A thought about our culture of punching down. [View all]

Hello, all. I have just been thinking about getting kicked while you are down. Because I have been there. While the American people are generally good, we have a system - shareholder primacy capitalism - that nickels and dimes pretty much everyone to death.

For example, I pay for cable streaming. In August 2023, the company I use for high-speed internet, cable TV and yes, a land line (I know I'm a dinosaur), suddenly raised my monthly subscription price by 10.7%. I went into the soul-sucking black hole that is this company's 'customer care' system. After two marathon four or five hour sessions, I finally was connected with what can be called a 'churn manager,' which is a person who has just enough power to lower your price to where it is close to what you were paying - just a little higher, but hey, better than 10.7%.

This last month, I noticed they once again raised my price around $8 per month.

All about shareholder profits. That Wall Street bull be hungry!

My wife and I were watching John Oliver's show on student debt, and there was a young lady who had a loan balance of $80K to begin with. She has PAID ON THIS LOAN for ten years. Ten years, and she has paid in over $100K!

She still owes $76K. In the video, she asks, "How is this fucking possible?"

Oliver did a nice shout-out to Biden on that too, because he has acted to forgive billions in student debt. Biden's a good guy, and has been a really good president.

Anyway, I'm thinking about Trump. For years he has been the personification of zero-sum (for me to win, you must lose) capitalism. He has a long record of failing to pay people who provided goods and services to his business, and there are dozens, possibly hundreds of businesses who did work for Trump in good faith who are now bankrupt because he did not pay them.

He has also mocked individuals who have disabilities, incited violence and so on.

It is ironic how he now cannot come up with the money he needs for these settlements. Years of punching down, and now he is finding out what it is like to not have the money he needs.

My career life has been dedicated to bringing the peace of having enough to those who are victimized by economic violence. Because make no mistake. Poverty - simply not having enough is economic violence. Actual war accelerates this, as we see with the plight of Palestinian civilians, and the millions in Ukraine and Russia who have had their lives destroyed because of one monster.

But poverty is a slow burn. Grinding, perpetual economic violence. I'm talking about the people who are victims of poverty, hunger. People who do not have enough. Eleven people a minute on this planet starve to death. Millions of people in the US, including children, go hungry once in a while. Our kids are saddled with forever loans that keep them enslaved to predatory lenders. Like the young woman who still owes $76K after paying over $100K on a student loan originally in the amount of $80K. Old people like me continue to work because of HEALTH CARE DEBT.

This is economic violence. Working your ass off for $7.25 per hour, working two jobs because one won't do. Being a sick kid or flat tire away from losing your job. Being homeless because this country is so unforgiving to its poor. Kick 'em while they are down. Greed is good. That's the mantra. Privatize, deregulate and GUT government programs.

Anyway, the proverbial chickens are coming home to roose for Trump. No one will give him any money. I'm sure he 'went to Jared' who got $2 billion from the Saudis, but Jared isn't coming through. In fact he's been talking about expelling Palestinians from the beachfront in Gaza so he can profit off development.

Shareholder primacy capitalism is rotten to the core.

You wonder why the media is now reporting Trump is considering 'little Marco' as a running mate? Why they perpetuate the horse race narrative? Why they continue to tout poorly constructed polls that show Biden is supposedly 'deeply unpopular,' while it is their own failures in reporting the actual truth that has caused this hypothetical unpopularity.

Here's the thing to know:

CORPORATE OWNED MEDIA COMPANIES ARE PUBLICLY TRADED.

This means that their corporate officers, essentially everyone in managerial roles, including executive producers and directors have NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRUTH IN NEWS REPORTING.

Nope. Their ONLY fiduciary responsibility is to generate profits for shareholders. Back to my earler story about my cable company - MSNBC and NBC are owned by Comcast.

That Wall Street bull be HUNGRY, and that is why we do not get truth in news.

Punching down? Wall Street is a master at that, and we are all affected by their insatiable greed.

Oh well, rant over....