Robert B. Reich's Blog, page 72
March 16, 2017
An Orgy of Unnecessary Cruelty
March 14, 2017
TRUMP’S BONKERS BUDGETDonald
Trump ran for president as a man of...
TRUMP’S BONKERS BUDGET
Donald
Trump ran for president as a man of the people, who was going to fight for
those who were left behind – but everything we’re hearing about his
forthcoming federal budget says exactly the opposite: Spending that’s a great
deal for big corporations that have hired armies of lobbyists, and great for
the wealthiest few like himself. But leaving everyone else a lot worse off.
Here
are four important early warning flares:
1. Trump’s budget will increase military spending by 10 percent (even though
U.S. military expenditures already exceed the next seven largest military
budgets around the world, combined). And that’s frankly scary for a lot of
reasons from what it signals about his foreign policy priorities to the impact
of that whopping spending hike like this on other parts of the budget.
2. Trump actually plans to cut corporate taxes (even though U.S corporate
profits after are higher as a percentage of the economy than they’ve been since
1947).
3. He’s going to pay for this – in part – by cutting billions of
dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency (which would strip the EPA of
almost all its capacity to enforce environmental laws and regulations, at a
time when climate change threatens the future of the planet). This is
precisely the opposite of what the United States ought to be doing.
4. Last – but by no means least – huge leaps in military spending plus tax cuts
will also mean big cuts to programs like food stamps and Medicaid (at
a time when the U.S. has the highest poverty rate among all advanced nations,
including more than 1 in 5 American children).
This is only the first step in the budget process,
but with Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate these
priorities have a good chance of being enacted, which is why we have to raise
our voices – and push back – now.
Republicans
in Congress are likely still recovering from the last recess – dubbed appropriately
“Resistance Recess.” We need to take that winning spirit of resistance into the
budget fight – and the time to start is right now.
So,
let your members of Congress know that Trump’s budget is not your budget. Trump’s
spending and tax priorities are not in the best interest of most Americans. And
then let’s get to work to make sure we get a Congress in 2018 that reflects
YOUR priorities.
March 10, 2017
Trump’s War on the Truth Tellers
they disagree with other...
March 6, 2017
Three Terrifying Reasons for Trump’s Latest Rant
March 5, 2017
The Old Trump is Back. In Fact, He Never Left
March 4, 2017
3 Terrifying Reasons for Trump’s Latest Rant
president of the United States alleged in a series of ...
The Unnerving Reasons for Trump’s Rant
president of the United States alleged in a series of ...
February 28, 2017
Trump’s 10 Steps for Turning Lies into Half-TruthsEarlier
this...
Trump’s 10 Steps for Turning Lies into Half-Truths
Earlier
this year the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief insisted that the Wall
Street Journal wouldn’t label Trump’s false statements as “lies.” Lying, said the editor, requires a deliberate intention to mislead, which couldn’t be proven in Trump’s
case.
But Donald Trump is the most lying president we’ve ever had, and he seems
to get away with it. Here’s his 10-step plan for turning lies into near truths:
Step
1: He lies.
Step
2: Experts contradict him, saying his claim is baseless and false. The media
report that the claim is false.
Step
3: Trump blasts the experts and condemns the media for being “dishonest.”
Step
4: Trump repeats the lie in tweets and speeches. And asserts that “many
people” say he’s right.
Step
5: The mainstream media start to describe the lie as a “disputed fact.“
Step
6: Trump repeats the lie in tweets, interviews, and speeches. His surrogates
repeat it on TV and in the right-wing blogosphere.
Step
7: The mainstream media begin to describe Trump’s lie as a
"controversy.”
Step
8: Polls show a growing number of Americans (including most Republicans)
believing Trump’s lie to be true.
Step
9: The media start describing Trump’s lie as “a claim that reflects a
partisan divide in America,” and is “found to be true by many.”
Step
10: The public is confused and disoriented about what the facts are. Trump
wins.
Don’t
let Trump’s lies become near truths. Be vigilant. Know the truth, and spread
it. The media should stop mincing words. Report Trump’s lies as lies.
February 24, 2017
Boycotting TrumpBoth Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other...
Boycotting Trump
Both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka’s and her father’s. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products.
Macy’s dropped Donald Trump’s clothing line early in his campaign after he called Mexican immigrants “killers” and “rapists.“ Now Macy’s is under increasing pressure to drop Ivanka’s as well.
Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, quit Trump’s economic advisory council after he was pressured by consumers and employees. That came after Trump’s Muslim ban and #deleteuber went viral.
Keep the pressure on. Let’s make it unprofitable to work with Trump. Boycott Trump. Reject companies that do business with Trump. Boycott companies whose CEOs collaborate with Trump.
You need to be both a political activist and a consumer activist.
Go to www.grabyourwallet.org for a complete list of companies to boycott.
February 21, 2017
7 Signs of Tyranny
As tyrants take control of democracies, they...
7 Signs of Tyranny
As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically do 7 things:
1. They exaggerate
their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a
“landslide” even after losing the popular vote. They criticize any finding that they
or co-conspirators stole the election. And they repeatedly claim “massive voter fraud” in the absence of any evidence, in order to have an excuse to restrict voting
by opponents in subsequent elections.
2. They turn the public
against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them
“deceitful” and “scum,” and telling the public that the press is a “public enemy.” They hold few, if any, press conferences, and prefer to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered
statements (or what we might now call “tweets”).
3. They repeatedly lie
to the public, even when confronted with the facts. Repeated enough, these lies cause some of the public to doubt the truth, and to believe fictions that
support the tyrants’ goals.
4. They blame economic
stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and foment public
bias or even violence against them. They threaten mass deportations, “registries” of
religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.
5. They attack the motives of anyone who
opposes them, including judges. They attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies
within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit
civil liberties.
6. They appoint family
members to high positions of authority. They ppoint their own personal security
force rather than a security detail accountable to the public. And they put
generals into top civilian posts.
7.They keep their personal finances secret, and draw no distinction between personal
property and public property – profiteering from their public office.
Consider yourself
warned.
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