Media, In-Group Collectivism, Feeding American Denial On Inequality, Wage Theft, And More

Denial is a powerful force, and in a representative democracy, mass denial is incredibly dangerous. Combine mass denial with in-group collectivism packaged by a handful of self-serving elites, and we call it conservative media. And leading the charge is the ideological solidarity sold by Fox News for conservative consumption, a force assisting in transmuting our representative democracy into something much more closely resembling a representative oligarchy.

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Labor Day 2014: U.S. Average Retail Price Of Gasoline

This year, the day before Labor Day (2014), the national average price of gasoline is $3.43 per gallon. Last Labor Day (2013) it was $3.59. You have to go back four years to 2010 to find Labor Day gas prices as low as they are now. You have to go back even further to find the all-time high national average price for gasoline. That would be during President Bush’s last year in office and during the economic meltdown. The all-time high national average price for gasoline (non-inflation adjusted) was $4.11 per gallon on July 7, 2008.

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Opportunity vs. Outcome: Acknowledging Inequality Is Not ‘Resentment’

Conservatives love talking about the idea that if everyone works hard, plays by the rules, they too shall prosper. Hell, even President Obama has used this same rhetorical refrain on many occasions. And whether he believes it’s true or not, it never quite rings true for me when he says it, because it seems he’s still trying, over five years into his presidency, to win over at least a few conservatives.

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Tax Cuts For Job Creation? Do You Know How Compound Interest Works?

Never mind that it is consumers who create the demand for products and services that in turn generates the need for additional jobs to meet that demand. Yes, people need to start the companies that build the products, but let’s get one thing straight here, nobody would start a company if they thought there was no demand for a product. And nobody would start a company if they thought the general public had no purchasing power to buy their product. So jobs will always be a function of demand, not supply.

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An Indefensible Economic System

Someone needs to explain to me why there are so many Americans making average or even substandard wages who continue to defend the capitalistic status quo. I think this is where Robert Reich is correct, that people are simply afraid. In a labor market where employers have all the power, people just feel lucky to have a job.

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