Recent comments
ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Join Thom for his new twice-weekly email newsletters on ADHD, whether it affects you or a member of your family.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Great rant, Palin! Take a bow!
Kend - You hate being called stupid, but you keep saying stupid things like "sooner or later you will run out of wealthy people to tax then what." Right. Claiming that taxes are just a band-aid for the economy is like saying food is just a band-aid for starvation, or water is a band-aid for dehydration, or... need I go on? All horse crap.
As for the climate issue... sorry pal, I"m not buying it. You fossil fuel cheerleaders and fossil fuel shills can keep on quacking; you're simply wasting your breath on us who know better. Whoever you're listening to on this topic, I'd guess it's someone who either isn't a climate scientist at all, or is one whoring for the fossil fuel industry, getting paid to lie to the public. Whatever you're listening to is propaganda, not science. And for you to claim any authority on this subject (because you're Canadian?!) is a joke. All you climate-denying fools love dissing Al Gore, trivializing the whole climate movement by suggesting those "morons" are flocking to the Arctic because of something Al Gore said or whatever. (PL-EEEZE!) Seems to me the real morons are the fossil fuel shills who have the stupidity and arrogance to argue with the experts. Now, I'm no climate scientist myself; but since over 95% of climate scientists out there are saying our weather changes are human-caused, that's more than enough to convince me that we are the source of the problem. Period. - Aliceinwonderland
The US is only as great as it's ability to convince other countries to take our funny money to produce the goods that our military requires to keep those other countries in line. Many of those countries are not buying it anymore and the US knows it.
"Oh, please Mr. Chinaman won't you accept our worthless treasury notes in exchange for those missile parts that we need to put into missiles that we are aiming at you?"
Anymore, the only thing the US is "good" for is creating bubble real estate speculation and scare insurance along with the debt producing tools in finance. Sell, Sell, Sell...borrow...borrow...borrow...buy...buy...buy. Snake oil and elixirs for the things that ails you. You just gotta BELIEVE!
"Oh, won't you all just..just .. believe! And be very afraid of the terrorist bogey man...no, no, not us....the Muslims! When WE kill millions...it's just "collateral damage". When they kill a few hundred or a couple of thousand...it's terrorism! We kill for proselytizing Democracy...and for oil, of course! When they kill, its to get back at us for killing their families and forcing our will on them..and stealing their oil! Worthless cowards...dying for something they believe in..defending their country....not like our brave soldiers who press buttons hundreds or thousands of miles away while murdering innocent civilians...innocent my A$$...we're brave Amerikuns and God luvs US..not them!" ;-0
Now, that's what I was wondering all the time I was reading that alleged NASA presentation. I have to admit that I didn't watch the whole video..about half of it. I just couldn't take that woman very seriously. So, I read the document instead. Who actually put this document together? How do we really know that it came from NASA? We don't!
Who was giving that presentation? It sounded very technical and they seemed to use all the technical jargon that made it sound that they knew more than just any Joe-the-plumber on the street trying to fake this stuff. But a lot of it sounded pretty far out there..mixed with stuff some of us know exists..and suspect will be quite possible. I'll likely be dead by 2025 anyway. That's only 11 years from now...Yikes!
Who was giving this presentation? At times it sounded like some powerful elite were planning for a future war against the lowly people who may one day rebel, perhaps? And that remark in the document about massive torture of human beings...in living color...what the heck? I don't know! Thing is that all these government groups...the Pentagon...NASA...CIA..NSA..etc all conjure up some pretty wild scenarios of what ifs...and we just don't know if that is all this was. They play "war games" all the time and plan for contingencies. Just because they may have conjured up a scenario of an invasion of the Earth by Aliens doesn't mean that Aliens are about to invade. They just plan these wild ideas just so they can be prepared in case something actually does go in that direction. And if someone from outside their circles manages to get hold of any of this data feeding those prone to paranoia and psychs them out...it can act as a way of discrediting anyone who manages to get real data from these organizations. Most people will think anyone who even mentions these things are totally bonkers and will ignore any valid data that ever leaks in the future. It could be that this is part of their effort of psy-ops in discrediting anyone who dares claim they are reading "leaked" data. The wildest, scariest things will work the best.
Maybe they were referring to cyborgs taking over and rebelling against us humans? I saw those movies...but it is quite possible. When one watches YouTube videos of Boston Dynamics robots and human like robots that the Japanese have seemed to master...artificial intelligence (AI)..all quite possible in a few short years. I read that over 60 countries now have drones and if we are not careful our next major conflict could be a scene out of one of our scariest sci-fi movies. And I am certainly not going to shrug off the prospect of a future ET/human confrontation. Major Corso, and others, told us a lot about where some of our technology originated. We may just be playing catch-up and be making the mistake that we can actually win in a confrontation with those giant grey ant brothers of another mother. Not that I really believe in all that stuff, mind you ;-0
Unfortunately you are preaching to the choir here. What we need to do is to find a way to get the so called "conservatives" to understand that when all Americans are working the economy has the funding it needs to provide the Safety net programs and reduce the deficit and give tax cuts.
We also need to get them to understand that tax cuts do not encourage corporations to hire more people! When we give corporate tax cuts they see it as increasing their bottom line without having to produce more. If we raise their taxes they have to produce more to increase their bottom line and therefore they have to hire more people to produce more.
The problem with this is the Corporations would likely turn to other countries where labor is cheaper and increase the unemployment here in America.
There has to be a way to get corporations to understand that they are better off getting every ablebodied person in America working, which would allow for tax cuts and other forms of overhead reduction. Passing Single payer Healthcare would reduce or eliminate the insurance mandate while ensuring that all Amercans are covered for illness or injury further reducing employer overhead.
WE could try persuading the corporations that if every American was working they would have money to buy their goods and they would make more money, their stock value would increase and their shareholders would reap a greater dividend. And the workers would be paying taxes which would reduce the need for more taxes and allow tax cuts (since they seem to want tax cuts so badly),
Just my thoughts.
Sincerely
Wiliam Manners
There have been two simultaneous austerity agendas, the one imposed by the rich on the middle class, and the one imposed by the middle class on the poor.
They have been investing a great deal of money since the 1980s, much of it in job creation -- just not here in the US. Years of massive tax cuts, etc., have been used to build factories and offices outside the US while steadily turning the US into a source of cheap, third world labor.
One leading factor that isn't too complicated to squeeze into a post: Most of our air pollution is caused by burning fossil fuels. As we burn these, oil particles are released into the atmosphere. These particles magnify the intensity of the sunlight hitting the planet, sort of like a weak magnifying glass. Meanwhile, they also trap heat closer to the ground, slowly increasing global warming.
Have you seen the satellite photos taken of the arctic regions over a period of decades? It's shrinking. I do understand that some people can't grasp the impact of long-term temperature trends, much less understand the role global pollution plays. You should catch up on reading how air pollution worldwide effects weather, about the meaning of overall weather trends, etc -- too complex to address in a post. But it is with good reason that scientists have been sounding the alarms on this critical issue. This isn't a political or social issue. It's straight out, well-documented science.
We can't extend UI. The middle class was very clear about the necessity to put strict time limits on aid (by any other name), to "serve as an incentive to get up every morning and find a job." I don't think we've ever been a full-employment nation, where there were jobs for all who desperately needed one, and this generation did decide that long-term aid to the jobless isn't the answer. When we require our most disadvantaged to somehow find jobs, in a country that has shipped out the bulk of our factory jobs, how could we possible expect less of those who have middle class advantages? All the arguments for and against extended UI applied to welfare as well, but UI costs a lot more (much more than most laid off workers actually paid into UI). How many people on UI today applauded when Bill Clinton declared that "there is no excuse" for long-term joblessness?
Alice I would never try to change your mind about climate change, sorry global warming. The science I am seeing is not saying the same. Al Gore and his scientists said arctic ice is melting and it is not. Period. I know I live here. look at these idiots going up there trying to prove the ice is melting frozen stiff in the unforgiving Acrtic. people have know idea how dangerous it is there the weather can change in minutes. The Eskimos must be laughing there heads off Up there. Oh by the way the people are not stranded up there there vessel is. We can get the people out anytime. the Canadian government is building two state of the art military ice breakers as there are more and more of those morons going up there every year because Al Gore said there is no ice there anymore.
yes you are right about the economy it will pick up when you raise taxes but sooner or later you will run out of wealthy people to tax then what. Higher taxes are just a band aid. You need incentives to get people to create work. You know like Reagon did to get the US out of the mess they where in.
FACT: When taxes (on the wealthy) go up, the economy is stronger. If I had a penny for every time Thom has emphasized this on his radio show, I'd be enjoying a comfortable retirement.
FACT: Global warming is human caused, not the natural phenomenon conservatives and fossil fuel shills want us to believe it is. - AIW
2950. I don't think returning to pre Reagon tax rates is the answer. The wealthy will just sit on there money even more. I think the answer is to find a way to get the wealthy to invest there money. Something this adminasrtration isn't very good at.
2950 I am not saying there is no global warming. The earth has been changing tempature for 50 million years. As a Canadian we have been reducing our green house gas enmmisions for years now but there is only 33 million people here shouldn't our focus be on India and China with a combined 2.2 billion.
DAnneMarc / Kend: Not only does science prove global warming is taking place, science also provides us with a 95% probability that humans are causing it. That probability may be 99.9% by now though.
chuckle8: In reply to Friday.....yes, I'm a big Thomas Paine fan. I have many books about him and his times. The most recent reading I recall was a book by Christopher Hitchens entitled, "Thomas Paine's Rights of Man."
Palindromedary ~ I just got a chance to see all that video. Didn't have the time last night. Now, generally speaking, I have a very open mind; but, if that really came out of NASA, either you are right on, or, its COINTELPRO on steroids. One of my strangest reactions was how the alleged document kept referring to "humans" in third person. If you read it, is that true? What are they implying? That is, who are the authors? Are they robots, gods, or extraterrestrials? Can they really put human brains into robots? They can't even put a human brain into a human. How can they accomplish mind control from a SMART meter? I'd really like to know that? I've had my "human" brain now almost totally in my possession for over half a century and I, myself, can't even control it. It doesn't make any sense to me logically that they would spread out that technology on every home where anyone can reverse engineer it; and, where anyone with a sledge hammer or a large rock can neutralize it.
Frequency based weapon technology I can understand. Anyone with a variable oscillator, an amplifier, deaf neighbors, and some idle time can recreate such technology. Basically, you can cause discomfort, pain, and confusion--just like is done routinely by Heavy Metal and RAP music. However, causing any kind of mind control that is productive, is far beyond anything I could imagine.
I--quite probably like you--studied electronic technology all my life because I hate a mystery I can't understand that seems like magic. The more understanding you have the less likely you are to be fooled into believing science fiction is reality. Of course, my understanding is naturally limited. I could explain how radar, a remote control, a computer, or to some extent, even the internet works; however, I am limited by what I know; and, more so by what I don't know. It sounds like we are to be led to believe that higher level technology has been kept secret. Secret, despite the potential to exploit it for commercial reasons?
However, if that were true, that would really help to support the claim that the Government has struck a covert treaty with extraterrestrials. It is far less likely to me that they developed all this new technology on their own. That would also explain the constant reference to "humans" in third person in the document. Please tell me, did you actually acquire this document from the NASA web site?
Your experience with military personnel is far superior to mine. However, I have noted that of everyone I know who have joined the military they all tend to have a deep commitment to the protection of this country and it's citizens. I can't for the life of me imagine a conspiracy that would run so deep, involve so many higher than the normal intelligence people, and contradict those principles so much, that it would be able to fly under the radar so perfectly without any whistle blowers from the inside coming forward; and, the only source of the info being a soccer mom, surfing the web, with way too much time on her hands. Please correct me if I am wrong; but, in my humble opinion, if this story had any real credibility, military personnel would have blown the whistle every which way the wind blows since day one.
Any more light that you could share on this story would be most appreciated. Have a very Happy New Year in the mean time.
On today's broadcast, Thom mentioned once again the importance of returning to pre Reagan tax rates. Not only would this extinguish the Teapublican austerity arson....the vast majority of voters, both Republican and Democratic are in favor of increasing tax rates on those in the top bracket.
The American public deserves to know that the republicans planning to block the extension are also the same senate republicans who have blocked democratic job stimulus attempts. Bills like the, "Bring Jobs Home," were prevented from even being debated. They've done this with the knowledge that only one job exists for every three citizens seeking. So for every one million citizens the republicans deny unemployment benefits, more than 600,000 have no shot at a job anyway, because it doesn't exist. One thing we can all count on though....the corpse media won't make a peep about any of these truths. Truths the American public need to know!
DAnne the ship went up there to do research on how the Acritic ice is disappearing. Like Al Gore showed in his movie. The fact is that it is not. The ice there changes season to season as it has done so for thousands of years. Just ask the Eskimos. I am starting to believe global warming is just a way for environmentalists to get as wealthy as Harry Reid.
The US has spent hundreds of billions on reseach on global warming. How many could have received benefits or help with that money.
can people go on welfare after there unemployment benefits run out? They can here in Canada.
Right on, Johnnie! Horse whipped, tarred & feathered, and thrown in the slammer for the rest of their lives. - AIW
1949 from 1941 -- Seems that do one has discussed the optimal price concept. I am not an MBA but my guess It is just the supply/demand curve. If a business raises the price it will have less demand but larger profit margin, and if it lowers the price it will have more demand but smaller profit margin. The optimal point is where the profit times the demand is the largest. An increase in the min wage will decrease the profit margin everywhere on the curve the same amount. Like I said, I am not an MBA, but it seems like the optimal price point would remain the same.
What really erks me is when I saw that John A-hole Boehner say on national TV that the Repugs won't extend unemployment and that the president needs to do something to create more jobs. What a crock! The president has presented more than one jobs bill and the creeps on the right keep fillibustering every jobs bill the president has offered. If that idiot John Beohner wants more American jobs, why has he been on the side of the job outsourcers for so long? Proposterous, insencere hogwash! I would suggest to Boehner that he needs to ship our jobs back to the U.S. or shut the hell up. Stinking lying creep that he is. These right wing Neo-cons need to be horse whipped for being such lying criminals.
Bingo, "sandlewould"! Take back the FCC and corporate media.... now that's the ticket! - AIW
1949 from 1941 -- My numbers are from Bernie Sanders and Thom. Where did you read the 900,000 that dropped their policies?
I agree with economic dynamic that DAnneMarc describes. The only problem with our theory or yours is another epiphany that Thom came up with. If any business quit because of the minimum wage, it would be front and center on the RW media. How many actual examples have you seen? Saying you are going to close if the min wage is increased is far different from actually closing. I think the consensus of all the studies of the effect of an increase in the min wage is that the number of jobs in an area remains the same, but the GDP increases. The RW (e.g. Peter Schiff) comes up with the example in the Samoan Islands (?) of a big loss of jobs when the min wage was increased. The only problem with the example is that all the other surronding island states had a similar loss of jobs with no min wage increase. The base problem was the economic downturn that effected all travel, the tourist industry was the main enterprise of all the islands.
If that employer made all those 200 plus employees part time (in CA did they not pass a law that it had to be 8 hours to be considered part time), did he hire an additional 800 employees to keep porviding the same level of service? All those employees can now go the CA exchange and buy insurance.