Dopesick

 I recently finished "Dopesick" by Beth Macy. I was motivated to read this after seeing the series "Dopesick" on HULU.

Two things worth mentioning - if you watch anything on HULU, subscribe to the premium version of HULU - the book is way bigger in scope than the series.

Dopesick doesn't provide solutions as much as it educates and raises awareness of what we're facing in terms of the opioid epidemic raging in our country.

We can't begin to deal with a crisis until we first understand there is indeed a crisis and get a sense of its scope.

We're poorly educated when it comes to what is actually going on in our country and the world at large. This book is a great beginning for those of us who need more information on opioid addiction and its consequences than is available through social media and the news in general.

When you understand what is happening, you will understand how politicians, medical practitioners, pharmaceutical companies, members of law enforcement and the judicial system have utterly failed to address this problem, assuming they ever really tried.

We have a lot facing us. The old adage holds true, "It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." "Dopesick" - both the book and the series - is an excellent candle.

Holy Moly!

MMT - The Myth

 I just finished "The Deficit Myth" by Stephanie Kelton. Stephanie maintains she's never met a deficit she didn't like.

Actually, she says budget deficits and national debt aren't a problem for currency issuing countries - countries that print their own money.

In a very real sense, she's saying money really does grow on trees. A country can just run up the tab as long as it doesn't cause "inflation".

Stephanie mentions inflation (leaf blight) very early on, but she only does so in passing. Towards the end of the book she discusses it in detail - she redefines it actually. I always thought inflation was what happened when the price of everything just keeps going up - not so according to Stephanie.

I can't really explain Stephanie's concept of inflation. Maybe it's just me. I tend to be very meat and potatoes about some things, especially when it comes to money.

Stephanie's entire book is about MMT - "Modern Monetary Theory". It's actually more like an infomercial for MMT than a book. She rarely stops selling it.

However, my real problem is that she talks about MMT as if it's a person capable of actually doing things as opposed to just her theory.

Stefanie is the poster child for reification fallacies. Lots of people are guilty of using reification fallacies, but Stephanie is the hands down, absolute winner when it comes to frequency and misuse of reification fallacies.

MMT can't do a damn thing; anymore than concepts like society, religion, capitalism, etc. can do something. You could say that based upon my understanding of and beliefs in MMT, I've decided to do something. You can't say MMT can do something independent of humans.

Stephanie does this endlessly. Remember "Mighty Mouse"? Remember what played when he went into action?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdIev12fCPs

When Stephanie uses the term MMT, that's what it's like - MMT is coming to save the day. The MM in MMT might as well be Mighty Mouse - Mighty Mouse Theory.

The sad thing about all this is that Stephane has some really good things in her book. She does a wonderful job explaining the difference between Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy. She is eloquent in Chapter 7, "The Deficits That Matter".

Stephanie seems like someone who genuinely, passionately cares about the well being of people and the planet. She should have been a social worker.

I really looked forward to reading this book. I had just finished "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth and I was primed for new insights.

It's possible that I just failed to grasp what Stephane was saying - nah, I don't think so. The endless sales pitch is very real.

I was looking to learn something. I wasn't in the market for a new car.

Holy Moly!

The Right Paradigm

On October 23, 2008, Alan Greenspan testified before the House Oversight Committee. This is part of what he said - pay particular attention to what he says at about 5:36 til the end of the video - it only takes a minute for him to go to Wonderland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5lZPWNFizQ

In 2010, Alan Greenspan explained away the Great Recession of 2008 in his testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

This is part of what he said. It appears on page 7,

"For almost a half century, we have depended on our highly sophisticated system of financial risk management to contain such market breakdowns. That paradigm was so thoroughly embraced by academia, central banks, and regulators that by 2006 it became the core of global regulatory standards (Basel II).

The risk management paradigm nonetheless harbored a fatal flaw. In the growing state of euphoria, managers at financial institutions, along with regulators including but not limited to the Federal Reserve, failed to fully comprehend the underlying size, length, and potential impact of the so-called negative tail of the distribution of risk outcomes that was about to be revealed as the post-Lehman Brothers crisis played out. For decades, with little to no data, almost all analysts, in my experience, had conjectured a far more limited tail risk. That led to more than a half century of significantly and chronically undercapitalized financial intermediaries, arguably the major failure of the private risk management system."

Yes, Alan said that. He said a lot more as well. Here's the full text of his testimony.

https://fcic-static.law.stanford.edu/cdn_media/fcic-testimony/2010-0407-Greenspan.pdf

Greenspan's 2008 testimony left me speechless. It basically boiled down to "We don't know what planet we're on."

Turns out, that's true. It's at the core of what Greenspan and all the rest of them got wrong.

We live on Earth. Earth is a wonderful planet with finite resources and we've been abusing it sorely and pretending its resources are infinite.

The other thing these boys got wrong is that they believe it's okay for a small percentage of wealthy people to amass all the wealth and forget about all the people who have nothing.

They simply ignore things like climate change, poverty, plague, global warming, trends toward fascism, etc.

I'm not an economist. I have nothing invested in the stock market. Having said that, I knew we were in big trouble in 2,000 and predicted economic disaster in some of my online posts and letters to the editor.

My favorite essay was titled, "Your House Isn't Worth More, Your Money Is Worth Less".

Since Trump was elected, I've been complaining about the banks and financial institutions whenever I get the chance - not that anybody is listening to me. I just like to go on record in an attempt to warn people when things are going bad.

I've had a slow, understated critique of the market and our economy going on Twitter for quite a long time. A few months ago, someone suggested I read "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth.

I did. I will be forever grateful for the suggestion and to Kate Raworth.

For starters, Kate knows what planet we're on. She's aware of Earth and she's aware of what we've been doing to it.

Kate is also keenly aware of all the people on the planet and the consequences of writing anyone off.

She came up with an economic theory that takes it all into account. She even drew a picture so we could grasp it more easily. The picture looks like a doughnut - hence the title of her book and what she calls her theory.

*** Spoiler Alert *** There's none of Alan Greenspan's word salad in the book. Kate is very easy to understand. She explains things using everyday language.

For those who want a fuller explanation, Kate reviews economic theory from its origins to present day. Yeah, reading this book is like taking a Introduction To Economics course.

Kate explains things like GDP and growth and how we've been basing our political economic strategies on theories that are using the wrong paradigm.

She explains how exponential growth is impossible to sustain in a real world scenario - this pertains to those of us on Earth in 2021.

"It starts with recognizing that every economy - local to global - is embedded within society and within the living world." This appears on pg. 244.

If your tired of hearing the same old, regurgitated tripe that has gotten us to the brink of economic ruin several times and now has us on the brink of extinction and misery, read this book.

If you're studying economics you should already be reading it. If you're not you're in the wrong program. If you're thinking of studying economics, you might want to make sure you attend a school that understands what Kate is saying and includes it in the curriculum.

Here's an easy way to get acquainted with Kate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhcrbcg8HBw 

Holy Moly!

Reading Anew - It's Time To Learn About Economics

Biden is President. I've begun reading serious, non-fiction again. I'm reading about economics now.

The first book I've finished is "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth

I'm reading "The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton" now.

This is my completed reading list from what I will call the Trump Era.

A Higher Loyalty by James Comey

A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig

American Carnage by Tim Alberta
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Blowout by Rachel Maddow
Collusion by Luke Harding
Dark Money by Jane Mayer
Dark Towers by David Enrich
Democracy In Chains by Nancy MacLean
Everything Trump Touches Dies by Rick Wilson
Facts And Fears by James R. Clapper
Fascism A Warning by Madeline Albright
Fear by Bob Woodward
Fire And Fury by Michael Wolff
Friendly Fascism by Bertram Gross
House Of Trump – House Of Putin by Craig Unger
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Kushner Inc. - Greed. Ambition. Corruption. By Vicky Ward
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland
Proof Of Collusion by Seth Abramson
Red Notice by Bill Browder
Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff and David Corn
The Case For Impeaching Trump by Elizabeth Holtzman
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
The Mueller Report  by The Washington Post
The Only Game In Town by Mohamed A. El-Erian
The Threat by Andrew McCabe

This Fight Is Our Fight by Elizabeth Warren

Tough Love by Susan Rice

Holy Moly!

When Your House Is Being Burglarized, You Don't Call A Caterer

The Electoral Process was never meant to be a remedy for treason, Insurrection and civil war. There were no voting booths at Gettysburg.

Everybody elected to office, everybody working for government, everybody in the military, every police officer, every judge, every prosecutor, takes an oath of office.

There are many different oaths of office out there, but they all have one thing in common. All oath takers agree to obey the rules.

Outlaws break the rules. They disobey the law. When they do so, it's up to those in law enforcement who've taken an oath to uphold the law, to stop outlaws from continuing to break the law and arrest them and hold them pending trial.

It's up to those oath takers working in our various judicial systems to try those accused of crimes and hold them accountable for the crimes they've been found guilty of committing.

In all criminal cases the place the crime is committed and the nature of the crime determines who has jurisdiction in terms of arresting, detaining, trying and sentencing those involved with the crime.

The Constitution Of The United States Of America is the overriding law of the land. It takes precedence over all other laws, state and local, regardless of jurisdiction.

Treason is the ultimate crime. It's the only crime defined in our Constitution - Article III, Section 3.

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

All those involved in the January 6th Insurrection were involved in treason - those instigating it, encouraging it and storming our Capitol.

Incredibly, because of our technology, we have numerous videos of  the actual Insurrection.

Sadly, we see and hear Donald Trump, the then POTUS, instigate the assault on our Capitol.

Sadly, we have much more evidence of Trump and others in days both leading up to the Insurrection and since the Insurrection, further incriminating themselves.

Sadly, we have much more evidence of Trump and others perpetuating a coup to overturn our 2020 elections and deny our voters the outcome of our democratic process.

There has been an assault on our Democracy. We are in the midst of a civil war that continues to this day. There are federal and state legislators actively working to illegally overturn our electoral results and overthrow our government.

We cannot and must not try to end this civil war at the ballot box. This war must be ended on the battlefields and in the courts.

Jurisdiction in this matter rests within our Department of Justice. The FBI needs to round up all involved, charge them and arrest them.

The actual January 6th Insurrectionists must all be tried in our Federal Court - in Washington, DC.

Others involved in the coup must be arrested and charged by the FBI and tried in the Federal Court that has jurisdiction in the place in which they committed the crimes.

No, we cannot end a civil war through voting people in or out of office.

When your house is being burglarized or vandalized or burnt down or attacked, when you are being pursued or beaten or tortured or murdered, you don't call a caterer or an interior decorator to come in and solve the problem.

Holy Moly!

Our Duplicitous Federal Government

Disgraceful!

There seems to be a reluctance within our Justice Department to hold Donald Trump and other elected and appointed officials accountable for treason.

The DOJ has yet to arrest and charge Trump for his actions on January 6th.

The DOJ has a long standing policy when it comes to indicting a sitting President - it just ain't allowed. Sadly, that policy seems to be being applied to former Presidents as well.

The President of the United States is not above the law, either while in office or out. No one is.

Our House and Senate may have a similar problem when it comes to Impeachment and Trial.

Trump was never Impeached in the House for the crimes he committed that were well documented in "The Mueller Report".

When Trump was Impeached on two separate occasions for other crimes he committed while in office, the Senate failed to actually try him, much less convict him.

Our country is in peril today because of unbridled, unending corruption at all levels of our Federal Government.

This should come as no surprise when you consider the legal "bribes" given to candidates under the pretense of "campaign contributions".

When lawmakers are compromised the government rots. Our Constitution is meaningless when those sworn to uphold it are corrupted.

We must either demand legal action to hold all office holders and their appointees accountable or resign ourselves to fascism.

Holy Moly!

I Ain't Laughing

 Ain't nothin' funny about "The Divine Comedy". The book should come with cautionary stickers.

I read John Ciardi's translation. He prefaced every canto with an simple narrative of what the canto would tell. He followed every canto with voluminous footnotes to explain/decode Dante's references.

To be clear, I couldn't have read this in its original language version. I wouldn't have understood anything without John's cheat sheets.

For all I know, John was just making it up. For all I know there was no Dante.

Is Dante a poet? Beats me.

"The Divine Comedy" is three books: "Inferno"; "Purgatorio"; and "Paradiso". (hell, purgatory and paradise)

Assuming there was a Dante and assuming John wasn't just making it all up, here's what I've learned from reading "The Divine Comedy":

1. Dante really hated various clergy, aristocrats and hypocrites. I'm talking world class hate. He hated them so much he created a detailed Hell for them. You didn't want to be on Dante's shit list.

2. He wanted all of us to know that we had dues to pay as well. Yeah, Purgatory ain't no walk in the park.

Dante was a Catholic purest. He hated the Church of his time. He condemns the Church for abandoning the teachings of Christ while profiting from people's fear and stupidity.

Dante is clearly against corporate religion and franchising religious outlets. He sees the church as Mammon personified and fully realized - look it up.

I think Dante saw the Pope as Satan on Earth.

Dante clearly loved the Catholic theologians and saints - per Dante, Francis, Benedict and Augustine represent Catholicism as it should be practiced and understood.

"Paradiso" brought back lots of memories of Catholic school for me - more so than "Inferno" or "Purgatorio".

All the mysteries of Catholicism were presented in "Paradiso" and all were basically clarified and answered as they were in Catholic school - it's a mystery only God understands - shut up and accept.

I admit I'm being harsh, but hey, what's the big deal here? Dante wrote a book only religious scholars and historians can even begin to understand - and even they don't agree.

If you're into endless philosophical debate and academic controversy, Dante is your man.

It's worth noting Dante starts his journey with Virgil as his guide and ends up with Beatrice taking him into Paradise.

Don't get me started on Beatrice. Dante clearly indulges his fetishes when it comes to Virgil and Beatrice.

I have no idea who Dante was. Was "The Divine Comedy" the equivalent of today's tabloids? Did Dante write a tell all poem? Was it even a poem? Was it worth 7 or 8 months of my reading time?

One thing I'm sure of. Dante was not the poster boy for modesty - not then, not now.

How relevant is Dante today? Dante is clearly a meal ticket for a small group of scholars who have devoted what appears to be their lives to promoting him. He is overly verbose. He is no Ogden Nash.

Would I recommend the book? Did it have a catchy rhythm? Could you dance to his verse?

If you want epic story telling replete with moral lessons, I recommend "The Hobbit" and "The Lord Of The Rings".

As for my religious beliefs - we're all on our own and it's what we do that defines us in the end, assuming anybody is keeping a record.

Unlike Dante, I prefer Irises to Roses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80

Holy Moly!

We've Forgotten

We've dishonored all those who gave their lives for our country. We've let their sacrifices fall by the wayside. We've allowed the very people they died to protect us from to attempt to destroy our country from within.

Michael Flynn is a retired U.S. Army Lt. General. He collects a military pension. He was pardoned by Trump after he plead guilty to a felony count of "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI about the Kislyak communications, (Mueller's Russia investigation).

On the eve of Memorial Day he advocates for a military coup?

“I wanna know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?” an unidentified member of the audience asked Flynn.

“No reason,” Flynn responded to wild screams of approval. “It should happen.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-qanon-conference-myanmar-military-coup_n_60b424eee4b0ead2796a24a4

I wanna know why Flynn hasn't been arrested for advocating for the overthrow of the United States.

I wanna know why our Senate refused to allow an investigation of the January 6th Insurrection.

Holy Moly! 

Franken Ain't No Verb

 I liked Al Franken. I think he was doing a great job as a Senator. I have no idea why he resigned. Neither do you, unless he personally confided in you.

As much as I regret seeing Al resign, I haven't attempted to second guess why he did so. I simply decided to respect his decision and move on.

I haven't decided to turn his name into a verb. You can't Franken someone. You can subject people to undeserved abuse. You can fuck over someone.

I'm from New York. I came to really appreciate Andrew Cuomo when he began holding daily press conferences after COVID-19 hit. He educated me about spread rates and such. He did a great job.

Now he's being investigated for under-reporting COVID-19 nursing home deaths and mistreating women.

I have no idea what happened with any of this. If he is guilty of anything he needs to be held accountable and I've said so publicly.

Lots of people took issue with me. Some did so civilly, some didn't. What can I say? I calls 'em like I see 'em.

What I don't get is alleged Democrats doing exactly what the Republicans did and continue to do when things like this happen.

Here's a list of some of those things along with my responses:

1. You can't hold Cuomo accountable unless you hold every Republican who got away with similar things accountable.

I have no idea what this means. Seems dumb.

2. The Republicans are out to get Cuomo.

Yep. It's politics.

3. The women are lying.

Really?

4. This is a conspiracy to get Trump pardoned by a N.Y. governor if he's convicted of crimes in N.Y.

Conspiracy theory anyone?

5. The Democrats need to fight dirty like the Republicans do.

Bullshit!

6. Cuomo is being Frankened.

?

7. You're stupid.

I'm definitely not a Republican.

I'm not a politician. I'm a registered Democrat. I don't like politics, but that doesn't stop me from getting involved.

When I left N.Y. in 1980, I had a letter of recommendation from the Chairman of the state's Democratic Party.

I found that interesting because I never worked for the party and I was a particular thorn in the chairman's side.

I've actually run and consulted on political campaigns.

When Bill Clinton disgraced himself, I thought he should resign. Clearly he didn't. Ergo ...

Bush and Cheney lied to us about Iraq and destroyed our economy. Ergo ...

Donald Trump never stopped disgracing himself. Ergo ...

I guess I should add that the Democrats took back the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2020.

Is there a lesson in this? There is for me. Honesty is the best policy. Character matters.

Before I'm a Democrat, I'm a patriot. I care about my country more than I do any political party. I don't think I'm alone in that.

I believe we're still in the midst of a coup. I will continue to vote for Democrats until the Republicans who've betrayed our country and theirs oaths of office are all gone.

In the meantime, I don't want to do anything to cause us to lose the House and/or the Senate in 2022.

I believe in standards and accountability. I like to think most people do.

Holy Moly!

Hush Up Calvin Coolidge - You Be A Fool

In January of 1925, Calvin Coolidge said, in a speech to newspaper editors, "The business of America is business."

Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce during Coolidge's administration. He was originally appointed by Warren Harding. Hoover was a businessman".

Herby liked to communicate via radio and used it freely. Radio was the Twitter of that time.

On March 4, 1929, Herbert Hoover succeeded Calvin Coolidge as President. Like Coolidge, he too was a Republican.

In 1929, with a businessman in the White House - a politician who liked using radio to get his messages across, we began "The Great Depression" and it lasted for 10 years.

The United States of America isn't a business enterprise; it's a government. It's a government based upon a Constitution - a government with an Executive Branch led by a President as articulated in that Constitution. A government with Legislative and Judicial Branches as well.

The President of the United States is a statesman. The President is not a CEO. The U.S. is not a corporation. The President of the United States cannot be fired.

I just needed to get that straight. We've been fed so much BS by so many politicians, we seem to forget what our country is and what being a citizen is all about.

That's not entirely accurate. While some of us clearly forgot. Most of us have never really learned it to begin with. Yeah, we be dumb and dumbed down.

There's a whole lot more BS that accompanies the "you can't fire a President" BS. There's the you can't indict a President BS. There's the you can't Impeach a President after he's left office BS. I'm just ...

Some people literally embrace BS. For them it's a way of life.

Others propagate it. For them it's a matter of amassing wealth and power.

Holy Moly!

 

Bagman For The Coup

Competition seems to be the norm in the United States. There's nothing we don't compete over. This clan/group has been at it since 2016.

They represent the most recent coup. Our longest running coup has been going on for decades. It came to fruition coming into 2016.

Yeah, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 escalated things for the Kochs. They created a whole new party to counter Obama. They used their Tea Party to take over the Republican Party - all the while keeping their eyes on 2016.

Prior to that, the Kochs were setting up a national structure.

What they failed to realize was that somebody else was developing an asset with an eye toward disrupting our entire political system in 2016.

There were others as well. 2016 was a banner year for government takeover.

But hey, this post is about a critical turning point in 1986. I want to focus on the bagman. The guy with the money. The guy who became the poster child for cognitive dissonance. Mr. Double Speak himself.

Grover Norquist founded (was the front man for) Americans For Tax Reform in 1985. In 1986, he introduced the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge".

First, you swear not to raise taxes.

Second, you swear not to eliminate or reduce tax deductions and credits unless you cut taxes by an equal amount.

Grover explains his the pledge in these words, "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

The pledge title is a perfect example of double-speak. It's not about protecting taxpayers. The overwhelming majority of taxpayers are screwed by the pledge.

This pledge is all about making the rich richer at the expense of everyone who ain't rich.

Our population is growing. The cost of providing services is growing with it. We pay for those services with our taxes. If you freeze the taxes you don't allow for growth or compensate for changing economic conditions - there won't be enough money to cover our expenses. 

As basic as this is, there's something people often miss when it comes to the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. It's kinda obvious, but no one seems to notice - like missing the forest for the tree.

The thing is, it puts limits on the actual oath of office that elected officials have to take. There is only one official, legitimate, patriotic oath of office and it should not be restricted or impaired.

I think Grover's oath precludes one from taking the oath "freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion" and bearing "true faith and allegiance to the same". Grover's oath is/has a problem. It's masking a coup.

Grover is the guy making the offer on behalf of the Kochs and others - the offer candidates can't refuse.

Why can't they refuse you ask? Well, those who initially did, found themselves challenged in primaries by extremely well funded challengers.

They found themselves the target of dirty tricks and misleading and dishonest attacks. They were simply blasted out of the water.

Yep, if you didn't sign Grover's oath, you got no money, you were challenged - you were toast - burnt toast.

So you thought that oath was simply about taxes? Well, it was never about saving you money. For the record, whatever tax benefits you may have gotten will expire in 2025.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/789540931/2-years-later-trump-tax-cuts-have-failed-to-deliver-on-gops-promises

Wanna buy a bridge? Here, have a piece of candy.

Hey, Grover's saving us all from Socialism. Welcome to the new Nationalism. Welcome to the Republican Party - America First baby!

Did I mention you actually have to trot over to Grover and sign the oath? It's like signing away your soul to the devil. Yeah, if you wanna run, Grover wants you.

Holy Moly!