OF US WHO WILL BE LEFY OUT IN THE RAIN.
If they are smart and have some untouchable hidden assets, maybe. I often remind folks that billionaires are not smarter than the rest of us, just more greedy and ruthless. Trump clearly does not even know how to "shop" for groceries, much less how to turn them into supper. If there were a nukewar or climate disaster, they would likely be less equipped to survive than those of us who worked our way thru life.
Oh come now, Mr. Hartmann. You well know that Smitty is Making Amerika Great Again. How do I know, you muse? Ha! I just went to fill up (mind you I had a quarter tank already) my ancient Audi Quattro 2.0 T. Now, I had to take a trip a couple of days ago and filled up. The price: $6.49 per gallon (89 octane). Today, two days later, it was $6.79.9 per gallon ( I just love that "point nine" thingy). My circuitous route notwithstanding, I found chicken on sale for $1.99 cents per pound and sang spirituals. No small feat for a heretic hoping to Make Amerika Great...
For Once.
Don't look good.
I THINK AMEICA IS WAKING UP FRPM THE TRUMP NIGHTMARE.
WATCH THE MIDTERMS.
"Woke?"
Finally?
Perhaps?
I doubt it.
The capitalists would like to repeal the Constitution, and democracy along with it; but the trick is that they have to go through the democratic process to do it. So obviously, it is necessary to lie, cheat, and steal. They are ceaseless and relentless in their desire for power, and this is why we have to be ever vigilant, and build a wall of separation between business and state.
I disagree. I think the oligarchs have the system exactly the way they want it. That's why it is so hard to amend. We're putty.
Respectfully- I don’t know how accurate this is, but gross oligarch & government contract holder, Peter Thiel has been VERY vocal about wanting democracy in America to completely disappear. So, I don’t think all the money addicts are working on any kind of recovery (sobriety) plans that include retaining or improving US democracy.
I like to read TH’s history lessons where we’re reminded oligarchs actually had a 70+% tax rate- not the 25% one that they still cry about paying- if they pay at all… what a time that must have been!!!!
There’s a sucker born every minute. A sane-washing legacy media repeating at the expense of reporting. A supine Democratic “leadership” dedicated to supporting an eroding status quo. Will independent media and boat-rocking Democrats save us? Not if Schumer, Gillibrand, Jeffries, and Third Way centrists, etc., can help it.
''There's a sucker born every minute''-----And two to take him!
It is almost impossible to convince a duped person that he has been duped. He ( or she) has too much invested in believing the lies. And thus the krasnov approval rating remains stuck at 34%. Before any attempts are made to repair our country (universal healthcare, abortion rights, elimination of ICE, and more), a commitment to education must be made. Without it there is no hope for those 34% and therefore for the rest of us. It’s like a boat sailing dragging its anchor.
This is an IQ test.
Last general election:
- 20% of Black males failed [i.e., voted for a racist who truly hates them]
- 49% of Hispanics [same as above. Oh, and Marco, you are not White.]
- 53% of White women [voted for an unreconstructed kiddie rapist.]
- 60% of White men [same]
So, there you have it. Screw children? Rape women? Hate much? You're aces w/ the GOP.
As long as a candidate says what the GOP electorate thinks, the GOP leaders are just crickets.
e.g., Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, calling for the executions of those he calls "Obama conspirators," drooling for the death of former President Barack Obama. . . . Crickets.
Got Hate for kids? Hate women, too? . . . You are in like Flynn.
Kick me in my economic-teeth after the election?
I don't care. Just bring me a heaping helping of Krazy Kiddie Hate.
#VOTE
#Kimberly Guilfoyle for Human Printer
#Nat Harp for First Lady
#Melania for Mrs Musk
"If the horses (rich people) were fed more oats (through tax cuts), more of those oats would pass undigested into the horse manure that then littered the streets of American cities. The sparrows (working class Americans) could then pick the extra oats out of the manure."
What an apt metaphor! What we get from the uber-wealthy is excrement, and they love the idea that we should be content to wallow in it to search for negligible nuggets of inedible sustenance. The time has come to make it very clear that the people who produce the wealth will no longer wait for them to consume, digest, and excrete waste that is inadequate for a decent existence. Screw them. Our message must be unmistakable. No Mas. No way Jose. Down with the exploiters and arrogant, greedy slave masters.
The history is completely accurate, the results we all know. The issue remains: How do we translate historical, factual knowledge of what happened/is happening? Displaying, in a well-crafted, repeatable and evolving way, to scorn and ridicule the names of those who invented, scripted, and then transmitted the lies and fantasies to poison the nation's mind?
FDR was a master at doing it... JFK pretty good... LBJ somewhere between the two.
No one since. Until we have progressive leadership that can frame and deliver a counter message that takes control of the enemy's brand and presents it as poison, while also framing a progressive message that moves the broad base of the American people, we will continue the downward spiral.
Since the national Dem Party is beholden to much of the same "money" that owns the enemy, they are adverse to framing a clear Progressive vision, and then delivering it. So they pursue a wishy washy, kinda sorta feel good message that rightfully falls flat with many, if not most, Americans.
And this "It's a small world, after all..." superficial cultural messaging only creates targets that the right-wing echo chamber salivates over as they pick it apart with "War on Christmas" or "All lives matter", Limousine Liberal hits that deflect peoples' minds from the real issues.
What we need is:
(a) A single, cohesive collection of folks who focus upon the difference between community- and private-ownership, and can communicate their CLEAR position on where the balance between the two should lie for the country;
(b) Target the enemies brand and take control of it. Right now the the right owns the Progressive brand: To many Americans, we are LIBETARDS, and Tree-huggers, Femmanazis, etc.
WE NEED TO BRAND THEM AS NEGATIVELY AS POSSIBLE, AND SHOW NO MERCY!
We are in a knife fight, and the sooner we have people who know how to win a knife fight, the better.
DL
That's the problem: we think wen are in a knife fight, but Trump and the MAGA, military and law enforcement have guns - and are willing to use them - and, in fact, already have.
Alright, we are in a gunfight... make things better?
Completely agree. The establishment DNC has failed the electorate. The Indivisible organization has a plan to restructure the party with candidates that are not bought off and have a progressive vision and hopefully will create a leader with that vision.
"If the horses (rich people) were fed more oats (through tax cuts), more of those oats would pass undigested into the horse manure that then littered the streets of American cities. The sparrows (working class Americans) could then pick the extra oats out of the manure."
Sorry, Donald--we sparrows have been force-fed quite enough horse manure from you!!!
Who will fall for it?
Tell them what they want to hear.
All they need is an excuse, Trump is giving them one.
Who will fall for it? Rhetorical question, right?
Mos Def rhetorical. Thom's readers know the answer. Tell them what they want to hear.
Trump was losing in Iowa, a rock solid base,so ne tells a lie about India building steel plants in Iowa.
All Steel plants are sited along the Great Lakes, for a reason. They require barge loads of coke and iron ore. Such loads can only be delivered by water, most definitely not by truck,not even by train. Also, IIRC, Ohio has it's own source of Iron ore
the whole region, especially Appalachia and Kentucky basically exist because of coal mining.
Iowa has neither coal, iron ore the whole region, especially Appalachia and Kentucky basically exist because of coal mining.
It is economically inefficient to build a steel plant in Iowa,, there is no infrastructure to support it, and with the cost of diesel, which is used not only to fuel trucks, but trains, it makes no sense.
Let's see if Iowa politicians (which are Republican) and the Iowa press are honest enough to tell the truth. Again a rhetorical question.
Excellent points!! I learn so much from you guys here!!💕
The thing is Ellyn never take any pronouncement, left or right at face value
Google's AI generative is your friend, even if sometime it is full of shite.
The way aound is to ask related questions, in different ways.
Also use DuckDuckgo.com for research.
I love that illustration with Trump and the chicken. Lol.
In the early70's I was entering the work force. College was not paying off for the college graduates I knew. I never was much for school and found myself in the construction industry. I was actually pretty successful at it and I made more than engineers graduating from college at the time. I knew college graduates that wound up selling vacuums at Montgomery Wards to get by. Belonging to a union in, Minnesota at least, was the only way to stay gainfully employed in construction at the time. The 80's came along and much higher wages were being demanded by union workers and the entire housing in the greater Minneapolis area went non union literally overnight. Anyone in the housing industry gave up their union cards along with their benefits and their higher wages. Why?
While I understood the benefits that existed by belonging to a union I also understood the hard headed, narrow minded ass hole mentality that existed in the unions. I wasn't the only one, I believe most of us did. Unions were very fair to a few and very unfair to many. If you wanted to start a business they were worse. I tried to get into the bricklayers apprentice program and was turned down because I was too old at 28 years old. I started my own company. Non union. I became a brick and block layer. A good one. I became a cement finisher. A good one. I taught hundreds and hundreds of people to do the same things I learned how to do. some became better than me.
There's a lot of talk these days of going back to unionized labor force. I believe that could be a great thing for the young folks coming into the labor force. It should be a good thing for businesses that want qualified workers to produce their products. But just like government tyrants in the republican trump regime there will be the greedy asshole in the unions just waiting to cash in on laborers backs, just like the unions were crooked tyrants in the 70's and 80's and still exist today. The lies and schemes to take advantage of labor aren't just coming from the wealthy businesses, they have also come from leaders of unions, meant more to help the people on top than the people actually doing the work. I believe a tyrant will ALWAYS be over thrown, but the cost is in it's over throw.
My father lived to be 92 with the pension he earned with a contract they gave them 30 years and out. They were on strike for a very difficult year to get that contract. We need organized labor as long as we have the wage system of labor.
The only thing I fault labor unions for was using healthcare as a carrot to organize rather than supporting single-payer universal healthcare.
Truly Gloria. Union officials put their own jobs and careers ahead of the people that they represent, but isn't that they way of humans.
Any organization that sets out as it's charter, to do something, risks termination as soon as the objective is achieved, thus the case of the March of Dimes.
Founded by Elanor Roosevelt to find a cure for polio, it did not invest one penny into polio research.
The Vaccine discovered by Jonas Salk, was not funded by the MOD, but eventually as victims died off, the MOD was left with no problem to solve, so it reinvented itself, the new charter has no cure; Birth defects.
I’ve been listening to Thom Hartmann since the days of Air America, and I’ve always found him to be honest and forthright about what’s been happening in our country and what we should be doing to fix it. I’m thankful that he’s still devoting his time and determination to counteract the lies and corruption being spread like radioactive chemicals throughout our government and major media. My sincere gratitude to you, Thom, and concern for your safety. I’m sure those evil people committed to destroying our democracy and replacing it with a fascist authoritarian regime would not hesitate to wipe you (and everyone else who continues to call them out for their criminal actions) off the face of the earth if they thought they could get away with it. So please be careful and stay at least one step ahead of them! Oh, and btw, I just listened to Louise’s song about Jack Smith—I absolutely love it. Now I’m going to have to listen to all her other songs. I hope she has them archived somewhere so I can find them.
Republican Scams Are A Way Of Life
For the generic Republican over the last century as Hartmann points out the political career is characterized by repackaging theories/scams and hoping that the American public will buy it, all the while garnering benefits for the wealthy.
Interestingly it's red states that seem to bilk their electorates the most by keeping the voting public suppressed, illiterate, and incapable of critical thinking.
As usual the public catches up with the scams and the Republican fascists have to collectively regroup under a rock only to resurrect themselves as "newly created" in later election cycles.
But this most recent scam will bring about a Hoover moment and this time the "chicken in the pot" is escaping and coming home to roost in the form of another Great Depression 2.0, with the failure of America's fiat currency and catastrophic consequences. Republican politicians are in large part responsible for this economic collapse due to extravagant Great Gatsby overspending leading to a $40T deficit and a debt to GDP ratio(DGR) of 120%. They could escape the overspending problem in the 1980's when DGR was 30% but not now. Buy metals to protect yourself as China is doing to protect it's yuan with failure of the fiat currency system.