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Robert Reich
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Content provided by Robert Reich. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Robert Reich or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Daily newsletter exposing where power lies — and how it's used and abused
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23 episodes
Mark all (un)played …
Manage series 3540148
Content provided by Robert Reich. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Robert Reich or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Daily newsletter exposing where power lies — and how it's used and abused
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continue reading
23 episodes
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×Friends, Before I post my Sunday cartoon I want to share with you some thoughts about tomorrow. The day on which we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will also be one of the darkest and most shameful days in the history of this nation, when the man who attempted a coup against the United States will be sworn in for the second time as president. Let me reassure you about a few things. First, if you’re outraged, disgusted, or depressed by this, you are hardly alone. Even though Trump got the most votes, his margin of victory was razor-thin. More than a third of eligible voters (many of whom voted for Biden in 2020) didn’t even vote. According to yesterday’s New York Times /Ipsos poll, most Americans are either worried or pessimistic about Trump’s second term. Half of America hates him. I also want to assure you that although Trump is bonkers, his madness will be contained. The federal courts — most of whose judges were nominated by Democratic presidents — will help limit his illegal or unconstitutional recklessness. (The Supreme Court reviews fewer than 1 percent of federal cases.) Trump’s own obsession with the stock market will limit his wilder economic ideas, such as imposing tariffs on all nations, which would cause the market to plunge. The Republican majority in the House is so narrow that a couple of members can derail or kill anything Trump wants. I’m also confident that the essential goodness and common sense of the American people will limit his cruelty — such as splitting up families and putting undocumented people into concentration camps. We will come to the aid of our communities. We will protect the vulnerable. We will resist Trump’s efforts to prosecute his political enemies. We will not compromise with fascism. We will continue to fight for the rule of law, for social justice, for equal opportunity, for democracy. I predict a large political backlash against Trump starting with the 2026 midterm elections. (I will get into this in tomorrow’s letter to you.) I don’t want to sound like a pollyanna. I’m aware of how dangerous the next few years could be. But I’m old enough to have seen this nation at its best and at its worst. I remember Joe McCarthy. I remember Richard Nixon. We are a resilient people. We will get through this scourge. Finally and on a more personal note, I want to thank you for your support of this daily letter. Your enthusiasm, your comments, and your sharing of it reassure me that it remains a worthwhile endeavor. In these coming dark times — as long as I am able — it will continue. Share…
Friends, Today Heather and I look at the last week of the Biden administration and ahead to the first week of Trump’s. What can the confirmation hearings tell us about what to expect? What was the real significance of Biden’s “farewell” address? Will it be fascism or oligarchy, or both? And, by the way, what should we take away from the imminent end to TikTok? Please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, take our poll, and join in the conversation. Leave a comment Share…
Friends, Trump has spent much of the past week complaining — and lying — about California’s water policies, falsely claiming that Los Angeles doesn’t have enough water to deal with the fires. (The actual problem is that hydrants haven’t had enough water pressure to deal with the huge, sudden demand.) Trump is now blaming the fires on migrants. He posted a claim this week that taxpayer “funds are diverted to illegal immigrants,” and then “an illegal immigrant comes and sets your house on fire and the fire department doesn’t have the resources to put it out.” When he was on the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly threatened to withhold disaster aid from California. “We’re going to take care of your water situation, and we’ll force it down his throat,” Trump said during a rally in Coachella , California, referring to California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. “And we’ll say: Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire, forest fires that you have.” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional Republicans say federal help for Los Angeles should have strings attached. They’re criticizing California’s “liberal policies” and its management of water and natural resources. But conditioning federal aid on policy changes would mark a major change in how America responds to disasters. After all, recent hurricane funding for mostly GOP-led states passed Congress without any strings attached. Which raises a fundamental question about America — especially the one we are moving toward under Trump II: Are all of us in this together, or are we on our own? In September 1718, Boston organized the “Boston Fire Society,” the nation’s first mutual aid firefighting organization. But it was an on-your-own system. It protected only its members — who pledged to fight fires at each other’s homes, rescue each other’s property, and guard each other against looting. By contrast, Philadelphia’s Union Fire Company, organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1736, was devoted to protecting the city as a whole. Its we’re-all-in-this-together model was replicated around America as cities and towns gained senses of civic responsibility. Public fire departments also proved cheaper, on the whole, than reliance on private firefighting associations that protected only their members. In Los Angeles this past week, some wealthy property owners harkened back to the on-your-own model by hiring their own private firefighters to protect their own estates and businesses. Private firefighting came sharply into public view in 2018, after it was reported that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West hired private firefighters to protect their Los Angeles mansion from the Woolsey Fire that year. Demand for private firefighters has grown across America as wildfires have increased in ferocity and frequency. About 45 percent of all firefighters working in the United States today are employed privately, according to the National Wildfire Suppression Association, which represents more than 300 private firefighting groups. The same fundamental question — are we all in this together or on our own? — is behind federal disaster relief. If lawmakers from Florida put conditions on federal disaster aid for California, why wouldn’t lawmakers from California reciprocate by putting conditions on federal aid to Florida after the next hurricane? And so on. In many ways, a nation is really a giant mutual-insurance system. We pool our resources for the common good — whether that be disaster relief or highways or public schools or national defense. We’re all in this together. But what happens if we lose our sense of common good? What happens if wealthy individuals not only hire their own firefighters, but reject public schools and send their kids to private ones, stop walking in public parks and opt for private green spaces, and stop relying on public police officers in favor of private security guards? That sounds a lot like the current trend. And what happens if America’s red and blue states decide they don’t want to come to each other’s aid? As it is, taxpayers in blue states now subsidize taxpayers in red states, but what if we don’t want to do this anymore? What if all of us begin to lose the understanding that we’re all in this together? Is that where Trump is taking us? Share…
Friends, The fires that continue to ravage LA are a dystopian nightmare. All of us (except die-hard California-hating MAGAs) are moved by the tragedy. The question is, what will be its long-term effect? What, if anything, will change? That’s the topic of today’s Office Hours. Read more
Friends, Trump will try to take credit for the Biden economy. Don’t let him. And don’t let Republican enablers of Trump or the media give him credit, either. In 2017, Trump inherited a strong economy from President Obama and never stopped congratulating himself for it. He claimed that “we created the greatest economy in the history of the world.” Rubbish. Trump tanked the economy with his trade wars and his botched pandemic response . Now, Trump is inheriting an even stronger economy. On Friday, the Department of Labor reported that the nation added 256,000 jobs in December, significantly more than economists expected. The total number of jobs created under Biden’s four years is 16.6 million. That makes him the only president in history to have presided over an economy that created jobs every single month. He has also presided over the lowest average unemployment rate of any president in a half-century, ending at 4.1 percent. The nation gained more jobs in Biden’s four years than it did under Trump’s first term of office, or under either of Barack Obama’s or George W. Bush’s terms of office. Working-age women are now employed at record levels. The gap in employment between Black Americans and their white counterparts is at the lowest level ever. Biden has also presided over an economy that has grown faster and created more jobs than any other advanced economy around the world. Under Biden, the American economy grew faster than did the pre-pandemic Trump economy . Yes, the United States and every other country had to deal with inflation, but Biden brought inflation down to below 3 percent — lower than in most other countries . Americans have every reason to be outraged at decades of policies that prioritized corporations over people . But the Biden administration cracked down on corporate price-gouging , monopolization , and trickle-down nonsense . All this means that Trump begins his second presidency with the best economy a president has inherited in living memory. Will he claim credit for it? You betcha. In addition, some of the most important Biden initiatives will start to pay off only during the Trump presidency (assuming Trump doesn’t reverse them). Biden took on Big Pharma by capping out-of-pocket drug costs for millions of seniors on Medicare . That lowered the price of 64 drugs. These changes will take place throughout 2025. More drugs are scheduled to get cheaper in the following years. Will Trump claim credit? Of course he will. Biden’s infrastructure law will give us better roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband access. But most Americans won’t see those improvements for a year or two, well into Trump’s term of office. Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act will provide more American-made semiconductors , but we won’t see them for a few years, so during Trump’s presidency. Biden’s clean energy initiatives will also pay off with greater fuel efficiency and less pollution. But here again, not for several years. Will Trump claim credit for these successes as well? Do birds fly? His whole life, Trump has taken credit for things he simply inherited, starting with his own personal fortune. Just as he avoids accountability for the bad stuff he’s done, such as his attempted coup against the United States, he congratulates himself for the good stuff others have done. If Trump doesn’t wreck the economy with his bonkers tariff plans or cruel mass deportations, you can be sure he’ll take a bow for what Biden built. Don’t let him. Don’t let Republican politicians claim credit. Don’t let the media allow Trump or other Republicans to claim credit. Speak out. Remind America that these good things happened because of Joe Biden. Share…
Friends, The two biggest fires raging in Los Angeles have so far killed at least 16 people and destroyed entire neighborhoods from the inland hills to the Pacific Coast. Firefighting crews have contained more of the Eaton Fire and have largely stopped the Palisades Fire’s momentum toward a road of homes in Mandeville Canyon, a section of the Brentwood neighborhood. But the fire risk remains high in the region, with winds picking up again on Sunday morning. The L.A. fires have already destroyed some of the most expensive homes in the world, including an 18-bedroom mansion that featured sweeping views out to the Pacific Ocean and was worth $125 million, owned by Luminar Technologies CEO Austin Russell. It had contained a “Nobu-designed chef’s kitchen,” a 20-seat theater, a temperature-controlled wine cellar in the basement, a retractable roof “for stargazing,” a state-of-the-art swimming pool, and two panic rooms. Nothing remains of the house. We owe a great debt to the firefighting crews now battling the blazes. Those crews, not incidentally, include more than 939 inmates from California prisons, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The department says they are there voluntarily and are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day. But it’s not clear what “voluntary” means in a prison system like California’s in which prisoners are required to work. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery “except as a punishment for crime,” which for more than a century has been an open invitation for exploitative prison labor. A 2018 Time investigation found that prison inmate firefighters are at a higher risk for serious injuries and more than four times as likely to get cuts, bruises, or broken bones compared to professional firefighters working the same fires. They were also more than eight times as likely to face injuries after inhaling smoke, ash, and other debris compared with other firefighters, the report said. I hope you’ll pardon me if I remind you that Donald Trump just got away without a prison sentence for any of his convictions or alleged crimes, including his attempted coup against the United States. How do you think he’d do as an inmate firefighter in the hills around Los Angeles? Share…
Note: I’m reposting this edition of The Coffee Klatch as there seem to have been delivery issues and many people have reported not receiving it. Apologies to anyone receiving this late, or twice. Friends, Today we talk about the L.A. fires, the human disaster as well as its connection to climate change, as well as the firestorm of dangerous and nasty misinformation about it on X, and the future of places like L.A. that are subject to climate disasters. Also: Trump — the first president to enter office as a convicted felon — has a news conference that shows how bonkers he is. And Mark Zuckerberg joins Elon Musk to allow vicious lies on his giant platform. We are witnessing a takeover by a small number of hugely wealthy people who will control the information we get and control our government. And it’s blatant. So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join our discussion. Leave a comment…
Friends, Today we talk about the L.A. fires, the human disaster as well as its connection to climate change, as well as the firestorm of dangerous and nasty misinformation about it on X, and the future of places like L.A. that are subject to climate disasters. Also: Trump — the first president to enter office as a convicted felon — has a news conference that shows how bonkers he is. And Mark Zuckerberg joins Elon Musk to allow vicious lies on his giant platform. We are witnessing a takeover by a small number of hugely wealthy people who will control the information we get and control our government. And it’s blatant. So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join our discussion. Leave a comment…
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