The Real "State of the Union" Rather Than the Don's Version

Isn't it incredible how Trump said that the Govt's unemployment, inflation, GDP, etc. numbers were all false just before he took office, but not long after he was sworn in, those numbers were all correct.  Plus, he's now claiming that the supposed "recovery" we're in is all due to his Administration's actions in the past year.  What he expects people to believe never ceases to amaze me.  The Corporate Media are every bit as bad in that respect as is Trump.  Let's take a brief look at how things really are in this great Land.
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1.   Unemployment---

The Feds have six measures of the unemployment rate and they label them U-1 through U-6.  U-3 is the one used as the "official unemployment rate".  Currently, that rate is 4.1%...but, there's a problem.   U-3 tends to underestimate the “true” extent of unemployment because those who have been unemployed and have given up on finding another job, or those who haven’t searched for a job recently, are not included in this category.

U-6 is closer to the truth.  This number measures not just the unemployed, but also those who would like to work full-time but are stuck with part-time and/or temporary work.  They are barely scraping by.  Since the Crash of 2008, U-6 has been (to varying degrees) over 11%...but, again there's a problem.  U-6 also is incomplete.  It excludes the long-term unemployed, those who have been out of the workforce for a year or more, have not searched for work in the most recent year, but would still like a job.  Many (probably most) of those people are so down and depressed that they've given up the search.

The point here is that the "official unemployment rate" is always incomplete.  The real rate is at least double, and usually higher than that.  Currently, if we use U-6 (which is more accurate, but still incomplete) the true rate of unemployment in the USA is somewhere in the double digits.  The Feds and the Corporate Media always promote the lower U-3 number.  If Trump were really a "rebel", he'd tell the truth; but he's a member of The Establishment.  The only difference between him and the rest of them is that he's unimaginably crass...ignorant, boorish, thoughtless, blundering, and tactless. 

2.  Inflation---

For many years, there has been a huge problem with the measurement of price inflation.  The Feds use something called "core inflation", which excludes the price changes in food and energy.  Hello...those are a fair-sized chunk of most peoples' expenses.  Years & years ago, food and energy were included.  Then the Feds decided that those commodities were too "volatile" to give an accurate picture.  Right.  So now we're stuck with an inaccurate measurement... usually a number that is way too low.

In addition, the Gov't does not include asset inflation...over-valued stocks, over-valued houses, etc.  Currently, both the Stock Market and the Housing Market are in giant Bubbles.  Today, stocks are more over-valued than they were in 2008... or even in 1929.

3.  Bizarre Derivatives---  

Because of a continuing lack of comprehensive Fed regulations & oversight, bizarre Financial Derivatives (such as credit default swaps, CDOs, synthetic CDOs, bespoke tranches, etc.) still threaten our economy & finances, as well as those of the entire world.  While it's true that the number & value of such derivatives most likely has been reduced, the amount still out in the Market is horrendous.  It's difficult to know the exact number because these are private contracts between Casino Capitalists.  Best estimates of analysts as to the amounts in the Market just before the 2008 Crash and now are:  about $1.4 quadrillion, and about  $700 trillion.  $700 trillion is way above the entire world's GDP...which is about $76 trillion.  Derivatives still have a high potential to crash the world.  And yet, there are no serious regulations to prevent that.

Not only are Crony/Casino Capitalists (not genuine Capitalists) still to some degree or another creating bizarre derivatives related to mortgages, but now they're doing the same with car loans and housing rent receipts.  The whole business is just plain nuts...and extremely dangerous.

4.  Stock Buy-Backs---

One reason the Stock Market is so over-valued is because many Corporations are buying back their own stocks.  That falsely inflates their value.  I suspect that will increase now that Trump & Congress have given the Upper Crust an immense, permanent Tax Cut.  [The rest of America received a much lesser temporary Tax Cut.]

5.  The Dollar---

Jim Rickards holds a degree in International Economics, he's an attorney, a former consultant to the CIA and Pentagon on economic matters, and a NYT best-selling author...twice.  According to him and his contacts, the IMF has launched a ten-year plan to replace the Dollar as the world's reserve currency.  Ultimately, that will be extremely bad news for our economy.  The way Trump alienates allies & trade partners, the situation will be even worse.

6.  Infrastructure---

According to the top Civil Engineers, our infrastructure is in dire need of repair/replacement.  During his election campaign, Trump announced he would get Congress to institute a big Infrastructure Program.  Where is it?  He's been in office over a year, already added (he and Congress) a potential one trillion dollars to our insane National Debt, but there's no Program...not even meetings about it.  Meanwhile, our bridges continue to rust, rot, & crumble, our trains run off the tracks, and our roads & highways continue to fall apart.  Not all of them at once, but still...it's a serious problem, and it's killing people.

7.  War & Nukes---

Sometime during the last ten years or so, and right up through the present day, the Powers-That-Be convinced each other that nuclear weapons actually can be used in warfare.  They justify such thinking by telling each other (and us, indirectly) that the weapons will be smaller, "tactical" nukes.  In their minds, that means it's feasible...with no serious, long-term effects.  This is unmitigated insanity.  What they apparently don't understand is that any such use of nukes would be a dangerous experiment with likely disastrous results.

The Obama Administration launched the ten-year Program designed to create these "tactical" nukes, but Trump is exacerbating the situation with his utter ignorance of science and statesmanship.  Not only the people of the USA, but the entire world as well should be protesting this idea in a massive way.

8.  Climate Change and Other Environmental/Health/Safety (EHS) Issues---

Trump & Crew are bound and determined to tear down Fed Gov't Regulations; they've already started that.  Those Regs are not just in the Business arena, but also in the EHS world.  I worked in the field of EHS regulatory compliance for several years, and I'll be the first to admit that some of those Regs are overlapping and need to be tweaked or even eliminated.  A few are not necessary, but most of them (the overwhelming majority) are necessary.  Without them, we'll have more pollution, sickness, injuries, and premature death.

Regarding Climate Change, there are too many variables in that scenario to say that human activity (mainly the generation of greenhouse gases) is the only cause of what's going on; however, there's plenty of evidence to state with certainty that human activity is contributing to the problem...most likely in a major way.  Given that, it makes sense to address the problem of greenhouse gases.  Because Corporation Powers consider such things to be "negative externalities", the only way to address the problem is through Regulations.

As to the Business world, and using only one example, does anyone seriously believe that the Financial Sector doesn't need to be regulated?  I hope no one believes that.

My point under this subtopic is simple:  things are not good, and getting worse every day.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Corporatist Oligarchs Have Bamboozled the People

Knowing how I believe that few, if any, differences exist between Repubs and Dems (at the highest levels of politics), a CA friend sent me an email showing what he believes are some of the differences.  He ended by asking if I knew of any Repub in favor of the $15 minimum wage.  My response (slightly edited) is found below.

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Not 100% sure, but I think Senator Susan Collins is for $15 per hour.  Many other Repubs AND many Dems are for a raise to $10 - $12, rather than $15.  [Side Note:  In only a two-person household in 1992, I was making $15 an hour...

and barely scraping by back then.  $15/hour is almost nothing nowadays.]

But none of that proves anything; it's like not seeing the forest because of individual trees.  In general, & in the larger scope of things, today's major Parties both are dictatorial in their running of each Party and they're both Corporatist in nature.  They both marginalize any truly Populist candidates, and they kow-tow to Wall Street.

In my opinion, the whole current Repub v. Dem thing is a complete sham...a Divide & Conquer strategy by Oligarchs.  That wasn't true in the past, but it is now.  No one ever will convince me otherwise.  The last genuine Populist to run for national office was George McGovern in 1972.  Sanders is better than most, but I think his attitude toward things like Drone Wars & Foreign Policy in general, stinks.  Even Rand Paul, a blatant Corporatist, has a better Foreign Policy view than Sanders.  Paul is much more of a non-interventionist than almost anyone in DC.  He has been marginalized almost totally because of it.  The same thing happened to Dennis Kucinich on the Dem side.  

Both Dems & Repubs in the top slots want American Hegemony to continue forever.  They all believe we should be the world's Police Force.  Forget about the U.S. Constitution and International Law.  According to the Republicrats & the Demopublicans, the U.S. Gov't can order the overthrow of any Gov't, change any regime, place sanctions on any country, and bomb any nation it so chooses.  It's insanity. 

No-Sir, in the big picture, there's hardly any difference at all between Dems & Repubs at the highest levels when it comes to really significant issues.  In the rare cases when there is a difference on a significant issue, it's usually because one or the other has given in to overwhelming popular protest...but their core, Corporatist beliefs have not changed.  Politicians are sleazy & deceitful that way.

That's how I see it, anyway.  Forty years ago, things were different... but not anymore.  The political paradigm has changed completely.  Unfortunately, most Americans seem to be stuck in the old paradigm of Repubs v. Dems, Right v. Left, etc.  That exists in name only... and is a testament to how thoroughly the Oligarchs have bamboozled the People.

As I've said many times, the new political paradigm is:  the Oligarchy v. the rest of us.  In socioeconomic terms, the Lower Class is growing larger, the Middle Class is shrinking, and the Upper class has increased its income by 700% in the last 30 years.  The two major political Parties are no longer relevant... except as Edward Bernays style Propaganda.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Nukes, Dow Chemical, Rockwell International, Teflon, DuPont, Regulations, and the Trump Crew

Preface---
As a reminder, one of my few areas of expertise is environmental regulatory compliance (expertise both academic & "in the field") and HazMat & HazWaste inspections of relevant facilities.  Years ago, I worked for both public and private institutions in these areas.  The essay below will illustrate why the Trump Administration's gutting of environmental and health & safety agencies and their regulations ultimately will prove to be disastrous.
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For almost two decades just prior to 1975, Dow Chemical---a private contractor---operated the Atomic Energy Commission's Rocky Flats bomb factory in Colorado.  Because of Dow's improper storage of thousands of drums of oil contaminated with plutonium, those drums corroded and leaked plutonium into the soil, water, and air.  Dow also "disposed" of contaminated water by spraying it on fields surrounding the facility...claiming that was "irrigation".  A Whistleblower by the name of James Stone brought this all to light, and of course, he was fired or forced to resign.  In 1975, a new Gov't Department took over and a different contractor was hired.

Throughout the 1980's and culminating (in 1989) in an FBI raid on the Department of Energy (DOE) Rocky Flats nuclear bomb manufacturing facility, Rockwell International (the other private contractor) was illegally disposing of hazardous waste contaminated with plutonium.  Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years and is considered by many to be the most toxic substance on Earth.

The illegal disposal resulted in plutonium contaminating not only soil, but the air, the groundwater, and surface streams as well.  Over 60 pounds of the toxic substance were found to have accumulated in the ductworks of just one building of the plant.  The US EPA and the Colorado Dept. of Health both were prohibited by DOE from inspecting the key areas of the entire facility.  "National Security".  Meanwhile, plutonium was contaminating the air, soil, and streams that wound up in drinking water reservoirs.  Eventually, DOE succumbed to pressure and submitted a huge Report detailing the hazardous waste and what was done with it.  The FBI studied all 27 volumes of the Report, and even took water samples just offsite of Rocky Flats.  That all led to the raid on the facility...one Agency raiding another.

There's more to the story, going into the 1990's, but I have to move on to the next topic.  If interested, go to YouTube and do a Search for "Rocky Flats"; you'll find several documentaries or clips.  In particular, look for Frontline's--- Rocky Flats Secrets of a Bomb Factory.
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Decades and decades ago, DuPont Chemical introduced teflon, the non-stick coating for cookware.  The chemicals in teflon also became incorporated into many other consumer items, such as water resistant fabric, stain resistant carpet, dental floss, microwave popcorn bags, fast food wrappers, and others.  DuPont kept a crucial secret from consumers regarding those chemical ingredients:  they are highly toxic, and eventually became linked to six different diseases, including kidney cancer.  For years, DuPont discharged wastes containing those chemicals into the waterways adjacent to their manufacturing facilities in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

People began to notice health problems in the area such as cancer and liver disease.  There was a question, too, of birth defects.  Plus, over 150 cattle died of some strange, blood hemorrhaging condition.  Suspicions were high that DuPont manufacturing activities might be linked to those health problems.  Some residents of Parkersburg, former DuPont employees, a cattle farmer, and lawyers launched what turned out to be a 17-year effort to find out the truth of the matter.  The attorney, Rob Bilott, was especially instrumental in bringing a class action lawsuit against DuPont.

In addition to discharging waste into waterways, DuPont buried seven thousand tons of contaminated waste in a nearby landfill.  Later, it was discovered that the teflon chemicals were in the drinking water of the region.

It's estimated that 99% of Americans have these chemicals in our bodies, and most of the population of the rest of the world as well.  That's because the waste also was discharged to the air until 2013; DuPont finally stopped manufacturing the substances during that year.

For the full story, see the Democracy Now news broadcast for January 23, 2018, democracynow.org
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The point of all the above is that EHS (environmental/health/safety) matters are considered "externalities" by most mega corporations.  In other words, those matters don't count; generally, big companies don't give a damn about them.  Yes, they TALK a great game, and a very few may even actually be sincere, but generally the reality is much different.  The Big Boys mostly have to be forced to care...or at least act as if they do.  That's done by regulations, and enforcement of those regs.  Without that, we'll have even more pollution, disease, birth defects, poisoning, and negative impact on 99% of our population.  That's precisely what Trump & Crew are promulgating with their gutting of EHS agencies and regulations.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Relax - We Have a Stable Genius as President

If you don't believe it, just ask him...he'll tell you so.  Oh, I forgot, he's already done that.  What a sorry, sad individual we have in the top spot of the Executive Branch.  The more I learn of his whole history, the sorrier & sadder he gets.  We all should be thoroughly embarrassed that he's in office.

This would not happen in a country with honest politicians elected to the top slots, politicians who truly represented the People instead of Corporations.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well
p.s.  For any new readers of this blog:  no, I'm not a Democrat...neither am I a Republican.

The Corporatist, Militarist Coup in the USA is Almost Complete

That Coup has been going on for decades.  It has continued advancing over these many years whether Democrats or Republicans have been in power in DC.  Ike was spot-on in his statement about the Military-Industrial Complex, but in the last twenty or so years there has been a conversion to the State-Corporate-Military Complex.  Let's briefly look at a few of the reasons for the assertions in this paragraph.  The following reasons are more or less in chronological order.

1.  The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964---  It turns out that the Incident prompting that Resolution didn't happen at all the way the Military said it did.  Nevertheless, it was used to get us into a disastrous war.  Plus, the War Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution was ignored completely.  Private war contractors here made out like bandits, financially speaking.

2.  Just prior to being elected in 1968, Nixon claimed he had a "secret plan" to end the Vietnam War...except, he didn't have any such plan.  The war dragged on for about seven more years, and the military hardware manufacturers raked in beaucoup profits.  State Capitalism at its best.  😒  Meanwhile, about two million people were killed or drastically maimed.  That's not counting the birth defects from the dioxin in Agent Orange.

3.  In 1971, Nixon took us completely off the Gold Standard; that became known as the "Nixon Shock".  In essence, our Gov't defaulted on its debt.  Very quickly, the Dollar lost 25% of its value/purchasing power.  We went to a total fiat currency.  Nixon said it all would be "temporary".  Right.  While Carter largely was blamed for the rampant inflation of the mid to late 1970's, it was the Nixon Shock that made such inflation inevitable.  The point of all this is:  without the monetary Gold Standard, the Fed Gov't was free to spend, spend, spend while borrowing, borrowing, borrowing.  By the time the Reagan Era ended, we had gone from a creditor nation to a monstrous debtor nation.  State Capitalism went bananas, and the military budget increased exponentially.

4.Clinton and Gore---  fierce supporters of NAFTA.  One million jobs went South.  The Rich got richer.  Our two "Populists" (not hardly) also lobbied hard for the conversion of GATT into the WTO...and the admission of China into the WTO.  That guaranteed no reform of that organization relative to environmental and democratic matters.  It all was a massive boost to "Globalization"...the wrong kind of Globalization.  The Rich got richer.  Workers suffered.

5.  Dubya Bush---  flim-flam war propaganda (Iraq), gross ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, unimaginable spending by the Feds, State Capitalism on steroids, the beginning of Drone Wars, more U.S. Hegemony, and the Rich got richer.  The economy ended up being a disaster.  The Surveillance State shifted into second gear.  The Fourth Amendment was trashed.  The blatant Propaganda was beyond incredible.

6.  Obama---  another Fake Populist and Master Propagandist.  Even though admitting to mortgage and securities fraud, not a single Mega Bank was prosecuted by the Obama Administration for criminal acts leading up to the 2008 Crisis.  The Drone Wars increased beyond belief.  According to the Left-leaning Roosevelt Institute, ObamaCare is sorely lacking and is a "bailout of the health insurance industry".  Obama launched a ten-year program to update & improve our nuclear arsenal.  Then there's the Syria mess, and the support for the terrorist-exporting Saudis.  [Wahhabism is State-sponsored by Saudi Arabia.]
In his first Presidential race, Obama received more campaign contributions from Mega Corporations than did McCain.  The Surveillance State shifted into third gear...then overdrive.  Fed Gov't spending increased even more than it did under Bush.  I didn't think that would be possible.  The National Debt soared to amazing heights...it's now impossible to repay in full.  Obama was a fierce supporter of the TPP, the most egregious "Free Trade" Agreement yet proposed.  Finally, while in office, our President became a multi-millionaire...mostly through the purchasing of Bonds.

7.  Trump---  I could write twenty pages on this guy's Corporatism, Fake Populism, gaslighting, war-mongering, conceit, arrogance, snobbery, Crony Capitalism, serial lying, elitism, disgusting sexism, ignorance of crucial matters, and gross propagandizing; unfortunately, time and energy constraints prevent me from doing that.  The Don is absolutely, without question the worst President this Land ever has had.  Thank heaven, just as I and many others predicted, his base supporters are beginning to question his competence and sincerity.  The prediction was that would happen within one year.  Kudos to them.
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Side Bar---

The gall of the Trump Admin. threatening the overwhelming majority of nations at the U.N. because they disagreed with Trump's decision on our Embassy in Israel.  Typical U.S. Gov't Bully-Boy tactics.  One more example of our Gov't erecting roadblocks to Middle East peace.  The last thing the Fed-Corporate-Military Complex wants is peace in that region.  That would be bad for Big Business...especially bad for the Mega Banks and war contractors.

Lastly,  the Coup finally will be complete when at least two more things happen:
1.  SS and Medicare are privatized, and Wall Street gets its hands on that money;
2.  Another major war is provoked by the Corporatists...in order to forestall the following--- the next upcoming (and overdue) financial/economic Crash, and action by the IMF and Bank of International Settlements to replace the Dollar with something else to serve as the World's Reserve Currency.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well
p.s.  Happy New Year

Crony Capitalists, Globalists, NeoConservatives, Corporatism, and the Corporate Media

YaHoo News just posted a brief piece about Ajit Pai (the FCC Chairman) doing a gag skit for some group in which he was a shill for Verizon.  A member of upper management in Verizon participated in that "joke".  The gag apparently fell flat.

The fact is, for some time now the Corporatocracy & its Crony Capitalists have been supremely confident that Americans are so propagandized & distracted that they (the Corporatists) never will be dethroned.  As a result, they don't even try & conceal their Cronyism anymore.

The main problem is that too many Americans don't appear to understand the difference between Corporatism (essentially Crony Capitalism) and genuine Capitalism.  Too many believe the battle here is between Capitalism (or really, a Mixed Economy) & Socialism.  It isn't.  It's between Corporatism and genuine Capitalism.  Most of the Right Wing and even much of the Left Wing seem to think those two are the same thing.  They aren't even close to being the same.  This is why the Right Wing, in particular, is supporting (without realizing it) the destruction of our economy---they think they're supporting Capitalism.  They aren't; they're supporting Crony Capitalism...which basically is Fascism.  Until they overcome that ignorance, our country--- & especially our economy--- is doomed to NeoFeudalism.

The same exact thing is true for "Conservatism".  People who think they're "Conservatives" today aren't even close to that.  They are NeoConservatives (based on the idiots they've been supporting for at least a couple of decades).  NeoConservatism is a horse of an entirely different color, & over a period of 20-25 years, it has totally replaced genuine Conservatism.  The Corporate Media all know this, but continue the myth that current Right Wing politicians are "Conservatives".  They do it because NeoConservatism has a very tiny base of support, whereas the old, long-gone Conservatism has a much, much larger base of support.  NeoConservatives essentially are Globalist, hegemonic, monopolistic, militarist, Crony Capitalist, elitist politicians (pretty much Fascists)...nothing at all like 99% of the old Conservatives, such as Russell Kirk or Paul Craig Roberts.  I would venture to guess that almost all Americans who call themselves Conservatives today haven't even read the "Bible" of Modern Day Conservatism by Kirk, The Conservative Mind (1953).  Had they read it, it would dawn upon them that they've been supporting the wrong politicians.

In The USA, Propaganda reigns supreme.  And so it goes.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Republican and Democratic March to NeoFeudalism

Here we go again--- the Trickle-Down Theory from the Repubs.  Too bad the Theory doesn't work.  The billions given to the Rich with the proposed Tax Cut will not be spent on generating jobs.  Instead, here's where the money will go:

1.  Corporations will buy back their own stock, thus falsely inflating the value of it.  The Stock Market Bubble continues.

2.  The Rich will invest in foreign currencies and bonds.

3.  They'll invest in real money...silver & gold...the way JP Morgan Chase Bank has done.

4.  They'll invest in other no-job-producing, hard assets... or in Financial Derivatives (the bizarre kind that resulted in the 2008 Crash).

5.  They'll sock it away in offshore tax havens.

6.  They'll spend it merging, downsizing, and moving businesses South or overseas.  The current Tax Bill rewards them for doing that.

Let's wake up to the fact that in this Age of Financialization, Mega Corporations don't need many American workers in order to be successful anymore.  Until the next Crash, they can make a bundle via Asset Bubbles...or loaning "money" to consumers.  [General Motors is more of a GMAC Bank than a vehicle manufacturer.]

Any cuts in Middle Class taxes are temporary, but those for the Rich are permanent.  This is an old story; it's nothing new.

While the Dems at least often do work for a safety net for the People, nevertheless, they (like the Repubs) essentially are supporting a move toward NeoFeudalism...two classes:  the very Rich and the relatively poor.  The advantage the Dems have is that they TALK a good game.  Like the Repubs, they make people think they're on the side of the Middle Class...but they have a better spiel than the Repubs.  Keep in mind, they won the popular vote in the last election... not by 100,000...by 3,000,000.  [Some Repubs, including our Liar-in-Chief, believe that was due to 3,000,000 "illegals" voting.  That's hilarious.  Many American citizens were kept from voting, so the likelihood of such a huge number of non-citizens being able to vote is pretty much ZERO.  Many of Trump's pronouncements remind me of the old Nazi theory on Propaganda---the bigger the Lie, the more people will believe it.]

Unfortunately, no one in the Upper Crust of DC politics is on the side of the hollowed out Middle.  Both Clinton & Obama each were in power for 8 yrs...both became multi-millionaires.  Middle Class wages remained basically flat.  The Rich got richer.  Two major Crashes happened.  The National Security & Surveillance State grew.  Wars did not not abate.  Obama launched a 10-yr program to update our nuclear arsenal.  The National Debt ballooned.  The Rich got richer...& the Middle Class continued to shrink...just like it did during 8 yrs of Dubya.  People like Schumer & Pelosi being touted as "Liberals" is laughable.  People such as McConnell & Ryan being touted as "Conservatives" also is laughable.  As for Trump, he's nothing but an ego-centric, mentally unbalanced opportunist.  They all are Corporatists of the highest order, and in general, none of them are working for us.  The fact that any of them even are in political office is a testament to the power of Edward Bernays style Propaganda. 

Presently, the Middle Class comprises less than 50% (just barely) of our population; the Corporate Media make it appear as though it's 80% or more.  For the last 30 years or so, the greatest transfer of wealth in Human history has continually increased...whether Dems or Repubs were in power in DC.  It didn't matter which Party held the reins... and still doesn't.

Too many Main Street Progressives (just like Main Street Right-Wingers) are stuck in the Repub v. Dem political paradigm.  As long as that continues, the Oligarchs' march toward NeoFeudalism will be the only thing that progresses.  Divide and conquer...they're Masters at it.  Most Americans at the level of Main Street appear to no longer even consider a Middle Way...even though 41-42% of registered voters are Independents.  Only 25% are Repubs, and only 31% are Dems.  It's blatantly obvious that no matter which major Party is in power in DC, the Oligarchs make the Rules.  

Voting won't change that...because 99.99% of national political candidates are selected, groomed, financed by, and beholden to the Oligarchy.  Not only that, but almost all national elections of late turn out to be rigged in some way or another...or in several different ways.  Only peaceful protests/activism, boycotts, and shunning from the outside ever will make a difference.  Forget "working within the Political System" to change it.  That System is totally controlled and/or corrupt.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well