July 6, 2019

Well trade is a very complicated subject and your second sentence seems to imply that because

I may disagree with you about trade issues, I'm somehow flawed, or worse, in the Trump camp. I actually do resent that, not because it isn't true, which it isn't - I'm most definitely NOT in the Trump camp, but because I have seen many of your posts on here and they are much more thoughtful than this one is. So...I'm answering you now because I felt you deserve a thoughtful answer.

Trade is complicated. There are three major players - workers, businesses and government. And, yes, there are pros and cons to free trade as an economic concept. If you think it through, you'll also hit on some moral conundrums that go with it as well, particularly if you believe, like most billionaires and CEOs seem to, that we live in a zero sum world and that for me to win, you must lose.

I won't belabor those recognized pros and cons out of respect for you, because your post to me suggests you are aware of them.

Instead, lets merely explore the types of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and see why having these provisions in a trade agreement can be good or bad. Or both.

Clearly, the main 'pro' around having ISDS provisions in place is that they protect companies that invest in operations in a foreign country from losing that investment to nationalization or other corruption. That is a good thing, at least on its face.

But what happens when we take the concept too far, as the TPP did? In the TPP, a company based in say, Seattle, could sue the city, the state of Washington and the federal government for loss of profits due to the imposition of regulations. Now, you know as well as I that there are some of these suits in court now. One example that comes to mind is the oil companies suing the US government for loss of profits over the Keystone Pipeline.

So, to be truly effective, an agreement must have benefits for all the stakeholders, and protections for all the stakeholders. Unfortunately, by the nature of these ISDS agreements, protections for the environment as a stakeholder simply is not included.

Now, stakeholders in any trade agreement are a country's people, workers in affected industries, consumers of product, shareholders and the environment. Right now, in this business climate, the pendulum has simply swung too far toward the primacy of the shareholder over all else, and it is materially hurting workers, consumers and the planet we live on.

Eliminate that doctrine by expanding fiduciary responsibility of C-Suite officers to recognize the interests of these four stakeholders as coequal would go a long way toward rectifying many of the seemingly intractable problems that beset us.

The proverbial bottom line here is that yes, we do need trade agreements, and yes, these agreements need ISDS provisions because there is corruption all over the earth, and a business expanding into an area in good faith needs those protections, PROVIDED that expanding business also must, by virtue of the way those ISDS provisions are (should be) written, protect the interests of the other stakeholders too.

In my opinion, the ISDS provisions in the TPP did not do this, thus I opposed the TPP based on that. Be mindful of the secrecy that surrounded the entire thing - members of Congress being allowed to go into a room alone, not take notes and simply read the thing was very strange to me. The 'fast tracking' of Senate approval was problematic. And the lack of any kind of open debate was problematic.

So you see, you cannot really just assume, as you did, that because I disagree with X must mean I agree with Y. That is a fallacy in logic and you are better than that. It is better to say, in a mathematical sense that I agree with X(business) + X(community governance) + X(workers) + X(consumers) + X(environment), but not merely X(business). And, since the TPP was written primarily by corporate attorneys deliberately trying to be obtuse - I know because I read it on wikileaks - to my mind other stakeholders were NOT considered as they should have been.

But again, please do not put words in my mouth or try in the heat of argument to impose some position that has nothing to do with my actual thinking on the matter.

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The primacy of the shareholder doctrine, and our desperate need to expand fiduciary responsibility of CEOs in publicly held corporations is why I'm supporting Warren. This is the root cause of most of our problems. It really is, and in August 2018, she introduced legislation called the 'Accountable Capitalism Act.' She 'gets' it. I like Warren a lot.

And, you know, none of the candidates are perfect, including Warren. But Trump is a monster. Now, for a time, our primary race was pretty good in terms of not ripping each others' guts out. Now, just in the space of a few days, that has changed. Not good. The people on here have positions along a continuum between progressive left (social democrat) and centrist (like Eisenhower Republicans - if you read Ike's brilliant 1963 essay titled, "Why I'm a Republican," you will see what I mean).

I loved Obama and still do, but he was a centrist. I supported Bernie in 2016 but voted for Clinton when Bernie lost the primaries. That was a bitter battle on here, too. Now, we have a whole bunch of younger, fresher candidates that look a whole lot more like the American people, and they are elevating the dialog. People are talking about healthcare and the environment now, and our job is to advance arguments so people actually understand that medicare for all won't make private insurance illegal. Or my favorite - it will 'rip away the employer coverage you love,' when the truth is actually that what you will have will be better than what you did have. But that's a different debate.

Hopefully this clarifies my positions on the ISDS provisions in TPP and on ISDS provisions in general.

June 18, 2019

Sharia court orders jail for rape victim unless kids handed to rapist. No, wait.

That was in Alabama.

This is utterly appalling. I know women face gender discrimination daily but THIS goes way beyond the pale.

Here's an excerpt followed by the link. This is utterly shameful and un-American.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/16/1864985/-Sharia-court-orders-jail-for-rape-victim-unless-kids-handed-to-rapist-Wait-I-meant-Alabama?detail=emaildkre#comment_74166228

June 1, 2019

Hello everyone! I seldom post in the Lounge but I was thinking about something

on my way home from work the other day.

For some reason, don't know why because I haven't heard the term in some time, I thought of 'supergroups' while listening to a song by Supertramp.

Now, I like Supertramp but I personally - just my own opinion - don't think of them as a supergroup. Not because they aren't good, because they are...or were. No, it isn't that.

I mean, what IS a supergroup? For me, they are groups whose music is absolutely timeless - most of it - and you can hear it now and love it just the same as when you first heard it when you were 10 or 12. They are groups, who when you hear them, somehow elevate your spirit in some indefinable but visceral way.

The bands I personally would think of as 'supergroups' would of course include the Beatles, the Who, and Led Zeppelin. Don't get me wrong - there's tons of really, really good music out there, but these three groups, when I hear their music, elevate me somehow in ways other music groups do not.

The term 'supergroup' was first coined, I suspect, by the 'money' side of the music 'industry.' I believe they positioned Supertramp as the next 'supergroup' and did a sophisticated marketing campaign around the concept, but to me Supertramp, even though I like them just fine, never really reached that realm of exaltation where the Beatles, the Who and Zep live in my spirit and memory.

You know what I mean?

April 28, 2019

That's right.

The right-wing noise machine has long been calling for 'action' on the part of 'brave' 'patriots.' My wife's crazy sister's ex husband has somehow got me on his email list, and I let it happen so I hear the more extreme right wing talking points.

The latest he sent was Billy Graham Junior's disgusting soliloquy on white christian men. I won't pollute this thread with his actual words, but these people hate everybody but old white men. They want women subservient, and to continue subjugating any not like them.

It's disgusting, immoral and very, very un-Christian, if you look at the basic tenets of the faith in Matthew, chapters 5-7. I've often wondered how the Christians could have gotten so far away from the actual wisdom literature of the faith.

OK............I cannot resist..................I see the true culprit here as capitalism. To my mind, it, specifically the primacy of the shareholder doctrine, is to blame for the rise of hate-talk radio and the right wing noise machine, the death of the Fairness Doctrine, the rise of Fox and the rise of the neoconservative and neoliberal movements.

Naomi Klein writes about it in her books - the mantra of 'privatize, deregulate and gut social programs' exists for one purpose only: to funnel more and more and more wealth to a very few.

Heard of 'iron triangles?' They are cabals made up of billionaires, organized crime and corrupt politicians. Trump is the apotheosis of the slow coup that was begun against our republic - against the western democracies as a whole - decades ago. The plain truth is that our republic and the other western democracies CANNOT COEXIST with unrestrained capitalism, which is the goal of the neoliberal movement.

We must dilute the primacy of the shareholder doctrine and force corporations to consider the welfare of workers, consumers and the environment on an equal footing with shareholder earnings.

We must reverse 2017's giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations, cut the military budget, and reimpose a steeper graduated tax for the wealthy. Our fiscal house must be put in order.

As to our monetary house, we are going to have to explore public banking. The bankers at the Fed, as well as the IMF, have created such a system of scarcity that the whole thing has become unsustainable. The forces of greed are blind, though. Everyone knows it is unsustainable - the are just stalling so they can eke out just a little more profit. Just one more pound of flesh from the middle class.

You want to be able to afford single payer healthcare, free college for our kids, strong social security and a newly upgraded and updated infrastructure, then we must rethink the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

It begins with this question: If the national debt is money we owe to ourselves, then why are we paying it back to bankers and investors with interest?

One more thought. The root of terrorism is austerity that causes discontent among the middle class, and by fomenting fear and mistrust among us for the sake of routing more money from our treasury to the very few, the gate has been opened for white nationalists to rise here and throughout Europe. Let's try and avert the next Holocaust, shall we? Because Holocaust is the logical conclusion of this system of scarcity.

April 19, 2019

This is from tomorrow's NYT front page:

A quote from the Mueller Report:

Here's the tweet: https://twitter.com/djlavoie/status/1119057513897504769

I'd say get the paper out and begin drafting the Articles of Impeachment, because you cannot get much clearer than that. We have to impeach, even if the Senate won't try and remove.

The Democrats in the House (and Republicans with any sense of morality, if there are any of THOSE left) have a clear duty. With this report, there's no way Trump should not be impeached and the massive investigations not continue into his utter corruption and criminal activity.

I was talking today with the CEO of a chamber of commerce in my metro area, and in private, off the record, he said the same thing I just did.

TRUMP HAS GOT TO GO.

April 17, 2019

My first post here.

I think Buttigieg is by far the smartest candidate, and the most well-versed on both domestic and foreign policy. I also like his position on taxes. Not to mention healthcare and global warming.

April 6, 2019

As the human race runs at breakneck speed towards

extinction...

What will it be?

Drug resistant strains of fungus caused by fungicides manufactured by companies like Monsanto?

Reckless overuse of antibiotics in agricultural production by companies like Angus Beef and Perdue Chicken?

Or maybe just high carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, courtesy of oil & gas, auto manufacturers, and utilities?

Hey, take your choice!

Or...wait...you want to solve the problem? Get rid of the primacy of the shareholder doctrine by expanding the fiduciary responsibility of CEOs and other C-Suite people running publicly held corporations. Seriously. Check out the 'Accountable Capitalism Act' introduced in August 2018 by a Senator who shall remain nameless (in this forum). Do this and we go a long way toward solving thousands of problems just like the three above. Truth is, capitalism is the plague that will end humankind, UNLESS WE GET RID OF THE PRIMACY OF THE SHAREHOLDER DOCTRINE.

OR....

April 6, 2019

Family Separation Has Scarred These Kids For Life

One year after Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy, HuffPost spoke to families who say their children are withdrawn, depressed and self-harming. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/family-separation-one-year-later_n_5ca4cda4e4b094d3f5c50ede

We cannot EVER forget this, and we must do everything humanly possible to:
- End this policy
- Reunite families (Trump is asking for two years to make this happen, did you know? https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211989929)
- Bring perpetrators of these crimes against humanity to justice in international courts

March 13, 2019

Interesting. Now, I like a mixed socialist and free market, a la northern

Europe.

I suppose philosophically (or ideologically) you could call me a Social Democrat. Or, a Democratic Socialist.

Ah, but the question you raise is whether Social Security can fairly be called a 'socialist' program. While my answer is clearly 'yes,' it seems best to bring in a third party.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/122916/are-social-security-benefits-form-socialism.asp. After defining a bunch of terms, they make the following conclusion:

So there you have it. Funny the Republicans are vowing this country will 'never go socialist.'

But don't worry. This country is no longer a republic, and may only loosely be called a 'democracy.' No, what we have now is a fascist oligarchy, where a very few people own most of the wealth, and the politicians are owned by PAC money, lobbies and corporations. They have no political courage because they are on the gravy train. Most are so afraid of not being reelected they won't lift a finger to enact legislation that actually makes our lives better.

Instead, we get a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations, as if they didn't already have enough, that has essentially gutted our treasury and will ultimately force massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, all safety net programs, basically all non-military discretionary spending.

And, we have a rather sinister administration in power that is very much like an old mafiosi caporegime. Donald is the Don, Eric and Don Jr. are Fredo and Santino, Ivanka is Connie, and Jared Kushner is Carlo Rossi. But they are small potatoes. They report to bigger bosses, Russian oligarchs.

Then we have Pence and the holy-rollers, who would impose a 'christian' Sharia law upon us, while still letting the oligarchs have our treasury - as long as abortion is illegal, they are fine with that.

Finally, there is a pretty large group, mostly in the Tea Party and Trumpers, who genuinely believe that there is nothing worth saving about the republic that is the United States in specific and western democracies in general. This group is purposely and purposefully tearing down our institutions - consider the gutting of the EPA, the criticisms of the press, Betsy DeVos sabotaging the student loan forgiveness program, Trump publicly disagreeing numerous times with national security leaders. This is a purposeful wrecking of our republic - an effort to tear the whole thing down.

So, about half of our party is quaking like jelly at the prospect of being labeled 'socialist,' and the other half is saying, "Whatever you might call it, we need a green new deal now, healthcare, expanded Social Security and debt-free college."

We are in for, I think, a time of upheaval. The only ones who can possibly save this republic from being torn apart, and its pieces handed to international oligarchs while we ourselves are made into wage slaves, and then real slaves, is the new kids in Congress. The ones like AOC, Omar and Tlaib, who are speaking truth to power because they don't care if they are one-term Representatives - they want to wake up the people to what's going on and give us back our power.

By way of prognosticating, IF, and it is a big IF, we discover how powerful we the people really are, stop being afraid of these greed-heads and band together to make some real reforms, we might well save those things that are worth saving, and make those things better that need improvement.

But, no, I won't split hairs with you on whether or not Social Security and Medicare are forms of socialism or not. I don't care. What I care about is having more say in policies that affect me. I'm sick of my tax money being routed to corporate profits or billionaires instead of being used for programs that help me, my children and my grandchildren. Medicare for all Americans, a Green New Deal. Expanded Social Security. Infrastructure programs so that we can rebuild/upgrade as part of the Green New Deal. Heavily subsidized childcare, early childhood education, a K-12 system that's the envy of the world, and debt-free college and graduate school.

And to make all this possible, let us pull out the root cause of the evil that besets us: the primacy of the shareholder doctrine. If corporations want to do business here, we need to force them to change their charters - put workers on their Boards of Directors, and consider the welfare of workers, consumers and the environment equally with shareholder profits.

My...wasn't that the verbal gush? It is how I feel though, after 60 years of working my ass off in this capitalist utopia and getting nickel and dimed so much day after day, year after year, that I have less purchasing power now than I did back in the 90s. That isn't good enough. We are better than that.

March 12, 2019

I'm impatient too.

I want change now.

We race with time, a species of lemmings running at breakneck speed toward extinction.

How much longer can we afford to play a 'long game?' Do you wonder?

Yes, the GOP still controls the Senate and the White House. But it isn't really the GOP any more, you know? It is little more than a criminal gang, controlled by bigger bosses. It is the party of Trump. Its rank and file have forgotten how to be Americans, and instead put party first, and that party is corporate-owned, beholden to oligarchs, a tool of billionaires.

Heard of 'iron triangles?' The Panama Papers? We've been the victims since the days of Nixon of the most massive transfer of wealth in the history of humankind. Away from the many and to the few.

Rank and file, theirs and ours, have been played like so many violins with the age-old 'divide and conquer' strategy. Works every time.

Sometimes at night, I lay awake and wonder what will come. Will we ever grow up as a species and begin planning around human need and not human greed? Will we learn to plan generations ahead to preserve and replenish our earth? Or will we, like the lemmings, run headlong to our deaths over the cliff of capitalism and crash to a bloody death on the teeth of oligarchs?