- The Washington Post reports that the Trump cabinet will be the wealthiest ever assembled. Since Trump equates money with success, he surrounds himself with other super-rich people. The theory is that the people who have rigged the system will know how to fix the system.
Kind of like Andy Borowitz’s joke about Trump picking El Chapo to run the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“When George W. Bush assembled his first Cabinet in 2001, news reports dubbed them a team of millionaires, and government watchdogs questioned whether they were out of touch with most Americans’ problems. Combined, that group had an inflation-adjusted net worth of about $250 million — which is roughly one-tenth the wealth of Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary alone.
“Trump is putting together what will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history. His announced nominees for top positions include several multimillionaires, an heir to a family mega-fortune and two Forbes-certified billionaires, one of whose family is worth as much as industrial tycoon Andrew Mellon was when he served as treasury secretary nearly a century ago. Rumored candidates for other positions suggest Trump could add more ultra-rich appointees soon. Many of the Trump appointees were born wealthy, attended elite schools and went on to amass even larger fortunes as adults. As a group, they have much more experience funding political candidates than they do running government agencies.
“Their collective wealth in many ways defies Trump’s populist campaign promises. Their business ties, particularly to Wall Street, have drawn rebukes from Democrats. But the group also amplifies Trump’s own campaign pitch: that Washington outsiders who know how to navigate and exploit a “rigged” system are best able to fix that system for the working class.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Rigged system is not for the working class.
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And hard left apologists are wrong…it does make a diff thata
Trump won election. That Trump will help working class is a
phantasy…as always he is out for himself.
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I meant that the attacks on Hillary have led us into
a true nightmare. The idea that Clinton was just as bad as
Trump was I think destructive and self destructive. There needs to
be a united front of opposition/
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Agreed, Marek. Hillary would not have been “as bad” as Trump. Trump is giving the Religious Right control of domestic agencies.
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dianeravitch
Hillary won the popular vote because 99% of us “Coastal Elite ” left wing radical purists held our noses and voted for her . By the time the counting is done, she will have closer to 3 million than 2 million votes .
She lost states that should have been a hands down Democratic wins.
She did not lose them because Jill Stein got 1% of the vote . She did not lose them because all these working class whites crossed over and voted for Trump . Far more right wingers voted for Johnson than Left Wingers voted for Stein .By a factor of seven.
She lost these States because She/Obama failed to give a good reason for voters to come to the polls and vote for her.
In Michigan perhaps it was voters in Flint who watched the President drink a cup of water rather than fix a pipe. Perhaps he will now retire to Flint with Michelle and the Girls and make pretty speeches. .
In Detroit it was public workers or Teamsters who lost their pensions ,cut to the bone after a lifetime of hard work. Who just sat home .
In Wisconsin perhaps it was more than a few teachers who saw their livelihood gutted by Walker and than saw POTUS sit on his ass for 8 years rather than put on a pair of comfy shoes and use the bully pulpit on the picket line . Again he does make nice speeches.
In Pensyltucky perhaps it was a school teacher in Philadelphia who stayed home because his Public School was closed. Or was it a black lives matters activist who finally concluded that if Black live don’t matter to a Black President’s Justice department. It ain’t gonna matter with the White Women. . Ah some more pretty speeches.
As we sit here today there is more fake news. Fake news out of the mainstream media who is normalizing “Donald little hands”. Does his agenda really upset those who own our mainstream media or are they all secrete Trumpsters. Who like Wall Street were salivating at the opportunity to gut the American people further. As I said to you the night of the election, Wall street was salivating at the thought of Tax cuts and Corporate give always on steroids. Your 401 k is doing just fine. Jeff Bezos is salivating as well. His fake news outfit is the Washington Post.
Yesterday the House passed a big Pharma bill, with only 28 nay votes . The little mainstream reporting I heard on the bill, was how it had overwhelming by partisan support ,none of the details . Of course I had to go to a media source that the Washington Post did a hatchet job on, in an un-sourced story on fake news. In collaboration with a right wing clandestine group of unnamed people who in a McCarthy like assault black listed almost every progressive independent journalist publication. The same outlets that give the only balance against the corporate owned media in the education wars .
So here is a Bill that the Consumers Union, the Afl-CIO , a dozen other Progressive organizations from Public Citizen, to Doctors for America ,to the Center for American Progress …. …. objected to and not a word in the mainstream media other than broad bi partisan support.
Elisabeth Warren as usual is powerful ,unlike Dear Hillary !!!!!
Click to access 21st-Century-Cures-Act-letter.pdf
This Bill is a model for how Public Education will be gutted . How Labor will be gutted , How entitlements will be gutted . The Democrats are just as evil as the Republicans. Because dismal spineless corrupt Democrats, enable (vulgarity ) Republicans.
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Corporate giveaways (Correction )
While I do my edit .
Did I forget all about the TPP
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Trump is stuck in the social Darwinism of the nineteenth century. Throughout the late nineteenth century it was believed that the wealthy had natural superiority and were, therefore, entitled to lead. Of course, the artists of this generation rejected this assumption and often created novels and paintings that elevated the working class and showed the privileged class as spoiled, mean spirited and morally bankrupt. Here we are again! Only this time they also believe they should profit from everything public.
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Which president was it who said “a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage?” Drumpf might as well be saying, “caviar on every plate, a Mercedes in every garage.” What would Marx say about that (Karl, not Groucho). Is Capitalism our common foe?
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Which president said, “the business of America is business?” In other words, allow the robber barons to rape the country unrestrained by any of those pesky regulations or unions. The GOP caused Great Depression was not far behind. Crony predatory capitalism is our foe.
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Was it Barack who put on has Tux every year and walked across the Street to the Business RoundTable. Went to ask them what lamb they wanted for dinner in the next year. Last year they were serving Public Schools , the Year before industrial workers in the mid west…. …
The difference is pace at which the lambs are led to slaughter . Not that they don’t end up hanging from a meat hook.
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his
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Betsy DeVos, Education: Trump‘s pick for secretary of education, who wants to use taxpayer money to send kids to private school, hails from Michigan and from a family, through her marriage to Richard DeVos Jr., that’s worth $5.1 billion.
Harold Hamm, Energy: Hamm ranked as the 63rd-richest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of about $14.6 billion. Trump’s rumored pick for secretary of energy, is an oil-and-gas businessman.
Wilbur Ross, Commerce: Worth an estimated $2.9 billion. Called the “King of Bankruptcy”, after spending 24 years at Wall Street’s Rothschild Inc. as a bankruptcy specialist, Ross founded International Steel Group in 2002. ISG purchased LTV Steel (2002), and Acme Steel (2002) during bankruptcy. With the full collaboration of the United Steelworkers union (USW), Ross offloaded nearly $2 billion in pension obligations for 80,000 retirees and workers onto the government-run pension rescue fund, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Ross then purchased Bethlehem Steel (2003), Weirton Steel (2004), and Georgetown Steel (2004), imposing similar cuts. All told, Ross claims to have removed $15 billion in retiree pension and health obligations from the books of ISG. $6.4 billion of these obligations were transferred to the PBGC, which is now projected to be insolvent by 2025.
In addition to attacks on union workers, ISG cut $680 million in medical and life insurance benefits for 28,000 Bethlehem Steel white-collar retirees and spouses. Retirees recovered only $131 per person in a lawsuit.
Todd Ricketts, Commerce: In 2015, the (Right-Wing Super PAC) Ricketts clan came in 66th on Forbes’s list of richest families in America, thanks in part to Todd’s dad, Joe Ricketts, founding TD Ameritrade. The family owns the Chicago Cubs. Pete Ricketts is Governor of NB.
Steven Mnuchin, Treasury: Following Jamie Dimon’s rejection, Mnuchin is a movie producer and a former hedge-fund manager and Goldman Sachs partner. Trump’s campaign finance chair, he likely made more than $200 millionwhen he sold lender/”foreclosure machine” OneWest.
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That’s quite a toxic team he is about to unleash on our country. Get ready for the fleecing of America, Wall St. style!
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https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-treasury-secretary-pick-steven-mnuchin-is-a-lucky-man
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Joel Herman
Thank You. Excellent drilling down on some reasons for the Trump win, and the stealth bill from BigPharma blasted by Senator Warren for what is–and is not. Too bad that more Democrats do not have her savvy (or savvy staff) and gifts of nailing the frauds buried in legislation. And you are correct about the silence of the media on Congressional action…too busy chasing the latest rabbits and tweets from Trumplandia.
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The love of money is the root …
When money is more important than people?
Maybe some day there will be a big pile of money and no people.
Think that is unrealistic.
Wait until climate change really hits.
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Simply put: Donald J. Trump is a thief.
All you need to prove it is to know that from back in the 1980s the New Jersey Casino Control Commission has posted cash flow, assets, and details of debts for casinos in Atlantic City. Details follow from a three week Occupy analysis. Total scam over three cycles of bankruptcy fraud went to near $4-billion. There is also tax fraud in there.
Trump = Nixon + Madoff.
Here:
— http://bit.ly/2hWvs3x
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