American Delusions — fixed false beliefs resistant to reason or confrontation with actual facts - tools for social and political control

political system, politics

Do Protests Work? – Time for Class Warfare

May 21, 2018

illustration by Adam Maida in 8/21/17 New Yorker

In the August 21, 2017 edition of The New Yorker Nathan Heller writes about the efficacy of protest as a…

racism

White Affirmative Action – Martin Luther King in 1968

May 13, 2018

Who benefits from affirmative action?

White Affirmative Action – Martin Luther King in 1968 In recent years scholars and activists have begun to point out…

justice/jails, politics

Gun Regulation, the 2nd Amendment, and Scalia’s Majority Opinion

May 9, 2018

Justice Antonin Scalia

Gun Regulation, the 2nd Amendment, and Scalia’s Majority Opinion Fire arms proponents make much of the 2008 case District of…

justice/jails, racism

Mass Incarceration – The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

March 7, 2018

New JIm Crow book cover

Mass incarceration, largely through the War on Drugs, combined with white racism has produced a catastrophe for African Americans. It is hard to imagine that if young whites, despite being no more likely to offend drug laws than blacks, were subjected to these laws that we would have seen a sharp reaction from the white majority. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is important reading and a call to action.

free-market ideology, healthcare

Heart Stents, Tricycles, and an Argument for Consumer Protections (Regulations)

February 21, 2018

Since corporations have reason not to worry about safety and efficacy, we do need the government to represent us. Common sense and ethics suggest that a company establish the safety and efficacy of products and services BEFORE selling them. In a world better balanced to the needs and interests of the vast majority this would be a required step. Heart stents and tricycles are examples of the failings of our current system.

free-market ideology

John Oliver and Monopoly Capitalism

February 21, 2018

F.C. Howe quote about business rules

Corporate concentration of income and wealth are core features of capitalism. From its earliest cheerleaders like Adam Smith, the drive for corporations to get ever larger and in the doing drive their competitors out of the market was noted and warned against. John Oliver provides a thorough and amusing introduction.

economy, free-market ideology

The New Digital Monopoly Capitalism

February 20, 2018

The new digital economy is displaying the same drive to concentration, monopolies and oligopolies, that capitalism has always displayed. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are just a new face of the predatory monopolists of the Rockefeller Standard Oil age.

politics

How to Spot Fake News – libraries get in the game…..

February 20, 2018

Fake news is now a political strategy used around the world. How can we defend ourselves, how can we identify it and its sources? Here is a beginning from FactCheck.org and the New Orleans Public Library.

healthcare

Prescriptions, Tests and Procedures – the more the better – it has nothing to do with your health

February 14, 2018

Prescriptions, Tests and Procedures – the more the better – it has nothing to do with your health We have…

free-market ideology

Stagnant Wages, New York Times, and Unions

February 11, 2018

Bonuses vs pay raises 1980-2108 NYTimes-01102018

NYTimes reports that one-time bonuses are the preferred pay strategy vs pay raises.Mysteriously the Times leaves out the role of unions and the long-term fall in unionization rates in the private sector in the US.

free-market ideology, healthcare

Recently Noted – Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Try to Disrupt Health Care

January 31, 2018

Buffet, Bezos, Dimon

These corporate giants are “disrupting” healthcare or so the headlines say. Despite the media flurry we should not expect much. The structure of US healthcare defies little nibbles at the periphery. As noted many times here, we need to look to our developed country competitors for their proven approaches to how to set up a world-class healthcare system at world standard costs.

economy, free-market ideology

Structure of Jobs Is Changing Rapidly – Political System Failing to Address Issue

January 23, 2018

Shifts to contract work, losses in jobs due to automation and robots, growth in poorly paid occupations, low participation rates, healthcare and retirement tied to full-time jobs, and extremely unequal gains in income for the top 10% characterize jobs in our economy. Something radical needs to be done. Republicans are trickling, Democrats cautious, neither addresses the big changes underway.

economy

Recently Noted – the future of bitcoin and blockchain technologies – UPDATED

January 17, 2018

UPDATE: IBM does blockchain….Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are subject to the same control by the rich and corporations as our existing financial and business sectors. These technologies are embedded in the socio-economic structures of capitalism. Concentrations of power dominate the existing capitalist world and they will dominate these new “disruptive” technology entrants.

economy, free-market ideology

A Note on Jobs & Unemployment – revised

December 31, 2017

US manufacturing out vs employment 1947 - 2011

A Note on Jobs & Unemployment Original publication date – 12/27/2016; Revised – 12/31/2017 As the presidential campaign of 2016…

free-market ideology, political system, politics, Recently Noted

Recently Noted – Robert Reich: how we got into this mess and how we get out of it

December 29, 2017

Robert Reich

Reich’s latest cartoon does a good job of describing the changes in the US economy, weaker on the underlying political campaign by the rich and corporations to restructure the economy to their benefit. Worth the 6 minute viewing time.

economy, family, inequality, Recently Noted

Recently Noted – A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America by Ed Pilkington

December 27, 2017

At a time when the Republicans are transferring income and wealth to the rich and corporations over 40 million Americans fall below the official poverty line.

economy, politics

Deficits, Deficits – the rhetoric of the forthcoming attacks on the poor

December 20, 2017

Economic Downturn and Legacy of Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Deficits

Republicans Create Bigger Deficits Then Blame The Entitled Poor. Cuts to social programs coming to fix the Republican created deficit problem.

free-market ideology

Cotton and the Miracle of the Self-Regulating Market

December 19, 2017

Deere cotton picker

The miracle of the automatic self-regulating market in action. During the 1930s over-production of cotton chronically ran over by 50% and more. Since cotton is a durable product all of these years of over production just swelled the mountains of cotton sitting in warehouse waiting for demand. In 1933 the cotton stored in warehouses equaled the entire world demand.

economy, free-market ideology, Recently Noted

Recently Noted: World Inequality Report 2018 – findings and policies

December 14, 2017

Inequality in wealth and income is a continuing global crisis. The World Inequality Report 2018 defines the problem based on wealth ownership and the transfer of public wealth into private hands. Their are solutions but they require political organization and will.

healthcare, justice/jails, racism

Opioids and White Privilege – Lock’em Up vs. Treatment

December 12, 2017

Opioids and White Privilege The arrival of opioids as a national concern might focus your attention on the role of…

empire, Recently Noted

Cost of War – $5.6 trillion for US wars 2001-2017

December 12, 2017

Cost of War – $5.6 trillion for US wars 2001-2017 The Watson Institute at Brown University has just released an…