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.
There was about 79 years between Andrew Jackson closing the Second Bank of the US and 1913, the Federal Reserve. that is 79 years with Jackson's "pet banks" and Van Burens "sub-treasuries." In that 79 years, there were 20 recessions,panics, depressions.
when you have a bank failure, the bank has assets, but not liquid enough to cover demand deposits. So a run puts it out of business. The government solution is to have a bigger bank buy it, which is probably the only solution.
just at the mention of lawyers? In cali they gave a grip of them in upwards of 22% pay hikes as they dig deeper into my pocket so i can pay for my kids college. And funny how you mentioned "thinking like criminals" you are right! As far as IRS? As one in tax compliance the sheer amount of "paper" they have to deal with would boggle any mind, 20000 auditors to 150 million filers. BUt let it be known, this years tax update seminar brought light to the fact that the IRS as well as state governments will be diggin deep and perhaps finally going after the biggest cheaters.As in past rants just remember the IRS estimates 400-500 billion a year in lost revenue to cheaters and skanks. think of that. get that money and close all the holes in the tax code? we could be out of the hole in 10 years! Get 14 million americans back to work? we could be out in 5-7! Get corporations to pay their share? Out in 3!
...and if kids arn't dumb enough? In California Govnuts Brown is doing away with free bus service for kids as part of budgetery cuts? How many kids do you think are going to make it to school now? What the Heck! take, take take, from those of us who carry the load! Yet give raises to fat cat admin? Man I love what this country has become. NOT!
I am one of those who has slipped into the low-income level. When I retired 20 yrs ago, I thought my income was adequate to carry me through the years. However, when I lost my house to foreclosure at the beginning of this meltdown....couldn't sell it during the 2.5 yrs it was on the market even though it was marketed at half price....my nest egg went with it. What is happening to our country is a travesty. Listening to the seven dwarfs "debate" the issues, I can't help but wonder what planet they're on....they're certainly not living in my world. I keep waiting for our president to step up to the plate to fight for us but so far Obama hasn't walked the talk which is one reason why this country is in such turmoil and has spawned the Occupy movement. None of us in the 99% feels secure. We want leadership but aren't finding it in Congress nor in the president. Is Bernie Sanders the only voice out there? I cajole my congress people to stand up and be counted but no one is listening. The response I get back is a form letter wayyy off the subject matter. Where are our Teddy Kennedys, Byrds, Wellstones? We're waiting...
It's just not inequality in wealth, it's inequality in opportunity. It used to be said "only in america ". Well not anymore. I really believe if equal opportunity existed we see a great many of these elite monarchs
challenged and some upset. However if you have an exterprising design, concept, or skill, you have little to no chance of putting it out there without being crushed, stolen, or unfairly competed against by a Giant run by a meglomaniac recieving an unfair advantage through congress. I believe the evil deed has been sealed on September 11, 2001. Now folks like General Wesley Clarck have joined the conspiracy clan, not to mention some very well know physicist, etc.
jrsinton- There are too many lawyers everywhere.
"Since the banksters wrecked our economy -"
We have to stop considering this occurrence as some sort of fluke which happened out of nowhere in favor of certain banks. It is an enemy which came upon us in the night.
To wreck the American economy is a big Scotland Yard size caper, and took years and years of setting up to bring us to our knees. We've talked over how these depressions, recessions, and meaningless wars have been an endless cycle since the beginning of banking in America.
Why do so many details slip the notice of IRS, bank examiners, the USDOJ and the FDIC? Why do these agencies respond to certain cases and let others sleep.? Why did the FDIC let WAMU executives off with a tap on the hand?
Why do the lion's share of failed banks merge into Wells Fargo #3511 or Bank of America #3510 ? Are we to believe that in 1933 when they became federally insured, BA and WF were in line next to each other to get consecutive Certificate Numbers?
This is a mathematically planned financial takeover which was to be consummated in three generations.
We better start putting our thinking caps on and start thinking like criminals if it is ever going to stop.
More lawyers in US per capita than ANY other country ! And it shows Worst ones are 5 Supreme Court judges who passed ' Citizens United' They are toxic to our country
Well said OWS is about Fairness . Having a Level playing field for all No special perks - corp cuts- loopholes for the Robber Barons while US wages & our standard of living tanks.
Thom & Louise Great work ! Merry Chrsitmas to all
Absolutely The GOP congress will do anything to hurt -crush US economy - jobs and break Obama without any guilt at all
Recall Corbett -- I want the damn HOUSE back!
Recall Walter is my hope -- now please recall Corbett! I want new elections in red states -- as many as possible. We can't work with those GOP gridlock-terror in Congress, we need a decent majority.
It isn't true that President Obama caves in. The voter caved in 2010! REMEMBER? So don't blame it on the President -- you did it flip-flop-voter!
Okay, I don't know what's gonna happen in Pen -- I just want: recall Corbett!
The problems is that most people don't understand the difference between balanced budget and debt thinking they are the same thing. We can balance a budget one year but still have a debt. Same with you and me and everyone else. We budget payments according to our income, not total debt. Like a lot of people don't care what something costs, only how much the monthly payments are. While I agree that our deficit is way too big and takes a huge chunk out of our revenues, I don't necessarily agree with doing away with all debt, just reducing it, which we can easily do by just not fighting these incessant, unnecessary wars. As Eisenhower warned in his 1961 exit speech "beware of the military industrial complex." Seems everything the Republicans want to do these days is anything that will benefit the military, oil, gas & coal industries, health care and big pharma to name a few. Everything that will benefit everyone else they have to tack something on the bill that benefits the corporations, etc. Only way they think they can get it passed, or a ploy to not get it passed and say they voted on it, never mentioning the poison pills they attach to it for the reason it won't pass the Senate or why Obama vetoes it.
Rec'd the following in an e-mail from a friend in NC who is also involved in Democratic politics re Newt. Never realized he was so stupid on foreign and domestic policies and just plain facts. Written by alan Grayson. Would be funny if it weren't so serious.
Dear Friend,
As remarkable as it may seem, we can no longer exclude the possibility that the Republican Party will nominate Newt Gingrich for President. And it’s remarkable for this reason: that apart from Sarah Palin, there is no major public figure in America today with such an attenuated connection to reality.
Many people have flailed Newt for being a philanderer; a corporate shill; a crass greedhead; an egomaniac; and a cranky, crabby, crotchety, caustic, cantankerous, choleric cus. All of that may be true, but I think that it may miss the point. The point is that Newt is wrong, wrong, wrong. Consistently wrong. Shockingly wrong. Newt Gingrich is the Emily Litella of politics.
Not exactly what we are looking for in a President.
How can I put this politely? Newt is not astute. Newt’s grasp of things is minute. Newt’s credibility is in disrepute. What Newt says in not hard to refute. When it comes to understanding what goes on, Newt is not acute. When Newt is talking, the truth is often lost enroute.
In fact, if the consequences of a Presidential election were not so serious, you could say that Newt is a hoot, to boot. Unintentionally funny, but still funny.
(Please note that I did not call Newt a crazy old coot, even though that rhymes.)
Every once in a while, you can see Mitt Romney lapse into some artificial-vanilla-flavored, white-bread, apple-sauce lie. Newt’s lies are totally different. Newt’s lies are psilocybin-laced, psychedelic, eighth-dimension lies. In fact, it just does not do them justice to call them lies. They’re delusions.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the first ingredient for the witches’ brew that the witches use to cast an evil spell is “eye of newt.” Today, in American politics, the first ingredient is “mouth of Newt.”
As I public service, I’m going to turn this missive over to Newt, so you can see for yourself. Here goes:
“In Washington, D.C., 800 babies are left in dumpsters a year.” Actually, there were four, during one year.
People can use food stamps "for anything," including "to go to Hawaii." Uh, no. They’re food stamps, not vacation stamps.
When the United States "first created the federal income tax, frankly, nobody below a million dollars a year paid anything." Actually, everyone who earned over $4000 paid the tax.
“We must expect the Soviet system to survive for a very long time. There will be Soviet labor camps and Soviet torture chambers well into our grandchildren’s lives.” As Rick Perry might say, “oops.”
"For four years, we balanced the budget and paid off $405 billion in debt." Actually, during Gingrich’s four years as Speaker, the federal debt grew by more than $800 billion.
“The Clintons are counterculture McGovernicks.” And Ron Paul is my Secret Santa.
“Up to 25% of the White House, when they first came in, had used drugs within the past 4 or 5 years.” Fabrication’R’Us.
“Most People don’t realize it’s illegal to pray in school, most people somehow think that’s not true.” Because it’s not true.
"We spend less on defense today as % of GDP than at any time since Pearl Harbor."Actually, defense spending in 2010 was a higher percentage of GDP than in any year since 1991. So not just wrong, but wrong for 19 years in a row.
The 2009 American Recovery Act "is anti-Christian legislation that will stop churches from using public schools for meeting on Sundays, as well as Boy Scouts and student Bible study groups." Well, it’s 2011, and that hasn’t happened yet.
The Affordable Healthcare Act creates what "would, in effect, be death panels." Oh, please. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich – great minds think alike.
The Dodd-Frank Act “establishes a mandatory 20 percent down payment to buy a house.”Politifact: “There is no such requirement.”
“I never favored cap and trade.” Except on national TV.
“The problem isn’t too little money in political campaigns, but not enough.” In his campaign, maybe.
If Newt Gingrich does win the Republican nomination, then next year, we can choose between one candidate who has won the Nobel Prize for Peace, and another candidate who is constantly seeking the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Courage,
Alan Grayson
There ARE too many lawyers in Congress. Lawyers aren't needed to draft legislation. They can be hired as staff to help finalize laws. It is clearly a conflict of interest for lawyers to to write legislation. How would you like your local school board to comprise 90% teachers?
Well I'm not sure I buy into the same old same old concept. I think there is quite a difference between who Obama nominated to the Supreme Court vs who Bush nominated for instance. But if it is same old same old with or without Obama... then I still don't see any reason to encourage the business overlords with rewarding those who openly support them with office. Thats like saying, you know what we the common people are perfectly OK with your corrupt practices, rather than the people saying screw you and you're deregulation, we're voting for someone who says he's against it, and we're going to push him for it.
I don't have high expectations of Obama, or any democratic politician that might take his place... but I do have expectations. I don't have expectations with a Republican't, I have fears. So Republican'ts = Fear, and the only thing we have to Fear is Fear (or Republican'ts) itself.
You can't win you're way if you give up. I'm not going to give up the control of government to open deregulation... I can't afford it.
N
Re: What happens if Obama is dumped?
It seems to me that it will pretty much be the same old same old.
Neither the Republican nor Democratic parties represent the average American, and they engage in a false dog-and-pony show to distract us from the fact that they both serve the same masters.
So DRichards what happens after Obama is dumped?
N
I think the occupy movement/middle class already has a list of demands, it was created by FDR and its his 2nd Bill of Rights.
Employment, with a living wage
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
Housing
Medical care
Education
Social Security
Would be nice to hear Thom discuss FDR's proposal on a regular basis. These proposals were written into the new constitutions of the countries America defeated in WWII, and they're doing just fine thank you very much.
N
President Obama Richly Deserves to Be Dumped
By John R. MacArthur
As evidence of a failed Obama presidency accumulates, criticism of his administration is mounting from liberal Democrats who have too much moral authority to be ignored.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29988.htm
Here is a great example of US companies trying to fight back
http://www.americansolarmanufacturing.org/
Actually, I won't. They simply find something else to collect for. The point is, that is not their job. They are supposed to answering calls from citizens, stopping people who are driving unsafe, arresting bank robbers, etc., etc., etc. Instead they are sitting somewhere out of sight, on an empty road, at 6am, waiting for someone to turn left out of a McDonalds so they can chase down this dangerous criminal, and steal $200 from them. ALL of those theives need to be fired! Cut the police force down to the point they do not have units to sit around wasting our tax dollars. Force them to stop trying to raise revenue and start fighting crime. That is all I am saying. If they do that, YOU'LL be fine to!
Merry Christmas, Thom (love & festive wishes to both you and Louise). As always, I adore your content and applaud your approach, your language and your thinking. I want to ring in with my take on the questions you pose above.
It is interesting to me that many of the same people who rant and rave about the perils of "big government" nationally don't seem to mind international regulation, especially where "your way takes more of MY money" is at issue.
Hmmmmm . . . by hyperbolic extrapolation, if the almighty dollar is the bottom line from which "sound" decisions flow in ALL arenas, "big government" is only a problem when they won't do what we want them to do, right? So our next "logical" step would be to spend our money in campaign efforts to elect those we can control in order to control the decisions of that "big government" we don't seem to be able to get rid of, right?
And if/when THAT doesn't work rapidly enough - or doesn't work at all - spend money controlling globally. Checkmate! So, Thom - "Why is it suddenly illegal for us to know more about what's in the food we eat?" Follow the money!
IMHO, "WHY are we as a nation bending at the will of the WTO?" is the crux of the problem, and the more useful question. The quick answer, IMHO, is that we do not act in concert in significant enough numbers to to effect the thinking and actions of enough of our only-way-to-get-my-attention-is-to-rattle-my-purse legislators.
THEN the most important question becomes - why NOT?
I imagine what stops me is similar to what stops others, but I can only tell you why *I* am not more active in opposition to nonsense like this: the unfortunate relationship between time, money, and my ability to keep from scuttling my ship at even more basic levels.
Because I am not independently wealthy, able to hire a staff and lobbyists to leverage my impact, I run out of time in my day before I can read and respond to every single issue I believe results from what I term the capitalistic imperative that needs to change radically if we ever hope to have a world that works.
NOT "bending to the will" of [fill-in-the-blank] means I must somehow find the time to:
• follow the thought leaders of every issue that is important to me (on more than one side of every issue until I run across like-minded "content curators" I don't feel the need to vet)
• jump through the sign-up hoops to become a member of the sites where they post (keeping track of a bazillion passwords and other sign-in info if I don't want to heap even MORE font-end tasks onto an already crowded plate)
• prioritize and systematize "making the rounds" so that I am able to even consider signing every requested petition or making that requested call to my elected representative's intern's voicemail box -- or even become aware that issues have become critical -- regardless of the level of importance to me or to the impact on other issues I care about,
• set filters to manage the resulting "notification and administration" e-glut when I sign, not to mention all the newsletters I must subscribe to and filter and whitelist, etc. before I know if I must subsequently take MORE of my time to unsubscribe to those that turn out to be little more than thinly veiled attempts to part me from my money
• forward to social networks and the people who are counting on ME as "content curator" (Tell me again, HOW do I "like" my networks from THIS guy's site?)
• respond to resulting comments from shares, reposts or retweets from MY followers in a "timely" fashion -- ad-frigginly-infinitum!!
What's required to "be proactive and involved" these days is overwhelming, decimates focus, negatively impacts resolve and follow-through -- yada, yada, yada. Oh, and all of that is time I no longer have to tend to the tasks that keep a roof over my head, ANY kind of food in my belly, and clothes on my [relatively clean] body -- never MIND time with friends and family! (OMG! - and periodic HOLIDAY want-to-find-time-to-dos!!)
I don't know if it would be easier if I did not also have to do what I must do to remain intentional as a result of my dubious status as The ADD Poster Girl, but after decades of trying to systematize to work around ADD challenges, I have finally concluded that life seems to work only when I ride the horse in the direction it's going. So I simply MUST streamline what I explect of myself so that I am able to be effective in ANY arena!
Which leads me to a question of my own, the answer to which might stand a shot at transforming the small planet we share:
How can we significantly streamline the advocacy processes that support staying informed and involved - so that the 98% in the getting-less-good-every-year ole' USA who aren't "money-is-no-object" wealthy are ABLE to ring in and "walk their talk?"
[HEADS UP to the Democratic Party: I promise you the answer is NOT "more email from more offices and individuals along with making it more complicated to remove one's name from multiple 'urgent reminder' lists sending duplicate information!']
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, SCAC, MCC - (blogging at ADDandSoMuchMore and on ADDerWorld - dot com!)
When Republiscons threaten to filibuster, do Demecrats simply fold like a cheap card table? Am I missing smething here? If so, I would like to hear someone ask Mr. Sanders why no one forces the Republicons to stand there and explain thier obstructionist ways. I would call in to ask him myself, but sadly i do not have the time to call in and wait on hold.
don't speed, you'll be fine.
I can agree that cutting education is not good. It is outragious. However, I do NOT agree that cutting the police budget is bad. They have WAY to many police now, and they DO NOT spend their time answering calls from the public. They spend it protecting the wealthy by harrasing the Occupy Patriots and fleecing the public by setting up traps to ticket innocent victims as they drive down our roads! If I am driving unsafe, weaving in and out of traffic, give me a ticket. Paying them with OUR tax dollars to sit somewhere waiting for someone to cross some line on the road with no traffic in sight, or turning left with no traffic in sight, or making a U-Turn, or going 15 MPH over the speed limit, or any other TOTALLY ridicules rules designed ONLY to raise revenue is INSANE!
All they want to spend their resources and time doing is pulling people over and giving them a $200 ticket. It is TOTALLY ridicules, and it is designed as another way to enslave the poor! The rich do not care one bit about that $200, but when you make less than $400/week, it devistates you once a year or so when they rob you! I was leaving Mexico once, was about to walk across the boarder with a friend when a couple of Mexican Police officers stopped us, searched us, empied our pockets, and stole $20 from me. That was all I had, my friend lost $100, but the fact is they only took what was in our pockets. The police here take whatever they want! They can care less if it is a drop in the bucket for a Paris Hilton or the difference between whether I will eat or not. They just want $200, or maybe MORE!
On top of that they force me to pay some "FOR PROFIT" insurance company to drive on the roads MY tax dollars built! Now they want me to pay ANOTHER "for profit" insurance company just to DRAW BREATH in this corporate owned and operated Country! If the country is going to require me or you or anyone to buy insurance they should PROVIDE that insurance WITHOUT ANY profit to ANYONE! You cannot FORCE me to buy my neighbor's product so he can make MILLIONS and fly all over the world at MY expense! THAT is NOT why we have a Government! Are you KIDDING ME? I really should feel bad because some Governor is cutting the police budget? I do NOT agree.
Until they stop THAT foolishness they will get NO sympathy me! As far as I am concerned CUT away, and if they don't answer calls for days FIRE the police chief and get someone in there who will allocate resources for crime prevention and not revenue collection! ALL they should be doing IS answering those calls! NOTHING ELSE! They are there to PROTECT and to SERVE us NOT STEAL from us!This goes for ALL of them all over this country. I advocate cutting ALL police forces by AT LEAST 40% until the FLEECING of the public STOPS! It is NOT their job to raise revenue, it is to PROTECT and to serve! START SERVING and STOP STEALING from us!
Sorry Thom, I usually agree with you, but this one struck a cord. I am tired of it! I AM the 99%!