Marie Gottschalk situates Trump’s rise behind the backdrop of US Empire, militarized police and Capital’s stranglehold on politics — depicting a nation not plagued by one man, but sick to the core.
Thank you as always, Professor Hedges, for the clarity. Without a clear-eyed view of the depth of the mess we're in, we won't stand a chance of dealing with it.
All true, and our system certainly does appear to be "sick to the core." A major contributing factor that ought to also be seriously paid attention to is the fact that private banks create 97% of our new money when they make loans (Bank of England, 2014). These banks, particularly the largest ones, make loans loans and investments primarily to maximize their own profit. That means loans and investments by the dominant major banks focus primarily upon whatever is most profitable to them---which just happens to be mainly through large corporations: such as for weapons, war, fossil fuels, toxic chemicals, big pharma, and private prisons. It includes a huge amount of loans to pump up real estate and stocks, which results in bubbles and recessions---1929, 2008, and many others, on the average about every six years.
The model of public banks, that is, banks owned by a government, like the Bank of North Dakota, ATB Financial in Alberta, the city-owned and non-profit Sparkassen banks in 1,500 cities in Germany, and thousands of local banks in China funded through a national public bank, provide highly successful examples of steady, rapid, and productive growth and prosperity--especially through loans to small and medium sized businesses, which create most jobs. They would provide a genuine pathway out of our collapsing system. Public banks make productive loans that create many more jobs, real GDP, and much more income to benefit the local community, state, or country.
The 107-year-old Bank of North Dakota (BND) makes loans in partnership with local community banks and credit unions. In 2008, when the economy started to decline, the BND increased lending in partnership with its local financial institutions, enough to offset the decline. This greatly helped North Dakota to be the only state that escaped recession in 2008 and after.
A second solution would be to reinstate "greenbacks,s" the term for currency directly created by the US government under president Lincoln, and possibly later under President Kennedy and called Silver Certificates. Such currency was used to directly purchase essential new goods and services. This avoids raising the national debt caused by issuing bonds and will facilitate reducing both national debt and personal debt. Countries that create their own money directly in this way have stronger economies and more stable communities.
The ability of the American colonies for about five decades to create their own money by directly printing and spending it for essential purposes such as roads and bridges, and through making loans for farms, homes, and other needed purposes was the primary reason for rising prosperity during the colonial era. Ben Franklin later wrotes that after 1764 when Great Britain took away the right of the colonies to print their own money and the right to make loans for essential purposes, widespread unemployment and poverty soon followed. Franklin wrote that this was the real cause of the Revolution, not the tax on tea or stamps.
Our 250th Anniversary is a great opportunity to learn or relearn our own history and world history and to reinstate these two core solutions. They will provide the foundation to restore and build a prosperous economy that serves everyone, strengthening democracy and the social fabric, comparable to societies throughout history that have tried these and similar solutions. Among other excellent sources on this topic, I especially recommend reading books, articles, and videos by economist Richard Werner, and books and articles by Ellen Brown. Economist Michael Hudson is another outstanding source.
I had a huge debate with a couple of people yesterday exactly about some of what was talked in this show, how Obama led to Trump, how Bernie voters turned to Trump and why. The people I was debating were the "vote blue no matter who" types and they were so outraged but couldn't counter my arguments.
I think this book pairs really well with "America - The Farewell Tour"
Our country has sustained a total moral collapse and I have proof.
Previously an able-bodied clinical social worker, a catastrophic injury during a routine medical procedure in 2016 changed my life forever. I was left permanently disabled, requiring asynchronous communication with a transcript (email, chat, text) as an ADA reasonable accommodation. But legal teams don’t like written records.
Dozens of organizations refused my accommodations which prevented access. It occurred across all virtually all domains: healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion.
I didn’t sue. Social workers do things differently. We engage with systems as agents of change, knowing that a rising tide of corrective action will lift all boats. For 10 years, I’ve spend my productive hours each day advocating for disability access. It’s my “lonely road of defiance,” as Chris Hedges so eloquently put it. The outcome is always the same: false hope, empty promises, disdain for the spirit of ADA, and ignoring correspondence. As a result, I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram. Disney sent me an email stating that their offices were “phones only.” What’s next? Telling guests in wheelchairs to manage the stairs?
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER KEY QUESTIONS need answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse: (1) WHY did neither of you mention Reagan’s 2-term destruction of the middle class? (2) WHY was Robert’s Supreme Court decision of “Citizen United” not mentioned as a critical destructive decision? and (3) WHY were Republican administrations (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER KEY QUESTIONS need answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse: (1) WHY did neither of you mention Reagan’s 2-term destruction of the middle class? (2) WHY was Robert’s Supreme Court decision of “Citizen United” not mentioned as a critical destructive decision? and (3) WHY were Republican administrations (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER a KEY QUESTION needs answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse:? Why was Republican leadership (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Back in late summer 2024, I was tracking his writings here on Suibstack and over one-year period he made 127 posts with only 5 striking at the core of the problems facing "his" U.S. working class ...
But of course, his cult of clapping seals just says "gimme more" ...
Here's Claude AI's definition of the term "black-pilled" ...
"Black-pilled" refers to a state of deep pessimism, fatalism, or nihilism about the world, society, or one's own future — the belief that things are fundamentally broken, in irreversible decline, or beyond fixing, often paired with a sense that individual or collective action is futile.
------------------
And just take a look at the photo of Hedges we all saw before clicking through to this article ...
He has the same cynical and dark facial patina we see with none other than Mark Levin ...
Hedges has not had a single word to say about SECTION 219 of the NDAA ... if it becomes law, it paves the way for Gaza 2.0 here in the U.S. ... Hedges knows it, but he ain't gonna go there ...
He did the same thing to us during the lockdowns ... he refused to stand with us against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... and exactly 30 days after the DEC 2, 2021 FDA FOIA release proved the jab was NOT safe and effective and was also killing people, Hedges said "I don't think we can end the pandemic and the mutations until EVERYONE get vaccinated" (JAN 1, 2022, KK&F podcast, Ep #54, 01-08-46 mark) ... but on MAY 6, 2022, he conveniently returned to the side of virtue by shamelessly reminding us that "the constitution remains a sacred document" ...
Once a true activist, he now pedals pessimism for clicks, as he knows damn well that his followers are not here to learn, they're just here to be entertained ...
So stop praising this man, he does not give a hoot about us ...
Hedges has never been an activist. At best he is, at times, an educator. A journalist can never be, by definition, an activist. You're either one or the other...and he knows its safer and generally more profitable to be a journalist (even over an educator). Educators who make decent money are actually functioning as indoctrinators But Hedges loves to pretend playing the role of activist while schilling his new books and those of his "guests" who are ply the American business continum as able bodied capitalists.
My beef with him is the way he brazenly flipped on us with the lockdowns ...
Like sweet-talkin' Tulsi, Hedges made a name for himself by denouncing imperialism, but then scurried back into the woodpile when things got dicey to avoid offending the Imperialists ...
I fought against militarization of police for most of my law enforcement career. I lost.
We got cops that look like storm troopers. And Trump has now a army of thugs poorly attire Nazi brown shirts.
Brilliant!
Thank you as always, Professor Hedges, for the clarity. Without a clear-eyed view of the depth of the mess we're in, we won't stand a chance of dealing with it.
All true, and our system certainly does appear to be "sick to the core." A major contributing factor that ought to also be seriously paid attention to is the fact that private banks create 97% of our new money when they make loans (Bank of England, 2014). These banks, particularly the largest ones, make loans loans and investments primarily to maximize their own profit. That means loans and investments by the dominant major banks focus primarily upon whatever is most profitable to them---which just happens to be mainly through large corporations: such as for weapons, war, fossil fuels, toxic chemicals, big pharma, and private prisons. It includes a huge amount of loans to pump up real estate and stocks, which results in bubbles and recessions---1929, 2008, and many others, on the average about every six years.
The model of public banks, that is, banks owned by a government, like the Bank of North Dakota, ATB Financial in Alberta, the city-owned and non-profit Sparkassen banks in 1,500 cities in Germany, and thousands of local banks in China funded through a national public bank, provide highly successful examples of steady, rapid, and productive growth and prosperity--especially through loans to small and medium sized businesses, which create most jobs. They would provide a genuine pathway out of our collapsing system. Public banks make productive loans that create many more jobs, real GDP, and much more income to benefit the local community, state, or country.
The 107-year-old Bank of North Dakota (BND) makes loans in partnership with local community banks and credit unions. In 2008, when the economy started to decline, the BND increased lending in partnership with its local financial institutions, enough to offset the decline. This greatly helped North Dakota to be the only state that escaped recession in 2008 and after.
A second solution would be to reinstate "greenbacks,s" the term for currency directly created by the US government under president Lincoln, and possibly later under President Kennedy and called Silver Certificates. Such currency was used to directly purchase essential new goods and services. This avoids raising the national debt caused by issuing bonds and will facilitate reducing both national debt and personal debt. Countries that create their own money directly in this way have stronger economies and more stable communities.
The ability of the American colonies for about five decades to create their own money by directly printing and spending it for essential purposes such as roads and bridges, and through making loans for farms, homes, and other needed purposes was the primary reason for rising prosperity during the colonial era. Ben Franklin later wrotes that after 1764 when Great Britain took away the right of the colonies to print their own money and the right to make loans for essential purposes, widespread unemployment and poverty soon followed. Franklin wrote that this was the real cause of the Revolution, not the tax on tea or stamps.
Our 250th Anniversary is a great opportunity to learn or relearn our own history and world history and to reinstate these two core solutions. They will provide the foundation to restore and build a prosperous economy that serves everyone, strengthening democracy and the social fabric, comparable to societies throughout history that have tried these and similar solutions. Among other excellent sources on this topic, I especially recommend reading books, articles, and videos by economist Richard Werner, and books and articles by Ellen Brown. Economist Michael Hudson is another outstanding source.
219 A bad bad deal!
AND
Vaccines, I've had every vaccine available for 86 years. Starting when I was very young.
Four (4) covid shots.
The only reaction I had was to Horse serum.
Hedges is one of a number of Substack scribblers I subscribe to
Including Sy Hersh and my favorite insane ranting socialistic Aussie.
I read at least a hours a day and haven't turned my TV on for 14 years.
Thank you, Chris, for another insightful interview.
I had a huge debate with a couple of people yesterday exactly about some of what was talked in this show, how Obama led to Trump, how Bernie voters turned to Trump and why. The people I was debating were the "vote blue no matter who" types and they were so outraged but couldn't counter my arguments.
I think this book pairs really well with "America - The Farewell Tour"
Thank you both!
Our country has sustained a total moral collapse and I have proof.
Previously an able-bodied clinical social worker, a catastrophic injury during a routine medical procedure in 2016 changed my life forever. I was left permanently disabled, requiring asynchronous communication with a transcript (email, chat, text) as an ADA reasonable accommodation. But legal teams don’t like written records.
Dozens of organizations refused my accommodations which prevented access. It occurred across all virtually all domains: healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion.
I didn’t sue. Social workers do things differently. We engage with systems as agents of change, knowing that a rising tide of corrective action will lift all boats. For 10 years, I’ve spend my productive hours each day advocating for disability access. It’s my “lonely road of defiance,” as Chris Hedges so eloquently put it. The outcome is always the same: false hope, empty promises, disdain for the spirit of ADA, and ignoring correspondence. As a result, I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram. Disney sent me an email stating that their offices were “phones only.” What’s next? Telling guests in wheelchairs to manage the stairs?
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-increasing-attacks-on-francesca
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER KEY QUESTIONS need answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse: (1) WHY did neither of you mention Reagan’s 2-term destruction of the middle class? (2) WHY was Robert’s Supreme Court decision of “Citizen United” not mentioned as a critical destructive decision? and (3) WHY were Republican administrations (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER KEY QUESTIONS need answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse: (1) WHY did neither of you mention Reagan’s 2-term destruction of the middle class? (2) WHY was Robert’s Supreme Court decision of “Citizen United” not mentioned as a critical destructive decision? and (3) WHY were Republican administrations (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Fabulous conversation with Marie Gottschalk regarding “How America ‘s Corporate Class Became Legally Unaccountable” — I am In full agreement. HOWEVER a KEY QUESTION needs answering on critical root causes seeding “5-decades” preceding current U.S. collapse:? Why was Republican leadership (Reagan, Bush, Bush) given a pass, while Democratic leadership was specifically excruciated (Clinton, Obama, Biden)?
Hedges lives in a dark hole of his own making ...
Back in late summer 2024, I was tracking his writings here on Suibstack and over one-year period he made 127 posts with only 5 striking at the core of the problems facing "his" U.S. working class ...
But of course, his cult of clapping seals just says "gimme more" ...
Another reaction from our Founding Fathers:
https://substack.com/@maryannmehegan/note/c-300589247
Here's Claude AI's definition of the term "black-pilled" ...
"Black-pilled" refers to a state of deep pessimism, fatalism, or nihilism about the world, society, or one's own future — the belief that things are fundamentally broken, in irreversible decline, or beyond fixing, often paired with a sense that individual or collective action is futile.
------------------
And just take a look at the photo of Hedges we all saw before clicking through to this article ...
He has the same cynical and dark facial patina we see with none other than Mark Levin ...
Hedges has not had a single word to say about SECTION 219 of the NDAA ... if it becomes law, it paves the way for Gaza 2.0 here in the U.S. ... Hedges knows it, but he ain't gonna go there ...
He did the same thing to us during the lockdowns ... he refused to stand with us against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... and exactly 30 days after the DEC 2, 2021 FDA FOIA release proved the jab was NOT safe and effective and was also killing people, Hedges said "I don't think we can end the pandemic and the mutations until EVERYONE get vaccinated" (JAN 1, 2022, KK&F podcast, Ep #54, 01-08-46 mark) ... but on MAY 6, 2022, he conveniently returned to the side of virtue by shamelessly reminding us that "the constitution remains a sacred document" ...
Once a true activist, he now pedals pessimism for clicks, as he knows damn well that his followers are not here to learn, they're just here to be entertained ...
So stop praising this man, he does not give a hoot about us ...
COVID shots save lives. Abstaining costs lives. Polio shots prevent polio. Smallpox shots eliminated… smallpox.
And measles vaccination almost wiped out measles but there was a gap and now we have a problem.
And COVID shots were effective either prevention or amelioration.
Measel vaccinations have nothing in common with experimental Covid MnRA conditioning (aka poisoning IMO) of the human auto immune system.
Yes, but of course ...
Claude definition. Hedges as Levin. Cherry-picking licking.
Troll on, righteous one.
OK, but only with your permission ...
Granted. I’m always up for comedic hyperbole, as in:
“…. the YouTube algorithm is THE main cause of societal decay.”
Then I'm glad you're up again.
Hedges has never been an activist. At best he is, at times, an educator. A journalist can never be, by definition, an activist. You're either one or the other...and he knows its safer and generally more profitable to be a journalist (even over an educator). Educators who make decent money are actually functioning as indoctrinators But Hedges loves to pretend playing the role of activist while schilling his new books and those of his "guests" who are ply the American business continum as able bodied capitalists.
Yes, I tend to agree with you ...
My beef with him is the way he brazenly flipped on us with the lockdowns ...
Like sweet-talkin' Tulsi, Hedges made a name for himself by denouncing imperialism, but then scurried back into the woodpile when things got dicey to avoid offending the Imperialists ...