Robert Reich Reports

[animeproblem]

RE: "the because we can quote", for those old enough to remember the shift to unleaded gasoline, & why the higher price "because it's a novelty item".

That was the reason that was given by the producers for why unleaded gasoline was priced higher (bearing in mind the lead anti-knock compounds were additives & actually increased production costs).






This mindset is what we are up against, & frankly I think we are fucked. I'm going to watch some more Naruto before this whole shit show falls apart.

 

[billy backstay]

Last week’s winner:

“I like mine over and done with.”​

 

[billy backstay]

The crazies are now in charge of Trump

And he of them

robertreich.substack.com

 

[Steam Flyer]

The crazies are now in charge of Trump

And he of them

robertreich.substack.com

... ...
I don’t think Trump is seeking to legitimate antisemitism or racism. The only “ism” Trump believes in is narcissism. ...

During the last months of his presidency, the more level-headed of Trump’s staff were known in the White House as “team normal,” by contrast with “team crazy” that presumably helped him plan and execute his attempted coup.

But the only way Fuentes and West would have got an invite to Mar-a-Lago is if the normals had all left. I’m reasonably sure they’re gone. Why would any of them stick around? Why would we expect Trump to keep them around?

So there’s only one explanation for the dinner. Trump has surrounded himself with crazies.

Which makes me think that his run for the presidency this time will be utterly out of control — beyond the hate-filled, bullying, divisive, traitorous, vindictive, and deceitful Trump we have already endured.

It could be so shameful, so despicable, so reprehensible that it will cause all but his most loyal followers to desert him.

Those totally loyal followers probably constitute no more than 30 percent of the American public.
... ...

That’s my real worry: A presidential candidate who would welcome Nick Fuentes and Kanye West to dinner at his home is a candidate without sound advice, a candidate who has no one around him to tell him no, or he’s a candidate who doesn’t give a damn.

Whatever the reason, that presidential candidate is untethered. He is surrounded by people as crazy as he is. Which means he’s even more dangerous.

Well, there are two ways this can play out. Trump runs and is even more of a crazy bigoted asshole than he was in 2016, or he dies before the election.

-IF- he lives, there are two ways this can play out: either he attracts a majority of the Republican Party to rally behind him, and wins the nomination (which is what I believe will happen);
or he splits the Republican Party into a full-on white-supremacist fascist batshit crazy wing, and normal hateful warmongering old-fashioned fascist Republican wing.

Either of those two possibilities will hopefully result in a bigger blue wave than 2020 and 2022 (frankly, 2022 was not that much of a blue wave. Republicans actually gained seats everywhere except the US Senate and two state governorships).

I'm not urging a blue wave out of any great affection for the Democratic Party, who in my opinion could fuck up a peanut butter sandwich. But the fundamental American belief in citizens rights, in rule of law, and in a gov't that actually works, are no longer any part of Republican policy-making. They need to be kicked to the curb, to either rediscover that they are Americans or to perish and be replaced by a new party.

 

[billy backstay]

A grotesque distortion of philanthropy

Listen now (4 min) | The gonzo ethics of seeking to make gobs of money so you can give it away

robertreich.substack.com

 

[billy backstay]

The REAL significance of today's runoff in Georgia

Hint: It's not the Senate

robertreich.substack.com

 

[billy backstay]

The Fed is Dead

Its interest rate hikes are hurting consumers and workers while bypassing the main source of inflation

robertreich.substack.com

 

[pusslicker]

The Fed is Dead

Its interest rate hikes are hurting consumers and workers while bypassing the main source of inflation

robertreich.substack.com

These jackoffs just can't help themselves. They just want to keep pumping the markets up artificially. Seems like these interest rates are the healthy zone and that shit was broken before. At least my bank account tells me that as I rake in money from my t-bills.

 

[billy backstay]

These jackoffs just can't help themselves. They just want to keep pumping the markets up artificially. Seems like these interest rates are the healthy zone and that shit was broken before. At least my bank account tells me that as I rake in money from my t-bills.

Greedy bastards!!

"Corporate profits surged to a record high of $2.08 trillion in the third quarter of this year, even as inflation continued to squeeze workers and consumers. Over the last two years, quarterly profits have ballooned more than 80 percent, from around $1.2 trillion to more than $2 trillion.

Executives of big companies across America continue to tell Wall Street they can keep prices high or raise them even higher. As Pepsi Co. financial chief Hugh Johnston said on his company’s third quarter earnings call, “ [we’re] capable of taking whatever pricing we need.”

 

[billy backstay]

This does not surprise me in the least!!!

"Crypto as a whole is proving to be little more than a giant zero-sum game. Like NFTs, crypto’s current value depends on whether buyers believe future buyers will be even bigger suckers."

The economy's large and growing unproductive sector

Listen now | It's also where you find many of the nation's ultra-rich

robertreich.substack.com

"At this moment, for example, lobbyists for big corporations and private equity are pushing Congress for a retroactive tax break that would repeal limits on how much corporations can deduct in interest payments on their debts. (The limits went into effect this year as part of the compromise that gave us Trump’s big 2017 giveaway to the rich.) If the lobbyists get their way, the revenue loss could be about $20 billion per year, or around $200 billion over 10 years.

And who do you suppose pays more in taxes to make up for what these corpulent felines don’t pay? The rest of us."

 

[Steam Flyer]

It's the only tool they have.

The Fed cannot tax gazillionaires, only Congress can.

Although it's easily believably that the Fed would not tax gazillionaires, if they could.

 

[billy backstay]

It's the only tool they have.

The Fed cannot tax gazillionaires, only Congress can.

Although it's easily believably that the Fed would not tax gazillionaires, if they could.

Also easily believable that Congress will not tax gazillionaires, as that would be cutting off the hands that feed them.

 

[billy backstay]

Military bloat versus unnecessary misery

Listen now (3 min) | Why we're not even debating the largest defense budget in history

robertreich.substack.com

 

[jocal505]

Thanks Steamer!
.

Thanks billy Thanks @Bus Driver too.

I come to PA to sort the big picture, to try to lay out the eventful bits. To look behind the headlines, if possible.

I find satisfaction, often, in both Heather and Reich. They are aware, informed, and fulfilling.

 

[billy backstay]

The real news about the January 6 committee's criminal referral of Trump

They have an overwhelming case

robertreich.substack.com

 

[Bus Driver]

The real news about the January 6 committee's criminal referral of Trump

They have an overwhelming case

robertreich.substack.com

We all know the defeated ex-President knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal.

So, how do the Faithful defend him? Claim he was ignorant of the facts?

Maybe they could go with the "he's mentally ill" defense.

Lock him up! Lock him up!

This will be where Dog and the rest of the Faithful insist on Due Process. Something they don't feel is important when there are cries to lock up Democrats.

 

[billy backstay]

I copied and pasted since the link includes my email address.....

Office Hours: Are you concerned about a hyper-partisan Congress having access to your tax returns?​

If so, what guardrails should be put in place?​

Robert Reich

Friends,
The House Ways and Means Committee has voted to make public six years of Trump’s tax records. If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting six years for Trump’s tax records to be released. Every president from Richard Nixon onward voluntarily released his tax returns annually, except Trump.
But the committee’s decision does at least raise a question whether in this era of hyper-partisanship Democrats have created a precedent for the potential use of tax returns as political weapons. We’re only weeks away from Republicans being in charge of the House and Kevin McCarthy, seeking to become Speaker, is making deals with the far-right “freedom forum” for committee assignments. So it’s not unimaginable that someone like Jim Jordan or Marjorie Taylor Greene could become chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, currently the top Republican on the committee, said in a statement that “going forward, partisans in Congress have nearly unlimited power to target political enemies by obtaining and making public their private tax returns to embarrass and destroy them.” He was warning against releasing Trump’s tax returns but he might as well have been predicting the behavior of the House under Republican control.
So today’s Office Hours question: Are you concerned about a hyper-partisan Congress having access to private tax returns — including, potentially, your own? If so, what guardrails, if any, should be enacted to guard personal privacy and prevent abuses of power?

 

[Steam Flyer]

To repeat... this "hyper-partisan" Congress ain't doin' shit with PRIVATE tax returns.

They are publishing the tax returns of a public servant.

If I am ever elected to high public office, my tax returns are a matter of public interest. It goes with the job.

If I remain a private citizen, then yeah Congress ought not publish my tax info.

Anybody else see the difference?

 

[jzk]

If I am ever elected to high public office, my tax returns are a matter of public interest. It goes with the job.

How so? Are there any rules requiring such disclosure? Or did you just make that up?

 

[Bus Driver]

How so? Are there any rules requiring such disclosure? Or did you just make that up?

After Nixon and Agnew took bribes, the IRS is now mandated to audit the taxes every President.

The defeated ex-President and Mnuchin managed to do an end-around. The one safeguard built into that law is the power of the Ways and Means Committee to demand the tax returns.

Turns out the claims of "I am under audit" were just typical bullshit.