Hartmann Report

The Economy. "Some men rob you with a six-gun—others rob you with a fountain pen". —Woody Guthrie

The Best of the Rest of the News. — It's been two years since the insurrection, aided and abetted by numerous Republican members of Congress, and chaos is still the main note coming from the Republican caucus. — The hilarious meme floating around the internet about George Santos presaged the actual most recent lie he's pushing. — So much for "corporate responsibility" when it comes to political donations. — President Biden has taken serious action against illegal border crossings, even though there's not a single Republican in Congress, House or Senate, who's willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to reform our out-of-date immigration system. — When Trump took unknown millions or billions from the Saudis to bring the LIV golf tournament to the US after he left the White House, it appears he opened the door to that government getting inside information on the families of 9/11 victims. — Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold is calling on the Senate to revise their rules so more Democratic-aligned federal judges can be vetted and placed on the federal bench. — Geeky Science! Global warming is wiping out glaciers that feed some of the world's most important rivers. — Crazy Alert! Apparently dictators like to steal things.

Is this all a continuation of Trump’s January 6th coup attempt and his desire to convert America from a democracy into a despotic strongman-rule nation aligned with Russia? Amazingly, it’s the second anniversary of January 6th and we’re still talking about an ongoing attempt to sabotage the American government. Yesterday, I argued that the Freedom Caucus members and their handful of compatriots voting against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House may have been doing so because the rightwing billionaires who back them want to roll back FDR’s “big government” in America. Now comes investigative journalist Dave Troy noting that America’s rightwing billionaires aren’t the only ones who want the US government to fail. So does Vladimir Putin.

While the battle for House Speaker appears to be about personality, it’s really about ideology. It’s about the future of “big government” and the American middle class. While Kevin McCarthy’s struggle to become Speaker of the House of Representatives appears to be about personality and struggles within the House Republican caucus, it’s really about something much larger: the fate and future of American “big government” and the middle class it created. Ever since the Reagan Revolution, the phrase “big government” has been on the lips of Republican politicians. They utter it like a curse at every opportunity. It seems paradoxical: Republicans complain about “big government,” but then go on to support more and more government money for expanding prisons and a bloated Pentagon budget. Once you understand their worldview, however, it all makes perfect sense.

As of last week, Republican efforts to ban birth control in America have officially started, and teenagers in Texas are its first victims. To paraphrase Pastor Niemöller, first they came for our abortion rights. Now they’re coming for our birth control. Psychologist Dr. Marty Klein notes at Psychology Today that there are typically only a few reasons why people oppose birth control.

Somehow the “conservative” base voters never seem to figure it out. Why? When will Republican voters figure out how badly they’re getting screwed by Republican politicians?

What motivates Republicans to say they’re for the “little guy” when the only policies they'll pursue are to cut taxes for the rich, gut unions, destroy public schools & ship jobs overseas? Republicans are about to seize control of the US House of Representatives, where the Constitution says all taxation and spending must originate. And the result won’t be difficult to predict.

A book review for the New Year. On this first day of the New Year, I’m pausing the serialization of Threshold for a weekend to share with you one of the most important books in my life. I’ve treasured Markings since I first discovered it in the 1990s, and suspect it’ll become one of your favorites, too.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Trump's taxes may be the end of him. — Bernie Marcus, the Trump-humping DeSantis-supporting billionaire founder of Home Depot, wants you to know that Biden is "the worst president in history" and that "socialism" is destroying American businesses. — New research from the Fed suggests Republican Jay Powell's interest rate increases will provoke a recession this coming year. — After Trump, George Santos is the new GOP role model. — The fossil fuel industry's favorite Democrat, Joe Manchin, wants the US Treasury to "pause" tax credits and other incentives for Americans to buy electric vehicles. — Remember Senator Inhof's infamous and stupid "snowball stunt" to pathetically try to show there's no global warming? He now has competition for the idiot of the year award. — What could possibly go wrong with pouring radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean? — Crazy Alert! What do polluting cars, pornography, and small penises have to do with one another? — Geeky Science! Did Victorian-era Christian archeologists get mummification wrong?

It’s time to declare the 42-year Reagan Revolution’s neoliberal experiment a failure, and outlaw the stock manipulation that makes CEOs rich and impoverishes the rest of us. My radio/TV program and my daily Substack newsletter, Hartmann Report, together are a small business. The only way I can increase my income from that business is by increasing the advertising revenue to the show, getting more people signed up for the newsletter, or both. Build the business, in other words. Do the hard work every day. Keep my “customers” informed and thus happy: add value through research and share what I learn along the way.