Working Life

First things first: I am not at all shocked or surprised by the stupidity flowing from the White House. If you are, you have not been paying attention for the past 5-6 years, or you’ve engaged in willful denial. But, the moronic, and immoral, proposals on Social Security do give us a wonderful moment of clarity about politics and the press.

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It’s a funny thing, though obvious, that when you actually look at all the hand-wringing about budget shortfalls and Social Security funding, it always comes down to the same issue: are the richest among us going to pay their fair share, or are they going to continue to be part of a legalized robbery that drains the wealth of the country into the hands of a few, while the burden increase on most hard-working Americas? So, it is with Social Security.

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False equivalency rages through the political rhetoric, fanned by the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as “journalists”). No one seems able to call bullshit on what is transparently nonsense. To wit.

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Enough already. Yours truly would really like to be able to stop being a monitor of the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as “journalists”). But, I can’t help point out outright falsehoods, especially when it comes to economics and Social Security.

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I write often about the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as “journalists”). Every day, I am ashamed of the profession I generally am associated with — lazy, stupid, ideologically blind. It’s not an idle annoyance — the absolutely bankruptcy of most of the traditional press ends up costing lives, not that the transcribers of press releases understand this. Which brings me to the shameful article by Robert Pear.

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Whenever I read drivel based on phony arguments, I always wonder: is this just because the people putting out nonsense or false information are actually stupid? Or is it because the people are actually vile and behaving in a morally reprehensible, criminal way? Charitable fellow that I am, I hope and want to believe it’s just stupidity — from which people can’t be saved perhaps but they can be excused. Which brings us to the Third Way.

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   I love it when billionaires feel misunderstood. It sounds something like this: “I’ve fleeced you or just piled up gobs of money at your expense but, gee, that really wasn’t personal, I’m really a good guy with all the right motives, if you could just see it my way because, well, my way is [...]

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   Billions of dollars can buy you a lot–for example, a little toy called New York City that you pocket for yourself and, then, keep for yourself even when the rules say it’s time to go (hey, if you’ve got billions, you can buy off politicians to let you keep the toy for a little [...]

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    1.4 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD MAKE $1.25 A DAY.    That is a fact. That is a moral scandal.    Yesterday, I was at the United Nations for the unveiling of an important, if a bit boringly titled, "Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization". You should read this report but [...]

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   It is a sign of how truly leaderless we are, from Congress to the White House, that people are slobbering over a billionaire’s declaration that the rich should pay more in taxes. Well, duh.    But, let me be one voice who cautions, at the sight of so many puppies rolling over in joy [...]

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    We still aren’t clear enough about what has happened: the corporate media has framed the debate about the phony debt and deficit "crisis" so adroitly that the back-and-forth on this debate is largely about how much to screw the average person in America, not whether to screw the average person in America. Sorry to [...]

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    My head hurts from the absolute stupidity running rampant when it comes to debating economic facts. As in, why would Social Security even be mentioned, other than for political calculations, in the debate around the phony debt and deficit "crisis"? Part of me throws up my hands and thinks this can never be stopped–especially [...]

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   It is true that no one knows for sure whether the president will sign off on cuts to Social Security. The problem is that the track record is not good–and this is a president who is a terrible negotiator. So, the Progressive Caucus isn’t waiting and has sent a letter which says in part: [...]

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    Ten years ago, the plundering of the nation’s wealth got a boost of legislative steroids when George W. Bush signed his tax cuts into law. It was pure insanity, at least if you believe in a country of fairness. But, aside from the economic and social wreckage left by these immoral tax cuts, what [...]

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    It is easy if you are a billionaire to get attention. You spend a ton of money on some idea–even it’s sheer lunacy–and you can buy attention. Donald Trump did it–but his  "pursuit" of the presidency was just another comical vanity play in his comical life. Pete Peterson is another story–and the outcome of [...]

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   I have a good friend who is always sputtering about "how terrible our educational system is because how can people think this?", whatever the preposterous "this" of the moment is. But, I see it differently. Sure, the stupid, mindless invective streaming from FOX News and much of the traditional press is central to framing [...]

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