The unions themselves should be training their up coming members. Who else is better qualified to teach a trade than a Master Craftsman, It is the way it has always worked in Europe.
I found the ATC Academy in Oklahoma City did a fine job and the instructors were ATC. Having the academy in the private sector would be like hiring mercenaries for the military. ATC is a civil servant job and mine and the controllers’ dedication was to the people.
Bring back the tax rates of 1960. The income tax created the middle class because it made taking unearned, excessive wealth unattractive and ended the Gulded Age. Billionaires have not earned their wealth, they skimmed it from workers.
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
the ai bubble, yes. my point is that there need to be calculations that value human beings using power as more important than computers (backed by billionaire corporations) using power.
Agreed but unions more like those in Europe where the relationship between unions, investors and management is collaborative not confrontational. European unions grew out of the guild system and its long history while our unions arose fighting for the survival of their members and no thought of collaboration.
That's not entirely true, that there's been no thought of collaboration. There is a place for confrontation, AND it's not just about confrontation, as we're seeing in our need for leadership elsewhere. It's about a way forward with mutual benefit. I agree we can learn from other countries!
I agree about confrontation and have been confrontational myself but I usually do better when I am discussing. It seems to be less abrasive. It may seem to be just 'word games' but words can be very powerful.
Yes, words are very powerful when they are used for communication & better understanding. Acting in good faith has to be the starting point. As you said, these relationships are collaborative, capitalists sometimes forget that.
From my personal experience in the mechanical trades, I've seen it work for owners and workers. Early in my career, I was non union and also for some time I owned a small business non union shop. Then I worked for a union shop and retired from it.
The business grew and the owner was financially rewarded for his risk and vision and his loyalty to his employees. As a union member, the wages, benefits and education were top notch. I never experienced any acrimony between ownership and workers, the kind where one side resents what the other has. We all knew what we had to do to make it work.
In the US that sounds like a fortunate but uncommon relationship. If there were more like that there probably would be more unions and less effort to destroy them.
My personal experience was living in a family where my father bargained against a union and most of his brothers in law were master craftsmen in various trades. Made for some interesting family dinners. I also spent some time in Europe where I observed an entirely different relationship between labor and management.
And just as in FDR's New Deal, conservation jobs will be important. We need a new CCC to support our parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, ocean environments, etc.
Spot ON! The notion that "property matters more than people" has underscored the philosophy of every oligarch and warlord. And it has motivated nearly every conflict we can name.
It's so pervasive and insidious that we generally fail to notice it.
All I can add to your 'spot on' is welcome to the inside of my 'gourd' Garrett. I try mightily 'not' to occupy too much space here on HCR's blog, as 'she' most certainly is the owner and major product here. My only goal here is to have been and continue to be 'part of', an agent if you will to provoke thought and community, believing so deeply as I do in HCR's motives as I have 'felt' them. I have felt deeply dedicated to those ends.
No sweat - there's a world of difference between discussion & expanding on an idea within a conversation and "threadjacking". Besides, I'm a believer in "if you see something, say something". Who knows where that can lead?
Somehow Garrett, I've had the 'feeling' that you and I, some others are precisely on the same wavelength friend. **duh - "It" not I, happened over time, creeping slowly. I for obvious reasons you'll understand should I ever share my stories. Bravo friend !
Reframing the discussion might help folks who have got used to thinking in terms only of amassing capital as a symbol of domination into a more cooperative and productive frame of mind.
I've been trying Virginia, if you've paid much mind to my meanderings; Sadly, I don't own any platform; Just your average American shmuck, that has paid far too much attention for 5 decades. I am considering the silly notions of attempting gaining a / some platform, perhaps by running for Ohio's U.S. Senator this year or some state office. Ohio is / was the maga 'test bed' for the takeover we observe these days; I was aware of the gerrymandering experiments here decades ago, in fact, called them out publicly in my city at televised council meetings. A week later, they passed a council law, suppressing / censoring my voice at council. It's a matter of public record, recorded two ways, not a bs allegation, *Publicly and privately by residents who's mind I apparently blew to learn I had so much inside of me, illustrated for any and all to witness. You had to give your name, address and so forth to take the floor. I 'seized' the floor and spoke to a shell - shocked, mayor, council and the public - then won a controversy and impending 'vote' on the issues; All in an allegedly, bright red bedroom suburb. Lol; The next days, there was a very steady stream of foreign traffic by my house, in a closed ended cul de sac neighborhood. I got a little alarmed wandering to the post box at the end of my driveway, till one of the braver of them recognized me, stop dead aside me by the post paper box, and asked kindly if I'd talk with him. I did and he revealed the nature of the tremendous unusual traffic. He thanked me profusely and utterly gobsmacked me silent, mouth agap, when he said, "Sir, thank you; your words were profound and 'eloquent.' Me.... 'eloquent ? Inside myself, I was shocked that I hadn't 'soiled' myself !
You would be absolutely correct to presume that I've always somehow, seen beyond and through all the fog and distraction; I have, and for many decades now. That does not imply that my thought process is something better or greater than anyone else. My mind does indeed work a little differently somehow that I don't understand. Somehow unknown to me, I seem to notice far too much. Doctors tell me over and over, that I'm afflicted with a double edged sword. Huh... ?
Double edged, indeed... I had a psychologist once tell me my personality varies between Huck Finn and Dwight Eisenhower. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that information, Or if I need to do anything - they both get along okay even if the space is cramped. And they're entertaining company too!
Hey Garrett; I 'think' this is a significance worthy interview; Enough so that I'm thinking I should 'repeat' post the whole post I sent you, here a time or several. Thoughts ?
Lol ! You might be my mental doppelganger Garrett ! Hey amigo: I just found this and have believed it to be way past apropos. I just blasted this across social media with my observations I'll post here with the link to the conversation between 2 doctors. lol.. My takeaways I posted in italics here next, then the link.
! Aha ~ My takeaways: I could not be brainwashed as I have no or little brains. And, I have to listen to and not watch these two doctors because if I watch them, I can't stop laughing at the notion that the male doctor reminds me of Stan Laurel, and the notion that I'd like to 'kiss' Dr. Ruth on her Barbara Streisand looking nose. Other than 'appearances' it's some fascinating thoughts. lol !
Thanks for the link - I'll check that out bimeby. I was inoculated early, I think. The similarities between salesmanship, social pressure, persuasion, influencing, and "brainwashing" (or mental coercion) start to jump out at you once you start noticing them. And being a precocious kid, I began to notice them early. It amazed me that people fell for such openly manipulative ploys. It still does!
But escaping that kind of addiction is very different from avoiding it in the first place. Anyone who escapes and frees themselves has my admiration.
Ditto; On all your statements - #mealso. I've considered it to be proof of the placebo effect phenomena. I've already compiled a "Jeopardy" question in that regard in my gourd. lol
Yes, good day. Though a Californian, I had never heard Ro speak. I do know this country needs a middle class which has disappeared leaving many floundering. Our tent can and should consider many diverse voices. To do that requires an inquisitive and creative leadership. I think Ro gets it. This middle class needs progressives and workers that are respected.
i don’t think we went immediately doomed… it’s been 11 months of daily shock, horror and illegality with social media spreading it beyond what can be absorbed. it is going to require a lot of work to keep yesterday’s momentum.
I think Biden's expanded Pell Grants came too late in his term. Originally he wanted to make 2 yr and trade school free and the expanded Pell Grants essentially did this since it can cover the first 2 yrs quite well for low income folks. There simply was not time to see the impact.
I think these ideas sound pretty good above.
When I was young, in the 1970s, community college was actually free in CA and free clinics were all over the place, before Reagan. These are not actually new ideas, so it shows how far we have regressed in that some think these are radical ideas, or new, or socialism.
Separating everyday care (free clinics) from emergency or catastrophic care (where there is risk to be managed and costs to spread out) may help make things more affordable along with a public option to help keep insurance companies in line. If insurance companies offer a worse opton who would want it? If that is their game, they would then cease to exist and we would end up with universal healthcare. Maybe everyone would decide it is better to buy in to Medicaid at a percentage of income as a public option or some other public option instead, etc.
Another argument for a wealth tax, other than the pitchforks above, is that if the money goes to the poor, it actually makes the whole economy larger. More folks with a better quality of life and this purchasing power creates a larger economy and makes everyone richer - people struggling at the bottom actually shrinks the economy and economic potential.
Helping the poor is not only morally the right thing to do, it is good for the whole economy.
What am I missing? Why do Democrats eat their own? The only thing I fault Biden on was not going to the ER instead of the “debate” when he was having a reaction to cold medicine. His speeches, his state of the unions, his talks to reporters were always excellent, often humorous and self-deprecating and on target. Donald Trump has never had a day with a lie that could not be checked. He made Biden’s presidency a living nightmare, as well as Obama’s (The birther certificate). The media followed along and still do. Dems need to set aside a daily news report, maybe Substack or congressional, and have different speakers but something we can watch that goes off on not only headline news but info like Jamie Raskin, AOC, Adam Schiff and others provide on their Substacks. Printed daily in papers and across media too. It’s too scattered now and one story lasts a day and it’s on to another crazy thing. Speaking of which, let’s see the complete “60 Minute” interview NOW ! POTUS has really lost it. The cuts the program made in that interview were beyond insanely. Ozymandias level. Ps, still not seeing his tax returns, Epstein files, college grades, reckoning of money he’s taken in, non payment of fines on court cases yada yada. Thank you for your attention to this matter. 🤪💩🤡💙
Community Colleges can and do teach trades. Invest in them !
The unions themselves should be training their up coming members. Who else is better qualified to teach a trade than a Master Craftsman, It is the way it has always worked in Europe.
This is the apprentice system
Which is used in many of our skilled trades.
I found the ATC Academy in Oklahoma City did a fine job and the instructors were ATC. Having the academy in the private sector would be like hiring mercenaries for the military. ATC is a civil servant job and mine and the controllers’ dedication was to the people.
Bring back the tax rates of 1960. The income tax created the middle class because it made taking unearned, excessive wealth unattractive and ended the Gulded Age. Billionaires have not earned their wealth, they skimmed it from workers.
Thank you, Heather and Ro.
Absolutely.
Wow, he is so knowledgeable. What a great idea person.
I didn’t see any reference to food production. Don’t farmers, farming, count anymore? That’s a rural area business.
Loved the hopeful vibe that was so evident between the two of you!
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit CongressionalRepublicans.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I think that if we play our cards right, many can be convinced by the election outcome to come forward.
Services ? That would require placing actual 'value' on labor again; skilled labor.
Surely that is part of what Khanna is arguing for?
i believe we MUST be intentional about how much power tech/ai needs.
I even read that some think it is a bubble. I am concerned about excessive water use at data centers, all the space.
the ai bubble, yes. my point is that there need to be calculations that value human beings using power as more important than computers (backed by billionaire corporations) using power.
i wrote this to expand on my original comment: https://open.substack.com/pub/sandybassettpoodle/p/power-bankrupting-our-better-selves?r=51eqp&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post_stats
How about unions to boost labor and reduce income inequality?
Agreed but unions more like those in Europe where the relationship between unions, investors and management is collaborative not confrontational. European unions grew out of the guild system and its long history while our unions arose fighting for the survival of their members and no thought of collaboration.
That's not entirely true, that there's been no thought of collaboration. There is a place for confrontation, AND it's not just about confrontation, as we're seeing in our need for leadership elsewhere. It's about a way forward with mutual benefit. I agree we can learn from other countries!
I agree about confrontation and have been confrontational myself but I usually do better when I am discussing. It seems to be less abrasive. It may seem to be just 'word games' but words can be very powerful.
Yes, words are very powerful when they are used for communication & better understanding. Acting in good faith has to be the starting point. As you said, these relationships are collaborative, capitalists sometimes forget that.
Almost anything in extreme. except Love, wanders into evil.
From my personal experience in the mechanical trades, I've seen it work for owners and workers. Early in my career, I was non union and also for some time I owned a small business non union shop. Then I worked for a union shop and retired from it.
The business grew and the owner was financially rewarded for his risk and vision and his loyalty to his employees. As a union member, the wages, benefits and education were top notch. I never experienced any acrimony between ownership and workers, the kind where one side resents what the other has. We all knew what we had to do to make it work.
In the US that sounds like a fortunate but uncommon relationship. If there were more like that there probably would be more unions and less effort to destroy them.
My personal experience was living in a family where my father bargained against a union and most of his brothers in law were master craftsmen in various trades. Made for some interesting family dinners. I also spent some time in Europe where I observed an entirely different relationship between labor and management.
And just as in FDR's New Deal, conservation jobs will be important. We need a new CCC to support our parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, ocean environments, etc.
The Green New Deal was actually a good idea.
Yes, it actually was. Pity about MAGA.
*Major collision ahead: The conflict between the 'supremacy of capital / property vs everything.' That's the conflict now and has been.
Spot ON! The notion that "property matters more than people" has underscored the philosophy of every oligarch and warlord. And it has motivated nearly every conflict we can name.
It's so pervasive and insidious that we generally fail to notice it.
All I can add to your 'spot on' is welcome to the inside of my 'gourd' Garrett. I try mightily 'not' to occupy too much space here on HCR's blog, as 'she' most certainly is the owner and major product here. My only goal here is to have been and continue to be 'part of', an agent if you will to provoke thought and community, believing so deeply as I do in HCR's motives as I have 'felt' them. I have felt deeply dedicated to those ends.
No sweat - there's a world of difference between discussion & expanding on an idea within a conversation and "threadjacking". Besides, I'm a believer in "if you see something, say something". Who knows where that can lead?
Somehow Garrett, I've had the 'feeling' that you and I, some others are precisely on the same wavelength friend. **duh - "It" not I, happened over time, creeping slowly. I for obvious reasons you'll understand should I ever share my stories. Bravo friend !
Reframing the discussion might help folks who have got used to thinking in terms only of amassing capital as a symbol of domination into a more cooperative and productive frame of mind.
I've been trying Virginia, if you've paid much mind to my meanderings; Sadly, I don't own any platform; Just your average American shmuck, that has paid far too much attention for 5 decades. I am considering the silly notions of attempting gaining a / some platform, perhaps by running for Ohio's U.S. Senator this year or some state office. Ohio is / was the maga 'test bed' for the takeover we observe these days; I was aware of the gerrymandering experiments here decades ago, in fact, called them out publicly in my city at televised council meetings. A week later, they passed a council law, suppressing / censoring my voice at council. It's a matter of public record, recorded two ways, not a bs allegation, *Publicly and privately by residents who's mind I apparently blew to learn I had so much inside of me, illustrated for any and all to witness. You had to give your name, address and so forth to take the floor. I 'seized' the floor and spoke to a shell - shocked, mayor, council and the public - then won a controversy and impending 'vote' on the issues; All in an allegedly, bright red bedroom suburb. Lol; The next days, there was a very steady stream of foreign traffic by my house, in a closed ended cul de sac neighborhood. I got a little alarmed wandering to the post box at the end of my driveway, till one of the braver of them recognized me, stop dead aside me by the post paper box, and asked kindly if I'd talk with him. I did and he revealed the nature of the tremendous unusual traffic. He thanked me profusely and utterly gobsmacked me silent, mouth agap, when he said, "Sir, thank you; your words were profound and 'eloquent.' Me.... 'eloquent ? Inside myself, I was shocked that I hadn't 'soiled' myself !
You would be absolutely correct to presume that I've always somehow, seen beyond and through all the fog and distraction; I have, and for many decades now. That does not imply that my thought process is something better or greater than anyone else. My mind does indeed work a little differently somehow that I don't understand. Somehow unknown to me, I seem to notice far too much. Doctors tell me over and over, that I'm afflicted with a double edged sword. Huh... ?
Double edged, indeed... I had a psychologist once tell me my personality varies between Huck Finn and Dwight Eisenhower. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that information, Or if I need to do anything - they both get along okay even if the space is cramped. And they're entertaining company too!
Hey Garrett; I 'think' this is a significance worthy interview; Enough so that I'm thinking I should 'repeat' post the whole post I sent you, here a time or several. Thoughts ?
Lol ! You might be my mental doppelganger Garrett ! Hey amigo: I just found this and have believed it to be way past apropos. I just blasted this across social media with my observations I'll post here with the link to the conversation between 2 doctors. lol.. My takeaways I posted in italics here next, then the link.
! Aha ~ My takeaways: I could not be brainwashed as I have no or little brains. And, I have to listen to and not watch these two doctors because if I watch them, I can't stop laughing at the notion that the male doctor reminds me of Stan Laurel, and the notion that I'd like to 'kiss' Dr. Ruth on her Barbara Streisand looking nose. Other than 'appearances' it's some fascinating thoughts. lol !
https://lucid.substack.com/p/disengaging-from-leader-cults-on
Thanks for the link - I'll check that out bimeby. I was inoculated early, I think. The similarities between salesmanship, social pressure, persuasion, influencing, and "brainwashing" (or mental coercion) start to jump out at you once you start noticing them. And being a precocious kid, I began to notice them early. It amazed me that people fell for such openly manipulative ploys. It still does!
But escaping that kind of addiction is very different from avoiding it in the first place. Anyone who escapes and frees themselves has my admiration.
Ditto; On all your statements - #mealso. I've considered it to be proof of the placebo effect phenomena. I've already compiled a "Jeopardy" question in that regard in my gourd. lol
Yes, good day. Though a Californian, I had never heard Ro speak. I do know this country needs a middle class which has disappeared leaving many floundering. Our tent can and should consider many diverse voices. To do that requires an inquisitive and creative leadership. I think Ro gets it. This middle class needs progressives and workers that are respected.
progressive capitalism, explained, thank you!
i don’t think we went immediately doomed… it’s been 11 months of daily shock, horror and illegality with social media spreading it beyond what can be absorbed. it is going to require a lot of work to keep yesterday’s momentum.
it’s a good day, love Ro!
women need to be true equals with our energy valued (and paid) the same as men. we need true diversity again/still.
and to do this we need good public education institutions, with teachers paid a much better wage. education = better critical thinking.
I think Biden's expanded Pell Grants came too late in his term. Originally he wanted to make 2 yr and trade school free and the expanded Pell Grants essentially did this since it can cover the first 2 yrs quite well for low income folks. There simply was not time to see the impact.
I think these ideas sound pretty good above.
When I was young, in the 1970s, community college was actually free in CA and free clinics were all over the place, before Reagan. These are not actually new ideas, so it shows how far we have regressed in that some think these are radical ideas, or new, or socialism.
Separating everyday care (free clinics) from emergency or catastrophic care (where there is risk to be managed and costs to spread out) may help make things more affordable along with a public option to help keep insurance companies in line. If insurance companies offer a worse opton who would want it? If that is their game, they would then cease to exist and we would end up with universal healthcare. Maybe everyone would decide it is better to buy in to Medicaid at a percentage of income as a public option or some other public option instead, etc.
Another argument for a wealth tax, other than the pitchforks above, is that if the money goes to the poor, it actually makes the whole economy larger. More folks with a better quality of life and this purchasing power creates a larger economy and makes everyone richer - people struggling at the bottom actually shrinks the economy and economic potential.
Helping the poor is not only morally the right thing to do, it is good for the whole economy.
Greetings from Leicester, VT You are a magnificent historian.
What am I missing? Why do Democrats eat their own? The only thing I fault Biden on was not going to the ER instead of the “debate” when he was having a reaction to cold medicine. His speeches, his state of the unions, his talks to reporters were always excellent, often humorous and self-deprecating and on target. Donald Trump has never had a day with a lie that could not be checked. He made Biden’s presidency a living nightmare, as well as Obama’s (The birther certificate). The media followed along and still do. Dems need to set aside a daily news report, maybe Substack or congressional, and have different speakers but something we can watch that goes off on not only headline news but info like Jamie Raskin, AOC, Adam Schiff and others provide on their Substacks. Printed daily in papers and across media too. It’s too scattered now and one story lasts a day and it’s on to another crazy thing. Speaking of which, let’s see the complete “60 Minute” interview NOW ! POTUS has really lost it. The cuts the program made in that interview were beyond insanely. Ozymandias level. Ps, still not seeing his tax returns, Epstein files, college grades, reckoning of money he’s taken in, non payment of fines on court cases yada yada. Thank you for your attention to this matter. 🤪💩🤡💙