The party of “fiscal responsibility” has exploded our national debt, but if Democrats take back Congress and the White House, Republicans will start shouting deficit calamity like clockwork
Boom. "It isn’t so much that the American government spends too much money, as it is that we buy stupid things at extortionate prices."
As the issuer of our own currency, and with a high degree of monetary sovereignty, we can not involuntarily go insolvent. So the "debt", which is the US Treasury market BTW, is not dangerous per se. In fact, it is OUR collective savings, dollar for dollar.
But allowing the entire budgeting process to be captured by a small group of people, and use it for their own benefit, and not for the benefit of working people is just plain stupid.
We need to rememger our history, and you do a great job of reminding us Corbin: The lessons...
1. What we have is not NATURAL - it is the deliberate policy created by a few billionaires after the Powell Memo of 1971. It is NOT human nature toi have this inequality
2. We were not a "socialist" nation in the 1950's when the public owned most of the hospitals. Public investment built the country.
3. Our institutions no longer function because of the "cuts" that were supposed to "lower the debt." Fact, the Clinton surpluses led to an explosion of private debt, the dotcom recession and eventually the GFC of 2008.
4. We have been sold the individualistic idea of the American dream where if you didn't make it, it's your own fault. Bullcrap. The deck is stacked. 75% of Americans do not think their lives or their children's lives will get better. The Republicans, and their Heritage think tanks, have the American dream on the ground and are driving in the final death blows.
Thanks so much Trip! I was also about to comment - the misunderstanding about national debt vs consumer/commercial debt is widespread - but your comment really covers it all. I'm going to save it for future reference. Thanks again!
If anyone wants to understand the history of the BS that is austerity, I highly recommend Clara Mattei’s recent book, ‘The Capital Order - how economists invented austerity and paved the way to fascism’.
She writes, and it’s important to keep in mind that - “Capitalism was more than a system of economy; it was a system of social order, too.” The state (government) has been subsumed to an economic system that always prioritizes profit and private property over community and people.
And lets get back to shooting and imprisoning Nazis while we are at it. We did it to Germany, its past time to clean our own house of fascists and White Supremacists.
No, that's not what I meant at all. I'm talking about using American innovation and not getting bogged down in stupid regulations that are not needed. Focus on getting the job done. Don't be afraid to cut corners or take a few shortcuts. We never would have won the war with today's mentality back then.
Clearly spoken from a place of incredible privilege, where you don't need to worry about unlicensed natural gas generators in your backyard, or Meta sucking up your groundwater, or Monsanto poisoning your lakes and water sources and food, etc et al. Those regulations are written in blood, usually the blood of the poor or the marginalized. If you are comfortable with risking thier lives, thier health, and thier children dont be surprised when they dont care about you either.
If I had a spare dollar to give, I would gladly give to all the aforementioned Democrat contestant's. I hope and pray that enough people get out and vote for their own lives because that is what is on the ballot this year; our lives or the death of many of us if left to the Republicans plan of austerity. God help us
There are plenty of Democrats who buy into their own plan of austerity; cowards who are so scared of the socialist label that they will buy into market-based insanity at the drop of a hat. And Democratic voters will keep lesser evil voting these clowns into office because they are cowards as well. And we continue to circle the drain.
I believe it's important to establish the narrative now that Trump and the GOP are responsible for our breathtaking deficit - their wars, their tax cuts for the rich, Trumps vanity projects etc. - because, as you wrote, if Democrats take Congress, Republicans will start the blame game on day one and, because their messaging is far better than the Dems, that narrative will win. The public needs to be repeatedly told, NOW, that 29% of our debt since the country's founding has been incurred under Trump's two administrations and that virtually none of that debt was incurred for the benefit of the people or the nation. The myth that Republicans are fiscally responsible needs to be unquestionably proven false and that messaging needs to be loud and constant in order to have any chance of taking hold.
The messaging that the GOP is the problem…. is the problem. Until the Democratic Party unshackles itself from corporate donors, it will never gain enough trust from voters to develop the working class coalition necessary for the radical change we need.
Love that FDR quote. True enough that corporate Democrats infest the party, but there are Dems that actually want to make positive change for the people. I can't remember where I heard the following comment but it rings pretty true: A politican once stated that "50% of Democrats in Congress are corrupt, but 100% of Republicans are." I'll take the 50% of Democrats that are not corrupt and hope that a wave of progressives increases that percentage. Regardless, if the public associates the Republican party with profligate, irresponsible fiscal behavior designed to screw the average person for the benefit of the 1%, aren't we better off? Regarding the corporate Dems: For now we have to, as they say, play with the team we have unless, or until, they are replaced. It's a crappy hand, but it's the one we have to play with for the time being. I'm not negating the issues with the Democratic party, because they are serious, but we have to do what we can with what we have...for now.
Nope. Not me. I left the Democratic Party when the DLC took it over and whored itself out to monied interest donors pre-Clintons. Ever since, they play the ‘we’re not as bad as the GOP’ card, thinking that will win elections, and it does… 50% of the time. Republicans run the country into the ditch; Dems, instead of pulling the country out of the ditch via New Deal-style radical legislation, throw crumbs to the base, and frustrate voters writ large, by pulling a fraction of the way up the ditch bank, and then crowing about it. Then wealth inequality is exacerbated, and a pissed off public votes for change, and we get more GOP.
Voting won’t do squat, until enough voters realize the enemy is not the Rs or Ds, but the capitalist class. You’ll know the Dems have begun to get it when Schumer and Jeffries are run out of leadership on a rail, they cut off aid to Israel, and vote to slash the Pentagon budget. Until then, it’s performative theater.
It made a lot of people suspicious. A lot of people knew better and voted against him, but Reagan peddled the good feelings, or maybe the backlash to FDR, that people were looking for. So much so that there are still people who blindly worship him.
And the White Supremacy, he didnt shy away from saying the problem was gay people and Black Welfare queens while quietly making arms deals with Middle Eastern terrorists and Central American drug lords.
Our WW II moment is the current state of our environment and helping the environment would help our economy and our lives.
As is pointed out we should be building out our electrical systems using renewable energy systems like places around the world are doing. Our transportation; electric trains, better bicycle infrastructure and electric busses for the last mile of transit, again like other countries have been doing for years.
Look up the work being done by the Honnold Foundation and listen to Bill McKibben's TED talk on solar. Check out the Weekly Anthropocene substack to learn about all the great work in these areas being done elsewhere. These inspire me because they show what can, and is, being done.
On the Oregon Coast where 90% of seafood consumed is not locally caught, even though there are sustainable strong fisheries here, the infrastructure needed to support the local economy simply isn't here anymore.
The U.S. needs systemic change now and there are people running for office who I believe can usher in that change. It won't be easy or fast but it needs to happen.
Tax cuts effective immediately. Pass a wealth tax. Nationalize the tech companies you have already bought with tax incentives, subsidies, and pork barrow contracts. Some of the companies are so imbedded in your defense and government systems you will have to seize ownership. Also consider seizing the private for profit prison system and returning human rights and rule of law to the system.
You can't start a war and dismantle a system of Federal Government to pay for it and on top of all that give payoffs, no-bid contracts to build military weaponry and monster memorials to yourself, screw up the White House and impose and then payback illegal tarrifs and then propose other tarrifs, just as disruptive to trade and the economy, stop investment support of clean and less expensive technology and monitor our schools for DEI, their libraries for "woke" literature and shut down agencies like USAID and Voice of America, deploy ships throughout the Planet and support Israeli wars and at the same time take over Venezulan Oil production, without breaking a few eggs. This does not mention support for genocide and annexation of Palestine and wars in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. We will be paying for this destruction and the Bonds that enshrine that debt to our great, great grandchildren, into the 22nd Century. Thanks Don and your Republican tax-breakers for the rich and famous. Could not have done it without all you folks.
I really appreciate this framing. The question of what we choose to build, who it serves, and whether it strengthens people, communities, and our collective capacity feels increasingly important. Moving from extraction toward an economy rooted in shared well-being feels like an essential part of that conversation.
You’ve asserted that the post war debt ration was the highest ever recorded, at 106%. My research, which took less than 5 minutes, says that as of today, we’re at 123%, considerably higher than 106%.
Corbin, on the challenges facing our badly damaged country and remedies needed: Please write about the corruption of the SCOTUS! This latest obscene gimmick of messing with voting by mail is critically damaging to our hopes of retaking the House and Senate.
Boom. "It isn’t so much that the American government spends too much money, as it is that we buy stupid things at extortionate prices."
As the issuer of our own currency, and with a high degree of monetary sovereignty, we can not involuntarily go insolvent. So the "debt", which is the US Treasury market BTW, is not dangerous per se. In fact, it is OUR collective savings, dollar for dollar.
But allowing the entire budgeting process to be captured by a small group of people, and use it for their own benefit, and not for the benefit of working people is just plain stupid.
We need to rememger our history, and you do a great job of reminding us Corbin: The lessons...
1. What we have is not NATURAL - it is the deliberate policy created by a few billionaires after the Powell Memo of 1971. It is NOT human nature toi have this inequality
2. We were not a "socialist" nation in the 1950's when the public owned most of the hospitals. Public investment built the country.
3. Our institutions no longer function because of the "cuts" that were supposed to "lower the debt." Fact, the Clinton surpluses led to an explosion of private debt, the dotcom recession and eventually the GFC of 2008.
4. We have been sold the individualistic idea of the American dream where if you didn't make it, it's your own fault. Bullcrap. The deck is stacked. 75% of Americans do not think their lives or their children's lives will get better. The Republicans, and their Heritage think tanks, have the American dream on the ground and are driving in the final death blows.
Onward.
Thanks so much Trip! I was also about to comment - the misunderstanding about national debt vs consumer/commercial debt is widespread - but your comment really covers it all. I'm going to save it for future reference. Thanks again!
If anyone wants to understand the history of the BS that is austerity, I highly recommend Clara Mattei’s recent book, ‘The Capital Order - how economists invented austerity and paved the way to fascism’.
She writes, and it’s important to keep in mind that - “Capitalism was more than a system of economy; it was a system of social order, too.” The state (government) has been subsumed to an economic system that always prioritizes profit and private property over community and people.
America needs to find a World War II 2.0 mentality and start getting things done for the people.
And lets get back to shooting and imprisoning Nazis while we are at it. We did it to Germany, its past time to clean our own house of fascists and White Supremacists.
No, that's not what I meant at all. I'm talking about using American innovation and not getting bogged down in stupid regulations that are not needed. Focus on getting the job done. Don't be afraid to cut corners or take a few shortcuts. We never would have won the war with today's mentality back then.
Clearly spoken from a place of incredible privilege, where you don't need to worry about unlicensed natural gas generators in your backyard, or Meta sucking up your groundwater, or Monsanto poisoning your lakes and water sources and food, etc et al. Those regulations are written in blood, usually the blood of the poor or the marginalized. If you are comfortable with risking thier lives, thier health, and thier children dont be surprised when they dont care about you either.
We're on two different pages here. This discussion is over.
If I had a spare dollar to give, I would gladly give to all the aforementioned Democrat contestant's. I hope and pray that enough people get out and vote for their own lives because that is what is on the ballot this year; our lives or the death of many of us if left to the Republicans plan of austerity. God help us
There are plenty of Democrats who buy into their own plan of austerity; cowards who are so scared of the socialist label that they will buy into market-based insanity at the drop of a hat. And Democratic voters will keep lesser evil voting these clowns into office because they are cowards as well. And we continue to circle the drain.
I believe it's important to establish the narrative now that Trump and the GOP are responsible for our breathtaking deficit - their wars, their tax cuts for the rich, Trumps vanity projects etc. - because, as you wrote, if Democrats take Congress, Republicans will start the blame game on day one and, because their messaging is far better than the Dems, that narrative will win. The public needs to be repeatedly told, NOW, that 29% of our debt since the country's founding has been incurred under Trump's two administrations and that virtually none of that debt was incurred for the benefit of the people or the nation. The myth that Republicans are fiscally responsible needs to be unquestionably proven false and that messaging needs to be loud and constant in order to have any chance of taking hold.
The messaging that the GOP is the problem…. is the problem. Until the Democratic Party unshackles itself from corporate donors, it will never gain enough trust from voters to develop the working class coalition necessary for the radical change we need.
FDR - ‘I welcome their hatred’.
Love that FDR quote. True enough that corporate Democrats infest the party, but there are Dems that actually want to make positive change for the people. I can't remember where I heard the following comment but it rings pretty true: A politican once stated that "50% of Democrats in Congress are corrupt, but 100% of Republicans are." I'll take the 50% of Democrats that are not corrupt and hope that a wave of progressives increases that percentage. Regardless, if the public associates the Republican party with profligate, irresponsible fiscal behavior designed to screw the average person for the benefit of the 1%, aren't we better off? Regarding the corporate Dems: For now we have to, as they say, play with the team we have unless, or until, they are replaced. It's a crappy hand, but it's the one we have to play with for the time being. I'm not negating the issues with the Democratic party, because they are serious, but we have to do what we can with what we have...for now.
Nope. Not me. I left the Democratic Party when the DLC took it over and whored itself out to monied interest donors pre-Clintons. Ever since, they play the ‘we’re not as bad as the GOP’ card, thinking that will win elections, and it does… 50% of the time. Republicans run the country into the ditch; Dems, instead of pulling the country out of the ditch via New Deal-style radical legislation, throw crumbs to the base, and frustrate voters writ large, by pulling a fraction of the way up the ditch bank, and then crowing about it. Then wealth inequality is exacerbated, and a pissed off public votes for change, and we get more GOP.
Voting won’t do squat, until enough voters realize the enemy is not the Rs or Ds, but the capitalist class. You’ll know the Dems have begun to get it when Schumer and Jeffries are run out of leadership on a rail, they cut off aid to Israel, and vote to slash the Pentagon budget. Until then, it’s performative theater.
Jeebus, the Dems are clueless.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/moskowitz-jeffries-aipac
Ugh! What an awful choice. Definitely Dems shooting themselves in the foot again.
"Trickle" down was aptly named. It should have made us suspicious from the very beginning.
It made a lot of people suspicious. A lot of people knew better and voted against him, but Reagan peddled the good feelings, or maybe the backlash to FDR, that people were looking for. So much so that there are still people who blindly worship him.
Like…. Obama.
And the White Supremacy, he didnt shy away from saying the problem was gay people and Black Welfare queens while quietly making arms deals with Middle Eastern terrorists and Central American drug lords.
Good morning! And THANKS Corbin for this inspirational essay.
I am with you.
Our WW II moment is the current state of our environment and helping the environment would help our economy and our lives.
As is pointed out we should be building out our electrical systems using renewable energy systems like places around the world are doing. Our transportation; electric trains, better bicycle infrastructure and electric busses for the last mile of transit, again like other countries have been doing for years.
Look up the work being done by the Honnold Foundation and listen to Bill McKibben's TED talk on solar. Check out the Weekly Anthropocene substack to learn about all the great work in these areas being done elsewhere. These inspire me because they show what can, and is, being done.
On the Oregon Coast where 90% of seafood consumed is not locally caught, even though there are sustainable strong fisheries here, the infrastructure needed to support the local economy simply isn't here anymore.
Here is an explanation: https://www.localocean.net/go-deep/seafood-paradox
The U.S. needs systemic change now and there are people running for office who I believe can usher in that change. It won't be easy or fast but it needs to happen.
Repeal the Trump
Tax cuts effective immediately. Pass a wealth tax. Nationalize the tech companies you have already bought with tax incentives, subsidies, and pork barrow contracts. Some of the companies are so imbedded in your defense and government systems you will have to seize ownership. Also consider seizing the private for profit prison system and returning human rights and rule of law to the system.
Amen, brother! 🙌 Thank you for this dose of inspo this morning.
You can't start a war and dismantle a system of Federal Government to pay for it and on top of all that give payoffs, no-bid contracts to build military weaponry and monster memorials to yourself, screw up the White House and impose and then payback illegal tarrifs and then propose other tarrifs, just as disruptive to trade and the economy, stop investment support of clean and less expensive technology and monitor our schools for DEI, their libraries for "woke" literature and shut down agencies like USAID and Voice of America, deploy ships throughout the Planet and support Israeli wars and at the same time take over Venezulan Oil production, without breaking a few eggs. This does not mention support for genocide and annexation of Palestine and wars in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. We will be paying for this destruction and the Bonds that enshrine that debt to our great, great grandchildren, into the 22nd Century. Thanks Don and your Republican tax-breakers for the rich and famous. Could not have done it without all you folks.
I really appreciate this framing. The question of what we choose to build, who it serves, and whether it strengthens people, communities, and our collective capacity feels increasingly important. Moving from extraction toward an economy rooted in shared well-being feels like an essential part of that conversation.
You’ve asserted that the post war debt ration was the highest ever recorded, at 106%. My research, which took less than 5 minutes, says that as of today, we’re at 123%, considerably higher than 106%.
Yeah I phrased that poorly. Federal spendinp was at its peak. More than 40% of GDP was federal spending I think for 2 years.
Corbin, on the challenges facing our badly damaged country and remedies needed: Please write about the corruption of the SCOTUS! This latest obscene gimmick of messing with voting by mail is critically damaging to our hopes of retaking the House and Senate.
How can we combat this?
It bears repeating that support for change pays better than the status quo.