Biden Reminded Us What We Have Lost

"In his final address to the nation last night, President Joe Biden issued a warning that 'an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.'

"It is not exactly news that there is dramatic economic inequality in the United States. Economists call the period from 1933 to 1981 the 'Great Compression,' for it marked a time when business regulation, progressive taxation, strong unions, and a basic social safety net compressed both wealth and income levels in the United States. Every income group in the U.S. improved its economic standing.

"That period ended in 1981, when the U.S. entered a period economists have dubbed the 'Great Divergence.' Between 1981 and 2021, deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the offshoring of manufacturing, and the weakening of unions moved $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.

"Biden tried to address this growing inequality by bringing back manufacturing, fostering competition, increasing oversight of business, and shoring up the safety net by getting Congress to pass a law—the Inflation Reduction Act—that enabled Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors with the pharmaceutical industry, capping insulin at $35 for seniors, for example. His policies worked, primarily by creating full employment which enabled those at the bottom of the economy to move to higher-paying jobs. During Biden’s term, the gap between the 90th income percentile and the 10th income percentile fell by 25%.

"But Donald Trump convinced voters hurt by the inflation that stalked the country after the coronavirus pandemic shutdown that he would bring prices down and protect ordinary Americans from the Democratic 'elite' that he said didn’t care about them. Then, as soon as he was elected, he turned for advice and support to one of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, who had invested more than $250 million in Trump’s campaign."

Click on the link below for :

A Summary of the History and Danger Ahead Regarding the USA

What Trump’s Win Says About American Society

"To make sense of the election, we must first understand the discontent that gave Donald Trump the victory. This is the theory of Harvard professor and political philosopher Michael Sandel. He joins the show to discuss the polarization that fueled Trump's campaign, and the failure of the Democrats to present themselves as the party of change."

Click this link for an interview with a philosopher/professor with an encompassing view of the overarching problem in US society today that has been simmering and growing for many decades.

Increase In Inequality = Increase In Crime?

"Corporate news wants you to feel like * crime is on the rise. But could it actually be that the forces turning your fellow Americans into criminals stems from inequality? Even in the animal kingdom, they can spot a con when they see one… "

Click on the link below for a 6-min video that presents evidence in support of the causal link between inequality and crime:

The Real Reason Crime Is Rising In America

* Is crime REALLY rising in the USA? (link)

Neoliberalism, Bullying, And Inequality

"New research is linking the kind of schoolyard bully attitude to neoliberalism. Can we create an America where bullying doesn’t lead people to power over anything?"

Click on the link below for a short video presenting the link between bullying and neoliberalism, a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.

Science Proves What's Wrong With America’s Democracy!

The Justice System Is Bias Toward The Wealthy & Powerful

"Today, as the news of Trump's various trials continues to drop out, we take a look back at this episode covering the long and illustrious history of powerful people avoiding prosecution in the United States."

Click on the link below for a podcast from over a year ago that is the Full Monty regarding this injustice:

Avoiding Accountability: How the powerful in the US have almost always been allowed to skate by

Litigation Funding: An Answer To Corporate Power?

"Litigation funding involves the agreement of a third party (with no prior connection to the litigation) to finance all or part of the legal costs of certain litigation, in return for a percentage of any damages recovered should the funded litigant be successful."

Click on the link below for a "60 minutes" segment presenting the pros and cons of this recent attempt to help the "small guy" in corporate legal disputes:

More investors fund lawsuits, as rules and transparency lag behind

Affirmative Action: The Case for It

"The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority looks likely to overturn affirmative action -- a significant precedent that for decades allowed universities to consider race in the admissions process. The move would be a disaster, according to two legal scholars and university administrators: Lee Bollinger of Columbia University and Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago. They tell Michel Martin why they believe the nation needs more affirmative action, not less."

Click on the link below for an 18-minute video supporting this practice that has been a major reason for less inequality in the US. Please understand that no one I know is talking about admitting non-qualified candidates to elite colleges. Affirmative action is taking many factors into consideration to form a diverse student body in which all can better understand reality.

The End of Affirmative Action Would be a Disaster

Parental Rights And Responsibilities

There is a great deal of discussion, and disagreement, regarding parental rights and responsibilities in the political environment of the USA presently. While most legal sources agree that the parents are the prime sources of proper nurturing and protection of the child, they also agree that outside resources are necessary to aid in achieving the goal of a happy, healthy, and well-educated child. After all, the parent is not the "owner" of the child (and neither is the state). 

With that said, what happens when parents do not meet their responsibilities in child-rearing? There is little societal disagreement regarding not tolerating physical (exception: corporal punishment) or emotional abuse, and/or failure to provide food, clothing, and shelter. However, the areas of health and education can present situations ripe for disagreement, especially if one's ideology is based on claims unsupported by evidence:

• Health: circumcision? vaccinations? birth-control? hormone replacement therapy? gender reassignment surgery? abortion? alternatives to medicine?
• Education: religious indoctrination? secular morality? evolution, and other sciences? history (of racism, inequality,  colonialism, genocide, wars, greed, authoritarianism, individualism, communism, socialism, democracy, republicanism, tribalism, capitalism)?

What to do with all of this?

Economic Inequality And The Future Of The USA

"The wealthy now own more of the economy than at any time since the 1920s. Meanwhile, millions in this country are barely scraping by.

"Closing our staggering wealth gap isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s essential to save our economy from collapse."

Take 5 minutes to watch this video if you want to really understand the crisis:

The Real Reason The Economy May Collapse

A Look At Justice

Justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness.

Retributive Justice, a system of criminal justice based on the punishment of offenders rather than on rehabilitation, has been the standard of justice for the vast majority of human history. While it has been a bedrock of most religions and governments, ancient and modern governments have attempted to institute some basic forms of restorative justice with minimal success (link).

Restorative Justice aims to get offenders to take responsibility for their actions, to understand the harm they have caused, to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves, and to discourage them from causing further harm. The better and more recent research is supportive of this concept. However, while it seems necessary, it is not sufficient. Efforts to correct societal inequality are needed to decrease harm (link).

A final thought: the culpability of the perpetrator has to be placed in the context of the findings of science that show that our concept of Free Will is probably an illusion (link).