The question on my mind is this: How can any American trust people in power who so clearly lack decency and moral courage? Or perhaps this: How can over 70% of Republicans be such Americans? Do they teach their children to behave that way? Do they treat their friends and family that way? Do they do business that way? What's the expression? "If you want to know about a person's character, look at the company they keep." I would add, "or the behaviors they support." Actually, Melvyn Douglas' character in Hud said it best, when warning his grandson to be alert to the morality of his own conduct:
"Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire."
Ok. But the people admiring them are GOP by choice. How is it that so many Americans who choose to be Republicans have lost their sense of common decency and moral courage? I have puzzled over that question routinely since November 2016, every time the GOP pulled one of their outrageous moves. The moves have changed, but not their indecency.
During 10 years of my 23 years in the Navy I was involved in weapons systems acquisition. In a brief study of ways to improve maintenance of the aviation design during procurement I found for the F-14 4300 ECPS engineering change proposals. Testing a small sample I found each contained easily remedied flaws that contributed to extra hours in maintenance and therefore a/c downtime. But remedies for each ECP added many thousands to procurement costs and to corporate profits. We applied lessons in F -18 procurement saving millions and improved readiness. Lockheed and others deliberately let design flaws get by and reap millions in fixing them after a/c delivery. Billions of savings can be achieved in procuremeent.
Thank you! One thing we should do is to have a review of defects and, if they were known in advance, or should have been, force the manufaturer to bear the cost of repair.
Inflation is real, but to blame the current administration for federal spending is another Republican Alternative Fact. How about looking at corporate profit margins. See Judd Legum’s Popular Information yesterday. Major companies have been increasing prices before supply chain disruptions. And look at their profits. Not only are they paying somewhat more for materials and labor, they are cutting back on services and sizing. Our economic disruptions are a smokescreen for increased dividends and stock buybacks.
Why to we have inflation now? Is it because of the new infrastructure bill? No. Is it because of the prospect that BBB might pass? No. It is largely because of the snarled up supply chain that obstructs passage of goods, coupled with a system in which monopolies and cartels (OPEC, Russia's control over too much of Europe's natural gas, concentration in the US energy sector) have too much power. Will inflation disappear in the next few months? No. But it will likely ease noticeably as kinks in the supply chain are worked out--as they will be.
Will Manchin kill BBB? In the end, I doubt it, although he might hold up the nation for further painful concessions. (I have absolutely no inside knowledge here.)
As for Louie Gohmert, he has won the Louie Gohmert Award (for being the dumbest member of Congress) so many times that he's retired the trophy. That is constituents keep re-electing him is a blot on the great state of Texas. Maybe almost as great a blot as Greg Abbott.
It IS hard to stay focused on action that improves who is in Congress or the State Houses. "Weaponizing desperate migrants from the Middle East" as HCR put it, is today's version of horror added to our own Congressmen violently depicting harm to AOC and the President. It IS really hard to stay focused and not just throw up our hands and scream. I may have to do that before I get back to voting rights and elections. Four years of Presidential hate, racism and misogyny plus a year and a half of a life-threatening pandemic, has worn us down. Going for a walk now in the sun and the orange and yellow leaves of a New England Fall.
Manchin occupies more news space than the President. How did that happen? He is an attention hog. Thank you, Robert, for mentioning the defense budget, my eternal bugbear. I’ll never forget the Sixty Minutes expose in the early seventies showing the greatest expenditure in the defense budget was Pentagon paperwork. Thousand dollar toilets! Ridiculously expensive supersonic toys for the brass that are outdated before they are built Yes, give me senior dental work instead!
Thanks. I will check out Legum's article. I am on his list, but have been crushed with work in the last few days, so haven't had as much time for reading as usual.
As usual, I appreciate the tone of this newsletter. But it is getting harder to find the good news and getting harder to be optimistic. I am sure it is no coincidence that the common thread between China and Manchin is coal. The fact that the Senator can make such a statement is mind blowing.
Realistically, neither China nor Manchin have any interest in limiting the damage to the Earth by coal. China is embracing sustainable energy only for economic reasons. They don't care about entire island nations vanishing. The Chinese consider people disposable. And so does Manchin.
As to the Bannon issue and Garland's reticence on so many other potential prosecutions, I just don't get it. Nobody wants him to be a another partisan puppet like Bill Barr. But Mr. Atty General: please just do your job!
It is challenging to stay positive, especially if you are paying attention to the daily ebb and flow of the news, like the readers on this board do. But we need to keep perspective. We have made huge progress in the last decades and will continue to do so. The convulsions we are experiencing now is the dissolution of the GOP
I wish Biden and the Party would use a simpler and more honestly resonant messaging approach that opens people to hearing what you want to tell them. How about:
“Dems as well as Republicans share blame for leaving too many people behind as our economy globalized. The Republican solution is to beat their chests and blame others (the other). Our solution is to come together, to be better, to do better — #BuildBackBetter
Today, I will call or email my representative, Rep. Ann Wagner, and ask how she would feel and act, and what she would want to happen if she were the subject of a fantasized murder. I want her to continually answer that question in her own mind even if her response to me is less than honest.
A good idea, and your last sentence is exactly why lawyers say things in court that they know will result in the jury being told to disregard that comment: People can "disregard" what they hear, (or lie about what they think), but their minds often continue to ponder a question like that.
Reading comments here reminded me of a third grade observation I made that stunned my teacher at the time. She asked the class what our country can do when we don't have enough jobs for people. I calmly raised my hand and said, "Well, we could start a war. Isn't that how they do it?" I still remember the shock of my response. My teacher was speechless.
I highly recommend Judd Legum's November 10 article on Substack. "How concentrated corporate power makes inflation worse," in addition to this fine explanation.
IMO, we are paying more now, because corporate entities are taking advantage of the shipping hurdles and pandemic related events so they can pad their profits at the expense of the American people. If they truly were concerned about their consumers, they would do the patriotic thing and desist from padding their pockets during this ongoing period of recovery.
But, alas, the wealthy have insulated themselves so well from their consumers, they are blind, deaf and especially dumb. Three monkeys lined up on the tree branch, see no, hear no, say no, evil. Would I had a chain saw big enough to cut that branch and dump them in the muck and mire they have created!
Buy local. Eat local. Eat less meat. Avoid the corporate colonizers. ( I remember washing and sterilizing diapers only 43 years ago. Not every family has the facilities to do this, I understand.)
We must become less dependent on corporate America for every little thing by even slightly adjusting our lifestyles when we can.
It's obvious to me that Manchin doesn't like the BBB bill and will say or do anything to scuttle it. His latest argument is specious, but he's just using it to cause trouble. On the Democratic side, he's equivalent to the Republicans who only want to protect their own power.
Message Subject: Delaying Bannon’s contempt is destroying trust; don’t you agree?!
Message Text:
Dear Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Cicilline:
I do thank you for all you’re doing for us! However…
Please stop trying to play “let’s make a deal” with our very own coal baron, Joe Manchin, and the recently very enriched PhARMA Queen, Kyrsten Sinema! The very fact that their blatant conflicts of interest can so very easily slip through our rule of law demonstrate why progressives, whether members of Congress or mere mortal constituents, have had enough.
The GOP is quite pleased with itself having succeeded in pitting Democrat against Democrat rather than unify in combating ongoing corruption/bribery under our very own eyes. It’s been obvious, since the Trump administration and propelling into our weakening current situation, that democracy just does not work for the GOP. Ten months after January 6th are we beginning to witness that it no longer works for centrist Democrats either?
Merrick Garland should have, immediately, held Stephen Bannon in criminal contempt for his refusal to comply with a Congressional subpoena. It appears our AG is putting the cart before the horse in seeking to “investigate” whether or not there’s sufficient evidence to indict him which should not cancel Bannon’s blatant violation of ignoring a Congressional subpoena! Aaaaaah!
The AG has only succeeded in emboldening all the other subpoenaed officials in delaying their complying with a Congressional subpoena! Delays not only waste precious time but, far worse, erode our trust in the rule of law and further weaken the image of the Democratic party and, worse still, trust in the Biden administration.
The question on my mind is this: How can any American trust people in power who so clearly lack decency and moral courage? Or perhaps this: How can over 70% of Republicans be such Americans? Do they teach their children to behave that way? Do they treat their friends and family that way? Do they do business that way? What's the expression? "If you want to know about a person's character, look at the company they keep." I would add, "or the behaviors they support." Actually, Melvyn Douglas' character in Hud said it best, when warning his grandson to be alert to the morality of his own conduct:
"Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire."
Janet, you are asking the $64,000 question. It is a tragedy that the GOP has lost its way.
Ok. But the people admiring them are GOP by choice. How is it that so many Americans who choose to be Republicans have lost their sense of common decency and moral courage? I have puzzled over that question routinely since November 2016, every time the GOP pulled one of their outrageous moves. The moves have changed, but not their indecency.
During 10 years of my 23 years in the Navy I was involved in weapons systems acquisition. In a brief study of ways to improve maintenance of the aviation design during procurement I found for the F-14 4300 ECPS engineering change proposals. Testing a small sample I found each contained easily remedied flaws that contributed to extra hours in maintenance and therefore a/c downtime. But remedies for each ECP added many thousands to procurement costs and to corporate profits. We applied lessons in F -18 procurement saving millions and improved readiness. Lockheed and others deliberately let design flaws get by and reap millions in fixing them after a/c delivery. Billions of savings can be achieved in procuremeent.
Fascinating point, and thank you for saving the taxpayers billions of dollars!
Thank you! One thing we should do is to have a review of defects and, if they were known in advance, or should have been, force the manufaturer to bear the cost of repair.
Inflation is real, but to blame the current administration for federal spending is another Republican Alternative Fact. How about looking at corporate profit margins. See Judd Legum’s Popular Information yesterday. Major companies have been increasing prices before supply chain disruptions. And look at their profits. Not only are they paying somewhat more for materials and labor, they are cutting back on services and sizing. Our economic disruptions are a smokescreen for increased dividends and stock buybacks.
Good point, thank you. i will address this evening.
Why to we have inflation now? Is it because of the new infrastructure bill? No. Is it because of the prospect that BBB might pass? No. It is largely because of the snarled up supply chain that obstructs passage of goods, coupled with a system in which monopolies and cartels (OPEC, Russia's control over too much of Europe's natural gas, concentration in the US energy sector) have too much power. Will inflation disappear in the next few months? No. But it will likely ease noticeably as kinks in the supply chain are worked out--as they will be.
Will Manchin kill BBB? In the end, I doubt it, although he might hold up the nation for further painful concessions. (I have absolutely no inside knowledge here.)
As for Louie Gohmert, he has won the Louie Gohmert Award (for being the dumbest member of Congress) so many times that he's retired the trophy. That is constituents keep re-electing him is a blot on the great state of Texas. Maybe almost as great a blot as Greg Abbott.
All good points, and you made me laugh! Extra credit!
It IS hard to stay focused on action that improves who is in Congress or the State Houses. "Weaponizing desperate migrants from the Middle East" as HCR put it, is today's version of horror added to our own Congressmen violently depicting harm to AOC and the President. It IS really hard to stay focused and not just throw up our hands and scream. I may have to do that before I get back to voting rights and elections. Four years of Presidential hate, racism and misogyny plus a year and a half of a life-threatening pandemic, has worn us down. Going for a walk now in the sun and the orange and yellow leaves of a New England Fall.
That is a good strategy (especially the walk part)!
Manchin occupies more news space than the President. How did that happen? He is an attention hog. Thank you, Robert, for mentioning the defense budget, my eternal bugbear. I’ll never forget the Sixty Minutes expose in the early seventies showing the greatest expenditure in the defense budget was Pentagon paperwork. Thousand dollar toilets! Ridiculously expensive supersonic toys for the brass that are outdated before they are built Yes, give me senior dental work instead!
If our military was larger than only the next FIVE military budgets combined, we would still be safe (China, India, Russia, UK, Germany).
I found Judd Legum's observations about inflation in the US most interesting and enlightening. It is well worth a read: https://popular.info/p/how-concentrated-corporate-power?r=emxa4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=
I just read Legum's article. i will link to it this evening. all the more reason to impose a minimum corporate tax on large corporations . . .
Thanks. I will check out Legum's article. I am on his list, but have been crushed with work in the last few days, so haven't had as much time for reading as usual.
I read Judd Legum’s observations yesterday, and it was frustrating to me that this was not part of the reporting in the MSM.
Any time you hear a manufacturer blame rising costs for raising prices, that is a confession that the market is not working. Any time.
As usual, I appreciate the tone of this newsletter. But it is getting harder to find the good news and getting harder to be optimistic. I am sure it is no coincidence that the common thread between China and Manchin is coal. The fact that the Senator can make such a statement is mind blowing.
Realistically, neither China nor Manchin have any interest in limiting the damage to the Earth by coal. China is embracing sustainable energy only for economic reasons. They don't care about entire island nations vanishing. The Chinese consider people disposable. And so does Manchin.
As to the Bannon issue and Garland's reticence on so many other potential prosecutions, I just don't get it. Nobody wants him to be a another partisan puppet like Bill Barr. But Mr. Atty General: please just do your job!
It is challenging to stay positive, especially if you are paying attention to the daily ebb and flow of the news, like the readers on this board do. But we need to keep perspective. We have made huge progress in the last decades and will continue to do so. The convulsions we are experiencing now is the dissolution of the GOP
Nice exit from the Gosar/Gohmert mix-up. And yeah, what about that Louie Gohmert? Ha! Thanks for the laugh. We all need that with what's going on.
In my defense, I was going to write a note about Gohmert's exploration of a run for Texas Attorney General (not kidding), I decided not to, but had Gohmert on my brain when i wrote the Gosar article. See this report: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/09/louie-gohmert-considering-run-texas-attorney-general/6360694001/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Ha! Another laugh for today. A cool million in seed money to start off Gohmret for AG!!
I wish Biden and the Party would use a simpler and more honestly resonant messaging approach that opens people to hearing what you want to tell them. How about:
“Dems as well as Republicans share blame for leaving too many people behind as our economy globalized. The Republican solution is to beat their chests and blame others (the other). Our solution is to come together, to be better, to do better — #BuildBackBetter
Today, I will call or email my representative, Rep. Ann Wagner, and ask how she would feel and act, and what she would want to happen if she were the subject of a fantasized murder. I want her to continually answer that question in her own mind even if her response to me is less than honest.
A good idea, and your last sentence is exactly why lawyers say things in court that they know will result in the jury being told to disregard that comment: People can "disregard" what they hear, (or lie about what they think), but their minds often continue to ponder a question like that.
Reading comments here reminded me of a third grade observation I made that stunned my teacher at the time. She asked the class what our country can do when we don't have enough jobs for people. I calmly raised my hand and said, "Well, we could start a war. Isn't that how they do it?" I still remember the shock of my response. My teacher was speechless.
I highly recommend Judd Legum's November 10 article on Substack. "How concentrated corporate power makes inflation worse," in addition to this fine explanation.
IMO, we are paying more now, because corporate entities are taking advantage of the shipping hurdles and pandemic related events so they can pad their profits at the expense of the American people. If they truly were concerned about their consumers, they would do the patriotic thing and desist from padding their pockets during this ongoing period of recovery.
But, alas, the wealthy have insulated themselves so well from their consumers, they are blind, deaf and especially dumb. Three monkeys lined up on the tree branch, see no, hear no, say no, evil. Would I had a chain saw big enough to cut that branch and dump them in the muck and mire they have created!
Buy local. Eat local. Eat less meat. Avoid the corporate colonizers. ( I remember washing and sterilizing diapers only 43 years ago. Not every family has the facilities to do this, I understand.)
We must become less dependent on corporate America for every little thing by even slightly adjusting our lifestyles when we can.
It's obvious to me that Manchin doesn't like the BBB bill and will say or do anything to scuttle it. His latest argument is specious, but he's just using it to cause trouble. On the Democratic side, he's equivalent to the Republicans who only want to protect their own power.
Sent to my Senator & Congressman this morning.
Message Subject: Delaying Bannon’s contempt is destroying trust; don’t you agree?!
Message Text:
Dear Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Cicilline:
I do thank you for all you’re doing for us! However…
Please stop trying to play “let’s make a deal” with our very own coal baron, Joe Manchin, and the recently very enriched PhARMA Queen, Kyrsten Sinema! The very fact that their blatant conflicts of interest can so very easily slip through our rule of law demonstrate why progressives, whether members of Congress or mere mortal constituents, have had enough.
The GOP is quite pleased with itself having succeeded in pitting Democrat against Democrat rather than unify in combating ongoing corruption/bribery under our very own eyes. It’s been obvious, since the Trump administration and propelling into our weakening current situation, that democracy just does not work for the GOP. Ten months after January 6th are we beginning to witness that it no longer works for centrist Democrats either?
Merrick Garland should have, immediately, held Stephen Bannon in criminal contempt for his refusal to comply with a Congressional subpoena. It appears our AG is putting the cart before the horse in seeking to “investigate” whether or not there’s sufficient evidence to indict him which should not cancel Bannon’s blatant violation of ignoring a Congressional subpoena! Aaaaaah!
The AG has only succeeded in emboldening all the other subpoenaed officials in delaying their complying with a Congressional subpoena! Delays not only waste precious time but, far worse, erode our trust in the rule of law and further weaken the image of the Democratic party and, worse still, trust in the Biden administration.
No wonder Progressives are short on patience!
Sincerely short on patience, Susan
I can't claim that level of savings, but I do believe that over my career I made contributions to cutting some of the costs of operating my Navy.