TRS: The Job Guarantee Revisited
A Federal Job Guarantee is a well-documented concept that, in the absence of revolution, would provide a public option for employment, guaranteed and paid by the currency issuing Federal Government. Automation is as real today as the calculator was to the abacus and the wagon to the combustible engine. So in the absence of revolution, only the worst in society would pass on improving the material conditions of the people... lets talk about that.
#FJG #FederalJobGuarantee #Unemployment #MMT #Poverty #Austerity #Neoliberalism #Revolution #Voting #Democrats #Duopoly #Activism #SteveGrumbine #TheRogueScholar #RealProgressives #RealProgressInAction
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Transcript
Let's try that again.
Steve Grumbine:Good afternoon everybody.
Steve Grumbine:It's Steve the Rogue Scholar.
Steve Grumbine:Gonna talk about something that I feel is, um, well, I don't
Steve Grumbine:think it's well understood.
Steve Grumbine:I've talked about it for years.
Steve Grumbine:I still don't think it's understood.
Steve Grumbine:Most people still.
Steve Grumbine:Still won't talk about it.
Steve Grumbine:And, and it, it fundamentally pisses me off.
Steve Grumbine:Right.
Steve Grumbine:It fundamentally pisses me off that we can't talk about a federal job
Steve Grumbine:guarantee, and I'm gonna talk about this from a totally different angle than
Steve Grumbine:normal because I'm just not gonna lie.
Steve Grumbine:The, the, the attacks, the, um, The comebacks from the people that don't like
Steve Grumbine:the concept of the job guarantee tend to repulse me to the point of exploding.
Steve Grumbine:And, um, I don't have a lot, you, you already know.
Steve Grumbine:I don't have a lot of patience for people that didn't think through
Steve Grumbine:the problem, but they got opinions.
Steve Grumbine:I don't, I don't have a lot of respect for that and, and it's probably.
Steve Grumbine:It's probably on me, something I need to work through.
Steve Grumbine:One of those, one of those moments that you, you kind of recognize
Steve Grumbine:that, um, that you've gotta make the change because people aren't there.
Steve Grumbine:So this is why I'm doing this live stream and you know, let me just say this,
Steve Grumbine:federal job guarantee is not revolution.
Steve Grumbine:It is a precursor in many ways to a.
Steve Grumbine:Revolution of sorts.
Steve Grumbine:Um, but it's definitely not revolution.
Steve Grumbine:It is revolutionary in its thinking.
Steve Grumbine:Um, it's revolutionary in that it is fundamentally changing the way
Steve Grumbine:society's structured, but it's definitely not revolutionary.
Steve Grumbine:It's definitely a policy prescription.
Steve Grumbine:But I want you to think about this.
Steve Grumbine:If what you're trying to over.
Steve Grumbine:Is corporate stranglehold on labor, corporate stranglehold on you and I
Steve Grumbine:and you think, well, what can we do?
Steve Grumbine:Unions are hard to come by.
Steve Grumbine:Unions are very weak right now.
Steve Grumbine:Um, each company can kind of drag it out, kind of not, not, I mean, look,
Steve Grumbine:even now Amazon still hasn't begun.
Steve Grumbine:Negoti.
Steve Grumbine:With, uh, groups that have decided to unionize.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, it, it kind of puts it in the hands of corporations
Steve Grumbine:to negotiate with people.
Steve Grumbine:And we don't have a lot of power.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, we have power.
Steve Grumbine:We can say we have power, whatever, but if, if, if Jeff Bezos, for
Steve Grumbine:example, his wealth, the wealth that he generates is so ridiculous.
Steve Grumbine:That if everybody at Amazon quit one day, I'm not sure it
Steve Grumbine:would hurt him all that much.
Steve Grumbine:You divest it, sell it off, whatever, but he, he's gonna be fine.
Steve Grumbine:And that's the problem with most of the wealthy, because they don't have the
Steve Grumbine:same pressures that regular people do.
Steve Grumbine:So the federal job guarantee provides a guaranteed job.
Steve Grumbine:For anyone that wants one.
Steve Grumbine:It's not forced labor.
Steve Grumbine:Anyone ever says that you have my personal permission to throw salt in the eyes, rake
Steve Grumbine:the eyes, drop the elbow off the top rope figure for a leg lock, suplex, whatever.
Steve Grumbine:If they ever say something about it being forced work, whatever.
Steve Grumbine:You literally have my permission to give them the backside of your hand.
Steve Grumbine:Proverbially.
Steve Grumbine:It's stupid.
Steve Grumbine:They shouldn't even be allowed to.
Steve Grumbine:It's a sign of someone that didn't do the homework.
Steve Grumbine:I started this podcast, this show off letting you know, point blank.
Steve Grumbine:I've got 0.0% understanding in patience with people that didn't
Steve Grumbine:do the homework but have opinions.
Steve Grumbine:0.0%.
Steve Grumbine:Actually it's trending into negative numbers.
Steve Grumbine:The lack of patients I have for people that have opinions
Steve Grumbine:that are unresearched, okay?
Steve Grumbine:We all have assholes.
Steve Grumbine:We all have opinion.
Steve Grumbine:Nobody needs to know about 'em unless you've done the research,
Steve Grumbine:quite frankly, in my opinion anyway.
Steve Grumbine:So the federal job guarantee provides what I consider to be kind of like
Steve Grumbine:a buffer, a not, it's a buffer for employers to have a, an employed group
Steve Grumbine:of people that they can pick from when the business cycle ebbs and flows.
Steve Grumbine:But I'm not worried about the business side of this for a minute.
Steve Grumbine:I'm worried about the, the labor.
Steve Grumbine:If you know, at any given time, you could stand up and walk away from your
Steve Grumbine:job, or you could literally go ahead and go on strike and pick up a federal job
Steve Grumbine:guarantee job as opposed to delivering pizzas at, you know, Papa John's.
Steve Grumbine:You might consider doing that, right?
Steve Grumbine:Especially if it paid a living wage, and especially if it gave you benefit.
Steve Grumbine:Let me just state for the record, there's not a single solitary, decent politician
Steve Grumbine:elected today that would give this to you.
Steve Grumbine:None of them are talking about it.
Steve Grumbine:Now, they may have talked about it here and there when they talked
Steve Grumbine:about the Green Dream or whatever.
Steve Grumbine:Democrats tried to smear it as, but in reality, none of
Steve Grumbine:them are talking about a job g.
Steve Grumbine:I think Iyana Presley came out with the idea of a job guarantee
Steve Grumbine:a while back, even that was kind of watered down and whatever.
Steve Grumbine:So what I'm talking to you about is theoretical.
Steve Grumbine:Purely theoretical, because we don't have real democracy in this country, and this
Steve Grumbine:is part of the problem with convincing people to fight for something other
Steve Grumbine:than just burn it down when you can't.
Steve Grumbine:Representatives to do the bidding.
Steve Grumbine:When you know, once they get in there, they fold like a cheap tent
Steve Grumbine:or they end up calling someone mama bear or doing stupid shit that in no
Steve Grumbine:way, shape or form represents you.
Steve Grumbine:It's real easy to lose any sense of hope, right?
Steve Grumbine:I mean, they're clearly not serving your needs.
Steve Grumbine:But let's just assume for a minute that we have power.
Steve Grumbine:It's quite an assumption cuz we in many ways, don't have the institutional power.
Steve Grumbine:But in a world where we do have that institutional power, the idea of a federal
Steve Grumbine:job guarantee is it's not forced labor.
Steve Grumbine:It provides you with benefits.
Steve Grumbine:It provides you with a living wage in your local community.
Steve Grumbine:It's federally funded, meaning the currency issuing federal
Steve Grumbine:government pays for it, and it's administered by your local community.
Steve Grumbine:In other words, the jobs that might be.
Steve Grumbine:There's different models, right?
Steve Grumbine:There's one that is like a non-profit model where they allow people to
Steve Grumbine:go work at non-profits and then pay them the federal job guarantee wage.
Steve Grumbine:Wouldn't that be great?
Steve Grumbine:I know it helped rope progressives, shit.
Steve Grumbine:We could staff a whole place and, and bring people in to do this work.
Steve Grumbine:It'd be great.
Steve Grumbine:Volunteer work, it seems to be a real challenge cause people think that
Steve Grumbine:saving the world is maybe optional if there's some fun thing to do.
Steve Grumbine:So this is the problem, right?
Steve Grumbine:With volunteering is like, Hey, you know, don't count on me.
Steve Grumbine:I've got something fun to do.
Steve Grumbine:But if, what happens if you give 'em $15 an hour to do it, $25 an hour
Steve Grumbine:to do it, are they gonna show up?
Steve Grumbine:Are they gonna do the.
Steve Grumbine:Probably better than a volunteer, unfortunately, because a volunteer
Steve Grumbine:doesn't think the mission matters unless there's money tied to it.
Steve Grumbine:It's weird, right?
Steve Grumbine:It's kind of weird.
Steve Grumbine:Your your goal is to change the world, but there's no money in it.
Steve Grumbine:So people act like, ah, I don't have to call.
Steve Grumbine:I don't have to check, I don't have to do whatever.
Steve Grumbine:And that's kind of part of the problem.
Steve Grumbine:So a federal job guarantee would compensate in one model,
Steve Grumbine:non-profit work and another.
Steve Grumbine:It might be completely redefining work.
Steve Grumbine:Bring your own concept of a job.
Steve Grumbine:You're an artist.
Steve Grumbine:Bring it in.
Steve Grumbine:You're gonna teach kids Monday, Wednesday, Friday, painting lessons, and the rest
Steve Grumbine:of the time you're gonna be painting.
Steve Grumbine:Uh, there was one time where, uh, bill Mitchell talked about paying surfers to
Steve Grumbine:go out and surf, but while they're surfing to do water samples for the local, um,
Steve Grumbine:you know, Health department or whatever.
Steve Grumbine:Um, so there's a ton of opportunities there to do things.
Steve Grumbine:Um, you know, whether it be, you know, baseball coaches and, and
Steve Grumbine:soccer coaches that are literally, um, you know, volunteer jobs that,
Steve Grumbine:you know, by the way, isn't it weird.
Steve Grumbine:Soccer coaches, baseball coaches and stuff like that, volunteer.
Steve Grumbine:They may be Boy Scout leaders, volunteers, they may be, uh, when the Pinewood
Steve Grumbine:Derby comes, it's not like they say, uh, my spouse won't let me show up.
Steve Grumbine:They're there setting up the Pinewood Derby.
Steve Grumbine:They're there setting up the basis for baseball practice.
Steve Grumbine:They're there making sure that the concession stand is running.
Steve Grumbine:It's weird.
Steve Grumbine:We'll do.
Steve Grumbine:For recreational baseball, but we won't do that to change the world.
Steve Grumbine:Doesn't make sense to me.
Steve Grumbine:In any event, so you have the, I will give you my job, uh, description,
Steve Grumbine:what I'd like to do, and then you guys decide if you'll fund it.
Steve Grumbine:We've got the nonprofit model, whatever, but then we've got like
Steve Grumbine:lots of other opportunities there.
Steve Grumbine:None of them are cut and dry cuz it's all theoretical.
Steve Grumbine:Okay.
Steve Grumbine:It's all theoretical.
Steve Grumbine:How we want to.
Steve Grumbine:Um, folks like Pavlina Cherna have done great work on this space.
Steve Grumbine:She wrote a book called Case for a Job Guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:Please go read it if you go to our website, real progressive.org.
Steve Grumbine:You can check out our book club where we went through her book, um, as part
Steve Grumbine:of that, and you'll learn a whole lot about the job guarantee as well.
Steve Grumbine:Plus, you can listen to our Macaroni Cheese podcast, where we've had fo
Steve Grumbine:cbo, Ellis Ingham's even been on talking about it, bill Mitchell,
Steve Grumbine:Warren Mosler, and others Now.
Steve Grumbine:Warren Mosler has a different perspective on the job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:He sees it truly as a buffer stock of unemployed people becoming
Steve Grumbine:employed in a transition job.
Steve Grumbine:He does not like the term job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:He likes the term transition job because then he would like to
Steve Grumbine:see people transition back into the private sector work pool.
Steve Grumbine:I don't like that as much.
Steve Grumbine:I understand why he wants it that.
Steve Grumbine:I want more revol, you know, revolutionary ideas.
Steve Grumbine:Um, there are others out there who would try to make the job
Steve Grumbine:guarantee more than it is.
Steve Grumbine:The job guarantee is kind of the base case, the base use case for
Steve Grumbine:the base level of employment.
Steve Grumbine:By having a job guarantee, you set the defacto labor standard.
Steve Grumbine:You tie your currency to labor.
Steve Grumbine:You have a nominal price anchor, which is why you don't do a stupid
Steve Grumbine:ubi, folks, you just don't do.
Steve Grumbine:It's a Trojan horse that allows the technocrats and the Silicon
Steve Grumbine:Valley people to hike up costs to make you a consumption unit.
Steve Grumbine:Just think about what happened during inflation.
Steve Grumbine:We were watching the rich gouge the shit out of us.
Steve Grumbine:Right?
Steve Grumbine:Why?
Steve Grumbine:Because they thought we got a little bit of money during the.
Steve Grumbine:They needed to shut off the idea that the federal government could afford things,
Steve Grumbine:so they jacked up prices to suck back the gains anybody had during the pandemic.
Steve Grumbine:Never mind the fact that they're about to crush us with
Steve Grumbine:student debt kicking back in.
Steve Grumbine:So there are those that would like to see the job guarantee be more
Steve Grumbine:than the base case for that employ.
Steve Grumbine:You know, setting the, the base wage, the, the minimum wage, if you will, by de fact.
Steve Grumbine:And then any company that wants to hire you, let's say the job guarantee
Steve Grumbine:wage is say, I don't know, $15 an hour.
Steve Grumbine:Any company you would work for would need to meet or beat that $15 an hour.
Steve Grumbine:However, because it's a federal job, that federal job would
Steve Grumbine:come with federal benefits.
Steve Grumbine:The kind of benefits that a public servant gets.
Steve Grumbine:Now, those other companies, the Walmarts of the world, et cetera, would
Steve Grumbine:need to meet or beat that package.
Steve Grumbine:Not just the wage, but the package.
Steve Grumbine:That means that it raises everyone's living standard up significantly.
Steve Grumbine:Now, we always get the low end troll that says, what about the disabled?
Steve Grumbine:What about the people that can't work?
Steve Grumbine:What about the people that don't wanna work to them?
Steve Grumbine:I say, you didn't listen to a motherfucking word I said
Steve Grumbine:the first 10 minutes of this.
Steve Grumbine:The fact is, is that there are several models that we can do.
Steve Grumbine:One is create your own job.
Steve Grumbine:If you're sitting there and you can be online doing social media, you
Steve Grumbine:can sit there and do Facebook and you can complain about the job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:On Twitter, you can do an online job.
Steve Grumbine:You can do something.
Steve Grumbine:You can do anything.
Steve Grumbine:This is not to say make work.
Steve Grumbine:This is the, maybe you are the person that calls elderly.
Steve Grumbine:Who are lonely that need a friend.
Steve Grumbine:Maybe your job is to play virtual checkers with somebody who's in a facility
Steve Grumbine:who otherwise wouldn't have friends.
Steve Grumbine:Maybe you're a big brother that you would talk to people or big
Steve Grumbine:sister and talk to people online.
Steve Grumbine:Maybe you work a suicide crisis hotline.
Steve Grumbine:Talk to people.
Steve Grumbine:I don't know.
Steve Grumbine:The, the, the, the opportunities are limitless, but there are
Steve Grumbine:people out there who sue.
Steve Grumbine:But what about mass automat?
Steve Grumbine:What about it?
Steve Grumbine:I guarantee you, if you wanna be in a cartoon world, the Abacus is
Steve Grumbine:sitting there trembling in its seat as the calculator is invented, I
Steve Grumbine:can see the two abacus is going.
Steve Grumbine:This is the end.
Steve Grumbine:There'll be no more beads to pull across those lines.
Steve Grumbine:That goddamn calculator is taking my job all of a sudden, all of a sudden.
Steve Grumbine:Calculator's like, well, fuck you too, man.
Steve Grumbine:The computer's kicking my ass.
Steve Grumbine:Oh no, there's a computer.
Steve Grumbine:Whatever.
Steve Grumbine:Will we do?
Steve Grumbine:I don't know.
Steve Grumbine:There's an app on your computer now that has a calculator.
Steve Grumbine:See, it just makes me disgusted.
Steve Grumbine:Disgusted.
Steve Grumbine:You think about the wagon wheel maker, right?
Steve Grumbine:And he's sitting there going, seeing the steel radio come out.
Steve Grumbine:He's like, oh my God, whatever we gonna do, there's no more metal wheels anymore.
Steve Grumbine:They're gonna need steel radi.
Steve Grumbine:It's like, oh my God, the horse and buggy, it's not gonna work anymore.
Steve Grumbine:Oh my God, there's this car, this combustible engine, whatever shall I do?
Steve Grumbine:Okay?
Steve Grumbine:I'm not a big fan of anyone that doesn't get that stuff.
Steve Grumbine:If you didn't get that cringe, cringe a little bit, right?
Steve Grumbine:So if you go back, realize this, I started this conversation.
Steve Grumbine:In the absence of revolution, the only way you're getting rid of private property
Steve Grumbine:and the private sector is by revolution.
Steve Grumbine:That's it.
Steve Grumbine:You're not gonna vote that into being, which means you're also not gonna get
Steve Grumbine:a policy in place while the world is burning down because you have revolution.
Steve Grumbine:Now, policies are for the existing.
Steve Grumbine:We can't, we don't have enough energy.
Steve Grumbine:People aren't, you know, willing to be revolutionary, whatever.
Steve Grumbine:There's not enough energy.
Steve Grumbine:Material conditions aren't right.
Steve Grumbine:There's no revolution coming.
Steve Grumbine:Okay?
Steve Grumbine:We gotta put that off to the site.
Steve Grumbine:I don't care whether you like private property or not, at that
Steve Grumbine:point in time, it doesn't matter.
Steve Grumbine:Okay?
Steve Grumbine:I can't do anything for you.
Steve Grumbine:There's no revolution happening, period.
Steve Grumbine:Period.
Steve Grumbine:And I'm not gonna kill people to make sure that you get your revolut.
Steve Grumbine:So that you don't have to worry about private property,
Steve Grumbine:I'm just not gonna do it.
Steve Grumbine:Lennon wouldn't do it either, by the way, just in case you were wondering.
Steve Grumbine:So the Mac Daddy of the Bolick revolution wouldn't do what I just said either.
Steve Grumbine:So don't act like you're better than Lennon.
Steve Grumbine:Try not to try to downsize the ego.
Steve Grumbine:Remember, Lennon wouldn't have done it.
Steve Grumbine:We're not gonna do it either.
Steve Grumbine:So that means that within the space, within this sphere that we have to work.
Steve Grumbine:And knowing, again, going back, we don't have any politicians to do our bidding.
Steve Grumbine:We have no democracy.
Steve Grumbine:This is all theoretical, right?
Steve Grumbine:We're caught between two worlds.
Steve Grumbine:We don't have anybody really willing for a revolution.
Steve Grumbine:The people that are calling for it are economic dullards.
Steve Grumbine:They won't listen to the economics, and they have no.
Steve Grumbine:They have no organization skills of any meaningful variety.
Steve Grumbine:They have no money, so you can't do the things you need to do to overcome that.
Steve Grumbine:So we're stuck in this fucking hole.
Steve Grumbine:We're stuck in a big hole.
Steve Grumbine:You gotta think, where do we go from here?
Steve Grumbine:How do we fix that?
Steve Grumbine:That's a story for another day.
Steve Grumbine:For right now, we're talking about the job guarantee and what it.
Steve Grumbine:Now imagine as a precursor to a revolution or a precursor to a major labor uprising.
Steve Grumbine:Having the federal job guarantee there to allow people to work in their
Steve Grumbine:local communities with a living wage, living benefits, and be able to know
Steve Grumbine:that the job is guaranteed they can get fired, whatever, but they'll get
Steve Grumbine:another job because it's guaranteed.
Steve Grumbine:That's the thing.
Steve Grumbine:You quit one day, you're guaranteed to have a job the next day, period.
Steve Grumbine:Period.
Steve Grumbine:Okay.
Steve Grumbine:We already have a basic income in this country right now.
Steve Grumbine:It's called social security.
Steve Grumbine:It's underfunded.
Steve Grumbine:Um, we've been conditioned to worthlessly, worthlessly believe that
Steve Grumbine:we pay into social security and that we get our money back out of social.
Steve Grumbine:It's not how it works.
Steve Grumbine:The Social security, um, program is self-funding, but they've got
Steve Grumbine:the authority to pay done through the trust fund, which is nothing
Steve Grumbine:more than a piece of paper or a spreadsheet saying, yep, you paid it.
Steve Grumbine:Yep.
Steve Grumbine:You paid it.
Steve Grumbine:Yep.
Steve Grumbine:You paid it.
Steve Grumbine:Yep.
Steve Grumbine:You paid it All Social security money that's spent is new money, period.
Steve Grumbine:That's right.
Steve Grumbine:Not a single, not a single one.
Steve Grumbine:Not a single one.
Steve Grumbine:Of your FI attacks dollars, pay for Social Security, not a single one.
Steve Grumbine:So if that's the case, then you already know the Republicans didn't raid the
Steve Grumbine:Social Security Trust fund, right?
Steve Grumbine:You're not gonna fall for that bullshit, right?
Steve Grumbine:Anybody says that the Republicans raid the Social Security Trust fund.
Steve Grumbine:Salt in the eyes, elbow off the top rope.
Steve Grumbine:Figure four, leg lock, suplex, right?
Steve Grumbine:We don't tolerate ignorance like that being unchecked.
Steve Grumbine:All right?
Steve Grumbine:So the federal job guarantee allows us maximum freedom.
Steve Grumbine:UBI does not because then we're, we're begging and pleading that the Elon
Steve Grumbine:Musks of the world don't raise price.
Steve Grumbine:They don't jack up their prices on things that they have stranglehold on
Steve Grumbine:that Bill Gates doesn't play games with patents and withhold services from us
Steve Grumbine:because we have just become consumption.
Steve Grumbine:You, here's your money.
Steve Grumbine:Wait for Bill Gates to service you.
Steve Grumbine:Wait for somebody else to service you.
Steve Grumbine:That's your UBI crowd.
Steve Grumbine:It's a disgraceful, libertarian, bullshit minded thing, and it should
Steve Grumbine:never, ever, ever be given the kind of gravitas that it seems to.
Steve Grumbine:It's just because people don't understand what they're signing up for.
Steve Grumbine:They don't realize that you're putting the power deeply into the oligarch's hands.
Steve Grumbine:You've basically got vestigial arms and vestigial resistance anymore because
Steve Grumbine:they own you at that point, period.
Steve Grumbine:As if they don't already.
Steve Grumbine:But at least right here, right now, the opportunity exists to
Steve Grumbine:overcome some of the oppress.
Steve Grumbine:By working together, collaborating, et cetera.
Steve Grumbine:But once they take over, this is where that automation crap really
Steve Grumbine:starts, mattering, doesn't it?
Steve Grumbine:If we don't have a federal job guarantee to counteract that kind
Steve Grumbine:of thing, we could literally be on the outside looking in of society.
Steve Grumbine:And since our government's working hand in glove with those folks,
Steve Grumbine:there's not a lot of chance for us to move up and out and over and survive.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, a UBI is so dependent on believing that big business is gonna
Steve Grumbine:take care of you, create enough of goods and services, keep it at a
Steve Grumbine:price that you can handle, et cetera.
Steve Grumbine:That's not, not a real thing, man.
Steve Grumbine:That's like children's stories.
Steve Grumbine:So we need to recognize the power is withholding your
Steve Grumbine:labor from these companies.
Steve Grumbine:By taking my 40 hour block of time that I put towards a job guarantee
Steve Grumbine:and moving it away from that company, they can't, you know, subsidize that
Steve Grumbine:shit wage because now I have a job, I have benefits, and my time is tied up.
Steve Grumbine:They can't skim off.
Steve Grumbine:Because it's for everyone.
Steve Grumbine:It creates a price anchor by tying the currency to the labor standard
Steve Grumbine:instead of the gold standard, right?
Steve Grumbine:It's the labor standard.
Steve Grumbine:So I think fundamentally, The job guarantee is the
Steve Grumbine:answer to mass automation.
Steve Grumbine:The job guarantee is the answer to preventing people from
Steve Grumbine:falling through the cracks.
Steve Grumbine:It's the answer to preventing generational poverty in the existing environment.
Steve Grumbine:In a future world, in a world that I would prefer, it would
Steve Grumbine:be rid of private product.
Steve Grumbine:It would be rid of many of the things that are profit seeking, rent seeking.
Steve Grumbine:A lot of these things would be eradicated in its entirety,
Steve Grumbine:but that's not the reality.
Steve Grumbine:I fight with people every single day that don't understand the difference
Steve Grumbine:between private property and having things like a cell phone or a book,
Steve Grumbine:or you know, headphones or whatever.
Steve Grumbine:They confuse private property with possessions and they
Steve Grumbine:couldn't be more different.
Steve Grumbine:Okay?
Steve Grumbine:Couldn't be more different.
Steve Grumbine:So you gotta live in two worlds, right?
Steve Grumbine:You gotta live in a future world where you want revolution, where you
Steve Grumbine:want change, where you wanna do these things, and then you gotta live in the
Steve Grumbine:real world where you're at right in the moment and say, what do I do now?
Steve Grumbine:What do I do?
Steve Grumbine:I can't answer that for you, but in the job guarantee framework, job G,
Steve Grumbine:think about all the things that need to be done in your local community.
Steve Grumbine:All the things that would help your neighbors, all the things that would
Steve Grumbine:bring about a rise in democracy in your local community by making people pay
Steve Grumbine:attention to what's going on with the job.
Steve Grumbine:G.
Steve Grumbine:It's a democracy enhancer by getting people engaged and involved and looking
Steve Grumbine:at what possible things the community needs, and then creating jobs for people
Steve Grumbine:to fulfill them within that job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:I'm really, really, yes.
Steve Grumbine:Oh my God.
Steve Grumbine:Thank you, Kamari.
Steve Grumbine:This is wonderful.
Steve Grumbine:Thank you so much.
Steve Grumbine:Virginia.
Steve Grumbine:You too.
Steve Grumbine:Thank you so much for putting that in there.
Steve Grumbine:So, private property versus personal property.
Steve Grumbine:Very important distinctions that people seem to screw up constantly.
Steve Grumbine:It's hard for me to, to talk about the job guarantee these days, not
Steve Grumbine:because they don't agree with it.
Steve Grumbine:I think it's fantastic, but because I understand at a deeper level, Especially
Steve Grumbine:in the heels of my work with Clamente and even my most recent interview with
Steve Grumbine:Tom Fazi, I understand that we are like drinking mother's milk, believing we
Steve Grumbine:have a democracy, believing we have the power to vote our way to these things.
Steve Grumbine:Within that, it's hard for me to talk about policy because policy requires
Steve Grumbine:elected officials to enact them, and there's great policy out there.
Steve Grumbine:Joe Biden could have eliminated all student debt Congress when they had
Steve Grumbine:a super majority with the Democrats.
Steve Grumbine:If they really believed it could have eliminated all of it.
Steve Grumbine:It would've been wildly popular.
Steve Grumbine:They didn't do it.
Steve Grumbine:Most people.
Steve Grumbine:Marijuana completely legalized.
Steve Grumbine:If most people wanted it and we were able to have a democracy,
Steve Grumbine:it would already be legalized.
Steve Grumbine:It's not why
Steve Grumbine:we are in a position where there are markets that benefit from these laws.
Steve Grumbine:Are markets that benefit from redlining properties.
Steve Grumbine:There's bene markets that benefit from the drug war.
Steve Grumbine:There's markets that benefit from all of our malaise,
Steve Grumbine:and so even though it's wildly popular, people like Joe Biden and
Steve Grumbine:W and others, Well, they created industry based on surveillance.
Steve Grumbine:They created industry based on, you know, drug detection.
Steve Grumbine:They created, you know, all kinds of industry based on, you know, digging
Steve Grumbine:into your personal information online.
Steve Grumbine:So you, you have to understand that we don't live in a democracy.
Steve Grumbine:I, I don't mean this harsh, I don't mean this to be like some alarmist thing.
Steve Grumbine:I'm telling you, we don't live in democracy.
Steve Grumbine:There's zero proof that you're voting your way to anything good.
Steve Grumbine:So it makes it really, really hard to take that leap and consider these
Steve Grumbine:progressive programs, these progressive ideas, these the good ideas, great ideas,
Steve Grumbine:ideas that would fundamentally change your life, but you've got no one in
Steve Grumbine:there that's willing to put 'em forward.
Steve Grumbine:And it's like even if they were willing to put 'em.
Steve Grumbine:We already know the games they play, there's the rotating villain, there's
Steve Grumbine:the parliamentarian, there's the Supreme Court, there's the Senate.
Steve Grumbine:There's always something.
Steve Grumbine:There's the free speech sluts that lie, that allow misinformation, you know, and
Steve Grumbine:in the end, we're reactionary animals.
Steve Grumbine:Most people are not calm, cool, and collected.
Steve Grumbine:Most people don't take a lot of time to think through a problem, so we're stuck.
Steve Grumbine:Right?
Steve Grumbine:We're stuck.
Steve Grumbine:Just imagine if a job guarantee existed, the ability to walk away
Steve Grumbine:at any given time, to organize a strike and mean it, and be able
Steve Grumbine:to walk away without looking back.
Steve Grumbine:Get your job, g.
Steve Grumbine:And really, really make your employer sweat if they want you back.
Steve Grumbine:They've gotta do what's being said.
Steve Grumbine:If not, you walked away and you got a job number.
Steve Grumbine:Problem is, is that on top of it being impossible to vote your way
Steve Grumbine:there, you also have to understand that there, there are a lot of people
Steve Grumbine:out there that believe in the free market that doesn't exist by the.
Steve Grumbine:And they want to make sure that in the end they keep the wage low, they
Steve Grumbine:keep you in precarity, they want you to roll off the job guarantee,
Steve Grumbine:and they want you to roll back.
Steve Grumbine:In the private sector, that may not be what everybody wants.
Steve Grumbine:The job guarantee allows you a permanent place if you want, if you
Steve Grumbine:want that to be your job forever.
Steve Grumbine:It would be nothing that would prevent that.
Steve Grumbine:Not in the proposals I know that are out.
Steve Grumbine:So I do know this.
Steve Grumbine:I want you guys to think about this.
Steve Grumbine:I don't think Richard Nixon was exactly an environmentalist.
Steve Grumbine:He was a cloth coat Republican for sure, don't think he was an environmentalist.
Steve Grumbine:But somehow or another, Richard Nixon, during his time signed into
Steve Grumbine:law the environmental protection.
Steve Grumbine:Republican disgraced president, Hey Don.
Steve Grumbine:O Tan, rested and ready.
Steve Grumbine:Right?
Steve Grumbine:Dead dead.
Steve Grumbine:President of the United States.
Steve Grumbine:Dick Nixon.
Steve Grumbine:Right.
Steve Grumbine:He definitely showed that when people organize and they
Steve Grumbine:push forward that things can.
Steve Grumbine:Not maybe the way we want it to, not through democracy, but simply
Steve Grumbine:through the fact that they don't want pitch forks and torches.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, that, that's about the only thing we've got, in my opinion, to make
Steve Grumbine:these sorts of things happen, is taking to the streets in nonviolent direct
Steve Grumbine:action, become ungovernable, become a nuisance, become a threat to their power.
Steve Grumbine:And I'm here to tell you, it's a challenge because people don't believe.
Steve Grumbine:People are scared.
Steve Grumbine:People like binge watching shit.
Steve Grumbine:Hell, we've got volunteers that know you tell 'em, check in every day
Steve Grumbine:into our workspace, and they won't.
Steve Grumbine:They'll go days without checking in.
Steve Grumbine:So imagine how a revolution would occur with that group of people.
Steve Grumbine:It wouldn't.
Steve Grumbine:You're fucked.
Steve Grumbine:Right.
Steve Grumbine:Hey, check in every day so we can plan, and bam.
Steve Grumbine:Nope.
Steve Grumbine:Too much.
Steve Grumbine:Too much.
Steve Grumbine:So just know that as much as you might be angry at the Democratic party, and
Steve Grumbine:God knows they're factless and worthless, your own revolutionary friends won't
Steve Grumbine:do the basic things required to build the energy to mobilize a movement.
Steve Grumbine:It won't, can't be bothered, cannot be bothered to do something as simple.
Steve Grumbine:Let me check my phone and check.
Steve Grumbine:Maybe I can retweet that.
Steve Grumbine:Maybe I can share that.
Steve Grumbine:If they won't do that, what makes you think they're gonna do a revolution?
Steve Grumbine:Seriously, anybody.
Steve Grumbine:You can be in a wheelchair, you can be laying in bed, you can be on
Steve Grumbine:the toilet and you can hit share.
Steve Grumbine:Something as simple as share tweet, I support this, whatever.
Steve Grumbine:Too, too, too much.
Steve Grumbine:Too much to ask.
Steve Grumbine:Remember that if you want better, you must do better.
Steve Grumbine:If you choose to lead people the path that says it's not important to do those
Steve Grumbine:things, revolution ain't happening, baby.
Steve Grumbine:It's not.
Steve Grumbine:I'm very unhappy.
Steve Grumbine:But I also see it every day.
Steve Grumbine:Every single day.
Steve Grumbine:I see that kind of thing.
Steve Grumbine:People are unwilling to put themselves out there.
Steve Grumbine:People are unwilling to take that next step, but that's the choice you have
Steve Grumbine:to make to get beyond praying to God.
Steve Grumbine:You have some form of democracy so you can get a program through your choices.
Steve Grumbine:Rely on the people that won't even retweet or check in or do anything.
Steve Grumbine:You see what I mean?
Steve Grumbine:You're caught between a rock and a hard place.
Steve Grumbine:I, I, I, I read some and it was really pissing me off because I guess I fit into
Steve Grumbine:this world, the ultra, I guess I'm an ultra at some level, whatever that means.
Steve Grumbine:I had to look it up.
Steve Grumbine:It's, it's people that are radically left that aren't willing to just
Steve Grumbine:kind of go along to get along.
Steve Grumbine:I guess I'm an old, I don't, I don't like the term, I don't care about the
Steve Grumbine:term, but I guess that's what I am.
Steve Grumbine:And yet at the same time though, I'm also looking at, you know, they see you
Steve Grumbine:gotta go to war with the team you got, I look around and I realize, honest to
Steve Grumbine:God, you could literally lay a plan out.
Steve Grumbine:And if people don't show up, it ain't happening.
Steve Grumbine:I don't care how much you want it.
Steve Grumbine:I don't care how much you scream, bring down the duopoly, dex, whatever.
Steve Grumbine:It's just words, man.
Steve Grumbine:Just chitter chatter.
Steve Grumbine:You've gotta really, really want it.
Steve Grumbine:So we're back to the job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:You're.
Steve Grumbine:I can't vote my way there.
Steve Grumbine:The only way to get a program through is to vote my way there.
Steve Grumbine:The material conditions aren't enough to break people away from
Steve Grumbine:Netflix listening to click bait shit, so they're not gonna stop.
Steve Grumbine:So what do you do?
Steve Grumbine:You can blame the oligarchs all day long, and that's the convenient
Steve Grumbine:thing for the people that don't check in and don't do those things.
Steve Grumbine:Let's punch up.
Steve Grumbine:They're there.
Steve Grumbine:We know that we see you,
Steve Grumbine:but then it's like, okay, we gotta organize down here.
Steve Grumbine:And everybody's like, well, we've gotta make it so simple.
Steve Grumbine:So simple.
Steve Grumbine:You can't in any way, shape or form be hard.
Steve Grumbine:It's gotta be so simple.
Steve Grumbine:They just hit this button and they feel revolut.
Steve Grumbine:Guys, I hate to break this to you, but unless you're willing to do more
Steve Grumbine:than belly ache about them exit crap, unless you're willing to do more than
Steve Grumbine:that, you're not even getting that.
Steve Grumbine:You're not even getting that.
Steve Grumbine:It puts me into a really, really bad, um, It puts me into a bad
Steve Grumbine:space because you feel trapped.
Steve Grumbine:You feel like you're a feral animal, trapped.
Steve Grumbine:You're trying to figure out how to get anyone to move, and you realize most
Steve Grumbine:people aren't that far down the runway.
Steve Grumbine:They haven't thought through most of these problems, so you're stuck going
Steve Grumbine:remedial to get over here because you need everyone to sing the same sheet of
Steve Grumbine:music, or you're not making any progress.
Steve Grumbine:So I'm interested in the comments.
Steve Grumbine:If you wouldn't mind.
Steve Grumbine:Let me know what your thoughts are on a job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:Let me know what your thoughts are on organizing.
Steve Grumbine:Let me know what your thoughts are on the state of people's unwillingness to do
Steve Grumbine:the most basic things like check in or, um, say hello or, um, Hey, I'm not gonna
Steve Grumbine:be doing my show this week, or whatever.
Steve Grumbine:The most basic, rudimentary things, and then ask yourself where this
Steve Grumbine:revolution's gonna come from and then start realize I can't have a job
Steve Grumbine:guarantee I've gotten a democracy.
Steve Grumbine:I can't have a revolution that can't break free from binge watching Netflix.
Steve Grumbine:There's your dilemma, folks.
Steve Grumbine:The bridge the Gap, the Launa.
Steve Grumbine:The launa right there.
Steve Grumbine:The gap between revolution.
Steve Grumbine:And policy.
Steve Grumbine:I got no, got no democracy and got no willingness.
Steve Grumbine:Everybody wants to be mad on social media, fist in the air and nothing else.
Steve Grumbine:So that means that the people that are busy working every day, the oligarchs
Steve Grumbine:and their paid minions are busy working on a way to make us consumption units.
Steve Grumbine:They own the.
Steve Grumbine:All these other aspects of society and unless we're willing to do
Steve Grumbine:something different, we're trapped.
Steve Grumbine:We're trapped.
Steve Grumbine:It's a trap.
Steve Grumbine:So I'm gonna go through, I saw some super chats and I want to go ahead and
Steve Grumbine:read them all off and thank everybody.
Steve Grumbine:Let's go through here and see what happens.
Steve Grumbine:All the way to the Tippety top.
Steve Grumbine:There are lots of super chats.
Steve Grumbine:Awesome, awesome.
Steve Grumbine:Let's start here with Virginia.
Steve Grumbine:The cradle will rock for examples of the WPAs Federal Arts Project.
Steve Grumbine:Yes.
Steve Grumbine:Very, very good points.
Steve Grumbine:Let's go up here.
Steve Grumbine:I see if I missed, oh, there was one more.
Steve Grumbine:Double K.
Steve Grumbine:Thank you.
Steve Grumbine:Keep on going.
Steve Grumbine:We already got Virginia.
Steve Grumbine:Double K and another double K.
Steve Grumbine:Nope.
Steve Grumbine:Nope, I'm sorry.
Steve Grumbine:That's wink.
Steve Grumbine:Radio N, then Y Radio fj G plus M four A puts a big dent
Steve Grumbine:in capitalism as we know it.
Steve Grumbine:That's correct, but it requires democracy to get people to pass those laws.
Steve Grumbine:Double K.
Steve Grumbine:Again, thank you so much, mark Fabian.
Steve Grumbine:Expand social security to include all non-employed and
Steve Grumbine:improved by paying a living wage.
Steve Grumbine:There you go.
Steve Grumbine:Scrolling.
Steve Grumbine:Scrolling.
Steve Grumbine:Got another one.
Steve Grumbine:Kaari.
Steve Grumbine:Amy, thank you so much for the $5 Super Chat.
Steve Grumbine:And let's see, we need to get Class Revolutionary Unions back.
Steve Grumbine:I, that's not, I'm putting that up there cuz that is a comment that should
Steve Grumbine:have definitely gotten identified.
Steve Grumbine:Let's go through here.
Steve Grumbine:Free market.
Steve Grumbine:What a joke.
Steve Grumbine:Absolutely.
Steve Grumbine:Um, so many good comments, Peter.
Steve Grumbine:Principles eliminated under at FJ G.
Steve Grumbine:Yes, sir.
Steve Grumbine:What's a good book to get introduced to mmt?
Steve Grumbine:I'm gonna say seven Duly Innocent Frauds.
Steve Grumbine:That's the one I started with.
Steve Grumbine:That's with Warren Mosler.
Steve Grumbine:There's also a great book Making Money Work for Us.
Steve Grumbine:Brand New Fresh from Randall Ray.
Steve Grumbine:Of course, the Staple is The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton.
Steve Grumbine:Um, I would say that Bill Mitchell's reclaiming the State is worthwhile, very
Steve Grumbine:worthwhile with Tom Fazi, I would say.
Steve Grumbine:Um, please read every transcript from our Mac Cheese podcast and you will have
Steve Grumbine:a PhD level understanding of this stuff.
Steve Grumbine:Let's see.
Steve Grumbine:Gonna keep going through here.
Steve Grumbine:Manlet in Van Lit . Hello Lance here.
Steve Grumbine:Troy, just a few coins for you.
Steve Grumbine:Thank you so much.
Steve Grumbine:Troy.
Steve Grumbine:Manlet in a van Lit.
Steve Grumbine:Let's see here.
Steve Grumbine:Laugh out loud.
Steve Grumbine:Looks like a blue wave on the other hand.
Steve Grumbine:I, I'd be proof of that.
Steve Grumbine:Full head of hair, . All right, keep going through here.
Steve Grumbine:Do we have anything else?
Steve Grumbine:Um, ba.
Steve Grumbine:And I think that's it.
Steve Grumbine:All right, so with that in mind folks, I just want to say these
Steve Grumbine:policies, these ideas, these political discussions, they're fun.
Steve Grumbine:They're really fun to have.
Steve Grumbine:But every election cycle, what happens is that you've got this
Steve Grumbine:little ramp up of time where we have an opportunity to educate people.
Steve Grumbine:Unfortunately, during that same time, you're hit with massive amounts of prop.
Steve Grumbine:So weeding through it is very challenging, but during that time,
Steve Grumbine:we need to educate more people about the federal job guarantee.
Steve Grumbine:When you know that the federal government could do these things,
Steve Grumbine:you know, they could do it, but they don't do it, you have to start
Steve Grumbine:asking yourself, why, why not?
Steve Grumbine:Oh my goodness.
Steve Grumbine:Mr.
Steve Grumbine:Poppers, real quickly, so I, we, we, the family, this is a
Steve Grumbine:little inside dish on Grine.
Steve Grumbine:I've been living like a feral animal for a long time, and I'm gonna continue to.
Steve Grumbine:My finances are so terrifying right now.
Steve Grumbine:It's not even funny.
Steve Grumbine:The idea of getting a dog was crazy, but the problem was, is that the
Steve Grumbine:spiritual condition in my own home was really suffering mightily, and
Steve Grumbine:we needed some empathy and we needed some compassion inside the walls.
Steve Grumbine:Just because we're having a rough time financially didn't
Steve Grumbine:mean my kids should grow.
Steve Grumbine:Without knowing that love and knowing that kind of bond.
Steve Grumbine:So we took the Nest Tea plunge and we got this little teeny puppy called Mr.
Steve Grumbine:P's, and he's taking a nap right now.
Steve Grumbine:Worked him hard today.
Steve Grumbine:I wanna say this, it was terrifying to get a dog, and I almost didn't do it because
Steve Grumbine:of finances, but because of the need for my kids, I'm going to figure out a way.
Steve Grumbine:Bypass my own shitty deal with finances and somehow or another,
Steve Grumbine:make sure that they lead a full life.
Steve Grumbine:Regardless of my situation.
Steve Grumbine:I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna try.
Steve Grumbine:I'm gonna keep trying.
Steve Grumbine:I don't want them to have to pay for this world that sucks so fucking
Steve Grumbine:bad and has so little hope in it.
Steve Grumbine:Because we don't live in democracy.
Steve Grumbine:We don't live in a place where we control our outcomes.
Steve Grumbine:We are slaves within this system.
Steve Grumbine:In any event, Mr.
Steve Grumbine:Ps will make an appearance at some point.
Steve Grumbine:It wasn't today.
Steve Grumbine:It was not today.
Steve Grumbine:PS P U P P E R S.
Steve Grumbine:My son came up with a Cammy said name of Mr.
Steve Grumbine:Ps, and so now he is AKA Mr.
Steve Grumbine:Ps beautiful little teeny Jack Russell.
Steve Grumbine:And every time I walk out of the room, every time I walk out of the
Steve Grumbine:room, he goes, He sleeps on my chest.
Steve Grumbine:It's like having a newborn baby.
Steve Grumbine:I can't like put him down because otherwise he cries and whatnot.
Steve Grumbine:So working on training the little guy is a challenge.
Steve Grumbine:Um, but just suffice to say, um, I don't want the bad guys to win.
Steve Grumbine:I want us to be able to enjoy our lives.
Steve Grumbine:I want us to be able to have some modicum of security in this world and.
Steve Grumbine:I'm not gonna stop living just because money's not going to, you know?
Steve Grumbine:And, uh, I have not heard anything about the coming Ease shortage.
Steve Grumbine:Um, folks, look, there's a lot of games being played out there.
Steve Grumbine:There really are a lot of games being played.
Steve Grumbine:Saudi Arabia knows it has us over a barrel.
Steve Grumbine:If you notice, Khashoggi is no longer the Prince's responsibility
Steve Grumbine:doesn't have to face anything.
Steve Grumbine:So just trust me when I say this.
Steve Grumbine:Um, you know, could there be a coming, you know, diesel shortage, a
Steve Grumbine:manufactured one, A man one for sure.
Steve Grumbine:Um, because this is what's going on right now, unfortunately,
Steve Grumbine:this is what's going on.
Steve Grumbine:There's a lot of games being played.
Steve Grumbine:The United States failed miserably to, um, address its crumbling
Steve Grumbine:infrastructure or its energy grid because it thought it could survive
Steve Grumbine:on, uh, The empire is corroding in different ways at different levels.
Steve Grumbine:We're losing our imperial, uh, imperial, um, stronghold.
Steve Grumbine:And you saw this happen within the Roman Empire as the edges of the
Steve Grumbine:empire were just too far extended.
Steve Grumbine:And little by little illiteracy took over on the edges of the
Steve Grumbine:empires that dissolved, and we rolled into the dark ages.
Steve Grumbine:You know, literacy was one of the top things that got hit
Steve Grumbine:as the umpire, uh, collapsed.
Steve Grumbine:And of course, where there's a power vacuum, there is also a,
Steve Grumbine:um, whatever you wanna call this.
Steve Grumbine:Um, yeah, warlords.
Steve Grumbine:It's libertarian hellscape, right?
Steve Grumbine:And yes, I agree a hundred percent.
Steve Grumbine:It's very, very similar to the seventies where, uh, Saudi Arabia decided to flex.
Steve Grumbine:And, uh, once again, the United States wasn't in position
Steve Grumbine:to do anything about it.
Steve Grumbine:And this is the kind of stuff that happens, but you've gotta ask
Steve Grumbine:yourself, who are you rooting for here?
Steve Grumbine:And why are you rooting for them?
Steve Grumbine:Right?
Steve Grumbine:I mean, is it a narrative you're rooting for?
Steve Grumbine:Is it a team you're rooting for me personally, If, if we were serious
Steve Grumbine:and they're not serious, but because they're serious about what they're doing,
Steve Grumbine:they're not seriously listening to us.
Steve Grumbine:Any perceived effort of them looking like they're listening to us is
Steve Grumbine:merely cost playing a politician.
Steve Grumbine:They're cost playing, like they give a shit.
Steve Grumbine:In reality, they got marching orders, man.
Steve Grumbine:They're there for, for capital power, not for wealth.
Steve Grumbine:You realize, Is irrelevant to them at the top as anything.
Steve Grumbine:It's a means of control for us.
Steve Grumbine:Above them, they have the machinery, they have the factories, they have all
Steve Grumbine:the things, they have the automation, the robots, this, that and the other.
Steve Grumbine:To them, money is just a means of control.
Steve Grumbine:They have the goods and services that money buys, so it's, it's a real catch
Steve Grumbine:22, you know, it's a real catch 20.
Steve Grumbine:So anyway, I am going to end this live stream here.
Steve Grumbine:I would like to thank everybody for joining me.
Steve Grumbine:Remember, if you want more than the Democrats and the Republicans, you,
Steve Grumbine:this system isn't really geared for it.
Steve Grumbine:The system we have today is 100% first pass the post period.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, it's not my decision and I fucking.
Steve Grumbine:But you can already see that for all the control the duopoly has, it's
Steve Grumbine:not there to protect their power.
Steve Grumbine:It's, it's, it's a bull walk against us having power.
Steve Grumbine:So every step through this process, you have to be willing to
Steve Grumbine:accept what's really challenging.
Steve Grumbine:I mean, you, you get to the point where you recognize,
Steve Grumbine:you know, , it's like cipher.
Steve Grumbine:He's eating the steak and he knows that it's not steak, but ignorance is bliss.
Steve Grumbine:The more you know, the more you realize they've got you.
Steve Grumbine:In a Chinese finger trap, man, you can't.
Steve Grumbine:The more you struggle, the tighter it gets.
Steve Grumbine:You understand that without radical change, nothing will change.
Steve Grumbine:You can't just sort of say, let's get a third party and everything will be better.
Steve Grumbine:You've got to have that duopoly vote on all these things to
Steve Grumbine:structurally change the government.
Steve Grumbine:There's not nearly enough local and state, um, you know, anything
Steve Grumbine:where you can do ballot initiatives.
Steve Grumbine:Even so a real look at.
Steve Grumbine:The impact of a third party, fifth party, 20th party would do in a system that
Steve Grumbine:is legally constrained to a duopoly and controlled by the parties that are in
Steve Grumbine:there points to the Big R word in my mind.
Steve Grumbine:But I know I'm in the minority.
Steve Grumbine:I know a lot of people put their fists in the air.
Steve Grumbine:Say it.
Steve Grumbine:Like I said before, they can't even say hello or retweet.
Steve Grumbine:If you can't even do that, how in the world you expect to fight
Steve Grumbine:big capital in a revolution?
Steve Grumbine:Think about what I'm saying.
Steve Grumbine:If you're not revolutionary enough even to hit the like button, or subscribe
Steve Grumbine:button or the share button, how in the world are you gonna lead a revolution?
Steve Grumbine:Which is what we need.
Steve Grumbine:We just ain't got no, we got no, oh, we got none of that juice.
Steve Grumbine:So anyway, I am Steve.
Steve Grumbine:I am indeed the Rogue scholar, and I am also indeed outta here.
