In a lively and insightful roundtable discussion, Ralph hosts former Marine company commander, Matthew Hoh, who when not deployed also worked in the Pentagon and the State Department and independent and unembedded Iraq war correspondent, Dahr Jamail. They mark the twentieth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and discuss the consequences of that misbegotten and illegal war. Plus, we hear a clip from Ralph’s and Patti Smith’s antiwar concert tour conducted in 2005.
Thank you, Ralph, for bringing on these two incredible guests. It's heartening to hear men speak so openly and bravely about things our government feels we don't have a right to know.
Went to Raleigh, NC to see the movie, "Ithaka," a short documentary on Julian Assange's father and Julian's wife in trying to speak out to the world even as they try to fight the insane show trial that seeks to extradite Julian. While actually slowly murdering this innocent journalist, the corrupt Mike Pompeo and now Biden, Garland, and our government still continue to persecute this journalist. Julian's brother Gabriel, and the filmer take the movie to our people, with John Shipton, a gentle, kind, wise father who speaks about the "rotten lot" of this persecution and the torture of his son. John, Gabriel, and Ray McGovern (who sang "We Shall Overcome" for us) were there with Matthew Hoh. It was sparsely attended, especially for the historical work that Julian has done with wikileaks. We must do the media work now to make sure Julian is freed. Kevin Gosztola's newly-out book, "Guilty of Journalism." and Nils Melzer's book, "The trial of Julian Assange; A Case of Persecution" is also out ( for years now.) These are all anti-war heroes, writers, activists. Please let these folks onto your important show. Also Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate, who are in the huge anti-war marches in D.C., And do talks each Friday on their Grayzone News. Please help, we need your show to address this awful mess, that's been going on for almost 11 years now!
Before it is too late for Julian. He is very sick now. We must show his work is right and that we know it! "War is started by lies. Peace can be started by truth." -Julian Assange. Especially true if we know the truths. Thank you Ralph and all involved. Peace.
Wikileaks exposed the fact of 15,000 more civillian Iraqi deaths than were counted. Julian Assange's work was about this! The Afghan War Logs, and the rules of warfare were published by Wikileaks. And info about Abu Graib. It is time to bring in Julian's contribution to these truths, documents, being published and still available on its website. Please, let's not forget him. In Belmarsh Prison, not even convicted of anything.
This discussion of the war situation was indeed heart-wrenching and nauseating for me. I remember those times domestically. How outraged and disturbed I was about Bush and his illegal war (and at some point, also the torture) when I knew from listening to KPFK that Scott Ritter, the UN weapons inspector, had found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. All the US flags advertising patriotism. The Patriot Act. The fear. Librarians being up in arms about the privacy violation of the government tracking our reading choices. How proud I was of Michael Moore, coming up to the podium to receive his award at the academy awards, and using that public moment to bravely speak out against Bush and his criminal war when virtually everyone was afraid to speak up. I was touched by the vulnerable humanity of Jerry, a reporter at KPFK, who went courageously to Iraq to bring back news, knowing well of the intolerable war conditions, and when he returned and spoke about it, he was obviously deeply shaken by the unexpectedly brutal reality on the ground of people trying to kill him. (I'm not sure on which side, either.)
All this is very disturbing and alienating. How do we explain the inability of our leaders to govern with wisdom, statesmanship, diplomacy, humanity, and compassion, and to support rather than destroy our planet and all of humanity? Why do we have these endless wars of agression and create sanctions that cause suffering to people? Why do we have military bases all around the world? Why are our fish full of mercury? Why is our agriculture full of manufactured poison? Why is our rice full of arsenic? What is wrong with the way we are living, and what can we do about it? How can we become one again with our planet, and nuture it, so it can in turn sustain us? We are an interdependent ecology with the earth. We need the earth to be whole and viable, so we can be healthy. Is capitalism and the profit motive and the related corruption at fault? Or is the problem even worse?
I recently learned of a book "The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism" by Clara E. Mattei. She says that economic austerity is an *intentionally designed* transfer of wealth from we the people to the wealthy elite. Is this what is happening? How can we take good care of ourselves and our loved ones and create a better life for all?
Mattei suggests that the first step is to inform ourselves of how this austerity mechanism works. The next step is to organize with others to create change. It sounds like a tall order to organize people with an independent spirit into a huge network of informed, proactive, and cooperative participants. Ralph Nader can attest to that. People are overwhelmed and busy and exhausted and worried, and perhaps are ill or addicted or homeless, and are wondering how to make ends meet. This life of struggle is one way we are kept apart, kept quiet, and kept powerless.
I believe Ralph would say we need to focus on the 535 members of Congress who need to be elected and need our vote. My view is that the expensive, professionally produced ads are brainwashing tools for candidates with big war chests who accept corporate donations, and unfortunately it often works.
It is now becoming a thing for progressive candidates to request contributions from people who are not constituents of the district they serve because they are able to get enough money to compete and possibly win this way, but how can struggling people support these out of area candidates, when we need money to survive and maybe to occassionally find an enjoyable passtime.
“She says that economic austerity is an *intentionally designed* transfer of wealth from we the people to the wealthy elite. Is this what is happening? How can we take good care of ourselves and our loved ones and create a better life for all?”
Yes, this is exactly what is happening and I appreciate you bringing up this important topic. I was not aware of Mattei’s book or her arguments, but I will investigate the book. I’ve done a considerable amount of reading on the subject otherwise though and the history of austerity policies is well-documented. Over the past ~40 years, every US presidential administration, and almost every western government, have adhered to the economic principles of neoliberalism promoted heavily by the likes of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Neoliberalism naturally promotes austerity as, according to the neoliberals, government has a limited ability to fund itself and, thus, governments must engage in privatization, deregulation, free trade, and so forth to operate.
Neoliberalism, and the concept of monetarism which is fundamental to neoliberalism, are in contrast to the accepted Keynesian economic models of the early 20th century when governments successfully adjusted government spending to fit the needs of society and when markets were heavily regulated to control the corporate excesses of the industrial revolution which caused great harm to many in society. Furthermore, the tenants of monetarism and neoliberalism have been completely shown to be wrong via empirical economic evidence and I think even lay people know this when they hear neoliberals talk about ‘trickle-down economics’ in reference to privatization, deregulation, globalization, and so forth when the typical American sees their economic status degrading even as they continue to work hard.
It should be obvious why economic conservatives in the Republican and Democratic parties adhere to concepts of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism shifts wealth from the working classes to the capitalist classes and the capitalist classes are those backing the political parties. What is not obvious to me is why progressives seemingly refuse to understand economics and, thus, accept neoliberalism to be correct. For many in the progressive community, economics seems to be a dirty word. It is believed that economics is something only for business elites. This is absolutely false, but economics will be completely tilted towards business elites if progressives do not advocate for better economic policy. The funny thing is that business interests tacitly show they know neoliberalism to be false when they advocate for extensive government financing of corporate interests in the form of bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare. Progressives who wear economic blinders seem completely blind to this though.
It is widely misunderstood how the US federal government with their sovereign currency can fund government initiatives and this leads to an austerity mindset. As I mentioned earlier, it is completely possible for the federal government to nationalize the defense industry such that profit motive will not motivate war and militarization. It is completely possible to fund comprehensive single-payer/single-provider healthcare that far exceeds the benefits of Medicare. It is completely possible to achieve full employment and the move US policy away from the cockamamie concept of the ‘natural rate of unemployment’ which is a neoliberal concept. I can go on about what is possible if the US moved away from an austerity mindset.
Anyway, Nancy, if you’re interested in reading more about this, I recommend reading Stephanie Kelton’s book ‘The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy’. The book was on The New York Times Bestseller list in 2020. I can suggest other reading materials if you are interested.
I enjoyed the conversation between the two guests and Mr. Nader on this week’s show. I don’t have much to add other than to say that one of the keys to reducing militarization is to advocate for the nationalization of the military industry. Foreign and domestic policy should not be driven by the need to keep the privatized military industry profitable, but many in the public who question US militarization are reluctant to pursue any policy agenda which may eliminate jobs. Nationalizing the military industry allows the federal government to produce defense items for need, not for profit. Those working in a nationalized defense system will be able to keep their jobs even with militarization as factories and engineers can be repurposed to produce medical equipment, infrastructure equipment, educational materials, green energy technology, or whatever national needs there might be in a given period.
Steve, it was mentioned in the Wrap Up that someone from the FTC will be on the RNRH next week. With that in mind, I have seen that Public Citizen is advocating that the proposed Kroger-Albertsons grocery merger be rejected by the FTC. Given that, I believe it might be fruitful to have Mr. Nader speak about this issue on the RNRH either with the guest from the FTC or on his own at another time. I believe this is an issue that many Americans have interest in even if they are not otherwise interested in matters of governance.
Here in Houston, like in large parts of the US, both Kroger and Albertsons-Safeway operate supermarkets. In places like California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest, the two companies are the dominant grocers and they are also large players in terms of the pharmacy business. They are major employers in those areas and the two also own their own food manufacturing/dairy/bakery plants. It’s not just a matter of having competition for groceries and pharmacies, but the merger will have an impact on many jobs, often union jobs (Kroger’s stores in Houston, for example, are unionized), and on the US’s food supply.
In recent years, the FTC has failed to properly regulate grocery competition. An example of this is the botched situation involving Haggen and Albertsons in the Pacific Northwest during the Obama administration. It’ll be interesting to see if more pressure will be put on the FTC to ensure competition this time around given the increased sensitivity people have about food and drug pricing.
I remember this time. I was listening to KPFK in Los Angeles to a reporter named Jerry (his last name has slipped away - I'm sorry Jerry, you were deeply appreciated). Jerry had gone to Iraq himself to report first hand. When he returned, he was obviously tremendously shaken by his experiences. He had been well-informed about conditions on the ground in Iraq, but once there he had experienced fear for his life first hand, and he was not the same person. Jerry cared and was sensitive to what was going on in Irbefore he went, and he was angry about it, but it had not been possible to really grasp the situation until he experienced it himself.
Human sensitivity to suffering seems to be missing from our leaders, like a big hole in their moral compass. When I hear about these things again, I feel nauseated by what our country does.
The madness of our leaders is difficult to believe or comprehend. How could Hillary Clinton not know that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when I knew that from Scot Ritter's report. Do I believe she did not know?
How to integrate this war into our consciousness, and more generally the end of Empire is causing psychosis in those capable of integrating it and mass disillusion in those less developed (in and out of the militaries).
Our lying government, when it lies, is exacerbating it. We need to tone it down.
Thanks so much for this inspiring and heart-wrenching interview. I've read that there is evidence that DU and/or other highly toxic weapons are being used in Ukraine by one or both sides. It would be great if you and these two remarkable gentlemen could dig into that story, while also continuing to remind us of the legacy of these weapons in the bodies of the people of Fallujah and beyond.
Very very exciting listening to all your guests Mr. Ralphster!!! Love listening to people that are 1 billion times more knowledgeable about something than I.
SPECIFICALLY Philosophers, Political Scientists and Historians!
Most exciting is when all 3 are intertwined with each other into a 1-4 hour podcast!!!
NPR had a benign presentation of the Iraq War, interviewing a few placid people, a US service member who was involved and an Iraqi woman who is with a group paid to reconcile the conflicts. Shocking levels of denial in US media. And we have many other ongoing conflicts and the Congress does not care about the wreckage in the Ukraine Russia conflict. They are largely one sided.
a fundamental obstacle to peace [or indeed any national level progressive reforms] is the vast size of the US population which has grown to around 330 million - when you have that many folks milling around peace or reforms to safeguard democracy cannot happen. The People and the Congress are too easily set at odds or hogswoggled.
bob, I’m not so sure if the size of the country is a major hindrance towards peace or any other progressive causes. After all, Australia, which is the size of Texas in terms of population, struggles mightily in combating corporatism even with their compulsory voting system. European nations, which individually are much smaller than the US, are mired in neoliberalism (corporatism) just the same as the US and Australia. Even Canada struggles to combat corporatism. I know that many Americans look at these other countries as models for progressive policy, such as healthcare, but it must also be remembered that the progressive policies enacted in those countries generally came many decades ago, back in a time where progressive new policies in the US were not uncommon, and there are other areas where the US has more progressive policies than, say, Europe. For example, our post office is still nationalized and not privatized as is common now in Europe. Also, public transportation is often municipally-owned here in the US as compared to privatized in, say, the UK.
‘Hornswoggle’ is a good way to quickly describe the problem though. Narratives, from the media or otherwise, distract the public from meaningful governance issues concerning economics, foreign policy, and so forth while fixating people on trivial cultural matters at least as it pertains to governance. This happens even with most people recognizing the importance of good economic policy, diplomacy, and so forth. We don’t really have a culture that encourages inquiry in terms of economics, foreign matters, and so forth and so people are easily deceived when they are purposely or inadvertently misled on these subjects.
overpopulation is whatever level of population that a state has that so burdens it that it becomes defenseless, unmanageable or ungovernable - a small community or state can become overpopulated such that it is ungovernable or is defenseless ie falls prey to neoliberal, or corporate or oligarchical interests. In Aristotle and Plato its referred to as tyranny. I worked in government 20 years and observed the effect of overpopulation - its very clear especially at the senior government level - that there are no liberal reforms, safegaurds, or oversight methods that can counteract corporate or oligarchical interests - the only cure is to maintain population at a "sustainable" supportable level.
I do not agree with this concept of ‘political Malthusianism’…or Malthusianism in general. ‘Defenseless’, ‘unmanageable’, and ‘ungovernable’ are not words which describe the United States. Even under immense corporatism, there remains significant regulation of industry, much of it fought for by Mr. Nader and Public Citizen and progressives of earlier generations, as an example of governance, management, and defense. Take airline safety as an example. Under immense and increasing modern government regulation, we now live in an era where fatalities from commercial airline disasters are quite rare even compared to 25 years ago. This isn’t to say that things are perfect, but we must also recognize that progress has been made through regulation.
Further advances in government spending and regulation are certainly not out of the question even if things are trending in the opposite direction under neoliberalism. As Mr. Nader points out quite frequently, the majority of the population supports reforms such as universal healthcare, but the American public (the US is hardly alone in this), including most progressives, are far too ignorant in economic theory to understand how potential reforms can be enacted to curb the harm of corporatism. This is something which must be overcome to achieve better outcomes, but this same problem exists in much, much smaller countries as well. There are oligarchical elements as to why there is not better economic discourse in this country, for sure, but this has always been a challenge, a challenge occasionally overcome (for example, the Progressive Era in the US, the UK's formation of the National Health Service, etc.) for society even in much earlier times...and in times before the United States even existed.
Please read Murray Sidman, Coercion and Its Fallout.
We can differentiate the regime from the people if we are told, repeatedly, in short stories (by the NYT, for instance). Perhaps the flaw lies within us: reinforcement is effective when local and large. Democracy is not for friends. Democracy is one person one vote one year out, 100 years out. William James suggested that no person can be excluded to save the rest. Our strength lies in knowing that we are creatures of habit: we learn to walk and talk every waking moment: every effort is novel, in some historical context.
With regard to politics there are 2 candidates that speaks out against Regime Change Wars. Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. Tulsi Gabbard has the courage to fight the deceitful, criminals of the Hillary Democratic Party in 2016 and is now speaking out against the even worse Biden Administration in 2023. I encourage all those that believe in Peace and believe that the great journalist Julian Assange should be freed immediately follow Tulsi Gabbard Rand Paul on Facebook. Another thing we can do is join the Veterans for Peace organization that was on Ralph's Nader Show. Like me you can still Join this great organization without being a Veteran.
Thank you, Ralph, for bringing on these two incredible guests. It's heartening to hear men speak so openly and bravely about things our government feels we don't have a right to know.
Three outstanding Menches.
Went to Raleigh, NC to see the movie, "Ithaka," a short documentary on Julian Assange's father and Julian's wife in trying to speak out to the world even as they try to fight the insane show trial that seeks to extradite Julian. While actually slowly murdering this innocent journalist, the corrupt Mike Pompeo and now Biden, Garland, and our government still continue to persecute this journalist. Julian's brother Gabriel, and the filmer take the movie to our people, with John Shipton, a gentle, kind, wise father who speaks about the "rotten lot" of this persecution and the torture of his son. John, Gabriel, and Ray McGovern (who sang "We Shall Overcome" for us) were there with Matthew Hoh. It was sparsely attended, especially for the historical work that Julian has done with wikileaks. We must do the media work now to make sure Julian is freed. Kevin Gosztola's newly-out book, "Guilty of Journalism." and Nils Melzer's book, "The trial of Julian Assange; A Case of Persecution" is also out ( for years now.) These are all anti-war heroes, writers, activists. Please let these folks onto your important show. Also Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate, who are in the huge anti-war marches in D.C., And do talks each Friday on their Grayzone News. Please help, we need your show to address this awful mess, that's been going on for almost 11 years now!
Before it is too late for Julian. He is very sick now. We must show his work is right and that we know it! "War is started by lies. Peace can be started by truth." -Julian Assange. Especially true if we know the truths. Thank you Ralph and all involved. Peace.
Wikileaks exposed the fact of 15,000 more civillian Iraqi deaths than were counted. Julian Assange's work was about this! The Afghan War Logs, and the rules of warfare were published by Wikileaks. And info about Abu Graib. It is time to bring in Julian's contribution to these truths, documents, being published and still available on its website. Please, let's not forget him. In Belmarsh Prison, not even convicted of anything.
Yes and covid was a convenient cover up for the deaths of all who got cancer twenty years after 9/11.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/xf7HPDkNe144/
Very interesting about Donahue!
This discussion of the war situation was indeed heart-wrenching and nauseating for me. I remember those times domestically. How outraged and disturbed I was about Bush and his illegal war (and at some point, also the torture) when I knew from listening to KPFK that Scott Ritter, the UN weapons inspector, had found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. All the US flags advertising patriotism. The Patriot Act. The fear. Librarians being up in arms about the privacy violation of the government tracking our reading choices. How proud I was of Michael Moore, coming up to the podium to receive his award at the academy awards, and using that public moment to bravely speak out against Bush and his criminal war when virtually everyone was afraid to speak up. I was touched by the vulnerable humanity of Jerry, a reporter at KPFK, who went courageously to Iraq to bring back news, knowing well of the intolerable war conditions, and when he returned and spoke about it, he was obviously deeply shaken by the unexpectedly brutal reality on the ground of people trying to kill him. (I'm not sure on which side, either.)
All this is very disturbing and alienating. How do we explain the inability of our leaders to govern with wisdom, statesmanship, diplomacy, humanity, and compassion, and to support rather than destroy our planet and all of humanity? Why do we have these endless wars of agression and create sanctions that cause suffering to people? Why do we have military bases all around the world? Why are our fish full of mercury? Why is our agriculture full of manufactured poison? Why is our rice full of arsenic? What is wrong with the way we are living, and what can we do about it? How can we become one again with our planet, and nuture it, so it can in turn sustain us? We are an interdependent ecology with the earth. We need the earth to be whole and viable, so we can be healthy. Is capitalism and the profit motive and the related corruption at fault? Or is the problem even worse?
I recently learned of a book "The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism" by Clara E. Mattei. She says that economic austerity is an *intentionally designed* transfer of wealth from we the people to the wealthy elite. Is this what is happening? How can we take good care of ourselves and our loved ones and create a better life for all?
Mattei suggests that the first step is to inform ourselves of how this austerity mechanism works. The next step is to organize with others to create change. It sounds like a tall order to organize people with an independent spirit into a huge network of informed, proactive, and cooperative participants. Ralph Nader can attest to that. People are overwhelmed and busy and exhausted and worried, and perhaps are ill or addicted or homeless, and are wondering how to make ends meet. This life of struggle is one way we are kept apart, kept quiet, and kept powerless.
I believe Ralph would say we need to focus on the 535 members of Congress who need to be elected and need our vote. My view is that the expensive, professionally produced ads are brainwashing tools for candidates with big war chests who accept corporate donations, and unfortunately it often works.
It is now becoming a thing for progressive candidates to request contributions from people who are not constituents of the district they serve because they are able to get enough money to compete and possibly win this way, but how can struggling people support these out of area candidates, when we need money to survive and maybe to occassionally find an enjoyable passtime.
“She says that economic austerity is an *intentionally designed* transfer of wealth from we the people to the wealthy elite. Is this what is happening? How can we take good care of ourselves and our loved ones and create a better life for all?”
Yes, this is exactly what is happening and I appreciate you bringing up this important topic. I was not aware of Mattei’s book or her arguments, but I will investigate the book. I’ve done a considerable amount of reading on the subject otherwise though and the history of austerity policies is well-documented. Over the past ~40 years, every US presidential administration, and almost every western government, have adhered to the economic principles of neoliberalism promoted heavily by the likes of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Neoliberalism naturally promotes austerity as, according to the neoliberals, government has a limited ability to fund itself and, thus, governments must engage in privatization, deregulation, free trade, and so forth to operate.
Neoliberalism, and the concept of monetarism which is fundamental to neoliberalism, are in contrast to the accepted Keynesian economic models of the early 20th century when governments successfully adjusted government spending to fit the needs of society and when markets were heavily regulated to control the corporate excesses of the industrial revolution which caused great harm to many in society. Furthermore, the tenants of monetarism and neoliberalism have been completely shown to be wrong via empirical economic evidence and I think even lay people know this when they hear neoliberals talk about ‘trickle-down economics’ in reference to privatization, deregulation, globalization, and so forth when the typical American sees their economic status degrading even as they continue to work hard.
It should be obvious why economic conservatives in the Republican and Democratic parties adhere to concepts of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism shifts wealth from the working classes to the capitalist classes and the capitalist classes are those backing the political parties. What is not obvious to me is why progressives seemingly refuse to understand economics and, thus, accept neoliberalism to be correct. For many in the progressive community, economics seems to be a dirty word. It is believed that economics is something only for business elites. This is absolutely false, but economics will be completely tilted towards business elites if progressives do not advocate for better economic policy. The funny thing is that business interests tacitly show they know neoliberalism to be false when they advocate for extensive government financing of corporate interests in the form of bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare. Progressives who wear economic blinders seem completely blind to this though.
It is widely misunderstood how the US federal government with their sovereign currency can fund government initiatives and this leads to an austerity mindset. As I mentioned earlier, it is completely possible for the federal government to nationalize the defense industry such that profit motive will not motivate war and militarization. It is completely possible to fund comprehensive single-payer/single-provider healthcare that far exceeds the benefits of Medicare. It is completely possible to achieve full employment and the move US policy away from the cockamamie concept of the ‘natural rate of unemployment’ which is a neoliberal concept. I can go on about what is possible if the US moved away from an austerity mindset.
Anyway, Nancy, if you’re interested in reading more about this, I recommend reading Stephanie Kelton’s book ‘The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy’. The book was on The New York Times Bestseller list in 2020. I can suggest other reading materials if you are interested.
I enjoyed the conversation between the two guests and Mr. Nader on this week’s show. I don’t have much to add other than to say that one of the keys to reducing militarization is to advocate for the nationalization of the military industry. Foreign and domestic policy should not be driven by the need to keep the privatized military industry profitable, but many in the public who question US militarization are reluctant to pursue any policy agenda which may eliminate jobs. Nationalizing the military industry allows the federal government to produce defense items for need, not for profit. Those working in a nationalized defense system will be able to keep their jobs even with militarization as factories and engineers can be repurposed to produce medical equipment, infrastructure equipment, educational materials, green energy technology, or whatever national needs there might be in a given period.
Steve, it was mentioned in the Wrap Up that someone from the FTC will be on the RNRH next week. With that in mind, I have seen that Public Citizen is advocating that the proposed Kroger-Albertsons grocery merger be rejected by the FTC. Given that, I believe it might be fruitful to have Mr. Nader speak about this issue on the RNRH either with the guest from the FTC or on his own at another time. I believe this is an issue that many Americans have interest in even if they are not otherwise interested in matters of governance.
Here in Houston, like in large parts of the US, both Kroger and Albertsons-Safeway operate supermarkets. In places like California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest, the two companies are the dominant grocers and they are also large players in terms of the pharmacy business. They are major employers in those areas and the two also own their own food manufacturing/dairy/bakery plants. It’s not just a matter of having competition for groceries and pharmacies, but the merger will have an impact on many jobs, often union jobs (Kroger’s stores in Houston, for example, are unionized), and on the US’s food supply.
In recent years, the FTC has failed to properly regulate grocery competition. An example of this is the botched situation involving Haggen and Albertsons in the Pacific Northwest during the Obama administration. It’ll be interesting to see if more pressure will be put on the FTC to ensure competition this time around given the increased sensitivity people have about food and drug pricing.
I remember this time. I was listening to KPFK in Los Angeles to a reporter named Jerry (his last name has slipped away - I'm sorry Jerry, you were deeply appreciated). Jerry had gone to Iraq himself to report first hand. When he returned, he was obviously tremendously shaken by his experiences. He had been well-informed about conditions on the ground in Iraq, but once there he had experienced fear for his life first hand, and he was not the same person. Jerry cared and was sensitive to what was going on in Irbefore he went, and he was angry about it, but it had not been possible to really grasp the situation until he experienced it himself.
Human sensitivity to suffering seems to be missing from our leaders, like a big hole in their moral compass. When I hear about these things again, I feel nauseated by what our country does.
The madness of our leaders is difficult to believe or comprehend. How could Hillary Clinton not know that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when I knew that from Scot Ritter's report. Do I believe she did not know?
How to integrate this war into our consciousness, and more generally the end of Empire is causing psychosis in those capable of integrating it and mass disillusion in those less developed (in and out of the militaries).
Our lying government, when it lies, is exacerbating it. We need to tone it down.
Thanks so much for this inspiring and heart-wrenching interview. I've read that there is evidence that DU and/or other highly toxic weapons are being used in Ukraine by one or both sides. It would be great if you and these two remarkable gentlemen could dig into that story, while also continuing to remind us of the legacy of these weapons in the bodies of the people of Fallujah and beyond.
Another good example of our political system and media employing their version of the story of the frog.
If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water it will jump out.
But if you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water and stick a lid on the pot the frog can't jump out.
Here's a good podcast recently between David Stockman and RFK, jr:
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/rfk-jr-podcast-1987789/episodes/how-to-fix-the-economy-with-da-174494960
Very very exciting listening to all your guests Mr. Ralphster!!! Love listening to people that are 1 billion times more knowledgeable about something than I.
SPECIFICALLY Philosophers, Political Scientists and Historians!
Most exciting is when all 3 are intertwined with each other into a 1-4 hour podcast!!!
Keep’em comin’ brutha!!
NPR had a benign presentation of the Iraq War, interviewing a few placid people, a US service member who was involved and an Iraqi woman who is with a group paid to reconcile the conflicts. Shocking levels of denial in US media. And we have many other ongoing conflicts and the Congress does not care about the wreckage in the Ukraine Russia conflict. They are largely one sided.
a fundamental obstacle to peace [or indeed any national level progressive reforms] is the vast size of the US population which has grown to around 330 million - when you have that many folks milling around peace or reforms to safeguard democracy cannot happen. The People and the Congress are too easily set at odds or hogswoggled.
bob, I’m not so sure if the size of the country is a major hindrance towards peace or any other progressive causes. After all, Australia, which is the size of Texas in terms of population, struggles mightily in combating corporatism even with their compulsory voting system. European nations, which individually are much smaller than the US, are mired in neoliberalism (corporatism) just the same as the US and Australia. Even Canada struggles to combat corporatism. I know that many Americans look at these other countries as models for progressive policy, such as healthcare, but it must also be remembered that the progressive policies enacted in those countries generally came many decades ago, back in a time where progressive new policies in the US were not uncommon, and there are other areas where the US has more progressive policies than, say, Europe. For example, our post office is still nationalized and not privatized as is common now in Europe. Also, public transportation is often municipally-owned here in the US as compared to privatized in, say, the UK.
‘Hornswoggle’ is a good way to quickly describe the problem though. Narratives, from the media or otherwise, distract the public from meaningful governance issues concerning economics, foreign policy, and so forth while fixating people on trivial cultural matters at least as it pertains to governance. This happens even with most people recognizing the importance of good economic policy, diplomacy, and so forth. We don’t really have a culture that encourages inquiry in terms of economics, foreign matters, and so forth and so people are easily deceived when they are purposely or inadvertently misled on these subjects.
overpopulation is whatever level of population that a state has that so burdens it that it becomes defenseless, unmanageable or ungovernable - a small community or state can become overpopulated such that it is ungovernable or is defenseless ie falls prey to neoliberal, or corporate or oligarchical interests. In Aristotle and Plato its referred to as tyranny. I worked in government 20 years and observed the effect of overpopulation - its very clear especially at the senior government level - that there are no liberal reforms, safegaurds, or oversight methods that can counteract corporate or oligarchical interests - the only cure is to maintain population at a "sustainable" supportable level.
I do not agree with this concept of ‘political Malthusianism’…or Malthusianism in general. ‘Defenseless’, ‘unmanageable’, and ‘ungovernable’ are not words which describe the United States. Even under immense corporatism, there remains significant regulation of industry, much of it fought for by Mr. Nader and Public Citizen and progressives of earlier generations, as an example of governance, management, and defense. Take airline safety as an example. Under immense and increasing modern government regulation, we now live in an era where fatalities from commercial airline disasters are quite rare even compared to 25 years ago. This isn’t to say that things are perfect, but we must also recognize that progress has been made through regulation.
Further advances in government spending and regulation are certainly not out of the question even if things are trending in the opposite direction under neoliberalism. As Mr. Nader points out quite frequently, the majority of the population supports reforms such as universal healthcare, but the American public (the US is hardly alone in this), including most progressives, are far too ignorant in economic theory to understand how potential reforms can be enacted to curb the harm of corporatism. This is something which must be overcome to achieve better outcomes, but this same problem exists in much, much smaller countries as well. There are oligarchical elements as to why there is not better economic discourse in this country, for sure, but this has always been a challenge, a challenge occasionally overcome (for example, the Progressive Era in the US, the UK's formation of the National Health Service, etc.) for society even in much earlier times...and in times before the United States even existed.
Amy Goodman is delivering a good series on this.
Please read Murray Sidman, Coercion and Its Fallout.
We can differentiate the regime from the people if we are told, repeatedly, in short stories (by the NYT, for instance). Perhaps the flaw lies within us: reinforcement is effective when local and large. Democracy is not for friends. Democracy is one person one vote one year out, 100 years out. William James suggested that no person can be excluded to save the rest. Our strength lies in knowing that we are creatures of habit: we learn to walk and talk every waking moment: every effort is novel, in some historical context.
With regard to politics there are 2 candidates that speaks out against Regime Change Wars. Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. Tulsi Gabbard has the courage to fight the deceitful, criminals of the Hillary Democratic Party in 2016 and is now speaking out against the even worse Biden Administration in 2023. I encourage all those that believe in Peace and believe that the great journalist Julian Assange should be freed immediately follow Tulsi Gabbard Rand Paul on Facebook. Another thing we can do is join the Veterans for Peace organization that was on Ralph's Nader Show. Like me you can still Join this great organization without being a Veteran.