For a long time, I expected someone with Trump's political views to get power here in the United States. Now admittedly, I would not have believed that it would be Donald Trump himself, because it was difficult to imagine enough people overlooking the personal history of such a privileged, spoiled, overgrown brat of a man with a false sense of entitlement actually receiving the kind of support that he ultimately got. Who knew that a man with absolutely no sense of humility, and who shows no evidence of being religious, would receive the seemingly unconditional support of Christian Evangelicals? Who knew that military enthusiasts would get behind, en masse, someone who himself basically dodged the draft, when they had blasted Clinton for doing the same (and Clinton did not receive the elite, formal military training that Trump did)? Who knew that someone who cheated so damn much, with his wives and with businesses, and who had declared bankruptcy multiple times, would be viewed as the ultimate success story? Who knew that someone who was just so damn unpleasant, and who sported a fake tan and did ridiculous things with his hair, all in an effort to look young, and who sported several spare tires in his belly, would be trusted with the health of the nation? And who knew that someone who demonstrably lies so damn much - and even his political allies, including FOX News, acknowledge that he lies quite a bit - would be viewed as a man who spoke penetrating truths regarding the ills of the nation?
Perhaps it was not surprising that a man who received the support of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups would get elected to succeed the first black president in history. But again, Donald Trump? Really?
This is really a sick, and sickening, individual. But given the backwards political leanings of this country, which has now lasted several decades, it might not be all that surprising after all. Again, I was a bit surprised that it was Donald Trump, and not someone more along the lines of Ted Cruz, who wore his religious faith on his sleeves, yet freely spews his hatred and his own lies, but in a much more subtle fashion then Trump. But Trump has one thing that no other major politician has: he is an entertainer. And let's face it, this country seems to want, more than anything else, to be entertained. Now, personally, I do not find, nor have ever found, Trump to be entertaining. Frankly, he always struck me as shallow and with a big mouth, but with absolutely nothing to say. The year and change that he was campaigning, and then the two years and change since he won the election and now taken over, has done absolutely nothing to change this opinion. In fact, if anything, the degree to which this is a disgusting empty shell of a man has become even more glaring than ever before. Yet, he remains incredibly popular among his loyal base of roughly 35 percent. Indeed, he was right that he could stand in the middle of the street and shoot someone in cold blood and in plain view of everyone, yet still continue to get the unconditional love and support of those who clearly believe in him and view him as some sort of savior.
They believe that he built his financial empire out of nothing, and that he will, and is, selflessly doing that for the country. They believe he embodies the values that Americans should look up to, that he is the very picture of an American success story. In fact, he is quite the opposite of all of those things. And as for being selfless, the character that he himself described his desire to run for the White House when he first announced his candidacy, this man has never shown any evidence of having a selfless bone in his body. He said on that same occasion that he was "Greedy, greedy, greedy. I'm so greedy." This admission more accurately describes everything about this man, and his intentions. That has not changed since he ran for the Oval Office, and it has not changed since he has occupied that same office. He is actively draining not only the wealth, but all that was still good with, and about, the United States. He has done exactly the opposite of what he promised to do in so many ways. But his supporters remain loyal through it all. It is pathetic.
But all of that is about Trump, and I did not want this particular blog entry to be all about Trump.
In fact, this bog entry was about what Trump represents and, by the same token, how Trump took power in the first place, even though it is, for once, not about Trump himself.
This is, instead, about evidence of corporate greed being so blatant and out in the open, that it should be shocking, and demand a very strong reaction from Americans, yet nothing happens. Crimes are not punished or even taken seriously, which basically leads to them being actively encouraged. That is the story of the United States in the early part of the 21st century, and probably, to a lesser extent, the last couple of decades of the 20th century, if we are being honest. So, this was already a huge problem well before Donald Trump ever came to Washington, or even decided to run for the White House.
A little over a decade ago, the United States received a warning that it's economic policies of trickle-down, supply-side economics was not working, and that it needed to change course. At that time, the economic news always seemed to be bad and, for once, raised the ire of Americans. They were outraged that the CEO's and board members of private corporations guilty of stealing millions, and even billions, of dollars by fleecing hard-working Americans were rewarding themselves with large bonuses.
What happened? Nothing. Time passed. The stories went away, and the interest in them went away along with them. Naturally, so did any lessons that might have been learned.
And we know that when these people are not punished - and only Bernie Madoff comes to mind as someone who was punished during the financial meltdown known as the "Great Recession" here in the United States, and that was because he stole from the rich - then this behavior is effectively encouraged, rather than discouraged.
So, here we go again. Another crushing story about blatant corruption and unchecked greed in the United States today - a nation where elitist billionaires have way too much influence and control.
We all know that Sears used to be a powerhouse. In fact, it used to be an innovator, in terms of bringing good to consumers at an affordable price, and with a level of convenience not known before, to boot. I was not even aware of just how innovative they actually were, historically, although no American could fail to notice how much of a giant they were, and for how long. My family used to go to the local shopping mall fairly regularly decades ago, and Sears was one of the really big and successful stores. I used to do some shopping there myself, and for many years.
You would think that a company like that would have been better able to adapt to the age of the internet, right? Surely, they should have seen it coming, but this failure to foresee these changes has been blamed for the demise of Sears. But watch the video below, and in fact, you will see that this was not the case. Sears actually was one of the first to try and get ready for the internet.
Then, what was it? How did they go from a retail giant, to an afterthought, and a company on the brink of liquidation?
Well, take a look at the history of former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert, who made one bad decision after another that proved detrimental to the company, all while lining his own pockets. There were tens of thousands of people who worked for Sears, many of whom had worked for the former retail giant all of their lives. Now, they are about to lose everything, because of the decisions that Lampert made.
Lampert made off well. He is doing just fine. Better than fine, actually, he is one of the one percent. And he and the board are rewarding themselves for such a job well done by giving themselves bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars.
Sound familiar?
So, you see, it is not just about Donald Trump. He is just the most obvious symptom of what ails the country. There are plenty of other examples, such as Eddie Lampert and the board at Sears, who are doing exactly the same thing that CEO's of big banking institutions were doing about a decade ago. We did not pay enough attention then, and sure enough, not enough attention is being paid to this disgusting story now. Sears is going down, and tens of thousands of employees are going down along with it. But we should be led to believe that everything is okay, because Lampert and his buddies on the board are doing just fine, thank you very much.
You want to know what's wrong with America, and how a man like Trump could get into such a high office in the first place? Take a look at this horrible story of what happened to Sears, and please watch the videos below along with it. The CBS Sunday Morning piece was a bit fluffy, although it did get into the history a bit, which was interesting. But the greed and intentional vulture capitalism that led to the downfall of Sears, and just how disgusting this process was, is better in the other video. I would recommend watching both to better understand what, and exactly how, this happened. And if we let this go, then we can also understand how Trumpism is thriving in the United States today, when everything else seems to be going down the drain.
They believe that he built his financial empire out of nothing, and that he will, and is, selflessly doing that for the country. They believe he embodies the values that Americans should look up to, that he is the very picture of an American success story. In fact, he is quite the opposite of all of those things. And as for being selfless, the character that he himself described his desire to run for the White House when he first announced his candidacy, this man has never shown any evidence of having a selfless bone in his body. He said on that same occasion that he was "Greedy, greedy, greedy. I'm so greedy." This admission more accurately describes everything about this man, and his intentions. That has not changed since he ran for the Oval Office, and it has not changed since he has occupied that same office. He is actively draining not only the wealth, but all that was still good with, and about, the United States. He has done exactly the opposite of what he promised to do in so many ways. But his supporters remain loyal through it all. It is pathetic.
But all of that is about Trump, and I did not want this particular blog entry to be all about Trump.
In fact, this bog entry was about what Trump represents and, by the same token, how Trump took power in the first place, even though it is, for once, not about Trump himself.
This is, instead, about evidence of corporate greed being so blatant and out in the open, that it should be shocking, and demand a very strong reaction from Americans, yet nothing happens. Crimes are not punished or even taken seriously, which basically leads to them being actively encouraged. That is the story of the United States in the early part of the 21st century, and probably, to a lesser extent, the last couple of decades of the 20th century, if we are being honest. So, this was already a huge problem well before Donald Trump ever came to Washington, or even decided to run for the White House.
A little over a decade ago, the United States received a warning that it's economic policies of trickle-down, supply-side economics was not working, and that it needed to change course. At that time, the economic news always seemed to be bad and, for once, raised the ire of Americans. They were outraged that the CEO's and board members of private corporations guilty of stealing millions, and even billions, of dollars by fleecing hard-working Americans were rewarding themselves with large bonuses.
What happened? Nothing. Time passed. The stories went away, and the interest in them went away along with them. Naturally, so did any lessons that might have been learned.
And we know that when these people are not punished - and only Bernie Madoff comes to mind as someone who was punished during the financial meltdown known as the "Great Recession" here in the United States, and that was because he stole from the rich - then this behavior is effectively encouraged, rather than discouraged.
So, here we go again. Another crushing story about blatant corruption and unchecked greed in the United States today - a nation where elitist billionaires have way too much influence and control.
We all know that Sears used to be a powerhouse. In fact, it used to be an innovator, in terms of bringing good to consumers at an affordable price, and with a level of convenience not known before, to boot. I was not even aware of just how innovative they actually were, historically, although no American could fail to notice how much of a giant they were, and for how long. My family used to go to the local shopping mall fairly regularly decades ago, and Sears was one of the really big and successful stores. I used to do some shopping there myself, and for many years.
You would think that a company like that would have been better able to adapt to the age of the internet, right? Surely, they should have seen it coming, but this failure to foresee these changes has been blamed for the demise of Sears. But watch the video below, and in fact, you will see that this was not the case. Sears actually was one of the first to try and get ready for the internet.
Then, what was it? How did they go from a retail giant, to an afterthought, and a company on the brink of liquidation?
Well, take a look at the history of former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert, who made one bad decision after another that proved detrimental to the company, all while lining his own pockets. There were tens of thousands of people who worked for Sears, many of whom had worked for the former retail giant all of their lives. Now, they are about to lose everything, because of the decisions that Lampert made.
Lampert made off well. He is doing just fine. Better than fine, actually, he is one of the one percent. And he and the board are rewarding themselves for such a job well done by giving themselves bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars.
Sound familiar?
So, you see, it is not just about Donald Trump. He is just the most obvious symptom of what ails the country. There are plenty of other examples, such as Eddie Lampert and the board at Sears, who are doing exactly the same thing that CEO's of big banking institutions were doing about a decade ago. We did not pay enough attention then, and sure enough, not enough attention is being paid to this disgusting story now. Sears is going down, and tens of thousands of employees are going down along with it. But we should be led to believe that everything is okay, because Lampert and his buddies on the board are doing just fine, thank you very much.
You want to know what's wrong with America, and how a man like Trump could get into such a high office in the first place? Take a look at this horrible story of what happened to Sears, and please watch the videos below along with it. The CBS Sunday Morning piece was a bit fluffy, although it did get into the history a bit, which was interesting. But the greed and intentional vulture capitalism that led to the downfall of Sears, and just how disgusting this process was, is better in the other video. I would recommend watching both to better understand what, and exactly how, this happened. And if we let this go, then we can also understand how Trumpism is thriving in the United States today, when everything else seems to be going down the drain.
Sears bankruptcy court OKs $25 million in bonuses for top execs BY KATE GIBSON DEC 14, 2018 / MONEYWATCH:
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