“But they have a common goal: to remake the incentive structure of our economy. ‘The core issue is that our economy became one based on extracting rents,’ Mr. Krein told me, ‘rather than building things.’ It rewards those who invent clever ways to squeeze money out of government and regular people. This is the simple explanation for why so many jobs feel soulless and so many Americans feel harried and troubled amid the vast material wealth our country produces.”
I’m a centrist, left-leaning small business owner who just laid off my staff. Years ago, there were one-time costs associated with providing your employees the tools they need to do their jobs. A typewriter? One-time cost. A hammer? One-time cost. Imagine having only the option to rent the typewriter or hammer each month.
Well, that’s my plight. And the plight of business owners everywhere. I can’t just buy a CD-ROM of software and install it on laptops - I have to download it from the cloud and pay monthly subscription fees. My line of work - government business development consulting - requires a lot of different software packages with monthly subscription fees. One subscription is $1,350.00 per month. And we need it to remain competitive.
There are very few “one and done” costs for my business. Nearly all my expenses are recurring costs.
The burden of having no other option but to “rent” my company’s very expensive infrastructure left me no choice but to lay off all but one employee.
Even with a single employee, I’m cutting benefits because I can’t afford $1,350.00 for one software subscription every month plus $5,000 in benefit costs (for just two people) along with subscriptions for Microsoft 365, Adobe, and the $15,000 per year that a certain government data intelligence company requires for government acquisition intelligence. And taxes. And workers comp. And 401(k). Life insurance. Equipment. Professional org fees. Training. Internet. Mobile. Security.
Our economy is one based on extracting rents.
How many other business owners are closing up shop because one-time costs jumped to the recurring costs column?
First off, I applaud you for tackling difficult issues in Washington. It seems like you are often alone in these pursuits although that may not always be the case. How many senators walk their state like you do every year? One of my senators evidently does not even reside in the state he purportedly represents.
This is my opinion, Senator, I speak for no one else. I believe a lot of what ails the poor, working and middle class folks is what has and is happening in Washington, our State Houses, and and State legislatures around the country. What I mean is the lack of legislation on so many problematic issues that confront average folk every single day.
I have a suggestion to add to the big list of maladies that people face. It's how this nation's policies enrich the oligarchs but leave everyone else scrambling for crumbs. How about something as 'simple' as curbing gun violence? How about rents in rural areas for $1400 a month when people can't afford to pay the high interest rates to buy a house that confront us? How about the figure of 20%? That represents how many people in my area, my county, have food insecurity.
If the politicians in this country would go to work each day with the mantra. "What can I do to help and serve others?", then we would have more smiles on our faces.
And yes, it would be quite nice to have a spiritual resurgence in this country but that doesn't seem very likely given that more than a few people have turned away from God. For such a resurgence, or a legitimate one, everyone would have to return to the Word of God, and I don't see that happening, but I could be wrong.
Keep up the work you are doing, Senator. You do care about others and that is why I care about you.
You are talking about lonliness, the epidemics of illicit drugs, and you mentioned appalachia. There is something in what you are saying that pertains to ecess, wealth, power, and to those left behind.
The link below pertains to the Bull Moose Party. TR's hubris scuttled the Republican Party, brought in Princeton academic Woodrow Wilson, and then; TR's cousin FDR.
TR had risen on the heels of the Trusts, and took power upon the assassination of McKinley (McKinley memorial Springfield, Spanish American Memorial Hartford)
Yet, Spanish King Alfonzo el Africano had not been the only one to fall with the Gilded Age. The foment of German evil had destroyed Wilhelm III himself, and Nicolas was dead. Something insidious had eroded the Royalties, yet for Windsor, and by 1914 and again after Versailles; too much of global morality and honor was being debased.
Anthony C Sutton wrote about coal liquifaction patent disputes causal of WWI, and then the Blitzkreig seized Ruhr. Except that our USAAF had Texas in addition to Appalachia, and as of Yalta in Ukraine; Herzl had formulated Zionism as Wahhab had created Saud.
Princeton's E. O. Wilson's Insular Biogeography is about factors pertaining to a global genetic entropy. The three phases of fossil residual organic life are being teraformed into our earth's living ecosphere ever more quickly... and with terminal depletion in sight.
Now, perhaps more than previously, the rampant power of economic libertarianism is a Bull Moose. Yet, although "a Moose is loose" consider that (unless the Moose wins) the Republican Party is about to be scuttled once again... in the name of a populist egalitarianism.
Keep exploring and writing and speaking about this, Senator. I very much appreciate your thoughtful and unique -- esp for a politician -- approach. You're on to something big, in my opinion, and what you're saying means a lot to me personally. I would ask you to consider and perhaps put some other psychological/spiritual issues into the mix: self-worth and dependency. On a policy level I offer this for your consideration: I have been aware for quite a while that if I were to come down with a serious, life-threatening medical issue that I would die from it b/c I don't have the $ to pay for treatment. If I did get treated and ended up in enormous debt, then I'm looking at a quality v. quantity of life decision. This year, however, I had an experience that has left me feeling frustrated beyond words. I had a relatively minor medical issue, but which could have left me with permanent hearing loss, that misdiagnosed for 5 months. I was repeatedly given a drug (after each of the multiple doctor, E/R and Urgent Care visits I endured) that had nasty side effects, caused greater suffering, left me at home alone doing nothing, did absolutely nothing to treat the issue and which ended up costing me $1,000. Apparently it was an issue that only a specialist could properly diagnose, but I had to wait two months to get in to see a specialist b/c we're short of specialists and their offices are backed up. Once I finally got in to see a specialist it took him less than 1 hour to diagnose and properly treat the issue. I left feeling markedly better. Recently I tried to get an appointment for a needed routine follow-up scan, but I can't make the appointment without a doctor's order. I'm now in between doctors so -- I've been told -- I can't make the follow-up appointment without an order because ... (a blatant lie that I won't repeat). It's my body; my health; and yet apparently I can't do what needs to be done without a doctor giving his stamp of approval and making money for doing next to nothing. What would help me financially with medical expenses? Buying more health insurance.
Reading a NYT article on you today (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/opinion/chris-murphy-democrats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb) and this stuck out:
“But they have a common goal: to remake the incentive structure of our economy. ‘The core issue is that our economy became one based on extracting rents,’ Mr. Krein told me, ‘rather than building things.’ It rewards those who invent clever ways to squeeze money out of government and regular people. This is the simple explanation for why so many jobs feel soulless and so many Americans feel harried and troubled amid the vast material wealth our country produces.”
I’m a centrist, left-leaning small business owner who just laid off my staff. Years ago, there were one-time costs associated with providing your employees the tools they need to do their jobs. A typewriter? One-time cost. A hammer? One-time cost. Imagine having only the option to rent the typewriter or hammer each month.
Well, that’s my plight. And the plight of business owners everywhere. I can’t just buy a CD-ROM of software and install it on laptops - I have to download it from the cloud and pay monthly subscription fees. My line of work - government business development consulting - requires a lot of different software packages with monthly subscription fees. One subscription is $1,350.00 per month. And we need it to remain competitive.
There are very few “one and done” costs for my business. Nearly all my expenses are recurring costs.
The burden of having no other option but to “rent” my company’s very expensive infrastructure left me no choice but to lay off all but one employee.
Even with a single employee, I’m cutting benefits because I can’t afford $1,350.00 for one software subscription every month plus $5,000 in benefit costs (for just two people) along with subscriptions for Microsoft 365, Adobe, and the $15,000 per year that a certain government data intelligence company requires for government acquisition intelligence. And taxes. And workers comp. And 401(k). Life insurance. Equipment. Professional org fees. Training. Internet. Mobile. Security.
Our economy is one based on extracting rents.
How many other business owners are closing up shop because one-time costs jumped to the recurring costs column?
Fantastic article. Hope POTUS is in your future.
First off, I applaud you for tackling difficult issues in Washington. It seems like you are often alone in these pursuits although that may not always be the case. How many senators walk their state like you do every year? One of my senators evidently does not even reside in the state he purportedly represents.
This is my opinion, Senator, I speak for no one else. I believe a lot of what ails the poor, working and middle class folks is what has and is happening in Washington, our State Houses, and and State legislatures around the country. What I mean is the lack of legislation on so many problematic issues that confront average folk every single day.
I have a suggestion to add to the big list of maladies that people face. It's how this nation's policies enrich the oligarchs but leave everyone else scrambling for crumbs. How about something as 'simple' as curbing gun violence? How about rents in rural areas for $1400 a month when people can't afford to pay the high interest rates to buy a house that confront us? How about the figure of 20%? That represents how many people in my area, my county, have food insecurity.
If the politicians in this country would go to work each day with the mantra. "What can I do to help and serve others?", then we would have more smiles on our faces.
And yes, it would be quite nice to have a spiritual resurgence in this country but that doesn't seem very likely given that more than a few people have turned away from God. For such a resurgence, or a legitimate one, everyone would have to return to the Word of God, and I don't see that happening, but I could be wrong.
Keep up the work you are doing, Senator. You do care about others and that is why I care about you.
First of all, Mr. Senator; happy birthday.
You are talking about lonliness, the epidemics of illicit drugs, and you mentioned appalachia. There is something in what you are saying that pertains to ecess, wealth, power, and to those left behind.
The link below pertains to the Bull Moose Party. TR's hubris scuttled the Republican Party, brought in Princeton academic Woodrow Wilson, and then; TR's cousin FDR.
TR had risen on the heels of the Trusts, and took power upon the assassination of McKinley (McKinley memorial Springfield, Spanish American Memorial Hartford)
Yet, Spanish King Alfonzo el Africano had not been the only one to fall with the Gilded Age. The foment of German evil had destroyed Wilhelm III himself, and Nicolas was dead. Something insidious had eroded the Royalties, yet for Windsor, and by 1914 and again after Versailles; too much of global morality and honor was being debased.
Anthony C Sutton wrote about coal liquifaction patent disputes causal of WWI, and then the Blitzkreig seized Ruhr. Except that our USAAF had Texas in addition to Appalachia, and as of Yalta in Ukraine; Herzl had formulated Zionism as Wahhab had created Saud.
Princeton's E. O. Wilson's Insular Biogeography is about factors pertaining to a global genetic entropy. The three phases of fossil residual organic life are being teraformed into our earth's living ecosphere ever more quickly... and with terminal depletion in sight.
Now, perhaps more than previously, the rampant power of economic libertarianism is a Bull Moose. Yet, although "a Moose is loose" consider that (unless the Moose wins) the Republican Party is about to be scuttled once again... in the name of a populist egalitarianism.
Look on the bright side, Sir!
https://theconversation.com/teddy-roosevelts-failed-bull-moose-campaign-may-portend-the-future-of-the-gop-and-donald-trump-196267
We need more thoughtful people like you in leadership. 🌸
Keep exploring and writing and speaking about this, Senator. I very much appreciate your thoughtful and unique -- esp for a politician -- approach. You're on to something big, in my opinion, and what you're saying means a lot to me personally. I would ask you to consider and perhaps put some other psychological/spiritual issues into the mix: self-worth and dependency. On a policy level I offer this for your consideration: I have been aware for quite a while that if I were to come down with a serious, life-threatening medical issue that I would die from it b/c I don't have the $ to pay for treatment. If I did get treated and ended up in enormous debt, then I'm looking at a quality v. quantity of life decision. This year, however, I had an experience that has left me feeling frustrated beyond words. I had a relatively minor medical issue, but which could have left me with permanent hearing loss, that misdiagnosed for 5 months. I was repeatedly given a drug (after each of the multiple doctor, E/R and Urgent Care visits I endured) that had nasty side effects, caused greater suffering, left me at home alone doing nothing, did absolutely nothing to treat the issue and which ended up costing me $1,000. Apparently it was an issue that only a specialist could properly diagnose, but I had to wait two months to get in to see a specialist b/c we're short of specialists and their offices are backed up. Once I finally got in to see a specialist it took him less than 1 hour to diagnose and properly treat the issue. I left feeling markedly better. Recently I tried to get an appointment for a needed routine follow-up scan, but I can't make the appointment without a doctor's order. I'm now in between doctors so -- I've been told -- I can't make the follow-up appointment without an order because ... (a blatant lie that I won't repeat). It's my body; my health; and yet apparently I can't do what needs to be done without a doctor giving his stamp of approval and making money for doing next to nothing. What would help me financially with medical expenses? Buying more health insurance.