US Media: The Next Voice You'll Hear Will Be Progressive

So, Will Rachel Maddow Replace Chick Todd?

NBC may still have a "survival instinct" if it awakes in time.

Plenty of strikingly unusual things have been "laid bare" since The Donald converted what was left of the Fourth Estate into a quivering whore with way too much make up. Now, even though MeanMesa, perpetually an unabashed political junkie of the first water, was dutifully disgusted at the outset with the wild, repeating, media dalliance with the "glitz appeal" of this grotesque "non-candidate," the presumption around here [Short Current Essays' Galactic Head Quarters] was that millions of US voters would be blindly "feasting" on the endless pablum of this embarrassing media indulgence in a truly unsettling way as the "alphabet networks" loaded more and more billions of dollars worth of free coverage to his Presidential reality show.

Still, even given the abysmally low, political quality of these media extravaganzas, the voters' comprehension of what is transpiring around them has -- surprisingly -- surpassed the very "low bar" with which MeanMesa typically measures our national efforts at democracy. Further, it's not just the voters who have surprised these old bones -- it is also the networks' media consumers who are also behaving quite surprisingly, in this case, with an unexpected and encouraging new realization of "having seen the light.". 

The Sleeper Awakes, HG Wells [image_YouTUBE]

Following the traditional, utterly useless media coverage of previous election after dismal, tedious election, in every repetition another mind numbing stream of gaseous, superficial, carnival euphemisms masquerading as "political discourse," this year seems to have brought something quite remarkable and different. The 2016 political media world has, apparently, awakened all those heretofore credulous, comatose television watchers to glimpse a much clearer realization of just what these networks have been doing!

Yes, all these citizens in the electorate had become passive and sponge-like, abused to the point that they would grudgingly accept practically anything that came their way from the politics industry. However, a good number of these citizens have finally now noticed what went on in the first few months of Trump's campaign. Remember how it was? The network news editors lined up like prostitutes at the lumber camp bar on pay day, continuously obsessed with the prospect of publicizing another dump truck full of The Donald's meaningless ramblings.

Well, there was a message to be delivered, and it was not anything which could be found in Donald Trump's confused "word salad" string of talking points. The message wasn't about Donald Trump. 

The message was about the media.

After decades the networks' spell seems to have been broken -- the tattered veil had been lifted. After watching the ugly saga of sausage being made for The Donald, a shockingly painless conclusion suddenly became as "plain as day." 

Believing the media was a dangerous mistake. 

This wasn't anything particularly new to political junkies such as MeanMesa, but this revelatory and auspicious moment was clear evidence that this new understanding of the media was no longer merely dancing in an isolated tavern for political junkies. No, it was "loose" on the streets, and voters who had, before this, long since ceased being interested in politics were, once again, truly taking notice.

Of course we find ourselves in a predictably awkward juncture in the immediate sense. With the US media finally revealed as the soiled charlatan which could only be made to look relevant with sparkly, white toothed "news actors" and plenty of cosmetics, all these voters are now seeking out sources with more dignity and rational credibility.

American Political Discourse Rises From the Dead

If you haven't sampled some progressive media, give it a try.

Don't be embarrassed. Welcome aboard!

Exhuming the Fairness Doctrine [gif.source]

At the time of this posting right wing broadcast media is overwhelming the tiny voices of progressives on the air waves by around 200 to 300 per cent. This means that every time Thom Hartmann airs a single hour of The Thom Hartmann Show, 200 or 300 hours of right wing radio broadcasts are also aired. It's been this way for decades. 

Ronald Reagan obliterated the broadcast Fairness Doctrine in 1987. That law required broadcasters using the public air waves to attempt to mix and balance their broadcast content. The Doctrine had been law since 1949.

Once that troublesome irritant had been permanently VETOed, things began roaring down hill almost immediately. It is quite safe to say that we are either at "the bottom" of the hill or damned close to it. The trillions of dollars worth of free political news coverage of the non-news worthy Trump turns out to be the "straw that broke this camel's back."

The industrial media's total abandonment of any fealty to "broadcasting for the public good" has been egregious, arrogant and infuriating. The billionaires are now unquestionably in charge of what's left of the old, traditional networks, but their "return on investment" may not be as impressive as they thought.

"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS," he said of the presidential race.

Moonves called the campaign for president a "circus" full of "bomb throwing," and he hopes it continues. 

2/29/16: Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Hollywood Reporter - Paul Bond]

So, What Comes Next?

Those who think that the networks are about to re-create themselves,

please join the line forming behind the dumpster.

If anyone has been waiting for a media "rags to riches" story, you've come to the right place. After the despicable sell out to birth the Donald Trump "movement," American media consumers will be searching for an alternative. They won't pause at MSNBC for any longer than it will take to find out where Rachel Maddow has moved.

The alphabet networks won't change because they can't. They are now no more than pitiful waifs being driven by shockingly single minded corporate oligarchs demanding high enough ratings to successfully sell toothpaste commercials for cash. American media consumers may fiddle away a few more weeks or months trying to convince themselves that "it wasn't as bad as all that," but as they gradually sober up, it looks very much like they're going to develop a refreshing new appetite for fact based media which will actually inform them about what's happening.

Happily, the "new news" market they seek is already well established as a minuscule presence buried below the surface of the brain fever infested swamps of ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and FOX. Many of these listeners and viewers will soon discover that the major media markets in their large urban communities have been entirely co-opted by the sold out toothpaste sellers for years.

They will discover that any entity broadcasting a progressive message has been quietly transformed into an "all sports," "all tel-evangelical" or "all business" alternative. If the curiosity of these new truth seekers is piqued, they will also discover that these new "alternately themed content" broadcast offerings have generated painfully unrewarding ratings for those who directed these changes.

At this point yet another very smelly elephant is entering the room.

These recently slaughtered progressive media options have not been slaughtered to improve station ratings. They have been slaughtered at the well financed behest of the billionaires' think tanks. They have been censored.

If we were describing the changes make to a sleepy, family owned, 100 KW AM station in Beaver Falls, it would be one thing. We're not. We are describing huge, popular radio and television broadcasters in cities such as Boston, New York and San Francisco. All across the country massive cities with populations in the millions have become right wing broadcast infested wastelands.

Residents in these places have no choices in the broadcast content they are able to receive. It will be stridently right wing -- day and night, or it will be silence.

Big Players On the Horizon

Probably so big that they will change our idea of "big."

That won't be all that is new, either.

At some point, perhaps a few decades ago, the Democrats slept through the effective end of the Party's presence in the domestic media. Since then all "news" originating from the Democratic Party, its politicians or its spokesmen gradually became a "curious dalliance," evoking a few seconds of the evening "news" as an aside.

This was the state of American journalism at the beginning of what Donald Trump was preparing to "do" to it. Now, after The Donald actually has done this to it, it is in tatters. Neither the billionaires nor the progressives have any thought of being able to effectively "use" the domestic media in any manner which could be "persuasive" to the disgusted, exhausted men and women in the electorate.

The Democrats have already been speaking about creating a network of their own to counter FOX -- and largely the other industrial networks, too. MeanMesa has posted about this: Will the Democrats Finally De-fang FOX?/MeanMesa.

However, not to be left out of the fray -- the tempestuous, democracy wrecking scrap between two openly opposing networks -- the Republicans are, most likely, going to wind up with their own network after Trump loses this election next month.

Trump, once the polls began to paint him as The Wreck of the Ancient Mariner, has, predictably, begun to blame the "liberal media." This is not a shocking development. Republican politicians have been doing the same thing for a long time when their Presidential campaigns become a death march.

What's different is that Trump has collected millions of illiterate hill billies and bigots, and this "scum of the earth" actually believes what he has said about the "liberal media." They are prepared to consider his now essential inevitable election failure as evidence that the process was "rigged" -- his words. They are also, most likely, quite prepared to become irrationally violent about it.

Not a problem. The pundits are now reporting that The Donald, staggering out of the ashes of his election disaster, will start his own network, too. There is little reason to expect The Donald's "new news" network to be even as committed to democratic principles and the good of the nation as, say, Murdoch's FOX. In fact The Donald's network will probably make FOX look like a collection of shows that were too "lefty" for PBS or NPR.

Within two or three years our divided nation will be even more divided, and by "divided" MeanMesa is saying permanently divided.

Nonetheless, the media consumers are awakening. Both the new Democratic Party network and the maniacal "Trump Truth" are going to have to work extra hours to remain salable and consumable to their respective audiences -- both now already cutting their consumption and consuming what they haven't cut with historical levels of skepticism -- network skepticism.

Perhaps the days of the dithering rube utterly packed with right wing blather are ending -- at least for the many Americans who are currently in the process of realizing what the industrial networks, think tanks, corporatists and oligarchs have been trying to do to them.

What To Expect

Let's just give it a little time. MeanMesa feels quite confident that the previously befuddled media consumers in the American market place are about to correct this current monopolistic gamble by the uber rich. Broadcasting businesses and broadcasting equipment is among the most "fickle girlfriend" there is. The same electrons, nuts and bolts that are presently broadcasting endless, rancid hate propaganda today can be broadcasting content that is radically different as soon as tomorrow.

Watch this blog.

Samples

Thom Hartmann/YOUTUBE

Stephanie Miller/YOUTUBE

Randi Rhodes Show/YOUTUBE

The Rachel Maddow Show/YOUTUBE

Oligarchy: Three Voices Speak Out

A Soothing Disclaimer from the Stupendously Banal

Don't tarry too long -- we'll be "facing facts" soon enough.

There are plenty of folks who will nod in acquiescence when one proclaims "This world really hasn't changed much." Of course there's no telling what "thought model" has encouraged this human audience to tacitly agree with such an un-quantified proposition, but in such sweeping -- and dramatically poetic -- laments, we need not demand too "high a bar" as to the quality of information, observation and logic which might be driving us to such a conclusion.

In 2015 A.D the world has more than sufficient history behind it to draw some quite conservative conclusions about this "hasn't changed much" idea. Naturally, although the modern technological availability of such a literal glacier of "things" ranging from electric radios to steel belted tires might serve to counter this common argument on the plane of contradicting, material manifestations, other features of life on the planet appear to this particular "interested observer" as a sequence of copies, each following the previous by some varied duration of years, decades or centuries.

The point here is that because the technology which supports our modern social civilization is advancing so rapidly, we have become immured to such fundamental changes. For example, when we see an advertisement for the latest electronic gadget, we are not shocked. Instead, we are probably considering whether or not we can afford to buy one for ourselves.

An additional factor which seems to complicate our efforts as observers is the understandable attachment of our consciousness to material things. When we set our efforts to observing changes which are not manifest in material things, our perspicacity seems to falter. This allows the non-material to seem able to "creep up" on us, arriving without warning or, at least, without any sort of civil announcement.

This may all seem a little abstract, but this is the case with the "creeping" oligarchy which is presently threading its way throughout the country. From one moment to the next -- or from one day to the next -- there seems to be very little changing, but the undercurrent is as strong and relentless as a rip tide. Further, although the uselessly obedient media casts this picture into a chaos of coincidence -- and sometimes, simply out right mystery -- every molecule of that undercurrent is marching in lockstep, and the constant, unwavering destination of that march is total, albeit almost unnoticed, oligarchy.

There are voices heralding this danger of rapidly approaching, saturating oligarchy -- admittedly voices reaching far more eyes and ears than a quiet little high desert blog from Albuquerque, but these voices are reduced to mere uncertain quivers compared to the monolithic roar and rage of the "pretend" media which currently serves those billionaires who host such great ambitions.

Ironically, even the very public servants of those same oligarchs are citing the danger -- for other countries, of course -- from pulpits as unlikely as those of the GOP debates in speeches where every sold out word has been carefully scripted by a wholly owned think tank somewhere.

MeanMesa is fascinated by this flow of little "twists and turns" as oligarchy is defined, insinuated, redefined, denied or simply brought forth to be inserted into casual conversations amid intentionally drifting prognostications deceptively muttered. There seem to be very few "unknowns" remaining in the new economy's "journey" from where we are to where we are going. The image of the new oligarchy is emerging from the fog as we speak.

Perhaps this is an auspicious opportunity to blog a little about what these old eyes are watching.

Three Voices Speaking to the Peril

It's no surprise that the billionaires have forbidden "chatting up" the topic too much.
Their obedient media is busy with ISIS, gay marriage, gun control and abortion.

There are, no doubt, more than three folks speaking about the subject of oligarchy, but -- not many more. It is an unusually upsetting topic for Americans at our level. There is practically nothing to be said in its favor among the great "middle swath" of the population [MeanMesa is reluctant to use the term, "middle class," to describe the broken, bruised and blistered survivors of the Great Republican Looting Festival of 2008.]. By this it is meant that, for example, it would be almost inconceivable to imagine a mob marching down the street in an American city demanding "OLIGARCHY NOW!"

This lack of discourse is, if not suspicious, at least quite eerie. One might think that an approaching change of such magnitude and one promising such far reaching, penetrating effects on both daily lives and future dreams would be a common topic over every back yard picket fence and every broken down water cooler -- you know, "screamed from every rooftop."

This post is about three individuals in the American "public arena" who are speaking about the approaching oligarchy. There has probably never been a more egregious case of well financed treason in the Fourth Estate.

The three men appearing on MeanMesa's list of "outspoken oligarchy commentators" are worthy of examination because all three hold the ear of their own, significant audience. As for message, two are heralding a warning while the third has "chopped, minced and pickled" the subject for his political survival.

Amid the direr vacuum of public discussion concerning this, it turns out that it's very easy to "get on MeanMesa's list." Any public figure so much as even mentioning the term is automatically qualified. Let's have a look at three of these public faces.

1. Thom Hartmann

Progressive Radio Host, "The Thom Hartmann Show"

1350AM, KABQ Albuquerque, 10AM to 1PM weekdays

Old people -- like MeanMesa -- listen to the radio. Because the wing nut billionaires who currently own most of the industry broadcast their hate radio toxin over more hundreds of stations and for more hundreds of hours daily -- a rate of 400 to 1 when compared to the number of hours progressive or any other voices can be heard -- it is always a reassuring pleasure to encounter such "an exceptional exception" as The Thom Hartmann Show.

Thom Hartmann - US domestic talk radio host who
routinely talks about the encroaching oligarchy.
[image]

Hartmann has famously stated his policy, "I don't want to be afraid that politicians will cut off my access because I ask them hard follow up questions in interviews." 

As one samples the various options of what serves as broadcast reporting, particularly talk shows presenting interviews, Hartmann's admirable policy is immediately noticeable. Thom Hartmann reveals himself as extremely well informed and very well educated while remaining notably civil while interviewing guests with opposing viewpoints.

The point here is that Hartmann regularly introduces current news stories about the latest ambitious efforts of US billionaires -- those comprising the anti-democracy, oligarch class -- to complete the "economic coup d' etat" of their avaricious dreams. His views of the shady legislative tactics and "suspicious obedience" of the GOP controlled Congress to oligarchic interests are especially valuable.

He speaks openly about dynastic oligarchs and perpetual oligarchy as the ruling factors of the new economic model for the United States. Hartmann is also utterly meticulous about including the sources of this information as he provides it, allowing any still skeptical listeners to verify the information for themselves.

[A MeanMesa note: For international visitors to this blog unable to receive The Thom Hartmann Show as broadcast by domestic radio stations, a podcast service can be purchased here: Thom Hartmann PODCAST. For free listening during the radio show broadcast: Thom Hartmann - Watch Live TV. The show is also broadcast worldwide via US Armed Forces Network, and Hartmann hosts a televised talk show called "The Big Picture" on the RT network.]

2. Senator Bernie Sanders

US Senator From Vermont

Democratic Party Candidate for US Presidency

If we were to "size" the media fraud which is currently masking any serious reporting about the oligarchic threat, we would quickly encounter another media fraud with roughly the same dimensions. The Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign has consistently attracted larger crowds at campaign rallies than those attending rallies for any other candidate, yet most American voters remain unaware that he is even running in the race. Is there another name for this? It looks like a simple case of sold out media treason to MeanMesa.

Clearly, the scale of such treachery no longer causes much concern to the network executive moguls. These "oligarch wanna-be's" are apparently quite comfortable with their "arrangements" with the billionaires -- they are obviously more concerned with what their masters think of them than they are concerned with what their networks' viewers think of them. Unless you want more of what we currently have, hit the "mute" button.

Let's just say that the billionaires issuing the orders to their wholly owned, uselessly fraudulent media networks are just not that comfortable with the prospect of a democratic socialist becoming a Presidential nominee. Worse, when that democratic socialist is becoming the candidate of choice for the Democratic majority of voters, they are really worried. ["Democratic majority" means that there are significantly more Democratic voters than Republican voters. If this is "news" to you, then you have a "news" problem.]

Senator Bernie Sanders [image]

Sanders is clearly the "visiting glacier" in the oligarchs' "pond." Like a glacier, he's squarely, indisputably there, and the massive crowds filling his campaign rallies -- not to mention his two million small donors -- signal that he can remain as long as he likes. 

It's also becoming clear that those two million small donors have polished their walking shoes in preparation for an almost inconceivably massive door to door canvassing effort. The billionaires presumed that they had successfully castrated the last vestige of such powerful political forces after they had systematically destroyed the labor unions.

He is openly and repeatedly campaigning with proposals to finally limit wealth inequality -- an abhorrent nightmare for the billionaires who have invested so generously in their right wing scheme for taking complete control of the government. Worse, at least for the oligarchs, any candidate who is bad mouthing wealth inequality is, by necessity, also talking about oligarchy.

Sanders' often repeated campaign slogan says it all: "It's time to tell the billionaires that they can't have it all."  Because oligarchy necessarily includes the idea that the billionaires SHOULD have it all, the plutocrats who own the Republican Party are fuming in their cloistered country club back rooms. The first item in their response to this is to order their media servants to absolutely boycott any reporting whatsoever about the Sanders' campaign.

The uncontrollable Donald Trump actually called Sanders a "whacko" who will give away free stuff. A couple of the mouth junk "stars" working at the oligarchs' networks were ordered to casually drop the narrative that Sanders' proposals would cost the country $17 Tn in ten years. Notably, the missing element in that pitch was any reassurance that the oligarchy wouldn't become permanently cemented into place if Sanders were not elected President.

MeanMesa has noticed an interesting, albeit subtle, change in the commonly used terms of the Sanders campaign. Apparently, using the term "oligarchy" was simply too taxing for the failed education level of too many otherwise sympathetic Sanders supporters. These voters may not be able to entirely understand the meaning of "oligarch," but -- believe MeanMesa -- they can understand the meaning of "billionaire."

Most of the electorate still have plenty of the bruises, scars and terror which was so evenly distributed to them the last time the billionaires were in charge. Remember the date: 

2008. 

It is going to become the Republican Party's worst, unrelenting toothache by the time November of 2016 arrives.

3. Senator Rafael [Ted] Cruz, Jr.

GOP Tantrum Thrower and Government Shut Down Expert

Nationally famous Right Wing religious bigot,

Jr. Senator from Texas and Presidential Candidate

It is not a coincidences that the faces of contemporary oligarchs appear almost exclusively [MeanMesa notes that a number of corporate, bankster class "oligarch wanna be's" are contributing heavily to the Clinton Primary campaign. However, rather than supporting any sort of Democratic policy proposals, MeanMesa considers these "contributions" to be "damage control" laid aside early on in the event that a Democrat becomes the next President.] among the "cash cow" donors of the Republican Party. Among the billionaire class available cash reserves have already proven to be effortlessly sufficient to render state level democracy extinct -- a large majority of individual states have now "elected" entire state level governments entirely controlled by GOP operatives and their regimes.

These states now serving as the equivalent of living "blood donors" under red control are easy to spot -- most of them are now tattered, economic basket cases.

Nonetheless, the GOP is living up to its well earned reputation as a fetid denizen of utter skunk striped wing nuts. While the billionaires have ordered their wholly owned media to focus unceasingly on Donald Trump, there turns out to be "another strange one" waiting in the wings. A really, really strange one.

Oligarchy From the Pulpit

The Rafael Cruz Couple - Pastor Daddy and Senator Son [image]

Because this post specifically intends to identify public figures who are currently speaking openly about oligarchy, we must add Rafael Cruz to our list. MeanMesa must also note that what Rafael is saying about oligarchy is quite removed from the messages Thom Hartmann and Senator Sanders are delivering. Let's begin with a quotation from Pastor Rafael Cruz, father of the Texas Senator, Rafael Junior:

FLASHBACK: Rafael Cruz Calls Son, Ted Cruz, an ‘Anointed King’ Responsible for ‘The End Time Transfer of Wealth’

[Read the original article at AATTP.org]

We can see from this arrogant, albeit rather dated, religionist nonsense that Rafael has also been thinking about just what help he might render to the establishment of the US oligarchy -- after all, the compensation could be staggering if, afterward, the billionaire winners are inclined to pay their faithful servants and ground troops. For "normal, run of the mill" billionaires the simple prospect of owning everything and everybody in the nation is attraction enough, but for thinly disguised Dominionists such as Cruz, the imagined possibilities look more like a blend of the medieval Oberammergau Passion Play and a blood soaked, WalMart abattoir shrink wrapping fresh pork chops on a high speed conveyor belt.

MeanMesa instantly and humbly admits this blogger has no capacity whatsoever to embellish this article from Americans Against the Tea Party. [AATTP]

Americans Against the Tea Party

Posted by: Josh Kilburn 

 Election 2016

Ted Cruz recently announced his intention to run for presidency, so it’s worthwhile to take a look back at the sort of environment that he comes from, and what his influencing beliefs are.

In a sermon last year, Rafael Cruz said that his son is among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society. This is a Christian dominionist agenda that’s commonly called the “Seven Mountains” mandate: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion. If “Seven Mountains” is too abstract, “Creeping Christofascism” puts a much finer point to it.

In fulfilling the “Seven Mountains” Mandate, Rafael Cruz said that his son and other “anointed kings” would help bring about a “prophesied great transfer of wealth” from the “wicked” to the “righteous gentile believer.”

Rafael Cruz said that they are “Kings who are anointed to go to war, win the war, and bring the spoils of war to the priests.”

In the wake of the speech, Ted Cruz was blessed and anointed by prominent dominionist pastors, in effect making him a “king” in the political/governmental sense, at a special ceremony held at a Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa in 2013.

Ted Cruz made his first political speech at Liberty University, and the University mandated student attendance. Given that Liberty University is the religious institution of Jerry Falwell, who was influenced by dominionist pastor R. J. Rushdoony (the grandfather of dominionism, a strong influence on Rafael Cruz as well), it should surprise exactly nobody that they would give Cruz this sort of deference.

While giving a guest sermon in 2012 at Larry Huch’s megachurch in Irving, Texas, Rafael Cruz explained that:

“The pastor [Huch] referred to Proverbs 13:22, a little while ago, which says that the wealth of the wicked is stored for the righteous. And it is through the kings, anointed to take dominion, that that transfer of wealth is going to occur. God, even though he’s sovereign, even though he’s omnipotent, he doesn’t let it rain out of the sky – he’s going to use people to do it.”

In return, Hutch spoke about Cruz’s son:

“I know that’s why God got Rafael’s son elected – Ted Cruz, the next Senator. But here’s the exciting thing – and that’s why I know it’s timely for him to teach this, and bring this anointing. This will begin what we call the “End Time Transfer of Wealth.”

“And that when these gentiles begin to receive this blessing, they will never go back financially through the valley again. God is looking at the church, and everyone in it, and deciding, in the next 3 and 1/2 years, who will be his bankers. And the ones that say, ‘Here am I, Lord, you can trust me’, we will become so blessed that we will usher in the coming of the Messiah.”

So what is this “End Times Transfer of Wealth?”

It’s the belief that the Kingdom — which is the name given to the vast Global Caliphate that Dominionists want to set up — will remove the wealth from the sinners and give it to the church. This will play a role in the beginning of the Second Coming.

So what role does Ted Cruz play in this? He’s announced a bid at the presidency, after all.

While I can only speculate, I think the better question is, “do we want to find out?”

Dominionist Billionaires and Their Check Books

The GOP's plutocrats are circling like a horde of locusts.

Hungry locusts.

Locusts who brought along their preachers.

First of all, we must immediately disabuse ourselves of any lingering suspicion that the billionaires care "one whit" about the "return of Christ" or the "kingdom of God." Every iota of this over-financed nonsense is intended for consumption by the fickle voters in the GOP's already dangerously unstable, evangelical base. At this point in Cruz's shoddy Passion Play the only thing topping the cynicism may be the irony.

President Jimmy Carter:

The United States is an “Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery.” 

The Owners of the Republican Party have already amassed a notably large war chest to finance their 2016 gambit. 

"For the first time in more than a century, most of the funding for a presidential election is being donated in amounts of six figures or more from corporations and wealthy individuals. Roughly a third of the more than $380 million already raised for the 2016 election comes from less than 60 donations, according to the Associated Press." 

*** 

"Jeb Bush’s largest Super PAC has already raised $103 million, most of it collected before he even officially declared that he was running for president. At least 20 individuals wrote checks to Bush’s Super PAC for $1 million or more, and an estimated 236 checks were received for $100,000 or more." [This is what oligarchy looks like.]

Well, Rafael had no intention of missing out on his own fund raising efforts. The bat sh**t crazy dog and pony show his father added to the mix spurred plenty of donations for the pious Texan.

"It took Ted Cruz three months to raise $10 million, according to the same AP account. He then more than doubled the size of his coffers by collecting $11 million with a single check from a hedge funder." [This is what oligarchy looks like.]

No Need to Suffer From an "Irony" Deficiency

The really juicy parts of the carnival are just beginning!

Earl of Casino du Manchu,
 Billionaire Sheldon Adelson [image]

Among other notably troubling topics, Senator Cruz's rambling, tangential reference to our oligarchic future was delivered in a speech in a lush Las Vegas casino complex owned by none other than one of America's most ambitious and flamboyant oligarchs. This was cynicism at its utmost.

Still, the rank of file of GOP "true believers" patiently awaiting "prosperity's onslaught" in their aging house trailers saw absolutely nothing contradictory in the paradoxical political soup. While most of these unfortunate, beer guzzling souls have only a passing interest in being counted among Cruz's "righteous" -- and sitting on the receiving end of his "end times wealth redistribution from the wicked to the pious" -- they are almost hypnotically impressed by the lights and sirens of a Sheldon Show not to mention, of course, the women.

MeanMesa suspects that it's very unlikely that 5% of this crowd have any idea what "oligarchy" means. Good work, Fourth Estate and US public education.

Sheldon Adelson is a "mid-range" US oligarch [total wealth < $40 Bn] with the primary political interests in 1. avoiding Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecution for bribing his casinos into the Peoples Republic of China [REUTERS], 2. legalizing on-line gambling in the US, and 3. using the US military to attack Iran, handing the smoldering remains to Israel. MeanMesa has posted about this war-mongering character before:

Interview With An Oligarch - MeanMesa

[Laughter is the best medicine...]

So...we have a nit wit Canadian evangelical Dominionist speaking in a Las Vegas casino owned by a violently irrational US oligarch talking about religious oligarchy.

Minimum Daily Requirement: Irony

GOP Presidential Politics

GOP's Minimum Daily Requirement - Looting/MeanMesa

Part Three - "Cold Turkey" Trade Policy - Facing Facts

The third of a three part posting concerning the current dilemma in the U.S. economy - "cheap labor."

Where did it come from?  What can we do about it now?

 (For Part One, link here)

 (For Part Two, link here )

Part Two of this MeanMesa series provided a glimpse at the causes and conditions which led to the development of the current dilemma.  Hopefully, the postings so far have firmly introduced the reality of the situation.  There are no quick fixes.

California Dreamin' -- Two Unlikely Dreams

The first of the two dreams is that the "free marketeers," seeing the damage they are perpetrating on the domestic economy would suddenly find a bit of an impulse to cease their greedy, wicked ways.  However, when the soulful reaffirmation of such a change of heart is weighed against the incredible profits they are enjoying, MeanMesa has to, unhappily, place the prospect of this new nationalism in the scrap heap with all the previous idealism the same folks have already gleefully discarded.

The second unlikely dream runs along the same lines except with different players.  In it, American consumers become, well, consumed with the idea of "buying American."  Although, at first, American products competed from a position of quality with their Chinese counterparts, domestic manufacturing has descended to such a state that a.) there are no domestically produced alternatives to the import market for many products, and, b.) the cash strapped family trying to complete their weekly WalMart shopping list without enough wage dollars will walk by the higher priced, higher quality American products in favor of import items they can actually afford.

Clearly, expecting either of these schemes to re-establish the American economy  would amount to little more than the dreamy folly of a financial Pollyanna.

A Quick Visit to "Terms" and "Talking Points"

Now, an average voter could reasonably be expected to see through this mess to a way forward.  However, the national media fraud keeps relentlessly injecting just enough semantic confusion into the mix to keep such traditional common sense off balance.

The phrase -- and concept -- of "The Global Economy" is an excellent example.

In the relentlessly cited, yet suspiciously immaterial "Global Economy," the descent of American wages to the level of various third world countries is proposed as an unavoidable necessity if the domestic economy is to survive the onslaught of foreign competition's low labor costs.  "Bargain Basement" prices on imported products are often touted as proof of this scheme.  The fallacious premise, of course, is that wage starved American families can sustain some sort of equivalent "standard of living" ("purchasing power") so long as their closets remain packed with broken, worn out imports from low wage countries -- including China, of course.

Amazingly, the already vaporizing concept of the "Global Economy" has been reinvigorated by the international economic collapse.  The pitch is simple enough -- "See, it really is a global economy!  When our economy collapsed, it happened all around the world.  That proves it!"

The part of this story that the media fraud neglects to mention is that a good number of countries -- particularly those EU members with a more mature national economic policy -- are already having a robust recovery from this "global economic disaster."  However, once again the corporate media fraud, still inebriated with the stark dualism of the Cold War, steps into the fray.  "Those countries are socialist.  They have suffocating regulations, and their businesses cannot prosper under the crushing yoke of their domestic spending."


The point which is conveniently missed in this criminal over simplification is two fold.  First, the businesses in those "socialist" countries are thriving.  Second, the citizens of those countries receive social services -- paid for with their taxes -- which they generally accept as a good deal for the money.


In the United States, however, government expenditures per capita are far greater, but when it comes to the corresponding benefits, it seems that those are reserved for the "corporate owners of the Senate."  It is precisely these "corresponding benefits" -- health care, a rational energy policy, industrial development, infrastructure stability and improvement, a rational trade policy, educational outcomes, labor conditions and so forth which can no longer be set aside to the detriment of living conditions for US citizens. Doing so thus far has unmistakably revealed itself as a well lubricated path to becoming utterly non-competitive.


The most notable product of the American culture is little more than a clutch of unaccountably rich billionaires.


Is there a solution to this dismal mess?  Perhaps.

MeanMesa always tries to include some sort of a plan for the path forward.


Thom Hartmann's Tariffs

Hartmann's explanation of the history of the tariff idea in the United States has been simplified to produce suitable fodder for his rather interesting , inspiring, and highly educational radio show  (The Thom Hartmann Show, AM 1359, KABQ, 10 AM - 1 PM weekdays, Albuquerque).   Just here we can simplify it even further.

The United States government operated primarily on the revenue from tariffs for the entire time between the Revolutionary War and the timely addition of the income tax during World War Two.  In the earliest days, tariffs were enacted for two important reasons.

First, domestic manufacturing in the infancy of the country could not compete with the industrialized import power of Europe.  Tariffs on European goods were imposed to make the prices of those products high enough to stabilize competition with the less efficient manufacturing which was only beginning to take place in the US.  The US government was committed to the development of domestic manufacturing, and the tariffs served to protect those "start up" businesses.

Second, the tariffs represented a "consumption tax," and, as such, distributed the burden of the higher prices as a sort of automatically compensating, progressive scheme aimed at Americans who consumed lots of imported goods.

Naturally, as tariff regulations passed through the soiled halls of the Congress, every possible mischief came forward front and center.  No matter how tariffs were structured to the advantage of the backers of the current power elite, the complaints were essentially in a "solid state" of frenzy.  It was the beginning of the ever widening division between the middle class and the new, oligarchic, American aristocracy.

The point here is simple enough, however.  A similar competitive conflict now exists between products produced domestically and cheap labor imports.  If continued to its logical conclusion, American workers will see a continuation of the decline in their average wages until an "equilibrated state" is reached where wages are constant in both the rural areas of the Peoples Republic of China and Southern California.

What had once been the promise of the American middle class will have been exchanged for a nation of poverty level wage slaves and a handful of incredibly rich "free market" types.  (The incredibly rich "free market" types have apparently not considered that such a horde of poorly paid American workers will only be able to purchase an ever diminishing amount of their "stuff.")

The degrading standard of living in the US which has been caused by a.) lower and lower wages, and b.) fewer and fewer job opportunities will ultimately target all aspects of the domestic quality of life.  The first to be "hit" have been clearly visible already.

There is no government revenue which can be directed at infrastructure maintenance and development.  Today, the infrastructure back load in our country is already greater than $4 Trillion dollars.  Likewise, other social services which should have been foundational considering the amount of taxes we pay, have also slipped "out of reach."  Consequently, the bridges are collapsing, the roads are filled with pot holes and public schools have perpetually leaky roofs.

National health care has been savagely harnessed as a profit center for the corporate elite.  Education costs condemn many Americans to a simple high school diploma, and overall educational outcomes are even more dismal.  Innovation and invention seem to have begun an immense migration to countries where the education systems -- and the students -- can support them.

The central issue to all of this is that it is unfolding in a resource rich country which cannot solve its own problems.  The influence of the oligarchs has become so pervasive in the government that any redirection of revenue toward a solution is seen as little more than grabbing profits the rich have already purchased from the Republicans.  This lament could continue, but MeanMesa visitors can already grasp the general direction.

Hartmann's solution, also simplified, strikes directly to the core of the problem -- not surprisingly -- by reintroducing a new tariff structure.  This time around, however, the tariffs must be imposed directly on the respective values of imports of labor.  Further, since there is presently a troubling shortage of manufacturing activity in the US, there are few domestic industries to protect.  MeanMesa sees this as a potentially disastrous opportunity for the oligarchs and their Senatorial servants to simply loot tariff revenues in the same manner they loot everything else.

Tariff revenues must be directed exclusively to all the public areas which have been neglected  as a result of the collapsing economy and employment model.  The revitalization of the country's fundamental equity -- again, roads, bridges, school buildings, health care and a functional educational system -- will consist of labor intensive spending which cannot be exported.  In the short term, the tariffs may serve to keep the country afloat until material economic recovery becomes a possibility.

In the longer term, cheap imports will continue to present sub-standard quality, but they will no longer hold the narcotic appeal of lower prices.  American domestic production might revive to a point where most Americans are actually using goods produced domestically.  Other areas of domestic innovation and investment would naturally follow.

It may be important to realize that the economic malaise we are now experiencing really is due to a policy which has degraded the fundamentals of the US industrial engine.  The troubles we face are absolutely not difficulties arising from minor or temporary policy -- the essential fabric of the economy has been seriously wounded.

The Corporate Senate Greet the "Tariff Idea"

Anyone who even briefly thought that the health care reform "debate" with the oligarchy's puppets in the Senate was a new, all time high in the flow of inflammatory "buzz words and talking points" should hang on to his hat!  Once the initial shock of directing tariff revenues to domestic national needs has passed, the professional looters and other low life among us will launch into a campaign of vicious petulance indeed.

The corporate media fraud will present endless interviews "representing both sides" of the issue.  "Tonight for a deeper analysis, we are pleased to have Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin with us.  Joe, you first.  Isn't the tariff proposal the foundation of a Stalinist nightmare of the old Soviet Union style?"

Anyone who follows the propaganda cycles can take it from there.

However, even emboldened with the "new opportunities" emerging from the Citizens United decision, the ossified criminal elements in the Senate would find that the tariff proposal would have an unsettling degree of public support.  If it were to be implemented with the same attention to detail, that is, denying massive corruption, as the Recovery Act, the proposal's popularity would increase quickly.

Our "trading partners" in the Peoples Republic must learn that "most favored nation status" is a concept which flows both ways. Our petty ideologues in the Congress must learn that a rational, modern form of "good old fashioned" protectionism" holds the prospect of keeping us out of war for a few years and keeping the country afloat long enough for better times to come.


A thousand details remain to be forged for such a drastic legislative departure from our current "anything goes" style of cancer stage capitalism, but the promise of recovery may be held somewhere in this frothy mix!  MeanMesa encourages you, faithful visitor, to consider this proposal.



A "Post-Posting-Post-Script"


MeanMesa apologizes for the screwed up graphics in the original post.  

Thankfully, our IT Guy, Dave, (Who, for the sake of any interested women  among our visitors, happens to be a kind, brilliant and fun fellow and who cares for the elderly and -- is AVAILABLE!) fixed everything.

Thanks Dave!

Rehabilitating Thom Hartmann

MeanMesa has long had the habit of listening to Thom Hartmann (The Thom Hartmann Radio Show, AM1350 KABQ, Albuquerque, 10AM to 1PM weekdays).  In fact, Thom's blog from his daily Newsletter has long been a part of MeanMesa's daily newletter to a nice group of progressive friends here in New Mexico.

However, Mr. Hartmann's whining seemed to have reached an irritating "fever pitch" of late -- especially in his criticism of our President.  Apparently, Barrack Obama just hasn't crashed solidly enough into a program of vindictiveness and revenge on the neo-cons in Mr. Hartmann's opinion.

The rest of us, striving to be a bit more mature in our national politics, are assuming that the President is not a big fan of starting a civil war with all the troglodytes who are still staggering around in Rush Limbaugh's cloud of perpetual lies and inflammation.

Still, Thom's two latest newsletters may have broken this mold.  Take a look and see what you think.

Thom's blog

The Hard Reich in the Republican Party Shows their True Stripes

It appears that the Senate Judiciary Committee's Republicans have so far one solo talking point, that being that Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to ever serve on the Supreme Court, was an "activist judge," and because Elena Kagan clerked for him, she must be tainted by her association with him. Marshall, of course, successfully argued before the Supreme Court - when he held the Solicitor General's job that Elena Kagan currently holds - that the 1898 Plessy versus Ferguson "separate but equal" racial doctrine should be overturned, and the Court unanimously agreed in its "Brown versus Board of Education" decision. But these Southern State Senators, particularly Alabama's Jeff Sessions, are apparently still smarting over being forced by the Court to accept integration of workplaces, neighborhoods, and lunch counters. Once again, the hard reich in the Republican party shows their true stripes, and doesn't even have the common sense or moral compass to be embarrassed by it. They mentioned Thurgood Marshall - in a negative context - nearly twice as many times in their opening remarks as they mentioned their other boogeyman, the current President of the United States, an African-American who wouldn't be President if Marshall hadn't successfully argued that case before the court.

-Thom

and, 

Thom's blog

The Manchurian Candidate happened...

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, "The recession has directly hit more than half of the nation's working adults, pushing them into unemployment, pay cuts, reduced hours at work or part-time jobs." Close to half of the survey's respondents said, "they are in worse financial shape as a result of the downturn, which destroyed 20 percent of Americans' wealth." Meanwhile, Republicans are obstructing any attempts whatsoever to aid Americans in crisis, whether it be mortgage help or unemployment, and both Democrats and Republicans are joined in fearing to take on the multinational monopolies that have paid off politicians for three decades to get huge tax breaks for companies moving jobs from America to China and to destroy all the protectionist tariff and other measures this country has historically had since 1793 to keep manufacturing of everything from jeans to machine tools here in America. As a result, we don't make much here anymore other than weaponry, and since the beginning of Reaganonomics have gone from being the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor, the world's largest manufacturer of consumer goods to the world's largest importer of them. Reaganomics, Clintonomics, and Friedman's flat-earth economics have turned America into the world's largest third-world country, while at the same time China continues to protect its markets and has a growing economy and industrial base. It's almost like The Manchurian Candidate happened, his name was Ronald Reagan, and nobody has had the courage since 1988 to turn us away from his insane tax and trade policies.

-Thom