Politics

FOCUS: Wisdom, Courage and the Economy

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=8397">Paul Krugman, Guardian UK</a>

Monday, 15 August 2016 10:32

Krugman writes: "It's fantasy football time in political punditry, as commentators try to dismiss Hillary Clinton's dominance in the polls - yes, Clinton Derangement Syndrome is alive and well - by insisting that she would be losing badly if only the G.O.P. had nominated someone else."

Economist Paul Krugman. (photo: Getty Images)

Wisdom, Courage and the Economy

By Paul Krugman, New York Times

15 August 16

t�s fantasy football time in political punditry, as commentators try to dismiss Hillary Clinton�s dominance in the polls � yes, Clinton Derangement Syndrome is alive and well � by insisting that she would be losing badly if only the G.O.P. had nominated someone else. We will, of course, never know. But one thing we do know is that none of Donald Trump�s actual rivals for the nomination bore any resemblance to their imaginary candidate, a sensible, moderate conservative with good ideas.

Let�s not forget, for example, what Marco Rubio was doing in the memorized sentence he famously couldn�t stop repeating: namely, insinuating that President Obama is deliberately undermining America. It wasn�t all that different from Donald Trump�s claim that Mr. Obama founded ISIS. And let�s also not forget that Jeb Bush, the ultimate establishment candidate, began his campaign with the ludicrous assertion that his policies would double the American economy�s growth rate.

Which brings me to my main subject: Mrs. Clinton�s economic vision, which she summarized last week. It�s very much a center-left vision: incremental but fairly large increases in high-income tax rates, further tightening of financial regulation, further strengthening of the social safety net.

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FOCUS: Why President Hillary Clinton Will Need Bernie's "Political Revolution" to Get Anything Done

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=39255">Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Website</a>

Monday, 15 August 2016 10:22

Reich writes: "It looks increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton, a self-described 'progressive who likes to get things done,' will have her chance starting next January. But how much that's progressive will she actually be able to get done?"

Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley. (photo: Rick Madonik/Toronto Star/Getty Images)

Why President Hillary Clinton Will Need Bernie's "Political Revolution" to Get Anything Done

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Website

15 August 16

t looks increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton, a self-described �progressive who likes to get things done,� will have her chance starting next January. But how much that�s progressive will she actually be able to get done?

The Senate may flip to the Democrats but there�s almost no way Democrats will get the sixty votes they need to stop Republicans from filibustering everything she says she wants to do.

She�s unlikely to have a typical presidential honeymoon because she won�t be riding a wave of hope and enthusiasm that typically accompanies a new president into office. She�s already more distrusted by the public than any major candidate in recent history. On Election Day many Americans will be choosing which candidate they loathe the least.

She hasn�t established a powerful mandate for what she wants to get done. Her policy proposals are admirably detailed but cover so much ground that even her most ardent supporters don�t have a clear picture of what she stands for. And she�s had to spend more time on the campaign trail attacking Trump�s outrage du jour than building a case for a few big ideas.

To say nothing of the moneyed interests � wealthy individuals, big corporations, and Wall Street �that are more powerful today than at any time since the Gilded Age, and don�t want progressive change.

Even if Hillary sincerely intends to raise taxes on rich Americans in order to pay for universal child care, affordable higher education, and infrastructure spending, the moneyed interests have the clout to stop her.

They�ll also resist any effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, require employers to offer paid family leave, or push them to share their profits with employees.

The heart of American politics is now a vicious cycle in which big money has enough political influence to get laws and regulations that make big money even bigger, and prevent laws and rules that threaten its wealth and power.

Before Hillary can accomplish anything important, that vicious cycle has to be reversed. But how?

Bear with me a moment for some pertinent history.

As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in the 1950s, a key legacy of the New Deal was creating centers of economic power that offset the power of giant corporations and Wall Street: labor unions, small retail businesses, local banks, and political parties active at the state and local levels.

These alternative power centers supported policies that helped America�s vast middle and working classes during the first three decades after World War II � the largest infrastructure project in American history (the Interstate Highway program), a vast expansion of nearly-free public higher education, Medicare and Medicaid, and, to pay for all this, high taxes on the wealthy. (Between 1946 and 1980, the top marginal tax rate never dipped below 70 percent.)

But over the last three decades, countervailing power has almost vanished from American politics. Labor unions have been decimated. In the 2012 presidential election, the richest 0.01 percent of households gave Democratic candidates more than four times what unions contributed to their campaigns.

Small retailers have been displaced by Walmart and Amazon. Local banks have been absorbed by Wall Street behemoths.

And both political parties have morphed into giant national fund-raising machines. The Democratic National Committee, like its Republican counterpart, is designed mainly to suck up big money.

So where can Hillary look for the countervailing power she�ll need to get the progressive changes she says she wants?

The most promising source of a new countervailing power in America was revealed in Bernie Sanders�s primary campaign: millions of citizens determined to reclaim American democracy and the economy from big money. (Donald Trump�s faux populism tapped into similar sentiments, but, tragically, has channeled them into bigotry and scapegoating.)

That movement lives on. Organizers from the Sanders campaign have already launched Brand New Congress, an ambitious effort to run at least 400 progressive candidates for Congress in 2018, financed by crowd-sourced small donations and led by a nationwide network of volunteers. Sanders himself recently announced the formation of �Our Revolution,� to support progressive candidates up and down the ticket.

Hillary Clinton has been relying on big money to finance her presidential campaign, but she�s always been a pragmatist about governing. �A president has to deal in reality,� she said last January in response to Sanders. �I am not interested in ideas that sound good on paper but will never make it in real life.�

The pragmatist in her must know that the only way her ideas will make it in real life is if the public is organized and mobilized behind them.

Which means that once she enters the Oval Office, she�ll need the countervailing power of a progressive movement � ironically, much like the one her primary opponent championed.

138 comments

Who's Afraid of Hillary Clinton?

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=63">Marc Ash, Reader Supported News</a>

Monday, 15 August 2016 08:08

Ash writes: "Hillary Clinton is many things, and is nothing if not determined. However nothing can be accomplished if she is painted as abjectly evil. That she is not."

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders confer during a break in their debate in Charleston, S.C., Jan. 17, 2016. (photo: Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock)

Who's Afraid of Hillary Clinton?

By Marc Ash, Reader Supported News

15 August 16

ear, particularly irrational fear, can be its own path to mayhem.

Hillary Clinton is many things, and is nothing if not determined. However nothing can be accomplished if she is painted as abjectly evil. That she is not. But there are problems. Those problems can be clearly defined. By defining the problems they can be understood and addressed.

Progressives are angry at this stage. A real progressive candidate mounted a historic bid for the presidency. He was railroaded by a system and by a Democratic Party that sees progress and justice as a threat to their power.

What fuels the anger more than anything else is a sense that the voice of progressive-Democratic voters was subverted by the DNC and the corporate media. It�s a lot to be angry about, and righteously so.

In fact the Republican process was, in totality, actually more democratic by default, owing to the failure of the RNC to derail their insurgent candidate, Donald Trump. Although try they did.

Nonetheless anger, its origin not withstanding, can be a powerful driving force. However as a core strategy for achieving progress and justice it will certainly be a failure.

Hillary Clinton will be the 45th President of the United States. Donald Trump�s campaign will fail, ultimately because he is Donald Trump and that will prove insurmountable. That and the fact that Hillary Clinton is far more qualified and emotionally stable.

Now would be an excellent time to begin the process of understanding Hillary, light and dark, and what she is likely to do and not do. Hillary Clinton is not the devil. She is a corporate Democrat. Who incidentally clings to the notion, despite all evidence to the contrary, that she is a progressive. Which could prove quite a useful delusion.

The question on the table is do you want progress and social justice? Further, would you sacrifice your anger to achieve those goals?

The first big material problem with Hillary Clinton is her willingness to accept the dictates of America�s wealthiest, most powerful, and most corrupt. Typically referred to as �Wall Street barons� or �the 1%,� they are in fact evil, even if she is not.

Think of Wall Street as a marketplace for everything that is wrong with humanity. Essentially Wall Street commodifies everything. War is not a blight on humanity; it is a commodity to be bought, traded, and most importantly profited from. It�s all a big numbers game. There is no line in the spreadsheet for suffering.

The same formula applies for the broadcast industry, the healthcare industry, and in fact every publicly traded company in the world. It�s all bottom-line driven, regardless of the consequences.

So step one to commandeering Hillary Clinton�s presidency will be to drive a wedge between her and not just the overlords of Wall Street but the entire ideology of Wall Street. She has to think and act independently of Wall Street.

She has to be challenged early and often. Not with childish insults but with facts, evidence, and viable ideas. Throwing your hands up in disgust or absolving yourself of responsibility because Hillary Clinton did or did not do what she should have done won�t get it.

Denigrating Hillary Clinton is pointless. FDR famously admonished progressive activists who would lecture him on what steps he needed to take. His reply was, �Now go out there and make me do it.� Ad hominem attacks accomplish nothing. If there is a policy she must pursue, we must make that unavoidably clear.

Hillary Clinton is not just going to wake up on the morning of January 21st and decide that progressive policies are really the best after all. But she can be made to act.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

354 comments

If Corporations Don't Like a Law, They Make the Penalties So Low That They Can Disregard It

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=36361">Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page</a>

Sunday, 14 August 2016 13:29

Reich writes: "When I was labor secretary, the most frustrating experience (other than battling Bob Rubin) was dealing with companies that treated law breaking as a cost of doing business. They get away with it because the maximum penalties for violating the law (multiplied by the probability of being caught) are lower than the profits they can make by ignoring it."

Robert Reich. (photo: unknown)

If Corporations Don't Like a Law, They Make the Penalties So Low That They Can Disregard It

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

14 August 16

hen I was labor secretary, the most frustrating experience (other than battling Bob Rubin) was dealing with companies that treated law breaking as a cost of doing business. They get away with it because the maximum penalties for violating the law (multiplied by the probability of being caught) are lower than the profits they can make by ignoring it.

The maximum penalty OSHA can impose for a serious violation of worker safety was increased this year -- from $7,000 to $12,471. In the case of willful or repeated violations, it went from $70,000 to $124,709. But that didn�t stop Stahl Specialty, an aluminum foundry in Warrensburg, Kansas, from repeatedly exposing its workers to illegally dangerous conditions. Last January one of its workers lost an arm because the company didn�t obey the law. Then in February, a 57-year-old maintenance worker was crushed to death when a 4,000 pound machine part fell on him. Again, the company didn�t follow the law. And what�s the penalty? OSHA is proposing Stahl pay $105,000. A slap on the wrist.

It�s common practice in America: If corporations don�t like a new law, they make the penalties in the law so low many companies will disregard it. Then they starve the enforcement agency of personnel to enforce it and it. Another reason we need a movement to counter the moneyed interests.

What do you think?

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GOP Defectors: Every High-Profile Republican Who Refuses to Back Trump

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=37115">Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone</a>

Sunday, 14 August 2016 13:27

Stuart writes: "Donald Trump's supporters like to visualize his campaign as a roaring freight train, but the accurate metaphor might be a leaky boat: Trump is rapidly sinking in the polls, and longtime GOP loyalists are jumping ship every day."

Donald Trump campaign signs. (photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

GOP Defectors: Every High-Profile Republican Who Refuses to Back Trump

By Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone

14 August 16

So far 113 Republicans who've worked in government have said publicly they won't vote for the GOP nominee

onald Trump's supporters like to visualize his campaign as a roaring freight train, but the accurate metaphor might be a leaky boat: Trump is rapidly sinking in the polls, and longtime GOP loyalists are jumping ship every day.

The defections began in earnest on May 3rd � the day Trump won the Indiana primary and RNC chair Reince Priebus declared him the party's presumptive nominee � but they've picked up in the wake of an underwhelming convention and series of increasingly damaging missteps.

On August 8th, more than 50 Republican national security officials circulated a letter declaring they would not vote for Trump. "From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief," the authors wrote. "Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."

Two days later, the Clinton campaign rolled out endorsements from nearly 50 more high-profile Republicans � officials who worked in the Reagan White House and both Bush administrations, plus donors and longtime party loyalists.

Below is a running tally of all the high-profile Republicans (defined here as elected or appointed officials, or those who have worked in government) who have so far refused to back the GOP nominee. We'll continue to update as more roll in.

May 3rd

�Mark Salter, former top aide to Sen. John McCain

�Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse

May 4th

�Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker

May 5th

�Mitt Romney: "I don't intend on supporting either of the major-party candidates at this point."

�Alan Steinberg, regional EPA administrator during the George W. Bush

May 6th

�Jeb Bush: "Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy."

�Illinois Rep. Bob Dold

�South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham

May 31st

�Doug Elmets, Reagan White House spokesman

June 1st

�Retired Army Col. Peter Mansoor

June 5th

�Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman

June 7th

�Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk: "While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party."

June 14th

�Former South Dakota Sen. Larry Pressler: "This election is starting to sound like the German elections in [the late 1920s]... This is a very dangerous national conversation we're slipping into."

Trump "has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And he is not a consistent conservative." �Jeb Bush

June 15th

�Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan

June 16th

�Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of State under George W. Bush

June 22nd

�Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, White House aide to Richard Nixon and George W. Bush

June 23rd

�Jim Cicconi, aide to Reagan and George H.W. Bush

June 24th

�Henry Paulson, former Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush

June 27th

�Kori Schake, former George W. Bush national security official

June 29th

�Tony Fratto, a former deputy press secretary to President George W. Bush

June 30th

�Nevada Sen. Dean Heller: "He did a lot of damage. It's very difficult for him, as far as I'm concerned, to recover from his previous comments. I'll give him a chance, but at this point, I have no intentions of voting for him."

July 5th

�Charles Fried, U.S. solicitor general under President Reagan: "Though long a registered Republican, this will be the third consecutive presidential election in which my party forces the choice between party and, in John McCain's words, putting America first. Sarah Palin, McCain's erratic and surely regretted choice as running mate, in her voluble and opinionated ignorance was an early precursor of Donald Trump. It was the spirit of Sarah Palin and those who cheered her on that animated the subsequent defeat of such traditional Republicans as Bob Bennett in Utah, Dick Lugar in Indiana, and Eric Cantor in Virginia. Many who survived only did so by pretending to positions they did not hold. There was no more transparent pretender than Mitt Romney in 2012. Now those same forces have given us Donald Trump, whose presumptive presence at the head of the Republican ticket disgraces not only the party but the nation. You sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. It is to Romney's credit that this year, like John Paulson and George Will, he is standing up against the brutal, substantively incoherent, and authoritarian tendencies of Donald Trump."

July 20th

�Ted Cruz: "I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father."

August 2nd

�New York Rep. Richard Hanna: "I find Trump deeply flawed in endless ways."

�Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent

�Sally Bradshaw, former aide to Jeb Bush

�Maria Comella, former aide to Chris Christie: "Donald Trump has been a demagogue this whole time, preying on people's anxieties with loose information and salacious rhetoric, drumming up fear and hatred of the 'other.'"

August 3rd

�Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot: "I cannot and will not support Donald Trump for president."

�Former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber: "I won't vote for Trump� I can't imagine I'd remain a Republican if he becomes president."

�Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger

August 4th

�Former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey: "I am ever more confirmed in my belief that Trump is a sociopath, without a conscience or feelings of guilt, shame or remorse."

August 6th

�Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell

August 7th

�Former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson

"I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father." �Ted Cruz

August 8th

�Former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer

�John Bellinger III, former legal adviser at the State Department and National Security Council

�Robert Blackwill, former deputy national security advisor at the the White House

�Michael Chertoff, former secretary of Homeland Security

�Eliot Cohen, former counselor to the State Department

�Eric Edelman, former under secretary of defense for policy

�Former deputy national security advisor Gary Edson

�Former deputy Homeland Security advisor Richard Falkenrath

�Peter Feaver, former senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council

�Richard Fontaine, former National Security Council associate director for Near East affairs

�Jendyi Frazer, former U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs and National Security Council senior director for African affairs

�Aaron Friedberg, former deputy assistant for national security affairs in the office of the vice president

�David Gordon, former State Department director of policy planning

�Michael Green, former National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs

�Former State Department chief of staff Brian Gunderson

�Paul Haenle, former director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council

�Former CIA Director Michael Hayden

�Carla Hills, former HUD secretary under Gerald Ford and former U.S. trade representative

�John Hillen, former assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs

�William Inboden, the National Security Council's former senior director for strategic planning

�Reuben Jeffery III, former under secretary of State for economic energy and agricultural affairs

�James Jeffrey, former deputy national security adviser

�Ted Kassinger, former deputy secretary of Commerce

�David Kramer, former assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor

�James Langdon, chairman of George W. Bush's foreign intelligence advisory board

�Peter Lichtenbaum, former Department of Commerce assistant secretary for export administration

�Mary Beth Long, former assistant secretary of Defense

�Clay Lowery, former assistant secretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department

�Former Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum

�Richard Miles, former National Security Council director for North America

�Andrew Natsios, former administrator for USAID

�John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence, deputy secretary of Dtate, and UN ambassador

�Meghan O'Sullivan, former deputy national security adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan

�Dan Price, former deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs under George W. Bush

�Former Secretary of Homeland Security and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge

�Nicholas Rostow, special assistant to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush for national security affairs and legal adviser to the National Security Council under Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft

�Kori Schake, former director for defense strategy and requirements on the National Security Council, and deputy director for policy planning inside the State Department

�Kristen Silverberg, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union and assistant secretary of State for international organization affairs;

�Stephen Slick, former director for intelligence programs for the National Security Council

�Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli, former senior advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

�Former Deputy Secretary of Defense and onetime Ambassador to NATO William Howard Taft IV

�Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson

�William Tobey, former deputy administrator of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration

�John Veroneau, former deputy U.S. trade representative

�Kenneth Wainstein, Homeland Security advisor to George W. Bush

�Matthew Waxman, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense

�Dov Zakheim, former under secretary of Defense

�Roger Zakheim, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense

�Philip Zelikow, former counselor for the Department of State and executive director of the 9/11 Commission

�Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, U.S. trade representative and deputy secretary of State: "None of us will vote for Donald Trump."

�Lezlee Westine, former aide to George W. Bush: "Trump falls short in terms of the character and behavior needed to perform as president. This defect is crippling and ensures he would fail in office."

�Former Michigan Gov. William Milliken

�Frank Lavin, Ronald Reagan's White House political director

August 9th

�Maine Sen. Susan Collins: "I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize. But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing � either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level � that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president."

�Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

"I find Trump deeply flawed in endless ways." �New York Rep. Richard Hanna

August 10th

�Ruben Alvarez, former policy advisor to Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull

�Retired Major General Donna Barbisch

�Jim Cicconi, aide to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush

�Former Minnesota Sen. David Durenberger

�Scott Evertz, former director of the Office of National AIDS Policy under George W. Bush

�Fred Goldberg, Jr., former IRS commissioner

�David Gross, former U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy

�Cindy Guerra, former regional deputy attorney general for Florida

�Carlos Gutierrez, Commerce secretary under George W. Bush

�Matt Higgins, former press secretary to Rudy Giuliani

�Former State Department official Richard Holwill

�Former Utah state legislator and retired Brigadier General David Irvine

�James Kunder, former assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East at USAID under George W. Bush

�Former General Counsel of the Navy Alberto Mora

�Former Maryland Rep. Connie Morella

�Retired Major General Gale Pollock

�William Reilly, EPA administrator under George H.W. Bush

�William Ruckelshaus, EPA administrator under Presidents Reagan and Nixon

�Former Special Counsel for the Department of Justice William Sanchez

�Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush

�Former Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays

�Timothy Stratford, former assistant U.S. trade representative for China

�Pete Teeley, press secretary for George H.W. Bush and former ambassador to Canada

�Daniel Twining, former State Department policy planning staff under George W. Bush

�Ashley Tellis, former special assistant to George W. Bush and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia

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