#proposal to creditors

[clearyourdebts]

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[starsreminisce]

what are your thoughts on the dynamics of the archeron family

Short answer: A lot of boundaries are blurred, and both Feyre and Nesta were parentified, leaving all of them struggling to understand how to be sisters to one another.

Their journeys in the books are directed toward three main goals: healing a wound caused by their mother, fulfilling an aspiration from their father, and reassessing their feelings and roles towards each other. Interestingly, their mates provide them with what they always longed for from their father.

While both Papa Archie and Mama Archie failed their daughters, Mama Archie emerges as the biggest villain throughout the books.

The idea of the books ending with their mother's vision fulfilled—having all her daughters stay together—is scream-inducing, considering she is the most toxic person in the series.

In contrast, their father's hope for them is much more positive and meaningful, as they work towards building a better world—a vision that began with him urging Feyre to leave.

Long answer:

When I see their mother, it's on sight.

Feyre and Nesta have said nothing good about their mother. Yet, their father seemed to love her unconditionally, and when she passed, compounded by a series of unfortunate events, he was unable to provide and be the parent his daughters needed.

A hard lesson someone might never fully learn is that parents are just like their children—human, flawed, and burdened with their own unhealed traumas and poor coping mechanisms. The concept of mental health awareness was nonexistent then. Many people have suffered and died, yet the five stages of grief were only published in 1969.

While Papa Archie should have done x, y, and z, and should have been the parent he ought to be, the story began precisely because he didn’t. There would be no ACOTAR if Feyre had not learned to hunt and provide for her family.

Moreover, there would also be no ACOTAR if Papa Archie had told Feyre to obey the promise made to her mother. I headcanon that he was either glamoured or his mind was heavily altered because the Papa Archie in the cottage and the Papa Archie in the manor upon her return seemed completely different.

“Feyre,” my father said. His fingers trembled as he grasped my gloved hands, but his eyes became clearer and bolder than I’d seen them in years. “You were always too good for here, Feyre. Too good for us, too good for everyone.” He squeezed my hands. “If you ever escape, ever convince them that you’ve paid the debt, don’t return.” I hadn’t expected a heart-wrenching good-bye, but I hadn’t imagined this, either. “Don’t ever come back,” my father said, releasing my hands to shake me by the shoulders. “Feyre.” He stumbled over my name, his throat bobbing. “You go somewhere new—and you make a name for yourself.”

It's not about what you did then, it's about what you'll change now. I've seen the criticisms about how he didn't do enough, how performative bringing the fleet was, and so on. But consider what Papa Archie was going through: the love of his life died from a disease, they had been in debt for at least three generations, and the answer to their money woes sank. He had three beautiful daughters entering society, where dowries were crucial—Nesta received her first proposal at fourteen. He was then beaten by his creditors until his knee broke. So not only was he physically incapacitated, but his reputation also suffered, making it impossible to gather funds.

I would give Papa Archie some grace for not being able to be the parent his daughters needed. However, I see no redemption for their mother.

Feyre's journey involved learning to prioritize her own needs over being the family caretaker. Nesta's journey involved unlearning toxic patterns and channeling her energy into something that gives her a sense of purpose. Elain’s journey, considering she was described as her mother's doll and urgently needed a match before her beauty faded, hints at what her story will entail.

It’s interesting that their father’s aspirations in the first book seem to weave into their stories and are reflected in their mates.

He told Feyre to make a name for herself, which she did as the Cursebreaker and the first High Lady in centuries. Her mate, Rhysand, provides her with the support and partnership she always needed.

He told Feyre, when she asked him to intervene in Nesta marrying Isaac, that if it was love, he couldn’t talk sense into her. I really love this quote from him:

“We need hope as much as we need bread and meat,” he interrupted, his eyes clear for a rare moment. “We need hope, or else we cannot endure. So let her keep this hope, Feyre. Let her imagine a better life. A better world.”

Nesta's mate, Cassian, loves her unconditionally, especially during times when she feels undeserving of such love. Despite Nesta's deep-seated hatred for her father and his actions, his death impacts her profoundly. Despite all her resentment toward him, she is faced with the reflection of his love for her. Cassian doesn't see Nesta as flawed; rather, he sees someone who hasn't yet learned where to direct her strength and passion.

It's not surprising at all that the mate of Papa Archie's beloved daughter, his princess, is someone who can genuinely attest to his goodness and deep love for his daughters. This affirmation comes after he undertakes the quest of finding Vassa, a mission directly influenced by Elain's vision. It reflects Papa Archie's attentiveness to Elain's thoughts and desires, showcasing her father's ability to listen to her and include her in his plans and aspirations for the future.

Now, for the sisters themselves.

The dynamics between the sisters are evolving as they confront their long-held resentments towards each other, stemming from the failures of their parents.

This process is particularly evident with Elain in SF, where her arc seems poised to explore her transition from being perceived as just a "doll" to becoming someone whom their father treated as more than that. Elain's unresolved conflict with Nesta over the dread trove suggests that her book may delve deeply into this aspect, especially given the significance of the mask in HOFAS. Ember's parting words to Nesta about finding her own path resonate strongly, particularly in the context of Nesta's identity as Elain's protector.

Feyre's relationship with Elain appears more ambivalent, characterized by a sense of companionship rather than a deep bond. This sentiment is echoed in Rhys's criticisms about how Elain is treated, as seen in the bonus chapter.

Rhys raised a point that Elain might be afraid of disappointing Feyre, and it prompts speculation about its meaning. Could it be that Elain fears disappointing Feyre by rejecting the bond? However, considering it's Elain's bond, this interpretation seems perplexing. Alternatively, Elain may be aware that accepting the bond with Lucien could mean eventually leaving the Night Court, given Lucien's status as an heir. Such a decision might further fracture the notion of the sisters staying together, adding to Elain's apprehension about disappointing Feyre.

While Feyre and Nesta seem to have healed and strengthened their relationship, it remains unclear how Elain perceives her sisters and their protective tendencies towards her.

Their mother's toxic notion of them staying together contrasts sharply with their father's hope for them to create a better world, a dream for which he ultimately sacrificed his life. This suggests that staying together doesn't necessarily mean living under the same roof, and that sibling relationships can flourish when each member has their own pursuits.

Lastly, the deliberate withholding of their parents' names raises questions. Perhaps SJM is saving the revelation for a pivotal moment, similar to the unveiling of Aelin's identity in TOG.

I used to meme that SJM just doesn't provide names and yet in TOG, it shows just how much weight she actually gives them.

This could indicate that revealing their identities holds significant narrative weight and may contain spoilers crucial to the story's progression.

Thanks for asking!

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today proposed a rule that would remove medical bills from most credit reports, increase privacy protections, help to increase credit scores and loan approvals, and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay. The proposal would stop credit reporting companies from sharing medical debts with lenders and prohibit lenders from making lending decisions based on medical information. The proposed rule is part of the CFPB’s efforts to address the burden of medical debt and coercive credit reporting practices.

"The CFPB is seeking to end the senseless practice of weaponizing the credit reporting system to coerce patients into paying medical bills that they do not owe,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. "Medical bills on credit reports too often are inaccurate and have little to no predictive value when it comes to repaying other loans."

In 2003, Congress restricted lenders from obtaining or using medical information, including information about debts, through the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. However, federal agencies subsequently issued a special regulatory exception to allow creditors to use medical debts in their credit decisions.

The CFPB is proposing to close the regulatory loophole that has kept vast amounts of medical debt information in the credit reporting system. The proposed rule would help ensure that medical information does not unjustly damage credit scores, and would help keep debt collectors from coercing payments for inaccurate or false medical bills.

The CFPB’s research reveals that a medical bill on a person’s credit report is not a good predicter of whether they will repay a loan. In fact, the CFPB’s analysis shows that medical debts penalize consumers by making underwriting decisions less accurate and leading to thousands of denied applications on mortgages that consumers would repay. Since these are loans people will repay, the CFPB expects lenders will also benefit from improved underwriting and increased volume of safe loan approvals. In terms of mortgages, the CFPB expects the proposed rule would lead to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional, safe mortgages every year.

In December 2014, the CFPB released a report showing that medical debts provide less predictive value to lenders than other debts on credit reports. Then in March 2022, the CFPB released a report estimating that medical bills made up $88 billion of reported debts on credit reports. In that report, the CFPB announced that it would assess whether credit reports should include data on unpaid medical bills.

Since the March 2022 report, the three nationwide credit reporting conglomerates – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – announced that they would take many of those bills off credit reports, and FICO and VantageScore, the two major credit scoring companies, have decreased the degree to which medical bills impact a consumer’s score.

Despite these voluntary industry changes, 15 million Americans still have $49 billion in outstanding medical bills in collections appearing in the credit reporting system. The complex nature of medical billing, insurance coverage and reimbursement, and collections means that medical debts that continue to be reported are often inaccurate or inflated. Additionally, the changes by FICO and VantageScore have not eliminated the credit score difference between people with and without medical debt on their credit reports. We expect that Americans with medical debt on their credit reports will see their credit scores rise by 20 points, on average, if today’s proposed rule is finalized.

Under the current system, debt collectors improperly use the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay debts they may not owe. Many debt collectors engage in a practice known as “debt parking,” where they purchase medical debt then place it on credit reports, often without the consumer’s knowledge. When consumers apply for credit, they may discover that a medical bill is hindering their ability to get a loan. Consumers may then feel forced to pay the medical bill in order to improve their credit score and be approved for a loan, regardless of the debt’s validity.

Specifically, the proposed rule, if finalized would:

Eliminate the special medical debt exception: The proposed rule would remove the exception that broadly permits lenders to obtain and use information about medical debt to make credit eligibility determinations. Lenders would continue to be able to consider medical information related to disability income and similar benefits, as well as medical information relevant to the purpose of the loan, so long as certain conditions are met.

Establish guardrails for credit reporting companies: The proposed rule would prohibit credit reporting companies from including medical debt on credit reports sent to creditors when creditors are prohibited from considering it.

Ban repossession of medical devices: The proposed rule would prohibit lenders from taking medical devices as collateral for a loan, and bans lenders from repossessing medical devices, like wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs, if people are unable to repay the loan.

The CFPB began today’s rulemaking in September 2023 with the goals of ending coercive debt collection practices and limiting the role of medical debt in the credit reporting system. The CFPB additionally published in 2022 a report describing the extensive and debilitating effects of medical debt along with a bulletin on the No Surprises Act to remind credit reporting companies and debt collectors of their legal responsibilities under that legislation.

Read today’s proposed rule, Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information (Regulation V).

Read the Unofficial Redline of the Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information (Regulation V).

Comments must be received on or before August 12, 2024.

Learn more about Credit Reporting Requirements and the CFPB’s work on medical debt.

Consumers can submit credit reporting complaints, or complaints about financial products or services, by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their company has violated federal consumer financial protection laws are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov.

[anon-e-miss]

Hey miss, how’s the new job going? Better than the old one?

The new job is far better than the old one.

The people are all great. The pay is better and the work MEANS something.

I am the person emailing the creditor or talking to the government to try and get someone’s consumer proposal passed so they can get out of the debt spiral. I’m making a difference.

Also, fuck payday loan companies.

[hasdrubal-gisco]

the part about the EU elections that people with green/center-left faves simply don’t understand is that people simply don’t want to vote against their self interest. i haven't talked about this much on here, but i really urge people to let go of the view politics through a "something is Left, therefore it follows that it is Good" and focus on the individual policy proposals and their outcomes. i maintain that understanding economics as a series of mediated conflicts between classes with opposing interests is the best way to understand what's going on - and solutions should be routed through this understanding as well. the fact that what has since its inception been an economic movement has been co-opted by a branch of academia that amounts to historical fiction (i will continue to refer to this as Left, leftism, etc. so as to deliberately divorce it from marxism. it admittedly also has little to do with the jacobin club of the national assembly where the L-R distinction comes from but nobody thinks about this anyway (rip)) is not my fault, but i will not cede this ground to them.

locally, the pirate party released a very embarrassing "we failed to explain the merits of our platform to voters" message regarding their relative underperformance. it's easier to believe a failure of messaging than a success in messaging an unappealing platform. the same was said by an unsuccessful presidential candidate about adopting the euro last year. do not be like this !

mucho texto warning, discussion on specific things that affected the election outcome:

the war in ukraine – putting this first because to me this is the primary fault-line between dissident (regardless of where on the L-R spectrum they aesthetically place themselves) and mainstream political movements. the consequences of the nonsensical EU sanction packages and aid deals has been completely absent from the conversation. “maybe we should put fewer ukrainians in a meat grinder” has for the past two years been a taboo stance which gets a politician derided as a far right/far left russian lickspittle. institutional commitment to the war negatively impacts people economically first directly (increase in food, energy expenses) as well as indirectly (opportunity cost, increased capital expenditure, lower market confidence - translates into increased job insecurity, suppression of wages for employees), and many simply disagree that this is a worthwhile tradeoff. whether this a majority/minority position depends country to country, but it is a very strong issue capable of changing voting patterns. another factor is the view that it as an american-russian proxy war, and europe being roped in is an erosion of both EU and national sovereignty. anyone with eyes can see ukraine simply will not win this war. if you think any month now the trident will fly over moscow you’re simply delusional. creditors like the EIB and ERBD (which are definitely not three germans, and three americans in a trench coats respectively) will spend the next 40 years smacking their lips

economic policy – europe is long overdue for a reevaluation of what left-right means. the main reason the center-left collapsed (in western europe in the ‘00s, in eastern europe in the ‘10s) is they are simply no longer parties representing a continuation of the historical fight for worker self-empowerment. simple as. some amount of this can be blamed on the american NGO industrial complex (more on this later), but most of it is just institutional rot. in every “social democratic party” there have been defectors to the “people’s democratic movement” (far right), as well as communist parties because it’s the only place where you can have actual pro-social policies. people have completely given up their right to fight for economic self-interest in exchange for adopted social struggles (again - more on this upcoming). many a “far-right” party has campaigned on lessening state surveillance, introducing the right to recall appointed political functionaries like judges, police, more public oversight over budgetary discretion, more transparency in regional governance. all hallmark traits of fascism, i suppose. nobody is interested in trillion-euro green policies that create a new tax for registering your petrol-vehicle while enriching german polycrystalline silicon manufacturers. we want to split the atom and we want it split now !

sovereignty – post-ww2, western europe fell wholly under the american sphere of influence, to an extent on par with russian influence in the warsaw pact. it is very gauche to acknowledge out loud how much influence NGOs and thinktanks based in the US have on european politics, source: look at what’s going on in georgia (country, sakartvelo). a great number of people have been elevated through conventional politicking to positions of power they cannot handle, and their responsibilities get delegated out to unelected consultancies which gain access to relatively impactful matrices of statecraft. entire social concepts are being imported and dumped onto people, and “authentic grassroots advocacy groups” are ready to receive this garbage and pretend this has always been the center of conversation here. more and more people are recognizing it and deciding to elevate sovereigntists in revolt, and it is a good thing. macron has had terrible domestic politics (except for raising retirement age), but his recent diplomatic grandstanding has been good to see. anglo-german cultural displacement of france on the european scene has been a disaster, as i have and will continue to insist on.

immigration – this one is for sure going to be popular on the “please be niceys” website. to pre-qualify, i am a resident alien in the country i live and work in, many of you are also resident aliens wherever you may be, some are intra-eu foreigners (i am not). at some point, we have to open the space for conversation enough to ask the question “is losing a doctor and gaining a bus driver overall good ?”. this point will probably go over better with europeans because they know what i mean, the american mind cannot comprehend brain-drain because it is the one place where it does not happen. americans are not finishing medical school to go move to nicaragua to make that moneyyy. america is gaining a lot of bus drivers but they’re not losing highly educated and specialized workers (except a couple chemical engineers going out to gulf states to do white collar work in oil refineries. wish that was me). it blows my mind how you can understand the concept of strike-breaking being bad, and simultaneously advocate for the import for a cheap labor force from abroad. it is doing you no favors, and it is doing the country where people come from no favors. the only people who benefit from this are those with enough capital to arbitrage this by depressing your wages or outright replacing you. you can posture and talk about inherent racism of european states all you want, but it is plainly obvious to anyone that non-european immigrants are treated by the law with a very soft hand even in cases of violent crime precisely to not seem racist. if someone’s culture has lax views on whether rape is actually bad, i personally am very comfortable saying that culture should be suppressed with the threat of force. lol ! being tolerant of indiscriminant violent crime is simply not a heckin’ wholesome leftist attitude. either you believe they are capable of not being rapists or you believe they are incapable of that. which is it ? to be clear, eastern europeans are heavily overrepresented in robbery and burglary in western europe – this is a bad thing and they should not do it, and i think it would be reasonable to have stricter controls even for them. as someone who has never robbed, burgled, killed, or raped, these policies are simply not a threat to me. sorry if robbers and burglars and murderers and rapists feel discriminated against, quite frankly they should be glad we don't do corporal punishment. you need to be sober and recognize people are coming here because they see a system easy to take advantage of, and they will be upset if it is denied to them, and you have to be comfortable making people upset. there is no argument in favor of unrestricted immigration other than "please be niceys," do not project your self-hate on a society you have to share with people who are normal.

youth – genuinely has anyone else been actively reaching out to the 35-25 demographic by offering a vision of a better future ? has any mainstream center-left or center-right party ever done any engagement that didn't amount to demanding loyalty because "that's how things are" ? do not say greens, because the vision greens offer simply is not better. sorry you will never sell someone on "please please lower your standards harder" when standards have already been decreasing anyway.

covid – this is a minor point in this round of election, but it does have to do with the overall vibe-shift. people who were skeptical of the rules imposed during covid, as well as the very rapid release of vaccinations were publicly shamed and derided as far-right, and told they deserved to not have access to any other forms of healthcare etc. establishment institutions paid a very high price in terms of their legitimacy, and now article after article is coming out walking back a lot of what was said, and admitting many decisions were made randomly and in the heat of the moment.

war in gaza – probably fairly low on most people's list of priorities, again, this war has a very predictable outcome to people looking from afar who don't care who is going to take over keren shalom border crossing or whatever. other than higher casualty count, it is simply not that different from 2014 and 2008. big deal for europe's large muslim population, along with getting exemptions from mandatory education for their daughters.

---------------------------

closing remarks; of course, nothing will happen, because nothing ever does. any political momentum can and must be squandered on infighting, and we can and will continue this managed decline for another few decades. europe is past its prime, and we're living on retirement being paid by america and china. to some this is good, but i'm just not that kinda guy, i see the missed opportunity and it bothers me.

the grounds for worker self-direction has never been moral, it has been practical. you should advocate for your own interests, and the productive labor force is the section of the population most to gain, as it carries the brunt of the burden. simple as. this thing where you have to advocate on behalf of some more-oppressed other is moralistic masturbation, and it's easy because unlike standing up for yourself, advocating for someone else asks very little of you (source: look around you)

EDIT 1: clearly this was not long enough. the moment an anti-immigration left-coded party emerges, it will win (as is the case in denmark for example). if it is possible to be a "socdem" and not advocate for social democracy, but it is not possible to be a "socdem" and advocate immigration restriction - it is reasonable to conclude "socdem" is defined as belief in more migration, rather than anything "soc" or "dem"

EDIT 2: re: covid, not that anyone has read them or cares but the declassified and unredacted contracts between the EU and pfizer/moderna/AZ are insane. really only means something to someone who already reads regulations regarding pharma but people should be barred from public service for signing some of the shit that was passed

EDIT 3: any aesthetic references to hitler & friends should be taken with the same seriousness as modern communist parties using the hammer and sickle, or government buildings flying lgbtpoc+ flags - not at all, it is aesthetic posturing, and has no practical impact. this isn't power rangers, let's be serious

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

Trump Ignores the Ruinous History of Tariffs

By Steven R. Weisman; July 26, 2024 Mr. Weisman, a former correspondent and editorial writer for The New York Times, is vice president for publications at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Donald Trump’s economic panacea is to impose over-the-top tariffs on all imports, potentially generating enough revenue to eliminate the federal income tax. It is hardly an innovative idea. On the contrary, if enacted, it would return our postmodern economy to that of the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, to economic policies favoring the wealthy over the poor and middle class, when tariffs were the main source of government revenue.

That tariff-dominant era ended with the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1913, which facilitated the adoption of a graduated federal income tax. The income tax, not tariffs, has been the main source of federal revenue ever since, and for good reason.

Tariffs are a tax on imports, the functional equivalent of a sales tax, imposing a proportionately bigger burden on those with modest incomes. As my colleagues at the Peterson Institute for International Economics point out, Mr. Trump’s proposal for a 10 percent tariff on all imports (which totaled $3.1 trillion last year) and a 60 percent tariff on imports from China would cost a typical middle-income household at least $1,700 in increased expenses each year.

Mr. Trump’s radical “all tariff policy” would be self-defeating. It could not possibly fund our modern national security and social welfare needs, because tariff rates would have to rise impossibly high to yield the $2 trillion generated by individual and corporate income taxes. The resulting tariff war, when countries inevitably retaliate, would shrink imports and reduce tariff revenues. And it would discard or marginalize the one tax we have that requires people to pay their fair share.

Following the Revolutionary War, the national government did indeed rely almost entirely on tariffs, as pushed by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to avoid distasteful excise taxes and encourage the new nation’s infant manufacturing sector. The Civil War quickly proved their inadequacy. To meet the resulting fiscal crisis, Abraham Lincoln persuaded Congress to pass the very first income tax in 1862, essentially a tax on only the very top earners.

That was phased out after the war, returning the United States to its reliance on tariffs and the chaos and class resentment they created. In 1889, Thomas Shearman, a prominent lawyer, wrote a widely disseminated essay titled “The Owners of the United States” that listed families including the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Morgans who presided over untaxed fortunes from railroads, factories, oil refineries, mines and banks.

Overreliance on tariffs helped foment an era of economic shocks. The Panic of 1893, at the time the worst depression in American history, was set off by business and bank failures but aggravated by foreign creditors demanding payment in gold, which only encouraged the U.S. Treasury to push for even higher tariffs to curb imports.

Out of this crisis a new star of the Democratic Party arose, William Jennings Bryan, the “Great Commoner,” who warned against America crucifying itself on a “cross of gold.” He also crusaded against protectionism by holding up clothing and kitchen utensils at his rallies and declaring that tariffs drove up their cost by 50 percent.

Bryan as the Democratic presidential nominee lost the 1896 election to William McKinley, a favorite of Mr. Trump’s (he calls McKinley “the Tariff King”). But Bryan’s ideas lived on. By 1912, a Democratic free-trader and income tax supporter, Woodrow Wilson, the reformist governor of New Jersey, had won the White House.

The income tax was enacted in 1913 in Wilson’s first year in office. Once again, it was war and the urgent need for money, rather than political ideology, that proved the impracticality of relying on tariffs. To fund the mobilization for World War I, Wilson raised the top marginal income tax rate to 77 percent. (Since then, the top rate has fluctuated up and down, rising above 90 percent in World War II and now at 37 percent.)

The Democrats’ defeat after the war brought traditional Republicans with their high-tariffs philosophy back into power and they raised tariffs throughout the 1920s. That culminated in the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which was enacted in the misplaced belief that tariffs could protect American industries and farmers after the 1929 stock market crash. Instead, they fueled a catastrophic global trade war, strangled commerce, unleashed competitive currency devaluations and intensified a worldwide depression that contributed to the rise of Nazism and worldwide war.

The advent of President Franklin Roosevelt, a free-trader who had served under Wilson as assistant secretary of the Navy, buried the outdated notion of equating tariffs with prosperity. Indeed, his secretary of state, Cordell Hull, a former Tennessee congressman, had helped enact the income tax and lower tariffs a generation earlier and went on to become an eloquent postwar champion of international trade to save the world from another global crisis.

American politics have a way of flipping the policies of parties. In the modern era, beginning with President Ronald Reagan, it was Republicans who led the way to lower trade barriers as a boon to economic growth. Reagan, the conservative, had in the 1960s demonized the progressive federal income tax as a Marxist plot. He believed its confiscatory rates in the 1940s discouraged work, recalling that in Hollywood he stopped making films halfway through the year when the top marginal rate meant he would turn nearly all his additional income over to the government.

But though Reagan negotiated “voluntary” export curbs with Japan, he never advocated higher tariffs. That opposition fell to organized labor and partly to the Democrats, most of whom have opposed trade deals ever since.

Turning away from President Reagan and his successors, Mr. Trump is the first major Republican of the modern era to enact sweeping higher tariff barriers to protect American industries and farmers. In his first term, he instituted several disparate tariffs. They failed to reduce trade deficits and instead incited Europe, Canada and China to retaliate, forcing his administration to pay $23 billion to bail out farmers when China hit back with tariffs on U.S. agriculture products.

For his potential second term, Mr. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, would bring the country back to its protectionist past at a time when large segments of the economy depend on trade and foreign investment, not to mention immigration for high-end tech jobs and low-end jobs in services and agriculture.

A case can be made for selective tariffs to protect national security and sensitive supply chains, and encourage green technologies. The Biden administration has pushed for these steps while keeping Mr. Trump’s tariffs largely in place, incurring many of the same costs. The long historical record demonstrates these are borne not by other countries, as Mr. Trump keeps insisting, but by American consumers and industries.

Tariffs may provide a marginal help to some domestic producers, but only up to a point. Steel manufacturing may gain, but manufacturers that depend on imported steel will lose. Tariffs on solar panels and electric vehicles from China, pushed also by President Biden, may help domestic interests, but they are making it more expensive to adapt to the energy transition.

Economic policies come with trade-offs, and tariffs are no exception. An across-the-board tariff policy would take us not to a prosperous future but to a reactionary past that stopped working in the 19th century, when it nearly bankrupted the government, aggravated class conflict, provoked instability and favored the wealthy over everyone else.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/opinion/trump-tariffs-biden-ev.html

[tentative-wanderer]

Shen Jiu eyed the viciously chittering lovebirds in her grasp. To eat or not to eat, that was the question.

Below the Western Prison, a prince observed her, slotting the prisoner of war into his golden plans. But the steps were painted in lurid colours; that was the price to pay for treason.

🪶🪽🪶🪽🪶

Yue Qingyuan said, “Maybe I like the mauling.” He loosened his collar, tapping a purpling bite mark on his neck to the hoots of some tipsy guests. “A creditor will demand interest at some point.” He downed his drink and placed the cup on the table, a gentle smile playing on his lips.

Also Yue Qingyuan:

“Good night, Miss Shen,” said His Potentially Mendacious Highness from the floor.

🪽🪶🪽🪶🪽

(6 chapters have been written, >5k words, to be posted if this writing style finds its target audience.)

📖 Fic: Taste of Zenith at Nadir

• Chapter 1: (too indecent for excerpts)

• Chapter 2: The whole situation was so fishy that someone with anosmia could smell the stench ten li away.

🏷️ Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Xianxia, Runes, Porn With Plot, Marriage Proposal, Captivity, Male Yue Qingyuan, Female Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Genderbending, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Rape/Non-con Elements, the plot is there to support the salacious sections, surprisingly there is gender equality even though the protagonist is put through the wringer, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Consensual Non-Consent, Historical Fantasy, Marriage of Convenience

My reach is very limited, so if this writing style is up your alley it would be awesome if you could reblog to share the looove

[plethoraworldatlas]

Progressive International on Thursday applauded the people of Kenya for taking to the streets en masse to defeat an International Monetary Fund-backed legislative package that would have hiked taxes on ordinary citizens as part of an effort to repay the government's powerful creditors.

"Pushed through at the behest of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the U.S. State Department, the bill would impose severe austerity measures and crippling taxes on Kenya's working people, who are already strained by Kenya's legacy of colonial underdevelopment," Progressive International said in a statement.

"The Progressive International stands firmly with the people of Kenya," the organization added. "They refuse to become another laboratory for neoliberalism—impoverished, beaten, or killed for the benefit of foreign corporations and their lackeys in the Kenyan government."

The Kenyan government's proposal, welcomed by the IMF as necessary for "debt sustainability," triggered massive youth-led protests in the nation's capital last week as thousands of citizens already immiserated by sky-high living costs flooded the streets to express outrage at the U.N. financial institution and their government for fueling the crisis.

The government crackdown was swift and deadly, with police using tear gas and live ammunition to beat back demonstrators calling for the withdrawal of the proposed bill and the resignation of President William Ruto, who took office in 2022.

Protesters achieved one of their objectives Wednesday when Ruto announced he would not sign the tax legislation, just days after he ordered the country's military to help suppress the demonstrations.

"Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill, I concede, and therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn," Ruto said in an address to the nation, which spends more than a quarter of its revenue on debt interest payments.

[shallyne]

Feysand Week Day 1: Stars Eternal & Death Incarnate

Always lonely, Never alone

Day one! So exciting. I tried something new here, hope you all like it. @officialfeysandweek2023

Words: 1,653

TW: death, neglect, sickness, health, Tamlin

Feyre lives a a lonely life in the clutches of an unhappy marriage. When she meets an old friend, she realizes that she was never alone.

Feyre Archeron was a newborn when she opened her blue-gray starlit eyes and gazed up at her mother with a curiosity that would accompany Feyre her whole life. She was a newborn when her mother looked the baby in the eyes, deemed her strange and shoved her into the nearest nursemaid's arms.

Feyre Archeron was a year old when a maid convinced her mother to bathe the child for once, who in return grew bored and left shortly after. Her nursemaid was near to get the child's head back over the water surface in time.

Feyre Archeron was three years old when she first gazed up at a painting, admiring the beauty in that piece of art. She was four years old when she first held a paintbrush in her hand.

Feyre Archeron was six years old when she was brave enough to show her mother one of her paintings, pride surging through her as it finally looked how she imagined. Her mother didn't even spare a glance.

Feyre Archeron was eight years old when her mother died, leaving chaos in her wake. The little girl had cried at the funeral, mourning a life. She didn't understand what the other guests were talking about when they called her mother an incredible woman because the woman Feyre knew was nothing but mean.

Feyre Archeron was nine years old when her father put all their money into trading ships, which got lost in the sea. Creditors hunted their family down and splintered his leg so much that her father could never use his leg again. Feyre had begged the creditors, trying to stop them, her stomach emptying as she watched the assault on her father.

Feyre Archeron was eleven years old when they moved into a cottage on the edge of the forest. She was fourteen when hunger led her into the woods, when she made her first kill. Feyre came back to the same spot to weep for the life she took. She went back to the cottage every night, the space crowded with too many people for such a small place, and felt utterly alone despite it.

Feyre Archeron was seventeen years old when she met a farm boy at the village market, both so lonely that they found solace in each other, sating their hunger for intimacy.

Feyre Archeron was nineteen years old when she went to the village market to sell the pelt of a wolf she had killed in the woods. She had met a handsome stranger on her way back home, who introduced himself as Tamlin. He started courting her the very same year.

Feyre Archeron was twenty years old when Tamlin proposed to her. She said yes.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-one years old when she promised Tamlin to be with him for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to cherish and love him until parted by death. Tamlin had promised her the same, with no intention to keep that promise.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-two years old when Tamlin first held her wrist so strongly that she got bruises.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-three years old when Tamlin forbade her to leave the house at all.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-four years old when she was so alone that she sought comfort in the night sky, staring up at the sky. She felt the stars staring back, comforting her.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-five years old when she was confronted with death. A sentry of Tamlin’s household was terribly injured in the woods and Feyre spent the night at his bedside, being there for him like she would want someone to be there for her when her time would come. She held the sentry's hand and reassured him that everything would be alright. He died before the next sunrise.

Feyre Archeron was twenty-eight years old when Tamlin yelled at her for not yet carrying a child. She hadn't bothered to tell Tamlin that she kept taking her contraceptive tea, not yet ready to bring a child into this world. Into her world.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-one years old when she first fell sick. She hid it, hoping it would vanish again. Just a cold. Only a cold. Although there was always an echo of the sickness, following her around.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-four years old when the echo became a constant whisper. She was tired, exhausted and sleep became rare. She spent more time watching the night sky, the stars and the moon, the shadows and realized that they were her only constant companion throughout her life. She didn't know if Tamlin had a busy schedule or if he had realized that Feyre became sick but he was barely there anymore.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-five years old when she watched the night sky during another sleepless night. She had lost her appetite and lost a lot of weight due to falling more and more and more sick. The dark circles under her eyes became constant, the whispering now a silent beckoning inside her. She was desperate, so desperate that she talked to the stars, promising that she would leave this manor, leave Tamlin and pick up painting again if she became healthy again. She promised to find a home, a real home. She tried to bargain for a little more life when she realized a spot on the clear night sky, between the stars, that felt empty. Like it was missing something. Feyre waved it away and went back to bed, a weird feeling of homesickness creeping over her.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-seven years old when the sickness exhausted her so much that she couldn't walk more than five minutes before taking a break. A trip to the bathing chambers felt like climbing a mountain, she was tired.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-eight years old when she looked into the mirror and didn't recognize herself. She was frail, weak, only skin and bone. Her hair was matte, already streaked with fine lines of silver. Death was near, watching over her. It wasn't death that scared her. It was the weird feeling of familiarity, the lack of fear that Death was so close, that scared her.

Feyre Archeron was thirty-nine years old when she became utterly bedridden. The only one who was watching after her was a healer but she didn't talk to Feyre. No one did. She was useless to them now, why would they bother with her? They waited for her to die. So did she. She was ready to go, ready to leave the world. To go home.

It was December twenty-first, an hour past midnight. Feyre Archeron was barely forty years old when her eyes went to the window. The curtains weren't closed but she couldn't see the night sky, a figure blocked her sight. Feyre smiled as her eyes locked with purple ones. Purple eyes shining with stars. A chance for Feyre to see the night sky one more time before she took her last breath. Tears welled in her own eyes, her smile not wavering, as she looked at him. Death. Her friend. Her lover.

"There you are, Feyre Darling." he said, his voice dark but smooth. He stepped forward, his hand resting on her face. Gentle. Death was gentle. "I've been waiting for you."

"I've never been alone, have I?" her voice was rough. Her throat hurt.

Death shook his head, his raven hair moving perfectly. "Never," he promised her. "I was always with you, my love." Death smiled his perfect smile. "It's time to go home."

"Home." she echoed, closing her eyes. Death didn't leave her side, he held her hand and smoothed her hair until the last breath had left her lips.

Home. Her friend. Her lover.

Rhysand

Feyre gripped his hand tightly but he didn't mind. He actually welcomed it. She was still disoriented, which was usual for souls that crossed the realm of the living to the dead. It was especially confusing for souls like Feyre, who didn't have any previous experience with human life. It was Feyre's very first life, that she had insisted on experiencing because she was curious. Forty years they were separated. It was nothing for an immortal, it was eternity for a male who was separated from the love of his life.

When they walked through tall double doors, Feyre's eyes went wide, watching the stars being so neat to her. He felt the wonder through their bond, the curiosity and the familiarity. This was her home. This was where she belonged. Her place in the midst of all the other stars was still empty, the stars seeming dull since she was gone. Feyre was the brightest star of them all, always was. Eternity never took her curiosity, her happiness. Rhysand had always admired her for this.

It would take Feyre quite some time until she was ready to take her spot again, that's why he took to another set of doors on the left, a door that led to his office.

Feyre stopped in her tracks when she took in the painting behind his desk. It was a painting that she had made for him a couple hundred years ago. It showed both Feyre and Rhys.

She stepped forward and read the plaque on the bottom of the painting. He knew what she found there, had read it already a million times since she got it for him. Double the amount since she started her human life on earth.

Death Incarnate and his Stars Eternal.

Feysand Taglist:

@captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship @edgyellie @starfall-spirit @rhysiedarling @corcracrow @sydney-fae25 @tothestarsandwhateverend @aayo-whatt @dreamlandreader

[clearyourdebts]

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[argumate]

Over the course of the negotiations, Evergrande representatives would sometimes refer to “Guangzhou” (the capital of Guangdong province) as responsible for vetting virtually all key decisions, yet it remained unclear to creditors which combination of entities or individuals they were alluding to.

The secretive yet omnipresent group never directly interacted with those involved in offshore debt talks, said the people familiar. Their views were relayed to the company’s financial advisers, China International Capital Corp. and Bank of China International Holdings, which would then pass information on to bondholders via a convoluted web of communications that consisted of lawyers and advisers both in Hong Kong and the mainland, the people said.

Investors and advisers lamented not being fully aware of whose interests were being prioritized in negotiations, nor which layers of government they were dealing with.

The group could, and did, veto creditor proposals with minimal explanation, the people added.

a transparent and efficient bankruptcy process would be better for the economy but I must admit that whatever this is it's much funnier; "hedge funds complain that Communist Party doesn't prioritise investor interests" uh huh.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jon Passantino, Nicki Brown, Oliver Darcy, and Hadas Gold at CNN:

A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected a proposed liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ company Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, saying that a denial of the bankruptcy plan was, in his opinion, in the best interest of the creditors. But the judge approved a separate liquidation of Jones’ personal assets.

Judge Chris Lopez said the Infowars bankruptcy process had dragged on and that it needed to stop “incurring costs” and let the families of Sandy Hook victims try to claim what they are owed through state courts. The families have not received payment of the approximately $1.5 billion in damages against Jones that they have won after he lied about the 2012 school massacre. “The right call is to dismiss this case,” Lopez said Friday. Lopez made his ruling in a lengthy decision where he seemed emotional at times, once even noting the timing of this decision being made shortly before Father’s Day. “I think it needed to happen,” he said towards the end of the hearing. “I wish I would’ve picked a better day.” [...]

Unanswered questions

The rejection of the bankruptcy plan leaves many questions to sort out in the decision’s wake. Among them: What happens next for Infowars? And what legal avenues remain for the victims’ families to collect the massive sum Jones still owes them?

This judgment could be viewed as a partial victory for Jones, who fought the liquidation proposal – but so too did some families, whose attorneys said they’ll benefit more from the bankruptcy plan’s dismissal by going after Jones’ assets immediately – rather than waiting for a prolonged bankruptcy procedure to play out. That ruling leaves Free Speech Systems to face its creditors outside of bankruptcy in state courts, noted Marie Reilly, professor of bankruptcy law at Penn State University. In a statement, an attorney for the families said they would press on. “Today is a good day. Alex Jones has lost ownership of Infowars, the corrupt business he has used for years to attack the Connecticut families and so many others,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families. “The Court authorized us to move immediately to collect against all Infowars assets, and we intend to do exactly that.” Lopez noted that the case is far from over. The interim trustee, and later the permanent trustee, in Jones’ personal case will ultimately decided Infowars’ fate.

Judge Chris Lopez has rejected the bankruptcy plan that would liquidate far-right conspiracy theorist outlet InfoWars and its parent company Free Speech Systems, but did approve liquidation of right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones’s personal assets.

[bestworstcase]

Can you elaborate on what Salem meant with the "[...]when we could replace [these humans] with what they could never be?" bit of your recent post comparing her with Ruby? Because I feel like you either didn't address that or the point sort of flew over my head. Like, what else does she mean by replacing them?

my reading of the line is “why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans [before the gods] when we could replace [the gods]”—ie her proposed alternative to fulfilling the divine mandate is rebellion.

this is something i’ve talked about a lot before (<- if you poke around in my archive you’ll find it pretty easily) but in the essentials my argumentation for this reading is:

first, that “replace the gods” has much stronger congruence with salem’s characterization than does “replace humans.” she founded her rebellion upon the idea of humankind usurping their “old masters” in order to “perfect their own design” and told ozma very directly that they could supplant the brothers. this has been her driving ambition for quite literally millions of years!

in contrast, even now, salem thinks of humanity as “strong, brave, and resourceful,” recounts the discovery of dust as proof of human “passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity,” calls the capacity for hope humanity’s greatest strength, etc. and she also doesn’t seem to value ancient magic, particularly: she spends V4-5 coaching cinder to “remember that [magic] comes with a cost,” she used dust rather than her own magic to make monstra fly, she leverages her power over the grimm expansively but we can count the number of times she’s used ancient-human-magic on one hand.

the first time ozma came back, he found her living alone in a rotting hovel with a fairly well-maintained path leading right to her doorstep. he heard frightened whispers about a witch who “commanded dark powers” and lived in the wilds, but this was also an era when faunus were hunted down and kept in cages—that’s important context to hold in mind when we evaluate where those stories about salem came from. everything we see in the lost fable suggests that salem just kind of… existed on the outermost fringes of civilization and mostly wanted to be left alone.

so, for salem to express a sudden interest in… what, genocide? some kind of fucked up breeding program using the one of their four daughters who ended up with magic neither salem nor ozma expected her to inherit at all? strikes me as startlingly out of character.

second, that grammatically the line does make sense to read as salem stumbling over her words. the verb ‘redeem’ implies a subject to whom the verb’s object is redeemed. in order for redemption to occur, there needs to be a debt owed to somebody; in this case the creditor is the gods. ozma’s mandate is to redeem humanity on behalf of the gods. reading salem’s meaning as “replace the gods” requires only that she have the implied antecedent of “redeem […] before the gods” in mind. (in much the same way that ruby clearly had jaune’s usage of the phrase “make-believe” in mind when she spat that in his face!) given her long-standing, passionate hatred of the brother gods, i find this much more plausible than not.

and third, salem is profoundly upset in this scene. she’s rattled from the second ozma says “this isn’t what she asked of me.” and while he reveals everything he’s been keeping from her—reveals that the cause she supported on his behalf for years was all secretly in service to the gods who cursed her to eternal suffering and annihilated humanity out of spite—she curls in on herself (arms tightly folded, face tense, leaning back into the desk) but hangs on his every word. she’s upset! she’s pressing it down as hard as she can, but it’s clear that this hits her hard—so it makes sense emotionally that she’s not able to articulate herself with perfect clarity in the moment. and then of course ozma just walks out without asking for clarification or giving her a chance to explain herself, so if she did misspeak it’s not as if she has the opportunity to elaborate.

and then ozma either took her literal words at face value or (i think more likely) heard what she really meant and, forced to choose between staying with her and remaining true to his mandate, chose the mandate.

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today finalized a rule to establish a registry to detect and deter corporate offenders that have broken consumer laws and are subject to federal, state, or local government or court orders. The registry will also help the CFPB to identify repeat offenders and recidivism trends. The new registry is part of the CFPB’s ongoing focus on holding lawbreaking companies accountable and stopping corporate recidivism.

“Too often, financial firms treat penalties for illegal activity as the cost of doing business,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “The CFPB’s new rule will help law enforcement across the country detect and stop repeat offenders.”

When a financial company violates the law, a government agency may take an enforcement action against them. Typically, this leads to an order entered by a court or the agency. These orders are not suggestions. While these orders are publicly available, they are not comprehensively tracked. The CFPB’s new registry will facilitate better understanding of bad actors that seek to restart a scam, fraudulent scheme, or other illegal conduct that harms the public. The CFPB expects that the registry will be used by state attorneys general, state regulators, and a range of other law enforcement agencies. The registry will also assist investors, creditors, business partners, and members of the public that are conducting due diligence or research on financial firms bound by law enforcement orders.

The 2008 financial crisis exposed significant weaknesses in the oversight of nonbank financial companies. Nonbank financial companies have traditionally faced inconsistent oversight, making it more difficult for regulators to identify and address potential risks to consumers. Congress has taken steps to increase oversight and transparency in the nonbank financial sector. For instance, in 2008, Congress passed the SAFE Act to address risks posed by nonbank financial companies. The Act requires mortgage loan originators to be registered and licensed.

While the list of banks, credit unions, and many mortgage companies are known to regulators and the public, many other types of financial companies are not licensed or registered – either through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) or other regulatory registries. However, in the Consumer Financial Protection Act, Congress gave the newly created CFPB the authority to register nonbanks. This authority supports the CFPB’s role to monitor risks posed by nonbanks to consumers. It also supplements and supports already existing registries, like the NMLS, by covering entities that are not subject to the types of state and federal oversight already extended to certain individuals and entities, like in the mortgage industry. This is the first-ever rule by the CFPB to utilize the authority to register nonbank entities.

Today’s final rule requires covered nonbank companies to:

Register with the CFPB when they have been caught violating consumer law: Generally, covered nonbanks will report certain final agency and court orders and judgments to the CFPB. These orders include consent and stipulated orders brought under consumer protection laws.

Provide an attestation from a senior executive that the company is not flouting orders: For nonbank companies supervised by the CFPB, the entity subject to an order will provide a written attestation from an executive that confirms compliance with any relevant orders.

The CFPB made changes to the proposed rule in response to public feedback. For example, registrants with orders published in the NMLS Consumer Access website may use a simplified filing process. The registration requirements will be phased in on a rolling basis.

Reining in repeat offenders is a priority for the CFPB. Importantly, the CFPB established a Repeat Offender Unit. This national supervision team is responsible for designing and executing comprehensive oversight of supervised entities subject to CFPB law enforcement orders. The Repeat Offenders Unit is actively ensuring that a company, its senior management, and its board of directors are not treating any orders as suggestions. The CFPB is taking a number of steps to identify specific individuals responsible for repeat offenses.

The CFPB’s enforcement program is heavily focusing on stopping repeat offenders, including by bringing multiple enforcement actions against recidivist debt collectors, mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and credit reporting companies.

Read the final rule.

Read Director Chopra’s remarks on today’s final rule.

Consumers can submit complaints about financial products or services by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their company has violated federal consumer financial protection laws are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov.

[temperadamente]

Hey guys, I decided to share some of my fanfics that I have posted on Ao3. They are in Portuguese (for now), but with a Google extension everything will certainly be great to read.

Câmera Man

76 Trilhões de Milhas

A Sala de Vidro

"Câmera Man" Summary: (Camera Man) A simple proposal could help Paul McCartney get out of the sights of dangerous creditors. His old classmate doesn't ask for more than a few hours of filming as an opportunity to pay off his debts.

"76 Trilhões de Milhas" Summary: (76 Trillion Miles) Accustomed for years to his life and work routine, John Lennon thought that his existence would simply be the exhaustive repetition of his schedules day after day. He just didn't count on a precise blow from destiny, the one he so refused to believe in, dismantling everything he thought was an immutable truth.

"A Sala de Vidro" Summary: (The Glass Room) John ends up living an intriguing story with a stranger. His intention is to discover the identity of whoever hired him to get to know him better.

[tastethebloodofmeatthawsmoth]

Occasionally I'm reminded that Jacobin magazine exists. "When we talk about the American Revolution today, it’s difficult to look past the world that came out of it: a country with stubbornly persistent racism, widespread gun violence, rampant economic inequality, and deep political dysfunction. For those of us on the political left, it’s not easy to separate the insurrectionary project of Anglo-American colonists in the late eighteenth century from the injustices that plagued American society after the revolution, and those that have plagued it since."

... almost as if those things were directly related! (Also LOL at "insurrectionary project.") "Fifty-five of America’s most prominent men — the 'Founding Fathers' — convened a secret meeting in Philadelphia to illegally overthrow the existing constitutional order. Holton concludes that the Founders’ ultimate objective at the Constitutional Convention was to replace the relatively democratic political order created by the state constitutions with a federal government that was less susceptible to popular pressure, and more conscientious of its obligations to private creditors." This is a somewhat popular pseudo-conspiracy theory, but not actually true. The meeting may have been secret, but until ratification, it was only a proposal. It was ratified after extensive public debate and "was adopted by... a remarkably open and representative procedure." (Herbert J. Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For) "So the American Revolution was about a whole lot more than political independence from the British Empire — it was about building a fundamentally independent people. The popular base behind the revolution sought to create a nation of freeholding farmers who owned their own land, were self-sufficient, and were free from the arbitrary authority of others." This another popular fairy-tale, but the romantic ideal that the early settlers were virtuous stout yeomen committed to self-sufficiency is not actually true. "never a purely subsistence society, the New England colonies were thus from early in their histories & increasingly during the 17th century heavily involved in trade." - Jack P Greene, Pursuits of Happiness. More and more of the "popular base behind the revolution" was producing wheat, cattle, and horses for sale in coastal cities and the West Indies - to sustain plantation slavery - by the 1700s. And then we turn from the 3rd grade social studies report on the American Revolution to Jacobin's idea of democratic socialism, which looks suspiciously like capitalism, except we get to elect the people bossing us around: "Through changes like introducing profit-sharing, allowing workers to elect managers, and democratizing decisions around investment and production, we can transform the modern workplace from a focal point of collective misery to a site of equality and democracy. A mixed economy of worker co-ops and publicly owned enterprises would dramatically expand the number of Americans who own wealth — albeit collectively — while also breaking the arbitrary, unaccountable corporate authority that rules life at the workplace."

The bar is so low lol