Ken Klippenstein and Jon Schwarz, Staff Writer - The Intercept
Stephan: America is not a capitalist nation, it is a vampire capitalist nation, and there is an important difference. Norway is a capitalist country but within the context of making wellbeing the first priority of government. From the Reagan era onwards the goal of the Republican Party has been to foster vampire capitalism, and the results of that strategy is what we are now living with.
A Bank of America executive stated that “we hope” working Americans will lose leverage in the labor market in a recent private memo obtained by The Intercept. Making predictions for clients about the U.S. economy over the next several years, the memo also noted that changes in the percentage of Americans seeking jobs “should help push up the unemployment rate.”
The memo, a “Mid-year review” from June 17, was written by Ethan Harris, the head of global economics research for the corporation’s investment banking arm, Bank of America Securities. Its specific aspiration: “By the end of next year, we hope the ratio of job openings to unemployed is down to the more normal highs of the last business cycle.”
The memo comes amid a push by the Federal Reserve to “cool down” the economy, informed by much of the same rationale — that high wages are driving inflation. This year, the Fed has increased interest rates for the first time since 2018. Historically, this has often caused recessions, and that is exactly what appears to be happening now: The Commerce Department […]
Stephan: American drug prices are a prominent manifestation of Vampire Capitalism and the corruption of Congress. They are so high that when you go to other countries and have to fill a prescription you are stunned by the price difference, particularly for drugs essential to someone's wellbeing like insulin. This is what having profit as your one social priority produces. America has 20.2 million millionaires and 750 billionaires. Within this group a subset of White supremacy christofascists is struggling to reshape America. The only thing that can stop them is Americans. That's right, you and me. Happily, there are members of Congress all Democrats it is worth noting, except for a few Republicans like Kinzinger and Cheney, who do understand that policies that foster wellbeing produce superior results. If you do not vote for people like them, should that option be yours to make, you are guaranteeing further degradation of the quality of life.
“This is the biggest prescription drug bill that will pass in 20 years,” said Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government for AARP. “Nobody wants to pay more money for drugs. It’s an amazing feat of mental gymnastics to go up on TV and argue that it’s wrong to lower seniors’ drug costs. So we are up on the air setting the record straight.”
Special interest groups are hammering the airwaves in states like West Virginia, Nevada, Georgia, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia as the Senate closes in on passing legislation that would allow Medicare to demand lower prices for prescription drugs and cut into the profits of pharmaceutical companies.
The ads have become so ubiquitous in Nevada that Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is in a tough fight for reelection, hit the Senate floor this week to defend her record and blast the organization airing them as “a dark money group” that accused her of supporting a bill that would lead to billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare.
Stephan: I have been waiting for this to happen and predicted it would. Because the murder weapon industry controls the Republicans in Congress, and their MAGAt base thinks guns are good, we are seeing a growing number of people arming themselves, including communities that previously scorned and avoided becoming involved with weapons. The result: America is becoming an increasingly dangerous country in which to. live, and we are going to see more gun murders, suicides, and injuries.
WELCOME, MARYLAND — A 16th week had passed with no arrest in the murder of Patrice Parker’s son, another week in which she had struggled through grief for him and fear for herself and her surviving daughters.
It wasn’t just that the person who had turned a gun on 24-year-old Markelle Morrow was still at large, but that so many other armed criminalswere as well.
Shootings were ravaging the nation’s capital, on track for its highest number of homicides in two decades. In Prince George’s County, where Parker lives, carjackings had more than quadrupled since 2019.
But there was a place where she felt safe, and that was here, at a remote property amid thick woods an hour’s drive south of her home in District Heights, Md. And there was no time the 52-year-old felt safer than when holding a weapon like the one her friend Mark “Choppa” Manley now handed her: a 9mm pistol similar to those that regularly ring out in neighborhoods experiencing the worst of the region’s bloody summer.
Stephan: I consider this report to be good news. Christofascism has destroyed Christianity and produced this response in the young. Gender equality, racial equality, a fact-based (science) view, acceptance of any variety of sexual or romantic interactions are the emerging trends. You can see it coming in movies, series, 60-second video advertisements, sports. Aging White nationalists are exiting the stage whether they realize it or not. I am more optimistic about the November election than I was. The christofascist Supreme Court decisions, the bills the Republicans block in Congress, are all awakening a commitment to vote in many quarters.
There can be no doubt about it: Religion, especially Christianity — while still powerful in American culture — is in decline. Fewer than half of Americans even belong to a church or other house of worship. Rates of church attendance are in a freefall, as younger Americans would rather do anything with their precious free time than go to church. As religion researcher Ryan Burge recently tweeted, “Among those born in the early 1930s, 60% attend church weekly. 17% never attend. Among those born in the early 1950s, 32% attend weekly. 29% never attend. Among those born in the early 1990s, 18% attend weekly. 42% never attend.”
In response to Americans losing interest in faith, Republicans are in a full-blown panic, lashing out and accusing everyone else — liberals, schools, immigrants, pop culture, you name it — for this shift in religious sentiment. Worse, more are advocating the use of force to counter this decline. If people don’t want religion, well, too bad. More Republicans are arguing that Christianity should not […]
The House on Friday passed a bill to ban assault weapons, securing a significant victory for Democrats following a spate of mass shootings across the country and marking the first time lawmakers have approved a prohibition on the popular firearms in more than two decades.
The legislation, titled the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, cleared the chamber in a 217-213 vote.
Republican Reps. Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) supported the measure, while Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Kurt Schrader (Ore.) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.) voted “no.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Friday morning that the House would take up the legislation that afternoon, scheduling the last-minute vote days after she said the chamber would punt consideration of the legislation to next month.
Democrats had planned to move the assault weapons ban with community safety legislation under one rule, but ultimately decided to consider them separately after some
liberals voiced concerns about a lack of accountability in the police measures.
The assault weapons ban legislation, led by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and co-sponsored by 207 […]
