We can either have billionaires or democracy. Not both. (tags)
Political debate on wealth redistribution is a fight for fairness Call it socialism - as the wealthy GOP does - or call it progressive taxation or economic justice. It doesn't matter; the nation's fiscal conservatives will demonize any idea of redistributing wealth and try to stoke unfounded fears of creeping communism no matter what specific language we use around fairness.
The Curse of Financial Entrepreneurship (tags)
We are not prisoners of bad decisions made in the past. We can and should rein in Wall Street, break up its five giant “too-big-to-fail” banks, support local and state banks, resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act’s divide between investment & commercial banking, tax all financial transactions
How to generate unemployment and deflation (tags)
The theory put forward by fair-weather philosophers that the pandemic will be a salutary shock leading to a better, more sustainable world is wrong. Less is not more, but less. Corona is not an opportunity, it is an evil. We can only hope that one day it will pass.
The Social State Benefits All of Us (tags)
The social state can on ly fulfill expectations when financed on a broad and just basis. The social state must be adjusted to do justice to the pressing challenges.."The social state is the greatest cultural achievement in the 20th century"
Propaganda: Making Alternatives Disappear (tags)
The main responsibility of a government in a "democracy" is protecting the minority of the ownership class against the majority of the non-owners...The neoliberal indoctrination systems serve in the manufacture of ignorance.
Help Me Ronda! “Billionaires For Bernie”: Why Sanders Needs an Independent SuperPAC (tags)
JFK Said: "Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made to Happen." In 2015-2016, LIBERAL Billionaires Such as Ronda Stryker, Nick Hanauer, and Ted Turner (To Name a Few) Can Help Elect Bernie Sanders President by Giving His Supporters Fundraising and Spending Near-Parity With Hillary Clinton's $1 Billion.
Robert Reich Explains America's Koch Problem, 3 min (tags)
Robert Reich, secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, is a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
The So-Called Technological Unemployment, and Permanent Piecework (tags)
All the hype about technological unemployment only provides a glimmer of hope against the cold reality of a highly mechanized future of shitty, low pay jobs.
Video: Republican Theme Song - Nothing Really Matters and The Fear Economy (tags)
Thanks to House Speaker John Boehner and his Republican caucus, the "Do-Nothing Congress" was so awful this year that I decided it deserved its own theme song. I had fun putting together this video—which also calls out some uplifting wins MoveOn members and other progressives were able to achieve this year
The World War against the Poor (tags)
More and more money capital concentrates in the hands of the rich which they let `work for itself.' Every day $1.5 trillion circulates around the globe and changes hands. Only two to three percent of that is needed to handle the business with goods and services. The rest is speculative excess.
VIDEO: Robert Reich on "Inequality for All" (tags)
The economy is not an immutable unchangeable fate but a human system where changing the rules changes outcomes. Capitalism was often saved from its excesses. As progressive taxes in 1901 reduced the power of the robber barons, restoring Glass Steagle is necessary today.
Obama's Neoliberal Budget (tags)
class war
Paul Krugman Discovers Marx (and Misses the Point) (tags)
In his recent New York Times op-ed piece, Princeton professor and regular columnist for The New York Times, Paul Krugman observed: The American economy is still, by most measures, deeply depressed. But corporate profits are at record high. It’s simple: profits have surged as a share of national income, while wages and other labor compensation are down. The pie isn’t growing the way it should — but capital is doing fine by grabbing an ever-larger slice, at labor’s expense.
Barack Obama must stimulate the economy with state spending. The astonishing example of Europe could convince republicans who in the past blocked everything... The monetary policy of a central bank cannot replace fiscal policy,
Inequalities, Taxes, and More Inequalities (tags)
Thanks to Occupy, most working people are well aware of the growing inequalities in wealth. But for those who lack the specifics, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich provides a useful overview: “…the rich have been getting a larger and larger portion of total income. From 9 percent in 1980, the top 1 percent’s take increased to 23.5 percent by 2007. CEOs who in the 1970s took home 40 times the compensation of average workers now rake in 350 times.” (“Confessions of a Class Warrior,” August 22, 2010).
The Act of Voting Will Co-Opt Dreams of Real Democracy (tags)
Why should I, like Mr. Obama, allow my ideals to be co-opted in case of an emergency. Fuck it. If I did that, I'd be the same liberal ass-wiper that I rail against every day. I'm done.
Wall Street Excess and Main Street Distress: the Apple Connection (tags)
Apple’s march to market supremacy has been accomplished at tremendous cost to both American and Chinese workers
Occupation, Liberation, and Overcoming Contradictions Among the 99% (tags)
Which way forward for the Occupy movement and ideas on how to get there by embracing decolonization.
Occupy Los Angeles Marches for Bank Transfer Day (tags)
Diversified, Angry , Nonviolent. PhotoSet 3 of 3
Occupy Los Angeles Marches for Bank Transfer Day (tags)
Diversified, Angry , Nonviolent. Photo Set 2 of 3
Occupy Los Angeles Marches for Bank Transfer Day (tags)
Diversified, Angry , Nonviolent. PhotoSet 1 of 3
Six Proposals for Helping the 99% (tags)
Solidarity, social justice and sharing open doors while tax cuts for the super-rich only lead to exploding inequality. double standards and cynicism. Access could replace excess. The empire could be superseded by the republic.
Democrats Got Exactly What They Wanted With Unconstitutional "Individual Mandate" (tags)
Most Democrats never intended to pass a public option or "Medicare for all." Those that did were living in a mush-headed liberal Twilight Zone.
Video: Is Super-Capitalism a Threat to Democracy? (tags)
In Washington, the citizen side of our brain is not heard, only the consumer/investor side.
America for Sale: Is Goldman Sachs Buying Your City? (tags)
While the trend is worldwide, privatization of public infrastructure only came to America en masse in the 2000s.. I hope we as Americans will be able to decide if we truly want to see America for Sale.
One Land, Two Economies (tags)
Economic prosperity and progress for the president are obviously synonymous with robustly higher profits for businessmen and stock speculators. The large majority of Americans must suffer more because the crisis is not over for them.
Video: Cutting Public Sector Wages Will Make Recession Worse (tags)
The horse must be before the cart. The horse is economic recovery. Once jobs are created (and tax havens are dried up), the deficit will gradually be reduced (Robert Kuttner). Federal revenue sharing is the alternative to eliminating firefighters and teachers.
Chinese Currency War a Red Herring? (tags)
In the 1930s countries tried to gain advantages by exporting more. This is happening today.
Eight Theses on the New Culture of Work (tags)
Person-oriented work and labor-intensive work are vital in a post-industrial economy wrestling with decreasing resources. Work and security must be uncoupled like work and income. Reducing working hours is the only way to guarantee the right to work for all.
VIDEO: Robert Reich Interviewed (tags)
Robert Reich is a professor of economics at UC Berkeley and former Labor secretary under Clinton. Many of his recent articles can be read at www.truth-out.org.
BILL GATES & WARREN BUFFETT ARE OILING THE INTERNATIONAL POOR$ $QUEAKY WHEEL NOT AMERICA$ (tags)
THEY PRETEND FOR THEIR FAMILY & FRIENDS TO CARE DEARLY ABOUT THEIR FELLOW MAN OTHER THEN THEIR FELLOW NEEDY AMERICANS.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Labor Under the Democrats #1 (tags)
Labor article 1
Capitalism and Democracy (tags)
Citizens are protected from incursions of the state and on the other side must accept the sovereignty of the state and the general law as prerequisites of property and security. Whoever has visions should be the physician. A good physician will urge changing one's way of life.
Quinn contends that while governments can imagine a revolution they can't imagine abandonment. As he puts it, "..even if it could imagine abandonment , it couldn't defend against it, because abandonment isn't an attack, it's just a discontinuance of support
A reality check.
Quinn contends that while governments can imagine a revolution they can't imagine abandonment. As he puts it, "..even if it could imagine abandonment , it couldn't defend against it, because abandonment isn't an attack, it's just a discontinuance of support."
Robert Reich's "Super-Capitalism: How the Economy Undermines Democracy" (tags)
When everyone talks about stocks and consumption, what happens to social responsibility and public welfare? We suffer under a schizophrenia. The consumer in us opposes the worker. Businesses cannot be socially-responsible because they serve only one goal-maximization of profit.
US Dollar Heading for Collapse: Robert Reich (tags)
In painting a bleak outlook for the US economy, Reich suggested the worst is yet to come, especially if President George W. Bush and the Republican party's agenda of tax less and spend more is re-elected in Nov
Wages up for the well-off, but not for others (tags)
The gap between workers in the 90th earning percentile and the 10th has never been wider. Said Ann Owen, economist at Hamilton College (NY) and former Federal Reserve economist (DC), "we can probably project a future growth in inequality."
Labor rallies to challenge brave new Wal-Mart world (tags)
If Americans can get a DVD player for $29 - as they could this week during a pre-Christmas promotion at Wal-Mart - they are not going to be unduly concerned about whether workers who assembled the gizmo have a dental plan.
[gangbox] LIFE IS CHEAP..BUT CONSTRUCTION DELAYS ARE EXPENSIVE (tags)
LIFE IS CHEAP...BUT CONSTRUCTION DELAYS ARE EXPENSIVE..or, why construction continues to be such a hazardous industry to work in..