why waste time with Zeihan?
Why give credence to a shallow, even reactionary, blowhard like Zeihan? To give one example, he treats Russia and China as isolated with the end of globalization, yet dismisses the belt&road initiatve, which r uniting the complementary economies of Eurasia as I write. Yes, b&r includes alot of bs, just like the US RR network in the 19th Century, yet still ultimately transformed the US and then the global economy. He also ignores China's rise in the value chain, and the fundamental weaknesses of US financial hegemony. Demography is a more complicated issue, but if you had Dean Baker on, he could readily debunk his argument. In fact, why has Baker never been on at all, as far as I remember?
How to fix Election finance (and so much of our corporate-centric society)
Not really a question, just a thought. We could fix most of our societal problems if we really lean into the "Corporations are people, too" ideology. Let me explain: In 1898, the supreme court ruled that segregation was fine as long as everything was equal, creating the "Separate but Equal" doctrine. The NAACP spent the next half-century trying to force individual states to make separate equal until, in 1954, the Supreme court changed direction and admitted that separate is never equal. We could take the same attack and apply it toward this fallacy that Corporations are people. For instance, if you say corporations are people, so they get to express their first amendment rights during elections, then corporations must still be people when they break laws, ruin the environment, literally kill people, etc! But no actual real human gets a negotiated fine when convicted of these things, we get sent to jail. So let's start putting these corporate people in jail, too. Freeze trading of their stocks, halt all dividends (including for executive compensation), have the government come in and determine what the company can and can't do, what it produces, what it pays its employees (including executives) and how it pays taxes, until it gets out of prison -- and remember, with federal minimum sentences and no early parole (you have to serve at least 85% of your sentence for a federal crime), that would be a real punishment. If we did this, I think corporations would be clamoring to be treated like ideas, not people... or really cleaning up their acts. Either way, society wins. Either we get kinder, more gentler corporate overlords, governed by people who are actually concerned about consequences of their actions, or we end up getting corporate money out of politics. I'm happy either way.
Why IS the Fed acting on inflation?
If raising interest rates (with Biden's encouragement) at best won't really do much for inflation and at worst will work only if it destroys the job market WHY is it being done? Aren't high prices, a favorable labor market, and a job better than slightly lower prices, no worker power, and no job? Who benefits from this? Even the powerful don't seem to like it. Is it just a trade they're willing to make to stop the long term threat of unions? Thank you Krystal for educating me on actual leftism and Saagar for showing me that not every conservative is a corporate shill who pushes cultural Conservatism to take advantage of people even though disagree with you on most cultural topics. Thanks for your nuanced and good faith coverage of the issues of our day! You are what the news should be.