Mark S -- I like what you say. You are performing a very difficult task. The task of explaining what the phrase "race to the bottom" or "death spiral" means.

AIW -- I think your view of the pattern is way too optimistic. Western civilization has been around for 7000 years. As Thom has pointed out, only during that 500 years have we not been under autocratic rule. I propose that the cycle you describe only happens during that 500 years. The 6500 years include things like the dark ages with no such cycles.

Palin, I plead guilty for voting for Obama. Twice. But I never felt as enthusiastic about Obama as I do about Sanders. Not even close. Early in Obama's first campaign, I picked up on three warning signs from him that I have shared here several times already. At the risk of being redundant, I'll repeat them again: (1) That Obama intended to escalate the war in Afghanistan; (2) that Obama favors nuclear power; and (3) that Obama flunked Project Vote Smart's political courage test by showing an unwillingness to expose his congressional voting record to public scrutiny. These signs had me hesitate over supporting Obama from the very start. But with alternatives like McCain and Romney I felt trapped, so I voted for Obama anyway, despite these serious reservations. His pretty speeches never moved me all that much. Since Obama won the presidency I've found him to be a great deal worse than I had feared, and now view him as little more than a con man.

I've picked up on no such signs from Bernie to indicate that he would cater to corporatists or war mongers. He's all about the working class and single payer and upward mobility for everyone, slashing the Pentagon budget and de-throning the oligarchs. And that's good enough for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Palin, but my guess is that whatever you heard or read about Obama in those early days (the 2008 campaign) were from mainstream sources like TV. I stopped relying on TV a long time ago.

Hope is dead, Palin? Not in my realm of reality. I know I can sound very cynical on this forum, but I refuse to accept that hope is dead. The fascists would love for us to all believe there's no hope, that there's no point in even trying anymore. Call me a sucker, then. I've been called much worse in my life.

Diplomacy no longer an option, says Kerry? Screw Kerry. He's part of the problem, not the solution. As a young Vietnam vet Kerry seemed pretty cool, but that was decades ago. Kerry is just another oligarch now, a rich old man who has long since sold out to the devil.

Look Palin, you don't have to convince me how messed up things are. History shows they've been as bad or worse before. With the war mongers beating their drums yet again, maybe we'll have World War Three. Maybe we'll all be dead before 2016. Maybe this, maybe that, maybe maybe maybe. But give up hope?! Never. Not until I take my last breath, Palin. It keeps me getting out of bed every morning. I'll not let you or anyone convince me that hope is dead. - Aliceinwonderland

Mark Saulys ~ Yes, McDonald's did engage in that practice 30 years ago. Whether or not they still do I have no idea. However, since the minimum wage has been raised several times in that time period; and, menu prices have been almost stagnant it would shock and amaze me if those practices weren't still in effect today. I'll never forget once being shorted over 5 hours on one two week check. 5 hours at McDonalds is an eternity of labor. Frankly, I'm not surprised to hear about temp agencies; and, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear about Walmart conducting the same immoral practices. I'm so glad that part of my life is behind me; although, my heart truly goes out to anyone who is falling victim to such practices. I feel quite fortunate that I eventually found honest employers. For that reason I am uniquely indebted to them.

Marc, that's just what the temp agencies do. They short everybody's paycheck and pocket the difference. Usually it's a game run by the payroll guy and the dispatcher or the onsite supervisor or, better yet, somebody in the client's office. They also overcharge clients putting fictitious workers' names on the billing invoice. When you try to straighten out your check they tell you you got to go straighten it out with the client and the client sends you back to the temp agency about it who sends you back to the client who sends you back to the agency until you give up.

I worked at one place (temp agency) that was owned and staffed by off duty Cook County cops and Chicago police officers who often wore their guns and badges in the dispatch offices. When you complained about your check they accused you of a crime implying that they stole your wages but you might be the one to go to jail if you don't shut up.

Your mentioning wage theft brought back memories I just had to go on about. It is, however, a very prevalent problem in certain sectors of the economy and although many very respectable client firms of temp agencies (Marshal Field, Chicago Sun Times, Aramark Services, etc.) were involved in it I'm still surprised to hear McDonald's engages in it. No doubt Walmart does as well.

Curt W -- A flat tax is the wet dream of the rich. Even the social security tax is loved by the rich because there is no tax on the way they earn money i.e. capital gains, carried interest, dividends etc.

However, the most important thing you need to remember is that taxes have a dual purpose. Besides raising revenue, they are put in place to encourage certain behaviors e.g. home interest is deductible to encourage people to buy houses. Another example Thom gave on his show on Monday was the building of wind farms. Of course, these behavious modification deductions are often "fondly" referred to as loopholes.

Well, I did say right off.."what do you think of this?" and then I quoted someone on Counter Punch. So, thank you for replying on what that person said. That's not what I said!

I have not listened to Bernie, or read as much as you all have about Bernie. So, I just don't know as much about it as you all do. I have always liked what I heard or read about Bernie, myself. But then, before Obama was elected, I liked everything he said too. I thought he was going to be the one to turn everything around. A lot of people did. And a lot of people even voted again for the guy after it was clear that he had not done much of what he had pretended he'd do in the first term. And now, with the second term half over it is plainly obvious that he has been fooling all his constituents all along. Some people just keep hoping things will change...continuing to play the same old rigged game...and hoping, hoping, hoping. Hope is dead, people! You've all been suckered and you'll continue to be suckers if you think that voting for anyone is going to change things.

Just for shits and giggles, I'll probably still vote for Bernie, if he even runs. But, it looks like we might not even make it to the next election anyway. Poland is asking for 10,000 NATO troops to be stationed in their country. Ambassadors being pulled out. I think we are headed for another very dangerous situation that could go nuclear. And if it goes nuclear, we won't even have to worry about sea ice melting and/or methane causing runaway Global warming. Kerry has already stated that a diplomatic solution is no longer an option.

The damn US and NATO started this whole mess when they started undermining other countries and especially when they helped to overthrow the government of Ukraine. The Nazis are in charge now!

And what do we have in this country anyway to live or die for anyway? Freedom? Democracy? Decent paying Jobs? We've got the government spying on everything we do. We've got NDAA..indefinite detention of American citizens...with the ambiguous terms of "enemy combatants". If they don't like what you say...they could consider you an "enemy combatant" and torture you as long as they wanted. No legal recourse! People have already "disappeared"! The damn KGB Gestapo pigs, I mean the authorities, could come knocking, even as I type, and haul my sorry ass out the door all for expressing myself. HUAC will live again in this country, unfortunately.

Chris Hedges and a number of others have tried to sue* the Obama regime to keep the NDAA from targeting Americans with it. And they have won in lower courts but were set back in higher courts from pressure from the Obama administration. Obama tried to tell us that he was against that part of the legislation but it turned out that he actually insisted that it be included. And the military will be able to use their force against the civilians in the US. And you all voted for the guy...because you were still hoping he'd change! Ha! And, once again, you still have hope that by continuing to play the rigged game at the ballot box it is going to matter? You know, THEY will probably do to him what they did to JFK, don't you, if he fights them?
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* the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA)[4] which permits the U.S. government to indefinitely detain people "who are part of or substantially support Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedges_v._Obama

Now, that is so ambiguous that they could interpret what anyone says as being a threat or support to Al Qaeda or the Taliban or associated forces...

I too have listened to "Brunch with Bernie" enough times to have a good sense of where he is coming from, which has no resemblance to whatever Palin is complaining about. And I have to say, I get very tired of the negativity. It seems that no matter who the candidate or media person happens to be and how great that person sounds to me and many other progressives, somebody will trash him or her. And it gets very, very tiresome.

Against this corporatized fascist media backdrop, I find Thom Hartmann an amazing breath of fresh air. Ditto Bernie Sanders, in contrast to a Congress full of self-serving piggies & toadies. But someone always manages to trash them anyway. Sometimes I'd just like to ask, why bother? Why don't we just sit back and do nothing, vote for nothing, believe in nothing and just bitch and complain because nobody is good enough or pleases us 100% all of the time?!! I think some people need to grow up. - Aliceinwonderland

I agree with the last caller today (Apr 2), who said, about the SCOTUS decision today, that a DIFFERENT approach to amending the Constitution might work better than most already promoted. I have been considering an amendment DEFINING BRIBERY in the Constitution, which only contains the word BRIBERY once, while NOT DEFINING it.

My wording (not refined) would define BRIBERY as ANYTHING of [*] VALUE given to ANY representative of the American People constitutes the commission of BRIBERY to and for that representative.

Additional 'wordsmithing' should probably include contributions to ELECTION CAMPAIGNS (at ALL levels of Government)

Steve Pond, living near Missoula, Montana

Quote Palindromedary:Is Bernie Sanders just another Obama? Says some things we all want to hear but may turn on us later?

Is Bernie Sanders the ruling elite's Plan C?

Palindromedary ~ Bernie Sanders a Corporate shill? Are you kidding me? Are you hitting the catnip a little hard today? One thing I know about Bernie I don't know about everyone else is his segments on this show, "Breakfast with Bernie," that I've listened to every Friday for years now. During that time I can't think of once that I disagreed with him. He has spoken up about the truth at least as much as Dennis Kucinich, who I also admire.

If Sanders is some kind of a shill he is the best shill we could hope for. I don't know about a ruling elite's Plan C; however, if Bernie would ever turn on us it would prove to me that those claims about Presidential hypnosis, drug induced mind control, or replacement by shape shifting aliens aren't such ridiculous theories after all. Perhaps he is the ruling elite's "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

Whatever the case, as far as I am concerned Bernie Sanders is an answer to my prayers. Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?

Quote Aliceinwonderland:Yes, Marc!! Bernie Sanders for president!!! Where do I get my tee shirt? Even if he loses in 2016 (heaven forbid!), I'll always wear it with pride. - AIW

Aliceinwonderland ~ Very simple! Just follow this link:

BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT 2016

Have your credit card ready, they are $20/ea + shipping. I bought 2

Palindromedary ~ Be careful! You are treading on thin ice if you bad mouth Bernie on this blog. You should know better.

But then...what do you think of this?

"Although Sanders may have once been a socialist back in the 80s when he was Mayor of Burlington, today, a socialist he is not. Rather he behaves more like a technofascist disguised as a liberal, who backs all of President Obama’s nasty little wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Since he always “supports the troops,” Sanders never opposes any defense spending bill. He stands behind all military contractors who bring much-needed jobs to Vermont."
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"Sanders is the darling of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee and the right-wing Likud government of Israel. He has done everything within his power to keep the myth of Islamic terrorism alive. He never questions the U.S. government’s unconditional support of Israeli acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. It is as though these are nonevents."
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"Bernie Sanders loves to rail against Corporate America, Wall Street, and the super-rich, but has nothing to show for it. He’s done little to constrain their power and influence. But everybody on the Left loves Bernie."
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http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/30/the-myth-of-bernie-sanders/
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Is Bernie Sanders just another Obama? Says some things we all want to hear but may turn on us later?

Is Bernie Sanders the ruling elite's Plan C?

Of course, these quotes are from a rather old (2011) article.