*** “Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of Religion to mask their true designs.” [ Denis Didierot ]
This post presents excerpts from “For Trump, Antisemitism Is the Perfect Pretext”. [ James Loeffler; New York Times; 9/20/26]; Johns Hopkins University modern Jewish history professor ]: “The president isn’t trying to protect Jews. He’s trying to dismantle civil rights law.”
7] “Until recently, even the conservative establishment – including the administrations under Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and the two Bushes – generally accepted antidiscrimination law as a valid instrument of governance, in theory if not always in practice. But the civil rights model we inherited was built for a different country, one in which a white, Christian majority belatedly yielded legal space for distinct minorities to become coequal citizens. If current trends continue, however, in less than 20 years America will be majority nonwhite. Within the next half-century, it will most likely be majority non-Christian. White populist panic has set in. Banning the word “diversity” in a nation of immigrants is a last-ditch effort to reverse history.”
***. “May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman.” [ Pope Francis ]
5] “Gutting antidiscrimination policies for most minority groups while supercharging them for Jews is hypocritical. The hypocrisy is the point. It turns civil rights law into a political protection racket, a tool with which to attack higher education and other perceived enemies.”
6]. “The disturbing excesses of some Gaza war protests are not enough to explain why Jews were selected for this special protected status. Neither is the Republican alliance with Israel’s right-wing government, or the outsize influence of Jewish donors. – a frequently heard explanation that risks lapsing into antisemitism. The simple truth is that mounting this initiative served the Trump administration’s cynical political aims. The largest campaign against antisemitism in American history has also been its supreme trivialization.”
***. “To the wicked, everything serves as a pretext.” [ Voltaire ]
1] “Last month, a federal judge in California issued a blunt verdict on attempts to deport student visa holders for criticizing Israel. In the name of fighting antisemitism, the judge found, the Trump administration had trampled on the First and Fifth Amendments.”
2]. “Why antisemitism, though? Why is the Trump administration, which is indifferent to discrimination against so many other minority groups, hypervigilant about antisemitism?….The civil rights paradigm created in the 1960s is unraveling under the pressure of demographic change and political realignment. The Trump administration is exploiting antisemitism to finish the job, claiming the moral high ground in defense of one group while gutting protections for everyone else.”
***. “We must always be on guard lest, under the pretext of keeping one Commandment, we are found breaking another.” [ Saint Basil ]
3]. “THis administration has read the conservative Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions not just as a rebuke to affirmative action policies, but as a ban on any campus program that even acknowledges race. – far beyond the opinion what the opinion called for. It has raised the threshold for what counts as unlawful discrimination, abandoning decades-old standards. It has pilloried diversity, equity and inclusion not merely as liberal orthodoxy but as reverse racism; it has withheld billions from higher education; it has dismissed roughly 90 percent of education-related civil rights complaints; and it has implemented detention and deportation policies that abandon any semblance of due process. In all but the last of these cases, it claims the goal is to eradicate any consideration of racial or ethnic differences.”
4] “Yet at the same time the government has demanded what amounts to D.E.I. forJews: mandatory antisemitism trainings and targeted measures to promote an inclusive climate. And when schools are accused of discriminating against Jews, instead of conducting fair investigations, the government has imposed penalties that are wildly out of scale – such as slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for medical and scientific research. No one even bothers to pretend that makes the world safer for Jews.”
*** “A cool blooded and crafty politician, when he would be thoroughly revenged on his enemy, makes the injuries which have been inflicted, not on himself, but on the others, the pretext of his attack. He thus engages the world as a partisan in his quarrel and dignifies his private hate, by giving it the air of distracted resentment.”
[ Charles Caleb Colton ]
[NOTE: We have repeatedly asked you to go to the Constitution’s Preamble [ ‘…promote the general Welfare..” ] Along those lines, please read this quote from a ‘CONSERVATIVE U.S. District Court judge:
“Through his comments ..[Judge Patrick] Schiltz was startlingly direct about the depth of the existential threat the Trump administration poses. Democracies collapse ‘not because somebody suddenly says, ‘I’m not following the law.’ It’s death by 1,000 paper cuts,” Schiltz said. It starts with people not violating the letter of the law but violating long-held understandings about the way we act as a society, the way we treat each other, what’s right and what’s wrong, even if it’s not written down.” [“Minnesota judges show what it takes to fight Trumpism”; Rochelle Olson; Minnesota Star Tribune; 10/14/26]
THIS is a very big reason why this site exists. We’re asking YOU to think, to research in mainstream sources, to talk with other Americans – about how far from “normal,” how far from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Trump is; how close he is to running a REAL dictatorship; how much damage Trump has already done to America, the world, the climate, to truth. – and so much more. If YOU vote for ANY Republican on November 3, 2026 – YOU will have complicity in what Trump wants to do AFTER November 3, 2026. This site alone has now given YOU 230 reasons NOT to vote for Trump. Please, think, examine your heart. Please……]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !!!, CCXXVIII. – Trump Sabotages The Very Idea of Inspectors General
*** “When scrutiny is lacking, tyranny, corruption and man’s baser qualities have a better chance of entering into the public business of any government.” [ Jacob Javits; Republican U.s. senator ]
This post presents an examination of ONE facet of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s massive CORRUPTION – in this case, the massive PERVERSION of the offices of “Inspector General.” Their major purpose – is to detect and fight corruption, fraud, waste. Following are excerpts from. “Trump Installing His Allies In Offices Of Inspector General”. [ Luke Broadwater; New York Times; 8/20/26 ]:
12]. “This is in some ways unsurprising because this was all right in Project 2025,” says Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee…”They laid out the purge of the civil service and the consolidation of these independent entities within the government under executive power, under the direct executive power, and then they called for a second step, which was to repopulate all these positions with Heritage-trained political stooges.” [NOTE: SERIOUSLY read “Project 2025”]
***. “Never confuse ‘the law’ with justice; the law represents authority and the system. Justice represents integrity and the truth.” [ Gavin Nascimento ]
4]. “During the first year of Trump’s second term, his approach to dealing with federal inspectors general, who are supposed to be apolitical, was to fire them and slash funding for their offices. But since the mass firings, the president has appointed some government watchdogs with overtly political backgrounds. And they have directed their investigations toward allegations of fraud art the state level, instead of targeting the agencies within the administration that they are supposed to scrutinize.” [NOTE: cynical trick: divert attention to states to cover up!!!]
5]. “The president wanted his own IGs,” said Michael J. Missal, who spent nine years as inspector general for the Department of Veterans affairs. “When you have your own IGs, you lose the credibility and integrity of the work.”
6] “The latest example of Trump’s inserting a political actor into a nonpartisan watchdog role occurred amid public furor over the Reflecting Pool fiasco. Alarmed over the Trump administration’s botched repairs of the Reflecting Pool and the president’s attempt to falsely blame the failures on left-wing vandals, Democratic lawmakers urged the Interior Department’s inspector general to investigate. The Trump administration’s response was to insert a right-wing operative to take over the office that would carry out the investigation.” {NOTE: is there any doubt about MASSIVE TRUMP DICTATORSHIP CORRUPTION???? Cover up your own incompetence, & blame innocents you don’t like!!! ]
*** “The Trumpian lie is different. It is the power lie; or the bolly lie. It is the lie of the bigger kid who took your hat and is wearing it – while denying that he took it.” [ Masha Gessen ]
7]. “Dennis Kirk was among the authors of Project 2025, a collection of conservative policy proposals published before the 2024 election. The plan to install Kirk as the Interior Department inspector general sounded alarm bells in the world of government watchdogs and among Democrats on Capitol Hill, and not merely because he could thwart an internal investigation into the Reflecting Pool.”
11] “Within the inspector general community, the nomination of Kirk is considered a pivot beyond merely cutting those agencies. Now, former inspectors general say, they are being politicized. Kirk was a former advisor to Tulsi Gabbard when she served as the director of national intelligence, and a staff member at the conservative Heritage foundation.”
***. “It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.” [ Chief Justice Earl Warren ]
8]. “Missal was one of at least 20 inspectors general who were fired or demoted by Trump in the first six months of the president’s second term. The mass purge, which was accompanied by staff reductions of up to 30% in some offices, resulted in inspectors general offices without permanent leaders and a culture of fear that workers could be fired for doing their jobs.” [NOTE: this PATTERN is common throughout Washington, as a Republican Senator remarked; “We are all afraid.” ]
9] “..as Trump fills some of the positions, he has selected people with political backgrounds, and they have made it the mission of their organization to look outside the Trump administration fro fraud and wrongdoing.” [NOTE: this is the WEAPONIZATION of “Your” government AGAINST YOU ]
10] “Inspectors general, by law, are tasked with preventing and detecting fraud, waste and abuse related to their agency, while promoting efficiency in agency programs and operations. While they are located inside respective federal agencies, they are designed to act independently and in a nonpartisan manner.” {NOTE: their proper mission is EXACTLY what the Trump DICTATORSHIP does NOT want.}
***. “dictatorships foster oppression, dictatorships foster servitude, dictatorships foster cruelty; more abominable is the fact they foster idiocy.” { Jorge Luis Borges ]
{Note: We have now given YOU 228 examples of why the Trump DICTATORSHIP is Stupid, Cruel, Corrupt, Crazy, and INCOMPETENT. The posts have been based on commentary made in reaction to something undemocratic, unConstitutional; something corrupt, cruel, stupid, incompetent that Trump has already done. The Pulitzer Prize winners, experts, law professionals, people from his own government, etc. are. NOT. making stuff up. They don’t need to. On virtually a daily basis, the Trump DICTATORSHIP violates. THE. test of any American government, written in the Constitution’s Preamble: it fails to “..promote the general Welfare..” of the American people. In 20 months of a four year term, the Trump DICTATORSHIP is already THE most corrupt and destructive in ALL. American history. If we are lucky, on January 20, 2029 – we MAY still have a DEMOCRACY.” But – even there – the damage Trump has done to the American soul, to our system of governing, to our financial health, to our physical health, to the health of planet earth, to our international reputation – may NOT be repairable.
So – what are YOU going to do that helps America recover????? ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !!!, CCXXVII – “Iran war is a master class in squandering credibility”
***. “I believe it is among nations as with individuals,, that the party taking advantage of the distressed of another will lose infinitely more i the opinion of mankind, and in subsequent events, than he will gain by the stroke of the moment.”
[ George Washington; 7/28/1791. ]
This post presents excerpts from “Iran war is a master class in squandering credibility”. [. Fareed Zakaria; Washington Post Weekly; 8/23/26]. Read this article, please. Understand a basic truth of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s effect on American standing in the world: Trump has drastically. LOWERED faith in the United States around the world. – by his rhetoric and his actions. Multiple public opinion polls taken in countries – which USED TO BE. our friends and allies confirm this. YOUR safety is now threatened. If America were to become involved in a war with one of THE most powerful nations. – how many countries would help us????? America is. LOSING. CREDIBILITY because of Donald John Trump.
The reputation and record the United States built, 1945-2015, has been severely damaged by the Trump DICTATORSHIP. Look no further than Trump’s STPUID and reckless assault on Canada – THE single most STUPID foreign affairs BLUNDER in. all. 1775 – 2026 American history. This article is but ONE example of how the Trump DICTATORSHIP. has damaged America’s standing in the world.
10]. “During the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy sent former secretary of state Dean Acheson to Paris to brief Charles de Gaulle on the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Acheson brought reconnaissance photographs to prove the case. De Gaulle, hardly an American supplicant, waved them away. He said he did not need the evidence. The word of the president of the United States was enough. That scene is unimaginable today.”
[ NOTE: it is “unimaginable today” BECAUSE of Donald John Trump ]
***. “Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it, he or she is solvent. Without it, he or she is bankrupt.”
[. John C. Maxwell. ]
1]. “Earlier this month, a minor geopolitical earthquake shook the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Turkey. – two nations that have been openly hostile toward one another for much of the last decade. – pledged to go to war i each other’s defense…… So what brought them together? President Donald Trump. – or rather the two countries’ diminishing faith in him and his word.”
2]. “The iran war has been a master class in how to squander credibility. Recall both received security commitments from Trump only last year.”
3] “But Trump’s word is a solid with his counterparts abroad as it was with his bankers in New York.”
***. “Without character, there is no credibility; and without credibility, there is no trust.” [ Warren Bennis ]
4] “The world has learned to treat his Truth Social announcements as a mix of fact and fiction, like some of the AI – generated videos he posts.”
5]. “The same pattern is visible in Europe. In may, the Pentagon announced that 5,000 American troops would leave Germany, and Trump suggested more cuts were coming. The Pentagon then scrapped a planned deployment of roughly 4,000 troops to Poland. Sometimes he threatens not to defend Europe against Russia; other times he says he will.” [ NOTE: WHY does Trump almost always favor Russia????? ]
6] “for eight decades, the U.s. built up something as powerful as aircraft carriers and squadrons of F-35s: credibility. Allies believed American commitments would endure from one administration to the next. Adversaries understood that American threats, while sometimes exaggerated, carried real weight.”
***. “In times of crisis, credibility is an American president’s most valuable currency.” [ Anthony Blinken ]
7]. “..there was a broad presumption that the U.S. was a predictable actor and that the president’s words meant something.”
8] “Trump treats promises and threats as if he is playing a grand game of bluff. But unpredictability is a very different thing in an alliance than in a real estate negotiation. If allies cannot know whether troops will arrive or leave, whether tariffs will rise or fall, whether an agreement signed today will survive until tomorrow, they do not become more obedient. They become more independent.”
9]. “Countries are building insurance policies. Denmark chose the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defense system rather than the American Patriot. Canada is reconsidering its F-35 purchases. European governments are investing heavily in their own arms industries. South Korea has become the second-largest seller of arms to European NATO countries and is helping supply the Gulf’s air defense with systems cheaper than Patriots………..None of these moves by itself amounts to a rupture with Washington. but together, they show a deepening loss of faith in America’s word.”
***. “Trust is built on credibility, and credibility comes from acting in other’s interests before your own.”
[ Stephen Denny ]
{NOTE: The above is just ONE. example. “Your” president, Donald John Trump, has SEVERELY undermined YOUR security in a few months of his second term. he has made the world. FAR. more dangerous. he has – by his rhetoric and actions. – begun to isolate America. – because he has. STUPIDLY. attacked the 1945-2015 alliance system that won World War II, that won the Cold War, that largely kept the peace, that helped build an interconnected world wide trade system. The Trump DICTATORSHIP has NOT “made America great again.” He has done the reverse. – weakened YOUR country in virtually EVERY way possible. His policies have benefitted Russia, benefitted China, will now benefit Iran. Major question for YOU: is Donald John Trump. the REAL “Manchurian Candidate”??? What “kompromat” does Putin have on Trump? THE two most important tests for the democratic fate of the world are Ukraine and Taiwan. What has the Trump DICTATORSHIP done to make sure they aren’t conquered by Russia and China??? ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !, CCXXVI. – Trump’s Effort to Control Speech and Information
***. “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
[ Theodore Roosevelt; Republican; 26th U.S. President ]
This post presents excerpts from “A Sweeping Effort To Stifle Free Speech”. [ Jim Rutenberg, Maggie Haberman; New York Times; 9/13/26 ]. Read the entire article for full appreciation of the gravity of this threat to American democracy, please.
5] “Mr. Trump has been candid about his aim: to inflict pain, even if it was fleeting. After bringing a failed libel suit against a former Times reporter Timothy L. O’Brien, whose book Mr. Trump “TrumpNation”. estimated Mr. Trump to be worth far less than he claimed, the president gloated about forcing the publisher to spend money. “I did it to make his life miserable, which I’m happy about,” he said.” [NOTE: run this around in your mind]
6]. “Mr. Trump’s team is unapologetic about its goal of achieving firmer control of the national information environment. – what Mr. Cheung, the communications director, has dubbed in a social media post, “Full Spectrum Dominance.”
2]. “Driven by personal pique, fury over leaks and a determination to shape the political narrative to his advantage, Mr. Trump is deploying the might of the federal government and filing lawsuits. – targeting not just journalists and liberal critics, but also comedians and talk show hosts, and the corporate entities behind them……… Free speech advocates say the president’s intent is apparent: to punish, intimidate and silence dissenters….”There’s not a week that goes by where they’re not taking a new step to curtail press freedom in the country…..”
***. “For if men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.”
[ George Washington; 3/15/1783 ]
3] “Reporters Without Borders maintains an index that tracks press freedom in 180 countries, clocking governmental threats, subpoenas and the vindictive use of regulations against journalists. The United States now ranks at its lowest since the organization started the index in 2002. – 64th, just above Panama and just below Botswana. The trend is the same at similar indexes kept by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the V-Dem Institute of Sweden.”
10] “Government efforts to subpoena journalists and chill their reporting through threats are at the highest level since trhe foundation started tracking incidents in 2017.”
11] “..as a private citizen, Mr. Trump has filed lawsuits against a wide range of targets including The Guardian newspaper, the journalist Bob Woodward and the Pulitzer Prize board. – legal battles often financed by his donor-funded political action committee.”
***. “The first thing dictators do is finish free press to establish censorship. There is no doubt that a free press is the first enemy of dictatorship.” [ Fidel Castro ]
12] “Many of the moves have also drawn stern rebukes from judges….Judge William b. Porter chastised the government….a judge worried that allowing the suit to proceed could have “a massive, chilling effect.” After a judge harshly questioned government lawyers…..Judge Paul Friedman..”Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech.”
4] “Now the administration is breaking new ground in stifling dissent with personal lawsuits and novel uses of executive power…with implications that extend far beyond Mr. trump’s presidency. “We live in a different world under this administration because the threats are so grave…”
1] “The Justice Department has sent F.B.I. agents to reporter’s homes to serve subpoenas…The Pentagon has fired the editor and publisher of its traditionally independent newspaper….Regulatory agencies are using their powers to pressure media over their content……]
*** “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.” [ Edward R. Murrow ]
7] 16 paragraphs are devoted to the actions of Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Republican state attorneys general and their persecution and prosecution of media companies they didn’t like. They used ‘YOUR’ government’s power of investigation and filing charges to harass, intimidate, and silence ANY media that dared oppose the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
8]. “..[Brendan Carr]..has bent the F.C.C. to the president’s will..”
9] 12 paragraphs are devoted to discussing “Mr. Trump’s animus against ABC..” The Trump DICTATORSHIP uses government powers to conduct investigations, follow “equal time rules,” started “an early review of the federal licenses that ABC stations need to operate” [ NEVER done before ], demands for documents, etc.
*** “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thougthcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” [ George Orwell: “1984” ]
For perspective – The Trump DICTATORSHIP escalates its war on TRUTH… Presented below are excerpts from “White House Enforces Ban On 3 Outlets”. [ Michael Grynbaum, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Benjamin Mullin; New York Times; 9/20/26]:
1]. “Journalists from CNN, MSNOW and Politico had their badges confiscated…a stark escalation in President Trump’s ever-expanding battles with news media..”
2] “First amendment experts condemned Mr. Trump’s ban as unconstitutional and said it was unlikely to survive a court challenge.”
3]. “Legal experts said that Mr. Trump’s news media ban was unlikely to survive a court challenge, because the president explicitly connected his decision to ban CNN, Politico and MSNOW to the content of their reporting. That’s “textbook viewpoint discrimination”…”
***. “Truth is the most important thing. That’s why we should ration it.” [ Lenin ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – STUPIDITY, CRUELTY, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !!!, CCXXV. – Lack of Action to Prevent Internet Scams
***. “Corruption is never an individual act.. It always involves groups of people bound by one fundamental rule of association: an exchange of favors.. It allows crime to be protected with impunity and is characterized by an intolerable arrogance.” [ Roberto Matta ]
This post presents excerpts from “Little Recourse For Scam Victims As Cases Balloon” [ Martha Mendoza, Juliet Linderman, Erika Kinetz; Frontline & Associated Press; 9/6/26 ]:
6] “Before 2018, victims of theft or fraud could sometimes deduct losses incurred from their taxable income. But under a provision of the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, made permanent in 2025, personal losses from many common scams are not eligible for tax breaks. That means victims can owe taxes after money was stolen from them.”
7]. “A law before Congress, the Tax Relief for Fraud Victims Act, would reinstate an allowance for victims to deduct their losses. AARP fraud prevention lead Kathy Stokes urged Congress earlier this year to help scam victims who are “stuck with a bill they don’t deserve and have no way to pay.” “Essentially they’re being revictimized by the U.S. government,: Stokes said.”
8]. “Banks also sometimes blame people who are scammed instead of seeing them as crime victims, or even accuse them of being complicit. Victims describe having their accounts abruptly frozen or canceled, along with demands for repayment on loans and legal fees.”
***. “The…[crypto]…industry has already secured major victories under Trump. Last year, Congress passed the Genius Act, creating industry-friendly rules for a type of cryptocurrency known as stablecoin and regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission have adopted favorable policies toward crypto.” [ “Crypto regulatory bill fails to pass in Senate”; David Yaffe-Bellany; New York Times; 9/17/26 ]
16] “china bans crypto-related businesses, while the European Union requires licensing, consumer protections and broad disclosures. but while the Trump administration has backed some cryptocurrency regulation, it has also promised to halt “aggressive enforcement actions and regulatory overreach” to promote innovation.”
18]. “..advocates say funding hasn’t flowed to the federal agencies tasked with combating scams, investigating cybercrime, and developing a cohesive plan for attacking the problem.”
19] “At least 13 federal agencies touch on different aspects of these crimes, according to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office. Seto Bagdoyan, who runs the office’s Forensic Audits and Investigative Service, said this piecemeal approach results in a sluggish strategy that “falls short.””
***. “Under the Biden administration, U.S. financial regulators cracked down on the crypto industry, filing lawsuits..argued that digital currencies were subject to the same rules as securities………When he took office, Trump ended the regulatory crackdown on crypto companies.” [. Yaffe-Bellany ]
2]. “Americans reported a record $15.9 billion in losses last year to the Federal Trade Commission, a 25% increase from 2024. And such estimates are likely a massive undercount because most scam victims are too embarrassed to report their crimes.”
3] “The FTC estimates that real losses in 2024 were close to $200 billion; that’s $550 million every day just in the U.S.”
4] “The ballooning costs are fueled by huge advances in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.. AI allows scammers to work at a previously unimaginable scale and level of sophistication, and cryptocurrency, often used in investment scams, is a form of digital cash that can be hard to trace to its real owners.”
5]. “No one is immune…Ninety-eight percent of Americans suspect they have been targeted by scammers…Three in 10 said they have personally lost money or information to scams.”
***. “Trump’s crypto grifting amounts to the greatest corruption in presidential history,” said Robert Weisman, co-president of Public Citizen. “Both the crypto bill that has already passed and the one still to come stamp a congressional seal of approval on that corruption.” [ David Rosen: “Crypto Corruption on Overdrive”; Public Citizen News; November/December, 2025 ]
1]. “..the U.S. still lags behind some other countries in tackling the problem, holding financial and social media companies responsible and regulating the cryptocurrency scammers rely on..”
9]. “The U.s. is taking steps to improve cooperation with the private sector on fighting scams but. – unlike a growing number of other countries. – has stopped short of requiring companies to do more to protect consumers or face financial penalties.”
10] “Eight in 10 Americans across political lines said the U.S. government isn’t doing enough to protect them against scams, according to a new Gallop survey. And more than half said financial institutions, social media and tech companies and the federal government should also share responsibility..”
***. “Crypto’s Richest Man Crafts Sophisticated Campaign for Trump Pardon” [ Kenneth Vogel, David Yaffe-Bellany; New York Times; 8/12/25]: “Mr. Zhao and Binance pleaded gulty to serious crimes in 2023…Mr. Zhao’s push stands out..helped deep-pocketed interests win preferential treatment from Mr. Trump”
11] “since late 2024, financial services companies in the United Kingdom have generally had to reimburse clients tricked into sending money to scammers..”
12]. “The European Union is also rolling out rules that make financial institutions potentially liable for scammed funds if they don’t put in adequate fraud protections.’
13] “New regulations in Australia also spread the responsibility for preventing scams. financial institutions, telecommunications companies and digital platforms in Australia can be fined or forced to compensate victims if they don’t do enough to prevent and respond to scam activity.”
14] “Singapore’s protections are among the strictest. Under the government’s Shared Responsibility Framework..”
***. “…in a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the lack of identification for coin holders could allow “bad actors, including authoritarian governments and companies they control, to enrich the Trump family”. and gain leverage over the president’s policy decisions. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told the Post that the coin was “the most corrupt thing a president has ever done.” [ Drew Harwell, Jeremy Merrill, Chris Dehghanpoor, Carol Leonnig: “Cryptocurrency investors buy an evening with Trump”; Washington Post; 5/21/25 ]
15]. “The U.s. makes piecemeal attempts to teach law enforcement agents how to respond to scams, but requirements vary across agencies. And in the U.S., victims are generally only reimbursed if the money is taken from their accounts without their authorization, not if they were tricked..”
17]. “Unlike bank deposits, crypto assets are not backed by federal insurance, and so if an exchange fails, the money can be lost… Most significantly, many cryptocurrency exchanges operate across borders and through offshore entities where U.s. laws may not apply.”
20]. “FBI Financial Crimes Section assistant chief Rebecca Keithly..said tens of billons of dollars flow out of the U.S. economy through scams…The FBI said it receives nearly 3,000 internet crime complaints a day..”
***. ‘..a diffuse but stunningly effective influence operation that turned mr. Trump from an outspoken Bitcoin skeptic into crypto’s most important supporter. Virtually every step of Mr. Trump’s transformation has been steered by the industry.” [ David Yaffe-Bellany, Kenneth Vogel: “Crypto Perfects Art of the Spiel To Sway Trump”; New York Times; 7/13/25 ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !!!, CCXXIV. – Social Security: Ordinary Americans. – vs. – THE RICH
***. “Essentially all the economic gains of the last twenty years have gone to a tiny sliver of the wealthiest Americans…It’ s by design. The wealthy have paid for the ability to stand at the drawing board and plan out big parts of the economy so that the whole thing works particularly well for them.”
[ Morris Pearl, Erica Payne: “Tax The Ricg!; 2021 ]
Let’s keep this simple on Social Security funding: THIS is the choice: Either ALL ordinary Americans, by 2032, will lose $440. EVERY. month on their Social Security checks. – OR. – “We” eliminate the Social Security tax cap of $184,500. Which currently means that Percy Moneybags, III, only pays Social Security tax on his FIRST. $184,500. – ALL ELSE. – millions, billions is NOT. taxed. [assuming his crafty tax people don’t use loopholes as well!!!!!]
WHY? The theory is this: Taxing Percy Moneybags, III on his income over $184,500 would be “unfair”. – because he doesn’t get any value out of living in America – with police, fire, courts protecting his wealth; underpaid U.S. military men and women guarding his wealth with their lives; he gets no benefit from U.S. highways, etc., etc.!!!!!! Percy owes NOTHING to the over 1 million American soldiers already dead, the several millions of soldiers wounded; gets no benefit from the millions of workers injured and killed from building America. – in short, Percy Moneybags, III owes. NOTHING. to America – he did it “all by himself” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is one word that describes this kind of arrogant thinking: BULLSHIT !!!!!!!!!!! Another is. CORRUPTION – this is what Percy’s lobbyists paid for.
It has been known since at least 2010 that THE. most ‘American,” most democratic, most FAIR, Social Security solution is this: Eliminate the earnings cap, no change to benefits – then, a 116% solution. [ “Let’s start with the easy part”; Timothy Taylor; Minnesota Star Tribune; 11/21/2010 ]. Taylor was NOT the first to say this!!!
***. “Woe to them that make unjust laws.” [ Isaiah 10: 1 ]
For further perspective: If Joe Sixpack graduates high school, works 18-68, makes $50,000 every year. – his. LIFETIME EARNINGS. would be. $2.5 million. If Suzie Sorority graduates college, works 22-68, makes $100,000 every year. – her LIFETIME EARNINGS would be $4.6 million. Percy Moneybags, III, many/most millionaires, billionaires, make that in ONE year, often n a few months!!!
SO. – WHY. is there any debate over what is the right thing, the American thing, the fairest thing, is ELIMINATING an ARTIFICIAL “cap’ on Social Security taxes?????????? Answer: CORRUPTION.
The fix: YOU tell “your”. Representative, ‘your”. Senator. – you vote to ELIMINATE the Social Security income tax cap. – OR. – I. vote against you. PERIOD.
***. “The law should be equal for all, whether it rewards or punishes, whether it protects or restrains.”
[ Thomas Paine; 1792 ]
More perspective: “… income inequality in the United states rose far more rapidly than economists expected. Earnings for the top 6 percent “rose much faster than the overall average,” Mr. Goss said. In 1983, the Social Security payroll tax was imposed on 90 percent of the country’s wage income. [. Why not 100%? ]. Now with taxable wages capped at $168,6000, only about 82.5 percent of the nations wage income is taxed for Social Security, he said. The cap would need to be raised above $300,000 to get us back to the 90 percent coverage of the Reagan administration.”
[ “Fixing Social Security is Doable, If Lawmakers Act”; New York Times; 6/2/2024 ]
[NOTE: What. ISN’T discussed. – non-wage earnings. Why not tax. ALL. income – from stock, from corporate bonuses, etc. Why not tax all the WallStreet exemptions, etc. ?????????? ].
[ Answer. – CORRUPTION. ]
Note that a president. – Reagan. – got involved. Why isn’t “our” current president. – Donald John Trump, pushing for a fair, democratic solution. – one THAT WOULD. – “Make America Great Again” ????????????
This isn’t rocket science. – “We”. just tax the rich like we tax. YOU………………..
This is YOUR clue: if. “we” ARE living in a REAL “democracy,” “we”. eliminate the Social Security income tax cap. If. ‘we’. are living in a plutocracy. – we don’t. PERIOD.
Why isn’t. “your”. president threatening Congress to get this done ???????????????
***. “The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice.” [ Justice Robert Jackson ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. – INCOMPETENCE !!!, CCXXIII. – “LifevWas Impossible, and Then It Got Worse”
***. “The children who go to bed hungry in a Harlem slum or a West Virginia mining town are not be deprived because no food can be found to give them; they are going to bed hungry because, despite all our miracles of invention and production, we have not yet fond a way to make the necessities of life available to all of our citizens. – including those whose failure is not lack of personal industry or initiative, but only an unwise choice of parents.”
[ Senator J. William Fulbright; 1964 ]
This post presents excerpts from “Life Was Impossible, and Then It Got Worse”. [ Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 8/2/26 ]: “Millions of Americans struggle today in sometimes unimaginable ways.”
4] “..this pain across America is now magnified by President Trump’s cuts in food stamps, Medicaid, mental health funding for children, pregnancy prevention initiatives and other social programs, as well as by rising gas and food prices.”
6] “A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that two-thirds of Americans consider groceries unaffordable.”
11]. “..the age group most likely to live in poverty. – by far — is children, particularly children 2 years old and under; and they can’t be accused of fraud, laziness or personal irresponsibility. Yes, many of them end up making bad choices, but we fail them before they fail us.”
*** “Jesus said to him, “If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.” [ Matthew 19: 21 ]
1] “..[Trinity]..Johnson, 44, survives by selling blood plasma twice a week. she had $3.78 in her checking account, one cent in her savings account to keep it open, and sic pennies in her piggy bank.”
2]. “She dwells in an America that many of us might have trouble imagining. For five years she staved off homelessness only by staying in the home of a man who was not a romantic partner but who took advantage of her vulnerability, she said, by regularly demanding sex.”
3]. “Food stamps, $298 a month, sustain her, but they can’t be used for toilet paper or feminine hygiene products. So she searches for them at church-run pantries – lifelines in much of America.”
5]. “Republicans are also imposing tougher work requirements for benefits; this is reasonable in theory, but in practice such requirements have proved costly and end up mostly just driving people into poverty.”
***. “Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress, but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.” [ Chief Justice Earl Warren ]
7] “I asked Goodman what message she would have for Trump as the cuts and work requirements he ordered ripple across the land. “You do not know what you’re doing to people who are struggling to live,’ she said. “You got money in the bank. You don’t know how it feels to struggle. Live in my shoes for one day. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
8]. “Nationwide, some 1.5 million children have lost food stamps under Trump’s crackdown over the last year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.”
9]. “THe push to cut benefits for struggling Americans is partly rooted in a desire to trim federal spending, but that’s hard to square with the expense of the Iran war, as well as the subsidies for private planes and tax cuts for the wealthiest. It’s also based on a perception that the “undeserving poor” are exploiting the system.” [NOTE: SO…in Donald John Trump’s mythical America – there are NO, NONE, ZERO. – “undeserving rich”???????????]
10] “As of 2019, according to ProPublica, the place in America with the highest percentage of tax audits was not a haven of billionaires but rather Humphrys county, Miss., with a majority Black population and a median household income then of roughly $26,000.” [ NOTE: THIS is a major summary of Trump’s policies. ]
***. “Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness, it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable and others extremely difficult.” [ Samuel Johnson; 12/7/1782 ]
12] “Trump initially proposed eliminating Head Start, the federal program with bipartisan support that serves those vulnerable children in poverty. He later backed off that idea, but congressional investigators found that his administration illegally withheld $12 billion from the program for several months, causing great hardship.”
13] “It’s understandable that many working-class Americans feel betrayed….One reason for the complacency is that the problems…are often invisible. Americans may see a homeless person shooting drugs, but they won’t see the arc of hopelessness that began with, say, foster care. – which at it’s worse is a government system of child abuse.”
14] “Some of Williams’s earliest memories are of men sexually assaulting her, perhaps when she was 3 or 4. Her mother was a prostitute with addictions, she said, and at age 6 she saw her younger sister killed and was then put in foster care.”
15]. “..if we want to talk about lack of responsibility, we also have to have a conversation about our collective lack of responsibility, about the way we treat some kids as throwaways. – or the way we’re now taking food stamps from 1.5 million children.”
***. “Poverty is not merely the lack of adequate financial resources. It entails a more profound kind kind of deprivation, a denial of full participation in the economic, social, and political life of society and the inability to influence decisions that affect one’s life. It means being powerless in a way that assaults not only one’s pocketbook but also one’s fundamental human dignity.” [ National Conference of Catholic Bishops; 1986 ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – &. – INCOMPETENCE!!!, CCXXII – The Corrupt FBI Job Interview!!!
*** “Dictators cause the world’s worst problems. All the collapsed states, and all the devastated economies. All the vapid cases of corruption, grand theft, and naked plunder of the treasury are caused by dictators leaving in their wake trails of wanton destruction, horrendous carnage and human debris.” [ George Ayittey ]
This post presents most of the corrupt FBI job interview printed on pages 16-17 of Devlin Barrett’s “The Department of Revenge.” Read this VERY carefully. – THIS is how “your” government, during the Trump DICTATORSHIP, operates. It is ONE. example of the WEAPONIZATION. of America’s “Justice Department.” [ NOTE: Devlin Barrett was won THREE. Pulitzer Prizes for his work. ]
1]. “Driscoll had gotten a heads-up from other FBI officials, including Paul Abbate, the acting director, that he and Robert Kissane, the senior counterterrorism official in the FBI’s New York office, were being considered for temporary roles at FBI headquarters, though it was unclear what the roles were exactly.”
2]. “Ingrassia’s first call with Driscoll, on the Friday before Trump’s inauguration, did not go well. Ingrassia asked two relatively straightforward questions about the organizational structure of the FBI and about threats to the United States. Then he asked Driscoll whom he had voted for. Offended, Driscoll refused to answer, and said asking those kind of questions were a violation of federal law. – specifically, the Hatch Act.”
3] “Ingrassia then asked if Driscoll agreed that the FBI agents who had “stormed” Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago should be held “accountable” for what they’d done. No, Driscoll replied, because they were doing their job based on a properly premised investigation and a warrant approved by a judge.”
*** “The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.”
[ Georges Bernanos ]
4] “Ingrassia then asked when Driscoll had started supporting President Trump. Shocked that he had even been asked the question, Driscoll refused to answer. Like all FBI agents and Justice Department career employees, he had been trained, tested, hired, and promoted in a culture that sought to studiously avoid brining politics into their work.”
5]. “A core principle of federal civil service people did not carry their political baggage into work decisions. In such large organizations, there were some people who violated the rules and some people who tried to bend them, but the overwhelming majority of Justice Department employees followed them and understood that they existed for good reason. Generations of law enforcement officials had sought to make a professional class of government lawyers and investigators, a work culture that demanded high standards not just in court or at crime scenes, but in every facet of their work. None of that seemed to matter to Ingrassia.”
6] “He asked Driscoll if he had voted for a Democrat in the last five elections. Driscoll refused to answer. With that, Ingrassia cut the interview short. The whole exchange had been bizarre. An aggressive young Trump staffer with no law enforcement or even White House experience had grilled a veteran FBI agent with a series of highly inappropriate questions about his political loyalty. Driscoll found it alarming and insulting.”
7]. “Later that night, Bove called Driscoll and told him he had “failed” the interview. Driscoll, Ingrassia had told others, was not “based out” enough. – not willing to declare his allegiance to the president’s agenda. Bove still wanted Driscoll in the job and told him he had worked to “flip” Ingrassia’s negative review.”
***. “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” [ Montesquieu ]
[NOTE: consider the following for perspective: “Donald Trump has brought a very different approach to presidential politics, one that has corrupted our traditional expectation of public service that benefits the people….Trump’s approach to power during his second term has also made him resemble something else. – a mob boss.”
[ Former U.S. Attorney; law professor; Barbara McQuade: “the Fix” ]
***. “The U.S.S.R. was a totalitarian state in which judges and prosecutors were controlled by the ruling party. The result was injustice, oppression and corruption.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – &. – INCOMPETENCE!!!, CCXXI. – “The Ludicrous Argument Behind Trump’s Tariffs”
***. “Adam smith’s case for free trade was richer and deeper than just the simple presumption that trade was beneficial and therefore should be left alone. Smith pointed to two specific benefits..a country would derive from trade. First, countries could exchange their superfluities…Second, and more important, countries would benefit by increasing their productivity..and thereby …increase the real revenue and wealth of the society.” [ Ryan Hanley, Editor: “Adam Smith” ]
This post presents excerpts from “The Ludicrous Argument Behind Trump’s Tariffs” [ New York Times “Editorial”; 8/30/26 ]:
10] “In economic terms, the policy so far has been a disappointment. The tariffs have raised prices on many goods, without producing a revival in manufacturing employment. Overall job growth and economic growth have slowed in recent months. Instead of pulling back in response, Mr. Trump has doubled down on his trade war. Incredibly, the 1930 law that he has used to justify the Canadian tariffs is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, a law notorious for contributing to the Great Depression.” [ NOTE: fanatics on a “mission” aren’t deterred by inconvenient facts!!! ]
***. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
[ Martin Luther King, Jr. ]
1] “President Trump’s repeated attempts to impose tariffs have become an encapsulation of his second term. They have hurt the American economy and his own popularity. They also range from legally dubious to blatantly illegal.”
2] “The Supreme court has already rejected most of Mr. Trump’s tariffs once. In February, it ruled them to be illegal, and he immediately made it clear that he would not be deterred. “Their decision is incorrect,” he said within hours of the rulings release. “But it doesn’t matter.” [NOTE: it doesn’t matter if you’re a king, or think you ARE a king ]
3]. “Mr. Trump’s defiance stands out. He has twice tried to circumvent the court’s tariff ruling, imposing new rounds of import fees by invoking legal justifications that are patently ridiculous.” [NOTE: kings, and dictators often try “legalistic noncompliance,” or. – they remake the court……. ]
***. “The tariffs, or Trump tax, are a mistake in many different ways. but the most important error is a fundamental misunderstanding of the global trading system.” [ Philip Coggan: “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Trump” ]
4] “..several of Mr. Trump’s individual justifications are far flimsier than those that past presidents have attempted. His latest round of global tariffs offers an example. The administration’s rationale for them is a section of a 1974 law that empowers a president to enact tariffs against countries that import goods made with forced labor. Last month, the administration cited the law to impose tariffs on nearly all goods entering the United States. That round of tariffs is a successor to the similarly sized tariff level that the Supreme Court rejected in February, as well as a temporary tariff Mr. Trump imposed after that decision. A panel of federal judges ruled that temporary tariff to be illegal as well.”
5]. “some countries do deserve scrutiny for importing goods made with forced labor. One major source of forced labor is China, which has compelled residents of Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim region, to produce cotton, car parts and other items. Yet federal law already empowers the government to address forced labor in other ways, including by simply blocking the entry of goods made with such labor. Mr. Trump has used a genuine problem as an excuse to apply tariffs to more than 80 countries that are collectively responsible for more than 99 percent of American imports.”
6]. “..[Trump]..is effectively claiming that products made with forced labor are a major issue in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Britain, France and dozens of other countries. The tariffs apply even to Norway, which has been a pioneer in fighting forced labor around the world.” {NOTE: morons aren’t convinced by real facts ]
***. “In “On the Jealousy of Trade,” Hume suggested that international trade should not be viewed as a zero-sum game, in which countries were competing with each other as rivals, but rather as a form of mutually beneficial exchange that should be encouraged.” { Hanley: “Adam Smith” }
7]. “Then there is the sketchy rationale for his latest tariff on Canadian goods. The president invoked part of a 1930 law that has never been used before to impose tariffs, while ignoring more recent laws. – as well as the trade agreement that his first administration negotiated with Canada. He has imposed a 50 percent tariff on many Canadian goods by claiming that Canada has discriminated against American goods, even though his administration started the trade dispute.” [NOTE: for perspective for Trump’s war on Canada, see “The Real Winner of the Trade War With Canada? China” [Chad Brown; New York times; 8/30/26}. and “The Tinfoil Folly of America’s Trade War”. [Bill Saporito; New York Times; 9/3/26: “It’s not cheating when Canadians undersell American aluminum producers. It’s an advantage. It’s logical for the United States to import lower-cost Canadian aluminum and invest in industries in which America enjoys its own advantage. – chip design and artificial intelligence, for instance.” ]
8] “While federal judges have often done an admirable job of trying to respond to Mr. Trump’s illegal policies, the tariff cases highlight a core problem: Mr. Trump’s legalistic noncompliance moves more quickly than the courts do. when a judge rules one Trump policy to be illegal, he replaces it with a new one accomplishing similar aims.”
9]. “Eventually, the forced labor tariffs will probably go back to the Supreme Court, which needs to become nimbler about protecting the constitution from Mr. Trump’s disrespect for the balance of power among the three branches of Government….When faced with blatant defiance of the law from Mr. Trump, however, the court’s Republican-appointed majority sometimes takes its time or demurs. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s policies do damage.”
***. “Wooden-headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting to wish while not allowing oneself to be confused by the facts.”
[ Double Pulitzer prize winner Barbara Tuchman; author of “The march of folly”. – a study of governments pursuing self-destructive policies. – “From Troy To Vietnam” ]
{NOTE: – AGAIN!!! We ask YOU to judge Trump’s policies in terms of THE test: the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble: “…promote the general Welfare…” HOW do Trump’s tariffs ‘promote the general Welfare” of America and the American people??? Think on this: “The idea that things will return to ‘normal’ once Donald Trump leaves the White House is probably just wishful thinking,” Montreal’s McGill University political science professor Daniel Breland – as in long-term damage to America’s 200-year peaceful alliance with Canada. – Bob Gillies; Associated Press; 8/25/26 ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – & – INCOMPETENCE1, CCXX – Republicans Help Rich Steal Over $70 Trillion From The Working Class
*** “The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loves to paint..but is conceived and ordered..in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.” [ C. S. Lewis ]
This post presents excerpts from “It’s Worse Than You Think for The Middle Class”. [ Thom Hartmann; The Progressive Populist; September, 2026 ]:
13] “This is what Republicans do, and have been doing since Nixon’s era; move wealth from working class people into the money bins of the morbidly rich. The Rand corporation says it is now over $70 trillion that the rich have stolen from the working class.”
***. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” [ Wendell Phillips ]
1]. “As a result of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society “socialist” programs, about two-thirds of American families were in the middle class with a single paycheck by 1973 as reported by The New York Times; today that number could be as low as a third of us, depending on your definitions.”
2]. “Pew..uses the definition of middle class as people falling in the middle of the bell-curve of income distribution. By that definition, Pew says 61% of Americans lived in middle-income households in 1971 and by 2023 that had declined to 5l% of us.. This skewing of statistics is driven in large part by a few thousand American families, particularly the morbidly rich billionaire class.”
3]. “But does being “in the middle of the income distribution curve” mean that people in the “middle’ today. – even if it’s a smaller percentage of Americans. – enjoy the same “middle class” lifestyle and opportunities as they did at the beginning of the Reagan Revolution?”
4] “This is where it gets sticky. If, instead of defining the middle class as those people in the middle of the income distribution you defined it by what that income buys, an entirely different picture emerges.”
***. “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, if which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” [. Adam Smith. – Yes!!! – THAT. Adam Smith ]
5] “..former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in his 1991 book. “The Work of Nations”: “America has been the first nation in history in which the majority of its citizens considered themselves middle class… For three decades after World War II, America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen.” [NOTE: for YOU – THE question now must be: What Happened? The filthy rich did NOT want this sharing of America’s wealth to continue. – so they ended it]
6] “Two years ago, The Washington Post surveyed Americans about what the middle class meant to them and who they thought was in it. The paper found broad agreement among the majority of Americans who say you’re only in the middle class if you have: -A secure job [93%]. -The ability to save for the future [91%]. -The ability to afford a $1,000 emergency [90%]. -The ability to pay all bills on time without worry [90%]. – Comprehensive health insurance [89%] -The ability to retire securely [87%]. -A job with paid sick leave [73%]. -The time and money for vacations [67%]. -Own your own home [60%]. “
7]. “By that definition, the Post found: “Just over a third of Americans met all six..markers of a middle-class lifestyle. While about 9 in 10 Americans had health insurance, only three-quarters had health insurance and a steady job. With each added measure of financial security, more Americans slipped away from the middle-class ideal.”
8] “Using the ..[Federal Reserve Bank}… Survey of Consumer Finances, The Post’s authors doubled down on their assertion that the number of Americans today in the middle class is even lower than the 41% to 47% stat that I’ve been citing: “Since 2017, the earliest year of comparable data, BETWEEN 32 and 40 percent of Americans met all six measures…”
***. “We are no longer the democracy we once were. We have become a plutocracy.. In 2011, AdAge..declared the era of mass affluence over in America.. “Simply put, a small plutocracy of wealthy elites drives a larger and larger share of total consumer spending.” [ Double Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Barlett & James Steele: “The Betrayal of The American Dream” ]
9]. “The Brookings Institution also talks about various definitions of the middle class, one of them arguing it encompasses: – stable employment. -home ownership. -retirement savings. -ability to weather emergencies -intergenerational mobility. Depending on the selected definition and using the Fed’s numbers, Brookings calculates that between 23% and 48% of households would count as being in the middle class today.”
10]. “..the Fed poits out that just defining the middle class by a family’s position within the income distribution curve can be confusing and even deceptive. Their Survey of Consumer finances and wealth surveys show that a family can earn a “middle income” but still have: -no emergency savings. -no retirement savings -little or no home equity. -heavy debt. Which is probably why Pew’s earlier work using Federal Reserve data showed that median middle-income family wealth fell dramatically after the Bush Crash of 2008 and has remained far below what previous generations accumulated ever since.” [NOTE: is it just a coincidence that tragedies that have befallen American seem to happen during Republican presidencies?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!]
11] “…the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OCED] defines the middle class much as I do, by economic resilience, asking whether families can: -withstand financial shocks. -accumulate wealth. -afford housing. -educate their children. – retire securely. Their conclusion was straightforward: many households traditionally labeled ‘middle income”. no longer enjoy the security once associated with being in the American middle class…..also the conclusion of 71% of Americans….”
12] “…simply consider Reagan’s war on unions, his slashing top income tax rates for corporations and the morbidly rich, and the Republican party’s 45-year all-out attack on programs that support the bottom half of Americans. These GOP policies have ripped the guts out of average American families’ ability to have. – even with two full-time paychecks. – the lifestyle that the majority of Americans enjoyed with a single paycheck in 1981 when Reagan was sworn into office.”
***. “…arguably, the most important economic trend in the United States over the past couple of generations has been the ever-more-distinct sorting of Americans into winners and losers, and the slow hollowing of the middle class.” [ Don Peck, in Rick Wartzman: “the End of Loyalty” ]
*** [NOTE: think in terms of THEFT; America, because of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great society, from 1947 – 73. – HAD the envy of the world. – a society in which about two-thirds of american families were considered “middle class”. with a SINGLE paycheck. In 2026. – somewhere between 30-50% of Americans are NOW considered “middle class’. – and. – many/most of them do it with TWO paychecks. THIS is the context for the Rand corporation saying America’s rich have stolen over $70 trillion from the American working class.]
***. “You know, the only trouble with capitalism is capitalists. they’re too damn greedy.”
[Herbert Hoover; Republican; 31st U.S. President]
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