The media's misinforming the public about the GOP hostage-taking over the debt ceiling is dangerously close to disinformation and propaganda! The changes the GOP wants are only conducted within the budget process, yet they lack the votes to enact their dream list that way, so they are using the relic that is the debt ceiling to try extortion instead of democracy. They are threatening the livelihood and financial well-being of America and Americans to get their donor's wishlists enacted. Only the Democrats care about and are being motivated by America and American's well-being in this manufactured crisis, and the GOP is leveraging the Dems caring to enact concessions.

The hostage-takers don't care about the hostages, and the public ought to be aware of that! Yet the media is pulling their lame bothsidesism again and willfully misrepresenting this situation to the detriment of us and our country. This is yet another example of how most of the mainstream media is used by their wealthy owners to mislead Americans so they can achieve objectives that the rest of us don't want.

The rich have needs and goals that are not in the interests of America or average Americans. When the wealthy own media, our democracy is missing it's fourth pillar!!

The debt ceiling debacle is NOT a "partisan standoff"
"It was completely manufactured by Kevin McCarthy and his House Republicans"
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-debt-ceiling-debacle-is-not-a?publication_id=365422&post_id=123808361&isFreemail=true

#GOPHatesAvgAmericans
#TheRichOwnTheMedia
#TheRichHateAvgAmericans
#GreedKillsDemocracy

"This morning, the credit-rating agency Fitch put the nation’s AAA rating on a watch list, citing “increased political partisanship” over the debt ceiling. I just heard ABC attribute the standoff on the debt ceiling to “polarization” in Congress. NPR blames the fight on “hyper-partisanship” in American politics. Reuters blames the stalemate on lawmakers “digging in on partisan positions.”

“Partisan standoff” is the way most of the media is now characterizing the fight.

Hello?

Enough with the “both sides” reporting on the debt ceiling.

The current fight over raising the debt ceiling — and the growing possibility the United States might default on its debts — is not because of partisanship. It’s not due to political polarization. It’s not because lawmakers are “digging in” to “partisan positions.”

Republicans alone manufactured this looming disaster.

In order to become speaker, Kevin McCarthy made a deal with right-wing MAGA House Republicans to use the debt ceiling as a way to hold America hostage and force the Biden administration to come begging.

McCarthy and his band of MAGA crazies don’t give a fig about the national debt. Hell, they had no problem raising the debt ceiling three times under Trump — while providing trillions in tax cuts for the rich.

This current fight is entirely theirs.

The “both sides” reporting is misleading the public and giving a free pass to McCarthy and his extremists.

I admire Joe Biden, but he should not have allowed the media to so badly mischaracterize what’s happening. He never should have begun negotiating with McCarthy. Biden has the bully pulpit; he should have addressed the nation by now, pointing out that this fight is manufactured entirely by House Republicans.

The media’s reporting is inexcusable.

Clarence Thomas is an unethical, despicable, self-serving, resentful, mentally imbalanced and grudge-holding piece of work that is not qualified or worthy of being on the supreme court. He was only nominated to further the right's long-orchestrated attempt to use the judiciary to seize power from the democratically elected branches of government so that the GOP and their obscenely wealthy donors could get their way even if they can't via elections.

How the Clarence Thomas Scandals Explain His Right-Wing Rulings – Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/05/video-clarence-thomas-scandals-harlan-crow-billionaire-black-nationalism/

#PartisanCaptureOfJudiciary
#EndRunAroundDemocracy
#TheRichHateAvgAmericans
#GreedKillsDemocracy

"“Live through Jim Crow, so you can live off of Harlan Crow.”

That’s how MoJo’s Garrison Hayes archly summarizes the hypocrisies of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in light of recent blockbuster revelations that he accepted elite private school tuition money from the real estate mogul for his grandnephew, alongside other lavish, all-expense-paid holidays and gifts from the Texas billionaire.

“If these things are true,” Garrison observes, ironically, in his new video about the many contradictions of Thomas, “your favorite Black conservative appears to be the most exaggerated version of a welfare queen, feeding off the generosity of a wealthy white benefactor who showers him and his family with unlimited trips.”

Since discovering that Thomas once identified as a Black nationalist, Garrison has been fascinated with better understanding the events that led him to become one of the most prominent figures in right-wing politics. Garrison has spent the last few weeks diving deeply into Thomas’ on-the-record speeches, biographies, interviews, and judicial opinions. In this video, he highlights instances where Thomas has opposed programs designed to help Black communities, despite personally benefiting from similar programs. Thomas attended Yale’s law school in 1971 through an affirmative action program but later opposed a similar program in a judicial opinion. When he couldn’t find a legal job after graduation, he saw affirmative action as the reason for his difficulties, writing in his 2007 memoir, “Now I knew what a law degree from Yale was worth when it bore the taint of racial preference. I was humiliated—and desperate.”

Despite receiving extraordinary opportunities and assistance throughout his life, Justice Thomas, Garrison concludes, seems committed to subjecting other groups—particularly Black people—to a rigid “bootstrap” individualism. In other words: opportunity for me, but not for thee.

Watch Garrison’s latest video below:" Click on the link to the article to watch this very informative, interesting video...

It's like I'm beating a dead horse yet the GOP won't stop sucking up to the obscenely wealthy and doing their bidding. They both hate working Americans and want them to suffer. They can't stand social security, medicare, SNAP, student loan forgiveness, Medicare expansion or unemployment benefits. The wealthy want bailouts, regulations rolled back, zero taxes, refunds and social welfare but don't want anything to go to the rest of us. Their quest for ever more money, possessions, power and esteem has left them hollowed out internally, resentful, hateful and cruel. They have become parasites that suck the vital juices out of our economy so that there is little left for the rest of us who are the ones that are generating all the productivity and wealth that they hoover up. Inequality has left them callous, uncaring, hateful and heartless and the GOP is happy to be their lap dog for scraps.

'Republicans keep saying the quiet part out loud': Pence calls for privatizing Social Security - Alternet.org https://www.alternet.org/economy/gop-2659378942/

#GOPRTools4TheRich
#TheRichHateAvgAmericans
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack
#TheRichRParasites
#Socialism4MeAndCapitalism4Thee
#GOPHatesAvgAmericans

"Experts have forcefully rejected the notion that private savings accounts of the kind Pence endorsed—which would allow workers to divert a portion of their payroll tax contributions into private investment accounts—would be more beneficial than Social Security's guaranteed benefits, as the former vice president suggested.

"The popular argument that Social Security privatization would provide higher returns for all current and future workers is misleading, because it ignores transition costs and differences across programs in the allocation of aggregate and household risk," Olivia Mitchell, John Geanakopolos, and Stephen Zeldes—economists sympathetic to the idea of privatization—wrote in a 2000 paper.

Experts have also said private accounts would not, as Pence put it, "save the government money."

In 2005, analysts with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimated that a privatization plan put forth by former Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would "create $85.8 trillion in additional debt (equal to 93.7% of GDP) by 2050" while not boosting Social Security's long-term solvency—something Republicans claim they want to do.

"Creation of a system of private accounts would not change the amount of revenue coming into the federal government, but it would increase government spending, because the federal government would be making regular payments into the private accounts," the CBPP analysts explained. "These payments would represent new government spending. This increase in spending, unaccompanied by an increase in revenues, would widen annual deficits."

Despite the myriad drawbacks of private accounts as a partial or full-scale alternative to Social Security, Republicans have continued to promote them.

Last year, the Republican Study Committee—a panel that Pence chaired during the Bush administration—released a budget proposal that urged lawmakers to "consider legislative options that allow employers and employees to reduce their payroll tax liability and use those savings to invest in private retirement options."

Pence's remarks Thursday came as the White House and House Republicans are locked in a high-stakes standoff over the debt ceiling, which the GOP does not want to raise without also inflicting steep cuts to federal spending.

As part of their sweeping austerity push, House Republicans have suggested raising the retirement age, which would cut Social Security benefits across the board.

"Republicans keeping saying the quiet part out loud: They want to cut and privatize Social Security and take away our young people's futures," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted late Saturday. "Democrats will never let this happen.""

The GOP tries to scare Americans with their talk about socialism, like its worse than fascism, which it isn't. So many things we count on each day are socialist. Our country wouldn't work with out socialism--where would the roads be, or the firemen, or the food inspectors, or the public transit or the water, or the sewage systems or the schools or the regulations that keep companies from poisoning us or robbing us? Rich people hate socialism because they have to contribute to the society that they exploit to get rich. The average person needs social services/socialism to live. Don't buy into the GOP and their obscenely wealthy donors B.S. about socialism. They've been lying about this for decades now and their base keeps buying it!

When Republicans rant about ‘socialism,’ remember the Affordable Care Act
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/05/aca-health-insurance-coverage-republicans-socialism/

#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#GOPHatesAvgAmericans
#TheRichHateAvgAmericans
#Socialism4MeCapitalism4Thee

“All of this amounts to a historic achievement. Not only did the ACA survive multiple attempts by Republicans to repeal the law and reduce outreach, but it also managed to drive down uninsured rate to a record low of 8 percent last year. That’s in large part because of the Biden administration’s competent management of the program and extension of subsidies over united GOP opposition.

The next time Republicans rant about “socialism,” Democrats should remind them and all Americans about the Affordable Care Act. For years, Republicans denounced the law as “socialist,” yet red-state Americans have been using it at higher rates than blue-state residents. Watch red-state Americans similarly benefit from other government programs that Republican politicians whine about, such as government price controls on prescription drugs and subsidies to help transition to green energy.

Indeed, Democrats should highlight their successes where Republicans have fought against expanding access to health care. Florida, for example, has refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA, leading to its 12 percent uninsured rate.

And that’s about to get even worse: Once the federal government’s covid-19 national emergency ends, so too will pandemic-era policies designed to keep people enrolled in Medicaid continuously. So unless governors act, more people will lose Medicaid coverage. While other governors are scrambling to minimize coverage losses, Florida’s Ron DeSantis has a plan that could kick as many as 1.75 million residents off Medicaid. No wonder DeSantis wants to talk about “wokeism”; his actual record on issues people care most about is putrid.

The lesson of the ACA is clear: With competent leaders, government policies can help Americans. As Republicans vote against these measures and scream “socialism!” — all while claiming the banner of economic populism — Democrats would do well to remind the country which party actually helps ordinary people.”