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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
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I was a little puzzled by the logic that the death penalty is a good thing because it is just and appropriate. Surely this is tautological; emotionally satisifying but it doesn't really answer the question.
Mugsy - at the very least, we should have "Three Strikes You're Out" for corporations!
Why not? when a corporation gets the death penalty, its assets are not destroyed; rather, they are distributed to creditors and the rest could be auctioned off. Whoever buys the assets would just start another company.
The losers would be the shareholders, which is totally appropriate. Next time, maybe they'll elect Directors who value human life.
Thom, you asked where the Senators are that were attacking GM and Ford? When they were doing that, I looked up their contributions on a web site that aggregates the FEC data. I was wondering if they got big contributions from the Foreign auto companies they seemed to be defending. Those contributions (made by US subsidiaries and their employees) go through a lobbying firm that makes them hard to trace, and it turned out that GM and Ford gave them more. But 4 of their top 5 contributors: Wall Street Bankers.
B Roll
When I write about issues, I often look to incorporate life's experiences and lessons learned to ground arguments into history . I'm glad you found the story of my father's experience as a businessman interesting. He had a remarkable life and is an inspiration to me. I left out a lot of events for the sake of brevity and to resist impulses of familial piety. His experiences in Tom Mix's Circus and his encounters with the Chicago Mafia didn't seem necessary to explain how his values were shaped.
You wondered if my father was an exception to the rule. The answer I believe is less so then... than he would be now. Part of what I tried to demonstrate was that there apparently was more universally shared experience and subsequently more cohesive tendencies to work cooperatively back then. The Depression and following deprivations and sacrifices of the war united many disparate groups of Americans for common cause...survival! My father was a life long Republican from a long line of Republicans, ( although his politics were in a period of retooling at his death.) Some questioned his decisions at times, (I was a leader amongst these critics during my teens), but no one who knew him questioned his honesty or integrity. Personal honesty and integrity don't seem to be as in vogue today as they were then. The point that I wanted to make was that the notion, common today, that a company's SOLE responsibility is to serve the stock holder was not always the case in the past. Enlightened leaders recognized this as being short-sighted and ultimately destructive and unpatriotic. Dad would have called it "bad business". The long view must include the welfare of the people, the employees, and the community for a business to thrive, grow and continue into the future. Short term gain and personal greed have been around forever and probably will be around in the foreseeable future. What is different now is that they ,( short term gain & personal greed), have been refined, re-branded, and embedded into an ideology of "free market" capitalism, libertarianism and neo-conservative Republicanism. Not so long ago, most people would have recognized them as what they were: just plain selfish and wrong..... Bad business.
Thom,
My husband and I have been following the health care reform debate rather closely, and recently something significant came to our attention for the first time.
According to an AP article from October 21, the Senate Finance Committee's version of the bill includes a provision that excludes those employers who self-insure their employees' medical plans from the reforms in the bill.
The AP article indicates that over 70 million Americans thus could be subject to provisions such as denial of coverage due to a health condition, crippling out-of-pocket costs, annual or lifetime limits of benefits, etc.- the exact provisions that health care reform is supposed to be eliminating!
In addition, we suspect that insurance companies would use this provision as a sales tool, offering employers who have their fully-insured (and thus regulated) product the option of saving considerable money by switching to a self-insured product that the insurance company will then administer for them (for a fee, of course). This could raise the number far beyond 70 million.
We were shocked that we hadn't heard of this provision until now. And we're dismayed to learn that there are several big business groups who have banded together to lobby Congress to ensure that they can retain their exempt status.
We're hoping to bring this provision to public attention and thought that you and your show might be a good place to start. But - what do we do next? How do we stop this? We appreciate your show and thanks for your time and attention.
Barb and Ron Suiter
I recently heard James Loewen make another interesting point about disparities in testing scores.
He says that although black and Latino students have lower scores on tests on all subjects; but the gap is bigger on history than it is on math, English and science.
His explanation is that math, English and science are ethnically neutral, but they feel left out by the American telling of history. They're less interested in and motivated to learn a subject that obviously leaves them out of the story.
That has been part of my criticism of the white middle class orientation of the Thom Hartmann Program. Why would people of color be interested in a program that rarely talks about them and even more rarely talks with them?
I flew to Singapore once. 18 hours to Tokyo followed by a 6 hour connecting flight to my final destination.
No way my pilot didn't take a nap at some point during that flight. No problems at all.
Thom,
Great point of Phizer. If corporations are "people" and they kill someone, the company should get "the death penalty" and be disolved.
It baffles me that Thom can fit these two ideas together within a few seconds. 1) Bill Handel is calling for the reestablishment of debtors prisons. 2) Bill Handel is a good guy.
Thom also described Handel as a right wing talk show host, which by definition means that he has many other heinous ideas for how the world should be.
Can we say, "Cognitive Dissonance"?
DDay
I read and enjoyed your remembrance of your father from Friday. I find family stories very interesting. I wonder if future generations (assuming we don't destroy the world) will find our stories as interesting and hopefully inspirational.
I wonder if your father was the exception to the rule or if the majority of business adhered to similar ethical codes.
Unfortunately, I was only able to get as far as the first sentence of that post before my head exploded.
The subject of CBS's Sunday Morning Magazine show yesterday was the "growing" problem of obeisity in America. I generally enjoy this program, but I was amazed and disappointed that they could spend 90 minutes on an allegedly in-depth discussion of this subject, and NEVER ONCE mention the phrase "High Fructose Corn Syrup". Too sore a topic for their corporate masters, I reckon.
Petition for FINANCIAL REFORM at :
http://bit.ly/3I40yb
Dear President Barack Obama,
We want you to stop the bankrupting of our country by the large financial institutions, with policies and programs that give them taxpayer money with which they can gamble and make record profits.
We want Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, (Paulsen, Rubin) OUT and we want you to bring honest advocates of financial reform such as Elizabeth Warren and Brooksley Born IN.
Thanks Louise.
Thom is doing an update and a re-release of his book Unequal Protection - about Corporate Personhood.
Has Thom Hartmann said what his next book is going to be about?
Last evening on CBS, "Sixty Minutes", Steve Kroft had a story revealing that the extent of Medicare fraud has grown over the past several years to be larger than even the illicit drug trade in Florida. It was estimated that Medicare fraud accounted for upwards of 60 billion dollars a year. It was also reported that there are only three Medicare Fraud investigators assigned to Florida.
True to form, it appears that one of the best ways to discredit a program is to run it into the ground through lax oversight and then declare it to be yet another case of governmental incompetence. Apparently our banks and financial markets weren't the only examples of lax oversight. What is so maddening is that the real victims were the American people and the remedy seems to be to further punish them for being chumps.
The methods employed to defraud Medicare are ridiculously simple. Open a storefront business like a pharmacy, get your hands on a list of Medicare recipients with a few basic pieces of identifying information like Social Security numbers and then bill the hell out of Medicare for anything and everything. Medicare pays claims in 15 to 30 days, guaranteed. (They don't attempt to verify claims until sometime after they are paid.) Collect the checks and then close up shop and move on to a new scam next month under a new false front.
While I have no problem laying much of the blame for this at the Bush Administration's feet, that in no way explains the lack of diligence by Congress or this new Obama Administration. This is not rocket science and tens of thousands will die each year because of this massive fraud. How many uninsured people could we insure for 60 Billion?
It was indicated on last night's broadcast that Attorney General Eric Holder is aware and on the case. That is not enough. As we debate a complete revamp of our health delivery system in the U.S., why can't we at the same time take the obvious steps to stem the bleeding? We know that Medicare reimbursement rates are deeply flawed. Now we know we are being robbed blind through sheer stupidity and maleficence. We are like a ship at sea, sinking rapidly because of all the holes in the hull, and we are busy in the stateroom pouring over competing plans for the new ship we hope to build. Meanwhile water is coming over the side. Can't anyone walk and chew gum at the same time? I'm tired of the incremental-ism and caution of this new regime. Rome is burning! Peoples lives depend on whether this group can adopt a little more resolute urgency to bring that change so often promised by them during their campaign period. Now is the time to lead.
Capitalism, Socialism or Fascism?
...So what do we really have: socialism-for-the-giants, fascism or an economy which calls itself "capitalism" but which allows looting?
Ultimately, it doesn't matter. They are just different brand names for the same basic type of economy. All three systems allow giant businesses which are friendly to the government to keep enormous private profits but to pass the losses on to the government and ultimately the citizens.
Whether we use the terminology regarding socialism-for-the-giants ("socialized losses"), of fascism ("public and social losses"), or of looting ("left the government holding the bag for their eventual and predictable losses"), it amounts to the exact same thing.
Whatever we have, it isn't free market capitalism.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/
Citigroup's "Hail Mary Pass": How To Know Citigroup Is In Serious Trouble
Citigroup is in serious trouble. It's easy to tell by what they are doing.
Inquiring minds note that Citi Abruptly Shutting Down Gas-Linked Credit Cards.
The bank is offering few details:
The bank said in a statement it "decided to close a limited number of oil partner co-branded MasterCard accounts." That includes not only Shell, but Citgo, ExxonMobil and Phillips 66-Conoco cards.
The close date was Wednesday, and letters were sent out Monday to customers informing them of the change, a Citi spokesman said. The bank would not say how many cards were shut down or how much available credit they represented.
In a followup article the Business Insider notes ....
Citi Jacks Credit Card Rates To 29.99% On Unsuspecting Customers.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/citigroups-hail-mary-...
High Cost, Low Odds!!!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091109/walt
No justice!!!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,656934,00.html
I Have No Power
I have tried to post and to comment in hope that I might make a difference in helping our country and our world. The truth is that I have no power to make a difference.
What I have come to realize is the fact that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Nothing will ever change in fascist-Nazi America. The American psyche is filled with hatred, corruption, and lies. That is the true American way.
I have also tried to cutback on my posts and comments but, I have kept on believing that I might still make a difference. Yet, I must cutback because in trying to make a difference I hane become emotionally drained.
I have come to believe that I must follow Job’s words from the Old Testament. Job and his neighbor were talking about the various problems in their area and they were also talking about Job’s misfortunes. Job has said to his neighbor, “It is God’s will and God knows best.” I must imprint his words on my brain and live my life without concern for America’s problems and the world’s problems. I must remind myself that it is God’s will and He knows best.
Jesus’ Eleventh Commandment, LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, is no longer applicable today in fascist-Nazi American and in our world.
The Bildenberg Group
One of our sons was listening to the Alex Jones’ Show and Alex Jones was talking about the Bildenberg Group. He said that this group was working to make more Americans poor. Their target is the low middle class and the middle class. This group will do what it can to create a short-term boom, followed by a bubble, and than a bust. Their efforts will be to wipe out most of the retirement funds and savings of Americans in these two groups.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=au2qEG04vpmc
How the U.S. Blew Trillion-Dollar Trade of Century: Mark Fisher
If the link didn't work I apologize. I thought you might like this article Thom and would love to know your reaction. You are such an inspiration.
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO EVERYDAY
Here's my web site:
www.norenforsenate.com
Scott Noren DDS
Let's see if Thom bans me. The content here will not qualify for that, but nevertheless, it's embarrassing because it's true. Thom talks about being progressive and supporting social change in America. Well, think about that when the insurance companies jack up the rates in the next few weeks,and all my "fellow" Democrats have not lifted a finger to mandate caps on monthly premiums in ANY of the versions of the health care bills.
I am running for US Senate in NY state and part of my platform is to do just that. Here's the problem...people like Thom and his wife Louise have made it their "policy" for the program not to have candidates on before primaries. How can you get support before the primary if the progressive talk radio hosts don't cover you? I am for real health care and health insurance reform and running in a major state! Ask Thom why he won't have me on as a guest. I am the only candidate out there that wants to cap Family and Individual monthly health care premiums NOW! We did it with COBRA and we can set Family at $700 and Individual at $275 for starters..with all the other bases covered (pre-existing conditions etc.).
Ask Thom to cut me a bone and have me on as a Guest, not a caller. I was threatened that if I called in again and mentioned I was running that I would be banned as a caller. Nice progressive media.
Scott Noren DDS
Oral Surgeon, Ithaca,NY
US Senate Candidate