In America today if you poison & kill your wife you'll go to prison - but - if you poison and kill 100s of 1000s of people you'll take home a multi-million-dollar paycheck and buy a new yacht
So sorry to hear about the passing of your brother, and father before him. I have had several family members succumb to tobacco-related illnesses. As the least I could do, I've instructed my investment advisor to put tobacco (along with munitions and carbon) on the list of industries I do not want to have anything to do with. Asbestos is long gone, but all the houses I've lived in have had some in their construction. It continues to be a financial burden on owners to remove safely.
Daily I wonder what kind of seemingly lawless piece of shit country I live in - with 320 million other humans. I read about another billionaire bilking millions of us with lies and harmful substances. We’ve only very recently - a week ago - faced and funded a problem that scientists have warned us about for many DECADES. Yet we are still pumping out carbon emissions just as heavily and more over these same decades. While fossil fuels are creating BIG MONEY for those still pumping it out of the ground AND making gazillions in profit. I really am disgusted. I’d like to leave but it’s this country that has and still is doing the most damage. People globally don’t like Americans. I don’t blame them. Neither do I. The news now is always devastating. But moving isn’t an option anymore. What I have left is my vote for democracy. And some written advocacy for an audience who is wondering the same things I am. And to keep reading the truth from you, Thom, and others like you. Thank you for sharing Truth with us.
Thom, in this time of your absence I only know more why we need your voice. It is really amazing how uninformed people are. For people who think lies are truths then when really need more true facts. I don’t understand the dumb bubble these people live in Thom. I really don’t get it. So glad we have you though, just plain common sense.
As a recent subscriber I want to thank you for reposting this. This is the second time I’ve seen you use “bankster”. So apt! As a former born and bred Republican, it was the Bush Crash of 2008 that really opened my eyes to the disingenuousness and misdirection of the Republican Party, starting my transition to Berniedom. My guiding philosophy has always been progress, we can always do better, not just for me but for all of us, which was why I am now registered as a Democrat, hoping to help move the Democratic Party back to a party of being truly for working people and families. Thanks for what you do!
Thom thanks so much for running this piece again! So important and as always, clearly laid out and pertinent. Great way to contrast a single murder with sanctioned slaughter of countless unknown strangers
Having recently had surgery, I’m passing along advice from my doc: Stay ahead of the pain and take those PKs before you need them. Thats the strategy to wean off them faster. And then switch to OTC PKs for awhile.
And Louise, thank you for taking care of our Thom ❤️
Thom, I am just glad you are at home and not in the hospital. You really have the heart of a lion just do what you need o do so we can have your voice again. What these people continue to do with the killing of people with no conscious and walking away with billions well that’s what they do. My dad was a victim of the tobacco industry as well. He smoked a pipe for years with no idea that that would be what killed him. I was only a child when that happened. I just wish all the things these people do had a huge price to pay not to profit from it. Thom, just glad you all good and we can keep counting on all the truth and facts we need to know from you.
With libertarianism on the rise within the GOP I fear we are in for more greed and selfishness. Human beings need to get over themselves and not be ruled by their egos. As Peter Corning, PhD. said in his book The Fair Society: "The evidence about human evolution indicates that our species evolved in small, close-knit social groups in which cooperation and sharing overrode our individual, competitive self-interests for the sake of the common good." All life on earth is interdependent and your op-ed above is more evidence of why it's important that we have regulations and a government be about PROTECTING its citizens. (A point my die hard libertarian half cousin disagrees with!)
In some ways we humans become a victim of our own success. If the American dollar wasn't the world standard, and if it wasn't so convenient a currency, and if it didn't wield such purchasing power, would we still see such a decline in our society? I'm not a financial expert (pretty obvious), but it seems that if we had some other, less convenient way of measuring success than the number of dollars we accumulate? What if success were measured by the number of people we've helped, or by achieving a lifetime of experience in dealing with the human being and their weaknesses, as many of our elders have done? Just saying that we could use a change from a monetary system, to one that assesses true human value. Like Jimmy Carter, who derives his value from how many people he's helped to live in their own home. Something along the lines of what Jesus once said, that the greatest among us will be the servant of all. Maybe, just maybe, he was onto something?
Oh please dont toss out the baby w the bath water.
I disagree that its remotely helpful to call this a piece of shit country. I am not a pos and neither are the majority of Americans.
Did this novel experiment called America go too far with unbridled greed? Clearly yes.
Are we in a desperate moment right now? Again, clearly so.
Have we lost one leg of our two party system? Obviously.
Are we headed to Civil War? I believe now that it’s inevitable. A sort of guerilla war, rather than two organized armies.
But just because we messed up and need an overhaul (can we start w this nightmare SCOTUS please?) it doesnt mean the country itself is a piece of shit.
I refer you to Joe Biden, who against literally unbelievable amounts of Evil, is proving himself to be heroic and wise. And no piece of shit.
That said, i understand your despair, and caution against feeding it in your mind without balance.
Thom, Great article, as usual, as expected? Don't do anything because we expect it, only what brings satisfaction.
I only have one comment about how corporations and citizens are treated.
Corporation X, usually through "trade organizations", (like oil's API), can make significant - indirect - contributions to politicians. Having worked with a few of these organizations, I happen to think they do more good than harm, but about the only harm they do is donate to politicians, so let's make that illegal again.
Citizens have no organization to represent us and purchase politicians for us. Actually, that's what we THOUGHT was supposed to happen in a democracy, citizens get represented for our votes alone.
So, should we go after corporations taking advantage of corruption, when the SCOTUS has shown that they support corruption and are willing to create laws out of thin air to enable graft, and will even take away individual freedom, for a price, and it's amazingly affordable. AT BEST, we can prod our politicians along, like herding termites, while the SCOTUS opens the envelope, counts the Rubles, and DECIDES - whatever the note in the envelope says. We can't outmaneuver them until they are restrained.
I propose we absolutely MUST drain the swamp. Think of the president before Joe Biden. He came very close to being elected by simply promising to "drain the swamp", and then shouting nothing but arguments, never evidence or methods.
The point is, we absolutely must drain the swamp before anything else will "stick".
If that means jailing 80% of the GOP, well we best count empty beds so we are ready. If that means jailing the rulers of the Democratic Party next, well we should already have a bed count.
I want to comment as someone who spent lots of time in corporate meetings and board rooms.
The CEOs don't ever do such things. They don't. They can't.
Having said that, it's DEFINITELY happening. I'll explain.
I was brought into the "inner circle" for my ability to increase profits by increasing productivity, safety, and technical leadership. Once in the "official" executive path, I ran into something very interesting. My boss told me I'd never "go anywhere" because I didn't do politics. I refused to lie to anyone inside the company or outside. It's bad business to lie, tell the truth, take your lumps, move on. However, 75% of the "climbers" were ass licking liars. They would literally do ANYTHING to look good in their boss's view. Mostly, their bosses viewed them as unprofitable fools, but useful at the Director level because - well - they would literally do ANYTHING to look good in their boss's view.
I attended one meeting where a central Asian operation was complaining about the cost of an installation overhaul. The overhaul was NECESSARY to do the job, but the local office wanted to do nothing because the installation was only penalized 5%, less than operating cost, if equipment didn't work. Their idea was get on contract earning $720,000 a day, and THEN start repairing all the broken stuff on 95% day rate. My boss, the director of Engineering, simply asked "What do you want our report to say?". He then LIED to the government, client, and OUR EXECUTIVES.
Eventually, my efforts were being blocked by Directors terrified that I told the truth, so I moved on. When I announced my departure, one of the VPs pulled me aside and asked if I would transfer to work for him, manage an installation in his region, and told me he'd make me a Director in a year. He had some nice operations and some not so nice, so I asked him which? He said he'd put me on his best operation, but I could choose whatever I wanted, he just wanted someone on his team who didn't lie for personal gain. The CEO then stopped by and asked me to consider the VP's offer. I left anyway, because so many useless middle managers had their knives ready. I only want to do my job, not jockey for position.
My point is PLENTY of middle managers do this stuff, and I've seen VPs openly lie to the customer, but I've never seen a CEO do it.
The CEOs do know about it and the CEOs should go to prison for allowing it, but they rarely do the dirty deed themselves.
Why do people run for office, and why do people support them? In the broadest sense, shared concerns drive disparate people to come together to solve the problems that affect everyone, from potholes to wars. The concentrated energy of many brains working toward common goals is magnitudes more powerful than the dim candlelight in the castle of a king who rules by decree.
Sure, that's all obvious and logical stuff, well and good, just the way things are supposd to work, even in a world far from perfect like ours. Then why is our little quirky world so, so royally FUBARed? Something just ain't right in the head!
The democrat and dictator alike require the support of their citizens to govern: one through persuasion and finding workable solutions for the good of all; the other through coercion and lies solely for the sake of maintaining power for ruthless and unaccountable overlords, hoarding wealth and buying influence; one that promotes constructive policy ideas; the other offering nothing but destructive ideology that forever excuses unbridled greed and power. The democrat says, "It takes a village." The dictator says, "I alone can fix it. Trust me and no one else, especially anything you see or read that contradicts whatever I say or do."
But elections are not about the politician as much as the voter. Do people support their representative because of top-down, authoritarian propaganda hammered home day and night? What a coincidence that Dear Leader's dogma just happens to fit my own. A gift from heaven -- God works in mysterious ways.
Or do people support those who stick to the truth and are willing to make hard choices beyond their own self-interest and narrow attitudes to help real people living real lives -- beyond the fever dreams of true believeers, the fire and brimstone of hell, the milk and honey in the Promised Land? Biden and the Democrats or Trump and the Republicans, a choice between the institution of democracy and a mental institution.
It's American politics after all, so everyone is hugely flawed one way or another (except Ted Cruz, of course). But who would you trust with the keys to make a booze run: the nice gentleman drinking pop, engaging in normal conversation; or the fat, drunken show-clown jumping through the fire and howling at the moon, a fool for his frat-boy buddies?
Do people support workers, families, and the majority of the nation struggling to pay bills, barely surviving paycheck to paycheck, as opposed to the wealthy elite in sheep's clothing, pretending to care about the miserable lives of the unwashed masses -- all those pesky digits on a spreadsheet, barely noticeable outside the company mainframe in the real world, crawling around in the dirt like bugs. The gilded palaces of the privileged rise out of human anguish, high above the sacrifice paid in homage to the all-seeing, all-greedy eye at the top of the pyramid.
So who do YOU support? And why? Is it because of some insubstantial ideology planted, internalized, and nurtured obsessively and unthinkingly despite outside reality on the ground, or because of actual, firsthand encounter with the direct truth of things not filtered through a screen of biases? It can't be both; though we pretend we're always in control of our thoughts, always right in applying our standards to those around us, projecting our shortsightedness onto others as well as the blame, trying to fit a big complex world into the tiny space of our own mind.
Who we vote for and why are mere reflections of who we are, just as all the rest of our words and actions define us. So if we can't change as individuals, how can we expect the world to change? Like it or not, we're in it together.
End of Sunday's sermon. Be good. Help your fellow human beings and your home planet.
So sorry to hear about the passing of your brother, and father before him. I have had several family members succumb to tobacco-related illnesses. As the least I could do, I've instructed my investment advisor to put tobacco (along with munitions and carbon) on the list of industries I do not want to have anything to do with. Asbestos is long gone, but all the houses I've lived in have had some in their construction. It continues to be a financial burden on owners to remove safely.
Daily I wonder what kind of seemingly lawless piece of shit country I live in - with 320 million other humans. I read about another billionaire bilking millions of us with lies and harmful substances. We’ve only very recently - a week ago - faced and funded a problem that scientists have warned us about for many DECADES. Yet we are still pumping out carbon emissions just as heavily and more over these same decades. While fossil fuels are creating BIG MONEY for those still pumping it out of the ground AND making gazillions in profit. I really am disgusted. I’d like to leave but it’s this country that has and still is doing the most damage. People globally don’t like Americans. I don’t blame them. Neither do I. The news now is always devastating. But moving isn’t an option anymore. What I have left is my vote for democracy. And some written advocacy for an audience who is wondering the same things I am. And to keep reading the truth from you, Thom, and others like you. Thank you for sharing Truth with us.
Thom, in this time of your absence I only know more why we need your voice. It is really amazing how uninformed people are. For people who think lies are truths then when really need more true facts. I don’t understand the dumb bubble these people live in Thom. I really don’t get it. So glad we have you though, just plain common sense.
As a recent subscriber I want to thank you for reposting this. This is the second time I’ve seen you use “bankster”. So apt! As a former born and bred Republican, it was the Bush Crash of 2008 that really opened my eyes to the disingenuousness and misdirection of the Republican Party, starting my transition to Berniedom. My guiding philosophy has always been progress, we can always do better, not just for me but for all of us, which was why I am now registered as a Democrat, hoping to help move the Democratic Party back to a party of being truly for working people and families. Thanks for what you do!
Thom thanks so much for running this piece again! So important and as always, clearly laid out and pertinent. Great way to contrast a single murder with sanctioned slaughter of countless unknown strangers
Having recently had surgery, I’m passing along advice from my doc: Stay ahead of the pain and take those PKs before you need them. Thats the strategy to wean off them faster. And then switch to OTC PKs for awhile.
And Louise, thank you for taking care of our Thom ❤️
Thom, I am just glad you are at home and not in the hospital. You really have the heart of a lion just do what you need o do so we can have your voice again. What these people continue to do with the killing of people with no conscious and walking away with billions well that’s what they do. My dad was a victim of the tobacco industry as well. He smoked a pipe for years with no idea that that would be what killed him. I was only a child when that happened. I just wish all the things these people do had a huge price to pay not to profit from it. Thom, just glad you all good and we can keep counting on all the truth and facts we need to know from you.
With libertarianism on the rise within the GOP I fear we are in for more greed and selfishness. Human beings need to get over themselves and not be ruled by their egos. As Peter Corning, PhD. said in his book The Fair Society: "The evidence about human evolution indicates that our species evolved in small, close-knit social groups in which cooperation and sharing overrode our individual, competitive self-interests for the sake of the common good." All life on earth is interdependent and your op-ed above is more evidence of why it's important that we have regulations and a government be about PROTECTING its citizens. (A point my die hard libertarian half cousin disagrees with!)
In some ways we humans become a victim of our own success. If the American dollar wasn't the world standard, and if it wasn't so convenient a currency, and if it didn't wield such purchasing power, would we still see such a decline in our society? I'm not a financial expert (pretty obvious), but it seems that if we had some other, less convenient way of measuring success than the number of dollars we accumulate? What if success were measured by the number of people we've helped, or by achieving a lifetime of experience in dealing with the human being and their weaknesses, as many of our elders have done? Just saying that we could use a change from a monetary system, to one that assesses true human value. Like Jimmy Carter, who derives his value from how many people he's helped to live in their own home. Something along the lines of what Jesus once said, that the greatest among us will be the servant of all. Maybe, just maybe, he was onto something?
Oh please dont toss out the baby w the bath water.
I disagree that its remotely helpful to call this a piece of shit country. I am not a pos and neither are the majority of Americans.
Did this novel experiment called America go too far with unbridled greed? Clearly yes.
Are we in a desperate moment right now? Again, clearly so.
Have we lost one leg of our two party system? Obviously.
Are we headed to Civil War? I believe now that it’s inevitable. A sort of guerilla war, rather than two organized armies.
But just because we messed up and need an overhaul (can we start w this nightmare SCOTUS please?) it doesnt mean the country itself is a piece of shit.
I refer you to Joe Biden, who against literally unbelievable amounts of Evil, is proving himself to be heroic and wise. And no piece of shit.
That said, i understand your despair, and caution against feeding it in your mind without balance.
🤞🏼
Thom, Great article, as usual, as expected? Don't do anything because we expect it, only what brings satisfaction.
I only have one comment about how corporations and citizens are treated.
Corporation X, usually through "trade organizations", (like oil's API), can make significant - indirect - contributions to politicians. Having worked with a few of these organizations, I happen to think they do more good than harm, but about the only harm they do is donate to politicians, so let's make that illegal again.
Citizens have no organization to represent us and purchase politicians for us. Actually, that's what we THOUGHT was supposed to happen in a democracy, citizens get represented for our votes alone.
So, should we go after corporations taking advantage of corruption, when the SCOTUS has shown that they support corruption and are willing to create laws out of thin air to enable graft, and will even take away individual freedom, for a price, and it's amazingly affordable. AT BEST, we can prod our politicians along, like herding termites, while the SCOTUS opens the envelope, counts the Rubles, and DECIDES - whatever the note in the envelope says. We can't outmaneuver them until they are restrained.
I propose we absolutely MUST drain the swamp. Think of the president before Joe Biden. He came very close to being elected by simply promising to "drain the swamp", and then shouting nothing but arguments, never evidence or methods.
The point is, we absolutely must drain the swamp before anything else will "stick".
If that means jailing 80% of the GOP, well we best count empty beds so we are ready. If that means jailing the rulers of the Democratic Party next, well we should already have a bed count.
White-collar crime is not prosecuted in the U.S. That's why we call it "Rich White Man's justice."
I want to comment as someone who spent lots of time in corporate meetings and board rooms.
The CEOs don't ever do such things. They don't. They can't.
Having said that, it's DEFINITELY happening. I'll explain.
I was brought into the "inner circle" for my ability to increase profits by increasing productivity, safety, and technical leadership. Once in the "official" executive path, I ran into something very interesting. My boss told me I'd never "go anywhere" because I didn't do politics. I refused to lie to anyone inside the company or outside. It's bad business to lie, tell the truth, take your lumps, move on. However, 75% of the "climbers" were ass licking liars. They would literally do ANYTHING to look good in their boss's view. Mostly, their bosses viewed them as unprofitable fools, but useful at the Director level because - well - they would literally do ANYTHING to look good in their boss's view.
I attended one meeting where a central Asian operation was complaining about the cost of an installation overhaul. The overhaul was NECESSARY to do the job, but the local office wanted to do nothing because the installation was only penalized 5%, less than operating cost, if equipment didn't work. Their idea was get on contract earning $720,000 a day, and THEN start repairing all the broken stuff on 95% day rate. My boss, the director of Engineering, simply asked "What do you want our report to say?". He then LIED to the government, client, and OUR EXECUTIVES.
Eventually, my efforts were being blocked by Directors terrified that I told the truth, so I moved on. When I announced my departure, one of the VPs pulled me aside and asked if I would transfer to work for him, manage an installation in his region, and told me he'd make me a Director in a year. He had some nice operations and some not so nice, so I asked him which? He said he'd put me on his best operation, but I could choose whatever I wanted, he just wanted someone on his team who didn't lie for personal gain. The CEO then stopped by and asked me to consider the VP's offer. I left anyway, because so many useless middle managers had their knives ready. I only want to do my job, not jockey for position.
My point is PLENTY of middle managers do this stuff, and I've seen VPs openly lie to the customer, but I've never seen a CEO do it.
The CEOs do know about it and the CEOs should go to prison for allowing it, but they rarely do the dirty deed themselves.
Just, glad we have Thom with a mind like his we never have to worry about anything dumb.
Why do people run for office, and why do people support them? In the broadest sense, shared concerns drive disparate people to come together to solve the problems that affect everyone, from potholes to wars. The concentrated energy of many brains working toward common goals is magnitudes more powerful than the dim candlelight in the castle of a king who rules by decree.
Sure, that's all obvious and logical stuff, well and good, just the way things are supposd to work, even in a world far from perfect like ours. Then why is our little quirky world so, so royally FUBARed? Something just ain't right in the head!
The democrat and dictator alike require the support of their citizens to govern: one through persuasion and finding workable solutions for the good of all; the other through coercion and lies solely for the sake of maintaining power for ruthless and unaccountable overlords, hoarding wealth and buying influence; one that promotes constructive policy ideas; the other offering nothing but destructive ideology that forever excuses unbridled greed and power. The democrat says, "It takes a village." The dictator says, "I alone can fix it. Trust me and no one else, especially anything you see or read that contradicts whatever I say or do."
But elections are not about the politician as much as the voter. Do people support their representative because of top-down, authoritarian propaganda hammered home day and night? What a coincidence that Dear Leader's dogma just happens to fit my own. A gift from heaven -- God works in mysterious ways.
Or do people support those who stick to the truth and are willing to make hard choices beyond their own self-interest and narrow attitudes to help real people living real lives -- beyond the fever dreams of true believeers, the fire and brimstone of hell, the milk and honey in the Promised Land? Biden and the Democrats or Trump and the Republicans, a choice between the institution of democracy and a mental institution.
It's American politics after all, so everyone is hugely flawed one way or another (except Ted Cruz, of course). But who would you trust with the keys to make a booze run: the nice gentleman drinking pop, engaging in normal conversation; or the fat, drunken show-clown jumping through the fire and howling at the moon, a fool for his frat-boy buddies?
Do people support workers, families, and the majority of the nation struggling to pay bills, barely surviving paycheck to paycheck, as opposed to the wealthy elite in sheep's clothing, pretending to care about the miserable lives of the unwashed masses -- all those pesky digits on a spreadsheet, barely noticeable outside the company mainframe in the real world, crawling around in the dirt like bugs. The gilded palaces of the privileged rise out of human anguish, high above the sacrifice paid in homage to the all-seeing, all-greedy eye at the top of the pyramid.
So who do YOU support? And why? Is it because of some insubstantial ideology planted, internalized, and nurtured obsessively and unthinkingly despite outside reality on the ground, or because of actual, firsthand encounter with the direct truth of things not filtered through a screen of biases? It can't be both; though we pretend we're always in control of our thoughts, always right in applying our standards to those around us, projecting our shortsightedness onto others as well as the blame, trying to fit a big complex world into the tiny space of our own mind.
Who we vote for and why are mere reflections of who we are, just as all the rest of our words and actions define us. So if we can't change as individuals, how can we expect the world to change? Like it or not, we're in it together.
End of Sunday's sermon. Be good. Help your fellow human beings and your home planet.