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msclaritea · 3 years ago

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Another one bites the dust...

Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures and cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast with Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein.

This week for Insider, he writes about the restaurateur Guy Fieri's new interview with Kara Swisher.

Fieri rehashed "tired trickle-down threats" and sounded less like a man of the people, Constant writes.

Less than a decade ago, the celebrity chef Guy Fieri was a joke. The New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells' 2012 viral slam of Fieri's Times Square restaurant beclowned Fieri with such casual brutality that it seemed the host of TV shows like "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" would never fully rehabilitate his reputation.

But a lot can change in 10 years. As I write this, the Guy Fieri renaissance is in full swing. Fieri has seen tremendous financial success: He recently signed a three-year, $80 million contract with the Food Network and opened a nationwide chain of delivery-only "ghost kitchens" in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He's also receiving a reappraisal from the media elites who once mocked him. The engine of the Fierissance is Fieri's philanthropic work. Since finding fame through reality television, Fieri has raised money for children in need and donated meals, and most recently he created the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund with the National Restaurant Association, which raised roughly $25 million to help restaurant workers who lost their jobs in the pandemic.

This week, Fieri appeared on the New York Times opinion writer Kara Swisher's interview podcast "Sway," and he presented himself as a down-to-earth everyday dude. Fieri made sure to use his platform to speak up for independent restaurants, which are still hurting badly from the pandemic.

"We need support from legislation," Fieri urged politicians, saying he was "pissed" at the way the restaurant industry had been largely left to its own devices during the past year.

So far, so good: Fieri is advocating the restaurant industry that gave him his start and helped made him a star. But when Swisher's questions begin to drill down into specific policy decisions, Fieri sounds less like a man of the people and more like, well, the wealthy owner of an international chain of restaurants. Specifically, he begins to drag out the same tired trickle-down threats that you hear from embittered restaurant owners when their city considers raising the minimum wage.

Fieri's take on government regulations

When Swisher asks Fieri whether he wants lawmakers to regulate exploitative gig-economy apps like DoorDash that are milking small businesses with exorbitant fees to participate in their low-wage meal-delivery services, Fieri balks.

"I hate regulations," Fieri said. "I'm not a big fan of rules. I think that all of a sudden government jumps in and makes it so certain groups can't work together and all this kind of stuff."

Continuing his anti-regulatory rant, Fieri cites regulations banning alcohol delivery in many states and cities that lawmakers quickly lifted when lockdowns started happening. His implication seems to be that lifting regulations, not creating more, is the only way to success.

Instead of making laws to create a more equitable delivery-app economy, Fieri said, "it would be awesome if some gigantic philanthropist could say: 'Hey, you know what? Here's what I'll do. I'll make it so we're a nonprofit delivery company. And we'll make sure drivers make money and restaurants make money. And here you go.'"

The difference between philanthropy and equitable wages

Of course, wealthy people love to promote philanthropy as the perfect solution to all of the world's problems, because unlike with taxes, wealthy people control the amount of philanthropic giving.

Fieri hoping for a wealthy person to magnanimously create a wildly popular nonprofit delivery app does nothing to improve outcomes for small businesses and gig workers. But legislation ensuring that DoorDash and Grubhub drivers receive paid sick and family-leave days, like the law passed by the Seattle City Council last year, actively helps workers who have struggled through the pandemic.

Even worse is Fieri's answer when Swisher asks why many restaurants are having trouble hiring workers right now.

"It's really difficult to get your kids to eat a really healthy dinner and come to the dinner table hungry when they've been having snacks during the day," Fieri said, adding later, "Why would you go and eat broccoli if you just got to eat Doritos?"

The "snacks" in his analogy seem to be the weekly $300 increase to unemployment-insurance payments that were part of federal coronavirus relief. Fieri says those payments were "awesome" during the pandemic but "at some point in time, we've got to pivot" and had "got to get people back to work."

Relatable versus rich-guy dismissiveness

For Fieri to dismiss enhanced unemployment for workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic as junk food, and to promote low-wage, exploitative restaurant jobs as healthy and nutritious, is not just wrongheaded and snobbish — it's also the worst kind of trickle-down nonsense."

#Guy Fueri is a JOKE #Fuck that #Restaurant people work too damn hard to put up with thus shit #Fuck the NRA too

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hard-reset-with-a-hammer · 4 years ago

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The world certainly loves to get my attention in interesting ways. More often than not, the methods used to do so are only a means to an end in order to piss me off, but this time I'm genuinely amused.

The most recent happening that has garnered my attention is the big stink going on with Hedge Fund concerning $GME and a handful of Redditors who bought the hell out of GameStop shares. A lot of people don't understand what this means or why so many of the wealthy and empowered are making a big deal out of it, but your ever helpful Uncle Fuck Off is here to educate you on things.

So let's start at the beginning. What is Hedge Fund? A Hedge Fund is an alternative investment that is designed to protect investment portfolios from market and certainty, while generating positive returns in both up and down markets. Hedge funds are financial partnerships that use pooled funds and employ different strategies to earn active returns for their investors. These funds may be managed aggressively or make use of derivatives and leverage to generate higher returns. Basically, it's a way for a select, limited number of very wealthy people to get even wealthier by buying stocks and trades at a low price, then waiting for the demand of these stocks and trades to go up in order to sell them at a higher price. Here's an example; Imagine a loaf of bread at any select store cost $2.00, and the supply is limited. Now imagine buying all that bread at $2.00 a loaf, completely emptying the county supply of bread. Then, directly afterwards, you turn around and start selling that bread at $3.50 a loaf, garnering a $1.50 profit.

It's kinda like that, but on a much, much larger scale, often resulting in the spending of millions/billions, and making a profit of half that after accounting for purchase.

So now that we've explained that, let's move on to the next chapter.

So what's going on with GameStop stock? Well so far, over the last 6 months, GameStop stock price has seen an 8000% increase, which is insane by any standards. The more complex answer is that it's stock has become a central gamepiece in a financial power struggle between a major hedge fund, Melvin Capital, and a group of amateur stock traders who yell on the internet.

So how is GameStop tied up in all of this? Well, Like many companies that are in rough shape, GameStop was the subject of what's called short selling, in which professional investors borrow shares of stocks to sell and then buy back later so they can return them, which lets them pocket the profit if the stock price goes down. They're basically bets that the company will fail. GameStop was one of the most shorted of all publicly traded companies. Other companies on the list include AMC Theaters, Bed Bath & Beyond and even the most defunct Blockbuster. And then GameStop became the source of a "Short Squeeze". I won't even get into explaining what a Short Squeeze is, it's a long and complicated subject. I'll just leave it at; A Short Squeeze means investors bought at a high price and bet the price would continue to fall, and when it didn't, they were left with millions in stocks that they had to sell at a much higher price.

Moving on, a handful of ametuer investors on the Reddit page r/wallstreetbets decided to throw 100% of their portfolios into $GME once they saw the shares rising, causing those who run WSB (r/wallstreetbets) to temporarily switch the community to private with the excuse that they were "Experiencing technical difficulties based on unprecedented scale as a result of the newfound interest in WSB.", which I think means the bean counters tried to intervene with us normal people making more money than we're supposed to.

This is where things get a little complicated and a bit more unclear. Shares in GameStop ticked up on January 11th after it named three people to its board of directors as part of a deal with shareholders who had been agitating for change. That caused some short sellers to abandon their positions, helping to drive the stock up more in the following days. The stock traded for about even for a few days, but things really began to change on the following Friday.

CNBC data showed that the volume of shares traded - a closely watched indicator of activity around the stock - spiked on Friday. Increased volume can indicate a short squeeze, meaning people who had bet against the stock either chose or were forced to give up and take losses. and while WSB had gotten some media attention in recent days for its GameStop boosterism, a boom in coverage of GameStop and WSB helped bring the story out of the financial world and more into the mainstream. GameStop shares would go from trading at around $43, already significantly more than it traded at the beginning of the year, to as much as $380, becoming one of the most traded stocks on the market along the way. This alone has Wallstreet shitting themselves, as it could potentially cost them tens of billions of dollars.

So how will the market be different if this continues? There is some belief that WSB signals the arrival of a powerful new force as large numbers of retail investors find influence by acting in concert or following one another into a big trade. That may serve as a check or balance on other large forces, such as hedge funds, which are used to throwing their weight around without ordinary investors affecting a price. As for how it couldn't affect us normal people, right now, the speculation activity is only around a few companies, which isn't that uncommon. But the broader concern comes when what are known as retail investors - amateurs buying stocks for their own personal gain - become overly exuberant and inflate stock prices, sometimes by taking out loans to buy shares. and some skeptics point to the situation around GameStop and other companies as evidence that the stock market has reached a dangerous level of enthusiasm and speculation.

Now, very often a short squeeze ends in a price falling back to where it was before the drama started. In 2008, when Volkswagen was in the middle of a trader tug of war, it briefly became the stock market's most valued company, but it's price settled down eventually. History suggests that no stock can go up forever, and over time, stock prices generally reflect the expected future earnings of corporations. But long shots can go on for extended periods if the players have enough resources to risk. Tesla, for example, would need 1,600 years of profits to justify its current price to earnings ratio, according to a calculation this last year.

So far, there's no evidence that any of this is illegal, although NASDAQ CEO Adena Friedman has said stock exchanges and regulators need to pay attention to the potential for schemes fueled by social media. While Reddit didn't answer questions this past Wednesday about whether it's in touch with regulators, it said it prohibits posting illegal content or facilitating illegal transactions. In a short statement, a Reddit official stated "We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed".

Of course I personally find this all to be bullshit. In my personal viewpoints, this is just another way for the very rich and wealthy to strongarm us normal people into being complacent, as they cannot make money off of us if we continue to make more and more money. Many investors and Wall Street members have stated that this could very well impact the fragile Trickle-down Economy, however, this again is absolute bullshit. Let me explain why.

Trickle down economy works exactly how it sounds, except it doesn't work at all. The long and short of it is investors and very wealthy people make a lot of money and they believe that eventually that money will make its way down to us normal and poorer people, however it never really does as most of the time, and in very, very many cases, these investors and wealthy people will more often than not square it away in a bank account or throw it back into stocks where they can make more money to put in their bank accounts. Trickle-down Economics only works the other way around, where us normal, poor people make money and buy stuff to put that money back into the economy where it will eventually make its way back to the wealthy making them far wealthier. Now I will agree that not all of that money goes back to the rich, but a good portion of it does. Most of the time that money will go back to paying employees, paying for equipment, and paying for materials used, but whatever else is left will go back to the rich. So you can see why this GameStop shit has Wall Street's panties in a twist.

Now, keep in mind that even if these amateur investors do win in this stock trade and cost Wall Street billions in US dollars, it is very unlikely that we of the current generation will see any of that money come back to us. The reality of the situation is that it would take years if not several decades for the money that Wall Street "loses" to circulate back to the normal person.

And that's what going on in this fucked up problem child of a country. Anyway, hopefully some of you actually paid attention to all of that, because I'm sick of explaining that the only side I'm on is my side. If you've got legitimate points that you'd like to make, I'd gladly listen to them and debate them, and I'll even concede defeat if I am wrong, but stop blowing up my inbox with half baked arguments because I have no patience to argue with someone who has little more intelligence than a water flea.

#gme #gamestop #stock market #wall street #reddit #news #perpetually pissed off

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novadreii · 4 years ago

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if i was jeff bezos

the first thing i would do if i had jeff bezos money (and jeff bezos' amazon) is completely disrupt the labor market by making the minimum wage at my company $40/hr (and yes, it would go up proportionally depending on your role, i just mean that salaries START at $40/hr). the working hours are mon-thurs, 7 hours a day flex time. people who don’t need to be physically there are working from the comfort of their own homes. not a single team building exercise or event is EVER scheduled to take place. everyone gets paid 1 month vacation + PTO, sick days, retirement, stock options, health benefits. the whole shebang. everyone. and YES we can afford it, i am obviously not going to be living in filthy riches as a CEO so yes we have the money.

on a nationwide (continent-wide?) scale, this would attract everyone in the US and Canada to come and work at my company. at first, because inequality will be inevitable, only the best workers will make it through to my company for the initial hiring wave. no biggie. i can’t hire everybody.

however over time, extremely competent people who are satisfied with their jobs elsewhere will still be eyeing my company. some will eventually leave and join mine as it grows. THEIR companies are going to pick up on this, one by one, and over time realize that in order to stay competitive in terms of competent workforce, they have to match my minimum salary + benefits or forever have the possibility of their best workers leaving for my company looming over their heads.

in maybe about 5 years, the market will stabilize with the unofficial minimum wage probably being around $30-$40 since nobody will work for less.

i will hire an army of accountants to make sure it can be done without going under. they will also calculate the amount of tax we are SUPPOSED to owe, and actually fucking PAY IT instead of sweeping it under an offshore rug.

PAYING TAXES DUE FOR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY IS A PRIVILEGE AND I WOULD BE HAPPY TO DO IT.

what about the cost of goods :(:(:(

1) everyone will be able to afford them now that they have the time, energy and money.

2) the economy is not a vacuum. it will take time but after the rough initial period, commodity prices even out as long as the other major companies follow suit with their compensation packages. companies won’t be struggling to pay their employees because the cost of goods and services is now higher, and PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO BUY THEM

if by trickle-down economics reagan meant that the wealth trickles down to lower classes like a repugnant stream of old piss, then sure he was right. but my company would ensure an INFUSION of wealth into lower and middle classes. once that money is circulating for a few years where it rightfully should, we will see a rise in innovators, brilliant scientists and the like because class barriers will dissipate and allow incredible minds to actually succeed.

the economy will rightfully boom with brilliant new services and products that we ACTUALLY need and want, not just the same 10 ideas circulating ad infinitum with a million copycats being funded by their rich parents. because the average consumer is going to evolve from a survival, time-saving mindset to one of self-actualization. consumer desires will therefore be much more diverse and allow many different businesses to flourish.

i would open countless programs to train and mentor new businesses in their endeavors. and i would tirelessly lobby against fraudulent business practices and if needed i myself would fund the auditing of certain major corporations to make sure they pay their fucking taxes (since most regulatory bodies don’t bother bc it’s “too complicated” and they are being bought off).

fast food and pharmaceutical companies are going to take a huge hit because the health, time, and happiness of the average worker will increase. big pharma becomes regulated by the govt, they will be unable to sell their goods on the market without first reaching an agreement with the govt about price ceilings.

eventually, my company may die off or split into subsidiaries. such is the nature of business and competition. it’s something i will accept with dignity instead of trying to dig my claws in and retain power at any expense.

and i would retire knowing that i didn’t directly and indirectly cause and sustain the suffering of millions, probably billions of people. if i was jeff.

#but jeff will sleep just fine tonight #and his fellow billionaire comrads who are all going to probably burn in hell with him #omfg this got so long #bless you if you read this #if anyone fellow ethically minded business people see this DM me!!!#personal #let's change the world together #i know how to code and i have a business degree we can literally MAKE the next big thing #i just need a visionary with concrete ideas #jeff bezos #amazon

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theloneliestanarchist · 5 years ago

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Sometimes you just open another tub of Ben and Jerry's and dwell in the existential dread - by Fall Out Boy

I feel like i’ve been living in a system

that pitches kids into a pit

and wishes pain upon the little ones

I feel like the only one left sane

in a world that’s gone deranged

for money fortune and fame

But what I feel is not the issue, its a symptom of a problem

that we really need to solve

and that’s what I am trying to explain across the room to all of you

there might be something we can do before the world turns blue

From all the water cause we’re melting down the poles

with the oil we keep bringing from below

and burning sending into the air like we just don't care

but we need to cause if we don’t stop soon then we’re going to end up

Livin down in those holes that we’ve created

hiding from the problem that we instigated and activated

stimulated

actions that we're taking.

Ships we’re making,

Trees we’re chopping

and the garbage we keep dropping in the sea,

This is bigger than you and me

I said you can get addicted to a lot of things

like power hungry politicians doing lines of corporate tax breaks

while they’re burning benjy’s lighting fucking cigarettes

rolled from the lies that make their party platform sound great

But really it’s quite easy getting people freaked and weepy over things that don’t exist

Keeping people guessing intense about their parties interests, while they’re struggling to make rent

Cause getting paid ain’t painless when you’re paid less then we made back in seventy six

I’m getting tired of kissing ass and sucking bosses’ dicks

I’m getting tired of the grindin’ and the hiding and surviving that taking over people’s lives

As the wealthy keep on thriving

While they throw their fancy parties all up on their private yachts

Another shelter keeps putting out cots for those who can’t afford their own homes

And we don’t have to live this way

All work and no play is making us quite dumb

Chop the workday in half to get more done

And avoid the working masses getting comfortably numb

We need to cut down these elites by putting people into power who stand for things that matter

Like closing wealth disparity tween the rich and the poor

And maybe get some clarity on what our military’s for

And maybe start with outlawing corporate lobbyists influencing our politics and stopping our democracy

Cause what’s right for the bottom line ain’t right for you and me

We can see the difference between two and three see

So when you start merging companies down to numbers dora can reach

It can seem easy

To start to be sleazy

Try hard? no one’s trying no more

Making money’s all that money’s good for

But you see its basic economics

To fix this its simple we just

Give more to the people on top

And let the rest feast from the trickle

Oh what it’s still dry down there?

Well the water we put it had to go somewhere

Oh look Jeff Bezos just filled up his pool on his private yacht

Because we’re lying to ourselves when we’re saying that it’s fair

And we’re saying it don’t matter but we really need to care

Now i think of all the time we’ve been screwed over by the man

I feel like my living quarter’s in the bottom of his can

He keeps pissing on us saying that its rain

And we keep falling for it over again

We really need to rise together as a people getting somethig done

Because the war is almost over but the battle’s just begun

Fight the power to make it stop

Dethrone the ones that sat on top

We can't overpower them but we just might

Make the it impossible to justify the cost of the fight

Sing the song that angry Frenchmen sing behind their barricades

Use our strength in numbers like we’re blasted by some gamma rays

Tear them down and feed the rotting corpses to the mangy strays

Don't give up

Don't give in

This shit ain't close to being over it is just beginning

So tie the string and lay the wire

Light the fuse and start the fire

The south is rising up again it's time for us to quench it

Were through with oppression moving on to some fresh shit

Done with differentiating everyone by skin tones

Acting reflexively like mallets to our shin bones

Chasing and displacing discrimination and racism

Hating all the places that we started at and came from

Cause history's important cause it's all so fucking dark

And if repeatings what we're good at the the future's looking stark

Cause we're standing on the shoulders of peasants and slaves

Struggling to live serving all the Lord's and maids

Duke bezos, lordship buffet, sir and lady gates,,

It's like we've set society back into the middle ages

Turn the page on immigration

Fuck the concept of a ‘nation’

We're all just fucking people and we all have fucking needs

And if we killed the 1% then those needs would be exceeded

We can shelter vaccinate clothe and fucking feed

Every goddamn person if we all just agreed

That poverty stricken people need

more attention than the motherfucking economy

#poetry #anarchism #poets on tumblr

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tzxazrael · 5 years ago

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A-FREAKIN-MEN!

why are kids pissed off all the time? hell, the same reason i am, and i’m a long way from “kid”. look at the miserable state of this world we’ve been left.

china owns nearly everything because greedy corporations have sold it all to them slowly tiny piece by tiny piece.

politics is basically a joke, because as soon as the politicians have the office, most of them forget how they got there. hell, half the US Senate basically just committed treason by forsaking their sworn oaths, and it just keeps plugging along like nothing happened.

“trickle down” economics failed by the end of the 80′s, but people still seem to keep pushing it, because it benefits corporations and the rich, and those are the only ones rich enough to get their voices heard by politicians.

with the current housing market, probably half the people that don’t already own a house will never have the chance to as prices just keep going up.

the big american companies are doing the same thing all over again that they needed a massive bailout to prevent collapse from during Obama’s turn, only they just gotten bigger and fatter since then, and when the economy no longer can or will bail them out again, they’re just going to fall all the harder.

climate change, environmental destruction, fossil fuels running out, willful ignorance from the people who have the power to change anything, willful ignorance of the masses about the exploitation and oppression from the people in power... how long should i continue on for?

everything for the almighty dollar, and the same almighty dollar being dangled just out of reach of most, while being dumped by the wheelbarrow into the accounts of those who can’t even use as much as they already have, let alone more.

any wonder that those who have no perceivable future prospects are upset?

THANK YOU JENNI HERD

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polss · 5 years ago

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Political Swizzlestick: Seema Nanda and Tom Perez - DNC Heads - need to rid the DNC of its bullshit....Or get fired when the Dems lose to Trump.

As anyone who followed the train wreck that was the Iowa caucus knows, Tom Perez is the head of the DNC.

Let me throw another name out for you. Seema Nanda is his boss, the CEO of the DNC.

And they are both on their way to helping Donald Trump get reelected.

How can I say such a hateful and unfair thing?

Because it's neither hateful nor unfair.

It's truthful.

In the 2016 election, the GOP and the DNC gave us two candidates that we hated more than any other candidates in the history of US elections that we've tracked. So we had an election where everyone in the liberal-leaning states voted their asses off against Donald Trump and everyone else in America voted their asses off against Hillary Clinton (and to a lesser degree against President Obama's economic policies, which most of us will admit we didn't particularly like.)

It's now four years later. People in the liberal states who hated Donald Trump have four years of evidence showing that their hatred was justified.

People in the conservative States and in the Swing states have seen Donald Trump address probably 80 to 90% of his campaign promises, far far far more than any previous Republican president. Republicans are on board , even most of the 2016 "never Trump" Republicans have realized that it's four years later and their skin has not been melted off by a nuclear disaster. They are on team Trump now.

So, what does that mean for the 2020 election?

Well It means that again The Electoral College will decide the winner and victory will be dependent upon which candidate wins the Rust Belt states (as well as North Carolina and Virginia).

Trump won those rustbelt States in 2016. While the DNC can probably count on Michigan moving back into the DNC column, There is no guarantee on the rest of the Rust Belt.

Now Trump will have a few more votes as moderate Republicans realize they can tolerate Trump or just fall under the sway of Trumps continuous 4 year long disinformation campaign.

It's no given that the Democrats can win.

In the face of that, people who want to vote against Trump who aren't Democrats and don't believe in the ethics of the DNC, have just seen what appears to be an attempt by a candidate to steal the Iowa election.

"Whoa! Whoa there!" you might say. "There is no evidence that Pete Buttigieg's people were cheating In Iowa and hope to cheat again in Nevada in that caucus!"

Well, then, why did embattled DNC had Tom Perez call for a manual recount of Iowa's results?

That action makes my point. He did it because there was the PERCEPTION of fraud that threatened to drive away non-reliable Democratic voters like myself.

Tom Perez is the replaceable COG of the DNC . He gets that. Calling for a recount Is something he can do. If Trump wins re-election, Perez will be gone.

Nanda should be gone too but Perez is in the position that would certainly take the fall.

Really in that instance anyone with over 20 years of experience working in the DNC in management should be removed.

Why can I say such an unfair thing?

Because there is a culture of corruption in the Hillary and Bill era DNC operatives. That corruption needs to be scrubbed out. And at that point it would make a lot of sense to simply cut out the infected tissue, if the leadership cannot self-correct.

Every action that the DNC leadership has taken over the years is designed to protect their ability to push down on the scales for one candidate over another that the public has chosen.

When I cast my vote In a primary for a Democratic candidate, the DNC does not count my vote as one part of however many total votes are cast.

That's a fuzzy statement. Let me explain this another way.

I'm going to throw some numbers out there to keep the math easy.

If I am one of 10,000 people who vote for a candidate in a state where 100,000 votes are cast. My candidate has gotten only 10% of the vote. AT BEST, my candidate will get 10% of however many delegates the DNC has assigned to the state. I could be in a state with a population of say 3 million people that tends to vote Democrat in the general election.

My neighboring state also has 3 million people in it, but may always vote Republican in the general election. Given that the GOP dominates that state, Democratic turnout is always low because they have no ability to affect government. They have 50,000 people who turn out and vote in the Democratic primary. The candidate I hate gets 10,000 of those votes in that state (20%).

With fewer people supporting that candidate, that candidate is likely to get more delegates.... possibly twice as many.

That is an unfair system.

And it gets even more unfair. The DNC weights the system to cheat for the leading vote getters.

Many/Most/all? state democratic primaries and caucuses have rules about “viability” of candidates. Google your state’s primary or caucus and read the rules. Basically if your candidate earns less that 15% in a certain region of the state, they are considered unviable in that region and barring a change are mostly inelegible to secure actual delegates using the votes placed in that region. It’s like those votes were never counted.

If it is a caucus state (an entirely deeper level of clusterfuck) you and your fellow participants are actually told you need to vote for another candidate or not have a voice at all.

The candidates who are viable in various regions and them alone split the actual state delegates. How fucked is that?

Applying the viability rules to our example, it is entirely likely that despite 10,000 people voting for my candidate in my state of 100,000, there is statistically a great chance that our preferred candidate didn’t clear 15% in ANY of the state’s various regions. For all of our efforts, our candidate is likely to walk away from the state with zero delegates.

We probably should have stayed home and played nintendo instead.

That not piss you off yet? Wait until you look at the neighboring state. In that state the candidate we hate pulled 20% of that state’s total 50,000 votes. Their candidate actually won the state with 6 other candidates splitting the rest of the vote. That candidate won 100% of their “pledged” delegates.

So while each state has say 25 pledged delegates, my candidate who earned twice as many actual votes gets 0 delegates and the candidate I hate gets all 25 of my neighboring state’s delegates.

That is fucked up logic.

So why don't we just count the existing votes? If between two states with 3 million people, 150,000 votes are cast and the candidate that I like gets 10,000 of those votes and the candidate that I don't like gets 10,000, both of those candidates would get the same number of delegates. And both me and my neighbor in the next state over would have the same ability to choose our candidate.

"But we have to do this to protect small states!"

Do we really? If someone who lives in Iowa has the same ability as I do living in Texas to cast a single vote with exactly the same value, how exactly are they being hurt?

Is it worth more to the DNC to give say, Iowa a state where 90% Of the population is white, a much greater ability to affect the nomination, then it is to have unrepresented voters in a large red state with blue State demographics (Texas) feel like they finally have the ability to exercise a political voice and a reason to get registered to vote?

I think if you look clearly at that picture, the former gives you the ability to ensure that your candidate is a lily-white candidate who fully agrees with the values of the DNC core.

The latter gives you the ability to force the GOP to change their tactics. No more obstructionist government. No more underhanded dealings. No more talking in racist dog whistles.

The former has been what the previous leadership of the DNC has valued. The latter I would argue is what the DNC leadership from here on out should value.

In the latter instance, if the GOP wants to win future elections at minimum, they have to treat either Black or Mexican voter with respect --- like they're valuable humans too. Default current operating practices of the GOP would have to change. And our society would benefit from it.

So the question becomes do you want control of the nomination process? Or do you want to win?

The argument for delegates is the same argument for the Electoral College. "The US was designed to be a republic." That statement is regularly made to defend the status quo.

When it is made in that context what that is actually saying is that the US was designed where people vote for convention delegates or electoral voters who are "smarter or make more capable than them" to cast an actual vote that mean something on their behalf.

That is, not surprisingly, a republican argument.

But if you told Americans back in the Revolutionary War who thought they were fighting against taxation without representation that that's what they were fighting for, trading the British House of Lords making decisions for them for rich Americans making decisions for them, the Civil War might have come a lot quicker.

Americans were promised democracy. This is why they supported the new US government. This is why those who are willing to vote for the Democrats expect democracy to be delivered.

It boils their guts every four years when they read about how the DNC has “super-delegates”, party insiders whose opinions are on their own worth several delegates.

I am pissed when I think that my vote and likely several thousand of my Texan neighbors' votes are required to get one single DNC delegate , but superdelegate Hillary Clinton's opinion, directly and indirectly, is probably worth more delegates than some states!

Hillary has blown two freaking presidential elections ---- two opportunities for the dems to run the show....and yet here I am beholden to her sensibilities.

That is not democracy. That is corruption.

The DNC only won in 1992 because Ross Perot split the Republican vote. Without that, Bill Clinton would have been curb-stomped.

Barack Obama won in 2008 because he was running against a second Great Depression. George Bush was totally unable to address the problem with the standard Republican tactic of trickle down economics and John McCain ran on continuing Bush's economic policies.

Obama's people did run a brilliant campaign in 2008 but let's not overrate winning when you're running against a second Great Depression.

You have to go back to 1976 to see the last time some random Joe Schmoe Democrat cleanly won their way INTO the white house.

So let's not overrate our chances or give the Clintons, the Obamas, or some hoity-toity career DNC operative, the ability to select "winning candidates" against the will of the voting public.

And the superdelegates are just one objectionable piece. The pool of delegates alloted to a state is usually divided into pledged and unpledged delegates. The unpledged delegates are just like super delegates --- totally unbeholden to the voters.

And, the DNC makes it even worse. My vote and everyone who sees the candidates like I do's votes don't give us a single delegate "chip".

No, we get a “pledged delegate” chucklehead who doesn't really even have to vote the way we voted. This is slimy. It's underhanded. It's disgusting. ....And it's the DNC today.

"But the GOP does the same thing" you might argue.

The GOP believes America is a republic. They have a built-in argument for their corruption that their voters accept.

The DNC believes America was founded on democracy. Democratic is part of the name. So why not be democratic?

Since 2016 a huge chunk of the democratic voting base has argued to get rid of the Electoral College and embrace a direct popular vote because it's more democratic.

Maybe you can't do that in the actual election, but you sure as heck can do that in the selection process.

I have this advice for Seema Nanda and her employee Tom Perez. Be different from all of the other people who have had the positions that you're currently in.

Discover ethics.

Be Democratic.

Spend your political capital changing the rules to make the party successful. Instead of pushing down for one candidate against another and pissing off all of us “non-reliable” DNC voters that you need to win the Rust Belt and the other swing States in order to defeat Donald Trump in 2020, push down on the scales to help the DNC against the GOP.

Meet with all of the presidential candidates and get the majority of them to sign off on shit canning delegates.

The candidate with the most votes will be the nominee at the convention.

With the possible exception of Mayor Pete, I think every other candidate will gladly concede to those terms in order to remove the perception of corruption that has dogged the party in this election.

Count every citizen vote in the primary season. Give us totally transparent running vote totals after each race, and then celebrate the totals at the DNC convention.

Give me exactly the same voting power as someone in Iowa, New Hampshire, New York City, California or anywhere else in the country and you'll increase Democratic registration countrywide, turning a lot more States purple and blue.

You, Seema Nanda and Tom Perez, will get to be seen as the white hats of the DNC. You'll be seen as once-in-a-lifetime leaders --- the reformers who permanently dragged the party out of corruption.

These are controversial changes, No Doubt, but they are changes that increase the party's chances of defeating Donald Trump.

Your reputations will get the benefit of the doubt when the DNC defeats Donald Trump.

And if the DNC loses to Donald Trump....you're in exactly the same boat you'd be in if you do nothing.

Tom Perez can call for recounts, but Seema Nanda is going to be required to change the culture of the DNC.

There was a guy you might remember by the name of Barack Obama who talked about being on the right side of History. You two are currently on the wrong side of History.

Don't think that you can't get rid of this 20th century corruption that is inherent to the party rules, because someone in your positions eventually will.

If you don't do it, your replacements will or your replacement's replacement will. It's just inevitable.

The Democrats are losing too many presidential elections for things not to change.

Or you can stay the course and be unemployed in a year.... another disgraced scandal-ridden failure in those positions, reduced to writing books because your political careers in the DNC are over. The choice is yours.

final note

I thought about not writing this piece because it might hurt turnout. People might read this and think, “why even vote in the primaries?” But then I thought, “that is actually a great reason to publish this. If people don’t vote in the primaries that puts the screws to Perez and Nanda.”

People have to register to vote in the primaries. People not registering in time costs the party votes in the general election. They want strong turnout in the primaries because it shows you are registered. I want them to sweat bullets. (Please register to vote now even if you chose not to vote in the primary because your candidate will fall short of your state’s viability thresholds.)

And then there is the Bernie factor. Bernie is running away with this race to the chagrin of the DNC leadership. Bernie voters are loving this. They are going to vote. His turnout is guaranteed. The only way Bernie could lose is if the DNC has strong turnouts for an alternate candidate. They need turnout.

And if Bernie is the nominee he also would benefit from the most possible registered democratic voters ahead of the general election.

Everyone gets what they want if you do the right thing, so why not maximize turnout?

0 notes

jonjost · 5 years ago

Text

A year and some has passed since my last Pastoral, and in some sense it seems as if nothing has changed, though in truth much has changed. For the worse. The Trump administration, dogged with endless scandal and corruption, simply doubles down. Mired in a cesspool of moral and ethical offenses and plain old crimes, the nation seems stunned, our political parties paralyzed. Offense on offense is dumped in the public lap, a myriad of impeachable acts are done and while the air is sour with alarm, almost nothing has happened to confront the new reality. Yet there is a reason for this stasis, one which curiously is what provokes it.

Starved dead whale in OregonFrom Bette Gordon’s Variety

The ascendancy of Trump, seen by many as an aberration, a slap in the face to our sense of civil decorum, was in reality simply an unveiling of ourselves. For decades America has been corrupt and rotted to the core – not just the hard-right business oriented sorts, but our nice soft liberals as well. On the right the military industrial complex and its endless wars, was encouraged to expand since there was much profit to be made from it, and few raised a complaint. Now President Eisenhower’s Farewell speech warning has come to full flower, and both Republicans and Democrats genuflect to the military, while civilians pay their taxes and utter “Thank you for your service” while veterans, utterly abandoned after that “service”, commit suicide at such rate that far more have died that way than in combat.

On the liberal side the corruption can be seen in universities which have become secondary to their football and basketball teams, where grade inflation and cozy “legacy” admissions warp the fabric of education. It can be seen in the empty gestures toward “green” behavior, with recycling and hybrid cars and endless feel-good symbolic acts which utterly fail to address the reality that America is a vicious militarist/capitalist system which seizes 25% of the globe’s resources to serve 4.4 % of the world’s population. To effect any real change requires a drastic down-sizing of American consumption, something which even the most liberal of Americans will not consider. They will say instead that the 25% must simply be more equitably distributed, not that we need to cut back 80% to properly fit our population. It is a moral corruption no less damning than the rude billionaire’s club of the Republican’s.

Neo-Nazi rally, NCNavy Seal acquitted of murdering Iraqi prisoner

While many “good” Americans abhor Trump, and many others celebrate him, the brutal truth is that he is a symptom, an ugly scab which reveals the broad, deep decadence which has been building in American society for decades, and which while transparently evident for all that time, was discreetly ignored or minimized, as being something which a minority of other people did, and never oneself. Corruption was a flaw of 3rd world places, or Italy or Turkey. It was the kind of lie familiar in totalitarian states in which the official truth is known by all be be false, but has to be accepted for survival. Americans imagined themselves mystically different but they were not. While the nation built a vast military empire, visible and obvious, everyone paid their taxes, and few protested. The unacknowledged benefits were simply too enticing, and besides, resisting would just be too much bother and risk.

Since the end of World War Two, Americans have lived in a fantasy bubble, perceiving themselves ever as the good guys, the white-hat cowboy come to save the damsel in distress. After all we’d gone to Europe’s and Asia’s defense, beating the Krauts and the Japs, sacrificing our youth for others. Our story. Never mind it was the Soviet Union which sacrificed endlessly more and did the job in Europe, and never mind it was Japanese over-reach which cost them their war. But for we Americans, nope, it was our glorious GI’s that turned the tide, and won the day. Westerns. We, in our own minds, come what may, were always the good guys.

John Wayne

As the world slowly pieced itself back together after the conclusion of the war, America was essentially a back-door socialist society, recovered from the Depression-era ravages of capitalism run amok thanks to the WPA, Social Security and myriad other government props deliberately devised to save capitalism from itself. Coupled with the steroid boost of vast government spending (debt) to conduct the war – factories for building ships, tanks, planes, all constructed on the government dime – the USA emerged as an industrial power-house with virtually no competition. It had all been leveled by the war, save for what was left in the USSR. And together, entering the ’50’s America propagated its myths to the globe, and to itself.

USA USA USA #1 #1 #1.

And America, and much of the rest of the world, fell for it. We were the shining beacon, the city on the hill, the biggest economy, the champion of democracy, the general all-around do-good guys of the 50’s. Everybody loved us and we loved us. Or at least so we told ourselves.

Charles Sheeler

The fifties cemented America’s self-image as the benign biggest bestest country ever, the melting pot, the energetic inventive nation that had thrown off the shackles of old-world corruptions, tossed the aristocracy on the dung heap of history, and was innocent and pure. We gave generously to others, developed the Marshall Plan for Europe, and turned Japan into a nation of Peaceniks.

We were a Norman Rockwell painting.

We were, of course, utterly self-deluded, mired in the propaganda we had issued about ourselves to others. We were the knights riding in on white horses saving the world from the scourge of Nazism and the Yellow Peril. We wore the white hats, dammit.

I recall in high-school having a final “civics” test which had 100 questions, two of which were the same question phrased differently – it asked why is/was/will be American foreign policy always be formed for the good of the other countries. I replied it isn’t/wasn’t and wouldn’t be, citing some of the warped history they had taught me – for example, the Spanish-American war, which among other things was the first Gulf of Tonkin trick, to be deployed but a few years later. I “missed” this question twice, and one other about who wrote the Virginia Bill of Rights. 3 questions of 100. I was flunked. As I recall I took the matter to the administration but I don’t remember the result. The old lady teacher was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Andy WarholRichard Avedon

Danny Lyons

In the 50’s, creeping through the back-door of French colonialism, we took over their role in Indo-China, largely in secret. At the same time we overthrew the elected government of Iran, installing an erstwhile Shah who did our bidding and was duly celebrated as modernizing ancient Persia. Our fingers were in Africa and Central and South America, propping up useful dictators. This however did not show up much to the American mind until the 60’s. Pieces occasionally slipped by the censors, but most of America’s dirty work was kept well from view, and what was not was always justified by the Cold War, in which the USSR, our former ally, was demonized. Anything was justified to stop “communism.” And stopping communism was a good excuse to construct a global empire, all in the name of doing good.

Thomas Eakins

The 60’s brought an abrupt ending to America’s introverted dream of itself as the perfect Ozzie and Harriet land of white-bread harmony. Instead the fixed verities of the 50’s were up-ended as kids grew their hair long, disdained Mad Ave proprieties, and the civil rights movement flared into open warfare against the deep long racist reality of the nation. The “cultural” war was on, challenging the status-quo assumptions of the country regarding race, sex, money, and myriad other “givens” of our society. The seeds for a decades long tectonic shift in what America really is, and how it perceives itself, were planted.

Dallas, 1963Detroit, 1967Los Angeles, 1968Chicago, 1968

Even more frightening for those who found the 50’s a nirvana of normalcy, the actual demographics of the nation were changing colors: the country was slowly becoming non-white. Women were demanding equal status. The old verities of a patriarchal, racist culture were collapsing and anger was in the air. It still is.

The Vietnam war coupled with the civil rights movement, rapidly joined by feminists and gays and other deprived elements of our society quickly ripped the veneer of 1950’s propriety to shreds and laid bare the hypocrisies of the nation. It continues to this day, now shrieked out in headlines quoting the erstwhile President with racist diatribes and misogynist vomit. The 1970’s roiled the nation in the wake of the 60’s and in rode a familiar figure, the cowboy in the white had, to the rescue. This particular cowboy was about as authentic as Wild Bill Cody, hailing from Illinois and Hollywood, a showbiz shill for General Electric and other corporate interests. Sporting an aw-shucks demeanor and an All-American down-home fake accent, Ronald Reagan offered respite from nearly two decades of turmoil. He promised a Shining City on the Hill and trickle-down economics, and except for his own kind – the rich – he actually took a piss on the rest. All the promised showers were golden.

In America’s seeming zig-zag politics – Reagan begot a one-term Bush which led to led to “good old (iberal) boy” Clinton, a sorta two-term “left” wobble that boomeranged to a two-term “right” Bush, Cheney’s inside-job 9/11, briefly stunning the nation into a seeming unity until the real Bolton intent was made clear with a fraudulent WMD claim war, the catastrophic invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the deep fractures in our social comity stepped up into the glare of the spotlight. Soured on Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” liberals united behind the unheard of a silver-tongued black candidate, and Obama, at best a center-Republican of yore inside, was readily voted in, the Establishment’s Harvard-trained Manchurian Candidate, who deftly pulled the wool over the fawning liberals so pleased with themselves for showing their I-am-not-a-racist credentials for having voted for him. Of course he could move in next door, though a guy from the hood with a boom box doing rap at the BBQ might not be so welcome.

Obama policies, liberal on the identity politics side, pro Wall Street and hard-core military-industrial complex War War War on the foreign policy side, (but for Obama discreetly, with drones, off-the-books, black-ops, not spoken of lest the liberals notice) managed to flummox the nation. We were, said he and others, now post-racial. For eight years it became socially unPC to murmur anything that could be interpreted as racist or sexist or any violation of someone’s norms. While ample signs pointed to the volcano just beneath the surface of our shared politics, the elite of the Beltway chose not to see it. In private they spoke of “deplorables” and simply missed what had been going on for 40 years behind their backs, off in the backwaters of “fly-over” land, that “globalization” had decimated and left behind. (Read William Kittredge’s 1998 book Who Owns the West for a prescient early view of this.)

Helen Frankenthaler

The flim-flam snake-oil salesman is embedded into our culture as deeply as anything: American as apple-pie. Right down to our bedrock myths of ourselves, the scrappy pilgrims who built up New World from scratch. Forget about the millions of indigenous people who were already here; forget about the millions of slaves. And so on – it is a tired myth woven of lies and self-delusion. Presently we are experiencing its death throes, the shudder of a centuries old society as it faces the mirror and cannot face the image which returns its stare. We are brutal. We are ugly. We are evil.

We are 4.4% of the world’s human population sitting on 7% of its landmass and gorging on 25% of the world’s resources. We do this by having had the economic weight and military force to seize these resources by blackmail, extortion, military threats and when those fail, pure military force. We have done it for some centuries now. We are an empire, and as usual, an evil one. Like all empires we pretend we’re the guys in white hats.

An honest history of ourselves tells us this was always so, and that the heroic stories we concocted for ourselves were false. But before we bow out, we have a last show-biz conman to survive and his millions of followers, many or them allegedly devout Christians who wallow in resentment and hatred, while clutching the Cross. Hypocrisy, if one reads our history well, is as American as apple pie too.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy��s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Walt Whitman

Our poet laureate sang his songs, enticing, beautiful. And they offered one of the many threads which make up the tapestry of our communal delusion. These days his self-celebration has curdled, as it has now many times, into a narcissism of feel-good gestures – yoga and recycling and solar panels and panels of Norman Vincent Peale emulators speaking the newest hip phrases of the same old balm. Atop the curdled pop culture of our time sits a vulgarian impressario, a narcissist of the first rank, ready to lead his base of last-gasp old white racists over the buffalo cliff, taking everyone with him.

America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 17, 1956. I can’t stand my own mind. America when will we end the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb. I don’t feel good don’t bother me. I won’t write my poem till I’m in my right mind. America when will you be angelic? When will you take off your clothes? When will you look at yourself through the grave? When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites? America why are your libraries full of tears? America when will you send your eggs to India? I’m sick of your insane demands. When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks? America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world. Your machinery is too much for me. You made me want to be a saint. There must be some other way to settle this argument. Burroughs is in Tangiers I don’t think he’ll come back it’s sinister. Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke? I’m trying to come to the point. I refuse to give up my obsession. America stop pushing I know what I’m doing. America the plum blossoms are falling. I haven’t read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for murder. America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies. America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I’m not sorry. I smoke marijuana every chance I get. I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet. When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid. My mind is made up there’s going to be trouble. You should have seen me reading Marx. My psychoanalyst thinks I’m perfectly right. I won’t say the Lord’s Prayer. I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations. America I still haven’t told you what you did to Uncle Max after he came over from Russia. I’m addressing you. Are you going to let your emotional life be run by Time Magazine? I’m obsessed by Time Magazine. I read it every week. Its cover stares at me every time I slink past the corner candy store. I read it in the basement of the Berkeley Public Library. It’s always telling me about responsibility. Businessmen are serious. Movie producers are serious. Everybody’s serious but me. It occurs to me that I am America. I am talking to myself again.

Asia is rising against me. I haven’t got a chinaman’s chance. I’d better consider my national resources. My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals an unpublishable private literature that jetplanes 1400 miles an hour and twentyfive-thousand mental institutions. I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of underprivileged who live in my flowerpots under the light of five hundred suns. I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers is the next to go. My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I’m a Catholic.

America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood? I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his automobiles more so they’re all different sexes. America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe America free Tom Mooney America save the Spanish Loyalists America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die America I am the Scottsboro boys. America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was in 1835 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch Mother Bloor the Silk-strikers’ Ewig-Weibliche made me cry I once saw the Yiddish orator Israel Amter plain.

Everybody must have been a spy. America you don’t really want to go to war. America its them bad Russians. Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians. The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia’s power mad. She wants to take our cars from out our garages. Her wants to grab Chicago. Her needs a Red Reader’s Digest. Her wants our auto plants in Siberia. Him big bureaucracy running our filling stations. That no good. Ugh. Him make Indians learn read. Him need big black niggers. Hah. Her make us all work sixteen hours a day. Help. America this is quite serious. America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set. America is this correct? I’d better get right down to the job. It’s true I don’t want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts factories, I’m nearsighted and psychopathic anyway. America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

Allen Ginsburg, Berkeley, January 17, 1956

American Pastoral #29 A year and some has passed since my last Pastoral, and in some sense it seems as if nothing has changed, though in truth much has changed.

#Allen Ginsberg #Andy Warhol #Barnum and Bailey #Danny Lyons #Helen Frankenthaler #Norman Rockwell #Richard Avedon #Ronald Reagan #Thomas Eakins #Walt Whitman #Wild Bill Cody

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beanjuice-duh · 8 years ago

Text

Piece of Cake

Warning: ...cussin and waste of food, also unedited(raw draft) a/n: oneshot drabble, jam fluff. Getting those writing juices flowin’ Summary: high school au/ hamilton w/c: 3733

“Why the hell are we here?” Alexander groaned, he ran a hand down his tired face. He started to think back at the series of events that led him here. Where was here? Sitting at a long table for two in a Home Economics class. There were various cooking tools, bowls, a sink and small two burner stove top oven...and there was his partner. The bile began to rise up his throat and threatened to force a gag out of him. He glanced over at the purple bomber jacket wearing, big haired, facial hair on fleek idiot beside him. His partner sported a face of immense disinterest, his eyes on his phone as he scrolled with his thumb.

“Because you’re a fucking idiot who got us kicked out of Creative Writing.” Thomas responded with a hiss, he didn’t look up while he spoke to Alexander, he didn’t want to look at the face of the guy who placed him in this bullshit elective.

Honestly that was not how he remembered it going down at all. What he remembered was signing up for the Creative Writing class with his friends Aaron and Gilbert. His best friend John Laurens wasn’t a fan of writing and took on Aquatics as his elective. Alexander was more of an academic, though he tried his hand in sports. He was fairly good at wrestling but found it hard to maintain the proper weight/height ratio to stay in his class. He decided to follow Aaron in a more relaxed subject, one he knew he was well versed at as well. As for Gilbert...well he was in it because Mr. Washington was teaching the class.

Alexander only expected the best of the best to be there, Angelica Schuyler's little sister Eliza was taking the class, as she did the year before. It was highly recommended after that. Alexander expected James Madison the kid who skipped two full grades to be there, he seemed to enjoy writing as well. What he didn’t expect was Thomas Jefferson to be there. Apparently he was some kid that moved away then moved back or some weird drama. He was popular when he left and even more so when rumors flooded in that he and Angelica were dating.

Not. True. He wasn’t a fan of someone who just waltzed into school like that. Alexander wasn’t popular...he tried and he was popular among his close friends. Most people found him annoying, the kid who got in trouble and still managed to get the grades. Kid who never shut up and pissed off nearly everyone. It took a certain kind of person to put up with him. “Maybe if you didn’t start talking shit I wouldn’t have thrown my book at you.” Alex growled back, remembering clearly that in the middle of his discussion, Thomas had clearly leaned over to Madison. He looked right at Alex and laughed right at him.

Thomas rolled his eyes, still not giving Alex the benefit of meeting his eye contact. “Please, you don’t even know I was talking about you and even if I was, someone who talks as much shit as you should be able to take it.” The dislike was mutual. Thomas was not a fan of popularity in the sense of having people flock him. He liked being admired from afar. Little knew but he was quite awkward around too many people, often leaning on the moral support of his friends like Madison. Alexander threw him off balance. He was boisterous and impossible to ignore, more importantly he brought out an ugly side to Thomas that no one had seen before.

“I can take the shit talking!” Alex yelled, earning a hush from their new elective teacher. Of course, it was bold face lie. Alexander could deal out some of the rudest, wittiest insults but the moment it was directed back at him he flew off the handle. In his mind, he had to have the last word, the last say, the last insult no matter what. He was in the middle of a great discussion when Thomas interrupted him. Sure throwing his book across the room and taking out Madison instead of Thomas was a bad idea. It would have been well worth it if he had hit Thomas instead. “No one told you to return fire…”

“You fucking socked James in the face with your book and gave him a nosebleed.”

“I said I was sorry.” Alex crossed his arms.

“After you complained about how your shot would have been perfect if it wasn’t for his, and I quote, ‘bulbous air brained head’” Alexander smirked to himself, it was a good time to use his word of the day. “Now thanks to you, James is stuck in the nurse’s office and the only other elective I get is Home Ec, stuck with you.”

The fight didn’t go over well with George. Who, as much as he loved Alexander as a student and a person, wanted him to learn a little restraint even when it came to those he had trouble tolerating. Alex felt personally attacked. He was Washington’s favorite, he was the cool new kid that everyone befriended. Then the ‘legend’ Thomas Jefferson, rich, snobby, basketball player comes back and everyone is up in arms. Angelica and Lafayette were apparently his friends first, George missed him since he coached the team. Even Aaron Burr spoke highly of Thomas. It was sickening. “Whatever lets just get this over with.”

The bell rang and Mrs.Adams began instruction they were to make a dish that reminded them of home. The deep sentimentality made Alexander’s stomach churn. He had been through various foster homes, hopscotched around so many times the past was just a blur. That was another internal lie, he purposely tried to keep his past in the past. He looked over at Thomas. He was from the South or something, he remembered hearing that stupid twang in his voice. He probably wanted to make fried chicken or something. They were suppose to work together, other groups already started brainstorming while Thomas started taking out pots from the cabinet.

“What are you doing?” Alex watched as Thomas silently began to maneuver around him.

“I’m going to make my comfort food.” He answered, “Be a doll, and get me some cheese from the fridge.”

“This suppose to be a team thing, we didn’t discuss what we’re making.” Alex ignored his instructions. Thomas rolled his eyes and went to get the items himself. Fine,if that was how he was going to play it. Alexander went to the back and grabbed a large, clear, cylindrical container of ground up coffee.

He returned just as Thomas was filling up a pot with sink water. “What are You doing?”

“I’m going to make my comfort food.” Alexander echoed in a mocking voice, it was hard to mock Thomas’s voice. It was low and rumbly but not at all gritty. It was...smooth and low, like dark chocola--

“We can’t make two different foods, we can only turn in one.” Thomas glared as Alexander popped the container open and started measuring out a few cups of ground coffee. “Coffee isn’t even a fucking food, you dunderhead.”

“Doll, now Dunderhead, what are you fifty?” Thomas was old fashion, his tastes were dated and so was were his insults apparently. “Hm, then I guess whoever finishes first gets to turn in our assignment.” Alex mused watching Thomas’s dark eyes narrow at him. They shared a silent moment, which was rare, nothing but glares and shallow breathing before they broke away and furiously went to cooking. Racing to be the other.

Thomas turned and dumped all of the pasta in the water before it was boiling. Alex went and started practically throwing cups of flour into the bowl with his coffee. A puff of flour rose from his bowl and dusted itself onto Thomas’s jacket sleeve. “Fucking watch it slob.” He tore off his jacket and revealed intensely toned biceps and a tight tshirt that hugged his wide chest. Alexander clenched his jaw unable to repress the small wave of shock. Thomas felt eyes on him and looked down. Alexander was glaring a hole into Thomas ‘s arm. “Take a picture, it lasts longer” He purred.

The shorter student felt a rage. The same violent rage he felt when he heard Thomas laugh at him. That stupid, soft, bell like laugh that was warm and light, completely contradicting what Hamilton assumed his laugh would sound like. With no book to throw and no time to waste, Alex eyed the open bag of flour that was between him and Jefferson. In midmix he elbowed the back and watched it flop over all over Thomas’s side of the table. “Whoops.” Alex smiled, the flour trickled off the side of the table down to Thomas’s fancy oxfords.

His southern attitude shined as he sucked his teeth and rolled his tongue against the inside of his cheek. Thomas kicked off some of the excess flour from his feet and looked over at Alex. He waited until he was measuring cups of milk and just as he began to Thomas nudged his arm causing him to spill out of the bowl and onto himself. “Whoops~”

“You, fuckin’” Alex turned and was met by a flour covered hand smearing the white dust all over his face.

“Good look for you, Hamilton, ever considered wearing makeup to cover up those baby hairs on your chinny-chin-chin?” Thomas smirked, insulting the only thing that kept the strangely rosy, baby faced Hamilton from looking overly feminine. Thomas went back to stirring the pasta now that the water was now in a rolling boil. Hamilton angrily wiped his face, getting only some of the flour off his skin. He looked down at the batter he was making and smirked. “Thomas…” Alexander cooed, sickly sweet. Falsely sweet but it sent a strange sensation down Thomas’s spine. He turned his head cautiously and noticed Alexander was still covered in flour. Ha. He smirked but it started to fade when he tried to read Alex’s expression. It was soft, no smile, cheeks flared. He was slightly disarmed, long enough for Alex to lean forward. Thomas’s nervous and awkward tendencies started to shine as he backed up, slightly gawk like expression in his eyes. Hamilton, confident as always, got so close their chests bumped. And fast as a whip, Thomas’s well maintained facial hair was slapped by Alex. He felt a wet, goop on his face. “I think coffee cake batter is a good shade for you.”

Jefferson frantically shoved Alex aside, his bowl in his hand, as he hogged the sink. Alex lost control of his bowl and his batter went flying all over the floor. Thomas ran out water over his face. He made quick work of the cake mix before it made him break out.

A livid Alexander who’s “hard work” was now splattered on the ground walked over to the sink. He pressed his thumb against the faucet hole and the water pressure exploded as a stream of water aimed at Thomas’s wild, mane like hair. “You missed a spot”

Thomas shook his head, his curls now hung low heavy from being dampened. “So did you!” He grabbed Alexander by the collar and held him up a few inches off the ground. “BOYS” Mrs. Adams glared at them. “I hope you two have your dish done in the next thirteen minutes...or else you will both not only be failed, it will be a trip to Principal King’s office!”

They gulped in unison. Thomas didn’t want to visit the principal, his parents would skin him alive if he got in trouble and risked missing a game. Hamilton couldn’t risk hurting his college bound future with a failing grade… Slowly Thomas placed Alexander down and sighed. “Look lets just do something, anything…”

“Well coffee cake is out of the question.” Alex sighed. Not like he was any good at making cake.

“Ew who puts coffee in a cake?” Thomas wrinkled his nose. “My mac and cheese idea is so much better.” “I forget my partner has the tastebuds of a child.” Alex only ever saw Thomas eat carbs and cheese. His palette was almost as stupid as Thomas’s love for the color purple. His tired eyes darted behind Thomas to the pot on the stove, it was foaming and overflowing behind him. “Yeah i don’t think your dish is going to work out either.”

“Shit!” The southern boy spun around and turned off the stove. The pasta was painfully over cooked, now they were both out of luck. “Crap...now what? We can’t cook something in eleven minutes can we?” He looked at Alex who was rubbing his finger under his chin. He looked deep in thought, pensive, those eyes framed by sleepless bags never really looked tired. They had a bad frame around them, in truth, Alexander’s eyes (in Thomas’s opinion) were wide awake. Intelligent browns that were hyper focused to any and all tasks at hand. Shame, those bags made him look lazy and lackluster. Thomas blushed a bit realizing he had been thinking about Alexander’s eyes. The moment of admiration was fleeting as Alexander turned and started pacing towards the pantry. “Hello? Earth to Hamilton do you have an idea or what?” Jefferson waited but got no response. He groaned and followed behind Alexander as he searched the dry ingredients shelf. “Hamilton, you being quiet is unnerving so speak we have 11 minutes to make something that doesn’t cause food poisoning.”

“No bake Cheesecake.” He muttered. Thomas didn’t catch that, Hamilton turned around holding a box of graham crackers. “We’ll make a no bake cheesecake. I saw it once skimming on Facebook. It was one of those tasty videos.” “You watched a Tasty video?” “No, I skimmed it but I got the gist.” Alex pouted as Thomas facepalmed in front of him. “Look you have cream cheese, we have whipped cream and no time to actually bake anything, you want to fail fine but I’m going to do something about.” He marched off. He didn’t need Thomas’s help. He’d pull both of their asses out of this mess, he was not going to fail a class and ruin his chances in an Ivy league school. He started cleaning some space when suddenly a hand came out and stopped him. Their skins met and Alex felt a jolt so strong he made him flinch back.

Thomas stared down at him, his cheeks slightly red “what can I do?”

How strange, Thomas was being helpful? Subservient? Alex could get use to that look on his face. The awkward, unsure shy look he wore, the blush, not to mention he looked pretty nice with his hair wet and hardly as fluffed up. He was hot when he wasn’t peacocking around. “Grind up the graham crackers, I’ll soften the cream cheese and melt the butter.”

Silence came over them, they worked...well together. Alex found it strange Thomas was silent...then again when Alexander wasn’t around him Thomas seem quiet. After all he was friends with James Madison the sickly and silent type. He didn’t think they had long conversations. They had knowing lookings and that...he envied. He didn’t know anyone that could figure out what was happening in his mind long enough to figure it out. Even his closest friend was lost when it came to what went through his mind. Hamilton watched as Thomas used a rolling pin to bound the crackers as fast and finely as possible. He was...strong. The table shook with his pounding, Alex watched that bicep flex and his heart sputtered like a failing car. It took him a moment to restart his mind, and slowly he went back to working the cream cheese with sugar, whipped cream making a thickened mix.

Once Thomas was done he grabbed a cake tin and walked around Hamilton. “Watch your back.” He whispered in a low voice closer to Hamilton’s face. Alex’s ears started to burn with color and heat. Thomas reached over Alex’s shoulder, his large arm pressing up just a bit against Alex’s face, grabbing the container of melted butter. Without being told? Alex was impressed. He, absentmindedly, leaned into the arm and felt a sudden urge to close his eyes. “Uh…” Thomas slowly retracted his arm a bit and arched his eyebrow at Alex. “Alright then. You should look into sleeping.”

“I don’t sleep.” It wasn’t by choice. Thomas chuckled, soft and not sarcastic, were they getting along? No but at least they weren’t biting each other’s heads of. “I’m sure turning off your mind is near impossible but you should at least try cutting down the caffeine.”

“Are you worried about me, Jefferson?” Alex turned his head and there was a silence. “No.” Hamilton rolled his eyes, “crust is done.” “Thanks.” Alex poured the mix in and popped it into the freezer for the rest of the time they had left. “Well now it's up to the fridge.” “I’ll start praying.” Thomas shook his head. “Oh yes, please pray to the Southern Cake God” A questionable believer like Hamilton could only scoff at him. “I don’t pray for miracles.”Thomas smirked, “I’m praying not to fail.”

Hamilton and Jefferson went back to awkward silence. How strange silence came when they couldn’t fight. As if they only knew how to speak to each other when it was meant to hurt. After a while Thomas spoke again, his eyes on his phone, scrolling. “I wasn’t laughing at you.” Alex had his head down, catching some rest as they waited as long as they could. “Excuse me?” “In Creative Writing, I wasn’t laughing at you.” Thomas had put together why Alex had his outburst. He couldn’t believe that Alexander was so sensitive when it came to his performance but it was the only logical conclusion. “I was showing a video to James.” “So why were you looking at me WHILE you laughed?” “Because I was also paying attention. Some of us can manage two things at once.” Thomas shook his head. “I listen to all your stupid discussions. Insightful or not.” Jefferson shrugged, keeping his eyes down on the screen of his phone. Alex blinked...a small smile formed on his lips. So he was heard. Thomas thought he was insightful? Thomas might have only meant at times but Hamilton knew he was always insightful. And Thomas Jefferson paid attention to him…

Mrs. Adams started making her rounds, Alex pulled the cheesecake out of the fridge and placed it on their table. “Well...mess and your little mishaps aside...this looks promising.” She took a slice and jotted down a grade. She placed a ‘B’ on their sheet with only the comment ‘Next time actually cook something’. “Not my usual, but I’ll take it.” Alex sighed in relief. He sliced a piece for himself and started to dig in. It was theirs after all. He chewed, knowing well he probably shouldn’t, when he felt eyes on him. Instantly he glared at the pair of judgmental black eyes...instead they were disarmingly curious. “Want some?” Thomas silently wrinkled his nose and Alexander could almost read his mind. “Stop being a baby, it's cheese, you like cheese. And it's cake, everyone loves cake.” He shook his head, Thomas pouted a little still silent and somewhat surprised Alex was reading him so easily. “Try it and stop acting like a child. It’s a B grade cake. It won’t kill you.” “It -- “ “It won’t.” He interjected not letting Jefferson finish. He took some on a spoon and started making train noises towards him. “Say ah, baby~” Both of them froze for a moment. Alex swore it was more insulting in his mind...He squeaked when Thomas’s large hand gripped his wrist tightly. He leaned in, keeping Alex’s hand steady and opened his mouth. His full, plush lips wrapped around the tip of the spoon and slowly slid off leaving nothing on it. He chewed, then nodded, licking his lips slowly. Thomas’s eyes were on Alex, while Alex watched Thomas’s slow tongue move around his lips. “Not bad, Alexander.” He nodded, “We make a decent team.” Working with Jefferson wasn’t so bad. Alex would say it was even…

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sleepthemoon · 6 years ago

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Did a little, though I do see you said you agree. Now you've framed it with this, I can see it as a mental exercise, the likes of which I do myself. I just overlook that stuff on here and concentrate on the sentiment of people's political stances. We need people with radical ideas like this for balance as a method of questioning the status quo and their intentions aren't harmful so I let it go past me. You are quite right with the flaws you've thrown up and I thank you for expressing them because I don't think I've ever previously pinned down why I feel the need to let these ideas to past me.

Health care in the UK is on its knees and people against free care use it as an argument against such a system, which I find incredibly offensive because we hold our NHS so dear and are desperate to save it. The police services are also failing but no one uses that as an argument to give up on 'free' law enforcement. It's not the fault of the system so much as the conservative party, Thatcherite economic policies, the consequent financial crash, continued support of that model from the conservative party. [Basically I'm alluding to the tax breaks on the rich that haven't been reversed despite them being part of an economic plan (trickle-down economics) that lead to a double-dip recession that wouldn't necessarily solve the problem but wouldn't be unhelpful.] People say it doesn't provide as good healthcare, but we do receive world-class care and even if we didn't, it still wouldn't be an argument against it because nothing is stopping those who can afford it from having health insurance and using private hospitals. Absolutely nothing is preventing those who can afford it accessing that 'superior' healthcare that is waved in our faces as an argument against free healthcare. What free healthcare provides is a lifeline for those who cannot afford it - which is most of us. Healthcare, free at the point of delivery, based on need, not ability to pay. That said, things like medication and glasses are not paid for but subsidised, depending on household income. Most of my life, my family has not had to pay. You technically didn't ask for all this, but there is a lot of ignorance that is often used to undermine it which really. pisses. me. off. So it doesn't take much for me to go off on one :p

Oh! It was also one of the major reasons people voted for Brexit: there were false promises made that the money saved from not paying into the EU would go into the NHS. It was a huge point of contention once it was revealed this was bullshit because many people voted specifically for that. Which is one of the many reasons the whole "The UK voted against economic sense, ruining their own futures just because they're really fucking racist" angle also annoys me. That is so far form the whole truth.

I'm so sorry for the data-dump

hot take: hrt, gender therapy and trans surgeries should be free

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sumikoirala · 8 years ago

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Explainer: trickle-down economics

To anyone who lived through the years of Ronald Reagan’s US presidency, the term “trickle-down economics” should already be familiar. While Reagan wasn’t the first politician to say “trickle down” with a straight face, the economic story signalled by the term was frequently invoked during the Reagan years, most famously to justify massive tax breaks that disproportionately favoured the rich.

The origins of trickle-down can be traced back to William Jennings Bryan, but his phrasing – “leak through” – didn’t really catch on. Through the years the same basic idea has also been known variously as “supply-side economics” and “Reaganomics”.

Critics of trickle-down policies haven’t overlooked the fact that giving the rich a helping hand may yield political benefits for the politicians offering that help. Since Reagan’s time, trickle-down economics has been derided by other politicians as “voodoo economics” and as “the rich pissing on the poor.”

The broad idea of trickle-down economics is that giving economic help to companies or people at the top of society should, through one of various possible mechanisms, generate benefits for those in layers further down. Let’s look at the various mechanisms through which this is theorised to work.

Mechanism 1: Corporations who get tax cuts increase investments in the country that gives them

In theory, some companies might be drawn to expand operations in Australia because of lower company tax rates. If those expansions created jobs for previously unemployed people, or equal or better jobs for Australian workers compared to what those workers previously could get, then the benefits would be spread to workers. Plus, these companies could add to the demand for Australian-made intermediate goods.

If the expanding companies were more productive than other companies, due to using more efficient production processes, then this could also raise overall Australian productivity. In theory this would allow all of us to get more out from putting less in.

Yet many companies are more likely to look to other margins when making the decision about whether to enter or expand in Australia. These might include the cost of labour, the degree of red tape, qualities of relevant markets, and Australia’s geographical location.

This is partly because the tax breaks usually floated by politicians are modest, and also because the corporate tax rate differences between Australia and many of its peers are comparatively small anyway. There is also a lemmings-over-a-cliff concern here: if our peer nations start taxing companies at rates below what is required to finance effective government, should we follow them?

More subtly, the incentive effects we’d predict from a company tax break are complicated by the fact that no company operates like a person. Though we attribute human traits to companies routinely, in reality the decisions companies take are myriad and in many different areas.

Each is taken by some individual person in a particular department with particular, constrained, information and decision-making authority. It’s not guaranteed that each such decision maker in a company will know about a bit of extra cash due to a tax break and be spurred because of it to take a particular decision in their realm that dovetails with decisions taken by other company workers.

To the extent that the company does not act as a unit, the hoped-for labour demand and productivity effects may not materialise. The same is true if that tax-break money is used for other purposes, like funding dividends to shareholders or lining the pockets of the top brass.

Mechanism 2: Rich people who get tax cuts will use the extra money in a way that helps the country as a whole

The main idea here, as with Mechanism 1, is that more investment will create more jobs and potentially increase productivity (which results from those jobs). Some rich people might indeed invest the extra dollar directly into the stock of an Australian business. In fact, since rich people have a lower marginal propensity to consume than poorer people, they’re more likely to spend an extra dollar on investment than on stuff.

Nonetheless, a rich person might choose to buy Australian-made products with that money, which should act as a stimulus to Australian businesses. Of course that person could instead shop online for an overseas product or take an overseas trip, in which case that extra dollar would flee the country.

A rich person might instead lend the bank that extra dollar by depositing it into a bank account. If the bank then promptly loaned that money out to domestic borrowers, then we might see a positive economic effect, if the main borrowers who benefit from this looser cash were businesses that went on to use the money for a productive purpose.

If the extra dollar ended up going to less productive businesses, we might see a temporary uptick in employment and intermediate goods sales that then melted away when the business was out-competed. If home buyers got the money instead, it might mainly fuel increased house prices.

Mechanism 3: Aggregate tax revenue will rise when taxes are cut

Perhaps the most radical notion in supply-side economics is that cutting taxes might, counter-intuitively, raise tax revenue.

Suppose a company were making $100 in profits and faced a company tax rate of 30% (creating $30 in tax liability), but then the tax rate dropped to 28%. The extra $2 of “found money” might be invested in the business in a way that generates a rise in profits, say to $110. This would then create a tax liability of $30.80, or $0.80 more than the government collected under the higher tax rate.

Notice how large the return on the investment of the “found money” had to be, in order to create even a tiny increase in corporate tax revenue, from this 2-percentage-point tax break.

More taxes could also be raised if the employees of that company, as it expanded, shared in its increased productivity in terms of their taxable take-home pay. An increase in government tax revenue could then in theory be allocated to welfare, infrastructure, and other progressive budget line items, benefiting more people indirectly.

Naturally, this is not necessarily how things will play out. The “found money” from the tax break might be used by a company in ways that do not yield an increase in productivity and profits of the required amount to create a tax revenue hike for the government; and any revenue hike may not be directed to progressive expenditures.

In sum, careful listeners might sometimes hear a gentle trickle in our economy, but many parts of the waterwheel would need to be positioned just right in order to generate a steady flow.

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