“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.” Well, that line needs to go up all over social media today.
Love the comparison of the Boeing disaster to the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su's quote about it. It's so dystopian that any decent citizen would buy this nonsense about the evil "Deep State" when the federal government exists, as she says, to create “programs that generations of Americans have relied on for economic security and dignity, including a nationwide minimum wage, health and safety regulations, restrictions on child labor, and more.”
To add a little context, Julie Su came to public attention here in California approximately a quarter century ago, as she brought a major civil case against the powers behind a garment making Cartel that literally kept Thai immigrant women enslaved in their factories in El Monte..
Her appointment to serve as the Secretary of Labor has, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise ", been held up by Messrs. Cruz, Cotton, etc.
Her invocation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is perfectly apropos.
Finally, on that terrible early Spring day in New York 113 years ago, a young social worker was walking past the Triangle factory building, and looked up in horror to see women jumping out of its upper windows.
Hee name was Frances Perkins. She would go on to become the first female cabinet secretary in our history, as FDR appointed her to serve as Secretary of Labor, the very position Julie Su in which Ms. Su actively serves.
In her later years, Frances Perkins said that "the entire New Deal derived from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire"
Democrats are "descendants" of Frances Perkins' political philosophy, which she summed up: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. All.
With a non-leader at the helm the Republican party, which I call The New American Nazi Party, seems to be imploding. Who will leave next. We see them resigning from the House like rats jumping a burning ship. Senator Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK) is talking openly about leaving the party. Now that Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitorous-Trump is in charge of the RNC, there is not a lot of support for others who are running. Being in this session of Congress has made supporting a White Nationalist agenda to overthrow the government less fun than it sounded like it would be to all but the few. Their constituents have got to be missing a few screws to support them. What can you do about that?
For sure on the origins of The New Deal. Remember just the same that the Dems then were still the standard bearers of the slave trade and destroyed the lofty goals of Reconstruction. Wonderful how "time moves on" though! Civil Rights Act and more.
It is interesting how the transformation of the Democratic Party took place, from support of Jim Crow to the elevation of the Middle Class and the fall of the oligarchs. Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich helped the Republican Party metamorphize into what it is today - pro-oligarchy, anti-democratic . At this time there is no question but that the KKK mentality has taken a firm grasp on the Republican Party and the evangelical community. Those marching at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting "Jews will not replace us." Simply put, that's Klan talk.
Well, the Dems and Republicans went through a remarkable split and migration of southern dems into the Republicans. Dems morphed into more or less what they are today, Civil Rights Act, the Great Society, and so on. Give Nixon some credit for giving the EPA walking legs. Now the GOP wants to bury it. I remember watching all the Climate Change postings removed from the masthead and relegated to an archival page. That was not long after Trump came in. Here's the current masthead on climate change. Back in the saddle again, i do hope! https://www.epa.gov/climate-change
This is a good time and place to list another connection to Climate Change which is the damage done to our biodiversity. A month ago I attended a lecture at Monmouth Univ by a brilliant entomologist, Doug Tallamy of the U of Delaware. His presentation is more than compelling. In short, parallel with Climate Change we are self-destructing by killing all the insects at the base of the food chain that feeds everything above it so, even if we survive the climate crisis if we've removed the food sources it won't matter.
He has created a brilliant plan called Homegrown National Park which is essentially that every one of us who either owns or has input on private land can be the ones to save and rebuild our biodiversity. We can do it ourselves. 83% of the country are private lands and if we replant and modify our use of pesticides, light pollution and other bad habits for only 50% of it we can successfully change the course. Plus, it's beautiful. Check it out below.
Frank, THANK YOU for that most excellent link to the EPA's climate change website. It contains a whole host of effective measures individuals as well as companies can employ and deploy! Good stuff!
Let's not forget Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, OK? Republicans all, and no fans of working people. Goldwater et al. certainly deserve credit for helping make the GOP what it is today, but they got a huge, albeit indirect, assist from the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s, Southern white loathing of which helped inspire Nixon's "southern strategy" -- and turned white Southern Democrats into Republicans.
Boeing 737 Max passengers do exactly that. (Let's hope the change in leadership will stabilize the company and get it to "straighten up and fly right.")
Thanks Daniel. This is yet another bumper sticker, roadside sign, poster and mantra for the saving of democracy, “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. All. “ Frances Perkins
I just looked at Biden's Cabinet and some of his advisors on WhiteHouse.Gov. Most are women including Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Africans. Of and some Europeans. Most of them we know from their previous vocations, but some are not as famous. No matter. They are all competent, intelligent and hard working. President Biden doesn't care if they outshine him when they do something great.
Now, if you dare, look at Trump's cabinet. Most are rich and white and old. And almost all are men. Several of them he tweet-fired like Rex Tillerson. And out of everyone that served in the Trump White House, only a couple of them support his 2nd run for President.
When the hero of the administration is a woman, Cassie Hutchinson who was basically a whistleblower and in her early 20's, you know the Republicans talent pool is empty.
Gary, I completely agree! here is a link to a summary deck on Biden's cabinet, including years of public service for each member. Not enough is said about the team behind the man. Feel free to share.
This is awesome! Did you put this together? I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be great if a news program that attracts independents or even the holdouts from Biden for one reason or another (hard left or youth) couId do an expose comparing Biden’s Cabinet’s accomplishment to tffg’s? One of LFAA’s readers, George Polisner, pulled this together 🤩:
Thank you so much! Yes, I pulled this together. The focus on Biden's age was making me crazy. As a former corporate exec, I know that a leader is only as good as the team behind her/him. I looked every where for something like this and couldn't find it all in one place, so I created it. This team does not receive enough credit or attention; would love to change that!
Thanks so much for sending that. I love the format.
I've been putting together a list of things that Trump should be blamed for like several hundred thousand people dying of COVID, pardoning 143 criminals on his way out the door, overturning Roe v. Wade, 64000 pregnancies from rape in states like TX, OK, AR, LA, AL, etc.
But don't you remember, tRump gets the BEST people :-) Sorry, couldn't resist. You are exactly right about the importance of having a great team, an Biden's ability as the person in charge to have assembled one.Thank you for pulling together such a clear and important summary. Christy (below) is exactly correct IMO. This sort of thing NEEDS to be out there.
You forgot Pete. I wish the climate wasn't so hostile to gays. He would make a wonderful president, educated, adopted sick babies (2), transparent-didn't hide his education, the fact he was gay, got his nondisclosure contract voided from his work, and military service. It doesn't hurt that he is rather attractive and looks to be in good shape. Speaks several languages (trump speaks how many?), and speaks to his audiences as though they were intelligent and not 4th graders. BTW, I campaigned him in NH.
I agree Karen. Pete would make a great President as would dare I say, most of Biden's cabinet and his VP. I am not sure, but I think Jennifer Granholm was born in Canada so she wouldn't be eligible to be President and Mayorkis in Havana.
My other choice would be Jamie Raskin. Courage to speak out even when he was undergoing chemo. I sort of miss the kerchief. Don't know much about Katie Whittimer but she would be another choice.
No doubt about Mayor Pete, and the sad fact that some of his considerable talent will be wasted while the nation struggles slowly to fix the reasons why.
Bryan, I was hoping to find a comment of yours whilst scanning today. Perhaps this question cannot be answered in a line or two, and if so--okay. My blood pressure is on the rise, as I can't deal with the frustration of the constant delay tactics and appeals of Trump. Can you give any thoughts as to when this junk comes to an end? How many appeals can he have, how many delays? In general for one case--I don't expect you to analyze all of these cases.
Thank you. If this is too complex, or raises your bp as well, you can ignore me.
A few months ago, I read a biography of Perkins. Her story is.....I can't find words to describe her. "The Woman Behind the New Deal" by Kirsten Downey
Highly recommend it. What this woman accomplished, in spite of the sexism she faced, and her problems with her mentally ill husband and spoiled daughter, is mind blowing.
As a social worker, it's so good to see that some people remember the impact of one our profession's heroes. I'm not sure younger social workers and those in training still learn about her, and that would be a shame, but she's one of our pioneers who left an amazing legacy.
I know you know this Daniel, but Professor Richardson has in previous years, written her letter on March 25th focusing on the TSW fire, and the role that Frances Perkins. She did mention it, briefly, today.
I appreciate your comment here today. I can hope that the change in Boeing management signals a similar change in manufacturing.
Let's hope, Ally. On the news last night was a note about them acquiring the place that builds the bodies of the plane. Want to bet this was outsourced because the other business did it cheaper and how exactly did they do that....hmmm. Cutting corners maybe, not paying workers as much. Boeing has to do something because even the greeds there recognize that their brand is tarnished. This is an example of how twisted things become when the emphasis is on production, paying senior management, and paying shareholders. It's all about greed. Then there is the buying up of good companies by hedge funds, etc. and milking them dry.
So true, Michele. Sadly, it is the corporations and their overpaid bloated execs that call the shots. But in the case of Boeing, they got caught and now, thankfully, they are leaving. Bring some integrity back and certainly give their workers kudos for trying to alert the powers that be that things were definitely amiss. Those bastards put so many lives in danger!
Yes, at one point Boeing had a good reputation. I have a cousin who worked there many years ago and was let go. He is on the high end autism spectrum and can see detail that that many of us can't. Now I am wondering if the Jack Welch school of management of getting rid of 20% of the workforce every year cost him his job. I am so disgusted with big business who are all about the bottom line. There was an article yesterday in the Oregonian about a large Eugene health clinic being bought by a subsidiary of United Health...another of my cousins worked for them and called them United Death....and now many doctors have left and the rest of them are burdened with huge numbers of patients and many patients have been told they no longer have a doctor there. Another example here in Salem was a vet practice which was bought by a corporation and then people left, many coming to our vet....it has been difficult since then to get an appointment if you have an immediate problem. And we all wonder why people are angry.
Daniel, I had forgotten that interesting tidbit about Frances Perkins. I have to wonder that the genesis of most important changes -- be they social, industrial, political or any other-- comes from ordinary people witnessing similar life-changing events, perhaps not so dramatic or traumatic as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.
I'd bet there's a book to be written, or a podcast to be made (or already so) highlighting such stories.
Wow! I truly believe that our schools are shortchanging this country in their classes on American history! What I wouldn't have done to have learned about this in my history classes!
I am replying directly to Virginia, but through her gracious prism, I would like to thank all of you kind and gracious souls for "liking" my recent post about Frances Perkins, and moreover for your excellent further comments.
You do my sometimes flailing, sometimes flying ego a boost in so doing. More importantly, you all contribute to the good and robust discussions we all enjoy so much on Heather's site.
Just doing our patriotic duty, Mr. Streeter, but all recognition gratefully received. Thank you for reminding us of Frances Perkins, particularly as we see more and more women in government.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired ^ and monstrously malicious, Donald Trump.”
Of, by and for. What's so hard to grasp about it? Yes, the Triangle disaster and the Boeing equipment, which could have been deadly, point in the same greedy direction, that reduces people and their wellbeing to inconveniences. Greed is NOT good. Why not build products all can be proud of?
That was once the case at Boeing. But they suffered through a series of CEOs who were of the Jack Welch school of management, which is to say, they went all in on the idea that the CEO's only responsibility is to shareholders. So over time the company culture shifted from a focus on quality to a focus on stock price. And they succeeded. They got a great stock price and a lousy product. They scored the ultimate lousy product when they decided to put rocket engines on a bus and call it the 737MAX. Which was such a lousy product it tanked the stock price and stalled production for two years. So the next time somebody tells you the government should be run like a business, remind them of Boeing.
Precisely. Thanks for the reminder about Jack Welch, whose "style" drove GE into the ground, just as Boeing "leadership" is driving some of its own planes to ground with passengers as collateral damage.
For decades, people worshiped at the "Church of Welch". Yet his approach to management was ignorant beyond words. As Jim Holley said, stock price was everything. THAT is not the measure of a good leader. Welch required managers to twist the quarterly numbers to boost the image of the conglomerate - stock price over people.
The idea that one should fire 10% of the workforce each year, is insane. That doesn't motivate. It terrifies. But perhaps, one of Welch's greatest legacies is the core of wannabe CEO robots he sent off into the world to promote his "Six Sigma sickness". One example is Bob Nardelli who ran the jet engine division. Perfectly qualified to run a big box retailer, right? Well, General Nardelli gutted the company of expert full time salespeople and eviscerated the finely tuned highly respected culture. Home Depot has never recovered. Enter a Home Depot. See the zombies.
I see the largest corporations in the US making every effort to turn their whole business into a machine. Apart from the extended social consequences of this for the workforce, the companies are becoming more and more insulated from workers, customers, and society in general. A person who is excessively involved with servicig their own agenda (think He who Shall Not Be Named) and indifferent to the fates of others is a sociopath, which seems to be the trend of large corporations post-Reagan. It's not that this is not creepy precedent, look up the East India Co. in India, or child labor, or Triangle Shirtwaist, or slavery of any sort, but Reagan manged to make it respectable again, after decades of reforms, post "The (corrupt) Gilded Age" and the "Great Depression". Are we now" better off" due to any result of "Reaganomics"? My seemingly self-evident answer is "Hell No".
Welch assumed that all workers are widgets easily replaced with other widgets.
His cost cutting measures included moving thousands of jobs offshore resulting in inferior results. I know from seeing first hand what he did to GE Capital. Lower wages = higher profits, anyway that was what he thought.
I actually worked at a GE subsidiary during the Jack Welch years. His management method was called Six Sigma. Main feature was forced ranking. Managers were required to rank all their employees into 5 groups. Every year, the bottom 20% were fired. It didn’t matter how well you did, only where you ranked. Life became a desperate struggle not to do your job well, but to stay out of that bottom 20%. It was relentless.
And then there were periodic ‘restructurings’. We called them, “work out”, “buy out”, “get out”. Welch was also known as Neutron Jack because he came through, got rid of people and left the buildings standing.
But the stock performed amazingly well. The BUs that supported that stock? Not so much.
Welch sought fast earnings growth by engaging in risky financial operations. When these collapsed, especially in 2008-2009, GE fell from being a ‘much lauded company’ to being a financial basket case.
It was only more than a decade later that Larry Culp took charge and has gradually has restored a much changed GE to the winner’s circle, after Welch’s ‘grapes of wrath.’
I worked for a company that had what I call semi-annual reorganizations. That was usually rearranging the executive staff. The worker bees kept doing things the same. I was a worker bee & astounded that these supposedly educated professionals didn't see what I could see.
Gary, and he issued in the era of metrics in employment management—replace expensive, experienced people with inexpensive, inexperienced people, and use metrics to justify it (headcount is still the same, right?). During the purge, the experienced persons take on more responsibility and work trying to save the company until they either leave, burn out, or die from the stress.
If the pandemic taught us anything, it certainly should easily be an understanding of the basic concept of what INFLATION is and why and how it occurs. “Too many dollars chasing too few goods” … the world’s economy (economies) and markets were severely shuttered with little to no production in many areas … both goods and services. Gasoline prices during the pandemic were basically “dirt cheap”!!!
After the pandemic, there was pinup demand that was “busting at the seams”, but too few goods [and services]? What’s important for people - especially in America - to realize is that inflationary pressures and pricing was occurring around the globe. Production and supply chain issues were to be expected … and unfortunately, so to was good, old-fashion greed! Corporate America is in the business of maximizing profits and returns for their shareholders. The Biden/Harris administration along with the Fed ((Federal Reserve Bank) has done a very good to excellent job at working to reduce and manage inflation in America … but yes, they realize that in certain areas, prices remain high. And yes, in some areas, there may still exist what’s been deemed as “greed-flatiron”?
American economic and political history teaches us that yes, there is a distinct difference between which of our two major political parties is best favored by those in our country with big bank accounts versus the party that has the majority of the remainder of us whose — bank accounts leave a little or a lot to be desired!
All true Jim. This however will not stop Republicans from characterizing our economy as a disaster (it isn't), and placing the blame on Biden (not his fault by any stretch). We can only hope that enough Americans realize that. The Dem's messaging is important here. And they have truth on their side.
James, I overwhelmingly agree with your assessment and statements! Let’s hope that real Americans who realize and value are lucky and fortunate they are to be here are sufficiently eager enough to fulfill their good citizenship duties and to motivate their family members, friends and acquaintances to fulfill theirs too this November.
I read a great quote in US News & World Report about 16 years ago. "Voting for a Republican for president is tantamount to voting for a recession." Think on that idea for a little bit.
Soooo true, James! A miasma of smear, smear, smear .... somehow there is a lot of tribal in the American electorate with a callous disregard for real information but an appetite for propaganda the GOP has been so good at delivering for the last long while.
Jim and James -- I agree. If he hasnt already, Biden should make the connection between the record stock market highs at the moment and inflation. Stock prices aren't where they are because of the genius of the CEOs -- credit continued production efficiencies (usually to the detriment of workers) and high prices (also to the detriment of workers, EXCEPT of course that wage growth has also increased.) Despite higher labor costs, the markets are booming, as seemingly are small businesses. New restaurants are popping up all the time around us here in NH. The only bottleneck is the supply of labor. For a few years now at least, pretty much every retailer, grocery store, food joint, bank, etc. has had "Help Wanted" or "Join Our Team" signs out. I haven't traveled much recently, but I've heard the situation is the same elsewhere.
Jim - as a retired (5 years now) engineer who worked for 43 years at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, for a time in middle management, I was there to see the transition. I was there when decades ago its mission statement was revised to include "shareholder value" as a prominent element of that mission. There were warning signs then. I was there for the McDonnell-Douglas merger, where McD-D leaders inexplicably took some very important positions at the top, soon leading to the first ever engineers strike at the company. We struck because the company pretty clearly had the new position that engineers are no longer the core of the company - an errant view, to say the least, for a company that produces some of the most technologically advanced products on earth.
Yet through all of that, product safety was and is paramount at Boeing. I never saw anything there that indicated that not to be the case. And I do not think things have changed dramatically since I retired. However the atmosphere there can hamper safety in small ways here and there, which is unacceptable. I am tired of the piling on right now. The press is blowing this up into something it is not. Boeing is not an evil company that knowingly puts the flying public at risk. I do not think it appropriate to put Boeing in the same boat as the Triangle disaster of long ago.
And BTW the 737Max is not a lousy product. Although I would have much rather seen Boeing launch an all new 150-seat airplane to replace the 737 line, all the R&D configurations on the drawing board over the past years have failed to beat a 737 derivative in their business case analyses. I know - I was one of a dozen or so principle structural engineers on one of those projects, where the 737-800/900 series won out over an all new design. Say what you will about the parameters of a business case model, but no company is going to choose a product line that they think will make them less money than another choice, where both choices meet the same objective. The 737 has been a very strong competitor indeed, ever since it inception.
Jay, thank you for applying a logical engineer’s eye to the back story here. I’m afraid that the tendency to go for “click bait” news is ignoring all the careful, conscientious employees working hard to design aircraft that is safe, energy efficient, reliable, long-lasting with minimal upkeep required, relatively inexpensive and comfortable for passengers. It reminds me of an oft-quoted maintenance engineering “rule”: “Good, fast, cheap. Choose any two.”
First, the recent report of a panel departing a 737 is on an old aircraft, where we currently have no idea what it was subjected to. And it was not safety related. Was it mis-installed during line maintenance? Was it the subject of a service bulletin, where mitigating action was not taken? Lay that one on the airline, not the manufacturer, until more data comes in. Reporting on that event as if it were really news is a case of piling on.
On the door plug - as I understand it that was an escapement in the factory related to the fact that major sub-sections of fuselage on the 737 are produced elsewhere (Spirit in Kansas), and sent to the Boeing plant in Renton Washington for major assembly. Where some paperwork confusion apparently resulted and a task was not performed (installing some bolts). You can rest assured that measures have been put in place in the manufacturing process that prevent that from ever occurring again. I will not water down the seriousness of this incident. Did chaos on a busy production line have something to do with it? I don't know. But when a mistake happens, look for it to be fixed. And it has been I can assure you.
As for the two fatal 737 Max accidents - that was unprecedented in Boeing's long history. The long and the short of it is that a critical system malfunction (the angle of attack sensor system) failed on those aircraft, erroneously indicating an airplane nose up condition, causing the newly redesigned stabilizer trim function to run away and try to tilt the airplane's nose down (to avoid a stall). That system can be over-ridden by the pilots, but the process was insufficiently described in cockpit documentation for emergencies, and training was inadequate. That that malfunction could happen is alone a violation of FAA rules on probabilities of catastrophic events, and I do not know what the failure analyses of those systems showed. Perhaps more credit was taken for the pilots to intervene than was deserved.... don't know. A back-up angle of attack sensor with computer logic to deal with a conflict in sensor readings would have prevented those accidents, and I do not know why the system was not designed that way in the first place. It is now.
So I have no excuses for you, except to say that under enormous cost and schedule pressure, Boeing failed to do the right thing.
Overall - I just don't know where all this leads to. Boeing cannot continue to lose money. It has to be solvent. That way the atmosphere inside can improve. To do that it must win against the competition more than it loses, and at prices that cover operating costs. As a country we have to continue to monitor any subsidies that its competition receives (Airbus and the member governments that run it), and react as necessary to assure a level playing field. The unions that represent Boeing workers must be mindful that they cannot kill the host, so must be reasonable. And inside cost management actions must keep airplane safety paramount. Losses from accidents cost orders of magnitude more than savings from cost cuts. It's very very complicated - mor easily said than done.
"Losses from accidents cost orders of magnitude more than savings from cost cuts. It's very very complicated ..." Makes sense. Thanks for the clear explanation!
Jay, This is a good question. What do you think is the source of Boeing’s problems. Over a year ago I had heard a podcast interview with a long time employee of John Barnett (to be clear he was speaking to quality issues re: 787). He indicated that supervisors in S. Carolina were ignoring quality concerns as I recall and that Boeing had established the S. Carolina plant because they wanted to avoid having to deal with the unions in Seattle.
So, what has brought Boeing to their current problems?
Boeing chose South Carolina as a second 787 assembly facility for a number of reasons. One, it offered some advantages integrating its east coast location with the many other locations world wide that provide 787 components (for instance Alenia of Italy provides the horizontal tail). Just what those advantages are or were, I cannot say. Two, the Everett Washington facility, as huge as it is, did not have room for a second 787 final assembly line. It does now, now that 747's (and I believe 767's) are not produced anymore, but that was not the case at the time. Third, Boeing was getting alot of flack, and costly requirements, from Snohomish County Washington WRT a plant expansion that would be required to add that second 787 line. South Carolina however was bending over backwards to get that plant, and offered tons of incentives. Fourth, and perhaps not in this order - SC workers would not be unionized as SC is a "right to work" state. Lower wages. This no doubt really incensed the IAM (International Association of Machinists), and got the most press. So as usual, it was no simple thing. It should come as no surprise that there have been issues at the SC plant - a good aircraft manufacturing facility cannot be created from scratch quickly. It takes years to get the bugs out. The IAM was quick to argue that at the time.
Also, factory whistleblowers as a rule need for their comments to be taken with a grain of salt. They see things from their own knothole, often with blinders on, and also sometimes have an ax to grind with their management due to any number of things. I have experienced this not only in a factory setting, but to a lesser extent in an office setting. Many folks think they know more than they actually do, and do not know that they do not know. Then strong criticisms can be made that are not necessarily true, or are exaggerated or otherwise twisted. I cannot comment further on the goings on in the Charleston facility, except to say they were and probably still are under enormous pressure to perform under a very tight schedule with tough cost constraints. And the management there had to be very careful not to cut corners. Perhaps not everyone got the message.
For context, it would be fun to do an expose on Airbus and its many many facilities world wide, its own tight schedules, and the resulting integration issues. See if there are similar problems, similar complaints by some whistleblowers. I'd bet money we would find similarities.
The prime source for Boeings problems - money. Operating costs versus the discounts they must offer in order to compete with Airbus. The US has had a long standing dispute with the European Union WRT Airbus and government subsidies, where they can purportedly sell aircraft for a loss (or let's say minimal profit) and the various governments can prop the company up. Boeing then, which does not receive government subsidies at least not directly, must still compete when selling their aircraft. Boeing's profit margin in the past has been very very slim if it exists at all. Not sure about today - but I'll bet the story is about the same. And, as always, I no doubt portray an oversimplified picture. No doubt there is more to it than that. Suffice it to say they barely keep their heads above water. Not a great atmosphere for excellence.
The sad thing is that the original 737 was an excellent airplane. It was the workhorse of the aviation industry & the military . The 737 was used as flying gas stations for years & years in the Air Force by supplying the 'workhorse' that allowed for mid-air refueling. And now when the public sees 737 all they think about is doors & wheels fallihng off!
Excellent. My father ran manufacturing of the AWACS electronics, ie all the fancy stuff it was up there to do. He left just after the first of the MBAs took over. It was time.
Kinda remember, notwithstanding, that Boeing remains an aviation behemoth, and the military very much depends on it. Trust a management self-immolation will bring things around. From statistica: "In 2022, Boeing generated only 66.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. This amount was more than 62.3 billion U.S. dollars registered in the previous year. Boeing is now ranked as the second-largest aerospace and defense manufacturer company in the world, behind Raytheon Technologies.
Part of the problem of CEOs working only for shareholders, is that shareholders have come to be seen as only stock traders, not business owners. As an owner, I want company management to maintain the company for the long term. Any idiot with an MBA can make short-term money by eating the seed corn. Long-term value for Boeing means that planes must never, ever fall out of the sky. That, not next quarter’s profits, is what will keep the company in business for another 50 years.
Another Jack Welch innovation was to recruit his own board members and pay them well, which made them very happy to agree with what he wanted. And if a CEO is getting stock as part of his compensation package, he has a personal interest in feeding the stock price beast.
Nice rhetorical Q, J L -- but the answer comes largely at the beginning of Heather's today.
This is where she cites industrialists, managers, and others of the strictly-craven former slave-owning persuasion who factor out the human pretty much as U.S. schools have been forced to factor out the human. Kill humanities. Censor books. In "higher" ed, fear-factor all, provide trigger warnings lest anyone be humanly challenged ever, in any way.
Heather notes that, getting worse, the MAGA mob and Trump want to kill the federal agencies that since aftermath of Triangle Shirtwaist fire have protected Americans.
But it's far worse than that. Project 2025 has a deep list of agencies to go on the chopping block. The Clarence court even today is considering ending the Chevron Precedent, which would curtail all federal agencies protecting workers and the environment. The U.S. billionaires are organizing huge sums of money to elect Republicans pledged to turn America in a landscape more ravaged, raped, stolen from, and predated upon than that which Russian oligarchs have inflicted on that country.
Not just the crazed MAGA mob, and the syphilis-addled orange goon. We're talking U.S. elites here, scurrilous, trained by all the "highest" schools in the land to dehumanize all the land -- for the sake of only more wealth for the predator class at the top.
They are saying it out loud, ye hear that MSM. Betcha Ronna won’t ever mention it or acknowledge the truth of what you say. When the SC became the Clarence court, our freedoms began to teeter on the brink. They have the power to make the election seem almost irrelevant…
Phil, I’m going to take issue with one thing (the rest is spot on). I do not think our top MBA schools are training students to ravage the environment or exploit workers. I think it’s corporate culture that does that, a culture in which profit trumps ethics. Without adequate regulation, the greedy among us do that; it’s one of the great flaws of capitalism, and imho one of the main roles of government is to restrain corporate greed.
I think it’s also likely that our universities may not spend enough time on ethics and corporate and individual responsibility to be good stewards of our resources, both human and not.
Your post is great, reminding us of the danger of ending the Chevron Precedent. That’s some scary stuff.
My problem with the universities, KR, has to do with how they silo everything.
You mention "ethics and corporate and individual responsibility." Where they do occur, don't they too often get shuffled off into niches separate from everything else?
When the far-right foundations implemented the Powell memo, first they found ways to kill humanities. They knew that, better than anything else (including government), our artists keep us human, alert to greed, sensitive to abuses of power and wealth.
We could, KR, restore humanities to our schooling, keep them vital, connected to everything. And by humanities, I also mean essay writing, with the personal central to the ways we make larger connections.
Boeing is a significant part of our economy to have its reputation soiled is a pity. There are only two major commercial airline producers one in foreign.
I smelled a rat as soon as Boeing appeared to turn anti-worker. They are the ones who put it all together. I worked briefly at a low skill job as a temp at a NASA wind tunnel testing facility as a teen. McDonald Douglas was testing a model of the DC10; and the parts made in different shops were not fitting together. While waiting for the test to happen, I amused myself by sketching my VW Microbus with flapping mechanical wings on a stray piece of graph paper. A NASA guy joked that if I slipped it in with the aircraft plans, the company folks would not know the difference.
I definitely agree. When a billion dollar corporation trys to cut workers, unfortunately this is what happens. Human life and safety must come first before their greed.
(The following is taken from my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." In case there is any doubt, regulations are made to protect us all.)
Beam Me Up, Scotty: Scott Pruitt's "New Agency for Holistic Standards Through Unobstructed Pollution" (formerly the Environmental Protection Agency)
If anyone gets into trouble in the Trump administration, just wait a few days until someone else gets into more trouble! A new disaster always comes waltzing in to take center stage and nudge out the current intolerable mess. Trump hops from one fiasco to another so the firing of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will not be a matter of concern for long.
Syrian bombing missions take the limelight off excessive personal spending habits of EPA director Scott Pruitt.
The Trump EPA has painfully become a dysfunctional shell of what it was. Science and research have been sidelined and global warming is called a figment of wild imagination. The already minuscule budget has been slashed by 30 percent, making enforcement actions impossible. Superfund enforcement (requiring polluters to clean up their toxic spills) has been reduced to the current interest rate.
The new EPA lost 700 employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved $31 million for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to buy out contracts of existing staff. Now the polluters are running the show. A mining operation in Alaska's Bristol Bay goes forward after being blocked. One oil leak could destroy the largest sockeye salmon resources in the world. No more banning toxic pesticides, or more requirements for companies to disclose hazardous chemical inventories.
Welcome the return of smog, bigger and more profitable Trump Smog – coal ash, mining waste, benzene and mercury pollution. Get your oxygen tank and face masks out. Invest in air purifiers and carbon filters.
It’s profit at any cost. Fossil fuel is Trump’s renewable energy. Dirty energy industry lobbyists and CEOs are the new guards at the American power and utility gates.
"He's a fantastic person. I just left coal and energy country. They love Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Pruitt, and they love Pruitt,” Trump gloats.
Normally, this kind of accolade is a prelude to being fired. But normalcy doesn't thrive in this Trumpian era. Scott Pruitt resigned for using government funds on himself and his wife.
May God bless his little-soundproof-Chick-Fil-A-wifey-used-Trump-Hotel-mattress-cheap-rent-condo heart.
Scott Pruitt was just another Trumpian mental midget. He was so paranoid, he traveled on commercial flights with body guards.
You're right about one disaster overshadowing the next Bill. And it's still happening. Trump's MO is "look squirrel." I just watched "God and Country" on Apple TV. Scary stuff.
Meanwhile, Trump is in the news everyday, trying to delay paying for his misdeeds and delaying the other trials.
Thank you for commenting. There are two players here. The evil Trump verses the incredibly slow-witted Joe Biden who doesn’t have a great ability to understand how to appease the public. He may win in spite of himself. But he may not. And I have gone into details why he should understand the insecurities we all feel and be much more reactive to them. We have too much to lose. I wouldn’t bet on the outcome in November. Of all the times every candidate talks about the most important election, bla bla bla. Well, this time it’s real. And many folks just don’t get it. Biden’s ego and his sense of destiny is his weakness. And most of us democrats don’t understand how much a weak position we are in. We are living in a bubble of “there is nothing wrong with us” syndrome.
"you can't have an election in the middle of the political season."
"We just had a Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already."
and my favorite-
Trump vowed to "bring crime back to law and order."
Maybe it's a good thing that Trump is a part time President working only a few hours each day. Soon he will need to be directed to the hole to pick up his golf ball.
Voter Turnout - 2016: 59% voter eligible population. 2018: 49% vep. 2020: 70% vep. 2022: 46% vep. While statistics vary a little depending on the source, the point is that so few eligible Americans vote. The systemic reasons are many. Anecdotally, phone banking and knocking on doors of registered voters, I've thought I've heard everything and then there is the next. This also goes for explanations of their choice. And don't get me started on polls. Except to say I trust Jill Lepore* more than Nate Silver.
All to say. Trump could likely win this election. Despite everything. And with the help of: Jill Stein, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, again; RFK jr and antivaxx voters; No - what the fish are they up to - Labels; and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump could likely win this election. And Republicans could likely win the Senate and keep the House. GetOutTheVote for Biden-Harris and Democratic candidates for every office. But, you know that.
*Lepore
2015 Kennedy School Of Government lecture: Turning the press into pollsters has made American political culture Trumpian: frantic, short-sighted, sales-driven, and anti-democratic. . . Pollsters rose to prominence in the United States by claiming that measuring public opinion is good for democracy—but what if it’s bad?
2016 interview with Terry Gross: There's so many forms of disenfranchisement in our political culture, and polls have, in a weird and completely unintentional way, become yet another one of them.
2020 New Yorker essay: Polls measure something, but it’s often the wrong thing. They’re like S.A.T. scores.
I share your concern about the third party candidates. We have been there and done that - with disasterous results. Instead of a president focused on the devastation of the Climate Crisis, we got Team Cheney and multi trillion dollar wars that created many more problems than solved. Oh, and millions were displaced, wounded or killed. One of the greatest debacles of modern history - all because of an Extreme Court and third party draining of votes.
Until we install Ranked Choice Voting, we will be haunted by this defect in our democracy. And we will end up with more GW Bushes and Paul LePages.
That being said, polls are just snapshots of current emotions. If they had real value, Hillary would be wrapping up her 2nd term as president.
To your original point, what counts is who shows up on November 5th. I believe that the Dobbs decision will be the single biggest mistake the MAGA KLAN has made. And if the current Extreme Court cripples the ability of women to get medication abortions, the Blue Tsunami will be overwhelming.
Self styled Trump before Trump TeaParty Paul LePage's two plurality gubernatorial wins thanks to (now convicted child pornographer) Elliot Cutler - gave Mainers the determination to institute Ranked Choice Voting. Which has been upheld as constitutional by a Federalist Society judge, a veritable black swan.
"After he was initially arrested in March of 2022, Cutler was sentenced to four years behind bars last May, with all, but nine months suspended. He served just over seven months at Hancock County Jail before he was released in January. Cutler also had to register as a sex offender in Maine for the rest of his life."
Federal Judge Lance Walker. Fast tracked to Maine bench by LePage. Fast tracked to Federal bench by Trump. Walker upheld RCV against at least three assaults by Republicans. The last two when GOP incumbent Poliquin sued to stop the count and later when he tried to have the results thrown out. The trial transcript and Walker's decision make seriously good reading. Most recently Walker decided in favor of the rights of Bar Harbor citizens who'd voted to limit cruise ship tourism to more sustainable levels. The Town Council and Town Manager campaigned against the Citizens Initiative and when the citizens prevailed, refused to implement to new law, ginned up a suit against the town, and colluded with local big businesses to overturn the results of the election. Walker first found, that given the Town Council's history of cruise ship boosterism, residents could not reasonably trust the town lawyer to represent the town's interests. And he allowed the initiator of the Citizens Initiative to participate in the case. Then Walker found for town voters.
Alexandra, and Republicans deserve better than a party that supports and colludes with a person (45) determined to replace a democracy with a government that only looks out for his interests. On Monday night, Rachel Maddow showcased previous US dictator wannabes that stayed in the fringes because they didn’t have a major political party to enable them. She outlined how dictators use corruption of the news media as a necessary step to advance their agenda (Ronna McDaniels, anyone?). In order to fight tyranny, we have to recognize the baby steps and have investigative reporting of the back room deals that advance it. I recommend Timothy Snyder’s short but succinct book “On Tyranny”.
Am I understanding this incorrectly, but aren't some states allowing younger children to work more hours? Where does school fit in if they are working until 10 or 11 PM and get up by 8AM for school? Wasn't it some republican (maybe Johnson) who said we need more healthy boys to add to the work force? One of his arguments against abortion. This sounds like an argument used for tightening up abortion laws in Russia since they are killing off a lot of their male work force.
Good to see the Biden camp latching on to the embarrassingly effective "I'm rubber and you're glue" strategy. Trump, anytime he flings an invective, is telegraphing exactly what he is doing, but he knows it's wrong so he blames others for it. Biden's camp would do well to shine the spotlight each and every time.
These radical right wing “Think Tanks” have an outsized impact on the American political system. Funded by the selfish and the deranged they have no real regard for workers. The Union movement is one of our only viable alternatives in combatting worker safety.
HE has made a travesty of the rule of law. And his cultists recognize that and think they too are above the law and will be pardoned for any crimes they commit when they get him elected. Pray not!! No - do whatever we can to make sure he is a bigly loser and lets see him be put away - in prison.
The public deserves an explanation as to why the court lowered Donald's bond.
On the face of it, there was no good reason for it and their decision has every appearance of favoritism. There are many others who had worse circumstances and their bonds weren't reduced. It wasn't ever proposed or considered - so why him??
This decision from the NY Appellate Court is a reminder of the two-tiered justice system we have in this country. I have seen people go to jail for months because they could not post a $200.00 bond. There was no reduction to $87.50, with a proviso to pay the rest later, just jail.
Thanks for linking to Mary's substack. I read it earlier and am just now re-reading it, along with everything spelled out here, which has helped me further understand some points.
They have proven that the man is not rich and he is a lousy financial risk. That should be the headline. Whether it is a half billion or 1.75 million. Trump's business empire is ruined even if his property isn't seized today or tomorrow. Everyone he owes just found out he is essentially broke and broken...real estate is not a good risk. Follow the money.
I agree Gary. But won't it be embarrassing if he misses the next deadline. If he can't post a bond or come up with cash, then is he ineligible to appeal?
And what about the paltry $4+ million each of his serial immigation sons were order to pay? Did they?
He may appeal on the deadline regardless, but posting a bond keeps NY from starting collection. Without a bond, his property is at risk. In other words, posting the bond places the funds and collection on hold - Donald would be gambling that his appeal would be accepted by the court and then be successful. If that is the case he gets his money back. If his appeal fails, that money would immediately go to the plaintiff &/or the state and whoever issued the bond would be on the spot to recover their losses.
I am no fan of Trump but the decision is reasonable because they can’t be made whole if the appeals court rules in their favor. His assets would have already been liened or seized, likely triggered loan covenants that would have accelerated loan maturity and required payoff.
I don’t have a problem with any of this. They extended 10 days. He’s got to put up close to a combined $300MM in bonds in the two decided civil cases, live with two monitors, with interest accruing on the damages and staring at other civil and criminal cases.
I fear that we all have a general understanding of why, Gary. "Favoritism" gets to the edge. Some people can get away with doing horrible things ... others cannot. To understand why one needs the specifics of each case, I suppose, and I imagine that connections, corruption and politics will be involved in every case.
While Reagan joked that "I'm with the government and I'm here to help." and his then henchmen said things like "I want a government so small I could drown it in a bathtub", so-called free market Republicans worked across generations to establish a perspective that government is bloated, ineffective, and if it weren't for taxpayers having to fund all of the 'unnecessary' regulations (like worker safety, food safety or air travel safety, for example), taxes would be much lower, and workers would be much better off.
This was an important frame. It provided the opening for the GOP to make changes in a intentionally complex taxation code that vastly reduced tax responsibility for Americans accumulating significant wealth through exceptionally high income (CEO's for example), investment, and inheritance (by framing estate taxes as 'death' taxes -and some great detail as to why in political linguist George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant"). The Reagan/Bush/Trump/GOP-led changes are fundamental reasons a hedge fund manager might pay a lower percentage of taxes than a public school teacher or a first responder.
The concept expressed in Heritage's Project 2025 is to replace public sector employees with those who despise the actual programs agencies are established to serve. When you deconstruct their position, it is to staff public service with people who all believe the public is better served by private sector enterprise.
I've asked this question before. Can you imagine being the hiring manager for a computer chip manufacturing company (now operating in the United States with thanks to the Biden/Harris administration and the CHIPS and Science Act), and someone you are considering for hire tells you they dislike the company, the company has the wrong mission, and everyone here is probably lazy, slow, and should be fired. The objective of the "loyalty" component of Project 2025 is to control and decimate the public sector, shift responsibilities to private employers -where the primary objective is to maximize a return on investment instead of important societal benefits and outcomes. It is also to attack and erode regulation and enforcement from within government (instead of, or in combination with attacking public safety regulations in the judicial system).
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. - Reagan
VS
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
Right, but when people individually do well for themselves, at the expense and misfortune of others (including the living - dying earth) does government have a role - even an obligation - to act on behalf of the greater good?
People blame Biden for changes in the economy (they ought to be thanking him) - he and his team are keeping this ship of state afloat through a cataclysmic superstorm ... make no mistake, these changes have to happen for this economy and culture to survive at all ... pay heed.
Trump would take care of high end investors who play on his team, and leave the rest of us in the streets, butts in the air (lots and lots of babies, oh yeah!!) Regular folks may be afraid of losing what little edge they have without realizing how they are being played - a poor quality of life all around ... are we ready to see our children farmed out to global 'big box' industries?
My suspicion is that if climate abuse does take out our species, it will be with a whimper rather than a bang, or perhaps a series of whimpers and bangs.
Maybe, but either way, there will be a lot of suffering and all this stuff we know as civilization, governments, nations, money, etc., will be revealed as folly. It will happen a lot sooner than people think. That's the nature of the hockey stick. Experts have admitted uncertainty, but at just about every turn, it turns out that their estimates have been optimistic. We fix it now or not at all.
Well, if we need an example of the importance of public infrastructure, look what happened to the Frances Scott Key Bridge after it was hit by a container ship last night.
I think as a matter of settled law that government is supposed to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. I think that;s all about the greater good. I don't think contemporary "Republicans" got the memo.
I'm still searching for words ... this idealism to secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity seems to exclude so many who were forced to forfeit their own liberty for ours (who are "we" what is "us"?)
Our forefathers, who imposed this dream on stolen lands were welcomed to this land in peace, and proceeded to excavate and dominate the continent, presuming that right because nobody was using or exploiting the land in ways our limited (limiting) vision could perceive.
We have been very poor houseguests indeed (if not in fact!)
If any immigrants are "poisoning the blood of this land" it would be those who came here, claiming superiority - even supremacy - and the right to murder, rape and pillage without constraint - in the name of the LORD, no less ....
Kinda hard to stand up and cheer this All American Pride Parade ....
.Only heard him once while getting gas. A pickup next to me blared his venom. A b-I-l was a fan and quoted him often. He was toxic and loud-mouthed. A hero to every misogynist. Between Rush and Reagan, they influenced the elites, the white trash, and everything in between. Mostly males, but women were enthralled as well…
Well, yes the voters (suckers who believe in MAGA) don't get that. But of course, "oversight vacuum" is exactly the mission. The oligarch's mission and business model is corruption by another name.
I don't want to go to far defending Reagan, but I was there and you need to understand some of the background to understand why people like me would vote for him.
We were emerging from a time - the Vietnam war and watergate- when we had learned through hard experience to never trust what the federal government told us. We were lied to repeatedly about the goals and progress of the Vietnam war by people in both parties most concerned with retaining their power. And many people my age died not in defense of liberty, but in defense of President Johnson's ego.
Then, The marginal tax rate for a single person making $107,000 in 1980 was 70% (vs 37% for the upper bracket ($314,000) now). Many people thought that givng 70% of your income to the govt was too much, including me.
IT seemed the federal government was out of control, and it seemed like time for a change.
A sad footnote to this: When Johnson went, it also meant the end to something that he was doing right. His plans for a ‘War on Poverty’ waged by a ‘Big Government’ faded into the sunset. However you look at it, Reaganomics set the stage for the blaring economic inequality brand marking the USA today.
True - both. I have a hard time blaming Reagan too much for how things have spiraled out of control. Predicting all the effects of a major change out 40 years is just not possible. What is necessary are multiple course corrections along the way. ANd - in fact -Reagan's economic policies - especially the tax cut - did result in a booming economy after years of inflation and stagflation during the Carter and nixon times.
He also gets too little credit for ending the cold war. He essentially told the Russians, "we are going to out spend you in defense" And the Russsians, trying to keep up, collapsed, and the satellite states around them all became free states. The nuclear threat of the prior 30 years was erased overnight. That was a magical wonderful feeling that I no longer had to fear a nuclear war (as much), as I had since I had been a child.
during the Cuban missle crisis, my parents stock piled canned goods in the crawl space. Even at that age, I was aware that a crawl space would never protect us. I had the pervasive fear of all my family, and I dying in a firestorm that would arrive one day without warning. We lived about 7 miles from a major airforce base, which of course would have been a prime target. The newspaper in OCt 1962 published maps showing how the missles in Cuba were within range of our home. I remember those vividly even now. The images were burned into my young mind.
Somewhat true Phil. However when you get into the real aspect of how Reagan was obsessed with the destruction of the Soviet Union, you find a WMD set of lies. Everything the Soviets had was built on the West innovations. They had the soldiers, but not the technology. I can almost assure you that had the Soviets been better managers of economics (like opening for more western money) they might very well have survived. EX- China. Reagan would have and in reality did, bankrupt the U.S.
Sure I would agree with the tax rate, but at the same time you cannot ignore the wise words of the last great GOP Pres - Ike - when he warned of the industrial/military complex. High taxes on the highest earners help prevent wealth concertation in the hands of a few, which is where we are now. I like to think that taxes are a way to make sure that the wealth of a country is used to benefit all and to put it best - return some of the wealth to the people that actually earned it.
I give Reagan credit for starting what we have today. Article in St Louis Post Dispatch, 1985, told the tale. DELIBERATE. BTW, Gorbachev should get the credit that republicans lavish on Reagan. Really, people…
Phil- I too voted for Reagan and he did accomplish several positive things during his tenure. I was 25 years at the time of the first election in 1980. I worked in an industry that was forced to react to the high interest rates and stagflation -- the life insurance industry. They couldn't redesign and refile products fast enough to protect their policy owners and themselves from losses. Each new product (policy) had to be approved by each state the company sold policies which normally isn't a problem. But with rates changing sometimes multiple times a month the 2 or 3 months it took to get a product approved turned a profitable product into an unprofitable one.
But what it did do was to force companies to design interest sensitive products where the investment portion of the policy earned variable rates. This was the advent of Universal Life, Indexed Annuities, Variable Annuities, Variable Universal Life, Interest Sensitive Whole Life and several other products.
Being in IT we were slammed with huge modifications to handle products that were no longer as simple as whole life products.
Reagan seemed like a good alternative to Jimmy Carter at the time.
Retrospectively, I would have voted for Carter, but I'm not sure my 25 year old self would have.
Another thing that people forget or didn't know - We had a SERIOUS inflation problem. It was blamed on Carter -a large reason he lost. We bought our first house then, and the interest rate was...
we bought our home in 1976 with an interest rate of 8.5%. We needed a 2nd mortgage to help put a new roof. That second’s rate was 13.5%. We refinanced that second and got it down to 10.25%. Years later, paid that off, thank goodness! During the Reagan years, we CD’s that had 13.5% interest. I do not want to return to that era. I give Reagan credit for nothing. He created the homeless situation we all have now by cutting Medicaid, housing, and welfare. The old saying was “that if you see a ‘Negro’ driving a Cadillac, then you know they’re lazy! They aren’t working. They’re just producing babies so they can stay on welfare.” He was a racist, so much so, that his own daughter didn’t want to have anything to do with him or Nancy for a very long time. The R’s revered him and called him the “great orator”. He wasn’t. He was a bullshit artist.
The marginal tax rate at 70% does not mean you pay 70% of your income in taxes. The income tax is graduated and set by brackets. The higher your income, the higher the bracket, the higher the tax on the bracket. A 70% marginal tax rate means that the portion of your income that falls into the highest bracket is taxed at 70%.
Speaking of which, during the 50s, when Eisenhower was in office, the marginal tax rate was in the 90% range. The economy couldn’t have been doing better. Many families owned homes, cars, kids went to college, the interstate highway system was built…all because there were taxes flowing into the Treasury.
Of course I know that. I was trying to be a bit succinct, and I think the information I put in the post (marginal rate for an income of.... ) was enough for readerst to get that.
Thanks for sharing Phil. Hindsight is always 20/20. When I am critical of Reagan it is the outcome of the array of policies which have led to massive student debt, a severely weakened middle class, more homelessness, class and race tension, the assault on labor unions and more. In economic context, a 6 figure salary was upper middle class in Reagan’s time.
The argument for trickle down was probably more palatable in the 1980’s. Forty years later most people now understand it is at best, a failure (unless you are in the 1% -then it has served very well and accomplished precisely what it is intended to do).
Trickle down is never never appropriate. It is the stuff of dictators kings and autocrats. Period. We do live in this grand experiment called democracy which is and should be the opposite of eons of kings and other dominators who profit by power, physical and monetary. Noticing that we do live in this democracy, It is becoming startlingly clear for those who wish to be clarified by these truths that are self-evident, that no given force or element should dominate any other. Domination in itself is completely undemocratic. So I'm talking about money and the power that goes with it that more and more people are getting a grasp on lately. Working out our differences and working cooperatively is the only way we're going to make it folks. All of us. Leave conflict on the football field where players butt their heads into oblivion. That model doesn't work too well in congresses and senates and assemblies. It is the stuff of patriarchies, male domination and lately looking like the purview of narcissists who can't make it any other way, sometimes only slightly separated from cavemen. We're all in this together. Together.
Thank you Robin. I often imagine what life could have been like if we were in a peaceful, collaborative world. I do hope future generations understand the generational battle between those looking to acquire power while exploiting and abusing others versus those simply trying to improve their own quality of life, and those for whom they care.
Caring seems to be the operative principle in action. The capacity in itself is probably there at birth, and certainly needs to be developed and nourished in the upbringing of every child. Margaret Mead the anthropologist stated that her findings in the field showed and suggested for Americans that people should live together first before they married, and the parents to be needed actual training, which I think she suggested to be about 2 years, before having children. Some modern cultures in the last few decades are doing it better such as the Japanese.
Yes. But we haven’t provided much support to new parents, societally speaking. If it weren’t for the great work of https://momsrising.org -helping to shape and drive policy around parental leave -the U.S. would likely be far worse. Of course the GOP is there to do everything possible… right up until birth.
I think it ("trickle down") was appropriate to the times. NO MORE. It was successful. In the 80s'. Not now. The necessary adjustments to keep things on track were not done.
As we learn from Heather - knowing the historical context is critical to understanding the "Why" of things.
What is hard for me to convey is the FEELING of the time. There was a pervasive feeling of fear among the young (15-30), that the country would kill us happily if only to save the reputation of the leaders. This was NOT the "land of the free and the brave" we had been taught about in elementary school. What is free about being whisked off to Vietnam to be killed? That is authoritarian in the extreme. There was a saying at the time "What if they gave a war and nobody came" and that pretty well encapsulated my feelings. Had the service been all volunteer, perhaps the lack of interested participants would have stopped the foolhardy plunge into Vietnam.
I also have the clear feeling that the drug culture of the time (which we are dealing with still) was at least in part a reaction to the sense that the govt was going to kill us - better enjoy it while we can, and if we die doing it, so what?
Phil, I disagree with your appraisal of Reagan. He was really just another puppet president who served the needs of the oligarchs. Trickle Down was a sales pitch. Even David Stockman who was a lead advocate for such, admitted later that it didn't work for the population as a whole. It was a con.
And there are those of us who believe that Reagan's excessive spending on defense did little to truly push the USSR into oblivion. In fact, I would make the case that we would have a very different and equitable nation today if some of that money had been diverted to health care and especially education.
And while Russia lost territory, what transpired was effectively a transfer of assets from one authoritarian oligarchal group to another. The loss of territory was an internal rebellion. Simultaneously, Putin performed the perfect coup and has continued the con for decades. Deadly for some, but brilliant for he and his buddies.
But I do thank you for your historical perspective. You helped me flash back to a time that many currently have too little awareness of. There was indeed a disillusionment about the government as a whole. The government had lied so often, someone like Reagan was perfect food for ruined appetites. In his own charismatic way, he brought a refreshing, if retro, vision that people were hungry for. He was perfect for the times. Dead wrong, but timing in life is everything.
It's really important for us to get inside the heads of people - to learn how their ideas and reactions are based on previous experiences. We are often set up to react automatically. Empathy and thoughtful reflection on what someone has experienced is under rated.
Thanks again for your valuable historical perspective. Too rare.
Coming from the middle of the depression, I could point to a whole lot of very depressing factors that I physically personally experienced along with millions of others. When we got hold of those experiences on various levels particularly the governmental and economic ones we changed the conditions that we had to live through. That is our job. To dwell on the very traumas that traumatized us did not help in the long run. Some of my folks and many friends' folks came to this country from conditions far far worse, and still do, in order to change those conditions. It is up to us to do the same thing and indeed is a way to put those traumas back where they belong as deep instruction. It really really helps to think afresh.
One flaw in ALL of this political discourse is the convenience of referring to administrations by the name of the President. Presidents are almost always shallow glad-handers with just enough intelligence to find their tuckus with both hands. The POWER lies in their cabinet and the heads of the administrative divisions within the Executive.
Vietnam was not Johnson's War, or Nixon's. It was Henry Kissinger's, and Robert MacNamara's, and the rest of that lot. Reaganomics was tied to Ronald Reagan, but it was the doings of Donald Regan, James Baker and Larry Summers. Reagan's "Star Wars" program was the brainchild of Edward Teller, one of the (arguably) least-grounded members of the Trinity team in New Mexico.
Arguing about Presidents is like trying to draw a connect-the-dots picture when you are using coffee stains instead of the dots.
Geez, if I made a million dollars a year, and at some gross figuring of 70% tax I could live just fine on a usable income of $300,000. Now up that by degrees and ask yourself if anybody 'needs' that much money to get along very nicely. I guess you have to have a definition of very nicely here.
Phil, I'd like a little more information on those tax rates you cite. This matters because high tax rates are often named by way of telling us how much better we have it now or how much more the wealthy should (could?) be paying. And yet while some people could have paid 70% on their initial gross income, others had enough deductions to bring the rate down to even 45%.
It would help to know whether your taxation was "average." Here is a website from the IRS showing tax rates in 1980 to spur some conversation about these things: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/80inintravmatr.pdf.
Leaving deductions aside since I don't know if you had any, as I see it, in 1980, if you earned $107,000 gross and paid 70% in tax, you had $32,100 net to live on as a single person. In today's dollars, taking inflation into account, you, as a single person, would be living on $112,983 net. I don't see how that is a reason to have voted for Reagan in 1980.
Now we see that the "small" government they aspire for is actually a larger government designed to protect them. Just look at the various red states where the conservatives control. There you have laws being made to enhance the power of the wealthy while leaving the middle and lower taxpayers with the burden of paying for public infrastructure.
BTW- In my estimation, estate taxes are evil. Money you earn is taxed, and you have some left. But that isn't yours, the govt still takes it away when you try to give it to your children. At that point it seems like a cruel joke to say that you own anything. Everything can be claimed by the goverment, because they can.
My uncle died in the early 70's. He and my aunt were "child poor" They had 6 kids and as such had a lower than modest house, and could barely make ends meet. I was told when my uncle died, that my aunt had to sell her wedding ring to pay the estate taxes. Now that is evil.
Thanks for your insight, Phil. I was concerned with a federal estate tax when dad passed away in 2021. No worries as the value of his/mom’s “estate” had to be over 11 million.(Dad worked until he was 78…as a maintenance man). Florida does not have an estate/inheritance tax while states that do mostly have thresholds considerably lower than federal, as in our native Rhode Island.
HCR, as an historian, has a point of view that goes beyond the immediate news to make connections and illustrate principles. News that reveals that impartial, expert government servants have been essential to ensure airplane safety, worker protection, and technologies to address climate change. The connections, beyond the immediate news, that all these things are potentially under threat. That is why HCR's commentary is so valuable.
The criticism of Donald Trump issued by the Biden Administration was a welcome development. This is not going "low" - these criticisms are accurate, as stated. Trump is “weak and desperate", his fund-raising is bad, he has not been out on the campaign trail like Biden has been, and his speeches are getting more outrageous every week, with viral quotes that cannot possibly be bringing in new supporters. His Project 2025 agenda is indeed "dangerous" and threatens to turn the U.S. into "illiberal" Hungary. Trump has shown no physical stamina, has offered innumerable "confused" statements in his speeches, and is regularly described as looking "tired.” It is just that the Administration needs to have the courage to say the truth. This is not only useful to bolster the contrast with Biden's laundry list of accomplishments, but also is politically smart, since there is nothing more likely to increase the probability of additional Trump missteps than to needle his phenomenally fragile personality. This will not push undecided voters away, since these criticisms can be justified as accurate, with concrete examples. I have a 24-Page Word documents of nothing more that incoherent, dangerous and/or inaccurate statements by Trump just since 1/8/2024, less than 3-months. Those who dismiss these critiques are dyed-in-the-wool Trump supporters for whom nothing the Biden Administration says will ever make a difference.
“. . . He doesn’t appear to be a fan of it.” Indeed. Yet, he gets endless gifts from the courts that normal folks could never expect.
Sad that the NY appellate court is so tone-deaf, or simply lazy that they felt no need to explain their wildly favorable ruling for Cheetolini. Reeks of corruption, especially coming in the nick of time with no explanation.
Putting a stay on the other penalties is even more inexplicable. Sad that justice seems to be little more than a wistful dream, or something inflicted only on the non-wealthy.
What are the chances there is some back room betting going on around these constant delays ... (will they - won't they / how much - how long / can he, can he not) ... what next ...?
There are other very significant moves that the Biden administration has made in an effort to unrig a crucial aspect of our economy.
'Why the Biden Administration Is Suing Apple and Investigating Big Grocers' (The New Yorker Mag., excerpt)
'A new generation of trustbusters is trying to use anti-monopoly laws to roll back concentrations of economic power.'
By John Cassidy
'The Department of Justice’s antitrust division made headlines last week by suing Apple and accusing the company of monopolizing the smartphone market and its associated services. The iPhone-maker “has maintained its power not because of its superiority, but because of its unlawful exclusionary behavior,” the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, at a public briefing in Washington.
'Meanwhile, in a move that received less attention, the staff of the Federal Trade Commission, the other big agency entrusted with enforcing competition laws, released a lengthy report on another increasingly concentrated part of the economy: the grocery industry. The F.T.C. report said that some big food-and-beverage retailers exploited the supply-chain disruptions associated with the covid-19 pandemic to squeeze their suppliers and “further hike prices to increase their profits.” In a statement accompanying the release of the report, Lina Khan, the F.T.C.’s chair, said that dominant retailers “used this moment to come out ahead at the expense of their competitors and the communities they serve.”
'Khan and Jonathan Kanter, who is the head of the D.O.J.’s antitrust division, are the leaders of the Biden Administration’s effort to confront big businesses that it claims are exploiting their market power to enrich themselves to the detriment of their clients and the market as a whole. This campaign has sometimes been a rocky one. The antitrust agencies have lost some big court cases, including an effort to block Microsoft from taking over the game maker Activision Blizzard, but they have successfully scuttled a number of deals, such as a takeover of the book publisher Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House and a tie-up between American Airlines and JetBlue. In any case, an aggressive antitrust policy has become one of the defining features of this Administration, and it will surely continue if Joe Biden gets reëlected.'
'After Biden was elected President, in 2020, he nominated Khan, Kanter, and others associated with a new antitrust movement that traces its roots to Louis Brandeis, the early-twentieth-century trustbuster and Supreme Court Justice.'
'Biden also set up the White House Competition Council, which includes officials from many different government agencies. Although the President was hardly known as a scourge of corporations, he sounded some distinctly Brandeisian themes, declaring, in July, 2021, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism—it’s exploitation.”
'Lately, he has been criticizing big corporations for price gouging, imposing junk fees, and shrinking the size of their products while maintaining prices—a phenomenon known as shrinkflation.'
'The revival of antitrust-enforcement efforts goes well beyond the issue of whether Snickers bars have shrunk. (After Biden suggested, in his State of the Union address, that they had got smaller, Mars, the maker of the caramel-peanut bars, issued a statement denying it.)
'Kanter, Khan, and their allies are basically claiming that rising monopoly power is a serious problem in many different parts of the economy, not just the technology sector, and that the country’s courts and policymakers need to address it aggressively across the board. The D.O.J.’s Apple lawsuit and
the F.T.C.’s report on the grocery industry illustrate many of the issues at stake.'
'At last week’s press conference, Kanter compared the government’s case against Apple to three famous anti-monopoly cases from the past: Standard Oil, A.T. & T., and Microsoft. During Bill Clinton’s Presidency, the Justice Department brought the Microsoft case, in 1998, accusing the software giant of exploiting its grip on the operating-system market to create a stranglehold for Web browsers, by forcing computer-makers to bundle Internet Explorer on its devices. The government argued that this tactic deprived consumers of choices and stifled innovation. In the Apple case, the Justice
Department is making a similar argument, claiming that Apple used technology restraints and restrictive contracts to keep smartphone users and application developers confined within its proprietary ecosystem, where it can charge high prices and fees. “Today, we stand here, once again, to protect competition and innovation for the next generation of technology,” Kanter said.
'The Justice Department’s complaint, which referenced internal communications from Apple that were subpoenaed, detailed a number of tactics that the company allegedly used to bolster and maintain its monopoly power. These included restricting the ability of iPhone users to download cloud-based games; refusing to integrate other text-messaging apps with its own iMessage system; and blocking “super apps” that would allow iPhone users to carry out a number of online activities (such as shopping, exchanging payments, and chatting) from within one application. The complaint also said
that Apple executives were concerned that, if iPhone users downloaded a super app, it would be easier for them to switch to a cheaper smartphone. The lawsuit quoted one Apple manager as saying that allowing super apps would “let the barbarians in at the gate.”
'The corporate behavior detailed in the F.T.C. report had less to do with technology innovation and more to do with sheer size. Between 1990 and 2019, the report noted, the four biggest grocers have increased their combined market share from fifteen per cent to more than thirty per cent. The report was based on information from three grocery retailers (Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon), three large food wholesalers (Associated Wholesale Grocers, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and McLane Company), and three big food producers (Kraft Heinz, Tyson Foods, and Procter & Gamble).'
'During the pandemic, as the big retailers experienced significant shortages and increases in the cost of the goods they sold, they used their size to pressure suppliers to favor them over smaller competitors for deliveries, and also raised their prices to cover their extra costs, the report said. Hiking their prices was a perfectly legitimate reaction, but the report presents prima-facie evidence that the grocers went beyond simply recuperating rising costs. As they raised their prices, their profit margins—the difference between their total revenues and total costs—reached six per cent in 2021, compared to 5.6 per cent in 2015, and then rose further, to seven per cent in the first nine months of 2023, when the rate of inflation was already coming down. “This profit trend casts doubt on assertions that rising prices at the grocery store are simply moving in lockstep with retailers’ own rising costs,” the report said. It also called on the full commission and Congress to look into this issue.'
'Apple, in a public statement, said the Justice Department’s lawsuit “threatens who we are,” and, if successful, would “set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.” Reacting to the F.T.C. report, the National Grocers Association, which represents independent grocers, said it confirmed that “national chains or so-called ‘power buyers’ are abusing their immense economic power to the detriment of competition and American consumers.”
'Given the glacial pace at which antitrust cases move through the courts, the Apple lawsuit likely won’t be resolved until the next Presidency. The Justice Department case that led to the breakup of A.T. & T. lasted eight years, and the Microsoft case took about three and a half years until a settlement was reached. Time isn’t the biggest challenge facing the Justice Department and F.T.C., though—that’s the U.S. court system. In the course of the past half century, many judges have applied a strict consumer-welfare standard to antitrust cases, which in practice means the government has to show that a certain corporate action or merger either led to higher prices or is likely to lead to them. In the high-tech
industry, particularly, where many apps and services are distributed at zero price, this standard is often difficult to apply. The courts, including the Supreme Court, in the 2004 Trinko case, have also adopted a skeptical attitude to claims that companies should be obliged to do business with potential competitors.'
'The Untied States’ antitrust laws date to the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914. In many cases—such as those relating to price-fixing and other blatantly anticompetitive agreements, or tying requirements of the sort employed by Microsoft with its Internet Explorer browser—these laws are adequate for the task. But they weren’t designed for the digital age, and there is a clear need to update them for the twenty-first century. In recent years, the European Union has gone at least some way to show how this could be done, introducing a Digital Markets Act and a Digital Services Act, which laid down new guidelines for dominant players, including rules designed to make their platforms more open to app designers and other companies. Considering the gridlock on Capitol Hill, there is little immediate prospect of similar legislation in the United States. In this challenging environment, the new trustbusters have little option but to plow ahead and make their cases in the courts of justice and public opinion. That’s what they are doing. ♦' (The NEW YORKER) See link below, which could not be gifted.
I am more excited that the DOJ is investigating UnitedHealth. Interesting situation. It employs 10% of the US physicians, and is the largest employer of NPs. It is dramatically vertically integrated, and owns Change Health care. This is the organization that was hacked a week or two ago. Much of the payments to providers goes through Change, and now they can't get their payments. Of course the money is there - it's in UnitedHealth Care accounts. They aren't sending it out.
An interesting side bit of information is that there are some health care companies- hospitals and practices that are in serious financial straits as a result of this, and United has magnanimously offered to buy them to relieve them. Isn't that nice?
So United is so woven into the fabric our our health "system", that it is a single fail point. Hack one set of computers and you can bring down our health care system. Not a good plan.
Incidentally, I read one report that the $22 million United paid as ransom may only be a beginning. The hackers are possibly going to go for a "subscription" model with monthly payments.
Woudl anyone be surprised if we learned the Russian Government is behind the hack? I wouldn't. This may be cyber warfare we are seeing.
Thank you, Phil Shaffer, MD. Your reply is worth its weigh in bringing our attention to this very threatening monopolistic reality within the country's healthcare system.
I don't know what the big picture looks like, but locally medical groups and services have been collapsing into mega-corporate black holes at an accelerating pace. The same with veterinary services, the two best of which went from very customer centered to more restricted and inaccessible. The last time our dog was dying in the night, the local 24 hour large and small animal hospital we relied on for decades would not even let us in.
I would not rule out Russian involvement in any mischief, but of course, greed doesn't not need them to rear it's ugly head. Like, why is Crypto even legal? There seems to be a lot of effort to integrate it into the mainstream. Also, I know it must be complicated, but I don't understand why record storage can so easily be dumped into intruder accounts. I saw a Korean drama that suggested that in that nation, corporations are held liable for security breaches, yet here they just send you a letter (I've probably received near a dozen of them) with an offer of 1 year free credit monitoring. I don't know what's the best solution, but I can't help but wonder if security is a high enough priority compared with the inconveniences of more selective air gaps?
The other thing is way too many eggs in one basket, starting with previous abandonment of anti trust. Too big to fail, too big to regulate, too big to prosecute, too big to meaningful compete, to big for meaningful customer service.
Not so far from where I once lived, there was a fireworks factory that was a collection of small, scattered, buildings, large air gaps between them so if one blew up, it would not take the rest with it.
Hi Fern, I hope and trust you are faring well ... still just barely catching up over here -hardly even keeping up ... got to relax in one breath, flow through and do what we can do - no one can do it all ... take care - be well ....
Although the President was hardly known as a scourge of corporations, he sounded some distinctly Brandeisian themes, declaring, in July, 2021, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism—it’s exploitation.”
This morning The Boeing Company announced that the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplane division, Stan Deal, is leaving immediately. Chief executive officer Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year. Chair of the board Larry Kellner will not stand for reelection.
Good!
Then take all the over-educated, under-intelligent MBAscum too damn stupid to know the pointed end goes in front, stand them against the nearest hangar wall and "let 'em have it." And if there are any of the McDonnell-Douglas morons still around, throw them out the upper-story windows face first. Bill Boeing, Donald Douglas, and James McDonnell will be standing at the pearly gates cheering.
American aerospace is such shit now - like everything else in American business, the MBAs who know the price of everything and the value of nothing have financialized things to the point of no return. To an MBAscum, the fact the door flew off the airplane means there's another "revenue stream" for fixing it.
The Airplane Guys who created the companies would have been embarrassed to let a piece of shit like the 737Max out the hangar door. (or the F-35 Flying Swiss Army Knife or most everything they've created in the past 40 years) Such a piece of crap would have embarrassed them. The 737 is a 60 year old design, but the pinstriped pimps in the widgetmaker suites are too cheap to hire designers who could create an actually-new improvement - it might drive down their stock options, the only thing important to them.
Letting accountants (and that is all the MBA degree is) decide anything more important than whether or not to order Chinese takeout for the lunch meeting is the wrong move. Every time.
"The job, overseeing a group of 10 to 12 quality assurance inspectors, quickly turned out to be the stuff of night terrors. Boeing had relocated south to avoid the machinists’ union, but they had no real plan for circumventing Charleston’s distinct dearth of machinists. Swampy was a good teacher, but Boeing executives did not shy away from voicing their opinion that quality assurance itself was fundamentally frivolous. At Boeing’s Everett, Washington, facility, each quality assurance inspector was assigned to examine the work of 15 mechanics; in Charleston, that number was 50, and the mechanics themselves more often than not were guys who had been “flipping burgers” a month ago, as Swampy put it in multiple interviews. So every day, the workers he supervised inspected planes that had been assembled by complete amateurs, while the bosses to whom he reported insisted the fry cooks were perfectly qualified to self-inspect their own workmanship. “Every day was a battle to get Boeing management to do the right thing,” Swampy’s brother Rodney Barnett recalled in an email."
Yes, while the expert mechanics - all union - in Washington State who used to build Boeing airplanes right, became unemployed and the savings of moving to South Carolina and hiring fry cooks meant profits were up, the stock was up, and all the MBAs got bonuses for doing so. The system is so perverse now....
I largely share your sentiment, TCinLA. But let's, too, look elsewhere.
The rush to biz ed started in the U.S. following the far-right foundations of the Powell memo set up to smother, marginalize, and kill humanities, first from higher ed, then K-12.
Imagine if educators 40-50 years ago resisted all that orchestrated dehumanization.
Here in Wichita, Kansas where plane makers, Walter Beach, Clyde Cessna, and others began their companies, we have watched MBA’s takeover running those companies and have seen the quality slide downward and long time employees offered “retirement“ and new employees hired at lower wages. SMH
General Aviation's nearly dead, due to that insane product liability decision back 40 years ago, along with the overall loss of GenAv airports. Chino, which was "protected forever" in the county planning decisions 20 years ago, is now nearly surrounded by suburbia and looks to go to the same place the other GenAv airports in the Inland Empire went to in the past five years (now land for more McMansions!). I remember Tony Levier telling me 40 years ago that LA County had 55 airports inside the county lines up until they started getting killed by suburbia beginning in 1950.
TC, I love your one-size-fits-all solution to all problems. May be too late to make the 737 max any safer, but at least a few former execs will have to learn to fly the hard way. We can cheer them on their way down.
The day Boeing announced they were moving corporate headquarters to Chicago all of Seattle knew they were running away from the oversight of the hundreds of retired Boeing engineers so they could get away with cheating.
Bill Boeing was loved and respected in Seattle. Boeing was the company that built Seattle. Boeing Field was right downtown and there were Boeing buildings north and south of town. The Everett Plant claimed the largest building in the world! And then there were the "secret" buildings...
So the only reason to move to Chicago was to hide.
And sure enough they started doing things they couldn't get away with in Seattle.
To add to “To an MBAscum, the fact the door flew off the airplane means there's another "revenue stream" for fixing it.” Evidently this is also the result of DEI hiring.
[H]is efforts are overwhelmingly fixed on evading justice or mooting judgments he’s already lost by any means necessary. He’d ideally like to prevail in these efforts before the election, but the task will become much easier if he’s able to win or steal the presidency despite the legal peril.”
I always lie for my alibi; and when COVID came, I watched people die. I shouted out "Who's killing liberty", when after all, it's the GOP.
The Biden campaign said, “America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump,” which we can take to mean a man with dementia who is progressively getting worse each day. And that is good news. Nature is *compensating Donald Trump quite fairly even if our 'justice' system does not.
I don't recall reading that one specifically but loved the way Emerson paints the big picture. He seemed a bit naive at times, but only in retrospect of wit the aid of modern science. His "Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.Nature is full of a sublime family likeness throughout her works... " IS my view of science. A walk in a natural landscape is like a visual set of symphonic variations or fugue. Darwin "heard" it. The fact that it is repetitive does not mean it's always simple to tease out the details, which seem endlessly interactive and nuanced with extremely fine precision. Emerson's acquaintance John Muir recognized the family resemblance between plants (as had Linnaeus) now refined by comparing genomes. I could go on.
Evolution selected aggression as well as compassion in our species, but also our capacity for reason and conscience. Within the vicissitudes of random fortune, we reap what we sow, but the evil that men do lives after them. The powerless innocents often suffer most. We are responsible (even when not held accountable) for poor choices. We do have the power of self-questioning.
1) Who is this appeals court? 2) "Trump Social" has overnight put him into the world top 500. (But I think I read somewhere that its readership is shrinking).
' ... The media needs to do a much better job warning about the dangers of such a publicly-traded candidacy and possible presidency. This is a man who has always been up for sale to the highest bidder, and who will now abuse the meme stock frenzy to achieve shocking personal financial gain while exposing our nation’s highest office to massive financial leverage. The American people need to be warned of the dangers inherent in this, far beyond the probable dispiriting headlines next week that Trump really will have become a billionaire, at least on meme stock paper."
... endless work, with no end in sight ... I only give it time and energy because I am a citizen with the right and responsibility to vote - hopefully a well informed vote - never enough .... 😵💫
I think it's an art and a science, and I don't know what, to integrate and reconcile our ego (sense of individual awareness and experience) with the web of life and our highly social species. The Constitution (w/ Amendments) attempts to do so in broad outline. Reconciliation appears possible, at least, perhaps "good enough" reconciliation, and "liberty and justice for all" be much better served. If we try sometime, we just might find, we get what we need.
Truth has many facets - if all voices are to be heard and respected, we are obliged to give a fair hearing to all ... is there a better way ...? Old friend Jeff would say, "the Universe is democratic" ... narrow the aperture and someone is sure to be left out or neglected ....
It’s refreshing to see Biden hit back. I’ve been waiting a long time for Dems to respond to the outrageous attacks waged against them by an infantile playground mentality GOP. John Kerry should have taken on the Swift Boaters with his fists. Hillary was overconfident and passive.
The Swift boaters were just lying money with clout. Kerry should have won, repubs cheated. Rove went after evangelicals guns blazing. HRC was the victim chump tries to be. She warned us.
Use both, use every breathing creature. So tired of Dem purity tests, while for repubs, the skankier the better. We are all flawed, some are evil and the enemies of all but the super rich. Flaws are OK with me, greedy bastards, not so much.
So much for "no one is above the law." Thousands of poor people are having their lives ruined sitting in jail because they cannot afford bail and a billionaire gets special treatment.
What all of us should be asking is "why are we flying". I understand the value of people crossing boundaries, but the reality of people flying all over the place has an unacceptable carbon foot print, which is unlikely to be solved any time soon via electric airplanes powered by wind and solar. And so flying has got to stop.
I would at least ask whether in each instance there is a reasonably compelling reason to fly. People cut back during COVID. In any case, we are past due to get serious about high speed rail. Other nations have it, I have used it, and it works. Amtrak is the Cinderella of rail systems, given tough jobs a few resources.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.” Well, that line needs to go up all over social media today.
Love the comparison of the Boeing disaster to the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su's quote about it. It's so dystopian that any decent citizen would buy this nonsense about the evil "Deep State" when the federal government exists, as she says, to create “programs that generations of Americans have relied on for economic security and dignity, including a nationwide minimum wage, health and safety regulations, restrictions on child labor, and more.”
To add a little context, Julie Su came to public attention here in California approximately a quarter century ago, as she brought a major civil case against the powers behind a garment making Cartel that literally kept Thai immigrant women enslaved in their factories in El Monte..
Her appointment to serve as the Secretary of Labor has, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise ", been held up by Messrs. Cruz, Cotton, etc.
Her invocation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is perfectly apropos.
Finally, on that terrible early Spring day in New York 113 years ago, a young social worker was walking past the Triangle factory building, and looked up in horror to see women jumping out of its upper windows.
Hee name was Frances Perkins. She would go on to become the first female cabinet secretary in our history, as FDR appointed her to serve as Secretary of Labor, the very position Julie Su in which Ms. Su actively serves.
In her later years, Frances Perkins said that "the entire New Deal derived from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire"
Daniel, you are so on point in referring back to Frances Perkins, FDR's Sec. of Labor and the real genius behind The New Deal. That fire and the tragedy that it caused (Triangle Shirtwaist Fire) was a huge catalyst for Frances Perkins. National Geographic has a piece on this. You can access it, I believe, by typing in your email address: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-transformed-protections-american-workers
Democrats are "descendants" of Frances Perkins' political philosophy, which she summed up: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. All.
The government, in a democracy, is the people. The pendulum now needs to swing in favor of the people - business has had its way for too long.
AMEN, Harvey .... exactamente!
With a non-leader at the helm the Republican party, which I call The New American Nazi Party, seems to be imploding. Who will leave next. We see them resigning from the House like rats jumping a burning ship. Senator Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK) is talking openly about leaving the party. Now that Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitorous-Trump is in charge of the RNC, there is not a lot of support for others who are running. Being in this session of Congress has made supporting a White Nationalist agenda to overthrow the government less fun than it sounded like it would be to all but the few. Their constituents have got to be missing a few screws to support them. What can you do about that?
For sure on the origins of The New Deal. Remember just the same that the Dems then were still the standard bearers of the slave trade and destroyed the lofty goals of Reconstruction. Wonderful how "time moves on" though! Civil Rights Act and more.
It is interesting how the transformation of the Democratic Party took place, from support of Jim Crow to the elevation of the Middle Class and the fall of the oligarchs. Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich helped the Republican Party metamorphize into what it is today - pro-oligarchy, anti-democratic . At this time there is no question but that the KKK mentality has taken a firm grasp on the Republican Party and the evangelical community. Those marching at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting "Jews will not replace us." Simply put, that's Klan talk.
Well, the Dems and Republicans went through a remarkable split and migration of southern dems into the Republicans. Dems morphed into more or less what they are today, Civil Rights Act, the Great Society, and so on. Give Nixon some credit for giving the EPA walking legs. Now the GOP wants to bury it. I remember watching all the Climate Change postings removed from the masthead and relegated to an archival page. That was not long after Trump came in. Here's the current masthead on climate change. Back in the saddle again, i do hope! https://www.epa.gov/climate-change
This is a good time and place to list another connection to Climate Change which is the damage done to our biodiversity. A month ago I attended a lecture at Monmouth Univ by a brilliant entomologist, Doug Tallamy of the U of Delaware. His presentation is more than compelling. In short, parallel with Climate Change we are self-destructing by killing all the insects at the base of the food chain that feeds everything above it so, even if we survive the climate crisis if we've removed the food sources it won't matter.
He has created a brilliant plan called Homegrown National Park which is essentially that every one of us who either owns or has input on private land can be the ones to save and rebuild our biodiversity. We can do it ourselves. 83% of the country are private lands and if we replant and modify our use of pesticides, light pollution and other bad habits for only 50% of it we can successfully change the course. Plus, it's beautiful. Check it out below.
https://map.homegrownnationalpark.org
Frank, THANK YOU for that most excellent link to the EPA's climate change website. It contains a whole host of effective measures individuals as well as companies can employ and deploy! Good stuff!
It was that Charlottesville march that impelled Joe Biden to run for president, he has said.
Let's not forget Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, OK? Republicans all, and no fans of working people. Goldwater et al. certainly deserve credit for helping make the GOP what it is today, but they got a huge, albeit indirect, assist from the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s, Southern white loathing of which helped inspire Nixon's "southern strategy" -- and turned white Southern Democrats into Republicans.
It’s called progress, as in Progressives. The GOP is now in ruins.
As Roy Zimmerman wrote:
In the party , the grand old party, they shrugged and closed their eyes. They propped him up and they fell in line and repeated all his lies.
Vote Him Away 4
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=us-Pkh0de50&pp=ygUVdm90ZSBoaW0gYXdheSBzb25nIDQg
The repugs now have an exclusive contract with tfg. Watch the doors blow off.
Boeing 737 Max passengers do exactly that. (Let's hope the change in leadership will stabilize the company and get it to "straighten up and fly right.")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVaP6dM1fs (sorry for the initial ads)
24 for sure
Thanks Daniel. This is yet another bumper sticker, roadside sign, poster and mantra for the saving of democracy, “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. All. “ Frances Perkins
Frances rocks.
Good history point! Another woman making a difference!
I just looked at Biden's Cabinet and some of his advisors on WhiteHouse.Gov. Most are women including Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Africans. Of and some Europeans. Most of them we know from their previous vocations, but some are not as famous. No matter. They are all competent, intelligent and hard working. President Biden doesn't care if they outshine him when they do something great.
Now, if you dare, look at Trump's cabinet. Most are rich and white and old. And almost all are men. Several of them he tweet-fired like Rex Tillerson. And out of everyone that served in the Trump White House, only a couple of them support his 2nd run for President.
When the hero of the administration is a woman, Cassie Hutchinson who was basically a whistleblower and in her early 20's, you know the Republicans talent pool is empty.
Gary, I completely agree! here is a link to a summary deck on Biden's cabinet, including years of public service for each member. Not enough is said about the team behind the man. Feel free to share.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bg2Qj9ZWD8Qqhfps-knxfmyh27Mb5Aof/view?usp=sharing
This is awesome! Did you put this together? I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be great if a news program that attracts independents or even the holdouts from Biden for one reason or another (hard left or youth) couId do an expose comparing Biden’s Cabinet’s accomplishment to tffg’s? One of LFAA’s readers, George Polisner, pulled this together 🤩:
https://bomdia.substack.com/p/justice-league-versus-larceny-league
Thank you so much! Yes, I pulled this together. The focus on Biden's age was making me crazy. As a former corporate exec, I know that a leader is only as good as the team behind her/him. I looked every where for something like this and couldn't find it all in one place, so I created it. This team does not receive enough credit or attention; would love to change that!
Awesome. Thanks for sharing Christy. That took quite a bit of time to put together George.
💙 this graphic on Biden/Harris team ! ! Thank you, Rose.📣
Yes, I hope everyone reads it, even if they think they know the players. Then, imagine each replaced by a Trump loyalist.
Rose, thank you for the Team Biden link. Wow, just wow!
Thanks so much for sending that. I love the format.
I've been putting together a list of things that Trump should be blamed for like several hundred thousand people dying of COVID, pardoning 143 criminals on his way out the door, overturning Roe v. Wade, 64000 pregnancies from rape in states like TX, OK, AR, LA, AL, etc.
Looks like a good format.
You are most welcome; I used Canva.
The achievements of each cabinet member should be front page news ongoing. Will share this link broadly. Thank you.
Yes!
Wow! Thank you so much for putting this together. It should be shared everywhere.
Outstanding, thanks!
Wonderful information, thank you for the link!
But don't you remember, tRump gets the BEST people :-) Sorry, couldn't resist. You are exactly right about the importance of having a great team, an Biden's ability as the person in charge to have assembled one.Thank you for pulling together such a clear and important summary. Christy (below) is exactly correct IMO. This sort of thing NEEDS to be out there.
Fantastic, Rose. Thank you.
You forgot Pete. I wish the climate wasn't so hostile to gays. He would make a wonderful president, educated, adopted sick babies (2), transparent-didn't hide his education, the fact he was gay, got his nondisclosure contract voided from his work, and military service. It doesn't hurt that he is rather attractive and looks to be in good shape. Speaks several languages (trump speaks how many?), and speaks to his audiences as though they were intelligent and not 4th graders. BTW, I campaigned him in NH.
I agree Karen. Pete would make a great President as would dare I say, most of Biden's cabinet and his VP. I am not sure, but I think Jennifer Granholm was born in Canada so she wouldn't be eligible to be President and Mayorkis in Havana.
My other choice would be Jamie Raskin. Courage to speak out even when he was undergoing chemo. I sort of miss the kerchief. Don't know much about Katie Whittimer but she would be another choice.
No doubt about Mayor Pete, and the sad fact that some of his considerable talent will be wasted while the nation struggles slowly to fix the reasons why.
Cassidy Hutchinson
Ms Hutchinson is smart, composed, articulate, and wise way beyond her age!
Remarkable interview of Cassidy H yesterday on Jen Psaki's Monday afternoon show.
Bryan, I was hoping to find a comment of yours whilst scanning today. Perhaps this question cannot be answered in a line or two, and if so--okay. My blood pressure is on the rise, as I can't deal with the frustration of the constant delay tactics and appeals of Trump. Can you give any thoughts as to when this junk comes to an end? How many appeals can he have, how many delays? In general for one case--I don't expect you to analyze all of these cases.
Thank you. If this is too complex, or raises your bp as well, you can ignore me.
Women rule!!
Harvey, not enough. Your comment should be "Women, Rule!!!"
Punctuation is everything!
It sure is!
To know that such a horrific disaster 113 years ago when many died, that they did not die in vain!!
Well done, and thank you for the background.
Frances Perkins' biography is a great read.
A few months ago, I read a biography of Perkins. Her story is.....I can't find words to describe her. "The Woman Behind the New Deal" by Kirsten Downey
Highly recommend it. What this woman accomplished, in spite of the sexism she faced, and her problems with her mentally ill husband and spoiled daughter, is mind blowing.
As a social worker, it's so good to see that some people remember the impact of one our profession's heroes. I'm not sure younger social workers and those in training still learn about her, and that would be a shame, but she's one of our pioneers who left an amazing legacy.
I know you know this Daniel, but Professor Richardson has in previous years, written her letter on March 25th focusing on the TSW fire, and the role that Frances Perkins. She did mention it, briefly, today.
I appreciate your comment here today. I can hope that the change in Boeing management signals a similar change in manufacturing.
Let's hope, Ally. On the news last night was a note about them acquiring the place that builds the bodies of the plane. Want to bet this was outsourced because the other business did it cheaper and how exactly did they do that....hmmm. Cutting corners maybe, not paying workers as much. Boeing has to do something because even the greeds there recognize that their brand is tarnished. This is an example of how twisted things become when the emphasis is on production, paying senior management, and paying shareholders. It's all about greed. Then there is the buying up of good companies by hedge funds, etc. and milking them dry.
So true, Michele. Sadly, it is the corporations and their overpaid bloated execs that call the shots. But in the case of Boeing, they got caught and now, thankfully, they are leaving. Bring some integrity back and certainly give their workers kudos for trying to alert the powers that be that things were definitely amiss. Those bastards put so many lives in danger!
Yes, at one point Boeing had a good reputation. I have a cousin who worked there many years ago and was let go. He is on the high end autism spectrum and can see detail that that many of us can't. Now I am wondering if the Jack Welch school of management of getting rid of 20% of the workforce every year cost him his job. I am so disgusted with big business who are all about the bottom line. There was an article yesterday in the Oregonian about a large Eugene health clinic being bought by a subsidiary of United Health...another of my cousins worked for them and called them United Death....and now many doctors have left and the rest of them are burdened with huge numbers of patients and many patients have been told they no longer have a doctor there. Another example here in Salem was a vet practice which was bought by a corporation and then people left, many coming to our vet....it has been difficult since then to get an appointment if you have an immediate problem. And we all wonder why people are angry.
Daniel, I had forgotten that interesting tidbit about Frances Perkins. I have to wonder that the genesis of most important changes -- be they social, industrial, political or any other-- comes from ordinary people witnessing similar life-changing events, perhaps not so dramatic or traumatic as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.
I'd bet there's a book to be written, or a podcast to be made (or already so) highlighting such stories.
Wow! I truly believe that our schools are shortchanging this country in their classes on American history! What I wouldn't have done to have learned about this in my history classes!
Thank you for reminding US of Frances Perkins. FDR’s appointment of her like Biden’s appointment of Su, is part of what makes two great presidents.
I am replying directly to Virginia, but through her gracious prism, I would like to thank all of you kind and gracious souls for "liking" my recent post about Frances Perkins, and moreover for your excellent further comments.
You do my sometimes flailing, sometimes flying ego a boost in so doing. More importantly, you all contribute to the good and robust discussions we all enjoy so much on Heather's site.
So my thanks and kudos to you All!
Just doing our patriotic duty, Mr. Streeter, but all recognition gratefully received. Thank you for reminding us of Frances Perkins, particularly as we see more and more women in government.
Thank you, Daniel, for the Frances Perkins perspective. This is a new bit for me and I’m impressed.
Thank you
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired ^ and monstrously malicious, Donald Trump.”
Of, by and for. What's so hard to grasp about it? Yes, the Triangle disaster and the Boeing equipment, which could have been deadly, point in the same greedy direction, that reduces people and their wellbeing to inconveniences. Greed is NOT good. Why not build products all can be proud of?
That was once the case at Boeing. But they suffered through a series of CEOs who were of the Jack Welch school of management, which is to say, they went all in on the idea that the CEO's only responsibility is to shareholders. So over time the company culture shifted from a focus on quality to a focus on stock price. And they succeeded. They got a great stock price and a lousy product. They scored the ultimate lousy product when they decided to put rocket engines on a bus and call it the 737MAX. Which was such a lousy product it tanked the stock price and stalled production for two years. So the next time somebody tells you the government should be run like a business, remind them of Boeing.
Precisely. Thanks for the reminder about Jack Welch, whose "style" drove GE into the ground, just as Boeing "leadership" is driving some of its own planes to ground with passengers as collateral damage.
For decades, people worshiped at the "Church of Welch". Yet his approach to management was ignorant beyond words. As Jim Holley said, stock price was everything. THAT is not the measure of a good leader. Welch required managers to twist the quarterly numbers to boost the image of the conglomerate - stock price over people.
The idea that one should fire 10% of the workforce each year, is insane. That doesn't motivate. It terrifies. But perhaps, one of Welch's greatest legacies is the core of wannabe CEO robots he sent off into the world to promote his "Six Sigma sickness". One example is Bob Nardelli who ran the jet engine division. Perfectly qualified to run a big box retailer, right? Well, General Nardelli gutted the company of expert full time salespeople and eviscerated the finely tuned highly respected culture. Home Depot has never recovered. Enter a Home Depot. See the zombies.
"The floggings shall continue until I see a change in morale" meme comes to mind.
I see the largest corporations in the US making every effort to turn their whole business into a machine. Apart from the extended social consequences of this for the workforce, the companies are becoming more and more insulated from workers, customers, and society in general. A person who is excessively involved with servicig their own agenda (think He who Shall Not Be Named) and indifferent to the fates of others is a sociopath, which seems to be the trend of large corporations post-Reagan. It's not that this is not creepy precedent, look up the East India Co. in India, or child labor, or Triangle Shirtwaist, or slavery of any sort, but Reagan manged to make it respectable again, after decades of reforms, post "The (corrupt) Gilded Age" and the "Great Depression". Are we now" better off" due to any result of "Reaganomics"? My seemingly self-evident answer is "Hell No".
When will we ever learn
Welch assumed that all workers are widgets easily replaced with other widgets.
His cost cutting measures included moving thousands of jobs offshore resulting in inferior results. I know from seeing first hand what he did to GE Capital. Lower wages = higher profits, anyway that was what he thought.
I actually worked at a GE subsidiary during the Jack Welch years. His management method was called Six Sigma. Main feature was forced ranking. Managers were required to rank all their employees into 5 groups. Every year, the bottom 20% were fired. It didn’t matter how well you did, only where you ranked. Life became a desperate struggle not to do your job well, but to stay out of that bottom 20%. It was relentless.
And then there were periodic ‘restructurings’. We called them, “work out”, “buy out”, “get out”. Welch was also known as Neutron Jack because he came through, got rid of people and left the buildings standing.
But the stock performed amazingly well. The BUs that supported that stock? Not so much.
Welch sought fast earnings growth by engaging in risky financial operations. When these collapsed, especially in 2008-2009, GE fell from being a ‘much lauded company’ to being a financial basket case.
It was only more than a decade later that Larry Culp took charge and has gradually has restored a much changed GE to the winner’s circle, after Welch’s ‘grapes of wrath.’
I worked for a company that had what I call semi-annual reorganizations. That was usually rearranging the executive staff. The worker bees kept doing things the same. I was a worker bee & astounded that these supposedly educated professionals didn't see what I could see.
Gary, and he issued in the era of metrics in employment management—replace expensive, experienced people with inexpensive, inexperienced people, and use metrics to justify it (headcount is still the same, right?). During the purge, the experienced persons take on more responsibility and work trying to save the company until they either leave, burn out, or die from the stress.
How long is a rope? One can always pick something to measure that you would rather talk about than overall outcomes.
And I saw a shift in education toward mass producing human carbon-based widgets to satisfy the likes of Welch.
If the pandemic taught us anything, it certainly should easily be an understanding of the basic concept of what INFLATION is and why and how it occurs. “Too many dollars chasing too few goods” … the world’s economy (economies) and markets were severely shuttered with little to no production in many areas … both goods and services. Gasoline prices during the pandemic were basically “dirt cheap”!!!
After the pandemic, there was pinup demand that was “busting at the seams”, but too few goods [and services]? What’s important for people - especially in America - to realize is that inflationary pressures and pricing was occurring around the globe. Production and supply chain issues were to be expected … and unfortunately, so to was good, old-fashion greed! Corporate America is in the business of maximizing profits and returns for their shareholders. The Biden/Harris administration along with the Fed ((Federal Reserve Bank) has done a very good to excellent job at working to reduce and manage inflation in America … but yes, they realize that in certain areas, prices remain high. And yes, in some areas, there may still exist what’s been deemed as “greed-flatiron”?
American economic and political history teaches us that yes, there is a distinct difference between which of our two major political parties is best favored by those in our country with big bank accounts versus the party that has the majority of the remainder of us whose — bank accounts leave a little or a lot to be desired!
Just something to think about … people.
All true Jim. This however will not stop Republicans from characterizing our economy as a disaster (it isn't), and placing the blame on Biden (not his fault by any stretch). We can only hope that enough Americans realize that. The Dem's messaging is important here. And they have truth on their side.
James, I overwhelmingly agree with your assessment and statements! Let’s hope that real Americans who realize and value are lucky and fortunate they are to be here are sufficiently eager enough to fulfill their good citizenship duties and to motivate their family members, friends and acquaintances to fulfill theirs too this November.
I read a great quote in US News & World Report about 16 years ago. "Voting for a Republican for president is tantamount to voting for a recession." Think on that idea for a little bit.
Soooo true, James! A miasma of smear, smear, smear .... somehow there is a lot of tribal in the American electorate with a callous disregard for real information but an appetite for propaganda the GOP has been so good at delivering for the last long while.
Jim and James -- I agree. If he hasnt already, Biden should make the connection between the record stock market highs at the moment and inflation. Stock prices aren't where they are because of the genius of the CEOs -- credit continued production efficiencies (usually to the detriment of workers) and high prices (also to the detriment of workers, EXCEPT of course that wage growth has also increased.) Despite higher labor costs, the markets are booming, as seemingly are small businesses. New restaurants are popping up all the time around us here in NH. The only bottleneck is the supply of labor. For a few years now at least, pretty much every retailer, grocery store, food joint, bank, etc. has had "Help Wanted" or "Join Our Team" signs out. I haven't traveled much recently, but I've heard the situation is the same elsewhere.
Thank you! That's right on.
Jim - as a retired (5 years now) engineer who worked for 43 years at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, for a time in middle management, I was there to see the transition. I was there when decades ago its mission statement was revised to include "shareholder value" as a prominent element of that mission. There were warning signs then. I was there for the McDonnell-Douglas merger, where McD-D leaders inexplicably took some very important positions at the top, soon leading to the first ever engineers strike at the company. We struck because the company pretty clearly had the new position that engineers are no longer the core of the company - an errant view, to say the least, for a company that produces some of the most technologically advanced products on earth.
Yet through all of that, product safety was and is paramount at Boeing. I never saw anything there that indicated that not to be the case. And I do not think things have changed dramatically since I retired. However the atmosphere there can hamper safety in small ways here and there, which is unacceptable. I am tired of the piling on right now. The press is blowing this up into something it is not. Boeing is not an evil company that knowingly puts the flying public at risk. I do not think it appropriate to put Boeing in the same boat as the Triangle disaster of long ago.
And BTW the 737Max is not a lousy product. Although I would have much rather seen Boeing launch an all new 150-seat airplane to replace the 737 line, all the R&D configurations on the drawing board over the past years have failed to beat a 737 derivative in their business case analyses. I know - I was one of a dozen or so principle structural engineers on one of those projects, where the 737-800/900 series won out over an all new design. Say what you will about the parameters of a business case model, but no company is going to choose a product line that they think will make them less money than another choice, where both choices meet the same objective. The 737 has been a very strong competitor indeed, ever since it inception.
Jay, thank you for applying a logical engineer’s eye to the back story here. I’m afraid that the tendency to go for “click bait” news is ignoring all the careful, conscientious employees working hard to design aircraft that is safe, energy efficient, reliable, long-lasting with minimal upkeep required, relatively inexpensive and comfortable for passengers. It reminds me of an oft-quoted maintenance engineering “rule”: “Good, fast, cheap. Choose any two.”
Good to know, Jay, and to hear from someone who was there. I’m curious what you think is the source(s) of Boeing’s recent serious problems.
First, the recent report of a panel departing a 737 is on an old aircraft, where we currently have no idea what it was subjected to. And it was not safety related. Was it mis-installed during line maintenance? Was it the subject of a service bulletin, where mitigating action was not taken? Lay that one on the airline, not the manufacturer, until more data comes in. Reporting on that event as if it were really news is a case of piling on.
On the door plug - as I understand it that was an escapement in the factory related to the fact that major sub-sections of fuselage on the 737 are produced elsewhere (Spirit in Kansas), and sent to the Boeing plant in Renton Washington for major assembly. Where some paperwork confusion apparently resulted and a task was not performed (installing some bolts). You can rest assured that measures have been put in place in the manufacturing process that prevent that from ever occurring again. I will not water down the seriousness of this incident. Did chaos on a busy production line have something to do with it? I don't know. But when a mistake happens, look for it to be fixed. And it has been I can assure you.
As for the two fatal 737 Max accidents - that was unprecedented in Boeing's long history. The long and the short of it is that a critical system malfunction (the angle of attack sensor system) failed on those aircraft, erroneously indicating an airplane nose up condition, causing the newly redesigned stabilizer trim function to run away and try to tilt the airplane's nose down (to avoid a stall). That system can be over-ridden by the pilots, but the process was insufficiently described in cockpit documentation for emergencies, and training was inadequate. That that malfunction could happen is alone a violation of FAA rules on probabilities of catastrophic events, and I do not know what the failure analyses of those systems showed. Perhaps more credit was taken for the pilots to intervene than was deserved.... don't know. A back-up angle of attack sensor with computer logic to deal with a conflict in sensor readings would have prevented those accidents, and I do not know why the system was not designed that way in the first place. It is now.
So I have no excuses for you, except to say that under enormous cost and schedule pressure, Boeing failed to do the right thing.
Overall - I just don't know where all this leads to. Boeing cannot continue to lose money. It has to be solvent. That way the atmosphere inside can improve. To do that it must win against the competition more than it loses, and at prices that cover operating costs. As a country we have to continue to monitor any subsidies that its competition receives (Airbus and the member governments that run it), and react as necessary to assure a level playing field. The unions that represent Boeing workers must be mindful that they cannot kill the host, so must be reasonable. And inside cost management actions must keep airplane safety paramount. Losses from accidents cost orders of magnitude more than savings from cost cuts. It's very very complicated - mor easily said than done.
Thank you for putting all this info here.
"Losses from accidents cost orders of magnitude more than savings from cost cuts. It's very very complicated ..." Makes sense. Thanks for the clear explanation!
Jay, This is a good question. What do you think is the source of Boeing’s problems. Over a year ago I had heard a podcast interview with a long time employee of John Barnett (to be clear he was speaking to quality issues re: 787). He indicated that supervisors in S. Carolina were ignoring quality concerns as I recall and that Boeing had established the S. Carolina plant because they wanted to avoid having to deal with the unions in Seattle.
So, what has brought Boeing to their current problems?
Boeing chose South Carolina as a second 787 assembly facility for a number of reasons. One, it offered some advantages integrating its east coast location with the many other locations world wide that provide 787 components (for instance Alenia of Italy provides the horizontal tail). Just what those advantages are or were, I cannot say. Two, the Everett Washington facility, as huge as it is, did not have room for a second 787 final assembly line. It does now, now that 747's (and I believe 767's) are not produced anymore, but that was not the case at the time. Third, Boeing was getting alot of flack, and costly requirements, from Snohomish County Washington WRT a plant expansion that would be required to add that second 787 line. South Carolina however was bending over backwards to get that plant, and offered tons of incentives. Fourth, and perhaps not in this order - SC workers would not be unionized as SC is a "right to work" state. Lower wages. This no doubt really incensed the IAM (International Association of Machinists), and got the most press. So as usual, it was no simple thing. It should come as no surprise that there have been issues at the SC plant - a good aircraft manufacturing facility cannot be created from scratch quickly. It takes years to get the bugs out. The IAM was quick to argue that at the time.
Also, factory whistleblowers as a rule need for their comments to be taken with a grain of salt. They see things from their own knothole, often with blinders on, and also sometimes have an ax to grind with their management due to any number of things. I have experienced this not only in a factory setting, but to a lesser extent in an office setting. Many folks think they know more than they actually do, and do not know that they do not know. Then strong criticisms can be made that are not necessarily true, or are exaggerated or otherwise twisted. I cannot comment further on the goings on in the Charleston facility, except to say they were and probably still are under enormous pressure to perform under a very tight schedule with tough cost constraints. And the management there had to be very careful not to cut corners. Perhaps not everyone got the message.
For context, it would be fun to do an expose on Airbus and its many many facilities world wide, its own tight schedules, and the resulting integration issues. See if there are similar problems, similar complaints by some whistleblowers. I'd bet money we would find similarities.
The prime source for Boeings problems - money. Operating costs versus the discounts they must offer in order to compete with Airbus. The US has had a long standing dispute with the European Union WRT Airbus and government subsidies, where they can purportedly sell aircraft for a loss (or let's say minimal profit) and the various governments can prop the company up. Boeing then, which does not receive government subsidies at least not directly, must still compete when selling their aircraft. Boeing's profit margin in the past has been very very slim if it exists at all. Not sure about today - but I'll bet the story is about the same. And, as always, I no doubt portray an oversimplified picture. No doubt there is more to it than that. Suffice it to say they barely keep their heads above water. Not a great atmosphere for excellence.
The sad thing is that the original 737 was an excellent airplane. It was the workhorse of the aviation industry & the military . The 737 was used as flying gas stations for years & years in the Air Force by supplying the 'workhorse' that allowed for mid-air refueling. And now when the public sees 737 all they think about is doors & wheels fallihng off!
Excellent. My father ran manufacturing of the AWACS electronics, ie all the fancy stuff it was up there to do. He left just after the first of the MBAs took over. It was time.
Kinda remember, notwithstanding, that Boeing remains an aviation behemoth, and the military very much depends on it. Trust a management self-immolation will bring things around. From statistica: "In 2022, Boeing generated only 66.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. This amount was more than 62.3 billion U.S. dollars registered in the previous year. Boeing is now ranked as the second-largest aerospace and defense manufacturer company in the world, behind Raytheon Technologies.
It is always about the money!!!!!!
Part of the problem of CEOs working only for shareholders, is that shareholders have come to be seen as only stock traders, not business owners. As an owner, I want company management to maintain the company for the long term. Any idiot with an MBA can make short-term money by eating the seed corn. Long-term value for Boeing means that planes must never, ever fall out of the sky. That, not next quarter’s profits, is what will keep the company in business for another 50 years.
Another Jack Welch innovation was to recruit his own board members and pay them well, which made them very happy to agree with what he wanted. And if a CEO is getting stock as part of his compensation package, he has a personal interest in feeding the stock price beast.
Jim When directors get $250,000+ annually and other perks, how likely are they to threaten this gravy train?
Nice rhetorical Q, J L -- but the answer comes largely at the beginning of Heather's today.
This is where she cites industrialists, managers, and others of the strictly-craven former slave-owning persuasion who factor out the human pretty much as U.S. schools have been forced to factor out the human. Kill humanities. Censor books. In "higher" ed, fear-factor all, provide trigger warnings lest anyone be humanly challenged ever, in any way.
Heather notes that, getting worse, the MAGA mob and Trump want to kill the federal agencies that since aftermath of Triangle Shirtwaist fire have protected Americans.
But it's far worse than that. Project 2025 has a deep list of agencies to go on the chopping block. The Clarence court even today is considering ending the Chevron Precedent, which would curtail all federal agencies protecting workers and the environment. The U.S. billionaires are organizing huge sums of money to elect Republicans pledged to turn America in a landscape more ravaged, raped, stolen from, and predated upon than that which Russian oligarchs have inflicted on that country.
Not just the crazed MAGA mob, and the syphilis-addled orange goon. We're talking U.S. elites here, scurrilous, trained by all the "highest" schools in the land to dehumanize all the land -- for the sake of only more wealth for the predator class at the top.
They are saying it out loud, ye hear that MSM. Betcha Ronna won’t ever mention it or acknowledge the truth of what you say. When the SC became the Clarence court, our freedoms began to teeter on the brink. They have the power to make the election seem almost irrelevant…
Phil, I’m going to take issue with one thing (the rest is spot on). I do not think our top MBA schools are training students to ravage the environment or exploit workers. I think it’s corporate culture that does that, a culture in which profit trumps ethics. Without adequate regulation, the greedy among us do that; it’s one of the great flaws of capitalism, and imho one of the main roles of government is to restrain corporate greed.
I think it’s also likely that our universities may not spend enough time on ethics and corporate and individual responsibility to be good stewards of our resources, both human and not.
Your post is great, reminding us of the danger of ending the Chevron Precedent. That’s some scary stuff.
My problem with the universities, KR, has to do with how they silo everything.
You mention "ethics and corporate and individual responsibility." Where they do occur, don't they too often get shuffled off into niches separate from everything else?
When the far-right foundations implemented the Powell memo, first they found ways to kill humanities. They knew that, better than anything else (including government), our artists keep us human, alert to greed, sensitive to abuses of power and wealth.
We could, KR, restore humanities to our schooling, keep them vital, connected to everything. And by humanities, I also mean essay writing, with the personal central to the ways we make larger connections.
Well said.
I have heard that if Trump should win that alot of people would move out state to another country.
Boeing is a significant part of our economy to have its reputation soiled is a pity. There are only two major commercial airline producers one in foreign.
Piety is a virtue—you know, related to the word pious.
You must have meant “pity.”
Though it can also be used with scorn, as those who claim piety don't necessarily exhibit virtue, but yes, I suspect the attack of the spell-checker.
Would you believe my husband's last name is -- piety? Mispronounced every time.
I smelled a rat as soon as Boeing appeared to turn anti-worker. They are the ones who put it all together. I worked briefly at a low skill job as a temp at a NASA wind tunnel testing facility as a teen. McDonald Douglas was testing a model of the DC10; and the parts made in different shops were not fitting together. While waiting for the test to happen, I amused myself by sketching my VW Microbus with flapping mechanical wings on a stray piece of graph paper. A NASA guy joked that if I slipped it in with the aircraft plans, the company folks would not know the difference.
I definitely agree. When a billion dollar corporation trys to cut workers, unfortunately this is what happens. Human life and safety must come first before their greed.
(The following is taken from my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." In case there is any doubt, regulations are made to protect us all.)
Beam Me Up, Scotty: Scott Pruitt's "New Agency for Holistic Standards Through Unobstructed Pollution" (formerly the Environmental Protection Agency)
If anyone gets into trouble in the Trump administration, just wait a few days until someone else gets into more trouble! A new disaster always comes waltzing in to take center stage and nudge out the current intolerable mess. Trump hops from one fiasco to another so the firing of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will not be a matter of concern for long.
Syrian bombing missions take the limelight off excessive personal spending habits of EPA director Scott Pruitt.
The Trump EPA has painfully become a dysfunctional shell of what it was. Science and research have been sidelined and global warming is called a figment of wild imagination. The already minuscule budget has been slashed by 30 percent, making enforcement actions impossible. Superfund enforcement (requiring polluters to clean up their toxic spills) has been reduced to the current interest rate.
The new EPA lost 700 employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved $31 million for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to buy out contracts of existing staff. Now the polluters are running the show. A mining operation in Alaska's Bristol Bay goes forward after being blocked. One oil leak could destroy the largest sockeye salmon resources in the world. No more banning toxic pesticides, or more requirements for companies to disclose hazardous chemical inventories.
Welcome the return of smog, bigger and more profitable Trump Smog – coal ash, mining waste, benzene and mercury pollution. Get your oxygen tank and face masks out. Invest in air purifiers and carbon filters.
It’s profit at any cost. Fossil fuel is Trump’s renewable energy. Dirty energy industry lobbyists and CEOs are the new guards at the American power and utility gates.
"He's a fantastic person. I just left coal and energy country. They love Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Pruitt, and they love Pruitt,” Trump gloats.
Normally, this kind of accolade is a prelude to being fired. But normalcy doesn't thrive in this Trumpian era. Scott Pruitt resigned for using government funds on himself and his wife.
May God bless his little-soundproof-Chick-Fil-A-wifey-used-Trump-Hotel-mattress-cheap-rent-condo heart.
Scott Pruitt was just another Trumpian mental midget. He was so paranoid, he traveled on commercial flights with body guards.
You're right about one disaster overshadowing the next Bill. And it's still happening. Trump's MO is "look squirrel." I just watched "God and Country" on Apple TV. Scary stuff.
Meanwhile, Trump is in the news everyday, trying to delay paying for his misdeeds and delaying the other trials.
Thank you for commenting. There are two players here. The evil Trump verses the incredibly slow-witted Joe Biden who doesn’t have a great ability to understand how to appease the public. He may win in spite of himself. But he may not. And I have gone into details why he should understand the insecurities we all feel and be much more reactive to them. We have too much to lose. I wouldn’t bet on the outcome in November. Of all the times every candidate talks about the most important election, bla bla bla. Well, this time it’s real. And many folks just don’t get it. Biden’s ego and his sense of destiny is his weakness. And most of us democrats don’t understand how much a weak position we are in. We are living in a bubble of “there is nothing wrong with us” syndrome.
Did you see Trump's latest gaffes?
"you can't have an election in the middle of the political season."
"We just had a Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already."
and my favorite-
Trump vowed to "bring crime back to law and order."
Maybe it's a good thing that Trump is a part time President working only a few hours each day. Soon he will need to be directed to the hole to pick up his golf ball.
So what recovery has occurred in the EPA under Biden? You seem to be talking in the present tense.
Voter Turnout - 2016: 59% voter eligible population. 2018: 49% vep. 2020: 70% vep. 2022: 46% vep. While statistics vary a little depending on the source, the point is that so few eligible Americans vote. The systemic reasons are many. Anecdotally, phone banking and knocking on doors of registered voters, I've thought I've heard everything and then there is the next. This also goes for explanations of their choice. And don't get me started on polls. Except to say I trust Jill Lepore* more than Nate Silver.
All to say. Trump could likely win this election. Despite everything. And with the help of: Jill Stein, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, again; RFK jr and antivaxx voters; No - what the fish are they up to - Labels; and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump could likely win this election. And Republicans could likely win the Senate and keep the House. GetOutTheVote for Biden-Harris and Democratic candidates for every office. But, you know that.
*Lepore
2015 Kennedy School Of Government lecture: Turning the press into pollsters has made American political culture Trumpian: frantic, short-sighted, sales-driven, and anti-democratic. . . Pollsters rose to prominence in the United States by claiming that measuring public opinion is good for democracy—but what if it’s bad?
2016 interview with Terry Gross: There's so many forms of disenfranchisement in our political culture, and polls have, in a weird and completely unintentional way, become yet another one of them.
2020 New Yorker essay: Polls measure something, but it’s often the wrong thing. They’re like S.A.T. scores.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/11/6/lepore-critiques-polling-politics/
https://www.npr.org/2016/02/11/466405233/polling-is-ubiquitous-but-is-it-bad-for-democracy
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/09/the-problems-inherent-in-political-polling
lin*,
I share your concern about the third party candidates. We have been there and done that - with disasterous results. Instead of a president focused on the devastation of the Climate Crisis, we got Team Cheney and multi trillion dollar wars that created many more problems than solved. Oh, and millions were displaced, wounded or killed. One of the greatest debacles of modern history - all because of an Extreme Court and third party draining of votes.
Until we install Ranked Choice Voting, we will be haunted by this defect in our democracy. And we will end up with more GW Bushes and Paul LePages.
That being said, polls are just snapshots of current emotions. If they had real value, Hillary would be wrapping up her 2nd term as president.
To your original point, what counts is who shows up on November 5th. I believe that the Dobbs decision will be the single biggest mistake the MAGA KLAN has made. And if the current Extreme Court cripples the ability of women to get medication abortions, the Blue Tsunami will be overwhelming.
Self styled Trump before Trump TeaParty Paul LePage's two plurality gubernatorial wins thanks to (now convicted child pornographer) Elliot Cutler - gave Mainers the determination to institute Ranked Choice Voting. Which has been upheld as constitutional by a Federalist Society judge, a veritable black swan.
Yup. We have discussed this before. But Wow. Did not know that about the judge!
LePage was a monster. And Cutler....argh. Any idea how long his sentence is? Hope it's long enough for him to expire there.
Bad Guy
"After he was initially arrested in March of 2022, Cutler was sentenced to four years behind bars last May, with all, but nine months suspended. He served just over seven months at Hancock County Jail before he was released in January. Cutler also had to register as a sex offender in Maine for the rest of his life."
https://www.wmtw.com/article/eliot-cutler-disbarred-cant-practice-law-in-maine-after-child-porn-conviction/46948611
Good Guy
Federal Judge Lance Walker. Fast tracked to Maine bench by LePage. Fast tracked to Federal bench by Trump. Walker upheld RCV against at least three assaults by Republicans. The last two when GOP incumbent Poliquin sued to stop the count and later when he tried to have the results thrown out. The trial transcript and Walker's decision make seriously good reading. Most recently Walker decided in favor of the rights of Bar Harbor citizens who'd voted to limit cruise ship tourism to more sustainable levels. The Town Council and Town Manager campaigned against the Citizens Initiative and when the citizens prevailed, refused to implement to new law, ginned up a suit against the town, and colluded with local big businesses to overturn the results of the election. Walker first found, that given the Town Council's history of cruise ship boosterism, residents could not reasonably trust the town lawyer to represent the town's interests. And he allowed the initiator of the Citizens Initiative to participate in the case. Then Walker found for town voters.
https://www.scribd.com/document/395626672/Poliquin-Decision
https://barharborstory.com/2024/02/29/judge-finds-for-bar-harbor-in-cruise-ship-case/
Thanks for these helpful updates! Great info.
BTW, I really miss Maine. Some the best 16 years of my life :)
Alexandra, and Republicans deserve better than a party that supports and colludes with a person (45) determined to replace a democracy with a government that only looks out for his interests. On Monday night, Rachel Maddow showcased previous US dictator wannabes that stayed in the fringes because they didn’t have a major political party to enable them. She outlined how dictators use corruption of the news media as a necessary step to advance their agenda (Ronna McDaniels, anyone?). In order to fight tyranny, we have to recognize the baby steps and have investigative reporting of the back room deals that advance it. I recommend Timothy Snyder’s short but succinct book “On Tyranny”.
https://youtu.be/gCHM_2tnNYg?si=RopujEJottcjCRs1
Am I understanding this incorrectly, but aren't some states allowing younger children to work more hours? Where does school fit in if they are working until 10 or 11 PM and get up by 8AM for school? Wasn't it some republican (maybe Johnson) who said we need more healthy boys to add to the work force? One of his arguments against abortion. This sounds like an argument used for tightening up abortion laws in Russia since they are killing off a lot of their male work force.
“America deserves better than a Donald Trump.” Forget the adjectives. They don't remotely capture the essence of his depravity.
Good to see the Biden camp latching on to the embarrassingly effective "I'm rubber and you're glue" strategy. Trump, anytime he flings an invective, is telegraphing exactly what he is doing, but he knows it's wrong so he blames others for it. Biden's camp would do well to shine the spotlight each and every time.
Stan 'Deal is gone. The former, feeble 'deal' is nearly gone. NY criminal Trial now set for 4/15/24.
These radical right wing “Think Tanks” have an outsized impact on the American political system. Funded by the selfish and the deranged they have no real regard for workers. The Union movement is one of our only viable alternatives in combatting worker safety.
lol, loved that quote and pasted it too.
HE has made a travesty of the rule of law. And his cultists recognize that and think they too are above the law and will be pardoned for any crimes they commit when they get him elected. Pray not!! No - do whatever we can to make sure he is a bigly loser and lets see him be put away - in prison.
Amen, Hoyt.
Yes, he does!
Valid point. Thank you for your opatisam. I definitely agree. 👍
The public deserves an explanation as to why the court lowered Donald's bond.
On the face of it, there was no good reason for it and their decision has every appearance of favoritism. There are many others who had worse circumstances and their bonds weren't reduced. It wasn't ever proposed or considered - so why him??
This decision from the NY Appellate Court is a reminder of the two-tiered justice system we have in this country. I have seen people go to jail for months because they could not post a $200.00 bond. There was no reduction to $87.50, with a proviso to pay the rest later, just jail.
I agree with you, as did Mary Trump, but she came up with some plausible points to soften the blow:
https://marytrump.substack.com/p/now-judge-shuts-down-donalds-lawyers
Thank you for the link. I didn't know that Mary Trump had a substack site. I keep learning so much from readers comments!
Thanks for linking to Mary's substack. I read it earlier and am just now re-reading it, along with everything spelled out here, which has helped me further understand some points.
Thank you for this explanation. It's not implausible. We'll see if he manages to get even the smaller bond.
THANK YOU for this link! Very worth the time to read it!!
Thank you!
For what it's worth, all five of the justices are Democrats.
The ruling itself is just this one paragraph:
''It is ordered that the motion is granted to the extent of staying enforcement of
those portions of the Judgment (1) ordering disgorgement to the Attorney General of
$ 464,576,230.62 , conditioned on defendants - appellants posting, within ten ( 10) days of
the date of this order, an undertaking in the amount of $ 175 million dollars ; ( 2)
permanently barring defendants Weisselberg and McConney from serving in the
financial control function of any New York corporation or similar business entity ; (3)
barring defendants Donald J. Trump , Weisselberg and McConney from serving as an
officer or director of any New York corporation for three years ; ( 4) barring defendant
Donald J. Trump and the corporate defendants from applying for loans from New York
financial institutions for three years; and (5) barring defendants Donald Trump , Jr. and
Eric Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation in New
York for two years . The aforesaid stay is conditioned on defendants- appellants
perfecting the appeals for the September 2024 Term of this Court. The motion is
otherwise denied, including to the extent it seeks a stay of enforcement of portions of the
judgment ( 1) extending and enhancing the role of the Monitor and (2) directing the
installation of an Independent Director of Compliance.''
Supreme Court of the State of New
Appellate Division, First Judicial Department
03/25/2024
This is Mary Trump's take on the verdict-
https://marytrump.substack.com/p/now-judge-shuts-down-donalds-lawyers
They have proven that the man is not rich and he is a lousy financial risk. That should be the headline. Whether it is a half billion or 1.75 million. Trump's business empire is ruined even if his property isn't seized today or tomorrow. Everyone he owes just found out he is essentially broke and broken...real estate is not a good risk. Follow the money.
I agree Gary. But won't it be embarrassing if he misses the next deadline. If he can't post a bond or come up with cash, then is he ineligible to appeal?
And what about the paltry $4+ million each of his serial immigation sons were order to pay? Did they?
He may appeal on the deadline regardless, but posting a bond keeps NY from starting collection. Without a bond, his property is at risk. In other words, posting the bond places the funds and collection on hold - Donald would be gambling that his appeal would be accepted by the court and then be successful. If that is the case he gets his money back. If his appeal fails, that money would immediately go to the plaintiff &/or the state and whoever issued the bond would be on the spot to recover their losses.
I am no fan of Trump but the decision is reasonable because they can’t be made whole if the appeals court rules in their favor. His assets would have already been liened or seized, likely triggered loan covenants that would have accelerated loan maturity and required payoff.
I don’t have a problem with any of this. They extended 10 days. He’s got to put up close to a combined $300MM in bonds in the two decided civil cases, live with two monitors, with interest accruing on the damages and staring at other civil and criminal cases.
I fear that we all have a general understanding of why, Gary. "Favoritism" gets to the edge. Some people can get away with doing horrible things ... others cannot. To understand why one needs the specifics of each case, I suppose, and I imagine that connections, corruption and politics will be involved in every case.
Say it loud!
Thank you Heather.
While Reagan joked that "I'm with the government and I'm here to help." and his then henchmen said things like "I want a government so small I could drown it in a bathtub", so-called free market Republicans worked across generations to establish a perspective that government is bloated, ineffective, and if it weren't for taxpayers having to fund all of the 'unnecessary' regulations (like worker safety, food safety or air travel safety, for example), taxes would be much lower, and workers would be much better off.
This was an important frame. It provided the opening for the GOP to make changes in a intentionally complex taxation code that vastly reduced tax responsibility for Americans accumulating significant wealth through exceptionally high income (CEO's for example), investment, and inheritance (by framing estate taxes as 'death' taxes -and some great detail as to why in political linguist George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant"). The Reagan/Bush/Trump/GOP-led changes are fundamental reasons a hedge fund manager might pay a lower percentage of taxes than a public school teacher or a first responder.
The concept expressed in Heritage's Project 2025 is to replace public sector employees with those who despise the actual programs agencies are established to serve. When you deconstruct their position, it is to staff public service with people who all believe the public is better served by private sector enterprise.
I've asked this question before. Can you imagine being the hiring manager for a computer chip manufacturing company (now operating in the United States with thanks to the Biden/Harris administration and the CHIPS and Science Act), and someone you are considering for hire tells you they dislike the company, the company has the wrong mission, and everyone here is probably lazy, slow, and should be fired. The objective of the "loyalty" component of Project 2025 is to control and decimate the public sector, shift responsibilities to private employers -where the primary objective is to maximize a return on investment instead of important societal benefits and outcomes. It is also to attack and erode regulation and enforcement from within government (instead of, or in combination with attacking public safety regulations in the judicial system).
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. - Reagan
VS
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
Right, but when people individually do well for themselves, at the expense and misfortune of others (including the living - dying earth) does government have a role - even an obligation - to act on behalf of the greater good?
People blame Biden for changes in the economy (they ought to be thanking him) - he and his team are keeping this ship of state afloat through a cataclysmic superstorm ... make no mistake, these changes have to happen for this economy and culture to survive at all ... pay heed.
Trump would take care of high end investors who play on his team, and leave the rest of us in the streets, butts in the air (lots and lots of babies, oh yeah!!) Regular folks may be afraid of losing what little edge they have without realizing how they are being played - a poor quality of life all around ... are we ready to see our children farmed out to global 'big box' industries?
Luckily, if Trump wins, we won't last long enough to see that happen. The climate hockey stick is in full swing.
My suspicion is that if climate abuse does take out our species, it will be with a whimper rather than a bang, or perhaps a series of whimpers and bangs.
Maybe, but either way, there will be a lot of suffering and all this stuff we know as civilization, governments, nations, money, etc., will be revealed as folly. It will happen a lot sooner than people think. That's the nature of the hockey stick. Experts have admitted uncertainty, but at just about every turn, it turns out that their estimates have been optimistic. We fix it now or not at all.
Well, if we need an example of the importance of public infrastructure, look what happened to the Frances Scott Key Bridge after it was hit by a container ship last night.
I think as a matter of settled law that government is supposed to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. I think that;s all about the greater good. I don't think contemporary "Republicans" got the memo.
I'm still searching for words ... this idealism to secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity seems to exclude so many who were forced to forfeit their own liberty for ours (who are "we" what is "us"?)
Our forefathers, who imposed this dream on stolen lands were welcomed to this land in peace, and proceeded to excavate and dominate the continent, presuming that right because nobody was using or exploiting the land in ways our limited (limiting) vision could perceive.
We have been very poor houseguests indeed (if not in fact!)
If any immigrants are "poisoning the blood of this land" it would be those who came here, claiming superiority - even supremacy - and the right to murder, rape and pillage without constraint - in the name of the LORD, no less ....
Kinda hard to stand up and cheer this All American Pride Parade ....
Reagan started the distrust of government, Rush helped him along. Deliberate and with Repub goals of control…
My daughter transferred colleges, in part because she had to walk through throngs of guys listening to Russ for every afternoon class.
He was venomous
.Only heard him once while getting gas. A pickup next to me blared his venom. A b-I-l was a fan and quoted him often. He was toxic and loud-mouthed. A hero to every misogynist. Between Rush and Reagan, they influenced the elites, the white trash, and everything in between. Mostly males, but women were enthralled as well…
What the "Republicans" consistently fail to take into account is this: an oversight vacuum is always filled by corruption.
They take it into account
Well, yes the voters (suckers who believe in MAGA) don't get that. But of course, "oversight vacuum" is exactly the mission. The oligarch's mission and business model is corruption by another name.
Sorry, it's a feature, not a bug.
I don't want to go to far defending Reagan, but I was there and you need to understand some of the background to understand why people like me would vote for him.
We were emerging from a time - the Vietnam war and watergate- when we had learned through hard experience to never trust what the federal government told us. We were lied to repeatedly about the goals and progress of the Vietnam war by people in both parties most concerned with retaining their power. And many people my age died not in defense of liberty, but in defense of President Johnson's ego.
Then, The marginal tax rate for a single person making $107,000 in 1980 was 70% (vs 37% for the upper bracket ($314,000) now). Many people thought that givng 70% of your income to the govt was too much, including me.
IT seemed the federal government was out of control, and it seemed like time for a change.
A sad footnote to this: When Johnson went, it also meant the end to something that he was doing right. His plans for a ‘War on Poverty’ waged by a ‘Big Government’ faded into the sunset. However you look at it, Reaganomics set the stage for the blaring economic inequality brand marking the USA today.
True - both. I have a hard time blaming Reagan too much for how things have spiraled out of control. Predicting all the effects of a major change out 40 years is just not possible. What is necessary are multiple course corrections along the way. ANd - in fact -Reagan's economic policies - especially the tax cut - did result in a booming economy after years of inflation and stagflation during the Carter and nixon times.
He also gets too little credit for ending the cold war. He essentially told the Russians, "we are going to out spend you in defense" And the Russsians, trying to keep up, collapsed, and the satellite states around them all became free states. The nuclear threat of the prior 30 years was erased overnight. That was a magical wonderful feeling that I no longer had to fear a nuclear war (as much), as I had since I had been a child.
during the Cuban missle crisis, my parents stock piled canned goods in the crawl space. Even at that age, I was aware that a crawl space would never protect us. I had the pervasive fear of all my family, and I dying in a firestorm that would arrive one day without warning. We lived about 7 miles from a major airforce base, which of course would have been a prime target. The newspaper in OCt 1962 published maps showing how the missles in Cuba were within range of our home. I remember those vividly even now. The images were burned into my young mind.
It was not a happy time.
Somewhat true Phil. However when you get into the real aspect of how Reagan was obsessed with the destruction of the Soviet Union, you find a WMD set of lies. Everything the Soviets had was built on the West innovations. They had the soldiers, but not the technology. I can almost assure you that had the Soviets been better managers of economics (like opening for more western money) they might very well have survived. EX- China. Reagan would have and in reality did, bankrupt the U.S.
Sure I would agree with the tax rate, but at the same time you cannot ignore the wise words of the last great GOP Pres - Ike - when he warned of the industrial/military complex. High taxes on the highest earners help prevent wealth concertation in the hands of a few, which is where we are now. I like to think that taxes are a way to make sure that the wealth of a country is used to benefit all and to put it best - return some of the wealth to the people that actually earned it.
I give Reagan credit for starting what we have today. Article in St Louis Post Dispatch, 1985, told the tale. DELIBERATE. BTW, Gorbachev should get the credit that republicans lavish on Reagan. Really, people…
Phil- I too voted for Reagan and he did accomplish several positive things during his tenure. I was 25 years at the time of the first election in 1980. I worked in an industry that was forced to react to the high interest rates and stagflation -- the life insurance industry. They couldn't redesign and refile products fast enough to protect their policy owners and themselves from losses. Each new product (policy) had to be approved by each state the company sold policies which normally isn't a problem. But with rates changing sometimes multiple times a month the 2 or 3 months it took to get a product approved turned a profitable product into an unprofitable one.
But what it did do was to force companies to design interest sensitive products where the investment portion of the policy earned variable rates. This was the advent of Universal Life, Indexed Annuities, Variable Annuities, Variable Universal Life, Interest Sensitive Whole Life and several other products.
Being in IT we were slammed with huge modifications to handle products that were no longer as simple as whole life products.
Reagan seemed like a good alternative to Jimmy Carter at the time.
Retrospectively, I would have voted for Carter, but I'm not sure my 25 year old self would have.
Another thing that people forget or didn't know - We had a SERIOUS inflation problem. It was blamed on Carter -a large reason he lost. We bought our first house then, and the interest rate was...
Wait for it....
11% for a mortgage with 20% down.
11%
That will lose you a lot of votes.
Also there were CD's that made 17% per year.
we bought our home in 1976 with an interest rate of 8.5%. We needed a 2nd mortgage to help put a new roof. That second’s rate was 13.5%. We refinanced that second and got it down to 10.25%. Years later, paid that off, thank goodness! During the Reagan years, we CD’s that had 13.5% interest. I do not want to return to that era. I give Reagan credit for nothing. He created the homeless situation we all have now by cutting Medicaid, housing, and welfare. The old saying was “that if you see a ‘Negro’ driving a Cadillac, then you know they’re lazy! They aren’t working. They’re just producing babies so they can stay on welfare.” He was a racist, so much so, that his own daughter didn’t want to have anything to do with him or Nancy for a very long time. The R’s revered him and called him the “great orator”. He wasn’t. He was a bullshit artist.
The marginal tax rate at 70% does not mean you pay 70% of your income in taxes. The income tax is graduated and set by brackets. The higher your income, the higher the bracket, the higher the tax on the bracket. A 70% marginal tax rate means that the portion of your income that falls into the highest bracket is taxed at 70%.
Speaking of which, during the 50s, when Eisenhower was in office, the marginal tax rate was in the 90% range. The economy couldn’t have been doing better. Many families owned homes, cars, kids went to college, the interstate highway system was built…all because there were taxes flowing into the Treasury.
Thank you. No one's taking away 70 percent of all your money, just the excess.
That word "excess" is a problem. Who decides what is excess?
Of course I know that. I was trying to be a bit succinct, and I think the information I put in the post (marginal rate for an income of.... ) was enough for readerst to get that.
THe rate tables are here:
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/
ALSO note that the rate for the lower brackets are higher now than they were in the 1980s.
Thanks for sharing Phil. Hindsight is always 20/20. When I am critical of Reagan it is the outcome of the array of policies which have led to massive student debt, a severely weakened middle class, more homelessness, class and race tension, the assault on labor unions and more. In economic context, a 6 figure salary was upper middle class in Reagan’s time.
The argument for trickle down was probably more palatable in the 1980’s. Forty years later most people now understand it is at best, a failure (unless you are in the 1% -then it has served very well and accomplished precisely what it is intended to do).
He was a fraud from the git go…
True.
But Bonzo was the real deal!
Should have won an Oscar
Trickle down is never never appropriate. It is the stuff of dictators kings and autocrats. Period. We do live in this grand experiment called democracy which is and should be the opposite of eons of kings and other dominators who profit by power, physical and monetary. Noticing that we do live in this democracy, It is becoming startlingly clear for those who wish to be clarified by these truths that are self-evident, that no given force or element should dominate any other. Domination in itself is completely undemocratic. So I'm talking about money and the power that goes with it that more and more people are getting a grasp on lately. Working out our differences and working cooperatively is the only way we're going to make it folks. All of us. Leave conflict on the football field where players butt their heads into oblivion. That model doesn't work too well in congresses and senates and assemblies. It is the stuff of patriarchies, male domination and lately looking like the purview of narcissists who can't make it any other way, sometimes only slightly separated from cavemen. We're all in this together. Together.
Thank you Robin. I often imagine what life could have been like if we were in a peaceful, collaborative world. I do hope future generations understand the generational battle between those looking to acquire power while exploiting and abusing others versus those simply trying to improve their own quality of life, and those for whom they care.
Caring seems to be the operative principle in action. The capacity in itself is probably there at birth, and certainly needs to be developed and nourished in the upbringing of every child. Margaret Mead the anthropologist stated that her findings in the field showed and suggested for Americans that people should live together first before they married, and the parents to be needed actual training, which I think she suggested to be about 2 years, before having children. Some modern cultures in the last few decades are doing it better such as the Japanese.
Yes. But we haven’t provided much support to new parents, societally speaking. If it weren’t for the great work of https://momsrising.org -helping to shape and drive policy around parental leave -the U.S. would likely be far worse. Of course the GOP is there to do everything possible… right up until birth.
I think it ("trickle down") was appropriate to the times. NO MORE. It was successful. In the 80s'. Not now. The necessary adjustments to keep things on track were not done.
It was a scam in 1932, Will Rogers called it such on November 26, 1932. “Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up…”
Let’s not forget Reagan’s spending like a drunken sailor on the military, with a tripling of the national debt. $738 billion to 2.1 trillion.
We got change, all right. George HW Bush called it "voo-doo economics". He was correct, but contributed to it 8 years later...
Thank you for sharing your insight. When you put it that way, it makes sense.
As we learn from Heather - knowing the historical context is critical to understanding the "Why" of things.
What is hard for me to convey is the FEELING of the time. There was a pervasive feeling of fear among the young (15-30), that the country would kill us happily if only to save the reputation of the leaders. This was NOT the "land of the free and the brave" we had been taught about in elementary school. What is free about being whisked off to Vietnam to be killed? That is authoritarian in the extreme. There was a saying at the time "What if they gave a war and nobody came" and that pretty well encapsulated my feelings. Had the service been all volunteer, perhaps the lack of interested participants would have stopped the foolhardy plunge into Vietnam.
I also have the clear feeling that the drug culture of the time (which we are dealing with still) was at least in part a reaction to the sense that the govt was going to kill us - better enjoy it while we can, and if we die doing it, so what?
Phil, I disagree with your appraisal of Reagan. He was really just another puppet president who served the needs of the oligarchs. Trickle Down was a sales pitch. Even David Stockman who was a lead advocate for such, admitted later that it didn't work for the population as a whole. It was a con.
And there are those of us who believe that Reagan's excessive spending on defense did little to truly push the USSR into oblivion. In fact, I would make the case that we would have a very different and equitable nation today if some of that money had been diverted to health care and especially education.
And while Russia lost territory, what transpired was effectively a transfer of assets from one authoritarian oligarchal group to another. The loss of territory was an internal rebellion. Simultaneously, Putin performed the perfect coup and has continued the con for decades. Deadly for some, but brilliant for he and his buddies.
But I do thank you for your historical perspective. You helped me flash back to a time that many currently have too little awareness of. There was indeed a disillusionment about the government as a whole. The government had lied so often, someone like Reagan was perfect food for ruined appetites. In his own charismatic way, he brought a refreshing, if retro, vision that people were hungry for. He was perfect for the times. Dead wrong, but timing in life is everything.
It's really important for us to get inside the heads of people - to learn how their ideas and reactions are based on previous experiences. We are often set up to react automatically. Empathy and thoughtful reflection on what someone has experienced is under rated.
Thanks again for your valuable historical perspective. Too rare.
Coming from the middle of the depression, I could point to a whole lot of very depressing factors that I physically personally experienced along with millions of others. When we got hold of those experiences on various levels particularly the governmental and economic ones we changed the conditions that we had to live through. That is our job. To dwell on the very traumas that traumatized us did not help in the long run. Some of my folks and many friends' folks came to this country from conditions far far worse, and still do, in order to change those conditions. It is up to us to do the same thing and indeed is a way to put those traumas back where they belong as deep instruction. It really really helps to think afresh.
Plus, he played the role of the western hero on horseback convincingly.
I’m older than you, so I missed your “historical context.” Blame the right people
Really
One flaw in ALL of this political discourse is the convenience of referring to administrations by the name of the President. Presidents are almost always shallow glad-handers with just enough intelligence to find their tuckus with both hands. The POWER lies in their cabinet and the heads of the administrative divisions within the Executive.
Vietnam was not Johnson's War, or Nixon's. It was Henry Kissinger's, and Robert MacNamara's, and the rest of that lot. Reaganomics was tied to Ronald Reagan, but it was the doings of Donald Regan, James Baker and Larry Summers. Reagan's "Star Wars" program was the brainchild of Edward Teller, one of the (arguably) least-grounded members of the Trinity team in New Mexico.
Arguing about Presidents is like trying to draw a connect-the-dots picture when you are using coffee stains instead of the dots.
Geez, if I made a million dollars a year, and at some gross figuring of 70% tax I could live just fine on a usable income of $300,000. Now up that by degrees and ask yourself if anybody 'needs' that much money to get along very nicely. I guess you have to have a definition of very nicely here.
Phil, I'd like a little more information on those tax rates you cite. This matters because high tax rates are often named by way of telling us how much better we have it now or how much more the wealthy should (could?) be paying. And yet while some people could have paid 70% on their initial gross income, others had enough deductions to bring the rate down to even 45%.
It would help to know whether your taxation was "average." Here is a website from the IRS showing tax rates in 1980 to spur some conversation about these things: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/80inintravmatr.pdf.
Leaving deductions aside since I don't know if you had any, as I see it, in 1980, if you earned $107,000 gross and paid 70% in tax, you had $32,100 net to live on as a single person. In today's dollars, taking inflation into account, you, as a single person, would be living on $112,983 net. I don't see how that is a reason to have voted for Reagan in 1980.
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/
My taxation?? In 1980? HA! I made $14,000 as a physician in a residency. Maybe we paid $3,000. Had no deductions at all, no kids, mortgage, etc.
Sorry, but…
Very very true George !!People need to know more about Project 2025!!!!
Now we see that the "small" government they aspire for is actually a larger government designed to protect them. Just look at the various red states where the conservatives control. There you have laws being made to enhance the power of the wealthy while leaving the middle and lower taxpayers with the burden of paying for public infrastructure.
BTW- In my estimation, estate taxes are evil. Money you earn is taxed, and you have some left. But that isn't yours, the govt still takes it away when you try to give it to your children. At that point it seems like a cruel joke to say that you own anything. Everything can be claimed by the goverment, because they can.
My uncle died in the early 70's. He and my aunt were "child poor" They had 6 kids and as such had a lower than modest house, and could barely make ends meet. I was told when my uncle died, that my aunt had to sell her wedding ring to pay the estate taxes. Now that is evil.
Thanks for your insight, Phil. I was concerned with a federal estate tax when dad passed away in 2021. No worries as the value of his/mom’s “estate” had to be over 11 million.(Dad worked until he was 78…as a maintenance man). Florida does not have an estate/inheritance tax while states that do mostly have thresholds considerably lower than federal, as in our native Rhode Island.
Yes, the estate taxes changed substantially in the 1980s.
You lay it out so clearly, and it shakes me to my core.
I try to help make it more accessible. Thank you.
HCR, as an historian, has a point of view that goes beyond the immediate news to make connections and illustrate principles. News that reveals that impartial, expert government servants have been essential to ensure airplane safety, worker protection, and technologies to address climate change. The connections, beyond the immediate news, that all these things are potentially under threat. That is why HCR's commentary is so valuable.
The criticism of Donald Trump issued by the Biden Administration was a welcome development. This is not going "low" - these criticisms are accurate, as stated. Trump is “weak and desperate", his fund-raising is bad, he has not been out on the campaign trail like Biden has been, and his speeches are getting more outrageous every week, with viral quotes that cannot possibly be bringing in new supporters. His Project 2025 agenda is indeed "dangerous" and threatens to turn the U.S. into "illiberal" Hungary. Trump has shown no physical stamina, has offered innumerable "confused" statements in his speeches, and is regularly described as looking "tired.” It is just that the Administration needs to have the courage to say the truth. This is not only useful to bolster the contrast with Biden's laundry list of accomplishments, but also is politically smart, since there is nothing more likely to increase the probability of additional Trump missteps than to needle his phenomenally fragile personality. This will not push undecided voters away, since these criticisms can be justified as accurate, with concrete examples. I have a 24-Page Word documents of nothing more that incoherent, dangerous and/or inaccurate statements by Trump just since 1/8/2024, less than 3-months. Those who dismiss these critiques are dyed-in-the-wool Trump supporters for whom nothing the Biden Administration says will ever make a difference.
And Cheetolini’s paper-thin skin and fragile ego makes poking him so entertaining . . . 😁🤪
He can dish it out, but he sure can't take it.
“. . . He doesn’t appear to be a fan of it.” Indeed. Yet, he gets endless gifts from the courts that normal folks could never expect.
Sad that the NY appellate court is so tone-deaf, or simply lazy that they felt no need to explain their wildly favorable ruling for Cheetolini. Reeks of corruption, especially coming in the nick of time with no explanation.
Putting a stay on the other penalties is even more inexplicable. Sad that justice seems to be little more than a wistful dream, or something inflicted only on the non-wealthy.
One law for the rich(and entitled) and another for the poor(the rest of us)
What are the chances there is some back room betting going on around these constant delays ... (will they - won't they / how much - how long / can he, can he not) ... what next ...?
Good point. I wouldn’t be surprised if the British bookies have lots of Cheetolini action. They seem to offer bets on just about anything.
... maybe more than British bookies ... oh, who's your daddy now ?!
…only on the non-wealthy
There are other very significant moves that the Biden administration has made in an effort to unrig a crucial aspect of our economy.
'Why the Biden Administration Is Suing Apple and Investigating Big Grocers' (The New Yorker Mag., excerpt)
'A new generation of trustbusters is trying to use anti-monopoly laws to roll back concentrations of economic power.'
By John Cassidy
'The Department of Justice’s antitrust division made headlines last week by suing Apple and accusing the company of monopolizing the smartphone market and its associated services. The iPhone-maker “has maintained its power not because of its superiority, but because of its unlawful exclusionary behavior,” the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, at a public briefing in Washington.
'Meanwhile, in a move that received less attention, the staff of the Federal Trade Commission, the other big agency entrusted with enforcing competition laws, released a lengthy report on another increasingly concentrated part of the economy: the grocery industry. The F.T.C. report said that some big food-and-beverage retailers exploited the supply-chain disruptions associated with the covid-19 pandemic to squeeze their suppliers and “further hike prices to increase their profits.” In a statement accompanying the release of the report, Lina Khan, the F.T.C.’s chair, said that dominant retailers “used this moment to come out ahead at the expense of their competitors and the communities they serve.”
'Khan and Jonathan Kanter, who is the head of the D.O.J.’s antitrust division, are the leaders of the Biden Administration’s effort to confront big businesses that it claims are exploiting their market power to enrich themselves to the detriment of their clients and the market as a whole. This campaign has sometimes been a rocky one. The antitrust agencies have lost some big court cases, including an effort to block Microsoft from taking over the game maker Activision Blizzard, but they have successfully scuttled a number of deals, such as a takeover of the book publisher Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House and a tie-up between American Airlines and JetBlue. In any case, an aggressive antitrust policy has become one of the defining features of this Administration, and it will surely continue if Joe Biden gets reëlected.'
'After Biden was elected President, in 2020, he nominated Khan, Kanter, and others associated with a new antitrust movement that traces its roots to Louis Brandeis, the early-twentieth-century trustbuster and Supreme Court Justice.'
'Biden also set up the White House Competition Council, which includes officials from many different government agencies. Although the President was hardly known as a scourge of corporations, he sounded some distinctly Brandeisian themes, declaring, in July, 2021, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism—it’s exploitation.”
'Lately, he has been criticizing big corporations for price gouging, imposing junk fees, and shrinking the size of their products while maintaining prices—a phenomenon known as shrinkflation.'
'The revival of antitrust-enforcement efforts goes well beyond the issue of whether Snickers bars have shrunk. (After Biden suggested, in his State of the Union address, that they had got smaller, Mars, the maker of the caramel-peanut bars, issued a statement denying it.)
'Kanter, Khan, and their allies are basically claiming that rising monopoly power is a serious problem in many different parts of the economy, not just the technology sector, and that the country’s courts and policymakers need to address it aggressively across the board. The D.O.J.’s Apple lawsuit and
the F.T.C.’s report on the grocery industry illustrate many of the issues at stake.'
'At last week’s press conference, Kanter compared the government’s case against Apple to three famous anti-monopoly cases from the past: Standard Oil, A.T. & T., and Microsoft. During Bill Clinton’s Presidency, the Justice Department brought the Microsoft case, in 1998, accusing the software giant of exploiting its grip on the operating-system market to create a stranglehold for Web browsers, by forcing computer-makers to bundle Internet Explorer on its devices. The government argued that this tactic deprived consumers of choices and stifled innovation. In the Apple case, the Justice
Department is making a similar argument, claiming that Apple used technology restraints and restrictive contracts to keep smartphone users and application developers confined within its proprietary ecosystem, where it can charge high prices and fees. “Today, we stand here, once again, to protect competition and innovation for the next generation of technology,” Kanter said.
'The Justice Department’s complaint, which referenced internal communications from Apple that were subpoenaed, detailed a number of tactics that the company allegedly used to bolster and maintain its monopoly power. These included restricting the ability of iPhone users to download cloud-based games; refusing to integrate other text-messaging apps with its own iMessage system; and blocking “super apps” that would allow iPhone users to carry out a number of online activities (such as shopping, exchanging payments, and chatting) from within one application. The complaint also said
that Apple executives were concerned that, if iPhone users downloaded a super app, it would be easier for them to switch to a cheaper smartphone. The lawsuit quoted one Apple manager as saying that allowing super apps would “let the barbarians in at the gate.”
'The corporate behavior detailed in the F.T.C. report had less to do with technology innovation and more to do with sheer size. Between 1990 and 2019, the report noted, the four biggest grocers have increased their combined market share from fifteen per cent to more than thirty per cent. The report was based on information from three grocery retailers (Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon), three large food wholesalers (Associated Wholesale Grocers, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and McLane Company), and three big food producers (Kraft Heinz, Tyson Foods, and Procter & Gamble).'
'During the pandemic, as the big retailers experienced significant shortages and increases in the cost of the goods they sold, they used their size to pressure suppliers to favor them over smaller competitors for deliveries, and also raised their prices to cover their extra costs, the report said. Hiking their prices was a perfectly legitimate reaction, but the report presents prima-facie evidence that the grocers went beyond simply recuperating rising costs. As they raised their prices, their profit margins—the difference between their total revenues and total costs—reached six per cent in 2021, compared to 5.6 per cent in 2015, and then rose further, to seven per cent in the first nine months of 2023, when the rate of inflation was already coming down. “This profit trend casts doubt on assertions that rising prices at the grocery store are simply moving in lockstep with retailers’ own rising costs,” the report said. It also called on the full commission and Congress to look into this issue.'
'Apple, in a public statement, said the Justice Department’s lawsuit “threatens who we are,” and, if successful, would “set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.” Reacting to the F.T.C. report, the National Grocers Association, which represents independent grocers, said it confirmed that “national chains or so-called ‘power buyers’ are abusing their immense economic power to the detriment of competition and American consumers.”
'Given the glacial pace at which antitrust cases move through the courts, the Apple lawsuit likely won’t be resolved until the next Presidency. The Justice Department case that led to the breakup of A.T. & T. lasted eight years, and the Microsoft case took about three and a half years until a settlement was reached. Time isn’t the biggest challenge facing the Justice Department and F.T.C., though—that’s the U.S. court system. In the course of the past half century, many judges have applied a strict consumer-welfare standard to antitrust cases, which in practice means the government has to show that a certain corporate action or merger either led to higher prices or is likely to lead to them. In the high-tech
industry, particularly, where many apps and services are distributed at zero price, this standard is often difficult to apply. The courts, including the Supreme Court, in the 2004 Trinko case, have also adopted a skeptical attitude to claims that companies should be obliged to do business with potential competitors.'
'The Untied States’ antitrust laws date to the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914. In many cases—such as those relating to price-fixing and other blatantly anticompetitive agreements, or tying requirements of the sort employed by Microsoft with its Internet Explorer browser—these laws are adequate for the task. But they weren’t designed for the digital age, and there is a clear need to update them for the twenty-first century. In recent years, the European Union has gone at least some way to show how this could be done, introducing a Digital Markets Act and a Digital Services Act, which laid down new guidelines for dominant players, including rules designed to make their platforms more open to app designers and other companies. Considering the gridlock on Capitol Hill, there is little immediate prospect of similar legislation in the United States. In this challenging environment, the new trustbusters have little option but to plow ahead and make their cases in the courts of justice and public opinion. That’s what they are doing. ♦' (The NEW YORKER) See link below, which could not be gifted.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-the-biden-administration-is-suing-apple-and-investigating-big-grocers
I am more excited that the DOJ is investigating UnitedHealth. Interesting situation. It employs 10% of the US physicians, and is the largest employer of NPs. It is dramatically vertically integrated, and owns Change Health care. This is the organization that was hacked a week or two ago. Much of the payments to providers goes through Change, and now they can't get their payments. Of course the money is there - it's in UnitedHealth Care accounts. They aren't sending it out.
An interesting side bit of information is that there are some health care companies- hospitals and practices that are in serious financial straits as a result of this, and United has magnanimously offered to buy them to relieve them. Isn't that nice?
So United is so woven into the fabric our our health "system", that it is a single fail point. Hack one set of computers and you can bring down our health care system. Not a good plan.
Incidentally, I read one report that the $22 million United paid as ransom may only be a beginning. The hackers are possibly going to go for a "subscription" model with monthly payments.
Woudl anyone be surprised if we learned the Russian Government is behind the hack? I wouldn't. This may be cyber warfare we are seeing.
Thank you, Phil Shaffer, MD. Your reply is worth its weigh in bringing our attention to this very threatening monopolistic reality within the country's healthcare system.
I don't know what the big picture looks like, but locally medical groups and services have been collapsing into mega-corporate black holes at an accelerating pace. The same with veterinary services, the two best of which went from very customer centered to more restricted and inaccessible. The last time our dog was dying in the night, the local 24 hour large and small animal hospital we relied on for decades would not even let us in.
I would not rule out Russian involvement in any mischief, but of course, greed doesn't not need them to rear it's ugly head. Like, why is Crypto even legal? There seems to be a lot of effort to integrate it into the mainstream. Also, I know it must be complicated, but I don't understand why record storage can so easily be dumped into intruder accounts. I saw a Korean drama that suggested that in that nation, corporations are held liable for security breaches, yet here they just send you a letter (I've probably received near a dozen of them) with an offer of 1 year free credit monitoring. I don't know what's the best solution, but I can't help but wonder if security is a high enough priority compared with the inconveniences of more selective air gaps?
The other thing is way too many eggs in one basket, starting with previous abandonment of anti trust. Too big to fail, too big to regulate, too big to prosecute, too big to meaningful compete, to big for meaningful customer service.
Not so far from where I once lived, there was a fireworks factory that was a collection of small, scattered, buildings, large air gaps between them so if one blew up, it would not take the rest with it.
Very much on point.
Hi Fern, I hope and trust you are faring well ... still just barely catching up over here -hardly even keeping up ... got to relax in one breath, flow through and do what we can do - no one can do it all ... take care - be well ....
Good to see you, Kathleen, and thanks for checking in on Fern (and the rest of us). Do what you can and remember to rest yourself!!
Thank you Ally, will do - you too!!
Hi Kathleen Allen. It is so good to see you. Thank you for stopping by. Your
caring wishes have warmed the morning. To you, Kathleen, keeping up your
flow. Take care, dear friend. 🌿
Thank you Fern - same to you and more of it!!
Although the President was hardly known as a scourge of corporations, he sounded some distinctly Brandeisian themes, declaring, in July, 2021, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism—it’s exploitation.”
BINGO!
This morning The Boeing Company announced that the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplane division, Stan Deal, is leaving immediately. Chief executive officer Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year. Chair of the board Larry Kellner will not stand for reelection.
Good!
Then take all the over-educated, under-intelligent MBAscum too damn stupid to know the pointed end goes in front, stand them against the nearest hangar wall and "let 'em have it." And if there are any of the McDonnell-Douglas morons still around, throw them out the upper-story windows face first. Bill Boeing, Donald Douglas, and James McDonnell will be standing at the pearly gates cheering.
American aerospace is such shit now - like everything else in American business, the MBAs who know the price of everything and the value of nothing have financialized things to the point of no return. To an MBAscum, the fact the door flew off the airplane means there's another "revenue stream" for fixing it.
The Airplane Guys who created the companies would have been embarrassed to let a piece of shit like the 737Max out the hangar door. (or the F-35 Flying Swiss Army Knife or most everything they've created in the past 40 years) Such a piece of crap would have embarrassed them. The 737 is a 60 year old design, but the pinstriped pimps in the widgetmaker suites are too cheap to hire designers who could create an actually-new improvement - it might drive down their stock options, the only thing important to them.
Letting accountants (and that is all the MBA degree is) decide anything more important than whether or not to order Chinese takeout for the lunch meeting is the wrong move. Every time.
"The job, overseeing a group of 10 to 12 quality assurance inspectors, quickly turned out to be the stuff of night terrors. Boeing had relocated south to avoid the machinists’ union, but they had no real plan for circumventing Charleston’s distinct dearth of machinists. Swampy was a good teacher, but Boeing executives did not shy away from voicing their opinion that quality assurance itself was fundamentally frivolous. At Boeing’s Everett, Washington, facility, each quality assurance inspector was assigned to examine the work of 15 mechanics; in Charleston, that number was 50, and the mechanics themselves more often than not were guys who had been “flipping burgers” a month ago, as Swampy put it in multiple interviews. So every day, the workers he supervised inspected planes that had been assembled by complete amateurs, while the bosses to whom he reported insisted the fry cooks were perfectly qualified to self-inspect their own workmanship. “Every day was a battle to get Boeing management to do the right thing,” Swampy’s brother Rodney Barnett recalled in an email."
https://prospect.org/justice/2024-03-14-strange-death-boeing-whistleblower/
Yes, while the expert mechanics - all union - in Washington State who used to build Boeing airplanes right, became unemployed and the savings of moving to South Carolina and hiring fry cooks meant profits were up, the stock was up, and all the MBAs got bonuses for doing so. The system is so perverse now....
And people scratch their heads…
I largely share your sentiment, TCinLA. But let's, too, look elsewhere.
The rush to biz ed started in the U.S. following the far-right foundations of the Powell memo set up to smother, marginalize, and kill humanities, first from higher ed, then K-12.
Imagine if educators 40-50 years ago resisted all that orchestrated dehumanization.
OK. "Imagine." It's a song, by a dreamer.
I completely agree.
But not the only one...
Here in Wichita, Kansas where plane makers, Walter Beach, Clyde Cessna, and others began their companies, we have watched MBA’s takeover running those companies and have seen the quality slide downward and long time employees offered “retirement“ and new employees hired at lower wages. SMH
General Aviation's nearly dead, due to that insane product liability decision back 40 years ago, along with the overall loss of GenAv airports. Chino, which was "protected forever" in the county planning decisions 20 years ago, is now nearly surrounded by suburbia and looks to go to the same place the other GenAv airports in the Inland Empire went to in the past five years (now land for more McMansions!). I remember Tony Levier telling me 40 years ago that LA County had 55 airports inside the county lines up until they started getting killed by suburbia beginning in 1950.
TC, I love your one-size-fits-all solution to all problems. May be too late to make the 737 max any safer, but at least a few former execs will have to learn to fly the hard way. We can cheer them on their way down.
The day Boeing announced they were moving corporate headquarters to Chicago all of Seattle knew they were running away from the oversight of the hundreds of retired Boeing engineers so they could get away with cheating.
Bill Boeing was loved and respected in Seattle. Boeing was the company that built Seattle. Boeing Field was right downtown and there were Boeing buildings north and south of town. The Everett Plant claimed the largest building in the world! And then there were the "secret" buildings...
So the only reason to move to Chicago was to hide.
And sure enough they started doing things they couldn't get away with in Seattle.
A classic tale of why monopolies are bad.
To add to “To an MBAscum, the fact the door flew off the airplane means there's another "revenue stream" for fixing it.” Evidently this is also the result of DEI hiring.
Too much learning is a dangerous thing…
[H]is efforts are overwhelmingly fixed on evading justice or mooting judgments he’s already lost by any means necessary. He’d ideally like to prevail in these efforts before the election, but the task will become much easier if he’s able to win or steal the presidency despite the legal peril.”
I always lie for my alibi; and when COVID came, I watched people die. I shouted out "Who's killing liberty", when after all, it's the GOP.
Pleased to me'cha; hope you guess my name...
"Cause confusing you is the nature of my game...
Thank you, Heather.
The Biden campaign said, “America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump,” which we can take to mean a man with dementia who is progressively getting worse each day. And that is good news. Nature is *compensating Donald Trump quite fairly even if our 'justice' system does not.
*FMI read Emerson's essay Compensation: https://emersoncentral.com/ebook/Compensation.pdf
I was very fond of Emerson's essays growing up.
Lot's of wisdom
Compensation in this context is the law of cause and effect that some call karma or 'what goes around comes around'.
I don't recall reading that one specifically but loved the way Emerson paints the big picture. He seemed a bit naive at times, but only in retrospect of wit the aid of modern science. His "Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.Nature is full of a sublime family likeness throughout her works... " IS my view of science. A walk in a natural landscape is like a visual set of symphonic variations or fugue. Darwin "heard" it. The fact that it is repetitive does not mean it's always simple to tease out the details, which seem endlessly interactive and nuanced with extremely fine precision. Emerson's acquaintance John Muir recognized the family resemblance between plants (as had Linnaeus) now refined by comparing genomes. I could go on.
Evolution selected aggression as well as compassion in our species, but also our capacity for reason and conscience. Within the vicissitudes of random fortune, we reap what we sow, but the evil that men do lives after them. The powerless innocents often suffer most. We are responsible (even when not held accountable) for poor choices. We do have the power of self-questioning.
Thank you for your response..
1) Who is this appeals court? 2) "Trump Social" has overnight put him into the world top 500. (But I think I read somewhere that its readership is shrinking).
' ... The media needs to do a much better job warning about the dangers of such a publicly-traded candidacy and possible presidency. This is a man who has always been up for sale to the highest bidder, and who will now abuse the meme stock frenzy to achieve shocking personal financial gain while exposing our nation’s highest office to massive financial leverage. The American people need to be warned of the dangers inherent in this, far beyond the probable dispiriting headlines next week that Trump really will have become a billionaire, at least on meme stock paper."
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/the-publicly-traded-presidential
The imperative for separation of church and state AND profit-making grifts, while in or in candidacy for office.
It hard enough to keep corruption out of politics, without the burden of making it legal.
Yup, it is a very thin line indeed ... individual awareness/responsibility or herd (unheard?) mentality and group think ...
Too much like hard work, requiring analytical thought and responsible attitude. Low in click-bait.
... endless work, with no end in sight ... I only give it time and energy because I am a citizen with the right and responsibility to vote - hopefully a well informed vote - never enough .... 😵💫
Oh sinner-man, glaciers be a-melting, oh sinner-man, glaciers be a-melting...
The Spirit of the Glacier Speaks
Ancestral Teachings of the Andean World for the Time of Natural Disorder
By Arkan Lushwala
https://disruptionbooks.com/books/the-spirit-of-the-glacier-speaks
I think it's an art and a science, and I don't know what, to integrate and reconcile our ego (sense of individual awareness and experience) with the web of life and our highly social species. The Constitution (w/ Amendments) attempts to do so in broad outline. Reconciliation appears possible, at least, perhaps "good enough" reconciliation, and "liberty and justice for all" be much better served. If we try sometime, we just might find, we get what we need.
Truth has many facets - if all voices are to be heard and respected, we are obliged to give a fair hearing to all ... is there a better way ...? Old friend Jeff would say, "the Universe is democratic" ... narrow the aperture and someone is sure to be left out or neglected ....
And then NBC hires Ronna McDaniels.
It’s refreshing to see Biden hit back. I’ve been waiting a long time for Dems to respond to the outrageous attacks waged against them by an infantile playground mentality GOP. John Kerry should have taken on the Swift Boaters with his fists. Hillary was overconfident and passive.
The Swift boaters were just lying money with clout. Kerry should have won, repubs cheated. Rove went after evangelicals guns blazing. HRC was the victim chump tries to be. She warned us.
Someone who saw Hillary lately said she's looking great. Maybe the Democrats should use her, not Bill, to raise money.
Use both, use every breathing creature. So tired of Dem purity tests, while for repubs, the skankier the better. We are all flawed, some are evil and the enemies of all but the super rich. Flaws are OK with me, greedy bastards, not so much.
I read a lot of news about all of this today, particularly from 'Daily Kos' and also reviewed the invective from Trump et al. 😉
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/25/2231478/-Trump-s-Hail-Mary-to-avoid-coughing-up-all-that-cash-works-for-now
Much to my consternation I saw ZERO mention of Hunter Biden. 🤔
I am at a loss -- ¿can somebody explain this aberrant behavior by these M.A.G.A.-types? 😵💫
It takes a lot to make those guys change focus. but apparently this day was the day?
My faith in miracles is restored . . . almost. 😉
... see you one, raise you two ...?
Turns out that Trump was good for only "penny ante" after all. 😉
So much for "no one is above the law." Thousands of poor people are having their lives ruined sitting in jail because they cannot afford bail and a billionaire gets special treatment.
Money buys special treatment, always and forever
What all of us should be asking is "why are we flying". I understand the value of people crossing boundaries, but the reality of people flying all over the place has an unacceptable carbon foot print, which is unlikely to be solved any time soon via electric airplanes powered by wind and solar. And so flying has got to stop.
I would at least ask whether in each instance there is a reasonably compelling reason to fly. People cut back during COVID. In any case, we are past due to get serious about high speed rail. Other nations have it, I have used it, and it works. Amtrak is the Cinderella of rail systems, given tough jobs a few resources.
Thank you, Heather.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.”
As often happens, your last word is my takeaway.