Sam Seder: The Majority Report: Ayn Rand, Secret Socialist

Source:The Majority Report With Sam Seder- Objectivist Philosopher Ayn Rand on The Phil Donahue Show in 1979.

Source:The New Democrat

Is Ayn Rand a hypocrite, because she collected from Social Security and Medicare, two social programs that she was against? Actually no, because she paid into both of them and just collected out what she was entitled to under law. It would be one thing if somehow she became Queen or dictator of the United States and decided to outlaw both programs, except for herself. Now if that were to happen and the Chicago Cubs were to win the World Series, then you could call Ayn a hypocrite. I’m not a fan of pork barrel projects. But that won’t stop me from using a road that was specifically built for my community. That doesn’t benefit anyone else, that other taxpayers have to pay for.

There’s a wing in the Tea Party movement that if they were in charge during the 1930s and 1960s, Social Security, Medicare and a whole host of social insurance programs wouldn’t have been created if they were in charge. But generally speaking, you don’t see them running to outlaw those programs. Specially since they’ve paid a hell of a lot of taxes to finance those programs. Their parents, are already eligible and collecting from those programs. And one day they’ll be eligible to collect some of the taxes that they’ve paid into those programs. Which made the health care reform debate of six years ago funny. When a lot of these so-called Tea Party activists were screaming, “don’t give me socialized medicine! Oh by the way, get your damn hands off my Medicare.”

If Ayn Rand was a Socialist, then Rick Santorum, who is about as Far-Right as anyone can get at least on social issues, is a Libertarian and Mike Huckabee, similar to Rick, is a Liberal. Ayn Rand, is to Libertarians what Karl Marx is to, well Marxists. What Gordon Thomas is to Democratic Socialists, what Barry Goldwater is to Conservatives, what Jack Kennedy and Tom Jefferson are to Liberals. The heroes and gods to all of these political movements. Just because someone collects from something that they are entitled to, doesn’t make them a hypocrite. It just makes them an American.

Sam Seder: 'The Rise of the New Left With Cliff Schecter'

Source:The Majority Report- talking about the New-Left in America.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Cliff Schecter joined us last Friday to discuss how the Bill De Blasio wins means a resurgence of an economically progressive left, why we are leaving the age of Reagan and Clinton behind, why younger voters are so economically left wing and how Clinton and Obama governed from the right...

From The Majority Report

I actually agree with a lot of what Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter and are saying here. Which might be the first and last times I ever say that. But they’re also being overly optimistic. The Millennial Generation, is the largest generation that we’ve ever had. And they’re still very young and even if they have the largest support of socialism than any generation that we’ve seen since the 1930s, (or whatever) that doesn’t mean this is a socialist generation.

The Millennial’s are made of what I call Paul Conservative Libertarians, (named for Ron and his son Rand Paul) and then you have Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialists. And then you have what I at least call a classical liberal wing of this generation, people who aren’t anti-government, but don’t want big government running their lives for them. Which is why they support things like same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization, big believers in privacy and personal freedom in general. But they also don’t want big government in their wallets and trying to manage their economic affairs either.

Millennial’s, whether they say it or not, like private enterprise and capitalism in general. A lot of them are small business managers and owners. The ones, who’ve actually been able to find jobs. And don’t believe their business should have to pay a lot in taxes. But they believe government needs to do certain things for us like education, infrastructure, environmental protection, regulating predators, a safety net for people who need it. But they don’t want that Bernie Sanders socialist superstate that’s going to tax a lot of our money away from us to take care of us. And they don’t want big government in our personal affairs either.

The presidential candidate next year that can speak to young people especially Millennial’s, who says that government doesn’t have all the answers and shouldn’t try to do everything for everybody but can be a force for good by empowering people to take control over their own lives, will win this generation and probably win Independents in general as well. Who also believe in a limited government that does what we all need it to do in the areas of security, economic investment, to use as examples. 

You win these two huge groups and Millennial’s tend to be independent as well, that candidate will be the next President of the United States. I could be wrong about this, but I’m willing to bet it with anyone.

Sam Seder: Philip Mirowski- ‘How Neoliberalism Survived The Financial Meltdown?’

Source:The Majority Report- talking about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. (I presume)

Source:The New Democrat

“Professor Philip Mirowski author of Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown, explains the intellectual history of Neo-liberalism, what Neo-liberals believe, making capitalists think differently, the role of think tanks in Neo-liberalism, the mythology of market supremacy, how Facebook teaches you to be a Neo-liberal agent, shaming and Neo-liberalism, how policy movements are built, climate and the affordable care act and Neo-liberal power and how the left can respond to Neo-liberal dominance.

From the 6/26/14 episode of the Majority Report

This clip from the Majority Report, live M-F at 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report." 

From The Majority Report 

To me at least neoliberalism and libertarianism at least when it comes to economics are different things. Economic liberalization where you’re talking about decentralization of the central state and privatizing state-owned industries and companies and empowering people to own property. That is different from saying that the state should simply get-out-of-the-way and just worry about criminals who physically hurt innocent people and steal their property and that sort of thing.

And then move up to the mid and late 1990s economic liberalization has been about empowering people at the bottom and near-bottom and struggling working class to move up and live in economic freedom as well. Through things like education, job training, infrastructure, trade, targeted tax cuts to the struggling middle class and people in poverty. Eliminating unnecessary red tape and that sort of thing.

Today’s so-called ‘Modern Liberals’ who are really the New Socialists, people who aren’t Marxists, but still Socialists because of the amount of involvement they want government to have in the economy hate these policies. Because it means less power for the state and more freedom and choice for the individual.

The New Socialist or Social Democrat wants the power to be in the hands of the central government on behalf of the people to be used for everyone’s benefit. Under the theory when we are more collectivist less individualistic, we move better as a society, than when the people have the freedom to fail or succeed.

Sam Seder: The Difference Between Libertarian and Neoliberal Ideology

Source:The New Democrat

Sam Seder is basically right here.  Neo-Liberals, and I guess I'm one of them according to Sammy, believe that government has a role to play in helping the less-fortunate help themselves by providing childcare, education, help finding a good job, etc,  They also believe that government should help people when they are down with income assistance so that they can pay their bills in the short-term while they are improving themselves and preparing to go to work so that they can take care of themselves.

Libertarians call that big government and say that government has no role here.  They say that the market will take care of these people through private charities and privately funded foundations that deal with food assistance, health care, housing, education, job training, job placement, etc.  If government would just get out of the way, more Americans and business's would have the resources needed to help the less-fortunate and we would have fewer people in poverty.

Sam Seder: Did Affirmative Action Hurt the Liberal Project?

Source:The New Democrat

Affirmative action didn't hurt the cause of actual Liberals because Liberals believe in equal opportunity for all regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and so forth.  The key word is "opportunity," that people are not judged by these classifications but by their personal and professional qualifications. Affirmative action, however, has hurt the cause of collectivists on the Left, who believe in equality at all cost as well as equal outcomes, rather than equal opportunity, even if that means denying people opportunity simply because other members of their community have succeeded.

Sam Seder: ObamaCare Equals Freedom?

Source:The Majority Report With Sam Seder- Rally for ObamaCare.

Source:The New Democrat 

Freedom if that is really what this is about is the ability for people to run their own lives and be able to make the decisions about their own lives. And I’m talking about both from an economic and personal vantage point. And to get that freedom people have to have the skills they need to be able to make the income to live in that freedom. Which is why education is so important for current students especially of they come from low-income families. But also for low-skilled adults work low-income jobs currently.

As far as the Congressional Budget Office report. I saw the House Budget Committee hearing with Doug Elmendorf today whose the Director of the CBO today. And House Democrats on that committee asked Director Elmendorf about that CBO report on the Affordable Care Act. And he said that what they are saying is what Sam Seder said in the video. That millions of Americans who are currently working in order to get health insurance will leave the workforce voluntary. Because now they’ll be able to get health insurance without the job they may not want.

This idea that Congressional Republicans are throwing out there that ObamaCare will destroy two-million jobs, is just more Republican propaganda or garbage about the Affordable Care Act. That they hate and are so frustrated about not being able to repeal. And will say practically anything at this point to make ObamaCare look bad. The next attack about ObamaCare might be that the ACA causes climate change. Something a lot of them do not even believe in and see as a government hoax.
Source:Sam Seder

Sam Seder: 'Why Paul Ryan is a Gift to Progressives'

Source:Sam Seder- talking about Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report 

Mitt Romney has handed a gift to progressives by picking Paul Ryan as his running mate... 

From Sam Seder

I still don't know why Sam Seder thinks Representative Paul Ryan (Republican, Wisconsin) is a gift to so-called Progressives (people in actuality are closeted Socialists who are scared to death of being outed as American Socialists) and I watched the whole damn video.

The advantage of Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for Vice President, Representative Ryan is Chairman of the House Budget Committee and Democrats (left-wing, right, center) can say that Governor Romney is now on board with the Ryan Plan. A plan that turns Medicare into a voucher system, all the new unpaid for tax cuts for the wealthy, new spending in defense that's also not paid for, etc. 

Remember, Mitt doesn't have a budget and government plan of his own. His message is essentially: "Elect me President with a Republican Congress and we'll see next year." Now Democrats can say (whether it's true or not) that the Ryan Plan, is the Romney Plan. 

What would Mitt do then? He would be stuck in a catch 22, the old damned if you do, damned if you don't. If he says he's not in favor of the Ryan Plan, which is very unpopular outside of the Republican Party, that would hurt him at least with the right-wing of the Republican Party. But if he's in favor, that hurts him with everyone else in the country.

Sam Seder: 'Mitt Romney: Universal Healthcare is Great For Everyone But America!'

Source:Sam Seder- Governor Mitt Romney (Republican, Massachusetts) campaigning for President of the United States, in the Jewish State of Israel. I hope he didn't get lost oversees.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report. When visiting Israel, Mitt Romney went on and on about what a great (government run) healthcare system they have... 

From Sam Seder

First of all: just to sort of the correct the record here and I think Sam Seder already knows this, but Mitt Romney never said: "Universal Healthcare is Great For Everyone But America!" And I think the host of the so-called Majority Report already says that. He said Israel's health care costs are a lot lower than America's. And then Seder correctly pointed out some of the aspects of the Israeli health care system. 

What Sam Seder didn't say is that Israel has a free health care system provided for by the government, because he knows better. They have a private health care and insurance system, that's tightly regulated by the national government there. Which isn't much different from what America has now, because of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) that was based on the RomneyCare plan in Massachusetts, a law that then Governor Mitt Romney signed into law and supported in Massachusetts.

Sam Seder: 'Mitt Romney Foreign Policy: An Anglo-Saxon Must Lead America!'

Source:Sam Seder- Governor Mitt Romney (Republican, Massachusetts) 2012 Republican nominee for President.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report. A Mitt Romney foreign policy adviser said that Obama could not understand the depth of the relationship between the United States and England because Obama could not fully appreciate the shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage"... 

From The Majority Report

Just for the record: Barack Obama is part English on his mother's side, to go along with Irish and Welch. I mean the man actually celebrates Saint Patrick's Day every year. He has the entire native-British ethnic pool in his DNA, because of his mother. His father is Luo-Kenyan-African. This can happen when someone is of mixed race, they get the DNA not just of two races, but of multiple ethnic groups from different parts of the world. So when Mitt Romney says we need an Anglo-Saxon President, I have a newsflash for him: we already have one. 

I would like to think Mitt Romney is a better man than to try to win a presidential that he knows he's trailing both in the popular vote and Electoral College, by trying to scare the hell out of Independent voters and perhaps blue-collar Democrats who lean right, and say that they have to vote for him, because Barack Obama is not a real American. But I've been wrong before.

Sam Seder: Michele Bachmann: 'Anthony Weiner's Wife, Huma Abedin, is a Secret Undercover Muslim Agent!'

Source:Sam Seder- U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Escaped Mental Patient, Minnesota) making the case for requiring everyone who runs for office, to first have to pass a sanity, as well an IQ test, before they are eligible to run for office in the first place.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report Michele Bachmann believes the US government is being 'deeply penetrated' by the Muslim Brotherhood and she's pointing the finger at Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's aide and Anthony Weiner's wife... 

From Sam Seder

I guess my first response about this latest Michele Bachmann story is: don't you just love American democracy? I mean without American democracy, we would never see the Michele Bachmann's of the world, people who don't even have the mental qualifications to serve on a town council in some rural town, or to even serve on a local PTA, let alone to not just hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but to serve on the House Intelligence Committee, where apparently intelligence is not even required to serve on that committee in the first place. 

No serious, honest, decent person, would ever appoint someone Michele Bachmann to serve on or serve in office where's their a high level of intelligence and responsibility that's required to do that job well. If even George W. Bush appointed her to serve to a cabinet position when he was President, especially a national security post, she wouldn't even get through a Republican Senate back then, if all her out in right field statements and views were known back then. You would have Republican senators too embarrassed to support her back in the 2000s.

If Representative Bachmann were truly an American patriot or wanted to be one in the first place, she would go back home to Minnesota and check into the best available mental institution that's available and get the help that she needs and deserves. Or at the very least, just shut the hell up about any serious issue and person that the U.S. Government is currently involved in. She embarrasses her district and state almost every time she speaks about anything or anyone that's serious in this country.

Sam Seder: 'Firing Government Workers Hurting The Economy'

Source:Sam Seder- talking about government workers in the economy.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report. Sam Seder was on the Kudlow Report on CNBC last night and the topic: austerity... 

From Sam Seder

I think we need to go back 3-4 and look back at where the economy was before Barack Obama became President and where it is now. Of course the Great Recession was going on and it dominated 2008 and into probably the 1st six months of the Obama Administration in 2009. But they also inherited a  national debt of 11 trillion-dollars, and a budget deficit of 1.5 trillion-dollars. 

This idea that deficits and debt doesn't matter: for anyone whose sane and sober, as well who isn't currently braindead, (hopefully that's a big club in America) who actually believes that debt and deficits doesn't matter, you should stop arguing for higher taxes, even if you only want to raise taxes on the wealthy. Because if debt and deficits doesn't matter, government never needs more revenue to pay for its expenses, because it now has unlimited borrowing authority. 

People on the left (I'm sure Sam Seder is one of them) argue that you shouldn't cut deficits when the economy is struggling. Fine, but the Obama Administration didn't do that immediately. The 2009 Recovery And Investment Act was all borrowed money and it was just a 2-year deal. But since then and since the economy now steadily growing again, they've been operating under PAYGO (pay as you go) and the deficit has been falling ever since. The 2011 Budget Control Act has also contributed do the deficit reduction as well. 

Sure! The Obama Administration could've borrowed another 2 trillion-dollars (let's say) after the Recovery Act (had Democrats had not have lost the House) but then the Federal Reserve perhaps steps in and starts raising interest rates because of all the Federal borrowing and maybe we see a spike in inflation as well. And there goes all the progress that country has made as far as economic and job growth since the 2008 Great Recession.

Sam Seder: 'Ed Schultz v. Media Matters...Leave Limbaugh Advertisers Alone!'

Source:Diffen- left-wing talk show host Ed Schultz.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report: At a Talkers convention, an event for the talk radio industry, Sean Hannity and Ed Schultz both tell liberals and left wing media, like Media Matters, to stop sending messages to right wing media, like Rush Limbaugh, with an advertiser boycott.. 

From Sam Seder

People who like to call themselves Progressives today (but who aren't very progressive at all) like to claim that their spiritual and will even say that they're spiritual, but not religious (which is like being a vegan who only eats pork and fish when it comes to meat) and seem to know a lot about what's called spirituality. 

Well, folks who are familiar with spirituality, know what karma is all about and the whole boomerang theory. If the left-wing (to be kind in America) starts to go after right-wing media companies and personalities and just doesn't go after them and no longer tries to beat them in the market place and try to beat them in a battlefield of ideas, (which is one of the things that a free society is about) and instead tries to take down their business and go after them financially, because they know that government won't try to force right-wingers out-of-business and say you don't have a a right to be on the air, because they don't like what the right-wing has to say, this could and probably would come back to bite far-leftists's ass.

If the left-wing is successful here in taking down right-wing media, then you would see not just right-wing media companies going after the advertising and the revenue of left-wing media personalities, but perhaps you would see some far-right administration, perhaps even at the the federal level, trying to take down left-wing media personalities through government force.