Empathy on Demand Side Creates Economic Growth

February 1, 2024, Heather Cox Richardson

One of the biggest stories of 2023 is that the U.S. economy grew faster than any other economy in the Group of 7 nations, made up of democratic countries with the world’s largest advanced economies. By a lot. The International Monetary Fund yesterday reported that the U.S. gross domestic product—the way countries estimate their productivity—grew by 2.5%, significantly higher than the GDP of the next country on the list: Japan, at 1.9%.

IMF economists predict U.S. growth next year of 2.1%, again, higher than all the other G7 countries. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta projects growth of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2024.

Every time I write about the booming economy, people accurately point out that these numbers don’t necessarily reflect the experiences of everyone. But they have enormous political implications. 

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and the Democrats embraced the idea that using the government to support ordinary Americans—those on the “demand” side of the economy—would nurture strong economic growth. Republicans have insisted since the 1980s that the way to expand the economy is the opposite: to invest in the “supply side,” investors who use their capital to build businesses. 

In the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration, while the Democrats had control of the House and Senate, they passed a range of laws to boost American manufacturing, rebuild infrastructure, protect consumers, and so on. They did so almost entirely with Democratic votes, as Republicans insisted that such investments would destroy growth, in part through inflation. 

Now that the laws are beginning to take effect, their results have proved that demand-side economic policies like those in place between 1933 and 1981, when President Ronald Reagan ushered in supply-side economics, work. Even inflation, which ran high, appears to have been driven by supply chain issues, as the administration said, and by “greedflation,” in which corporations raised prices far beyond cost increases, padding payouts for their shareholders.

The demonstration that the Democrats’ policies work has put Republicans in an awkward spot. Projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, are so popular that Republicans are claiming credit for new projects or, as Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) did on Sunday, claiming they don’t remember how they voted on the infrastructure measure and other popular bills like the CHIPS and Science Act (she voted no). When the infrastructure measure passed in 2021, just 13 House Republicans supported it. 

Today, Medicare sent its initial offers to the drug companies that manufacture the first ten drugs for which the government will negotiate prices under the Inflation Reduction Act, another hugely popular measure that passed without Republican votes. The Republicans have called for repealing this act, but their stance against what they have insisted is “socialized medicine” is showing signs of softening. In Politico yesterday, Megan Messerly noted that in three Republican-dominated states—Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi—House speakers are saying they are now open to the idea of expanding healthcare through Medicaid expansion.

In another sign that some Republicans recognize that the Democrats’ economic policies are popular, the House last night passed bipartisan tax legislation that expanded the Child Tax Credit, which had expired last year after Senate Republicans refused to extend it. Democrats still provided most of the yea votes—188 to 169—and Republicans most of the nays—47 to 23—but, together with a tax cut for businesses in the bill, the measure was a rare bipartisan victory. If it passes the Senate, it is expected to lift at least half a million children out of poverty and help about 5 million more. 

But Republicans have a personnel problem as well as a policy problem. Since the 1980s, party leaders have maintained that the federal government needs to be slashed, and their determination to just say no has elevated lawmakers whose skill set features obstruction rather than the negotiation required to pass bills. Their goal is to stay in power to stop legislation from passing.

Yesterday, for example, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who sits on the Senate Finance Committee and used to chair it, told a reporter not to have too much faith that the child tax credit measure would pass the Senate, where Republicans can kill it with the filibuster. “Passing a tax bill that makes the president look good…means he could be reelected, and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts,” Grassley said.

At the same time, the rise of right-wing media, which rewards extremism, has upended the relationship between lawmakers and voters. In CNN yesterday, Oliver Darcy explained that “the incentive structure in conservative politics has gone awry. The irresponsible and dishonest stars of the right-wing media kingdom are motivated by vastly different goals than those who are actually trying to advance conservative causes, get Republicans elected, and then ultimately govern in office.” 

Right-wing influencers want views and shares, which translate to more money and power, Darcy wrote. So they spread “increasingly outlandish, attention-grabbing junk,” and more established outlets tag along out of fear they will lose their audience. But those influencers and media hosts don’t have to govern, and the anger they generate in the base makes it hard for anyone else to, either. 

This dynamic has shown up dramatically in the House Republicans’ refusal to consider a proposed border measure on which a bipartisan group of senators had worked for four months because Trump and his extremist base turned against the idea—one that Republicans initially demanded. 

Since they took control of the House in 2023, House Republicans have been able to conduct almost no business as the extremists are essentially refusing to govern unless all their demands are met. Rather than lawmaking, they are passing extremist bills to signal to their base, holding hearings to push their talking points, and trying to find excuses to impeach the president and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Yesterday the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, which is firmly on the right, warned House Republicans that “Impeaching Mayorkas Achieves Nothing” other than “political symbolism,” and urged them to work to get a border bill passed. “Grandstanding is easier than governing, and Republicans have to decide whether to accomplish anything other than impeaching Democrats,” it said. 

Today in the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin called the Republicans’ behavior “nihilism and performative politics.”

On CNN this morning, Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) identified the increasing isolation of the MAGA Republicans from a democratic government. “Here we are both on immigration and now on this tax bill where President Biden and a bipartisan group of Congress are trying to actually solve problems for the American people,” Goldman said, “and Chuck Grassley, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson—they are trying to kill solutions just for political gain." 

Notes:

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/31/us-economy-2024-gdp-g7-nations

https://www.wfla.com/politics/florida-gop-rep-says-she-cant-recall-how-she-voted-on-chips-appropriations-bills/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-house-republicans-border-immigration-homeland-security-1a431a5d

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/biden-republicans-infrastructure-law/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/01/gop-blunders-nihilism/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/05/house-infrastructure-reconciliation-vote/

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/greg-abbotts-performative-border-clash-is-a-classic-maga-era-stunt

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/greedflation-is-replacing-inflation-as-companies-raise-prices-for-bigger-profits-report-finds-bfb51060

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/us/child-tax-credits-pandemic-colorado.html

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/politics/house-vote-tax-bill-child-tax-credit/index.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/southern-republicans-obamacare-00138109

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/media/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-right-wing-media/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-tax-credit-bill-senate-vote/

Twitter (X):

atrupar/status/1753093857527382355

IanSams46/status/1752511045187383334

TheDemocrats/status/1753101008086171900

RepSwalwell/status/1752870024014975228

TristanSnell/status/1752874545474683060

WhiteHouse/status/1753161307233173642

​​SteveRattner/status/1753140645584146579

 

Putin Orders US Congress to Stop Ukraine Aid, GOP Cowards Obey

World War III is coming thanks to the GOP. All is on the table: Nuclear attacks, massive European war of attrition, millions raped and dead.

When we appease a monster, he takes even more. We know that. 

NATO will not stand idly and watch Putin inflict a holocaust on Ukraine because they know Putin will continue advancing.

The GOP/Quisling/MAGATS in the United States obey Putin and his employee/asset Donald Trump.

Trump and the GOP use imigrants in the US Homeland as pawns in a power game. 

 

# 2 UPDATE: Winning by Owning the Feelings

[I choose to conflate Haley with trump - pretty sure her actual policies on these issues will be the same as his.]

Trump/Haley manipulate voters by stressing emotions in them that serve their purpose. However, those voters do not understand that Trump/Haley's actions do not support their feelings. Even more, they willingly accept the emotions they feel as proof of their convictions, as in: 'I feel strongly that the election was stolen and that means it was stolen. And, that's exactly what Trump/Haley say.'

Joe Biden can counter that by naming the feelings of voters and demonstrating how his policies and actions address their feelings; and, how Trump/Haleys' actions will not. It ain't easy, but it will win. If Biden's campaign finds some useful ideas here, they are free to use, adopt or adapt any or all of these arguments. 

INFLATION 

Rising prices for all the things we buy makes life harder for all American Moms, Dads, and everyone else too. My administration does a few things to help because we are a better America when families suffer less. Prices are still high but the inflation rate that measures how fast prices are increasing has dropped to lower levels today than last year. 

One of those things we do is to promote higher wages. Higher prices mean Moms and Dads need higher incomes just to make it, so, we support policies that will help wages go up and make life easier. We encourage our people to enforce the labor laws already on the books. We see that autoworkers settled their strike with higher wages. We will all be better off because wages for everyone tend to go up as union wages go up. Trump/Haley policies will lower wages.

We encourage markets to become more competitive. More competition means more jobs and lower prices. Sometimes competition suffers a bit when there are only a few companies in an industry. That can mean higher prices. We are discouraging those market concentrations and expect additional competition to result in lower prices and better quality. Trump/Haley policies suport monopolies

As you know, we in Washington do not regulate or control the prices of what we all buy. Our system lets markets determine prices instead of bureaucrats dictating prices. That system is not perfect but it does much better for us than setting prices in markets does for those places that try it.  

BORDER SECURITY and IMMIGRATION

Some Americans fear and hate foreigners and immigrants. In addition, a large number of the very people fearing foreigners have lives of great difficulty. Many of these Americans want to prevent refugees from coming here because Trump/Haley say there are some 'bad' people. However, we process legal immigrants with very rigorous vetting before we let them in. That vetting will catch 99% of the bad people. 

We want a new immigration law to solve the illegal immigration problem. However, a few heartless politicians will not allow Congress to change needed reforms of the laws and policies. They do that because they calculate that Americans voters will blame the Biden White House for the situation we see every day. They kill the hopes and aspirations of some and murder some other immigrants in a cold-blooded attempt to win an election.  

America promises to welcome and give a safe start to people who feel violence and persecution in their home country and who follow the rules. We promise to let them live in peace and to prosper when they follow the rules and work hard. Many suffer hardships and violence at home and on their journey. My heart breaks for these intrepid souls. We promise them that when they follow the rules, we welcome them as Americans in citizenship ceremonies open to the public. I cannot convey completely the joy I see at those ceremonies from them and their families.

ABORTION

Some religious zealots judges and politicians have taken away a right America granted to mothers 50 years ago. They remind me of the Taliban and HAMAS. I get the concern about rights of the unborn; any decision about abortion is so personal that I think only the mother and her doctor can possibly make that decision. I know some women who have had abortions. I cannot comprehend their pain and trauma. The zealot judges claim some higher authority than the Constitution. It is simply un-American.

The bigger point remains that the same zealot judges want to take away more of the rights and privileges that make America strong and prosperous. More than 1,354,664 (1) Americans have died protecting our Constitution from Fascist attacks. The very Constitution those 1.3 million have died for is under severe attack from American zealot judges and politicians. 

They want to take away our Freedom and, they might succeed. The Constitution gives us the vote so we can bloc Fascist rule; otherwise, we might live in the FASCIST STATES OF AMERICA!

I cannot be calm about this; it is too critical. (1) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war]

HATRED, GAZA, UKRAINE

I do not understand hatred. I get angry and frustrated but I do not conjure an emotional response to the things or people who are associated with my anger and frustration. I am a bit of Stoic in that I try to see the reality of things and then decide what to do next.

Nevertheless, many people in the world who hate other people or people have different beliefs or live in other countries including America. As President, I see and understand how we can protect ourselves from the hatred.

GAZA

People have hated and persecuted Jews for a very long time in many countries around the world. I think some of the hatred is religious in nature but it is real regardless of the causes. Creating Israel meant taking some land away from its inhabitants. I suppose they feel angry because of that, I know I would feel anger in that case. We relegated the Palestinian people to live in a small area inside Israel. 

HAMAS is a small terrorist group in GAZA, which actively wants to kill all the Jews in Israel as its mission statement. Other people who hate Jews finance and support HAMAS in their attacks, but active HAMAS is a small percentage of the Palestinians who live in GAZA. Some militants created a massacre of Jews in October. Israel exercises its right of self-defense in attacking HAMAS in GAZA. However, HAMAS members use Palestinian civilians as shields against Israeli attacks by locating their bases in underground tunnels beneath hospitals and schools. When Israel attacks HAMAS bases it kills many non-belligerents including women and children as well as HAMAS. 

Biden works very hard to influence Israel to reduce violence in Gaza. Trump/Haley look for ways to make a profit from the violence. 

My heart breaks for all those who suffer in that war. While I grieve for Palestinians and Jews alike, the United States supports the right of any nation including Israel to defend its population from terrorist attacks. 

UKRAINE: 

Trump/Haley encourage Congress to delay or stop our Aid to Ukraine. Under Trump/Haley and without American aid, Putin will take the entire country. Russian forces will rape and murder their way to Ukraine's Western borders. Then NATO countries near Ukraine will strike against a Rusian controlled Ukraine. Inevitable increases in violence will escalate. That will be World War III. At some point in this nightmare someone will use nuclear weapons.  Trump/Haley will create horrendous conflict and mass murder.

Biden stands strong against Putin and reduces the likelihood of furthr aggression. We pray he will avoid a wider conflict.

I have no words. I pray for a cessation of violence and a resolution to this war as soon as possible.

VOTING RIGHTS

Biden works every day to extend voting rights in the entire country for all Americans. Trump/Haley promote the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and given to Biden. Biden won the popular vote by 7 million votes. And, the election was very fair. 'Trump’s own officials say 2020 was America’s most secure election in history. Homeland Security put out a statement with state and local officials that countered the President’s [Trump]fraud claims.' [VOX Nov 13, 2020, 4:40pm EST]

Trump/Haleyknow that voters choose Democrats over the GOP in just about all elections. They try to restrict voting rights so the GOP steals that which he knows they cannot win. If Trump/Haley succesfully steal the 2024 election, they will try to ensure that all future elections choose Trump/Haley as President even if the popular votes go against them. 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Trump/Haley work to sabotage legislation and policies that combat global warming. They choose to maximize short term profits for pulluters at the cost of harm to the planet and the future of our grandchildren. 

Here's what Joe Biden does:  'This is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, where dealing with this existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same. When I think of climate change I think of jobs.' President Joe Biden Before Signing Executive Actions on Tackling Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Restoring Scientific Integrity (Jan. 27, 2021) [https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/] 

Tyrants Lived Before

 

We see nothing new in t.rump. History shows us many examples. Some may regard the wannabe ruler as a new thing in the world, but he is just like Lysander in 454 BC.

There is nothing new under the Sun. We Humans as a species are capable of both sublime goodness and also brutish thuggery. 

'3 Lysander now summoned from their various cities to Ephesus men whom he saw to be most eminent for confidence and daring, and sowed in their minds the seeds of the revolutionary decadarchies​  afterwards instituted by him, urging and inciting them to form political clubs in their several cities, and apply themselves to public affairs, assuring them that as soon as the Athenian empire was destroyed, they could rid themselves of their democracies and become themselves supreme in power. 

4 Moreover, by actual benefits he gave them all a confidence in this future, promoting those who were already his friends and allies to large enterprises and honours and commands, and taking a share himself in their injustice and wickedness in order to gratify their rapacity. Therefore all attached themselves to him, expecting to attain all their highest ambitions if only he remained in power. 

5 Therefore, too, they neither looked kindly upon Callicratidas at the first, when he came to succeed Lysander in the admiralty,​ nor afterwards, when he had shown by manifest proofs that he was the justest and noblest of men, were they pleased with the manner of his leader­ship, which had a certain Doric simplicity and sincerity. They did, indeed, admire his virtue, as they would the beauty of a hero's statue; but they yearned for the zealous support of Lysander, and missed the interest which he took in the welfare of his partisans, so that when he sailed away they were dejected and shed tears.

6 Lysander made these men yet more disaffected towards Callicratidas. He also sent back to Sardis what remained of the money which Cyrus had given him for the navy, bidding Callicratidas ask for it himself, if he wished, and see to the maintenance of his soldiers. And finally, as he sailed away, he called Callicratides to witness that  the fleet which he handed over to him was in command of the sea. But he, wishing to prove the emptiness and vanity of this ambitious boast, said: "In that case, keep Samos on the left, sail to Miletus, and there hand the triremes over to me; surely we need not fear to sail past the enemy at Samos if we are masters of the sea." 3 To this Lysander answered that Callicratidas, and not he, was in command of the ships, and sailed off to Peloponnesus, leaving Callicratidas in great perplexity. For neither had he brought money from home with him, nor could he bear to lay the cities under forced contribution when they were already in an evil plight. 4 The only course left, therefore, was to go to the doors of the King's generals, as Lysander had done, and ask for money. For this he was of all men least fitted by nature, being of a free and lofty spirit, and one who thought any and every defeat of Greeks at the hands of Greeks more becoming to them than visits of flattery to the houses of Barbarians, who had much gold, but nothing else worth while. '

This webpage reproduces one of The Parallel Lives by  Plutarch published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition,1916

The text is in the public domain.

[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html]

Self Defense for Election Workers

Some American voters have regressed from civilized behavior into aberrant beings with infantile attitudes, 'If I can't do what I want, I will shit on your dinner; or maybe I'll shoot you with my assault rifle'. You election and court workers are decent people conducting business for the American people; you hear death threats in your workplaces and your homes. Those threats are crimes, and, they are simply despicable.

Know that most Americans are with you and have your back. You are not alone.

I suggest some mechanisms that will help you avoid the vileness directed at you. This is low level beginning stuff that is easy to follow. They are small steps, but will be effective in reducing the volume of threats. It's my list and it has not been reviewed; please ask your employer's attorney to review before you start using these ideas.

Know that we will not judge you for your decision to retire if that is best for you and your family. You are heroes.

Here are the steps to take:

1. Do NOT accept that the threats are part of the election process and are just 'political'. They are crimes.

2. Change all your online, remote and computer passwords immediately.

3. Change them again every month. Use English words you can remember easily and add a number or symbol as well. Or, use computer generated passwords.

4. Do not answer the phone or click on any email from a sender you do not know personally. Never open any attachment from an email. Screen all calls to your business and home phones and personal cell phone. Record and save each threat no matter how mild it appears. Law enforcement will collect the calls and look for patterns that lead to criminal charges. 

Use this as your phone's greeting: "You have reached Mary Smith's personal telephone. Since I am a public servant employed by the [United States, State, County or city] any threat you make directed to me or my family is a crime under Federal and local law. Know that I will forward your threat and your Phone number to law enforcement with a request to arrest you. Leave your message now." 

5. Record all of the message and the phone number and any other identifying fact the caller discloses. 

6. Save them into a digital format like Excel that can be sent to detectives. Remember, collections of large volumes of data about threats can suggest patterns and identify the cdriminals behind the calls. Data is the phone number, the date and time of the call, your rating of the call threat level and any other facts the caller reveals. 

When we have several thousand people doing this, we will know a lot about who is behind the calls. We can prosecute those people as well as the caller. A person who facilitates a crime is also guilty of a crime. 

7. Rank the nature of the threat using this code or some other:

Cat 1 - credible explicit death threat to public official, probably illegal

Example: The following message led to an arrest: 

The man allegedly said in a voicemail left for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Sept. 27, 2021, according to the Justice Department:

'When we come to lynch your stupid lying Commie [expletive], you’ll remember that you lied on the [expletive] Bible, you piece of [expletive]. You’re gonna die, you piece of [expletive]. We’re going to hang you. We’re going to hang you,'

Cat 2 - Emotional, unfocused rant mentioning death

Cat 3 - Hatred expressed, no specific threat of violence

Cat 4 - Unemotional disagreement with explicit rationale

Cat 5 - Unemotional disagreement with zero rationale

8. Give your records to local law enforcement as well as to places which collect the data like the FBI or election fairness organizations. Request that law enforcement file criminal actions and proseucte the people who threaten you. 

Report here for Califonia: Report all threats or acts of workplace violence to the DGS Workplace Violence Referral Line at (916) 376-5344.

D O J here  https://tips.fbi.gov/home

 

Complete Report : White House for Sale

 See the full report click below:

White House for Sale

Or, copy and paste:  

https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/352377138e125817/849dad00-full.pdf

How to Prevent 'Treasonous Acts'

Law enforcement and the United States legal system cannot prevent crimes and treasonous acts before they occur. We see problematic consequences from that reality. The United States cannot wait until a treasonous act succeeds before we take counter action because a successful treasonous act may be enough to destroy our legal system.

However, we CAN disrupt and perhaps prevent any coordinated actions involving several individuals and/or groups. Such significant actions involve several people and require coordination. In addition, coordination requires money and leadership. 

We can discourage any treasonous act perpetrators from completing their plan by convincing them that they will be tried for treason and, if found guilty of such a crime, suffer the punishments up to and including death that the Constitution provides. Donating money and other support to a treasonous act is a crime.

Treasonous acts are punishable by fines, imprisonment or death as detailed in 18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES; From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I—CRIMES [See link here: [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim]]

We expect significant actions from t.rump followers to interfere with and/or discredit the 2024 elections. I hope we continue to alert Law Enforcement and the National Guard about likely actions as we discover them. Individual, lone wolf actors present a difficult challenge. We cannot stop individual lone actors who follow their personal impulses without coordination with others. We can and should establish regional clearing centers before the elections that are close to areas where t.rump 'Treasonous Acts' are most likely to happen. 

In addition to establishing regional clearing centers to process detainees, we should begin investigations of people who are likely to donate money and organizations skills toward a successful insurrection.

LEAKING THE EXISTENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO 'TREASONOUS ACTS' WILL NOTIFY ORGANIZERS AND FINANCIERS OF THEIR PERSONAL RISKS. 

We hope their fear will diminish their appetite for Fascism.  The organizers of the coming Treasonous Acts have written a detailed plan of how they will destroy the institutions which preserve our freedoms, security and liberty. To read their entire plan, click here: Mandate for Leadership 2025

 

Prosecuting Treasonous Acts

We see today a coordinated movement to weaken and overthrow the legitimate government of the United States of America by whatever means the protagonists choose. 

We recognize 'treasonous acts' [the phrase is from former CIA director John Brennan] when we see them and we want to punish the perpetrators, organizers and financiers of those acts. We know exactly what is happening, but our system prevents us from acting to avert harm until the courts prove the legal basis for any action beyond a reasonable doubt. If we wait for that level of absolute proof, it may be too late. Insurrectionists deliberately use our system to delay any action to save our system, at the exact some time they are actively conspiring to destroy our system.

Treasonous acts are punishable by fines, imprisonment or death as detailed in 18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES; From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I—CRIMES [See link here: [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim]

These crimes lie outside of normal political discourse; they are crimes. They are NOT political discussions and/or Free Speech.

We CAN pursue the folks who commit those acts and the people who provide support for them. We can prosecute them after the fact; AND, we can discourage any such acts BEFORE the fact. We expect to see continuing and growing demonstrations as the 2024 elections draw near. We expect those demonstrations will be met with resolve including force if necessary.

We can create collection centers where Police and National Guard personnel take all those arrested and/or detained while engaged in an unlawful act. Perhaps the FBI can interrogate each detained person to see whether they are simple foot soldiers who should be in jail, or perhaps a person may have knowledge of the financing, planning and organizing the acts.

We should prosecute all the insurrectionists, especially the people at the top of the organization. Once they are aware we can charge them with treason, they may be less likely to commit the acts.

We recognize the reluctance of the Department of Justice to discuss plans like these; however, a limited discussion of intent may serve effectively the security interests of the United States by cooling down the treason acts somewhat.

Here are the Codes:

'Advocating overthrow of Government

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or

Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or

Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

As used in this section, the terms "organizes" and "organize", with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.'

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, §2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES

From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDUREPART I—CRIMES 

[https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim] 

The Fascist Plan Exposed

 Read the entire Fascist plan here:  

Mandate for Leadership 2025

Or click and paste here:

https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

The Trouble with Bidenomics

Biden used some tried and true policies to guide us through the pandemic and the subsequent expansion. The data is clear and it is amazing.

 

But, households do not feel the data. So, we ask questions: “How do we get great economic fundamentals with no polling bounce? How can we translate our performance into better polling?’

 

Here’s why that happens: At the kitchen table, Moms and Dads do not perceive the benefits of an improved economy because the benefits spread unequally across all sectors of the United States. More benefits accrue to rich people than benefits accrue to working people.  Corporate profits are rising but Moms’ and Dads’ wages are not keeping up with the price increases that contribute to those profits and contribute to inflation at the same time. Perhaps wages will increase to compensate households more fairly in the long run, but as Keynes said in the Great Depression ‘In the long run we are all dead.’

 

Wages kept up with prices in the 20^th Century until about 1976. Then wages stopped growing but CEO profits and Billionaires took all the benefits of an expanding economy. Not only that, but they also captured the government and blocked public actions to benefit working people. They are still doing that today.

 

We have a simple solution toward improving Democrat polling numbers on economic questions. First, acknowledge the situation in public forums. Then, explain how you will challenge CEO and Billionaire market power to restore economic fairness. Moms and Dads need some hope now.

 

It doesn’t matter that you have not completed the actions yet. We want to hear you say that you understand our reality and will try to remedy that.

 

Economists use a measurement called the GINI coefficient to measure the levels of inequality between classes in a country. Our GINI score is bad  -  we are too unequal. Scores as bad as our score raise questions about national security. High GINI scores denote higher levels of inequality, which data suggest that higher than average GINI scores may threaten our future social stability.  The United States will be more secure when our scores approach lower levels as in several European countries. Our United States average GINI score of 48 is well above countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

 

 

 

Selected Country GINI

[Higher bad]

 

USA               48.0

 

SWEDEN       30.1

 

DENMARK   28.2

 

CANADA      33.3

 

NORWAY      27.6

 

RUSSIA         37.5

 

Many writers recognize the importance of inequality: Bertrand Russell said this about rich and unscrupulous financiers:

 

“A modern community is not likely to be prosperous if its financial affairs are conducted solely with a view to the interests of rich and unscrupulous financiers, without regard to the effect upon the rest of the population. Needless to say, it is unwise to leave these financiers to the unfettered pursuit of their private profit. One might as well run an art museum for the sole profit of the curator, leaving him at liberty and whim to sell the contents whenever he happened to be offered a good price.“ [i]

 

Click here.  for a more complete discussion.

---

[i]  Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness: And Other Essays (1935), Ch: IV, The Modern Midas (1932), p. 77

 

  

Enemy of the United States

The United States Constitution creates a government elected by the Voters of the country. Officials of the Government take an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign or domestic. Officials and citizens agree to obey the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the Constitution. Should a person or organization violate one or more of those laws, then that person or organization can be prosecuted and/or punished as the law establishes. The laws protect citizens from the harm criminals might inflict on them.

Any person who refuses by actions, oaths or words to obey the laws and accept any punishment pursuant to the law becomes a criminal and is subject to punishment up to and including death.

An unexpected situation happens when an elected or appointed official, who is authorized to enforce those laws, chooses to disobey any or all the laws adopted pursuant to the Constitution despite their earlier sworn oath to protect the Constitution. We consider them criminals and prosecute them as established in the law. Such prosecutions happen regularly at all levels of government.

A special case happens today when we prosecute former President Trump for a variety of crimes against the Constitution while he campaigns actively to be re-elected President. Further, he has announced that, if elected, he will use his Presidential powers to punish his enemies and reward his friends. It is likely he will dismantle the Constitution and attempt to remain as POTUS regardless of any future election.

Since he intends to disregard the Constitution if elected, then he is not protected by the Constitution or the laws. The sovereign power of the United States can be used directly against Trump to prevent him from taking any elected office without regard for any Constitutional protection he may claim. 

Such action can include any action that prevents him from taking office.

' According to 50 USCS § 2204 [Title 50. War and National Defense; Chapter 39. Spoils of War], enemy of the United States means any country, government, group, or person that has been engaged in hostilities, whether or not lawfully authorized, with the United States;

(3) the term "person" means

(A) any natural person;

(B) any corporation, partnership, or other legal entity; and

(C) any organization, association, or group.

[https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/enemy-of-the-united-states/]

USLegal.com;  USA Legal, Inc. Convenient, Affordable Legal Help - Because We Care! 

USLegal

Repairing United States Welfare Programs

 

This excerpt from 'The 'The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life' discusses a new approach to social welfare spending and offers some hope for better outcomes.

'The question arises: can we spend our way out of our current political hatred and violence by making a more costly safety net for disadvantaged Americans?

 

We may find other countries with better safety nets and less political violence than the United States. We might learn from them. A corollary assumption is that countries with better safety nets spend more money on them than we do. However, the facts show that more spending, by itself, does not make things better.

 

We already spend as much per capita as most countries with better social welfare results. We spend enough money, we just don't spend it right. Chapter Z. Alternate Solutions to Social Welfare Problems on page 28 discusses different spending methods to improve our performance 

Expectations help determine the outcomes of social welfare programs as they do in educational institutions. The United States uses one set of expectations and shows poor social policy results. Some Nordic countries use a very different set of expectations and show better social policy results. [Page 14]

 

1. High Expectations in Social Welfare Programs [i]

 

Educational experiments show that students perform better when teachers have high expectations of them. Conversely, students do poorly when teachers have low expectations for them.

 

'The students of high expectation teachers show larger achievement gains, while the students of low expectation teachers make smaller or negative gains. The positive attitudes and equitable teaching practices of high expectation teachers also lead to higher levels of engagement, motivation and self-efficacy in students.'

 

United States social welfare programs appear to demonstrate low expectations of the recipients. Some programs may be modeled on the Southern Strategy to delay racial integration. ‘The Southern strategy [to integration] was one of holding out, of being so difficult, so painful to deal with that, hoping that the North would then do what it had done during Reconstruction, get disheartened and then leave.’  [ii]

 

Contrarily, welfare programs in other countries take the opposite approach of assuming that welfare recipients are family members who have fallen on hard times. The welfare program supports people as they move toward better circumstances.

 

2. United States’ Expectations

 

In our effort to reduce the inequality gap by transferring income and assets to the less fortunate among us, we make it hard to qualify for the programs and then we make it hard to prove your qualification.

 

Some people who need the assistance do not receive the aid available to them; and, in many cases, they fail to apply or complete the application.

 

Most ‘means tested’ welfare programs in the USA fail to deliver because many qualified recipients of the aid do not apply.

 

            ‘…avoidable and unavoidable costs, states' distorted incentives, and social norms are the major sources of impediments to benefits and that most of these impediments are embedded in or result from certain legal mechanisms of the welfare system. Law and Inequality: A Journal’[iii]

 

Many highly disadvantaged people do not apply for substantial benefits for which they are eligible by their circumstances.

 

 

           ‘An estimated 46 million Americans live below the poverty line. But millions aren’t covered by any of the welfare programs. Records show that 72% of people living in poverty received help from at least one welfare program. Among those living in deep poverty - an income that falls 50% below the poverty threshold - 70% received assistance, while the remaining 5.5 million people did not. At least 13 million people live in poverty and don’t receive any benefits from welfare programs.’ Urban Institute [iv]

 

‘Complaints of mistreatment in navigating the welfare state are commonplace, with most unpleasant encounters arising from interactions between welfare recipients and social workers. The dominant approach to social work was casework which emphasized the personal characteristics or moral deficiencies of the recipient rather than social reform. In some cases the said deficiency was grounds for denying assistance. Casework fostered a paternalistic and demeaning relationship between social workers and clients. Caseworkers are the persons who have the most opportunity for showing respect or   described not as much in terms of what they receive in their checks but rather in terms of the relationship that they have with their caseworker; a study found that the way in which a client was shown respect was often more important to the client than what the provider in the situation did to solve the client’s problems.’   Nadasen, Premilla (June 17, 2014). Welfare Warriors:’[v]

 

 

Most ‘means tested’ welfare programs in the USA fail to deliver because many qualified recipients of the aid do not apply. ‘…avoidable and unavoidable costs, states' distorted incentives, and social norms are the major sources of impediments to benefits and that most of these impediments are embedded in or result from certain legal mechanisms of the welfare system.’[vi] Many highly disadvantaged people do not apply for substantial benefits for which they are eligible by their circumstances.

---

 

1. High Expectations in Social Welfare Programs

 

[i] Effect of high expectations, Libretexts Social Sciences: [https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Education_and_Professional_Development/Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment_(Kidd_et_al.)/10%3A_Effective_Teaching/10.06%3A_What_is_the_effect_of_having_high_expectations_for_students#:~:text=Pygmalion%20Effect%20and%20Self%2DFulfilling%20Prophecy&text=If%20the%20student%20feels%20that,5).]

 

[ii]  Daily Stoic, Sep 21, 2023

 

2. United States’ Expectations

 

[iii] Source: Unwelcome Benefits: Why Welfare Beneficiaries Reject Government Aid?

Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice, Vol. 24, No. 107, 2006

 

 

[iv] Five Things You May Not Know about the US Social Safety Net, Sarah Minton and Linda Giannarelli February 2019, [https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99674/five_things_you_may_not_know_about_the_us_social_safety_net_1.pdf]

 

 

[v] WIKIPEDIA,  Nadasen, Premilla (June 17, 2014). Welfare Warriors: The Welfare Rights Movement in the United States. Routledge. ISBN 9781136743696.

 

[vi]  Source: Unwelcome Benefits: Why Welfare Beneficiaries Reject Government Aid?

Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice, Vol. 24, No. 107, 2006

 

  

ABSTRACT ‘The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life'

The United States formed July 4, 1776 as a sovereign state. Therefore, we have the right and duty to protect our Constitution from all enemies, foreign or domestic in a manner chosen by the people.

 Firing Squad. Adobe Stock images 

ABSTRACT ‘The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life'

This paper suggests that the historically large concentrations of wealth possessed in 2023 by American Billionaires and CEO's create a blockage in the United States, which interferes with our government's attempts to change existing laws and regulations. The concentration blocks effectively the law making process granted by the Constitution in 1789. Our constitution gave American citizens the right to vote as a check on attempts to bend our laws and regulations toward the personal favor of any person or group. However, today concentrated wealth collectively prevents Congress from adopting proposed laws or regulations that correspond to the will of citizens.

As a direct result of that blockage, Congress has been, and continues to be, unable to pass laws and regulations to benefit American voters' social well-being. The United States has fallen behind many other countries in most measures of Social well-being. The paper presents several measurements of social well being and compares the United States' scores to selected other countries.

Many countries with very large imbalances of incomes and wealth have suffered violent revolutions including the imprisonment and assassination of the rulers. 

Author: Mike P. McKeever; Founding Editor of the Oakland School of Economics Journal, est. 2021

Published in the Oakland School of Economics Journal December 2023.

The complete paper is here: : https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048

 

Trump Has a Master Plan for Destroying the ‘Deep State’, By Donald P. Moynihan

Be worried now - 

By Donald P. Moynihan

I study government bureaucracies. This is not normally a key political issue. Right now, it is, and everyone should be paying attention.

Mr. Moynihan is a professor of public policy at Georgetown and an expert on the administrative state.

Donald Trump, the former president and current candidate, puts it in apocalyptic terms: “Either the deep state destroys America or we destroy the deep state.” This is not an empty threat. He has a real and plausible plan to utterly transform American government. It will undermine the quality of that government and it will threaten our democracy.

A second Trump administration would be very different from the first. Mr. Trump’s blueprint for amassing power has been developed by a constellation of conservative organizations that surround him, led by the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025. This plan would elevate personal fealty to Mr. Trump as the central value in government employment, processes and institutions.

It has three major parts.

The first is to put Trump loyalists into appointment positions. Mr. Trump believed that “the resistance” to his presidency included his own appointees. Unlike in 2016, he now has a deep bench of loyalists. The Heritage Foundation and dozens of other Trump-aligned organizations are screening candidates to create 20,000 potential MAGA appointees. They will be placed in every agency across government, including the agencies responsible for protecting the environment, regulating workplace safety, collecting taxes, determining immigration policy, maintaining safety net programs, representing American interests overseas and ensuring the impartial rule of law.

These are not conservatives reluctantly serving Mr. Trump out of a sense of patriotic duty, but those enthusiastic about helping a twice-impeached president who tried to overturn the results of an election. An influx of appointees like this would come at a cost to the rest of us. Political science research that examines the effects of politicization on federal agencies shows that political appointees, especially inexperienced ones, are associated with lower performance in government and less responsiveness to the public and to Congress.

The second part of the Trump plan is to terrify career civil servants into submission. To do so, he would reimpose an executive order that he signed but never implemented at the end of his first administration. The Schedule F order would allow him to convert many of these officials into political appointees.

Schedule F would be the most profound change to the civil service system since its creation in 1883. Presidents can currently fill about 4,000 political appointment positions at the federal level. This already makes the United States an outlier among similar democracies, in terms of the degree of politicization of the government. The authors of Schedule F have suggested it would be used to turn another 50,000 officials — with deep experience of how to run every major federal program we rely on — into appointees. Other Republican presidential candidates have also pledged to use Schedule F aggressively. Ron DeSantis, for example, promised that as president he would “start slitting throats on Day 1.”

Schedule F would be a catastrophe for government performance. Merit-based government personnel systems perform better than more politicized bureaucracies. Under the first Trump administration, career officials were more likely to quit when sidelined by political appointees.

Schedule F would also damage democracy. The framers included a requirement, in the Constitution itself, that public officials swear an oath of loyalty to the Constitution, a reminder to public employees that their deepest loyalty is to something greater than whoever occupies the White House or Congress. By using Schedule F to demand personal loyalty, Mr. Trump would make it harder for them to keep that oath.

When he was president, his administration frequently targeted officials for abuse, denial of promotions or investigations for their perceived disloyalty. In a second administration, he would simply fire them. Trump loyalists reportedly have lists ready of civil servants who will be fired because they were not deemed cooperative enough during his first term.

The third part of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian blueprint is to create a legal framework that would allow him to use government resources to protect himself, attack his political enemies and force through his policy goals without congressional approval. Internal government lawyers can block illegal or unconstitutional actions. Reporters for The New York Times have uncovered a plan to place Trump loyalists in those key positions.

This is not about conservatism. Mr. Trump grew disillusioned with conservative Federalist Society lawyers, despite drawing on them to stock his judicial nominations. It is about finding lawyers willing to create a legal rationale for his authoritarian impulses. Examples from Mr. Trump’s time in office include Mark Paoletta, the former general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, who approved Mr. Trump’s illegal withholding of aid to Ukraine. Or Jeffery Clark, who almost became Mr. Trump’s acting attorney general when his superiors refused to advance Mr. Trump’s false claims of election fraud.

Mr. Clark is now under indictment for a “criminal attempt to communicate false statements and writings” to Georgia state officials. But he continues to lay the groundwork for a second Trump term. He has made the case for the president using military forces for domestic law enforcement. He has also written a legal analysis arguing that “the U.S. Justice Department is not independent,” while Mr. Paoletta told The Times, “I believe a president doesn’t need to be so hands-off with the D.O.J.” If government lawyers will not defend norms of Justice Department independence, Mr. Trump will use the department to shield himself from legal accountability and to pursue his enemies.

We sometimes think of democracy as merely the act of voting. But the operation of government is also democracy in action, a measure of how well the social contract between the citizen and the state is being kept. When values like transparency, legality, honesty, due process, fealty to the Constitution and competence are threatened in government offices, so too is our democracy. These democratic values would be eviscerated if Mr. Trump returns to power with an army of loyalists applying novel legal theories and imposing a political code of silence on potential holdouts.

Donald P. Moynihan is a professor of public policy at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and the author, with Pamela Herd, of “Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means.”

The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life

All:   

You can read my latest article on the Oakland School of Economics Journal [www.econoak.org]. If you like it, tell your friends, if not, then tell me. Thanks in advance.

Here is the link to the OSE Journal page - open the page, scroll down to paper then click on the title of paper 

The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life 

Copy and paste this link :https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048

A teaser:

Prequel: A Declaration [Rant?]

 Now listen up, all you American Billionaires and CEO's:

 Enough………

 You have taken most of what we have.

 It is enough for you. We want some of it back. We are coming for you.  [i]

 You take our wages and cross too many lines.

 You control the law making system and you, and only you, can fix the country. Without you letting loose some control, our laws cannot fix our problems today. If you choose to help us, we can fix America together. [ii]

You cannot escape your responsibility for our plight: with your great wealth comes your greater responsibility.  You cannot avoid acting because doing nothing is making a choice to continue as we are today.

We CAN change with your help. Without you, the end-result will be violence against you.

You want to install a Dictator who works for Vladimir Putin. If you succeed, then he will steal all our liberty and our property, yours and mine. You will not escape him. [iii]

You call it ‘competitive advantage’ when you find loopholes in the laws to steal our incomes.. [iv]

You threaten our National Security by creating disastrous extremes of income and wealth.

About 10% to 20% of us live in hunger and fear. Some among the rest of us have little peace or rest.

You poison our air and our water and you kill the planet we call home.

You shoot to ‘kill/death’ thousands of us every year.

 'In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC’  [v]

 You won. Congratulations.

 Now, look around: many Americans suffer privation and desperation. They may resort to violence against you as happened to the Russian Romanovs, Saddam Hussein, French nobility and a long list of murdered tyrants. Our Deal can save you.

 You can choose your legacy: You can be a modern Alfred Nobel or Rockefeller.  Or, you will be an evil tyrant like industrialist Henry Clay Frick or Germany’s Quandt family, who own BMW.[vi]

 We want to make a deal. Understand that we will come for you even if there is no deal. We will not be happy if we must come when there is no deal.

 The deal: You agree to pay higher income taxes sufficient to balance our budget, retire the national debt over time and fix our social policies. Just tell your Congressional minions it is OK to raise our income taxes and expand social programs.

 In return, let you live and keep your assets, just like the New Deal of FDR from 1930. It is what we want today.

 With you, we can balance the Federal budget and pay down the debt by raising tax revenues instead of simply cutting benefit expenditures.

       Eisenhower explained it this way: ‘The super rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house and clothe poor people of America, among other things. They did some of that, but the Eisenhower years generated enough taxes to launch and complete the labyrinth of interstate highways, the largest road project America had ever seen and is needed again.' Dave Peyton, AP news [vii]

 However, instead you choose to maximize your wealth. You tell your Senators and Representatives, or even a SCOTUS judge: 'Kill any proposed laws or regulations which might benefit working people, then approve any laws which reduce income and wealth taxes.'

 CNBC says: 63% of American workers are unable to pay a $500 emergency expense.  [viii]

 You know a storm is coming: you see MAGA violence in the political process. Mob thugs have not come for you … yet.

 You became very rich when you ordered lower income taxes. The US Treasury borrows more money to pay our bills, instead of using income tax revenue from you to pay. We borrow so that you do not have to pay income taxes. That steals from my grandchildren and future, unborn generations; it must stop.

NOTES Prequel: A Declaration [Rant?]

 [i]  Robert Reich [https://robertreich.substack.com/p/billionaires-dont-have-a-right-to]

 [ii]   These Days, the Very Rich Are Very Selfish. It Could Get Ugly. By Guido Alfani, NYT Nov 19, 2023; Mr. Alfani is an economic history professor at Bocconi University in Milan. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/opinion/rich-billionaires-philanthropy-covid.html]

 [iii] PUTIN'S PEOPLE: HOW THE KGB TOOK BACK RUSSIA AND THEN TOOK ON THE WEST, Catherine Belton, 2020, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York

 [iv]

THE SCHEME: HOW THE RIGHT WING USED DARK MONEY TO CAPTURE THE SUPREME COURT, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Jennifer Mueller, 2022, The New Press, New York.

 [v] Pew Research Center publishes gun deaths in the US:

[https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/]

 [vi] 

 Rich People From History Who Committed Shady and Evil Deeds - Khalid Elhassan - April 12, 2022, History Collection

 a. Henry Clay Frick.

 In 1880, industrialist Henry Clay Frick and a group of rich Pittsburgh magnates bought the South Fork Dam, an earthen dam that formed an artificial Lake Conemaugh in Cambria County. ...because when the dam was built, it had a system of relief pipes and valves to lower water levels in an emergency. That system had been sold as scrap metal, and never replaced. Between that and the clogged spillway, there was no way to release water in case of an emergency. Such an emergency occurred on May 31st, 1889, and it killed thousands in what came to be known as the Johnstown Flood, after the chief town struck by the disaster.’

 b. Quandt Family, BMW

 BMW. Less known is that its major shareholders, the seriously rich Quandt family, were close friends and admirers of Hitler and the Nazis.

 The study commissioned by the Quandt family resulted in a 1200-page report that concluded: “[t]he Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis … The family patriarch was part of the regime“. Among other things, the Quandts profited from the Nazis’ “Aryanization Program”, which stripped Jews of their property and turned it over to Germans approved by the new regime. BMW’s owners benefitted greatly from Aryanization: dozens of businesses were seized from rich Jews and handed over to the already rich Quandts.

 [https://historycollection.com/rich-people-from-history-who-committed-shady-and-evil-deeds/]

 [vii] BY DAVE PEYTON Published 10:28 PM PST, January 30, 2019 [https://apnews.com/article/2184e9f18f6f4acca1ed007bdcdca818]

 [viii]  CNBC Survey shows that many working Americans are a single expense away from homelessness.

 [https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/31/63percent-of-workers-are-unable-to-pay-a-500-emergency-expense-survey.html#:~:text=To%20that%20point%2C%2063%25%20of,employers%20provide%20emergency%20savings%20benefits]