The Difference Between a Progressive and a Liberal

February 5, 2016

This posting was originally made on Oct 22, 2014. I believe both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders meet the Teddy Roosevelt definition of a progressive. The difference between them is that Senator Sanders favors greater change at a rapid pace that he calls a “revolution.” Mrs. Clinton wants those changes at a slower pace that she calls “evolution.”

Watching The Roosevelts on PBS has helped me to identify my political and economic position. I am a Progressive as was Teddy Roosevelt.

Progressives want laws that improve society.
Progressives emphasize doing the most for the most – which is how we got socio-economic programs such as Sherman Anti-trust Act, Social Security, Medicare, Obama Care, the 40 hour work week, and a minimum wage.
Progressives want businesses to thrive but do not want monopolies or near monopolies.
Progressives pursue issues; liberals support candidates; so do conservatives.
Progressives have new ideas.

David Sirota, Newspaper columnist and radio host in 1969, wrote this on the Huffington Post:

To put it in more concrete terms – a liberal solution to some of our current problems with high energy costs would be to increase funding for programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). A more “progressive” solution would be to increase LIHEAP but also crack down on price gouging and pass laws better-regulating the oil industry’s profiteering and market manipulation tactics. A liberal policy towards prescription drugs is one that would throw a lot of taxpayer cash at the pharmaceutical industry to get them to provide medicine to the poor; A progressive prescription drug policy would be one that centered around price regulations and bulk purchasing in order to force down the actual cost of medicine in America (much of which was originally developed with taxpayer R&D money).

Conservatives stand for no change. They want to maintain the status quo. They would turn the clock back if they could. That is the way of the religious members of society. The orthodox religious people want no changes to their practice. Look at those who oppose gay marriage and abortion. They usually hold orthodox religious views. They are part of the conservatives.

Progressives don’t simply support laws that bring about change. It’s just that progressives are willing to consider making changes that will improve life for everyone.

Hillary Clinton is the wrong candidate for President

Think words like hubris (Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance; exaggerated pride or self-confidence) and narcissist (Excessive preoccupation with or admiration of oneself) and you have my impression of Hillary Clinton.

Between her new book (Hard Choices) and her appearances on ABC, Hillary Clinton is setting the stage for her presidential campaign. Pertaining to Benghazi, What does “I take responsibility” mean? Mrs. Clinton is not the first person to use those words. Every time there is an error made by government a politician steps forward and tells us he or she is responsible. Eric Shinseki, former secretary of the VA, was responsible for VA hospital care and did resign. The lose his job was the price he paid for his incompetence. Mrs. Clinton? No price was paid. Hillary Clinton is a polarizing figure who will do more harm than good to the Democratic Party. If she is elected president, Bill and Hillary would be a distracting element to managing America’s government. I am certain that there are many other Democrats who could successfully run for president in 2016 but have been warned away by the Clinton machine.

What do you think?

I take full responsibility!

What does, “I take full responsibility” mean?

Politicians use those words when a government function does not operate as expected. Doesn’t taking responsibility mean facing a punishment?

As reported on AOL.COM General Motors CEO Mary Barra addressing employees at the automaker’s vehicle engineering center said that the company has fired 15 people associated with those failures and disciplined five others. Earlier documents had revealed that GM knew of the Chevrolet Cobalt ignition-switch problems for more than a decade, but had done nothing to fix the problem.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (aka BP Oil Spill) was one of the worst oil disasters in history. More than 200 million gallons of crude oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico for a total of 87 days. BP CEO Tony Hayward was transferred to another job but were any of those working on the oil derrick fired? The answer appears to be NO.

The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5, 2010 roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy‘s Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed. Was anyone charged with a crime?

Shoddy care in Veteran’s Administration hospitals goes back to at least 1945 when President Harry Truman accepted the resignation of VA Administrator Frank Hines after a series of news reports detailing shoddy care in VA-run hospitals, according to a 2010 history produced by the Independent Inspector General. The latest action was the Veteran’s secretary resigning. Who is responsible for the loss of life?

This is all about people in high places not being held accountable for their actions or inaction. Not in every instance but too frequently when lives are at stake.

Ship captains seem to be the rare exception. Most recently the captain of the ferry, Sewol, sinking off the coast of South Korea, the captain of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy, and the captain of the Exxon Valdez sinking off the Alaskan coast have all faced criminal charges.

Everyone who is connected with the loss of life should be held responsible. To me that means fines, penalties, and some jail time too!

Collusion – The Near Monopolies Control so Much of America’s Private Enterprises

Collusion: Synonyms are conspiracy, complicity, involvement, agreement, knowledge, consent, approval. Which of those words defines the U.S. congressional responsibility for just five major banks controlling most of this nation’s economy?

The United States government is a partner in the near monopoly of private enterprises that permeate our society. Don’t believe me? Read on.

Do you suspect there is price fixing in the price of gasoline in the United States? Here is a list of the major companies in the USA.

USA

76 Stations

BP (Arco)

Chevron

Conoco

Exxon

Mobil

Phillips 66

Shell

Texaco

In your neighborhood the prices are never more than a few cents apart.

How difficult would it be for Chevron, Mobil, Shell, and Arco (the stations in my area) to meet discretely on a golf course and agree on the pricing? The answer is it wouldn’t be too hard.

Few companies have a true monopoly in any market. More common are “virtual monopolies” or “near-monopolies” that exist due to geography or brand recognition. When consumers hear the term monopoly, the first thing that comes to mind is often price-fixing. Unfortunately they are correct. Jello Brand gelatin desert has a near monopoly. Intel processor chips had a near monopoly in PC computers. Bill Gates and his immediate inner circle earned an over the top fee for his Office programs. To this day he is still either the richest man in the world or nearly so.

During the Senate hearing on Comcast’s takeover of Time Warner Cable, Sen. Al Franken said the cable giant has over 100 lobbyists making its case. That is one lobbyist for every senator. Consumers Union says over 264,000 people have sent messages to congress asking that the merger be stopped. Comcast current share of the cable industry is estimated at 30%. Time Warner Cable current share of the cable industry is estimated at 19%.

The Kroger Co. is a major retail food market company that simply keeps growing larger and larger. The company is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the latest posting on their web site. “We are delighted to welcome Harris Teeter to the Kroger Family of Stores.” That company owns Thumb Stores; Heritage Farms Dairy; HarrisTeeter Supermarkets, Inc. That company has stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland and Delaware. With the exception of Maryland and Delaware, Kroger already has Kroger stores in those states. So whether you shop at Harris Teeter or Kroger you are shopping at the same company. Kroger ownership is widespread under a variety of names: Kroger, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, QFC, Ralphs, Food 4 Less, Smith’s, and now Harris Teeter. This is not a complete list. Kroger Co. also approached Safeway about buying part of its operations. Kroger’s share of the entire retail food sales is unknown but the company has the largest share of the U.S. market.

Ticketmaster competitors are nowhere to be found. The company seems to have a lock on all sales of tickets for concerts, live theater, and sporting events. As an Example I logged into the Hollywood Bowl/Los Angeles Phil and found the web site’s basic address is Ticketmaster.com. Their fee is 8% to 10% of the price of the tickets. The only option to avoid the fee is a visit to the box office. There is no alternate sales agent. Ticketmaster had a more or less monopolistic position in the ticketing market after the purchase of its main competitors Ticketron and Live Nation.

LensCrafters is owned by Luxottica Group S.p.A. That company is the world’s largest eyewear company, controlling over 80% of the world’s major eyewear brands. Its best known brands are Ray-Ban, Persol and Oakley. This company was featured in a 60 Minutes program. The company owns

Sunglass Hut International
LensCrafters
Pearle Vision
Pearle Opticians
Sears Optical
Target Optical
OPSM
ILORI
Bright Eyes
Budget Eyewear
Cole Vision Care
Optical Shop of Aspen
Surfeyes
Laubman & Pank
ICON
Grand Optics LLC

Eyeglasses that are either plastic or wire frames cost almost as much as a computer.

Everyone is a victim! Our elected government is a partner in this crime!

Paraprosdokians

Winston Churchill loved paraprosdokians, figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected.

1 . Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.

5. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

6. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

7. They begin the evening news with ‘Good Evening,’ then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out, I just wanted pay checks.

10. In filling out an application, where it says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put ‘DOCTOR.”

11. I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

12. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

13. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

14. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

15. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

16. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

17. There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.

18. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.

19. You’re never too old to learn something stupid.

20. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

21. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

22. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

23. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Finally:

I’m supposed to respect my elders, but now a days it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one.

Proletariat

It’s a French word meaning “The class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production means, must earn their living by selling their labor.” In Marxist theory they are the class of wage-earners, especially industrial workers, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labour.

The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report saying that the lowest earning 20% of Americans have seen their income increase by 18% since 1980. The highest earning 1% saw their earnings increase by 275% in the same period. At the same time the number of middle class families declined. Those middle class families have become even poorer.

From the CBO report:

The share of income going to higher-income households rose, while the share going to lower-income households fell.

The top fifth of the population saw a 10-percentage-point increase in their share of after-tax income.
Most of that growth went to the top 1 percent of the population.
All other groups saw their shares decline by 2 to 3 percentage points.

In other words the proletariat has increased in numbers even as the richest became even more wealthy. The reason? The outsourcing of manufacturing, along with increases in technology, has reduced labor requirements. America just does not need as many middle management workers.

The social issue is the question, how will we feed and support a society that offers declining opportunity for those who lack technical skills? Most people recognize the question but neither private enterprise nor government is prepared to discuss the issue.

Perhaps the majority, by their behavior, are saying, “Who cares? The stock market is up, my house value is up and cars are selling well. So what’s the problem?”