Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Robert Reich. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Robert Reich. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

What to do about the 1% of the 1% [Note: Content Warning - climate crisis, elitism and social division, evil]

Recently I wrote about the egregious self-serving and, frankly, evil, actions of oil company executives who knew the climate crisis was coming and did nothing.

I’m now reading about the worst of the worst in historian  Nancy  MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains: the deep history of the radical right's stealth plan for America” (Amazon), about evil wealth supremacists such as John C Calhoun, James McGill Buchanan, and Charles Koch - the 1% of the 1%, in a sense. 

As usual, I’m also trying to work out how their evil can be undone, and it isn’t easy - things like action against the climate crisis and for minimalism, counter-greed strategies, and the sorts of power balancing strategies that Robert  Reich advocates for will help the planet and many people, but the deliberate and wilful attempt by the people written about in “Democracy in Chains” to destroy democracy requires more. 

No doubt I will find what the author suggests in due course, but, for now, it seems like the informative writings of people like John  Pilger, Michael  West, Greg  Jericho, Alan  Kohler, and Michael Pascoe, the calls to stand up and be accountable for our society and democracy made by people like Robert  Reich, George  Monbiot and others is the way to go. We have to find the courage and make the decisions that avoid lifestyle vulnerabilities to enable to us to be ethical and stand up against wrong doing wherever we find it - whether in right wing extremists, workplace autocrats, or community organisations. 

No doubt I will write (and read: see, for instance, this) more on this as I progress through the book. In the meantime, here are a few links to some (mostly relatively recent) previous writings of mine (which I will use to help refine my next thoughts on this, but feel to free to read them if you wish 😀 ): 

From my main (spiritual) blog: 

From this blog: 

And finally, a saying of mine: 

Beware the enforcers of conformity - those small people who, sharing the banality of evil, cannot abide that others may demonstrate that doing the same as everyone else is not compulsory.


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Thursday, 20 June 2024

The human cost of bigotry [Content Warning - discussion of, and links to articles on, hate, bigotry, extreme violence]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.

 

I’ve lost around half a dozen people to the effects of hate, nearly another to a violent murder attempt, and heard many horror stories of what has been done to people in the name of hate - which is what transphobia is. 

I have also personal and related experience of the insidious nature of that form of everyday hate which does not include overt physical violence. 

However, it is the physical violence that is able to be grasped with less background information and less mental effort that is often given the publicity of media time or social media controversy, and Robert Reich has just posted a video about the impact of one relatively well known multiple murder in the USA. 

The video’s details are:  

“When the K_K Murdered My Childhood Friend | Robert Reich”   https://youtu.be/u-kv3wdqqNo?si=jocekJqKBmVvx1Hy      

 

PS - this has now been supported by a text post: 

“60 years ago today, they murdered my protector”   https://robertreich.substack.com/p/60-years-ago-today-they-murdered      

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below. 

Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/  

 

 

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Sunday, 2 January 2022

A review of the last half century by former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

I came across a video yesterday by former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich giving his thoughts on the political changes of the last half century, and what has to be done to undo the damage that has been done. As always, I found the presentation engaging and thought provoking, and, for all that its US-centric, I consider it well worth a look and a think.

A lot of the general trends apply to my nation (Australia) as well - the growth of the evil of neoliberalism in particular.

However, there are a few other major items of damage that can be blamed on the evil and despicable John Howard, including: 

  • enshrining racism and xenophobia - as I wrote here:
    "The debate and ranting in reaction to this legislation have, however, hardened the once shallow fault lines that Howard identified and then incised deeply into the bedrock of Australian society."
  • start of the trend towards harshly abusing refugees aka "asylum seekers" (although the initial problem started under the ALP; see here, here, here [on the fundamental misconception], here, here, and here - and more recently, just as our racist "White Australia" policy contributed to South Africa's apartheid, so too now does our policy of punitive abuse threaten to drag other parts of the world down [see here and here]) and a more widespread contempt towards and disregard of international law, beginning with the "Tampa affair" (see here, here, here, here, and here) and continuing with the deceit and outright lies of the "children overboard" scandal (see here, here, here [the comments about the "backfire model" are particularly worth considering], and here); and
  • perverting ordinary, everyday Australians into neoliberals who want to be rich IPOCs. As I've written elsewhere,
    "a home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others"
    However, as the fictional character US President Josiah Bartlet says, in the Season 3 episode (no. 3) “Ways and Means” of the TV series “The West Wing” (at 40 min 29 sec):
    "It doesn't matter if most voters don’t benefit. They all believe that someday they will. That’s the problem with the American dream. It makes everyone concerned for the day they're gonna be rich."
    That's poison infected Australia's soul largely through the evil of John Howard, and his attempts to, in effect, buy votes.

I see racist Howard is still refusing to accept that the apology by PM Kevin Rudd had to be given - and, incidentally, it is the response of the Rudd Government (see here, here, here, here, and, for good measure, here) that prevented the GFC being as much of a catastrophe here as it was elsewhere.

PS - see also https://theconversation.com/cabinet-papers-2001-how-securitisation-became-a-mindset-to-dominate-australian-politics-for-a-generation-172056.

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Saturday, 6 January 2024

FROM this week’s news ON: politics & democracy, and international affairs

[Note: Content Warning - links to reports on bigotry/hate, violence/abuse/war. Reader discretion is advised]  

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

From this week’s news on politics & democracy, and international affairs (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published), and noting the conflicts, listed here, for instance, and other global; issues, such as those listed here, that may not have made it into this weeks news: 

  • “Sudan is the Worst Crisis in the World That Receives The Least Amount of Attention”   Global Dispatches   “As we enter 2024, the conflict in Sudan is shaping up to be one of the worst crises in the world. Nearly 7 million people have been displaced, hunger is widespread and a hallmark of this civil war has been ethnic cleansing that may have crossed the threshold to genocide. Despite being a calamitous catastrophe, Sudan has not received much media attention, nor sustained high level engagement by policy makers, particularly in the West.  To begin 2024, I am bringing you my conversation with Kholood Khair, the founder and managing director of Confluence Advisory, a think and do tank formerly based in Khartoum. We kick off discussing her analysis of why conflict broke out in April between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. We then discuss how this conflict evolved to the point where the Rapid Support Forces appear to very much have the upper hand and why international diplomacy has thus far failed to end this civil war.”    Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/global-dispatches-world-news-that-matters/id593535863?i=1000640332436  

 

  • a series of YouTube shorts show the problems of the USA by comparison with life in Germany:     “School Safety: USA v. Germany”   https://m.youtube.com/shorts/IEQFpi2K0WQ   Obviously Germany, as with most (not all - consider war zones) of the rest of the world, is better     and     “Studying USA Propaganda in Germany”   https://m.youtube.com/shorts/A3iV1kNX3MI   This covered current propaganda such as US (alleged) “exceptionalism”, the “American dream”, and “how US citizens have been led to have a lack of self-critical awareness to how their ideals have failed”. Details of the textbook used are included     and     “Money Saved by Immigrating to Germany as a U.S. American”   https://m.youtube.com/shorts/krIjX1ma4Hs   This highlights how backwards and third rate the US approach to health care and workers is  




From ACLED: 

For week   2nd - 8th December (note that this is several weeks behind current events owing to the time required to collect and analyse data):  

Large decrease in violence:  Venezuela,   Ghana,   Burkina Faso,   Niger,   Nigeria,   Cameroon,   CAR,   Ethiopia,   Madagascar,   Afghanistan,   Pakistan,   India,   Burma/Myanmar,   Indonesia,  

Moderate increase in violence:   Somalia,  

Large increase in violence:  Russia,   Türkiye,   Sudan,   


From the Early (mass atrocity) Warning Project:

Currently experiencing mass killing:   Nigeria,   CAR,   Sudan,   South Sudan,   Ethiopia,   Somalia,   DRC,   Syria,   Iraq,   Pakistan,   India,   Burma/Myanmar, 

Highest risk (2022-23):    Chad, Yemen,


My links for activism post may aid any activism  you may decide to do on any/all of these.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

  • this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

  • there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  • I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/  

 

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Sunday, 5 June 2022

Some random thoughts on corporate culture / corporatism (~900 words, 4 - 6 min. read)

I have just listened to a video of former US Secretary of Labor Robert  Reich’s full testimony to the US Senate Budget Committee “regarding corporate profits and inflation” (I couldn’t find the date of this). In that, Mr Reich criticised US corporate actions regarding prices and repurchasing shares, and mentions corporate culture a few times.

The focus of Mr Reich’s presentation was on the possible adverse impacts of corporations on consumers, but the issue of the impact of corporate culture on workers was also recently illustrated by the competing comments between two billionaires, with the American billionaire wanting workers back in the office (and making offensive aspersions about people not working when at home) whereas the Australian billionaire offered jobs to the former’s employees on a WFH basis - which has actually been shown to improve productivity and quality of life as compared to cubicle farms.

So what is going to be needed to change possible adverse impacts of corporations on consumers?

Well, for a start, I suggest that people consider cutting down their spending on products made by corporations, in favour of local, probably higher priced, possibly lower quality, products.

The reason people buy products from corporations is not only marketing: my first PC was built by someone locally, but using components that came out of corporate factories. Now, for convenience AND A WARRANTY I use commercial (made in a corporate factory) laptops. For convenience, a warranty & insurance, and SAFETY, I have a corporate made car.

On the other hand, I could use open source software on my laptop (I have, on previous PCs), but collaborating on files where other PCs are using other software packages can then become a problem. I have an excellent mechanic to do work on my car, but the extent of that work can be limited by corporate limitations designed to protect their copyright (my home state has legislated that car manufacturers must make programming accessible).

In those cases, right-to-repair legislation probably represents, in my opinion, a reasonable way to mediate the balance between the point at which a corporation considers it worth pursuing the development of an invention/innovation/idea, and the reasonable expectations of consumers to not be beholden to corporations in way that remove competition.

If we consider developing pharmaceuticals, there are development costs and work that I am of the opinion that governments should be undertaking (and making available on a not for profit basis); as they’re not, corporations step in to the gap - and I am the beneficiary of such work.

Where I become concerned, is when government policies results in access to those products - both within the nation of origin and to less wealthy nations - becoming unfair. The USA’s notorious health system is an example of that, but other nations have their  problems as well.

The pragmatic solution may be for governments to start saying “in the interests of human decency, we’ll start subsidising sales / buying and making medicines available” - as was partly done during the pandemic.

This is where citizens come in, as governments will eventually respond to pressure - especially at the ballot box.

Corporations also respond to consumer pressure - mainly, what is bought and what isn’t. They’ve said so, often enough, and that is why I never used to buy conservative / trashy tabloids (back in the pre-Internet days), which others used to do to “know what the bigots are saying”. From the corporations point of view, EVERY SALE is a sign of approval.

Being a tourist to a despotic nation is too often taken by those despots as a sign of approval, which is why I consider people should think carefully about such consumerism.

What this means is that one of the most important, and underacknowledged, actions of consumer activism is restraint - specifically, refrain from putting money into something you disapprove of, if you can.

That is not always possible – note the examples above, but that is where voter pressure on governments comes in to play.

There is a place for positive activism as well, not only to put pressure on governments, but campaigns aimed at getting corporations to address climate crisis responsibility, human rights and social responsibility, and treating workers better.

The Australian billionaire’s comments were an example of positive activism on the latter topic.

Companies may also respond to reasonable, well-reasoned communication from informed members of the public (aggressive, angry rants often just force “good” people into being defensive, and feed the animosity of any “bad” people – but there is a time and place for protest actions, and the apartheid era was an example of that).

Such pressures have led to things like corporate social responsibility (less of a tick box exercise than some think, not as perfect as others think), certification of social licence, and, in some cases, companies being ahead of governments on things like diversity and inclusion.

Shareholders being activists on these issues is important – especially when selecting senior managers, as it is vital to ensure they are decent human beings first and foremost.

There is a legal fiction that a corporation is the equivalent of an individual. A corporation is, however, made up of many humans – individuals, responding to life pressures such as paying the rent and buying food.

When corporate culture looks after those people well, they are more productive and have a better quality of life.

In turn, that corporate culture is amenable to human influence – both from within the companies, and without.

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