The economic consequences of a Republican Senate

[alp227]

From The Thom Hartmann Program on Thursday. At 3:25, Thom predicts that a Republican majority senate would fast track the Trans Pacific Partnership and slash social safety net more than it already is.

[supercats]

1. I Agree 100% With You Thom...

Minimum wage should be $22.00 an hour just to keep up with inflation. We must find a way a way that actually breaks the republicans because they are America's true villains, not ISIS or Iran or whoever...It's the republicans who are hurting and ruining America harder and faster than anyone ever could.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. And they will ravage the people that elected them.

First will be ACA then Social Security benefits,next big hit will be your 401k's will become private plans run by the Banksters. Watch the taxable amount on IRA's jacked from 28% to 60% and anyone with income over 250k get a free ride on anything over 100k. Food stamps will be abolished along with any HUD programs that help low income families. Memories are short and the public is on the oh well pill.

[JDPriestly]

3. As usual, Thom Hartmann tells it like it is.

Wonderful post. Thanks. I hope this gets lots of recommendations.

[Enthusiast]

4. Devil's advocate here. If, as Thom says, economic stimulus comes from the bottom up,

why is it that this sort of bottom up stimulus has not been the norm throughout history?

Dickensian circumstances have prevailed across the globe for most of world history. Those that have the power and the wealth have always sought to use their power and influence to keep most of the population in poverty.

Why do the wealthy powerful always seek to keep wages as low as possible? I mean, if they would be rewarded for allowing a moderate rise in wages.

Is it because the wealthy powerful fear we will find a corresponding increase in inflation? Does it stem from a fear of losing control of the working class?

I don't get it. Why would the wealthy powerful work so tirelessly against their own best interests?

Does it come down to the greed factor? Is it that simple?

[starroute]

5. It's often more about power than about greed

Oppressed peasants and downtrodden workers don't have the energy to rebel. Revolutions more often come out of rising expectations that aren't being fulfilled. They're seeded by the middle class and by the over-educated and under-employed children of the middle class.

Add to this that power and wealth made those holding them cut off, paranoid, and often sociopathic and you have the recipe for exactly what you describe. A ruling class that would rather feel secure in the possession of what it already has than improve its own prospects.

[Enthusiast]

6. Thank you. Your's is a reasonable explanation.

[tclambert]

8. It's partly a feeling that to win, someone else must lose.

It comes from wrongly thinking of the economy as a fixed amount of pie. In a fixed-pie game, to get a bigger piece of pie, others must get smaller pieces. What they repeatedly overlook is the possibility of making more pie.

That's about dollars and wealth, though. What they may care more about is power. That is more of a zero-sum game.

I think a lot of this happens at an instinctive level. Intellectual rationalizations come later. It starts with the greedy saying, "I want a bigger share." Then they come up with arguments/propaganda that sounds like it justifies their desires. It's an intellectual fallacy called post hoc reasoning, kind of the opposite of the scientific method (which goes some way toward explaining Republican hostility to science).

[Enthusiast]

9. Thank you for your well reasoned explanation.

Make more pie! I'm all for it.

[appalachiablue]

7. Thom Hartmann at his best. People need to see this, what WILL take place w/ a GOP Senate.

If more people could have accessed Thom's programs in the last 4-5 years I think this country would be a lot better off. No one so clearly explains major issues and ties together the facts with historical perspective like he does. On the deep current affairs facing us Bill Moyers also ranks tops as a journalist and communicator.
We discovered TH by accident, what a surprise stroke of good luck after canceling our terrible cable co. then picking up about 8 channels his included. The first time I saw the 'Big Picture' program, c. 2009 I couldn't believe it, how interesting and different it was. Since then following him has been the education of a lifetime.