Dec. 31, 2019 – Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains why he still has hope for the future, even in these dark times. Robert B. Reich is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of […]
Robert Reich
Robert Reich: Who is Worse: Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell? (VIDEO)
December 2, 2019 – He’s maybe the most dangerous politician of my lifetime. He’s helped transform the Republican Party into a cult, worshiping at the altar of authoritarianism. He’s damaged our country in ways that may take a generation to undo. The politician I’m talking about, of course, is Mitch McConnell. Two goals for November […]
Robert Reich: Why Billionaires Don’t Really Like Capitalism
Nov. 11, 2019 – Billionaires are wailing that Elizabeth Warren’s and Bernie Sanders’s wealth tax proposals are attacks on free market capitalism. Warren “vilifies successful people,” says Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Rubbish. There are basically only five ways to accumulate a billion dollars, and none of them has to do with being successful […]
Robert Reich: Trump’s Economy Revealed (VIDEO)
September 27, 2019 – Donald Trump and his enablers are hoping that a strong economy will help the American people look past the damage they are doing to the country. That’s why Trump is constantly crowing about job numbers and the stock market in order to paint a rosy picture of the economy. But when […]
Robert Reich: The Secret GOP Plan to Keep Power (VIDEO)
Sept. 16, 2019 – In 2020, we need to pay attention to state elections as well as elections for president and Congress. State elections could decide whether the Republican Party further corrupts American democracy. As demographics change — and America becomes more diverse and more liberal — the GOP has responded by implementing policies that […]
Robert Reich: The 5-Step CEO Pay Scam (VIDEO)
Aug. 23, 2019 – Average CEO pay at big corporations topped 14.5 million dollars in 2018. That’s after an increase of 5.2 million dollars per CEO over the past decade, while the average worker’s pay has increased just 7,858 dollars over the decade. Just to catch up to what their CEO made in 2018 alone, […]
Robert Reich: The Real Reason for Impeachment
July 26, 2019 – In today’s political climate, the question of whether or not to impeach the President of the United States is often thought of in political terms. But there is a much deeper concern at the heart of the question. An impeachment inquiry in the House is unlikely to send Trump packing before […]
Robert Reich: Democrats, This Isn’t Politics as Usual
July 3, 2019 – Imagine an opposition political party in a land being taken over by an oligarchy, headed by a would-be tyrant. The tyrant and the oligarchy behind him have convinced many voters that the reason they feel powerless and economically insecure isn’t because the oligarchy has taken most of the economic gains and […]
Robert Reich: Trump’s “Deep State” is Trump’s Corrupt State
June 21, 2019 – Trump has been ramping up his “Deep State” rhetoric again. He’s back to blaming a cabal of bureaucrats, FBI and CIA agents, Democrats, and “enemies of the people” in the mainstream media, for conspiring to remove him from office in order to allow the denizens of foreign shi*tholes to overrun America. […]
Robert Reich: Why We Must Legalize Marijuana (VIDEO)
May 21, 2019 – The federal prohibition on marijuana has been a disaster. For decades, millions of Americans have been locked up and billions of dollars have been wasted. It’s also deepened racial and economic inequality. We must end this nonsensical prohibition. The facts are staggering. In 2017, more Americans were arrested for marijuana possession […]
Robert Reich: The House Now Has A Constitutional Duty to Impeach Trump
May 16, 2019 – Donald Trump is causing a constitutional crisis with his blanket refusal to respond to any subpoenas. So what happens now? An impeachment inquiry in the House won’t send him packing before election day 2020 because Senate Republicans won’t convict him of impeachment. So the practical political question is whether a House […]
Robert Reich: Congress Should Be Ready to Arrest Attorney General Barr if He Defies Subpoena
May 2, 2019 – On Sunday, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee threatened to subpoena Attorney General William P. Barr if he refuses to testify this week about the Mueller report. But a subpoena is unlikely to elicit Barr’s cooperation. “We’re fighting all the subpoenas,” says the President of the United States. In other […]
Robert Reich: 5 Responses to Climate Change Deniers (VIDEO)
April 30, 2019 – Have you ever found yourself in a conversation with someone who denies climate change? Here are 5 responses to climate change deniers: 1) The science is undeniable. Scientists have concluded that the Earth’s temperature has been steadily climbing since the late 19th century, just when humans started emitting large amounts of […]
Robert Reich: Packing the Supreme Court
April 23, 2019 – The Supreme Court heard arguments today on the Trump administration’s decision to alter the 2020 Census to ask people if they are American citizens. In a former life, I argued cases before the Supreme Court. From what I gathered today, it looks as if the five Republican appointees to the Court […]
Robert Reich: How McConnell is Killing the Senate
April 14, 2019 – Congress has recessed for two weeks without passing a desperately-needed disaster relief bill. Why not? Because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t want to anger Donald Trump by adding money for Puerto Rico that Democrats have sought but Trump doesn’t want. America used to have a Senate. But under McConnell, what […]
Robert Reich: The Myth of Meritocracy
April 8, 2019 – Most Americans still cling to the meritocratic notion that people are rewarded according to their efforts and abilities. But meritocracy is becoming a cruel joke. The Justice Department recently announced indictments of dozens of wealthy parents for using bribery and fraud to get their children into prestigious colleges. But the real […]
Robert Reich: The Real Scandal of Donald Trump
March 25, 2019 – We may never know for sure whether Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin to obtain Russia’s help in the 2016 election, in return for, say, Trump’s help in weakening NATO and not interfering against Russian aggression in Ukraine. Trump and his propaganda machine at Fox News have repeatedly conjured up a […]
Robert Reich: What does a cornered Trump do?
March 18, 2019 – What does a megalomaniacal president of the United States do when he’s cornered? We’ll soon find out. House Democrats are beginning a series of investigations and hearings into Donald Trump. Senate Republicans have begun to desert him: Twelve defected on the wall; seven refused to back Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Almost all […]
Robert Reich: Bernie is back, but no longer the only progressive in town
Feb. 19, 2019 – It’s easy to forget the condescension and amusement that greeted him when he announced his first campaign for president, on May 26, 2015. How, it was asked, could a rumpled, 73-year-old, self-described Democratic Socialist – a junior senator from tiny Vermont, who was born in Brooklyn, Jewish, hadn’t even been a […]
Robert Reich: Trump Wants Socialism for the Rich, Harsh Capitalism for the Rest
Feb. 12, 2019 – “America will never be a socialist country,” Donald Trump declared in his State of the Union address. Someone should alert Trump that America is now a hotbed of socialism. But it is socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism. In the conservative mind, socialism means getting something for doing nothing. That […]