Always The Rich And Powerful vs The Rest Of Us

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On Drudge Report this morning​:

The first did not actually cite a poll, but pointed to a CBS News clip. Probably not really “half.” But there are a number of recent polls showing various percentages of Americans skipping meals to pay for healthcare costs or other things. Next year new Medicaid restrictions hit, along with ACA subsidies expiring.

The second goes to a statistic everyone knows:

The labor share of income, which is the amount of economic output paid to workers as compensation, fell to 52.8% earlier this year, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. That’s the lowest-ever level, according to BLS records that go back to 1947.

How many of us remember Paul Volker? In 1979 he said, “The standard of living of the average American has to decline. I don’t think you can escape that.” A study by the Rand Corporation found that between 1975 and 2023 $79 trillion (in 2023 dollars) was shifted or lost from the bottom 90% of U.S. workers due to rising economic inequality over that period.

And here we are.

Oligarchs Are Using Social Media To Destabilize Democracies

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Social media and other information outlets are owned by American oligarchs for a reason. (Check out Musk’s partners for the Twitter purchase.) The platforms amplify divisive, far-right accounts and “throttle” others. It works. Non-right-wing accounts lost much of their “reach” after the Twitter takeover throttled them. “Conservatives” know what happened when the old Twitter banned violent, racist and Nazi accounts.) The platforms are now populated by bots posting Russian and other divisive propaganda, and amplifying divisive, racist accounts. (Musk has 241.5 million “followers.”) Bandwagon effect.

This stuff is professionally crafted to stoke division and hatred. This is part of a strategy to destabilize & weaken the democracies and refocus their attention away from fighting the rise of this fascist cartel. Even Trump’s public National Security Strategy document promises to “cultivate resistance” and help far right parties take over their countries.

We know this!

The countries and political parties subject to this attack don’t fight it. They just let it continue. They PARTICIPATE. Politicians, parties (Democrats, Labour, etc), media personalities and others assist by contributing, drawing others there to be exposed to the algorithms. (Trump’s Truth Social social media platform fails because politicians, parties and media do not participate.)

Note – “Monopoly” and “network effect” mean you don’t have a choice. Network effect monopolies are public utilities by definition. That’s why functioning democracies regulate them. Facebook is the network effect monopoly for staying in contact with friends and family. Google is the monopoly for search.

It’s Time To Just Scap The “System”

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Thank you for your response. ✨

America is living under another Henry VIII almost 500 years later! Like Henry VIII the current mad king operates with absolute impunity, destroying whoever and whatever he wants to, taking whatever he wants for himself and his cronies. Policies are based on self-interest and shift with the wind. Power is exercised through coercion and manipulation. Wealth and power decides. The problems of the population do not get addressed. Everything is short term, done for self-interest. Corruption is endemic.

The Hierarchical Executive System Sucks

America’s (slightly) revised monarchy system evolved from the European monarchies it separated itself from. They evolved time from regional kingdoms that evolved from tribal gang systems based on domination by patriarchal coercive power. Kill and dominate everyone else and you’re the boss/ruler/king, your kids will rule (if they can keep it), etc… I guess that system evolved from apes. The strongest ape got the bananas.

Over time this model has been revised, softened a bit. Constant propaganda gives the system a veneer of legitimacy. The explanation has evolved from, “God granted this authority to this family” to “It’s the worst system except for all the others,” etc … but really it’s still just a top-down hierarchical dominance model enforced through coercion and, when the shit hits the fan, violence. Corporations, states, cities still have someone – usually a man – at the top making decisions, exercising power over a pyramid of others who exercise power over others. All vying to rise up “the ladder.”

Like a dog-sled team, you can rise up but until you get to be lead dog the view remains the same. It sucks for everyone except the asshole in front.

America’s “System”

America’s “system” of a monarch plus “separation of powers” worked ok for a while (not so much if you weren’t white, male and wealthy) and some of it got somewhat better. After WWII the economy started to be run somewhat more for the people – until the wealthiest figured out how to recapture it. Things improved a bit for nonwhites and women, too, for a while. But it was all still based on a medieval monarchal structure. A guy – usually a white male – at the top making the decisions. At all levels of government and business. And when it came down to it the wealthy and powerful took off the mask and applied boot to neck.

Just Scrap It

Face it. It’s still just little kings all the way down. Turtles would work better. Our governing system of a king with (sometimes) limitations has outlived its usefulness. It’s time to just scrap it.

Scrap this top-down hierarchical system model we live under. And not just in governments. All of it. Maybe it’s time to realize we could do better.

Yes, I have a suggestion for a new kind of system. But this is Government Cheese, the site “Chronicling the collapse of democracy”. I’ll post ideas at Imagine Democracy. Maybe even start a discussion…

Dark Trump Takeover Scenario

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Some say the stock market will crash if Trump steals the midterms. There are many ways he could do this. Prevent enough people from voting. Have ICE seize ballots. Have Republicans just order the counting stopped or refuse to certify election results. Surround the Capitol with tanks and put the lot of them in jail. Everyone is running through possible scenarios in their heads. (Admit it, you are.)

Bailout Bubbles

I keep hearing that this stock bubble persists because traders believe Trump will bail them out if the bubble pops. Go crazy because there’s less downside risk. There certainly is reason to believe this. Just look at what happened after the 2008 crash. Look at Silicon Valley Bank. Look at etc., etc., etc. Downside risk? What’s that? We don’t GOT no stinkin’ downside risk!

Oil Companies Know

Factor that kind of thinking into the “Trump Takeover” scenario. There could be a total corruption bailout! The corporations could finally be totally “unleashed.” ALL the money at the top and NONE of that stupid trickling down!

Oil companies know. Remember how Trump promised the oil companies they can have everything they want if they help him win. Trump won and the oil companies got Venezuela and a government that is fighting green energy & CO2 reduction rules every step of the way. Imagine what the corporations can achieve with no Congress or government departments at all to worry about.

A Dark Vision

So the other argument is at lease some think there’s the possibility that the market could go insane upwards if Trump “goes the full gestapo route.” It means the big guys at the top will get all the rest of (what’s let of) the loot. Maybe markets will believe that with all constraints removed there will be be real cheap labor and no more problems with oversight of anything — for those who can pay Trump enough. Because that’s how it works when the strongman runs things.

The Final Extraction

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Extraction

Everything is extraction now. Late-stage capitalism has turned into whatever you call the billionaires (and trillionaire) owning everything and extracting all the wealth from everywhere that’s left.

Their giant multinational monopolies buy up all the businesses. All the businesses extract all the local spending and transfer it to tax havens. The governments have to “borrow” their wealth back to keep running, then extract taxes to pay interest — to the billionaires.

The Final Extraction

There are still a few things left in the world to extract. Some people still have some equity in their homes. There are still some independent farms and businesses (in hock to the billionaires’ banks.)

The billionaires are circling the rest, though.

Until Collapse

Extraction at this extreme level has to lead to collapse.

Far too oil has been extracted, in spite of the warnings. The world has passed a 1.5C temperature increase and looks like 2C is already baked in. (Sorry for that one.) The climate is collapsing in front of our eyes.

Trump’s strategic failure in Iran will collapse the world economy.

That means the stock bubble will collapse.

The AI bubble will collapse.

The world debt bubble will collapse.

What Comes Next?

What comes after collapse? Who knows?

The billionaires will be in their bunkers , their slaves wearing shock collars to keep them in line. The rest of us will be bathing in our billionaire-funded propaganda bath… Will we still blame trans people and non-white migrants for everything? Everyone will BE migrants transitioning to starvation, so who knows?

Since no one will have any wealth left maybe the psychopaths will leave us all alone and everyone will be able to start over somehow. Who knows? (Yes, that’s a Bible reference. Leviticus 25:8-13)

Everything Is Trickle-Down Now

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“Trickle-down” thinking – the idea that “growth” is driven by the rich, not by regular people with money to spend – led to competition for the crumbs that fall off the table where the wealthy feast. Cut taxes & wages & regulations, then businesses and the wealthy will come to you. So other states/countries cut their taxes & wages & regulations even more to get them back. Soon the wealthy have everything.

Democracies Defunded

Democracies have been defunded by tax cuts and competing “trade” deals, and the .01% have literally all the wealth in the world. So the only way to keep things going is to try to get the rich to park their wealth with you in hope some of it might “trickle down.”

So you set up a tax-dodging haven to “compete’ with other tax-dodging havens. You will make THEM poor so you can get the few crumbs that fall off the table.

If You Tax Them They’ll Leave

Be warned, “If you tax them they’ll leave.” If they leave the crumbs won’t trickle down! Please give us a few crumbs, sir!!!!

Everything is “trickle down” now! Everyone is betting everything on hope “they” will “invest” some of the wealth they took and you’ll be able to have some infrastructure or education or healthcare… (Of course, “they” will be getting their “return” for that. So even more gets drained away. But that’s tomorrow and you are desperate today.)

Now It’s Turkey

Now Turkey is offering special tax dodging “incentives” to “compete” to get those with vast “undeclared” wealth to bring it there because, “Dubai and Abu Dhabi, recent magnets for international wealth, have been tested by the US war in Iran and localized attacks, shaking their status as regional safe havens.”

Turkey seeks to capitalise on strategic location to attract the rich from London & Dubai
Ankara recently announced it’s ushering in a range of tax incentives for monied expats and investors abroad.

“… Turkey is seeking to capitalize on its strategic location to attract more rich residents as instability hits rival wealth hubs from London to Dubai.

The country recently announced it’s ushering in a range of tax incentives for monied expats and investors abroad, ranging from minimal inheritance tax, the chance for 20 years of overseas income free from local levies and an amnesty program to bring in undeclared assets held overseas.

[. . .] The new policies arrive at a sensitive time for some rival finance centers. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, recent magnets for international wealth, have been tested by the US war in Iran and localized attacks, shaking their status as regional safe havens.”

Just read the rest. It’s disgusting. This has been going on so long that even imagining democracy and the idea that the public can be in charge of things is gone.

Smiling Politicians With Kennedy Haircuts Issue Focus-Group Words

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Fossil-fueled psychopathic planetary pollution. Sew dependence reap profit and power. Smiling politicians with Kennedy haircuts and earnest, rolled-up sleeves issue focus-group words and wet their beaks.

Temperatures ever more extreme. The land becomes brown not green. Smoke from fires clogs our lungs. Species go extinct. Crops won’t grow.

It’s OK both sides do it radical terrorists say it’s wrong. Divisions are stoked and they are conquered.

It will trickle down.

Most Voters Too Young To Remember

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I was thinking about how most voters out there have no memory of all kinds of things people who are older remember.

Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves

They don’t remember Reagan promising that tax cuts for the rich will cause them to invest in the economy and bring all kinds of great things that meant the tax cuts “will pay for themselves.” They didn’t watch the resulting shift from government taxing the rich and doing things for people, into “borrowing” FROM the rich, doing nothing for the people, and paying massive amounts of interest TO the rich. AND the resulting massive inequality. They don’t remember that there weren’t billionaires. Now it’s billionaires with all the money vs people in food lines, etc.

Deregulating Corporations Will Unleash Growth And Bring Prices Down

They don’t remember Reagan promising that deregulation of corporations will “unleash” growth, causing them to provide more great things so we would all be so much better off. Now they pollute at will and scam everyone. They don’t remember the promise that getting rid of antitrust regulations would force prices down and make everything better. They didn’t watch as merger after merger transformed the economy into a few giant monopolies that charge whatever they want and make you pay monthly to use products you already paid for.

Elections Were Competitive

They don’t remember competitive elections before campaign finance was undone. Regular people could run for office. Now a few oligarchs decide elections with “dark money” so no one knows who pays for the ads and bots and propaganda.

They don’t remember the Democratic Party standing up and fighting for working people.

Before The Propaganda

They don’t remember that TV news used to have rules about serving the public interest. They don’t remember that commercials were not allowed to lie. They don’t remember when the benefits of belonging to unions was allowed to be discussed on the air. They don’t remember that “markets are better at making decisions than government (i.e. “democracy”)” was laughed at. They don’t remember that there was a fight to allow non-whites to vote. They don’t remember that women couldn’t get bank accounts or credit cards without their husband’s permission. They don’t remember that government existed to make people’s lives better.

There are all kinds of things they know nothing about…

For a lot of them ALL they are old enough to remember is Trump coming down an escalator and saying immigrants are all criminals who rape and murder, etc…

They Meant It

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In 2005 I wrote a post titled “They Mean It” that warned about Christian fascism and the intent to take over the US. This is how it ended:

These people mean it. America is an experiment. Democracy is an experiment. American democracy has not been around very long, and we have never been so perilously close to losing it. All the checks and balances have been removed by allies of these people. They mean it. The leader of the Senate is saying that Democrats hate “people of faith.” They mean it. Time magazine puts on their cover a person who calls for murdering us.

They mean it. A Supreme Court Justice declares that rulers should be chosen by God, not the people. They mean it. The Vice President is the keynote speaker at a conference where other speakers called for “a new McCarthyism” to bring “terror” to intellectuals, saying “let’s oppress them [liberals],” and that “the entire Harvard faculty” are “traitors.” They mean it. They mean it.

Watch your backs. I mean it.

Well, now we know. They meant it. People didn’t watch their backs – and they did it.

They meant it, and they did it. And here we are.

The Virginia Gerrymandering Ruling: Rules Are Rules

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This post first appeared at Imagine Democracy – Imagining government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Virginia broke the rules. That’s all there is to it. Rules are rules.

Republican states can gerrymander to favor Republicans, Democratic states cannot gerrymander to favor Democrats. States can draw districts that exclude minority representation. States cannot draw districts that enable minority representation. Rules are rules.

It’s like “Stand Your Ground” gun laws. White people can stand their ground and shoot black people. Black people better not get near a gun. Rules are rules.

It’s like when I was a kid. All my neighbors were Black. I had to go to what was called the “white” school. It was a shiny new school some distance away. All my neighbors went to what was called the “black” school. It was built in the 1800s, run down, moldy, leaking roof, etc. Rules are rules. (Ann Arbor). Along came LBJ and Civil Rights and Democrats lost the South forever.

The South has risen again.

PS Also, women couldn’t get bank accounts, loans, managerial positions, and got paid 59 cents for each dollar men got paid for the same job, etc so expect that soon, too.

Rules are rules.