"...Democrats block any appreciable movement in progressive or 'leftist' directions."
While that statement is demonstrably true of the Dems, it's also true of the GOP, as we've seen for decades. In other words, we have a right-wing party and an extremist right-wing party.
What is remarkable is the ability of the GOP to still represent the wealthy but at the same time to have used hatred of government (which is dedicated to the wealthy) to win over the little guy. Now we have a president who represents little more than rage vowing to take down this and that, never a productive thing. Hang on to your seat as we move through the next four years of one GOP extremist fighting other GOP extremists, none willing to compromise forcing Trump to call the fight in one way or another but of no benefit to the country as a whole.
"Now we have a president who represents little more than rage vowing to take down this and that, never a productive thing."
Come on man! That's hyperbolic bovine excrement!
He's your democratically elected President. Get used to it!
How about burying the hatchet and trying to support him for God's sake.
Clif, America always reminds me of a Grid Iron team whose Head Coach calls for a play, and half the players disagree with it and decide they are going to do everything to fuck it up!
Is it the Minority Oppositions only job to fuck up everything the Majority decides to do?
Isn't that what ole turtle Mitchell McConnell said his job was the first day of Trump's first term? To make sure Trump never gets a second term!
President-elect Donald Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote in 20-years. Social media users have wrongly claimed that Trump lost the popular vote, but they are confusing the popular vote with a majority of votes. The unofficial results show Trump received 0.1% less than a majority, but more votes than any candidate.
In order to win the popular vote, a candidate must only receive more votes than any other single candidate — that is, a plurality of votes. They need not win the majority of all votes cast.
Barry C. Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains; “Trump has not won an outright majority of the popular vote; that would require surpassing the 50% threshold. He has won a large plurality, which means that he attracted more votes than each of his opponents.
0.1%...ppppfffft....It reminds me of the old joke about the Scientist and the Engineer. I forget how it exactly goes; something involving a nude young lady; but its ends with the Scientist exclaiming "but we will never get there!". To which the Engineer responds, "Yes, but I will get fucking close enough!"
Show me a politician who claims he has never embellished and exaggerated, and I will show you a liar, Jeff.
29% of America voted for this puke face. So please Trump is not representative of the American mime. A third of the voters protested both candidates and stayed home.
A significant portion of those who did not vote didn't vote because they had nobody they could honestly and legitimately vote FOR, as opposed to merely AGAINST.
The 19,625 voters in Nevada said it best when they voted for "None Of These Candidates"; as opposed to merely accepting what America's Ruling Political Caste jammed down their throats as "choices" in 2024.
And with Trump as this nation's next POTUS, the whole Planet is on the verge of seeing exactly how easily The American Empire can Fall, and with it, the end of The American Experiment.
Money, control, power, corruption. The political process in the USA, especially at the "big money" federal level, is thoroughly corrupt and corrupting.
Very few honest and decent people ever go into politics at the federal level, let alone survive it with their integrity somewhat intact.
I can't imagine running for office--all the handlers, the money-grubbing, the dishonesty, sycophancy, all the rest. Politics attracts the worst kind of people: the grasping, the vain, the power-hungry, the wannabe kings and queens.
It's a process that elevates the most corruptible and corrupts (or eliminates) the most principled.
Did America Fall and the American experiment fail any faster under Trump in his first term than it did under Obama, Bush and Clinton, Jeff?
What makes you think it will under his second term?
And how do you know what the 47th POTUS is going to do? Voodoo?
BTW no Presidential candidates were "jammed down the throats" of voters. The voters decided who were going to be the Presidential Candidates in the Primaries.
Trump ran against 17-opponents in the primary.
Kamala ran against ...oh never mind!
Was Jill Stein jammed down the throats of voters? The Greens darling?
The voters got the candidates that they deserved. Too busy sitting at home on their fat ass's watching sports. And then getting all pissed off at the candidates chosen in their absence by guess who - America's Ruling Political Caste.
The American Experiment is not failing because of one man. Its failing because of a spoilt, lazy, entitled, uneducated, dimwit apathetic public. Like those who call the elected President "Puke Face".
Happy New Year all. Yes indeed Bill, I have written about this before. It is clear to me that the source of all of this comes from the wealthy people in control. They want policies that make them richer, and those are all right-wing policies that act to concentrate wealth even further, while making sure that there is no path back to a more equitable world. The trend will never end until average working people stop bickering with each other and complaining about things like immigrants, and focus all energies on defunding the wealthy. What I want is a modern day "Jubilee". where all debts are canceled (and the rich take a big kick in the gut). If you haven't heard of Jubilee, look it up. It is exactly what we need right now.
In ..."And Forgive Them Their Debts", renowned economist Michael Hudson – one of the few who could see the 2008 financial crisis coming – takes us on an epic journey through the economies of ancient civilizations and reveals their relevance for us today.
Discussion of "Debt" Jubilees throughout history.
In a time of increasing economic and political polarization, and a global economy deeper in debt than at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, ...this books documents what individuals, governments and societies can learn from history for restoring economic and social stability by defunding debt.
Love Michael Hudson, and his colleague Richard Wolff. Yeah, we are in the biggest financial bubble of all time now. It is going to be a glorious crash when it comes.
Perceptive short analysis. It all began full tilt with Bill Clinton’s embrace of triangulation politics inspired or counseled by James Carville and Dick Morris and embraced by representatives and senators like Joe Biden. It is actually a sad as well as tragic story whose victims are exclusively the average American who have to survive from paycheck to paycheck. Karl Marx astutely described it in the short 1848 published COMMUNIST MANIFESTO: “everyone receiving a salary from an employer is a member of the proletariat.” That is why the vast majority of Americans, even those who consider themselves middle class, are actually proletarians.
I've been laboring (no word play intended, I swear) for years now to explain to Americans that it's not your gross annual income that determines to what class you belong. Once upon a time, a union member working for the Big 3 (remember them?) in Detroit, with enuf OT, could pull in more than $100,000 in a year. Naturally such a person was self-declared as "Middle Class," had the nice house in the 'burbs, multiple motor vehicles, a boat, etc. Ahh, I seem to recall a phrase "The American Dream." The US economy is still afloat (for the moment!) thanks to rabid consumer spending, as the less-than-rich max out their credit cards, etc. Sprinting on treadmills and going nowhere. Needless to say, this will not end with a pretty picture.
Greg, I saw this firsthand as a union member where coworkers were competing for OT, grabbing every hour they could even though base pay was far above that necessary to be a comfortable member of the middle class. Since the last thing I wanted was to put in more time on the job, I was happy to have colleagues chafing for the OT so I could enjoy 9-5 (or 3-11) hours.
And this "American Dream" continues to stay afloat since USA is the world's largest exporter of debt. Wait 'til the debt-holders (such as China) start cashing out their chips.
Yes, good point. I follow financial news fairly closely, though I lack the funds to play the markets to significant degree. This matter of other countries cashing in their US Treasury Bond chips has been discussed literally for decades now! It hasn't happened, as US "paper" is still considered the best ("In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King"), and the US would "never" default on the debt. That's always been the theory, at least! US National Debt is at nightmare level, and as Trump pushes more tax breaks for the uber-rich, it will only continue to climb and climb. If memory serves, Reagan and 'Dubya' Bush both basically DOUBLED the debt on their watches with their wars and war preparations. Insanity and fiscal irresponsibility--but gee, aren't the Republicans our guarantors against such a thing?!? Ha!!--of cosmic proportions.
I think the big collapse will be held off until the Chinese have solidly established their currency in Asia, Africa and South America as an alternative to the dollar. Brazilian president Lula says he dreams of the day the dollar can be dumped. I suspect that when the time comes there will be an astounding rush out of the dollar, ending the American Empire with a frenzy in DC as nothing can be done to stop the rush. We really are making our bed not thinking we will have to lie in it.
If one tosses enuf little rocks into a roaring river, one may succeed in finally stopping it up. Eventually that one little "magic" rock will make all the difference. But it is not given us to know exactly which rock will do the trick, or when the event will transpire. But suddenly the whole world will be "in shock"! "How could this happen? We had no way of knowing!" Perceptions of reality will be altered in a flash. Such are the ways of the eternal process of change. But for now, the US Dollar remains the King. "The least bad unit of currency available," as some would say.
The only reason I was able to Retire @ 43 after a 20 yr. Career as a Firefighter is because of my Line of Duty Injury Disability being that my Injuries occured on the job. So I have a Tax Free Pension. Nice benefit and compensation, but you really want to retire whole!
Karl, in the economic system we have, almost everyone is bought. The difference between this and that person is in how much it takes to buy him or her. I hated this dedication of myself to the wishes of a corporation doing something I truly hate - influencing people to buy stuff. The good part was that I was paid so much to prostitute myself that I was able to retire early and do what I think is best for society.
That is why we need an alternative economic system that puts people first. It cannot be done unless the people create a real democracy when people and not money rules.
Wasn't it Lenin who said that the capitalist will sell you the rope with which to hang him? Profit is blinding, its glitter obscures even the near future, let alone the distant. Global warming is the proof.
As the word capitalist implies, though capitalists strenuously object, profit is paramount in their world view. Our huge number of prison inmates contributes to America’s GDP. Yes, they have no problem selling the rope to make a profit. I don’t know all the causes for global warming, but I do know that the world is a far healthier place without all that CO 2 in the air. You can’t teach morons without a conscience.
Karl, I always tell people to look at the CO2 data from NOAA's monitoring facility in Hawaii. The amount is going steadily up without a hint of a reduction in the yearly increase. Huge profit is being made on fossil fuel and as is well known, dollars in the hand will keep just about anyone happy and not thinking of even the near future, let alone 20 or 30 years down the road. I think of big winners of the lottery. How many carefully put aside much of what they win compared to the number who splurge without a thought of tomorrow? We like to think we are rational creatures, but in fact we are the prisoners of desire and human desire is unlimited. Even Musk and Bezos don't think they have as much as they should have. Don't spread this around, but that is insanity.
I think you basically confirm my position. I have lived for 82 years and in this relatively long life I have seen what our greed (growth) oriented “market” economy has done to our beautiful planet. When I was a child and youth I experienced a relatively beautiful where the humble butterfly and honey bee was everywhere. That is not anymore the case. I drove this fall across part of the western U.S. (6300 miles) and hardly any windshield cleaning issues. That wasn’t the case when I first did such travel more than sixty years ago. It doesn’t take “science” training to see that something has gone seriously wrong. Morons without conscience don’t care.
I'm pretty sure Karl Marx (not Groucho!) said that. Runaway greed--exploit the planet's natural resources to the max!--has certainly led to rejection of that "inconvenient truth" about the Climate Disaster.
A few years back, I saw a definition (sorry, author's name escapes me) of Liberals more or less as follows: The role of the Liberal is to ensure that the underclass will not rise to the level of revolution. That seems quite correct to me. Anyone who voted for Trump because they really believed he has our--the little people, the common people, those far distant from the "elites"--best interests in mind is in for a really rude awakening. But I've been saying for some time now that disgruntlement with the economic status quo surely did lead to support for Trump. That and the flaming xenophobia/racism he radiates. Congrats, fellow Americans, on having elected a friend of the Ku Klux Klan (about whom he professes ignorance, of course)!!
A very good graphic with your caution about the Dems.
FYI, I now have a Substack account, but only as a means of getting people to my blog where I will be keeping the public updated on my anti-Zionist vigil that has been going on for six weeks now with no end in sight. I have had such a positive response to my sandwich board signs by the passing public that I want to expand my effort in the hope that other individuals might give what I am doing a try - attempting to change things from the bottom (we the people) up since the top is tightly gripped by Zionism, Trump ready and eager to take us to a new low.
What a year!!! Glad its ovah!! :/ :o) Hope springs eternal so Happy New Yr. everyone. "Fair winds and following seas." I'm sure we'll be adjusting the "Jib" often in 2025. Find a Star and follow it. Celestial Navigation never fails.
Happy New Year Everyone... Lets Hope For The Best & Prepare For The Worst..
" Consider Kamala Harris’ embrace of Dick and Liz Cheney during her campaign of ill-fortune. Or her embrace of military lethality and her celebration of Israel’s “right” to “defend” itself as it wages genocide in Gaza."....
I came about this the other Day, it was a Washington Post Story:
We just celebrated the 2024th Birthday of Christ Jesus the Jew rebelling against the Jewish Religious Establishment 2000 years ago. That got him crucified for overturning the tables on the Bankers and Merchants working the Shopping Mall on Jewish Temple property in a Kosher Deal with the Priests. Because the Priests demanded Jews offer only the Best to God, they allowing the Merchants to grossly inflate the prices charged by Merchants selling the same things off Temple Property.
The re-constituted Old Testament Jewish Establishment is the mainstay of Israel's Netanyahu government since January 2023, long before October 7.
Happy New Year everyone! Will there be a Christmas 2025 the way this World is going?
What the last pagan emperor thought: "It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I am convinced that the fabrication of the Christians is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth." - Julian.
I'm so grateful that people can see this video, and others, in 2025 on the internet. And not just take for granted that what they are told every Sunday by their minister is the truth.
People FREAK OUT when I suggest maybe Jesus wasn't a real person. A good friend of my wife, a very intelligent gal, walked out of our home when I bought up this subject! And refused to speak to me again. Causing my wife much distress. Religion can be very divisive.
The sad fact is that with the US's first-past-the-post winner-take-all voting, and the anachronistic Electoral College with its Superdelegates, there is not even a theoretical chance a Third-Party candidate can be elected POTUS.
It's a systemic problem. Well proven in 1992 when Ross Perot challenged GW Bush and Clinton on a populist platform of slashing the budget deficit.
He got an amazing 19.0% of the vote ~ but didn’t receive a plurality of voters in any state, giving him ZERO ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-party duopoly. A third-Party has NEVER been voted into power in the US. Google it.
Reforms can only be achieved by amending the U.S. Constitution.
Let's look at what would have happened in the case of Ross Perot if electoral votes were allocated on the basis of the popular vote. Ross would have received 19% (102) electors which would have deprived Bush and Clinton of a majority of electors. In that case, the House of Representatives would have elected the president.
On January 6, 1993, when the ballots for president were counted, the House of Representatives of the 103rd Congress had been seated and had 258 Democrats, 176 Republicans and 1 Independent. You guessed it. Bill Clinton would have been elected.
The bottom line is, we're screwed no matter if you abolish the electoral college, eliminate the winner take all rule or both. So long as voters have only one choice, and there are only two dominant political parties, a third party will never win the presidency.
Actually, when the presidential election is decided by the House of Representatives, voting is by state i.e., each state gets only one vote and it takes 26 states to win. (If there's a tie or the House can't otherwise decide, the election goes to the Senate.) In 1992, 28 states had a clear majority of Democrats in the House, so they still would have elected Clinton. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections)
I am willing to give odds that even if we eliminated the electoral college with a Constitutional amendment or if enough states passed the National Popular Vote Act (which will render the electoral college superfluous), American voters would still remain addicted to the two dominant parties.
The only mechanism I see having any chance of breaking the two party system is the implementation of ranked choice voting by a vast majority of states.
Since 1800, over 700 (!) proposals to reform the Electoral system have been introduced in Congress.
None of these proposals have received the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states required to amend the Constitution.
The goal post is just too high. (The same with 2A.)
My bet wrk, is that we aren't going to see any reform in our lifetime. And even our kids and grandkids are going to be saddled with this "democracy". And I use the term advisedly.
Front page cartoon in Vancouver Sun calls US "Trumpland" featuring Donald J. Duck and Mickey Musk. Unfortunately, it is no laughing matter and a dim prospect for the future.
Maybe the only real thing going on in 'left/right' politics - for those of us 'not in the big club' - are the final fracturing of assumptions about partisan politics.
The H1B conflict between MAGA and Elon Musk, however apparently tamped down by Trump, may fester as the Republican 'pseudo populism' will not last as the oligarchs (both within and outside the Trump administration) demand their rewards. Trump, particularly as a lame duck, may not find that he can command blind obedience among MAGA voters or politicians who will look to their own future ambitions.
On the Democrats side, Sean O'Brien (president of the Teamsters) in his recent discussion with Tucker Carlson had revealing things to say about the Democrats - particularly Harris and Schumer, and their disturbing sense of entitlement and demanded support. The Democrats may think they will win elections by appealing only to readers of The Nation, but they may find that a poor strategy as what's left of the working and middle classes reject their elitism - no matter how many times they change their 'messaging'.
I'm not smart enough to know what comes with both of the above. But rejection of all authority and 'the smart people' appears to be coming. Particularly if the economy tanks, the US bombs Iran for Israel, or they try to push another pandemic - this time with bird flu.
No matter what happens 'out there' - may you have a Happy New Year.
Right v Left! I subscribe to a mailer for Christian activities. One showed up that perplexes me. A talk by a former IDF soldier. I would go but I would be moved to call out the war crimes! And preach Just War and peace to my Christian friends.
"...Democrats block any appreciable movement in progressive or 'leftist' directions."
While that statement is demonstrably true of the Dems, it's also true of the GOP, as we've seen for decades. In other words, we have a right-wing party and an extremist right-wing party.
What is remarkable is the ability of the GOP to still represent the wealthy but at the same time to have used hatred of government (which is dedicated to the wealthy) to win over the little guy. Now we have a president who represents little more than rage vowing to take down this and that, never a productive thing. Hang on to your seat as we move through the next four years of one GOP extremist fighting other GOP extremists, none willing to compromise forcing Trump to call the fight in one way or another but of no benefit to the country as a whole.
"Now we have a president who represents little more than rage vowing to take down this and that, never a productive thing."
Come on man! That's hyperbolic bovine excrement!
He's your democratically elected President. Get used to it!
How about burying the hatchet and trying to support him for God's sake.
Clif, America always reminds me of a Grid Iron team whose Head Coach calls for a play, and half the players disagree with it and decide they are going to do everything to fuck it up!
Is it the Minority Oppositions only job to fuck up everything the Majority decides to do?
Isn't that what ole turtle Mitchell McConnell said his job was the first day of Trump's first term? To make sure Trump never gets a second term!
America - what a country eh! - Borat Sagdiyev.
You ignored this question the first time around, Dennis. Will You ignore it ba second time?
What "majority" did Trump get? He got 49.9% of the Popular Vote.
Is that how Kiwis define a "majority"?
Let alone ~ to use Trump's and his Church's own bovine excremental term ~ a "massive," "overwhelming," and "landslide" so-called "MANDATE to MAGA"?
President-elect Donald Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote in 20-years. Social media users have wrongly claimed that Trump lost the popular vote, but they are confusing the popular vote with a majority of votes. The unofficial results show Trump received 0.1% less than a majority, but more votes than any candidate.
In order to win the popular vote, a candidate must only receive more votes than any other single candidate — that is, a plurality of votes. They need not win the majority of all votes cast.
Barry C. Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains; “Trump has not won an outright majority of the popular vote; that would require surpassing the 50% threshold. He has won a large plurality, which means that he attracted more votes than each of his opponents.
0.1%...ppppfffft....It reminds me of the old joke about the Scientist and the Engineer. I forget how it exactly goes; something involving a nude young lady; but its ends with the Scientist exclaiming "but we will never get there!". To which the Engineer responds, "Yes, but I will get fucking close enough!"
Show me a politician who claims he has never embellished and exaggerated, and I will show you a liar, Jeff.
And once again, You fail to answer the Question:
What kind of "Mandate" is that ~ less than a majority ~ to do anything about anything? And exactly Who is that "Mandate" coming from?
And show me a politician who has been reelected ~ especially to the White House ~ over the past 60 years, and i will show You a liar as well.
Recall: "Peace on earth, good will toward men"
There's no reason to resort to personal invective.
Don't you have something better to do Moebus?
What "majority" did Trump get? He got 49.9% of the Popular Vote.
Is that how Kiwis define a "majority"?
Let alone ~ to use Trump's and his Church's own bovine excremental term ~ a "massive," "overwhelming," and "landslide" so-called "MANDATE to MAGA"?
29% of America voted for this puke face. So please Trump is not representative of the American mime. A third of the voters protested both candidates and stayed home.
A third of the voters stayed home because they are so apathetic they could not be bothered pulling their fat ass's away from sports on TV.
They are not smart enough to appreciate what they have.
And don't have a clue how easily it could all be lost.
They may as well be living in Somalia, Bangladesh or Palestine.
See how they like that.
Calling the elected President a "puke face" - you are the PROBLEM Jazzme.
America - what a country eh! - Borat Sagdiyev.
A significant portion of those who did not vote didn't vote because they had nobody they could honestly and legitimately vote FOR, as opposed to merely AGAINST.
The 19,625 voters in Nevada said it best when they voted for "None Of These Candidates"; as opposed to merely accepting what America's Ruling Political Caste jammed down their throats as "choices" in 2024.
And with Trump as this nation's next POTUS, the whole Planet is on the verge of seeing exactly how easily The American Empire can Fall, and with it, the end of The American Experiment.
Money, control, power, corruption. The political process in the USA, especially at the "big money" federal level, is thoroughly corrupt and corrupting.
Very few honest and decent people ever go into politics at the federal level, let alone survive it with their integrity somewhat intact.
I can't imagine running for office--all the handlers, the money-grubbing, the dishonesty, sycophancy, all the rest. Politics attracts the worst kind of people: the grasping, the vain, the power-hungry, the wannabe kings and queens.
It's a process that elevates the most corruptible and corrupts (or eliminates) the most principled.
Sorry for these grim thoughts on New Years Day.
Did America Fall and the American experiment fail any faster under Trump in his first term than it did under Obama, Bush and Clinton, Jeff?
What makes you think it will under his second term?
And how do you know what the 47th POTUS is going to do? Voodoo?
BTW no Presidential candidates were "jammed down the throats" of voters. The voters decided who were going to be the Presidential Candidates in the Primaries.
Trump ran against 17-opponents in the primary.
Kamala ran against ...oh never mind!
Was Jill Stein jammed down the throats of voters? The Greens darling?
The voters got the candidates that they deserved. Too busy sitting at home on their fat ass's watching sports. And then getting all pissed off at the candidates chosen in their absence by guess who - America's Ruling Political Caste.
The American Experiment is not failing because of one man. Its failing because of a spoilt, lazy, entitled, uneducated, dimwit apathetic public. Like those who call the elected President "Puke Face".
Happy New Year all. Yes indeed Bill, I have written about this before. It is clear to me that the source of all of this comes from the wealthy people in control. They want policies that make them richer, and those are all right-wing policies that act to concentrate wealth even further, while making sure that there is no path back to a more equitable world. The trend will never end until average working people stop bickering with each other and complaining about things like immigrants, and focus all energies on defunding the wealthy. What I want is a modern day "Jubilee". where all debts are canceled (and the rich take a big kick in the gut). If you haven't heard of Jubilee, look it up. It is exactly what we need right now.
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/3981826027?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz
In ..."And Forgive Them Their Debts", renowned economist Michael Hudson – one of the few who could see the 2008 financial crisis coming – takes us on an epic journey through the economies of ancient civilizations and reveals their relevance for us today.
Discussion of "Debt" Jubilees throughout history.
In a time of increasing economic and political polarization, and a global economy deeper in debt than at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, ...this books documents what individuals, governments and societies can learn from history for restoring economic and social stability by defunding debt.
Love Michael Hudson, and his colleague Richard Wolff. Yeah, we are in the biggest financial bubble of all time now. It is going to be a glorious crash when it comes.
Perceptive short analysis. It all began full tilt with Bill Clinton’s embrace of triangulation politics inspired or counseled by James Carville and Dick Morris and embraced by representatives and senators like Joe Biden. It is actually a sad as well as tragic story whose victims are exclusively the average American who have to survive from paycheck to paycheck. Karl Marx astutely described it in the short 1848 published COMMUNIST MANIFESTO: “everyone receiving a salary from an employer is a member of the proletariat.” That is why the vast majority of Americans, even those who consider themselves middle class, are actually proletarians.
I've been laboring (no word play intended, I swear) for years now to explain to Americans that it's not your gross annual income that determines to what class you belong. Once upon a time, a union member working for the Big 3 (remember them?) in Detroit, with enuf OT, could pull in more than $100,000 in a year. Naturally such a person was self-declared as "Middle Class," had the nice house in the 'burbs, multiple motor vehicles, a boat, etc. Ahh, I seem to recall a phrase "The American Dream." The US economy is still afloat (for the moment!) thanks to rabid consumer spending, as the less-than-rich max out their credit cards, etc. Sprinting on treadmills and going nowhere. Needless to say, this will not end with a pretty picture.
Greg, I saw this firsthand as a union member where coworkers were competing for OT, grabbing every hour they could even though base pay was far above that necessary to be a comfortable member of the middle class. Since the last thing I wanted was to put in more time on the job, I was happy to have colleagues chafing for the OT so I could enjoy 9-5 (or 3-11) hours.
And this "American Dream" continues to stay afloat since USA is the world's largest exporter of debt. Wait 'til the debt-holders (such as China) start cashing out their chips.
Yes, good point. I follow financial news fairly closely, though I lack the funds to play the markets to significant degree. This matter of other countries cashing in their US Treasury Bond chips has been discussed literally for decades now! It hasn't happened, as US "paper" is still considered the best ("In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King"), and the US would "never" default on the debt. That's always been the theory, at least! US National Debt is at nightmare level, and as Trump pushes more tax breaks for the uber-rich, it will only continue to climb and climb. If memory serves, Reagan and 'Dubya' Bush both basically DOUBLED the debt on their watches with their wars and war preparations. Insanity and fiscal irresponsibility--but gee, aren't the Republicans our guarantors against such a thing?!? Ha!!--of cosmic proportions.
I think the big collapse will be held off until the Chinese have solidly established their currency in Asia, Africa and South America as an alternative to the dollar. Brazilian president Lula says he dreams of the day the dollar can be dumped. I suspect that when the time comes there will be an astounding rush out of the dollar, ending the American Empire with a frenzy in DC as nothing can be done to stop the rush. We really are making our bed not thinking we will have to lie in it.
If one tosses enuf little rocks into a roaring river, one may succeed in finally stopping it up. Eventually that one little "magic" rock will make all the difference. But it is not given us to know exactly which rock will do the trick, or when the event will transpire. But suddenly the whole world will be "in shock"! "How could this happen? We had no way of knowing!" Perceptions of reality will be altered in a flash. Such are the ways of the eternal process of change. But for now, the US Dollar remains the King. "The least bad unit of currency available," as some would say.
As for Consumer spending, Credit Card default is at a 14 year high!
The only reason I was able to Retire @ 43 after a 20 yr. Career as a Firefighter is because of my Line of Duty Injury Disability being that my Injuries occured on the job. So I have a Tax Free Pension. Nice benefit and compensation, but you really want to retire whole!
Karl, in the economic system we have, almost everyone is bought. The difference between this and that person is in how much it takes to buy him or her. I hated this dedication of myself to the wishes of a corporation doing something I truly hate - influencing people to buy stuff. The good part was that I was paid so much to prostitute myself that I was able to retire early and do what I think is best for society.
That is why we need an alternative economic system that puts people first. It cannot be done unless the people create a real democracy when people and not money rules.
Wasn't it Lenin who said that the capitalist will sell you the rope with which to hang him? Profit is blinding, its glitter obscures even the near future, let alone the distant. Global warming is the proof.
As the word capitalist implies, though capitalists strenuously object, profit is paramount in their world view. Our huge number of prison inmates contributes to America’s GDP. Yes, they have no problem selling the rope to make a profit. I don’t know all the causes for global warming, but I do know that the world is a far healthier place without all that CO 2 in the air. You can’t teach morons without a conscience.
Karl, I always tell people to look at the CO2 data from NOAA's monitoring facility in Hawaii. The amount is going steadily up without a hint of a reduction in the yearly increase. Huge profit is being made on fossil fuel and as is well known, dollars in the hand will keep just about anyone happy and not thinking of even the near future, let alone 20 or 30 years down the road. I think of big winners of the lottery. How many carefully put aside much of what they win compared to the number who splurge without a thought of tomorrow? We like to think we are rational creatures, but in fact we are the prisoners of desire and human desire is unlimited. Even Musk and Bezos don't think they have as much as they should have. Don't spread this around, but that is insanity.
I think you basically confirm my position. I have lived for 82 years and in this relatively long life I have seen what our greed (growth) oriented “market” economy has done to our beautiful planet. When I was a child and youth I experienced a relatively beautiful where the humble butterfly and honey bee was everywhere. That is not anymore the case. I drove this fall across part of the western U.S. (6300 miles) and hardly any windshield cleaning issues. That wasn’t the case when I first did such travel more than sixty years ago. It doesn’t take “science” training to see that something has gone seriously wrong. Morons without conscience don’t care.
I'm pretty sure Karl Marx (not Groucho!) said that. Runaway greed--exploit the planet's natural resources to the max!--has certainly led to rejection of that "inconvenient truth" about the Climate Disaster.
Happy New Year
A few years back, I saw a definition (sorry, author's name escapes me) of Liberals more or less as follows: The role of the Liberal is to ensure that the underclass will not rise to the level of revolution. That seems quite correct to me. Anyone who voted for Trump because they really believed he has our--the little people, the common people, those far distant from the "elites"--best interests in mind is in for a really rude awakening. But I've been saying for some time now that disgruntlement with the economic status quo surely did lead to support for Trump. That and the flaming xenophobia/racism he radiates. Congrats, fellow Americans, on having elected a friend of the Ku Klux Klan (about whom he professes ignorance, of course)!!
A very good graphic with your caution about the Dems.
FYI, I now have a Substack account, but only as a means of getting people to my blog where I will be keeping the public updated on my anti-Zionist vigil that has been going on for six weeks now with no end in sight. I have had such a positive response to my sandwich board signs by the passing public that I want to expand my effort in the hope that other individuals might give what I am doing a try - attempting to change things from the bottom (we the people) up since the top is tightly gripped by Zionism, Trump ready and eager to take us to a new low.
Substack: https://substack.com/@clifbrown (one introductory post only)
my blog: https://endoccupation.blogspot.com/ (the whole 9 yards from 2010, but now concentrating on the vigil
What a year!!! Glad its ovah!! :/ :o) Hope springs eternal so Happy New Yr. everyone. "Fair winds and following seas." I'm sure we'll be adjusting the "Jib" often in 2025. Find a Star and follow it. Celestial Navigation never fails.
Happy New Year Everyone... Lets Hope For The Best & Prepare For The Worst..
" Consider Kamala Harris’ embrace of Dick and Liz Cheney during her campaign of ill-fortune. Or her embrace of military lethality and her celebration of Israel’s “right” to “defend” itself as it wages genocide in Gaza."....
I came about this the other Day, it was a Washington Post Story:
ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-built-an-ai-factory-for-war-it-unleashed-it-in-gaza
So Israel, and the IDF, Declare Themselves the most Moral Country, and Army In The World? Slaughter Is Slaughter, And Immoral...
We just celebrated the 2024th Birthday of Christ Jesus the Jew rebelling against the Jewish Religious Establishment 2000 years ago. That got him crucified for overturning the tables on the Bankers and Merchants working the Shopping Mall on Jewish Temple property in a Kosher Deal with the Priests. Because the Priests demanded Jews offer only the Best to God, they allowing the Merchants to grossly inflate the prices charged by Merchants selling the same things off Temple Property.
The re-constituted Old Testament Jewish Establishment is the mainstay of Israel's Netanyahu government since January 2023, long before October 7.
Happy New Year everyone! Will there be a Christmas 2025 the way this World is going?
Jesus Never Existed - Kenneth Humphreys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muvNsWH2cmA&t=27s
What the last pagan emperor thought: "It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I am convinced that the fabrication of the Christians is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth." - Julian.
I'm so grateful that people can see this video, and others, in 2025 on the internet. And not just take for granted that what they are told every Sunday by their minister is the truth.
People FREAK OUT when I suggest maybe Jesus wasn't a real person. A good friend of my wife, a very intelligent gal, walked out of our home when I bought up this subject! And refused to speak to me again. Causing my wife much distress. Religion can be very divisive.
Happy New Year Ray and all BV's readers.
What boggles my mind is why voters remain loyal to the two political parties that don't give a shit about the average working man.
wrk,
The sad fact is that with the US's first-past-the-post winner-take-all voting, and the anachronistic Electoral College with its Superdelegates, there is not even a theoretical chance a Third-Party candidate can be elected POTUS.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/america-isnt-really-set-up-for-third-party-presidential-bids/
It's a systemic problem. Well proven in 1992 when Ross Perot challenged GW Bush and Clinton on a populist platform of slashing the budget deficit.
He got an amazing 19.0% of the vote ~ but didn’t receive a plurality of voters in any state, giving him ZERO ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-party duopoly. A third-Party has NEVER been voted into power in the US. Google it.
Reforms can only be achieved by amending the U.S. Constitution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reform_in_the_United_States
If you want to know the chance of America reforming its method of voting in its President ~ how is the effort going to reform the Second amendment?
Let's look at what would have happened in the case of Ross Perot if electoral votes were allocated on the basis of the popular vote. Ross would have received 19% (102) electors which would have deprived Bush and Clinton of a majority of electors. In that case, the House of Representatives would have elected the president.
On January 6, 1993, when the ballots for president were counted, the House of Representatives of the 103rd Congress had been seated and had 258 Democrats, 176 Republicans and 1 Independent. You guessed it. Bill Clinton would have been elected.
The bottom line is, we're screwed no matter if you abolish the electoral college, eliminate the winner take all rule or both. So long as voters have only one choice, and there are only two dominant political parties, a third party will never win the presidency.
Actually, when the presidential election is decided by the House of Representatives, voting is by state i.e., each state gets only one vote and it takes 26 states to win. (If there's a tie or the House can't otherwise decide, the election goes to the Senate.) In 1992, 28 states had a clear majority of Democrats in the House, so they still would have elected Clinton. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections)
I am willing to give odds that even if we eliminated the electoral college with a Constitutional amendment or if enough states passed the National Popular Vote Act (which will render the electoral college superfluous), American voters would still remain addicted to the two dominant parties.
The only mechanism I see having any chance of breaking the two party system is the implementation of ranked choice voting by a vast majority of states.
Since 1800, over 700 (!) proposals to reform the Electoral system have been introduced in Congress.
None of these proposals have received the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states required to amend the Constitution.
The goal post is just too high. (The same with 2A.)
My bet wrk, is that we aren't going to see any reform in our lifetime. And even our kids and grandkids are going to be saddled with this "democracy". And I use the term advisedly.
I wouldn't touch that bet with a ten foot pole even if you gave me 100:1 odds.
Thank you, Bill, exactly right.
Front page cartoon in Vancouver Sun calls US "Trumpland" featuring Donald J. Duck and Mickey Musk. Unfortunately, it is no laughing matter and a dim prospect for the future.
Anticeptic genocide
Clean and lethal
It was a pleasure?? reading your comments video but most of all seeing Oreo in 2024
Rashida is the lone shining star.
Maybe the only real thing going on in 'left/right' politics - for those of us 'not in the big club' - are the final fracturing of assumptions about partisan politics.
The H1B conflict between MAGA and Elon Musk, however apparently tamped down by Trump, may fester as the Republican 'pseudo populism' will not last as the oligarchs (both within and outside the Trump administration) demand their rewards. Trump, particularly as a lame duck, may not find that he can command blind obedience among MAGA voters or politicians who will look to their own future ambitions.
On the Democrats side, Sean O'Brien (president of the Teamsters) in his recent discussion with Tucker Carlson had revealing things to say about the Democrats - particularly Harris and Schumer, and their disturbing sense of entitlement and demanded support. The Democrats may think they will win elections by appealing only to readers of The Nation, but they may find that a poor strategy as what's left of the working and middle classes reject their elitism - no matter how many times they change their 'messaging'.
I'm not smart enough to know what comes with both of the above. But rejection of all authority and 'the smart people' appears to be coming. Particularly if the economy tanks, the US bombs Iran for Israel, or they try to push another pandemic - this time with bird flu.
No matter what happens 'out there' - may you have a Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
Right v Left! I subscribe to a mailer for Christian activities. One showed up that perplexes me. A talk by a former IDF soldier. I would go but I would be moved to call out the war crimes! And preach Just War and peace to my Christian friends.