Money and Corruption Win

If you take a step back and think about it, money has been winning for a long time and didn't really need Citizen's United to continue its winning streak.  But it certainly helps.

One of the crazy things about American politics is how white lower middle class people support supply side economics (which I admit has validity at tax rates greater than x%) when it has done nothing for them in this technological revolution and they need support to maintain their community.

I think that is why rural America has supported Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders overwhelmingly.  They are the only candidates discussing programs to help those communities.  The fact that the people believe this unrealistic plans only illustrates their desperation to preserve their community.

Now we have the specter of Brazil.  A group of politicians who are under investigation for personal enrichment from politics impeach the President for moving money around from one bucket to another  bucket.  I have no idea on the constitutionality of that in Brazil, but I do know the President in Brazil wields a lot of power and the new President could bury all those investigations.  Meanwhile, the new President has been found guilty of violating campaign finance laws and may not even be able to run for reelection.  And who does he appoint to his cabinet:  well, the new science minister is a creationist who does not believe in evolution; and the new agriculture minister is a soy bean tycoon who has burned down thousands of acres of rain forest and stewardship of the rain forest is within agriculture. Money and corruption are winning in Brazil in a far bigger manner than the U.S.

And let us not forget Russia and China, where people with connections to the leadership have become wealthy beyond the imagination of we mere soles who worked and saved our way into retirement.  And who is a big admirer of the Russian and Chinese economic systems, why none other than Donald Trump.  How will be deal with them over Crimea/The Ukraine and the man made Chinese Islands when he is in awe of their political power systems?

So while Donald Trump did not take money from the Republican power brokers, he certainly understands the power of money and is a leading believers that money installs the right to be able to buy what you need; including eminent domain and anything else that helps the wealthy earn more wealth, avoid taxation on wealth, and buy the political policies that they believe in.

So if you are a relatively economically modest person, all you can hope for is your preferred party be able to get more money than the other side and hopefully, you get policies that you can live with.  And in the case of Donald Trump, you hope his access to Nuclear Codes doesn't result in him waking up one morning and deciding the only way to solve some problem is to use a nuclear weapon.

Conservative Pundits Look For a Solution and Putin Shows a Sensitivity

Charles Krauthammer and David Brooks tried today to find a solution to the GOP problems.  They are both grasping at what I hope are long shots low in probability to a Democratic victory that shows the GOP that the public does not buy into trickle down economics and hyper-partisan politics any more.

Link to CK column

Link to DB column


The problem with David Brook's hopeful path, is that I don't believe that GOP exists anymore.  Moderate Republicans have been driven into the Democratic Party being called RINO's and having their moderate positions ridiculed.

I have a good number of GOP friends, and while only RedStateVT has a blog, where you can track his beliefs (He wishes Dick Chaney were running for President), I know MC and RM hold similar beliefs on many issues.  RR might fall into David Brook's slip stream, but I haven't discussed politics with him in a while and he definitely voted GOP in the last two elections and has been none to very Bush II like in his approach to the world.  As for the rest of them, the only place I can track them is Facebook and most seem to like Donald Trump believing that immigration and trade are the reason the working class have it so tough.  So I don't think David Brook's path has a chance in hell of occurring.

I sympathize with the working class, but I believe immigration and trade mitigate the stress that technology, growth in global labor forces with sufficient education for manufacturing and slavishness to corporate shareholder and management income is the primary cause of that stress.  You cannot offset comparative advantage with a wall, you need domestic policies that improve your comparative advantage and maintain the overall architecture of the economic base (i.e. infrastructure and a level playing field for competition).

And lastly, suddenly Putin is saying the Panama Papers are a CIA plot against Russia.  What poppycock!!!  Why would the CIA go after the President of Iceland or David Cameroon's family?

The fact that Putin is so sensitive to the Oligarch's use of global financial manipulation can only mean one thing, even though he is not named in any of the documents, Putin is on the take somehow.  It is well hidden, but make no doubt about it.  Money is being skimmed off the Russian economy and it is being funneled by Putin cronies to him.  Maybe not today, but in the future.  Otherwise, why would he try to protect them by calling it a CIA plot?

And lastly, while I support work requirements for people to receive support, and I think the government has to more closely examine disability claims, the fact is that hungry people without jobs tend to find it hard to find a job and are more likely to commit a crime to get some money to feed themselves.  Isn't that what Les Miserables is all about?  But compassion is not a hallmark of this GOP Congress.

Link to column on the Do Nothing Congress as Prime Example 1 of Receiving a paycheck for not working