Ralph Nader's Blog, page 16

The Incommunicados

The Incommunicados is a 180-page compilation of unanswered letters to government officials and prominent figures in other non-governmental institutions who have become impenetrably cocooned and unresponsive to the public. Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein present their unrequited correspondences to major public figures on pressing issues facing the United States. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign…

The Cost of Re-Enforcing Political Monocultures

By Ralph Nader July 21, 2023 In nature, monocultures are not so resilient to predators or other ravages that exploit their inherent vulnerabilities. Farmers have known this characteristic of monocultures forever. (Agribusiness doesn’t care as much, given its short-term profit outlook.) Democratic voters are at risk from the increasing political monocultures that are weakening resistance…

Hot Off the Press: Capitol Hill Citizen for Your Civic Empowerment

By Ralph Nader July 17, 2023 Our Capitol Hill Citizen (CHC) newspaper is just out with its latest edition. (To obtain a copy visit capitolhillcitizen.com). All forty pages in print only (more on that later) are devoted to empowering voters with news beyond official source journalism. The mainstream press pushes reporters to rely on official…

Suggestions for Progressives to Become Stronger

By Ralph Nader July 7, 2023 Though reluctant to admit it publicly, for the sake of morale and status, progressive citizen group leaders taking on the corporate supremacists and their political lackeys are in hard times. With few exceptions, they are neither adjusting with bolder strategies and tactics nor growing fast enough to spin off…

What’s the Matter with the “Liberal Press”?

By Ralph Nader June 30, 2023 David Ignatius, a long-time Washington Post columnist on military intelligence topics, probably never dreamed his newspaper would fill over three full pages serializing his latest work of thrilling fiction, “The Tao of Deception.” On June 28, 2023, the “Breaking news and latest headlines” in the A section of the…

The Surging Arrogance of Corporatism

By Ralph Nader June 23, 2023 Most heads of giant corporations are drunk with their own power. These corporate CEOs push the envelope in ways that harm defenseless people. They believe they can get away with anything, and they do, with few exceptions. The few corporate crime prosecutions keep declining from Obama to Trump to…

The Frankenstein Chatbots are Erupting – Will the People Counter with Ethical and Enforceable Legal Frameworks?

By Ralph Nader June 16, 2023 Rick Claypool is a level-headed policy analyst and number-cruncher for Public Citizen, who is known for reporting the decline in corporate crime enforcement with each succeeding Presidency. (Biden less than Trump). His latest report (with Cheyenne Hunt) clearly shows him in an unusually agitated state. Its title is “Sorry…

Technology Needs Assessments by Congress Municipalities and Local Civic Groups

By Ralph Nader June 9, 2023 The pace of for-profit technological innovations is accelerating, but to what end beyond corporate sales? The gap between marketing new high-tech products and assessing their intended and unintended consequences has never been greater. Let’s start with the ballooning of augmented reality inside virtual reality. Facebook’s Oculus Rift escapism has…

Reverse the Accelerating Warfare State Before It’s Too Late!

By Ralph Nader June 2, 2023 The Military Budget, which devours over half of the entire federal government’s operational expenditures, has been exempted by Biden and the Congressional Republicans from any reductions in the debt limit deal just reached. Also exempted are hundreds of billions of dollars in yearly diverse corporate subsidies to big business…

Inverted Corporate Capitalism – Blocking Their Owner-Shareholders

By Ralph Nader May 26, 2023 It is the season of annual shareholder meetings for giant corporations when CEOs go through the motions of elections for their Board of Directors and approval of other resolutions. People who own stock in General Motors (GM) receive the “GM Meeting Information” in an envelope emblazoned with this disingenuous…