The only caveat I have is that we are also at the mercy of foreigners, especially the OPEC/Saudi/Russian faction that has been undermining our economy and is also a national security problem.
This superbly summarizes what has happened since Nixon/Reagan/Gingrich/Bush/agent orange really poured fuel onto the nation’s dividing fires. As a volunteer working in the trenches with many disadvantaged, I see some of their pain; and it galls me to hear others ask me “aren't they just a bunch of loser?” It is time for us to take the steps you mention to climb out of this oligarchy cesspit.
"...and will threaten their grandchildren every bit as much as they do yours and mine." Oligarchs don't think that far ahead. They live in the crisis that surrounds them. Their propagandist struggle to produce "social-proof" to solve the problem at hand. They are not ideologs. There is no long-term ideology. They don't have time to worry about grandkids. They stopped reading with Ayn Rand.
Great comment I agree, but Oligarchs are not the only one's who live in the moment. It is a human failing. How many have wills, life insurance? How about the minorities who will vote for Republicans, if only by choosing to not vote, because they haven't got their way with Democrats, it is not sufficient to do no harm, or to take baby steps, given the social environment, but they demand action, specifically favorable to them, regardless of the fact, that such action results in an immediate, violent and successful counter action.
Take HAMAS for instance, they erroneously thought, probably because of past behavior on the part of Israel, that by taking hostages, Israel would cave, instead to their surprise they received the opposite reaction, and the Israeli religious right, though that because they could terrorize, bully and even murder Arabs, that they could continue for ever, with nothing more than short lived condemnation from some of the international community.
Both were wrong. And in America, protest voters, either those that sit on their hands, or those that vote third party are actually voting for those who will triple down on the oppression, that wish to escape. Like children who hold their breathe, because they can't get what they want now.
Unfortunately most humans live in the present, and all they want, is what the want now, and right now, not tomorrow.
When I was growing up, there was no such things as credit cards (or inflation). I could go into a store and buy something, go back 6 months or a year later, and the price had not changed.
Mom wanted a clothes washer and TV, so she put them on lay away, deferred satisfaction.
Today we want it now, and there is no such thing as lay away (I bought my first piece of furniture and an engagement ring on Lay away, (1959 and 1960), and two years later, I was buying more furniture and an air conditioning unit from Sears on what they called Revolving Credit. The first credit cards were issued by oil companies, I had Texaco and Gulf, good only for buying gasoline, oil, repairs at their stations.
Then along came Diner Cards, and credit cards, and the economy exploded along with prices.
Panama had a stable economy, and food and products were reasonable, until Citibank, started a mass advertising campaign to sell their credit cards, now prices have taken off, and it is too expensive for cane cutters who could support and live on the wages of hacking cane with a machete.
Point is that we talk about the future, but take actions that benefit us in the present and which we will have to pay for, and dearly, in the future.
Right on, W F; Americans insist on immediate gratification, and so, as you mention, eschew anything that has a cost, some sacrifice, and/or involves some effort, like insurance, education...or any preparation for future problems, foreseeable or not. We are a spoiled people, taking advantage of the efforts and the blood of our forebears, but refusing to pay the taxes for what they have provided, as we now refuse to pay the Piper for those who do our work. It is human nature for consumers to want to save money, and for producers to earn it - and that is why government needed - to regulate our natural greed...so that more have a fair chance.
When I was in Vietnam, as I browsed the streets, time and again I was struck and surprised by the number of children, sitting under stairs, in alleyways and sidewalks, studying and doing homework.
Never saw the likes of that in America, rather the kids call their parents names if they can't do what they want, have cell phones, drink and party with friends.
" ...to pay for dearly in the future" is now. We have been paying for the last forty years. What is happening to us is not new to empires and governments, they fail, they all fail. I read a book 4 or five years ago that told the story - The Great Leveler, Walter Scheidel. Democracy and capitalism are in a failed state. We are evolving into a new government and a new economy, and yes, a new culture. We will not be what we were or what we are today, and that scares the hell out of us. We are Dante at the gates of the Inferno. . .
"All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here." Remember, The Divine COMEDY? That's the trip we are on; it is not supposed to be fun. . . until the end.
The unevenness and inequality of tax laws. I can't blame the those who live on the edge, and barely make enough to live, for avoiding taxes.
The "conservatives" and DJT, eliminated the mortgage interest deduction, because it would punish Democrats, apparently middle class Republicans don't have mortgages, they either rent or live in inherited mortgage free homes.
However the wealthy continue to take mortgage interest, especially Trump who lives in one or moore of his " business properties:, They take it as a business expense, where it is allowed.
Jeffrey Epsteins business was selling nubile teenagers and tweens to rich men like Prince Andrew, and I would not be surprised Bill Clinton.. horn dog in chief., so his private island was a business expense, and everyhing spent to maintain it was deductible, including salaries of servants and "the h elp"
Do you know of any being prosecuted for tax evasion.? I suspect that any such, ran afoul of someone with more power, and who was scammed.
Trump certainly has not, Secretary of the Treasury has apparently directed the IRS to keep hands off.
Alarm bells going off. Apparently there is a deep state, but one that serves the PTB, has any Plutocrat or oligarch been prosecuted for tax evasion or even corruption. Bernie Madoff was
prosecuted and convicted, but he ripped off other powerful and rich men.
There is a fine line between an oligarch and a thug. I think that oligarchs plan on inhabiting Mars in their own minds at least. Where as a thug, only thinks about stealing other people's stuff. But from the speed at which global warming is coming upon us,, I don't think they're going to make it to Mars in time and if they do they're going to have to live in a bubble and recycle everything and not pollute. After trashing the Earth. I would like to see a lot of right wingers try that. KARMA!
Such accurate facts, information, and analysis are essential and encouraging. When it is all spelled out so succinctly the plan for action seems fairly clear. One of the complicating factors which psychologists might want to explore in more detail is the tendency to glorify and elevate the wealthy and their lifestyles ("Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous") and to forgive their excesses and perversions as ordinary human proclivity, or to wallow in their entertainment value, dismissing the damage they do. We like our royalty a little too much and we emulate their habits, abandon, and greed instead of demanding that they be accountable. Will the people actually rise up and condemn the spoiled brats?
We, not me,not you, not Thom Hartmann or his readers, but people are like soldiers in Napoleons, Grand Armee, each soldier, he said,carries a Field Marshall's batonin his back pack.
Americans have been raised on the Horatio Alger myth, the myth that drew their immigrant ancestors to these shores, that we were the land of opportunity, and today even poor people, mostly white, but also , these days, POC and immigrants, actually believe that they are temporarily disadvantaged millionaires, and that they too will become millionaires. The sale of lottery tickets is based on knowledge of human psychology.
You must be talking about the Venezuelans. There is an MSNBC documenary about the Venezuelans and Martha's Vineyards.
The media is all over the story, because if it bleeds it leads, however the Venezuelans are not the poor, the disenfranchised they are upper class or middle class families, that enjoyed luxury before Chavez mistakingly believed that Venezuelan oil belonged to Venezuela, now the poor things, no longer able to live in luxury are fleeing to the land of big box stores.
I've seen video's of families lined up along the border, wearing clean designer cloths, kids carrying soccer balls and dolls, and no sign that they endured the thousands of miles trek through Columbia, the Darien Gap, over the bridge of the America's and the dangerous trek along the Pan American Hiway (which I drove in 1975, in fact probably was the last gringo through, before the war with the Sandinstas closed it.
Nay, they look exactly like they should, if they deplaned atBenito Juárez International Airport, and had taken a bus to Piedras Negras.
Our corporate media is being conned or is conning us.
Right on. And worse yet, for Democracy, Latin Americans are ultra conservative, Catholics, Pentecostals and Evangelicals, thus organically Republican, and you living in Florida can see that.
Trump calling Mexicans murders, drug mules and rapists, slid off their backs, as does Trumps overt racism slide off the backs of way too many American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS), because they share his values of patriarchy, misogyny, hatred and fear of LGBT.
The driving engine of modern Republicanism is the culture war, and the troglodytes of the Democatic party, such as those in the DNC, can't see it for their blinders. Not even the election of Mike Johnson as Speaker doesn't break through their denial. They are convinced, or have been convinced by megadonors and their hand maidens (the corporate media) that it is all about the economy. Meaning more money and power for the 10%.
The South American oligarchs would be happy if their guajiro paisanos, ordinary countrymen, are left behind. They have nothing in common with common folks.
As I probably mentioned previously, in Pennsyltucky, we had the blues and the light blues. The Bluebloods, "Hamiltonians," were "old" money. The Light blues aspired to have the same status but resented the blues and hated anyone with less status, i.e. Catholics.
Yes it looks like the robber barons will get their Utopia and billions will probably suffer and die. We must not forget the churches role in turning the right wingers brains into mush. The foundation for democracy must be built on concrete and not on Sand by the ocean. Without a maximum wage and proper parenting, humans will end up over populating and polluting the planet. The rich just want their fair share and that is " Everything". No civilized societies can happen that way.
As you know, I totally agree with you, except for maximum wage. As I said before the maximum wage set the setting for Charles Dickens, and his novels.
And, you might get what you wish for, the Plutocrats, the Oligarchs and the Republican party, are all in favor of a maximum wage, just not the one you are thinking off, but a Dickensian maximum wage.
Legislate a maximum wage, and it is stuck there for all times, as prices continue to rise.
Will call it a maximum income, about 400,000 a year would do it in my opinion. That would create a larger middle class and not create a Dickensonian repeat. For everyone. The last maximum wage try they only enforced it on the workers in fact I believe in Chile they are still doing it till this day a two times the minimum wage maximum wage for the common man while the greedy oligarchs can make billions, now that is Dickensonian. The GOP in America would like to get rid of the minimum wage in fact all capitalists would and then you will see Dickensonianism.
Now that I can go for. Nobody, and I mean nobody needs more than $400,000 a year. But think of all the labor that isn't getting paid for making Supercars, yachts, jets, and mansions.
Not any more my friend. The median income for a working married couple is less than $100,000 and with that you can't afford to buy a home these days. In my next of the woods, an apartment (they call them condo's now) sell for anywhere from $400,000 for the cheapest to over $600,000
My wife and I both live comfortably on retirement incomes, but we have no mortgage, no debts to amortize, and we couldn't afford the cost, much less the monthly payment on a new home and property even smaller than ours.
However if you don't mind living with semi literate, hyper religious, bigoted fascists and suffer under their laws there are midwest and southern red states here is a list of cheapest states, and even then if buying you have to put up with interest rates of 8% or greater
States like Pennsylvania are actually two states, culturally and economically.
Pittsburgh in the west, Phillie in the east and Kentucky in between, hence Pennsyltucky. The prices and income listed above are median, meaning the middle, not even average
As interest rates increase income qualifiaction also increases.
I wonder if members of the oligarchy are raising any alarms regarding the readers of The Hartmann Report? I can hear them saying, "We have a problem with this Mr. Hartmann - he's revealing much of the way we work, and his readers are becoming educated to our ways." I'm sure they wish you'd focus on the other issues, and leave them to operate in the dark.
Excellent article Thom. Clear, concise, succint and gets right to the heart of the problem, that is destroying the great democratic experiment. Man's lust for power and greed. How much is enough, evidently there is no upper limit, they more you control, the more anxious and insecure one is that they will lose their power, toys and control. Enter stage right: Donald Tump, Elon Musck, Zuckerburg, Pete Peterson. Rick Scott, Goldman Sachs, its executives, investors and board.. the list is almost endless.
Nothing can justify the outrageous number of billionaires, and the end is not nigh, as the next step is trillionaires. Never enough, if they ever stop accumulating, they will suffocate and die, like sharks, who don't breathe, but have to keep moving to force water through their gills.
As regards mythical free speech, what I have to say will upset some, I've said it before. The Constitution does not mention free speech. It simply says that Congress shall enact no laws abridging the right of speech, religion and assembly.
Free speech paen is used by the enemies of democracy to destroy democracy. Homegrown NAZI's used it before Dec 7, 1941, were it not for Japan, we possibly could be living in a society where we were constantly Sieg Heiling amid other horrendous possibilities.
Wasn't it Bin Laden who said, we will use your democracy to destroy the west. The same is true of 21st century religious, racist, fascists.
Trump is able to subvert our democracy, because of the mythical free speech. Bill Maher went on a rant, and still ranting, because students at Berkeley boycotted his visit, he blamng a "cancel culture" and violation of free speech, rights.
According to the Bill of Rights, so long as Congress is not making a law, then there is no such thing as free speech.
But left, right and center people like the Constitution, so long as it is interpreted to meet their needs, wants and desires. Just like the 2nd Amendment, which is long out of date, as we no longer carry muskets by rapid fire weapons, and there is no government militia's except maybe Florida, we have a well regulated, trained and armed militia...the national guard, and the Department of Defense, so personal firearms are not needed, neither is there a need to murder, in cold blood, animals for food, we have domesticated them that we may slaughter and eat them.
The only alternative to a maximum income or maximum wage would be to tax the billionaires about 98% but they would still be able to control the governments by bribing virtuous justices. We need to take their ability to bribe the virtuous justices away. Anything we do is better than what we currently got after Nixon to Biden.
Thank you once again for a concise and to-the-point analysis of what we ordinary critical thinking Anerican citizens are up against. The herd conformity is staggering, the hopelessness understandable but unacceptable and the remedy at hand. The corruption of the Supreme Court daunting, the lack of enforcement of separation of church and state startling, I.e. Johnson and the marginalization of jews, gays and lesbians, and others chilling. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess given the corruption of our voting systems.
Why has the Oligarchic & GOP version of patriotism become a function of willful stupidity, deliberate masochism, and blind gullibility?
And then, after they vote to metaphorically trash their own prospects, these super patriots become scared, and direct their White heat (so to speak) at everyone, esp. marginalized groups.
Dim Citizen-Proles are the REAL problem.
They're not unlike the old RCA head-tilting mascot, in that they hear their masters' voices. Because the rich (including Creflo Dollar and his ilk) and the pols do what any sociopathic parasite would do; they manipulate and puppeteer the Proles for their amusement and advantage, like an old-timey victrola finessed and confused that RCA dog.
Sir Okie. The answer is simple. There is a class of males, and their camp followers, who feel emasculated by the rise of power and self definition, on the part of women, people of color, non Christians, and LGBT. Their is a name for it, the culture war, it overrides everything, and pushes economics, livelihood, inflation into the background, but the corporate media, loyal to the oligarchs and Plutocrats, push it into the background, misdirecting us to what is important to their owners and patrons. taxes and de regulation.
The right wing males feel entitled to just about everything because they are male! They think that they are special. They were raised up to be narcissists like almost all the religious followers around the world. They're also very ungrateful and hate Franklin Delano Roosevelt after all the good he has done them. They are incapable of rational thought, and behave as spoiled rotten children. When hungry they will steal and kill to get what they want and they can justify it to themselves. Almost all males are religious thugs. It is amazing that women will actually marry them.
Thats the way women are raised, in part blame it on biology and evolution. Females are designed to incubate life, and give birth. After an investment of 9 months, most have hormonal (motherly) feelings. (I have those towards my cats, so it is also a human thing).
With human females it is different say than lionesses and bears. Lesser critters have offspring that can run just minutes after birth, but are still vulnerable and have to be guarded by their mother. But they grow up fast, and mothering is not a decades long process.
With humans, we are weak and vulnerable until we are at least 15 years of age. Thus the mother has to ensure that she has a mate who will provide and protect her and her offspring, until they are ready to stand on their own.
As a result they seek out, and glom onto, what they perceive as the male within her social circle, that has the chops to provide and protect.
In redneck communities and single wide trailer parks. You will find the most attractive female, living with the biggest, most heavily tatooed and ignorant brute, because in her circle he is best able to provide and protect.
When you see the walking dead like Rupert Murdoch, with a tasty model or actress on his arm and in his bed, you can assume, safely, that she is there because of his wealth and social status, in her world, he is the epitome of any alpha male, his wealth and power is what attracts her.
Also see Melanoma Trump. Without Trump she is just a lingerie model and a catalog bride.
Thom is an archer unrivaled in his communication skills - sinking the arrow dead center of the bullseye on so many issues. I am very, very grateful.
It's sad that so many of us feel that we ourselves are the sole reason for our circumstances. Whether it be the immorally rich, or the undeservedly destitute - the attitude of "it's because of me" is tragically inaccurate in most cases. This belief can only come from a society that celebrates "me the person", and all but pays lip service to "we the people".
You have SOUNDED THE BLUE 💙💙💙💙ALARM!! You’ve called us all to attention and given the order. Now, it’s up to us to act. We have got to shut this nonsense down by eliminating the Trumputin Party, all the GOP, GQP, Trump followers, enablers, must go.
We have got to do something about bringing this SCOTUS back in line with our Constitution so the decisions they render will be in accordance to the actual laws of this nation. Not if their wants, and beliefs.
We had a chance to bring the supreme Court back to sanity,but Garland and Biden did not prosecute the leaders of the insurrection. The Democratic party would have controlled the house also.
Yes, Garland is who I blame for that fiasco. He was almost 2 years late assigning Jack Smith as Special Counsel to head up that investigation. Actually, Biden did the right thing by keeping his nose out of it. And, I understand why he left Harland there, since January 6th was already under investigation, it wasn’t wise to make a change in that department. But, I really don’t think Biden felt that Garland would screw him over, or slow-walk this investigation like he started out doing.
I just have been trying to figure out who it was that out the ‘bug in Garland’s ear’ that he better get his head out of his ass and get the investigation going? No doubt, somebody did.
Excellent history lesson 100%. Problem is how to get the GOP base to read and understand that ultimately, it is the base that gets put down or worse in autocratic regimes. The survival of one man rule and his need for safety, will require that the base is locked down tight so why support your own demise?
Yes, pray tell, what could be worse than a bunch of rich bored people? It seems the answer is a group of uber-rich bored people. I've read that once they reach a certain amount, the money is only a means of keeping score.
It's not so easy to hide behind the castle walls these days. So as much as folks like to bitch about the MSM, they still function and I still watch. They interview plenty of people calling out the corruption; it's good for ratings. They interview politicians from the left that tell the voters they are about to lose their democracy; it's good for ratings. Showing the public the yachts and talking about tax-havens happens often; it's good for ratings.
What used to happen in the dark, is right there in our faces on a screen. The percentage of people voting keeps increasing. We want a healthy democracy, and I'd say we are working on it every day. Thanks Thom, information is the only way to save us from these vampires sucking the life out of America and that think they should rule the world.
On a related front, in my agenda for a workable world there are no produced commercials for candidates. All they can do with ad time is talk to the camera. And I'd have debates unmoderated -- see how people are in a living room conversation. Here's a favorite piece, for your pleasure, about oligarchs and the cyclical nature of reality: https://suespeaks.org/an-oligarchy-on-the-brink-of-a-civilization-threatening-collapse
I don't understand that comment. By demos what do you mean, demonstrations or demolitions?
Why would either make you happy.
Demonstrations, the peaceful non violent kind, do not bear fruit, Not Vietnam, Not MLK, not Ghandi, not occupy, not BLM, they are pressure relief valves for the Oligarchs, the PTB, until they look like they are becoming serious, then they send in the agents provacateurs, to disrupt and justify sending in the police and military.
Nothing short of a national strike and/or a revolution will depose the powers that be (ex: France 1789, Russia 1917), and then there is the unintended consequences, the French revolution turned the guillotine on it's own, and so did the Bolsheviks.
Even Christianity was a rebellion, a top down rebellion, and it soon turned it's venom on fellow Christians and monotheists like Manicheans.
Excellent piece! Thank you for continuing to sound the alarm.
The only caveat I have is that we are also at the mercy of foreigners, especially the OPEC/Saudi/Russian faction that has been undermining our economy and is also a national security problem.
This superbly summarizes what has happened since Nixon/Reagan/Gingrich/Bush/agent orange really poured fuel onto the nation’s dividing fires. As a volunteer working in the trenches with many disadvantaged, I see some of their pain; and it galls me to hear others ask me “aren't they just a bunch of loser?” It is time for us to take the steps you mention to climb out of this oligarchy cesspit.
"...and will threaten their grandchildren every bit as much as they do yours and mine." Oligarchs don't think that far ahead. They live in the crisis that surrounds them. Their propagandist struggle to produce "social-proof" to solve the problem at hand. They are not ideologs. There is no long-term ideology. They don't have time to worry about grandkids. They stopped reading with Ayn Rand.
Great comment I agree, but Oligarchs are not the only one's who live in the moment. It is a human failing. How many have wills, life insurance? How about the minorities who will vote for Republicans, if only by choosing to not vote, because they haven't got their way with Democrats, it is not sufficient to do no harm, or to take baby steps, given the social environment, but they demand action, specifically favorable to them, regardless of the fact, that such action results in an immediate, violent and successful counter action.
Take HAMAS for instance, they erroneously thought, probably because of past behavior on the part of Israel, that by taking hostages, Israel would cave, instead to their surprise they received the opposite reaction, and the Israeli religious right, though that because they could terrorize, bully and even murder Arabs, that they could continue for ever, with nothing more than short lived condemnation from some of the international community.
Both were wrong. And in America, protest voters, either those that sit on their hands, or those that vote third party are actually voting for those who will triple down on the oppression, that wish to escape. Like children who hold their breathe, because they can't get what they want now.
Unfortunately most humans live in the present, and all they want, is what the want now, and right now, not tomorrow.
When I was growing up, there was no such things as credit cards (or inflation). I could go into a store and buy something, go back 6 months or a year later, and the price had not changed.
Mom wanted a clothes washer and TV, so she put them on lay away, deferred satisfaction.
Today we want it now, and there is no such thing as lay away (I bought my first piece of furniture and an engagement ring on Lay away, (1959 and 1960), and two years later, I was buying more furniture and an air conditioning unit from Sears on what they called Revolving Credit. The first credit cards were issued by oil companies, I had Texaco and Gulf, good only for buying gasoline, oil, repairs at their stations.
Then along came Diner Cards, and credit cards, and the economy exploded along with prices.
Panama had a stable economy, and food and products were reasonable, until Citibank, started a mass advertising campaign to sell their credit cards, now prices have taken off, and it is too expensive for cane cutters who could support and live on the wages of hacking cane with a machete.
Point is that we talk about the future, but take actions that benefit us in the present and which we will have to pay for, and dearly, in the future.
Right on, W F; Americans insist on immediate gratification, and so, as you mention, eschew anything that has a cost, some sacrifice, and/or involves some effort, like insurance, education...or any preparation for future problems, foreseeable or not. We are a spoiled people, taking advantage of the efforts and the blood of our forebears, but refusing to pay the taxes for what they have provided, as we now refuse to pay the Piper for those who do our work. It is human nature for consumers to want to save money, and for producers to earn it - and that is why government needed - to regulate our natural greed...so that more have a fair chance.
When I was in Vietnam, as I browsed the streets, time and again I was struck and surprised by the number of children, sitting under stairs, in alleyways and sidewalks, studying and doing homework.
Never saw the likes of that in America, rather the kids call their parents names if they can't do what they want, have cell phones, drink and party with friends.
" ...to pay for dearly in the future" is now. We have been paying for the last forty years. What is happening to us is not new to empires and governments, they fail, they all fail. I read a book 4 or five years ago that told the story - The Great Leveler, Walter Scheidel. Democracy and capitalism are in a failed state. We are evolving into a new government and a new economy, and yes, a new culture. We will not be what we were or what we are today, and that scares the hell out of us. We are Dante at the gates of the Inferno. . .
"All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here." Remember, The Divine COMEDY? That's the trip we are on; it is not supposed to be fun. . . until the end.
And many live "on the edge" by avoiding taxes. Treasury has lost an estimated $ 3 trillion.
There is a risk/reward relationship to this. Little guys can get a reward by whistleblowing.
The unevenness and inequality of tax laws. I can't blame the those who live on the edge, and barely make enough to live, for avoiding taxes.
The "conservatives" and DJT, eliminated the mortgage interest deduction, because it would punish Democrats, apparently middle class Republicans don't have mortgages, they either rent or live in inherited mortgage free homes.
However the wealthy continue to take mortgage interest, especially Trump who lives in one or moore of his " business properties:, They take it as a business expense, where it is allowed.
Jeffrey Epsteins business was selling nubile teenagers and tweens to rich men like Prince Andrew, and I would not be surprised Bill Clinton.. horn dog in chief., so his private island was a business expense, and everyhing spent to maintain it was deductible, including salaries of servants and "the h elp"
The rich people avoiding taxes live on the edge, one step from prosecution.
Do you know of any being prosecuted for tax evasion.? I suspect that any such, ran afoul of someone with more power, and who was scammed.
Trump certainly has not, Secretary of the Treasury has apparently directed the IRS to keep hands off.
Alarm bells going off. Apparently there is a deep state, but one that serves the PTB, has any Plutocrat or oligarch been prosecuted for tax evasion or even corruption. Bernie Madoff was
prosecuted and convicted, but he ripped off other powerful and rich men.
Not too many above Al Capone to my memory have been prosecuted.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/12/was-democracy-just-a-moment/306022/
There is a fine line between an oligarch and a thug. I think that oligarchs plan on inhabiting Mars in their own minds at least. Where as a thug, only thinks about stealing other people's stuff. But from the speed at which global warming is coming upon us,, I don't think they're going to make it to Mars in time and if they do they're going to have to live in a bubble and recycle everything and not pollute. After trashing the Earth. I would like to see a lot of right wingers try that. KARMA!
Such accurate facts, information, and analysis are essential and encouraging. When it is all spelled out so succinctly the plan for action seems fairly clear. One of the complicating factors which psychologists might want to explore in more detail is the tendency to glorify and elevate the wealthy and their lifestyles ("Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous") and to forgive their excesses and perversions as ordinary human proclivity, or to wallow in their entertainment value, dismissing the damage they do. We like our royalty a little too much and we emulate their habits, abandon, and greed instead of demanding that they be accountable. Will the people actually rise up and condemn the spoiled brats?
We, not me,not you, not Thom Hartmann or his readers, but people are like soldiers in Napoleons, Grand Armee, each soldier, he said,carries a Field Marshall's batonin his back pack.
Americans have been raised on the Horatio Alger myth, the myth that drew their immigrant ancestors to these shores, that we were the land of opportunity, and today even poor people, mostly white, but also , these days, POC and immigrants, actually believe that they are temporarily disadvantaged millionaires, and that they too will become millionaires. The sale of lottery tickets is based on knowledge of human psychology.
The streets are made of gold.
Down here in Baghdad By the Sea some of our illegals are wealthy South Americans or Ruskies who have more dinero or rubles than many US oligarchs.
You must be talking about the Venezuelans. There is an MSNBC documenary about the Venezuelans and Martha's Vineyards.
The media is all over the story, because if it bleeds it leads, however the Venezuelans are not the poor, the disenfranchised they are upper class or middle class families, that enjoyed luxury before Chavez mistakingly believed that Venezuelan oil belonged to Venezuela, now the poor things, no longer able to live in luxury are fleeing to the land of big box stores.
I've seen video's of families lined up along the border, wearing clean designer cloths, kids carrying soccer balls and dolls, and no sign that they endured the thousands of miles trek through Columbia, the Darien Gap, over the bridge of the America's and the dangerous trek along the Pan American Hiway (which I drove in 1975, in fact probably was the last gringo through, before the war with the Sandinstas closed it.
Nay, they look exactly like they should, if they deplaned atBenito Juárez International Airport, and had taken a bus to Piedras Negras.
Our corporate media is being conned or is conning us.
Lots more besides Venezuelans. Name the South American country and we are the defacto capitol.
Right on. And worse yet, for Democracy, Latin Americans are ultra conservative, Catholics, Pentecostals and Evangelicals, thus organically Republican, and you living in Florida can see that.
Trump calling Mexicans murders, drug mules and rapists, slid off their backs, as does Trumps overt racism slide off the backs of way too many American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS), because they share his values of patriarchy, misogyny, hatred and fear of LGBT.
The driving engine of modern Republicanism is the culture war, and the troglodytes of the Democatic party, such as those in the DNC, can't see it for their blinders. Not even the election of Mike Johnson as Speaker doesn't break through their denial. They are convinced, or have been convinced by megadonors and their hand maidens (the corporate media) that it is all about the economy. Meaning more money and power for the 10%.
The South American oligarchs would be happy if their guajiro paisanos, ordinary countrymen, are left behind. They have nothing in common with common folks.
As I probably mentioned previously, in Pennsyltucky, we had the blues and the light blues. The Bluebloods, "Hamiltonians," were "old" money. The Light blues aspired to have the same status but resented the blues and hated anyone with less status, i.e. Catholics.
In Spanish countries they observe "Hidalgo" their social rank often predestined by inheritance, more so than in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidalgo_(nobility)
Yes it looks like the robber barons will get their Utopia and billions will probably suffer and die. We must not forget the churches role in turning the right wingers brains into mush. The foundation for democracy must be built on concrete and not on Sand by the ocean. Without a maximum wage and proper parenting, humans will end up over populating and polluting the planet. The rich just want their fair share and that is " Everything". No civilized societies can happen that way.
As you know, I totally agree with you, except for maximum wage. As I said before the maximum wage set the setting for Charles Dickens, and his novels.
And, you might get what you wish for, the Plutocrats, the Oligarchs and the Republican party, are all in favor of a maximum wage, just not the one you are thinking off, but a Dickensian maximum wage.
Legislate a maximum wage, and it is stuck there for all times, as prices continue to rise.
Will call it a maximum income, about 400,000 a year would do it in my opinion. That would create a larger middle class and not create a Dickensonian repeat. For everyone. The last maximum wage try they only enforced it on the workers in fact I believe in Chile they are still doing it till this day a two times the minimum wage maximum wage for the common man while the greedy oligarchs can make billions, now that is Dickensonian. The GOP in America would like to get rid of the minimum wage in fact all capitalists would and then you will see Dickensonianism.
Now that I can go for. Nobody, and I mean nobody needs more than $400,000 a year. But think of all the labor that isn't getting paid for making Supercars, yachts, jets, and mansions.
If they get married they can afford it on two incomes.
Not any more my friend. The median income for a working married couple is less than $100,000 and with that you can't afford to buy a home these days. In my next of the woods, an apartment (they call them condo's now) sell for anywhere from $400,000 for the cheapest to over $600,000
My wife and I both live comfortably on retirement incomes, but we have no mortgage, no debts to amortize, and we couldn't afford the cost, much less the monthly payment on a new home and property even smaller than ours.
However if you don't mind living with semi literate, hyper religious, bigoted fascists and suffer under their laws there are midwest and southern red states here is a list of cheapest states, and even then if buying you have to put up with interest rates of 8% or greater
https://homebuyer.com/learn/cheapest-state-to-buy-a-house
States like Pennsylvania are actually two states, culturally and economically.
Pittsburgh in the west, Phillie in the east and Kentucky in between, hence Pennsyltucky. The prices and income listed above are median, meaning the middle, not even average
As interest rates increase income qualifiaction also increases.
You live in one of those states, don't you
I wonder if members of the oligarchy are raising any alarms regarding the readers of The Hartmann Report? I can hear them saying, "We have a problem with this Mr. Hartmann - he's revealing much of the way we work, and his readers are becoming educated to our ways." I'm sure they wish you'd focus on the other issues, and leave them to operate in the dark.
Excellent article Thom. Clear, concise, succint and gets right to the heart of the problem, that is destroying the great democratic experiment. Man's lust for power and greed. How much is enough, evidently there is no upper limit, they more you control, the more anxious and insecure one is that they will lose their power, toys and control. Enter stage right: Donald Tump, Elon Musck, Zuckerburg, Pete Peterson. Rick Scott, Goldman Sachs, its executives, investors and board.. the list is almost endless.
Nothing can justify the outrageous number of billionaires, and the end is not nigh, as the next step is trillionaires. Never enough, if they ever stop accumulating, they will suffocate and die, like sharks, who don't breathe, but have to keep moving to force water through their gills.
As regards mythical free speech, what I have to say will upset some, I've said it before. The Constitution does not mention free speech. It simply says that Congress shall enact no laws abridging the right of speech, religion and assembly.
Free speech paen is used by the enemies of democracy to destroy democracy. Homegrown NAZI's used it before Dec 7, 1941, were it not for Japan, we possibly could be living in a society where we were constantly Sieg Heiling amid other horrendous possibilities.
Wasn't it Bin Laden who said, we will use your democracy to destroy the west. The same is true of 21st century religious, racist, fascists.
Trump is able to subvert our democracy, because of the mythical free speech. Bill Maher went on a rant, and still ranting, because students at Berkeley boycotted his visit, he blamng a "cancel culture" and violation of free speech, rights.
Even Whitehouse.gov has bought into the myth.
According to the Bill of Rights, so long as Congress is not making a law, then there is no such thing as free speech.
But left, right and center people like the Constitution, so long as it is interpreted to meet their needs, wants and desires. Just like the 2nd Amendment, which is long out of date, as we no longer carry muskets by rapid fire weapons, and there is no government militia's except maybe Florida, we have a well regulated, trained and armed militia...the national guard, and the Department of Defense, so personal firearms are not needed, neither is there a need to murder, in cold blood, animals for food, we have domesticated them that we may slaughter and eat them.
The only alternative to a maximum income or maximum wage would be to tax the billionaires about 98% but they would still be able to control the governments by bribing virtuous justices. We need to take their ability to bribe the virtuous justices away. Anything we do is better than what we currently got after Nixon to Biden.
To bribe The virtuless justices, sorry.
Thank you once again for a concise and to-the-point analysis of what we ordinary critical thinking Anerican citizens are up against. The herd conformity is staggering, the hopelessness understandable but unacceptable and the remedy at hand. The corruption of the Supreme Court daunting, the lack of enforcement of separation of church and state startling, I.e. Johnson and the marginalization of jews, gays and lesbians, and others chilling. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess given the corruption of our voting systems.
Why has the Oligarchic & GOP version of patriotism become a function of willful stupidity, deliberate masochism, and blind gullibility?
And then, after they vote to metaphorically trash their own prospects, these super patriots become scared, and direct their White heat (so to speak) at everyone, esp. marginalized groups.
Dim Citizen-Proles are the REAL problem.
They're not unlike the old RCA head-tilting mascot, in that they hear their masters' voices. Because the rich (including Creflo Dollar and his ilk) and the pols do what any sociopathic parasite would do; they manipulate and puppeteer the Proles for their amusement and advantage, like an old-timey victrola finessed and confused that RCA dog.
Sir Okie. The answer is simple. There is a class of males, and their camp followers, who feel emasculated by the rise of power and self definition, on the part of women, people of color, non Christians, and LGBT. Their is a name for it, the culture war, it overrides everything, and pushes economics, livelihood, inflation into the background, but the corporate media, loyal to the oligarchs and Plutocrats, push it into the background, misdirecting us to what is important to their owners and patrons. taxes and de regulation.
The right wing males feel entitled to just about everything because they are male! They think that they are special. They were raised up to be narcissists like almost all the religious followers around the world. They're also very ungrateful and hate Franklin Delano Roosevelt after all the good he has done them. They are incapable of rational thought, and behave as spoiled rotten children. When hungry they will steal and kill to get what they want and they can justify it to themselves. Almost all males are religious thugs. It is amazing that women will actually marry them.
Thats the way women are raised, in part blame it on biology and evolution. Females are designed to incubate life, and give birth. After an investment of 9 months, most have hormonal (motherly) feelings. (I have those towards my cats, so it is also a human thing).
With human females it is different say than lionesses and bears. Lesser critters have offspring that can run just minutes after birth, but are still vulnerable and have to be guarded by their mother. But they grow up fast, and mothering is not a decades long process.
With humans, we are weak and vulnerable until we are at least 15 years of age. Thus the mother has to ensure that she has a mate who will provide and protect her and her offspring, until they are ready to stand on their own.
As a result they seek out, and glom onto, what they perceive as the male within her social circle, that has the chops to provide and protect.
In redneck communities and single wide trailer parks. You will find the most attractive female, living with the biggest, most heavily tatooed and ignorant brute, because in her circle he is best able to provide and protect.
When you see the walking dead like Rupert Murdoch, with a tasty model or actress on his arm and in his bed, you can assume, safely, that she is there because of his wealth and social status, in her world, he is the epitome of any alpha male, his wealth and power is what attracts her.
Also see Melanoma Trump. Without Trump she is just a lingerie model and a catalog bride.
Thom is an archer unrivaled in his communication skills - sinking the arrow dead center of the bullseye on so many issues. I am very, very grateful.
It's sad that so many of us feel that we ourselves are the sole reason for our circumstances. Whether it be the immorally rich, or the undeservedly destitute - the attitude of "it's because of me" is tragically inaccurate in most cases. This belief can only come from a society that celebrates "me the person", and all but pays lip service to "we the people".
None of us are an island.
You have SOUNDED THE BLUE 💙💙💙💙ALARM!! You’ve called us all to attention and given the order. Now, it’s up to us to act. We have got to shut this nonsense down by eliminating the Trumputin Party, all the GOP, GQP, Trump followers, enablers, must go.
We have got to do something about bringing this SCOTUS back in line with our Constitution so the decisions they render will be in accordance to the actual laws of this nation. Not if their wants, and beliefs.
We had a chance to bring the supreme Court back to sanity,but Garland and Biden did not prosecute the leaders of the insurrection. The Democratic party would have controlled the house also.
Yes, Garland is who I blame for that fiasco. He was almost 2 years late assigning Jack Smith as Special Counsel to head up that investigation. Actually, Biden did the right thing by keeping his nose out of it. And, I understand why he left Harland there, since January 6th was already under investigation, it wasn’t wise to make a change in that department. But, I really don’t think Biden felt that Garland would screw him over, or slow-walk this investigation like he started out doing.
I just have been trying to figure out who it was that out the ‘bug in Garland’s ear’ that he better get his head out of his ass and get the investigation going? No doubt, somebody did.
Excellent history lesson 100%. Problem is how to get the GOP base to read and understand that ultimately, it is the base that gets put down or worse in autocratic regimes. The survival of one man rule and his need for safety, will require that the base is locked down tight so why support your own demise?
Another brilliant piece! Thank you!
Yes, pray tell, what could be worse than a bunch of rich bored people? It seems the answer is a group of uber-rich bored people. I've read that once they reach a certain amount, the money is only a means of keeping score.
It's not so easy to hide behind the castle walls these days. So as much as folks like to bitch about the MSM, they still function and I still watch. They interview plenty of people calling out the corruption; it's good for ratings. They interview politicians from the left that tell the voters they are about to lose their democracy; it's good for ratings. Showing the public the yachts and talking about tax-havens happens often; it's good for ratings.
What used to happen in the dark, is right there in our faces on a screen. The percentage of people voting keeps increasing. We want a healthy democracy, and I'd say we are working on it every day. Thanks Thom, information is the only way to save us from these vampires sucking the life out of America and that think they should rule the world.
On a related front, in my agenda for a workable world there are no produced commercials for candidates. All they can do with ad time is talk to the camera. And I'd have debates unmoderated -- see how people are in a living room conversation. Here's a favorite piece, for your pleasure, about oligarchs and the cyclical nature of reality: https://suespeaks.org/an-oligarchy-on-the-brink-of-a-civilization-threatening-collapse
bs
i misread it.
kleptocracy is what's happening, i don't see ANY democracy.
i be a happy man if there is some demos
I don't understand that comment. By demos what do you mean, demonstrations or demolitions?
Why would either make you happy.
Demonstrations, the peaceful non violent kind, do not bear fruit, Not Vietnam, Not MLK, not Ghandi, not occupy, not BLM, they are pressure relief valves for the Oligarchs, the PTB, until they look like they are becoming serious, then they send in the agents provacateurs, to disrupt and justify sending in the police and military.
Nothing short of a national strike and/or a revolution will depose the powers that be (ex: France 1789, Russia 1917), and then there is the unintended consequences, the French revolution turned the guillotine on it's own, and so did the Bolsheviks.
Even Christianity was a rebellion, a top down rebellion, and it soon turned it's venom on fellow Christians and monotheists like Manicheans.