Andrea Allen’s Post

Enough is enough. We MUST stop the hate against the most persecuted minority in America: billionaires During this election cycle, I keep hearing hateful comments about billionaires. That they have too much wealth, or that they need to pay their fair share. As business leaders and professionals, we have a responsibility to create inclusive environments where everyone feels safe and valued. The rise in anti-billionaire incidents reminds us that we must actively work to combat prejudice. I did my own research. Here's what I learned 👇 - America today is more unequal today than during the Gilded age (remember the robber barons we learned in school?). - We are also more unequal now, than just before the French Revolution. Well, I spit on those facts. I know that the answer to every problem, is to blame China and immigrants! Did you know that there are ONLY 813 billionaires in America? 🥺 They must be so lonely. We spend $850 billion on Medicare each year. If we totally abolish that, we can use that money to create 850 more billionaires each year! This way, they can have more friends! 🥰 My parents taught me that sharing is caring. Me, along with half the country of 170 million people are more than happy to share half the total wealth with this persecuted minority of 813. I urge everyone reading this to also share more of their wealth! Lastly, I propose congress to set the maximum wage to $7.5/hr, and set taxes at 75%. This way, we can give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, so that we can fund their stock buybacks! This will also allow us to provide government-mandated yachts to all billionaires 🤩. Everyone deserves to feel safe, valued, and respected, regardless of their background. Speaking out against prejudice and educating ourselves on the impact of such hate is one way we can contribute to a more inclusive world. Let’s not be silent bystanders—let’s raise our voices to support billionaires. I am a billionaire ally.

I'm an "OLD" (55) and recall 1980 quite well. I've never seen a single legacy media outlet (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.) point out that "Make America Great Again" is not DT's idea. It belongs to Ronald Reagan. Usually, you create your own campaign slogan. But in '15, they appropriated RR's slogan and mixed in the populism of a cool guy from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. The people who lifted Bernie's 'anti-wall street' stance would later give a massive tax break to corps and wealthy people who didn't need a tax break. They were making more $ than ever before. And still do today. It's not surprising they would steal a campaign slogan. Nor is it surprising the world's laziest media wouldn't point it out. Doe it matter somebody stole and is using a 44 yr old slogan? Probably not. America's "greatness" is simple and complicated, imho. The USA has always been great in a lot of ways. We enjoy rights/freedoms others can only dream of. You can go to prison in Russia for saying something "unpatriotic". People from around the world see the USA as a beacon of freedom. We've also made some horrible mistakes, like slavery. My high school history book forgot to include a few things: https://lnkd.in/e52Xft5a We have an economy that's currently the envy of the world. Economically, the US has recovered from Covid better than every other industrialized nation in every metric (jobs created, increase in GDP, etc.). All that being true, there's still a LOT of work to be done. Compared to the other industrialized nations: US workers work more hours, have fewer benefits, get fewer days off/holidays, etc. We're the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn't give new parents time off. There's a widening wealth gap (aka income inequality). Our biggest problems remain: homelessness, poverty, gun violence, unaffordable homes/medical care/education, global warming, women's reproductive rights, etc. Around '80, the mental homes got shut down. Mentally ill people now either roam the streets or go to prison. The #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical bills. It's free in Canada, UK, France, Japan, Australia, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Italy, etc. Even Cuba and Ecuador. We allow a greedy few to profit off Grandma's cancer and little Billy's broken leg. It's immoral. Over half of the US reads at a "6th grade level or less". We can't do better than this?! SHEESH. There are over 12K "forever chemicals" and our EPA is currently regulating 2. We dumped so much plastic in the oceans, the same plastic is in our blood-streams. We're poisoning ourselves. These problems will not fix themselves. The problems will not be fixed by PERFORMERS in Congress or the White House. We need serious people to confront serious problems. The people running for office on pure grievance and/or culture war issues will lead us to ruin. We're running out of time. If you disagree, that's fine. It's just my opinion and I've been wrong before.

#politics #unitedstates #sustainability #nobelprize The Economist magazine from across the pond is calling Donald Trump the working class pied piper taking credit for #bidenomics, and threatening to drown the children along with the rats in Hamelin in the Potomac unless he is elected president of the United States again. This is, in fact, a true statement. Trump ought to take credit for Bidenomics because Barack Obama and Joe Biden during 2009-17 could not deliver Biden’s portfolio in the East Wing of The White House allocated to the Vice President of the United States, middle class and cancer, away and antipodally across POTUS in the West Wing which gets all the attention. Hillary Clinton trying to save her husband’s economy, Oslo Accords in the Middle East, and NATO expansion alienating Russia when it could have been included after 1989, and the Clintons still trying to do it in two ongoing stubborn wars even after Hillary lost her election in 2016 because of the pied piper speaking the truth about the America’s precariat class Clintonomics created, even as both American national security since Harry Truman and economic security since Bill Clinton are hanging by the fingernails of one hand off the cliff of a man known as United States of America whose other hand has been amputated in the wars since 2001, is ruining Joe Biden and his Democrats who are trying to deliver when he is president for the middle class and cancer. The Clintons are burning the house down in their duel to death with Donald Trump in New York to save their legacy, cutting off their nose to spite their face, because neither intends to do anything for the precariat as Joe Biden is trying to do. Both, Clinton slick and Trump gruff, are a gratuitous demagogic distraction who will not put people first even if they say they do but will continue to do a lot for the stakeholders of The Economist magazine. The American people must choose between #bidenomics without the wars or Nikki Haley and/or Mike Pence willing to carry forward #bidenomics, also without the wars. Common to either choice is neither the specter of the Clintons nor the conspiratorial temper tantrums of Donald Trump but to read, understand, and voluntarily sign this, if you agree: #OurCommonFuture https://lnkd.in/eaZe52sD. The polis, the public square, enables the oeikos, the economy, not the other way around in a democracy, politics matters, and elections matter before money, even if Bill Clinton or Vivek Ramaswamy speak differently.

#politics #unitedstates #nobelprize Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Global Public Square, GPS, has all but called the 2024 election for Donald Trump https://lnkd.in/ecF6WKY2. The Democrats threw in the towel, just as the West also threw in the towel on China after a Martin Wolf opinion article in The Financial Times. Between now and the first Tuesday in November, America is going to go through the motions of electing Donald Trump for a second time, because the bi-partisan domestic political dysfunction of COVID vis-a-vis the importance of the economic relationship with China has suggested to the powers to be that the economic benefit-cost calculus of a million dead Americans on American soil, more than during the Civil War, is less costly than the benefit of continuing to trade with China. Trump lost in the 2020 election, which was his all along to win, fair and square to Biden because he was framed by baiting him with is own vanity into mismanaging COVID by the Democrats, including Anthony Fauci at the The National Institutes of Health, despite a century of experience with infectious diseases after the global flu pandemic of 1918 after World War I by shutting down a roaring economy overnight. He was outdone by Democrat tactical electoral politics, he did not like it one bit being politically taken, ego hurt, and is lashing back because he is being criminally tried charged with 91 felony counts, using the nation’s judiciary as a weapon, outside the Congress, whose job it is to disqualify him for 2024 especially after being impeached twice and acquitted in the Senate. The Constitution is very clear whose responsibility and authority it is to disqualify those who have aided and abetted a rebellion. Amendment XIV Equal Protection and Other Rights Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. United States Congress, across party lines, must fulfill its constitutional obligation as Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence had done on January 06, 2021, drop all criminal proceedings against the former president and disqualify him from holding future office in US government. Republicans must nominate Mike Pence and Nikki Haley in summer, and the former president must graciously endorse his vice president and UN ambassador. The people will decide who they will elect in November, not CNN.

Most young men are probably not interested in making America great again But.. Young men feel overlooked. The issues they face aren’t widely discussed or addressed. A sense of disconnection, even alienation, is building. Since 2019, Republican affiliation among white men aged 18-24 jumped from 28% to 41%. That’s a big shift. Why? Many feel that society is focused on others’ progress but ignores their challenges. Almost 40% of Republican men now think that gains for women have come at the expense of men. This "zero-sum" view reflects insecurity—and frustration, yet isn't true, we don't have finite empathy. Margaret Mead saw this tension brewing back in 1975: "Men...are being accused of being oppressors—and angry oppressors at that...change is taking place in an atmosphere of the greatest bad temper, and a tremendous amount of secondary hostility is being generated." If we don’t address the challenges facing young men, the divide will only deepen. This election is a wake-up call, We don’t want a Women’s Party and a Men’s Party. Men and Women have to work together, learn together, form families together. We have to rise together.

QUESTION PROMPT from "Endless Becoming" by Andrea Prebys-Williams Imagine it is 500 years in the future, and those who believe in liberation have been successful. What is the world like? How are people spending their time? How did we get there? MY ANSWER: Given how awful the election results were, it is hard to imagine a world in 500 years that is more economically fair. But here goes. In this future society, every child regardless of race or class can be given the same opportunity to thrive. We don't judge people's actions. We celebrate & elevate the contributions people give. We don't hoard our scarce resources. We offer and share what we have as a means to carry it forward. I think what happened in this election is people are scared. They are not in a giving mood to help each other, but about preserving & conserving what is theirs. I don't want to live in a scared society. I want to live in a world where we celebrate our differences as positive. Where we reward ingenuity, and give people the chance to try new things. People are not forced into a bad marriage or dead-end job. They are allowed to pursue what is important to them and what will help them be happy and successful. So how do we get there? We fight inequality. We have to give everyone the resources so that they can pick themselves up and can feel confident they are doing things because they want to: not because they have to. Do you want to be an actor? You should be able to pursue a theatre career without worrying about how you are going to afford a place to live. I think what's happened is we have lost a sense of real community. What struck me when I was canvassing for Harris in Wisconsin was not the problem of getting into locked apartment buildings. It was going door-to-door in single family homes - where people had "no soliciting" signs - and folks were just as resistant & angry about a stranger coming to their door. I had one woman curse at me & say "I fucking hate all of you." So it didn't matter what campaign I was for, and that I wasn't asking for money. She just did not want strangers coming to her door. I want a futuristic society where people don't feel the need to shut out the world. Can you imagine a world where people don't lock their front doors? I said earlier I want a future where every child gets equal access of opportunity. We need to apply that to every ADULT too. If you're not happy with your career, you should be able to transition & have the economic flexibility to do so. We all have something to give & to contribute. And when it comes to old people, everyone should have the means to retire comfortably at a time & place that makes sense for them. In this futuristic utopia, what do people spend their time on? Music! Dancing! Movies! Food! Fun! We celebrate the joys of life that give us comfort, not money - which is only a means to an end.

A Trump win, and a loss for social progress. As devastated as many of us feel in this moment for a myriad of reasons, this election has been a crucial teaching moment for us. How do we define leadership? And what prompted a significant majority of Americans to vote a horrendous human being back into power, as leader of the ‘free world’ despite the disastrous consequences we will face as a result (climate action being the top of my list and the devastating global impact we will invariably face). Reflecting on his win, what resonated for me on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ - some of the key takeaways I’ve been pondering on, on how this happened. 1) Never say die. Trump’s conviction in himself, despite his charges, being trashed by the media, sounding and being an absolute buffoon has not changed his unshakable belief in himself. And with so much tragedy and devastation in our current world, is that what people needed- the utter conviction in his ability that provided reassurance that HE was the man for the job. 2) A backlash to the feminist /equity movement. Young men and boys ( as evidenced by the 26+ swing in his favour by young males aged 18-26) increasingly feel like they are under-represented in the world. How many good men who are public personalities can we point to as being role models for our boys. Was this swing partly due to feeling underrepresented, misunderstood and hence leading to a vote for toxic masculinity as a way to protest against the wave of feminism? 3) Rage against the machine. Politics worldwide have eroded our confidence in leadership. A ‘fearless’ renegade (as he showed himself to be in the 1st election) is he what people perceive to be as a needed beacon of hope to rally against the powers that govern us and take away our voices? It boggles the mind that in 2024 a person of this character, lack of morals or any sense (by conventional wisdom) slayed today. It’s maddening, saddening and horrifying that this has happened especially to the extent it has- complete control? But why? And how? And where have we failed, or been failed that the next 4 years are in the hands of this monster? Undoubtedly my list will grow as and when the shock wears off and the consequences set in. For now all I have is #thoughtsandprayers for Americans and the world. Interested to know your thoughts. And apologies in advance for any inaccuracies or grammatical errors. I’m still in shock.

It’s true liberalism hasn’t for a long time had much of a vision for how things can get better for nearly anyone but the top 1%. And yes, systematically handing over hard-won democratic power to corporations over the past 50 years hasn’t worked particularly well for anyone except the people in their boardrooms. However, people who say this is about the economy working only for billionaires, not the average Joe, still need to explain why voters would pick someone who will give even more of their money to people like Elon Musk. So it’s about inflation? Ok, so why pick a candidate who’s gonna run a bigger deficit to give billions of dollars in tax cuts to the very rich, potentially causing more inflation, then kick out Mexican workers producing food for slave wages, potentially causing food inflation, and start a trade war with China, which the US gets all its cheap imports from? Not that he’s necessarily going to do any of these (except maybe the first one) but still that’s kinda what he ran on. Still hurting from the financial crisis? So let’s vote for someone who is going to scrap regulations on investment banks so they can do it all again, knowing taxpayers will bail them out. Aren’t we insulting their intelligence (ironically, since people making this argument often accuse liberals of being condescending)? These ideas are also based on what voters say to journalists and pollsters, which assumes people are telling truth. But if the real reason I voted a certain way is ‘I hate women’ or ‘I’m not comfortable being led by someone of a race that for most of the country’s history was doing all of our agricultural labour for free (and I still haven’t recovered from the shock of that happening in 2009)’ or ‘I’m a cop and I hate that these days killing a young Black man might get me into trouble if it’s caught on film’ obviously I’m not going to say that to someone holding a notebook (not saying these are the reasons, just that there’s a knowledge gap here). You might get a clearer idea from what people say to each other - at rallies and on social media. Pepe memes and misogynistic tropes don’t tend to show up in polling data. This, incidentally, is probably why Black voters, male and female, overwhelmingly did NOT vote for him. The victim narrative that underpins the far right isn’t unique to America - its the same in Europe - but it is everywhere a product of historically powerful groups who feel entitled to more respect than the others and become upset when they think they aren’t getting it: whites (but also demographics who aspire to be ‘white’, a fluid concept if ever there was one) men and Christians - respectively the most privileged race, gender and religion, politically, economically and culturally. Ah. The fist-shaking at at a mythical ‘woke’ cultural elite suddenly makes sense. I hate to sound like a right wing conspiracy theorist but things aren’t always what people say they are.

Good morning world! And particular to America, I suppose. What to say waking up to this news as a childless cat lady. Nothing really has changed. Anywhere. And it wouldn't have changed if Harris had won either. That's the reality of the worlds greatest "power". It will always remain a one dimensional being. Totally predictable. Totally mad. But I do need to say a few things much to the wrath of some on here. This election was not about #race or #gender. For the second time, Trump has defeated a woman. First a white woman. Now a Black-Asian woman. And this time as a convicted felon, alleged r@p1st and misogynist. It certainly was never about #Palestine or gen0cide (some of the Muslim "vote" went to Trump as well). It was through and through however about grocery prices, quoting Harris's infamous quip. Whether we like it or not, elections are always geared towards domestic issues. Foreign policy and relations are definitely an indirect contributor to domestic decisions, but for voters, it's not about whether their country is supporting a gen0cide. It is literally about if they will be able to pay their bills and get proper healthcare. Of course race and gender has a lot to do with equitable domestic policies as well. But ultimately, it comes down to economics. Trump is no economist and neither are his crowd, but his populism, sadly was more effective than Harris. The fact that voters completely disregarded his criminal convictions and wrong doings shows just how powerful both economics and populism are. And how dangerous. Elections are about domestic priorities. As they should be. Everywhere around the world. This is also why nations like America are able to operate with impunity outside its borders. This is why domestic policies are so important, so that voters are able to comprehend what their country is doing elsewhere. Most Americans dont care about that unless it was a boots on the ground situation like #Afghanistan or #Iraq. Even then it wasn't about world peace but about putting their own families in harms way. We cannot hold American voters responsible for something the rest of the world is equally responsible for. Not standing up to global powers. Not holding ground against destruction and power. Continuing to be subservient to those with power. Until we start cleaning up our own acts wherever we may reside, we cannot expect others to do it for us. Others, including America, will do whatever it takes for them to survive and retain their power. The rest of us need to do the same, while thinking of our own people and our own voters.