You are such a good writer, Matt Taibbi. AS a total Hillary wonk and asshole Democrat in 2016 (I do have my reasons, climate change is the main one) something fundamental has shattered this year. I'm not sure when it happened, when I left one room and entered another - now I can't unsee it. I don't want Trump again in 2020 but I also don't think the left, as at exists today, what it is, what it represents, should not be allowed to take power either. Censorship, puritanism, fear - that's all on the left. Journalists will not tell the truth about anything now for fear of being fired. I just saw an entire community of linguists -- LINGUISTS! Coming together to target one of them who referred in the past to some skepticism on subjects of race and rape. We've lost our minds. I've been a democrat all of my life but whatever is going on with us - we need brave voices to confront it. Thanks for being one of those.
If policy issues are not decided the way you like, or personalities get elected whom you find distasteful, you live to fight another day. These things ebb and flow.
But if we lose our civil liberties, they're gone forever, and our future is in clutches of malevolent forces we can never hope to control, at least without massive bloodshed.
You correctly note that "censorship, Puritanism, and fear" are all coming from the left. Respectfully, you need to follow this to the logical conclusion and vote for the lesser evil that leaves you free to fight another day.
The promotion of "Censorship, Puritanism, and fear" is what is driving me nuts. Even in my workplace this is an issue. It's an international company with many worldwide offices and there is a very small noisy group trying to impose those things on the company as a whole.
We had a big blow up because one office had event services provided by a "problematic company". The issue was raised by someone in a different country who often uses their protected status to shout down more reasonable voices in the company.
The concept of censorship/Puritanism is just foreign to me. In the early 90's music artists fought against this, even so far as winning a Supreme Court case. Then by the late 90's the internet reached the mainstream despite being "anything goes".
Part of why I like Matt is that I don't agree with everything he says, but he provides content that is outside of the now homogeneous views of media. However, there seems to be a rising number of people that want that homogeneity, perhaps because their ideas can only stand up in that structure.
I can relate to this so much. I was part of the left that defended the piss Christ against NEA defunding. But the fear to have a different opinion or a contrary one - or that thoughts are threats to some sort of utopia - that anyone who is offended by something means that thing is offensive and must be dealt with.
I’m neutral of piss Christ being funded by tax payer dollars (eh, not a tragedy if it isn’t, but so what if it is?)
What I object to is the idea that Mapplethorp would have been deplatformed and dozed by the mob and then had clients or customers cancel showings or events because he had “problematic”.
I kind of feel like the NEA should serve at the pleasure of the taxpayers in aggregate. But if a gallery wanted to show piss Christ and then the outrage mob mobilized to silence him globally—that is abominable to me. And I feel like that’s were we are headed.
I was a liberal in the 90s because I saw the religious right as the major threat to civil liberties. Now the left is the major threat. I will vote accordingly.
It's a two-party system. If A has become dangerous to liberty, you need to vote for B to stop it. Anything else is a cop out.
I was a liberal in the 80s, turned conservative in the 90s and early 2000s, now I'm just all over the map. But as a general rule I'm always going to vote against the folks advocating censorship, NewSpeak (I resent the effort to redefine words in order to piggy-back on our previous emotional understanding and experience of them as much as anything), political violence.
What turned me conservative in the 90s started with encountering a non-trivial number of leftists in college who were big on redefining words so nothing could mean anything, silencing speech they disagreed with, opposed the teaching of any kind of history that wasn't through a lens of western and patriarchal oppression etc. I had considered myself a liberal, the idea being the free speech and free expression was sacrosanct, not an obstacle.
Having seen this new side of "liberalism", over the next few years I changed my mind and embraced conservatism and the Republicans and in the past decade have regretted that. And I still don't care for the career politicians in either party for the most part--but will voting only for politicians with a reasonably clear support for free speech, free expression, equality under the law (not regarding church attendance and progressive protesters differently, for example) and a respect for the democratic, rather than hyper-emotional revolutionary, process.
The religious right continues to be a threat. Sex Ed in many schools now is abstinence-only, despite a sky high rate of teen pregnancies. The teaching focuses on slut-shaming GIRLS, primarily. More than 26 states have made #BDS ILLEGAL!! There are several lawsuits against them for this reason. Our 1st A rights are being trampled on....and, in regard to #BDS, it is coming from the right, primarily...the Israel Lobby, specifically! #USSLiberty!
I agree with that but I was just making the more general point that the left used to stand up for freedom of expression. Now, everything is being filtered through the offense lens. Does it reflect the utopian ideal or doesn't it? Shocking how easily people have gone along with this.
I tend to think of it as the people who stood up for freedom of expression were also mostly the people who were liberals. One of the biggest problems that used (as regards our tendency to identarianism and identifying with large ideological groups) as we—as humans—see patterns in the randomness. There is little inherent in left or right that dictates they would also embrace or eschew freedom of speech or be repelled by censorship. Which is why I think you are right—align with those who embrace specific ideals not a particular ideological label. And always be suspicious of those claiming the moral high ground, left or right—they are almost always coming for your rights!
“Piss Christ” was an art project that stirred national debate over what is and is not art and further led to major $$ cuts st the NEA. I was way younger - hated the work (not a Maplethorpe fan to start) but i believed giving an artist public funds does not give the government control of the art.
Maplethorpe did not create “Piss Christ”. The artist was a man named “Serra” or “Serrano” or something like that. The controversy over Maplethorpe’s photos was a different one, as was the dung-filled painting of the Madonna. All had NEA implications, though.
When you look at the level of execution of Renaissance painters, it far exceeds most of today's art. Not to say there aren't things to like about some of today's art. There are also hyper-realist painters and sculptors who'd blow your mind. The competition not only with other artists, but with technology makes this a pretty hard gig. Of course, anyone who can get a wealthy patron will be sitting pretty, so yeah, money talks.
Photographer Andres Serrano did the Piss Christ. He was big on a lot of controversy, though I'd say not nearly as good in technical talent. Maplethorpe's controversial stuff was related to gay/naked portraits and one self portrait with a bullwhip in his ass. However, the vast bulk of his work was mainstream acceptable and with superior skill (I was a fan in art school). I remember one of the NEA controversials was Karen Finley, a performance artist who stuck a yam up her bum as an allegory to rape. Of course, any politician would have a field day with chopping up the NEA after that.
Interested to know thoughts of an art student on the work of those artists? Im a clean slate not sure where i stand. As i said if the govt is going to use tax $ to fund the endowment i lean toward this doesnt come w the right to control what constitutes art. should they have a say? Should/do artists have to submit proposals to apply for $?
This is how fascism takes root and grows into "labor camps" and pogroms.
Germany didn't start off gassing Jews... they sort of grew into it after being divided and driven by fear and self-righteousness.
To them it was all a "new" way of governing and for the first few years, (before Poland was invaded,) people rejoiced to be looked after by such a far-reaching and "effective" new system of national socialism.
You mention this to even Jews that can't see past the NYT propaganda and get blank stares.
Yup. History doesn't repeat exactly but it sure does rhyme.
"If policy issues are not decided the way you like, or personalities get elected whom you find distasteful, you live to fight another day. These things ebb and flow.
But if we lose our civil liberties, they're gone forever, and our future is in clutches of malevolent forces we can never hope to control, at least without massive bloodshed."
^^^^^THIS
That's where we are as a country. The lunatics are willing to let it all hang out at this very moment. It's not going to get better for those of us who are timid, not willing to step out of our comfort zones. You know what they call those kind of folks? Casualties
The bloodshed is here, just not on a huge scale--but it's coming. Don't put your head in the sand
I’m writing in Tulsi Gabbard because I know my state will go Trump so my votes are protest votes about our options.
That being said, I want to see Trump win—because I’m seeing that as a bellwether for how generally the new love of censorship, deplatforming, circumventing democratic process, hostility to reform, and complete abandonment of even the simplest of journalistic principles by the vast majority of the media ... is going over. My sense is if it doesn’t matter that much to most Americans, we get Biden. If it’s as important to them as it is to me, we get Trump, even though he is as awful as an avatar for democratic norms and honest and open dialogue. There is no ideal outcome that I can see, so I hope for what I imagine will be the best indicator. And if it doesn’t happen that way—I Hope I’m wrong and we embrace honest journalism, facts, and democratic reform once again.
Tulsi Gabbard is indeed one of the few sane voices in the cacophony of woke politics. But the left, with its everchanging and evergrowing criteria of wokeness, will never admit to its ranks a nuanced, independent thinker and doer such as Ms Gabbard. For all her unswerving loyalty to Mr Sanders in his times of crisis, the way she's treated by him and his fanbase is shameful to say the least.
Agreed, alas. Still, of all the choices, that they picked Biden is fascinating. I thought Trump was a poor choice. Apparently neither party can pick the reasoned (or just kind-of-normal candidate). Not that I miss the Mitt Romneys or John Kerrys that much.
Thank you, Pavan. I agree. She should have run under the Green Party. What US Americans get is what they want. We could have Jill Stein as president. We could have Tulsi Gabbard, but the Duopoly will never permit a good president to be in the White House. Our country us run by the Pentagon, big corporations, big pharma, the bankers, but especially the MIC. God forbid we ever have a peacemaker.
Sasha, I empathize with everything you wrote. I think a lot of Democrats are having an identity crisis right now. What broke me was when violent riots were described by the media as "mostly peaceful protests" -- an Orwellian lie -- and vandals demolishing public property (a felony) were described as benign "protesters" apparently engaged in public service. I had never considered voting for Trump or any Republican until now.
Sasha, let's try and change both parties by changing the people we elect. Both parties have few good people. The Founders could not have foreseen how despicable politicians would become.
There are two aspects of these protesting "vandals". First, is rage against continuous racist oppression as seen in the murder of Black people by police; second, is the very real occurrence of false-flag attacks by agent provocateurs. The latter is very real, which I know from personal experience during the 60s. COINTELPRO has not gone away.
The simple truth that you are now seeing is that the Left has always been a totalitarian movement, but it just takes time for them to acquire sufficient power over the instutitions of a society so that they can feel comfortable "taking off the mask". The Left haven't "lost their minds" and there is nothing unusual "going on with [them]" --- they are following the exact same program of totalitarian socialist advancement that they have been for your whole life being a Democrat. They are now simply further advanced into their program of totalitarian control than they were previously. That is the next thing you have to see if you want to understand what is going on.
Yes, I've slowly come to this realization. I remember debating your exact point 25 years ago, with my best friend's 'rabidly right-wing' brother - I thought he was an outrageous fascist. Oh dear. I see things very differently now.
They've already successfully taken over almost every aspect of life here in America. Infiltrating our education system--Check. Infiltrating our Government--Check.
Question is...what are we willing to do about it. Elections aren't enough
I have tried lately to see other points of view, since I grew up being taught to hate all conservatives, for instance, just on principle. That has gotten much worse in the past decade. Now that I have broken out of that I have understood more why there are opposing viewpoints. I don't want to belong to any tribe that tells me how or what to think or believe. So I've tried to figure out - what matters and what doesn't. What is worth fighting for and what isn't. I know what I'm seeing now is something I think is dangerous - a kind of puritanical mass hysteria of the Salem kind. I grew up in the 80s under Reagan and I didn't much like that either. I have a fairly bleak world view overall and especially of humans. I care about the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef, the plight of honeybees, large mammals. But if we're headed for a great mass extinction is there any stopping it? I don't know. Honestly, I just feel lost.
That is interesting. You say that you "grew up being taught to hate all conservatives, for instance, just on principle". Think more about what that implies about the philosophy and general mentality of those who were teaching you. Ask yourself, is it *normal* healthy behaviour to teach a child/adolescent to reflexively hate this (quite innocuous) group of people? What type of person would operate that way? What does it say about their approach to personal thought, freedom of conscience, and power?
Re the Reagan era: The Soviet dissident Yuri Bezmenov defected to Canada in the 1970s, and during the Reagan era he was frequently interviewed about the process by which communists subvert and destroy the norms of freedom in the West. You can watch videos of his lectures on YouTube. He explained all of what is happening right now about forty years in advance, and noted that it is an inevitable result of a couple of generations of Leftist control of the universities. (The only thing he got wrong is how long the process takes; he underestimated the time it would take for the Left to get to this point by about a generation.) So for at least forty years, we have had a clear explanation of the present process, straight from a defector with intimate knowledge of this form of social subversion.
THANK YOU! I direct EVERYONE i know to these YouTube videos and ive been hoping that Matt would comment since he is an expert on Soviet politics. Its chilling that the timeline outlined by Bezmenov has so far aligned with what has been happening in this country. Even though most people are prob unaware of the strategy and its origins many sense we are reaching a critical mass and it will be too late to recover. This would contribute to the increase in firearms sales. At the end of the day whats left to do? I try not to get hysterical about it but everyday brings with it another level of insanity that leads directly down the path he describes
I hope you realize there's no more Soviet Union and KGB and the horror of living in that atmosphere, which was an aberration of communism because leadership all over the USSR was ignorant and appalling. That's all gone. Russia is a capitalist/democracy/ socialist country. I was recently there and it's a far more pleasant place to live than our insane country. I have been in thirty-some countries and the most strife-free, and completely non racist is Cuba.
First off - when did u travel to Cuba? Since they eased visa restrictions im sure. I would try to educate you about Cuba but anyone who thinks the KGB no longer exists is living in a mindset i would like to have. So long as Putin is president, which will be until he dies - at this moment they are trying to change any ‘law’ for term limit. President for life = king or dictator which does not equal any of the above.
My fathers family FLED Cuba because of the cruelty, death and terror inflicted on ANYONE who disagreed or even blinked at the thought of dissent. and Raoul has made sure it is sanitized. Cuba is one of the poorest countries in the world.how far were you outside of Havana? Im sorry but you will find that ANY Cubans who became AMERICANS still become enraged at the mention of the name Castro. Family members who did not get out were “disappeared” or cut off from the ability to make a living OR to access most of the country’s GREAT BENEFITS.
People can be leftist (or embrace many leftist or at least center-left ideals) without also embracing totalitarianism. Just as being Christian conservative doesn’t mean that person embraces theocracy.
I don’t have a lot of interest in the debate as to if the left is always totalitarian or the right is always fascist, somehow. It’s the wrong focus. Rather, is totalitarianism ever a good idea? No. Is fascism ever a good idea? No.
There are elements of the dominant ideological culture (the left, in America, for most of my life) that are always going to be totalitarian and fascist but not always in charge. And not always deep within all of the country’s institutions. The power-brokers of the left and right have always wanted complete control of the press in order to shape narrative—now, one side actually had it. And it is awful to behold.
In any case, I’ll take a strong Blue Dog Democrat with sincerely held convictions over the vast majority of politicians—of both parties—whose only concern is their own political fiefdoms.
So has the right so you never had a choice. The left/right distraction is the new religion. The conservative movement was started to preserve feudalism and it has succeeded.
I think you make a good point about it being more of an unmasking rather than a momentary lapse of reason. Having come from India, where we have some of the last true enclaves of rabid Marxists (in Kerala and West Bengal), I can see where all this is headed.
Your logic about 'the left' is specious, incoherent, unsupported, and silly. The very heart of the left comes out of the enlightenment in an unalloyed belief in the Individual: the Individual as Fundamental to civilization. Greed/power-head players of the political game, right or left, have always corrupted the clear, simple, achievable concept of the lefts' Individual-- the average person elevated to a personal sovereignty allowing honesty and the means with which to think. These ideas on the left are alive and well. You beer can William F. Buckley's make me tired.
Your description of "the Left" bears no resemblance to any self-described leftist movement of the past two centuries. The Left have driven collectivist movements from outright socialism and communism, to the modern incarnations of identity-politics, etc. You appear to be living in a universe where "left" is some pure Planotic conception unsullied by the activities and practices of actual leftist movements. (Adding pathetic insults on top of this adds nothing but demonstrating that you substitute name-calling for analysis; and posting these juvenile insults without your full name makes you a coward.)
My name is albert richard lewis. You are not coherent. this is not an ad hominem attack on you. you are not coherent in either comment. you are a sad shadow of crypto-fascist types personified by William F. Buckley--without all that baggage of reasoned argument and making an actual point. But you express that point of view in sloppy generalities. Your profoundish generalizations are unsupported, fatuous. ALL political programmes--left, right, whatever-- have failed and have ended in tyranny. Why reserve pointing out failures of the left? Learn from this, and don't waste time on another snappy reply. Read up on anarchy, for instance. Much anarchy holds that no one--individual, state, church has the right to impose any decision on any individual. that is an outrageous demand of the left--in service of individuals. Anarchist insist that the burden of proof always is on the powerful as basic. Enough. The End
"This is not ad hominem", followed by a stream of juvenile taunts ("crypto-fascist", "sad", "shallow"). If you are going to spew your bile on the internet, at least learn to capitalise proper nouns and the first letter of each sentence. This is grade-school stuff.
You speak for many. Old Dem here who wants nothing to do with the Cultural Revolution. I know Berkeley professors who foresee the dunce cap for faculty whose commitment to social justice is judged wuestionable.
I'm an Independent. What's left of the sane Democrats, and I'm really not sure what that is because all leadership has failed the maibstream US during this crisis, panders to the radical part of its base. Center Democrats get dismissive form letters about social justice, and the warriors are going to push Old Joe around, using him as a stalking horse. He's given little sign otherwise. And who will be his vice president? Daily the so-called mainstream Democrats are getting on the guillotine wagon. The Republicans, interested in deregulation and lowering taxes for the rich, appear to have been mass anesthetized. Do they give a damn?I wish someone normal would run as a third party, but that won't happen.
Oh wait! Cheer up - Kanye is entering the race! Because we cant have one election without a SNL skit. If he actually runs How does it effect the votes? On another note - is it now acceptable to have a First Lady with a silicone ass and a sex tape on the internet? Wow.
How do "ratings" diverge from democracy. Both are the will of the people. The only issue with immediate reaction is one's knee get jerked a lot. But not to worry, government is incapable of reacting quickly enough to respond to "polling" or ratings.
Sasha, the non-Trump, “non-left in its current form” alternative is a certain independent senator from Vermont. A man with whom I only probably share 10% of beliefs but who is honest. A man so consistent it gives one headaches see him saying the same things today he said 30 years ago. That alternative was destroyed. The smear campaigns sponsored by American corporate machinery were ruthless and echoed by Twitter and the axis NYT/WAPO. But to your point, I find it alarming that we have appointed Jack Dorsey and other billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg the arbiters of truth.
Indeed. Only in America would the revolution be sponsored, coordinated, and fueled from corporate headquarters and “mind-blowingly” privileged billionaires. The guys strangling the workers are now the revolutionaries and the unemployed, strangled class at the bottom is providing boots on the ground to loot and destroy small businesses.
I know this is way too late but I just subscribed today and I'm scrolling back through time. And this was a fantastic comment to a fantastic article, it's exactly where I find myself. I have been screaming against all things Trump for the last four years and want nothing more than for him to lose. But boy the Democrats are working hard to push me in his direction (won't happen). It's so nice to see that not everyone in my country has gone insane.
An increasingly valid argument for voting FOR Trump, I hate to admit, is that a Biden win will immediately turn the government over to the deep state. The Russiagate hoax will be buried and the Epstein/Maxwell case forgotten.
What the left is telling you is that this will continue as long as Trump is the president. They want you to believe that it will all end if Biden is elected. I am not sure that is true though.
A Biden victory will turn the entire executive branch over to the deep state. This may be the only reason to consider voting for Trump. Well, actually, he can also be credited for not starting any new wars, and for trying to negotiate with the Taliban and pull at least some troops out of Afghanistan-- until Congress shot him down, and NYT printed a bogus story about bounties to kill Americans.
I guess your really wanting the reparations train, total choas, and AOC, to be in charge of the government. Because if you vote anything else but Trump, that's what's likely to happen. Personally, I'd like to see the people who brought about the whole Russia-Gate story pay...because that was a BS lie progagted on the country.
Are you cool with the administration who gave us that, coming right back into office?
Why would going back be better after all that has been shown to be a lie and blatantly criminal behavior? You think this country elected Trump to go back to business as usual? We already tried that, and it didn't do any good for anyone but the super wealthy.
I'm curious to know what exactly you think is a catastrophe with Trump? No new wars and putting an end to the free trade while the rest of the world slaps tariffs on our exports sounds like a pretty sweet deal. You think this country wants to get rid of our borders and let anyone come and go as they please? How is that even a country anymore?
I would be willing to bet that you could be dishonest and confused enough to mistake all the noise and chaos that the media and the Dems are causing in their attempts to destabilize Trump for actual bad behavior or blame on his part. Take away all the media smears and constant pearl clutching, along with the insane attempts to lie and cheat to overthrow a POTUS and undo an election, and all you are left with is a very boring and uneventful presidency that has accomplished many of its promises, and actually got stuff done despite it all.
You might actually have a legitimate grievance on some or all of his policies, but given the language you choose to use, I seriously doubt it. The only catastrophe is for the deep state Dems and free trade oligarchs who want to sell out this country. If you're one of them, then too bad if it's catastrophic. You ain't seen nothing yet. It's just going to get worse the more you gnash and snarl like an insane cornered animal.
You call Obama's presidency 'blatantly criminal", and me dishonest, confused and "gnashing and snarling like an insane cornered animal" because I used the word catastrophe? A bit over the top, even for a Trump supporter. Obama rescued the country from complete collapse, took a first stab at fixing our broken health system, strengthened our image abroad and narrowed the budget deficit when the economy recovered. And he did that without anything like the arrests and scandals of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump pretends he stopped immigration by building his imaginary wall, pretends he created this economic miracle when all he did was inherit a great economy, pretends he saved us from the coronavirus when we are of course the cautionary tale of what not to do for the rest of the world, and pretends he's restored our place in the world when the rest of the world looks at us with a mixture of horror and pity. The only good thing I can say about Trump is that he's lazy and spend almost all his time watching Fox, tweeting nasty insults and insane conspiracy theories, and golfing. Because he's incredibly stupid and a genuinely terrible human. If he were also diligent he could really wreak havoc on the country.
Look, I'm an Obama Democrat who is increasingly concerned with the direction the party is going in. I would love to have a viable Republican option. Bush wasn't my cup of tea but I'd take him in a heartbeat over Trump, and I'd probably vote for Romney or any number of other Republicans. But the stink of Trump is strong and until that is swept from the stables I'm stuck looking for the least worst Democratic option.
Calling the most uneventful first three years of a presidency since Carter a catastrophe betrays not only your blind partisan hatred, but your colossal stupidity as well. Trying to blame Trump for something everyone is struggling with only shows that even if there were one death you would be screaming bloody murder.
Your Obama fan fiction rewrite of history leaves out so many key things and completely falls flat when it comes to getting wrong the few things you were able to scribble out.
Obama didn't save anything from collapse, the economy recovered and stabilized automatically due to the myriad of safety net programs and shock absorbers we have baked into the system and haven't been yet dismantled by the neolib Dems. And not even attempting to hold a single banker accountable for the massive and pervasive fraud that they perpetrated on the entire world just ensures that it will happen again when the helicopter QE cash from the Fed stops shocking the markets back to life like an insane defibrillator.
Obamacare was simply a big fat stimulus and bailout for the insurance industry, so anything less than universal single payer is exactly what we always had and always will have without it: a complete waste of money and a huge scam to fatten the insurance company dividends.
Strengthening our image abroad doesn't mean letting every country in the world dump all of their exports for free here while slapping our imports with fat tariffs to protect themselves. The only image that was improved was our reputation as rich suckers who paid twice as much for half the product.
Your foolish insistence on proclaiming how great he was with the deficits completely misses the point. Deficits and the debt only serve to scam the rest of us into believing that the USA is broke and can't afford to pay for anything better than Obamacare or actual welfare and minimum wage programs. But somehow we are able to always find an extra couple trillion to throw at the pentagon or Wall St whenever they want. Obama perpetuated the lie and the scam that the USA is like a household or business that has to go out and earn or borrow money. It doesn't. It is the only one who can issue US dollars, and the only function that taxes serve is to make everyone hold and use US dollars to settle the tax bill because that's the only thing the IRS will take. Taxes only give the dollar its necessity and value. The only real constraint on the generation of US dollars is how much productive capacity the economy has and can handle. He deliberately chose to let Main St. starve and go homeless while Wall St. got bonuses and bailouts. And taking our couple of wars he started with and then turning them into 7 while completely obliterating Libya and letting ISIS run riot over Iraq and Syria couldn't be any better for the pentagon, but worse for the world and especially the ME. So our standing was crap, and no amount of charm and eloquence by our dapper Obama was going to fix that.
And to actually point to all the fabricated and concocted scandals born of all the media and Dem lies and crimes of Russiagate as some sort of proof of his being a bad POTUS just proves my point. The only catastrophe and scandal is how an outgoing administration can make Nixon and Watergate look like a cub scout rally by sending the FBI and IC to spy on the opponent's campaign and then use that as a pretext to cripple the administration and attempt to bring it down with a bogus witch hunt. Pointing to the scandals and fiascoes that were a direct result of Obama and the Dems' lies and crimes doesn't prove Trump is a catastrophe, it proves that my point that the Dems and media have been after Trump since before he was even elected, and he never stood a chance. But they still failed to take him down, and he still managed to keep a great economy and stock market. Only the complete lockdown of the country was able to ruin it, and there was never any question of what road the Dem mayors and governors were going to take, was there? Never mind the fact that we caused for more damage with the shutdowns than we could ever fear to pay in actual lives lost, that good economy had to go so Trump could be defeated in November.
Spreading vicious lies and staging a phony coup to take down the POTUS is one thing, but to put the Dem goals of ruining Trump's economy ahead of our welfare as a country really sealed the deal. The Dems aren't just a political problem, they are a clear and present danger and nothing less than a domestic enemy. And with the double whammy of riots and pissing all over our history and spitting in the faces of every American telling them how evil they are, the question then becomes: why would we want to vote for a bunch of crooks like the Dems who not only threw our economy under the bus to take down Trump, they tell us how evil we all are and how much they are going to wreck what we spent centuries trying to build. No sale.
IDK. Many establishment dem governors have done so well that states such as NY literally killed tens of thousands of nursing home patients by sending COVID patients there. It has nothing to do with the president or the legislature.
Given the fact that absolutely no one handled the virus better, that is an absurd claim to make. The only ones that can be said to have reacted better are the Swedes, who avoided most of the self inflicted economic damage and societal disruption while still having lower per capita deaths than Belgium, Spain, Italy, and the UK.
Speculating about the woulda coulda shoulda is quite stupid, and effortlessly easy to do. Maybe you should try speculating how things would have turned out if Kennedy didn't get shot, or if Armstrong's lunar lander crashed and burned. That might actually be interesting, and it would be just as based in reality as your establishment speculation.
You mean the same Obama (for whom i voted) who also circumvented the Constitution, And LOVED govt takeover of: communications, all modes of transportation from highways to ports to airports, all power/electrical gas etc, public storage, all health education and welfare systems, designating Postal svc to operate a national registration of ALL Persons, relocation and establishment of new locations of populations raising pay for judges - very handy strategy to buy the judiciary (more than 2 of these orders). In essence authorization of complete govt control of ALL sectors. And if you think the The new left wont take advantage of these think again.
PLEASE READ (why do we have to tell people now to READ). READ Obama executive orders. I didnt say he did those things - i SAID he signed the EOs into effect which leaves the door open for others to do those things. WTF is wrong with people who cant stand facts, dont read and then run their mouths with ridiculous replies. READ READ READ
I know this is way too late but I just subscribed today and I'm scrolling back through time. And this was a fantastic comment to a fantastic article, it's exactly where I find myself. I have been screaming against all things Trump for the last four years and want nothing more than for him to lose. But boy the Democrats are working hard to push me in his direction (won't happen). It's so nice to see that not everyone in my country has gone insane.
Not all is lost yet! To all frustrated with the state of affairs on the left and on the right, please consider joining the plan put forth by the Bret Weinstein of the Evergreen fame at https://www.articlesofunity.com/ More can be found on his Dark Horse podcast on YT
The "left" is more "right" than moderate Republicans we all hated were in the 80s and early 90s.
Giant corporate banks have been dancing on the backs of the poor more than usual in the last 20 years and it shows: a lack of decent paying jobs, GDP tied directly to profiteering money-shuffling and outsourcing even TECH jobs is killing us slowly while the elected shits all dance to the fiddles being played on Wall St.
I voted for Obama twice... without being aware that they were gutting the country's manufacturing worse then NAFTA.
As much as I hate Trump, the ONE thing I can stomach is his stance toward the CCP. They're ruthless thugs with deep pockets full of dirty money and they've built their entire global empire on slavery.
I've been warning people that what comes after Trump, if the ruling class isn't a bit more honest, won't be pretty. Whether it's this leftist monster that Taibbi writes so eloquently about, or a right wing response reminiscent of centuries passed, I fear I wasn't wrong.
It is the Democrat-Republican dance. The both blow bullshit constantly (Culture war, so-called scandals, etc etc etc), never dealing with the job of finding real solutions to problems that matter to we , the people. Fuck em all.
I was so hopeing Trump had set a trap for stat line jumpin ANTIFA....instead he got the only US ckitizens due reparation s...fresh from the pipe line wars
The last honest man in America. Thanks for taking the gloves off Matt.
I’m a man of the left whose never really got any goose bumps when they raised the flag or played the anthem, but I’ve found myself defending America to many wealthy white liberal friends who are dripping in the spoils of the American Dream. If I’m the most patriotic person in my circle, we are in deep shit.
My white guilted friends will defend any crime or lie in the name of racial justice. Just don’t ask them to do anything except cheer on the madness and confess their white privilege.
Whatever short term political benefit that might come from letting the radicalized left run roughshod over the ideals, however aspirational, of America, will be more than negated by the grave harm being done to the nation’s history and free speech. To say nothing of the backlash soon to come from the half of America and the police being demonized as racists on every organ of the mainstream press. This backlash will make the Trump era seem like lovely walk through ignorant bliss.
Tucker Carlson is the number one watched show and earned the highest rating ever for a news host last month. And the only corporations that will advertise on his show are My Pillow and some silly office chair spine healers. That should tell you everything you need to know about the disconnect between elites and the masses scared shitless watching this cultural riot insisting everything is up for grabs.
Thanks Matt for using your platform to call bullshit on this madness. You are a national treasure.
It’s a dialectic capture or a dialectic hammer. Call it whatever you like.
Carlson is one of the people that discusses the issues afflicting the working class (although he does so from the aesthetic to the right). This is why he has such high viewership and such poor corporate sponsorships.
The elites need the left and right to stay the way that it is. Mitt Romney isn’t marching with BLM or supporting Biden because he cares about black people or working people: he needs to support the status quo.
Here Is an example of how the dialectic hammer work:
1) Education. Do we have a capitalist system? No. Do we have a socialist system? No.
The left comes in and says every single person in this country irrespective of ability, interest, income or societal need should be able to go to whatever university they want and major in whatever subject, irrespective of cost. The federal government guarantees the loans and universities can charge whatever they want irrespective of whether the borrower can eventually pay the money back. The “not for profit” universities can pay tenured boomer professors and administrators six and seven figures with obscene perks and transfer the cost to the student, who in turn transfers it to the public. If the student can’t pay it back, the public eats the cost. This is why education is the fastest rising item in the US today. Side note: the costs and defaults are spectacular, but we don’t have an honest picture because of programs like income based repayment that allow borrowers who otherwise can’t pay back their loans to pay a percentage of income as the balance of the loan grows.
If you aren’t down with this arrangement, your favorite very well compensated leftist administrator or tenured professor will summon his or her arsenal of identity politics fire power to let you know that there’s absolutely no way we can interfere with this instanity because a member of [fill in the blank protected group] wouldn’t go to Harvard medical school but for this program (never mind the legions of people attending no name universities staffed by ivy grads that are paying for degrees that will cripple them).
Now for the right. The right doesn’t focus on the fact that the universities are robbing the public coffers blind, oh no, there’s no care for fiscal responsibility here.
The right is just there to make sure the kids remain in permanent debt peonage and hammer the point “personal responsibility” over and over and over, never mind the fiscal catastrophe of writing blank checks to institutions governed by self interested actor. Trump’s Secretary of Education is notorious for this: just making sure borrowers can get out of the debt (even using legal means such as public service forgiveness programs).
The dialectic hammer at work. In this instance, the beneficiaries are leftists (professors and administrators), but for the con to work you need the tag team of the worst aspects of the left and right to bring you FASCISM.
There are people on both sides of the spectrum that can solve this problem by giving you real, solid and honest reforms, both on the right and left. For example, David Yang has a total command of this issue on the left and Carlson understands it from the right, but there’s no chance of either having any real power to do anything.
Great commentary overall. If I can add one insight: We push people to go to college with a narrative of long term financial incentive, and we offer many of them short term incentives to do so. (e.g. do you want to live with your parents for the next four years or come to college on a loan?) But at some point you push past the group that benefits from a college education and are giving people who would be best served by vocational training (skilled manufacturing, welding, etc) degrees that leave them suited mainly for social activism.
So basically, we're paying for the indoctrination of an entire generation to become social critics of the current system, and now we're surprised when they engage in social criticism and the activism we encouraged them to go learn.
But the military option doesn't indoctrinate people ? LOL !! This is very amusing ! So in essence your brilliant plan is to send all the poor kids into the military and trade school so that the children of the elite can go to the elite schools and continue to exploit the poor by both blood and treasure ? LOL !
That's the very system we have now ! Are you people CIA assets ??
It's not about rich or poor, it's about the right fit for the individual. Poor people with high IQ should be identified and put into the right course of study at a top school, and final job path. Rich and poor people with average IQ should be given a great career path that fits them. It may be coding, it may be welding, it may be high tech skilled manufacturing. But what we shouldn't do it push a person who can't handle a management job or an information economy job into college for the sake of having "a college degree" that doesn't change what they are best suited for. I'm all for keeping the rich who don't merit the spot from getting a pass into a college.
By the way, it is well known at this point that the actual education of college changes your income by +2-3%. It's primarily the selectivity of top colleges that affects their student's life outcomes, not what they teach them. Reverse that and "going to college" isn't what makes people successful.
Peter Thiel makes the excellent point that if the value in a Harvard degree was the actual instruction, then we could pay Harvard massive amounts of money and have their instruction provided online for everyone to consume. The value isn’t the instruction, it’s the selectivity and the network. The education has very little value there or elsewhere. It’s not practical.
The reason poor kids who to Harvard succeed is because the network advances them, sometimes. You get an opportunity to work for the institutions that control the country if you go to Ivy League schools because the rich send their kids there. The rich kid gets to pretend to hes competent because he goes to Harvard by pointing to the fact that poor people that went with the rich kid to Harvard, by and large, also become rich. However, the poor kids will actually have to compete in the real work place and TEACH THEMSELVES the skills required to succeed. If they can’t, they are really screwed, much more so than if they didn’t go to a place like that.
If you exclude the rich kids from the Ivy Leauge, it has no value. Rich kids want self esteem and a network. Poor kids want money and a network. You need both for the fraud to continue.
A real solution is getting back to practical skills, especially for the poor. Imagine if they taught martial arts the way they teach crap at university . Some asshole writing the moves on board, you memorizing the moves and then taking a test regurgitating it, without ever seeing how anything actually works in practice. The analogy would be bar brawl. If a rich kid with such a “martial” education stepped into a bar and a biker with no formal training but 500 street fights attacked the rich kid, the rich kids private security could handle it (and the analog to privy are security in the economy is a trust fund). A poor kid armed with such an education is going to get the shit kicked out of him. If the kid has natural gifts, speed, strength, endurance, etc., then he or she would learn how to fight in ten or so brawls and then be able to defend himself with the practical experience.
A better system is that the poor kid goes to a real Brazilian jiu-jitsu school and learn how to fight outright (military).
99% agreed! The poor kids who go Ivy don't just get a network, they also have talent. But, beyond the selectivity, as you say the schools' main benefit actually provided is network rather than the education.
And what about rich people with low IQ ? You know, the ones that go to Ivy league schools right after daddy or grandpa donate a few stolen millions ? Saying this isn't about rich or poor is what makes it funny. We all know about the economic draft set up by the elite into the military that gets poor kids killed and makes West Point grads rich and powerful.
Who do you think will choose which kids go to college and which ones go to trade school ? IQ is a horrible measure of character and especially of emotional intelligence.
You're just creating another hurdle to trip up kids who are at that stage immature to begin with naturally. The brain isn't fully formed until about 25 on average.
Barring kids from college due to some bs and incomplete standard like IQ is just wrong. Education is good for anyone that is willing to learn period. This whole BS social engineering by inbred elitist sociopaths who feel it's their birthright to exploit every aspect of everything having to do with life is what needs to go.
So does this consume for the sake of consumption BS economy that only drives more war and exploitation by the so called elite.
Right, but without the rich kids the degree is worthless. That’s a contributing factor as to why millions of people can’t find employment. The education at 99 percent of universities is theoretical. Theoretical education is the province of the aristocracy, that’s never going to change.
Barring kids from college that aren’t rich or absolutely brilliant is a fabulous idea.
I think I said "I'm all for keeping the rich who don't merit the spot from getting a pass into a college," but I guess we should check the record.
"Education is good for anyone that is willing to learn period." I don't think taking a differential equations class is good for someone who won't understand differential equations. But we can agree to disagree.
I suppose it’s a superior plan to send the poor kids to the elite schools, heavily in debt them for the privilege, and then not only do the rich kids continue to exploit just as if the poor kids went or didn’t go, but the poor kids have no tangible skills to get out of the trap and are pwned for life.
Oh and of course, a handful of poor kids will be given some parasitical function in the decaying institutions of this country, so the rich kid can pretend his or her success is due to attending an elite university, not inherited wealth (college admission scandal anyone?).
We can also see how much harm these elite Ivy league schools have done around the world and to society as a whole. I think all elite institutions should be shut down until an ethics review is done and a board made up of citizens reviews them. Look at WHINSEC for example. They've killed more people than 'ol Adolph the butcher ever did and are still at it !
> The left comes in and says every single person in this country irrespective of ability, interest, income or societal need should be able to go to whatever university they want and major in whatever subject, irrespective of cost.
It is, at best, a hyperbolic cartoon of an actual goal of the American left, namely: ensuring free, public higher education is available.
No its a true statement. Academia is run by the left. Specifically, it’s run by the tenured faculty and administrators, who are very well compensated and mostly exempt from market forces. The only market force is whether or not the kid can get into a school and if said kid wants to attend. If those conditions are met, the feds cover the costs and the kid functions as a student loan conduit between tax payer and academic institution.
Yeah, they advocate for free public education because then there will be no price controls. Right now, it’s possible some kid might say to themselves maybe this 250k BA in philosophy is going to hurt me, let me rethink it. Of course, in the vast majority of circumstances, friends and family will quickly assuage all concerns and tell said child that an education is critical success, attending the highest ranked school no matter the cost will pay off, and he or she doesn’t have to worry about anything. But there are (and increasingly so) kids that are looking at the price tag.
Who on the left is arguing for PRICE CONTROL of any kind (market or government)? Very few people with power. I can see why they not only want a blank check but a clandestine one as well, and that’s “free” public education.
Of course, if the right did it’s duty, it wouldn’t allow these institutions to do this. No private actor is going to lend a kid 200k for a BA (or even a BS) from no-name U, and to be honest, maybe not even the elite schools the way things are going.
This is why the cost of education has gotten so out of control.
This is 100% correct. Every time I have run into someone bemoaning their crippling student debt, I ask the same questions:
1) What did you major in?
2) What were your grades?
3) What were the lower cost educational alternatives?
4) Did you consider post-graduation job prospects when making all these choices? If not, why not?
Invariably - and I mean, every time - they cannot justify the expense they undertook for their educational program. The most I have ever gotten is "Nobody told me."
Here's a simple plan to fix collegiate educational cost:
A) A sliding scale of borrowing based on course of study. If you change courses of study from, say, accounting or finance or pre-law to gender studies, you can borrow less. Doesn't mean you can't take those courses - just means you have to pay for it.
B) An overall capped amount of borrowing - if you want to exceed that, your parents or - wait for it - the school has to agree to be your co-signer.
C) Corollary to that...students who default on their obligations - and the default rules have to be stricter than they are now - are backstopped by the parents and/or the school. The school benefitted from the easy federal cash - let the school eat the loss.
If Harvard and its enormous $41 billion endowment wants to teach "Pre-Determined Gender Roles in Underwater Basketweaving", let them, but the public should not have to pay for that. I don't think the public should have to pay for any of it, but the resources should be funneled towards students willing to learn marketable skills rather than political activism.
That’s mostly right. The key is making the institutions accountable, which making the universities co-sign the loans is the absolute best way to accomplish the goal of accountability.
Ultimately, I don’t care if it’s a right market based solution or a leftist oversight solution (as long as controls are put in place to avoid regulatory capture).
The personal responsibility argument though is dangerous. Here’s why: the information on what major is useful and what major is not useful just isn’t out there. For example, you mention prelaw. It’s not common knowledge but being a lawyer is not financially lucrative for the vast, vast majority of lawyers. Lower middle class and middle class families, especially immigrants, just do not have this information. If a poor kid tells his or her family that he or she read on the internet that going into debt for a law degree doesn’t make sense anymore, you can bet dollars to doughnuts the kid’s family is going to excoriate them for listening to nonesense. When the kid graduates 250k in debt and can barely eek out a leaving, the right wing personal responsibility crowd is going to take him or her to task, but the end the result is the same: the institution gets the money without being held accountable.
Years ago law students sued law schools for providing misleading employment statistics. In one case, a federal judge dismissed the case against one specific school on the grounds that the kids could reasonably rely on the representations of the school. The judge acknowledged that the school did lie, but the kids were naive on relying on the representations, and they should most lawyers don’t make much anymore (I can provide a citation if you are interested). Now, I’m not for bailing out lawyers, but the law schools got to the keep the money and the tax payer got shafted and the graduates got shafted. (The founder of the law school in question is entitled to a state guaranteed pension of 450k a year for life FYI.)
By way of another example, and Tucker Carlson discusses this all the time, there is absolutely no shortage of STEM graduates. Zero. The tech companies with outsourcing and H1B1 visas have made sure of that. Moreover, if you find work as an engineer, by 40 you’ll be unemployable.
I predict that finance is eventually going to be impacted as well. The only reason it’s not being impacted right now is the children of the very wealthy are going into the financial sector as a means of establishing connections and satisfying their ego, and for that to work, you have to pay everyone a high compensation so that we can pretend the game isn’t rigged. Eventually though, market forces are going to come to bear and your average ivy finance grad is going to have problems. (Why I do I have to pay a 22 year old kid with no experience 85k-200k right out the gate when thousands of kids are graduating ivy schools with finance backgrounds year in and year out?)
My point being that personal responsibility is relevant and bailing out people for being naive is a problem, but that has nothing to do with letting wolves feast on the naive to fleece the general public.
I yield on pre-law. Fair enough. I saw years ago a NY Times article about people emerging from lower-tier law schools with $250k in debt who were unable and unwilling to pay it, saying they were "hoping for a bailout in the age of bailouts".
I graduated from business school with $200k+ in debt. It took me a very long time to pay it all off, but I did. That was my choice and my responsibility.
Ultimately, I could not possibly agree more about the key being blocking the wolves from feasting on the naive and fleecing the general public. College costs have exploded because there is too much free money available to subsidize college. The colleges - as the beneficiaries of the loans - should backstop the loans. I cannot respect anyone who says "Eliminate student debt" who refuses to look at the cost side.
Also galling is the concept that only those with debt should be reimbursed. The video when the dad asked Elizabeth Warren "My daughter worked two jobs to pay off her debt, and so did I. Do we get our money back?" and Warren mockingly laughed at him and said "Of course not." I saw a pretty left-leaning political commentator say "I chose to carry my student debt and spend money on vacations and cars, etc. I have friends who were more frugal and saved so they could pay it off, denying themselves things I chose to enjoy. Should they be penalized for paying down their debts? Should I be rewarded for choosing not to do so? That seems wildly unfair."
That's why I'm raising my kids with the idea to understand debt. If you want to go to college, do something with your life first, like the military. It's what I did and graduated with 0 debt.
However, I've always told them that people will need plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics, roofers, until the end of time. Apprentice under someone, then start your own business. You can be as busy or lazy as you want...but choices have consequences.
Absolutely. My biggest regret is not joining the military. In a fascist system, and we are a fascist country (capital and the state has merged), the military is the best institution to give you real and practical skills.
It’s truly unfortunate that poor people with above average (but not extraordinary) abilities view the military as a bad option. If you have a 3.5 High school gpa and an SAT score in the 75-90th percentile, unless you come from money, the military is almost certainly going to be a much, much better option than going to an average college (irrespective of major).
You've provided zero examples to substantiate your initial claim, instead made further claims about what your imaginary version of "the left" believes and does. This is not argumentation, it's delusional ranting.
> Who on the left is arguing for PRICE CONTROL of any kind (market or government)? Very few people with power.
There very, very few people on the left in power in the US at all, but let's set that aside to address your ill-informed main point.
There are abundant examples of free higher education in other countries, notably western Europe. There, staff salaries and tuition fees (if any) are generally strongly regulated if not set by the state. If you took the time to…ahem…educate yourself on this, you'd find that the status quo you've invented in your mind palace is not remotely rooted in reality.
It doesn’t matter what people on the left who have no power advocate for. David Yang discusses these issues in depth, but he has no power. The American left is controlled by neoliberals, until that changes the dialectic hammer continues.
There are right wing solutions to this problem advocated for by libertarians on the right; for example, if the student loan program was eliminated in its entirety, the price of education would crater. If that happened though, the boomer-commie professors that are gourging themselves on federal tax dollars wouldn’t be able to live the life of the top one percent, while indoctrinating our youth that this fascist system is a capitalist system.
The American right is controlled by neoliberals as well so what's your point ? Libertarians can never understand that the "free market" is a fairy tale and that markets are political constructs. We get to choose how society is ordered and by which rules it operates, not some pixie dust magic BS invisible hand.
You wouldn't need a loan program if education was free and you wouldn't need insurance if healthcare were free.
The only reason they're not is it helps keep the elite the elite. Let's not forget the "right
wing war monger" professors that would be out of jobs as well.
Heres some REALITY There is nothing wrong with meritocracy. The US Constitution guarantees the right to the pursuit of happiness. I’ll explain: this DOES NOT mean ur guaranteed happiness or wealth or whatever u think it is the lunatics you think are so caring are promising you. It means...anyone can WORK for it but the OUTCOME is NOT Guaranteed.
If ur under 30 and making under 50k a year it explains why UR...ahem...delusional and Alice is ur next door neighbor. Thats a reference to a book by Lewis Carroll (in case its been banned).
I’ve worked too hard to pay 60% tax on my income (not unheard of in EU countries, Serbia for one. In FACT it ranges from hi 30s to 60+). As an undergrad i worked THREE jobs one of which was RA which does not leave time to sleep. Guess what? i didnt make enough to pay my tuition but i made TOO MUCH to receive grants. I come from a working class widowed single parent family. I WORKED my way up to the income i EARN now and with taxes have probably financed the equivalent of several 4 year degrees and a couple of master’s.
In “free” education countries as it is here, one must also pay property tax. And tax on EVERYTHING ELSE. Make no mistake there are PLENTY of poor and working class families in EU who will NEVER be able to send kids to college. Why? Because they need everyone in the family to work. Go live in northern england or Spain.
The grass is always greener - you would know that if you actually earned anything You have. BTW - heres another fun fact - several “free” education countries require a certain term of public service. I wonder how many americans would be clamoring to GIVE something for the PRIVILEGE of an education.
I have to add some obligatory points, namely this, Europe, the US and the West has a very parasitic class of uber elites that pay nothing in taxes, dont work (or if they do work, the work is harming everyone else), and they are bailed out consistently by the remainder of the population. Right now, half of the United States is out of work and the Federal Reserve is printing money to keep the apex of the society intact, while giving a finger to everyone else.
This is particularly absurd when viewed in light of the tax code that dramatically favors investment returns over wage income. What risk are these parasites taking when the central banks bail their ass out and everyone else gets the finder with increased inflation and instability.
They have these fools on the left burning down working class neighborhoods lol, as they remain exempt from everything in their palatial estates on the coasts, it’s ludicrous.
Agreed. Not one mention of the overall cost of the MIC that has to kill or oppress entire regions to justify its existence. Very self serving and devoid of long term solutions.
The military security complex is a very serious problem. Maybe the most serious. The beneficiaries are right wingers, but if you want to tell me the American left doesn’t support it as well, with these humanitarian missions, lol...
I believe thE left wants everyone to have access to free education but It is completely unrealistic to think it will be any school any degree. In the end it will be quota based on what is best for the system. The history courses they deem relevant, STEM programs, trades etc all quota based. Want to study philosophy? Okay 1% of all applicants can but only at these schools and limited to these courses. Engineering? 7-10% at these schools etc. Degree requirements as we know them will change.
No one on the left with any real power is advocating for this.
In any event, this has its own sets of problems:
1) Measuring someone’s ability by how many resources their parents have to pay for private tutoring for standardized exams that don’t translate into real skills, is a waste of resources and potentially unfair in its own ways.
2) Once again, price control. I don’t see why the government needs to write massive checks to institutions without price control.
3) Are we making these determinations when someone is 18, 22? I know students that did extremely poorly in college because they weren’t mature enough in high school to do the work, but kicked ass in college, and went to super elite graduate programs as a result.
4) The marketability of certain degrees is deliberately misrepresented to mask the real problem: labor surplus. There is no STEM shortage. Zero. There is an army of foreign labor doing this work for peanuts. Leftist: you aren’t down with anyone coming here to do the work for half of what an American is willing to do it? Racist. Rightist: You want to restrict the free market from importing or exporting labor wherever aggregated capital sees fit? Commie.
5) Related to 4, what about the curriculum? They don’t teach. They don’t want to teach practical skills and most of them don’t. When does this change? If you centralize power in the state even more, the same people who want t safe and secure incomes (faculty) will do everything in their power to stop you from making meaningful changes to the curriculum.
But yeah, your proposal is better than what we have now.
Your statement does seem over reaching in terms of left’s proposals (eg Sanders) re public funding or anything/anywhere goes acceptance policies. Maybe it’s more accurately stated as a plausible slippery slope. Won’t argue with your other points. It’s a racket as it stands.
Yes, indeed, he’s definitely a corporatist. Corporations love his fifteen minute plus rants on how we need to reduce the supply labor, end the H1B1 visa program, how China is a slave shop that the corporations are using for cheap labor, how college is a scam for the rich, etc.
He’s very popular. That’s why he has plenty of corporate sponsors.
He's just another trust fund baby of a propagandist who has to pacify his audience every once and a while in order to feed them their medicine when he's told to. You actually believe he has no corporate sponsors ?
I've found myself the same with often extremely wealthy white friends that would be aghast if you made any broad brushed assumptions about them. Often times there is an extreme hypocrisy and projection involved, and many "normal" people are beginning to notice it.
Indeed. He is a corporate pro propagandist. That’s why he fights against what corporations find most important every single night, namely globalization and labor surpluses.
He’s advocated for primaring nine Republicans senators that didn’t want to end the H1B1 visa program during the pandemic. When I think about corporations, I think of institutions that want to pay more for labor...
*VERY LONG POST* Here is a true story of just how toxic and insidious this ship of fools has become. Its no longer a situation that will die down so we can have a national conversation about real or perceived harms, real objectives and even more real solutions.
I am a GenXr. My niece is a millennial In her mid 30s and ER nurse in a major NYC hospital. She has 2 boys, the oldest is nearly 4 the other almost 2. Their father is Haitian. They All live together in a stable very middle class Town in northern NJ. She was raised in a close knit middle/upper middle class family. She and her peers grew up in the time of trophies for all, a tidal wave of cultural diversity, PC rhetoric and “teach to the test”education. This kid NEVER cracked a book. Ok she read 2, some Zane novel and the Diary of Anne Frank because i bribed her. Her first career goal was to become a welder.
Eventually she decided to get a degree in nursing and with “help” succeeded and is amazing At her job.
Suddenly when BLM movement started this woman who i love became a radical loot, burn, tear it down, rabid system hater. She took the boys to protest marches. Racism is the cause of all ills. No wait its police brutality. No no its slavery. No its trans-rights, immigrants, Trump, corporations. Around mid June she, her partner, a friend of the family And i started talking about the rioting. R and i were having a conversation and i was asking how he felt. Did he feel that he was targeted by police, or discriminated against in employment etc. his answer? Sometimes, i suppose. He seemed to think it was mostly on the individual but that there were some questions as to the targeting of black men by police. I asked him for his ideas about change. My niece said if she wasnt pregnant she would be out there looting and setting fires too.
As days went on and the topic came up she decided that since the 2 of us dont agree we should no longer discuss it. I agreed. I didnt realize she meant that i wasnt allowed to discuss it anywhere anytime in any venue
She posted on IG things that represented her view. I dont have FB and recently dropped off Twitter. I check Insta a couple of times a week mostly to see local stuff and hockey related nonsense. Occasionally i post a pic usually of the boys or some quote or idea that resonates - two nites ago it was something from Thomas Sowell.
A friend stopped by my house yesterday to see how im holding up. I was confused. I told her “im fine why?” She proceeded to tell me i have basically been kicked out of my family.
this post was representative of everything i have posted about Recent events except on Twitter where i felt myself getting down in the ooze with the rest of the tyrannical socialist deckhands. Shes not on Twitter and wouldnt have seen any of those angry posts.
The point is - what has happened in my family is happening to the country. Agree or be cancelled but if you relent its still not enough because if you’re white (without bi-racial kids) or a cop you are part of the system You are a racist. You have white privilege and must beg forgiveness for your color renounce your history, culture and ur very existence. wrongs(???). No matter how logical or fact-based the response. You are an oppressor and you, everything you think, read, and know, every bit of american AND world history must be destroyed. Meet the new boss.
I read the manifesto White Fragility and i can honestly say i have not seen a book that better exemplifies the liberal takeover of the American public and private education system paired w the “everything you say do and feel is completely appropriate because someone made you feel that way” Style of parenting. If you do not validate me i will throw a temper tantrum and since you don't want to feel guilty for working to give me everything I want or need (except a good kick in the ass) or for NOT giving me everything i want, you will agree to anything or I WILL CANCEL YOU.
It is a steaming pile of shit.
Combine with the deepLy infected Political boil that has taken 2+ generations to burst Open. we failed to lance it during Bush 1, then again Clinton prologue, Bush 2 and YES even Obama 1 (i think we’ll see the Mrs in the next administration) so we are left with societal gangrene.
I keep asking what we can do instead of ruminating and venting - i wish someone could give me an answer. Ive lost my family and as i sit here on Independence Day i cant help but wonder who and what they’ll come for next. How many families are experiencing something similar.
Im open to listen and learn but I will not apologize for the color of my skin, my education or opinions. I will lose everything before that happens. Patrick Henry had it right.
*If it matters My sister and i are Cuban and grew up in a low income household headed by my widowed mom.
Thanks for your rant - right on target! Here's another long comment. For the "what can we do?" stuff - I've been a social and environmental activist since early 60's and I've thought long and hard about how we, the people, can survive what's being done to us - - we must stick to our principles and do what we can politically, of course, BUT, what we really need to do for our survival is become more independent, more self-reliant in our own lives so we are not so totally dependent on corporations' for our existence - - this includes growing some of our own food, even city people can do some of this, and living more lightly on Earth - - lowering living standards to minimum so don't need much money, getting out of debt - file bankruptcy if necessary - so we're not laden with that burden - and, like you, sticking to truth even if shunned by family and some friends. Some people have to set the example for others - as Matt Taibbi does. I used to be city but now rural and I see Climate Change happening every day as we get floods, then drought (worse they've ever seen), really high winds which blow trees into power lines shutting down electricity, and more.....so we live in a challenging world physically now, and an awful one politically....keep your spirits up,,,,read silly novels now and then to escape and turn off the stream of doom from radio/tv/internet....begin planning for a garden for next spring - get a good catalog which gives instructions for your region, and so on. - We just have to keep on.
I am a left-leaning Dem. I read the New York Times every day. But I NEVER stray into its Opinion Section. The paper has cynically tossed the keys to the Whiner Left, self appointed guardians of “The Vulnerable” (including me, but no thanks) — all on the one condition that they spare The Times. Dishonorable surrender so they can make money without aggravation.
You'll never win a global class war by that alone although I agree with most of your post. We're losing this class war due to the fact we don't organize globally against the authoritarian elite, who are already very organized and have plans laid out.
Staying sane is very important, but reaching out to others and comparing notes is also very important in order to construct a network of our own making with which to support our material needs. It's very hard to live without playing into the monopoly game of the elite.
Generations of people lived together fairly well before the corporate terrorism began to really take hold and I believe that can be achieved again with the lighter footprint you rightly pointed out in your post.
Hi - Agree with much of what you say.....but "Capitalism Cannot Be Reformed." That's a button given to me by a unionized Seattle longshoreman during a mass demonstration in Seattle in 1999 when we were fighting the WTO. We need to figure out more cooperative ways of living - copy some of what was in the pretty far past - and hope we can stay this side of the Dark Ages.
You need to create some distinctions here. Markets and trading will form in a vaccum - it's not a decision to organize society that way, markets form naturally. Look at underground black markets in North Korea, for example.
So in the sense that you want to drop individuals amassing wealth by freely trading, that won't happen. You can tax it more, though, to limit its accumulation.
I would suggest understanding the difference between Corporate Capitalism and Capitalism and railing against the former. How do we allow and foster competition in markets, and properly regulate markets and companies to prevent massive companies, market abuses, overweight gov't influence, and monopolistic activity - that's what you want I bet.
Ummm, no, your mansplaining to me what I mean is actually quite amusing...no, I do not want capitalism at all. I and many others want a more cooperative society - the exact form of which will be decided by people as we go - if we're allowed by the powers that be to go anywhere other than where we are. Swapping thing for another thing,, trading hours of labor for hours of labor as the old Chinese did, trading garden produce for others' garden produce, and so on - scaled up by town or region - - we're going to have critical brown-outs and black-outs so we'll not be able to count on electricity all the time......need to be prepared to deal with that, too.
None of the "ism's" can be reformed and since all of them sprang out of slavery we need an entirely new system that doesn't incentivize mass murder for resources, exploitation, fraud, and debt peonage. We have to destroy the concept of the elite as well as restore the language that has been stolen from us by them and their useful idiots in the government.
Great stuff. Relying on yourself if really what we all need to do. I'll go a step further. Read law codes and find out what your're able to do to protect yourself and your family. The radicals are not afraid to encroach upon those who will not stand up for their space or rights.
Actually no, relying on yourself is what you're supposed to do while the folks behind the curtain team up to screw you over. You should inform yourself and strive to be more self sufficient where possible but without networking you'll lose in the long run.
Never forget that this is all for a reason. This is the global reset the elite have been trying to roll out for a long time now.
"“We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
-Karl Rove(turd blossom)
The elite and their enforcers as well as the general public won't allow total chaos for very long. The elite are trying to re-install one of their puppets instead of conman Trump and they know Biden sends the message that they want which is that the US government is a facade and that the people in the shadows run America. That's designed to scare other countries more than the citizens but since most Americans are so politically naive they still think voting changes policy goals, which it simply doesn't.
Remember that twitter is not the real world nor is any other social media platform. All of them can and are manipulated.
This is not conservative or liberal in actuality, it can't be since we live in a plutocracy that believes in nothing other than money, power, and prestige.
Actually, they may not put 'Biden on the ballot - he's really damaged by his obvious dementia and his past awful right-wingery. The DNC may choose another who will do their bidding.
I think thats precisely why Dems will put him on the ballot. A hoard of screeching lunatics can easily manipulate him. And after all, isn't that what they’ve doing with weak minds and no moral compass?
This was really interesting, thank you. I didn't understand the particular event or posting that led to your family beginning to shun you, can you explain? Was it that you argued at the party and the effect was delayed, or was it an immediate reaction to your Sowell post?
To give you some hope, this kind of stuff is how cults work, of course, by encouraging groupthink to the exclusion of family. I have worked to save people from cult influence in the past. My hope is that the pandemic's psychologic and economic impacts are making this cult attractive short term but that rationality prevails in the medium term and beyond. The cult influence was always catching victims in a moment of weakness in their lives for various reasons, mental health or other crises. This time it's just that so many people are in that kind of moment at once.
The OP stated it was something (a quote, an article?) by Thomas Sowell, who is a black conservative thinker. Whether the IG post was a quote or a link to an article, or frankly, even just Sowell's picture, that is enough to get you canceled with this crowd. It is telling that these folks not only refuse to listen to counter arguments, but more than that...refuse to acknowledge or allow other points of view. (Compared to the OP who read White Fragility as have many who are not part of the "woke" cult.)
Thanks for your thoughts. MO - is Thomas Sowell is one of the most intelligent, educated HUMANS alive today. His life experience alone qualifies him to have views and observations that TO ME are meaningful and significant. I learned that he’s black several days after reading some of his quotes. this Interested me to learn more about him
I listen to the opinions of others but in these past couple of months have lost tolerance for cancel culture and brainless statements. There is no give and take or mutual education. NO ONE is required to agree with or care what i think but honestly
Unfortunately it is common today in terms of political views. But it's old news in terms of social mores - think about how societies create disincentives to marital infidelity by the same kind of threat of social ostracization.
I think your family doesn't know Sowell is black. Not that that should matter, but of course it does. I would just slowly kill them with kindness and find ways to insert the truth in front of as many of them as possible. This is but a moment in time, and many are not far from getting to 2 if you show them 1 and 1. I can't tell you how many liberal relatives of mine who never would have turned to conservative news sources before now seek these out for perspective. Assume that all of your relatives are simply in need of perspective because they are busy and have only seen MSM, and still trust it for now. That will change.
The first event was when her issue was police brutality. i gave some facts/stats about the actual percentage of police on black killings. I conceded that excessive force is something we should look at. She said that will never happen as long as “white people” run things. It was weeks later that i posted the TS quote re: the word racism is like ketchup u can spread it on everything and asking for evidence gets u labeled a racist. I believe the other TS quote is about individual responsibility.
UPDATE: im posting this because i want people to know this sort of thing can happen to you. U may be familiar w Brett Weinstein but know that it is no longer limited to academics, celebrities or journalists.
After receiving several disgusting & hateful dm’s from my niece’s friends ( ID’d them by content though ive never heard of them) i blocked IG went private AND shut down Twitter. Ive not been on FB for years except a brief relapse a couple of years back.
One of the DMs said “if you block me i will just set up a new account...” blah blah (?????) something that made absolutely no sense. I figured - fine its over. I recvd some weird follow requests (ignored and screenshot).
ONE WEEK later i was contacted by my employer’s corporate ethics group re a tip they received on the hotline . I wont go into specifics because now im basically paranoid (mission accomplished right?).
Dissent=public shaming, Ignore = active destruction of reputation and livelihood.
I dont know what will happen next. Only a few weeks ago i was “the best aunt ever.” The fact that anyone - especially a close family member can do this with or without any kind of conversation Shows just how insidious and malevolent this sickness can be. Everyone, Duck and Cover
Much of the negativity towards these wedge issues are worn out tropes from the right. Most of the younger set haven't been around long enough to have lived through the whole "pull yourself up by your boot straps" crap of the Reagan era or the "welfare mother millionaire" BS that the right used in the 80's and early 90's when the elite really began to divide people and bring about the scorched earth politics of the mid 90's.
Welcome to the Coronavirus Apocalypse dude. Sad to hear your story. Be brave and make wise decisions...don't let batshit crazy people deprive you of your dreams.
LorriAnn, the first thing to do is read Matt Taibbi's article on that ridiculous book, "White Fragility," which gives you all the ammunition you need. I was grateful to read his critique because I'd watch DiAngelo's discussion of her book on Cspan2 booktv and can't recall any book making me more furious.
Cheers, don't let the family get you down. Every family has these splits.
Agree! Your comment inspired me. I already subscribe, but I am buying a gift subscription for someone I know will appreciate it. I want to keep Matt strong and independent. Without him and a few others I would wonder if I am just crazy.
A "hurricane of stupidity" is exactly what this feels like. Brother, I hope that your decision to open up a revenue stream that can't be taken from you in retribution for speaking plainly will be enough to carry you through what's probably coming your way.
I have a hope for honest, brave efforts like yours. The hope is that a sustained effort over time will reach enough lemmings to stall and scatter this butt-ugly stampede.
So rather than have to admit any responsibility or take any blame for the rise of Trump, the elites have decided to delegate down the blame to us "white racists" across the country. They've decided they have to "destroy the village (country) in order to save it." These people have gone dangerously insane, and I honestly have no idea what to do about it.
It's amazing how many people are ignorant of history. The Democratic Party totally betrayed working class and poor Americans all all racial background during the Clinton administration, and many of those screwed voters are part of Trump's base now. Chris Hedges has done a fine job documenting that. But the liberal elite would rather start a race war than have to take responsibility for the disastrous results of corporate neoliberalism.
That is my question as well. What can i do?? Im sick of days going by being told that i am the lowest form of human being because i was born white and refuse to atone for it ???? There is no escape. I work for a large corporation and the re-education program is being rolled out as we speak. If they put 1619 or White Fragility on my desk im going to sell my house and live in a van
Agreed. I think we might be seeing what happens when the privileged elite feel their protective bubble is being threatened. Its the classic-- don't look at my economic etc privilege (in case you decide to question it or take it away) I will join you in a non-threatening action (ie topple the statue) and speak in glowing solidarity as I hide my assets and batten down the hatches.
Read the history of class based revolutions-- its all there.
Yup, it's really a magical sleight of hand, where class consciousness and economic justice has been swapped for "social justice" and the SJW's are more than happy to reap the benefits of corporate neoliberalism while persecuting and lecturing the rest of us...truly Orwellian
To my utter horror, it's becoming increasingly clear all this insanity has an ulterior motive, which is the elimination of the Constitution. I dismissed the idea for a long time, but the evidence is unmistakable as I see more and more people calling for exactly that. None of them seem to have considered who would compose the replacement.
One idiot told me just today that the fact the Constitution has been amended 27 times is sufficient proof it's out-of-date and an abysmal failure.
We now have several generations who are barely conversant with the idea that if something useful isn't working properly you fix it. Instead, they're conditioned by decades of "free-market" propaganda that if it doesn't work the way you want it to you just throw it out and buy something new. "Cancel culture", it seems to me, might more correctly be called "throwaway culture", and the media, both corporate and social, are manipulating it for all their worth.
I'll just ask people to consider how well the events cited in this essay fit into that concept, starting with the idea that all statues are evil. Couple it with the abysmal lack of real history education that's characterized curricula since even I was in school 60 years ago, and that's only gotten worse thanks to 40 years of education reform, and it's a recipe for disaster.
It's a global economic reset that they're after. Anything that gets in the way of that will be ignored or destroyed. They're just setting the general store on fire so they can rob the bank, just like in the westerns on TV.
Agree! As soon as this kicked off, I said to my husband that they're going to destroy the Constitution, on the basis many of the drafters were slave-owners.
I reiterate what I have often said: "I do not always agree with Matt Taibbi, but he is the last great 'journalist' of our time." You see through everything and spare nobody. Kudos.
I know it’s a hot topic, and it might hit a chord, but I’ll chime in on the Democrat versus Republican, Trump bs Biden back and forth going on here, and how it relates to the current social movements.
What does it mean to be rich? By way of anecdote, I have one friend that makes 100k a year and has never held a job in his life. He has seven figures in real property and equities from his parents and lives off of the rent collected from the property and has all the free time in the world. If he liquidated his wealth, he would have five to ten million dollars and pay no more than twenty percent in taxes on it. My other friend has less than 100k in the bank, has 350k in student loans, works 80 hours a week at a hospital as a doctor, and makes around 300k. Contrary to public opinion, his job is not secure, and he doesn’t have much free time. He pays more than half of his money to taxes and after rent and student loans are factored in, he has very little money left over.
The traditional right wing justification for the above scenario is risk. My first friend assumed the risk (or his parents did) and not only is he entitled to the profits associated with the investment, but he should be taxed less as well, whereas my other friend is just an employee that doesn’t invest and so he should carry a higher tax load.In the Reagan era, pre-globalization, there were- perhaps- arguments to justify this disparity. (I won’t go into them). In the current era, where the federal F****ing reserve is bailing out not just equities, but junk bonds, there is absolutely no justification for this anymore. This is especially true in the context of neoliberalism where there is an infinite supply of rich foreigners (who got rich as a result of the US outsourcing manufacturing) willing to pay a premium for property in the United States because their countries are so corrupt and they know the US is a safe haven.
What am I getting at? Rich people- really rich people- have passive income that does not involve the exchange of time to acquire it and enough capital that they can consume well above the median level of consumption without having to work (whether they choose to work or not is a different matter). Money is a claim on labor. Being rich means you can claim a lot of labor without having to labor.
Before globalization, there was a correlation between a high wage drone and someone that could acquire wealth because incomes were stable. If you worked at IBM, GM, GE, etc and made six figures, you would expect to do so for forty years. That’s out the window now, but the assumptions of the tax code remain.
So if you are rich, what do you want? You want four things: 1) property laws that prohibit the state or third parties from taking your property, 2) you want passive income taxed less than active income, 3) you want a regulatory apparatus that can disable your competitor from competing with you, 4) you want a surplus of labor (globalization anyone?) so that wages can remain low (and you definitely want to make sure labor can’t organize to demand more) and 5) you want the government to bail you out if things go south.
If you can get these five things, it ensures that you and your progeny do not have to work and can consume a lot of resources.
I think every reasonable person agrees that the first factor should be provided by any just society. The other factors is where the problems come in. Which political party is responsible for facilitating these factors? Republicans of all stripes give the rich item 2. Rhinos support all five, but the Republican Party is t split in a meaningful way. Post-Trump the majority of the Republican Party is against items 3 and 4. The Democrats, which are under total control of the neoliberals, give the rich items 3 and 4. The entire political class has given them 5 (Bush, Obama, Trump, etc) has bailed them out.
So the question is what’s more important to rich people? Paying more taxes or having access to cheap labor and regulatory control (of an every increasing government)?
These are the top ten richest people:
1) Jeff Bezos- Democrat
2) Bill Gates- Democrat
3) Warren Buffett- Democrat
4) Larry Ellison- Probably Democrat
5) Marc Zuckerberg- Democrat
6-8 Waltons- Probably Republican (good chance this has changed)
9) Steve Ballmer- Probably Democrat
10) Larry Paige- Democrat
There’s a reason that the three richest people and the majority of the rest of the rich are Democrats. They value a labor surplus and a large regulatory state that they control more than a lower tax burden. Certainly, their ideal candidate is Mitt Romney or another traditional Rhino because such a candidate would be for the lower taxes and sustaining the labor surplus (as to regulatory capture, he or she wouldn’t be as aggressive as Democrats, but it would still be good enough). This is why so many Republicans hate Trump, including George Wills (a father of so called modern conservatism).
Donald Trump is not a nice guy. Donald Trump bailed out the rich (like Obama and Bush). Donald Trump does not care about the working class. However, Donald Trump knows that this situation with exporting the entirety of our manufacturing and industrial capabilities is a long term suicide for the country, even if the rest of the uber rich benefit tremendously in the short term. If it isn’t apparent why it’s suicide or why it’s bad for the country, look at what happen with COVID-19 and medical supplies. If the United States loses the world reserve currency status, you can be sure that China and other countries, if they have the manufacturing capabilities, will appropriate all foreign wealth in their countries at that time. This interferes with Trump’s goals of establishing his own dynasty. That’s it. I truly believe the others don’t care what happens when they die (because the appropriation is likely 30-50 years out), and it’s possible some believe they can work with whatever Chinese oligarchy emerges at that time (not a chance). That’s the difference between Trump and the rest of the establishment political class and that’s a very big deal with beneficial collateral benefits for working people (more on this below).
Regarding BLM: how many Amazon fulfillment centers did they burn down? 0. How many Wall Street Banks did they burn down? Zero. How many military contractors did they even protest? 0. How many Hollywood propagandists did they protest (or attack)? 0.
They attacked working class neighborhoods by and large, with poor and working class blacks and whites being the casualty and their leadership has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the major corporate interests. If that doesn’t show demonstrate, what’s going on with this movement, let me put a cherry on it: they went to Beverly Hills to conduct a nominal protest, where most of their liberal elite supporters live and they were violently thrown out by police in an hour. For me, that just sums it up. Oh and another thing, the super rich real estate guys and gals are going to pick up marquis real estate on pennies for the dollar in some areas where these protests happen, especially when Biden wins and we get full blown neoliberal globalization again (which is going to make it even harder for normal people to live in the liveable parts of this country).
One final point in this diatribe: there was a man named Alexander De Tocqueville who wrote a book on America in the early nineteenth century. (To understand the man’s credibility, in said book he predicted that Russia and the United States would be global superpowers in the middle of the twentieth century.) In that book, he provided many reasons why in his estimation the United States would succeed and two critical ones are as follows: 1) the system prohibited the formation of dynastic wealth (this was before corporations) and 2) Americans focused on practical education not theoretical education.
There isn’t any politician with a meaningful chance of power in this country that is going to address dynastic wealth, and with what the federal reserve is doing, this is going to become a very serious problem. The rich are literally being bailed out with printed dollars as everyone else gets the shaft. But If Donald Trump brings back manufacturing, there’s a chance we can have a middle class again and a population focused on practical pursuits.
Right wing and left wing elites believe that the only path to prosperity should be through the University system, particularly the Ivy League system, and then working for established financial and corporate institutions. That is never going to be the path for real social mobility for a meaningful number of people. Extreme outliers aside, (and even those outliers are usually from parents that had stable public sector jobs or were small business people, look it up), the path to social mobility was and always will be doing the jobs the rich don’t want to do, doing them well, and then the next generation-maybe- can have a real opportunity at attending university. Replacing manufacturing with 200k liberal arts (or even STEM degrees) is a path to failure, not success.
And on that note, I invite you to look what the one of the most conservative justice (Scalia) in American history had to say on why he doesn’t hire clerks from elite schools, and what the most liberal judge in history (still on the bench) had to say about how she (Ginsburg) felt about teaching at a state university. These people hate ordinary people and they always will. You can put a red color on them or a blue color on them: they don’t like the working class or the children of the working class. They constructed a system that benefits the children of the rich as an inherent matter and they have imposed it as the only way to be upwardly mobile and the result has been a social catastrophe for a myriad of reasons.
I am an MD-PhD student and my medical degree is subsidized by the taxpayer. I sacrifice 4 years of peak earning potential up front by getting the PhD, but I will walk out with only ~40k in debt (original undergrad loan of $32k + interest). In contrast I look at the majority of my "MD only" friends at my institution and I pity them enormously.
They have a $300k millstone around their necks that is not dischargeable in court, and if their career trajectory is remotely interrupted (by disease, mental illness, burnout/moral injury, a simple decision to do something else...) you are sunk. Not to mention the increasingly miserable nature of the job, which involves being squished between a (rightfully) mistrustful public and a rapacious, data driven administration. Add this on top of the COVID experience where admin was aggressively furloughing non essential personnel and yelling at staff for wearing PPE around patients.
I honestly don't know who we are going to expect to go to medical school in the future. Right now it still has the allure of "bulletproof job security" and prestige, but both of those are waning fast. It's scary as hell.
Well you highlight a problem of boomerism. Specifically, the baby boomer dominated culture that is advocating career trajectories based on their experience during the post war boom, don’t work anymore.
Being a doctor or a lawyer, in most instances, is not the way to go anymore, but you can’t say it out loud, it’s taboo. And if you tell people what careers are actually the way to go, oh boy, get ready to get hammered from left and right.
Your career (and healthcare in general) is another example of the dialectic hammer.
From the perspective of the right, nothing can interfere with rent seeking profits from the people that own the hospital. From the perspective of the left, we have an increasing underclass that needs healthcare and you need to be happy making what a school teacher makes as a doctor because their needs override your needs, and in any event, you shouldn’t be motivated by money (even though the talking head telling you that is a millionaire with a trust fund). And so, the compromise happens that profits remain the same, the service is socialized at a significant cost, and you have to get the shaft.
My friend doesn’t have a high school diploma, has a unionized job with the city of New York, and has been making six figure and accruing a pension since he was 20 years old. Try getting on National television and tell kids they should become cops, teacher or tradesmen in lieu of being a white collar professional and see what happens. The cultural belief is so well engrained that education is the way and that other avenues aren’t good that you’ll be excoriated by all sides. Even Carlson says cops are underpaid. George Floyd’s killer has a pension worth over a million dollars. Port authority cops in New York routinely earn 300k with overtime and retire in their forties with six figure pension. Nevertheless, everyone knows cops don’t make money and being a lawyer or a doctor is the way to go, even though that boomerism just isn’t true anymore.
Great write up! I'll chuck in a bit more on your comment: "Regarding BLM: how many Amazon fulfillment centers did they burn down? 0. How many Wall Street Banks did they burn down? Zero. How many military contractors did they even protest? 0. How many Hollywood propagandists did they protest (or attack)? 0."
Indeed, number of IRS centers/officials dox'ed, attacked? 0. Number of federal court or federal reserve buildings vandalized? 0 (as far as I know). Was Nancy Pelosi's ice cream freezer even tipped over? No? Any billionaires fearing death by an angry mob? 0.
The American Dream has died slowly at first and now quickly.
The country is in very serious trouble and I fear it is impossible to address the situation by political means.
We have become a fascist system, but not as the term is conventionally understood.
The power of the state has merged with large institutions (mainly corporate) and at the complete expense of the rest of the population.
The left is governed by neoliberalism, which basically means that no restrictions can be placed on aggregated capital to exploit the economies of totalitarian countries, such as China, and being enabled to do so by American resources (including the military).
The right is governed by neoconservativism, which is nothing more than initiating and maintaining quasi-sustainable long term conflicts in countries where the conflict can’t turn nuclear with the only purpose of sustaining the profits of the military security complex.
The casualty of these doctrines has been the vast majority of the private sector work force of the entire country and the public sector work of half the country (mainly those in red states).
All that is left is the financial sector (doing very well at the expense of everything else), a battered private sector working (that is lying to itself that the norms of the pre-globalized economy still exist), a temporarily insulated public sector in blue states (whose constituents don’t understand how fortunate they are, as they compare themselves to baby boomer era corporate employees and the apex of the financial sector), and the military security complex.
(The above described remnants of the American economy can only sustain themselves as long as the US dollar retains world reserve status, once that goes, it all goes.)
Donald Trump was opposed because even though he hasn’t delivered on most of his promises, the mere fact that he dared diagnose and discuss many of the real problems facing the American economy, which is primarily due to globalization, was a threat the elites can’t handle.
The facts are simple: labor has been decimated by globalization and a tax code that favors investment and rent collecting income over work income, and more nefariously, whatever battered remnants of the private sector that still remains is subsidizing its demise by sustaining globalization with its tax dollars.
Any attempt to address the issues facing the American working class is going to be opposed viciously by both parties. We’ve bailed out the rich two times now and the working class received the shaft. A bail out of this kind is neither capitalist or socialist. It’s fascist.
I think you're right and this is why I struggle with a Trump vote (I am a long time Bernie volunteer and voted Stein last election). Neither Trump or Biden can fix the problems, but at least Trump frustrates the people trying to destroy America.
Matt, your description of the insanity is great. But overall, this posting misses the mark a bit.
I get that you hate Trump. But you have to give him at least this: he has genuinely gone very hard on China, and this is a very big reason--probably the biggest--why corporate America and its establishment backers are gunning so hard for him. It's also why they've made sure Bernie never had a shot.
The "experts" hysterically claimed that Trump's trade war would bring down the world economy, but instead XI blinked and, before COVID hit, we had the best economy in at least half a century. He's gone hard against Chinese tech companies for spying; he's pounded China for concealing the outbreak of COVID 19; he's condemned the treatment of Hong Kong and pushed for Magnitsky-style individual sanctions while ending Hong Kong's preferential customs treatment; he used the Pacific fleet to push back on Chinese encroachments in the South China Sea; he's very recently threatened to delist Chinese companies trading here. And he's made it clear that if reelected, he'll do more.
Biden will reverse all this. Cui Buono? The largest corporations and their backers in the political establishment who have gotten filthy rich on China.
Think about all these mega-corporations issuing all their pious statements of support for BLM, while not saying a word about the repression of Hong Kong and the recent laws allowing for secret trials in kangaroo courts there, the concentration camps for the Uighurs, organ harvesting from political prisoners, on and on.
You of all people should see the scam here, Matt. And exposing this scam reveals another huge point of potential agreement between the left and right in this country. Helping people find that common ground is how you can use your awesome talents to save the country.
Right about China but wrong about Bernie. He sank his own campaign first be abandoning class warfare in favor of identity politics, and refusing to fight "his friend Joe.
Personally I think Covid hit BECAUSE of the accountability Trump imposed on China. The sent it to us as a gift. It's not crazy when you think about it. I mean, really, look at how the media narratives have been driven by the notion of "getting" Trump out of office. Who wants Trump out of office the most?
China
Covid was the only way to hit Trump where it hurts the most--his economy!
You are such a good writer, Matt Taibbi. AS a total Hillary wonk and asshole Democrat in 2016 (I do have my reasons, climate change is the main one) something fundamental has shattered this year. I'm not sure when it happened, when I left one room and entered another - now I can't unsee it. I don't want Trump again in 2020 but I also don't think the left, as at exists today, what it is, what it represents, should not be allowed to take power either. Censorship, puritanism, fear - that's all on the left. Journalists will not tell the truth about anything now for fear of being fired. I just saw an entire community of linguists -- LINGUISTS! Coming together to target one of them who referred in the past to some skepticism on subjects of race and rape. We've lost our minds. I've been a democrat all of my life but whatever is going on with us - we need brave voices to confront it. Thanks for being one of those.
If policy issues are not decided the way you like, or personalities get elected whom you find distasteful, you live to fight another day. These things ebb and flow.
But if we lose our civil liberties, they're gone forever, and our future is in clutches of malevolent forces we can never hope to control, at least without massive bloodshed.
You correctly note that "censorship, Puritanism, and fear" are all coming from the left. Respectfully, you need to follow this to the logical conclusion and vote for the lesser evil that leaves you free to fight another day.
The promotion of "Censorship, Puritanism, and fear" is what is driving me nuts. Even in my workplace this is an issue. It's an international company with many worldwide offices and there is a very small noisy group trying to impose those things on the company as a whole.
We had a big blow up because one office had event services provided by a "problematic company". The issue was raised by someone in a different country who often uses their protected status to shout down more reasonable voices in the company.
The concept of censorship/Puritanism is just foreign to me. In the early 90's music artists fought against this, even so far as winning a Supreme Court case. Then by the late 90's the internet reached the mainstream despite being "anything goes".
Part of why I like Matt is that I don't agree with everything he says, but he provides content that is outside of the now homogeneous views of media. However, there seems to be a rising number of people that want that homogeneity, perhaps because their ideas can only stand up in that structure.
I can relate to this so much. I was part of the left that defended the piss Christ against NEA defunding. But the fear to have a different opinion or a contrary one - or that thoughts are threats to some sort of utopia - that anyone who is offended by something means that thing is offensive and must be dealt with.
I’m neutral of piss Christ being funded by tax payer dollars (eh, not a tragedy if it isn’t, but so what if it is?)
What I object to is the idea that Mapplethorp would have been deplatformed and dozed by the mob and then had clients or customers cancel showings or events because he had “problematic”.
I kind of feel like the NEA should serve at the pleasure of the taxpayers in aggregate. But if a gallery wanted to show piss Christ and then the outrage mob mobilized to silence him globally—that is abominable to me. And I feel like that’s were we are headed.
I was a liberal in the 90s because I saw the religious right as the major threat to civil liberties. Now the left is the major threat. I will vote accordingly.
It's a two-party system. If A has become dangerous to liberty, you need to vote for B to stop it. Anything else is a cop out.
I was a liberal in the 80s, turned conservative in the 90s and early 2000s, now I'm just all over the map. But as a general rule I'm always going to vote against the folks advocating censorship, NewSpeak (I resent the effort to redefine words in order to piggy-back on our previous emotional understanding and experience of them as much as anything), political violence.
What turned me conservative in the 90s started with encountering a non-trivial number of leftists in college who were big on redefining words so nothing could mean anything, silencing speech they disagreed with, opposed the teaching of any kind of history that wasn't through a lens of western and patriarchal oppression etc. I had considered myself a liberal, the idea being the free speech and free expression was sacrosanct, not an obstacle.
Having seen this new side of "liberalism", over the next few years I changed my mind and embraced conservatism and the Republicans and in the past decade have regretted that. And I still don't care for the career politicians in either party for the most part--but will voting only for politicians with a reasonably clear support for free speech, free expression, equality under the law (not regarding church attendance and progressive protesters differently, for example) and a respect for the democratic, rather than hyper-emotional revolutionary, process.
The religious right continues to be a threat. Sex Ed in many schools now is abstinence-only, despite a sky high rate of teen pregnancies. The teaching focuses on slut-shaming GIRLS, primarily. More than 26 states have made #BDS ILLEGAL!! There are several lawsuits against them for this reason. Our 1st A rights are being trampled on....and, in regard to #BDS, it is coming from the right, primarily...the Israel Lobby, specifically! #USSLiberty!
I agree with that but I was just making the more general point that the left used to stand up for freedom of expression. Now, everything is being filtered through the offense lens. Does it reflect the utopian ideal or doesn't it? Shocking how easily people have gone along with this.
I tend to think of it as the people who stood up for freedom of expression were also mostly the people who were liberals. One of the biggest problems that used (as regards our tendency to identarianism and identifying with large ideological groups) as we—as humans—see patterns in the randomness. There is little inherent in left or right that dictates they would also embrace or eschew freedom of speech or be repelled by censorship. Which is why I think you are right—align with those who embrace specific ideals not a particular ideological label. And always be suspicious of those claiming the moral high ground, left or right—they are almost always coming for your rights!
What is piss Christ????
“Piss Christ” was an art project that stirred national debate over what is and is not art and further led to major $$ cuts st the NEA. I was way younger - hated the work (not a Maplethorpe fan to start) but i believed giving an artist public funds does not give the government control of the art.
Maplethorpe did not create “Piss Christ”. The artist was a man named “Serra” or “Serrano” or something like that. The controversy over Maplethorpe’s photos was a different one, as was the dung-filled painting of the Madonna. All had NEA implications, though.
Art??? In the way Jackson Pollock is considered art. So really lame but some douchee rich people think it is something so it gets talked about.
You're not wrong :)
When you look at the level of execution of Renaissance painters, it far exceeds most of today's art. Not to say there aren't things to like about some of today's art. There are also hyper-realist painters and sculptors who'd blow your mind. The competition not only with other artists, but with technology makes this a pretty hard gig. Of course, anyone who can get a wealthy patron will be sitting pretty, so yeah, money talks.
Photographer Andres Serrano did the Piss Christ. He was big on a lot of controversy, though I'd say not nearly as good in technical talent. Maplethorpe's controversial stuff was related to gay/naked portraits and one self portrait with a bullwhip in his ass. However, the vast bulk of his work was mainstream acceptable and with superior skill (I was a fan in art school). I remember one of the NEA controversials was Karen Finley, a performance artist who stuck a yam up her bum as an allegory to rape. Of course, any politician would have a field day with chopping up the NEA after that.
Interested to know thoughts of an art student on the work of those artists? Im a clean slate not sure where i stand. As i said if the govt is going to use tax $ to fund the endowment i lean toward this doesnt come w the right to control what constitutes art. should they have a say? Should/do artists have to submit proposals to apply for $?
This is how fascism takes root and grows into "labor camps" and pogroms.
Germany didn't start off gassing Jews... they sort of grew into it after being divided and driven by fear and self-righteousness.
To them it was all a "new" way of governing and for the first few years, (before Poland was invaded,) people rejoiced to be looked after by such a far-reaching and "effective" new system of national socialism.
You mention this to even Jews that can't see past the NYT propaganda and get blank stares.
Yup. History doesn't repeat exactly but it sure does rhyme.
"If policy issues are not decided the way you like, or personalities get elected whom you find distasteful, you live to fight another day. These things ebb and flow.
But if we lose our civil liberties, they're gone forever, and our future is in clutches of malevolent forces we can never hope to control, at least without massive bloodshed."
^^^^^THIS
That's where we are as a country. The lunatics are willing to let it all hang out at this very moment. It's not going to get better for those of us who are timid, not willing to step out of our comfort zones. You know what they call those kind of folks? Casualties
The bloodshed is here, just not on a huge scale--but it's coming. Don't put your head in the sand
I will definitely be voting.
I’m writing in Tulsi Gabbard because I know my state will go Trump so my votes are protest votes about our options.
That being said, I want to see Trump win—because I’m seeing that as a bellwether for how generally the new love of censorship, deplatforming, circumventing democratic process, hostility to reform, and complete abandonment of even the simplest of journalistic principles by the vast majority of the media ... is going over. My sense is if it doesn’t matter that much to most Americans, we get Biden. If it’s as important to them as it is to me, we get Trump, even though he is as awful as an avatar for democratic norms and honest and open dialogue. There is no ideal outcome that I can see, so I hope for what I imagine will be the best indicator. And if it doesn’t happen that way—I Hope I’m wrong and we embrace honest journalism, facts, and democratic reform once again.
But I’m not holding my breath!
Tulsi Gabbard is indeed one of the few sane voices in the cacophony of woke politics. But the left, with its everchanging and evergrowing criteria of wokeness, will never admit to its ranks a nuanced, independent thinker and doer such as Ms Gabbard. For all her unswerving loyalty to Mr Sanders in his times of crisis, the way she's treated by him and his fanbase is shameful to say the least.
Agreed, alas. Still, of all the choices, that they picked Biden is fascinating. I thought Trump was a poor choice. Apparently neither party can pick the reasoned (or just kind-of-normal candidate). Not that I miss the Mitt Romneys or John Kerrys that much.
Thank you, Pavan. I agree. She should have run under the Green Party. What US Americans get is what they want. We could have Jill Stein as president. We could have Tulsi Gabbard, but the Duopoly will never permit a good president to be in the White House. Our country us run by the Pentagon, big corporations, big pharma, the bankers, but especially the MIC. God forbid we ever have a peacemaker.
I am voting Tulsi, too.
you're not alone. There are many on the left waking up to this...
Sasha, I empathize with everything you wrote. I think a lot of Democrats are having an identity crisis right now. What broke me was when violent riots were described by the media as "mostly peaceful protests" -- an Orwellian lie -- and vandals demolishing public property (a felony) were described as benign "protesters" apparently engaged in public service. I had never considered voting for Trump or any Republican until now.
Sasha, let's try and change both parties by changing the people we elect. Both parties have few good people. The Founders could not have foreseen how despicable politicians would become.
I disagree sir. They had the forsight to invent the electoral college, so I think they knew politicians were POS back then
You are probably right...after all as Cicero noted....politicians are not born they are excreted....
There are two aspects of these protesting "vandals". First, is rage against continuous racist oppression as seen in the murder of Black people by police; second, is the very real occurrence of false-flag attacks by agent provocateurs. The latter is very real, which I know from personal experience during the 60s. COINTELPRO has not gone away.
The simple truth that you are now seeing is that the Left has always been a totalitarian movement, but it just takes time for them to acquire sufficient power over the instutitions of a society so that they can feel comfortable "taking off the mask". The Left haven't "lost their minds" and there is nothing unusual "going on with [them]" --- they are following the exact same program of totalitarian socialist advancement that they have been for your whole life being a Democrat. They are now simply further advanced into their program of totalitarian control than they were previously. That is the next thing you have to see if you want to understand what is going on.
Yes, I've slowly come to this realization. I remember debating your exact point 25 years ago, with my best friend's 'rabidly right-wing' brother - I thought he was an outrageous fascist. Oh dear. I see things very differently now.
Pendulum shift!
The truth sets us free. Doesn’t it?
They've already successfully taken over almost every aspect of life here in America. Infiltrating our education system--Check. Infiltrating our Government--Check.
Question is...what are we willing to do about it. Elections aren't enough
And privatizing everything which is a right wing wet dream form way back.
I have tried lately to see other points of view, since I grew up being taught to hate all conservatives, for instance, just on principle. That has gotten much worse in the past decade. Now that I have broken out of that I have understood more why there are opposing viewpoints. I don't want to belong to any tribe that tells me how or what to think or believe. So I've tried to figure out - what matters and what doesn't. What is worth fighting for and what isn't. I know what I'm seeing now is something I think is dangerous - a kind of puritanical mass hysteria of the Salem kind. I grew up in the 80s under Reagan and I didn't much like that either. I have a fairly bleak world view overall and especially of humans. I care about the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef, the plight of honeybees, large mammals. But if we're headed for a great mass extinction is there any stopping it? I don't know. Honestly, I just feel lost.
That is interesting. You say that you "grew up being taught to hate all conservatives, for instance, just on principle". Think more about what that implies about the philosophy and general mentality of those who were teaching you. Ask yourself, is it *normal* healthy behaviour to teach a child/adolescent to reflexively hate this (quite innocuous) group of people? What type of person would operate that way? What does it say about their approach to personal thought, freedom of conscience, and power?
Re the Reagan era: The Soviet dissident Yuri Bezmenov defected to Canada in the 1970s, and during the Reagan era he was frequently interviewed about the process by which communists subvert and destroy the norms of freedom in the West. You can watch videos of his lectures on YouTube. He explained all of what is happening right now about forty years in advance, and noted that it is an inevitable result of a couple of generations of Leftist control of the universities. (The only thing he got wrong is how long the process takes; he underestimated the time it would take for the Left to get to this point by about a generation.) So for at least forty years, we have had a clear explanation of the present process, straight from a defector with intimate knowledge of this form of social subversion.
THANK YOU! I direct EVERYONE i know to these YouTube videos and ive been hoping that Matt would comment since he is an expert on Soviet politics. Its chilling that the timeline outlined by Bezmenov has so far aligned with what has been happening in this country. Even though most people are prob unaware of the strategy and its origins many sense we are reaching a critical mass and it will be too late to recover. This would contribute to the increase in firearms sales. At the end of the day whats left to do? I try not to get hysterical about it but everyday brings with it another level of insanity that leads directly down the path he describes
I hope you realize there's no more Soviet Union and KGB and the horror of living in that atmosphere, which was an aberration of communism because leadership all over the USSR was ignorant and appalling. That's all gone. Russia is a capitalist/democracy/ socialist country. I was recently there and it's a far more pleasant place to live than our insane country. I have been in thirty-some countries and the most strife-free, and completely non racist is Cuba.
First off - when did u travel to Cuba? Since they eased visa restrictions im sure. I would try to educate you about Cuba but anyone who thinks the KGB no longer exists is living in a mindset i would like to have. So long as Putin is president, which will be until he dies - at this moment they are trying to change any ‘law’ for term limit. President for life = king or dictator which does not equal any of the above.
My fathers family FLED Cuba because of the cruelty, death and terror inflicted on ANYONE who disagreed or even blinked at the thought of dissent. and Raoul has made sure it is sanitized. Cuba is one of the poorest countries in the world.how far were you outside of Havana? Im sorry but you will find that ANY Cubans who became AMERICANS still become enraged at the mention of the name Castro. Family members who did not get out were “disappeared” or cut off from the ability to make a living OR to access most of the country’s GREAT BENEFITS.
Also if you have visited 30 countries and think Cuba is best, you haven't been to Australia?
People can be leftist (or embrace many leftist or at least center-left ideals) without also embracing totalitarianism. Just as being Christian conservative doesn’t mean that person embraces theocracy.
I don’t have a lot of interest in the debate as to if the left is always totalitarian or the right is always fascist, somehow. It’s the wrong focus. Rather, is totalitarianism ever a good idea? No. Is fascism ever a good idea? No.
There are elements of the dominant ideological culture (the left, in America, for most of my life) that are always going to be totalitarian and fascist but not always in charge. And not always deep within all of the country’s institutions. The power-brokers of the left and right have always wanted complete control of the press in order to shape narrative—now, one side actually had it. And it is awful to behold.
In any case, I’ll take a strong Blue Dog Democrat with sincerely held convictions over the vast majority of politicians—of both parties—whose only concern is their own political fiefdoms.
So has the right so you never had a choice. The left/right distraction is the new religion. The conservative movement was started to preserve feudalism and it has succeeded.
I think you make a good point about it being more of an unmasking rather than a momentary lapse of reason. Having come from India, where we have some of the last true enclaves of rabid Marxists (in Kerala and West Bengal), I can see where all this is headed.
Your logic about 'the left' is specious, incoherent, unsupported, and silly. The very heart of the left comes out of the enlightenment in an unalloyed belief in the Individual: the Individual as Fundamental to civilization. Greed/power-head players of the political game, right or left, have always corrupted the clear, simple, achievable concept of the lefts' Individual-- the average person elevated to a personal sovereignty allowing honesty and the means with which to think. These ideas on the left are alive and well. You beer can William F. Buckley's make me tired.
Your description of "the Left" bears no resemblance to any self-described leftist movement of the past two centuries. The Left have driven collectivist movements from outright socialism and communism, to the modern incarnations of identity-politics, etc. You appear to be living in a universe where "left" is some pure Planotic conception unsullied by the activities and practices of actual leftist movements. (Adding pathetic insults on top of this adds nothing but demonstrating that you substitute name-calling for analysis; and posting these juvenile insults without your full name makes you a coward.)
My name is albert richard lewis. You are not coherent. this is not an ad hominem attack on you. you are not coherent in either comment. you are a sad shadow of crypto-fascist types personified by William F. Buckley--without all that baggage of reasoned argument and making an actual point. But you express that point of view in sloppy generalities. Your profoundish generalizations are unsupported, fatuous. ALL political programmes--left, right, whatever-- have failed and have ended in tyranny. Why reserve pointing out failures of the left? Learn from this, and don't waste time on another snappy reply. Read up on anarchy, for instance. Much anarchy holds that no one--individual, state, church has the right to impose any decision on any individual. that is an outrageous demand of the left--in service of individuals. Anarchist insist that the burden of proof always is on the powerful as basic. Enough. The End
"This is not ad hominem", followed by a stream of juvenile taunts ("crypto-fascist", "sad", "shallow"). If you are going to spew your bile on the internet, at least learn to capitalise proper nouns and the first letter of each sentence. This is grade-school stuff.
You speak for many. Old Dem here who wants nothing to do with the Cultural Revolution. I know Berkeley professors who foresee the dunce cap for faculty whose commitment to social justice is judged wuestionable.
I'm an Independent. What's left of the sane Democrats, and I'm really not sure what that is because all leadership has failed the maibstream US during this crisis, panders to the radical part of its base. Center Democrats get dismissive form letters about social justice, and the warriors are going to push Old Joe around, using him as a stalking horse. He's given little sign otherwise. And who will be his vice president? Daily the so-called mainstream Democrats are getting on the guillotine wagon. The Republicans, interested in deregulation and lowering taxes for the rich, appear to have been mass anesthetized. Do they give a damn?I wish someone normal would run as a third party, but that won't happen.
Oh wait! Cheer up - Kanye is entering the race! Because we cant have one election without a SNL skit. If he actually runs How does it effect the votes? On another note - is it now acceptable to have a First Lady with a silicone ass and a sex tape on the internet? Wow.
And the point is. . .btw, I hit the 'like' button by mistake.
Excellent point. Trump is ratings-driven. Dems are donation-driven. So ... PANDER in full “can you top this?” Mode.
How do "ratings" diverge from democracy. Both are the will of the people. The only issue with immediate reaction is one's knee get jerked a lot. But not to worry, government is incapable of reacting quickly enough to respond to "polling" or ratings.
Sasha, the non-Trump, “non-left in its current form” alternative is a certain independent senator from Vermont. A man with whom I only probably share 10% of beliefs but who is honest. A man so consistent it gives one headaches see him saying the same things today he said 30 years ago. That alternative was destroyed. The smear campaigns sponsored by American corporate machinery were ruthless and echoed by Twitter and the axis NYT/WAPO. But to your point, I find it alarming that we have appointed Jack Dorsey and other billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg the arbiters of truth.
Bloomberg put it best when he said only in America could the socialist candidate for president have 3 houses and a jet.
Indeed. Only in America would the revolution be sponsored, coordinated, and fueled from corporate headquarters and “mind-blowingly” privileged billionaires. The guys strangling the workers are now the revolutionaries and the unemployed, strangled class at the bottom is providing boots on the ground to loot and destroy small businesses.
The French Revolution comes to mind?
Because socialists have to be poor, right ?
I know this is way too late but I just subscribed today and I'm scrolling back through time. And this was a fantastic comment to a fantastic article, it's exactly where I find myself. I have been screaming against all things Trump for the last four years and want nothing more than for him to lose. But boy the Democrats are working hard to push me in his direction (won't happen). It's so nice to see that not everyone in my country has gone insane.
An increasingly valid argument for voting FOR Trump, I hate to admit, is that a Biden win will immediately turn the government over to the deep state. The Russiagate hoax will be buried and the Epstein/Maxwell case forgotten.
What the left is telling you is that this will continue as long as Trump is the president. They want you to believe that it will all end if Biden is elected. I am not sure that is true though.
A Biden victory will turn the entire executive branch over to the deep state. This may be the only reason to consider voting for Trump. Well, actually, he can also be credited for not starting any new wars, and for trying to negotiate with the Taliban and pull at least some troops out of Afghanistan-- until Congress shot him down, and NYT printed a bogus story about bounties to kill Americans.
Then we can turn it all over to ISISrael and Saudi Arabia.
I guess your really wanting the reparations train, total choas, and AOC, to be in charge of the government. Because if you vote anything else but Trump, that's what's likely to happen. Personally, I'd like to see the people who brought about the whole Russia-Gate story pay...because that was a BS lie progagted on the country.
Are you cool with the administration who gave us that, coming right back into office?
You mean would I be cool with Obama coming back after this last four years of catastrophe? yes please!
Why would going back be better after all that has been shown to be a lie and blatantly criminal behavior? You think this country elected Trump to go back to business as usual? We already tried that, and it didn't do any good for anyone but the super wealthy.
I'm curious to know what exactly you think is a catastrophe with Trump? No new wars and putting an end to the free trade while the rest of the world slaps tariffs on our exports sounds like a pretty sweet deal. You think this country wants to get rid of our borders and let anyone come and go as they please? How is that even a country anymore?
I would be willing to bet that you could be dishonest and confused enough to mistake all the noise and chaos that the media and the Dems are causing in their attempts to destabilize Trump for actual bad behavior or blame on his part. Take away all the media smears and constant pearl clutching, along with the insane attempts to lie and cheat to overthrow a POTUS and undo an election, and all you are left with is a very boring and uneventful presidency that has accomplished many of its promises, and actually got stuff done despite it all.
You might actually have a legitimate grievance on some or all of his policies, but given the language you choose to use, I seriously doubt it. The only catastrophe is for the deep state Dems and free trade oligarchs who want to sell out this country. If you're one of them, then too bad if it's catastrophic. You ain't seen nothing yet. It's just going to get worse the more you gnash and snarl like an insane cornered animal.
You call Obama's presidency 'blatantly criminal", and me dishonest, confused and "gnashing and snarling like an insane cornered animal" because I used the word catastrophe? A bit over the top, even for a Trump supporter. Obama rescued the country from complete collapse, took a first stab at fixing our broken health system, strengthened our image abroad and narrowed the budget deficit when the economy recovered. And he did that without anything like the arrests and scandals of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump pretends he stopped immigration by building his imaginary wall, pretends he created this economic miracle when all he did was inherit a great economy, pretends he saved us from the coronavirus when we are of course the cautionary tale of what not to do for the rest of the world, and pretends he's restored our place in the world when the rest of the world looks at us with a mixture of horror and pity. The only good thing I can say about Trump is that he's lazy and spend almost all his time watching Fox, tweeting nasty insults and insane conspiracy theories, and golfing. Because he's incredibly stupid and a genuinely terrible human. If he were also diligent he could really wreak havoc on the country.
Look, I'm an Obama Democrat who is increasingly concerned with the direction the party is going in. I would love to have a viable Republican option. Bush wasn't my cup of tea but I'd take him in a heartbeat over Trump, and I'd probably vote for Romney or any number of other Republicans. But the stink of Trump is strong and until that is swept from the stables I'm stuck looking for the least worst Democratic option.
Calling the most uneventful first three years of a presidency since Carter a catastrophe betrays not only your blind partisan hatred, but your colossal stupidity as well. Trying to blame Trump for something everyone is struggling with only shows that even if there were one death you would be screaming bloody murder.
Your Obama fan fiction rewrite of history leaves out so many key things and completely falls flat when it comes to getting wrong the few things you were able to scribble out.
Obama didn't save anything from collapse, the economy recovered and stabilized automatically due to the myriad of safety net programs and shock absorbers we have baked into the system and haven't been yet dismantled by the neolib Dems. And not even attempting to hold a single banker accountable for the massive and pervasive fraud that they perpetrated on the entire world just ensures that it will happen again when the helicopter QE cash from the Fed stops shocking the markets back to life like an insane defibrillator.
Obamacare was simply a big fat stimulus and bailout for the insurance industry, so anything less than universal single payer is exactly what we always had and always will have without it: a complete waste of money and a huge scam to fatten the insurance company dividends.
Strengthening our image abroad doesn't mean letting every country in the world dump all of their exports for free here while slapping our imports with fat tariffs to protect themselves. The only image that was improved was our reputation as rich suckers who paid twice as much for half the product.
Your foolish insistence on proclaiming how great he was with the deficits completely misses the point. Deficits and the debt only serve to scam the rest of us into believing that the USA is broke and can't afford to pay for anything better than Obamacare or actual welfare and minimum wage programs. But somehow we are able to always find an extra couple trillion to throw at the pentagon or Wall St whenever they want. Obama perpetuated the lie and the scam that the USA is like a household or business that has to go out and earn or borrow money. It doesn't. It is the only one who can issue US dollars, and the only function that taxes serve is to make everyone hold and use US dollars to settle the tax bill because that's the only thing the IRS will take. Taxes only give the dollar its necessity and value. The only real constraint on the generation of US dollars is how much productive capacity the economy has and can handle. He deliberately chose to let Main St. starve and go homeless while Wall St. got bonuses and bailouts. And taking our couple of wars he started with and then turning them into 7 while completely obliterating Libya and letting ISIS run riot over Iraq and Syria couldn't be any better for the pentagon, but worse for the world and especially the ME. So our standing was crap, and no amount of charm and eloquence by our dapper Obama was going to fix that.
And to actually point to all the fabricated and concocted scandals born of all the media and Dem lies and crimes of Russiagate as some sort of proof of his being a bad POTUS just proves my point. The only catastrophe and scandal is how an outgoing administration can make Nixon and Watergate look like a cub scout rally by sending the FBI and IC to spy on the opponent's campaign and then use that as a pretext to cripple the administration and attempt to bring it down with a bogus witch hunt. Pointing to the scandals and fiascoes that were a direct result of Obama and the Dems' lies and crimes doesn't prove Trump is a catastrophe, it proves that my point that the Dems and media have been after Trump since before he was even elected, and he never stood a chance. But they still failed to take him down, and he still managed to keep a great economy and stock market. Only the complete lockdown of the country was able to ruin it, and there was never any question of what road the Dem mayors and governors were going to take, was there? Never mind the fact that we caused for more damage with the shutdowns than we could ever fear to pay in actual lives lost, that good economy had to go so Trump could be defeated in November.
Spreading vicious lies and staging a phony coup to take down the POTUS is one thing, but to put the Dem goals of ruining Trump's economy ahead of our welfare as a country really sealed the deal. The Dems aren't just a political problem, they are a clear and present danger and nothing less than a domestic enemy. And with the double whammy of riots and pissing all over our history and spitting in the faces of every American telling them how evil they are, the question then becomes: why would we want to vote for a bunch of crooks like the Dems who not only threw our economy under the bus to take down Trump, they tell us how evil we all are and how much they are going to wreck what we spent centuries trying to build. No sale.
I see your point. But how the administration has handled the Coronavirus pandemic=Catastrophe. Even the establishment dems would have done better.
IDK. Many establishment dem governors have done so well that states such as NY literally killed tens of thousands of nursing home patients by sending COVID patients there. It has nothing to do with the president or the legislature.
Given the fact that absolutely no one handled the virus better, that is an absurd claim to make. The only ones that can be said to have reacted better are the Swedes, who avoided most of the self inflicted economic damage and societal disruption while still having lower per capita deaths than Belgium, Spain, Italy, and the UK.
Speculating about the woulda coulda shoulda is quite stupid, and effortlessly easy to do. Maybe you should try speculating how things would have turned out if Kennedy didn't get shot, or if Armstrong's lunar lander crashed and burned. That might actually be interesting, and it would be just as based in reality as your establishment speculation.
You mean the same Obama (for whom i voted) who also circumvented the Constitution, And LOVED govt takeover of: communications, all modes of transportation from highways to ports to airports, all power/electrical gas etc, public storage, all health education and welfare systems, designating Postal svc to operate a national registration of ALL Persons, relocation and establishment of new locations of populations raising pay for judges - very handy strategy to buy the judiciary (more than 2 of these orders). In essence authorization of complete govt control of ALL sectors. And if you think the The new left wont take advantage of these think again.
Wow, I never knew he took over all the businesses in the country and relocated all of us. Thanks for the info, I'm convinced!
PLEASE READ (why do we have to tell people now to READ). READ Obama executive orders. I didnt say he did those things - i SAID he signed the EOs into effect which leaves the door open for others to do those things. WTF is wrong with people who cant stand facts, dont read and then run their mouths with ridiculous replies. READ READ READ
It is very depressing - I keep thinking how many more months of this can we take? And how much worse is it going to get?
If the cultural revolution and evergreen is anything to go by, worse.
I know this is way too late but I just subscribed today and I'm scrolling back through time. And this was a fantastic comment to a fantastic article, it's exactly where I find myself. I have been screaming against all things Trump for the last four years and want nothing more than for him to lose. But boy the Democrats are working hard to push me in his direction (won't happen). It's so nice to see that not everyone in my country has gone insane.
Agree
Not all is lost yet! To all frustrated with the state of affairs on the left and on the right, please consider joining the plan put forth by the Bret Weinstein of the Evergreen fame at https://www.articlesofunity.com/ More can be found on his Dark Horse podcast on YT
Amen.
Appreciate your honesty. I get that inability to unsee the bullshit.
I totally agree with what you're saying and I studied linguistics/hate Stephen Pinker!
The "left" is more "right" than moderate Republicans we all hated were in the 80s and early 90s.
Giant corporate banks have been dancing on the backs of the poor more than usual in the last 20 years and it shows: a lack of decent paying jobs, GDP tied directly to profiteering money-shuffling and outsourcing even TECH jobs is killing us slowly while the elected shits all dance to the fiddles being played on Wall St.
I voted for Obama twice... without being aware that they were gutting the country's manufacturing worse then NAFTA.
As much as I hate Trump, the ONE thing I can stomach is his stance toward the CCP. They're ruthless thugs with deep pockets full of dirty money and they've built their entire global empire on slavery.
When Candidate Obama visited Nt Rushmore in 2008, CNN called the monument majestic.
When Michelle visited Mt Rushmore in 2013 she called it a great sight, and CNN reported her statement objectively.
When Candidate Bernie Sanders visited Mt Rushmore in 2016, CNN again called the monument majestic.
When Trump visited Mt Rushmore yesterday, it had become, according to the CNN reporter, “a monument to two slaveholders, built on stolen Indian land.”
See how things work?
These distortions and the agenda behind them are more dangerous than ten Trumps and Trump is a bum.
I've been warning people that what comes after Trump, if the ruling class isn't a bit more honest, won't be pretty. Whether it's this leftist monster that Taibbi writes so eloquently about, or a right wing response reminiscent of centuries passed, I fear I wasn't wrong.
It is the Democrat-Republican dance. The both blow bullshit constantly (Culture war, so-called scandals, etc etc etc), never dealing with the job of finding real solutions to problems that matter to we , the people. Fuck em all.
Here, here.
You ain't wrong...but really we can agree MR is both things: a majestic monument to American imperialism.
$$$$$. The owners of the legacy media know they have to fall in line or they'll be replaced by online news.
Bout time, though. A monster act of vandalism. Stone Mountain, too.
I disagree-
I was so hopeing Trump had set a trap for stat line jumpin ANTIFA....instead he got the only US ckitizens due reparation s...fresh from the pipe line wars
The last honest man in America. Thanks for taking the gloves off Matt.
I’m a man of the left whose never really got any goose bumps when they raised the flag or played the anthem, but I’ve found myself defending America to many wealthy white liberal friends who are dripping in the spoils of the American Dream. If I’m the most patriotic person in my circle, we are in deep shit.
My white guilted friends will defend any crime or lie in the name of racial justice. Just don’t ask them to do anything except cheer on the madness and confess their white privilege.
Whatever short term political benefit that might come from letting the radicalized left run roughshod over the ideals, however aspirational, of America, will be more than negated by the grave harm being done to the nation’s history and free speech. To say nothing of the backlash soon to come from the half of America and the police being demonized as racists on every organ of the mainstream press. This backlash will make the Trump era seem like lovely walk through ignorant bliss.
Tucker Carlson is the number one watched show and earned the highest rating ever for a news host last month. And the only corporations that will advertise on his show are My Pillow and some silly office chair spine healers. That should tell you everything you need to know about the disconnect between elites and the masses scared shitless watching this cultural riot insisting everything is up for grabs.
Thanks Matt for using your platform to call bullshit on this madness. You are a national treasure.
It’s a dialectic capture or a dialectic hammer. Call it whatever you like.
Carlson is one of the people that discusses the issues afflicting the working class (although he does so from the aesthetic to the right). This is why he has such high viewership and such poor corporate sponsorships.
The elites need the left and right to stay the way that it is. Mitt Romney isn’t marching with BLM or supporting Biden because he cares about black people or working people: he needs to support the status quo.
Here Is an example of how the dialectic hammer work:
1) Education. Do we have a capitalist system? No. Do we have a socialist system? No.
The left comes in and says every single person in this country irrespective of ability, interest, income or societal need should be able to go to whatever university they want and major in whatever subject, irrespective of cost. The federal government guarantees the loans and universities can charge whatever they want irrespective of whether the borrower can eventually pay the money back. The “not for profit” universities can pay tenured boomer professors and administrators six and seven figures with obscene perks and transfer the cost to the student, who in turn transfers it to the public. If the student can’t pay it back, the public eats the cost. This is why education is the fastest rising item in the US today. Side note: the costs and defaults are spectacular, but we don’t have an honest picture because of programs like income based repayment that allow borrowers who otherwise can’t pay back their loans to pay a percentage of income as the balance of the loan grows.
If you aren’t down with this arrangement, your favorite very well compensated leftist administrator or tenured professor will summon his or her arsenal of identity politics fire power to let you know that there’s absolutely no way we can interfere with this instanity because a member of [fill in the blank protected group] wouldn’t go to Harvard medical school but for this program (never mind the legions of people attending no name universities staffed by ivy grads that are paying for degrees that will cripple them).
Now for the right. The right doesn’t focus on the fact that the universities are robbing the public coffers blind, oh no, there’s no care for fiscal responsibility here.
The right is just there to make sure the kids remain in permanent debt peonage and hammer the point “personal responsibility” over and over and over, never mind the fiscal catastrophe of writing blank checks to institutions governed by self interested actor. Trump’s Secretary of Education is notorious for this: just making sure borrowers can get out of the debt (even using legal means such as public service forgiveness programs).
The dialectic hammer at work. In this instance, the beneficiaries are leftists (professors and administrators), but for the con to work you need the tag team of the worst aspects of the left and right to bring you FASCISM.
There are people on both sides of the spectrum that can solve this problem by giving you real, solid and honest reforms, both on the right and left. For example, David Yang has a total command of this issue on the left and Carlson understands it from the right, but there’s no chance of either having any real power to do anything.
Great commentary overall. If I can add one insight: We push people to go to college with a narrative of long term financial incentive, and we offer many of them short term incentives to do so. (e.g. do you want to live with your parents for the next four years or come to college on a loan?) But at some point you push past the group that benefits from a college education and are giving people who would be best served by vocational training (skilled manufacturing, welding, etc) degrees that leave them suited mainly for social activism.
So basically, we're paying for the indoctrination of an entire generation to become social critics of the current system, and now we're surprised when they engage in social criticism and the activism we encouraged them to go learn.
American Madrasas!
But the military option doesn't indoctrinate people ? LOL !! This is very amusing ! So in essence your brilliant plan is to send all the poor kids into the military and trade school so that the children of the elite can go to the elite schools and continue to exploit the poor by both blood and treasure ? LOL !
That's the very system we have now ! Are you people CIA assets ??
It's not about rich or poor, it's about the right fit for the individual. Poor people with high IQ should be identified and put into the right course of study at a top school, and final job path. Rich and poor people with average IQ should be given a great career path that fits them. It may be coding, it may be welding, it may be high tech skilled manufacturing. But what we shouldn't do it push a person who can't handle a management job or an information economy job into college for the sake of having "a college degree" that doesn't change what they are best suited for. I'm all for keeping the rich who don't merit the spot from getting a pass into a college.
By the way, it is well known at this point that the actual education of college changes your income by +2-3%. It's primarily the selectivity of top colleges that affects their student's life outcomes, not what they teach them. Reverse that and "going to college" isn't what makes people successful.
You are mostly righty, but we have dig in deeper.
Peter Thiel makes the excellent point that if the value in a Harvard degree was the actual instruction, then we could pay Harvard massive amounts of money and have their instruction provided online for everyone to consume. The value isn’t the instruction, it’s the selectivity and the network. The education has very little value there or elsewhere. It’s not practical.
The reason poor kids who to Harvard succeed is because the network advances them, sometimes. You get an opportunity to work for the institutions that control the country if you go to Ivy League schools because the rich send their kids there. The rich kid gets to pretend to hes competent because he goes to Harvard by pointing to the fact that poor people that went with the rich kid to Harvard, by and large, also become rich. However, the poor kids will actually have to compete in the real work place and TEACH THEMSELVES the skills required to succeed. If they can’t, they are really screwed, much more so than if they didn’t go to a place like that.
If you exclude the rich kids from the Ivy Leauge, it has no value. Rich kids want self esteem and a network. Poor kids want money and a network. You need both for the fraud to continue.
A real solution is getting back to practical skills, especially for the poor. Imagine if they taught martial arts the way they teach crap at university . Some asshole writing the moves on board, you memorizing the moves and then taking a test regurgitating it, without ever seeing how anything actually works in practice. The analogy would be bar brawl. If a rich kid with such a “martial” education stepped into a bar and a biker with no formal training but 500 street fights attacked the rich kid, the rich kids private security could handle it (and the analog to privy are security in the economy is a trust fund). A poor kid armed with such an education is going to get the shit kicked out of him. If the kid has natural gifts, speed, strength, endurance, etc., then he or she would learn how to fight in ten or so brawls and then be able to defend himself with the practical experience.
A better system is that the poor kid goes to a real Brazilian jiu-jitsu school and learn how to fight outright (military).
99% agreed! The poor kids who go Ivy don't just get a network, they also have talent. But, beyond the selectivity, as you say the schools' main benefit actually provided is network rather than the education.
And what about rich people with low IQ ? You know, the ones that go to Ivy league schools right after daddy or grandpa donate a few stolen millions ? Saying this isn't about rich or poor is what makes it funny. We all know about the economic draft set up by the elite into the military that gets poor kids killed and makes West Point grads rich and powerful.
Who do you think will choose which kids go to college and which ones go to trade school ? IQ is a horrible measure of character and especially of emotional intelligence.
You're just creating another hurdle to trip up kids who are at that stage immature to begin with naturally. The brain isn't fully formed until about 25 on average.
Barring kids from college due to some bs and incomplete standard like IQ is just wrong. Education is good for anyone that is willing to learn period. This whole BS social engineering by inbred elitist sociopaths who feel it's their birthright to exploit every aspect of everything having to do with life is what needs to go.
So does this consume for the sake of consumption BS economy that only drives more war and exploitation by the so called elite.
Right, but without the rich kids the degree is worthless. That’s a contributing factor as to why millions of people can’t find employment. The education at 99 percent of universities is theoretical. Theoretical education is the province of the aristocracy, that’s never going to change.
Barring kids from college that aren’t rich or absolutely brilliant is a fabulous idea.
Americans need to get back to practical skills.
I think I said "I'm all for keeping the rich who don't merit the spot from getting a pass into a college," but I guess we should check the record.
"Education is good for anyone that is willing to learn period." I don't think taking a differential equations class is good for someone who won't understand differential equations. But we can agree to disagree.
I suppose it’s a superior plan to send the poor kids to the elite schools, heavily in debt them for the privilege, and then not only do the rich kids continue to exploit just as if the poor kids went or didn’t go, but the poor kids have no tangible skills to get out of the trap and are pwned for life.
Oh and of course, a handful of poor kids will be given some parasitical function in the decaying institutions of this country, so the rich kid can pretend his or her success is due to attending an elite university, not inherited wealth (college admission scandal anyone?).
We can also see how much harm these elite Ivy league schools have done around the world and to society as a whole. I think all elite institutions should be shut down until an ethics review is done and a board made up of citizens reviews them. Look at WHINSEC for example. They've killed more people than 'ol Adolph the butcher ever did and are still at it !
Best summation of current higher education system I’ve seen in a long time.
This is not an even remotely true statement:
> The left comes in and says every single person in this country irrespective of ability, interest, income or societal need should be able to go to whatever university they want and major in whatever subject, irrespective of cost.
It is, at best, a hyperbolic cartoon of an actual goal of the American left, namely: ensuring free, public higher education is available.
No its a true statement. Academia is run by the left. Specifically, it’s run by the tenured faculty and administrators, who are very well compensated and mostly exempt from market forces. The only market force is whether or not the kid can get into a school and if said kid wants to attend. If those conditions are met, the feds cover the costs and the kid functions as a student loan conduit between tax payer and academic institution.
Yeah, they advocate for free public education because then there will be no price controls. Right now, it’s possible some kid might say to themselves maybe this 250k BA in philosophy is going to hurt me, let me rethink it. Of course, in the vast majority of circumstances, friends and family will quickly assuage all concerns and tell said child that an education is critical success, attending the highest ranked school no matter the cost will pay off, and he or she doesn’t have to worry about anything. But there are (and increasingly so) kids that are looking at the price tag.
Who on the left is arguing for PRICE CONTROL of any kind (market or government)? Very few people with power. I can see why they not only want a blank check but a clandestine one as well, and that’s “free” public education.
Of course, if the right did it’s duty, it wouldn’t allow these institutions to do this. No private actor is going to lend a kid 200k for a BA (or even a BS) from no-name U, and to be honest, maybe not even the elite schools the way things are going.
This is why the cost of education has gotten so out of control.
This is 100% correct. Every time I have run into someone bemoaning their crippling student debt, I ask the same questions:
1) What did you major in?
2) What were your grades?
3) What were the lower cost educational alternatives?
4) Did you consider post-graduation job prospects when making all these choices? If not, why not?
Invariably - and I mean, every time - they cannot justify the expense they undertook for their educational program. The most I have ever gotten is "Nobody told me."
Here's a simple plan to fix collegiate educational cost:
A) A sliding scale of borrowing based on course of study. If you change courses of study from, say, accounting or finance or pre-law to gender studies, you can borrow less. Doesn't mean you can't take those courses - just means you have to pay for it.
B) An overall capped amount of borrowing - if you want to exceed that, your parents or - wait for it - the school has to agree to be your co-signer.
C) Corollary to that...students who default on their obligations - and the default rules have to be stricter than they are now - are backstopped by the parents and/or the school. The school benefitted from the easy federal cash - let the school eat the loss.
If Harvard and its enormous $41 billion endowment wants to teach "Pre-Determined Gender Roles in Underwater Basketweaving", let them, but the public should not have to pay for that. I don't think the public should have to pay for any of it, but the resources should be funneled towards students willing to learn marketable skills rather than political activism.
That’s mostly right. The key is making the institutions accountable, which making the universities co-sign the loans is the absolute best way to accomplish the goal of accountability.
Ultimately, I don’t care if it’s a right market based solution or a leftist oversight solution (as long as controls are put in place to avoid regulatory capture).
The personal responsibility argument though is dangerous. Here’s why: the information on what major is useful and what major is not useful just isn’t out there. For example, you mention prelaw. It’s not common knowledge but being a lawyer is not financially lucrative for the vast, vast majority of lawyers. Lower middle class and middle class families, especially immigrants, just do not have this information. If a poor kid tells his or her family that he or she read on the internet that going into debt for a law degree doesn’t make sense anymore, you can bet dollars to doughnuts the kid’s family is going to excoriate them for listening to nonesense. When the kid graduates 250k in debt and can barely eek out a leaving, the right wing personal responsibility crowd is going to take him or her to task, but the end the result is the same: the institution gets the money without being held accountable.
Years ago law students sued law schools for providing misleading employment statistics. In one case, a federal judge dismissed the case against one specific school on the grounds that the kids could reasonably rely on the representations of the school. The judge acknowledged that the school did lie, but the kids were naive on relying on the representations, and they should most lawyers don’t make much anymore (I can provide a citation if you are interested). Now, I’m not for bailing out lawyers, but the law schools got to the keep the money and the tax payer got shafted and the graduates got shafted. (The founder of the law school in question is entitled to a state guaranteed pension of 450k a year for life FYI.)
By way of another example, and Tucker Carlson discusses this all the time, there is absolutely no shortage of STEM graduates. Zero. The tech companies with outsourcing and H1B1 visas have made sure of that. Moreover, if you find work as an engineer, by 40 you’ll be unemployable.
I predict that finance is eventually going to be impacted as well. The only reason it’s not being impacted right now is the children of the very wealthy are going into the financial sector as a means of establishing connections and satisfying their ego, and for that to work, you have to pay everyone a high compensation so that we can pretend the game isn’t rigged. Eventually though, market forces are going to come to bear and your average ivy finance grad is going to have problems. (Why I do I have to pay a 22 year old kid with no experience 85k-200k right out the gate when thousands of kids are graduating ivy schools with finance backgrounds year in and year out?)
My point being that personal responsibility is relevant and bailing out people for being naive is a problem, but that has nothing to do with letting wolves feast on the naive to fleece the general public.
I yield on pre-law. Fair enough. I saw years ago a NY Times article about people emerging from lower-tier law schools with $250k in debt who were unable and unwilling to pay it, saying they were "hoping for a bailout in the age of bailouts".
I graduated from business school with $200k+ in debt. It took me a very long time to pay it all off, but I did. That was my choice and my responsibility.
Ultimately, I could not possibly agree more about the key being blocking the wolves from feasting on the naive and fleecing the general public. College costs have exploded because there is too much free money available to subsidize college. The colleges - as the beneficiaries of the loans - should backstop the loans. I cannot respect anyone who says "Eliminate student debt" who refuses to look at the cost side.
Also galling is the concept that only those with debt should be reimbursed. The video when the dad asked Elizabeth Warren "My daughter worked two jobs to pay off her debt, and so did I. Do we get our money back?" and Warren mockingly laughed at him and said "Of course not." I saw a pretty left-leaning political commentator say "I chose to carry my student debt and spend money on vacations and cars, etc. I have friends who were more frugal and saved so they could pay it off, denying themselves things I chose to enjoy. Should they be penalized for paying down their debts? Should I be rewarded for choosing not to do so? That seems wildly unfair."
Excellent post!
That's why I'm raising my kids with the idea to understand debt. If you want to go to college, do something with your life first, like the military. It's what I did and graduated with 0 debt.
However, I've always told them that people will need plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics, roofers, until the end of time. Apprentice under someone, then start your own business. You can be as busy or lazy as you want...but choices have consequences.
Absolutely. My biggest regret is not joining the military. In a fascist system, and we are a fascist country (capital and the state has merged), the military is the best institution to give you real and practical skills.
It’s truly unfortunate that poor people with above average (but not extraordinary) abilities view the military as a bad option. If you have a 3.5 High school gpa and an SAT score in the 75-90th percentile, unless you come from money, the military is almost certainly going to be a much, much better option than going to an average college (irrespective of major).
You've provided zero examples to substantiate your initial claim, instead made further claims about what your imaginary version of "the left" believes and does. This is not argumentation, it's delusional ranting.
> Who on the left is arguing for PRICE CONTROL of any kind (market or government)? Very few people with power.
There very, very few people on the left in power in the US at all, but let's set that aside to address your ill-informed main point.
There are abundant examples of free higher education in other countries, notably western Europe. There, staff salaries and tuition fees (if any) are generally strongly regulated if not set by the state. If you took the time to…ahem…educate yourself on this, you'd find that the status quo you've invented in your mind palace is not remotely rooted in reality.
It doesn’t matter what people on the left who have no power advocate for. David Yang discusses these issues in depth, but he has no power. The American left is controlled by neoliberals, until that changes the dialectic hammer continues.
There are right wing solutions to this problem advocated for by libertarians on the right; for example, if the student loan program was eliminated in its entirety, the price of education would crater. If that happened though, the boomer-commie professors that are gourging themselves on federal tax dollars wouldn’t be able to live the life of the top one percent, while indoctrinating our youth that this fascist system is a capitalist system.
The American right is controlled by neoliberals as well so what's your point ? Libertarians can never understand that the "free market" is a fairy tale and that markets are political constructs. We get to choose how society is ordered and by which rules it operates, not some pixie dust magic BS invisible hand.
You wouldn't need a loan program if education was free and you wouldn't need insurance if healthcare were free.
The only reason they're not is it helps keep the elite the elite. Let's not forget the "right
wing war monger" professors that would be out of jobs as well.
Heres some REALITY There is nothing wrong with meritocracy. The US Constitution guarantees the right to the pursuit of happiness. I’ll explain: this DOES NOT mean ur guaranteed happiness or wealth or whatever u think it is the lunatics you think are so caring are promising you. It means...anyone can WORK for it but the OUTCOME is NOT Guaranteed.
If ur under 30 and making under 50k a year it explains why UR...ahem...delusional and Alice is ur next door neighbor. Thats a reference to a book by Lewis Carroll (in case its been banned).
I’ve worked too hard to pay 60% tax on my income (not unheard of in EU countries, Serbia for one. In FACT it ranges from hi 30s to 60+). As an undergrad i worked THREE jobs one of which was RA which does not leave time to sleep. Guess what? i didnt make enough to pay my tuition but i made TOO MUCH to receive grants. I come from a working class widowed single parent family. I WORKED my way up to the income i EARN now and with taxes have probably financed the equivalent of several 4 year degrees and a couple of master’s.
In “free” education countries as it is here, one must also pay property tax. And tax on EVERYTHING ELSE. Make no mistake there are PLENTY of poor and working class families in EU who will NEVER be able to send kids to college. Why? Because they need everyone in the family to work. Go live in northern england or Spain.
The grass is always greener - you would know that if you actually earned anything You have. BTW - heres another fun fact - several “free” education countries require a certain term of public service. I wonder how many americans would be clamoring to GIVE something for the PRIVILEGE of an education.
Excellent points.
I have to add some obligatory points, namely this, Europe, the US and the West has a very parasitic class of uber elites that pay nothing in taxes, dont work (or if they do work, the work is harming everyone else), and they are bailed out consistently by the remainder of the population. Right now, half of the United States is out of work and the Federal Reserve is printing money to keep the apex of the society intact, while giving a finger to everyone else.
This is particularly absurd when viewed in light of the tax code that dramatically favors investment returns over wage income. What risk are these parasites taking when the central banks bail their ass out and everyone else gets the finder with increased inflation and instability.
They have these fools on the left burning down working class neighborhoods lol, as they remain exempt from everything in their palatial estates on the coasts, it’s ludicrous.
Agreed. Not one mention of the overall cost of the MIC that has to kill or oppress entire regions to justify its existence. Very self serving and devoid of long term solutions.
The military security complex is a very serious problem. Maybe the most serious. The beneficiaries are right wingers, but if you want to tell me the American left doesn’t support it as well, with these humanitarian missions, lol...
I believe thE left wants everyone to have access to free education but It is completely unrealistic to think it will be any school any degree. In the end it will be quota based on what is best for the system. The history courses they deem relevant, STEM programs, trades etc all quota based. Want to study philosophy? Okay 1% of all applicants can but only at these schools and limited to these courses. Engineering? 7-10% at these schools etc. Degree requirements as we know them will change.
No one on the left with any real power is advocating for this.
In any event, this has its own sets of problems:
1) Measuring someone’s ability by how many resources their parents have to pay for private tutoring for standardized exams that don’t translate into real skills, is a waste of resources and potentially unfair in its own ways.
2) Once again, price control. I don’t see why the government needs to write massive checks to institutions without price control.
3) Are we making these determinations when someone is 18, 22? I know students that did extremely poorly in college because they weren’t mature enough in high school to do the work, but kicked ass in college, and went to super elite graduate programs as a result.
4) The marketability of certain degrees is deliberately misrepresented to mask the real problem: labor surplus. There is no STEM shortage. Zero. There is an army of foreign labor doing this work for peanuts. Leftist: you aren’t down with anyone coming here to do the work for half of what an American is willing to do it? Racist. Rightist: You want to restrict the free market from importing or exporting labor wherever aggregated capital sees fit? Commie.
5) Related to 4, what about the curriculum? They don’t teach. They don’t want to teach practical skills and most of them don’t. When does this change? If you centralize power in the state even more, the same people who want t safe and secure incomes (faculty) will do everything in their power to stop you from making meaningful changes to the curriculum.
But yeah, your proposal is better than what we have now.
Really great, thought-provoking comment. Thank you for taking the time to write it.
Fantastic analysis. Thanks for your insight.
My pleasure.
Your statement does seem over reaching in terms of left’s proposals (eg Sanders) re public funding or anything/anywhere goes acceptance policies. Maybe it’s more accurately stated as a plausible slippery slope. Won’t argue with your other points. It’s a racket as it stands.
Show me where Sanders advocates price control. Also, he’s a fraud. They screwed him twice and he took it to preserve his personal position.
I believe Tucker Carlson is skillfully positioning himself to succeed Trump as leader of conservatives who don’t trust big corporations.
Great, another propagandist leader like Ray-gun is just what we need.
Yes, indeed, he’s definitely a corporatist. Corporations love his fifteen minute plus rants on how we need to reduce the supply labor, end the H1B1 visa program, how China is a slave shop that the corporations are using for cheap labor, how college is a scam for the rich, etc.
He’s very popular. That’s why he has plenty of corporate sponsors.
Sarcasm off.
He's just another trust fund baby of a propagandist who has to pacify his audience every once and a while in order to feed them their medicine when he's told to. You actually believe he has no corporate sponsors ?
Wow, that's funny.
He is absolutely not a corporatist, he is raking those fers day in and day out.
Great comment.
I've found myself the same with often extremely wealthy white friends that would be aghast if you made any broad brushed assumptions about them. Often times there is an extreme hypocrisy and projection involved, and many "normal" people are beginning to notice it.
Word! I so relate to your words. And yes, I caught that abt the Tucker show too.
You should catch how he's the son of a propagandist before watching that garbage.
Indeed. He is a corporate pro propagandist. That’s why he fights against what corporations find most important every single night, namely globalization and labor surpluses.
He’s advocated for primaring nine Republicans senators that didn’t want to end the H1B1 visa program during the pandemic. When I think about corporations, I think of institutions that want to pay more for labor...
Honestly Matt, keep going. You speak for a lot of us right now. Dont let them silence you.
*VERY LONG POST* Here is a true story of just how toxic and insidious this ship of fools has become. Its no longer a situation that will die down so we can have a national conversation about real or perceived harms, real objectives and even more real solutions.
I am a GenXr. My niece is a millennial In her mid 30s and ER nurse in a major NYC hospital. She has 2 boys, the oldest is nearly 4 the other almost 2. Their father is Haitian. They All live together in a stable very middle class Town in northern NJ. She was raised in a close knit middle/upper middle class family. She and her peers grew up in the time of trophies for all, a tidal wave of cultural diversity, PC rhetoric and “teach to the test”education. This kid NEVER cracked a book. Ok she read 2, some Zane novel and the Diary of Anne Frank because i bribed her. Her first career goal was to become a welder.
Eventually she decided to get a degree in nursing and with “help” succeeded and is amazing At her job.
Suddenly when BLM movement started this woman who i love became a radical loot, burn, tear it down, rabid system hater. She took the boys to protest marches. Racism is the cause of all ills. No wait its police brutality. No no its slavery. No its trans-rights, immigrants, Trump, corporations. Around mid June she, her partner, a friend of the family And i started talking about the rioting. R and i were having a conversation and i was asking how he felt. Did he feel that he was targeted by police, or discriminated against in employment etc. his answer? Sometimes, i suppose. He seemed to think it was mostly on the individual but that there were some questions as to the targeting of black men by police. I asked him for his ideas about change. My niece said if she wasnt pregnant she would be out there looting and setting fires too.
As days went on and the topic came up she decided that since the 2 of us dont agree we should no longer discuss it. I agreed. I didnt realize she meant that i wasnt allowed to discuss it anywhere anytime in any venue
She posted on IG things that represented her view. I dont have FB and recently dropped off Twitter. I check Insta a couple of times a week mostly to see local stuff and hockey related nonsense. Occasionally i post a pic usually of the boys or some quote or idea that resonates - two nites ago it was something from Thomas Sowell.
A friend stopped by my house yesterday to see how im holding up. I was confused. I told her “im fine why?” She proceeded to tell me i have basically been kicked out of my family.
this post was representative of everything i have posted about Recent events except on Twitter where i felt myself getting down in the ooze with the rest of the tyrannical socialist deckhands. Shes not on Twitter and wouldnt have seen any of those angry posts.
The point is - what has happened in my family is happening to the country. Agree or be cancelled but if you relent its still not enough because if you’re white (without bi-racial kids) or a cop you are part of the system You are a racist. You have white privilege and must beg forgiveness for your color renounce your history, culture and ur very existence. wrongs(???). No matter how logical or fact-based the response. You are an oppressor and you, everything you think, read, and know, every bit of american AND world history must be destroyed. Meet the new boss.
I read the manifesto White Fragility and i can honestly say i have not seen a book that better exemplifies the liberal takeover of the American public and private education system paired w the “everything you say do and feel is completely appropriate because someone made you feel that way” Style of parenting. If you do not validate me i will throw a temper tantrum and since you don't want to feel guilty for working to give me everything I want or need (except a good kick in the ass) or for NOT giving me everything i want, you will agree to anything or I WILL CANCEL YOU.
It is a steaming pile of shit.
Combine with the deepLy infected Political boil that has taken 2+ generations to burst Open. we failed to lance it during Bush 1, then again Clinton prologue, Bush 2 and YES even Obama 1 (i think we’ll see the Mrs in the next administration) so we are left with societal gangrene.
I keep asking what we can do instead of ruminating and venting - i wish someone could give me an answer. Ive lost my family and as i sit here on Independence Day i cant help but wonder who and what they’ll come for next. How many families are experiencing something similar.
Im open to listen and learn but I will not apologize for the color of my skin, my education or opinions. I will lose everything before that happens. Patrick Henry had it right.
*If it matters My sister and i are Cuban and grew up in a low income household headed by my widowed mom.
Thanks for your rant - right on target! Here's another long comment. For the "what can we do?" stuff - I've been a social and environmental activist since early 60's and I've thought long and hard about how we, the people, can survive what's being done to us - - we must stick to our principles and do what we can politically, of course, BUT, what we really need to do for our survival is become more independent, more self-reliant in our own lives so we are not so totally dependent on corporations' for our existence - - this includes growing some of our own food, even city people can do some of this, and living more lightly on Earth - - lowering living standards to minimum so don't need much money, getting out of debt - file bankruptcy if necessary - so we're not laden with that burden - and, like you, sticking to truth even if shunned by family and some friends. Some people have to set the example for others - as Matt Taibbi does. I used to be city but now rural and I see Climate Change happening every day as we get floods, then drought (worse they've ever seen), really high winds which blow trees into power lines shutting down electricity, and more.....so we live in a challenging world physically now, and an awful one politically....keep your spirits up,,,,read silly novels now and then to escape and turn off the stream of doom from radio/tv/internet....begin planning for a garden for next spring - get a good catalog which gives instructions for your region, and so on. - We just have to keep on.
I am a left-leaning Dem. I read the New York Times every day. But I NEVER stray into its Opinion Section. The paper has cynically tossed the keys to the Whiner Left, self appointed guardians of “The Vulnerable” (including me, but no thanks) — all on the one condition that they spare The Times. Dishonorable surrender so they can make money without aggravation.
You'll never win a global class war by that alone although I agree with most of your post. We're losing this class war due to the fact we don't organize globally against the authoritarian elite, who are already very organized and have plans laid out.
Staying sane is very important, but reaching out to others and comparing notes is also very important in order to construct a network of our own making with which to support our material needs. It's very hard to live without playing into the monopoly game of the elite.
Generations of people lived together fairly well before the corporate terrorism began to really take hold and I believe that can be achieved again with the lighter footprint you rightly pointed out in your post.
Hi - Agree with much of what you say.....but "Capitalism Cannot Be Reformed." That's a button given to me by a unionized Seattle longshoreman during a mass demonstration in Seattle in 1999 when we were fighting the WTO. We need to figure out more cooperative ways of living - copy some of what was in the pretty far past - and hope we can stay this side of the Dark Ages.
You need to create some distinctions here. Markets and trading will form in a vaccum - it's not a decision to organize society that way, markets form naturally. Look at underground black markets in North Korea, for example.
So in the sense that you want to drop individuals amassing wealth by freely trading, that won't happen. You can tax it more, though, to limit its accumulation.
I would suggest understanding the difference between Corporate Capitalism and Capitalism and railing against the former. How do we allow and foster competition in markets, and properly regulate markets and companies to prevent massive companies, market abuses, overweight gov't influence, and monopolistic activity - that's what you want I bet.
Ummm, no, your mansplaining to me what I mean is actually quite amusing...no, I do not want capitalism at all. I and many others want a more cooperative society - the exact form of which will be decided by people as we go - if we're allowed by the powers that be to go anywhere other than where we are. Swapping thing for another thing,, trading hours of labor for hours of labor as the old Chinese did, trading garden produce for others' garden produce, and so on - scaled up by town or region - - we're going to have critical brown-outs and black-outs so we'll not be able to count on electricity all the time......need to be prepared to deal with that, too.
Can anyone mansplain? How can you be sure Substack commenter 34 is a man? If they are female, is it still mansplaining?
None of the "ism's" can be reformed and since all of them sprang out of slavery we need an entirely new system that doesn't incentivize mass murder for resources, exploitation, fraud, and debt peonage. We have to destroy the concept of the elite as well as restore the language that has been stolen from us by them and their useful idiots in the government.
Great stuff. Relying on yourself if really what we all need to do. I'll go a step further. Read law codes and find out what your're able to do to protect yourself and your family. The radicals are not afraid to encroach upon those who will not stand up for their space or rights.
Actually no, relying on yourself is what you're supposed to do while the folks behind the curtain team up to screw you over. You should inform yourself and strive to be more self sufficient where possible but without networking you'll lose in the long run.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Never forget that this is all for a reason. This is the global reset the elite have been trying to roll out for a long time now.
"“We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
-Karl Rove(turd blossom)
The elite and their enforcers as well as the general public won't allow total chaos for very long. The elite are trying to re-install one of their puppets instead of conman Trump and they know Biden sends the message that they want which is that the US government is a facade and that the people in the shadows run America. That's designed to scare other countries more than the citizens but since most Americans are so politically naive they still think voting changes policy goals, which it simply doesn't.
Remember that twitter is not the real world nor is any other social media platform. All of them can and are manipulated.
This is not conservative or liberal in actuality, it can't be since we live in a plutocracy that believes in nothing other than money, power, and prestige.
Actually, they may not put 'Biden on the ballot - he's really damaged by his obvious dementia and his past awful right-wingery. The DNC may choose another who will do their bidding.
I think thats precisely why Dems will put him on the ballot. A hoard of screeching lunatics can easily manipulate him. And after all, isn't that what they’ve doing with weak minds and no moral compass?
This was really interesting, thank you. I didn't understand the particular event or posting that led to your family beginning to shun you, can you explain? Was it that you argued at the party and the effect was delayed, or was it an immediate reaction to your Sowell post?
To give you some hope, this kind of stuff is how cults work, of course, by encouraging groupthink to the exclusion of family. I have worked to save people from cult influence in the past. My hope is that the pandemic's psychologic and economic impacts are making this cult attractive short term but that rationality prevails in the medium term and beyond. The cult influence was always catching victims in a moment of weakness in their lives for various reasons, mental health or other crises. This time it's just that so many people are in that kind of moment at once.
The OP stated it was something (a quote, an article?) by Thomas Sowell, who is a black conservative thinker. Whether the IG post was a quote or a link to an article, or frankly, even just Sowell's picture, that is enough to get you canceled with this crowd. It is telling that these folks not only refuse to listen to counter arguments, but more than that...refuse to acknowledge or allow other points of view. (Compared to the OP who read White Fragility as have many who are not part of the "woke" cult.)
Thanks for your thoughts. MO - is Thomas Sowell is one of the most intelligent, educated HUMANS alive today. His life experience alone qualifies him to have views and observations that TO ME are meaningful and significant. I learned that he’s black several days after reading some of his quotes. this Interested me to learn more about him
I listen to the opinions of others but in these past couple of months have lost tolerance for cancel culture and brainless statements. There is no give and take or mutual education. NO ONE is required to agree with or care what i think but honestly
Do normal families do this?
It is surreal.
Unfortunately it is common today in terms of political views. But it's old news in terms of social mores - think about how societies create disincentives to marital infidelity by the same kind of threat of social ostracization.
I think your family doesn't know Sowell is black. Not that that should matter, but of course it does. I would just slowly kill them with kindness and find ways to insert the truth in front of as many of them as possible. This is but a moment in time, and many are not far from getting to 2 if you show them 1 and 1. I can't tell you how many liberal relatives of mine who never would have turned to conservative news sources before now seek these out for perspective. Assume that all of your relatives are simply in need of perspective because they are busy and have only seen MSM, and still trust it for now. That will change.
The first event was when her issue was police brutality. i gave some facts/stats about the actual percentage of police on black killings. I conceded that excessive force is something we should look at. She said that will never happen as long as “white people” run things. It was weeks later that i posted the TS quote re: the word racism is like ketchup u can spread it on everything and asking for evidence gets u labeled a racist. I believe the other TS quote is about individual responsibility.
UPDATE: im posting this because i want people to know this sort of thing can happen to you. U may be familiar w Brett Weinstein but know that it is no longer limited to academics, celebrities or journalists.
After receiving several disgusting & hateful dm’s from my niece’s friends ( ID’d them by content though ive never heard of them) i blocked IG went private AND shut down Twitter. Ive not been on FB for years except a brief relapse a couple of years back.
One of the DMs said “if you block me i will just set up a new account...” blah blah (?????) something that made absolutely no sense. I figured - fine its over. I recvd some weird follow requests (ignored and screenshot).
ONE WEEK later i was contacted by my employer’s corporate ethics group re a tip they received on the hotline . I wont go into specifics because now im basically paranoid (mission accomplished right?).
Dissent=public shaming, Ignore = active destruction of reputation and livelihood.
I dont know what will happen next. Only a few weeks ago i was “the best aunt ever.” The fact that anyone - especially a close family member can do this with or without any kind of conversation Shows just how insidious and malevolent this sickness can be. Everyone, Duck and Cover
Much of the negativity towards these wedge issues are worn out tropes from the right. Most of the younger set haven't been around long enough to have lived through the whole "pull yourself up by your boot straps" crap of the Reagan era or the "welfare mother millionaire" BS that the right used in the 80's and early 90's when the elite really began to divide people and bring about the scorched earth politics of the mid 90's.
Welcome to the Coronavirus Apocalypse dude. Sad to hear your story. Be brave and make wise decisions...don't let batshit crazy people deprive you of your dreams.
LorriAnn, the first thing to do is read Matt Taibbi's article on that ridiculous book, "White Fragility," which gives you all the ammunition you need. I was grateful to read his critique because I'd watch DiAngelo's discussion of her book on Cspan2 booktv and can't recall any book making me more furious.
Cheers, don't let the family get you down. Every family has these splits.
Your writing is honestly worth more than what I pay for it.
Agree! Your comment inspired me. I already subscribe, but I am buying a gift subscription for someone I know will appreciate it. I want to keep Matt strong and independent. Without him and a few others I would wonder if I am just crazy.
I feel slightly less crazy after reading your articles - thank you.
AMEN!!
A "hurricane of stupidity" is exactly what this feels like. Brother, I hope that your decision to open up a revenue stream that can't be taken from you in retribution for speaking plainly will be enough to carry you through what's probably coming your way.
I have a hope for honest, brave efforts like yours. The hope is that a sustained effort over time will reach enough lemmings to stall and scatter this butt-ugly stampede.
So rather than have to admit any responsibility or take any blame for the rise of Trump, the elites have decided to delegate down the blame to us "white racists" across the country. They've decided they have to "destroy the village (country) in order to save it." These people have gone dangerously insane, and I honestly have no idea what to do about it.
It's amazing how many people are ignorant of history. The Democratic Party totally betrayed working class and poor Americans all all racial background during the Clinton administration, and many of those screwed voters are part of Trump's base now. Chris Hedges has done a fine job documenting that. But the liberal elite would rather start a race war than have to take responsibility for the disastrous results of corporate neoliberalism.
Correct me if im wrong but wasnt the Democratic party pro-slavery At one time?
That is my question as well. What can i do?? Im sick of days going by being told that i am the lowest form of human being because i was born white and refuse to atone for it ???? There is no escape. I work for a large corporation and the re-education program is being rolled out as we speak. If they put 1619 or White Fragility on my desk im going to sell my house and live in a van
Agreed. I think we might be seeing what happens when the privileged elite feel their protective bubble is being threatened. Its the classic-- don't look at my economic etc privilege (in case you decide to question it or take it away) I will join you in a non-threatening action (ie topple the statue) and speak in glowing solidarity as I hide my assets and batten down the hatches.
Read the history of class based revolutions-- its all there.
Yup, it's really a magical sleight of hand, where class consciousness and economic justice has been swapped for "social justice" and the SJW's are more than happy to reap the benefits of corporate neoliberalism while persecuting and lecturing the rest of us...truly Orwellian
To my utter horror, it's becoming increasingly clear all this insanity has an ulterior motive, which is the elimination of the Constitution. I dismissed the idea for a long time, but the evidence is unmistakable as I see more and more people calling for exactly that. None of them seem to have considered who would compose the replacement.
One idiot told me just today that the fact the Constitution has been amended 27 times is sufficient proof it's out-of-date and an abysmal failure.
We now have several generations who are barely conversant with the idea that if something useful isn't working properly you fix it. Instead, they're conditioned by decades of "free-market" propaganda that if it doesn't work the way you want it to you just throw it out and buy something new. "Cancel culture", it seems to me, might more correctly be called "throwaway culture", and the media, both corporate and social, are manipulating it for all their worth.
I'll just ask people to consider how well the events cited in this essay fit into that concept, starting with the idea that all statues are evil. Couple it with the abysmal lack of real history education that's characterized curricula since even I was in school 60 years ago, and that's only gotten worse thanks to 40 years of education reform, and it's a recipe for disaster.
It's a global economic reset that they're after. Anything that gets in the way of that will be ignored or destroyed. They're just setting the general store on fire so they can rob the bank, just like in the westerns on TV.
Agree! As soon as this kicked off, I said to my husband that they're going to destroy the Constitution, on the basis many of the drafters were slave-owners.
I reiterate what I have often said: "I do not always agree with Matt Taibbi, but he is the last great 'journalist' of our time." You see through everything and spare nobody. Kudos.
I've been feeling like we're in the midst of the Salem Witch trials, everyone afraid to call out the lethal hysteria. Thank you for doing so.
I know it’s a hot topic, and it might hit a chord, but I’ll chime in on the Democrat versus Republican, Trump bs Biden back and forth going on here, and how it relates to the current social movements.
What does it mean to be rich? By way of anecdote, I have one friend that makes 100k a year and has never held a job in his life. He has seven figures in real property and equities from his parents and lives off of the rent collected from the property and has all the free time in the world. If he liquidated his wealth, he would have five to ten million dollars and pay no more than twenty percent in taxes on it. My other friend has less than 100k in the bank, has 350k in student loans, works 80 hours a week at a hospital as a doctor, and makes around 300k. Contrary to public opinion, his job is not secure, and he doesn’t have much free time. He pays more than half of his money to taxes and after rent and student loans are factored in, he has very little money left over.
The traditional right wing justification for the above scenario is risk. My first friend assumed the risk (or his parents did) and not only is he entitled to the profits associated with the investment, but he should be taxed less as well, whereas my other friend is just an employee that doesn’t invest and so he should carry a higher tax load.In the Reagan era, pre-globalization, there were- perhaps- arguments to justify this disparity. (I won’t go into them). In the current era, where the federal F****ing reserve is bailing out not just equities, but junk bonds, there is absolutely no justification for this anymore. This is especially true in the context of neoliberalism where there is an infinite supply of rich foreigners (who got rich as a result of the US outsourcing manufacturing) willing to pay a premium for property in the United States because their countries are so corrupt and they know the US is a safe haven.
What am I getting at? Rich people- really rich people- have passive income that does not involve the exchange of time to acquire it and enough capital that they can consume well above the median level of consumption without having to work (whether they choose to work or not is a different matter). Money is a claim on labor. Being rich means you can claim a lot of labor without having to labor.
Before globalization, there was a correlation between a high wage drone and someone that could acquire wealth because incomes were stable. If you worked at IBM, GM, GE, etc and made six figures, you would expect to do so for forty years. That’s out the window now, but the assumptions of the tax code remain.
So if you are rich, what do you want? You want four things: 1) property laws that prohibit the state or third parties from taking your property, 2) you want passive income taxed less than active income, 3) you want a regulatory apparatus that can disable your competitor from competing with you, 4) you want a surplus of labor (globalization anyone?) so that wages can remain low (and you definitely want to make sure labor can’t organize to demand more) and 5) you want the government to bail you out if things go south.
If you can get these five things, it ensures that you and your progeny do not have to work and can consume a lot of resources.
I think every reasonable person agrees that the first factor should be provided by any just society. The other factors is where the problems come in. Which political party is responsible for facilitating these factors? Republicans of all stripes give the rich item 2. Rhinos support all five, but the Republican Party is t split in a meaningful way. Post-Trump the majority of the Republican Party is against items 3 and 4. The Democrats, which are under total control of the neoliberals, give the rich items 3 and 4. The entire political class has given them 5 (Bush, Obama, Trump, etc) has bailed them out.
So the question is what’s more important to rich people? Paying more taxes or having access to cheap labor and regulatory control (of an every increasing government)?
These are the top ten richest people:
1) Jeff Bezos- Democrat
2) Bill Gates- Democrat
3) Warren Buffett- Democrat
4) Larry Ellison- Probably Democrat
5) Marc Zuckerberg- Democrat
6-8 Waltons- Probably Republican (good chance this has changed)
9) Steve Ballmer- Probably Democrat
10) Larry Paige- Democrat
There’s a reason that the three richest people and the majority of the rest of the rich are Democrats. They value a labor surplus and a large regulatory state that they control more than a lower tax burden. Certainly, their ideal candidate is Mitt Romney or another traditional Rhino because such a candidate would be for the lower taxes and sustaining the labor surplus (as to regulatory capture, he or she wouldn’t be as aggressive as Democrats, but it would still be good enough). This is why so many Republicans hate Trump, including George Wills (a father of so called modern conservatism).
Donald Trump is not a nice guy. Donald Trump bailed out the rich (like Obama and Bush). Donald Trump does not care about the working class. However, Donald Trump knows that this situation with exporting the entirety of our manufacturing and industrial capabilities is a long term suicide for the country, even if the rest of the uber rich benefit tremendously in the short term. If it isn’t apparent why it’s suicide or why it’s bad for the country, look at what happen with COVID-19 and medical supplies. If the United States loses the world reserve currency status, you can be sure that China and other countries, if they have the manufacturing capabilities, will appropriate all foreign wealth in their countries at that time. This interferes with Trump’s goals of establishing his own dynasty. That’s it. I truly believe the others don’t care what happens when they die (because the appropriation is likely 30-50 years out), and it’s possible some believe they can work with whatever Chinese oligarchy emerges at that time (not a chance). That’s the difference between Trump and the rest of the establishment political class and that’s a very big deal with beneficial collateral benefits for working people (more on this below).
Regarding BLM: how many Amazon fulfillment centers did they burn down? 0. How many Wall Street Banks did they burn down? Zero. How many military contractors did they even protest? 0. How many Hollywood propagandists did they protest (or attack)? 0.
They attacked working class neighborhoods by and large, with poor and working class blacks and whites being the casualty and their leadership has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the major corporate interests. If that doesn’t show demonstrate, what’s going on with this movement, let me put a cherry on it: they went to Beverly Hills to conduct a nominal protest, where most of their liberal elite supporters live and they were violently thrown out by police in an hour. For me, that just sums it up. Oh and another thing, the super rich real estate guys and gals are going to pick up marquis real estate on pennies for the dollar in some areas where these protests happen, especially when Biden wins and we get full blown neoliberal globalization again (which is going to make it even harder for normal people to live in the liveable parts of this country).
One final point in this diatribe: there was a man named Alexander De Tocqueville who wrote a book on America in the early nineteenth century. (To understand the man’s credibility, in said book he predicted that Russia and the United States would be global superpowers in the middle of the twentieth century.) In that book, he provided many reasons why in his estimation the United States would succeed and two critical ones are as follows: 1) the system prohibited the formation of dynastic wealth (this was before corporations) and 2) Americans focused on practical education not theoretical education.
There isn’t any politician with a meaningful chance of power in this country that is going to address dynastic wealth, and with what the federal reserve is doing, this is going to become a very serious problem. The rich are literally being bailed out with printed dollars as everyone else gets the shaft. But If Donald Trump brings back manufacturing, there’s a chance we can have a middle class again and a population focused on practical pursuits.
Right wing and left wing elites believe that the only path to prosperity should be through the University system, particularly the Ivy League system, and then working for established financial and corporate institutions. That is never going to be the path for real social mobility for a meaningful number of people. Extreme outliers aside, (and even those outliers are usually from parents that had stable public sector jobs or were small business people, look it up), the path to social mobility was and always will be doing the jobs the rich don’t want to do, doing them well, and then the next generation-maybe- can have a real opportunity at attending university. Replacing manufacturing with 200k liberal arts (or even STEM degrees) is a path to failure, not success.
And on that note, I invite you to look what the one of the most conservative justice (Scalia) in American history had to say on why he doesn’t hire clerks from elite schools, and what the most liberal judge in history (still on the bench) had to say about how she (Ginsburg) felt about teaching at a state university. These people hate ordinary people and they always will. You can put a red color on them or a blue color on them: they don’t like the working class or the children of the working class. They constructed a system that benefits the children of the rich as an inherent matter and they have imposed it as the only way to be upwardly mobile and the result has been a social catastrophe for a myriad of reasons.
I’d subscribe to your substack- really well articulated.
I am an MD-PhD student and my medical degree is subsidized by the taxpayer. I sacrifice 4 years of peak earning potential up front by getting the PhD, but I will walk out with only ~40k in debt (original undergrad loan of $32k + interest). In contrast I look at the majority of my "MD only" friends at my institution and I pity them enormously.
They have a $300k millstone around their necks that is not dischargeable in court, and if their career trajectory is remotely interrupted (by disease, mental illness, burnout/moral injury, a simple decision to do something else...) you are sunk. Not to mention the increasingly miserable nature of the job, which involves being squished between a (rightfully) mistrustful public and a rapacious, data driven administration. Add this on top of the COVID experience where admin was aggressively furloughing non essential personnel and yelling at staff for wearing PPE around patients.
I honestly don't know who we are going to expect to go to medical school in the future. Right now it still has the allure of "bulletproof job security" and prestige, but both of those are waning fast. It's scary as hell.
Well you highlight a problem of boomerism. Specifically, the baby boomer dominated culture that is advocating career trajectories based on their experience during the post war boom, don’t work anymore.
Being a doctor or a lawyer, in most instances, is not the way to go anymore, but you can’t say it out loud, it’s taboo. And if you tell people what careers are actually the way to go, oh boy, get ready to get hammered from left and right.
Your career (and healthcare in general) is another example of the dialectic hammer.
From the perspective of the right, nothing can interfere with rent seeking profits from the people that own the hospital. From the perspective of the left, we have an increasing underclass that needs healthcare and you need to be happy making what a school teacher makes as a doctor because their needs override your needs, and in any event, you shouldn’t be motivated by money (even though the talking head telling you that is a millionaire with a trust fund). And so, the compromise happens that profits remain the same, the service is socialized at a significant cost, and you have to get the shaft.
My friend doesn’t have a high school diploma, has a unionized job with the city of New York, and has been making six figure and accruing a pension since he was 20 years old. Try getting on National television and tell kids they should become cops, teacher or tradesmen in lieu of being a white collar professional and see what happens. The cultural belief is so well engrained that education is the way and that other avenues aren’t good that you’ll be excoriated by all sides. Even Carlson says cops are underpaid. George Floyd’s killer has a pension worth over a million dollars. Port authority cops in New York routinely earn 300k with overtime and retire in their forties with six figure pension. Nevertheless, everyone knows cops don’t make money and being a lawyer or a doctor is the way to go, even though that boomerism just isn’t true anymore.
Astute & a nice addendum to Matt's piece.
Great write up! I'll chuck in a bit more on your comment: "Regarding BLM: how many Amazon fulfillment centers did they burn down? 0. How many Wall Street Banks did they burn down? Zero. How many military contractors did they even protest? 0. How many Hollywood propagandists did they protest (or attack)? 0."
Indeed, number of IRS centers/officials dox'ed, attacked? 0. Number of federal court or federal reserve buildings vandalized? 0 (as far as I know). Was Nancy Pelosi's ice cream freezer even tipped over? No? Any billionaires fearing death by an angry mob? 0.
The American Dream has died slowly at first and now quickly.
The country is in very serious trouble and I fear it is impossible to address the situation by political means.
We have become a fascist system, but not as the term is conventionally understood.
The power of the state has merged with large institutions (mainly corporate) and at the complete expense of the rest of the population.
The left is governed by neoliberalism, which basically means that no restrictions can be placed on aggregated capital to exploit the economies of totalitarian countries, such as China, and being enabled to do so by American resources (including the military).
The right is governed by neoconservativism, which is nothing more than initiating and maintaining quasi-sustainable long term conflicts in countries where the conflict can’t turn nuclear with the only purpose of sustaining the profits of the military security complex.
The casualty of these doctrines has been the vast majority of the private sector work force of the entire country and the public sector work of half the country (mainly those in red states).
All that is left is the financial sector (doing very well at the expense of everything else), a battered private sector working (that is lying to itself that the norms of the pre-globalized economy still exist), a temporarily insulated public sector in blue states (whose constituents don’t understand how fortunate they are, as they compare themselves to baby boomer era corporate employees and the apex of the financial sector), and the military security complex.
(The above described remnants of the American economy can only sustain themselves as long as the US dollar retains world reserve status, once that goes, it all goes.)
Donald Trump was opposed because even though he hasn’t delivered on most of his promises, the mere fact that he dared diagnose and discuss many of the real problems facing the American economy, which is primarily due to globalization, was a threat the elites can’t handle.
The facts are simple: labor has been decimated by globalization and a tax code that favors investment and rent collecting income over work income, and more nefariously, whatever battered remnants of the private sector that still remains is subsidizing its demise by sustaining globalization with its tax dollars.
Any attempt to address the issues facing the American working class is going to be opposed viciously by both parties. We’ve bailed out the rich two times now and the working class received the shaft. A bail out of this kind is neither capitalist or socialist. It’s fascist.
I think you're right and this is why I struggle with a Trump vote (I am a long time Bernie volunteer and voted Stein last election). Neither Trump or Biden can fix the problems, but at least Trump frustrates the people trying to destroy America.
Bingo. This^
Matt, your description of the insanity is great. But overall, this posting misses the mark a bit.
I get that you hate Trump. But you have to give him at least this: he has genuinely gone very hard on China, and this is a very big reason--probably the biggest--why corporate America and its establishment backers are gunning so hard for him. It's also why they've made sure Bernie never had a shot.
The "experts" hysterically claimed that Trump's trade war would bring down the world economy, but instead XI blinked and, before COVID hit, we had the best economy in at least half a century. He's gone hard against Chinese tech companies for spying; he's pounded China for concealing the outbreak of COVID 19; he's condemned the treatment of Hong Kong and pushed for Magnitsky-style individual sanctions while ending Hong Kong's preferential customs treatment; he used the Pacific fleet to push back on Chinese encroachments in the South China Sea; he's very recently threatened to delist Chinese companies trading here. And he's made it clear that if reelected, he'll do more.
Biden will reverse all this. Cui Buono? The largest corporations and their backers in the political establishment who have gotten filthy rich on China.
Think about all these mega-corporations issuing all their pious statements of support for BLM, while not saying a word about the repression of Hong Kong and the recent laws allowing for secret trials in kangaroo courts there, the concentration camps for the Uighurs, organ harvesting from political prisoners, on and on.
You of all people should see the scam here, Matt. And exposing this scam reveals another huge point of potential agreement between the left and right in this country. Helping people find that common ground is how you can use your awesome talents to save the country.
Right about China but wrong about Bernie. He sank his own campaign first be abandoning class warfare in favor of identity politics, and refusing to fight "his friend Joe.
Personally I think Covid hit BECAUSE of the accountability Trump imposed on China. The sent it to us as a gift. It's not crazy when you think about it. I mean, really, look at how the media narratives have been driven by the notion of "getting" Trump out of office. Who wants Trump out of office the most?
China
Covid was the only way to hit Trump where it hurts the most--his economy!
1) Trump actively and directly encouraged Xi to expand the Uighur concentration camps.
2) More protesters were killed by police in the first two weeks of the George Floyd protests than in 10 months of crackdowns in Hong Kong.
Only one person died in Charlottesville, I guess that means it's not worth mentioning, right Fred?
Good god, this is a phenomenal piece of writing. Thank you.