Best take-down of the USA Oligarchy I will ever see. Even tRump works overtime to wreck our lives in the U.S. He never sleeps. How to take-down the 3,000+ billionaires running the country is the question. The November midterm election is being rigged by Republican redistricting as we speak. Panic is waiting in the wings that fuel, energy grids, vital infrastructure, then water will dry up. Water filters are being hawked online "just in case" and "so that I can sleep at night". Yes, pathetic condition we find ourselves in.
I've made a comment that targeted you and it was unintentional. I feel like I should delete it and post something that targets the real culprits. What would you do?
I also want to comment on this: "The WSJ article warns that Europe’s welfare bliss will end when the money runs out". A favourite Friedmanite trope, and which is utter nonsense. Momentarily sovereign governments such as the USA and UK absolutely, positively, cannot "run out of money". It's a neo-liberal scare story to keep the masses from getting above themselves. Consider - the UK's worst debt position was just after WWII, and a lot of this was real debt, actually owed to other countries such as the USA. In this situation, did we cower in austerity? No way, Clement Attlee launched our welfare state from scratch, including the entire NHS. That investment of public money (which apparently we didn't have, funny that?) kicked off the biggest financial and social recovery in our history, building a prosperous working and middle class. The constraint is not money, it's available resources - mainly materials, skills and labour. Thatcher derided that truth and ripped it up, and we haven't had a government brave enough to restore it since. That is the fundamental truth underscoring all our current impoverishment and social malaise.
Brilliant. We poor Canadians are so often derided by our neighbours to the south, for our Communist-adjacent public health care, our social safety net for those who are failing to thrive, and our naive attachment to equity and fairness for our citizenry. When will we ever learn?
Ah, Muricuh. So quick to compare other countries social safety nets, and smirk, while their perceived exceptionalism blinds them to the rot within their own house.
Go Europe! Human beings are not numbers on a spreadsheet, or cattle to be milked to the last drop.
I am always reminded that it was Robert Kennedy (snr) who said, after enumerating all the pointless things that GDP counts, "GDP measures everything in the economy, except for all the things that make life worthwhile". It was presumably sacrilege such as that which got him murdered.
I guess those WSJ folks will never have heard that Finland regularly finds itself as the happiest country. But maybe they don't understand the concept of happiness, all they know how to measure is wealth.
I used to think that the UK could do with a written constitution instead of the hotch-potch of historical laws, but having seen what's happened in the USA over the years, I agree that such a thing soon becomes a millstone, treated like a religious text. In particular, it shifts power. If the constitution overrides parliamentary democracy, then the arbiters of the constitution hold ultimate power, as seen with SCOTUS. A constitution has to be interpreted to be applied, hence ultimate power rests with the personal opinions of those appointed to apply it, whether a supreme court or other body. In the end, maybe our imperfect mess is preferable.
Born American, Canadian by choice, with family in Denmark, I am grateful for my options as the USA drags the world down with it while their collapse continues. Knowing well, the patriotic fervour and delusion which prevent them from ever acknowledging the truth about their own history, it is so true that if nothing changes, nothing changes. The Christian Nationalist insanity that is pressing for the apocalypse, the rapture, will destroy us all if we do not combine our clarity and sense of what truly matters, and turn our backs on their aggressive grandiosity. Can people sacrifice convenience, immediacy or instant gratification? We have been trained to want it, wired to select it, and oblivious to the consequences of our lifestyle. Or are we?
So brilliantly written. So well done. Required reading by every American. It is time to take back whatever parts of our country that aren’t ill from either physical or propaganda poisoning. I will print this in a large font, hang it on my refrigerator, close my coffin, never having to say another word again.
Tull - a super article, fabulous turn of phrase - you’ve outdone yourself!
Mind you, you certainly have enough material generated by the actions of the current US regime to write several more such pages. When you do - I look forward to reading them.
Brilliant. Stunning and relatable to this Canadian, who thanks the very stars that we emulate much of the European civility that makes life fluid. Well written indeed.
Best take-down of the USA Oligarchy I will ever see. Even tRump works overtime to wreck our lives in the U.S. He never sleeps. How to take-down the 3,000+ billionaires running the country is the question. The November midterm election is being rigged by Republican redistricting as we speak. Panic is waiting in the wings that fuel, energy grids, vital infrastructure, then water will dry up. Water filters are being hawked online "just in case" and "so that I can sleep at night". Yes, pathetic condition we find ourselves in.
Thank you George.
I've made a comment that targeted you and it was unintentional. I feel like I should delete it and post something that targets the real culprits. What would you do?
I love that Paul Krugman has written a “What will Americans do when we realise we’re miserable” riposte 🤣
I was about to hit publish on my article, and his email dropped. So I had to go off, read his article and edit mine!
the articles pair well together, Thank you
Absolutely love this!! American Delusion is a real thing.
Yep. And Canada is ‘the most European of non-European nations’. Despite our geographical proximity to the Excited States.
I also want to comment on this: "The WSJ article warns that Europe’s welfare bliss will end when the money runs out". A favourite Friedmanite trope, and which is utter nonsense. Momentarily sovereign governments such as the USA and UK absolutely, positively, cannot "run out of money". It's a neo-liberal scare story to keep the masses from getting above themselves. Consider - the UK's worst debt position was just after WWII, and a lot of this was real debt, actually owed to other countries such as the USA. In this situation, did we cower in austerity? No way, Clement Attlee launched our welfare state from scratch, including the entire NHS. That investment of public money (which apparently we didn't have, funny that?) kicked off the biggest financial and social recovery in our history, building a prosperous working and middle class. The constraint is not money, it's available resources - mainly materials, skills and labour. Thatcher derided that truth and ripped it up, and we haven't had a government brave enough to restore it since. That is the fundamental truth underscoring all our current impoverishment and social malaise.
Astute observations, Rick.
Brilliant. We poor Canadians are so often derided by our neighbours to the south, for our Communist-adjacent public health care, our social safety net for those who are failing to thrive, and our naive attachment to equity and fairness for our citizenry. When will we ever learn?
I know, right? Like us here in Australia, all desperate to emigrate to the self-styled greatest nation on earth. How do we survive???
Born in America of Irish-born parents. Thanking them for my Irish passport and for the same for my 22 year old daughter. It’s truly terrifying.
Be sure and catch up for a pint the next time ye are over! I know all the best pubs!
Ah, Muricuh. So quick to compare other countries social safety nets, and smirk, while their perceived exceptionalism blinds them to the rot within their own house.
Go Europe! Human beings are not numbers on a spreadsheet, or cattle to be milked to the last drop.
I am always reminded that it was Robert Kennedy (snr) who said, after enumerating all the pointless things that GDP counts, "GDP measures everything in the economy, except for all the things that make life worthwhile". It was presumably sacrilege such as that which got him murdered.
I guess those WSJ folks will never have heard that Finland regularly finds itself as the happiest country. But maybe they don't understand the concept of happiness, all they know how to measure is wealth.
I used to think that the UK could do with a written constitution instead of the hotch-potch of historical laws, but having seen what's happened in the USA over the years, I agree that such a thing soon becomes a millstone, treated like a religious text. In particular, it shifts power. If the constitution overrides parliamentary democracy, then the arbiters of the constitution hold ultimate power, as seen with SCOTUS. A constitution has to be interpreted to be applied, hence ultimate power rests with the personal opinions of those appointed to apply it, whether a supreme court or other body. In the end, maybe our imperfect mess is preferable.
All fair observations, Rick.
Born American, Canadian by choice, with family in Denmark, I am grateful for my options as the USA drags the world down with it while their collapse continues. Knowing well, the patriotic fervour and delusion which prevent them from ever acknowledging the truth about their own history, it is so true that if nothing changes, nothing changes. The Christian Nationalist insanity that is pressing for the apocalypse, the rapture, will destroy us all if we do not combine our clarity and sense of what truly matters, and turn our backs on their aggressive grandiosity. Can people sacrifice convenience, immediacy or instant gratification? We have been trained to want it, wired to select it, and oblivious to the consequences of our lifestyle. Or are we?
So brilliantly written. So well done. Required reading by every American. It is time to take back whatever parts of our country that aren’t ill from either physical or propaganda poisoning. I will print this in a large font, hang it on my refrigerator, close my coffin, never having to say another word again.
Nominative determinism from yourself!
Fecking brilliant. American exceptionalism has been getting ever more grating.
Thank you, Abhcán.
Oh, they're exceptional (in all the wrong ways)
Tull - a super article, fabulous turn of phrase - you’ve outdone yourself!
Mind you, you certainly have enough material generated by the actions of the current US regime to write several more such pages. When you do - I look forward to reading them.
Thank you, Deirdre.
Brilliant. Stunning and relatable to this Canadian, who thanks the very stars that we emulate much of the European civility that makes life fluid. Well written indeed.
Thank you, Pete.
Excellent, thanks
Struth!
As an American I approve this message.