This late April Fool's joke by former Labor Secretary and "liberal firebrand" Robert Reich is so funny I really did laugh out loud:
Which brings me to Hillary Rodham Clinton.Oh please Robert, stop it, I don't know how much more I can take. And just how is Queen Hillary supposed to show her "commitment to reform" anyway?
Some wonder about the strength of her values and ideals. I don’t. I’ve known her since she was 19 years old, and have no doubt where her heart is. For her entire career she’s been deeply committed to equal opportunity and upward mobility.
Some worry she’s been too compromised by big money – that the circle of wealthy donors she and her husband have cultivated over the years has dulled her sensitivity to the struggling middle class and poor.
But it’s wrong to assume great wealth, or even a social circle of the wealthy, is incompatible with a deep commitment to reform...
So we must resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act and bust up the biggest banks, so millions of Americans don’t ever again lose their homes, jobs, and savings because of Wall Street’s excesses.Oh fuck it, I'm not laughing any more. I'm not laughing because it is obvious that Robert Reich is being a duplicitous piece of shit. Reich knows damn well which president signed the repeal of Glass-Stegall: Bill Fucking Clinton. And Reich was IN FUCKING OFFICE as Labor Secretary when Bill Fucking Clinton signed the first two major "free" trade agreements, NAFTA and GATT, into law. And he surely knows raising taxes on the rich or the federal minimum wage will be a total non-starter with the Republicans in charge of one or both houses of Congress. Not to mention that Reich cannot possibly believe that Hillary can get elected without mucho donations from Wall Street and big corporations, the spurning of which would likely put her at least a billion dollars behind Jeb in fundraising.
Also: Increase taxes on the rich in order to finance the investments in schools and infrastructure the nation desperately needs.
Strengthen unions so working Americans have the bargaining power to get a fair share of the gains from economic growth.
Limit the deductibility of executive pay, and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Oppose trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership designed to protect corporate property but not American jobs.
And nominate Supreme Court justices who will reverse “Citizens United.”
Some of you may think I'm being unfair to poor ol' Robert Reich. Yet I truly believe he is not a stupid man. Therefore, the only explanation I can come up with for why he wrote this particular piece of drivel is that he is lying through his teeth in order to give his delusional liberal/progressive audience false hope. Sadly, he is hardly alone in that regard.
Bonus: "Let 'em eat cake," she says...just like Marie Antoinette
Bill,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. come election day I will be AWOL. If given the choice between Clinton or Bush. I will choose neither. For me, there is no choice, the illusion of democracy is gone. Who ever gets in office will not make any difference to me. There will be a hard recession, I will lose more ground financially I will finally fall into the pit of hard poverty that I fought so hard to avoid. I feel badly for the younger generation. They will suffer. I stand here and wonder where this once great nation will be 20-50 years from now.
defshepard: i don't think humanity will be around in 20 - 50 years. Already we're seeing the signs of climate change damaging food production to such an extent that it will become near impossible with chaotic weather, hail, flooding, heat and drought, to grow anywhere near enough food. Add to that the die off of marine life, pollinators, birds and many other species we rely upon to survive and it becomes clear that we're on our way out. Enjoy the time you have, if possible.
ReplyDeleteTom
Short of all out nuclear war I think humanity will have a bit longer than 20-50 years, but no doubt that the collapse of modernity will be in full swing by then. But that's just semantics--it won't be much fun no matter how many are around to experience it.
DeleteI'm with Tom.
ReplyDeleteHey Bill, you're mentioned (in a positive way) in this article written the day before your post here.
ReplyDeletehttp://new.intrepidmag.com/blog/the-perfect-world-paradox/
[quote]
A comedian interested in Meditation? Yeah well, why not? If Bill Hicks and Dan Carlin ever taught us anything, is that comedians are the last bastion of radical thinking allowed to exist in the Western world. What scholars and academicians wouldn’t dare to write about for fear of censorship by the PC police or losing tenure, comedians boldly shout it out to a live audience comprised of drunkards and junkies from every social strata.
Remember: The court jester is the only one allowed to tell the king he’s full of shit.
All the best, Bill.
Tom
Tom--I noticed that the article also mentions "comic book writer" Grant Morrison. I find that interesting not only because I've read some pretty radical views aired in what are considered "mainstream" comics, but in the outstanding Preacher series, writer Garth Ennis includes a segment featuring Bill giving one of his routines verbatim, and has one of his character say how much he admired the man for getting on the stage and telling the absolute truth as he saw it.
DeleteCourt jesters, indeed!
Robert must be familiar with the "The Book of the Courtier" this fawning over her is the level of a sycophant. I imagine that he is angling for another position. The need for power is so great that people will sell their soul to get it.
ReplyDeleteHe's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf,
a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.
The Fool,
King Lear
"-it won't be much fun no matter how many are around to experience it."
ReplyDeleteBingo. Don't need to quibble over time spans. It's not much fun now, though I manage, thanks to gallows humor, such as presented here, heh.
As mentioned before on another pithy post of yours....Damn, Bill, it's good to have you back.
Also had to laugh at the King Lear quote, especially the bit about a horse's health.
And now for a true funny story to lighten the mood. 'Rush' Limbaugh was complaining on air that he could not find a good doctor. A caller wondered if he had tried Dr. Kevorkian.
Yeah, it was back in the day.