“Donald Trump got a standing ovation today at the Iowa Freedom Summit when he promised that if he won the presidency he would defeat the Islamic State, build a fence along the nation’s southern border to stop illegal immigration, repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and stand up to Democrats. He said Republican politicians had let Obama “get away with absolute murder,” that Mitt Romney “choked” in the 2012 campaign and shouldn’t be nominated again, and Jeb Bush is unsuitable because he’s “very, very weak” on immigration and supports Common Core educational standards. The news here isn’t that Trump is a pompous ignorant right-wing megalomaniac.
That’s well established. The news is that the Republican Party hasn’t learned a thing since the last presidential election when a Star Wars barroom of neo-isolationists, fundamentalists, and racists split the GOP into warring factions that, financed by a handful of wealthy reactionaries, flamed on for a year or more and fueled the fanaticism that’s become the lifeblood of the party. (Sarah Palin is signaling this weekend she may be in the running, too.) That one of the two major parties of America is incapable of seriously governing poses a clear and present danger to the Republic." Robert Reich ☀
Monday, January 26, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Why Detroit Failed
Why Detroit failed:
The key decision-makers – major shareholders in General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, etc, and the boards of directors they selected – made many disastrous decisions. They failed in competition with European and Japanese automobile capitalists and so lost market share to them. They responded too slowly and inadequately to the need to develop new fuel-saving technologies. And, perhaps most tellingly, they responded to their own failures by deciding to move production out of Detroit so they could pay other workers lower wages.
The automobile companies’ competitive failures, and then their moves, had two key economic consequences. First, they effectively undermined the economic foundation of Detroit’s economy. Second, they thereby dealt a major blow to any chances for an enduring US middle class. The past 40 years have displayed those consequences and the capitalist system’s inability or unwillingness to stop, let alone reverse, them.
Real wages in the US stopped growing in the 1970s, and have not grown since, even as workers’ rising productivity generated even more profits for employers. Rising consumer debt and overwork postponed for a few years the impacts of stagnant real wages on consumption. But by 2007, with wages stagnant and further consumer borrowing capacity exhausted, a long and deep crisis arrived. Employers used the resulting unemployment to attack job security and benefits and the public sector built up in the 1950s and 1960s to support the middle class (for example, by low-cost public higher education).
Auto industry capitalists took the lead and Detroit exemplified the economic decline that resulted. In the deep crisis since 2007, General Motors and Chrysler got federal bailouts, but Detroit did not. The auto companies got wage reductions (via the tiered wage system) that assured Detroit’s wage-based economy could not recover, even as auto company production and profits did. The failures of private capitalism thus drew in the complicity of the federal government. Via azspot.net, Detroit's failure is a distinctively capitalistic one
The key decision-makers – major shareholders in General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, etc, and the boards of directors they selected – made many disastrous decisions. They failed in competition with European and Japanese automobile capitalists and so lost market share to them. They responded too slowly and inadequately to the need to develop new fuel-saving technologies. And, perhaps most tellingly, they responded to their own failures by deciding to move production out of Detroit so they could pay other workers lower wages.
The automobile companies’ competitive failures, and then their moves, had two key economic consequences. First, they effectively undermined the economic foundation of Detroit’s economy. Second, they thereby dealt a major blow to any chances for an enduring US middle class. The past 40 years have displayed those consequences and the capitalist system’s inability or unwillingness to stop, let alone reverse, them.
Real wages in the US stopped growing in the 1970s, and have not grown since, even as workers’ rising productivity generated even more profits for employers. Rising consumer debt and overwork postponed for a few years the impacts of stagnant real wages on consumption. But by 2007, with wages stagnant and further consumer borrowing capacity exhausted, a long and deep crisis arrived. Employers used the resulting unemployment to attack job security and benefits and the public sector built up in the 1950s and 1960s to support the middle class (for example, by low-cost public higher education).
Auto industry capitalists took the lead and Detroit exemplified the economic decline that resulted. In the deep crisis since 2007, General Motors and Chrysler got federal bailouts, but Detroit did not. The auto companies got wage reductions (via the tiered wage system) that assured Detroit’s wage-based economy could not recover, even as auto company production and profits did. The failures of private capitalism thus drew in the complicity of the federal government. Via azspot.net, Detroit's failure is a distinctively capitalistic one
MLK Jr. and Whites
“Martin Luther King, Jr., sided with the blacks and the poor. He organized protest movements and strikes. These actions were directed against the white racism and the capitalistic society in his country. But at the same time he was constantly concerned about the white people, unredeemed and enslaved by their pride and anxiety. He mobilized the marches of the blacks and the poor, not for revenge against the whites but for the redemption of the black and white alike from their mutual estrangement." Moltmann ☀
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Things the Republican Party could not bring themselves to clap for tonight, a (much) condensed list.
An improving economy
A soaring stock market
Americans getting health insurance
Mention of "solar power"
Tax cuts for working families (A tax cut Republicans don't like?)"
Affordable childcare
Tax cuts for families with children (Another one?)
Equal pay for women
"America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined."
A "free and open internet"
Rewarding companies that "invest in America" (C'mon, really?)
"Working Americans"
A resolution for the use of the force against ISIL
"Trying something new" with Cuba
Acknowledging that climate change exists
Prohibiting Torture
Not persecuting "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."
Closing Gitmo
Making "voting easier for every single American"
To be fair, many of those are controversial. Those working Americans are probably up to something.
-daily kos
An improving economy
A soaring stock market
Americans getting health insurance
Mention of "solar power"
Tax cuts for working families (A tax cut Republicans don't like?)"
Affordable childcare
Tax cuts for families with children (Another one?)
Equal pay for women
"America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined."
A "free and open internet"
Rewarding companies that "invest in America" (C'mon, really?)
"Working Americans"
A resolution for the use of the force against ISIL
"Trying something new" with Cuba
Acknowledging that climate change exists
Prohibiting Torture
Not persecuting "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."
Closing Gitmo
Making "voting easier for every single American"
To be fair, many of those are controversial. Those working Americans are probably up to something.
-daily kos
President Obama: "cause I won both campaigns"
...in the State of the Union address just now, President Obama says he's going to do what's best for America because he doesn't have any more campaigns to run, to which the Republican dominated Congress applauds.
Obama responds, "I know, cause I won the last two elections."
Friend Khan via Facebook ^_^
Obama responds, "I know, cause I won the last two elections."
Friend Khan via Facebook ^_^
President Obama's SOTU Address last night
Was fantastic.
"To CEO's and business owners: if you want something done, hire a Veteran."
"I won both campaigns" quote
"Try feeding or supporting a family on less then 15k a year"
"We will continue the fight against ISIS"
President Obama talked about free speech and other pressing matters as well.
The Republicans and conservatives will continue to oppose him, even though he is a moderate middle of the road, in many ways conservative like GWB.
And no he is not dividing our country but right wingers are.
"To CEO's and business owners: if you want something done, hire a Veteran."
"I won both campaigns" quote
"Try feeding or supporting a family on less then 15k a year"
"We will continue the fight against ISIS"
President Obama talked about free speech and other pressing matters as well.
The Republicans and conservatives will continue to oppose him, even though he is a moderate middle of the road, in many ways conservative like GWB.
And no he is not dividing our country but right wingers are.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
American Sniper
"FYI: If you are marching into a state capitol with a couple hundred of your buddies armed to the teeth and wearing tactical gear, Snipers aren't on the roof because you're "standing up for freedom" they're on the roof because you look like ISIS.
" Friend Mike via Facebook
" Friend Mike via Facebook
Friday, January 9, 2015
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