I’ve been saying for a while now that if you can get people to buy into obvious, self-serving horseshit like “American Exceptionalism” you can sell them on pretty much anything.
So wish that your writing were pushed out by mainstream media. Our countrymen & women need to understand how badly they've been mistreated and deluded - so they can come together and build the glorious society of which I know we are capable.
Holy shit!!! Corbin is so precisely accurate in this assessment it is beyond belief. In nearly every example he provides from healthcare to infrastructure projects our sole skill seems to be in creating a bureaucracy for the issue without any result but paperwork. Yesterday the outhouses were full of Sears Catalogs, today we have a whole new source of toilet paper and don't recognize it.
This is an excellent example of what they say in business about metrics, "Be careful what you measure," which applies every bit as much in public spending. Excellent message, and one that needs to be Repeatedly hammered home through repetition. Please keep it up!
What do you think of Gross National Happiness as an alternative to GDP? It's currently only in use in Bhutan, but it is designed to provide a metric for sustainable development, environmental conservation, promoting culture, and good governance, not just economic activity. Are there any better alternatives?
This argument really lands. We had “reinventing government” in the 1990s. This was a serious national experiment in outcomes-based governance — led by Al Gore’s National Performance Review and codified in the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Some parts of government still bear that imprint. HRSA’s Title V Maternal and Child Health program, for example, has spent three decades tracking national performance and outcome measures to improve real-world health indicators, not just budgets. In public health, it’s an exemplary model of results-driven investment.
We’ve also seen later waves — like the Obama-era Evidence-Based Policy initiatives and “tiered-evidence” grants — that tried to make funding contingent on measurable impact.
There’s a deep well of lessons about what drives implementation success four outcomes-focused spending: stable leadership across administrations, metrics that are meaningful to front-line staff, and a culture of learning instead of compliance.
It is worth studying those experiments with fresh eyes. We actually have decades of data on how results-driven public administration succeeds or stalls — insights that could help shape a new generation of strategies that deliver outcomes, not just receipts.
I’d be interested in hearing a discussion between you and Pete Buttigieg regarding this topic. With his time as DOT secretary he should have knowledge of what was working and what wasn’t as far as investing and successfully implementing large government projects. If the two of you combined your thoughts, ideas and experience, I think something productive and useable would come out of it and that could be then be included in strategic plans that can be used to get many (most) of our government projects and programs back on track and headed in a better direction. A direction that actually benefits all American citizens and voters, not just the morbidly rich ones.
So has Pete updated his answers as to whether GAZA is truly a genocide? I did have a really good opinion of him up to the time I saw him questioned about Gaza. Before that, I felt he might be a good pick for pres. I apologize - I dont have the link to the clip. I'm betting its out there and available. I was so disappointed.
Thanks for bringing such facts to us, since politicians of all stripes just talk of big numbers but not the impacts on people. How their lives have improved, or the future is brighter than the present.
I’m becoming as single-minded as Bernie Sanders on pet issues.
All of the listed problems (actually the majority of human-caused problems) ultimately tie back in some way to the profit motive. Somebody needs to get more than their proportionate share — or better yet, get something for nothing. Under that dynamic, profit eventually becomes the primary focus, and all else might be sacrificed in service of that objective. In such a scenario, the worst, most sociopathic people rise to the top.
We got away with the above for a century because the harm caused by the inequity could be masked by constant economic growth. But we are now bumping up against the limits to growth in most sectors. It’s getting ugly and, I’m sorry to say, will continue to worsen until either we change course or the system simply collapses.
So Corbin, what specific steps are you advocating to infuse the unity into the splintered progressive movement? Ideas, education, debate, and protests and boycotts only go so far. The majority of politicians and leaders are immune to public shame as long as they have other means to maintain their positions, our president and Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle being prime examples.
Here's a suggestion for next steps post No Kings. Call for simultaneous conferences across the country of "progressives," at the local level (town/city/county) to identify concrete steps for progress that would be then be presented for local, regional and finally national consensus. All ideas would be valued and even the outlier ideas could be gathered and represented. Encourage all so called progressive leaders to participate (not as stars and using their own campaign funds for travel expenses) and be mutually supportive, especially of those running for local, state, or federal office who could have a booth or side-bar presentation rather than dominate the overall presentations toward creating a progressive plan for change. More substance, less flash. You, Corbin, and others like Amy Goodman and a whole host of progressive journalist willing and able to participate (gratis or expense reimbursement), would make great hosts and moderators; Indivisible would seemingly be a great platform for the organizational structure. Let’s collaborate, not reinvent/duplicate the wheel, and get things done before it’s too late.
this is already happening. Nokings is one Umbrella organization. Green New Deal another. Our Revolution another. progressives are meeting and working locally and coming together and I get mad every time some pundit ignores it.
I’ve been saying for a while now that if you can get people to buy into obvious, self-serving horseshit like “American Exceptionalism” you can sell them on pretty much anything.
Sure looks like I was right, huh?
So wish that your writing were pushed out by mainstream media. Our countrymen & women need to understand how badly they've been mistreated and deluded - so they can come together and build the glorious society of which I know we are capable.
Godspeed, Corbin
I appreciate your ability to separate the signal from the noise and cut to the heart of the matter.
Holy shit!!! Corbin is so precisely accurate in this assessment it is beyond belief. In nearly every example he provides from healthcare to infrastructure projects our sole skill seems to be in creating a bureaucracy for the issue without any result but paperwork. Yesterday the outhouses were full of Sears Catalogs, today we have a whole new source of toilet paper and don't recognize it.
I love that Corbin had a GED and apparently a hell of a lot more sense than the ivy league idiots we've put trust in. No more. Bring it all down.
This is an excellent example of what they say in business about metrics, "Be careful what you measure," which applies every bit as much in public spending. Excellent message, and one that needs to be Repeatedly hammered home through repetition. Please keep it up!
There’s a saying, a truism, that goes - ‘some people know the price of everything but the value of nothing’.
Great post.
What do you think of Gross National Happiness as an alternative to GDP? It's currently only in use in Bhutan, but it is designed to provide a metric for sustainable development, environmental conservation, promoting culture, and good governance, not just economic activity. Are there any better alternatives?
This argument really lands. We had “reinventing government” in the 1990s. This was a serious national experiment in outcomes-based governance — led by Al Gore’s National Performance Review and codified in the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Some parts of government still bear that imprint. HRSA’s Title V Maternal and Child Health program, for example, has spent three decades tracking national performance and outcome measures to improve real-world health indicators, not just budgets. In public health, it’s an exemplary model of results-driven investment.
We’ve also seen later waves — like the Obama-era Evidence-Based Policy initiatives and “tiered-evidence” grants — that tried to make funding contingent on measurable impact.
There’s a deep well of lessons about what drives implementation success four outcomes-focused spending: stable leadership across administrations, metrics that are meaningful to front-line staff, and a culture of learning instead of compliance.
It is worth studying those experiments with fresh eyes. We actually have decades of data on how results-driven public administration succeeds or stalls — insights that could help shape a new generation of strategies that deliver outcomes, not just receipts.
Exceptional insight and evaluation of a dire situation for a money hungry society. Thank you!
I’d be interested in hearing a discussion between you and Pete Buttigieg regarding this topic. With his time as DOT secretary he should have knowledge of what was working and what wasn’t as far as investing and successfully implementing large government projects. If the two of you combined your thoughts, ideas and experience, I think something productive and useable would come out of it and that could be then be included in strategic plans that can be used to get many (most) of our government projects and programs back on track and headed in a better direction. A direction that actually benefits all American citizens and voters, not just the morbidly rich ones.
So has Pete updated his answers as to whether GAZA is truly a genocide? I did have a really good opinion of him up to the time I saw him questioned about Gaza. Before that, I felt he might be a good pick for pres. I apologize - I dont have the link to the clip. I'm betting its out there and available. I was so disappointed.
I have not heard his remarks. I’ll have to look for them.
And I need to correct myself - it wasnt the actual is it a genocide, but something to do with continuing to send bombs to Israel.
There is so much STUFF!
This is the one - pod save america interview. But you know, I bet he might have corrected his statement since then.
https://onsitepublicmedia.substack.com/p/pod-save-america-couldnt-even-save
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
Thanks for bringing such facts to us, since politicians of all stripes just talk of big numbers but not the impacts on people. How their lives have improved, or the future is brighter than the present.
'Results, Not Receipts' has a good ring to it.
Are we great yet?
I’m becoming as single-minded as Bernie Sanders on pet issues.
All of the listed problems (actually the majority of human-caused problems) ultimately tie back in some way to the profit motive. Somebody needs to get more than their proportionate share — or better yet, get something for nothing. Under that dynamic, profit eventually becomes the primary focus, and all else might be sacrificed in service of that objective. In such a scenario, the worst, most sociopathic people rise to the top.
We got away with the above for a century because the harm caused by the inequity could be masked by constant economic growth. But we are now bumping up against the limits to growth in most sectors. It’s getting ugly and, I’m sorry to say, will continue to worsen until either we change course or the system simply collapses.
So Corbin, what specific steps are you advocating to infuse the unity into the splintered progressive movement? Ideas, education, debate, and protests and boycotts only go so far. The majority of politicians and leaders are immune to public shame as long as they have other means to maintain their positions, our president and Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle being prime examples.
Here's a suggestion for next steps post No Kings. Call for simultaneous conferences across the country of "progressives," at the local level (town/city/county) to identify concrete steps for progress that would be then be presented for local, regional and finally national consensus. All ideas would be valued and even the outlier ideas could be gathered and represented. Encourage all so called progressive leaders to participate (not as stars and using their own campaign funds for travel expenses) and be mutually supportive, especially of those running for local, state, or federal office who could have a booth or side-bar presentation rather than dominate the overall presentations toward creating a progressive plan for change. More substance, less flash. You, Corbin, and others like Amy Goodman and a whole host of progressive journalist willing and able to participate (gratis or expense reimbursement), would make great hosts and moderators; Indivisible would seemingly be a great platform for the organizational structure. Let’s collaborate, not reinvent/duplicate the wheel, and get things done before it’s too late.
this is already happening. Nokings is one Umbrella organization. Green New Deal another. Our Revolution another. progressives are meeting and working locally and coming together and I get mad every time some pundit ignores it.