If voters are unhappy with the good readings on standard indicators—unemployment, the monthly inflation rate, economic growth—it must be because those indicators no longer connect to their sense of well-being. I have written on this before. In particular, low unemployment rates may reflect widespread disaffection with bad jobs; a low inflation rate does not reverse past price increases; and the incomes from growth may flow to profits and capital gains. These indicators are not useless—if they were bad, the situation would be even worse—but a good showing on them is insufficient.
This Nation magazine piece clearly states some realities behind the bad economic feelings that helped sink the Harris candidacy, and reasonably slams Democrats for letting vital covid-recovery government programs to tail off or end altogether. But the author ignores a key – and I believe vital – failure of messaging. The American people only knew what they felt right now, and the Biden administration rarely put the news into context. the administration was weirdly reluctant to brag about the good things it did accomplish – almost all of them with zero support from Republicans. And while it did try to anchor the programs and legislation into the context of what would come from them in the future, that information was couched in sterile political and economic language. Meanwhile, Big Journalism harped – as it always does when Democrats are in charge – on negatives and almost never explained why, and how, the investments in our future would pay all off handsomely down the road. Context, asked our big news organizations, what's what?
Starting a few days ago, Musk commented approvingly on a long thread by a longtime Social Security abolitionist, Senator Mike Lee, making the case for abolishing Social Security and replacing it with private accounts. This was followed by a series of remarks by both either saying Social Security is a scam or, alternatively, that you can cut billions or hundreds of billions and no one will notice. Just Wednesday Ramaswamy went on CNBC and in addition to discussing various other ideas about innovation and efficiency, noted that there are “hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract just from basic program integrity measures” out of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The rest of the quote suggests he thinks he can claw back these savings by cutting off benefits to people who don’t really deserve them or are legally entitled to them.
This Talking Points Memo commentary goes where big journalism organizations remain far too timid, and Trump-compliant, to venture. The incoming administration, despite endless lies to the contrary during the campaign and denials now, is plainly setting the stage for at least trying to cut Social Security and healthcare spending. At the end of this piece, the author requests that everyone call their House member's office and "ask if they support [what Ramaswamy told CNBC] or have a position on it" – and then let him know what you're told. Your contribution to TMP's journalism could make a real difference at a key moment.
The spat will not end here but by failing to secure his eldest as his rightwing successor, Murdoch now faces the prospect that following his death – more liberal Murdochs may want a say in the the content flowing from what is now the world’s most powerful conservative media empire. That Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Times, the Sun, the Australian and others under the News Corp umbrella could move in a different political direction would be bad for business, as Murdoch’s attorneys are believed to have argued in court. Fox News is the most-watched cable news show in the US and reported revenues of $14bn for fiscal year 2024. But while that may or may not happen, the business won’t benefit from replacing a media titan like Murdoch with squabbling siblings.
Rupert Murdoch's family-controlled media empire has relentlessly injected poison into the civic bloodstreams of at least three English-speaking nations – Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – with effects so malign that they are difficult to believe. Maybe, as this Guardian commentary suggests, a Nevada court decision will make Murdoch's most right-wing child – whom the vile patriarch, in an attempt to change an ironclad family trust, wanted to have total control – the odd man out. Even the possibility that two of the three billionaire children would make their family's evil company more honest is worth a cheer. One more cheer if the inevitable appeals fail, and a third cheer if the more honorable siblings do the right thing. We won't know for a while, but we can hope.
And then Joe’s phone rang, at 6:00 A.M., and he said, “Hello, hello?” until he worked out that the noises in the background were a wheelchair and someone setting up a laptop to record a video straight to camera. The voice was wheezy but strong with emotion...“If you work for a health insurance company, or their lobbyists, or a senator or congressman who votes against health care for everyone, I want you to be afraid. Scared to leave home. Too scared to sleep. I want you lying awake at night, feeling a rush of fear every time you hear a creak. I want you to have a concealed carry permit, a shotgun by the bed, and still find yourself wondering every morning whether today’s going to be the day."
Radicalized is a novella, one of four in the book of the same name by Cory Doctorow (a longtime friend). The story anticipated, with startling clarity, what happened in America last week when a gunman, apparently for social-political reasons, killed the CEO of a huge and notorious health insurance company. The story, published today in the American Prospect – a publication that has done some of the best reporting on our scandalous health care system – is excellent as fiction. I strongly urge you to read it. The story proved prophetic and, if there is even a tiny bit of reflection going on in the halls of Congress and state legislatures, its real-life sequel will be marked someday as crossing a Rubicon. In a few years, the U.S. will have one of two systems: a) a largely for-profit cartel that takes our money and leaves several million people bankrupt, maimed, dead or some combination of the three; or b) a rational, single-payer system. I fear that the oligarchs will decide on the first, with the attendant (further) clampdown on civil liberties and other basic rights. I fear we are nearing a breaking point that could be very, very bloody.
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
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James K. Galbraith
Josh Marshall
Edward Helmore
Cory Doctorow
