lobbyists – American Delusions

Oligarchs in Action – in the US

March 12, 2022 Comments Off

The Russian war against Ukraine has produced a lot of noise about the fate of Russian oligarchs. Seizures of the yachts, bank accounts and more. Perhaps we should spend a bit of energy focusing on our own oligarchs, the rich and corporations. Despite all of the noise of the Republican --->> read more -->>

Our Corrupt Politics – Drug Pricing Again…..

October 21, 2021 Comments Off

“A 30-Year Campaign to Control Drug Prices Faces Yet Another Failure Democrats have made giving government the power to negotiate drug prices a central campaign theme for decades. With the power to make it happen, they may fall short yet again.” This is the headline with its tagline in today’s --->> read more -->>

Trump’s Innovations in Governing

May 15, 2017 Comments Off

The Plutocrats Have Occupied the White House and Executive Branch It has been a fact of American life for decades that the rich and corporations control our political system. But this control has been exercised always one arms length removed from the actual levers of power. They have had to be --->> read more -->>

Regulations vs Protections – more than just words

May 7, 2017 Comments Off

In a recent stream of comments about a post in GossipsOfRivertown, “More about Dumped Cement” Virginia Martin wrote to me: Mark Orton said “This is why we have government regulations.” Linguist George Lakoff would say the term “regulations” is ill-considered. He’d say they’re protections. This is why we have government --->> read more -->>

Long Division in American Politics – the money trail

January 26, 2012 Comments Off

A recent John Stewart Daily Show that explored Mitt Romney’s recent release of income tax data got me to thinking about long division. Romney’s income of roughly $22 million per year is so large that it kind of disappears into the haze of too much information. But, get out your --->> read more -->>