History has seemed to say the United States Senate is the more sophisticated intelligent body but if that was ever the case it may not be for any given term. It is highly questionable if the House of Reps did not bring the Jan 6 hearings that we would have had the hearings that informed. Of course noted, that can change every two years. Would the Senate have brought us the hearings if the House had not? Seems they would not have as there are only 50 Senators to buy off. So, I think one could say corporations and wealthy special interests including religions have purchased at least half your Government if not more.
If you thought abortion was the major issue think again. First, how do you think you lost your abortion rights? Buying influence on elected officials. It became almost impossible to be Republican and not be Pro-Life simply because of the donors. One might think the GOP has been taken over by Religious Fundamentalists because it has in part. Also, women who did not vote who were pro-choice when they had the right. “Don’t it always go to show_____…. It is not just abortion they have DE-regulated the market to allow monopolies and increase wealth at the top.
Almost all 50 Republican Senators’ votes are being controlled by the donors. The party is being controlled by the major monetary contributors to the party. Go against them and you end up like Liz Cheney. That is called fascism; private control of Government. When the private sector is more powerful than the democratic state itself. Are we close or have we crossed the Rubicon? There was a reason the Founders were concerned about ‘Factions’ (political parties) and that reason was they thought the party could take over the Government. Something we probably already experienced perhaps more than once.
It could not be clearer that what drives the excessive division is the money in politics both campaign and lobbying. Nobody is allowed to break ranks. They belong to a Mussolini form of legislation club so they obstruct until they can take control. Scary! Right? It should be. It’s not Democratic.
All Politics may not be local any longer as much of the legislation is being written by outside political groups, Political Pac’s for State Government representatives are writing legislation in states across the country. Arizona saw very similar legislation that Governor DeSantis in Florida passed so he should have known the courts gut those bills in Arizona.
There is only one party who wants to take the money out of politics and reform the election system. It might be scary to you but it’s the Democrats. The Republican party needs to be punished substantially as it is clear they will not stop engaging in this behavior until they lose enough elections and power. You have to take the power away from them at the voting booth. It would be nice if we could do that without a 100-year depression cycle appearing.
Ayn Rand Raw Capitalists partnering up with religious fundamentalists plus, gun-nuts plus the fear by Anti _Immigration people makes a very formidable coalition. However, if the political coalition’s job and the job of the democratic process is to persuade voters then they R doing that. The reason it has been so effective is a Supreme Court that adds it OK to persuade them with tons of money into the political process. Yeah! That’s free but expensive speech and powerful speech when you have that much marketing power. Especially when a major media station is all in and part of the buying of the Government. Corporations are people you know!
Therefore, out of 50 Republican Senators, only 1 of them voted to impeach Trump the first time. They cannot go against the people’s wishes financing their campaigns. That is the grease lubing the gears of our latest dance with fascism. There is only one party who wants to take money out of politics. This election will give us an indication of how long the voters will fall for the charade.
The problem seems half the voters are perfectly comfortable with their party buying the Government if it works for them. What happens when it does not? It would not be the first time in history a country turned to a right-wing authoritarian government in tough times. I don’t believe any of those countries had unemployment rates below 0.04%. That might not be enough. Yeah! I’m employed but I’m not going anywhere and it doesn’t appear I will.
Inflation was much worse in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. I bought a home in the Mid-1970s with $2,600.00 down for about $27K. Sold it in 1979/80 for $45K and reinvested the equity in a home in Arizona moving there in 1980 that is now worth about a half million. If that path to home ownership in America is not gone for millennial’s it is fading fast. I was informed that 70% of the voting population has never experienced the current type of inflation. To give them a better idea below is a photo of a Nixon Penny that was going around in that period. The tiny penny was emblematic of how the inflation was eroding spending power.
The funny thing about that inflationary period was Nixon did not get blamed for it although he was probably as guilty as anybody. Also, Nixon helped himself by using price controls to get himself re-elected. When Carter took over after Ford he would not use price controls. You know, like a Free Market Republican! Carter paid the price for that and the Oil Industries Oil depletion allowance. The basic history lesson in that just might be once you have manipulated the economy for a while it’s not that simple to unwind it to free again! You know what I mean, Janet. We have learned a lot about the economy since 1929. We think we have control of juicing it up in bad times holding it up in inflationary times. The Fed says their goal is 0.02% inflation. Why 02% inflation? Why not 0.02% deflation? I lived most of my life thinking inflation was bad. It was not until 2008 I understood deflation was bad too, actually really bad.
The whole system is based on debt so the fact we have a lot of debt is probably not as alarming as it is a political football. When so much of the consumer’s debt collateral is based on asset value if you see significant deflation the borrowing power ends. If this process goes far enough you have a recession perhaps depression. So, in 2008 the Fed came to the rescue of property values fighting deflation by flooding the market with cheap money. Their goal was 0.03% inflation so we can now see they turned the dial too far!
They created a huge asset bubble in real estate, stocks and bonds, and low and behold the rest of the economy finally got caught up. High stock prices mean they have to raise their prices to meet their EPS the next year… Pricing Power! The Fed got to that 0.03% inflation level and then some. They are building apartments like crazy in Arizona and I don’t think they are for the homeless. I think I saw a sign, ‘Welcome Millennial’s.
The idea Uncle Joe within his first six months in office created all this inflation is laughable. So is ignoring the 8 trillion dollar additional debt left by the Trump administration. Fits in with paying attention to what they do more than what they say. Unwrapping the paradox of the Republican party’s fiscal conservative label vs their actual performance can be a bit scary.
By the end of the Reagan Administration, the Republicans were frustrated with the budget they settled on with Tip O’Neil. They were unable to spend all they wanted on Reagan’s embellished cold war on defense and still cut welfare programs. The compromise was the first Trillion dollar budget. After that, the Republicans felt their only path forward was to spend all they could until they could not spend anymore. That would be the only way they would be able to cut welfare programs.
Now, the fact we have so much debt is not so alarming as if the debt goes up or down in large amounts in a very short period. You know, like an 8 trillion dollar punch in the gut. I believe one answer to the paradox is the Republican brain trust wants to bankrupt the country or bring it as close as it can. They think this will allow them to get rid of social welfare programs. Not corporate welfare programs just entitlement programs.
It is a sensible answer to the paradox as it is the Heritage Foundation’s big dream to reduce the size and scope of the Federal Government to Pre_depression era size. Its only function would be for the defense of the country. Some people dream bigger than others. The Heritage Foundation is a major donor pulling the strings on your legislators. Why would you vote for anyone who took campaign funds from the Heritage Foundation?
You often don’t know they don’t have to disclose who donated. Does the Heritage Foundation get on the soap box and tell you what they expect of their candidate? No, they hide from the public but they do have the ear of SCOTUS Judges who get invited to speak at their meetings. I think it was the SCOTUS Judges who changed the rules so they could be more political and go to such meetings.
It is almost never is as simple as it seems. Joe Biden caused all the inflation in his first 6 months in office. This is the kind of conclusion an average voter can conclude as it is happening to him while Joe is in office. They have been programmed tribal with little history in there soul. We may see a recession / depression in the next four years no matter who you elect. Will it be the Alcoholic who has to hit rock bottom before rehab or will we elect leaders who will guide us through.