Thomas Frank on Useful Idiots, Interview Only

[@arleentorres4690]

Bring Thomas Frank back as much as you can. Brilliant show!

[@sempressfi]

Commenting in case you didn't know/haven't heard it: the next suggested video is an interview with him they did a month ago :) I just discovered him earlier today and have been listening to a lot of interviews with him as well as with another author/professor I found yesterday, Dr. John Hibbing. He was on a podcast called The Good Fight, highly recommend!

[@SlackKeyPaddy]

Thomas Frank looking good, and what a great Progressive patriot.

[@patbranigan6501]

Corporations do not want a diverse workforce. Corporations want the same person in different colors and genders.

[@wojciechgrodnicki6302]

Everybody unique in the same socially acceptable way.

[@wojciechgrodnicki6302]

Allison Bauch Corporatists want competent contributors not creative competitors.

[@rolandinnamorato1953]

They only care about diverse people as long as they can play one against the other and ultimately reduce wages. Until AI can replace all of them.

[@six6goddess214]

Your correct. A white man once told me "I was the whitest black person he ever met". I was shocked. Its because I believe in marriage before having children, I don't drink or smoke and my credit score is over 800.

[@likeclockwork6473]

Everyone is equally valueless when they are slave labor

[@davidotness6199]

A man who reads our country well. And has the history chops to tie it all together.

[@dougcasey6117]

Thomas Frank converted me from the right-wing to the very left side and now I can't vote for either mainstream party. The sad face but still better than I was, thank you, Thomas Frank.

[@bobzeikerd5022]

‘The People, NO: A Brief History of Anti-Populism.’ would make a great documentary.

[@nevermindshort3]

Once Thomas Frank start talking, you just can't stop listening. Time flies so fast.

[@literatious308]

@Rolling_Stone PLEASE turn on KZbin automated closed captioning. Hearing impaired want to "hear" your message, PLEASE do not deprive them. Thanks

[@MaryAnn-ew6pi]

Thank you!

[@audiofunkdialect]

Listen liberal was a great book.

[@oo88oo]

audiofunkdialect What’s the Matter with California is better.

[@voxomnes9537]

@@oo88oo *Kansas?

[@robinbennett484]

loved this interview

[@martinkeller9562]

I was looking forward to this interview all week and it did not disappoint! Thomas Frank is always interesting.

[@darinsingleton3553]

The problem with history repeating itself is that the price keeps going up.

[@skellys1948]

Thomas Frank is a great writer, but he apparently is unaware of the labor union based hatred of long hairs, Vietnam protestors and anyone who questioned the standard American credo of conspicuous consumption. As a Vietnam era vet, who grew my hair long after my return to civilian life and participated in anti-war rallies in the San Francisco Bay area, I had hard hats scream "Get a haircut, hippie," and "Go back to Russia" more times than I could count. The AFL-CIO was pro-war and violently anti-demonstrators during the 60s and 70s. They created the situation and when they started to get screwed, during the Reagan years, those who might have been allies, remembered. And watched.

[@GoombaFTW]

He gets into it in the book, "ideological patience" rather than scolding self-righteousness is what was needed with regard to the reactionary working class whites and bureaucratic/corrupt union hierarchies. The new left of the 60s handed the unions and blue collar whites to the Republicans and destroyed what was left of the working class coalition in the process. The original populists of the 90s/30s were also full of racists and bigots as was the whole of society but insisting on common interests was what led to the New Deal and is a necessary part of any future strategy.

[@MaryAnn-ew6pi]

What would those common interests be? I.think interests have diverged to point where we mat have common interests.

[@GoombaFTW]

@@MaryAnn-ew6pi Reducing unemployment, universal healthcare, public transportation, pollution controls, etc. The professional class argues that class is no longer relevant and as such there are no common interests beyond our climbing the meritocratic ladder, which is why they have been losing elections since the 70s to actors and blowhards.

[@MaryAnn-ew6pi]

Wyatt Barone Was it clear that I’m talking about the party being comprised of people with common interests? You see, I don’t think the meritocracy/professional class does share those interests. Money skews integrity and values which is why third party necessary. Having said that, few third parties win or seem to last. Do you really believe we will effectively influence DP? IMO, even when it becomes more diverse, that diversity will skew right just as did O.

[@GoombaFTW]

@@MaryAnn-ew6pi Well the original populist party did lose but their legacy was Roosevelt and the New Deal which turned the Democratic party into a transracial working class party up until the 60s. So it's possible but the economic circumstances that led to this radicalism are tightly controlled now with bank bailouts and the destruction of unions. Though with income inequality being what it is I feel as if some genuine populism is an inevitability.

[@CactusLand]

Great conversation, I love Thomas Frank. But a bit disappointed you didn't discuss Steve Bannon. Bannon understands this thesis very well, and used it with exceptional efficacy in 2016.

[@itzenormous]

The Right plays on it almost every election cycle. This is because Liberals ARE vehemently opposed to common people, and have an utter disdain for them. What me and my comrades call "the Synthetic Left" have effectively cancelled class consciousness in America and driven a large portion of the white working class into the hands of the reactionary Right.

[@notrombones5041]

@@itzenormous - Your use of the term. "Liberals" is a blunt tool as you use it. You are actually referring to centrists and Dem mainstreamers like the Clintons, etc. The true Progressive left ("the squad", and a few others) has very little power, and is constantly being marginalized by the mainstream, centrist Democrats, as in this election. However, BOTH oppose Trump, and so the 2 sides are temporarily united until at least Nov 3rd. If Biden wins the election, the progressives will probably be kicked to the curb by the centrists, and America will get little or no left-style populism and just more pro-corporate policies.

[@SanFreeman1]

You guys just get better all the time. What a great guest and interview. I'm buying Frank's new book!

[@redrockcrf4663]

Excellent interview - really enjoyed it!

[@P4DDYW4CK]

Thomas Frank would be a fun candidate for Congress.

[@umtatazimbabwe6711]

Unfortunately, i fear it would ruin him. There is simply no room in elected office for our best and brightest! We can't spare them for anything so trivial.

[@dougcasey6117]

@@umtatazimbabwe6711 Maybe Green-Party presidential candidate, if nothing else get enough votes to get scare the hell out of both right-wing parties is my goal and hope.

[@Enfiare]

TF is the best

[@indydude3367]

I'm from Overland Park and I agree that the suburbs of Kansas are the coziest places in America.

[@johnsiman5063]

1:04:06 Frank: “Where do we go? There is no party for - us.”

[@ellieveganphilly-7335]

Loved this interview. First interview I’ve ever heard of Frank’s. What a brilliant interesting guy and *bonus* properly groomed for being on camera unlike so many of your male guests. A joy all around. Buying the book now!

[@craigreeves5465]

Katie Halper is so pretty.

[@amritawhitman8112]

This is a GREAT interview!!! I loved Listen Liberal and I just ordered The People, No!

[@johnsiman5063]

45:50 Frank: “‘Populism’ becomes the generic term for idiots who refuse rule by the Professional Class.”

[@excitingworld364]

You guys are awesome

[@DougGrinbergs]

3:18 book discussion 4:12 origin of "populist" term 8:01 reactionary anti-populism mischaracterization 10:25 Gilded Age elites respond ferociously to William Jennings Bryan nomination... 28:17 1936 backlash against FDR populism, "the red jam of Moscow". American Liberty League.

[@gabrieljardimpereirapinto6675]

The interview was great!

[@MartyMcTube]

I was at the 96 convention and saw the mad dash for the food. There was a rope line trying to keep the journalists in a queue. When the food was put out they all snuck under the ropes and attacked the food at once.

[@markwaldron8954]

The look on Katie's face when Thomas gives away the ending of Easy Rider says "well, guess I don't need to see that one now."

[@Etatdesiege1979]

Well. She’s a filmmaker. How don’t you watch Easy Rider, like one of the most iconic films of the new American cinema of the 60’s and 70’s?

[@errolselden3364]

Really great interview and refreshingly coherent arc from beginning to end. My optimism for a refreshed and true Populist movement gaining political power in the 2020s is not killed just yet.

[@MStClair-zk8vv]

Delicious. Every word. Thank you Katie, Matt, and the great Thomas Frank! We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

[@tonycaballero1494]

If only Bernie treated his presidential run like a clapback in twitter

[@brendankiernan4596]

Tony Caballero ml g

[@Mooseman327]

The professional class were not failures. They were great successes for the elites. They were only "failures" in the eyes of the rational and the people.

[@robertcartwright8165]

This is a brilliant conversation.

[@TheCraftMasters98]

Please have him on again.

[@bonjourlafrance2170]

Could you please turn on "automatic subtiles" option, so deaf people can watch the video ?

[@jasonemryss]

Thomas Frank is always insightful. Great interview!!

[@franchisemiami]

Love the enthusiasm

[@waltershink6878]

It is my privilege to be present during this interview. History who thunk it!

[@glowdog6321]

Just finished "The People, No" last night. Loved it. Have also read "What's the Matter with Kansas" and the "Wrecking Crew."

[@mountaindweller777]

Excellent show. Thomas Frank is a treasure.

[@Mranthony1429]

Thomas Frank is one of my favorites..Listen liberal What's the Matter with Kansas...He has helped me dig deeper into what a populist truly is....Robert La Follette a Republican....Great read La Follette's Autobiography another fun read Huey Long "My First Days in the White House" his second autobiography published posthumously! Thank You Thomas Frank!

[@DrRussPhd]

"The Bending Cross" about Eugene Debs is another great read.

[@jackiejohnson151]

Love this site , listening all the time tks 😊

[@matthewmagda4971]

I just resubscribed and enabled alerts. I can't wait for the next one.

[@perfectibility999]

Slavoj Zizek, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, and Thomas Frank. Of the four, the only major thought leader toward the left who has been speaking out much the past couple months is Thomas Frank. Thank you, Mr Frank. The people need your ideas. Most of the left seemed to have been struck dumb after the George Floyd activist started.

[@Sinleqeunnini]

Not struck dumb, but rather the usual dynamics of neo-liberalism got involved along with the lack of leadership and partnership from centrist Democrats in Congress.

[@perfectibility999]

@@Sinleqeunnini Whatever the reason, most thoughts leaders on the left, and I mean the fair-minded ones who denounce the Democrats and criticize today's liberals as largely reactionary, have been conspicuously silent since the George Floyd protests began.

[@mr.dalerobinson]

History repeating and only the establishment seems to be learning from it - to protect itself from reform. Great interview and I book I’d love to buy if I had a job!

[@amendez183]

Love you guys♥️ great interview 👌

[@gborg100]

Re the part about FDR being one of the first to be elected president without the acceptance of big business: That may have been true in 1936 and beyond, but perhaps not in 1932. As I understand it, he campaigned on a pretty conservative platform then, calling for a balanced budget, etc. He may not have had the backing that Hoover had, but he may also not have been objectionable, either. Of course, once in office, he used his powers differently.

[@mattja52]

FDR was a very astute politician, a rascal tool, he knew how to play. His infrastructure pushed him into glory ( Progressive Henry Wallace, his VP, being the most prominent ). Check him out, a man before his time, he makes Bernie Sanders seem like a moderate, an uncommon man.

[@Maddie9185]

He thinks “going ape shit” is cursing. 😂😂

[@samwithoutlimits7766]

I loved this interview. Anything that is real history is great! I wish I would read these 3 books because it confirmed a lot of stuff that I've always believed about what happens when a Grass Roots movement gets really serious.ike with Bernie, they just disappear. You confirm there is a supposedly elite group made of many other groups that come together to crush it out because it threatens it's power. When I say it I'm looked at like I'm crazy and I'm a conspiracist. I personally feel foolish, unrooted and just old minded but thanks for books, please tell him! WOW!

[@sarapezzinni2830]

I'm a biologist so I only knew about William Jenning Bryants participation in the Scopes Monkey Trial: where he defended the fundamnetalists. I think Jennings Bryant died 5 days later after Clarence Darrow put him on the stand. He won the trial but some people say he died of humilation from Darrow. I believe it was the first trail ever on the radio.

[@eemoogee160]

I played the Jennings role in the play Inherit the Wind. His bible thumping at the end of his life belied his earlier political progressiveness.

[@ViolentFEAR]

He opposes Darwinism not simply for fundamentalists reasons, but because he thought with it will come Social Darwinism and eugenics. Which - speaking of elite failures - was very much plausible at the time.

[@staaky]

“Biden is inevitable”. That won’t age well, Thomas is convinced of Trump’s defeat, best stick to history.

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

Agreed! No matter if you (royal you, not you personally) support Trump or not, saying anything is inevitable in politics is a quick way to taste your own shoe! The Hillary camp said the same, and even propped up Trump because they were so sure. It was revealed in the leaked emails that they had a strategy called the "pied piper" strategy. That's why msnbc showed an empty podium at a Trump rally instead of a Bernie Sanders speech, for one example.

[@homerusares1470]

Thomas accurately called Trump's election in 2016

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

@@homerusares1470 he did, so did Jimmy Dore, but guessing one election doesn't mean he's right. Democratic media people are loud and numerous in that industry, but that industry is not representative of our entire country. A vast majority of voters (or non voters for that matter) are working-class independents consisting of libertarians, socialists, constitutionalists, democratic socialists, communists and Green party voters. Dems and Reps combined are less than half of all voters. No matter who wins, a vast majority of people are not represented and this is what sows division and discord as much as political propaganda. Basically I'm saying they are not a shoe-in and nobody can be sure of anything.

[@minniewipster8130]

Those countering populism/organized labor started their efforts well before WWII in the long-running attempt to deport Harry Bridges. The Smith Act (1940) was specifically written for Bridges. They didn't wait for the situation to swing in their direction; they paved the way.

[@risoletadarin2206]

Richard Hofstetter, American historian wrote 'The Age of Reform' in 1955 where he despised Populism.

[@SlackKeyPaddy]

EASY RIDER GREATEST PETER FIONDA DN DENNIS HOOPER Greatest Movie Ever. I saw Easy Rider in the late 60's; Easy Rider moved me emotionally to tears and then anger.

[@lindamohamed5296]

jack nicholson

[@mmestari]

You think it's the greatest movie? And you can't even spell any of the actors names correctly.

[@aaronburrsociety]

James Madison was often quoted saying the Constitution would insure that the “right people” [the 1%] would retain power. Or as Madison wrote in Federalist Paper #10, "A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for the equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union..." The Constitution guaranteed that wicked projects like economic and social justice were not to be tolerated. The Framers of the Constitution bestowed the most watchful attention to prevent you from enjoying, under it, at any future time, an opportunity of expressing your sentiments of it by an equal representation. They provided no other mode of reformation than the inadequate and unequal one of a council of censors. [Amendments to the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority] [John Scull, Editor/Publisher Pittsburgh Gazette & Whiskey Rebel, May 16, 1789]

[@realrhetoric]

At 1:02, the movement which FDR "led" or appropriated, was that of Huey P. Long. Likewise, if there is going to be some kind of redemption, it might well come from someone leading, or appropriating, the Trump movement. Or the Bernie movement. Or the Trump & Bernie movement, viewed as one entity.

[@cspenc8784]

It wasn't a Supreme Court case that Bryan opposed, it was the teaching of evolution. Bryan assisted in the prosecution of John T. Scopes in Tennessee for teaching evolution in a biology class (Scopes v. State, 1925). The Supreme Court didn't rule on the issue until Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968).

[@markhouseholder]

Amazing and thanks...

[@ProudProle]

Watch The Gilded Age on PBS. You can also trace two recession/depressions within 20 years: 1873 and 1893.

[@test-mm7bv]

1:07:20 organizational politics is the primary skill of bureaucrats and technocrats, both in government and corporations getting results and predicting accurately are real, useful skills - these are traits that should be selected but bureaucrats don't face the consequences of their decisions, so they are the opposites of progress through natural selection politics replaces natural selection in these artificial organizational environments - their claim to "meritocracy" is just another ruse

[@goldenphoenixpublish]

We can imagine a diverse and fluid society -- one in which each and every one of us can find our own place based on "specific gravity". While this may have been the original concept behind "meritocracy", it soon became evident that those who might have risen were easily blocked by those who were artificially being propped up and should have been on their way down...

[@ujean56]

You mean provide as many opportunities for the greatest number of people in the country as possible? That costs money and the money is spent on the military. So opportunity is concentrated on the military. Join the military, you'll learn technology and how to kill people or you'll be killed. It's the price you pay for an opportunity in the USA.

[@aaworks8212]

Thank you all

[@fredwelf8650]

Populism does have its historical roots partially in the 1890's as an antitrust value orientation, but that is not what it is about today. Populism is authoritarian - racist, misogynist and anti-immigrant - but it works by appropriating the veneration for nationalism and the leadership of the nation and of certain state governments. Statist authoritarianism is most clearly visible in the policy and personnel at each level of government in which fractions of the working class and public sector employees, e.g. police, teachers, academics and bureaucrats, assume populist attitudes which are partly anarchist and partly Republican Party antics, e.g. lying. The equation is 'Populist Authoritarianism is State Authoritarianism.' This is clear in the drift from mass shootings to police shootings and the increase in aggravated assault at all levels of everyday life.

[@0sumgamezzz435]

Lenin is looking up from hell and thinking, "it wasn't a term of endearment."

[@amoeboidtendencies5137]

I remember checking out The Conquest of Cool from my college library back in the early 00's... all TF's work is great and he has an even greater sense of humor.

[@iamomegaboss]

Ok posers. None of the top critical comments ever read a Frank or Taibbi column - definitely never read a book.

[@oo88oo]

“What’s the Matter with California?” is a great book.

[@Sinleqeunnini]

Apparently not. If this review is to be believed (www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jack-cashill/whats-the-matter-with-california/) it is a superficial caricature of the state that takes potshots at problems inherent from both the Reaganite era and the New Left. Far inferior to Frank's original book.

[@Dcioutsourcing]

Brilliant analysis Thomas, Matt and Katie of the professional CNN class disdaining thw working class; shall send to all my liberal, and right wing friends. :)). Just ordered Franks book.. we need to as Ralph Nadar, another pariah for dissenting this Obama/ Clinton meritocratic class talks about uniting the Left and Right people... no easy task, yet necessary. A Fantastic Interview! Thanks from Doug Devine Philippines

[@kenleary7484]

Didn't Dennis Hopper flash the finger at the guy who shot him in Easy Rider?

[@iamski]

What was the timestamp on that?

[@lrmaki]

Easy Rider 1969 + Deliverance 1972 - The Hunt 2019 = The DNC 2020

[@kingoftheseamusic]

I’ve never seen him and Colbert in the same room

[@amendez183]

😂😆😆😂

[@walterpaul]

😅 But, no, they're not the same. While Colbert is the most progressive and politically astute of the late-night hosts, he's on corporate, MainStreamMedia, and I'd never mistake him for Frank.

[@iamomegaboss]

We need to learn how to govern ourselves. By any means necessary.

[@VikingTokyo]

Two words, Justice Democrats

[@tommartin7728]

That's a really good point about Easy Rider. I mean, a lot of the hippies went onto being big shot corporate guys.

[@amoeboidtendencies5137]

Katie was NOT happy about the Easy Rider spoiler... I remember watching Easy Rider for the first time in a solar shack on the Big Island of Hawaii after college volunteer farming and exploring. There was a strip mall along the main road a few miles from where I was staying. I got a half dozen VHS films to watch on a small, 9" TV/VCR combo. I also picked up The Mosquito Coast, had just found a used paperback of it in another town further north. It was near dusk when I was finished at the video store and walking 3-4 miles in the dark didn't seem smart along mostly empty lots of lava rock. I approached some sketchyguys in the parking lot who worked like ex-pat vets, asked a store owner if they were safe... enough it seemed. They gave me a lift. Sitting with one of them in the pickup bed, drinking with music blaring along the way, the one guy talked about listening to this while shooting enemies from a chopper in Vietnam. As soon as I got to the edge of the property where I was staying I told them I was good, after a few passing thanks they drove off. I was relieved to be free of them. The ending to Easy Rider was a vivid reminder of this surreal experience.

[@lizzy-wx4rx]

Her annoyance was annoying. She's had plenty of time to check it out if she actually had any interest in doing so. It's not as if she's never heard of it before.

[@amoeboidtendencies5137]

@@lizzy-wx4rx Spot-on.

[@innershifttv]

You talk about the working class being 6%, however you do not talk about the service worker class who are harder to organize. The corporations immediately coopted the BLM message. The lip service is sickening. We can only hope that a new populist movement will well up.

[@robertlewis2095]

The Howard Dean's percieved irrationality immediately sunk him.

[@punchcat0736]

Howard dean is a wallstreet kid a complete phony

[@punchcat0736]

ozgamer now he’s just another neo liberal advocating for big pharma

[@cmorea]

Could we have a reaction video with Matt and Katie watching Easy Rider?

[@kevincarter7633]

Richard Wolff. Have Richard Wolff on. Once you do I will buy merch.

[@costcolawschool]

i am a hardcore libertarian who last voted for ron paul. i don't even believe in democracy. i'm voting for trump

[@mkearns60]

Katie is spending so much time reading what I assume is Mr. Franks book that she seems totally disinterested in this interview. Honestly it comes across rude.

[@normankeena]

sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon Gustave Le Bon, born May 7, 1841 in Nogent-le-Rotrou, France, died December 13, 1931, was a French psychologist. He studied medicine, archeology and anthropology. Gustave Le Bon is best known as a social psychologist, through one of the most significant scientific works of modern times, the Psychology of Mass, which he had published in 1895. Le Bon claims that the individual in the collective gives up his self-awareness and acts more out of irrationality and intuition than outwardly. rational calculating; he further elaborated on Gabriel Tarde's theory of group thinking and Michel de Montaignes on public opinion (l’opinion publique, public opinion). The new collectives, which the working class, Le Bon calls heterogeneous collectives, these are not natural collectives which the homogeneous collectives, such as the peasantry and the nobility, are. The homogeneous collectives are natural because they carry a long tradition and because the individuals in these collectives are connected in a natural way. The new collectives were easily influenced by demagogues and subversives, Le Bon said, and was particularly concerned about the socialist movement. In the collective, according to Le Bon, the individual becomes a violent barbarian who is freed from his natural restrictions and loses the sense of responsibility, this had been shown by the Paris Commune in 1871. His most famous work is Psychologie des foules (1895, Swedish translation Massans psychologi 1912). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon (French: [ɡystav lə bɔ̃]; 7 May 1841 - 13 December 1931) was a leading French polymath whose areas of interest included anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, invention, and physics.[1][2][3] He is best known for his 1895 work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, which is considered one of the seminal works of crowd psychology.[4][5] A native of Nogent-le-Rotrou, Le Bon qualified as a doctor of medicine at the University of Paris in 1866. He opted against the formal practice of medicine as a physician, instead beginning his writing career the same year of his graduation. He published a number of medical articles and books before joining the French Army after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Defeat in the war coupled with being a first-hand witness to the Paris Commune of 1871 strongly shaped Le Bon's worldview. He then travelled widely, touring Europe, Asia and North Africa. He analysed the peoples and the civilisations he encountered under the umbrella of the nascent field of anthropology, developing an essentialist view of humanity, and invented a portable cephalometer during his travels.

[@theoodoors]

The correct pronunciation of elite is “Aaee-lite” if you’re not a part of it

[@forestmckown3073]

Frank does not describe the scene in Easy Rider correctly. The interaction is initiated by the motorcyclist, for no valid reason whatsoever, giving the finger to the occupants of the truck.

[@aNerdNamedJames]

IIRC he flipped then off after they yelled at him for having long hair

[@shnootch]

...and then they shot him. flip someone off, get shot. reasonable response, I mean, how rude...

[@therealcoinman332]

So if I think defund the police is a bad idea I'm a torie? Which populist candidate could you be referring to?

[@jrmcg2007]

Class not race, the only message and way forward

[@jrmcg2007]

BTW, I watched Easy Rider first run in theaters. Not braggin', just sayin'.

[@therealcoinman332]

Who will save your souls if you won't save your own?

[@jaydoubledee]

Is it just me or was it weird that Frank is so certain Biden is going to win?

[@janusatthegate6201]

The new Trump won't hate EVERYBODY. Will, perhaps, not be as damaged.

[@aucoin2013]

Who could make out what both Biden and Clinton were saying? I couldn't understand what they said/did that provoked Matt's commentary.

[@lanvywynn]

I had worked for AT&T at the corporate headquarter. One day I was moved to a bigger office where i had pretty much everything but my chair which was just down the hallway. I was told I had to wait fro a union member to move my chair, to move it myself meant I was taking away his dignity to do his job. Unions do not help workers, they keep new workers from having the dignity and opportunity to work. Unions hold businesses hostage, push costs up, and keep the populace poorer overall.

[@darkmantis69]

I worked the for post office and this is so true. Most of the union members are the laziest employees who seek to be stewards to only further their careers. The post office was a good place for them. However, if anyone has seen the "fear city" or whatever it is called on Netflix about the mobs/union thugs of the 80s, they go into great detail how the old mob gangsters of NY infiltrated all the unions to control the money. They might not be in power anymore, but the unions, which are by and large useless, charge companies like the PO millions of dollars to get their way. And we wonder why the post office is a class act failure - the union forces the post office to give every single employee a cost of living and a raise no matter what their performance as an employee is. It's insane. I support companies that are unionless - they have a much better track record of employment and they earn a better profit. screw the unions!

[@gregpetty4185]

It makes a difference when you’re the one moving the chair. What did you do, other than warm the chair.

[@tragicallymalicious1]

That’s because union members allow that to happen. Without a union, who would represent you in a dispute with your management? Who would negotiate for your benefits and pay? Sounds like you would prefer to do it yourself.

[@janusatthegate6201]

Isn't there lots of cream in French food?

[@RalphDratman]

I am so confused now. Listening to this certain category of intellectuals commenting on US politics today -- Matt Taibbi, Katie Halper, Thomas Frank, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Julianna Forlano, Paul Jay, Richard Wolff ... -- I lose all my bearings and have no idea what to think or say. Simply put, these thinkers all tell me that every public figure I might want to support has already betrayed me (and everyone else) by living off cynical audience ploys, politics as spectacle, money controlling the world. For convenience, I will call this group the Rogues for want of a better name. The Rogues' material tends to come out as sarcasm so acute that it makes fun of everyone and everything. It is almost like comedy. Picture a John Stewart who proves night after night that Democrats, Republicans and the media figures that support either side are spewing absurd lies in order to retain their political and economic positions. What would a person with a conscience think? I can't figure that out at all.

[@jacobr5627]

Why did the rich like the gold standard?

[@lillygrayson2097]

Frank is Ellen's twin sister!!!! Sweet!!!

[@CactusLand]

I'm pissed, Katy was ready with the sports metaphor and these guys walked all over it. 107.33

[@kietro8319]

1:07:33

[@beastygeorge]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@johnh7018]

Is Adidas sponsoring Taibbi?

[@eleanoraquitaine2966]

Bourbon Democrats. Perfect.