I’m one of the people who watched with disbelief as the GOP tax “reform” bill was loaded up with provisions that any sentient human would know to be counterproductive. There are two possible explanations why lawmakers might support this disastrous legislation, and they are not necessarily incompatible: the sponsors of this piece of excrement really believe–in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary–that it will spur economic growth, or they are obeying the demands of their donors/masters.
I say the two explanations aren’t necessarily incompatible because humans have an infinite capacity for self-delusion. It is entirely plausible that our elected Representatives and Senators prefer not to acknowledge, even to themselves, that they have been bought and paid for, and instead have convinced themselves of the merits of policies that have ushered in disaster every time they’ve been tried.
In fact, as I have watched members of a once-responsible political party disintegrate into delusion and corruption, I’ve noticed their growing preference for make-believe rhetoric over reality. Ryan and McConnell, especially, have been displaying a decidedly Trump-like belief that assertions can shape reality–that saying it will make it so.
Increasingly, Republicans in both the legislature and Administration live in La La Land.
Case in point: the repeated Republican refrain about job creation. Listening to the rhetoric, you’d think that the retention and creation of jobs was really an important focus of GOP policy. (Of course, if you’d been listening to Republican rhetoric since well before Reagan, you’d have thought deficits were a concern– in the wake of the tax bill, we can see how bogus that was.)
So–how’s that “jobs focus” thing working out?
Well, here in Indiana, Carrier Corporation is continuing its move to Mexico, despite Trump’s boasts about preventing the move, and despite the company’s extraction of some seven million dollars in “economic development” money from the state.
An analysis of Labor Department data by the labor coalition Good Jobs Nation found that more than 93,000 U.S. jobs have been eliminated since Trump’s election due to foreign trade.
That’s roughly on par with the previous five years, which saw an average of 87,500 jobs per year eliminated.
The coalition’s analysis also found that the number of jobs outsourced by federal contractors has actually risen since Trump was elected. Since November 2016, some of the biggest federal contractors have offshored some 10,269 jobs, making up 11 percent of trade-related layoffs, compared to 4 percent in the previous five years.
Great article, and very informative :).
Jobs no longer matter because people no longer matter….. only money and power matter.
And sorry, Folks, it’s the Democrats too.
This is something I put on my blog recently.
The desire to have a coherent world-view is strong. We want a narrative that makes everything seem legitimate, perhaps even inevitable. How is such a world-view constructed? By means of logic? Axioms followed by theorems? Some form of philosophical discourse? No. The approach almost always involves stories, because stories are persuasive, especially those that fit in with our view of what the world should be like. This approach represents circular logic, of course, because it says that we want a legitimate world-view, and the one we choose is the one which is consistent with that which we want to believe, not with what conforms to reality. In making such a choice, logic is not involved: People can dismiss someone’s logic, and they can contest facts, but how they feel is inviolate. It is no accident that the Bible teaches through parables and stories, not with logic and evidence.
But the effectiveness of stories in convincing people to believe something is not limited to religion. The Republican party has depended on the technique for quite some time. Perhaps being a Republican does not involve any intellectual effort; perhaps it is just a religious belief.
That would explain why so many people remain faithful to a party for no rational reason.
I watched the News Hour story on Kansas last night. Two state legislators were interviewed: one moderate and one tea partier. The moderate stated that the Brownback tax cuts (nine of them) put the state economy in free fall , this was substantiated by a former State Treasurer. The tea partier stcuk to his Koch talking points and said the reason there were budget problems was the budget cuts were sustained long enough to be fully functional. It was a clear illustration of the extreme right’s dismissal of data and their desperate clutching of an ideology that has proven itself dysfunctional and useless, but the representative was undaunted in his defense and support of killing the tax base and expecting revenues to improve. It makes me wonder what the Koch’s use as bait to attract and hold these people.
“In fact, as I have watched members of a once-responsible political party…” is a statement that I do not understand, Sheila. It must presume that a trickle down economic policy was once a responsible behavior, and that government’s cheating to favor the wealthy was once a productive policy.
Don’t think for a minute that deficits aren’t important to Republicans. If they don’t balloon the deficit with their “tax reform”, they won’t be able to take the whacks at Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that Paul Ryan has been dreaming of since he was a boy. A boy who was reliant on the Social Security check his mother received every month to help support him and his dreams, but a boy nonetheless.
The “jobs, jobs, jobs” meme from the Republicans started the moment Barack Obama’s hand came off the Bible in 2009. During the next eight years, they kept promising jobs bills, but not a single one emerged from their caucus.
No, the only “jobs” these backward-thinking “representatives” have in mind is more closely related to something else entirely. Republicans and their corporate masters are now in shameless bedclothes together and are not getting out of that bed any time soon.
The last cogent, uncorrupted Republican, such as he was, was Teddy Roosevelt who actually warned us about allowing big money in politics. Even Ike saw the nightmare coming that is the military-industrial complex which has its grip on every state and thus prevents any responsible “governing” of themselves.
The collapse of our system is just over the horizon, so say many experts. We are following exactly the same economic trends that Rome did before its collapse. Rome didn’t fall for military reasons, it feel due to stretching its economics passed the breaking point where only the elites controlled the wealth. Finally, the people just quit and the Visigoths walked in and sacked Rome. Constant war, too much credit and currency devaluation added to the fallacy of retaining diminishing resources, and down she came. Sound familiar?
It is my fear that after Ryan and cronies attempt/realize their cuts to Medicare and Social Security, our National Parks will be next on the chopping block. Open access to corporations to scar and despoil for profit or even outright sale to the highest bidder. They might become the Maralagos of the mountains. Trump is already showing his disregard for preservation and public interest. “America’s Best Idea” will simply become the rich man’s playground, private sanctuary, or oil field.
What Theresa said!
Both political parties are fraudulent but want desperately to be taken seriously. Covering up this fraud is the media. There is no free press because you cannot make money as a news entity while holding all the corruption and collusion between the private and public sectors.
We need to drop the political correctness and call the problem what it is…”class warfare”. Once you get there, it will all make sense.
Right now, the wealthy 1-5%, major financial institutions, and the Fortune 100 corporations own my country through their Geppetto demands. I am not a fan of “drain the swamp” but in some regards it does have an attractiveness in ridding my children’s and grandchildren’sgrandchildren’ s futures of the economic caste system being created.
Many articles have been and still are being written about the RepubliCON Tax Plan. At their core all the articles mention three story lines: One is the lowering of taxes for the 1% and Multinational Corporations. The second story line is a greater aggregation of wealth and power into the hands of 1% and Multinational corporations. The third story line is the destruction of any of society’s safety nets.
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The Real Evil Behind the Republicans’ Tax and Budget Plans highlights all of this.
>>>The New Deal, which created that safety net, arose in the Great Depression precisely because the free markets that Republicans insist to this day are the answer to every problem failed Americans miserably. Government was needed to bail them out then and to protect them in the future.
New Dealism was a set of programs — Social Security, public works, fair labor laws, conservation and dozens more — but it was also an attitude about government and the role it could and should play, from actively helping citizens in distress to equalizing an unfair tax structure.<<< https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/gop-long-game-tax-cuts
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What the New Deal and Programs after it like Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps did was empowered the 99%. The Unions could make certain a living wage would be paid. The Unions were also a lever of empowerment.
Step one back in the Raygun era was to break the unions. That mission was accomplished. The Social Safety Net is a lever of power. I would expect the RepubliCONS to not go after all the Programs at once, but to attack them individually over time – Divide and Conquer.
Prof Said:
most important of all– take the country back to a coal-fired past in which white Christian males were dominant (and could grab p**sy with impunity).
There you go.
The ruse is up. The GOP has made their bed. Just like these so called tax/jobs bills, the immigration system, the national parks, and healthcare, the ruse is up. They have NO PLANS. They have no idea how to run this country and their sick demented hair flap leader is only doing what they tell him. He has no idea what it takes to run this country. It’s all lies. It’s all a tease for the next chapter of this so-called reality show that is the WH and congress. We’re F*d.
Todd Smekens @ 10:00 am: Great comment. A real test is coming very soon for the Democratic Party.
Progressives and Berniecrats Push Hard to End or Curtail the Superdelegate System
A key test to see if the DNC can make the nominating process more democratic.
While many features of the DNC’s 2016 nominating process were anti-democratic, none are as high profile as the party’s so-called superdelegates. These at-large national convention delegates were 712 federal and state elected officials, state party leaders and lobbyists whose votes counted toward the 2,384 needed for the presidential nomination.
“We urge the members of the Unity Reform Commission to recommend an idea whose time has come: to end the superdelegate system and create a fair, transparent, and inclusive presidential nomination process in which Democratic primary voters can rest assured their voices will not be overruled by well-connected elites.”
https://www.alternet.org/activism/progressives-and-berniecrats-demand-democratic-partys-unity-commission-suggest-ending
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You are totally right about the Media. The world wide corruption as revealed by the Paradise Papers has been tamped down or ignored by the Media, especially here in the USA. You are correct about the seeing all this through the prism of class warfare. Once you arrive there, you have clarity.
The bulls have found their china shop!
Speaking of Republican propaganda in re job creation, the Labor Department has just announced this morning that 228,000 new jobs were added to the economy in November, and along with breathless reports by the business press of the historic rise in the Dow, they tell us that the economy is headed up, up, up. But just as when the Lone Ranger and Tonto were trapped in a box canyon by 3,000 Sioux warriors and the Lone Ranger said “We’re in real trouble this time, Tonto,” and Tonto replied “What do you mean We, Paleface?” – just “who” and “what” are benefitted by such statistics (which suggest that a boom is just around the corner)? To wax poetic – a boom for whom?
I have written dozens of times elsewhere that it doesn’t matter if every man, woman and child were employed until we solve the four-decade and ongoing problem of wage inequality. Real economic growth (not stock market froth) depends solely upon aggregate demand, and it doesn’t matter how many people are working or how much Wall Street is stuffing in Swiss banks and here’s why: Without substantial increases in the rate of wages paid (as we experienced during the WW II postwar boom when wages rose in tandem with the Dow) demand will increase only marginally as adjusted for inflation as the rich and corporate class continues to hijack worker productivity gains to its bottom line(s) and pay slave wages to its workers, thus deflating demand. Much of the current demand is financed not by wages but, speaking of highs, historic credit card debt. Such aggregate demand increases on credit (at interest) are in my view a downer rather than an upper since the billions in interest and fees paid to banks on credit cards are dead monies – they are rent paid for the use of money and deflationary in that they buy nothing in the real economy.
About the only good thing that can come out of totally full employment (an impossibility because of so-called frictional unemployment caused by change of jobs, incarceration, illness etc.) is that social costs are reduced. However, with our provision of food stamps to people who have jobs such as underpaid employees of WalMart and others (including even the military), that is a marginal savings and has little to do with demand and a lot to do with current budgeting (as Republicans kick the can down the road to our national debt of some twenty trillion dollars – shortly to be some 22 trillion with passage of the so-called “tax reform” bill). I often write that wage inequality is our biggest domestic issue (aside, of course, from Trump-Bannon neo-Nazism), and the foregoing may tell the reader why. It all comes down to an Econ 101 proposition, i.e., if you want economic growth in the real economy as exclusively defined by aggregate demand, provide more wherewithal in the hands of consumers. Case closed.
Im a working class,though many here are obviously educated,and in a white collar world. Im a true blue working class,made the life experiences a fact. Im in trucking as a Driver, not a owner operator. I drive for someone else,who, has a truck,and needs a good nut to hold the wheel,on. After 38 years,and watching this industry distroy its good name,into a managed investment,with a wall street algorithm mentallity. we agin are in the turnover rate of 100% for new hires. When the companies were owned and managed by families,who, drove,and met with customers on both ends, deals were made,with, drivers wages as a concern,to, retain drivers who cared. fact today, all large trucking companies are,investor owned,and run like a train through a dark tunnel. No acounting for lives,jobs or the freight, just a bottom line. No im not being cynical, im real. since 1986, my job remains the same pay,as adjusted for, its the same spending capital since,1986. Ive got every endorcement,security to enter military base for pickup or deliveries,TWIC card. and HAZ,Mat to haul hazardous materials. never a chargeable accident,never a DUI. 6 million miles since 1978. now, im watching this job market, i call various companies with intrests in seeing what they offer a driver of my (many) talents.
seems the average per mile,not the hours it takes to get somewhere,sleeping away from home,or hours spent loading or unloading,sometimes done alone by myself. (depending on the type of trucking) (are not paid)first off, i dont wear a collar,like a pet. case in point, they offer me 44 cents a mile, i get 38 cents on my check,plus deducts etc as paid, per week. the other 6 cents are broken up for fuel incentive,or safety, or, some other ludicrous crap. after 6 months maybe a year, i cash that 6 per mile.. maybe, depends on the policy,seems companies can find ways,beyond some fine type to screw you out of that. (wonder why we have this turnover?) now, since 1986 ive made some progress, but its never,with these big companies. always small ones,or, working local will usually get a better take home,without the expense of living on the road. if you ever frequent those big truckstops,look at the prices, and reflect,on what a driver pays for a 16 ounce coke,$2.00 and tax. and those big trucking companies,require you to fuel there,and sleep there on yourMANDATED 10 hours off. so, hand in hand,the big truckstops have a greed position readily available for those who, are required to buy fuel at these truckstops. me, small ones,who give a better price,and dont sweat whos buying the fuel.. If you ever have given the finger to a slow truck, maybe its that required govered speed,you wanted, you won, a slow truck,in traffic,mandated to be working by, the hours of service(paid by the mile) some lobby (ATA)supporting making a driver work in rush hour traffic,long hours, and a slow truck, roads that are 30 years behind,no rest areas,to take a break in route, (pee) hiring bottom of the barrel people who lack self esteem,and many have emmotional issues,and cant cope in a one on one world. sure i can say this, out here we dont even talk to each other due theres so many diffrences,and some get rather upset if you give constructive criticism in traffic. we distroyed our own work enviroment over wage growth. anyone,in this industry who is asked to take a load into new york city, will be met with superlitives and its not pretty, no one wants a load to new york city, enviroment,attitudes cops,tolls,roads like ceaser laid,small side streets,wearhousing that is in par with civil war days(really) and a produce area like hunts point that has got to be the epitomy of bad attitudes, and screw your appointment time, its 6 hours later, and you have to pay to get into this abuse.now, every trucker who voted for trump, i ask them to haul a load into NYC, i get F,,,Y,,! so why did you vote for someone whos the epitomy of NYC? now,you see how even employees have no clue who they just voted to screw them. sure create jobs, big question? is it a living wage JOB? no sense asking about job growth, if its just another avenue to keep you closer to poverty… reality does suck..
“United we stand, divided we fall.”
If the shear awfulness of this government doesn’t unite us, what will?
Is perfection to be the death of good? Everyday Facebook and this blog seems to be filled with the kind of tribalism that I had started to blame on the Russians. Are they still in the picture? We know that Trump’s squirreling us is a favorite ploy of his many, but is it working despite it’s obviousness?
I believe that the Franken situation yesterday was an attempt by the DNC to show that they are still committed to democracy, that morality matters in elections, as compared to the RNC doubling down on it doesn’t matter, votes are now a function of donor dollars and fake news not morality. What did it create? More disension among Democrats.
Divide and conquer is the oldest political advice and we know that yet it’s happening. Every wealth creator/consumer/voter/voice is being served up to donors by Trump’s huge Christmas present from Republicans as I write. What else should be in the news? What issue eclipses that?
Thanks, Mike. You have just made my point. Wall Street decides your future, as it is doing for the rest of us, though in more subtle fashion than the one you have described. We are all victims of under-regulated “free enterprise” run amok and captive to Wall Street’s monied interests, even those on Wall Street, who with their greed are in the process of destroying the goose that laid the golden egg.
This post is not about jobs: The GOP has revealed itself, this time not hiding behind Code Words, but right out in the open.
Roy Moore Believes America Was Great During Slavery. Twitter Users Detonate.
In response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience – who asked when Moore thought America was last “great” – Moore acknowledged the nation’s history of racial divisions, but said: “I think it was great at the time when families were united – even though we had slavery – they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-moore-slavery-twitter-response_us_5a29d45be4b069ec48ac1aae
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I guess Roy Moore’s idea of historical accuracy is the movie Gone with the Wind. What a despicable person Roy Moore is. The fact that Moore can say what lurks in the hearts of some people in the open is just confirmation of the racism that the Republican Party has welcomed.
The Democratic Party needs reform (and a clear policy agenda, and consistent organization, and a strategy to win over disaffected voters, and serious candidates to deliver all that), but let’s stop with the false equivalence argument. The Grifters, Oligarchs, and Plutocrats have taken cravenness, fecklessness, corruption, and kakistocracy to all new extremes. Bigotry, white nationalism, homophobia, misogyny, anti-intellectualism, science denial- the list can go on. There are stark and existential differences between the parties. Never think otherwise.
Patrick Sullivan,
When I read what you wrote “The Democratic Party needs reform (and a clear policy agenda, and consistent organization, and a strategy to win over disaffected voters, and serious candidates to deliver all that), but let’s stop with the false equivalence argument”, I said to myself “Hallelujah, somebody gets it.”
Winning is the whole story, the only story! Forget all the talk, all the long-winded abstract discussions, all the current and historical angst, and all the extended jaundiced palaver. Identify the candidates who stand a fair chance at winning. Groom those candidates. Stand behind those candidates.
I’m still puzzled by Republican comments about needing more jobs to jump start the economy. I hear unemployment is at historic lows, consumers are consuming, there are jobs. Maybe their problem is the economic recovery from the Bush administration’s train wreck was achieved with a black Democrat in charge.
Where to begin. Great economic news, Hispanic unemployment at an all time low, stock market record high, and last but not least, CBS poll find 92% of Democrats uninformed
wall street has decided,
how much you will make,where you will make it,
when you will spend it,how you will spend it
where you will spend it, ive said this for 40 years
to finish all, if we continue to follow this form,take stock
in the recent case for control,look at the Chinese form of control, look above,and repeat it.
the fact im sure is, the wall street mentality is, control all the currency, and you control the people, why else would they be so intent on gutting any so called entitlement programs,( thats a sick term for waht we are guarenteed,by our goverment) we have the ALEC bunch writting the laws,and breaks,for the monied interests. we now witness who, is gutting,the working class,and who supports wall streets greed,by name…… time to gut the republican party,and dismiss the demos who follow suit. Jobs and wages,taxing wall street,and putting these people who scam the system,to payup… its time for a change,and its time we all got involved..
In case you didn’t know or forgot, it was Obama who increased the national debt by 9 TRILLION in 8 years and Roy Moore’s accuser confessed to forging her yearbook.
Becky: you overlook the Bush economic collapse that resulted in the extreme measures by the incoming Obama administration to keep the economy alfoat while they bailed out the big banks and the allowed the Republicans in congress to sit quietly until they could start attacking Obama for the economic problems. And which Roy Moore accuser is Fox News talking about?
What America stands for, believes in and will die for is money. Only money. Preferably in the hands of billionaires who do not argue this national purpose. Our majority party feels no hesitation in making that point. They’ve written a tax bill to remove any doubt. While many caring Americans (like those who are part of Doctors Without Borders) will put their lives on the line for noble causes, they are sadly out of sync with what our politicians and business leaders and others who control the economy and foreign policy know to be America’s historic destiny – grow the wealth. Why, you may wonder, do we have a defense budget that is equal in size to the next ten nations? Certainly not to defend ourselves, but simply to sustain America’s unchallengeable military dominance in the world.
Congressmen feel no compunction in selling themselves in support of this worldview. Not only do they do this out of greed, they would argue, but out of a sincere belief that for the world’s benefit, we must dictate the terms of international commerce and thereby solidify our permanent economic hegemony. Beginning with Ronald McReagan, an unbroken chain of presidents of both parties have supported a global political system in which only America has a voice that matters. While that has grown more obnoxious with the ignoramus who now rules us, it hasn’t changed.
I disagree with Sheila only in that these enablers of 21st century robber barons don’t care about jobs, and only tangentially about the economy. They know that the deck is now stacked in ways that American prosperity, even if it resides only in the hands of a few, is forever assured. Globalization, along with an indomitable military, is our guarantee that this will not alter. The “masters” Sheila refers to more closely resemble co-conspirators. Both parties understand how the system works, and both are comfortable with it. Money flows in a circular path to keep all of the money manipulators happy, to keep the military strong, and to assure our permanent hegemony. Those who fail to grasp this will never understand geopolitics, international finance, or how it is all made possible by our military-industrial complex. Cherchez l’argent.
Thank you daleb for confirming the CBS poll.
I rarely participate in the comments to my posts, but I was intrigued by your references to a CBS poll finding Democrats uninformed. I checked CBS, and there was no such poll; however, there was a mischaracterization of a poll in precisely the language you used at the Gateway Pundit site. Wikipedia describes that site as follows:The Gateway Pundit (TGP) is a right-wing,[2][3][4][5] far-right,[6][7][8] alt-right and pro-Trump[9][10][11][12] website founded by Jim Hoft after the United States presidential election in 2004.[13][14] According to Hoft, it was founded to “speak the truth” and to “expose the wickedness of the left”.[15] The website is often linked to or cited by Fox News, Drudge Report, Sarah Palin and other well-known conservative people and sites.[16] The website is known for publishing falsehoods and spreading hoaxes.[17][5][18][19]
I doubt that you will bother to check the accuracy of this information, since anyone who reads and believes the lurid language, conspiracy theories and fanciful “facts” at the Gateway Pundit is unlikely to be interested in credible information, but other readers may also have wondered where on earth these “facts” came from.
The Republicans have absolutely no effective opposition. The Democratic Party may whine a bit about the Repub Tax Plan,but in the end,the DNC serves the donor class as well. Instead of proffering an effective counter,the Democrats have only offered an impotent response as in OMG! RUSSIA!
I’m hoping Trump destroys the Republican Party. Afterwhich,the Democratic Party could use an effective change within it as well.
For those that believe in voting brand loyalty to the detriment of their own interests (don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good)….
One name: Terry Goodin.
William; I voted in my first election in 1958, was an Independent voter till 2000 when the Republican party left no doubt it was not about democracy – government of the people, by the people and for the people – but about $$$$$$$$ and nothing else. There are a few who say they don’t support Trump’s issues but vote to pass the bills so to be safe I vote straight Democratic party ticket and resent the fact that the Republican party has forced this lack of trust on me by their actions. Better a few weak links, like Indiana’s Joe Donnelly (recently touted as the 3rd or 5th highest level bipartisan official in Congress), there is always a chance he will make a right – correct – decision. I feel my American right to vote my conscience has been usurped by the 1% for the past 20 years at least. At age 80; it is doubtful I will live long enough to once again feel safe in voting for the right candidate, what they stand for, what their past has shown and not the party.
History has shown that “the free markets that Republicans insist to this day are the answer to every problem failed Americans miserably. Government was needed to bail them out then and to protect them in the future.” [quote taken from Monotonous L’s comment] I’m afraid history will again show that Republicans of this Congress and Executive Administration and their policies have again failed the American people miserably. What is that one “old saying” about those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it?
soon …. they will control the internet like china and nobody will know the truth or be able to relate facts freely ….. we will all be their slaves to the extreme
Becky – in order to assist your intellectual development, you need to understand that when people demand that we deal with facts, they imply a whole fact, not a corner of a fact or a piece of a fact or the part of the fact that supports your argument. When you falsely claim that Obama was responsible for the growth in the national debt, you omit the fact that the Bush administration – through deeply misinformed and in many cases criminal activities – plummeted the nation into the longest and deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Though nobody, himself included, liked what Obama had to do to get us out of the free fall and prevent a worsening crisis, it worked, and beginning in 2009 his policies kicked in in a way that have driven the economy straight upward ever since. Nearly all of the economic progress of the Trump era relies on Obama’s fix for Bush’s reckless policies. What Trump gets credit for is a stimulus driven by business community recognition of his willingness to turn control over to people whose greed knows no bounds and whose concern for people who aren’t rich is less than the size of Trump’s tiny brain. How can Republicans not love a man who gives them license to pillage?
Unless you remedy your tendency to rely on partial facts, you may not find this site hospitable to your brand of information distortion.