#Alan Greenspan

[dadsinsuits]

Alan Greenspan

[just-about-nothing]

hi yes i am srs economics student at oxford

[rodgermalcolmmitchell]

If federal deficits are bad, why do we run deficits to cure recessions?

While Trump’s and the Republican ascendency in power may be a disaster for American democracy, such as it is, a few tiny glimmers of financial sunlight peek through the darkness. For the purposes of this post, we’ll ignore the astounding parallels between Trump and Hitler while focusing on the few near-term benefits. Here are a few excerpts from an article in USA TODAY: Stocks soared on news of…

[formerleopard]

Merlin Chowkwanyun entrevista a Noam Chomsky, segunda parte

Se usaron estas consideraciones para decidir orientarse al gasto militar, por encima del gasto social. Una gran parte de eso es la investigación y desarrollo de alta tecnología. Virtualmente, toda la “nueva economía” ha descansado en gran medida en el camuflaje militar para hacer que el riesgo sea público y el lucro privado, frecuentemente después de muchas décadas: generalmente computadoras y electrónica, telecomunicaciones e internet, satélites, la industria aeronáutica (de ahí se deriva el turismo, la mayor de la “industria de servicio”), contenedorización (del cual se deriva el comercio contemporáneo), herramientas controladas por computadora, y mucho más. Alan Greenspan y otros son dados a perorar, describiendo todo esto como el gran espíritu empresarial y la elección del consumidor en el libre mercado. Eso es cierto para la última etapa de comercialización, pero no lo es en absoluto para la etapa más significativa, la de investigación y desarrollo. Lo mismo sucede con los sectores de la industria que se basan en la biología, aunque se usan diferentes pretextos. El registro se remonta a un pasado lejano, pero estos mecanismos para el sustento de la economía industrial avanzada se hicieron más significativos después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

[spokenforinvaliduser]

[kramlabs]

[plant-ago]

I want to live in a world where the legacy of Robert Reich, US Labor Secretary under the Clinton administration influential liberal thinker, is overshadowed by that of his son, Sam Reich Dropout, who went into comedy and created the only good streaming platform

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A taxonomy of corporate bullshit

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There are six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial, and Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:

https://thenewpress.com/books/corporate-bullsht

In his review for The American Prospect, David Dayen summarizes how these six lies "offer a civic-minded, reasonable-sounding justification for positions that in fact are motivated entirely by self-interest":

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-10-27-lies-my-corporation-told-me-hanauer-walsh-cohen-review/

I. Pure denial

As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, John Calhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." George Fitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."

This tactic never went away. Children sent to work in factories are "perfectly happy." Polluted water is "purer than the water that came from the river before we used it." Poor families "don't really exist." Pesticides don't lead to "illness or death." Climate change is "beneficial." Lead "helps guard your health."

II. Markets can solve problems, governments can't

Alan Greenspan made a career out of blithely asserting that markets self-correct. It was only after the world economy imploded in 2008 that he admitted that his doctrine had a "flaw":

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems

No matter how serious a problem is, the market will fix it. In 1973, the US Chamber of Commerce railed against safety regulations, because "safety is good business," and could be left to the market. If unsafe products persist in the market, it's because consumers choose to trade safety off "for a lower price tag" (Chamber spox Laurence Kraus). Racism can't be corrected with anti-discrimination laws. It's only when "the market" realizes that racism is bad for business that it will finally be abolished.

III. Consumers and workers are to blame

In 1946, the National Coal Association blamed rampant deaths and maimings in the country's coal-mines on "carelessness on the part of men." In 2003, the National Restaurant Association sang the same tune, condemning nutritional labels because "there are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." Reagan's interior secretary Donald Hodel counseled personal responsibility to address a thinning ozone layer: "people who don’t stand out in the sun��it doesn’t affect them."

IV. Government cures are always worse than the disease

Lee Iacocca called 1970's Clean Air Act "a threat to the entire American economy and to every person in America." Every labor and consumer protection before and since has been damned as a plague on American jobs and prosperity. The incentive to work can't survive Social Security, welfare or unemployment insurance. Minimum wages kill jobs, etc etc.

V. Helping people only hurts them

Medicare will "destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance" (Republican Senator Milward Simpson, 1965). Covid relief is unfair to people that are currently in the workforce" (Republican Governor Brian Kemp, 2021). Welfare produces "learned helplessness."

VI. Everyone who disagrees with me is a socialist

Grover Cleveland's 2% on top incomes is "communistic warfare against rights of property" (NY Tribune, 1895). "Socialized medicine" will leave "our children and our children’s children [asking] what it once was like in America when men were free" (Reagan, 1961).

Everything is "socialism": anti-child labor laws, Social Security, minimum wages, family and medical leave. Even fascism is socialism! In 1938, the National Association of Manufacturers called labor rights "communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism."

As Dayen says, it's refreshing to see how the right hasn't had an original idea in 150 years, and simply relies on repeating the same nonsense with minor updates. Right wing ideological innovation consists of finding new ways to say, "actually, your boss is right."

The left's great curse is object permanence: the ability to remember things, like the fact that it used to be possible for a worker to support a family of five on a single income, or that the economy once experienced decades of growth with a 90%+ top rate of income tax (other things the left manages to remember: the "intelligence community" are sociopathic monsters, not Trump-slaying heroes).

When the business lobby rails against long-overdue antitrust action against Amazon and Google, object permanence puts it all in perspective. The talking points about this being job-destroying socialism are the same warmed-over nonsense used to defend rail-barons and Rockefeller. "If you don't like it, shop elsewhere," has been the corporate apologist's line since slavery times.

As Dayen says, Corporate Bullshit is a "reference book for conservative debating points, in an attempt to rob them of their rhetorical power." It will be out on Halloween:

https://bookshop.org/a/54985/9781620977514

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

[reality-detective]

Long Post... But Very Important 👇

HISTORY OF THE US NESARA LAW:

· NESARA was signed into law by President William Jefferson Clinton in 2000, at gunpoint because the Military forced him to sign it. He wasn't going to, and was to be announced by Alan Greenspan on Sept. 11, 2001, at 10:00am.

· This was prevented by the destruction of the World Trade Center by then President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others involved with this great deception. They murdered 7,000 innocent Americans that day and stole billions in Gold and Silver from Building 7.

· In early 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on charges by the Farmer's Union that banks in the U.S. were fraudulently foreclosing on farm mortgages and that the U.S. Government was in collusion with these banks. The testimony and proof brought into court by a retired CIA Agent let to further evidence and proof that Farmer's Union claims were legitimate. It also led to evidence that the 16th Amendment, the Income Tax Amendment, was never properly ratified by the required number of states and therefore, declared that income taxes were unlawful.

· Almost unanimously the U.S. Supreme Court Justices ruled in favor of Farmer's Union. The Justices recognized that overwhelming evidence proved the U.S. Government and the Federal Reserve Banking System were perpetrating FRAUD in many ways upon Americans. The Justices recognized that to remedy this situation, massive reformations would be required. When rulings were made by the U.S. Supreme Court, one or more of the justices are assigned to monitor the process by which rulings are carried out.

· In this case, five of the Justices were assigned to a committee to develop steps to implement the required governmental and banking reformations. As the Justices went about developing the changes, they enlisted the help of experts in Economics, Monetary Systems, Banking, Constitutional Law and other areas. They built coalitions of support and assistance with thousands of people worldwide, working with us to bring NESARA and GESARA to fruition. These people were called the "White Knights". The term "White Knights" was borrowed from the world of big business when a vulnerable company is "rescued" from a hostile takeover.

· Because of the enormously sweeping changes the rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court required, an EXTREMELY STRICT gag order was put in place on everyone involved. The Justices also sealed all records on the case until after the reformations are all accomplished.

· To maintain secrecy, the case details for the docket number assigned to the Farmer's Union case were changed. So, doing a search for this case will fail to reflect the correct information until after the reformations are made public. At every step of the process, anyone directly involved has been required to sign an NDA to keep the process of implementing the required reformations "Secret" or face charges of Treason which are punishable by death.

· To implement the reformations, the five justices spent years negotiating how the reformations would occur in agreements called "accords" with the U.S. Government, with Federal Reserve Bank owners, the IMF, World Bank, and numerous countries including the UK and the EU.

· The reformations required the Federal Reserve Bank system to be absorbed by the U.S. Treasury and all fraudulent banking activities to be stopped, as well as remedies to Americans for past harm due to FRAUD.

· The U.S. Banking reformations will impact the entire world and therefore the IMF, World Bank and other countries involved including the UK and the Vatican City.

· Members of Congress were ordered by U.S. Supreme Court to "DENY" the existence of NESARA / GESARA or face charges of TREASON, punishable by DEATH. Some members of Congress were charged with "Obstruction" and threatened with charges of TREASON. Therefore, all members of U.S. Congress have had to pretend that NESARA has not been passed in order to comply with the Justice's GAG ORDER.

O. SAT. 3 AUGUST 2024 NESARA GESARA REFORMATIONS:

· NESARA / GESARA is the most groundbreaking reformations to sweep the world in the entire history of the world.

· All foreigners will be required to return home in order for them to receive their GESARA Payments.

NESARA DOES THE FOLLOWING: 👇

a. Zero's out all Credit Card, Mortgage and other bank and loan transaction debts.

b. Abolishes the Internal Revenue Service and the Income Tax.

c. IRS employees will be transferred to the US Treasury National Sales Tax area.

d. The Federal Reserve will be absorbed into the US Treasury.

e. Creates a 14% - 17% National Sales Tax, applied to NEW ITEMS only for government revenue. Some of it goes to states, rest to new national government.

f. Used items sold will not be taxed. Food & Medicines will not be taxed.

g. Sets up Restitution Payments for those victimized by Chattel Property Bonds. Those Aged 61 and over will receive a lump sum payment. Those Aged 41 to 60 will receive scheduled payments set time and sign work contract. Those Aged 29-40 will have to sign a Work Contract to receive their funds. Initiates a Universal Basic Income or UBI for those 16-29 years old.

h. An increase for retired Senior Citizens up to 3x current SSN amount up to $5,000.00

i. Dissolves US Inc. and returns the country to 1791 Constitution and Common Law.

J. Admiralty-Equity & Civil Laws are dissolved. Judges & Lawyers will be retrained in Constitutional Law.

k. Restores the Original 13th Amendment known as the Titles of Nobility Amendment.

l. Requires that New Presidential and Congressional Elections occur within 120 days.

m. Monitors Elections and prevents illegal election activities of everyone.

n. Creates a new US Treasury Rainbow Currency that is Asset Backed.

o. Forbids the sale of American Birth Certificates as chattel property bonds.

p. Initiates a new US Treasury Banking System in alignment with Constitutional Law.

q. Restores Personal Financial Privacy.

r. Ceases All Military Activities Worldwide.

s. Establishes World Peace.

t. Releases enormous sums of money to be used for Humanitarian Purposes.

u. Enables the release of over 6,000 patents of suppressed technologies including free energy devices, anti-gravity and medical bed technologies.

THE RODRIGUEZ TRUST REDEMPTION AND EXCHANGE FUNDING PROGRAM: 👇

· The Rodriguez Trust, based in the Philippines, is reportedly over 100 years old. It is claimed to be the single largest source of funds in the world.

· Dr. Alan Cohler is said to be the asset manager of the trust. The trust is backed by gold, some of which is said to come from King Solomon’s Temple.

· However, these claims are often associated with spiritual and metaphysical beliefs, and their validity is not universally accepted. For definitive information, legal consultation is recommended.

· The value of both the St. Germain and Rodriguez Trusts have 3083 zeros behind them.

The "New Earth" is near 🤔

[just-about-nothing]

i have GOT to finish the only game in town alan greenspan i am in your walls

[horsesource]

Love your blog and the excerpts you share. Are there any books on adhd or topics adjacent to it you would recommend?

Hello! Thank you 🐿️

I don’t seek out writing preoccupied explicitly with adhd. I really like Franco Berardi and he has written about the acceleration/predation of attention and the erosion of sensible sensuous time under “semiocapitalism”. Precarious Rhapsody is a book that discusses this, particularly in chapter 2:

But if you don’t wanna read a book he pays attention to attention and “attention deficits” in articles too:

“Do not forget that your brain functions in time, and needs time in order to give attention and understanding…You can accelerate attention by taking amphetamines, for instance, or using other techniques or drugs that give you the possibility of being more attentive, more productive in the field of attention. But you know how it ends.

One can recall a time around the dot-com crash of 2000 when a number of books dealing with the topic of the attention economy appeared in bookstores. Economists suddenly became aware of the simple fact that in a semiocapitalist world, the main commodity becomes attention. The 1990s saw an era of increasing productivity, increasing enthusiasm for production, increasing happiness of intellectual workers, who became entrepreneurs and so forth in the dot-com mania. But the 1990s was also the Prozac decade. You cannot explain what Alan Greenspan called the ‘irrational exuberance’ in the markets without recalling the simple fact that millions of cognitive workers were consuming tons of cocaine, amphetamines, and Prozac throughout the 1990s. Greenspan was not speaking of the economy, but the cocaine effect in the brains of millions of cognitive workers all over the world. And the dot-com crash was the sudden disappearance of this amphetamine from the brains of those workers…

The cognitive workers were both economically and chemically depressed, and because the attention economy was oversaturated, it was time to start the infinite war, the preemptive war, the never-ending war. This is what the Bush years brought: while using a lie to start a war in Iraq seemed crazy, the purpose was never to win or lose, but to fight a war that would never end.

More and more signs buy less and less meaning. In a letter to linguist and semiologist Thomas Seboek, Bill Gates wrote that ‘the digital revolution is all about … tools to make things easy.’ It seems that Bill Gates ingeniously grasped the problem in the relationship between meaning and power. Built under a hippie principle of bringing information to the people, the friendly interfaces developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak began a dangerous process of making things easy: if you make things easy, a large majority of people will follow you. In this way, we find the evolution of the internet to be the evolution of a system that begins as a channel for research and discovery, for creation and invention, to become essentially a place where things are easy. It is in this way that meaning can be totally forgotten, but information can continue to move.

When more signs buy less meaning, when there is an inflation in meaning, when the info-sphere accelerates and your attention is unable to keep up, what do you need? You need someone who makes things easy for you. It’s a problem of time.”

[rodgermalcolmmitchell]

Murdoch's Wall Street Journal spouts more lies about the Federal debt, on behalf of the rich, to the detriment of the rest

The Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who supports 32 times convicted felon Donald Trump. Murdoch also owns extreme right-wing Fox News, which paid an $800 million fine for lying. Need I say more? Here are excerpts from an article that appeared in the WSJ. Comments are noted. Federal Debt Is Soaring. Here’s Why Trump and Harris Aren’t Talking About It. Story by Richard Rubin,…

[jlshadows]

I am posting this for notes purposes, because we are going to be contacting many of these companies to pitch SIX Of Crows! ;)

The following companies are looking for new TV pitches for development & production.

Campaign - Production Companies

20th Century Fox Television

20th TV, Fox and MyNetworkTV

2C Media

3 BALL PRODUCTIONS

3 Ball Productions/Eyeworks USA

3 Ring Circus

360Production

40 Partners

720 PR

8790 Pictures,Inc.

ABC Cable Networks

ABC Entertainment

ABC Studios

Abrams Artists Agency

Adept Entertainment

Alan David Group

Alchemy Television

Alchemy Television Group

Alcon Entertainment

Allan McKeown Presents Ltd

Allan R. Smith Productions

Ambush Entertainment

American Media Television

Anne Carlucci Productions, Inc.

APA

Arclight Films

Arjay Entertainment Television

Artist International

Asylum Entertainment

AT IT Productions

Atlas Media Corp

Automatic Pictures

Avalon Television USA

Axelson-Weintraub Entertainment

Banner-Caswell Productions

BBC Worldwide

BCII

Beth Grossbard Productions

Big Cattle Productions

Big Hill Pictures

Boulevard Pictures

Boxing Cats Productions

Boz Productions

Brian Graden Media

Broken Lizard Industries

Buck Productions

Buck Productions Inc.

CAA

Cakehouse Media

Capestany Films

CartoonNetwork

Cataland Films

Cavelight Films

CBS

CBS Entertainment

CBS Films

CBS Interactive

CBS Paramount

CBS Paramount Network Television

CBS Studios International

CBS Television Distribution

CBS Television Studios

Central Artists

Champion Entertainment

Clear Pictures Entertainment

Codeblack Entertainment

Codeblack Films/Lionsgate

Collins Avenue

CoLours TV

cosmic pictures

Creative Chaos Inc.

Creative Convergence

DASH Networks

DatsEntertainment

De Line Pictures

Digital Alchemy Entertainment Inc.

Disney Channel

diverse talent group

Dragonfly Film and TV

E'lan Productions

Echelon Studios

Echo Lake Productions

Echo Production Company, Inc

Edmonds Entertainment

Edward Saxon Productions

Electric Entertainment

Elkins Entertainment

Ellman Entertainment

Enchanted Rock Pictures/MTS Entertainment

Endemol USA

Endgame Entertainment

Ensemble Entertainment

Entertainment Studios, Inc

Epic Level Entertainment

Epiphany Pictures

Espiritus Productions

Evatopia

Eventime Productions

Evolution Entertainment

Eyeworks Belgium NV

Fauci Productions, Inc.

Faultline Films ltd

Film 44

Film Garden Entertainment

Firehorse Pictures

Fireworks Enterprises

Fisher Entertainment Group

Forward Entertainment, llc

Fox Broadcasting

Fox Interactive Media

Fox International Channels

Fox Searchlight Pictures

FOX Sports

Fox Television Studios

Frontlot Productions

FX Network

Generate

Goliath

Grand Productions Inc

GRB Entertainment

Greene & Associates Talent Agency

Greenspan Kohan Mgt.

Handmade Films

Harper Winslow Productions

HBO

HDNet

Here Media

Homerun Entertainment

Honest Engine Films

Hope Enterprises, Inc.

Ideas Unlimited - TV (Denmark)

Idiomatic Entertainment

IKA Collective

Imbroglio Pictures Inc. / Scott & Cooper Entertainment Ventures

Innovative Artists

insomnia media group

Inspire Films and Television

International Creative Management

Intuitive Entertainment

IWV Media Group, Inc.

Jackamo Television Ltd

Jane Street Entertainment

Jeff Ross Entertainment

Jupiter Entertainment

Just SInger Entertainment

Kaplan-Stahler Agency

Ken Ehrlich Productions

Kickstart Productions, Inc.

Kingfish Productions

klasky csupo, inc.

KoldCast TV

Komixx Entertainment

Konigsberg Company

Kritzer Levine Wilkins Griffin Entertainment

Laika Entertainment

Legion Entertainment LLC

Lionsgate

Lionsgate Television

Little Dog Productions

LITTLE STUDIO FILMS

Litton TV

Lucky 8 TV

M Creative Group, Inc.

Madeline Films

Madhouse Entertainment

Madison Road Entertainment

Magical Elves

Magnet Management

Magnolia Entertainment

Mandeville Films Inc

Mandt Bros. Productions

Mango Tree Films

Manville Media

Mark Yellen Productions

Mashaal Media Corp.

Mass Hysteria Entertainment

Matrixx Prod.

Mayhem Pictures

Media 8 Entertainment

MGM

Michael Berk Productions

Michael Grais Prods.

Michael Levy Enterprises

Microsoft Corporation

Moniker Entertainment

Moxie Pictures

MPH Entertainment, Inc.

Mpower Pictures

Mt. Vernon Entertainment

myriad pictures

National Geographic Digital Media

National Lampoon/ Comedy Cocktail

NBC/Universal | Mun2

Neon Television

Network Entertainment Inc.

New Wave Entertainment

Noble Savages

Nu Image

Nu Image / Millennium Films

Nu Image/Millennium Films

Oceanside Entertainment

Ocular Production Inc.

One Entertainment

PalmStar Entertainment

Panic Productions, Inc.

Paradigm Agency

Paramount Digital Entertainment

Paramount Network

Paul Schiff Productions

Paulist Productions

Phoenix Pictures

Pie Town productions

Planet Grande Pictures

Planet Pictures

Playboy Entertainment Group

Plymouth Rock Entertainment, Inc.

Pogo Pictures

Popular Arts Entertainment

Porchlight Entertainment

Port Magee Pictures, Inc.

PorterGeller Entertainment

POW! Entertainment

preferred artists

Principal Entertainment

Principato Young

Principato-Young Entertainment

PrizmHead Pictures

Rain Management Group

Rainstorm Entertainment

RDF USA

RDS FILM

Red Baron Films

Reel Entertainment

Reid Media Group, Inc.

Revelations Entertainment

Reyes Entertainment

Right Brain Media

ROAR

Rob Gallagher Literary Management

ROBBINS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Rudolph Films Inc

S.L Entertainment

SB Productions Inc.

Scream Films (UK Based)

Shatner Universe

ShineReveille International

ShootersTV

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Sigh Griffin Management

Slate of Eight Productions

Smash Media

Smoke and Mirrors Creative / Pandemonium Films

Solar Films Inc

Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures International TV

Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television International

Sony Pictures TV

Sony Television

SPEED Channel

Sports Branded Media

Starz

Starz Media

State Street Pictures

Station3

Storytime Films

Stowaway Films

Telecast productions

Tell Tale Productions

test

The Corsa Agency

THE GERLER AGENCY

The Gersh Agency

The Gersh Agency, L.A.

THE MAK COMPANY

The Sterling/Winters Production Studios

The Televisionaries

The Terminal

The Wolper Organization

The Wolper Organization / WBTV

Thousand Hills Productions

ThunderBall Films, LLC

Touchdown Television

Trevino Enterprises

Trilogy Entertainment Group

TV Guide Network

Twentieth Century Fox Television

Twentieth Television

Underground Films

Underground Films and Management

Union Entertainment

United Talent Agency

Universal Studios

UTA

Valencia Corp

Venture IAB

ViacomCBS

VPR Media

Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Studios

Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production

Washington Square Films

Wayans Brothers Prod.

Weller/Grossman Productions

Wide Angle Productions Group, Inc.

Wildbrain Entertainment

William Morris Endeavor

Wolf Moon Films

Zero gravity

Zero Gravity Management

Zilo Networks Inc.,

Zucker Productions

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David R. Lurie at Public Notice:

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump aimed nearly as much rhetorical ire at the Bush family as he did at Hillary Clinton. He assured working class voters his presidency would mark a sharp break with past GOP policies.

Yet Trump’s first — and only — major legislative achievement was to follow in the footsteps of George W. Bush’s first term by enacting massive tax cuts for the richest Americans. That gift to the wealthy proved to be a fiscal disaster for the nation and a political disaster for Trump and his party, ushering in a series of electoral losses for the GOP beginning with the 2018 midterms. Now, as Trump plans his second term in the White House, he’s preparing to follow Bush’s example once again. He and his billionaire cronies are making increasingly strong signals that he’ll begin his second term by attacking Social Security (and potentially Medicare), this time mirroring a political disaster that Bush brought upon the GOP during his second term. It is difficult to imagine a more politically foolhardy target than Social Security and Medicare. Yet, for decades, GOP politicians have been as tempted to attack these extraordinarily popular and successful elements of the social safety net as moths are to fly into flames. The “populist” Republicans of the Trump era are no different — a reality that portends great risk to Americans, but also huge political opportunities for Democrats.

The long history of GOP attacks on Social Security

From the outset, FDR’s enactment of a US version of Social Security — derived from similar, but often broader, safety net programs implemented in Western Europe — was vigorously opposed by GOP leaders, who (for good reason) feared it would create a permanent foundation of support for government “interference” in the economy. In order to undo the legacy of FDR’s New Deal, GOP leaders recognized they would ultimately have to launch a successful attack on Social Security. The fact that Social Security successfully addressed what had appeared to be the permanent scourge of poverty among the elderly only deepened the ire of many in the GOP, given that it increased support for Democrats. The next several Republican presidents — including Eisenhower and his vice president, Richard Nixon — believed that GOP efforts to attack the nation’s core entitlement programs, which under LBJ grew to include the hugely successful Medicare program, would be politically suicidal.

These “establishment” Republicans were, however, reviled by many on the right of their party, including followers of Barry Goldwater. They refused to give up their dream of vanquishing Social Security, and with it the purportedly evil federal government institutions that had grown since the 1930s. Indeed, soon after being elected in 1980, former Goldwater sidekick Ronald Reagan — who had once famously called for Social Security to be made “voluntary” — implemented the first of what would prove to be habitual GOP attacks on Social Security. In 1981, Reagan proposed dramatic cuts to Social Security, claiming that he was trying to “save” the program. His proposal faced immediate backlash, particularly from retired and soon to be retired voters who formed a key portion of the his coalition. The president beat a hasty retreat, as did congressional Republicans, who soon realized they would pay a high political price if they joined Reagan in gutting the program. Reagan did succeed in enacting far more modest, but still substantial, cutbacks in Social Security with the support of Democrats — under the cover of a commission led by the then highly respected Alan Greenspan — based on the proposition they were “bolstering” it. This gave rise to an enduring view among many on the right that they could dupe Democrats to join them in cutting holes in the social safety net in the guise of trying to save it — a premise some “good government” types regrettably encouraged.

George W. Bush, like Trump, focused his first term economic program on fiscally unsound tax cuts for the rich. But after winning reelection, Bush began his second term with a declaration that he had obtained “political capital.” He chose to spend it with another attack upon Social Security. In 2005, Bush announced his support for a “privatization” scheme inspired by the “voluntary” Social Security proposal favored by Goldwater and the young Reagan. He then embarked on a full-fledged campaign in support of his effort to gut Social Security, giving speech after speech in which he declared that the nation should be prepared to make “tough” decisions. Bush likely expected that a substantial number of “fiscally moderate” Democrats would support his program, or at least parts of it. But Democrats had learned their lesson from past GOP assaults on Social Security and overwhelmingly resisted Bush’s proposal. Bush’s plan flamed out even more spectacularly than had Reagan’s 1981 initiative. The debacle paved the way for W’s political unraveling, beginning with huge Democratic victories in the 2006 midterms and the victory of Barack Obama two years later. Nonetheless, the desire to undermine Social Security remained powerful among GOP leaders. For example, during a debate with Joe Biden, Mitt Romney’s then running mate Paul Ryan registered his emphatic support for Social Security “privatization,” asserting that Bush’s deeply unpopular plan should have been implemented.

“Everything is on the table”

During all three of his presidential campaigns, Trump distanced himself from efforts to gut Social Security — sort of. As with so many topics, however, he has not been particularly concerned with consistency. In March of this year, Trump let slip on CNBC that he just might be convinced to go after the social safety net, stating, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting.” He then went on a marginally coherent “weave,” thereby managing to avoid addressing the implications of his statement. But his remark now appears to have been extraordinarily significant. Soon after winning the election, Trump tasked Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and their pseudo government agency titled “DOGE” (after a crypto currency that had been started as a joke) with cutting as much as $2 trillion of annual spending from the federal budget. Ramaswamy initially appeared to deny that Social Security would be touched, asserting that “program integrity” would be DOGE’s sole focus, and adding that changes in benefits would be a matter for Congress to decide. Yet, for two reasons, there was far less to that assurance than meets to eye. First, it has always been the case that Congress will have to vote in favor of any proposal to gut entitlement programs. That is because Social Security and Medicare comprise “mandatory” spending, which is compelled by statute. And secondly, as a matter of financial fact, the kind of drastic austerity measures that Trump’s cronies are proposing will necessarily involve massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or both.

[...] Sooner rather than later, Trump seems likely to emulate George W. Bush — a former president he mocks with glee — by proposing cuts to Social Security and possibly Medicare too. His proposal will be met by much enthusiasm from GOP legislators and wealthy donors. But then the backlash will arrive, and the massive snowball Trump and his cronies sent down the hill will run them over. It is, however, up to Democrats to carefully prepare for what comes next, and — when the opportunity presents itself — to do everything they can to maximize the backlash and ensure Republicans once again pay the highest possible price for attacking a cornerstone of post-New Deal America. This will not be a time for compromise, or for sober-minded “good government” types to express agreement with the need for “reform.” If Democrats play their cards right, the defeat of yet another GOP assault on key elements of the safety net for older Americans could be the beginning of a broader collapse of the Trump effort to “remake government” to serve his authoritarian ambitions.

The Republican trifecta in the upcoming Congress are making the same foolish mistake they made after the 2004 elections: mounting efforts to privatize Social Security.

Such a move was the beginning of their downfall that led to massive losses in 2006 and 2008 for the GOP.

[protoslacker]

Bill Clinton in his too-long speech at the Democratic National Convention pointed to something I thought significant:

"Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans 1."

I searched for it to get the quote right. Something the search revealed is the press has fact-checked the shit out of hia observation.. All agree that what he said is true, yet almost all contend it's misleading.

Who could have predicted the economic recession in Bush pere's administration? Who could have predicted the housing bubble and global financial crisis of Bush fils' administration? Certainly not Alan Greenspan!

The political reporting this time around is truly awful and broken.