... it might hurt the botto... errr ... I mean JOBS. Yes that's the ticket... JOBS!11!!!!!11!1!!

We have surely stooped in a hundred years.

However, on the bright side, we're witnessing a once in a lifetime candidate with exceptional experience and vision. It's not that it's complicated; it's just coming from the right direction.

It is inciteful. That's part of what his appearance on SNL so shocking. The country condones this kind of speech so long as it's from the rightwing.

it represents one of the very largest of actions we can take as a nation to diminish the death toll and equally immoral and unnecessary human misery associated with a lack of proper/adequate healthcare

if I were to use their logic, I'd ask why they hate their fellow citizens so...

eom

the things they are willing to overlook or live with that she will more likely provide -- foreign entanglements of the military kind, etc -- and won't, like support for single payer.

and both those things, in terms of the human condition, dwarf anything and everything where she might reasonably be considered superior -- not that I can think of any...lol

eom

The perception of security from strong (tough) authoritarian leadership. Read the short essay, "The Authoritarian Personality" by Eric Fromm or "The Authoritarians" by Robert Altemeyer. They will open your eyes.

essay is more concise and well written. As I see it, some of us were raised to bow down and never question their authority figures. They are immature, as Fromm says, and not open-minded. They seek leaders that are tough, strong and promise to take good care of them. We've all seen in on the play ground. Some kids gravitate to the biggest bully to follow.

(I'm absolutely FOR the last three, and partially for the first one. I want a hybrid system--part socialism, part capitalism, and would love to discuss how much of each is best. No Republican I've ever met will begin to undertake such a conversation. They insist on 100% pure capitalism, 100% pure free market, a recipe that leads to horrors.)

NAFTA and its cousins (like TPP) are NOT plans for promoting free markets. They are a means of controlling trade for the sole benefit of a royal plutocracy, an "in" crowd.

A capitalistic system requires competition among economic entities and the possibility of business failure as prerequisites in order to work in the public interest. Moreover, the government should have the ability to regulate businesses in the public interest in those areas of business operations in which competition alone won't work.

The corporation is designed to enable business entities to pool large amounts of capital while limiting liability of the investors for business failure solely to the money that they gave to the business.

The Glass-Steagal act separated investment banks from commercial banks to prevent investment banks from using depositors' money in commercial banks (such as CD's, savings accounts, retirement accounts, etc.) to gamble away those assets on risky and/or illegal investments.

When the "too-big-to-fail" banks did gamble the money away, the government should have immediately separated the banks and re-instituted the Glass-Steagal Act. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

The aim of the 1 percent is to build and maintain royal dynasties of inherited wealth, in other words, a return to feudalism.

Uncontrolled "free" markets end up ruled by monopolies and oligopolies that kill competition. Rather than being ruled by the marketplace, which is in turn ruled by customers, these mega-corporations rule the marketplace themselves. Then all the benefits of a competitive market vanish. For instance, we have a handful of gasoline brands here in Michigan. It looks like you pick one gas station over another and that's competition at work. It turns out they all get their gasoline from the same refinery. It's what George Carlin called "the illusion of competition."

What big business calls a "free market" isn't nearly the same as a "competitive market." They want a marketplace free from regulation and free from competition.

I agree with you completely about Glass-Steagall and the "too-big-to-fail" banks. With all the mergers and acquisitions since the 80s, I fear many other industries have fallen prey to "too-big-to-fail" corporations.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership charade: TPP isn’t about ‘free’ trade at all

it aired live and was very impressed. It wasn't up yet on the DN website and I kept checking to add it here but then forgot. Glad you caught it and posted. There's so much info. circulating out there, even here.

Brilliant minds like Stiglitz, Richard Wolff, Robert Reich, Richard Escow and many others have been educating and advocating, esp. since 2008 for reform and a more progressive direction. But they're not in official govt. positions or getting any younger and this political revolution that could use their experience needs to get started.

I'm more of a Rick Wolff fan but Stiglitz is a giant so, ya know he can't be ignored.

She doesn't think so

Krugman got it wrong on this!

Go Bernie!

Just posted that on another thread.

"We're America... small businesses... blah blah blah"

It's like listening to a republican half the time.