The COVID-19 economy is Alive!

To put this rant in context, we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic (recall pandemic means entire planet is affected) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. U.S. intelligence services had been warning "POTUS" DJT for months that the growing epidemic in China would become a major problem in the U.S. In those same months, DJT and Republicans raised no alarms to the American public nor did they make any preparations for the oncoming epidemic. In fact, one Republican warned rich donors of a possible economic downturn and he, along with other public servants sold stocks ahead of the recent stock market decline.

It wasn't until March 13th that DJT declared a state of emergency... after tens of people died in Washington State, after hundreds of Americans tested positive, after the lack of testing became an international embarrassment and even now, we do not know the extent of the problem due to lack of infection data... So the Administration was seemingly taking the problem seriously (I can't even talk about the lie filled clownish daily Coronavirus media events staring "POTUS DJT").

But with the past two days, three media statements:

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick: 

“No one reached out to me and said as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren. "And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”

DJT tweeted/said:

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself”

From Buzzfeed:

President Donald Trump suggested Monday that he may encourage businesses to reopen and encourage people to stop isolating “very soon,” contradicting public health experts who say businesses may need to stay closed and workers stay home for several months to help contain the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s bad, and obviously the numbers are going to increase with time and then they’re going to start to decrease,” the president said at his daily coronavirus press conference, before quickly pivoting to say, “We’re going to be opening our country up for business because our country was meant to be open and working with others.”

DJT wants the economy 'working' again... because his rich friends and donors are losing money from falling stock prices and most of the Trump brand hotels are closed and losing money from stay-at-home and social-distancing recommendations.

My issue with so called 'getting the economy working again':

1. The economy is working. (Most) Essential goods and services are being produced and delivered on a timely basis. Shortages are due to panic buying and not a supply problem. The shortages of protective equipment for medical staff are the result of larger global production trends - outsourcing all production to cheapest producing countries. This could be addressed by invoking the Defense Production Act to force private industry to make essential goods/services.

2. The stock market is not the economy. Economies exist and function without stock markets so stock prices are a moot point in terms of economic activity.

3. Economies are emergent properties of human interactions. So long as two or more people exist, an economy exist from the exchange between them. Neither epidemic nor pandemic endanger the existence and/or function of economies.

4. People engage in exchange to benefit each other; to improve their lives; to improve their standard of living; to live longer and safer. If stock prices are the reason to justify the end of life-saving social-distancing, then stock markets are endangering people's lives; stock markets are doing the opposite of what economies exist to deliver... stock markets are anti-economic. Stock markets should either be banned from trading during the duration of the emergency or perhaps eliminated altogether for the benefit of humanity. [A standard debate question has long been "Has religion been a benevolent or malevolent influence on mankind?" ... A much more important and relevant question would be "Have stock markets been a benevolent or malevolent influence on mankind?"]

Asshole quotient

I don't expect or want to be friends with my political representative. I want them to have a high asshole quotient and be somewhat ruthless in pursuing my political agenda.

Bernie Sanders is not doing well in his second run for the Democratic nominee for president... I wonder if his asshole quotient is too low for the job. With the COVID-19 pandemic, he's had to cut back on rallies which he admits he enjoys holding. But he seems to cringe from hard hitting attacks of his opponents. He may just be too decent a human being to be president... it would be a shame because his policies would improve the lives of many Americans and non-Americans. If he doesn't win, I hope he continues to communicate with the American people; we need to hear his ideas.

Data Hacking Elections

Democracy Now has an interview with a Cambridge Analytica whistleblower and others about data hacking of elections on the lines of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. The cost to democracy and even self autonomy is very high... we are all being manipulated by our information consumption in ways we cannot untangle. It's very much worth viewing.

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/7/the_great_hack_cambridge_analytica

Legal equivalents

campaign spending : free speech : corporate personhood (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby) :: 
free speech advocacy of gun ownership : NRA : terrorist organization

What if...

Claus von Stauffenberg and his conspirators had succeeded? Will future historians look back at our time and wish for an equivalent plot? Will there even be future historians or will the policies of today obliterate any viable path to continue the human species and/or culture?

It's hard to be optimistic in the face of so many authoritarian-minded national leaders. A short list that immediately comes to mind includes Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Duterte in the Philippines, India's Modi, Netanyahu in Israel and DJT in the U.S. They all actively repress free speech and expression to advance their own standing and power to benefit those of their class. Scary times ahead...

What does it take to be a Trump supporter?

DJT is an objectively horrible person and an objectively horrible POTUS. He's a misogynist, racist... autocrat. His failings are so obvious that his supporters must completely lack analytical thinking and all judgement to vote for him.

So I'm wondering how dependent DJT supporters are on the benefits of civilized society? Would DJT supporters be able to grow & raise their own food, educate their children, doctor their ills, organize themselves to produce everything they need for a functioning society?

Modern republicans and libertarians forget that society and culture is in itself 'socialism'. Economic 'socialism' is about shared economic ownership but in the larger context, socialism is about some shared aspect; for example, insurance is socialism in the sense of shared risk. Culture is shared experience and context. The spread and integration of new technology is the socializing of innovation. In other words, innovators/inventors benefit the society at large. The most telling examples are modern medical technologies that saves lives.

Would DJT's supporters exist without socialized innovations? Does the socialism of cultural norms protect them from the outcomes of their poor judgement? Without seat belt laws, drunk driving limits, built in safety features, vaccination rules, etc., what proportion of DTJ's supporters would Darwin Award themselves out of existence?

I'm not a Democrat but the cruelty of Trump Republicans is goes beyond pale.

Do robots serve us or do we serve the robots?

Amy Goodman interviewed Shoshana Zuboff who wrote: “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power”. Her premise is that the frontier of capitalistic innovation is capitalizing prediction of individual (and likely) group behavior. These themes have explored in science fiction and coming to fruition in reality. We need to decide if we serve the interests of our (collective human) creations or do the controllers of these creations control our destinies?

Part 2 of this interview emphasizes the role of information control/secrecy in these developments... a theme I've been writing about for years.

Reality Asserts Itself with Lester Earnest

Paul Jay at TRNN has a series of interviews posted with Lester Earnest, an early computer innovator. It is well worth watching.

Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism

TRNN has posted a video series of a forum organized by Ralph Nader called 'Destroying the Myths of Market Fundamentalism'. Worth a listen.


My comment on Ralph Nader's introduction:

Market fundamentalism has its flaws, no thinking person would question that. However, the system evolved into its current state through regulatory capture. Arguing for alternate regulatory capture is analogous to replacing a despotic ruler with a benign ruler. In the short term, conditions can improve but the state mechanisms enable reversion are present and calling for turnover.

My comment on Damon Silvers talk:

“Markets are product of government.”“Markets not fundamental but created.”Markets are part of economies (economies can be broadly divided into production & markets). Economies form in any human community, regardless of government (refugee settlements have economies with markets)… thus economies (and markets) *are* fundamental. When communities/economies grow sufficiently large/complex, governments emerge as a property of complex systems.---“How to shape markets and to what end?”“How to shape markets for long term wealth creation for all Americans. For that matter, all of the world’s population?”Is the market aspect of economies the best area to ‘shape’? Economics is a social science; that is, primarily concerned with relationships between individuals, groups and communities. Market relationships tend to be rather transient: buyers examine sellers’ goods; trade transaction occurs (or not); termination of relationship. In contrast, the relationships on the production side, (employer/employee, supervisor/supervisee, colleagues) tends to be of long duration, both in daily interaction and term of employment. Strong/healthy relationships on the production side of the economy empowers workers to become capable consumers who drive (somewhat transient) market activity.---“Challenge for securities regulation…”Also must consider the damaging effects of concentrating capital on the scale of economic operations. For example, mountain top removal mining is only possible because enormous amounts of capital can be pooled to build the massively expensive equipment. The same is true for most large scale extractive endeavors. While these projects may be profitable in the short term, the resulting environmental damage has incalculable long term financial and ecological costs (climate change for one).“(3)…transparency around key problems…data secret…”Information asymmetry plagues far more than the securities markets. It is the source and driver of power imbalance and economic inequality. In fact, the term ‘free market’ is a misnomer in light of the absence of information symmetry regarding market goods/services (working conditions, environmental impact, costs, etc.).

Daniel Ellsberg interviews

TRNN has a 13 part series posted where Paul Jay interviews Daniel Ellsberg. He essentially says: given current nuclear stockpiles, a nuclear war would set off climate conditions similar to those of the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs. Terrifying. 

My comment in part 9:

In this segment and the last segment, Daniel Ellsberg described a nuclear and war-making policy largely determined by (1) a capitalistic military-industrial-complex whose raison d’etre is the pursuit of profit without regard to consequences and, (2) military commanders whose raison d’etre is ‘victory’, pyrrhic and otherwise. The absence of morality is so striking that the only rational conclusion is that the MIC and military consists solely of sociopaths. This would also explain their absolute resistance to rational reform their war planning. 

The performance of DJT as POTUS has illustrated the need to consider the mental health status of presidential candidates. This series of interviews highlights the need for a similar mental health review for leaders in other areas including military and industry {such as MIC). Sociopaths might make the best commanders for immediate [hot] combat, but their lack of empathy, morality and remorse makes them unsuitable for high level leadership positions.

My comment in part 13:

For the vast majority of people without bubble hideouts in New Zealand to wait out a nuclear winter, the only rational response to a nuclear strike is to immediate travels *towards* the first strike zone. Should humanity come to such a pass, it will prove itself not worthy of saving and not deserving of any efforts on its behalf. Let the 'true believers' of rapture inherit the destruction they will have wrought.

The Grifter

Bob Woodward was on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and said this:

Great missile system called THAAD. It’s the best missile interceptor in the world. We put it in S. Korea so we can shoot down N. Korean missiles… it’s a terrific missile system. So Trump asks, “Well how much does it cost?” “It’s a billion dollars.” … and they show him the lease…. “It’s great we have a 99 year lease.” And Trump says, “Who’s paying for it?” They said the United States. He says, “Take it out! Put it in Portland.”

It's pretty illustrative of Trump. For all his claims to be a 'businessman,' he doesn't understand the relationship between investment and return-on-investment. DJT is all grift.

He's apply the financial model that caused the Flint water crisis on a national level with the leading nuclear superpower. 

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

When lies are/aren't lies?

Every schoolchild has heard the thought experiment: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it,does it make a sound?

I was thinking about this with regards to 'POTUS' DJT's incessant lying. With any lie, there are two participants - the liar and the recipient. Does the intent of the liar or perception of the recipient change the value or intent of the lie? For the U.S., this is not merely a thought experiment. The answer will have broad and long lasting implications for the future of the country, especially in regards to Constitutional rights, freedom of press/speech and transparency.

If a lie is told by someone without the intent of lying, is it a lie? [American press tends to say no. The intent of the liar is more relevant than correcting the lie for the sake of viewers.]

If every pronouncement is presumed to be a lie, is it a lie? [In some respects, this is fiction... But we are currently living under a president who seemingly cannot utter a truthful statement.]

Why not?

DJT is apparently considering pulling out of NATA. 

My comment:

DJT's strategy to "Make America Great Again" is to attack the *real* pillars of American exceptionalism (tolerance, melting pot, economic mobility, reliable ally) and bolster the *very worst* of its character (nativism, hubris, racism, militarism, religiosity - to shield everything, class structure).

BTW, although my observation is written from the perspective of an American progressive, I do not think nation-states are the best way to organize societies - I don't actually believe in 'American exceptionalism'.

A Trump metaphor

This came to my mind when I read a C&L post:

Trump and his peeps are the dung beetles of today's culture. They are burrowing deep into the middens of history and recycling its least humanistic ideas for modern consumption. As receptacles of the rejected, middens are repositories of death and disease. The Resistance has the crucial role of defending the U.S. and the larger global community from the toxins unearthed by DJT & Co. Ideally, his influence can be contained, destroyed and if possible, immunized against.

response:

Dung beetles have a constructive purpose . . . GOParasites don't.

my response:

Indeed, dung beetles recycle organic matter from organic waste back into the ecosystem. DJT & peeps are recycling the worst tendencies of humanity. Everyone needs to heed the words of Martin Niemöller: 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews [asylum seekers], and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew [an asylum seeker].
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

How do the GWB and DJT administrations differ?

Based on the economic/social 'shocks' described by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine:

GWB had the 'civility' to wait for economic/social 'shocks' to occur before triggering his anti-democratic agenda. In particular, September 11 to change the balance of power in the Middle East and any number of domestic power grabs.

Every incident of DJT operating outside of 'normality' is DJT throwing bombs to purposefully manufacture economic/social 'shocks': travel ban, trade wars, 'good people on both sides', Dropping Paris Climate Agreement, dropping Iran Nuclear Deal, meeting Kim Jong-un, splintering asylum seeking families... As this is happening, DJT's Cabinet and the Republican Congress are destroying consumer/environmental protection, civil rights protection, and stacking the courts against democratic governance. And that's only the start.

posted as comment as C&L

Confounds the Science

All too true. Watch it on YouTube.

CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE
(Written by Don Caron – Music by Simon & Garfunkel)

Hello darkness my old friend.
It’s time for him to tweet again,
but first he’ll have to check in with fox news
‘cause that’s the only place he gets his clues.
That’s how things get planted in his brain,
where they remain,
and it confounds the science.

The problem is he’s not alone.
He tweets to people on his phone
that global warming is a giant hoax
perpetuated by the liberal folks,
and he hires people that all think the same,
that play his game
and it confounds the science.

When he talks to crowds of four
he sees ten thousand maybe more,
believing they all think he’s god on earth
and was the product of a virgin birth
and if you disagree you’re the victim of fake news
or feminist shrews
and it confounds the science.

“Fools,” says he, “you do not know
it makes me smart from so much dough.
I know exactly where the problems are.”
But his solutions are beyond bizarre
‘cause his words never quite a sentence make
and thus he spake
and it confounds the science.

No limits on pollution now.
There’s not a thing we don’t allow.
Dump the garbage in the waterway.
Spray the toxins where your children play.
All the signs say that life on the planet is headed for a downward fall.
Go to the mall,
and continue to confound the science.

Copyright 2017 Parody Project

It's just the capitalistic way

Digby pointed out the Trump administration is selling American foreign policy for private gain. The Trump cabal sees it as an extension of capitalism - profiting from the sale of a sought after service.

Keith Ellison on Democracy Now!

Keith Ellison was interviewed on Democracy Now!

He doesn't frame the problem exactly as I do: concentration of power. But he does link concentration of financial resources to political power and that's rare for a politician. It's worth a viewing.

A bit from it:

These huge corporations that give executive compensation with no bearing, no connection at all, to the people who actually make the products on the ground. 

And this is hurting our economy. And it’s—and you asked where it all ends, Juan. You know what? It doesn’t end well, because what it means is that they use all that extra money to buy political influence in Washington, to try to influence people like me to give them even more benefits.

DJT's 'negotiating style'

Fareed Zakaria said this on CNN: "Trump’s negotiating style seems far from being this masterous strategic approach that he's often claimed it is," Zakaria told Anderson Cooper on "Anderson Cooper 360." "It seems somewhat impulsive."

My comment:

In the distant possibility that DJT and KJU actually meet face to face, I predict DJT will attempt a jovial gab-fest followed by grovelling at KJU's feet for any sliver of a 'deal' that he can take to the cameras to announce as the 'best deal in the history of the world' followed by a demand for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

'Businessman' DJT didn't make money through 'deal making'; he made money by using mafia-like tactics to swindle investors, contractors and customers alike. He doesn't deal, he uses fixers like Michael Cohen to strong arm.

Looting by any other name

 DWT has a post discussing the effect of the Ryan-Trump Tax Bill on education. My comment:

-Leverage buyout 'investment' (see Mitt Romney a la Bain Capital).-Agriculture caused desertification (Dust Bowl, expanding deserts in Africa, desertification in Latin America).
-Surface mining (includes strip mining, open pit mining and mountain top removal). All forms of looting with specialized knowledge. They are characterized by (1) speed - victims don't have time to realize danger and mount defenses; (2) dirty - function of speed; (3) crude - function of speed; (4) cheap operating costs - minimum investment in workers, capital, safety, etc. The goal is to strip a resource of everything that can be sold for money as quickly and cheaply as possible. The result is rich looters and no resources - businesses without capital to produce; land without water for farming; land without clean water, soil capable of supporting life and contaminated with introduced toxins and mine tailings. The Ryan-Trump Tax Bill loots the public commons by tax policy. Taxes are the resources of a nation; they pay for the public commons of education, healthcare, infrastructure, public services, defense, etc. By reducing the tax payments of the wealthy, this tax plan is effectively looting the public commons. The danger is the destruction will be so deep and thorough, recovery will be nigh impossible.