Robert Reich on Thanking President Biden

We thank you, Joe, by Robert Reich

Friends,

Tonight’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be an opportunity for the Democratic Party and the nation to take stock of Joe Biden’s term of office and thank him for his service.

He still has five months to go as president, of course, but the baton has been passed.

Biden’s singular achievement has been to change the economic paradigm that reigned since Reagan and return to one that dominated public life between 1933 and 1980 — and is far superior to the one that has prevailed since.

Biden’s democratic capitalism is neither socialism nor “big government.” It is, rather, a return to an era when government organized the market for the greater good.

The Great Crash of 1929 followed by the Great Depression taught the nation a crucial lesson that we forgot after Reagan’s presidency: markets are human creations. The economy that collapsed in 1929 was the consequence of allowing nearly unlimited borrowing, encouraging people to gamble on Wall Street, and permitting the Street to take huge risks with other people’s money.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration reversed this. They stopped the looting of America. They also gave Americans a modicum of economic security. During World War II, they put almost every American to work.

Subsequent Democratic and Republican administrations enlarged and extended democratic capitalism. Wall Street was regulated, as were television networks, airlines, railroads, and other common carriers. CEO pay was modest. Taxes on the highest earners financed public investments in infrastructure (such as the national highway system) and higher education.

America’s postwar industrial policy spurred innovation. The Department of Defense and its Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration developed satellite communications, container ships, and the internet. The National Institutes of Health did trailblazing basic research in biochemistry, DNA, and infectious diseases.

Public spending rose during economic downturns to encourage hiring. Antitrust enforcers broke up AT&T and other monopolies. Small businesses were protected from giant chain stores. Labor unions thrived. By the 1960s, a third of all private-sector workers were unionized. Large corporations sought to be responsive to all their stakeholders.

But then America took a giant U-turn. The OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s brought double-digit inflation followed by Fed Chair Paul Volcker’s effort to “break the back” of it by raising interest rates so high that the economy fell into deep recession.

All of which prepared the ground for Reagan’s war on democratic capitalism. From 1981 onward, a new bipartisan orthodoxy emerged that markets functioned well only if the government got out of the way.

The goal of economic policy thereby shifted from the common good to economic growth, even though Americans already well-off gained most from that growth. And the means shifted from public oversight of the market to deregulation, free trade, privatization, “trickle-down” tax cuts, and deficit reduction — all of which helped the monied interests make even more money.

The economy grew for the next 40 years, but median wages stagnated, and inequalities of income and wealth surged. In sum, after Reagan’s presidency, democratic capitalism — organized to serve public purposes — all but disappeared. It was replaced by corporate capitalism, organized to serve the monied interests.

Joe Biden revived democratic capitalism. He learned from the Obama administration’s mistake of spending too little to pull the economy out of the Great Recession that the pandemic required substantially greater spending, which would also give working families a cushion against adversity. So he pushed for and got the giant $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

This was followed by a $550 billion initiative to rebuild the nation’s bridges, roads, public transit, broadband, water, and energy systems. He championed the biggest investment in clean energy sources in American history — expanding wind and solar power, electric vehicles, carbon capture and sequestration, and hydrogen and small nuclear reactors. He then led the largest public investment ever made in semiconductors, the building blocks of the next economy. Notably, these initiatives were targeted to companies that employ American workers.

Biden also embarked on altering the balance of power between capital and labor, as had FDR. Biden put trustbusters at the head of the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. And he remade the National Labor Relations Board into a strong advocate for labor unions.

Unlike his Democratic predecessors Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Biden did not reduce all trade barriers. He targeted them to industries that were crucial to America’s future — semiconductors, electric batteries, electric vehicles. Unlike Trump, Biden did not give a huge tax cut to corporations and the wealthy.

It’s also worth noting that, in contrast with every president since Reagan, Biden did not fill his White House with former Wall Street executives. Not one of his economic advisers — not even his treasury secretary — is from the Street.

The one large blot on Biden’s record is Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden should have been tougher on him — refusing to provide him offensive weapons unless Netanyahu stopped his massacre in Gaza. Yes, I know: Hamas began the bloodbath. But that is no excuse for Netanyahu’s disproportionate response, which has made Israel a pariah and endangered its future. Nor an excuse for our complicity.

***

One more thing needs to be said in praise of Joe Biden. He did something Donald Trump could never do: He put his country over ego, ambition, and pride. He bowed out with grace and dignity. He gave us Kamala Harris.

Presidents don’t want to bow out. Both Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson had to be shoved out of office. Biden was not forced out. He did nothing wrong. His problem is that he was old and losing some of the capacities that dwindle with old age.

Even among people who are not president, old age inevitably triggers denial. How many elderly people do you know who accept that they can’t do the things they used to do or think they should be able to do? How many willingly give up the keys to their car? It’s not surprising he resisted.

Yet Biden cares about America and was aware of the damage a second Trump administration could do to this nation, and to the world. Biden’s patriotism won out over any denial or wounded pride or false sense of infallibility or paranoia.

For this and much else, we thank you, Joe.

I suppose…

“LIVE: Joe Biden Steals Nomination Back From Kamala, Gives It To Hillary, Takes It Back Again by Rebecca Schoenkopf

“Night 1 of the DNC! Shenanigans? Read on Substack

“OK we don’t know if that’s gonna happen but tonight Joe Biden speaks at the DNC, and also Hillary Clinton, and Jason Isbell is performing, and you should watch it.”

(Video linked on the page)

Actually not that funny…

but it kinda is.

Close to Home by John McPherson for August 19, 2024

Close to Home Comic Strip for August 19, 2024

https://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2024/08/19

A quote for the day-

lifted from my SoJo email.

Voice of the day

The will to abolish is what comes forth when pessimism about the possibility for effecting justice hits rock bottom and careens back up in the form of righteous fury.
– Joshua Dubler and Vincent W. Lloyd, “Restructuring a World Without Prisons”

Mark Cuban Posts Flurry of Responses to Kamala Harris Economic Plan

Published Aug 16, 2024 at 6:59 PM EDTUpdated Aug 17, 2024 at 2:36 PM EDT

FWIW. Mark Cuban is a billionaire, and as Tengrain says, billionaires are indicative of the flaws in the US taxation system. However, Cuban doesn’t seem to have devoted himself entirely to the dark side, as many billionaires do, and this story is fairly positive about the Harris-Walz campaign.

=====

Billionaire and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban promoted Vice President Kamala Harris‘ economic policies in a flurry of social media posts Friday afternoon.

Harris introduced several proposals aimed at bringing down the cost of groceries, the housing market and other essential goods during a rally in North Carolina on Friday. The Democratic nominee’s plan includes tax cuts, a federal ban on price gouging by food producers and offering down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers who qualify. As the Associated Press (AP) reported, the policies are largely built off the Biden administration’s priorities.

“As president, I will take on the high costs that matter most to most Americans, like the cost of food,” Harris told supporters Friday. “We all know that prices went up during the pandemic when the supply chains shut down and failed. But our supply chains have improved and prices are still too high.”

Cuban, a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, shared his two cents on Harris’ proposals to X, formerly Twitter, including addressing criticism that the vice president has received for promising to go after price gouging as a way to tackle inflation. Trump has called the plans similar to “Maduro-esque price controls,” comparing the plan to the Venezuelan leader’s policies that crippled the country’s economy.

Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias wrote to X on Friday, “I’m pretty sure Harris did not in fact propose price controls on groceries—just kind of vaguely said that antitrust enforcement is good (it is good).”

Cuban responded to Yglesias’ post, “This is a fact.”

“Did you also notice that she said that the 25k credit only applies to NEW homes? Did I hear that right?” he wrote in a separate response to Yglesias.

Cuban posted another statement a few minutes later praising Harris’ plans to bring down health care and drug costs, writing, “And my favorite of course, did anyone else hear @VP say she was going to bring TRANSPARENCY to pharmacy and healthcare middlemen? The root cause of almost all that is wrong with healthcare pricing?”

According to AP’s report, Harris’ price gouging attacks include instructing the Federal Trade Commission to penalize any “big corporations” that engage in price spikes. But economists previously told Newsweek that the plan could backfire, and likely does not address the root problems of inflation.

“The idea of a political solution to an economic non-problem is flawed,” said Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics and trade at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., during an interview with Newsweek. “There’s very little evidence that corporate greed or price gouging is responsible for high grocery or housing prices.”

“Preventing price increases sounds good, but what do investors and farmers do when they can’t guarantee a return on investment or cover their costs?” Lincicome added. “They cut back on investment, leading to reduced supply and even higher prices or outright shortages.” (Note from Ali: translated, this means if we the customers deprive the owners/shareholders of their massive profits which actually are not their investments but the prices we pay, they might scoop up their marbles and go home. I’m not scared.)

Harris also attacked Trump’s economic proposals during her rally on Friday, including critiquing the GOP candidate’s calls for increased tariffs on imports.

The vice president said that Trump “wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries.”

“It will mean higher prices on just about every one of your daily needs,” Harris added, per AP’s report. “A Trump tax on gas, a Trump tax on food, a Trump tax on clothing, a Trump tax on over-the-counter medication.”

Cuban also praised Harris as a “pro-business candidate” during his string of posts to X.

Newsweek reached out to Harris’ campaign via email for comment on Friday evening.

https://www.newsweek.com/mark-cuban-posts-flurry-responses-kamala-harris-economic-plan-1940604

Uterus transplant trial ends with bundles of joy

August 18, 2024 Ellen Phiddian

https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/uterus-transplant-trial-dallas/

(This piqued my interest for a number of reasons. It also made me think of Sen. Vance, very briefly. But it is news-y.)

A US study of 20 people who received uterus transplants has found the process feasible, with 14 recipients going on to have live births.

Researchers said there were no abnormalities in the children born via transplanted uterus, but they highlight risks from surgery that affected both recipients and donors.

The study, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reports on a clinical trial run at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, USA.

Since the first successful uterus transplant in 2011, there have been about 100 transplants worldwide, from both living and deceased donors.

Recipients are generally women with “absolute uterine infertility” – that is, problems with their uterus that make them unable to have a successful pregnancy.

In the USA, there have been 48 uterus transplants since they began in 2016, with 33 of the recipients going on to have live births.

In this trial, researchers enrolled 20 people, aged between 20-36 years old, all of whom had absolute uterine infertility but at least 1 working ovary.

Participants received uterus transplants from 18 living and 2 deceased donors between 2016 and 2019.

Of the 20 participants, 6 had graft failures within a fortnight and lost the transplanted organ.

“During the study period, the technical success of graft survival improved with time and experience,” write the researchers in their paper.

All 14 of the successful transplant recipients went on to become pregnant via IVF, and give birth via caesarean.

Two of the recipients gave birth twice, resulting in 16 total live births. Some of the recipients had miscarriages, mostly early in their pregnancy, as well as having full-term pregnancies.

None of the 16 babies had congenital abnormalities, and none show any notable developmental delays to date (the oldest child the researchers have followed up with is 6). One child was diagnosed with autism at age 2 after missing communication milestones, and the researchers note his younger sister shows no signs of developmental delays.

Transplanted uteruses are typically removed again after 1 or 2 successful pregnancies, and this is the case with these 14 recipients. At the moment, 13 have had hysterectomies, while 1 still has the transplanted uterus in place for a second pregnancy.

Some of the surgeries in the trial – transplant donation, transplant reception, caesarean section, and graft hysterectomy – had complications.

Four of the living uterus donors had grade 3 complications – that is, they required surgery to fix – but none of them had experienced any long-term illness when they were followed up roughly 4 years later.

None of the successful graft recipients had severe complications from their transplant surgery, and while graft loss is a grade 3 complication, none of the 6 unsuccessful recipients had experienced long-term effects when they were followed up.

The researchers also point out that all recipients needed immunosuppression treatment to accept the donated organs, and the “long-term impact of immunosuppression in these otherwise healthy women remains unknown”.

In their paper, the researchers conclude that uterus transplants are technically feasible, but the surgeries involved carry risks for donors and recipients.

“The live birth success rate in this study suggests that a successfully transplanted uterus is capable of functioning at least on par with a native, in situ uterus,” they write.

But they also point out that the “currently prohibitive cost of uterus transplant” makes it difficult to tell how generalisable their results are.

Reading some news 8 19 2020

The volume is low. I have tried everything I know to boost it, sorry. I want to do one or more a day of these, and try to tighten them up to be shorter. Thanks for all the suggestions. I learn for what you tell me. By the way the cat came in right after I started recording again, Ron says I woke him and he was sleeping under the car. Best wishes and hugs. Scottie

Scientists saved crocs from cane toads by making them sick

August 17, 2024 Imma Perfetto

https://cosmosmagazine.com/australia/scientists-saved-crocs-from-cane-toads-by-making-them-sick/

(I know cane toads are an abhorrent, invasive species, being moved [by humans!] from their original place on the planet to another place, to try to control another species. However, there is a YA novel about cane toads that ended up being a “banned book” one year. The then-kid was really into banned books, so we bought it, and it was a bit of a tear-jerker and I have a tiny soft spot for them, since it wasn’t their faults they got transplanted; they were only doing the best they could. Anyway, here’s this.)

Scientists have successfully saved freshwater crocodiles from toxic cane toads invading northern Australia with an unusual new tactic – doctored cane toad carcases.

By teaching freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) to associate cane toads (Rhinella marina) with a bout of food poisoning, they reduced death rates by at least 95%.

Across the dry season (May to October) between 2019 and 2022, Macquarie University scientists worked on the project with Bunuba Indigenous rangers and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) in Western Australia.

They collected cane toads, removed the poisonous parts, and injected the bodies with a nausea-inducing chemical that caused the crocs eating them to feel temporarily sick.

A black and white photograph of a crocodile sticking its head out of the water. It is about to eat a piece of meat hanging from a stick next to the shoreline — Freshwater crocodile taking doctored cane toad bait. Credit: Georgia Ward-Fear

It’s a behavioural ecology method known as conditioned taste aversion, and it worked remarkably well.

“The first three days we noticed the crocodiles were taking the cane toads, then they would go away,” says Bunuba ranger coordinator Paul Bin Busu, whose team set up hundreds of bait stations across 4 large gorge systems in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia.

The doctored cane toads were deployed alongside chicken meat control baits to monitor the effectiveness of the training.

“Then we noticed they would smell the cane toad before eating, and on the last day we noticed that it was mostly the chicken necks getting eaten,” says Bin Busu.

The team used nocturnal ‘spotlighting’ surveys and remotely triggered wildlife cameras to monitor crocodile and toad numbers following the intervention.

“Our baiting completely prevented deaths in areas where cane toads were arriving and decreased deaths by 95% in areas where toads had been for a couple of years,” says Macquarie’s Dr Georgia Ward-Fear, who is lead author of the report detailing the findings in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Ward-Fear says these effects continued in the years following.

Some populations of freshwater crocodiles in tropical Australia have fallen by more than 70% due to ingesting cane toads.

“Freshwater crocs can be heavily impacted as their river systems dry out during the late dry season,” says Ward-Fear.

“They end up congregating in large numbers with very little food, and as toads begin to use these waterbodies for rehydration, the two come into contact and we see large numbers of crocodile deaths over a few months.”

Now, conditioned taste aversion interventions can be planned both ahead of and behind the cane toad invasion front in areas with similar ecology.

Let’s talk about Walz’s time in Afghanistan….

Jess Piper went to a Harris-Walz rally in Omaha-here’s the scoop on the ground:

Chili, Cinnamon Rolls, and a Tim Walz Rally

Ope! A Midwestern Meetup.

Jess Piper Aug 18, 2024

You will be bombarded with folks reporting from the DNC in Chicago in the next few days, so I wanted to tell you about a rally in the heartland first. A rally that included so many rural and small town people. The Walz rally in Omaha. A midwestern meetup that made my day and gave me the hope that will sustain me until the election.

I was raised in the South…in Arkansas. It’s funny because the folks in the deep South always called into question the southerness of Razorback country. Now that I’ve been in Missouri for almost two decades, I notice that people struggle to define Missouri as a midwestern state or a southern state. That is likely owing to our past history with enslavement.

Missouri has an identity crisis. The southern half of the state seems to belong to the south…the northern part, where I live, is most definitely Midwestern. My neighbors use Jell-o and sugar and mayonnaise in so many recipes. That’s a dead giveaway.

Like Northwest Missouri, Nebraska is quintessential Midwestern. And so is Governor Tim Walz.

I had no trouble understanding the idioms and language of Tim Walz at the rally I attended in Omaha on Saturday. Friends, the rally felt like a big potluck. It was familiar and friendly and folksy and all the small-town adjectives.

It was just the feeling I need to get through the next 70-some-odd days…

The Astro Amphitheater in Omaha at capacity for the Walz rally.

I had a friend send over an email with the Walz rally information a few days ago, so I applied for a ticket and I made the list. I was told they ran out of tickets within 18 hours. And, you can see why…Tim Walz is from Nebraska and his home state was more than happy to invite him back.

The amphitheater had a chyron that said, ‘Welcome Back, Coach!”

I know Omaha fairly well as it is less than a two-hour drive and my family really enjoys visiting Old Market and downtown. I left my house around 7:30, but I didn’t get to Omaha until almost 10 because I stopped for gas, coffee, and some breakfast pizza at Casey’s. I had on my “Dirt Road Democrat” t-shirt which can garner some looks in small towns, but the lady at the Casey’s counter read my shirt and smiled. No comment necessary.

I drove to the amphitheater and found parking and then started the walk to the event space. I ran into a few folks who said, “Wait? Are you Piper for Missouri?” I kept thinking that I wish my kids were with me so they would know that I do more than Tik Toks for a living. This isn’t much of a flex…there aren’t many outspoken rural progressives so I kind of stick out.

As I stood in line, I talked to so many who had stories of the fear that red legislatures can instill and that the fear has simmered for years. The anxiety that comes from living like that is remarkable, but so is a new-found feeling of hope.

Hope in the man they were waiting to see. Governor Tim Walz.

The doors were to open at 11am, so I would be waiting for a while in the long line that was beginning to go all the way back to the field I had parked in.

While waiting in line, I was able to talk to a Nebraska librarian. She worked with others to gather signatures to keep vouchers out of the state and she spoke at length about the books legislators planned to ban — the pervasive feeling of fear when thinking about shelving books in Nebraska public schools. And then she beamed when talking about the feeling of hope that the Harris/Walz ticket brought.

I was able to meet a woman who was with her Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense group. I told her I was a member in Missouri and even started a rural group in which many of the members are gun owners. She said it was hard to keep folks interested in the cause and I know that first-hand, but the fact that Tim Walz is a sensible gun-owner who has a F-rating from the NRA, and stands proudly with those of us who just want to pass common sense gun laws, is a huge help. Common sense includes safe-storage and universal background checks. These are things that most gun owners agree with.

I talked to teachers and hospital administrators and union members and nurses and stay-at-home moms. There were t-shirts representing so many viewpoints. There were ally shirts and rural shirts and public education shirts and pro-choice shirts and Walz shirts.

There were smiles in line. There was no hate. There was no fear. There was hope.

I made it through security and my way inside the theater. The place was filling up quickly. I found a seat and the woman next to me told me she followed me on Twitter and lived outside Mount Ayr, Iowa. I drive through there all the time and even met with a group of about 30 Democrats there last year. She said she had to work or she would have come. She had on an “I’m Speaking” t-shirt. She’s rural. She’s an Iowan — you know the folks who are all supposed to be Trump voters?

I bumped into a friend working with the NE Dems who told me I could stand on the stage behind Walz. Yay! So, I got up and walked by lots of people with guns to the backstage where I could be one of the folks holding the sign, doing the smiling, and getting excited about everything a politician says. Well, I didn’t have to pretend to be enthusiastic. When Tim Walz came onstage with his wife, Gwen, and a former student, it was electric.

Governor Walz talked about rural spaces. He spoke about small towns and small schools. He introduced us to a few of his former high school classmates. He graduated with 24 people.

Walz told a joke about JD Vance likely thinking a Runza is a Hot Pocket. If you know, you know.

Walz talked about the midwestern school delicacy of chili and a cinnamon roll. We all laughed because it is a combination that we all ate in public school cafeterias. It’s a shared experience that we can all smile about.

Walz then spoke on the hurt that we experienced during a Trump presidency that seems like it was just yesterday. He talked of the hate and the discontent that oozed out with every policy and press conference. He reminded the crowd that we don’t have to go back. Trump can slip away into irrelevance. That Nebraska can return its progressive roots and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.

He spoke on abortion rights and feeding kids and health care and union wages and folks who have been left behind. Omaha could not get enough of his passion and good sense. He could barely speak at times because the theater was literally pulsing with cheers and applause.

He then spoke on something that I think about daily — public schools. As soon as he mentioned how important our educational system is to our country, the crowd erupted into a chant…

Teachers! Teachers! Teachers!

The place exploded and this is where I have to tell you that I nearly cried.

I was a teacher for 16 years and the last few were rough. I miss the kids, but the fact that everything became “political” was too much. Everything I taught could be deemed political…I taught a protest lit unit that was Board Approved and in my literature book, but I felt under the gun with each lesson.

The fact that this theater was filled with Nebraskans and Missourians and Iowans all chanting for public schools and teachers was heart-warming. I am called a “groomer” or a “pedophile” on social media at least a dozen times every day for opposing book bans and for my years in the classroom. The fact that there was so much love for teachers was uplifting. I am positive the current teachers in the theater left feeling they could start this year with something that has been missing in red states…hope.

My aim with telling you about this rally is to help you understand what is happening in small towns and rural parts of the country right now. Omaha is not a rural space, but most of the immediate surrounding areas are. I drove through two hours of cornfields to arrive at the event and so did so many others.

I wrote in another post that the vibes have changed since Joe passed the torch…it remains true and even more so.

I’ll leave you with this: I passed a homemade sign in Ringgold County, Iowa the other day. The entire county has less than 5,000 residents. The sign was planted in the yard of an old farmhouse next to a cornfield. They put duct tape over “Biden” and had written “Kamala” in Sharpie on an old Biden/Harris sign. I travel this route monthly, and have for years, and I never saw the original sign in the yard. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have it out in 2020.

That means something, friend. It’s enthusiasm. It’s hope. It’s rural and small town folks coming around. LFG.

~Jess