Brian J Burke

“It is easier to fool someone than to convince them that they’ve been fooled” Mark Twain

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

Mélenchon Is Right About France’s Debt. When, in the name of moderation, centrists brand every sensible alternative to severe austerity as “nonsense,” they leave voters only one electable rebellion on offer, and the far right is happy to supply it. That is what is happening in France today. https://t.co/dnwEjwXWgu

[Antonio J Martinez H @AntonioJMarti]

Leopoldo Emperador Altzola

ÚLTIMA HORA: Donald Trump acaba de enfrentarse a una de las descripciones más brutalmente brillantes —y precisas— de su abominable carácter que JAMÁS hayamos leído.
El autor Oliver Kornetzke no se contuvo. Así describió a Trump:
“Miren. El cadáver purulento de la podredumbre estadounidense embutido en un traje que no le queda bien: la sordidez de un estafador, la cobardía de un evasor del servicio militar, la glotonería de un parásito, el racismo de un miembro del Ku Klux Klan, el sexismo de un canalla de barrio, la ignorancia de un borracho de bar y la avaricia de un depredador de fondos de cobertura; todo pintado de naranja con aerosol y exhibido como un cerdo premiado en una feria del condado”, escribe Kornetzke. Ni un presidente. Ni siquiera un hombre. Solo la destilación enfermiza de todo lo que este país jura no ser, pero siempre ha sido: arrogancia disfrazada de excepcionalismo, estupidez presentada como sentido común, crueldad vendida como dureza, avaricia exaltada como ambición y corrupción venerada como evangelio. Es la sombra de Estados Unidos hecha carne, un ídolo de calabaza podrida que demuestra que cuando una nación se arrodilla ante el dinero, el poder y el rencor, no solo pierde su alma, sino que defeca esta obscenidad inflada y la llama líder.
Nunca se escribieron palabras más ciertas.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

According to a new poll, 2/3 of Americans now support Medicare for All — & support rises to 75% when they learn about the program.

People are sick of a broken healthcare system driven by the greed of the insurance industry & Big Pharma. The time to pass Medicare for All is NOW.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Thanks to Trump’s “Big, Beautiful, Bill” monthly student loan bills are skyrocketing for millions of Americans. Many report payments more than doubling.

Why? Because Trump made the largest cut to education in history to pay for tax breaks for his oligarch friends. Unacceptable.

[Elizabeth Warren @ewarren]

A teacher earning $60,000 pays Social Security taxes on every dollar she earns.

A worker earning $184,500 does, too.

But someone earning $1 million pays the tax on just the first $184,500. Nothing more.

Yes, the country’s billionaires pay into Social Security as if they make $184,500.

That doesn’t make sense.

So I have a bill to eliminate this arbitrary cap on Social Security taxes.

If those with the highest incomes just paid the same share as everyone else, we could inject around $3 TRILLION into the program over the next 10 years.

I'm fighting hard to protect Social Security.

[Alvin Foo @alvinfoo]

For 32 years, American workers had a simple deal: work harder, get paid more. From 1947 to 1979, productivity rose 119% and compensation rose 100%. Then the deal broke, from 1979 to 2009, productivity climbed another 80%, but compensation grew just 8% and wages only 7%. Same workers, more output, almost no raise.

So where did the gains go? To the people who owned the machines, the capital, the equity, not the people running them. I spent 25 years in enterprise, including at Google, and watched this play out in real time. Every efficiency gain, every new system, the value flowed up to shareholders.

Now AI is arriving, the biggest productivity leap since electricity, maybe bigger. If an 80% productivity gain gave workers just 8%, what happens when AI doubles output again? The lesson is brutal but simple. Productivity doesn't make you rich, ownership does. Your salary is tied to your time, capital is tied to growth.

So don't just use AI to work faster, use it to own something: a stake, a product, a portfolio, a piece of the upside. The gap on this chart won't close by itself, it will widen. Pick your side.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Trade unions leading a grassroots movement for a 5% billionaire wealth tax in CA are being outspent 99.9% to 0.1% in TV ads by billionaires who oppose it.

Despite that, it’s winning 48-38% in a recent poll.

Billionaires have the money, we have the people. Let’s win this fight.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

According to a new WSJ poll:

63% want to pause AI development
61% want a billionaire wealth tax
59% want Medicare for All
57% want a $20 minimum wage
58% want to end U.S. military aid to Israel

The American people want real change.

DEMOCRATS MUST LISTEN.

[Rick ☆ @RickChapterTwo]

OK, I admit it. This is absolutely a fantastic use of AI.

If there are awards given out on this hell hole, this is a top contender.

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

"On interest rates, Warsh dispelled a lot of nonsense with splendid candor: “We determine the path of short-term interest rates.” A brass plaque with those words should be sent to all the Washington think tanks and lobby groups that exist to prattle on about the federal budget deficit." 1/

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

Both parties have prioritized shareholders over workers, allowed monopoly power to concentrate, gutted antitrust enforcement, cut taxes on the wealthy, while cutting Social Security (the Greenspan Commission). We have an economy that runs on asset-price bubbles and Fed backstops, because stagnant wages for the majority can't provide enuf demand growth to sustain it on its own.

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

Because people are always asking how they can screen the MMT 🎥 in their hometowns, @chasdarwin created a package that includes a screenable form of the film, a checklist of pre-screening dos and dont’s , tips on handling registrations, etc.
She’s a gem!

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

If the leaders of the major AI companies admit that they are losing control of their extremely dangerous technology, it is time for an immediate PAUSE on advanced AI development and a permanent BAN on superintelligence.

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

Once again begging everyone to read Eisner.
https://t.co/d7YlPRr7C8

[Eric Tymoigne @tymoignee]

Discussions surrounding the public debt are always full of passion, but the buyback disc is really topping it. It is not YCC (no yield targeting with gov buying and selling on demand at a specific yield), no QE (no net reserve injection), no operation twist ( maturity neutral).

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

I’ve been writing about inflation risk that comes from the *combination* of high interest rates and high debt for more than two decades. Via @RevHierophant

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

The Trump Agenda:

4 million people kicked off nutrition assistance
15 million will be kicked off healthcare
$1 trillion in tax cuts for the top 1%
$1.5 trillion for the Pentagon
$2.2 billion into his own pocket

This is what a government by and for the billionaire class looks like. Obscene.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Let me be very clear: opposing the genocide in Gaza is not antisemitism.

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

Lest we forget the other side of the ledger...That's a $1.9trn surplus for the non-government sector.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

The Trump administration admitted in court that it canceled billions of dollars in federal funding “based solely” on whether a state voted for Trump.

Using taxpayer dollars to reward political allies and punish opponents is not democracy.

It’s authoritarianism.