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Libertarian Seattle Times calls for government handouts

In recent editorials, the Seattle Times editorial board and publisher have called for government aid to help save locally-owned journalism, which has suffered due to the economics of the internet, media consolidation, Wall Street predation, and, recently, the covid-19 virus.

In a full-page letter to readers (Sunday, Aug 9), publisher Frank A. Blethen called for the creation of a “Free Press Super Fund,” to be financed by fees on the major internet giants (Facebook and Google). Likewise, Blethem calls for anti-trust action against the internet giants and for enforcement of public service requirements on them.

These calls for government assistance and regulation are ironic coming from a publication known for its libertarian views. But they illustrate the need for government action to fix the inequities of the market system, which doesn’t always allocate resources in a fair or socially advantageous way, and which needs help from the government in times of crisis.

Corporations and Wall Street came begging to Uncle Sam for bailouts in 2008, when the housing market crashed and banks failed. Now they’re begging again.

So much for free-market capitalism.

But one can make a plausible case that the challenges facing journalism reflect, not a fundamental failure of free-market capitalism, but rather a failure to adequately regulate the monopolistic and anti-competitive practices of corporations. The 2008 market crash could probably have been prevented if Congress had not deregulated financial markets, e.g., by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Likewise, local journalism would be in much better shape if the government had enforced anti-trust laws on the internet giants, and if it did a better job at policing the sharing of copyrighted content.

On the other hand, one can also argue that — given the nature of information sharing on the internet, and its economies of scale — locally-owned, for-profit journalism will never be able to compete without substantial government aid. The Founding Fathers realized the importance of a free press and subsidized its operations by making a postal service that would keep postage rates low.

This conclusion, that journalism needs government assistance, is not cause for despair. The police, the courts, public education, the military, and the Veterans Administration are already funded by taxation. Journalism is as necessary for a healthy democracy as those institutions.

Likewise, no first-world nation has a health care system based on a pure market approach. One reason the U.S. has the highest cost health care system in the world is its hyper-reliance on the market to set prices. (People are willing to pay all their savings to save their lives; often in America they do.) Hospitals used to be mainly non-profit. A pure free market system has always been a myth. Historically, corporations have gotten substantial aid from government research, spending, trade policies, tax breaks, and wars.

As Blethem points out, if the government subsidizes journalism, the challenge will be to direct tax money to worthy journalistic enterprises in a way that avoids censorship, favoritism, and extremism. We don’t want politicians deciding which views are legitimate. But nor do we want to allow disinformation and extremism to thrive. Which journalistic enterprises deserve subsidies? The Seattle Times? The Seattle P-I? The Stranger? KOMO TV? KIRO TV? The Bellevue Reporter? Fox News affiliates? Huffington Post? How about newspapers that recently shut down?

In his letter to readers, Blethem expresses support for the bipartisan bill H.R.7640 (“To provide tax incentives that support local newspapers and other local media, and for other purposes”). The text for this bill is not yet available on Congress’s website (at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7640/text?r=1&s=1). Not a surprise! The crafting of such a bill needs to answer the substantial challenges outlined in the previous paragraph.

But this issue has been handled, imperfectly, by how government funds the courts, the police, the military, and public schools.

The free market is imperfect. So is the government. We need each to balance the other.

Pastor Leslie Braxton’s denunciation of Trump and his supporters

When a nation elects a man as manifestly depraved and ill suited to be president as Donald Trump it is evident of a deep moral and spiritual sickness throughout that nation. Trump did not seize the presidency by force. He did not storm the nation’s capital with a military host.

No, 63+ million Americans walked into the privacy of a voting booth and consciously cast a ballot for a man who has been unapologetically racist, misogynistic and predatory in his sexual inclinations, corrupt in his business dealings, frequently bankrupted, disrespectful towards anyone who ever disagrees with him, and openly contemptuous of any law or political norm that blocks his path.

Those who pretzel up their professed “values” to rationalize support for this vulgar and degenerate president render themselves hypocritical in any past,present or future discussions of morality and/or personal character, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility, respect for minority rights and social justice, and embracing of America’s great diversity.

Trump is trash. We’ve known that for decades. But perhaps the greatest achievement of his presidency has been to lay bare the pervasive racist and tribal sentiments that have been percolating beneath the surface throughout this nation all along. There is a political underbelly in this nation that has been waiting for a warrior to come along and speak to their deep racial and cultural resentments and fears, and who would champion the fight to protect THEIR real and perceived “privilege”. Trump is only a symptom of a much larger sickness in America.

The goal of all decent thinking Americans (and certainly followers of Jesus and His teachings) has to be to heal this nation of all that blocs our path toward becoming “a more perfect union” which is best defined by the words aloft in the rotunda in the nations capital, “E pluribus unum” ( out of the many one). Getting rid of Trump is just the first step toward that healing.

-Pastor Leslie Braxton

This little essay is spot on, except it omits one extenuating factor: many people who support Trump are low-information voters and are, in general, duped and brainwashed. They get their info from right wing media, which presents a distorted, propagandized view of the facts. I know otherwise decent people who support Trump.

Rep. Adam Smith and the 2021 NDAA

(update 2020-07-10)

Rep. Adam Smith (D -CD09 WA), Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, is continuing his mostly hawkish management of the Pentagon with the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

The NDAA raises the base Pentagon budget to $740.5 billion (versus $738 this for the 2020 budget). It restricts President Trump’s ability to withdraw troops from German, Afghanistan, and Africa. It continues funding for the space force and tactical nukes. It allocates $3.6 billion for the Pacific Defense Initiative to confront China.  It rejected an amendment to impose limits on the ability of the U.S. to arm and otherwise assist Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen. It rejected an amendment to make the Trump administration provide a national security rationale before withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Military Times reports:

As happens every year, the bill would prohibit the transfer or release of any of the remaining 40 prisoners at the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility to the United States, and also prohibit their transfer or release to Libya, Somalia, Syria or Yemen.

In addition, the bill would prohibit any attempt to close or abandon Guantanamo or give up control of the base to Cuba.

In another annual ritual, the bill would again bar a new round of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, a perennial fear of senators and representatives with bases in their states or districts.

The bill does try to cap the amount of money Trump can take from the Pentagon budget for emergency purposes such as the border wall.  Rep. Smith voted with Ro Khanna on an amendment meant to restrict development of ICBMs, but the amendment failed.

The bill still needs to be considered by the full House and then reconciled with the Senate’s version.

If you include spending for veterans and for costs for previous wars, total federal spending exceeds $1 trillion a year. See How much does the U.S. spend on the military? A least 24% of the federal budget.

Glenn Greenwald’s analysis points out that a few Republicans joined with a few progressive Democrats in opposing attempts to restrict troop drawdowns: House Democrats, Working With Liz Cheney, Restrict Trump’s Planned Withdrawal of Troops From Afghanistan and Germany. In fact, more Republicans than Democrats voted against the amendment to prevent troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. So, Dems were more hawkish.  The hawkish lawmakers thought that Trump’s withdrawal plans were rewarding Russia and risking gains.

Glenn Greenwald wrote a second, more detailed article How the House Armed Services Committee, in the Middle of a Pandemic, Approved a Huge Military Budget and More War in Afghanistan on July 9, 2020. In it, Greenwald is critical of Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Jason Crow and other Democrats who work with Republicans such as Liz Cheney to boost militarism. Here’s a video he made on the topic:

I have spoken with Rep. Smith about the costs of militarism, but he continues to think that the U.S. needs to pre-position troops and equipment in Europe (to confront Russia), in Africa (to confront Islamic extremists) and in Asia (to confront China). Nor does he see much scope for decreasing the military budget.

By the way, Richard Eskow’s July 7 article The War on Logic: Contradictions and Absurdities in the House’s Military Spending Bill in Common Dreams says

And there was one piece of good news: the Committee adopted an amendment from Khanna to end logistical support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. The Saudi assault on that country has created a humanitarian catastrophe, one Congress should have prevented.

But Glenn Greenwald’s article says otherwise.  And Eskow’s article says, that the $740 billion Pentagon budget  “doesn’t include the ;Overseas Contingency Operations’ budget that funds the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which the Defense Department is requesting $69 billion.” But in fact the $740 billion does include OCO.

For further information see House panel approves $740.5B defense policy bill  and Smith reveals $3.6B plan to counter China.

Congress moves to block Trump’s Germany troop withdrawal plans “House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said separately Tuesday that the plan seemed strategically unsound and that Congress should block the administration until it makes its case. Legislative action is likely in the House on Wednesday when Smith’s panel marks up the HASC version of the bill.”

House defense bill targets potential troop drawdowns in Africa, South Korea

The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the annual defense policy bill seeks to put roadblocks on withdrawing U.S. troops from Africa and South Korea.

The so-called chairman’s mark of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – the version of the bill drafted by Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) – would require the Pentagon to report to Congress on the effects, implications and costs of a troop drawdown in Africa on military, diplomatic, development and humanitarian efforts.

July 10, 2020: Yemen: 20 NGOs Call for An Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. “As organizations working to halt the war and end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, we write to urge your support for an amendment to the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act that would pause all transfers of U.S. air-to-ground munitions to the Saudi/UAE-led coalition fighting in the war in Yemen. The House adopted such a provision in the FY2020 NDAA, though it was not included in the final conferenced bill enacted by Congress.”

For the gory details about the 2021 NDAA proposed by Rep. Smith see Summary of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

(Added 2020-07-13: Congress Wants More Unnecessary Anti-China Weapons Programs in Annual Defense Bill, on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s proposed increase of an additional $43 billion in the NDAA for preparing for war with China.)

Change Washington State’s Seal to include the face of Booker T. Washington

George Washington was a slave owner.

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery but rose to be a great orator, educator and statesman.

It is fitting, in this era of Black Lives Matter, that Washington State officially change its seal to include Booker T.’s face, not George’s.

Book T. Washington in the Great Seal of Washington State

Stopping war with China

The following youtube video by the U.S. military documents the training exercises of the US and Philippines militaries in preparation for war with China, regarding contested islands claimed by both China and Philippines.

The film has rousing martial music, with beating drums. It shows military equipment and soldiers landing on islands — reminiscent of D-Day on Normandy Beach.

This more recent film documents ASEAN exercises in the South China Sea:

The films, and especially the military exercises, must have been massively expensive to produce. At the least, the films are in bad taste. At worst, they promote violence. (A peace activist with World Beyond War reported the videos to Youtube, saying that they violate community standards about promoting violence.) They do seem to be suggesting the U.S. is readying for war. They bluster and they demonize China.

Likewise, Rep Adam Smith, Chair House Armed Services Committee, reveals $3.6B plan to counter China.

This preparation for war might get an awful lot of people killed. And the military buildup will end up costing the U.S. trillions, despite other needs and massive debt.

Meanwhile, racism against Asian Americans is on the upswing. Coronavirus: What attacks on Asians reveal about American identity

Kellyanne Conway Defends Trump’s Use of “Kung Flu,” Weeks After Calling the Term “Highly Offensive”.

Risk of military conflict between US and China higher than ever, experts say “Tensions rose after near-collision between American and Chinese destroyers, according to president of National Institute for South China Sea Studies. Existing communication mechanisms might not be sufficient to keep every encounter under control, Nanjing University professor says.”

America vs. China: “A Clash of Civilizations”

Hillary Clinton famously said, “’I don’t want my grandchildren to live in a world dominated by the Chinese.”

During his tenure, President Obama launched his “Pivot to Asia,” moving 60% of US naval power to bases surrounding China, developing the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty specifically to economically isolate China, making Air-Sea Battle the official US doctrine explicitly to contain China militarily, and announcing boldly that his aim was to contain China’s economic rise.

Not surprisingly, China reacted with alarm.

The U.S. “empire” is overextended, with 800 military bases in 70+ countries.

Can we beat China on its own doorstep? If so, we’ll bankrupt us and kill a lot of people.

Don’t you sometimes think Congress and the Pentagon are insane? (We already know the Trump administration is insane.)

This article critiques U.S. policy towards China from a leftist point of view: What’s behind the new cold war between Washington and Beijing?.

I hope everyone contacts their member of Congress — especially Rep. Adam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee — to express opposition to the war-mongering against China.  The large Chinese-American communities near Seattle should be particularly concerned about this issue.

(Added 2020-07-09:   A New Tonkin Gulf Incident in the Making?  “Halt Trump’s rush to war in the Pacific.”)

(Added 2020-07-13: Congress Wants More Unnecessary Anti-China Weapons Programs in Annual Defense Bill, on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s proposed increase of an additional $43 billion in the NDAA for preparing for war with China.)

How much does the U.S. spend on the military? A least 24% of the federal budget.

Rep. Adam Smith said in a town hall meeting with Indivisible Saturday (June 19) that 15% of federal spending goes to the military.

I looked at the CBO’s data on federal spending at The Federal Budget in 2019: An Infographic.  For 2019 it says that $676 billion was spent on “Defense” and that total federal spending was $4.4 trillion. If you divide 676/4400 you get 16.5%.


Source: Congressional Budget Office, The Federal Budget in 2019: An Infographic

But the $676 billion excludes the $85 billion for Veterans included in Nondefense and the $115 billion for Veterans included in Other and the $61 billion for military retirement included in Other and the $100 billion (conservative estimate — Tom Dispatch estimates the value as $123.6 billion) included for military in Net interest.  676+85+115+61+100 = 1037.

US Military Budget, Its Components, Challenges, and Growth estimates that military spending is $934 billion for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021.

If you include Social Security in the denominator, then 1037/4400 or 24% of federal spending is military related.  If you exclude Social Security  — which seems reasonable. because we paid for Social Security from our paychecks, and it belongs to us, not the government — then 1037/3400, or about 30% of federal spending is military related.

So, I’ve revised the image:

We paid for Medicare via our paychecks too, so perhaps we should exclude that from the denominator too.  If you exclude Medicare’s $644 billion from the denominator, then 1037/2756, or 38% of the federal budget is for the military.  The high cost of medical spending is a separate issue.

According to Tomgram: Mandy Smithberger, Letting the Pentagon Loose With Your Tax Dollars, yearly spending on the military is about $1.2 trillion.  They include Homeland Security and other domestic spending in the military budget. Likewise,The Project On Government Oversight  published Making Sense of the $1.25 Trillion National Security State Budget.

According to WarResisters.org, 47% of the federal budget goes to current and past military spending.

The U.S. spent over $6 trillion on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which are now almost universally regarded as disastrous. Yet Congress has now authorized a Space Force, is deploying tactical nukes, and is ramping up preparations for war with Russia and China.  Moreover, billions are being given to military contractors as part of the pandemic bailout.

The National Debt Is ‘Unsustainable’ and the Pentagon’s Finances Are a Total Mess, Federal Audit Says. “Absent policy changes, the federal government continues to face an unsustainable long-term fiscal path,” America’s top auditor warns. But is anyone listening?”