tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71467007776353596802024-03-05T02:57:34.887-08:00Midcoast Senior College: Saving CapitalismAn update on Reich and other sources.
Using Robert Reich's Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, we will explore the problems of capitalism, its advantages and how we might save it for the many.Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-72633360103150873102021-01-21T07:37:00.002-08:002021-01-21T07:42:25.146-08:00ROBERT REICH THE SYSTEM: WHO RGGED IT, AND HOW WE FIX IT<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: medium;"> A review of Reich's newest book:</span></p><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"> THE SYSTEM</span></p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"> Who Rigged It, How We Fix It</span></p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"> By Robert B. Reich</p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"> BREAK ’EM UP</span></p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"> Recovering Our Freedom From Big Ag, Big Tech, and </span><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">Big </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Money</span></p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"> By Zephyr Teachout</p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"> One of the mysteries in politics for decades now has been why white working-class Americans began to vote Republican in large numbers in the 1960s and 1970s. After all, it was Democrats who supported labor unions, higher minimum wages, expanded unemployment insurance, Medicare and generous Social Security, helping to lift workers into the middle class.</p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">Of course, an alternative economic view, led by <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-style: solid; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">economists like Milton Friedman</a>, was that this turn toward the Republican Party was rational and served workers’ interests. He emphasized free markets, entrepreneurialism and the maximization of profit. These, Friedman argued, would raise wages for many and even most Americans.</p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">But wages did not rise. And yet many in the working class kept voting Republican, still seemingly angered by Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, which was dedicated to helping the poor and assuring equal rights for people of color. In the 1980s, under Ronald Reagan, income inequality began to rise sharply; wages for typical Americans stagnated and poverty and homelessness increased. Capital investment remained relatively weak despite deep tax cuts (as it does today under Donald Trump). At the same time, antitrust regulation was severely wounded, and giant corporations began to monopolize industry after industry.</p></div><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><br /></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"> </div></div></blockquote><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><div><br /></div></div>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-22931902172490500422021-01-18T11:08:00.000-08:002021-01-18T11:08:27.792-08:00INEQULITY AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><h1 class="txttitle" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 30px 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; text-align: start;">The Earth Does Not Belong to Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s True Legacy</h1><p class="txtauthor" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">By Liz Theoharis, TomDispatch</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvmZ4ZMOEmUikP5p9JDCDwDo5XOqo1xPFwzCtLikB2TbKGqrk7qtbh04Ko2dFW1MYftlztZ7v65_GjkncbNtMXxCLgzvIraEvPw25WP5kQyz4Dz27d0cI5XKH939rymCLTdkBIrclPz1l/s860/032733-jeff-bezos-020919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="860" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvmZ4ZMOEmUikP5p9JDCDwDo5XOqo1xPFwzCtLikB2TbKGqrk7qtbh04Ko2dFW1MYftlztZ7v65_GjkncbNtMXxCLgzvIraEvPw25WP5kQyz4Dz27d0cI5XKH939rymCLTdkBIrclPz1l/s320/032733-jeff-bezos-020919.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="noslink" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin: 23px 0px 30px 574.188px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 35px; width: 122px;"><br /></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jeff Bezos: (photo: David Ryder Getty Images)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href=" https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67345-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk-martin-luther-king-jrs-true-legacy" style="text-align: left;">https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67345-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk-martin-luther-king-jrs-true</a></div><p style="text-align: left;"><a href=" https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67345-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk-martin-luther-king-jrs-true-legacy"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href=" https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67345-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk-martin-luther-king-jrs-true-legacy"><br /></a></div><a href=" https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67345-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk-martin-luther-king-jrs-true-legacy"><br /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 10px;">)</span><p></p><p class="noslink" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin: 23px 0px 30px 574.188px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 35px; width: 122px;"><a href="https://tomdispatch.com/the-earth-does-not-belong-to-jeff-bezos-or-elon-musk/" style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><img alt="go to original article" border="0" src="https://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/rsn_gotoarticle.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="go to original article" /></a></p><div><br /></div>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-9304972598113762042021-01-18T10:36:00.003-08:002021-01-18T11:21:50.772-08:00WHAT SOCIALISM MEANS NOW (UNFORTUNATELY, THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT SOCIALISM FOR CORPORATIONS AND THE SUPER RICH)<h2 style="text-align: left;"> Last Updated Sep 23, 2020 2:03 PM EDT</h2><div class="entry" data-use-autolinker="true" id="article-entry" itemid="#article-entry" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Text" style="background-color: white; color: #202022; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.3;"><div class="content__body" data-page-hidden="0" data-page="1" data-use-autolinker="false"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><em>Watch the </em><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/cbsnoriginals" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em>CBSN Originals</em></a><em> documentary, "Speaking Frankly | Socialism," in the video player above.</em></p><hr style="border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-top-style: solid; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Socialism: It's a buzzword in the 2020 election season, having sprung up dozens of times during campaign, particularly during the <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2020-republican-national-convention-night-1-recap-trump-reelection/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Republication National Convention</a></span>. Conservative leaders depict the idea as a democracy-killing <a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-socialism-is-one-of-the-most-serious-challenges-world-faces/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">bogeyman</a>. Some Democrats — including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib — have <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-does-socialism-mean-and-how-is-it-shaping-2020/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">embraced the label</a></span> with gusto.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">The political philosophy has history going back centuries. Directly or otherwise, it has influenced government policies around the world, including in America. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">But what exactly does socialism mean? What do socialists want right now? And is the Republican warning — that socialism is threatening to destroy the American way of life — a real concern? There are some facts about socialism that are beyond dispute.</p><h2 style="color: inherit; font-family: foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1; margin: 15px 0px 7.5px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><strong>This is socialism… and this isn't</strong><br /></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">At its simplest, socialism calls for a nation's citizens to control at least some of its means of production — the major ingredients needed for a healthy economy. Think infrastructure, energy, natural resources. Under socialism, any surplus or profit from those sectors must benefit those same citizens. Capitalism, meanwhile, calls for private owners to control the means of production and to keep any profit they make for themselves.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Many Americans see these two systems as opposites — and Republicans, in particular, tend to view it as an either-or situation. In a recent Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/25/stark-partisan-divisions-in-americans-views-of-socialism-capitalism/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">survey</a>, the majority of Republicans (68%) expressed a positive view of capitalism and a negative view of socialism. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">But a substantial minority of voters hold a positive view of <em>both</em> systems — 25% of the overall group of Americans surveyed by Pew felt favorably about socialism as well as capitalism.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">The fact is, the two systems can, and do, coexist in many countries. Some governments blend socialist policies with capitalism and democratically elected leadership, a system usually called social democracy. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">No socialists are running for president on a major-party ticket in 2020. <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-kamala-harris-running-mates-democratic-ticket-watch-live-stream-today-2020-08-12/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Joe Biden and Kamala Harris</a></span>, the Democratic Party's nominees for president and vice president, are not socialists. They are not members of the current socialist party, called Socialist Party USA, or of the nation's biggest socialist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has about 70,000 members nationwide.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Asked what he'd say to people who were worried about socialism, Biden told Wisconsin station <a href="https://fox11online.com/news/beyond-the-podium/biden-talks-campaign-coronavirus-response-and-taxes-in-1-on-1-with-fox-11" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">WLUK-TV</a>: "I beat the socialists. That's how I got elected. That's how I got the nomination. Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career, my whole career. I am not a socialist."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Overall, socialism accounts for a small percentage of America's political makeup. Socialist Party USA had no members in any national or state office in 2020. Only about half a dozen DSA members have held federal office over the years, all in the U.S. House of Representatives, including the current Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib. Senator Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist and has been supported by the DSA, but he is not a known member and does not run under the Socialist Party.</p><figure class="embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium" data-ads="{"extraWordCount":50}" style="clear: left; margin: 5px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 620px;"><span class="img embed__content" style="display: block; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; width: 620px;"><img alt="Virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention" class="lazyloaded" data-srcset="https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/08/19/991c06f4-db37-4901-ad32-74d3cddadd7a/thumbnail/620x414/1a67e5406bcfc11ed9516c508e7860d6/gettyimages-1228101897.jpg 1x, https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/08/19/991c06f4-db37-4901-ad32-74d3cddadd7a/thumbnail/1240x828/eab4b07fe61194576c7ef2bc4ca84e74/gettyimages-1228101897.jpg 2x" height="414" src="https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/08/19/991c06f4-db37-4901-ad32-74d3cddadd7a/thumbnail/620x414/1a67e5406bcfc11ed9516c508e7860d6/gettyimages-1228101897.jpg#" srcset="https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/08/19/991c06f4-db37-4901-ad32-74d3cddadd7a/thumbnail/620x414/1a67e5406bcfc11ed9516c508e7860d6/gettyimages-1228101897.jpg 1x, https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/08/19/991c06f4-db37-4901-ad32-74d3cddadd7a/thumbnail/1240x828/eab4b07fe61194576c7ef2bc4ca84e74/gettyimages-1228101897.jpg 2x" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 620px;" width="620" /></span><figcaption class="embed__caption-container" style="line-height: 0.95; position: relative;"><span class="embed__caption" face="Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #666666; display: inline; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 5px;">Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, addresses the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention.</span> <span class="embed__credit" face="foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: black; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"> GETTY IMAGES</span></figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Republicans have frequently used the terms "socialism" and "socialist" as a threat or insult when referring to progressive candidates who are not actually socialists.</p><h2 style="color: inherit; font-family: foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1; margin: 15px 0px 7.5px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><strong>What socialists want</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">There have always been different types of socialists — not to mention wildly varying ideas of what the "means of production" are, what role government should have, and where free enterprise might still fit in. Some socialists see "means of production" as all major industries, such as finance or energy.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">For Jabari Brisport, a New York teacher and state senate candidate, "<a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cbsn-originals-presents-speaking-frankly-socialism/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">What [socialism] means</a> is that energy, housing, health care, education, finance, and transportation ... shall be controlled publicly and not run by, for profit motive."</p><figure class="embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium" data-ads="{"extraWordCount":50}" style="clear: left; margin: 5px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 620px;"><span class="img embed__content" style="display: block; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; width: 620px;"><img alt="jabari-brisport.jpg" class="lazyloaded" data-srcset="https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/21/e5ba909c-75c0-4cd2-8f5a-0b79a2b0f622/thumbnail/620x350/03950eb4cd673ce46788d17d0cb5ec80/jabari-brisport.jpg 1x, https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/21/e5ba909c-75c0-4cd2-8f5a-0b79a2b0f622/thumbnail/1240x700/290bd894f42054bee34cb0177f78e3f1/jabari-brisport.jpg 2x" height="350" src="https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/21/e5ba909c-75c0-4cd2-8f5a-0b79a2b0f622/thumbnail/620x350/03950eb4cd673ce46788d17d0cb5ec80/jabari-brisport.jpg#" srcset="https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/21/e5ba909c-75c0-4cd2-8f5a-0b79a2b0f622/thumbnail/620x350/03950eb4cd673ce46788d17d0cb5ec80/jabari-brisport.jpg 1x, https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/21/e5ba909c-75c0-4cd2-8f5a-0b79a2b0f622/thumbnail/1240x700/290bd894f42054bee34cb0177f78e3f1/jabari-brisport.jpg 2x" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 620px;" width="620" /></span><figcaption class="embed__caption-container" style="line-height: 0.95; position: relative;"><span class="embed__caption" face="Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #666666; display: inline; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 5px;">Jabari Brisport, a teacher in Brooklyn and Democratic Party candidate for a New York State Senate seat, supports democratic socialism.</span> <span class="embed__credit" face="foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: black; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"> CBS NEWS</span></figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Other socialists have pushed for a total ban on private enterprise. Karl Marx, the Prussian intellectual who championed socialism in the 19th century, predicted that capitalism was doomed to fail, and a government-controlled economy would rise. Vladimir Lenin, whose Bolshevik revolution gave rise to the Soviet Union's communist regime, preferred armed struggle to help push capitalism into history's trash bin. </p><h2 style="color: inherit; font-family: foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1; margin: 15px 0px 7.5px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><strong>The new face of socialism</strong><br /></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Today, the most prominent of America's socialists are very different from the Marxists of the past. They largely push for progressive reforms within capitalism — a philosophy generally defined as social democracy.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">The Democratic Socialists of America aims to blend socialism-inspired reforms with America's current free-enterprise system. The DSA does not believe private enterprise should be immediately overthrown in favor of a government-run economy. Instead, Ocasio-Cortez, for example, has <a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-on-why-shes-supporting-bernie-sanders-for-president/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">pushed</a> for a "revolution of working people at the ballot box" — new laws and stronger unions to make private businesses more accountable to what DSA members see as public interests. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, has advocated for universal free health care, canceling all student debt, and expanding Social Security benefits within America's free-market economy.</p><h2 style="color: inherit; font-family: foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1; margin: 15px 0px 7.5px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><strong>The socialist bogeyman</strong><br /></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">The Republican Party has made socialism — or more specifically, warnings about socialism — a part of its 2020 campaign messaging. During the Republican National Convention in August, one of the speakers, <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rnc-nikki-haley-tim-scott-speeches/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Senator Tim Scott</a></span> of South Carolina, cast socialism as antithetical to the American Dream.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">"If we let them, [Democrats] will turn our country into a socialist utopia, and history has taught us that path only leads to pain and misery, especially for hard-working people hoping to rise," Scott said.During his nomination <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rnc-speech/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">acceptance speech</a></span>, Mr. Trump echoed that warning, calling Joe Biden a "Trojan horse for socialism." </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Some of Biden's policy proposals do call for big spending; he has proposed a <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-unveils-2-trillion-climate-plan/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">$2 trillion clean energy plan</a></span>. But Biden has also rejected ideas that are darlings of the DSA, such as the <a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-introduces-2020-policy-test/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Green New Deal</a>. (President Trump, for his part, has also pushed for mega-spending on areas that could be seen as means of production — including a $12 billion <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-farm-subsidies-farmers-find-ways-to-boost-their-payments/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">aid package for farmers</a></span>.)</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Opponents of socialism often point to Venezuela as a cautionary tale. Once ranked as the richest South American country thanks to its oil reserves, in 1998 Venezuela elected a socialist leader, Hugo Chávez. Chávez centralized power in his increasingly authoritarian grip and spent billions on social programs from profits on oil. Under Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro, global oil prices plummeted and Venezuela's petroleum-dependent <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-crisis-caracas-citizens-starving-worthless-currency-infant-mortality-death-reported-adriana-diaz/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">economy collapsed</a></span>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">"It's just empty, empty shelves, all over," <a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cbsn-originals-presents-speaking-frankly-socialism/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">says</a> Venezuela-born Maria Fernanda Bello, a coalition director for Young Americans Against Socialism. "Socialists are always going to promise you free tuition, free health care, free everything, but they will never promise you freedom."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">But American socialists like Bernie Sanders reject the comparison. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">"Let me be very clear: Anybody who does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant," <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-distances-himself-from-venezuela-president-nicolas-maduro-when-pressed-on-socialism-at-debate/" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Sanders said</a></span> at a 2019 Democratic primary debate. "To equate what goes on in Venezuela to what I believe is extremely unfair."</p><h2 style="color: inherit; font-family: foundation-sans-bold, Helvetica, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1; margin: 15px 0px 7.5px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><strong>But is socialism American?</strong><br /></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Some of America's most popular policies have been linked with socialism since their inception, whether the label was earned or not. When Social Security was first proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the midst of the Great Depression, a suspicious senator asked the secretary of labor whether it counted as socialism. When told it did not, the senator responded, "Isn't this a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/us/politics/01web-toner.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color: #438cd9; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">teeny-weeny bit of socialism</a>?"</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">American entrepreneurs have also taken advantage of programs that could be interpreted as socialism-lite. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Donald Trump's father, Fred, got his start building Depression-era homes for New York families with the help of the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA insures home mortgages made by private lenders — essentially bringing some control over America's finances under the power of its people, via the federal government. Later, Fred Trump turned to the FHA again, building agency-backed housing for military families. Donald Trump later inherited his father's fortune, built in part by these projects.</p></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202022; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;">© 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.</span> </h2><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-socialism/</h2>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-38006771493358501302017-05-31T10:39:00.001-07:002017-05-31T10:39:29.246-07:00OUR DEMOCRACY NO LONGER REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE: LESSIG <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "YouTube Noto", Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> In a TED talk, "Our democracy no longer represents the people. Here's how we fix it", Larrry Lessig puts forth useful ideas to return our government to the people: </span><span style="font-family: YouTube Noto, Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE</a></span></span>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-38530219343596012292017-05-29T17:52:00.000-07:002017-05-29T17:52:35.264-07:00NOAM CHOMSKY EXPLAINS WHY WE HAVE LOST OUR DEMOCRACYWatch the video:<br />
<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/29/noam_chomsky_in_conversation_with_amy?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=0ab703e92a-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-0ab703e92a-191163633">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/29/noam_chomsky_in_conversation_with_amy?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=0ab703e92a-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-0ab703e92a-191163633</a>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-12632707394082530612017-05-04T10:06:00.003-07:002021-01-16T10:35:24.462-08:00CONSERVATIVE WRITES THAT INEQUALITY HURTS DEMOCRACY<span face="Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In an excellently argued article the author makes the point that economist misunderstand two principles.</span><br />
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<span face="Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">"We simply need to correct the two erroneous assumptions identified above: Renounce the </span><span style="color: magenta; font-size: 16px;">Pareto principle* </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">of zero-impairment, and end the assumption that an increased tax share demonstrates that people are worse off."</span></span><br />
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<span face="Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">*</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">"Pareto principle, which holds that if a government policy improves the spending power of one group, we should assume zero impairment to other groups providing their absolute position does not go backward.", David Alexader</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447246/inequality-american-democracy-wealth-gap-worsens-societal-fractures?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits"><span face="Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447246/inequality-american-democracy-wealth-gap-worsens-societal-fractures?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits</span></a><br />
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<br />Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-57644062823177498632017-01-16T18:58:00.000-08:002017-01-16T18:58:33.330-08:00TWO VIDEOS THAT TELL THE TRUE STATE OF OUR ECONOMYPlease take the time to view these two videos. The first is Moyers and Company's <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">What the 1% Don't Want You to Know. The second is </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind - Who Owns The Federal Reserve? Hidden Secrets of Money 4 by Mike Maloney.</span></span><br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0&t=667s<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-3036301086225862552017-01-12T08:45:00.000-08:002017-01-12T08:45:20.220-08:00WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM DECLARES NEED FOR FUNDAMENTAL REFOM OF CAPITALISM<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.04px;">"This points to the need for reviving economic growth, but the growing mood of anti-establishment populism suggests we may have passed the stage where this alone would remedy fractures in society: reforming market capitalism must also be added to the agenda," it said in its latest Global Risks Report.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.04px;"><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wsmv.com/story/34232678/world-economic-forum-says-capitalism-needs-urgent-reform">http://www.wsmv.com/story/34232678/world-economic-forum-says-capitalism-needs-urgent-reform</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.04px;">PLEASE KEEP INFORMED AND POLITICALLY ACTIVE.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.04px;"><br /></span>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-39380100605664013562016-10-28T12:04:00.005-07:002021-01-16T10:31:27.991-08:00POST CLASS<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In our last class we had a good discussion on the following topics:</span><br />
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<b>RESOURCES</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/the-elephant-in-the-room-what-trump-clinton-and-even-stein-wont-mention-20161005">YES! Magazine</a> : </b>An example of the type of articles. Please explore the site. It is an outstanding magazine for positive change.<br />
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<a href="http://neweconomyorganisers.org/resources/?link_id=15&can_id=7c304174349c626280cea6bc287b4a0d&source=email-beyond-the-election&email_referrer=beyond-the-election&email_subject=beyond-the-election">Resources for Organisers</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/bge3pl9lnrnnrns/How-to-contact-Congress_1-2-SECURE.pdf?dl=0">How to contact Your Representative</a><br />
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<b>COOPS</b><br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/zjB5w5Up8vs">the New Economy (Coop)</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2016/10/19/business-ownership-for-the-99-how-to-finance-it/#5b04b01e712a">How to Finance Co-ops</a><br />
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<b>INHERITANCE AND INEQUALITY</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0">Patrimonial Capitalism</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bravenewfilms.org/billionairesvsteachers">Hedge Fund Managers Vs. Kindergarten Teachers</a><br />
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<b>THE PETRODOLLA</b>R<br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/djwPqAJ_3GY">The Petrodollar</a><br />
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<b>MONOPOLY</b><br />
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<a href="http://prospect.org/article/bring-back-antitrust-0">ANTI-TRUST LAW</a><br />
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<b>CLIMATE CHANGE</b><br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO46sPwm4xk">Coping with Climate Change</a></b><br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp29wq5F4Fw">Climate Change and the Economy (Hopeful)</a></b><br />
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<b>GUARANTEED BASIC INCOME</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/40002-the-universal-right-to-capital-income">Right to Capital Income</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQXxcjJ5ODw">What is Basic Income and Why do We Need It?</a><br />
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<br />Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-12477221557102070372016-10-19T10:25:00.007-07:002021-01-16T10:40:02.013-08:00DAY SIX OF SIX <span style="font-size: large;"><i>For our last class we will all share our thoughts and possible actions. If time allows we will take up some topics that were not covered before. Then Jose will pass out the evaluations.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A new book, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/books/review/american-amnesia-by-jacob-s-hacker-and-paul-pierson.html">American Amnesia</a>, is out explaining how we got in this mess, but not strong on solutions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you plan on becoming an activist this article might be helpful:<a href="http://www.results.org/skills_center/activist_toolkit/">Activist Tool Kit</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">We did not really discuss "Free Trade". This video explains why the US or multinational corporations want the agreements: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7P0RGZQxQ">Insight into TPP and other trade agreements</a>. Also Hufposts' article: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-sorscher/free-trade-was-never-real_b_3427477.html">Free Trade Was Never Free</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We did touch on the media, but did not go into any depth. Even with streaming media so wide spread they tend to be one-sided creating their own bubbles. The major media are owned by the oligarchy as described by <a href="http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/39693-noam-chomsky-just-6-corporations-own-90-of-media-in-the-us">Noam Chomsky</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We do not have time to watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYFw3O--2R0">Capitalism is the Crisis</a>, but it would be worth your time to watch it on your own computer</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Alan suggested an excellent article on the <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/taking-a-wrench-to-healthcare">health care death spiral</a>. While the article predicts a failure in the system, I believe that their are ways to make it functional. These include: <span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">The elderly are healthier than before; There are revolutionary medical advances coming; Universal health coverage would take the profit and advertising cost out; Improving our food supply and consumer education would make us much healthier; Controlling the cost and use of drugs would be a big help.; As he states proper incentives are needed; Changes in the way we deliver health care are very possible to reduce costs; Seriously attacking fraud; and Reducing unnecessary tests and doctors' insurance costs could go a long way. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"> Some places have done some of these successfully. </span></span></span><br />
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I believe we can lick this problem, if we find the will to make some very difficult changes. If not, the costs will certainly be unmanageable. One worry is the drug problem. If it keeps on getting worse, I doubt that there will be anything that will help.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Alan suggested an excellent article on <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/how-to-rebuild-healthcare-right">health care</a> that </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">we should read because of the vital importance of the topic. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Another example of socialism for corporations</b></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Meanwhile, the public share of the cost for a new stadium hosting baseball’s Texas Rangers might be more than advertised.</b> In theory, it’s a 50-50 public-private split. In practice, it might be something different.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Tucked in the agreement,” says a report from WFAA-TV, “is a clause called the ‘admissions and parking tax’ that allows for a 10% surcharge on event tickets and up to $3 additional surcharge on parking. State law allows cities to collect and use the taxes to build their stadiums. Arlington's agreement, however, allows the Rangers to use the admissions and parking tax revenues to help pay their half of the construction costs.”</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s “verbal gymnastics,” says Villanova professor Rick Eckstein. "It's relatively unprecedented in terms of stadiums I've studied over the last 20 years."</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-73137701819352963342016-10-05T18:32:00.006-07:002016-10-19T08:02:24.273-07:00DAY FIVE<br />
<u><span style="color: red;">For our final week prepare a statement you will present to the class on your plans, ideas or opinions, or comments. If you would like me to place something in the blog for you, please email me.</span></u><br />
<br />
An article suggested by Alan: <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/start-moving-some-dirt">Start Moving Some Dirt</a> makes a very strong case for using special bonds to enable local governments to rebuild their infrastructure and a case for a new type of flat tax.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">He also suggested a very comprehensive WSJ article:</span><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-dazzling-tech-boom-has-a-downside-not-enough-jobs-1476282355" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration: none;"> America's Dazzling Tech Boom Has a Downside: Not Enough Jobs.</a><br />
<br />
One reason for high number of<a href="https://www.realestateconsulting.com/stay-informed/building-market-intelligence/"> births out of wedlock article</a> from Alan.<br />
<br />
We did not discuss countervailing power last week. So a brief summmary is in order. 1, Campaign reform, 2. Full disclosure of all political expeditures, 3. Eliminate the revolving door between Wall Street and large corporations, 4. full exposure of all outside funding for statement put in the public domain. I would add: 5. Stengthening unions and cooperatives, 6. Collaboration among public interest groups to form a voting block, and 7.Enforcing anti-trust laws.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfRKQrt2SLw">Today's anti-trust laws</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/19518/the-scott-walker-scandal-shows-the-political-sewer-created-by-citizens-unit">Scott Walker, Citizens United and Dark Money</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/38342677">Coop or Benefit Corporations</a><br />
<br />
9 things to free us from corporation rule <a href="http://coursesavingcapitalism.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_5.html">PAGE</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000383938">Reich on minimum wage</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/UqESogRgrYw">Reich on need for Universal Basic Income</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/_EIGfzKvg5I?list=PLAMn_8UEZ6_NWbbhwodrq47l5QigdgHsk">Universal Basic Income</a> 1 <a href="https://youtu.be/N-p0Y_1ZJMA">Basic 2</a> <a href="https://mic.com/articles/119896/after-robots-take-our-jobs-basic-income-is-the-best-solution#.31XvJcKCw"> After Robots Take Your Job</a>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-52296807768705378712016-09-28T18:43:00.011-07:002016-10-03T10:37:04.526-07:00DAY FOUR <br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There is a lot to read this week, but please try to read as much as you can so we can have a good discussion. Note that Alan's letter is at the bottom. He will discuss it first.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/commonomics/one-in-four-local-banks-has-vanished-since-2008">local banks vanishing</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.governing.com/columns/public-finance/col-case-state-owned-bank-north-dakota.html">state owned bank</a> <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/how-nation%E2%80%99s-only-state-owned-bank-became-envy-wall-street">Oklahoma</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/">Automation is Killing Jobs</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1OJlJ9COg0"><span style="color: red;">How the Federal Reserve works</span></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-mullen/the-federal-reserve-runs-_b_6898658.html?">The Fed Runs the economy</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/08/27/repeal-of-glass-steagall-caused-the-financial-crisis">Repeal of Glass-Steagal</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.barrons.com/articles/bill-gross-why-interest-rates-must-rise-1460174700">Why Interest Rates Must Rise</a><br />
<br />
QUESTIONS PAGE<br />
<br />
<br />
EFFECTS OF LOW INTEREST RATES, from <strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Constantia, "Lucida Bright", "DejaVu Serif", Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">THE BAUMAN LETTER | <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1986268202" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">September 28, 2016</span></span></strong><br />
<br />
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
Now, low interest rates have hurt a lot of people, as you observe. By cutting into your savings income, low interest rates probably do more harm than good to economic growth by undermining consumption spending. We have eight years of proof that low interest rates don’t lead to investment if there’s no consumption demand out there for investment to meet.<br />
<br />
But low-interest-rate policies are designed to benefit banks and corporations, not us, in the following ways:</div>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">By providing Wall Street with access to ultracheap money that it can then lend out to Main Street at a higher rate, in order to improve big banks’ balance sheets so they can (hopefully) withstand another financial crisis. Analysts estimate that Wall Street banks have made tens of billions of dollars in income just by virtue of low Fed rates.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">By making it super cheap for corporations to borrow money to buy back their own shares, thereby increasing the value per share. That in turn makes the economy “look” healthy because it props up the stock market.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">By trying (unsuccessfully) to weaken the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies to prevent an emerging-market credit crisis that would impact the U.S. economy negatively.</li>
</ol>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
So you are correct that it’s like a slow-motion bail-in of the banks … but given that the banks control the Fed, what else should we expect?<br />
<br />
EFFECTS OF BUYBACKS from Alan<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbyG_Oxdafxx8e5zTAo-rnZ12BbKFqtmY_LQFQI9mrcm05Dg5KZOSGkT4lnhrnTxenPW8Cu_n6DTLPXpk3GyAXHTq-PV_0T-ATO-XGtt2iTnuCPobcxRcGKsYjv0q43GY0V2Sfg3-hGcC/s1600/buyback.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbyG_Oxdafxx8e5zTAo-rnZ12BbKFqtmY_LQFQI9mrcm05Dg5KZOSGkT4lnhrnTxenPW8Cu_n6DTLPXpk3GyAXHTq-PV_0T-ATO-XGtt2iTnuCPobcxRcGKsYjv0q43GY0V2Sfg3-hGcC/s320/buyback.JPG" width="249" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
Interesting and long, but many of the claims don't check.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB5LK-jihgk">Glenn Beck on the Federal Reserve</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Shorter and more factual <a href="http://www.cato.org/multimedia/video-highlights/mark-calabria-discusses-fed-bloomberg">cato.org.calabria discusses FED</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Article refuting much of beck's claims:<br />
By: Edward Flaherty, Ph.D. Department of Economics College of Charleston, S.C.<br />
<br />
Facts: Yes, the Federal Reserve banks are privately owned, but they are controlled by the publicly-appointed Board of Governors. The Federal Reserve banks merely execute the monetary policy choices made by the Board. In addition, nearly all the interest the Federal Reserve collects on government bonds is rebated to the Treasury each year, so the government does not pay any net interest to the Fed.<br />
<br />
Facts: No foreigners own any part of the Fed. Each Federal Reserve bank is owned exclusively by the participating commercial banks and S&Ls operating within the Federal Reserve bank's district. Individuals and non-bank firms, be they foreign or domestic, are not permitted by law to own any shares of a Federal Reserve bank. Moreover, monetary policy is controlled by the publicly-appointed Board of Governors, not by the Federal Reserve banks.<br />
<br />
Fact: Independent accounting firms conduct full financial audits of the Federal Reserve banks and the Board of Governors every year. The Fed is also subject to certain types of audits from the Government Accounting Office.<br />
<br />
Facts: The Federal Reserve rebates its net earnings to the Treasury every year. Consequently, the interest the Treasury pays to the Fed is returned, so the money borrowed from the Fed has no net interest obligation for the Treasury. The government could print its own currency independent of the Fed, but there would be no effective safeguards against abuse of this power for political gain.<br />
<br />
Facts: The Federal Reserve banks have only a small share of the total national debt (about 7%). Therefore, only a small share of the interest on the debt goes to the Fed. Regardless, the Fed rebates that interest to the Treasury every year, so the debt held by the Fed carries no net interest obligation for the government. In addition, it is Congress, not the Federal Reserve, who is responsible for the federal budget and the national debt.<br />
<br />
Facts: Kennedy wrote E.O. 11,110 to phase out silver certificate currency, not to issue more of it. Records show Kennedy and the Federal Reserve were almost always in agreement on policy matters. He even signed legislation to give the Fed more authority to issue currency.<br />
<br />
Facts: McFadden was incorrect regarding the Fed costing the government money. However, later economic analysis agrees with him that Federal Reserve policy blunders had a substantial role in causing the Depression. However, his implication that this was done deliberately has no basis in fact. Moreover, for a dozen years prior to his rant, McFadden had been the chairman of the House subcommittee that oversaw the Federal Reserve. Why didn't he do anything to reform or abolish the Fed while he had the chance?<br />
<br />
Facts: The banking system is indeed able to create money with a mere computer keystroke. However, a bank's ability to create money is tied directly to the amount of reserves customers have deposited there. A bank must pay a competitive interest rate on those deposits to keep them from leaving to other banks. This interest expense alone is a substantial portion of a bank's operating costs and is de facto proof a bank cannot costlessly create money.<br />
<br />
Fact: The term 'lawful money' does not refer to gold or silver coin, but to types of money which the government would permit banks to use when tabulating their reserves. These types of money included, but were not limited to, gold and silver coin.<br />
<br />
BY: Edward Flaherty, Ph.D. Department of Economics College of Charleston, S.C. <br />
<br />
Myth #1: The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was crafted by Wall Street bankers and a few senators in a secret meeting. <br />
Myth #2: The Federal Reserve Act never actually passed Congress. The Senate voted on the bill without a quorum, so the Act is null and void. <br />
Myth# 3: The Federal Reserve Act and paper money are unconstitutional. <br />
Myth# 4: The Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank. <br />
Myth #5: The Federal Reserve is owned and controlled by foreigners. <br />
Myth #6: The Federal Reserve has never been audited. <br />
Myth #7: The Federal Reserve charges interest on the currency we use. <br />
Myth #8: If it were not for the Federal Reserve charging the government interest, the budget would be balanced and we would have no national debt. <br />
Myth #9: President Kennedy was assassinated because he tried to usurp the Federal Reserve's power. Executive Order 11,110 proves it. <br />
Myth #10. The Legendary Tirade of Louis T. McFadden<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>ALAN SHAVER'S LETTER</b><br />
<br />
To: Members of Senior College Class “Saving Capitalism”<br />
From:<b> Alan Shaver</b> Date: September 28, 2016<br />
Re: Article in Support of Question 2<br />
Attached is an article that appeared on the editorial page of the Times Record on Tuesday, September<br />
27. We’ve heard a lot in class about how “big corporations” are controlling our politics. I thought<br />
you might be interested in how others, coming from a different perspective, are also trying to “control”<br />
our politics by persuading us to vote for a proposal that, at first blush, sounds eminently fair and<br />
reasonable.<br />
However, on further consideration, serious objections can be made to claims made in the article, and,<br />
more importantly, to the absolute failure to acknowledge what are likely to be major “unintended<br />
consequences”.<br />
The proposal would impose an additional tax of three percent (3%) on incomes “above $200,000”<br />
annually and would be “dedicated to K-12 education”.<br />
First, the unintended consequences:<br />
• Fellow citizens with incomes in excess of $200,000 annually have the capability of “voting<br />
with their feet”. They simply will leave Maine and, whenever possible, take their businesses<br />
with them. As a result, the claimed “increase” in funding for education of $159 million will<br />
rapidly diminish.<br />
• As these citizens depart the state and the funding declines, the legislature, having become<br />
accustomed to being able to appropriate this “additional revenue” will find it necessary to<br />
“redefine” the term “wealthy” downward, so that more and more of our citizens will be paying<br />
this additional 3% until, eventually, all Maine taxpayers will be enjoying a significant increase<br />
in their taxes.<br />
• This has happened before, both in Maine and other states.<br />
Second, the “claims” made for the Proposal:<br />
• The additional revenue will be “dedicated to K-12 education”. Has anyone checked recently<br />
to see how much of the “additional revenue” supposed to come from the casinos is actually<br />
being spent on education versus used in the “general fund”? I thought not. Once revenue<br />
flows into the state’s coffers the legislature is free to do whatever it wants with it.<br />
• “Question 2 would increase education funding by $159 million in its first year and increase<br />
further in subsequent years”. I’m not very impressed with the author’s arithmetic. Three<br />
percent (3%) on incomes “above $200,000” annually, assumes there are enough Maine<br />
taxpayers who enjoy $5.3 BILLION in income over and above their base incomes of $200,000.<br />
If you simply divide the total by $200,000 it supposes there are at least 26,500 taxpayers in<br />
Maine who enjoy incomes above $200,000 annually. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge for<br />
you to consider purchasing.<br />
• “A good education is the gateway to good jobs, more prosperous families and greater<br />
opportunity for successful careers”. No one will argue with that; what it ignores are the<br />
numbers of such jobs that will leave Maine as a result of this tax increase, not to mention those<br />
that will never come because of the tax. Our best young people will have to leave Maine to<br />
find the kind of job opportunities the author claims for Proposal 2. In fact, that has been<br />
happening for years already.<br />
Lots of different entities want to persuade us to vote their way, support the projects they think are<br />
important, and to be “fair”, to make the “wealthy” pay more, and to reduce the burden on the<br />
“poorest” among us. However, what is “fair”, who are “wealthy”, and the degree of “burden” on the<br />
poorest are all value judgments about which reasonable people may differ. What we cannot escape<br />
is the impact of our actions, both those “intended” and those “unintended”.<br />
Having been a registered voter for more than 50 years, I’ve learned that certain phrases used by<br />
politicians are “code words” for reaching into my pocket. Included in those are “investing”, “fairness”<br />
“leveling the playing field”, “strengthening” the economy, and “tax cuts that largely benefit wealthy<br />
households”. Usually it means using my money to benefit the politician’s favored activities, not<br />
necessarily how I might choose to use it.<br />
Here is the article: <a href="http://www.timesrecord.com/news/2016-09-27/Opinion/Question_2_Will_Undo_Tax_Breaks_for_Wealthy_Raise_.html">Question 2</a><br />
<br />
QUESTIONS WEEK FOUR<br />
<br />
<br />Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-48096532080916365922016-09-21T11:42:00.004-07:002016-09-26T10:45:04.434-07:00DAY THREE <br />
<b>First Hour</b><br />
<br />
It is time to look at an old time Republican that everyone, I believe, could admire through the eyes of the economist, Milton Freedman, who I generally disagree with and who is/was one of our most important theorists: <a href="http://0055d26.netsolhost.com/friedman/pdfs/nyt/NYT.10.11.1964.pdf">Freedman on Goldwater</a>. Frankly, at the time, I really did not understand Goldwater as he was portrayed as a reactionary conservative (as the article explains). The article should provide good grist for an informed discussion.<br />
<br />
There are serious problems with trickle-down economics (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism">neoliberalism</a>). For us it does not trickle down only up as explained in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5oOLs2ns14&list=TL213y911YWmA">video</a>.<br />
<br />
We will watch Nami Kline about the <a href="https://youtu.be/sKTmwu3ynOY?t=5">shock doctrine</a> and a video that explians Neoliberalism's negative effects on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQnTLd1_uCc"> education</a> and stigmatized populations.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.signherenow.org/petition/close-tax-loopholes/cpd/">Sign to close tax loophole for rich money managers</a><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Deirdre </span>suggested NYT article; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/business/your-local-1-percenters-may-not-be-as-rich-as-you-think.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share">1% May not be as rich as you think</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/business/your-mutual-fund-has-your-proxy-like-it-or-not.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0">Mutual Funds Have Your Proxy </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Second Hour</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Work and Worth</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Videos we did not have time to see but are important</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>THE DEEP STATE:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="https://vimeo.com/87243281">Moyers on the Deep State</a>: </b>How the government really works<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjdw3Is9mT4">Bunkers and the Elite</a>: Secret underground bunker to keep the elite safe in an emergency</b><br />
<br />
New Yorker article on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7146700777635359680#editor/target=post;postID=7492162887347940018;onPublishedMenu=editor;onClosedMenu=editor;postNum=1;src=link">Princeton/Nortwestern study showing U.S. is an "Oligarchy</a>"<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>INEQUALITY</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI" style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif;">Nick Hanauer's TED Talk</a>: A billionaire warns about inequality <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>ENRON SCANDAL</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6zEonpEiQ">Crime Report</a> Video does not go into the damage done intentionally to California<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>GLOBALISM</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/press-releases/entry/manufacturing-loses-14000-jobs-in-august-amid-chinas-ongoing-overcapacity-a">/manufacturing-loses-14000-jobs-in-august-amid-chinas-ongoing-overcapacity</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/politico-harvard-poll-free-trade-trump-gop-228600">Trump finding support among Republicans for Anti-Free trade</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/blog/entry/american-steelmakers-say-china-is-dodging-tariffs-by-sending-steel-through">China ships steel through Vietnam to avoid tariff</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4r3zw48q2s">ANTI FREE MARKET GLOBALISM</a> Rather long and very scary. May or may not be hyperbole but does contain factual information.Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-78150463587068300182016-09-13T20:18:00.003-07:002016-09-19T10:20:31.601-07:00DAY TWO<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-poverty-idUSKCN11J1PP">GREAT NEWS MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME RISES</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the first hour we will discuss<span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">r<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking">ent-seeking</a></span>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.#Powell_Memorandum"> Powell's memorandum</a> to the National Chamber of Commerce, and the <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/mike-lofgren-on-the-rise-of-the-deep-state-washingtons-shadow-government/">deep state</a>. If a class member wants to present their own topic, time will be made available. (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlie-cray/40-years-ago-this-week-th_b_935486.html">Powell ref</a>.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the second hour we will discuss the text pp. Introduction - 88 with emphasis on the<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7146700777635359680#editor/target=post;postID=6019363195113850566"> five building blocks of capitalism</a>. We may</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">watch Michael Sandel's <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_why_we_shouldn_t_trust_markets_with_our_civic_life?language=en#t-25031">TED</a> talk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You might wanto read the lenghthy article by <a href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/39113-we-the-plutocrats-vs-we-the-people-saving-the-soul-of-democracy">Bill Moyers</a>, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">We, the Plutocrats vs. We, the People: Saving the Soul of Democracy</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Alan suggested we should read this:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/negative-rates-nail-savers">http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/negative-rates-nail-savers</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://coursesavingcapitalism.blogspot.com/p/rfe.html">Here are my comments on Response to Alan's page.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Because of my difficulties with the computer we did not get a chance to see billionaire <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI">Nick Hanauer's TED Talk</a> on how the rich do not create jobs.</span></span><br />
<br />Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-7184802962126826922016-08-01T08:27:00.000-07:002016-09-02T11:53:22.640-07:00PLEASE GET FREE POCKET CONSTITUTION AND BOOK AVAILABILITY<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> Hillsdale College offers 1 copy free:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://lp.hillsdale.edu/free-pocket-constitution/">http://lp.hillsdale.edu/free-pocket-constitution</a>/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">The Heritage Foundation offers a free annotated edition of the Constitution: <a href="http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWm1FM1lqRXlNRGRsTTJFMCIsInQiOiJGd21zdEZibzlRWFFZMDA4SkJSMUM4WlErREtcL0d1bnJubmpoZTd1bVVoZ3BXd0I4ZkMxNG5LXC9wK2hDTmtoTnJ3V21aUEtGSDFsRUZPd2R5RGYwNGROZVZPWFhtY2ozcmNjTFo0VXRHV0V3PSJ9">Heritage Foundation Constitution</a> Provides history, legislation and court rulings.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">You may pick up a copy of Saving Capitalism at the college. Call: </span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16px;">207-725-4900.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "notonashkarabic" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">As usual, You will receive a copy of Saving Capitalism at the first meetng.</span>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146700777635359680.post-41249214507162106972016-06-10T12:42:00.000-07:002016-08-23T13:24:57.356-07:00WELCOMEWelcome to the Midcoast Senior College course, <u>Saving Capitalism</u>. Capitalism as you and I knew it has been under a steady attack by many factors. We will explore the causes for the decline of capitalism for all and the changes needed to bring about a form of capitalism that serves everyone. <br />
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It would help if you could read the Introduction, pages 1 to 47 and explore some of the resources cited on this blog.<br />
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My name is Frank Broadbent and I am well read in this area, but by no means an expert. I expect to learn a great deal from those of you who are participating - after all we all have been around for quite a while and have much knowledge, expertise, and wisdom to share.<br />
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Looking forward an exciting six sessions.<br />
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We will be looking at a lot of problems and negative articles so I think you should read the following article:<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/when-did-optimism-become-uncool.html?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits&_r=0"> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/when-did-optimism-become-uncool.html?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits&_r=0</a>Frank W. Broadbent, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03876522252594365625noreply@blogger.com0