Ralph welcomes Toby Heaps, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Canadian magazine “Corporate Knights,” which ranks the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations.
A lot of well-intended people have yet to reckon with capitalism's inherent unsustainability.
In one sense, I appreciate the considered measurement and painstaking index work done by organizations like Corporate Knights. I've done such work, and believe Mr. Heaps when he mentions the tens of thousands of hours involved. It is, however, ultimately a technocratic approach that does little about the inequality and precarity beget by "The Market".
Hello Ralph et al! Just an aside: Spectrum, the phone/internet company, has increased our monthly fees without any notification or approval. Can you recommend an agency I can contact to get redress? Thank you. Steev Beeson (213) 924-9091
I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised. I think that company has spent enough money in ads to me alone to successfully fund a major worthy cause.
Clearly Trump's rise coincided with Democratic failure, the Party and the practice. The system is in terminal decline through its hypocrisy, corruption and collapse - the USSR collapsed when nobody believed its story. Lasting 70 years and that's about how long since we've won a war while spending more than the next nine or ten countries combined. WTF!
We can decide to shuck it or ride it down...my guess is the latter because it is easier.
Re: The Capital Hill Citizen paper which was very good. Keep it coming.
This was another great program! In terms of corporate accountability and corporate sustainable actions, it’s sort of an uphill battle. Personalizing this a bit, I am not able to make my home energy efficient because of the power of the electric company I use. The corporate system will allow for tinkering around the edges of conservation, but when it comes to a big ticket item like solar panels, they’re out of my ability to install them. No matter how energy efficient my home would become, the cost of the panels is prohibitive. I’m in an area with a good amount of yearly wind, and I see nothing in terms of wind power or even intitatives to develop that resource.
Dr. Bandy Lee reminds me of a psychiatrist I knew during the Vietnam era: Bold and gutsy. But, the major factor in analyzing someone like Trump is that a professional has to have direct contact with the person and be able to administer both diagnostic tools and speak with the person in a clinical environment. I agree with Dr. Lee’s assessment, but the best that can be done is to say that Trump is allegedly different from the norm of normalcy. Ralph Nader brings up an important point in assessing the Trump voter, and that is why have the Democrats, now a thoroughly corporate party with strong ties to the Pentagon and weapons manufacturers, abandoned the working class and the ordinary man and woman? The trade deals had strong Democratic support, and the manufacturing base of this nation and the places where ordinary people live were gutted to the extreme.
OK, that’s it. The blanket statement “Trump supporters have legitimate grievances” has gone unchallenged for the last time. To be clear, that they have real grievances is NOT what I am challenging. Of course they do; they are, after all, not members of the 1% (indeed, many are not even part of the 50%). It’s something the left and right can agree on. Chris Hedges acknowledges it. Arlie Hochschild used it as the basis of an entire book. However, while that general statement may be true, it is also not the point.
You see, you can’t just leave it at that. When you do, it not only ignores important facts, it also implies Trump is therefore worthy of their support. THIS is what I am challenging! So what is “the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey would say?
Simply this: you have grievances, fine. But WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? In the 2016 election, Trump was NOT the only candidate professing to represent those voters. There was also a populist, in the true sense of the word. A man who actually had a long, proven record representing the little guy….Bernie Sanders. So the fact of the matter is that those voters had a choice. Sanders, or a rich, spoiled narcissist from NYC who has screwed over people just like them his entire career. Yet despite this they still chose Trump. Why? His actual bona fides? Obviously not. No, they chose him because of politics. Ideology. Party.
And so we can stop apologizing for MAGA people. It turns out that they actually are ignorant, ignorant and delusional. Because they don’t realize that their plight isn’t a political or ideological issue after all. It was, is, and always will be an issue of class!
First of all I am a dummy so these are my guesses.
When Ralph and Mr. Belcher were talking about charitable giving while they were talking about CEO to average employee pay. What I thought about right away was from what I always hear is the CEOs of the charities get the majority of the money. So the same problem is a major issue on both sides.
One thing the Trump supporters and Democrat supporters have in common is they want to believe they are right and look for confirmation of what they believe rather than find out if what they believe is true. People do not want to admit or be told they have been duped.
This allows Trump/Republicans and Democrats to manipulate those people by telling them what they want to hear to confirm their beliefs as part of a good cop/ bad cop routine to divide and conquer while both the Democrats and Republicans work for the big money interests.
Trump's "30% hold on citizens" is the same as the Democrats 30% hold on citizens. But that is really just 30% each of voters and not citizens as 40% of eligible citizens do not vote.
Ralph could and should be working to get some the 40% of voters that are not under the hold of Republicans or Democrats and the 40% that do not vote to work together in the 2024 congressional elections against the false choice between big money candidates offered by the Democrats and Republicans as those 40%'s together outnumbers those in the big money cult.
With Ralph leading the charge we could get 10% of voters to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2024 using a write in vote if there are no small donor candidates on our primary and general election ballots.
This will demonstrate and create demand for small donor candidates in 2026 and could inspire more citizens to participate in 2026 which could inspire even more to participate in 2028, perhaps as much as 30-40% of the vote.
Then politicians would have to choose between taking big money or getting our votes.
Ralph has often said that politicians want our votes more than big money so let's organize citizens to
force politicians to choose between taking the big money and getting our votes rather than accept the false choice between big money candidates by continuing to use our votes to validate big money candidates.
Why not ask Bandy Lee to profile Joe Biden? What does she think of his cognitive abilities? Is his longstanding propensity to invent stories about his past a sign that he is a pathological liar/fantasist? Combine this with the egocentrism on display when he will, for example, react to the tragedy of Lahaina by comparing it to a minor kitchen fire in his own house, would she say that he is a person experiencing Narcissistic Personality Disorder? No, I expect that she is a partisan Democrat who would not voice any such conclusions.
I listened for about 10min, that was all I could take. The worst Nader show ever. Capitalism creates racism, poverty, and environmental destruction. The only way it can pretend to be “clean” is by hiding its abuse into other companies. I also find the title “The Rebellious CEO...”, to be rather disturbing. I never thought of Nader as being pro-capitalist.
I have a guest suggestion: Patrick Lovell. He produced the five-part documentary series "The Con" (www.thecon.tv). The documentary chronicles the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the victims and the robber barons who not only got away with it, but were rewarded under the Obama and Trump administrations. I personally know Mr. Lovell and pitched this idea to him. He is very interested.
Please have a look at an episode or two of the documentary and let me know if you're interested. I can be reached at dtschaefer@gmail.com.
BTW: I interviewed Mr. Nader a few years back when I was doing the podcasts for the Alliance Party. It was one of the highlights of my podcasting experiences!
A lot of well-intended people have yet to reckon with capitalism's inherent unsustainability.
In one sense, I appreciate the considered measurement and painstaking index work done by organizations like Corporate Knights. I've done such work, and believe Mr. Heaps when he mentions the tens of thousands of hours involved. It is, however, ultimately a technocratic approach that does little about the inequality and precarity beget by "The Market".
Hello Ralph et al! Just an aside: Spectrum, the phone/internet company, has increased our monthly fees without any notification or approval. Can you recommend an agency I can contact to get redress? Thank you. Steev Beeson (213) 924-9091
I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised. I think that company has spent enough money in ads to me alone to successfully fund a major worthy cause.
Clearly Trump's rise coincided with Democratic failure, the Party and the practice. The system is in terminal decline through its hypocrisy, corruption and collapse - the USSR collapsed when nobody believed its story. Lasting 70 years and that's about how long since we've won a war while spending more than the next nine or ten countries combined. WTF!
We can decide to shuck it or ride it down...my guess is the latter because it is easier.
Re: The Capital Hill Citizen paper which was very good. Keep it coming.
This was another great program! In terms of corporate accountability and corporate sustainable actions, it’s sort of an uphill battle. Personalizing this a bit, I am not able to make my home energy efficient because of the power of the electric company I use. The corporate system will allow for tinkering around the edges of conservation, but when it comes to a big ticket item like solar panels, they’re out of my ability to install them. No matter how energy efficient my home would become, the cost of the panels is prohibitive. I’m in an area with a good amount of yearly wind, and I see nothing in terms of wind power or even intitatives to develop that resource.
Dr. Bandy Lee reminds me of a psychiatrist I knew during the Vietnam era: Bold and gutsy. But, the major factor in analyzing someone like Trump is that a professional has to have direct contact with the person and be able to administer both diagnostic tools and speak with the person in a clinical environment. I agree with Dr. Lee’s assessment, but the best that can be done is to say that Trump is allegedly different from the norm of normalcy. Ralph Nader brings up an important point in assessing the Trump voter, and that is why have the Democrats, now a thoroughly corporate party with strong ties to the Pentagon and weapons manufacturers, abandoned the working class and the ordinary man and woman? The trade deals had strong Democratic support, and the manufacturing base of this nation and the places where ordinary people live were gutted to the extreme.
OK, that’s it. The blanket statement “Trump supporters have legitimate grievances” has gone unchallenged for the last time. To be clear, that they have real grievances is NOT what I am challenging. Of course they do; they are, after all, not members of the 1% (indeed, many are not even part of the 50%). It’s something the left and right can agree on. Chris Hedges acknowledges it. Arlie Hochschild used it as the basis of an entire book. However, while that general statement may be true, it is also not the point.
You see, you can’t just leave it at that. When you do, it not only ignores important facts, it also implies Trump is therefore worthy of their support. THIS is what I am challenging! So what is “the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey would say?
Simply this: you have grievances, fine. But WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? In the 2016 election, Trump was NOT the only candidate professing to represent those voters. There was also a populist, in the true sense of the word. A man who actually had a long, proven record representing the little guy….Bernie Sanders. So the fact of the matter is that those voters had a choice. Sanders, or a rich, spoiled narcissist from NYC who has screwed over people just like them his entire career. Yet despite this they still chose Trump. Why? His actual bona fides? Obviously not. No, they chose him because of politics. Ideology. Party.
And so we can stop apologizing for MAGA people. It turns out that they actually are ignorant, ignorant and delusional. Because they don’t realize that their plight isn’t a political or ideological issue after all. It was, is, and always will be an issue of class!
Thank you Steve, this is spot on
First of all I am a dummy so these are my guesses.
When Ralph and Mr. Belcher were talking about charitable giving while they were talking about CEO to average employee pay. What I thought about right away was from what I always hear is the CEOs of the charities get the majority of the money. So the same problem is a major issue on both sides.
Terrible show. Really bad. Disney happy corporate spew.
Oh my god, the Trump "contagion"?! Have you people lost your minds over here? What's happened to this show?
One thing the Trump supporters and Democrat supporters have in common is they want to believe they are right and look for confirmation of what they believe rather than find out if what they believe is true. People do not want to admit or be told they have been duped.
This allows Trump/Republicans and Democrats to manipulate those people by telling them what they want to hear to confirm their beliefs as part of a good cop/ bad cop routine to divide and conquer while both the Democrats and Republicans work for the big money interests.
Trump's "30% hold on citizens" is the same as the Democrats 30% hold on citizens. But that is really just 30% each of voters and not citizens as 40% of eligible citizens do not vote.
Ralph could and should be working to get some the 40% of voters that are not under the hold of Republicans or Democrats and the 40% that do not vote to work together in the 2024 congressional elections against the false choice between big money candidates offered by the Democrats and Republicans as those 40%'s together outnumbers those in the big money cult.
With Ralph leading the charge we could get 10% of voters to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2024 using a write in vote if there are no small donor candidates on our primary and general election ballots.
This will demonstrate and create demand for small donor candidates in 2026 and could inspire more citizens to participate in 2026 which could inspire even more to participate in 2028, perhaps as much as 30-40% of the vote.
Then politicians would have to choose between taking big money or getting our votes.
Ralph has often said that politicians want our votes more than big money so let's organize citizens to
force politicians to choose between taking the big money and getting our votes rather than accept the false choice between big money candidates by continuing to use our votes to validate big money candidates.
Good corporate citizen. lol Who invented this phrase?
Why not ask Bandy Lee to profile Joe Biden? What does she think of his cognitive abilities? Is his longstanding propensity to invent stories about his past a sign that he is a pathological liar/fantasist? Combine this with the egocentrism on display when he will, for example, react to the tragedy of Lahaina by comparing it to a minor kitchen fire in his own house, would she say that he is a person experiencing Narcissistic Personality Disorder? No, I expect that she is a partisan Democrat who would not voice any such conclusions.
I listened for about 10min, that was all I could take. The worst Nader show ever. Capitalism creates racism, poverty, and environmental destruction. The only way it can pretend to be “clean” is by hiding its abuse into other companies. I also find the title “The Rebellious CEO...”, to be rather disturbing. I never thought of Nader as being pro-capitalist.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0GdT8NWdBUTy3kvdvKtheP62GxNvfK3yq975w2eGpnHXsMTNydGS1xCnUMyqAWgDpl&id=100002895315847
I have a guest suggestion: Patrick Lovell. He produced the five-part documentary series "The Con" (www.thecon.tv). The documentary chronicles the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the victims and the robber barons who not only got away with it, but were rewarded under the Obama and Trump administrations. I personally know Mr. Lovell and pitched this idea to him. He is very interested.
Please have a look at an episode or two of the documentary and let me know if you're interested. I can be reached at dtschaefer@gmail.com.
BTW: I interviewed Mr. Nader a few years back when I was doing the podcasts for the Alliance Party. It was one of the highlights of my podcasting experiences!
Thank you,
Dan Schaefer