July 14 2015. Take from the masses—and give to the rich. This is the U.S. today—and has been for some time. It is a clear and present disaster.

THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO CANNOT (OR WILL NOT) SEE--

SUCH AS MOST AMERICAN VOTERS UP TO NOW

I have been looking at this picture for 11 years now, and to me, it is as clear as day, but—if voting patterns mean anything (a point open to debate) most American voters do not (yet) appreciate that the U.S. economic system is rigged against them.

Or maybe they just feel helpless. Damned if I know the answer—but it adds up to the greatest heist in history—and the death of democracy. The rich have used their money to get control of Congress (and considerable power at state and local level as well) and do not intend to relinquish it—ever. Why should they? They have the ingredient required to keep it. It’s called “money.”

They also have considerable clout where using the U.S. internal security system to keep protest in check is concerned. If you protest against the status quo, you are likely to find your organization under surveillance, infiltrated, your protests blocked by the somewhat militarized police—and lawyers used against you wholesale—and, by the way, the chances are you will lose your job.

They believe in “We The People,” but choose not regard most of their fellow citizens as “people.” On the other hand, “Corporations are “people.”

We have come to a pretty pass when this kind of rubbish is taken seriously—but the Supreme Court seems to.

Will Bernie Sanders away the average America voter from his or her torpor? What he is saying makes total sense—but that has never been much of a vote-getter.

The following extract is from the Washington Post.

 “Our economic goals have to be redistributing a significant amount of [wealth] back from the top 1 percent,” Sanders said in a recent interview, even if that redistribution slows the economy overall.

“Unchecked growth – especially when 99 percent of all new income goes to the top 1 percent – is absurd,” he said. “Where we’ve got to move is not growth for the sake of growth, but we’ve got to move to a society that provides a high quality of life for all of our people. In other words, if people have health care as a right, as do the people of every other major country, then there’s less worry about growth. If people have educational opportunity and their kids can go to college and they have child care, then there’s less worry about growth for the sake of growth.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, ready to challenge Clinton in 2016 bid

Sanders’s position inverts decades of orthodoxy among liberal and conservative candidates alike, by prizing redistribution above all else. It taps into the mounting frustration in America, particularly among more liberal voters, with the widening gap between the rich and everyone else.

July 13 2015 The Great American Issue—What round do I shoot people with?

AMERICANS DON’T SEEM OVERLY CONCERNED THAT THE U.S. IS NOW A PLUTOCRACY

BUT GUN CALIBER IS SOMETHING TO GET WORKED UP OVER

I have heard more criticisms of 9mm as an effective caliber than I care to think about—so I am amused to see it is coming back into favor. Actually, there are good reasons for it as the article below makes clear. The full piece may be found at http://looserounds.com/2014/09/21/fbi-9mm-justification-fbi-training-division/

The article makes the valid point—that cannot be overstressed—that all 9mm rounds are not equal—and it is the projectile (bullet), not the caliber, that does the actual damage. In short, any old 9mm won’t do. You want the right one.

Being a thriller writer, who likes to feature action in all his thrillers (I write non-fiction too) I try to track firearms technology. Whatever one thinks of the effects of firearms, and guns in general, I find them fairly fascinating things—and fun to shoot. In that context, 9mm scores highly. It is powerful, with excellent penetration, but it is fairly easy to control.

I still have a weakness for some of the smaller, high velocity, flat trajectory rounds, which can penetrate soft body armor—increasingly common these days—and have equipped my main protagonist, Hugo Fitzduane with such a weapon—an FN FiveSeven which is compact, takes a 20 round magazine as standard, and uses the hot 5.7x28mm cartridge.

It fires a ridiculously light projectile—only 30-40 grains depending on the version used—but combat reports say it is highly effective. Above all, felt recoil is significantly less than larger calibers, so shot placement tends to be better with it.

Shot placement is the key to the whole thing. As my late friend, Joe Sperrazza—who studied over 4,000 fatalities in Vietnam to come up with his findings—the most important thing is to get a hit, not the size of the projectile.  He used to emphasize this point during his lectures by throwing chalk at his audience and shouting: “Get a hit! Get a hit! Get a hit!”

He normally did—and he was.

I meet some interesting characters in my line of work.

But, now over to the FBI. They have a different view.

“May 6, 2014

FBI Training Division: FBI Academy, Quantico, VA

Executive Summary of Justification for Law Enforcement Partners

• Caliber debates have existed in law enforcement for decades
• Most of what is “common knowledge” with ammunition and its effects on the human target are rooted in myth and folklore
• Projectiles are what ultimately wound our adversaries and the projectile needs to be the basis for the discussion on what “caliber” is best
• In all the major law enforcement calibers there exist projectiles which have a high likelihood of failing LEO’s in a shooting incident and there are projectiles which have a high ting incident likelihood of succeeding for LEO’s in a shooting incident
• Handgun stopping power is simply a myth
• The single most important factor in effectively wounding a human target is to have penetration to a scientifically valid depth (FBI uses 12” – 18”)
• LEO’s miss between 70 – 80 percent of the shots fired during a shooting incident
• Contemporary projectiles (since 2007) have dramatically increased the terminal effectiveness of many premium line law enforcement projectiles (emphasis on the 9mm Luger offerings)
• 9mm Luger now offers select projectiles which are, under identical testing conditions, I outperforming most of the premium line .40 S&W and .45 Auto projectiles tested by the FBI
• 9mm Luger offers higher magazine capacities, less recoil, lower cost (both in ammunition and wear on the weapons) and higher functional reliability rates (in FBI weapons)
• The majority of FBI shooters are both FASTER in shot strings fired and more ACCURATE with shooting a 9mm Luger vs shooting a .40 S&W (similar sized weapons)
• There is little to no noticeable difference in the wound tracks between premium line law Auto enforcement projectiles from 9mm Luger through the .45 Auto
• Given contemporary bullet construction, LEO’s can field (with proper bullet selection) 9mm Lugers with all of the terminal performance potential of any other law enforcement pistol caliber with none of the disadvantages present with the “larger” calibers

July 12 2015. Both the U.S growth rate and productivity are lousy—but is anywhere else doing any better?

CHINA PLANS ITS ECONOMY. THE U.S. DOES NOT.

 

WHICH APROACH WORKS BETTER?

CHINA’S—AND IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE

And, by the way, virtually all successful nations plan their economies.

The U.S. media, generally speaking, have one very bad habit—its journalists love to cover the troubles and deficiencies of other countries while rarely covering the positive aspects. Why is this?

• IGNORANCE. Ignorance of the reporters (not to be underestimated—especially since so many foreign bureau have been closed down).
• LAZINESS. Laziness of the reporters (definitely a factor—a great deal of U.S. reporting is predictable and shallow)..
• POLICIES. Policies of the media owners (the rich who largely own the media corporations seem to have a deliberate policy of keeping Americans dumbed-down, fat and happy). The tragedy here is that there is some exceedingly good journalism practiced in the U.S.—but it is, by and large, fragmented and not mass market).
• POLITICAL STABILITY. To preserve political stability (because if Americans, as a whole, knew how much better so many counties are doing than the U.S. there would be mass protests! The fact is these days, that though the U.S. may be the richest country in the world on a capita basis, income inequality is so extreme, and the American Business Model is so rigged, both the quality of life and standard of living are not only in decline—but lower than those of many developed nations (such as those of Northern Europe).

If people are doing better than you, it makes sense to learn from them—and, over time, possibly to better them. Life is essentially—at least in terms of  knowledge and expertise—a game of leapfrog.

The U.S. seems quite happy to exploit foreign ideas—especially when they are entertainment oriented, or otherwise superficial, but extraordinarily unwilling to learn from other countries when it comes to political and commercial policies of fundamental substance. (particularly where labor relations are concerned)—even when there is proof, over years, that some particular policy or approach works better. In fact, the communications oriented U.S. works very hard to avoid discussion of such matters and keep knowledge of them out. Where certain key issues are concerned, the country has de-facto censorship (though it is never called that. This very real, and immensely destructive censorship, works through omission, distraction, confusion, the legal system, exhaustion, and fear. The totality of these forces is immensely powerful and effective.

Why is this?

• IGNORANCE.
• LAZINESS.
• ARROGANCE.
• IDEOLOGY.
• VESTED INTERESTS prefer the status quo.

A major feature here is that vested interests have a habit of using ideology to suit their purposes. For instance they may know perfectly well that climate change is real—but if helping to avoid its excesses costs them money, they will cast doubt on the scientific evidence, and talk about government interference.

This permanent tsunami of distraction, rampant intellectual dishonesty, and outright lying, is rife  in the U.S. at present, has been going on for decades, and has led to the gridlock and breakdown of trust which is so pervasive now—but which suits the ultra rich-who control the major corporations (who control the U.S. political system). It adds up to truly massive cradle to the grave propaganda which so distracts and confuses the typical American voter that the real issues are ignored. Under its cover, the Constitution has been hijacked to serve a privileged elite. It is a truly desperate situation—yet practically unnoticed.

The following is a brief extract from an article by Chris Hedges in Alternet.org on the matter. It cuts to the very real neutralizing of all too many Americans in terms of making any real contribution to civic matters at virtually any level. They have opted for a world of electronic escape by the tens of millions—and that figure may be low. Democracy depends upon an informed public. America doesn’t have one. It doesn’t have democracy any more either.

A generation has fallen down the rabbit hole of electronic hallucinations—with images often dominated by violence and pornography. They have become, in the words of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, “atomized,” sucked alone into systems of information and entertainment that cater to America’s prurient fascination with the tawdry, the cruel and the deadening cult of the self. 

Let me close on the subject of planning. The classic objection to planning an economy is that the Soviet Union tried it—and it didn’t work. Well, there is a difference between micromanaging and planning. The Soviets tried a system of centralized planning based upon micromanaging which certainly didn’t work very well. However, just about every other nation which has tried planning—from China to Norway—has found it highly effective.

The model that seems to work best is a a broad plan which determines the priorities but leaves the implementation to a dynamic mix of the public and private sectors.

Look around the world. Free enterprise has considerable merit, but it certainly isn’t always the best, or most cost-effective way of getting something done.

Consider U.S. Financial Corporations and Healthcare Corporations alone. The former inflicted the greatest disaster since the Great Depression. The latter have resulted in a substandard healthcare system which costs nearly twice as much as any other developed county’s.

What counts is what works.

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June 11 2015. Too much work—if it really is work—dulls perspective (and kills you prematurely).

I WORK RIDICULOUSLY LONG HOURS BECAUSE WRITING

IS MY PASSION AND MY PLEASURE—SO IT ISN’T WORK, AS SUCH, TO ME.

Even so, I don’t plan to continue my particular brand of craziness indefinitely. Right now, I’m somewhat excessively nuts because I’m in entrepreneurial mode.

But, I think Americans are crazy to work the way they do—for a whole host of reasons including health.

I love my American friends, but after 14 years living in the U.S., with some 10 years spent studying the U.S. economy and way of life on a daily basis, I have reluctantly come to the view that:

• The American Way of Life needs a drastic re-think. It has some good bits—but also some really bad bits.
• The American Business Model is corrupt, unfair, and inefficient.
• The U.S. is no longer a democracy but is now a plutocracy.
• Most of America’s problems are eminently solvable—because the solutions are out there and many are proven—but most Americans aren’t looking. The country seems to be gripped by mass inertia—and/or excessive social control.

When I think about all this, I can’t get over the following—which should evoke outrage and major concern—but, somehow, doesn’t.

• Americans live sicker and die 2-3 years sooner than the citizens of other developed nations.
• America spend up to twice as much on healthcare as other developed nations—and health insurance companies are currently seeking double figure price increases.
• The U.S. economy is growing—albeit marginally—but virtually all the increase in wealth is going to the 1%.
• The earning of most Americans, if inflation is factored in, are in decline—and have been for many years. And by the way, the government inflation figure is selective and does not reflect the full reality.
• Americans are leaving the workforce at an unprecedented rate.
• America is progressively losing its leadership position in market sector after sector.

It seems to me that Americans need more, and longer, vacations if only to think about all this.

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June 10 2015. Mankind is ever ingenious—particularly when it comes to flying.

THIS—THE DOUBLEENDER—IS ONE OF THE WEIRDEST AIRCRAFT I HAVE EVER SEEN

BUT IT CAN DO SOME EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

It has been a little time since I wrote about aviation—more is the pity—so I went to check on bush plane progress (an area of interest of my friend, Tim—whose enthusiasm has infected me) and came up with the DoubleEnder (as illustrated).

Bush planes are all about:

• STOL (Short Take-off & Landing) Flying to normally inaccessible places (the bush) where support facilities are minimal to non-existent—and landing strips are short, rugged—and almost certainly not paved. STOL needs to include excellent visibility, slow landing speeds—and the ability to climb fast to get out trouble.
• RELIABILITY. It is not a good idea to crash in the middle of nowhere. Here, two engines are recommended.
• SIMPLICITY. Since the expertise to maintain complexity rarely exists in the middle of nowhere, the aircraft has to be as simple to maintain as the required functionality will allow.
• ECONOMY. A bush plane should be considered the equivalent of a car or small van. It typically has to carry a couple of people and some extra stuff—but most are not configured as serious cargo planes. That said, some bush planes are larger than others and better equipped to carry cargo. The principles of a bush plane are scalable. Either way, you want to be able to get around at minimal cost.
• RANGE & ENDURANCE. Distances in the bush tend to be substantial. You have to think in terms of hundreds of miles each way—and allow a substantial margin.
• SAFETY & CRASHWOTHYNESS. Since a bush plane’s flying conditions are inherently higher risk—particularly where take-offs and landings are concerned—it is a good idea to be prepared for a worst case scenario.

The DoubleEnder copes with all the above to near perfection (based upon what I have read and the videos). The weird design is a perfect example of form following function, and yields spectacular results. For instance the landing speed of this remarkable aircraft is only 35 mph, the visibility from the rollcage-equipped bubble cockpit is nothing short of spectacular, and the aircraft can both land and takeoff on rough ground (note the large, sturdy wheels) is only a few aircraft lengths. It’s incredible to see.

True, it cannot hover, but it can fly low, slow, and long (something most helicopters cannot do) at a fraction of the cost of a helicopter. Endurance is an impressive 9 hours plus.

The secret of its STOL performance seems to lie in the slats in the front of the wings. All of this is best explained by the developers themselves at http://www.bushplanedesign.com/the-story.html 

Why is it called the DoubleEnder? I imagine because it has both a conventional prop in the front and a pusher prop in the rear (to go with the two engines) so it has a sort of double-ended look.

This is absolutely my kind of plane. So far, only a prototype has been built.

This is a good example, in its way, of the ossification which sets into conventional companies. This could have been built by a well-known name—but an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality seems to take over the corporate mindset surprisingly quickly—so that it takes some cheeky upstart to rethink things.

This is re-thinking par excellence.

Powerplant: 2 × Rotax 914 (modified to 130 hp each)
Total Hp: 260 hp
Propeller: Warpdrive 3 blade 72”
Fuel type: Premium or 100LL
Fuel Capacity: 103 Gallons (Wings Tanks = 48 + Optional Belly Pod = 55)
Endurance: 9 hours with optional belly pod (at max cruise setting)
Range: 970 miles (at max cruise setting)
Cruise Speed: 108 mph
Landing Speed: 36 mph
Empty Weight: 1500 lbs
Gross Weight: 2500 lbs

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June 9 2015. As matters stand, there is neither serious discussion nor debate about the corruption of the American Business Model—yet the evidence is overwhelming that a whole list of things is seriously wrong.

THE CURRENT AMERICAN BUSINESS MODEL IS DEEPLY CORRUPT—AND INEFFICIENT

AND IS BAD FOR AMERICAN BUSINESS, THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE, AND MOST AMERICANS.

SHARE-BUY BACKS ARE JUST ONE ROTTEN APPLE. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS.

The following is a random list of a small selection of the deficiencies of the current American Business Model.

• It has suborned our political system so that we no longer have a true representative democracy—and is has caused widespread corruption at state and local level as well.
• It opposes every single effort made to clean up the environment.
• It opposes any and all forms of new labor rights—and works very hard to dismantle the rights that exist.
• Culturally, it is wedded to optimizing shareholder value even though such an approach leads to CEO greed, short-termism, excessive and damaging corporate share buybacks, poor labor relations, under-investment, neglect of the community—and much else that is negative besides.
• It is excessively financialized even though that state is known to impede successful economic growth.
• It has led to the hoarding of over $2 trillion overseas—money which should, largely, be invested in the U.S.
• It is underinvesting in Research & Development, and Plant & Equipment.
• Its productivity growth is negligible.
• The earnings of most Americans, when real inflation is factored in, are declining.
• Lack of international competitiveness. The U.S. hasn’t balanced its international trade for decades.

The following is just one example of how corporate CEOs have turned corporations into their private piggy banks in the name of maximizing shareholder value.

It is about time that corporate share buybacks were regarded as exactly what they are—insider trading (and thus illegal). The inertia of the SEC in this matter is a disgrace.

The level of corruption in the financial area—a key part of American Business Model—is totally out of hand.

America is suffering accordingly.

July 8 2015. For all practical purposes, the U.S. is a plutocracy right now—and that is not a good thing.

ON A PRACTICAL LEVEL, PLUTOCRACY MEANS THAT THE RICH LARGELY CONTROL THE LEVERS OF POWER (CONGRESS, THE SUPREME COURT ETC.)

AND ARE RUNNING THE COUNTRY TO THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE—AS A CONSEQUENCE, THE ECONOMIC GAINS FLOW TO THEM NEAR EXCLUSIVELY

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE ABOUT IT? YES—AND IT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE

 

The Rich Don't Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900–1970

Sam Pizzigati

Polls now show that two-thirds of Americans believe that the nation's enormous wealth ought to be "distributed more evenly." But almost as many Americans—well over half—feel that protests against inequality will ultimately have "little impact." The rich, millions of us believe, always get their way.

Except they don't.

A century ago, the United States hosted a super-rich even more domineering than ours today. Yet fifty years later, that super-rich had almost entirely disappeared. Their majestic mansions and estates had become museums and college campuses, and America had become a vibrant, mass middle class nation, the first and finest the world had ever seen.

Americans today ought to be taking no small inspiration from this stunning change. After all, if our forbears successfully beat back grand fortune, why can't we? But this transformation is inspiring virtually no one. Why? Because the story behind it has remained almost totally unknown, until now.

This lively popular history speaks directly to the political hopelessness so many Americans feel. By tracing how average Americans took down plutocracy over the first half of the 20th Century—and how plutocracy came back—The Rich Don't Always Winoutfits the 99% with a deeper understanding of what we need to do to get the United States back on track to the American dream.

An excerpt of The Rich Don't Always Win can be viewed here.

REVIEWS

"Make room for The Rich Don't Always Win on your bookshelf right next to Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. In his lively, engrossing new book, Sam Pizzigati tells the story of class inequality in America, from the robber barons to today's 1 %. The title alone is a refreshing reminder that there have been times when the middle class pushed back against the growth of plutocracy—and won. We can do that again and, as Pizzigati makes clear, we have to."—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

"This inspiring history offers a bold blueprint for today’s equality movements. We beat back the powerful rule of the wealthy to end the first Gilded Age.  We can beat back our current Gilded Age, too, and reverse the extreme inequalities of wealth and power that undermine all that we care about.”—Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies, author of99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It

"Only 50 years ago, America 'soaked' the rich with a 91 percent income tax. And guess what? America prospered! Not just the rich, but ordinary families. With colorful detail, Sam Pizzigati tells us why we should revisit that policy of prosperity for ALL, rather that for the plutocratic few."—Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and New York Times best-selling author
"Bold, thorough, and above all inspiring—an energizing and spirited reminder of what it took, and what it will take, to once again make ours a nation of equals."—Gar Alperovitz, author of America Beyond Capitalism, and the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland

About Sam Pizzigati

A veteran labor journalist, SAM PIZZIGATI has written widely on economic inequality for both popular and scholarly readers. His op-eds and articles on income and wealth have appeared in a host of major American dailies, from the New York Times to the Miami Herald, and a broad variety of magazines and journals. His last book, Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives, won a coveted "outstanding title" rating of the year Choice rating from the American Library Association. Pizzigati ran the publishing operations of America's largest union, the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, for twenty years and now serves as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. His online weekly on excess and inequality, Too Much, goes to a national audience of journalists, researchers, and economic justice activists. Pizzigati has appeared as an expert commentator on inequality on 150+ radio and TV talk and news programs, from Pacifica to Fox Business News.

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