Author: Robert I. Grundfest

I am a teacher, writer, voice-over artist and rationally opinionated observer of American and international society. While my job is to entertain and engage, my purpose is always to start a conversation.

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Democracy Featured

Whither Infrastructure?

What a great word. Infrastructure. People of all stripes and models use it earnestly despite its awkwardness. It means so much and is so difficult to romanticize.

I’ll stop.

Remember when infrastructure was going to be first on the new president’s agenda? It was going to be the issue that Democrats and Republicans could rally behind because, really, roads, bridges, the power grid, airports, public transportation systems, etc., in this country are dreck and need a massive infusion of money and attention at every level of government.

So what happened? My sense is that the issue is far too big and unsexy for a president who loves controversy and chaos and attention, but is short on policy knowledge. And it would take a whole bag of dough to get all of these projects going and the tax bill put a major hole in the federal budget. Add in the ideological opposition that Republicans have to spending taxpayer money in urban areas that voted Democratic and you have the kind of political blindness and ignorance that comes around once in a great while. Forget North Korea and dismantling the health care system. Neglecting infrastructure will cost lives if we don’t get going soon.

To be fair, the president did talk about infrastructure early in his administration and said that it would be great and that we would do it, but we haven’t. Meanwhile, the trains get worse, the roads get worse, airports get worse, bridges get worse, power outages get worse, and we don’t seem to be interested in moving forward on securing our economic lifeblood, roads and airports, or repairing and upgrading them anytime soon.

Wouldn’t this create jobs? Ensure safety? Allow us to compete more broadly with countries around the world that have functioning and improved infrastructure? Make us…you know, great? Of course it would, which is why it’s so low on the list of things this administration wants to do. My fear is that it’s going to take a great tragedy to get this administration to commit political capital to rebuilding these facilities. And even then, I can see them blaming everyone before they settle on a plan that will likely be less than what’s absolutely necessary.

They haven’t a plan, and they really haven’t a clue.

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Featured

Don’t Get Mad: Get Going

You knew there was going to be a point at which it gets worse. We might have reached it. The Supreme Court ruled that the president can order the borders closed to certain people because of their religion and that you should be protected by a union contract without having to pay for it. Of course, these were once ideas that were the stuff of bad dreams, mediocre comedy, and cranky uncles. Now rule the day.

And, yes, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement will almost certainly, no, certainly result in a more conservative court that will likely return more power to the states when it comes to abortion, marriage equality, and civil and religious rights. That is when they’re not outlawing some of those things and other cherished rights that we thought were fundamental, constitutional and just plain good ideas.

But I also think that we’ll be surprised that other events will conspire to frustrate and thwart the conservative minority government. Perhaps the new justice is not as conservative as everybody thinks. Or turns out to be another David Souter. Yes, I know, maybe I’m just being hopeful, but the real mistake most of us make is thinking that things will not change and that once set in motion, the ball will always roll in one direction.

Good things are happening in some states. California remains a hotbed of resistance to the outlandish requests of the federal government. New Jersey will pass a budget that raises revenue from people who can afford to pay more and who should be asked to pay more for the services they receive. But they should also contribute more so that other citizens can reap the benefit of excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, health care and a job that pays them enough on which to live. And in New York, the Democratic machine just received a gut punch in the form of a first-time candidate who had a positive message, a terrific organization, and the energy to carry a progressive message to a majority of the party’s voters.

When the Republicans were rebuked in 1964, they began to build an organization that reflected their message carried by their people. The Democrats have begun to do the same. It will take time. It will take money. It will take patience. It must be done non-violently.

But it will be done.

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Featured

And You Thought Immigration Was Bad

The pictures, dismissive commentary, rationalizations and policy contradictions (if there really is a policy) surrounding immigration have shown that the RepubliTrump party is morally and ethically bankrupt.

But that’s not really the worst of it. In fact, all of this immigration horror might be a sideshow to what the party really wants to do to the country. And it’s all here.

That’s right, my fellow Americans; the conservative firebrands who have hidden behind the president’s coattails are finally in a position to undo the social safety net programs that have cushioned the middle class, protected the elderly, and given those who were neglected, left behind or just poor a fighting chance to be an integral part of American society.

Forget about the president’s dream of returning to 1984. We’re on our way back to 1884.

The tax cut that was passed last year was the first step. It created a huge budget deficit that the Republicans have no intention of addressing in any other way than with massive cutbacks in government spending to social programs. Combine the Labor and Education Departments? Great. Stop federal spending on research and development? All the better. Eviscerate the EPA? Already being done. And quite effectively, I might add.

The goal, of course, is to restore the government back to the role that conservatives view as the intended place of the federal government according to the Constitution and the debates of the 1780s. They also want to give big business free reign to run their affairs with minimal government oversight. Remember the last time that happened? It was called the Gilded Age and it resulted in the most massive redistribution of wealth and resources the country had ever seen until..today. And welfare was something you received at church.

Welcome to the restart. We’ve already seen regulations being rolled back, voting restrictions being implemented, crackdowns on immigration, Supreme Court decisions that treat corporations like people, and a tax cut that is providing a huge windfall to businesses while making many middle-class earners pay more. The president says that he’ll never make cuts to Medicare and Social Security because those elderly voters elected him, but I can’t really trust that the GOP won’t try something to include those programs in their reorganization.

It is true that there are many programs that need to be pared back or cut. The problem is that the present administration has no nuance. All regulations are job-killers, all people on public assistance are lazy scheming trough-suppers, all immigrants are criminals, all Democrats are unpatriotic. All, all, all.

So get ready for the real work of the conservatives. It will be done as quietly as they can. It’s our job to yell it from the rooftops.

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Featured

Rooting for the World

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 12 A Russian tourism shop selling a 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia football with flags of the competing nations on it in Moscow ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia on June 12, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)

I understand that the reason the United States is not in the World Cup tournament is due to poor play, suspect coaching, and stubborn woodwork, but there is a bit of poetry involved in that the present administration wants to isolate us and have us not play nice with the rest of the world.

So we’re not.

Of course, I would certainly want the United States to be in the World Cup and to represent us on the world stage, but we’ll have to wait until at least 2022 in Qatar. We are of course shoo-ins for 2026 because the Cup will be played here and Canada and Mexico. Call it the NAFTA Cup. If NAFTA is still around.

The international situation is, as always, dire. Right-wing, nationalist, isolationist, anti-immigrant despots are rising the world over, repudiating the post-World War II consensus that the way to avoid another world war is to cooperate, integrate and communicate. That this consensus is breaking down and is indeed being led by the President of the United States, is troubling and potentially dangerous. The Chinese have essentially called President Trump’s tariff bluff and the ensuing escalation could mean higher costs, prices, and tensions. And don’t forget that the only person to have left Shanghai last week with one less international chip was…President Trump. And this was after he excoriated and denigrated our allies while complimenting one of the world’s most savage political beasts.

The antidote for me is the World Cup. It’s greatness lies in its competition and how the players represent it. Many of them play on club teams together, and while they are not always friends, they do have respect for what their opponents can do. Sometimes they hug each other, help each other up, apologize for an inadvertent hit, or, get this one, smile. It’s a joy to watch. The closest thing we have in this country is the NBA, where the players have become noticeably more conversational and cooperative with each other, even while elevating the level of competition.

It’s also fun to watch because many of the country’s teams represent what many of the demagogues in power don’t want to see: integrated teams that include players of different races, religions and immigrant backgrounds proudly representing their nations. It’s the ultimate rebuttal to closing borders, sending desperate refugees back across the sea, separating children from parents, or imprisoning, beating, harassing or killing those who are different. It is the ultimate reminder that every life is precious because you don’t know what talents someone might contribute to their nation if you only see the threat that most of them will not become.

I can also root for another nation’s team and not think twice about it.

For the next month, then, I will be reveling in the beautiful game. Join me.

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Featured

Donny Dictator Defines Deviancy Down

I’m always amused when there’s a president in the White House with whom you don’t agree, and friends or others ask, “But you want the president to succeed, don’t you?” And I suppose, in the abstract, the answer always has to be yes because the success of the president is tied to the success of the country. If the president fails or does things that are detrimental to the country, then it hurts everyone, right? We all want prosperity for all and justice and equality and excellent education and affordable, comprehensive health care and clean air and water and for people to respect each others’ differences in the name of democracy and decency and humanity.

But now we have a president who does not represent those values or those hopes.  Over the past week he’s supported a lawsuit by 19 states that would allow health insurance companies to charge more for people with pre-existing conditions who want coverage.

He’s called law-abiding citizens who want to send a protest message to the country unpatriotic, and has raised the citizen soldiers who serve and protect the United States above others by giving them near-exclusive possession of the national anthem, as if the only ideas they were fighting for are to obey the president and be quiet in the face of injustice and racism. Last I knew, our military has been fighting to protect the rights we have and the democratic values that are attached to them, which include the right to protest publicly and unashamedly.

And just this weekend, the president has called for his good friends in Russia to be readmitted to the G-7 and has embraced his other good friend, Kim Jong-un, in Tuesday’s summit meeting, while simultaneously slapping tariffs on our allies and engaging in a trade war that will seriously harm American farmers. And he’s doing this under the delusion that the main sin a country can commit is to have a trade surplus with the United States.

Good thing we elected a businessman who has little clue about how international business and trade works.

But the biggest threat the president poses is that he just doesn’t seem to understand that he has a responsibility to the law and that presidents are not above it. Saying that he can end any investigation and that he can pardon himself might, according to some legal experts, be constitutional. The problem is that a responsible president wouldn’t even broach the subjects. They would allow the justice system to do its job without interference or threats. They would not see this as a personal attack, but a system that only survives when it seeks justice for all.

What the president is doing is defining deviancy down, making what should be outlandish, outrageous, immoral and illegal perfectly normal for him.

Our allies are the enemy and the undemocratic dictators of the world are great men.

Treaties are not binding, but can be changed on a whim.

Insults, bragging and lies are the stuff of official policy.

To oppose the man (not the office) is treason.

To reform Washington, appoint selfish, greedy, anti-science, anti-education know-nothings in every corner of government.

So do I want the president to succeed? Not if he is going to pursue an isolationist, obstructionist, reactionary, unjust, petty course while in office. These make him, and the country, seem small. It’s deviance from what we as a country have tried to accomplish up to this point.

That’s what we’ll get with Donny Dictator from now on.

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Democracy Featured

The Absolute Power Grab: Ignorance of the Law Becomes Trendy

There’s nothing like studying the Watergate scandal to remind you of what can happen when one person gets more power than they can handle. President Nixon thought he was above the law, but the Supreme Court said otherwise.

Now we have Nixon redux or more likely, Trump acid reflux, in the form of a president who believes that he too can ignore the law because he has “unfettered authority over all federal investigations.” If you’re not frightened by that statement, then you are either are too young to have lived through Watergate. And I’m sorry, but learning about it in school is not the same. You don’t really get to understand the fragile balance of power between the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government.

For the president to indulge in this power grab doesn’t surprise me, but it is disturbing. As Indiana Representative Samuel B. Pettingill said of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the debate on the court packing plan of 1937:

“This is more power than a good man should want and a bad man should have.”

Of course, President Trump came into office and was immediately frustrated by how much he could not do simply because he was president, but now that he has advisers who share his disdain of constitutional limits on the executive, he’s feeling untouchable and more secure. And while it is true that the president can terminate the investigation by firing the Special Prosecutor, that does not mean that Congress can’t step in and prosecute Trump for any crimes or misdemeanors the prosecutor uncovered. Then there’s public opinion, which, in Nixon’s case, was the undoing of his administration after he ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, precipitating the Saturday Night Massacre.

Yes, President Trump could fire Robert Mueller, but that wouldn’t mean the end of the drama. If nothing else, the American people understand the importance of concluding an investigation and publicizing the results. Firing Mueller would necessitate suppressing the evidence, which would result in more lawsuits. And more suspicion. Because the more the president talks about how unfair the investigation is, the more guilty he looks.

What this all comes down to is the fact that the president believes he is untouchable and that he can control the news cycle with his juvenile tweets, empty threats and folksy phrases, all served up with a 6th grade vocabulary and lots of !!!!. The courts will have the final say and based on past decisions, and the constitution, the president will likely lose.

For the sake of the republic, I certainly hope so.

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Democracy Featured

The Last Vestige of Scoundrels

Great statements are considered great for a reason, and this one by Samuel Johnson about false patriotism certainly stands the test of time. Scoundrels will use patriotism for their own ends.

If it wasn’t apparent when Donald Trump began his run for president, it is crystal clear now; that his brand of patriotism is noxious, uncompromising, divisive and exclusionary. It is not a patriotism that demands respect or knowledge of American history.

It requires obsequiousness to the ruler.

It demands slander of anyone who is different, either by skin, sex, love or political belief.

It encourages ignorance, hatred and small-mindedness.

As we commemorate those who have fought for our freedom to challenge, to protest, to take to task, to account for the behavior and actions of those we elect, to disagree, to resist, and to just be a terrific nuisance to those who want something different from us, we must remember that change only comes when we make it inconvenient and painful for those in power to continue in power.

Have a great holiday.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

One Word: Trumpflation!

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at an airport campaign rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Yes, it’s here. Trumpflation: that combination of rising wages, rising interest rates, a border that’s closed to low wage labor, a trade war with China, tensions with our European allies over economic sanctions, and a dropping fertility rate. 

What’s it all add up to?

Well, it doesn’t really add up, but the result will be rising prices and wages that won’t keep pace. Add in the nice gotcha that will hit many people’s tax bills next April and you have a problem. This is what can happen when you govern by chaos, ignorance and a commitment to making the wealthy wealthier.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a rising, healthy economy where anyone who wants a job can get one. And the economic expansion that began under Obama will continue to provide more employment and more money in the economy. Corporations have lots of cash on hand and many have committed to either building factories or bringing production home from overseas. These are positive developments and a wise president would leave this all alone, especially one who has told us repeatedly that he is a fan of laissez-faire economics.

The problems creep in when you poison the well with ideology. Isolating the country, threatening a trade war, slapping tariffs on goods and stoking a labor shortage because of short-sighted immigration policies will, I fear, stomp on this growth and will lead to unintended but decidedly visible consequences.

Which we are already seeing. Gas prices are up. Food prices are up – even at my local warehouse store. Of course, the convenience of all of this is that when the government calculates inflation they exclude, you got it, gas and food prices. So while these are the components that affect people more directly, the real inflation rate will likely remain low while people scratch their head about why goods cost so much more.

As for wages, I am glad to see them rising somewhat. But they are not rising enough to cover the rising prices. The promise of the tax cut was that American corporations would create more high wage jobs and invest in new infrastructure. The reality is that most of the tax cut money is going into stock buybacks that do very little for workers.  The federal minimum wage remains the same and this Congress will probably not raise it. Add the rising interest rates on cars and homes etc., and the debt will cost that much more. Unless workers are going to get a 4-5% increase, at some point they will start losing money.

The labor supply is in real jeopardy because fewer people are coming to the United States. They’ve been barred or scared off by the administration’s intolerance and hatred. Simply put, our economy has grown over the years because of new workers who come to this country. The birthrate has slowed, even revered in the past year. Countries that cannot replace their populations run the real and documented risk of stifling economic growth.

But at least we’ll get to test that old adage that immigrants are taking low wage jobs from Americans. With fewer immigrants, we will finally see if Americans flock to the fields or to the meat-packing plants. If wages stay low, then I don’t see this happening. When farm and meat producers begin to pay higher wages, we will all pay more at the store.

If we had a real populist in charge, then perhaps we could look forward to working people getting ahead and a tax cut that didn’t penalize people who voted against him. But we don’t have a real populist in charge, we have a president who would rather rule chaotically and unpredictably, although his unpredictability is becoming far more predictable, which creates uncertainty, volatility, and inequality.

Which is exactly what this country can look forward to.

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Democracy Featured

Happy Mother’s Day

Remember not to post anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want your mother to see.

Of course, that would exclude 99% of what’s on the Internet.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Featured

Common Among Celebrities and People of Wealth

Any populist claims made by Donald Trump are heretofore considered fraudulent.

This man is no populist. He’s barely popular and his policies will not help his constituents as much as they think.

The economic numbers that came out Friday were encouraging and at this point it’s Trump’s economy. Unemployment is down for almost every demographic group and wages are starting to edge upwards. But there are also fewer people in the work force and his aggressive anti-immigrant screeds are causing labor shortages that could spread from less attractive jobs to jobs that make the economy work.

Then there’s the trade policy that focuses obsessively on trade deficits, which are not necessarily the big problem we have with other countries. Many of those countries, including China, provide us with less expensive goods that wage-challenged Americans need in their daily lives. Plus, many American companies like Boeing, are worried that steel and aluminum will cost more. And the Export-Import Bank, a real bugaboo for conservative Republicans, won’t be around to help them weather foreign competition.

Add to that the inflation that is already showing itself in gasoline and food prices. And the tax bill that will be a great surprise to filers come next April, especially in states like New Jersey and New York, and you have a mixture of economic news that is decidedly, well…mixed.

But the real outrage should be directed at the president’s remarks about the deepening scandal over the payments he authorized to Stormy Daniels – authorizations he denied just a few months ago.  His defense that using Non Disclosure Agreements is a useful tool for the wealthy to fend off and manipulate less fortunate people is the height of unrestrained privilege.

President Trump is just as removed from anything populist as the next oligarch. He has spent his whole professional life trying to escape Queens, trying to escape the middle and working class people who live there, including the immigrants that have made Queens the most multicultural borough in New York. Of course, those of us subjected to his tabloid escapades since the 1980s already knew this. His best sell-job was convincing the slim majorities of mid-westerners that he was on their side.

And he misused the word role in his tweets, using roll instead. Nails on the blackboard to this teacher.

In the end, it’s the women and the cover-up that will sink him. Ain’t it always so?

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Democracy Donald Trump Featured

Beware of Smiling Dictators

It’s on. The Kim Jong-un Redemption Tour is officially under way and like any other one-party, all-powerful, illiberal, murderous dictator, he is smiling all the way.

Hello. I had my uncle shot. (Smile)

Hello. I had my half-brother killed in one of the most unique, sinister plots I could think of. (Smile)

Hello. I’m going to make nice-nice with our brothers and sisters in South Korea and meet with President Trump, who thinks I’m going to give up all of my nuclear weapons in return for some food and maybe some cultural artifacts. (Smile)

I’ll believe it when I see it.

And here’s the funny thing: Kim has a far more experienced foreign policy team than the United States does now. The president, I fear, knows very little other than what’s in his gut, which at any given moment has come from McDonald’s. The new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has been on the job for a little over two days and is more infamous for his dislike of Muslims than what he knows about global politics.

OK, you’re right. Not funny at all.

Plus, I’m a bit unsure as to what “denuclearization” means. Are both Koreas supposed to give up their nuclear arsenals? Are the Chinese and the Russians supposed to give up anything? After all, North and South can’t sign a peace agreement to end the war without the US and other countries that were involved in the fighting. And what about the Japanese? Will we be asked to stop supporting Japan with our nuclear weapons?

Or is this like my kitchen? I won’t bomb my neighbor, but please don’t ask me to give up my microwave.

So many questions.

And then there’s that smiling Comrade Kim, knowing that he can go on killing, starving, harassing, jailing, intimidating, propagandizing, bankrupting and misleading his people because he probably watches FOX News and understands that the Trump Administration will not only turn a blind eye to human rights abuses, they’ll go all Oedipus on us and take a stick to their remaining oculars.

That’s the real payoff and Kim knows it. He will not be held to account for the truly terrible things he’s done to his people and he’ll extract something of value for his regime. The South might get a peace treaty, repatriation for citizens who were kidnapped by the North, reunification meetings for families, and a promise from Kim not to invade, which will help the government of President Moon Jae-in maintain its economy and security. The North will get pretty much everything else, including some food aid, which is great, but it certainly won’t be enough to turn around an economy that’s hovering about three inches above dirt level.

As for the United States? Kim will want something in return for his denuclearization, such as a promise that the US won’t invade, but it also might involve us weakening our alliance with Japan and South Korea. And I’m sure that Chinese President Xi will be involved as well. Many of the news reports talk about how China is sidelined or marginalized as Kim goes directly to the South and then will meet with President Trump. I don’t buy a word of it. President Xi, unlike the other bombasts who’ve taken to the world stage in the past two years, knows the value of silence. And loyalty. Kim is not acting alone.

When all is said and done, though, the smiling dictator will go back to his country and dictate. Everything. Nothing of any value will change.

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Donald Trump

The Bullet Stops Here

I believe we have a winner.

The award for the most misguided person in the United States has to go to Micheal D. Cohen, Donald Trump’s attorney and scheissmeister, who is quoted as saying that he would take a bullet for the president.

Now don’t get me wrong. I would certainly take a bullet for anyone in my immediate family or a close friend, but I most certainly would not take anything for a person, much less a president, who denigrates, insults and forsakes me as a human being.

Misplaced loyalty is a failure of character. Cleaning up other people’s infidelities, financial irregularities and lapses of judgement that a child could explain as wrong is no way to make a living. It’s no wonder that the president and those who know him are more worried about what the FBI will find out by sifting through Cohen’s records than they are about Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election. What Trump has done domestically is far more noxious and damaging to his presidency.

But just when this story should be blooming in springtime glory, the Democrats stepped into some scheiss of their own by filing a lawsuit alleging criminal activity against it by the Russians, the Trump campaign, and Wikileaks. Further, the DNC filed the suit without letting important people like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi know they were doing this. Honestly, it makes the party look like a bunch of crybabies. Let Mueller do his job, keep the pressure on Cohen and focus on the ill effects of the president’s policies on the economy, the environment, families, and the safety of their children.

Is that too much to ask? Or do the Democrats simply need to create fissures and schisms to feel alive?

The Republicans are already running the fall campaign by warning their donors and voters that if the Democrats win either or both legislative houses in November, then they will open impeachment proceedings as soon as their members are sworn in. Why give this issue back to the GOP? It’s not like they have a stellar record to run on. The tax cuts are exciting no one except the companies that are using their windfall to buy up stock, and the rise in gas prices will soon negate most of the money that the middle and working classes are finding in their checks. Healthcare also seems to be a real worry to many middle-class families because premiums and drug prices are rising at the same time that coverage and deductibles are making it difficult to get adequate care.

With all the other distractions in Washington, running a campaign on middle-class concerns would be a fun idea, yes? Perhaps the DNC could be persuaded to fund such a campaign for the fall instead of playing the president’s game and making everything a matter of resentment and blame.

Instead of taking a bullet, why don’t we bite the bullet and do what’s right for the American people who deserve better than what they’re presently getting from their representatives? I’d sacrifice a lot for that.

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