Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/19/fewer-jobs-rising-poverty-scathing-report-finds-trump-economic-legacy-one-worst
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Oh, please. Our current economy is the product of 40 years of neoliberal efforts to privatize everything and drown the government in a bathtub. It is the joint product of Republicons and âmoderateâ or âthird wayâ or âClintoniteâ Democraps (i.e., the power brokers of the party). It is no surprise that the collapse is coming under the sickest, most twisted President ever (and thatâs saying something), but it is not all his doing. This âscathing reportâ is like two bratty children misbehaving, with one saying, âBut he started it!â Does anyone really expect the Democrats to fix anything? They will only act to the extent their corporate masters will let them, and it will not suffice.
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And yet the only thing you will hear about is how the Stock Market prospered under Trump⌠The only thing that matters to the rulers of the USA is keeping the 1% and the Corporations happy.
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When you consider how big the winners are winning and how many people are losing, by the time he leaves office, Trump will have set a record for the width of the income and wealth inequality gap.
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After the enormous Tax Cut for the Wealthy, it was a Great Year for the super rich, while the lower and middle class had to pick up the short fall in revenue to pay for the Defense Budget and the minimal amount of Infrastructure done to our shattering roads and bridges.
Yeah the Bigot boasted about his wonderful Tax Cut, which the poor had to pay for.
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For anyone with an interest in this subject, Andrew Cuomoâs book âAmerican Crisisâ , is a worthwhile read. Historian are going to draw from it in future generations.
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This Horror Show Trump and his enables are leaving for Biden/Harris will guarantee them being One-Termers and going down in disgraceâWhich will shoe in the GOP once more who will be even more rabid. The Dem Centrist Conservatives have only themselves to blame.
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Listen up; Iâve had literally tons of democrats tell me that if I am poor and unemployed it is my fault, as did and do the âopposition party.â
If we have a Gross National Philosophy it is this:
âThereâs a job for anyone who wants one.â
You can live in your car, but u must werk.
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In all fairness, What Trump has done to the USA through ineptitude, or more to the point, what he has permitted to happen through inaction, has been pretty much what we thought would happen. Hell, many thought the nation wouldnât be here in 2020.
That being said, what we are about to witness is the culmination of all the evils of Americaâs conservative socio-political tilt since the Vietnam era. Only the boldest progressive agenda in US history can save us now.
Enter Joe Biden. Just makes you brim with confidence, doesnât it?
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I used to watch Andrew Cuomoâs daily press conferences during the first wave of the pandemic, with New York hit hardest - and he was my go to to see not only what was happening, but how to adapt to an always dizzying set of new cases.
Frist rate - and the very definition of transparency ~
What did you find so interesting in his book Roberto ? I have so many books on the go right now Iâd appreciate a brief from you ~
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Maybe not âbrimâ - but better than I expected - much better actually.
And if Joe Biden succumbs to age and his medical problems, Kamala Harris will be president of the USA I believe.
Obama appears to have indeed opened the floodgates - with the new pick for Secretary of the Interior.
If you havenât read âA Promised Landâ, perhaps you might consider it. It rings true with me.
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manysummits: Youâre delusional.
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By the end of next year we will be regarding 2020 as the good old days. And the working class will be enraged and possibly in the streets. The only question is whether that anger will be harnessed by the left or by Trump. History doesnât bode well.
I tend to agree that Biden wonât be healthy enough to complete his term (they hid him during the âcampaignâ for good reason). Jeebus, he looked terrible at a couple of his brief appearances this past week.
My problem is with Harris. Nothing concrete or scientific mind you. I just get a bad vibe from her. You know how you get a bad first impression of someone and it just sticks with you. During the primary campaign she seemed like a rank phony. And the democratic electorate seemed to share my apprehension as she was greeted by the voters with a collective âmehâ.
But now I see something different, and disconcerting in her. Sure, she is still very robotic. But there is a meanness in her eyes, the same kind I saw in Hillaryâs. The look that says, if you cross me Iâll have you run through a wood chipper, feet first.
We probably shouldnât judge people on first impressions, but thus far she has done nothing to allay my fears.
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Our history tells that very tale. Democrats have a very short memory. They forget that, despite Nixonâs many transgressions, and the absolute mess he left for Carter, after a recession, rising gas prices, and 13% mortgage rates, the blame ultimately shifted to Carter, and suffered ignominious defeat at the hands of the perhaps the dumbest man to ever run for president.
Then 2009 rolled around. Sure, W left the nation on the precipice of disaster. But when the democrats and Barry chose to go small and simply try to stabilize the nation instead of changing its direction, they were summarily thrown from office in 2010. Hell, things got so bad for the Dems that the incumbent Barry was nearly defeated by mittens Romney, a man almost universally loathed by democrats and republicans alike.
Will they learn their lesson in 2021?
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No. And letâs recall that Obamaâs first speech on election night was a cold wet blanket to his base, and the inaugural was performative platitudes. Then he set about liquidating his base, which was to the left of him, a job he delegated to Howard Deanâs brother. Now Biden is bound and determined to liquidate his base as well. Why? Because he fears them.
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For the last two years there have been more Democrats than Republicans in Congress. The Democrats have held governments purse strings.
During this time we experienced the greatest upward transfer of wealth to the few in history, and the developed Worldâs worst support for citizens in any Western democracy.
This is on Democrat leadership every bit as much as it is on Republican leadership.
Fewer than a handful of Americaâs elected contingent deserve any respect at all, and WE need to ROLL CONGRESS in 2022.
Letâs get a legislature that works for People instead of war profiteers, and campaign bribers.
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âŚat best.
I just bought two more books we can ill afford - but what can you do - the times require sacrifice and learning.
The first was âUndauntedâ, by John Brennan, who worked with numerous administrations and presidents, and especially, eight years with Obama, whose book I am reading now. I can then cross reference, and in addition, add the thinking of other books I have recently read, from Jim Mattis, Stan McChrystal, and H.K. McMaster.
I am not naturally drawn to the political process - I prefer the outdoors and the natural worldâs history and present configuation as described by science - hence my Christmas present to myself, my wife and our son, âThe Nature of Natureâ, by Enric Scala, with Preface by Prince Charles and Introduction by Edward O. Wilson. It will mesh with âThe Invention of Natureâ, by Andrea Wulf, which is about one of the foremost naturalists of all time, Alexander von Humboldt. In fact, in Enric Scalaâs book there is a beautiful color plate of one of Alexander von Humboldtâs most famous drawings, showing the change in biota as one ascends a tall mountain, which mimics the a similar biotic change as one moves from the tropics to the poles.
But I am intent on listening closely to the world as described by these political, intelligence and military professionals because we have all seen that for progress to take place, this is where the change must occur, following a growing (hopefully_ recognition by the citizenry of the US and indeed the world, that in order to just keep âbreathingâ - we are all going to have to change.
We have been guilty of blaming the people trying to effect change when they fail miserably.
The system that these men and women (âFascismâ by Madeleine Albright) are depicting is almost impossible to fix.
Emphasis on âalmostâ.
Dogmatic idealism may have its uses - I am sure it does.
But for me and I suspect most of the population, what is even more important is:
What is working - and lets work with that until, with the passage of time, other things may become possible.
If in fact we can ever get rid of Trump - it will have been by a hairâs breadth.
I see some progress being made as we speak.
The realization may set in, sooner rather than later, that this has been a near-death experience we have just passed thru - and we arenât out of the woods yet.
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I normally wouldnât respond to replies like yours, but heh - just for fun.
I have been extraordinarily competent and successful in several endeavors in life - award winning pilot, full time mountaineer, consulting wellsite geologist, framer of residential homes, and I could go on.
All required commitment, dedication, skill and talent - with a premium on good judgement - with more or less instantaneous feedback.
I suppose I could all of a sudden have become delusional - but you know - the odds are heavily in favor of you two being the kind of dogmatic ideologues that I mentioned in my reply to @BigB.
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