Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
When I awoke a short time ago my mind was in its usual morning fog that slowly dissipates as I go through my wake-up routine which includes laying out the 35 or so pills that I take to stay alive. That fog mentally is usually a jumble of wide ranging short thoughts that are later forgotten as the fog lifts after my first coffee. On the way to the bathroom for my morning ablutions I found myself thinking about the biggest news all week which had been the shutdown of the government and the crisis that ensued. Suddenly, as an idea arose that woke me from the fog. Political Theater, it is all political theater. The threatened shutdown by the Republican Congressman, led by John Boehner et. al. was merely a show whose purpose was to destroy the publicity that would have surrounded the inception of enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) dubbed by the conservative PR geniuses “Obamacare”. How obvious this was took my breath away and also gave me some chagrin that it took me so long to see this con job in the making, while I mulled over the ramifications of a government shutdown. As the President has said and as some Republican have opined the GOP’s great fear regarding “Obamacare” is that it will succeed. Since enrollment was scheduled to begin on October 1st, without the shutdown speculation dominating the news cycle there would have been much publicity on the beginning of people enrolling in the plan. There would have been actual discussion of the plan and not just the cacophony of misinformation deftly spread by well placed conservative rumor mongers, broadcast blaringly on FOX News and flacked by the innumerable leaders of the “Tea Party”. Our mainstream media would play their continuing game of false equivalence by blithely accepting all information as being equal and not bothering to supply context when lies are told in the service “informing” the public.
Instead we have a manufactured crisis that sends the ACA to the back pages of virtual news media and we have faux layoffs and service loss endlessly debated. Now in truth this thought make me even a little sad for those “Tea Party” congresspeople that haven’t been let in on the nature of the game, nor their role as pawns in the manipulations of some the wealthy elite in this country. As I explained awhile ago in these guest blogs: http://jonathanturley.org/2011/08/02/tea-party-and-the-myth-of-a-grassroots-movement/#more-38049 and http://jonathanturley.org/2013/02/16/tea-party-a-phony-movement-mantled-as-legitimate/ the so-called “Tea Party” is not a grassroots movement, but the creation of the Koch, via an organization known as “Freedomworks” which they fund. On the Bill Maher show last Friday night one of his panel guests was the President and CEO of “Freedomworks” Matt Kibbe. From my perspective he was debunked by the panel, particularly Congressman Alan Cranston. What caught my attention though, was that Kibbe was at one point railing about how big government was run by insider lobbyists. None on the panel, or Maher, were perceptive enough to call him out on this since he is the quintessential lobbyist for the Koch Brothers. To my mind there is nothing to see here folks, move along and allow yourselves to be distracted by yet another manufactured crisis, designed to prevent you from actually evaluating the health care plan that is now available to you without adequate health care, or who are paying far too much for what should be a basic right of citizenship, health care. The Affordable Care Act is not my ideal of what American health insurance should be about because I believe in the “single payer” system used in most civilized nations. However, it is far better than what we already have and because of that should be fairly evaluated by the public. Perhaps though that fair evaluation will never get a chance since there are those who consciously work to distract us through propaganda, mythology and political theater into supporting what is in our own worst interests.
After I had written and posted this to my surprise I discovered this article in The New York Times. “A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html?hp&_r=0 . A short excerpt:
“WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan.
Out of that session, held one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret, came a little-noticed “blueprint to defunding Obamacare,” signed by Mr. Meese and leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups.
It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.”
Perhaps my subconscious was channelling, but it seems that my idea through the morning fog has some weight to it.
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Elaine:
I agree with you, I dont think it is right either. It is why I am for government getting out of economics.
At the end of the 19th century there was a saying, “rags to riches to rags in 3 generations.”
Bron,
Sure, but that’s not what your precious quote said. Don’t spin it now, Bron.
gbk:
wouldnt wealth be a function of knowledge?
Bron,
The problem with some who work hard and make tons of money is that they then work to change the rules to protect their wealth and their businesses/corporations from competition.
*****
gbk,
Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think…about making money.
Bron,
“‘Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.’”
I would have thought knowledge is the product of man’s capacity to think.
Spoken like someone who truly neither understands money nor power nor the accretion of either and their ability to influence.
money makes a person no better or worse than any other person. it doesnt make you smarter or better looking, it makes you more attractive to shallow members of the opposite sex.
it is, however, a measure of how well you serve other people. The people who become wealthy by making it, have done so by providing a better service or product than the next guy. And most of them have worked quite hard, they wouldnt have time for this blog because they are too busy doing what needs to be done.
Unless you inherit money or win the lottery, the only way to make money is to work really hard and sacrifice those other things people take for granted like family and friends. And you have to keep up a sustained effort day after day for years, you have to perform every single day and do your best to serve your client or customer because if you dont someone else will.
I was told once by a wealthy man that the hardest part about doing good is that you have to do it every single day. He was right and it is a price few people are willing or able to pay.
Many people villify the rich because they are jealous and unwilling to pay the price of admission to that club. And the funny thing of it, is that the millionaires club doesnt discriminate on the basis or race, sex, religious affilliation, sexual orientation or political leanings. The sole cost of admission is doing good every day and serving your fellow man better than the next guy.
With admission what it is, we should all aspire to becoming members of that club, even if we dont make it we will still be better for the effort.
“Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.”
“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others.”
“. . . man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.”
“Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.”
“Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders.”
“When people refuse to consider the source of wealth, what they refuse to recognize is the fact that wealth is the product of man’s intellect, of his creative ability, fully as much as is art, science, philosophy or any other human value.”
Prairie Rose: I think it comes down to a definition of ‘stepping on people.’
As OS used it, Gates treated people unfairly because he could; that is exploitation; using your power to coerce an unfair deal. Microsoft has violated patents with impunity and then sued the patent holders into the ground; that is stepping on people.
To me, fair competition that drives a party out of business is NOT stepping on people, and by “fair” I mean the customers choose one company over another based on product features like price, quality, support, guarantee, compatibility, and so on (with the exception of setting the price below cost to drive a competitor out of business).
Unfair competition (frivolous lawsuits that bankrupt the sued in legal fees alone, false advertising, using patented technology of a competitor and dragging the lawsuit out so long the competitor has to give up, using monopolistic influence with vendors to prevent the competitor from entering the market — All of which Microsoft has done) steps on people and is exploitation of their circumstances; it steals their capital, sweat equity and intellectual property and deprives the public of what may have been a better and more popular product.
Juliet,
The love money AND power. Money equals power.
Gene: As I recall Tim Paterson made the deal for his 4000 lines of assembly code willingly, and I just checked his bio, he worked for Microsoft for a total of 12 years in three stints, and in-between founded a company that he then sold to Microsoft four years later. Paterson may not have known the jaw-dropping value of his 100 pages of code, but I think at the time (1980 with poor sales) Gates did not know for sure either, he had what most seasoned business people would consider grandiose and hallucinogenic visions (that turned out to be correct).
I think Bill Gates turned to the dark side. Most of his original employees did extremely well, I think he played fair at the beginning. I think at some point Gates got so used to “emperor mode” that nothing mattered but remaining king of the hill.
The love of money….
A story about a rich (wealthy?) CEO and a 10-year employee.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/09/mcdonalds-worker-arrested-after-telling-company-president-she-cant-afford-shoes/
McDonald’s worker arrested after telling company president she can’t afford shoes
A woman who has been employed by the McDonald’s Corporation for over 10 years says she was arrested last week after she confronted the company president at a meeting and told him she couldn’t afford to buy shoes or food for her children.
Nancy Salgado, 26, told The Real News that she felt like she had to speak out during McDonald’s USA President Jeff Stratton’s speech at the Union League Club of Chicago on Friday for the sake of her children.
“It’s really hard for me to feed my two kids and struggle day to day,” she shouted as Stratton was speaking. “Do you think this is fair, that I have to be making $8.25 when I’ve worked for McDonald’s for ten years?”
“I’ve been there for forty years,” Stratton replied from the podium.
“The thing is that I need a raise. But you’re not helping your employees. How is this possible?” Salgado asked.
At that point, someone approached Salgado and informed her that she was going to be arrested.
She later recalled the encounter to The Real News’ Jessica Desvarieux.
“The strength was very powerful, like, just remembering the face of my kids, like I say, you know, just simple things like I can’t provide a pair of shoes like everybody else does, sometimes every month, or anything like that,” she said. “And he needs to know we are what all the employees at McDonald’s are going through. We’re struggling day to day to provide our needs in our houses, things for our kids. And it’s just–it gets harder and harder with just the poverty wage they have us living in.”
“They just told me, you know, well, you’re being under arrest because you just interrupted, you trespassed the property. You’re just going to go to jail,” Salgado added. “And what I remember just telling them, ‘well, like, so, because I have to speak out my mind and I had to tell the president the poverty wage I’m living in, that’s just against the law?’ You know, just be able to speak up your mind and say, you know what, I can’t survive with $8.25? It’s just — it’s ridiculous that I’m going to get arrested. You know.”
Salgado, who is still working at McDonald’s, said she had her hours cut following the arrest and feared further retaliation.
“The CEOs make millions and billions a year and why can’t they provide enough for their employees?” she wondered.
Otteray Scribe,
Regarding nooks and crannies of the net–I think that’s why most of us are here! 🙂
Nick,
“Both support[ed] Obama and Arnie Duncan’s national reforms, as well as Corey Booker’s educational reforms in Newark. Job’s spearheaded reforms in California long before reform was a hot button issue. Elaine will provide numerous links showing their sinister and evil intent. They are evil incarnate, they support the education reform virtually everyone but the educational industry support. You won’t have to wait long for the flood of “information.”
I do not know about Corey Booker’s educational reforms in Newark.
As a supporter of local educational control (and homeschooling), I must disagree with Jobs and Gates supporting Obama and Duncan on national reforms. Obama did not try to dial back NCLB and then he instituted more national ‘reforms’.
What does President Obama or Arne Duncan know of the local needs and nuances of the entire US?
People will also likely care more about education in their locale if they can improve it on their own. Everyone wants better education; let them figure it out for themselves. If they seek advice, they should be able to take or refuse it as they, as a community, see fit. Right now they must do it because the federal government says so, whether or not it is right.
I have not yet read the Common Core standards. My guess is I’ll agree with some of it and disagree with some of it. I wouldn’t want it imposed on me. Also, I am concerned about the backdoor method cited in the article Elaine linked to to achieve national educational standards. Seems sneaky to me. I’d say it is not in the best interests of a democratic republic for sneakiness to be used to achieve goals.
Diane Ravitch, the author of the article, has called into question much of the testing that has descended on our nation. She also questions some of the methods and politics that go into developing the nation’s textbooks and tests (see her book The Language Police for details; don’t worry she excoriates both the right and the left on this issue–people trying to insert political correctness or eliminate the very mention of magic in tests and textbooks).
But, to get back to the point, even though I am likely to vehemently disagree with Bill Gates’ support of Common Core (and I herald his support of Khan Academy), that still does not outline whether he has exploited people to achieve his wealth.
On a more optimistic day, I’d just say he is misguided. Nonetheless, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Prarie Rose,
With regard to news media, I don’t put 100% trust in any source, so try to find multiple sources, and not just the same sourced story carried in multiple outlets. It is sad when you can trust The Guardian and al Jazerra more than many domestic news sources. Then there are bloggers who know how to dig into obscure nooks and crannies of the internet. Sometimes one finds the best reporting in non-traditional media.
Otteray Scribe,
I missed that news story. Thanks.
Could the ACA premium actually end up being less money out of the part-time employee’s paycheck than if they were on the employer’s insurance, fewer hours or not? I do not know what the math actually says in that instance.
I figure that everyone “puts his foot in his mouth” from time to time. That’s not the same as exploiting people. And, I distrust journalists’ integrity when it comes to writing stories; too often people are quoted and the quotes are set up in such a way as to make people look bad or to create an interesting story or to fulfill an agenda. We’ve all witnessed that happening. And, even if a quote is accurate, an opinion may be distasteful or your disagree with it but that is different than someone actually exploiting their employees.
So, could Marcus and Mackey still be possibly upheld as models?
Prairie Rose, The Khan Academy is a great resource. I’ve known a couple of parents who have used it and they have the same reviews as you.
Prairie Rose, Both support[ed] Obama and Arnie Duncan’s national reforms, as well as Corey Booker’s educational reforms in Newark. Job’s spearheaded reforms in California long before reform was a hot button issue. Elaine will provide numerous links showing their sinister and evil intent. They are evil incarnate, they support the education reform virtually everyone but the educational industry support. You won’t have to wait long for the flood of “information.”
Prairie Rose,
No apology needed. I’m not an expert on the lives and business practices of the wealthiest folks such as Gates and Buffett.
I’m not too sure about Common Core either.
Here’s the most recent article I’ve read on the subject:
Mercedes Schneider Explains: Who Paid for the Common Core Standards
By Diane Ravitch
Posted: 10/10/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ravitch/bill-gates-common-core_b_4079447.html
Elaine,
I agree that an author cannot be compared to Bill Gates.
I was less focused on the comparison than on Bill Gates’ name being mentioned. It was unclear to me that he should be in the same company as the Koch Brothers, since the topic at hand was of whether the wealthy exploit others to achieve their status.
Sorry that my reply seemed tangential to your point. Guilty as charged; it was rather off-point to your response to David. 🙂
Prarie Rose,
Mr. Marcus has been in the news lately. He said he is slashing work hours for about 20,000 employees. He says he is doing that so they will pay for ACA premiums on their own dime. Lessee now; fewer hours and pay your own insurance premium. That figures.
I have not researched Amazon and Whole Foods, but recall off the top of my head something about Mackey putting his foot in his mouth last year and having to walk it back.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/us-employers-slash-hours-avoid-obamacare