Norman Greenbaum:
What is life
George Harrison:
Let’s work together
Canned Heat:
Happy Hour: Ornette Coleman – Peace …
https://youtu.be/bJULMOw69EI
Panhandle Slim… Art for Folk…
Today in clueless old white morons
Guest’s gun discharges at Waldorf-Astoria wedding
Where’s the real populism?
Molly Ball at the Atlantic on Hillary Clinton’s announcement speech:
Here are some things Clinton didn’t say: She didn’t directly call for higher taxes on the rich. She didn’t directly blame Wall Street or financial deregulation for the economic crisis. (In fact, she mentioned Wall Street and banks just once in the speech.) She didn’t say, as Warren frequently does, that “the game is rigged” against ordinary Americans. She didn’t mention the gap between rich and poor at all, and her two mentions of inequality (both quoted above) were indirect. CEO benefits and hedge-fund salaries weren’t directly attacked, but used as a point of contrast. Rather than rage against the perfidy and greed of the rich and powerful, as Warren routinely does, or insist that economic villains must be punished, Clinton posited that a better economy could lift all boats—that under her policies, “everybody will have a better time.”
This may seem like a subtle distinction, but it’s at the crux of the economic debate on the left. Economic liberals like Warren, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and economist Joseph Stiglitz believe inequality is structural, the result of rules and policies that benefit those at the top. The other side—centrist Democrats like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Delaware Governor Jack Markell, and John Delaney, a Democratic congressman and former financier—prefers to blame the wealth gap on globalization and technological advances.
There are, after all, two ways to fix inequality: You can lift up those at the bottom—or you can bring down those at the top. The centrists think you can narrow inequality just by lifting those at the bottom, by hiking spending on social programs and infrastructure. They believe addressing inequality doesn’t necessitate raising taxes, reining in big business, or punishing greedy CEOs. But the Warrenites think you can’t fix the problem unless you do both at once—lift those at the bottom and bring down those at the top.
Stiglitz—a Nobel Prize winner, former World Bank chief economist, and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton—explicitly argued the case in a speech at the National Press Club last month, at an event hosted by the Roosevelt Institute and headlined by Warren and de Blasio. “What are the underlying drivers [of inequality]?” he asked. “A lot of people say things like globalization, technology. But those things, globalization and technology, are global.” Yet the United States has by far the lowest equality of opportunity of any advanced country, he said. “What does that tell us? … It’s about policies—policies and politics.”
Continue reading “Where’s the real populism?”
Pelosi credits activists for stopping trade deal
But of course, the fight continues tomorrow. Stay tuned:
The way House Speaker John Boehner structured the process along with the Senate, all three bills had to pass or else the entire package would not advance. (If you’re a gambler, think of it like a three-item parlay bet.)
Progressive Democrats who oppose fast track feared it would pass with mainly Republican votes alongside a small number of Democrats, but they sensed an opportunity on the must-pass trade-assistance bill—since relatively few Republicans would back the legislation, it would be much easier to kill by withholding Democratic votes. And if trade assistance goes down, so too would fast track.
Continue reading “Pelosi credits activists for stopping trade deal”
Blind spots
When they used to give me personality tests for sales jobs, one of the weird things I learned is that I have really high sales resistance. This is odd, because sales people in general are the most susceptible to a sales pitch, and some employers expressed concern that I was lacking this trait. But they hired me anyway, and it all worked out.
Maybe it’s the ADD. Maybe I’m not really paying attention, or maybe I just have a more accurate bullshit detector. (Except with men, but that’s another story.) I’m not a joiner, and I’m not much of a true believer. A mutant, I guess. What I do hate, however, is bullshit. One of my friends said to me, “You’re such a Hillary fan, you’re always defending her!” and I got really mad. “No, I’m defending the fucking truth,” I said. “If you want to go after her on policy, fine. But not this media-driven personality bullshit, or these fake scandals.”
I can’t say it any plainer: The media is our enemy.
I know you think you know all about Hillary Clinton, because the media’s been attacking her for a couple of decades now. (And if Bernie Sanders starts looking like a real threat, just watch what they do to him.) Don’t underestimate the power of all the loaded language the media has been feeding us for so long; it’s subliminal. They’ve convinced us she’s a monster. She’s not.
People tell me, “I don’t have to pay attention to the media to know that Hillary Clinton is (fill in the blank).” But here’s the thing: Where do these ideas come from? Your opinions about her had to come from somewhere, right? Do you actually know Hillary Clinton? (I don’t know her, although I know some people who do.) In America, we think we know the people on our teevee. (I was always fascinated to read interviews with actors who played soap opera villains, because they describe how people come up to them on the street, yelling at them and even hitting them.)
I can’t find the link now, but there was a story a few weeks ago about an expansive Republican program to tear down Clinton on social media (especially Facebook) by feeding an endless stream of negative stories into the newsfeeds. The reason I don’t write about all of this is, there aren’t enough hours in the day! The stories are very cleverly selected, because they’re so nuanced, you’d have to be a political junkie like me to know how misleading they are, or all the background material that rebuts them. And your eyes would glaze over if I tried to explain them, anyway.
And frankly, I’m tired of it. I go onto Facebook for the jokes and kitten pictures, not more work.
I hope I have enough credibility with readers that you understand if there’s a real scandal, I’ll let you know.
TV Hillary is not Real Hillary. The media is not your friend. Pay attention. Build up your sales resistance.
I don’t care who you vote for in the primary. But if Hillary Clinton ends up as the candidate, it would be really helpful if you didn’t pass along Republican smears.