Hartmann Report

Yes, prior to the Reagan Revolution American companies actually invested in their workers, their communities, and their business. They attended to the needs of their customers, by in large... A Boeing 737-Max9 lost a side door during flight, and commentators in the industry point out the plane manufacturer used to be run by engineers, but now, at the insistence of Wall Street, is run by bean-counters looking out for profits. One of my kids bought a new American-made car last year. While driving on the highway it died, complete with smoke coming out from under the hood; she barely made it to the shoulder where a tow truck could pick her up. The dealer held the car for months before she hired a lawyer who — after more months — finally forced them to take back the car and give her a partial refund under Oregon's lemon law: at every turn, she was stonewalled by both the manufacturer and their dealer here. Apparently this has happened to a lot of Americans.

The war for the heart and soul of America, funded by libertarian billionaires, has moved into the press, the internet, and our political arena. In that struggle, it’s more accurate to portray libertarians as “feudalists” than as advocates of anything new. Feudalism doesn’t exclusively refer to a point in time or history when streets were filled with mud and people lived as peasants. More broadly, it refers to an economic and political system, just like democracy or communism or socialism or theocracy. The biggest difference is that instead of power being held by the people, the government, or the church, those who own property and the other necessities of life hold power. At its essential core, feudalism could be defined as “government of, by, and for the rich.”

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Rogue State Texas? Will Biden take over the National Guard in Texas? And what happens if he does? — New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that during the past 18 months, since 14 states have totally outlawed abortion, there were an estimated 65,565 pregnancies in those states as a result of 519,981 rapes. — Speaking of rape, Donald Trump now has to pay E. Jean Carroll an additional $83+ million for having raped and then defamed her. — Hunter in a Farmer’s World Alert! Hunters Meet the Self-Help Movement: On Being a Professional Victim of ADHD. — Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey ordered a man tortured to death with nitrogen gas. — New rules for journalists? — Crazy Alert! A male Wisconsin legislator who’s a “cow doctor” says he knows “more about abortion” than women because he’s done ultrasounds on pregnant cows: he’s now pushing a bill to outlaw the procedure after 14 weeks. — EU threatens to silence Hungary if Orbán continues to block Ukrainian aid. — Biden is killing what may well be the largest fossil fuel project in the world.

There’s a long tradition of Republicans running for president committing treason, or at least criminal manipulation of international affairs, to advantage themselves & hurt Democratic presidents... Once again, America and the world are watching with horror as a Republican candidate for president — just to win an election — manipulates world affairs in a way that will cause widespread death and destruction while damaging the interests and reputation of America. There’s a long tradition of Republicans running for president committing what can best called treason, or at least criminal manipulation of international affairs, to advantage themselves and hurt incumbent Democratic presidents.

Can you build bridges to Trump cultists that may, over time and with work and love, help you pry them loose from the authoritarian leader or movement to which they've bonded? We are living in James Madison's nightmare. A Reuters/Ipsos poll right after Trump was handed the White House by the electoral college (after losing to Hillary by 3 million votes) found that fully 16 percent of Americans had stopped talking with a family member or friend because of the poison Trump has brought into politics. When Madison wrote his first contribution to the Federalist Papers, Federalist #10, he described the greatest threat to our new republic as the growth of a powerful "faction" that might eventually seize control of government itself. They would tear the nation apart, he worried, by fostering phony differences between people and then pitting them against each other.

“Limited government” means to take power away from governments elected by and answerable to the voters and hand that power off to massive, monopolistic corporations and the morbidly rich… So, Nikki Haley — the nation’s currently most famous advocate for “limited government” — turned in a respectable showing in New Hampshire last night. What might that mean for our country?

A dystopian tale that conforms to Trump's many campaign promises... [Every incident mentioned in this article is based on an actual statement or action by Donald Trump, the people closely surrounding him, or something Trump has praised about his role model Victor Orbàn.] It was a hell of a year, 2025: the first year of the First Reich (as those formerly called Democrats referred to it) or The New America as the GOP now refers to our nation. One people, one nation, one leader: America, President-for-life Trump tells us, is now "truly great."

America fought back America’s oligarchs twice; will we succeed this third time with an actual oligarch (Trump) running for president as a neofascist populist? Neoliberalism broke the world, but the neoliberals at the height of political and corporate power don’t want to admit it and so helplessly complain about the backlash to it that they call populism. The easy solution is to end neoliberal policies and return to democracy and its associated classic American values. But how? The groupies and oligarchs at the annual Davos “Billionaire’s Woodstock” are confused and frightened. More than 50 countries around the world are facing elections this year, and rightwing populists aligning themselves with Putin and against democracy are on the rise. Particularly here in America.

When the commons are sliced and diced by private enterprise, the result is almost always a true “tragedy of the commons” (to quote ecologist Garrett Hardin): exploitation, monopoly, and price gouging. Whether in a nation’s schools, its utilities, its prisons, its public roads, or even its internet access, when these core parts of the commons are privatized and then ring-fenced by private enterprise, somebody is going to get rich, and the majority of the people will be poorer.Libertarians and their fellow travelers, however, deny that such natural monopolies even exist.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Trump is leaning hard on SCOTUS, just like he did on Mike Pence. Will members of the Supreme Court get the Pence “gallows” next? Will they cave to his threats and promises? — “Largest presidential grift in history”: House Democrats dropped the hammer on Trump and Kushner. — A new report finds half of the inflation America has experienced since the pandemic is caused by corporate price-gouging. — Billionaires ask for higher income taxes and even a wealth tax: is anyone listening? — This is what happens when rabid anti-abortion freaks take over: a woman gets 30 years in prison after her baby dies. — Why the discovery that Greenland is losing ice faster than we knew is concerning. — Crazy Alert! Oklahoma Republican submits legislation to deal with the crisis of kids using litter boxes in school. — Do multivitamins stave off dementia?