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 a live show yesterday? I didn't even think about it.
"Fool me twice ... " why is Obama believed? Hasn't all this been gone through with NAFTA and Clinton? Wasn't NAFTA supposed to be the solution to all our problems then and wasn't Perot and weren't all the skeptics just malcontents and conspiracy buffs?
Obama looks out for Obama, he doesn't try to be a hero. There'll be no jackals after him, he picked the pocket with the cash not the bullet with his name on it. He and his family are set, same with those of the Senators whose "minds were right".
Democracy is now just a quaint notion from the past. Business and other elites never abided by it, they never thought the people should have any say in any decisions affecting them. That's none of their business, their betters know best. The elites are in charge and must not be interfered with. It is their due, we are lucky they don't just massacre us all like they did the Native Americans and other inconvenient, cluttersome surplus populations.
Now they now have formally and officially codified their elitist oligarchy and don't have to pretend anymore.
Then perhaps you could check out Readers' Digest online, or Ladies' Home Journal, to see if either of them have the sort of blog that might be more your speed.
Tah-tah.
Should't the company be paying for the cleanup? If as Hartmann says, that they have done this before, how are they getting insurance? Aren't their premiums huge?
I would like more details.
Reading these comments, makes me realize how lucky I am. I enjoy life and don't care who is president. Life is to be lived and enjoyed.
They will have maintenance & shutdown procedures in place for sure
The question is if they are preventive or reactive
AND - if they are in compliance!
Not sure where you are coming from with x 2 operating pressure with air without stored enery calculations
Testing cross country pipelines with water requires other design issues to be considered when in service
Many more spills to come. More fines to be levied. For companies, it's just the cost of doing business, and for government, it's an ongoing revenue source. The banks know how it works. The government wants it's cut.
In a country awash with guns, it is rational for police to draw faster and more frequently than in countries with few guns.
My dear fellow bloggers, please forgive me for barging in here again with another long post. But I can't resist sharing this. Earlier today I received an e-mail from the Sierra Club regarding Fast Track, urging us to contact our representatives from The House and request a "no" vote. It contained one of those generic protest letters, designed for us to personalize and add our input to before sending. What follows is my version of this letter:
Dear Rep. DeFazio,
The TPP stands to have enormously negative impacts on our environment, our health, our rights in the workforce, our ability to self-govern and even our national soverignty. That the orchestrators of this "trade deal” would keep it secret, and exclude us from the decision making process, is outrageous in its implications as well as its obvious consequences. Reducing Congress's input on this decision to a yes-or-no without debate, negotiation or revision, as Fast Track would have it, is tantamount to having our legislative process bound up in a straight jacket.
Fast track, or "TPA-2015", would rush approval of massive trade deals through Congress without any meaningful oversight. As I see it, this is an outrageous violation of the most basic democratic principles our country was founded on. It is also extremely dangerous, putting us at the mercy of corporate entities with no allegiance to us or to our country. For this reason I demand that you oppose fast track legislation for trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
At a time when the stakes are this high, when our need for Congressional leadership is as urgent as it’s ever been, we can't afford to tie the hands of Congress on the most important issues of the day. I have deep concerns about the TPP; not only the impact it will have on the environment, climate and jobs, but the ever-increasing corporate power it manifests. This is way more about corporate power than it is about "trade". Need I remind you of Benito Mussolini's definition of fascism? An international agreement as massive as the TPP demands the full attention of Congress to ensure that we, the American people, are represented. Given the impact this could potentially have on our lives, let alone the health of the planet and the future for humanity, we deserve no less from you.
Leaked TPP drafts and news reports show that the trade agreement would have a huge negative impact on our climate, furthering the damage already done by the fossil fuel industry and corporate farming. The TPP would open the floodgates to more fracking, and empower corporations to attack climate and other policies in secret trade tribunals. And it puts our oceans, fish, trees, and wildlife in harm’s way, thus putting us in harm’s way.
What threatens the health of this planet threatens us. Were there ever an occasion for legislators like yourself to do some serious soul searching, this would have to be it. Are you willing to create a world where corporate profits literally trump life itself, in all its forms, and the life of this planet? Is this what you stand for? Or will you stand with us, and help us put a stop to this insanity?
On a whole range of issues, the TPP is a recipe for disaster. We need a Congress that is fully engaged to ensure trade agreements like this reflect our values as well as our interests. Not only will Fast track send the wrong message, that Congress is asleep at the wheel; it will pave the way for humanity's ultimate demise. We Americans are looking for leadership. Please say no to Fast Track.
Sincerely...
Oneworldatpeace, I won't pretend to know your pain. But thanks for one helluva post. The perspective you've shared is one that needs to be heard, far and wide. After what you went through in Vietnam, what a betrayal.
We're not going to get off of oil tomorrow . In the meantime we need protection from oil spills. As I have said before, regulation is a good thing. The purpose of regulation is to keep bad things from happening. These old oil and gas lines need to be tested with air or water at least twice their operating pressure every year or two. They are generally made of steel, you know, the material that rusts. Most of them are buried in the ground where you can't see them. Once they pass a certain age, say 25 to 50 years, they should be replaced or lined with fiberglass so if a line gets a rust hole it doesn't leak. The blowout preventers like the one BP had that didn't work should be tested when installed and once a month. Ships carring oil should have two pilots in controll at all times while the ship is moving. Business heads hate regulation because all they can see is that it costs them money to comply. Oil industry should pay for all costs of oil spills and be fined for the spills but it would be better if they took every precaution possible to prevent oil spills in the first place. Then they wouldn't have to pay for cleanup and damages or fines. But I'm afraid they would not spend any money to prevent oil spills unless they are forced to comply with oil spill preventative regulations.
Reply to #15: Chuck, the presidency is not a place for naive people, and the reality is, nobody really knows why Obama's wet dream is the TPP. Only Obama himself knows that. But his claims that the TPP is great for workers and the environment are not only bald-faced lies; they are an insult to the collective intelligence of the 99% of us who have already suffered enormously from these trade deals. If our president hasn't figured out what the oligarchs are all about by now, I'm sorry for him, but his naivete will be costing us way more dearly than it will be costing him.
I think Obama is a fascist for other reasons besides the TPP, such as: (1) abuse of whistleblowers and journalists; (2) murder-by-drone; (3) indefinite detention without charge or trial, to name just three examples. This is not the stuff democracy is made of. I think that in all likelihood, 10K (#14) is right in his assessment of Obama. If being accepted into the good-ole-boy club of Billionaire Welfare Queens is that important to Obama, it does not reflect well on his character as a politician who's job it is to represent us.
This is not, nor has it ever been, the kind of leadership we need. It is not what we voted for. "Change we can believe in"?! Gimmie a break. Seems to me that from the very first day of Obama's first term in office, he has taken his base totally for granted while chasing pie-in-the-sky, kumbaya fantasies of bipartisanship with the very fascist clowns who are destroying this country. I don't know why you are so hellbent on defending him, Chuck. This nightmare isn't over by a long shot. More Americans' lives will be ruined, or cut short, because of the policies of these fascist clowns Obama has been kissing up to over the past six years. I for one have had enough of this. Obama's term in office can't be over soon enough for me!
All I would like to know is. Who's going to pay for this?
Why do we the taxpayers always pay for these cleanups. It's about time we make the owners pay for the cleanups
Patrick... I agree Thom does appear and look smarmy on the TV
I believe his soul and emotion is inwardly fighting his obligation and committment
He coud be sick of listening to the bloody bounders he is obligated to talk to
Please back off
Cheers!
Always thought the american approach to maintenance was like "we'll fix it when it breaks"... come on John Wayne with all your tool belts and heroics... just like the movies... you know!?
Preventive maintenance appears to be seen as an expense and thus avoided since it could effect 'profits'
Dumb!!!
ezwriter -- You should listen to Thom's show from time to time. He often says the Fed should become part of the Treasury.
Why doesn't anyone think that the Fed did saved us from a great depression in 2008? At least their actions postponed the great depression until 2016. The congress needs to act, not the Fed.
Why is no one in this blog discussing the reasons Obama is pushing for the TPP given by the Financial Times? Per the article, Obama is wrong, but at least he is not an evil fascist. My take on Obama is that his heart is right but is naive about the power of the billionaires (and their puppets AKA repugs) and is ignorant about economics. For economics he has to rely on the Commerce Club of Chicago.
There is a glimmer of hope. Hermosa Beach, CA voted down a proposal to drill off their shores. Such corporate callousness as demonstrated by Plains All American Pipeline helps voters to decide to fight the oil companies. Because of previous contract obligations it cost the city of Hermosa Beach something like $38 million to vote down the proposal. Of course Hermosa Beach houses mostly the top 10%, so they can afford it.
Dear Thom Smarmy Hartmann,
Government has proven it can't protect us from the "oil companies", because it is
"owned" by the "oil companies"......maybe Bernie will save us. ( all by himself )
Of course, YOU can be trused to repeat all of this, after the next spill and the next
and the next........
Aliceinwonderland: If ever a man deserved to be the leader of the free world, it would be Senator Sanders. I can't disagree with your sentiment regarding "Barack the Betrayer", I think that's how Loren refers to him! My thoughts about him may be quite unfair because it's all just a gut feeling, but here is what I think. Obama knows that in two years his world/life, will be tied to, and associated with an elite class of wealthy citizens, many of of whom are rendered dilusive by the sheer magnitude of their wealth. It seems a common thread based on interviews I've heard, that this elite group believes they know what's best for all of the rest of us, and somehow we don't. Almost always what they profess to be best for us is in reality what's best for them....for example the Kochs wanting to dismantle the New Deal...that's simply a justification for more tax breaks for themselves and the desperate workforce that goes along with a weak central government. Without getting too wordy, I'll end with this...Obama wants to be a member of that club. He may not harbor the ugly greed associated with this class, but he wants to be accepted by them.....a validation of climbing the economic ladder. Those behind the TPP are the same folks he will be dining and golfing with in a few years....just my opinion!
Public school teachers go to jail for years after the RICO act is hurled at them.
Make 500 billion on fraud, pay 3 or 4 from the profit, nobody is named, shamed, or goes to jail and the companies maintain employee misconduct insurance; that is not punishment and slaps on the wrist are corruption.
One of the banks should have been shut down entirely and one exec should have gone to jail along with all the young cartel guns.
I still like "mark".
I do like "out-foxed" as a descriptor for our conservative, myth-informed brethren!
Not Fascism