While the anti-democracy crusaders in the Republican Party are drawing headlines, President Biden has resolutely refused to engage with the craziness and has instead continued to move forward at a pace that feels remarkable after years of what seemed to be governmental inaction on matters ordinary people care about.
There are strong grounds for Dr Richardson's positive view of the Biden admin's decisions so far. Its prompt actions are not quick fixes or stopgaps. Biden's team has prepared a long time for this moment, from well before Nov 3. There is a sense of purposeful movement as we set fair to bring at least the federal government into the 21C. There'd be still more progress but for the execrable "transition" of the preceding regime which is worse than useless.
Also important is the sense that Biden's presidency will be consequential. (It could hardly be otherwise given the cascading challenges the country faces.) But there is more than one way to fit the profile. American history reveals a notable pattern of paired presidential administrations with each predecessor worse than their successor. Buchanan was consequential due to his weaknesses and failures, Lincoln for his achievements. Atrocious Andrew Johnson preceded Ulysses Grant; Hoover was consequential in Buchanan's mold as was FDR in Lincoln's; and more recently America was lucky to have Bush II's messes cleaned up by Obama. Trumpsky, whom historians will recognize in future as the Worst President Ever, now has Biden as a successor facing the most threatening internal crises since the Civil War. We shall see what transpires.
As I've said before, Joe Biden could well become the most successful one-term president in US history, and ultimately among the most beloved. We desperately need that kind of success. Make it so!
...and I believe if Obama had it to do over he would not have made that a consideration. Easy to say with 20/20 hindsight but he learned that Republicans will always treat kindness as a weakness.
Had Obama had more executive experience before he was President he would have had a stronger killer instinct and not tried to appease the opposition.
I should have clarified this point, you're right. Thanks.
Could not agree more with everything you are saying. This man has 36 years in the Senate and eight next to Obama. He has seen every move that the Republicans have executed in bad faith, which is actually a recent phenomenon. Where was that . . . ? Ah, here it is:
LA Times
‘Played’ by GOP in the Obama era, wary Democrats and Biden go big on their own
by Janet Hook and Eli Stokols, Jan. 29. Includes a brief history of how Chuck Grassley, among others, jerked Obama around then finally told him he wasn’t going to support him. Infuriating.
It's much deeper than a David vs Goliath story. It's really about a broken economic system where when times are good the rich do good and when times are bad the rich do good.
This is what's driving the kind of populism I believe in and fight for as opposed to the GOP populism that stirs up hatred and social unrest to distract their base from realizing that the rich always win to the detriment of the working middle class.
I know there's too much going on but I hope the calls by AOC and others to have hearings over the totality of the GameStop awakening can come soon.
Forgive the English teacher comment (not directed at your syntax, but at the double meaning possible with 'do good'): I've rarely seen the rich do good, but they always do well.
Christopher, thanks for the article. I'm sure that there will be further analyses of who's playing whom how, but there is little doubt that as the system is currently structured the rich big boys will continue to get richer. For a quick take that includes comments on the use of bots to influence online community investments, see also today's "TalkingPoint Memo":
I agree. His knowledge of how things work and why they don't is extensive. I would add though, that he also has the character, skills and integrity to accompany this wisdom. He knows how to assemble brilliant leaders, get their best thinking, and turn them loose to get things done. He is a leader of leaders and he sets the standard for treatment of others, commitment to the mission, and truth telling. This is LEADERSHIP at its best. He is the man for the job at the very time we NEEDED a "man" for the job!
Mr Obama isn't eligible thanks to the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951. 22A states that a person can only be elected to be president two times for a total of eight years. It does not preclude ex-presidents from holding another office. None have officially served since 1951, but there are solid precedents from before then. Taft subsequently was Chief Justice of the SC, and Quincy Adams had a distinguished 18-year career in the House. Obama is younger than either was on leaving the White House., and may be willing to serve.
I don't think the fact of racism can be overstated. I for one lived in fear for 8 years that Obama would be assassinated. He did us all, and our country a tremendous favor by staying alive.
Couldn’t agree more, the racism cannot be overstated. You underestimate the secret service, however. The Obamas have some of the best security on the planet, 2nd only to the Bidens.. You can’t buy that level of security. Putin is doing pretty well too, I imagine, but he has actual enemies, not just racists like DT who despise him. Like the relatives of the opponents he has killed. Like an entire nation of oligarchs/plutocrats he has blackmailed into compliance. Like the Russian people, who don’t want him anymore.
From the day he was nominated, I had the same fear. T****, however, is fortunate that we lefties are less inclined to fatal criticism of our leaders. (If Oswald was indeed a practicing communist and was indeed the shooter, that would be a notable exception.)
Yes because only playing the long game meant for Obama that he was shafted by the GOP's tactical short game. If eyes are only on the horizon you tend to trip over the kerbstone!
However, we need more people playing the long game even if they stubble a bit. We have several existential crises looming right in front of us. We need visionary thinking and leadership. With the technology revolution upon us, we're going to need an entirely new economic system. If technology eliminates more jobs than it creates which can be debated, how do people "make a living"? Do we have a true democracy, not representative, in the future? Or, even, are humans just the pets of the sentient robots who will evolve so much faster than humans? Are we going to have to go through a period of violence and upheaval rather than embrace the future and retool our society now? Where do we find the visionaries and leaders?
How to earn a living? Guaranteed Universal Basic Income. The means exist; lack of political will is the main obstacle. And it is earned -- by being human, by virtue of our humanity.
They started to experiment with this in Finland and stopped quite quickly as the impact on motivation to work was highly significant especially amongst younger age groups.
It might be interesting to know what kind of work was available for the younger folx. If few of the jobs had any prospects for advancement, or creativity, or anything other than a daily grind, that might be an explanation for lack of incentive. Do you know of any articles that discuss this experiment?
As a manager I use to devour books about generals. There are a lot of lessons for corporate managers can learn from generals. Tuesday I had the pleasure of having a retired four star and his wife, who I play chamber music with, give me a personal tour of the renovations they are doing on the Nimitz Hotel which is now part of the Museum of the Pacific War which the four star now runs returning to his home town, also the home town of Admiral Nimitz. One evening I had the tremendous pleasure of discussing moral obligation, ethics and character with him over dinner for a couple of hours. I'd recommend the book they use in the Stockdale course at the Naval Academy "Foundations of Moral Obligation" by Professor Brennan to anyone interested in leadership. This is another aspect of leadership that is imperative and largely absent in our politicians. Senator McCain understood this like few will ever have to.
Quite right we have nolonger any time for politicians saying "do as I say, not what i do" leading by example and care for those following are the first principles of leadership.
Longtime fan of Craig Unger, here. Book is titled “American Kompromat”. The evidence for it has long been blatantly visible. I’m very grateful to journalists such as Unger who do the hard work of verifying the truth. 🙏
I read the same article. I haven’t seen it in other news papers yet but I am wondering if it is true? It seems quite true to me. I have always felt that the Russians had some thing on Trump and I still think that
I read that yesterday. The Kremlin isn't talking, of course, but a couple of defectors are. Comrade Trumpsky is not a true mole, but 40 years ago the Soviets quickly spotted him as someone who could manipulated through flattery and suggestion. For further proof, release the tax returns, and the Golden Showers videos. Plural!
Deutsche Bank has already said they want nothing to do with any new deals with him, and those loans are coming due so Deutsche Bank has the right to seize any of his assets and property. He will be of no further use to Russia if he can't keep some semblance of power. Two of his FL banks have already severed ties with him. As you sow , so shall you reap and that crop is due for harvest soon.
I encourage everyone to READ this article Roland posted by Olear!
This is information that, though stomach turning, needs to be spread far and wide. It provides damning confirmation of what many of us could easily surmise by the Russian puppet's behaviors for the past five years.
I was not a fan of Hillary as POTUS but her words to Trump, and the world, at that debate are haunting, early, forboding echoes of the dangers we are confronted with today.
This is from The Guardian who has made the following INCREDIBLE statement:
We believe everyone deserves access to information that’s grounded in science and truth, and analysis rooted in authority and integrity. That’s why we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. In these perilous times, an independent, global news organisation like the Guardian is essential. We have no shareholders or billionaire owner, meaning our journalism is free from commercial and political influence.
If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Your funding powers our journalism.
And, he is 78. My relatives who are 81, if healthy, are enjoying some much-earned relaxation activities, like gardening, reading, traveling for fun, spending time with grandchildren. We shall see!! I am so so grateful Joe was willing to serve at 78!
I too am so grateful that he gave up his retirement years. What love he has for his country, and not power. He has beautiful grandchildren and no doubt wants to make the country better for him and for future generations of his family whom he may never meet.
Biden could have taken an easy road by withdrawing from the race as the pandemic engulfed the world, and as racial and economic crises tore apart America. Yet he still sought to lead in these times that try our souls. Biden became a profile in courage even before assuming office.
In deed, he has given up a lot to serve his country. For security reasons, he has not been able to drive his beloved vintage 1967 Corvette for the last 12 years, except for a few spirited laps at the secret service training course with Jay Leno. Sorry to wander off subject, but I'm also a vintage car enthusiast and appreciate his sacrifice for we the people!
My husband has just turned me on to Jerry Seinfeld’s show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. You can watch old shows on Netflix and I watched Jerry ride with President Obama around the White House grounds in a corvette! It was a really cool car.
As someone "around his age" who is pretty healthy, he seems to have more energy than many 40 year olds. That happens when you finally get to do the thing you were meant for in your life. It energizes you.
My father in law will be 82 next and I would confidently vote for him for POTUS. Except......my 25 year old daughter is right when she says it's time for the old white men to make way for the next generation of leaders.
Yeah, but two terms of Biden followed by two terms of Haris is 16 years - the equal of FDR/Truman, which is what it took to wring out the Republican doo-doo-caca the last time.
Well, I am intelligent, but the closest I ever got to "an intelligence background" is knowing some former members of Can't Investigate Anything (their term for the organization). But I am perfectly willing to be the dashing "man of mystery" who orders his martinis "shaken, not stirred" in your imagination. :-)
Unless Biden wants a second term. It's past time anyway to dethrone James K Polk, often seen as the most successful OTP. He attained his goals by acquiring Texas and the Mexican session. But since then many people have questioned its morality and deplored the civil war that resulted. US Grant later wrote about the Mexican American War, "I was bitterly opposed ... and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
I love the way the wealthy want to work together ... by demonizing small investors, as leeches, of course! Bravo to Biden and team for getting down to business and showing us that good government really does work. I’m hoping the momentum will help with getting that latest relief bill through. I’m so relieved to see progress instead of regress. Thanks, Heather, for another excellent summary!
Make no mistake, we live in a Plutocracy, which is defined as a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. We would like to believe that Democracy hails supreme in the land, which it does not. Politicians are bought by powerful lobbies and vote not with their consciences but with an eye on getting re-elected. It's time to accept this fact and take our heads out of the sand and address the issue accordingly. When the top1% controls 80% of our nation's capital, the notion that we live in a Democracy is fantasy.
I'm binge-watching a very interesting show this week, called Mr. Robot. It's about a group of computer hackers who take down the world's top corporations and most wealthiest people. The result is that all debts are erased in the world and the super one per centers fall like dominos. The hackers are hailed as heroes, finally sticking it those who have controlled society for hundreds of years.
The Gamestop debacle that has been unfolding is a real life example of redistribution of wealth and fighting a long loaded deck that unregulated hedge funds have always enjoyed. As a former Wall St. trader, it was well-know that when you received an order to buy or sell stock to a hedge fund, they most likely had information not known to the public. They were mostly cheaters. Without getting into the intricacies of short selling, they have lost billions on GameStop for getting caught on the wrong side of a trade; those who made real money were the masses who gladly waved their sticks to shove it up hedge funds', well, you get the picture. It has been an explosive financial revolution. Where the chips, or GameStop shares fall is anyone's guess.
It is so good to get a insider’s perspective of issues such as this! It’s one of the most valuable aspects of this kind of forum. It’s one thing to find fault with something from the outside, but it carries so much more weight from someone who has lived it on the inside. Thank you for sharing this.
Hmmm. I question the notion that what has happened here is that the masses made real money while sticking it to the hedge funds. Gamestop has negative earnings and is trading at 5x revenues and 97x EBITDA. I worry about the people who are buying equity now thinking that they are going to make real money. Will the rug can get pulled out from under them when fundamental value comes back to hit everyone on the head? Momentum traders have made money on the way up but it remains to be seen how deep the bid for stock will remain to allow people to continue making profits at a level that doesn’t appear warranted by fundamental value.
yes but it is nice to see the HFs suffer humiliation once in a while even if it is only in the short term. Such "highlighting" attracts political attention and will double calls for a very close regulatory look at their industry. and that's a good thing.
I don't know much about the hedge funds involved in shorting Gamestop. As in any industry there are some top professionals and some bad apples in the Hedge Fund community. Hedge funds are still subject to laws on market manipulation. They have also been the focus of regulatory action and scrutiny on how they obtain information on investment opportunities which has led to strict oversight of expert networks etc. I think there is a real potential debate around the question of market manipulation where a well know short seller takes a position in a security and publishes the fact or publishes research to that effect. I have always found Muddy Waters a curious animal for example. They publish research on overpriced companies and take positions in those names.
I absolutely agree with you, Eric. Fundamental stock valuations have no effect during a short squeeze, so they become insane. GameStop lost like 400 million dollars last year so there is no positive P/E ratio. When it gets down to it, a short squeeze is legalized stock manipulation. The trading of the stock is now a game of hot potato. At some points the longs will be tumbling over one another for the exits and just as buyers made a lot of money on the way up, some people will lose everything on the way down. The only solution is to restrict shorting the stock to a much lower percentage of the float.
With calls for unity in the air, Cooperman offered his own definition. Democrats’ suggestion that the rich should pay their “fair share” of taxes is “bullsh*t,” he said. “It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people, and you know I think it’s inappropriate…. We all got to work together and pull together.”
No, Mr. Cooperman, your comment is the definition of "bullsh*t".
"Boohoo", you capitalist snowflake. You got "Borated" by Reddit and Robinhood, and now you're crying in your caviar (oh wait, there's a shortage of caviar!). Hedge fund managers are not true capitalists anyway, as they make their billions betting AGAINST the market.
If Jesus were to return, one can bet that your ass would be one of the first to be thrown from the temple. How about taking some of your $2.5B and feeding the hungry, healing the sick, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked?
Yes! You beat me to this. And once again, it’s the language of the abuser blaming the abused. It’s an “attack” on the wealthy, and he calls for unity and for us all to work together? Does he even hear and believe his own words?? OMG.🤮
I love how HCR puts the quotation out there without further commentary. Just lets it marinate in its own rank juices. It feels good to be able to start the day with a feeling of smug satisfaction for a change. Is that wrong of me?
Excellent. My feelings exactly. What we see from the hedger is just that: BS. And I am crying a river. What, you want him to help the vulnerable among us. Naw, he would rather own a monster trophy house.
There was a lot of talk about Joe Biden’s age as a presidential candidate, but there is no mistaking the expertise, wisdom, and vision he’s bringing to the office.
Here's the deal: Dogs are back in the White House! The photo below is almost as good as LBJ serenading his beagle. Note that it's from the Hindustan Times. All the world watches the US, but South Asia watches even more closely thanks to Madame Vice President.
Ever since Reagan, the only value that America has projected and modeled to itself is sociopathy. S&L, ADM, Maxwell, LTCM, Enron, Robert Rubin and Citigroup, fund timing, 2008, libor fixing, HSBC money-laundering, Wells Fargo and on and on. The rich are above the law. The purpose of corporations as weaponized by them is merely to allow their private theft and power addiction to operate at scale. Over and over they get caught stealing and polluting and cheating and lying and perjuring and get away with it anyway, and this is not a bug but a core Morality Play of sociopathy as America's highest value. If this were not the case, behavior would have *some* impact on social status. Jeffrey Epstein is a case study - the university trustees and scientists and labs and cultural institutions bowing and scraping before a child-rapist and his friends because he has money...in an endless chain, one of his friends and funder sociopaths *still* chair at MoMA right now. This - power for the few as an end in itself - was all the GOP was ever about, as apotheosized in their 2020 platform of nothing. The Nazism and theocracy and culture wars all just empty political expedients to protect plutocracy. The reaction to Gamestop is just the latest in endless examples -- the aggrieved special pleading of the billionaires who love to talk about personal responsibility and welfare queens and drug testing for medicaid recipients. Reaganism told 40 years of Americans that honest work and public service were for suckers and lying and cheating and getting away with it the highest good, and they listened. It is hard to imagine that detox will not take generations. And seems clear it can't even start as long as Fox and talk radio continue to exist without the Fairness Doctrine.
I have a theory that the reason wealthy, ponzi-schemer, Bernie Madoff, was indicted, tried and thrown in jail was only because he stole from the rich. You can trick, steal, fabricate, wreck the middle class and starve the poor, you can nearly crash the planet's economy, but you better not mess with the rich! Epstein knew that entertaining and donating to the rich and mingling with the Harvard and MIT crowd was his kryptonite. Then the "little people" ganged up on him (as they did Weinstein). But so few abusers of any kind are ever exposed unless, of course, they mess with the rich.
The crazy idea of actually working with people on the ground seems to be catching fire like blazes. Stacey Abrams and Ben Wikler have taught us that the party can't just parachute in at campaign time, hire a bunch of temps and then disappear after the election. Now they're learning to work with networks of friends and relatives year round, not in some toxic permanent campaign sense but as a living community. And Biden and his team have taken this to heart across so many sectors - not just working with governors instead of against them like Trump - but making sure it's local doctors and community leaders they work with across the country to overcome vaccine fears, reach seniors and others who are off the grid, etc. Working with community activists as well as workers on environmental change instead of looking for ways to politically neutralize them. "We're going to power our economy with clean energy, [with] jobs that have an opportunity for workers to join a union." I mean... actually having a plan, to do good things, with people on the ground, in a way that could actually work and be sustainable...it's...it's crazy talk! Did I *ever* hear anything this before and actually believe it in my lifetime?
😊Bealpeh, I’m thinking the same...that Joe Biden’s age and experience have resulted in wisdom and resolve to steer the ship of state away from the iceberg. The honeymoon feels good so far.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Looking forward to being a grassroots participator. ❤️🤍💙
"Now they're learning to work with networks of friends and relatives year round, not in some toxic permanent campaign sense but as a living community. " YES. Thank you bealpeh. The movement Republicans have given us a wake-up call. If we want democracy and social justice, it has to be part of our lives every single day.
I just have to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for yesterday’s community discussion initiated by Eve Furchgott. I’m still working through many of the thoughtful, insightful, often brilliant observations. The depth of study and the contributions of outside reference sources is impressive.
Heathers questioning the morals and agenda of the business wing of the Republican Party, combined with Eve’s disclosure of her own cult experience, really hit home for me. It was also gratifying to see so many new names.
Roland, it was such a poignant discussion especially in light of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. The connections were deep and brought up many emotions for us all. Thank you for raising it up, especially the brave who shared their stories.
I hope Eve didn’t take it as a privacy violation. I didn’t use my last name here because it’s unique, and there’s probably only one of me in the world with this name, so I just stick to Roland.
Your writings continue to support and expand my admiration for President Biden. It’s obvious he’s got a huge team of hardworking knowledgeable women and men supporting us all as we rebuild ourselves and our country. I wait up each night to hear your words in my head & heart. Thank you for your efforts to seek out facts and write with clarity so I can sleep hopeful.
This night owl also waits up, not gets up, for LFAA. They say the early bird gets the worm, but I don't like worms. It's what we do with our time, not when we do it, that matters.
I gotta say it's day 8 but Biden is doing so much, so fast, so well, and so good... experiencing some hope, for which there's no longer the slightest muscle memory. He was not the choice of progressives and it is hard to see how the center-right plutocrat wing will not score some points. But it is hard to fault him so far, just the opposite.
Not to reopen old wounds but I can tell you that behind the scenes the message to environmentalists at the start of the Obama admin was a slap in the face; the progressive economists paraded during the transition were sent straight to the basement; culminating in Emanuel's famous literal "fuck you" just in case the message hadn't been clear.
This is not that. It does not look like bones being thrown to "activists" but real expertise actively getting to work on problems in a spirit of teamwork. Like Americans, and the American government, and the civil service, can actually *do* things, and they are *good* at it! After what we've been through it makes me want to cry...
I supported Elizabeth, but have seen more than I could ever imagine in Joe’s eight days. I could never imagine EW or Bernie able to move so quickly, with such expertise behind every move. Joe is really doing the people’s business; his hard scrabble upbringing in Scranton, PA. i being revealed
I was a toss up between Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigige, and Kamala Harris. While I think any one of those three would have been good, I acknowledge that Joe Biden is the right man at the right time. I hope that we move far enough that Harris can win as more or less an incumbent and we get 12 years of this philosophy.
It’s like the father figure has come home. And he’s cleaning house. Literally and figuratively. Getting everything back in order as best as he can after the kids had a huge, destructive party while he was gone.
Frederick, I agree. I have tremendous respect for Warren, Bernie, and now —based on his apparent determination to effect positive change for our nation— Pres. Biden. Go Joe!
And to think that many of us (myself included) initially worried that he was too old. Proof positive that there's no substitute for knowing your way around the block!
It was infuriating to hear Repugs deride Biden for "hiding in his basement." It's an obvious decision for a senior to take proper precautions during a raging pandemic. Which candidate stayed healthy and which one almost croaked himself??
It was all part of a coordinated plan to make him look old and doddering. Remember that even CNN and MSNBC were breaking out in hives at the prospect of a debate with the Village Idiot, terrified that he'd make a gaffe - especially insulting, when you consider that Trump is incapable of stringing a sentence together.
As far as hiding in his basement is concerned, it's the rightwingers who refuse to wear masks, congregate in large groups, and flout science, who have spread so much misery all over the country, while Trump bungled the Coronavirus disaster - intelligent, eh?
All the while ignoring the young guns who criticized him for returning to the status quo. I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle being schooled. Experience is a good thing - remember that!
Yes! My thoughts exactly. He's an "elder" with the energy of a "younger"!!! When I saw the video of Dr. Jill and Joe riding their bikes and talking with reporters and contrasted that with the fat dude cheating on his golf course, it seemed to me that one was decrepit and the other was energy personified!
Well said, Ellen. Hopefully "Youngers" becomes common parlance like Elders, as in, Our youngers will save the world.
(NB, red lines still appear when typing Youngers. The same happened in the Boston Globe with seditionists and insurrectionists. But they appear so frequently, now BG's software recognizes them as proper words.)
Fredrick, You could not have imagined Joe Biden working as quickly and with such excellent political instincts, neither could I. As a fellow Warren supporter I wouldn't rush to compare her talents against Joe's. He selected a strong team and served as VP for eight years. I hope that he will also employ a number of Warren's ideas for structural changes that would provide education and economic opportunities from which many millions of Americans have been barred . Janet Yellen, of course, will be a major source for implementing such change.
I have to wonder just how many of EW's numerous "plans" are already being used. The Biden team has been working for quite some time and it could be that they quietly worked with her to put those plans in place for an instant rollout. She's a genius at planning and the executive decisions that are being made are sound, thorough and well thought out. Just my two cents.
The Biden team has prepared a solid program since Rep. Clyburn delivered the SC primary victory. Sound planning is a nice boost to five decades of experience.
I'm so thankful to Rep. Clyburn, and Biden ran with it. He salvaged the campaign, as Stacey Abrams delivered Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia. It could have been much different - shudder.
I am too! Clyburn and quite frankly, Stacey Abrams and LaTosha Brown saved the Democrats. We cannot forget how the black population, especially women, saved us all from the confines of the GOP and Fake45. I sure won’t ever forget.
Neither will I. I'm really hoping that the tide is turning on racism. Of course, I thought, incorrectly, that we'd turned the corner with Obama's election, but it seemed to have opened the closet door for the evil to ooze out. This time, it feels different, even with the neo-Nazis and QAnon. At least more people are acknowledging the ugly truth, and Black people are engaged in the process and haven't given up.
I had not seen this segment of Chris Hayes' program, and I'm thrilled that AOC is voicing approval of Biden's environmental proposals. Nice to see the circular firing squad disappearing, at least for now.
I heard one advisor saying build recharge infrastructure on every highway so u could drive coast to coast this cementing electric car market. New technologies, build new infrastructure, creates more jobs for the market the infrastructure created. Da. That and immigration are responsible for every huge economic expansion in this country.
Lots and lots of good news! Listening to Cooperman call foul is really music to my ears. Proves how the wealthy really do control (tried to until this week) Wall Street. I love that!
Biden has been a politician for a very long time so he knows exactly how to go about delegating duties, how to reach out to people, and how to govern. So far, so good.
Given all the Karen billionaires bellyaching over having to take their own medicine, this week I'll be drinking my coffee in my Warren "Billionaire's Tears" mug. Wish I had another that said, "Shutup and Pay Your Fair Share" and another that said "Too Big Must Fail" and one for the billionaire crybabies "Try Working a Real Job for a Change" and finally one that says "Time to Trim the Hedges".
Like any hedge....and any serious gardner will tell you...they need serious triming and pruning from time to time to keep them healthy, useful and in shape.
Thanks to Michelle Goldberg for pointing out the cyclical nature of Presidential administrations to create decade of sameness until they are made to seem undoable any longer. The Republicans did it to FDR with Reagan and Democrats crouched in his shadow through the end of the 20th century and still played to it through the Obama years.
Now Trump has thankfully brought the beginning of the end of the Reagan era. Quoting Michelle:
"Yet as Biden’s administration begins, there are signs that a new politics is coalescing. When, in his inauguration speech, Biden touted “unity,” he framed it as a national rejection of the dark forces unleashed by his discredited predecessor, not stale Gang of Eight bipartisanship. He takes power at a time when what was once conventional wisdom about deficits, inflation and the proper size of government has fallen apart. That means Biden, who has been in national office since before Reagan’s presidency, has the potential to be our first truly post-Reagan president."
"This is the second Democratic administration in a row to inherit a country wrecked by its predecessor. But Biden’s plans to take on the coronavirus pandemic and the attendant economic disaster have been a departure from Obama’s approach to the 2008 financial crisis. The difference isn’t just in the scale of the emergencies, but in the politics guiding the administrations’ responses."
You are not alone here as in France, to quote one-time centrist Prime Minister, Alan Juppé, "When we are in power and we set the economy to rights and fill the government treasure chest and then, turn and turn about, the Socialist party comes back as things are looking good, spends it all ...and we get re-elected to sort it out again" ...once more, swings and roundabouts!
Excellent points. We are clearly at the end of a cycle - the number of Executive Actions taken by Biden illustrates abundantly the need for corrective action.
And Biden gets full credit for taking them. He is absolutely a man on a mission, acting with the certitude of one who has spent decades in government and seen the vicissitudes of the nation in that time. It also seems clear to me that, as with any intelligent person, he has had his own share of personal epiphanies (think of his previous attitude towards crime). Biden is a liberated man and he is unafraid of the consequences of the backlash his EAs will inevitably bring. Although I doubted him in the primaries, he is clearly the best person for the job at this moment in historical time.
But the rubber now hits the road. From here on in, we will see how he fares when it comes to enduring legislation. He is navigating the trickiest of rapids here, and I fear that those strewing his path with palms in gratitude for his early work, will have short memories and turn on him with equal vigor when he makes his first major compromise to get legislation passed. We are schooled to hope for nothing but walkovers after enduring the years of being under the boot of Trump.
When disappointment and attendant anger set in, Jen Psaki will need to be a miracle worker.
One final speculation about “cycles”.
The last two major ones (the FDR progressive period and the years of trickle up initiated by Reagan) were decades long.
During the last few decades the world has sped up immeasurably with the advent of the computer age. We are a bullet train heading towards the oblivion of climate change amidst the perils of relentless technological advances.
“Cycles” may be in our political past. They progress too slowly. I fear an endgame where we are forced to be continually reactive and cannot look above the parapets long enough to be sensibly proactive.
In this light, I would add, the GameStop phenomenon seems pretty inconsequential.
Eric, thanks for your thoughts on what affects the pace of political changes. I share your fear that we may be "forced to be continually reactive and cannot look above the parapets long enough to be sensibly proactive." One perspective on waves of political dominance and change I have found stimulating is Jack Balkin's theory of the interactions of three types of political cycles. Balkin is a professor on con law and has studied the influences of changing information technology. I cite his latest blog post, https://balkin.blogspot.com from 1/25/21 because it summarizes his current thoughts better than I can. It's s/w abstract, but his notion of "constitutional rot" seems to me well worth attention, and concern.
A couple of extracts from the post:
"[W]e can understand American constitutional development in terms of three kinds of cycles. The first involves the rise and fall of political regimes featuring dominant political parties. The second is a long cycle of polarization and depolarization that stretches from the Civil War through the present. The third cycle is a series of episodes of constitutional rot and constitutional renewal. Constitutional rot is the process by which a constitutional republic becomes less democratic and less republican over time.
"I draw three conclusions from the 2020 election and the Capitol Hill insurrection of January 6th, 2021. First, although the Reagan regime that has structured American politics since the 1980s is nearing its end, we cannot yet be certain that it has reached its conclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic contraction that accompanied it have handed the Democrats an opportunity to forge a new political regime, but whether they will successfully capitalize on these possibilities is yet to be determined. ...
"Second, our deeply polarized politics, which is currently organized around issues of identity and status conflict, will continue until party coalitions slowly begin to change, leading the parties to face off over a new set of issues. Those changes are already in motion, but the transformations will take time.
"Third, the gravest threat we face today is not political polarization but constitutional rot — a deepening decay in our political and legal institutions. This decay began well before the election of President Donald Trump. But Trump accelerated constitutional rot in the United States, by his creation of a cult of personality, by his abuses of power, and by his refusal to accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election and the opposition party’s ascension to power through democratic means."
Your post is a deeply thoughtful read. Thanks Tom.
I take issue with the predictive nature of what you quoted, although it may possibly be rung up to my lack of insight.
For me, prediction at this point is a bit of a mug’s games. We are at the confluence of virtually epochal events. The disarray in the Republican Party is real and threatens America. If deep internecine struggle occurs, who can possibly foresee the result? A viable third party? One party Democrat rule (I offer mostly facetiously)?
Technology is almost completely out of control. As with the atomic bomb, if it can be built, it will be built. We’ll only learn the consequences afterward. Its effect on culture will be enormous. Who knows how technology will ultimately interact with economy. And by ultimately, I mean 10-20 years.
Social media exists to make enormous money. Its algorithms depend on encouraging ferment and hatred of the “other”. Are we at a point where there is a true reckoning with the perils of entirely unregulated speech?
And climate change. And international relations. And man’s rapacity with the natural world seems now to be reaching an inevitable endpoint.
My point above all is that all of these forces and trends pile up on one another. No change exists in isolation. We are at an apex of unintended consequences.
I feel much safer looking at the rubble of the last cycle and seeing those intersections than I do trying to make the type of curiously specific predictions that you have cited.
Equally though, I try never to underestimate my own myopia. :)
Eric--thanks for the reply, and I second your thought: "My point above all is that all of these forces and trends pile up on one another. No change exists in isolation. We are at an apex of unintended consequences." Prediction is all too often either a form of rationalizing present interests or self-soothing. But trying to draw evidence-based lines into the future is something we all (should) do all the time. I brought Balkin into your discussion because I think he does spend time rooting through the rubble of past intersections in American history. The details aren't presented in my extract. (I have only read one of his books and various blogposts. He has also done videochats with Benjamin Wittes in which they anatomize current political developments.) Though certainly not the only useful approach, I find his separately analyzing the relatively short spans of dominant political regimes from their effects on our underlying constitutional structures helpful in trying to understand what of currently perceivable trends should be the focus political action. It helps me focus and fight off despair.
Tom and Eric, thank you so much for this thread. When speaking of cycles, it certainly feels as though we are currently at the end of something and the beginning of something else. Depending on whose analyses one reads, 60-ish-year cycles are an American norm. If so, some iteration of early 20th century progressivism that began its death spiral around 1970 is due a rebirth. Historical patterns are rarely that neat, but as a general rule, reforms do emerge in somewhat regular fits and starts. (It also seems to me that reactionary push-back is the default rather than a "reaction," despite the label. It is always present but surges in response to reform and change.) When I mentioned generational cohorts as drivers of change, I am not speaking of a population subset: boomers or gen x, etc. We The People, even those of a generation, are not a single organism. But across time, we do see that generations have tendencies. Polls show that current under-40's are more progressive than older Americans as a whole. Voting and political allegiance tend to settle in as one comes of civic age and those patterns often hold across adulthood. Statistically speaking, this bodes well if our democratic institutions can maintain majoritarian integrity. The constitutional rot Tom discusses is the greatest threat to entering and sustaining a new progressive cycle.
Susan, thanks for your thoughtful response. Many people have analyzed out cyclical patterns in political development and decay. The constitutional framers were very concerned about the historical pattern of short-lived republics, and tried to set up structures that would resist that drift. I brought Balkin's perspective in because he at least tries to address your point that historical patterns are not neat, and that different coalitions of forces lead to (uneven) changes at different times. [BTW, I judge that he uses "reactionary" in the standard poli sci fashion: people who detest particular waves of social and political changes and demand a return to a prior, in their minds preferable, state. I agree that our current political regime--to use his term--has been ascendant at least since Reagan, and the default response has been reactionary economic policies--undo everything from the New Deal forward--combined with right-wing cultural and racial appeals. Hacker and Pierson call it "plutocratic populism" and, sad to say, it's been winning for quite some time now.]
From what you say, you may know all this. If you are interested, Balkin joined Wittes for a videochat on Jan.11, and though they are very chatty and somewhat digressive, Balkin does repeat his argument that one big problem with the Jan.6 events is that they signal an acceleration in constitutional rot--which is fundamentally an erosion of norms that allow basic governance whatever the political circuses surrounding it. He calls the threat a lack of trust, in the government to do its business of keeping the populace safe and prosperous, and in citizens to buy into the system whatever our particular disagreements with it or each other.
Cycles in the pre-digital past have indeed been decades long, but I think they will not accelerate to the extent that they will exist only "in our political past." Cycles tend to be generational, informed by the life experiences of cohorts of people. I think (fervently hope) the younger generation coming of political age right now will fuel a lengthy progressive cycle.
I fervently hope you’re right about the younger generation delivering a progressive cycle. It’s a thought to hold on to.
Half a century ago progressives, known unashamedly at the time as liberals, invested huge hope in the hippie generation. No movement in my lifetime (in North America) was as high octane and revolutionary, not to say exhilarating as theirs was.
Needless to say, it faded into a bitter, angry Seventies generation - the beginning of the lost in the wilderness period in America.
In that decade business and law organized to fight back. The Federalist society was formed. The Reagan era, non-progressive, crudely racist and rampantly greedy was born. This was *not* a natural cycle, born from people of different cohorts (with the exception of course of that cohort determined to protect their wealth. For several reasons it picked up steam and its tenets became the accepted gospel of the day.
In time, those hippies became those whom the current generation dismisses with the cutting phrase, “OK, Boomer”.
We may get a liberal, progressive generation. I’m not so sure they’ll have the time in this gig economy to turn matters right side up again.
You have expressed very well exactly how I see the world. We are in unprecedented circumstances here. Technology, and the attendant pace of change, connectivity, and ironically, disassociation to the point of breakdown of all societal norms, seems destined to overwhelm us all.
As a retired investment professional (from the days when we interacted with Wall Street but 1) we, on what was known as the “buy side of the street” were paid salaries, and 2) those salaries were decent but very similar to my husband’s civil engineering wages).
I totally get the absurdity of Leon Cooperman’s statement and the desire to knock the “greed is good” Wall Streeters down more than a few pegs. But, I am a table pounder for investment education and this type of ride (which did look like fun) should always be recognized for the gambling risk it presents. “Revenge” trading is not sustainable and will hurt more individual investors than hedge fund managers (who definitely stack the cards in their favor).
Technology has clearly changed the mechanisms of the “game” but for most of us, education and some knowledge regarding the basics of investing (not gambling) is a better option. (pun sort of intentional😆)
“With calls for unity in the air, Cooperman offered his own definition. Democrats’ suggestion that the rich should pay their ‘fair share’ of taxes is ‘bullsh*t,’ he said. “‘It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people, and you know I think it’s inappropriate…. We all got to work together and pull together.”’
I am worried about people with little disposable wealth speculating on the stock market but I do admit that I kind of loved the short-traders' getting schooled by people who seem to have included some whose desire is to have a stock market that actually promotes companies people LIKE. One of the issues that has risen since the Reagan years is that Wall Street is utterly divorced from Main Street in terms of its ethos, its values, and the companies it privileges. I am old enough to remember the struggle that Apple (!) had to get on the "Big Board" and how it gave up and joined the NASDQ--where it remains. Most people assume that Apple is in the DJIA because it is one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, and you'd think that the index of the supposedly richest and most powerful companies would include it. It isn't, and the Dow no longer represents the investments Americans make. The lack of inclusivity, equity, and diversity among DOW and S&P 500 companies is common knowledge--not great with any major corporations but particularly present in them.
Cooperman is just the most blatantly egotistic of the top .001%--his attitude is shared by all of them I am sure, even Bill Gates, whose philanthropy is terrific but is a tiny drop in the bucket of his net worth. I am of the opinion that NO ONE needs 1 billion dollars of personal wealth, especially as income inequality is at an all-time high.
Perhaps it is time for a long 'Hail Mary’ call toward the FDR/IKE tax rate, on the VERY top .01% of the wealthy, with a rate of 93% on THEIR top 10% of (investment) wealth. Does anyone at this party (Dems) have the guts to make this call?
It has reminded me of an exchange in the movie "Paper Moon" where Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) is on the run from the "law" and needs to get rid of his fancy car. He's trying to swap an old country boy for his rat-trap pick-up, and country boy disagrees. Pray says "well why not? You could sell this and buy 10 pickups with it?" Country boy says "Cain't haul nothin' in it." What on earth can you do with that much money?
I can just imagine the eloquent case made by Joe, and Janet Yellen, for all of the good works to be done, by the wealthiest doing what only they can do - and that is, actually make dreams possible, for the commons and our commonwealth (how’s that for a run on sentence?) They might truly begin to relax at the 4PM booze hour, knowing their legacy might just be far greater than their wealth - at least in their own minds
Or Barbara Kingsolver’s response at The Land Institute’s Prairie Festival, to a friend asking her why didn’t she pursue wealth-building instead of farming: Can you EAT gold?
Do I sense a bit of irony from Cooperman? BS to pay your fair share BUT we all have to work together???? Sounds like some of the Republicans in Congress calling for UNITY after they’ve punched US (🇺🇸) all in the face 😠
Well obviously if we are talking about good investment hygiene we are not including the big banks that do nothing but speculate with the public's money, pocket the profits when they win and whine for the public tit when they lose, as in 2008. Probably also not about simple fraud like mutual fund market timing, libor price-fixing, or simple mass identity theft like at Wells Fargo. Probably also not about money-laundering for mass-murderers, drug dealers and terrorists as was super popular at HSBC and Deutsche Bank. Or systematic tax evasion for rich clients, specialite de la maison chez UBS. Luckily the number of prosecutions or even personal fines that resulted from all the above across GOP and Democratic administrations: zero. So the rule of law is right where it needs to be for good investment hygiene all around.
The real unfairness, though, is the sense that when the Coopermans of the world place their bets, they are playing on a roulette wheel they have already rigged to run in their favor, whether that is through using insider information, manipulating the timing of trades, working through disguised block trading schemes or otherwise. Listening to those guys cry “foul” is rich...as it were.
But yeah, after taking into account all of the above helpful lessons, also day-trading on your credit card or with your house as collateral is not a good idea. :^)
I am not sure us any amount of any amount of education and investment knowledge can compete with the quants..at best one can hope the rude us good. Get the physists out of the banks and on to our other social and environmental issues.
Here is HCR’s 1917 insightful discussion of the Jan 2017 Muslim Ban as a “shock event”. I’m interested in how it stands up now. Maybe at best a useful guide to the Biden administration’s moves?
Take a deep breath: A historical view of Bannon's "shock event
"I don't like to talk about politics on Facebook-- political history is my job, after all, and you are my friends-- but there is an important non-partisan point to make today.
What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night's ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries-- is creating what is known as a "shock event."
Such an event is unexpected and confusing and throws a society into chaos. People scramble to react to the event, usually along some fault line that those responsible for the event can widen by claiming that they alone know how to restore order.
When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been distracted as they fight over the initial event. There is no longer concerted opposition to the real goal; opposition divides along the partisan lines established by the shock event.
Last night's Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It was not reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was released, and counterterrorism experts insist they did not ask for it. People charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do so. Courts immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but border police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it. Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.
My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is in no one's interest to play the shock event game. It is designed explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they cannot stand against something its authors think they won't like.
I don't know what Bannon is up to-- although I have some guesses-- but because I know Bannon's ideas well, I am positive that there is not a single person whom I consider a friend on either side of the aisle-- and my friends range pretty widely-- who will benefit from whatever it is.
If the shock event strategy works, though, many of you will blame each other, rather than Bannon, for the fallout. And the country will have been tricked into accepting their real goal.
But because shock events destabilize a society, they can also be used positively. We do not have to respond along old fault lines. We could just as easily reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the people who sparked the event.
A successful shock event depends on speed and chaos because it requires knee-jerk reactions so that people divide along established lines. This, for example, is how Confederate leaders railroaded the initial southern states out of the Union.
If people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across old lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the strings. This was Lincoln's strategy when he joined together Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power.
Five years before, such a coalition would have been unimaginable. Members of those groups agreed on very little other than that they wanted all Americans to have equal economic opportunity. Once they began to work together to promote a fair economic system, though, they found much common ground. They ended up rededicating the nation to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Confederate leaders and Lincoln both knew about the political potential of a shock event. As we are in the midst of one, it seems worth noting that Lincoln seemed to have the better idea about how to use it."
There are strong grounds for Dr Richardson's positive view of the Biden admin's decisions so far. Its prompt actions are not quick fixes or stopgaps. Biden's team has prepared a long time for this moment, from well before Nov 3. There is a sense of purposeful movement as we set fair to bring at least the federal government into the 21C. There'd be still more progress but for the execrable "transition" of the preceding regime which is worse than useless.
Also important is the sense that Biden's presidency will be consequential. (It could hardly be otherwise given the cascading challenges the country faces.) But there is more than one way to fit the profile. American history reveals a notable pattern of paired presidential administrations with each predecessor worse than their successor. Buchanan was consequential due to his weaknesses and failures, Lincoln for his achievements. Atrocious Andrew Johnson preceded Ulysses Grant; Hoover was consequential in Buchanan's mold as was FDR in Lincoln's; and more recently America was lucky to have Bush II's messes cleaned up by Obama. Trumpsky, whom historians will recognize in future as the Worst President Ever, now has Biden as a successor facing the most threatening internal crises since the Civil War. We shall see what transpires.
As I've said before, Joe Biden could well become the most successful one-term president in US history, and ultimately among the most beloved. We desperately need that kind of success. Make it so!
Like Obama he's playing a long game but unlike Obama he's not afraid to rattle the right cages.
I think it would be more accurate to say, “...unlike Obama he doesn’t have the issue of race complicating his actions.”
...and I believe if Obama had it to do over he would not have made that a consideration. Easy to say with 20/20 hindsight but he learned that Republicans will always treat kindness as a weakness.
Had Obama had more executive experience before he was President he would have had a stronger killer instinct and not tried to appease the opposition.
I should have clarified this point, you're right. Thanks.
more multiple ❤️s = likes
Could not agree more with everything you are saying. This man has 36 years in the Senate and eight next to Obama. He has seen every move that the Republicans have executed in bad faith, which is actually a recent phenomenon. Where was that . . . ? Ah, here it is:
LA Times
‘Played’ by GOP in the Obama era, wary Democrats and Biden go big on their own
by Janet Hook and Eli Stokols, Jan. 29. Includes a brief history of how Chuck Grassley, among others, jerked Obama around then finally told him he wasn’t going to support him. Infuriating.
Just finished this RS article on GameStop. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/gamestop-reddit-robinhood-hedge-fund-populism-1120713/
It's much deeper than a David vs Goliath story. It's really about a broken economic system where when times are good the rich do good and when times are bad the rich do good.
This is what's driving the kind of populism I believe in and fight for as opposed to the GOP populism that stirs up hatred and social unrest to distract their base from realizing that the rich always win to the detriment of the working middle class.
I know there's too much going on but I hope the calls by AOC and others to have hearings over the totality of the GameStop awakening can come soon.
I believe there’s more to the Game Stop Short Squeeze story...hopefully folks will dig deeper to find the truth 🧐
Forgive the English teacher comment (not directed at your syntax, but at the double meaning possible with 'do good'): I've rarely seen the rich do good, but they always do well.
EXCELLENT article, as well as your above commentary! Thank You Christopher!
Christopher, thanks for the article. I'm sure that there will be further analyses of who's playing whom how, but there is little doubt that as the system is currently structured the rich big boys will continue to get richer. For a quick take that includes comments on the use of bots to influence online community investments, see also today's "TalkingPoint Memo":
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/dismal-reality-wallstreetbets-gamestock-reddit
I agree. His knowledge of how things work and why they don't is extensive. I would add though, that he also has the character, skills and integrity to accompany this wisdom. He knows how to assemble brilliant leaders, get their best thinking, and turn them loose to get things done. He is a leader of leaders and he sets the standard for treatment of others, commitment to the mission, and truth telling. This is LEADERSHIP at its best. He is the man for the job at the very time we NEEDED a "man" for the job!
Wow. Ellen. Brilliantly said. Thanks for putting “man” in quotes.
Leader of leaders. Yes!
Only 2 ❤️s? Goodness. [Biden a leader of leaders]
Well said.
I wonder if he would ever run again? Obama. ❤️
He can't run for president again, the term limit thing, but wouldn't he make an awesome Supreme Court justice?
Amen!
Supreme Court. Put that PhD in Constitutional law to work. Michelle needs a break.
Mr Obama isn't eligible thanks to the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951. 22A states that a person can only be elected to be president two times for a total of eight years. It does not preclude ex-presidents from holding another office. None have officially served since 1951, but there are solid precedents from before then. Taft subsequently was Chief Justice of the SC, and Quincy Adams had a distinguished 18-year career in the House. Obama is younger than either was on leaving the White House., and may be willing to serve.
He can't. He got his two terms. That's all you get.
I don't think the fact of racism can be overstated. I for one lived in fear for 8 years that Obama would be assassinated. He did us all, and our country a tremendous favor by staying alive.
Couldn’t agree more, the racism cannot be overstated. You underestimate the secret service, however. The Obamas have some of the best security on the planet, 2nd only to the Bidens.. You can’t buy that level of security. Putin is doing pretty well too, I imagine, but he has actual enemies, not just racists like DT who despise him. Like the relatives of the opponents he has killed. Like an entire nation of oligarchs/plutocrats he has blackmailed into compliance. Like the Russian people, who don’t want him anymore.
From the day he was nominated, I had the same fear. T****, however, is fortunate that we lefties are less inclined to fatal criticism of our leaders. (If Oswald was indeed a practicing communist and was indeed the shooter, that would be a notable exception.)
You are exactly right.
2 ❤️❤️s
3❤️❤️❤️s
It definitely complicates things, but not due to Biden's race.
Yes.
Yes because only playing the long game meant for Obama that he was shafted by the GOP's tactical short game. If eyes are only on the horizon you tend to trip over the kerbstone!
However, we need more people playing the long game even if they stubble a bit. We have several existential crises looming right in front of us. We need visionary thinking and leadership. With the technology revolution upon us, we're going to need an entirely new economic system. If technology eliminates more jobs than it creates which can be debated, how do people "make a living"? Do we have a true democracy, not representative, in the future? Or, even, are humans just the pets of the sentient robots who will evolve so much faster than humans? Are we going to have to go through a period of violence and upheaval rather than embrace the future and retool our society now? Where do we find the visionaries and leaders?
How to earn a living? Guaranteed Universal Basic Income. The means exist; lack of political will is the main obstacle. And it is earned -- by being human, by virtue of our humanity.
They started to experiment with this in Finland and stopped quite quickly as the impact on motivation to work was highly significant especially amongst younger age groups.
It might be interesting to know what kind of work was available for the younger folx. If few of the jobs had any prospects for advancement, or creativity, or anything other than a daily grind, that might be an explanation for lack of incentive. Do you know of any articles that discuss this experiment?
As any good general would tell you...when leading the charge, protect your flanks.
As a manager I use to devour books about generals. There are a lot of lessons for corporate managers can learn from generals. Tuesday I had the pleasure of having a retired four star and his wife, who I play chamber music with, give me a personal tour of the renovations they are doing on the Nimitz Hotel which is now part of the Museum of the Pacific War which the four star now runs returning to his home town, also the home town of Admiral Nimitz. One evening I had the tremendous pleasure of discussing moral obligation, ethics and character with him over dinner for a couple of hours. I'd recommend the book they use in the Stockdale course at the Naval Academy "Foundations of Moral Obligation" by Professor Brennan to anyone interested in leadership. This is another aspect of leadership that is imperative and largely absent in our politicians. Senator McCain understood this like few will ever have to.
Quite right we have nolonger any time for politicians saying "do as I say, not what i do" leading by example and care for those following are the first principles of leadership.
Thanks for the neat metaphor, Stuart.
Yes! And "Trumpsky" it is. Just saw an article tgat said Russia had been grooming him for 40 years.
Longtime fan of Craig Unger, here. Book is titled “American Kompromat”. The evidence for it has long been blatantly visible. I’m very grateful to journalists such as Unger who do the hard work of verifying the truth. 🙏
Good to hear. Thank You.
I read the same article. I haven’t seen it in other news papers yet but I am wondering if it is true? It seems quite true to me. I have always felt that the Russians had some thing on Trump and I still think that
I read that yesterday. The Kremlin isn't talking, of course, but a couple of defectors are. Comrade Trumpsky is not a true mole, but 40 years ago the Soviets quickly spotted him as someone who could manipulated through flattery and suggestion. For further proof, release the tax returns, and the Golden Showers videos. Plural!
Do u think he will repay his Russian Oligarch loans via Deutsche bank? He has secret service protection, so I bet he declares bankruptcy again.
Deutsche Bank has already said they want nothing to do with any new deals with him, and those loans are coming due so Deutsche Bank has the right to seize any of his assets and property. He will be of no further use to Russia if he can't keep some semblance of power. Two of his FL banks have already severed ties with him. As you sow , so shall you reap and that crop is due for harvest soon.
Yes, and then there’s reaping the harvest that earns him the orange jumpsuit to match the hair.
We can but hope. There may be enough co-conspirators that they may need a whole wing just for them
Guantanamo comes to mind. Give them fishing poles to feed themselves.
This gives me hope that the QAnon cult will die.
You have to elaborate, Jeanne, so that we can share in your hope. DT’s financial demise somehow links to the death of QAnon?
I read an article (I will have to search for it now) about how cults die out when their leader disappears or loses power. w`
I read that article as well, very chilling and enlightening.
Wow. Did the article give details? Could I find it easily?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9184687/How-Russia-began-grooming-Donald-Trump-40-years-ago-saving-financial-ruin-book-claims.html
It's a book by Craig Unger
I came across this interview yesterday. It is like an hour long. Very interesting! https://www.pscp.tv/w/1MnGnlnNdzyxO?t=8s
Can't speak for the book's veracity, but it sure makes perfect sense.
Not just Craig Unger, but also Greg Olear has written a book (Dirty Rubles) about Trump’s long history with Putin. Here’s an article.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/from-trump-to-trump-how-the-mobs
This post is duplicated because I wanted to make sure MaryPat sees it in her email.
OH!
I encourage everyone to READ this article Roland posted by Olear!
This is information that, though stomach turning, needs to be spread far and wide. It provides damning confirmation of what many of us could easily surmise by the Russian puppet's behaviors for the past five years.
I was not a fan of Hillary as POTUS but her words to Trump, and the world, at that debate are haunting, early, forboding echoes of the dangers we are confronted with today.
Thank You!
This is an enlightening article! Thank you.
Thank you!
Not just Craig Unger, but also Greg Olear has written a book (Dirty Rubles) about Trump’s long history with Putin. Here’s an article.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/from-trump-to-trump-how-the-mobs
Someone on her FB page linked to a Guardian piece.
This: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book
This is from The Guardian who has made the following INCREDIBLE statement:
We believe everyone deserves access to information that’s grounded in science and truth, and analysis rooted in authority and integrity. That’s why we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. In these perilous times, an independent, global news organisation like the Guardian is essential. We have no shareholders or billionaire owner, meaning our journalism is free from commercial and political influence.
If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Your funding powers our journalism.
"one-term president"??
Biden has stated he doesn't want to run again in 2024. Lots can happen in 4 years, however.
And, he is 78. My relatives who are 81, if healthy, are enjoying some much-earned relaxation activities, like gardening, reading, traveling for fun, spending time with grandchildren. We shall see!! I am so so grateful Joe was willing to serve at 78!
I too am so grateful that he gave up his retirement years. What love he has for his country, and not power. He has beautiful grandchildren and no doubt wants to make the country better for him and for future generations of his family whom he may never meet.
Biden could have taken an easy road by withdrawing from the race as the pandemic engulfed the world, and as racial and economic crises tore apart America. Yet he still sought to lead in these times that try our souls. Biden became a profile in courage even before assuming office.
In deed, he has given up a lot to serve his country. For security reasons, he has not been able to drive his beloved vintage 1967 Corvette for the last 12 years, except for a few spirited laps at the secret service training course with Jay Leno. Sorry to wander off subject, but I'm also a vintage car enthusiast and appreciate his sacrifice for we the people!
My husband has just turned me on to Jerry Seinfeld’s show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. You can watch old shows on Netflix and I watched Jerry ride with President Obama around the White House grounds in a corvette! It was a really cool car.
Keep it in the garage, Joe. That Corvette is a national security threat.
And he has opened the presidential door for Harris!💙
Oh Yeah‼️🥰
No one is forgetting that‼️
Kamala is a gem. We know her and love her here in California 💕❤️
Where did you hear that? On Faux? He has said absolutely nothing about that.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/11/biden-single-term-082129
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-10/joe-biden-argues-he-s-bridge-to-younger-leaders-harris-booker
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/17/biden-one-term-vice-president/111789924/
A lot has happened since any of this was reported. Lots more will happen in the next four years.
I doubt he will run again. He will be 82. He will hand the reins to Kamala
As someone "around his age" who is pretty healthy, he seems to have more energy than many 40 year olds. That happens when you finally get to do the thing you were meant for in your life. It energizes you.
My father in law will be 82 next and I would confidently vote for him for POTUS. Except......my 25 year old daughter is right when she says it's time for the old white men to make way for the next generation of leaders.
Yeah, but two terms of Biden followed by two terms of Haris is 16 years - the equal of FDR/Truman, which is what it took to wring out the Republican doo-doo-caca the last time.
In following the threads of the mysterious TCinLA, he also has a gift of words with his wisdom regarding the republican fiascos.
That would be the best 16 years...
I have to admit I am so curious about you! I look for your comments here. In my imagination, you have intelligence background.
Well, I am intelligent, but the closest I ever got to "an intelligence background" is knowing some former members of Can't Investigate Anything (their term for the organization). But I am perfectly willing to be the dashing "man of mystery" who orders his martinis "shaken, not stirred" in your imagination. :-)
Thank you! Nobody does it better. 🎶
I'm curious too!
Unless Biden wants a second term. It's past time anyway to dethrone James K Polk, often seen as the most successful OTP. He attained his goals by acquiring Texas and the Mexican session. But since then many people have questioned its morality and deplored the civil war that resulted. US Grant later wrote about the Mexican American War, "I was bitterly opposed ... and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
Lincoln, then a Congressman, also objected in strenuous moral terms.
I think he meant “first term” success
❤️❤️❤️❤️ With you. ❤️🤍💙
I love the way the wealthy want to work together ... by demonizing small investors, as leeches, of course! Bravo to Biden and team for getting down to business and showing us that good government really does work. I’m hoping the momentum will help with getting that latest relief bill through. I’m so relieved to see progress instead of regress. Thanks, Heather, for another excellent summary!
Make no mistake, we live in a Plutocracy, which is defined as a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. We would like to believe that Democracy hails supreme in the land, which it does not. Politicians are bought by powerful lobbies and vote not with their consciences but with an eye on getting re-elected. It's time to accept this fact and take our heads out of the sand and address the issue accordingly. When the top1% controls 80% of our nation's capital, the notion that we live in a Democracy is fantasy.
I'm binge-watching a very interesting show this week, called Mr. Robot. It's about a group of computer hackers who take down the world's top corporations and most wealthiest people. The result is that all debts are erased in the world and the super one per centers fall like dominos. The hackers are hailed as heroes, finally sticking it those who have controlled society for hundreds of years.
The Gamestop debacle that has been unfolding is a real life example of redistribution of wealth and fighting a long loaded deck that unregulated hedge funds have always enjoyed. As a former Wall St. trader, it was well-know that when you received an order to buy or sell stock to a hedge fund, they most likely had information not known to the public. They were mostly cheaters. Without getting into the intricacies of short selling, they have lost billions on GameStop for getting caught on the wrong side of a trade; those who made real money were the masses who gladly waved their sticks to shove it up hedge funds', well, you get the picture. It has been an explosive financial revolution. Where the chips, or GameStop shares fall is anyone's guess.
It is so good to get a insider’s perspective of issues such as this! It’s one of the most valuable aspects of this kind of forum. It’s one thing to find fault with something from the outside, but it carries so much more weight from someone who has lived it on the inside. Thank you for sharing this.
Hmmm. I question the notion that what has happened here is that the masses made real money while sticking it to the hedge funds. Gamestop has negative earnings and is trading at 5x revenues and 97x EBITDA. I worry about the people who are buying equity now thinking that they are going to make real money. Will the rug can get pulled out from under them when fundamental value comes back to hit everyone on the head? Momentum traders have made money on the way up but it remains to be seen how deep the bid for stock will remain to allow people to continue making profits at a level that doesn’t appear warranted by fundamental value.
yes but it is nice to see the HFs suffer humiliation once in a while even if it is only in the short term. Such "highlighting" attracts political attention and will double calls for a very close regulatory look at their industry. and that's a good thing.
I don't know much about the hedge funds involved in shorting Gamestop. As in any industry there are some top professionals and some bad apples in the Hedge Fund community. Hedge funds are still subject to laws on market manipulation. They have also been the focus of regulatory action and scrutiny on how they obtain information on investment opportunities which has led to strict oversight of expert networks etc. I think there is a real potential debate around the question of market manipulation where a well know short seller takes a position in a security and publishes the fact or publishes research to that effect. I have always found Muddy Waters a curious animal for example. They publish research on overpriced companies and take positions in those names.
Much prefer the musician
Absolutely on the same page with you!!!!!!!!!!!!
I absolutely agree with you, Eric. Fundamental stock valuations have no effect during a short squeeze, so they become insane. GameStop lost like 400 million dollars last year so there is no positive P/E ratio. When it gets down to it, a short squeeze is legalized stock manipulation. The trading of the stock is now a game of hot potato. At some points the longs will be tumbling over one another for the exits and just as buyers made a lot of money on the way up, some people will lose everything on the way down. The only solution is to restrict shorting the stock to a much lower percentage of the float.
❤️
With calls for unity in the air, Cooperman offered his own definition. Democrats’ suggestion that the rich should pay their “fair share” of taxes is “bullsh*t,” he said. “It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people, and you know I think it’s inappropriate…. We all got to work together and pull together.”
No, Mr. Cooperman, your comment is the definition of "bullsh*t".
"Boohoo", you capitalist snowflake. You got "Borated" by Reddit and Robinhood, and now you're crying in your caviar (oh wait, there's a shortage of caviar!). Hedge fund managers are not true capitalists anyway, as they make their billions betting AGAINST the market.
If Jesus were to return, one can bet that your ass would be one of the first to be thrown from the temple. How about taking some of your $2.5B and feeding the hungry, healing the sick, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked?
Finally. Something fun in the news. Cooperman will forever be the Marie Antoinette of the Stock Market.
Let Them Trade Cake!
Haha luv this MP!
👍🏼👍🏾👍
"Let them eat dividends."
Yes! You beat me to this. And once again, it’s the language of the abuser blaming the abused. It’s an “attack” on the wealthy, and he calls for unity and for us all to work together? Does he even hear and believe his own words?? OMG.🤮
“Nothing gives us better access to the soul of a nation than its language”-Victor Klemperer
I love how HCR puts the quotation out there without further commentary. Just lets it marinate in its own rank juices. It feels good to be able to start the day with a feeling of smug satisfaction for a change. Is that wrong of me?
No.
Of course!😘
Excellent. My feelings exactly. What we see from the hedger is just that: BS. And I am crying a river. What, you want him to help the vulnerable among us. Naw, he would rather own a monster trophy house.
Bravo Herb!
There was a lot of talk about Joe Biden’s age as a presidential candidate, but there is no mistaking the expertise, wisdom, and vision he’s bringing to the office.
Here's the deal: Dogs are back in the White House! The photo below is almost as good as LBJ serenading his beagle. Note that it's from the Hindustan Times. All the world watches the US, but South Asia watches even more closely thanks to Madame Vice President.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/joe-biden-s-dog-major-welcomed-to-white-house-by-josh-groban-at-indoguration-101610970112761.html
Now let's follow the logic:
Dogs humanize the president. Trumpaky wouldn't have dogs (actually, they wouldn't have him). Therefore Trumpsky is not ... you get the idea.
If you have seen that recent pic of Fake45 and McCarthy, you will notice that good ole Kevin is the pet The Don always wanted.
Ever since Reagan, the only value that America has projected and modeled to itself is sociopathy. S&L, ADM, Maxwell, LTCM, Enron, Robert Rubin and Citigroup, fund timing, 2008, libor fixing, HSBC money-laundering, Wells Fargo and on and on. The rich are above the law. The purpose of corporations as weaponized by them is merely to allow their private theft and power addiction to operate at scale. Over and over they get caught stealing and polluting and cheating and lying and perjuring and get away with it anyway, and this is not a bug but a core Morality Play of sociopathy as America's highest value. If this were not the case, behavior would have *some* impact on social status. Jeffrey Epstein is a case study - the university trustees and scientists and labs and cultural institutions bowing and scraping before a child-rapist and his friends because he has money...in an endless chain, one of his friends and funder sociopaths *still* chair at MoMA right now. This - power for the few as an end in itself - was all the GOP was ever about, as apotheosized in their 2020 platform of nothing. The Nazism and theocracy and culture wars all just empty political expedients to protect plutocracy. The reaction to Gamestop is just the latest in endless examples -- the aggrieved special pleading of the billionaires who love to talk about personal responsibility and welfare queens and drug testing for medicaid recipients. Reaganism told 40 years of Americans that honest work and public service were for suckers and lying and cheating and getting away with it the highest good, and they listened. It is hard to imagine that detox will not take generations. And seems clear it can't even start as long as Fox and talk radio continue to exist without the Fairness Doctrine.
I have a theory that the reason wealthy, ponzi-schemer, Bernie Madoff, was indicted, tried and thrown in jail was only because he stole from the rich. You can trick, steal, fabricate, wreck the middle class and starve the poor, you can nearly crash the planet's economy, but you better not mess with the rich! Epstein knew that entertaining and donating to the rich and mingling with the Harvard and MIT crowd was his kryptonite. Then the "little people" ganged up on him (as they did Weinstein). But so few abusers of any kind are ever exposed unless, of course, they mess with the rich.
When they mess with the 99% they call it capitalism......and so that is "normal"!
Makes perfect, if disgusting, sense.
The crazy idea of actually working with people on the ground seems to be catching fire like blazes. Stacey Abrams and Ben Wikler have taught us that the party can't just parachute in at campaign time, hire a bunch of temps and then disappear after the election. Now they're learning to work with networks of friends and relatives year round, not in some toxic permanent campaign sense but as a living community. And Biden and his team have taken this to heart across so many sectors - not just working with governors instead of against them like Trump - but making sure it's local doctors and community leaders they work with across the country to overcome vaccine fears, reach seniors and others who are off the grid, etc. Working with community activists as well as workers on environmental change instead of looking for ways to politically neutralize them. "We're going to power our economy with clean energy, [with] jobs that have an opportunity for workers to join a union." I mean... actually having a plan, to do good things, with people on the ground, in a way that could actually work and be sustainable...it's...it's crazy talk! Did I *ever* hear anything this before and actually believe it in my lifetime?
😊Bealpeh, I’m thinking the same...that Joe Biden’s age and experience have resulted in wisdom and resolve to steer the ship of state away from the iceberg. The honeymoon feels good so far.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Looking forward to being a grassroots participator. ❤️🤍💙
Me too!
"Now they're learning to work with networks of friends and relatives year round, not in some toxic permanent campaign sense but as a living community. " YES. Thank you bealpeh. The movement Republicans have given us a wake-up call. If we want democracy and social justice, it has to be part of our lives every single day.
I just have to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for yesterday’s community discussion initiated by Eve Furchgott. I’m still working through many of the thoughtful, insightful, often brilliant observations. The depth of study and the contributions of outside reference sources is impressive.
Heathers questioning the morals and agenda of the business wing of the Republican Party, combined with Eve’s disclosure of her own cult experience, really hit home for me. It was also gratifying to see so many new names.
Thank you, one and all. I am moved to gratitude.
Love you, Roland!
That’s very sweet of you
Roland should be on the cover of the Roland Stone. Make it so!
😆. I love you too TPJ.
Roland, it was such a poignant discussion especially in light of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. The connections were deep and brought up many emotions for us all. Thank you for raising it up, especially the brave who shared their stories.
Thank you Kari 🙏
I agree.
Was this a video or discussion in comments? I missed it 🙃
HCR Jan. 28 Comments, the entire discussion under Eve Furchgott
Ahhh...got it. Superb discussion. 😍 Thanks! Just looked it up. Fear god...interesting.
Yes, god-fearing. Only in German.
I hope Eve didn’t take it as a privacy violation. I didn’t use my last name here because it’s unique, and there’s probably only one of me in the world with this name, so I just stick to Roland.
It's a substantial thread in the discussion on Jan 28, compliments of we the people of LFAA.
Your writings continue to support and expand my admiration for President Biden. It’s obvious he’s got a huge team of hardworking knowledgeable women and men supporting us all as we rebuild ourselves and our country. I wait up each night to hear your words in my head & heart. Thank you for your efforts to seek out facts and write with clarity so I can sleep hopeful.
This night owl also waits up, not gets up, for LFAA. They say the early bird gets the worm, but I don't like worms. It's what we do with our time, not when we do it, that matters.
I usually read HCR at about 0500 PST; I am late today because yesterday was a no stay asleep day and I was up earlier.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😊 "We all gotta work togethrt and pull together," complained the shark to the minnows.
Exactly.
I gotta say it's day 8 but Biden is doing so much, so fast, so well, and so good... experiencing some hope, for which there's no longer the slightest muscle memory. He was not the choice of progressives and it is hard to see how the center-right plutocrat wing will not score some points. But it is hard to fault him so far, just the opposite.
Not to reopen old wounds but I can tell you that behind the scenes the message to environmentalists at the start of the Obama admin was a slap in the face; the progressive economists paraded during the transition were sent straight to the basement; culminating in Emanuel's famous literal "fuck you" just in case the message hadn't been clear.
This is not that. It does not look like bones being thrown to "activists" but real expertise actively getting to work on problems in a spirit of teamwork. Like Americans, and the American government, and the civil service, can actually *do* things, and they are *good* at it! After what we've been through it makes me want to cry...
AOC talks with Chris Hayes about Biden's promising start and how much it means - https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1354632846359601157
I supported Elizabeth, but have seen more than I could ever imagine in Joe’s eight days. I could never imagine EW or Bernie able to move so quickly, with such expertise behind every move. Joe is really doing the people’s business; his hard scrabble upbringing in Scranton, PA. i being revealed
I was a toss up between Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigige, and Kamala Harris. While I think any one of those three would have been good, I acknowledge that Joe Biden is the right man at the right time. I hope that we move far enough that Harris can win as more or less an incumbent and we get 12 years of this philosophy.
It’s like the father figure has come home. And he’s cleaning house. Literally and figuratively. Getting everything back in order as best as he can after the kids had a huge, destructive party while he was gone.
Tricia, I’m still laughing at this brilliant image you’ve brought forth! I love it!
Frederick, I agree. I have tremendous respect for Warren, Bernie, and now —based on his apparent determination to effect positive change for our nation— Pres. Biden. Go Joe!
In the best sense, Joe Biden is the country’s ‘elder’
And to think that many of us (myself included) initially worried that he was too old. Proof positive that there's no substitute for knowing your way around the block!
It was infuriating to hear Repugs deride Biden for "hiding in his basement." It's an obvious decision for a senior to take proper precautions during a raging pandemic. Which candidate stayed healthy and which one almost croaked himself??
It was all part of a coordinated plan to make him look old and doddering. Remember that even CNN and MSNBC were breaking out in hives at the prospect of a debate with the Village Idiot, terrified that he'd make a gaffe - especially insulting, when you consider that Trump is incapable of stringing a sentence together.
As far as hiding in his basement is concerned, it's the rightwingers who refuse to wear masks, congregate in large groups, and flout science, who have spread so much misery all over the country, while Trump bungled the Coronavirus disaster - intelligent, eh?
And taking a jog everyday, and choosing the best and delegating the work and overseeing the progress and...WOW!
All the while ignoring the young guns who criticized him for returning to the status quo. I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle being schooled. Experience is a good thing - remember that!
Yes! My thoughts exactly. He's an "elder" with the energy of a "younger"!!! When I saw the video of Dr. Jill and Joe riding their bikes and talking with reporters and contrasted that with the fat dude cheating on his golf course, it seemed to me that one was decrepit and the other was energy personified!
Well said, Ellen. Hopefully "Youngers" becomes common parlance like Elders, as in, Our youngers will save the world.
(NB, red lines still appear when typing Youngers. The same happened in the Boston Globe with seditionists and insurrectionists. But they appear so frequently, now BG's software recognizes them as proper words.)
Fredrick, You could not have imagined Joe Biden working as quickly and with such excellent political instincts, neither could I. As a fellow Warren supporter I wouldn't rush to compare her talents against Joe's. He selected a strong team and served as VP for eight years. I hope that he will also employ a number of Warren's ideas for structural changes that would provide education and economic opportunities from which many millions of Americans have been barred . Janet Yellen, of course, will be a major source for implementing such change.
I have to wonder just how many of EW's numerous "plans" are already being used. The Biden team has been working for quite some time and it could be that they quietly worked with her to put those plans in place for an instant rollout. She's a genius at planning and the executive decisions that are being made are sound, thorough and well thought out. Just my two cents.
Ellen, I'd like to put down at least another two cents on your excellent points!
Only two cents? Don't shortchange yourself, Ellen. In the immortal words of Ray Charles, "Let Lincoln and Jackson start shaking hands!"
-- "Greenbacks," 1957
Agree!
The Biden team has prepared a solid program since Rep. Clyburn delivered the SC primary victory. Sound planning is a nice boost to five decades of experience.
I'm so thankful to Rep. Clyburn, and Biden ran with it. He salvaged the campaign, as Stacey Abrams delivered Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia. It could have been much different - shudder.
I am too! Clyburn and quite frankly, Stacey Abrams and LaTosha Brown saved the Democrats. We cannot forget how the black population, especially women, saved us all from the confines of the GOP and Fake45. I sure won’t ever forget.
Neither will I. I'm really hoping that the tide is turning on racism. Of course, I thought, incorrectly, that we'd turned the corner with Obama's election, but it seemed to have opened the closet door for the evil to ooze out. This time, it feels different, even with the neo-Nazis and QAnon. At least more people are acknowledging the ugly truth, and Black people are engaged in the process and haven't given up.
I had not seen this segment of Chris Hayes' program, and I'm thrilled that AOC is voicing approval of Biden's environmental proposals. Nice to see the circular firing squad disappearing, at least for now.
It sure feels like Biden is putting into place a Green New Deal!
I heard one advisor saying build recharge infrastructure on every highway so u could drive coast to coast this cementing electric car market. New technologies, build new infrastructure, creates more jobs for the market the infrastructure created. Da. That and immigration are responsible for every huge economic expansion in this country.
Pete Buttigieg said this in his confirmation hearing - chargers pn every highway coast to coast!
By 2032 the GND will be mainstream orthodoxy, with many critics clamoring for its provisions. Courtesy of the Biden admin's farsighted policies.
Lots and lots of good news! Listening to Cooperman call foul is really music to my ears. Proves how the wealthy really do control (tried to until this week) Wall Street. I love that!
Biden has been a politician for a very long time so he knows exactly how to go about delegating duties, how to reach out to people, and how to govern. So far, so good.
Given all the Karen billionaires bellyaching over having to take their own medicine, this week I'll be drinking my coffee in my Warren "Billionaire's Tears" mug. Wish I had another that said, "Shutup and Pay Your Fair Share" and another that said "Too Big Must Fail" and one for the billionaire crybabies "Try Working a Real Job for a Change" and finally one that says "Time to Trim the Hedges".
Let us now call them “Coopermans.”
“Coopermans” or “Ivankas”
Let's!
Like all slogans, but especially that last one. 💋❤️🤍💙
I’ll second that Deborah, “Remove those hedges! They’re invasive"
Like any hedge....and any serious gardner will tell you...they need serious triming and pruning from time to time to keep them healthy, useful and in shape.
When they’re really diseased, it’s better to dig them out, burn them, and plant something else.
A true gardner for the peoples garden. The ashes can be used to regulated the ph level of the vegetable beds!😂
Meme Time!
Yes! :)
Thanks to Michelle Goldberg for pointing out the cyclical nature of Presidential administrations to create decade of sameness until they are made to seem undoable any longer. The Republicans did it to FDR with Reagan and Democrats crouched in his shadow through the end of the 20th century and still played to it through the Obama years.
Now Trump has thankfully brought the beginning of the end of the Reagan era. Quoting Michelle:
"Yet as Biden’s administration begins, there are signs that a new politics is coalescing. When, in his inauguration speech, Biden touted “unity,” he framed it as a national rejection of the dark forces unleashed by his discredited predecessor, not stale Gang of Eight bipartisanship. He takes power at a time when what was once conventional wisdom about deficits, inflation and the proper size of government has fallen apart. That means Biden, who has been in national office since before Reagan’s presidency, has the potential to be our first truly post-Reagan president."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opinion/biden-president-progressive.html
We need more journalism like this and less about the unbalanced Georgian MoC who believes Jews are starting wildfires in California with space lasers.
Just a little more:
"This is the second Democratic administration in a row to inherit a country wrecked by its predecessor. But Biden’s plans to take on the coronavirus pandemic and the attendant economic disaster have been a departure from Obama’s approach to the 2008 financial crisis. The difference isn’t just in the scale of the emergencies, but in the politics guiding the administrations’ responses."
Here's to better days ahead people!
You are not alone here as in France, to quote one-time centrist Prime Minister, Alan Juppé, "When we are in power and we set the economy to rights and fill the government treasure chest and then, turn and turn about, the Socialist party comes back as things are looking good, spends it all ...and we get re-elected to sort it out again" ...once more, swings and roundabouts!
I thought trolls lived Norway.
Have they cornered the market? I think that they have been exporting them for sometime...or are they just holograms?
Compared to Trumpsky, when it comes to wreckage, Shrub is a (sic) bush-leaguer.
Excellent points. We are clearly at the end of a cycle - the number of Executive Actions taken by Biden illustrates abundantly the need for corrective action.
And Biden gets full credit for taking them. He is absolutely a man on a mission, acting with the certitude of one who has spent decades in government and seen the vicissitudes of the nation in that time. It also seems clear to me that, as with any intelligent person, he has had his own share of personal epiphanies (think of his previous attitude towards crime). Biden is a liberated man and he is unafraid of the consequences of the backlash his EAs will inevitably bring. Although I doubted him in the primaries, he is clearly the best person for the job at this moment in historical time.
But the rubber now hits the road. From here on in, we will see how he fares when it comes to enduring legislation. He is navigating the trickiest of rapids here, and I fear that those strewing his path with palms in gratitude for his early work, will have short memories and turn on him with equal vigor when he makes his first major compromise to get legislation passed. We are schooled to hope for nothing but walkovers after enduring the years of being under the boot of Trump.
When disappointment and attendant anger set in, Jen Psaki will need to be a miracle worker.
One final speculation about “cycles”.
The last two major ones (the FDR progressive period and the years of trickle up initiated by Reagan) were decades long.
During the last few decades the world has sped up immeasurably with the advent of the computer age. We are a bullet train heading towards the oblivion of climate change amidst the perils of relentless technological advances.
“Cycles” may be in our political past. They progress too slowly. I fear an endgame where we are forced to be continually reactive and cannot look above the parapets long enough to be sensibly proactive.
In this light, I would add, the GameStop phenomenon seems pretty inconsequential.
Eric, thanks for your thoughts on what affects the pace of political changes. I share your fear that we may be "forced to be continually reactive and cannot look above the parapets long enough to be sensibly proactive." One perspective on waves of political dominance and change I have found stimulating is Jack Balkin's theory of the interactions of three types of political cycles. Balkin is a professor on con law and has studied the influences of changing information technology. I cite his latest blog post, https://balkin.blogspot.com from 1/25/21 because it summarizes his current thoughts better than I can. It's s/w abstract, but his notion of "constitutional rot" seems to me well worth attention, and concern.
A couple of extracts from the post:
"[W]e can understand American constitutional development in terms of three kinds of cycles. The first involves the rise and fall of political regimes featuring dominant political parties. The second is a long cycle of polarization and depolarization that stretches from the Civil War through the present. The third cycle is a series of episodes of constitutional rot and constitutional renewal. Constitutional rot is the process by which a constitutional republic becomes less democratic and less republican over time.
"I draw three conclusions from the 2020 election and the Capitol Hill insurrection of January 6th, 2021. First, although the Reagan regime that has structured American politics since the 1980s is nearing its end, we cannot yet be certain that it has reached its conclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic contraction that accompanied it have handed the Democrats an opportunity to forge a new political regime, but whether they will successfully capitalize on these possibilities is yet to be determined. ...
"Second, our deeply polarized politics, which is currently organized around issues of identity and status conflict, will continue until party coalitions slowly begin to change, leading the parties to face off over a new set of issues. Those changes are already in motion, but the transformations will take time.
"Third, the gravest threat we face today is not political polarization but constitutional rot — a deepening decay in our political and legal institutions. This decay began well before the election of President Donald Trump. But Trump accelerated constitutional rot in the United States, by his creation of a cult of personality, by his abuses of power, and by his refusal to accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election and the opposition party’s ascension to power through democratic means."
Your post is a deeply thoughtful read. Thanks Tom.
I take issue with the predictive nature of what you quoted, although it may possibly be rung up to my lack of insight.
For me, prediction at this point is a bit of a mug’s games. We are at the confluence of virtually epochal events. The disarray in the Republican Party is real and threatens America. If deep internecine struggle occurs, who can possibly foresee the result? A viable third party? One party Democrat rule (I offer mostly facetiously)?
Technology is almost completely out of control. As with the atomic bomb, if it can be built, it will be built. We’ll only learn the consequences afterward. Its effect on culture will be enormous. Who knows how technology will ultimately interact with economy. And by ultimately, I mean 10-20 years.
Social media exists to make enormous money. Its algorithms depend on encouraging ferment and hatred of the “other”. Are we at a point where there is a true reckoning with the perils of entirely unregulated speech?
And climate change. And international relations. And man’s rapacity with the natural world seems now to be reaching an inevitable endpoint.
My point above all is that all of these forces and trends pile up on one another. No change exists in isolation. We are at an apex of unintended consequences.
I feel much safer looking at the rubble of the last cycle and seeing those intersections than I do trying to make the type of curiously specific predictions that you have cited.
Equally though, I try never to underestimate my own myopia. :)
Eric--thanks for the reply, and I second your thought: "My point above all is that all of these forces and trends pile up on one another. No change exists in isolation. We are at an apex of unintended consequences." Prediction is all too often either a form of rationalizing present interests or self-soothing. But trying to draw evidence-based lines into the future is something we all (should) do all the time. I brought Balkin into your discussion because I think he does spend time rooting through the rubble of past intersections in American history. The details aren't presented in my extract. (I have only read one of his books and various blogposts. He has also done videochats with Benjamin Wittes in which they anatomize current political developments.) Though certainly not the only useful approach, I find his separately analyzing the relatively short spans of dominant political regimes from their effects on our underlying constitutional structures helpful in trying to understand what of currently perceivable trends should be the focus political action. It helps me focus and fight off despair.
I’d really like to read that. Informed speculation, evidence-based is always of interest. Thanks for taking the trouble to elaborate.
Tom and Eric, thank you so much for this thread. When speaking of cycles, it certainly feels as though we are currently at the end of something and the beginning of something else. Depending on whose analyses one reads, 60-ish-year cycles are an American norm. If so, some iteration of early 20th century progressivism that began its death spiral around 1970 is due a rebirth. Historical patterns are rarely that neat, but as a general rule, reforms do emerge in somewhat regular fits and starts. (It also seems to me that reactionary push-back is the default rather than a "reaction," despite the label. It is always present but surges in response to reform and change.) When I mentioned generational cohorts as drivers of change, I am not speaking of a population subset: boomers or gen x, etc. We The People, even those of a generation, are not a single organism. But across time, we do see that generations have tendencies. Polls show that current under-40's are more progressive than older Americans as a whole. Voting and political allegiance tend to settle in as one comes of civic age and those patterns often hold across adulthood. Statistically speaking, this bodes well if our democratic institutions can maintain majoritarian integrity. The constitutional rot Tom discusses is the greatest threat to entering and sustaining a new progressive cycle.
Susan, thanks for your thoughtful response. Many people have analyzed out cyclical patterns in political development and decay. The constitutional framers were very concerned about the historical pattern of short-lived republics, and tried to set up structures that would resist that drift. I brought Balkin's perspective in because he at least tries to address your point that historical patterns are not neat, and that different coalitions of forces lead to (uneven) changes at different times. [BTW, I judge that he uses "reactionary" in the standard poli sci fashion: people who detest particular waves of social and political changes and demand a return to a prior, in their minds preferable, state. I agree that our current political regime--to use his term--has been ascendant at least since Reagan, and the default response has been reactionary economic policies--undo everything from the New Deal forward--combined with right-wing cultural and racial appeals. Hacker and Pierson call it "plutocratic populism" and, sad to say, it's been winning for quite some time now.]
From what you say, you may know all this. If you are interested, Balkin joined Wittes for a videochat on Jan.11, and though they are very chatty and somewhat digressive, Balkin does repeat his argument that one big problem with the Jan.6 events is that they signal an acceleration in constitutional rot--which is fundamentally an erosion of norms that allow basic governance whatever the political circuses surrounding it. He calls the threat a lack of trust, in the government to do its business of keeping the populace safe and prosperous, and in citizens to buy into the system whatever our particular disagreements with it or each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSJYMXUt1m8
Cycles in the pre-digital past have indeed been decades long, but I think they will not accelerate to the extent that they will exist only "in our political past." Cycles tend to be generational, informed by the life experiences of cohorts of people. I think (fervently hope) the younger generation coming of political age right now will fuel a lengthy progressive cycle.
I fervently hope you’re right about the younger generation delivering a progressive cycle. It’s a thought to hold on to.
Half a century ago progressives, known unashamedly at the time as liberals, invested huge hope in the hippie generation. No movement in my lifetime (in North America) was as high octane and revolutionary, not to say exhilarating as theirs was.
Needless to say, it faded into a bitter, angry Seventies generation - the beginning of the lost in the wilderness period in America.
In that decade business and law organized to fight back. The Federalist society was formed. The Reagan era, non-progressive, crudely racist and rampantly greedy was born. This was *not* a natural cycle, born from people of different cohorts (with the exception of course of that cohort determined to protect their wealth. For several reasons it picked up steam and its tenets became the accepted gospel of the day.
In time, those hippies became those whom the current generation dismisses with the cutting phrase, “OK, Boomer”.
We may get a liberal, progressive generation. I’m not so sure they’ll have the time in this gig economy to turn matters right side up again.
You have expressed very well exactly how I see the world. We are in unprecedented circumstances here. Technology, and the attendant pace of change, connectivity, and ironically, disassociation to the point of breakdown of all societal norms, seems destined to overwhelm us all.
I hope you and Michelle Goldberg turn out to be right from the bottom of my hearts.
As a retired investment professional (from the days when we interacted with Wall Street but 1) we, on what was known as the “buy side of the street” were paid salaries, and 2) those salaries were decent but very similar to my husband’s civil engineering wages).
I totally get the absurdity of Leon Cooperman’s statement and the desire to knock the “greed is good” Wall Streeters down more than a few pegs. But, I am a table pounder for investment education and this type of ride (which did look like fun) should always be recognized for the gambling risk it presents. “Revenge” trading is not sustainable and will hurt more individual investors than hedge fund managers (who definitely stack the cards in their favor).
Technology has clearly changed the mechanisms of the “game” but for most of us, education and some knowledge regarding the basics of investing (not gambling) is a better option. (pun sort of intentional😆)
“With calls for unity in the air, Cooperman offered his own definition. Democrats’ suggestion that the rich should pay their ‘fair share’ of taxes is ‘bullsh*t,’ he said. “‘It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people, and you know I think it’s inappropriate…. We all got to work together and pull together.”’
I am worried about people with little disposable wealth speculating on the stock market but I do admit that I kind of loved the short-traders' getting schooled by people who seem to have included some whose desire is to have a stock market that actually promotes companies people LIKE. One of the issues that has risen since the Reagan years is that Wall Street is utterly divorced from Main Street in terms of its ethos, its values, and the companies it privileges. I am old enough to remember the struggle that Apple (!) had to get on the "Big Board" and how it gave up and joined the NASDQ--where it remains. Most people assume that Apple is in the DJIA because it is one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, and you'd think that the index of the supposedly richest and most powerful companies would include it. It isn't, and the Dow no longer represents the investments Americans make. The lack of inclusivity, equity, and diversity among DOW and S&P 500 companies is common knowledge--not great with any major corporations but particularly present in them.
Cooperman is just the most blatantly egotistic of the top .001%--his attitude is shared by all of them I am sure, even Bill Gates, whose philanthropy is terrific but is a tiny drop in the bucket of his net worth. I am of the opinion that NO ONE needs 1 billion dollars of personal wealth, especially as income inequality is at an all-time high.
Perhaps it is time for a long 'Hail Mary’ call toward the FDR/IKE tax rate, on the VERY top .01% of the wealthy, with a rate of 93% on THEIR top 10% of (investment) wealth. Does anyone at this party (Dems) have the guts to make this call?
I sure hope so. Wealth accumulation at that level is obscene to me.
It has reminded me of an exchange in the movie "Paper Moon" where Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) is on the run from the "law" and needs to get rid of his fancy car. He's trying to swap an old country boy for his rat-trap pick-up, and country boy disagrees. Pray says "well why not? You could sell this and buy 10 pickups with it?" Country boy says "Cain't haul nothin' in it." What on earth can you do with that much money?
I can just imagine the eloquent case made by Joe, and Janet Yellen, for all of the good works to be done, by the wealthiest doing what only they can do - and that is, actually make dreams possible, for the commons and our commonwealth (how’s that for a run on sentence?) They might truly begin to relax at the 4PM booze hour, knowing their legacy might just be far greater than their wealth - at least in their own minds
A sound, grammatically correct run-on. No teacher's red ink needed.
Or Barbara Kingsolver’s response at The Land Institute’s Prairie Festival, to a friend asking her why didn’t she pursue wealth-building instead of farming: Can you EAT gold?
"Let them eat junk bonds."
Marie Antoinette would have said it if they existed in the 18C.
Oh, I love Babara Kignsolver! And the Land Institute (Wendell Berry)! And your comment too
"From each according to their ability; to each according to their needs."
Do I sense a bit of irony from Cooperman? BS to pay your fair share BUT we all have to work together???? Sounds like some of the Republicans in Congress calling for UNITY after they’ve punched US (🇺🇸) all in the face 😠
He just makes things up to suit his own interests. I call BS.
Self-examination isn’t one of his talents. In fact, it would be an impediment.
Well obviously if we are talking about good investment hygiene we are not including the big banks that do nothing but speculate with the public's money, pocket the profits when they win and whine for the public tit when they lose, as in 2008. Probably also not about simple fraud like mutual fund market timing, libor price-fixing, or simple mass identity theft like at Wells Fargo. Probably also not about money-laundering for mass-murderers, drug dealers and terrorists as was super popular at HSBC and Deutsche Bank. Or systematic tax evasion for rich clients, specialite de la maison chez UBS. Luckily the number of prosecutions or even personal fines that resulted from all the above across GOP and Democratic administrations: zero. So the rule of law is right where it needs to be for good investment hygiene all around.
Elizabeth Warren would agree with you.👍🏻 ❤️🤍💙
This Boston resident agrees. Ms Warren is my favorite MA senator since Charles Sumner. (I have personal experience of only one.)
The real unfairness, though, is the sense that when the Coopermans of the world place their bets, they are playing on a roulette wheel they have already rigged to run in their favor, whether that is through using insider information, manipulating the timing of trades, working through disguised block trading schemes or otherwise. Listening to those guys cry “foul” is rich...as it were.
But yeah, after taking into account all of the above helpful lessons, also day-trading on your credit card or with your house as collateral is not a good idea. :^)
This: “table pounder.” ❤️
I am not sure us any amount of any amount of education and investment knowledge can compete with the quants..at best one can hope the rude us good. Get the physists out of the banks and on to our other social and environmental issues.
Here is HCR’s 1917 insightful discussion of the Jan 2017 Muslim Ban as a “shock event”. I’m interested in how it stands up now. Maybe at best a useful guide to the Biden administration’s moves?
Take a deep breath: A historical view of Bannon's "shock event
"I don't like to talk about politics on Facebook-- political history is my job, after all, and you are my friends-- but there is an important non-partisan point to make today.
What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night's ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries-- is creating what is known as a "shock event."
Such an event is unexpected and confusing and throws a society into chaos. People scramble to react to the event, usually along some fault line that those responsible for the event can widen by claiming that they alone know how to restore order.
When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been distracted as they fight over the initial event. There is no longer concerted opposition to the real goal; opposition divides along the partisan lines established by the shock event.
Last night's Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It was not reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was released, and counterterrorism experts insist they did not ask for it. People charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do so. Courts immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but border police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it. Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.
My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is in no one's interest to play the shock event game. It is designed explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they cannot stand against something its authors think they won't like.
I don't know what Bannon is up to-- although I have some guesses-- but because I know Bannon's ideas well, I am positive that there is not a single person whom I consider a friend on either side of the aisle-- and my friends range pretty widely-- who will benefit from whatever it is.
If the shock event strategy works, though, many of you will blame each other, rather than Bannon, for the fallout. And the country will have been tricked into accepting their real goal.
But because shock events destabilize a society, they can also be used positively. We do not have to respond along old fault lines. We could just as easily reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the people who sparked the event.
A successful shock event depends on speed and chaos because it requires knee-jerk reactions so that people divide along established lines. This, for example, is how Confederate leaders railroaded the initial southern states out of the Union.
If people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across old lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the strings. This was Lincoln's strategy when he joined together Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power.
Five years before, such a coalition would have been unimaginable. Members of those groups agreed on very little other than that they wanted all Americans to have equal economic opportunity. Once they began to work together to promote a fair economic system, though, they found much common ground. They ended up rededicating the nation to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Confederate leaders and Lincoln both knew about the political potential of a shock event. As we are in the midst of one, it seems worth noting that Lincoln seemed to have the better idea about how to use it."
How very interesting. Thank you for posting this. I had not yet started to follow HCR back when this was written.
Thanks for sharing it again.
The entire Trumpsky regime was nothing other than one long series of shock events.
Yup, she nailed it.
And Bannon got a pardon(s?) for what crime exactly? Or just all crimes in general i guess?
Actually for fraud on political contributions
Thank you for digging that out. Writing that has withstood the test of the short time.