The Quotable Reich

If the present administration and Clinton both acted to use their strength and influence to support the Indians, I would force myself to vote Democrat this election.

Those oil company goons better be careful. Those Indians all own 30 cal rifles and know how to use them. Their not like city boys.

More like 30" arrows!

AMIRITE?! *high five*

Showdown over oil pipeline becomes a movement for Native Americans

A very moving article, the labor unions are for the pipe lines, but I can see the Native American's viewpoint. Obama hasn't weighed in on it, perhaps when he gets back from his Asia trip we'll know one way or another his viewpoint on it. I hope someone is keeping him up to date.

Robert Reich
3 hrs ·
Hillary, my thoughts are with you and your family, and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Robert Reich
9 mins ·
Will Trump refuse to concede if he loses the election? Republican Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky told religious conservatives that if Hillary Clinton is elected president, blood might have to be shed. "I want us to be able to fight ideologically, mentally, spiritually, economically, so that we don’t have to do it physically,” Bevin said Saturday. “But that may, in fact, be the case." Recently, Trump’s close adviser Roger Stone warned that if Clinton were to "steal" the election, her inauguration would “mean civil disobedience, not violence, but it will be a bloodbath. The government will be shut down if they attempt to steal this and swear Hillary in. No, we will not stand for it. We will not stand for it."
Regardless of what Trump and his troops are planning, this kind of rhetoric is irresponsible and dangerous. A democracy depends on a peaceful transition of government. To suggest otherwise is to fan the flames of paranoia and violence.

Trump has been irresponsible all his life. He made a living by scamming people, and have shown he can't be trusted. Type "trump lies" into any search engine to find out why Trump can't be trusted.
That so many support Trump is a testament to how our politics is broken in this country. When the KKK supports him, most of us understand that white supremacists still guide our politics.

Robert Reich
25 mins ·
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a Trojan horse in a race to the bottom. Its supporters -- including President Obama -- want it to be voted on between Election Day and the start of the next Congress and next presidency. That way, everyone can duck responsibility. We mustn't let them

Robert Reich
20 hrs ·
U.S. corporations stashing some $2 trillion abroad are now pushing hard for a tax amnesty, allowing them to bring the money back to the U.S. and pay far less than the regular 35 percent U.S. corporate income tax rate. Trump would charge them 10 percent, for example.
This is highway robbery.
Congress’ last tax amnesty occurred in 2004, when global U.S. corporations brought back about $300 billion from overseas and paid a tax rate of just 5.25 percent.
Corporate executives argued then, as they argue now, that the amnesty would allow them to reinvest those earnings in America. But a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 92 percent of the repatriated cash was used to pay for dividends, share buybacks or executive bonuses: “Repatriations did not lead to an increase in domestic investment, employment, or research and development, even for the firms that lobbied for the tax holiday stating these intentions,” the study concluded.
Corporate apologists (see below, for example) think it’s just fine if the money comes back here even if it simply enlarges the pay of top executives and big investors. Apparently they never heard of (or don't give a damn about) inequality.

You read this and think that a Trump Presidency would be more beneficial than a Clinton one?

Does Trump spell his name Stein?

Robert Reich
37 mins ·
Can we have a word? I continue to hear from many of you who say you won’t vote for Hillary Clinton because, you claim, (1) she’s no better than Donald Trump, or (2) even if she’s better, she’s still corrupt, and you refuse to vote for the “lesser of two evils,” or (3) you don’t want to reward the Democratic Party for corrupt primaries that gave the nomination to Hillary instead of Bernie Sanders.
Please allow me to respond.
(1) Anyone who equates Donald Trump with Hillary Clinton hasn’t been paying attention. Trump is a dangerous, bigoted, narcissistic megalomaniac with fascist tendencies who could wreak huge damage on America and the world. Hillary isn’t perfect but she’s able and experienced. There is simply no comparison.
(2) Even if you see Hillary Clinton as the “lesser of two evils,” the greater of two evils in this case (if you see the choice in these terms) is seriously evil. You've probably had occasion in the past to vote for someone who doesn’t meet your ideals, when the alternative is someone who falls much further from those ideals. This doesn’t mean you've sold out or compromised your principles. You've just been realistic and practical. Realism and practicality are critically important now.
(3) I understand your frustration with the Democratic Party, and your reluctance to “reward” it for its bias against Bernie in the primaries. But anything you do that increases the odds of a Trump presidency isn’t just penalizing the Democratic Party; it’s jeopardizing our future and that of our children and their children. All of us must continue to work hard for a political system responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans. The movement Bernie energized must not and will not end. But Donald Trump, were he to become president, would set back the cause for decades.
There are just over 7 weeks until Election Day. My request to those of you who still don’t want to vote for Hillary Clinton: Please reconsider. It is no exaggeration to say the fate of the nation and the world are at stake.

Robert Reich
6 mins ·
I found tonight’s debate disheartening, for several reasons.
1. Trump didn’t implode. Instead, he continued to debase the election – holding a news conference just before the debate with Bill Clinton’s accusers and then having them seated in the audience. That will get headlines tomorrow. He was also more consistently on the attack than in the first debate -- spouting lies (about his tax plan, Hillary's tax plan, his plan for replacing Obamacare, her plan for fixing it, his foreign policy proposals and Hillary's); telling Hillary she has “hate in her heart;" and accusing and the moderators of conspiring against him (“that’s three to one”).
2. Hillary displayed her usual mastery of policy, fact, and logic. But these debates aren't about policy, fact, or logic. I'm not at all sure she won the debate on the level of raw emotion. She had so much ammunition -- not the least, the Trump tape released Friday night. She mentioned it early on, but it didn't take. She needed to show some genuine feeling – indignation, anger, and pity toward Trump – that would make her reaction more human.
3. I was appalled by the audience applause at Trump’s one-liner about locking Hillary up.
Bottom line: I fear Trump is still in the game.

I wonder which debate Reich was watching for him to say "Hillary displayed her usual mastery of policy, fact, and logic."? Certainly wasn't the one on 10/9/2016. Clinton did none of those things.

Trump is still in the game among his loyal supporters, that is, the people who have emotionally committed to him already by and large are not leaving. The problems for him is there are not enough of them to elect him. In two way matchups Trump averages 44%, Hillary 48%. Hillary only needs 2 or 3% to go over the top, Trump needs 6 or 7% to do that. His video Friday and his crudeness on Sunday night cemented his base, but is very likely to have put off any female voters especially who were considering voting for him.

Sunday night, Trump might have stopped himself from falling, but at the expense of preventing him from reaching that 50 percent mark.

Actually, the latest polls show Hillary ahead by 11 points.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/10/hillary-clinton-poll-trump/91854400/

Robert Reich
6 hrs ·
Lots of confusion about John Podesta’s leaked emails and the Russian connection. Here's what we know and don't know:
1. Is the substance of Podesta’s leaked emails true? Seems so. In one, he listed Hillary’s vulnerabilities in what she said to the investment bankers for whom she gave paid speeches, such as the difference between what a politician says in private and public. Others reveal attitudes and concerns during the primaries about Bernie Sanders's campaign. Others show that her staff appeared to be in communication with government officials about her email server and its political repercussion. See https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/. See also
http://www.nytimes.com/…/politi…/hillary-clinton-emails.html
2. Were they hacked by people associated with or working for the Russian government? Almost certainly. See http://www.nbcnews.com/…/why-experts-think-russia-hacked-dn…; http://www.reuters.com/…/us-usa-election-democrats-hack-idU…
3. Was (and is) their purpose to help the Trump campaign? This is the weakest link, but it’s not improbable. Trump’s avowed policies on Crimea, NATO, and Syria are consistent with Putin’s. Trump has said he "admires" Putin. There’s evidence that Trump has received substantial sums – either in the form of loans or investments – from Russian oligarchs ( “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008.) And many of Trump’s current and former associates have worked for Putin (Paul Manafort, for example, worked on Putin’s political campaigns.) Still, it’s a guess whether Russia is intentionally helping Trump.

Robert Reich

Three weeks ago I told Newt Gingrich to his face before an audience of 3,000 that he had laid the groundwork for Trump when as Speaker of the House in the 1990s Gingrich blocked all legislation that might have put the working class on an upward trajectory rather than its downward one. And when Gingrich's anti-government, scorched-earth tactics set a precedent for winning at all costs.
Gingrich set other precedents for Trump: During 1990s debates over welfare reform, Gingrich invoked racial stereotypes about African-Americans. During his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Gingrich repeatedly called President Obama the “food stamp president.” And Gingrich played to birther movement sentiments in 2010 when he said that Mr. Obama exhibited “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.”
Gingrich is a major supporter of Trump, and now that Trump is imploding, Gingrich is positioning himself as the keeper of the Trump-campaign themes and, by extension, as the politician best able to mobilize Trump supporters going forward. “I don’t defend him [Trump] when he wanders off,” Gingrich recently told ABC News. But “there’s a big Trump and there’s a little Trump,” he said, explaining that the big Trump is the one who has created issues that make “the establishment” very uncomfortable. “The big Trump,” he said, “is a historic figure.”
Baloney. Trump is a disgrace. So is Newt.

Robert Reich
36 mins ·
83 people were arrested today (including “Democracy Now”” host Amy Goodman and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein) at a protest against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They were charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot. The protesters say the pipeline will damage the environment and affect historically significant Native American tribal lands.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation in North Dakota is near the pipeline route, and other tribes oppose the project. Standing Rock Chairman Paul Archambault said "the intimidation by militarized police in riot gear and unlawful arrests are an attack on the First Amendment rights of the protectors, and we again ask the Department of Justice to send observers to the area to ensure that constitutional rights are protected.”
Why isn’t the Justice Department on hand? Why aren’t the Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers stopping this project? Why weren’t Native Americans consulted before the project was given the green light?

If republicans in government wants to screw all Americans with the blessings from their party, we can only blame ourselves for voting them into office. That's democracy, so quit your belly aching.
Look how close Trump is to winning the election. It's us against us.
Reasonable people no longer exist in this country. They want a president that admires Putin, because he has a 82% approval rating. Go figure.
It's only a 16% spread between Hillary and Donald. One would think it should be 60%.