Observations At Large

Let’s Wander Around A Bit Today

Stakeholder vs Shareholder Capitalism

I listened to a presentation recently about B Corporations, something I have long thought of as the best shot for the future of capitalism. For too many years we have been increasingly operating in a badly distorted version of capitalism. It is a version that focuses ONLY on profits and shareholders. It does not work, and it is convincing entire generations that capitalism is hopelessly evil.

Alternatives like socialism do not work. B Capitalism does work. Business is still business, companies make profits, but they also take measure and assign value to their effects broadly (environment, workers, transparency, etc.). If you have not heard of this, do some reading – it is important.

Here is a good start point: https://www.investopedia.com/b-corp-7488828

The State of Our Democracy – An Easy Measurement To Take

There has, properly, been a lot of worry and writing about the risk and reality of democracy in America failing in ways never before imagined. No doubt much of this worry is absolutely valid, but some is perhaps a lot of worry about noise being made by Trump and company that have not come to bear fruit, at least not yet.

Still, I recently came across the single best measure I have encountered, and it tells me we have indeed crossed into not just a state of risk but one of actual damage to democracy. What is that measure of democracy? It is simply the cost of disagreeing with the government.

If speaking out has real costs, be they investigations, suits by the government, arrests or threats of arrest, cut off of government funds, or government dictates across a wide range of issues, then democracy is damaged.  We can reject this as a nation and return to a healthy state, but by this reasonable definition, American democracy is already badly damaged.

Trump’s Used Airplane

Talk about a man easily distracted by bling! Who knows how this will all end, but clearly this is both improper and illegal as it is laid out. The security risks would be unacceptable, the cost of making that right (but communications security and physical security) would be enormous and time consuming.

The funny part is that the story is now coming out that Qatar has been trying to get rid of this used airplane for years. They correctly assumed that if they painted a lot of it gold and flattered Trump, he would go for it immediately. A Pavlovian response by a greedy, self-centered man with zero sense of propriety.

A New Level of Problems for Journalism

CBS News has sure been in the news itself a lot lately. First, one of the true long-term leaders of 60 Minutes quit in the face of corporate interest in managing the news as Covered by 60 minutes. Then the CEO of CBS News agreed with the 60 minutes leader, and she was promptly fired.

Big news organizations, like CBS News and the Washington Post or LA Times, have long been large businesses, dealing with the challenges that comes with that status. But for most of modern history, their organizations were grounded in journalism, or at least in news, and were provided enough independence to do the job that needed to be done.

Now, many such outlets are owned by even larger corporations for which journalism has no meaning and no value. CBS is owned by Paramount, which has a multibillion dollar merger pending that requires US Government (Trump) approval. So they started leaning on 60 Minutes to go easier on Trump. Same thing happened to Washington Post when Bezos got nervous.

Sure would be helpful if news and journalism organizations could be kept in their lane for ownership. Without that kind of separation, we will be hard pressed to trust the Fourth Estate. Too many are too ready to sacrifice principles for privilege and profit.

Credit Due

If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know two things:

• One, I find Donald Trump by far the worst president ever and one of the shallowest human beings ever. I detest everything about this guy.
• Two, if one always praises your own side and always, automatically assails the other side, on everything, you are not a serious person. Credit and accountability have to be honored, wherever they land.

So, now I have to hoist myself on my own petard. Trump has done a few (very few) things in recent days that I think deserve credit. He could well junk them all tomorrow and I want more than anything to see him gone, but I have to say at least some kudos to the following:

• Backing off (at least for now) on pressing Ukraine to effectively surrender to Russia. Putin has played Trump like a violin and Trump is finally reacting a bit. He even mentioned not looking any more at easing sanctions on Russia until this war ends. Let’s hope he stays on course with this one.
• Isolating Netanyahu, at least a bit. Talks with Hamas, meeting with the new Syrian leader, not going to Israel on the recent Middle East trip, pushing for at least some Gaza aid should be sending a message to Netanyahu that the blank check is about to run out. Not enough is being done by far on our part, but it’s a start I did not expect to see at all.
• Syrian Sanctions Relief. A risk here, and one not coordinated with anyone (even within the US Government), but the new Syrian leader might be worth the risk. His background is terrible (was on our Wanted list at one point) and there is domestic violence afoot in the country now, but the new guy is at least making the right noises. It might prove useful to cut him some slack and see what he does with it.

OK, enough praise. Back to noting what a terrible president Trump is and how much we will have to fix once we are rid of him. But some points acknowledged on these few issues.

The Joy of Keith Olbermann

Some of my greatest pleasures in political and social commentary over many years has been listening to Keith Olbermann. I generally prefer blogs to podcasts, but Keith is the exception, although I read him, too. One of the sharpest tongues and most lively commentators of our time.

The man has a lot of personal demons, managing to get fired more times than I can count, going back and forth between political commentary and sports commentary (which was his beginning area). I am delighted to hear that he is back, about daily, online again and as good as ever. His stuff often rambles, but in a good way, and probably runs longer than it should, but what a great mix of energy, analysis, sarcasm, and humor. If you have not heard him lately, tune back in. He is anchored on iHeart radio and seems to be available on all the usual podcast sites. Tune in and enjoy it.

 See You Next Week

 Barring unforeseen matters (lots of those these days), we are going to be talking about the proposed budget with some very specific focus, the building domestic fight on tariffs, and the coming costs of decisions being made in Washington.

Bill Clontz

If you find this blog worthy of your time and curiosity, I invite you to do three things:

(1) Join the conversation. Your voice counts here. If you wish to share COMMENTS anonymously, make the last word in your comment “PRIVATE.” I will assure your privacy via anonymity.

(2) Share the word about this post with friends and colleagues. Share a link in your emails and social media posts (https://agentsofreason.com).

(3) You are welcome to share this post with anyone. It is easy to pass on via email, of course, but also on Facebook, Blue Sky, LinkedIn, or Reddit; simply click on the links for these services at the end of this article.

Let’s grow our circle.