That’s one of the reasons I love Matt so much too. Where else in the world do you find such an honest, humble, and hard-working journalist that just never gives up until he finds the truth? Thanks Matt for all you do.
Dear Paul Edwards - I say this with the utmost sincerity. Go fuck yourself. Matt has too much class to say it but you surely deserve it. He doesn't have to justify himself to self absorbed assholes like you.
Thank you for reading my mind to some degree, Dazed. I like all the positive comments but someone had to call Paul out for either being a cheerleader of the Democrats attacking Matt during hearings or simply a product of public schools and being stripped of his critical thinking ability. Very likely both.
Paul, however you got where you are, good luck. You've got your work cut out for you
Matt your substack subscription is the best five bucks I spend every month. I recently visited Thailand and got some amazing things for $5. But, it didn't stimulate me in sustainable way and those are the best dopamine hits. 😏😜
I don’t think it is an unfair question to ask any journalist/opinion maker to put their cards on the table, ideologically/politically speaking. If one doesn’t, they run the risk of not being seen as a journalist, but rather as an entertainment orovacateur, with no core beliefs
Joe Rogan found this out with the Darryl Cooper mess-if you uncritically platform controversial guests, with no revelation of your own pov, you run the risk of been seen as a hype promoter, as opposed to a seeker of greater clarity ( seeker of truth is way too presumptuous and arrogant).
All people of all ages, but especially new adults (20’s) need to ask themselves AND be asked by their loving elders (because many young people won’t) this important question:
Q: What is your purpose?
Even if one cannot answer, planting this seed is the way forward from our current ‘winter’ season and to and towards a new ‘spring’
The answer to this question may take many moons to realize, but once you do it’s like the smell of freshly cut grass, or the scent of a new leather glove.
IMO, you can attract more people to that reality by spreading honey instead of vinegar. I will say it seems humanity’s default is the vinegar and I try to resist it on the daily (but often fall short)
You are absolutely correct. The issue is... Ultimately... I joke, but I am doing nothing, because quite honestly... All intelligent life has left this planet.
As some friends of mine sometimes point out: "Is it you, is it me, or is it the way the world is?"
This little fight journalists and the subscribers who believe in them are having in the attempt to create the truth/fact based solutions oriented national conversation that will create the unifying human reality our Republic deserves is, to paraphrase Papa Hemingway, "..well worth fighting for.." Or as Mose used to say: "Everybody's cryin' mercy and they don't know the meaning of the word."
We're in this together--sink or swim. Nobody is to blame. Everyone is responsible. Pasa las tres Amigo.
I wish I could write like Matt. His response was flawless, considerate, and no question it came from his heart. I write like Howard Beal inside a padded cell.
They know for certain not everyone can be on top just as well as they know for certain socialism has the power to bring nearly everyone down to their level.
Maybe in the spirit of the article we should play some Billy Bragg, one of my favorites from the era despite not sharing his politics. Brilliant song writer.
We’d all benefit from a fresh read of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It’s all vanity. Unless you recognize and lean into those moments in life where it isn’t. A birthday or marriage celebration, a birth, a sunset, wholesome time w/ friends and even a funeral wake. Heaven and Hell can be had in this world.
Yes sir. The other killer song on that live show is ‘Throwing Stones’. The Boys late 80’s into 90’s doesn’t get the respect it deserves. ‘Liberty’ is another one I really enjoy. It’s like the later uplifting accompaniment to ‘US Blues’
I like both of those tunes. I was fortunate to catch a version of Liberty in Dallas with dead & company I think in 2021. It gave me new respect for that tune. I draw the line though at Victim or the Crime. It's a bridge too far. But I do like mid-80s Dead. Everybody likes the era when they got on the bus. Check out 9/3/85. It's a good show. Not great, but it's great in my memory. A really good setlist.
Gee, you missed the fine decade of nuclear terror. You haven't lived if you didn't get to watch network news coverage of our Naval blockade of Cuba.
"Well, Chet and David, the Russian trawler is ten miles from our perimeter..."
"Now, guys, it's seven miles from our perimeter and shows no signs of slowing down..."
And fat little I was thinking I wanted some more oatmeal cookies because they might be my last.
It's fascinating to me that people who weren't around for them think of the pre - assassination years as being almost idyllic.
On Monday evening, November 18, 1963, a twenty six year old woman who had just moved to New York City was getting ready for bed when an unknown sniper shot her dead, probably as a thrill killing.
In the summer of 1963, Byron de la Beckwith assassinated Medger Evers. That was around the time of the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations, when Bull Connor turned police dogs on Gandhian civil rights demonstrators. Also that summer, our nuclear submarine, the Thresher, destructed in a second, killing everyone on board.
1963 was also the year the horrific dangers of thalidomide became known, too late.
I think it was the day after the Kennedy assassination that a nursing home burned to the ground, killing something like a hundred residents.
The 60’s were terrifying. People were bombing buildings. Lots of assassinations of major figures. The riot at the DNC. Other riots. Students shot at Kent State. Threat of nuclear annihilation. Nukes being tested in the desert. WW2 still on our parents’ minds. Viet Nam. High taxes. The gas crisis (early 70’s). Country felt like it was spinning apart.
I meant just the year 1960. Very different from c. 1970 (However, I will admit 1969 was damned exciting. To a pre-teen living in a safe environment, at least.)
Dude....MAGA is about changing the government to be responsive to our needs, not the needs of the Establishment.
It's taken us 30 years to get here so it's not going to change overnight.
We're not going to let the Brandon Johnson and this NY Marxist do any more damage beyond their city limits.
You embrace this? Fine...have at it...I've been in Soviet era Russia and Romania. You're not going to like the result unless your Antifa outfit is dry cleaned and ready to go in your backpack.
When the bankers and government could collude to print the wealth out from under us, they predictably started printing the wealth out from under us. This is why the Constitution said ONLY GOLD AND SILVER. Not to maximize GDP, but to stop what's been happening to us the last 50 years.
I know. The 80s. When a parent’s biggest worry was whether to let your kids watch MTV and they actually had the say on it. Now parents think their kids are watching tv but they’re online talking to predators and copying jackass dimwits.
Ignore these clowns, Matt. How did the left get so god-awful stupid? On what planet does socialism produce happier, more productive lives than capitalism.
No planet, ever. And it never will. And the delusion that it will approaches a mental illness.
Where's your evidence against capitalism? North Korea, Venezuela, Cambodia, USSR?
"On what planet does socialism produce happier, more productive lives than capitalism."
Where there's a hybrid of both. But if one is a deranged individualist, one (thinks he) likes the idea of a world filled with warlords and survival of the fittest.
A safety net is a collective action. Collective action is socialist.
Participants have have to opt-in to a collective. (Right down to citizenship, individuals can choose to join or leave.) If a corporation wants to incorporate an internal socialist system, it can do so. If a democratic government wants to create an *optional* social security system of some kind, it should be able to do so. I am not aware of true show-stoppers in the logic, but I am open to hearing of any.
yes. we can all focus on making incredibly expensive vacuum cleaners to serve consumers in a great power economy that has 30 times our GDP!!!! :) :) :)
I think he means minimal in the sense of it not being, say, a surveillance state or being a large, bureaucratic behemoth that everyone relies upon to get things done.
That too is reasonable. I believe all of those things are natural results of a state that determines its responsibilities are the economic stability and "safety net" of the people that vote for it.
How could a surveillance state not come from a state that also pays people for existing within certain parameters it must measure eligibility for?
We have a whole generation that wasn’t brought up with free speech or critical thinking anywhere near the curriculum. Now they’re grown in age but they have the minds of little children. “Give me free stuff. Make someone else pay,” is essentially their political philosophy. This is insane!
The elite rich assholes are working to make sure no one else gets to achieve. That is NOT the free market; it is crony capitalism. And they run the Democrats.
You’re a journalist and commentator. You should STRIVE (it’s hard) to be for nothing at all. Journalists report. Matt Taibbi reports through a filter of smarm esoteric humor and sarcasm and that’s great. It’s why we read. We don’t come here for the Matt Taibbi platforms and/or position papers. Fuck this guy and all like him.
As long as Matt stands for reporting the facts, to me his stance does not matter. Why does this has to be a litmus test? Matt is not a rookie that needs to prove his bonafides. He’s also a father and a husband just trying to do what he knows best. That’s his business. You don’t like what he writes? You don’t need to subscribe. We are not his editors or his publisher. He decides what he wants to write about. We can either read it or not. We can criticize it of course but not based on the content he chooses to write about. That’s his call. He is a writer after all unattached and unencumbered.
My brother in Christ, his last article about the NYC mayor candidate was almost entirely devoid of facts. He even got a free “facts” wrong, like saying the guy won the mayoral election when he only won a primary. I love Matt, but that article was pure commentary, not reporting.
You beat me to it. I'm some mishmash of old school left and libertarian. I piss people off though when i say that lax borders are not left or "far left" but libertarian. And the point is, as Bernie says, a massive grab for cheap labor.
As Bernie said, it used to be a far RIGHT scheme. Then the sanctuary cities and states built their economies on the back of illegal labor, and now they're forced to defend it and their sanctuary status.
Karen Bass just came out and said something to the effect of "The president doesn't understand how many industries rely on illegal labor"
Yeah, she just said the quiet part out loud. So many Democrats still so clueless about how the rest of us have to live. My favorite - who will clean your house? Um, i will? Is this so far out of their experience in their bubble?
The Libertarians are big on open borders though.. At least the Cato and Reason bunch. I say it's intellectually dishonest - if you're for open borders, it should go both ways - not just in but out. Like, say, i should be able to live and work in France. Leave out the reciprocity and it's just about cheap labor.
In a perfect world, open borders (still with vetting) would be a great position. In the real world, if you don't control your borders you don't have a country.
And whie we're on political tropes that piss me off, another one is the socialist "from each according to ability, to each according to need". Well who decides what on can contribute and what one needs? The individual? The government? Group consensus? The free market? You start to see the problem.
I'm working on something sort of related to this and came across an article detailing how the Oregon Liquor Board "reserved" expensive bottles of whiskey for themselves.
Some animals are just a little MORE equal, you see.
The problem is to have true open borders, you'd have to normalize the political / economic systems of all countries. Benefit systems, taxation, distribution, etc. I can't see any scenario where that could be doable and go well.
Yes and No. Certainly you would need basic rights and freedom to travel. But look at the US. In some states, you can run a weed emporium store, and in other states they throw you in prison. In some states, you can have an abortion up until the kid is 2, and in other states they throw you in jail for having one "the morning after". Some states take 105 or more of your income. Some states take less and some states don't take any. Maybe the EU is similar, I'm not sure.
The amazing part of it all is... I am old enough to remember when these same people were the party of the unions, and fought against illegal labor stealing those positions.....
Take a famous singer/songwriter who is quite anti-Trump, but does not understand how the "main character" in one of his songs has MAGA and Trump stickers on his beat-up American pickup.
Go listen to Bruce Springsteen, Youngstown, about a steel worker who wants his job back, but the steel mills are gone.
You mean.. All singer songwriters from the 60's, 70's, and 80's who have sold out to be fully lost of the plot?!?!?! I have my own problems with Bruce due to his stranglehold of fealty on the Rock Hall Of Fame which... is mostly a joke now, but Bruce is peanuts compared to some of his counterparts in the clueless department.
The irony of this comment. Who understands the black market economy better, the Queens-born real estate developer who has made a career in the trades, or the political hack who has never had to make a payroll?
The problem is.. to live in reality, nobody can ever go full small l libertarian. The difference I think (my opinion) between small l and L libertarian is the realization of reality.
Until you realize that this single act has probably created peace in the Middle East...finally.
Timing is everything and while there will be some blowback (isolated responses by rogue actors), all in all...this brings the Arab and Israeli's even closer...
Who knew that Trump was with the progressives wanting to end oppression for the Palestinian people?
I mean...freeing them from the oppressive Hamas and Hezbollah goons and their sponsors in Tehran? Epic!!
Freedom for Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Iranians in Iran? Priceless.
Like.. I mean.. Maybe... Like.. I don't know.. I only went to Harvard... Like.. I don't think I am supposed to think about such like.. hard things... I'll ask one of my.. like.. professors or something....
You are a right leaning Liberal. Like me. The issue is.. In today's world.. That means you are a fascist pig, even if the people that say that truly have no clue or concept of what that actually means. The world has gone batshit, and those of us that are still here and remember who Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro are, are just lost to all that is that very insanity of today.
I subscribe here because Matt Taibbi is a clever, interesting, pithy writer whose writings are informed by some interesting and relevant life experiences. His political positions are his own and (like mine) subject to change at any time.
Matt is the MARXIST IDIOT because a REAL MARXIST would now that the OG Free Market was the one where consumers are PROTECTED from greedy monopolies like GOLDMAN SACHS and GM.
Ya know, exactly like the OG Adam Smith explained in the Wealth of Nations.
The same Adam Smith the founders of America followed.
What a bunch of sheep in here, you all are.
None of y’all will ever have what it takes to study and learn. Y’all let emotional buzzwords keep y’all from learning the real truth of our Economic System and how the People are being turned into slaves RIGHT NOW.
Socialism isn't the primary problem, nor is capitalism. It's totalitarianism, which can occur anywhere. The main issue is that no matter what the system, intelligent psychopaths and sociopaths eventually game it to monopolize power. Because they don't give damn about anyone else but their own buddies/families, everyone else suffers. It's the dark side of the Iron Law of Oligarchy (Robert Michels).
Good reply Matt.
Matt is the absolute f---ing best. To have the modesty and humility to even air that question, let alone answer it honestly.
That’s one of the reasons I love Matt so much too. Where else in the world do you find such an honest, humble, and hard-working journalist that just never gives up until he finds the truth? Thanks Matt for all you do.
1000%. Matt’s post however brief is so, so GOOD.
Dear Paul Edwards - I say this with the utmost sincerity. Go fuck yourself. Matt has too much class to say it but you surely deserve it. He doesn't have to justify himself to self absorbed assholes like you.
Thank you for reading my mind to some degree, Dazed. I like all the positive comments but someone had to call Paul out for either being a cheerleader of the Democrats attacking Matt during hearings or simply a product of public schools and being stripped of his critical thinking ability. Very likely both.
Paul, however you got where you are, good luck. You've got your work cut out for you
Matt your substack subscription is the best five bucks I spend every month. I recently visited Thailand and got some amazing things for $5. But, it didn't stimulate me in sustainable way and those are the best dopamine hits. 😏😜
Didn't visit Thailand, take it easy
I disagree. It was a fair question.
I don’t think it is an unfair question to ask any journalist/opinion maker to put their cards on the table, ideologically/politically speaking. If one doesn’t, they run the risk of not being seen as a journalist, but rather as an entertainment orovacateur, with no core beliefs
Joe Rogan found this out with the Darryl Cooper mess-if you uncritically platform controversial guests, with no revelation of your own pov, you run the risk of been seen as a hype promoter, as opposed to a seeker of greater clarity ( seeker of truth is way too presumptuous and arrogant).
You beat me to it, D and C. Matt responded with class and inclusivity. I would have just called the guy a slaver and be done with it.
What a dumb thing to write. Which flipper do you hold your pen in?
Poor Matt. With fans like you, I'd kill myself.
All people of all ages, but especially new adults (20’s) need to ask themselves AND be asked by their loving elders (because many young people won’t) this important question:
Q: What is your purpose?
Even if one cannot answer, planting this seed is the way forward from our current ‘winter’ season and to and towards a new ‘spring’
The answer to this question may take many moons to realize, but once you do it’s like the smell of freshly cut grass, or the scent of a new leather glove.
My purpose is trying to beat reality into people. I just don't have the platform, or the UFC skills to do it.
IMO, you can attract more people to that reality by spreading honey instead of vinegar. I will say it seems humanity’s default is the vinegar and I try to resist it on the daily (but often fall short)
You are absolutely correct. The issue is... Ultimately... I joke, but I am doing nothing, because quite honestly... All intelligent life has left this planet.
Yeah. That’s doing wonders for your country.
My country has been dead for 70 or so years.
My purpose is to make American great again.
Unlike the fake duopoly and murderous state/oligarchy that is killing the world and sacrificing its poor workers on the altar of Mammon.
Jesus is back again.
And he’d be throwing out all you money lenders here in The Taibbi Temple.
"Jesus wrote a blank check; one I haven't cashed just yet"
or puppy breath...
And don't forget "Who am I?"
Actually, 'Hey Paul, go fuck yourself' would have taken less time.
That's what he did say...in so many words
because we need more of that? No, we need Matt’s honesty.
Hey Jon! Go fuck yourself. You’re right. But…sadly…you’re wrong. Thanks for playing though.
As some friends of mine sometimes point out: "Is it you, is it me, or is it the way the world is?"
This little fight journalists and the subscribers who believe in them are having in the attempt to create the truth/fact based solutions oriented national conversation that will create the unifying human reality our Republic deserves is, to paraphrase Papa Hemingway, "..well worth fighting for.." Or as Mose used to say: "Everybody's cryin' mercy and they don't know the meaning of the word."
We're in this together--sink or swim. Nobody is to blame. Everyone is responsible. Pasa las tres Amigo.
The Wheel, w/ Branford Marsalis on sax
https://youtu.be/LI-BNWaWBnI?si=oKgNdqPNbdwZctWc
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod,
Big wheel turn by the grace of God,
Every time that wheel turn 'round,
Bound to cover just a little more ground.
Excellent!
I wish I could write like Matt. His response was flawless, considerate, and no question it came from his heart. I write like Howard Beal inside a padded cell.
Very helpful. I would say you have something in common with the “neo-Brandeisians.” And Ida Tarbell.
What are you for?
"The 1980s"
Like....we can have our differences of opinion but let's also acknowledge reality. Agree on free speech and building America.
Building things it as odds with the socialist ideology. They simply cannot imagine that people go out on their own and do things.
The entire movement is predicated on dragging everyone down to the lowest level (party grandees excepted, of course)
They know for certain not everyone can be on top just as well as they know for certain socialism has the power to bring nearly everyone down to their level.
Socialism is spite and envy as politics.
A long time ago, I read that socialism is like crabs in a bucket. If a crab nears the top to escape, the other crabs pull it back down.
The Great Leveling fantasy
Oh its not fantasy. When everyone is starving, we all starve equally.
Except for the politically connected, tovarich.
The commies can't reconcile that the wealth gap in the soviet union was worse than that of nazi germany.
It's so weird to remember a time before social media, when we weren't judging everyone by, well, social media.
Well, the 80s did have The Cure. Not much else, but there’s that.
And Camaros.
And Trapper Keepers.
Yes. Real ones.
In the '80s? I suppose, as long as they were built before 1973.
They had The Smiths. They had Prince. They had Public Enemy. They actually had a lot, it wasn't all Duran Duran. Talking Heads, REM.
Please, don't tell me that a person with your handle is a fan of The Cure?! Ugh, they are the worst! The Catherine Zeta Jones of bands!
(Cover your ears and close your eyes)
Just Like Heaven is the best song of that decade.
I love lots of music. Heard some great Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass the other day.
Love the Cure. So much better than The Smiths lol (I love to debate this argument).
One of my favorite t-shirts says:
I'm No Expert on COVIC-19
But This Is The Cure
(accompanied by a photo of the band)
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirts?query=the+cure+covid-19
The Police one is hilarious too.
Well, I'd say that gauntlet has been thrown down. Let's see if anyone steps up.
Herb Alpert was awesome.
Maybe in the spirit of the article we should play some Billy Bragg, one of my favorites from the era despite not sharing his politics. Brilliant song writer.
Go listen to David Bowie, Cygnet Committee.
A long song about socialism.
As a love machine lumbers through Desolation Rows
Ploughing down man, woman, listening to its command
But not hearing anymore
They're not hearing anymore
Just the shrieks from the old rich
And I want to believe
In the madness that calls "now"
And I want to believe
That a light's shining through somehow
And I want to believe
And you want to believe
And we want to believe
And we want to live
Oh, we want to live
We want to live
Blitzen Trapper
Try:
Upon the Chain
Cosmic Backseat Education
All Across this Land
Hazy Morning
Texaco
I also love The Libertines:
I Get Along
Music When the Lights Go Out
Or The Vines:
Don’t Listen to the Radio
And of course ‘Judy is a Punk’ by the Ramones
We need a downvote button.
Sebastian Bach...
Or Ludwig Van, me droog. The glorious Ninth. Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited
--Alex, from A Clockwork Orange
Have to add Jimmy Somerville (Bronski Beat). I may be straight and white and a girl, but I'm a gay disco queen at heart! 😜
There’s a gas shortage and a flock of seagulls. And that’s just about it.
1960
We’d all benefit from a fresh read of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It’s all vanity. Unless you recognize and lean into those moments in life where it isn’t. A birthday or marriage celebration, a birth, a sunset, wholesome time w/ friends and even a funeral wake. Heaven and Hell can be had in this world.
Lovely idea and very on point. But I also like the last two verses of the entire book:
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
"Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of God..."
Yes sir. The other killer song on that live show is ‘Throwing Stones’. The Boys late 80’s into 90’s doesn’t get the respect it deserves. ‘Liberty’ is another one I really enjoy. It’s like the later uplifting accompaniment to ‘US Blues’
“Saw a bird with a tear in his eye
Walking to New Orleans, my oh my
Hey, now, bird, wouldn't you rather die
Than walk this world when you're born to fly”
I like both of those tunes. I was fortunate to catch a version of Liberty in Dallas with dead & company I think in 2021. It gave me new respect for that tune. I draw the line though at Victim or the Crime. It's a bridge too far. But I do like mid-80s Dead. Everybody likes the era when they got on the bus. Check out 9/3/85. It's a good show. Not great, but it's great in my memory. A really good setlist.
Before my time, but maybe?
Nov. 21, 1963 and before?
Gee, you missed the fine decade of nuclear terror. You haven't lived if you didn't get to watch network news coverage of our Naval blockade of Cuba.
"Well, Chet and David, the Russian trawler is ten miles from our perimeter..."
"Now, guys, it's seven miles from our perimeter and shows no signs of slowing down..."
And fat little I was thinking I wanted some more oatmeal cookies because they might be my last.
It's fascinating to me that people who weren't around for them think of the pre - assassination years as being almost idyllic.
On Monday evening, November 18, 1963, a twenty six year old woman who had just moved to New York City was getting ready for bed when an unknown sniper shot her dead, probably as a thrill killing.
In the summer of 1963, Byron de la Beckwith assassinated Medger Evers. That was around the time of the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations, when Bull Connor turned police dogs on Gandhian civil rights demonstrators. Also that summer, our nuclear submarine, the Thresher, destructed in a second, killing everyone on board.
1963 was also the year the horrific dangers of thalidomide became known, too late.
I think it was the day after the Kennedy assassination that a nursing home burned to the ground, killing something like a hundred residents.
It's been a bad world since Eden.
There was already the Cuban Missile Crisis and the March on Washington, and I'm guessing people were feeling a lot more sober by then.
You’re probably right. A decade before my time on our big blue orb began.
JFK vs Nixon, following Ike. I wasn't yet old enough to understand the world, but now it seems like it was a good moment in time.
The 60’s were terrifying. People were bombing buildings. Lots of assassinations of major figures. The riot at the DNC. Other riots. Students shot at Kent State. Threat of nuclear annihilation. Nukes being tested in the desert. WW2 still on our parents’ minds. Viet Nam. High taxes. The gas crisis (early 70’s). Country felt like it was spinning apart.
I meant just the year 1960. Very different from c. 1970 (However, I will admit 1969 was damned exciting. To a pre-teen living in a safe environment, at least.)
I hear you. I was in a safe environment too but hyper aware. Very scary times. Then Reagan was elected…
That ship has sailed.
The Rich are hogging all the resources and it’s only going to get worse.
No good jobs. No raises.
Prices go up up and up while we fucking starve.
Not Matt though! He’s got 500K subscribers now so he doesn’t have to write for that old fan base of his!
And now you know why MAGA was born.
Dude....MAGA is about changing the government to be responsive to our needs, not the needs of the Establishment.
It's taken us 30 years to get here so it's not going to change overnight.
We're not going to let the Brandon Johnson and this NY Marxist do any more damage beyond their city limits.
You embrace this? Fine...have at it...I've been in Soviet era Russia and Romania. You're not going to like the result unless your Antifa outfit is dry cleaned and ready to go in your backpack.
When the bankers and government could collude to print the wealth out from under us, they predictably started printing the wealth out from under us. This is why the Constitution said ONLY GOLD AND SILVER. Not to maximize GDP, but to stop what's been happening to us the last 50 years.
So he used to love workers, but doesn’t anymore? Sounds
Like the Democrats.
love it! I never thought I would miss the 80's so bad. but here we are. :)
I know. The 80s. When a parent’s biggest worry was whether to let your kids watch MTV and they actually had the say on it. Now parents think their kids are watching tv but they’re online talking to predators and copying jackass dimwits.
Gave you a like, but I'm thinking 1990s.
I didn’t read it that way. The 1980s were not a good time for us. We very nearly got vaporized.
love it!
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
hahahahah you win. :) :) :)
“Your feedback is very important to us.”
Get off my lawn!!
Clean up in Aisle 4!!!
Ignore these clowns, Matt. How did the left get so god-awful stupid? On what planet does socialism produce happier, more productive lives than capitalism.
No planet, ever. And it never will. And the delusion that it will approaches a mental illness.
Where's your evidence against capitalism? North Korea, Venezuela, Cambodia, USSR?
I love it when he interacts with the haters. :) It's the literary version of a great stage comic dealing with hecklers!
The “haters”. 😂😂😂 As opposed to the seals?
"On what planet does socialism produce happier, more productive lives than capitalism."
Where there's a hybrid of both. But if one is a deranged individualist, one (thinks he) likes the idea of a world filled with warlords and survival of the fittest.
A hybrid is not socialism. The Scandinavian states are capitalist, but with a safety net. Not socialist.
And it starts to fall apart once the population is no longer homogeneous. Funny how that happens.
Correct!!!!!
A safety net is a collective action. Collective action is socialist.
Participants have have to opt-in to a collective. (Right down to citizenship, individuals can choose to join or leave.) If a corporation wants to incorporate an internal socialist system, it can do so. If a democratic government wants to create an *optional* social security system of some kind, it should be able to do so. I am not aware of true show-stoppers in the logic, but I am open to hearing of any.
But, but....the Scandinavian economies/EU styled 'liberal socialism'...etc, etc
yes. we can all focus on making incredibly expensive vacuum cleaners to serve consumers in a great power economy that has 30 times our GDP!!!! :) :) :)
Lol
CHINA.
They are literally kicking Americas Economic Ass with the GREATEST TECH and Development.
Y’all are fucking idiots who cling to emotional buzzwords instead of learning what Classical Economics is.
Working on your social credit score?
China stole a LOT of intellectual property from the US, and is continuing to do so.
They didn't invent iPhones, but make a lot building them.
Sure, I'd love to be programmed as a cog in a giant machine! Probably would want to lop off the correct chunk of my brain first, though.
Metropolis. 1927(?) Fritz Lang science fiction movie.
Not a way to run society.
Nice regurgitation.
So what I read here is minimalist government, maximum individual freedom. What did I miss?
I thought that was just my libertarian bias coming through.
Some people believe "minimalist government" includes a cradle to grave welfare state and voluntary work for people born within it.
I am not suggesting that is Matt's definition, but we need to be clear on what minimal is.
I say, minimal government is the legal system that gives everyone a fair chance based on their abilities.
OK, there can be a safety net - but not a hammock for those who won't work.
Many seem to believe the welfare state that currently exists, which spends 65% of all tax receipts is hardly a net, let alone a hammock.
I would suggest that the only eventuality to the safety net is fraud, abuse and collapse.
Rats in a cage will do cocaine till they die.
I think he means minimal in the sense of it not being, say, a surveillance state or being a large, bureaucratic behemoth that everyone relies upon to get things done.
That too is reasonable. I believe all of those things are natural results of a state that determines its responsibilities are the economic stability and "safety net" of the people that vote for it.
How could a surveillance state not come from a state that also pays people for existing within certain parameters it must measure eligibility for?
There is support for welfare programs, including universal ones along with being against big, corrupt business ala monopolies like Goldman Sachs.
We have a whole generation that wasn’t brought up with free speech or critical thinking anywhere near the curriculum. Now they’re grown in age but they have the minds of little children. “Give me free stuff. Make someone else pay,” is essentially their political philosophy. This is insane!
Sounds like the RICH ASSHOLES bleeding the “Free Market” while doing NOTHING productive for America!
Then there’s this asshole.
Jonathan - it must suck to just be a plain old ASSHOLE instead of a rich one.
The elite rich assholes are working to make sure no one else gets to achieve. That is NOT the free market; it is crony capitalism. And they run the Democrats.
You’re a journalist and commentator. You should STRIVE (it’s hard) to be for nothing at all. Journalists report. Matt Taibbi reports through a filter of smarm esoteric humor and sarcasm and that’s great. It’s why we read. We don’t come here for the Matt Taibbi platforms and/or position papers. Fuck this guy and all like him.
Underrated comment!!
Overrated suck up.
Underrated comment about a comment!
…and the horse he rode in on.
You speak for us all eh? Read the comments on the last few ATW episodes?
As long as Matt stands for reporting the facts, to me his stance does not matter. Why does this has to be a litmus test? Matt is not a rookie that needs to prove his bonafides. He’s also a father and a husband just trying to do what he knows best. That’s his business. You don’t like what he writes? You don’t need to subscribe. We are not his editors or his publisher. He decides what he wants to write about. We can either read it or not. We can criticize it of course but not based on the content he chooses to write about. That’s his call. He is a writer after all unattached and unencumbered.
Jesus. You’re reading an entirely different Matt. Cool.
Well I must disagree. There were a lot of facts.
My brother in Christ, his last article about the NYC mayor candidate was almost entirely devoid of facts. He even got a free “facts” wrong, like saying the guy won the mayoral election when he only won a primary. I love Matt, but that article was pure commentary, not reporting.
06/25/25: This isn't a "perturbed" reader. It's a (seriously) disturbed reader.
For whom in their right mind would so rudely, crassly ask such a question(?):
"Have you become a convert to fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory Capitalism?"
No one. Sorry, pal, wrong number.
I think they need to stop giving patients on the 8th floor at Bellevue Hospital in NYC internet access.
06/25/25: Actually, the guy who sent this deranged message to Matt invented the internet. His name is Albert VO5 Hogbath Goresoros, III.
You are not alone, Matt.
You're almost a libertarian (small "l" variety).
Most Americans are small l libertarians.
Until you gore one of the sacred oxen.
You're not a real libertarian until you're called a fake libertarian by other libertarians.
Splitter!
Hence the lower case 'l'. The 'L' kind get high on their own supply.
That’s why they’re into libertarianism in the first place, no drug laws.
Or offer them free stuff in exchange for votes.
that's the "small l" part
You beat me to it. I'm some mishmash of old school left and libertarian. I piss people off though when i say that lax borders are not left or "far left" but libertarian. And the point is, as Bernie says, a massive grab for cheap labor.
As Bernie said, it used to be a far RIGHT scheme. Then the sanctuary cities and states built their economies on the back of illegal labor, and now they're forced to defend it and their sanctuary status.
Karen Bass just came out and said something to the effect of "The president doesn't understand how many industries rely on illegal labor"
Yeah, she just said the quiet part out loud. So many Democrats still so clueless about how the rest of us have to live. My favorite - who will clean your house? Um, i will? Is this so far out of their experience in their bubble?
The Libertarians are big on open borders though.. At least the Cato and Reason bunch. I say it's intellectually dishonest - if you're for open borders, it should go both ways - not just in but out. Like, say, i should be able to live and work in France. Leave out the reciprocity and it's just about cheap labor.
Worse than that!
Congresswoman (D) Becca Balint actually asked: "Who's going to wipe our asses"?
Ugly. I missed that one. But if it's not a raise, a counter - Jasmine Crockett. Black people are done working in the fields. We need immigrants.
I'm embarrassed for them, but they're oblivious.
In a perfect world, open borders (still with vetting) would be a great position. In the real world, if you don't control your borders you don't have a country.
I wrote about this a couple years ago:
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/if-borders-are-imaginary-why-should
And whie we're on political tropes that piss me off, another one is the socialist "from each according to ability, to each according to need". Well who decides what on can contribute and what one needs? The individual? The government? Group consensus? The free market? You start to see the problem.
I'm working on something sort of related to this and came across an article detailing how the Oregon Liquor Board "reserved" expensive bottles of whiskey for themselves.
Some animals are just a little MORE equal, you see.
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/10/oregon-liquor-officials-exclusive-access-rare-bourbon-whiskey-scandal-investigation/69890552007/
The problem is to have true open borders, you'd have to normalize the political / economic systems of all countries. Benefit systems, taxation, distribution, etc. I can't see any scenario where that could be doable and go well.
Yes and No. Certainly you would need basic rights and freedom to travel. But look at the US. In some states, you can run a weed emporium store, and in other states they throw you in prison. In some states, you can have an abortion up until the kid is 2, and in other states they throw you in jail for having one "the morning after". Some states take 105 or more of your income. Some states take less and some states don't take any. Maybe the EU is similar, I'm not sure.
The amazing part of it all is... I am old enough to remember when these same people were the party of the unions, and fought against illegal labor stealing those positions.....
Take a famous singer/songwriter who is quite anti-Trump, but does not understand how the "main character" in one of his songs has MAGA and Trump stickers on his beat-up American pickup.
Go listen to Bruce Springsteen, Youngstown, about a steel worker who wants his job back, but the steel mills are gone.
You mean.. All singer songwriters from the 60's, 70's, and 80's who have sold out to be fully lost of the plot?!?!?! I have my own problems with Bruce due to his stranglehold of fealty on the Rock Hall Of Fame which... is mostly a joke now, but Bruce is peanuts compared to some of his counterparts in the clueless department.
They still claim to be for the unions somehow.......
Cosplay with hardhats.
Only the paper pusher unions. Those that actually build stuff are deplorable
The Government unions, now.
That's a great point. They are solidly behind those.
The irony of this comment. Who understands the black market economy better, the Queens-born real estate developer who has made a career in the trades, or the political hack who has never had to make a payroll?
I think he knows exactly how many industries rely on it!!
Oh no not cheap labor!
The problem is.. to live in reality, nobody can ever go full small l libertarian. The difference I think (my opinion) between small l and L libertarian is the realization of reality.
The big-L libertarians hate the small-L's for being weak kneed and not true believers. Sound like anyone else you can think of?
I read all about it this weekend for being skeptical about bombing Iran.
Until you realize that this single act has probably created peace in the Middle East...finally.
Timing is everything and while there will be some blowback (isolated responses by rogue actors), all in all...this brings the Arab and Israeli's even closer...
Who knew that Trump was with the progressives wanting to end oppression for the Palestinian people?
I mean...freeing them from the oppressive Hamas and Hezbollah goons and their sponsors in Tehran? Epic!!
Freedom for Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Iranians in Iran? Priceless.
Like.. I mean.. Maybe... Like.. I don't know.. I only went to Harvard... Like.. I don't think I am supposed to think about such like.. hard things... I'll ask one of my.. like.. professors or something....
We can steer Hard-L libertarian for like two decades before we'd have to re-think strategies.
When "who will build the roads" is the biggest problem around, I'll consider going back to the Democrats.
You are a right leaning Liberal. Like me. The issue is.. In today's world.. That means you are a fascist pig, even if the people that say that truly have no clue or concept of what that actually means. The world has gone batshit, and those of us that are still here and remember who Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro are, are just lost to all that is that very insanity of today.
I subscribe here because Matt Taibbi is a clever, interesting, pithy writer whose writings are informed by some interesting and relevant life experiences. His political positions are his own and (like mine) subject to change at any time.
That’s getting better than 98% of the flipper clappers here.
Matt, you’re the best!
Doesn't exactly take a titan of intellect to infer what a person is "for" based on what that person is against, Paul.
“fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory capitalism”
Said the Marxist idiot. Not worth replying to. Even in NYC.
Matt is the MARXIST IDIOT because a REAL MARXIST would now that the OG Free Market was the one where consumers are PROTECTED from greedy monopolies like GOLDMAN SACHS and GM.
Ya know, exactly like the OG Adam Smith explained in the Wealth of Nations.
The same Adam Smith the founders of America followed.
What a bunch of sheep in here, you all are.
None of y’all will ever have what it takes to study and learn. Y’all let emotional buzzwords keep y’all from learning the real truth of our Economic System and how the People are being turned into slaves RIGHT NOW.
May you find the same happiness and ending as Che Guevara
Cope harder.
Way to go! You get the Dumb AND Dumber Award!!
"OG"?
Socialism isn't the primary problem, nor is capitalism. It's totalitarianism, which can occur anywhere. The main issue is that no matter what the system, intelligent psychopaths and sociopaths eventually game it to monopolize power. Because they don't give damn about anyone else but their own buddies/families, everyone else suffers. It's the dark side of the Iron Law of Oligarchy (Robert Michels).