#politics

See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community

"Trump said he wants to bring the federal corporate tax rate down from 21% to 20% if he were to become president, according to a person familiar with his remarks."

"The audience included JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, according to spokespeople from their companies. Apple CEO Tim Cook was also there, said two people who were in the room."

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/13/what-trump-told-ceos-in-their-private-meeting.html

Lets not bow to scare-mongering about socialism, lets celebrate its really-existing (if imperfect) form in the shape of the NHS.

I agree with Charles Osborne (letters/Observer):

'I’d like Labour politicians to pledge to apply the principles of the NHS to other state bodies. And if the Tories and the rightwing press scream that this is socialism, Labour should ask people how bad the socialism of the NHS has been for them'!

Letter: I agree with Will Hutton that the essence of socialism is fellowship, and it’s easy to show what that can mean in practice (“Socialism isn’t a dirty word. It’s simply about wanting to make a fairer society”). The NHS is essentially a system of mutual medical aid with state funding, paid for by income tax – the more you earn, the more you contribute – which means it is firmly rooted in the socialist principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”. It has been the most popular institution in the country for almost 80 years. People may complain about its performance (largely caused by Tory attempts to dismantle it), but how many of them criticise it for being socialist? I’d like Labour politicians to pledge to apply the principles of the NHS to other state bodies. And if the Tories and the rightwing press scream that this is socialism, Labour should ask people how bad the socialism of the NHS has been for them. Charles Osborne Prague, Czech Republic

It’s 2024. Elon Musk Rules X. And the Political World Is Still Addicted.

"Two years after words like Mastodon, BlueSky, Post and Threads became rallying cries and users declared war on the blue check, those who made Twitter what it was in the days before Musk have returned to using X."

"Last year, Democratic candidates spent more than a million bucks on Twitter ads, The Washington Post reported."

https://www.notus.org/media/elon-musk-x-politics-addicted-twitter

I dared to criticize Israel & American publisher dropped my book…

Here’s an update & reflections:

https://www.youtube.com/live/sCC3s6S5MWU?si=ZK8tcPscT1_Xm2_o

Remember politics is not religion,
Zionism is not Judaism,
and criticizing criminal actions of Israel is not antisemitism.

As an Arab, I am a Semite 🙏🏼

George Monbiot says...
__________________________

It is simply wrong to define neoliberalism as ‘free-market economics’. It's nothing of the kind. The ‘freedom’ that neoliberals celebrate – which sounds so beguiling when expressed in general terms – turns out to be freedom for the rich to exploit the rest.

As for ‘the market’, when used in the neoliberal context this term disguises a host of power relations. It becomes a euphemism for the power of money. When ‘the market’ decides, it means those with the money decide.

In reality, it’s about who dominates whom. Neoliberalism is a tool used by the very rich to accumulate more wealth and power.

Neoliberalism is class war.
__________________________

That's from his new book ⤵️

The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455534/the-invisible-doctrine-by-hutchison-george-monbiot-and-peter/9780241635902

Jonathan Chait is real mad that leftists aren't taking liberal shit anymore. I got the link from archive.is to avoid giving his BS any extra clicks. It's way longer than it needs to be. This paragraph caught my attention though because it's at least an attempt at clarifying what liberals see as leftism and why they're wrong (which is why they should shut the fuck up, because they have been proven so very fucking wrong, so often, and for so long):

I don’t want to bore you...

lol

by attempting the umpteenth definition of liberalism,

Funny how liberals hate defining liberalism

so I will lay out the distinction as briefly as possible. On economic questions, leftists have an overwhelming bias for state action over markets, while liberals are more selective.

This is incorrect. Leftists differ radically on how much state action over markets is needed. What unites leftists is the …