Robert B. Reich's Blog, page 11

The Fed’s Inflation Mistake ContinuesThe Federal Reserve has...

The Fed’s Inflation Mistake Continues

The Federal Reserve has been hellbent on raising interest rates to slow the economy. It’s a huge mistake.

You know who bears most of the pain of these rate hikes?

Most of the pain is borne by people who are already struggling to keep up with rising prices: lower-wage workers and the poor.

While the Fed has signaled that its interest rate increases might not be as drastic moving forward, the important thing to remember is that these hikes already fail to address a major driver of inflation — powerful corporations that are ratcheting up prices to pad their profit margins.

Right now, the Fed and most of the economic establishment are wrongly obsessing about a “wage-price” spiral — wage gains pushing up prices — when they should be worried about a profit-price spiral — corporate profits driving up prices.

Rather than combatting a key driver of rising prices, the onus for controlling inflation is falling entirely on the Fed’s blunt instrument of job-sapping and recession-driving higher interest rates. This will only make things worse for people already struggling to get by.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Congress and the Biden administration have the power to take aim at corporate greed and protect everyday people from rising prices.

Know the truth — and urge our leaders in Washington to put the burden of inflation where it belongs: on price-gouging corporations.

What’s Next After The Midterms? Ro Khanna & Robert Reich...

What’s Next After The Midterms? Ro Khanna & Robert Reich Discuss

Democrats will retain control of the Senate. Republicans captured the House.

There was no red wave. But there was no blue wave, either.

What does it all mean? I sat down with my good friend Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) to discuss.

Aside from a few remaining contests (and the upcoming Georgia runoff), the results of the election are in and one thing is certainly clear — Americans chose not to make any more waves this time around. Despite voters embracing stability over chaos and election denialism, many outstanding questions remain.

Is Donald Trump over? Should Joe Biden run in 2024? What should Democrats do in the lame-duck session before Republicans take over the House?

These are just a few of the hot button issues that I cover with Congressman Khanna — a member of the House Progressive Caucus who represents Silicon Valley, and someone whose name has been floated as a potential future presidential candidate.

I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Big Midterm Victories That Give Me Hope For The Future While...

Big Midterm Victories That Give Me Hope For The Future

While it’s still too soon to know the full results of the midterms, there were some major victories on Tuesday night that spanned the entire country.

Numerous election denying candidates in key battleground states lost their races for both Secretary of State and Governor.

Abortion rights were protected in five states, minimum wage increases were approved by voters in Nebraska and Washington DC, collective bargaining rights were enshrined in the Illinois constitution, and Medicaid coverage was expanded to more than 40,000 people in South Dakota.

Control of state legislatures flipped to Democrats for the first time in years in Michigan and Minnesota — as well as in the Pennsylvania House. Maryland elected its first Black Governor – only the third Black governor elected in U.S. history. The first openly lesbian U.S. governor was elected in Massachusettes. New Hampshire elected the first trans man to a state legislature in U.S. history.

John Fetterman ran as a voice of the working class and flipped a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, dozens of other progressive candidates defeated big monied interests to win elections to the U.S. House, including Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress.

Friends, regardless of the overall outcome of the midterms, have no doubt: progressives are the future.

Why else would election deniers, monied interests, and bigots be fighting so hard to defeat us?

For one simple reason: They’re terrified of our power.

America still has a long way to go. But it is far better and stronger now — more inclusive, more diverse, more dynamic — than it has ever been.

Remember this as we continue our work. The fight isn’t over — and it won’t get easier. But WE can win. Tuesday was proof.

This One Thing May Stop Trump From Running For...

This One Thing May Stop Trump From Running For Re-Election

Far-right politicians are dragging America back to the 19th century.

Reproductive rights in Wisconsin are now governed by an abortion law passed in 1849 — and in Arizona, a judge recently reinstated a ban on abortion first adopted in 1864.

Well, if Republicans are so keen to wind back the clock, I suggest reviving a different 19th century provision of the Constitution : Section Three of the 14th Amendment.

It states that, anyone who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution can be barred from holding public office if they “have engaged in insurrection” against the United States.

Sound familiar?

A judge in New Mexico thought so — and recently used it to permanently ban an insurrectionist from ever holding any state or federal office again.

The official — Commissioner Couy Griffin — spent months normalizing violence to keep Trump in office and urged supporters to travel to Washington with him on January 6th.

Griffin also voted twice against certifying New Mexico’s 2022 primary election, fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment.

His case proves that it is possible to expel public officials who violate their oaths to the Constitution.

Any lawmakers who engaged in insurrection on January 6th must be held accountable and barred from holding public office now and in the future.

And yes, that includes Donald Trump.

3 Lies Republicans Are Using This ElectionIt’s not just the Big...

3 Lies Republicans Are Using This Election

It’s not just the Big Lie. Republicans are telling three other lies they hope will swing the midterms.

They involve crime, inflation, and taxes.

Here are the GOP’s claims, followed by the facts.

1. They claim crime is rising because Democrats have been “soft” on crime.

Rubbish. Rising crime rates are due to the proliferation of guns, which Republicans refuse to control.

While violent crime rose 28 percent from 2019 to 2020, gun homicides rose 35 percent. States that have weakened gun laws have seen gun crime surge. Clearly, a major driver of the national increase in violence is the easy availability of guns.

The violence can’t be explained by any of the Republican talking points about “soft on crime” Democrats.

Lack of police funding? No. On average, all cities — whether run by Democrats or Republicans — saw an increase in police funding in 2022.

Criminal justice reforms? No. Wherever bail reforms have been implemented, re-arrest rates remain stable. Data shows no connection between the policies of progressive prosecutors and changes in crime rates.

In fact, crime is rising faster in Republican, Trump-supporting states. In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40 percent higher in states won by Trump than in those won by Joe Biden.

Republican policies have made it easier for people to get and carry guns. Republicans are lying about the real cause of rising crime to protect some of their biggest supporters, big gun manufacturers and the NRA.

2. Republicans claim that inflation is due to Biden’s spending, and wage increases.

Baloney. Biden’s spending can’t be causing our current inflation because inflation has broken out everywhere around the world, often at much higher rates than in the US.

Besides, heavy spending by the US government began in 2020, before the Biden administration, in order to protect Americans and the economy from the ravages of COVID-19 — and it was necessary.

Wages can’t be pushing inflation because wages have been increasing at a slower pace than prices — leaving most workers worse off.

The major cause of the current inflation is the global post-pandemic shortage of all sorts of things, coupled with Putin’s war in Ukraine and China’s lockdowns.

The biggest domestic culprit for America’s current inflation is big corporations that are using inflation as an excuse for raising prices above their own cost increases, resulting in the highest profit margins since 1950 — while consumers are paying through the nose.

The biggest domestic cause of inflation is corporate power. Republicans are lying about this to protect their big corporate patrons.

3. Republicans say Democrats voted to hire an army of IRS agents who will audit and harass the middle class.

Wrong. The IRS won’t be going after the middle class. It will be going after ultra-wealthy tax cheats.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in July, provides funding to begin to get IRS staffing back to what it was before 2010, after which Republicans cut staff by roughly 30 percent, despite increases since then in the number of Americans filing tax returns.

The extra staff are needed to prevent high-end tax evasion, which is more difficult to root out (the ultra-wealthy hire squads of accountants and tax attorneys to hide their taxable incomes). It’s estimated that the richest 1 percent are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the IRS.

The Treasury Department and the IRS have made it clear that audit rates for households earning $400,000 or under will remain same.

Republicans are lying about what the IRS will do with the new funding to protect their ultra-wealthy patrons.

None of these three lies is as brazen and damaging as Trump’s Big Lie. But they’re all being used by Republican candidates in these last weeks before the midterms.

So know the truth. And spread it.

The One Thing to Know Before You VoteMany of the biggest issues...

The One Thing to Know Before You Vote

Many of the biggest issues affecting our day-to-day lives are determined by state and local officials who are running for office down here — as well as ballot measures.

But these races at the bottom of the ballot often receive less attention — and fewer votes — than federal positions that appear at the top of your ballot.

Why? Well many people who vote simply don’t fill out their entire ballot. It’s a serious issue.

And I get it. I mean, how can you be expected to know what a comptroller does? Does anyone really know?

And you may not be familiar with all of the other names you see on your ballot.

But these state and local government officials are going to be vital for holding on to what we have –– protecting many of the rights that extremist Republicans in Washington and the Supreme Court are actively trying to erode.

Down ballot races are also critical if we want to advance progressive changes at the state level –– like raising the minimum wage, instituting ranked choice voting, inscribing abortion rights into state constitutions, expanding Medicaid, protecting trans youth, making public higher education more affordable. All of these become possible when we pay attention to down ballot races.

Control of many state legislatures is often determined down here — by a handful of races that can swing in either direction based on a relatively small number of votes.

Republicans have been focused on state and local races for decades — especially when it comes to funding them.

It’s long past time for the Democratic Party to do the same.

On top of that, ballot roll-off — a phenomenon where people vote for top-of-ticket candidates but then don’t vote for down ballot offices — has been a huge problem for Democrats as of late in key battleground states.

A recent analysis of presidential election results from 10 swing states dating back to 2012 showed that in contested races, the Democratic presidential nominee at the top of the ticket received more votes 87% of the time compared to Democratic state legislative candidates at the bottom of the ballot.

On the flip side, the Republican nominee for president received more votes than Republican state legislative candidates just 45% of the time.

Folks, it’s not enough to just vote for President — or even Governor — and call it a day. As we have seen, the consequences of doing so are enormous.

So here are a few things you can do to get prepared to vote down-ballot.

Get your ballot early — request a sample ballot from your local election office. Take it home and familiarize yourself with it.

Next, research ALL down ballot candidates. There are some great organizations to guide you — Sister District, The States Project, Bolts Magazine, and People’s Action are just a few. I’ve linked to them below, but feel free to leave a comment with other local resources you’ve found helpful.

Lastly, connect with your friends and share this information. Get them to vote down-ballot, too. Research shows that texting a friend about voting increases turnout.

We don’t win overnight. We win by connecting with our communities. Paying attention to candidates up and down the ballot — even organizing for them.

When it comes to power in America, remember to vote for the little folks down at the bottom of your ballot.

Why The Window To Prosecute Trump Is ClosingDonald Trump is not...

Why The Window To Prosecute Trump Is Closing

Donald Trump is not above the law. He must be prosecuted — to preserve what’s left of our democracy.

Trump spent years evading the consequences of his actions thanks to the wealth he accumulated from his empire of scams.

Now, he’s counting on his political power to shield himself from far more serious crimes.

Every day we wait to hold Trump accountable only emboldens him — and others like him — to wreak havoc on our Constitution and the rule of law.

Take for instance Trump’s recent threat, that if he is indicted for stealing classified documents, there will be:

“…problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before…I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.”

These are the threats of a bully and a fraud who knows he’s been cornered.

As the window for accountability closes, three things need to happen:

First, the Department of Justice must prosecute Trump.

Trump incited an assault on the Capitol, stole top secret documents, and illegally schemed to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice must stand firm in the face of Trump’s efforts to intimidate them.

They must hold him accountable.

Second, the media should set the record straight.

This is not a matter of left versus right, liberal versus conservative, Democrat versus Republican. It is a question of the Constitution and the rule of law versus authoritarianism and tyranny.

If Trump succeeds — if he intimidates his way out of being held accountable — we’re giving up on our democracy and asking for this kind of lawlessness to prevail.

The media must stop covering this as if there are two sides to this story. The obsession with “balanced coverage” in the face of Trump’s crimes is misleading.

Finally, Republicans must condemn Trump.

The time has come for Republican lawmakers, candidates, and the right-wing media to show some backbone and vigorously repudiate Trump. Their failure to do so before now has created a monster that threatens to consume this country. It is up to them to tell their constituents, followers, readers and viewers that there is no place in America for Trump’s threats to the rule of law or his incitements to violence.

And for all those who claim that a former president should not face criminal prosecution because it would set a “dangerous precedent" — isn’t it more dangerous to allow a former president to avoid accountability for actions that violate the law and the Constitution?

If Trump walks away unscathed, insurrectionists will think they can attack our democracy  and get away with it. And they will be right.

For the moment, Americans who favor democracy and the rule of law control the levers of power.

But for how long?

Holding Trump accountable is not an act of partisanship. It’s a defense of our democracy.

The Election Deniers on the Ballot: What You Need to KnowDonald...

The Election Deniers on the Ballot: What You Need to Know

Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans allies who tried to overturn the 2020 election results are now just one step away from taking control of the election process itself.

BUT we can stop them if we turn out in full force for November’s midterms.

If we don’t stop them from taking over the election process, we can kiss what’s left of our democracy goodbye.

This fall, 60% of voters will have an election denier on their ballot, including key battleground states that decided the 2020 election and will be pivotal in 2024. Many are running for positions like secretary of state, where they’ll have power to determine which votes get counted in future elections — and which don’t.

In 37 states, secretaries of state are the chief elections officers — overseeing things like election infrastructure and voter registration. In 2020, they were the last line of defense for our fragile democracy, upholding Joe Biden’s win despite heavy pressure  from proponents of Trump’s Big Lie.

But now, Big Lie proponents are vying to hold this key position in important swing states.

In Michigan, the GOP candidate for Secretary of State is Kristina Karamo  — who rose to prominence in conservative circles after claiming to have witnessed election fraud as a pollster. She’s also previously claimed that Trump won the 2020 election and that Antifa was behind the January 6th insurrection.  

In Arizona, Mark Finchem, a QAnon-supporting member of the Oath Keepers militia who participated in the January 6 insurrection cruised to victory in the GOP primary by claiming that “Donald Trump won.”

In Nevada, Jim Marchant won his Republican primary by making Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud a cornerstone of his campaign. He also falsely claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and wants to eliminate it altogether in Nevada, despite the fact that he himself has voted by mail MULTIPLE times over the years.

We simply cannot have MAGA election deniers overseeing any element of our elections.

But it’s not just secretaries of state who will be able to pull trickery in future elections. Governors also play a critical role in certifying votes and upholding the will of the people. Which is precisely why Trump and Steve Bannon have had their eyes on running election deniers in these races.

In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano — who was also at the Capitol on January 6th and has been subpoenaed by Congress for his involvement in the insurrection — helped lead the push to overturn the state’s 2020 results. If he wins, Mastriano would appoint Pennsylvania’s top election official.

In Arizona, GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake has said she does not recognize Joe Biden as the nation’s legitimate president — adding that she would not have certified Arizona’s 2020 election results had she been governor.

In Wisconsin, Tim Michels is the Trump backed candidate for governor who still questions the results of 2020 and won’t say whether he would certify the 2024 presidential election. Right now, elections in Wisconsin are administered by the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission. But if Michels wins, he supports scrapping the commission in favor of a plan that could tilt oversight of the state’s elections into the hands of Wisconsin Republicans.

These extremist gubernatorial candidates also support abortion bans, openly denegrate the LGBTQ community, oppose common sense gun-control measures, and want to chip away at the rights of workers.

Ultimately, if any of these candidates wins their election this fall — governors or secretaries of state —  that could be enough to tip the balance in a tight presidential election.

So how can we fight back?

First, spread the word about the GOP’s extremist plans to capture the election process and entrench minority rule. Make sure your friends and family — especially young voters — know what’s at stake in the midterms this fall. It will mean a lot coming from you. Make sure they register AND vote down the entire ballot.

Next, get involved locally. Volunteer to be a poll worker or join a campaign for a candidate running to protect democracy where you live. From school boards to secretaries of state, every position matters.

And of course, vote! Check your registration early and make a plan to cast your ballot.

The future of our country and our basic rights hang in the balance. All progress rests on maintaining our democracy. Let’s get to work.

Organizing a Key Battleground State with New Georgia Project...

Organizing a Key Battleground State with New Georgia Project Action Fund

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down (virtually) with Nsé Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project Action Fund.

Nsé is an incredible organizer who describes her nonprofit as a “tech startup inside a civil rights and voting rights organization” that is making strides to build collective power for working people in Georgia.

I’m so pleased to be able to share with you this inspiring discussion about the on-the-ground fight for democracy in Georgia — and how we can build grassroots power across the country.

Right now, NGP is one of the most important grassroots voting-rights organizations — in one of the most important battleground states. Thanks to countless hours of work, NGP has now registered over 600,000 young people and people of color to vote in all 159 of Georgia’s counties. The organization’s efforts during the 2020 election were absolutely pivotal in helping to flip the state blue for Joe Biden, as well as Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

During my conversation with Nsé, we discuss how we can continue building long-term movements that put power into the hands of the people. Nsé shared so many insights into NGP’s work to combat voter suppression, motivate non-registered voters to participate in our democracy, and get the citizens of Georgia to keep coming back to the polls to make their voices heard in every election.  

I know it’s hard to feel optimistic these days, but my hope is that this conversation will help you feel inspired as we head into the midterms in just a few short weeks. As you are well aware, the stakes for our country could not be higher.

My thanks to Nsé and all of her colleagues and volunteers at the New Georgia Project Action Fund for all the incredible work they do for our democracy.

This One Thing Made Alex Jones Stop Lying Alex Jones will have...

This One Thing Made Alex Jones Stop Lying 

Alex Jones will have to pay millions to the parents of Sandy Hook victims.

Fox News might be on the hook for over a billion dollars after making bogus 2020 election claims.

It turns out there actually might be a way to stop the constant stream of lies coming from the right-wing media. How can we do it? Two words:

Sue. Them.

This won’t defeat the right’s media ecosystem overnight — but defamation law may prove to be one vital weapon in the battle against misinformation. Let me explain.

Alex Jones, you may recall, had used his website InfoWars to portray the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre as a hoax involving actors, aimed at increasing gun control. Parents of victim children sued Jones and his media company for $150 million — ultimately winning an initial settlement of $49 million.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut had already found Jones liable for defamation. And as a result, Jones’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy.

Even though Jones lost this case and finally admitted that the Sandy Hook massacre was “100 percent real,” he’s probably not going to stop making harmful and deceptive videos anytime soon.

But this defamation lawsuit will serve as a warning to both Jones and others in the media who build their business models around spreading lies.

Like OAN.

One America News, a Trump-allied media organization that pushed conspiracy theories about the election, is facing so many defamation lawsuits from those harmed by the start-up network’s lies that its future is now in doubt.

Cable providers have dropped OAN like an extremist hot potato, and the network is now only available to a few hundred thousand people who subscribe to smaller cable providers.

Talk about cutting the chord.

Defamation lawsuits have also been filed against more established right-wing media organizations, like Fox News.  

Dominion Voting Systems, a maker of election information technology used widely across the country, is suing Fox for $1.6 billion over false claims they say the network knowingly made about its software following the 2020 Election.

The case could potentially be a huge financial blow to Fox, and serve as one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.

Again, to be clear, defamation litigation will not single handedly stop the rampant spread of misinformation taking over the airwaves and the internet. These lawsuits can take years and often end up being expensive, plus some of the media organizations peddling lies are bankrolled by conservatives with deep pockets and a radical agenda.  

It can also be abused, and in some cases, pose potential threats to the free press. Although, if news outlets are alerted to errors and correct them quickly, defamation shouldn’t be a problem.

But at a time when social media companies clearly can’t be trusted to moderate themselves against weaponized lies — and elected officials have done little to step-in — the courts might be the best avenue we have to take on manufactured deception and put it to rest.

Where other methods to counter half-truths and exaggerations being spewed by Fox News and their ilk have failed, defamation law might make companies think twice before they knowingly spread falsehoods — and help stop the vicious cycle of lies, clicks, and profits that further divides our country.