Robert Reich Quotes

Wealthy corporations and their enablers have spread 5 big lies about unions in order to stop workers from organizing... Know the truth and spread the truth. Lie #1: Labor unions are bad for workers. Wrong. Unions are good for all workers – even those who are not unionized... Lie #2: Unions hurt the economy. Wrong again. When workers are unionized they can negotiate better wages, which in turn spreads the economic gains more evenly and strengthens the middle class... Lie #3: Labor unions are as powerful as big business. No way. Labor union membership in 2018 accounted for 10.5 percent of the American workforce, while large corporations account for almost three-quarters of the entire American economy... most economic gains have been going to executives and shareholders rather than workers... Lie #4: Most unionized workers are in industries like steel and auto manufacturing. Untrue... the largest part of the unionized workforce is workers in the professional and service sectors – retail, restaurant, hotel, hospital, teachers–which comprise 59% of all workers represented by a union... In 2018, unionized service workers earned a median wage of 802 dollars a week. Non-unionized service workers made on average, $261 less... Lie #5: Most unionized workers are white, male, and middle-aged. Some unionized workers are, of course, but most newly-unionized workers are not... Today’s unions are growing, expanding, and boosting the wages and economic prospects of those who need them most.

As the pandemic surges back, Trump and his lackeys have:

The mistakes made at one point in time have an eerie way of reemerging two generations later, as memories fade.

Your reminder that America's richest 1 percent now own half the value of the U.S. stock market. The richest 10 percent own 92 percent. So when Trump says the stock market is the economy, know who he's really talking about.

Every company in America should require all workers to be vaccinated, period.

I want to talk about symbols, images, and fascism. Here is Trump’s mug shot from his arraignment yesterday in Georgia. It’s a look of defiance — which I’m sure he practiced repeatedly beforehand — intended to make his supporters and his Republican base feel defiant, too. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is Trump’s thousand-word response to Wednesday night’s Republican debate, which he declined to attend. He timed his arraignment in Georgia for yesterday so that it — and this photo — would dominate Thursday’s and Friday’s news, rather than anything or anyone emerging from the debate.
But a defiant photograph isn’t “news.” It’s a symbol, an image. Which is exactly what Donald Trump is. He has no political platform, no specific policy agenda, no new ideas, and no plan for what he’ll do if he gets a second term.
He exists as a symbol for the anger, discontent, bigotry, and vindictiveness he has unleashed in America.
He is as close as America has come to a fascist leader, who doesn’t want his followers to think or analyze. He wants them only to feel.

Please, for the love of god, do not rush an unsafe vaccine for political purposes.

So let me get this straight: Extending additional unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans during a pandemic will make them lazy and lead to socialism, but trillions in bailouts to Wall St. bankers and corporate execs is good for the economy?

Reminder that any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message: they can't win on their ideas alone.

Almost 80 percent of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.... 40 percent of Americans said they wouldn't be able to pay their bills if faced with a $400 emergency. The underlying problem isn't that Americans have been living beyond their means. It's that their means haven't been keeping up with the growing economy. Most gains have gone to the top...

The critical things to watch out for aren't the rare big events, such as the 2008 bailout of [Wall] Street itself, but the ongoing multitude of small rule changes that continuously alter the economic game. ... The "free market" is a myth that prevents us from examining these rule changes and asking whom they serve. The myth is therefore highly useful to those who do not wish such an examination to be undertaken.

Trump’s lackeys fell in line, expressing the defiance Trump projected in his mug shot. On Newsmax, Sarah Palin called for civil war. Fox’s Laura Ingraham told viewers that Trump’s arrest was proof that government officials are trying to “take them out.” Fox’s Sean Hannity said the Department of Justice will target Republicans “until there’s nothing left of the party.” All brainless bile. Last Thursday, Trump complained that Fox News “purposely show the absolutely worst pictures of me, especially the big ‘orange’ one with my chin pulled way back. They think they are getting away with something, they’re not. Just like 2016 all over again … And then they want me to debate!” Of course he’s angry. For the man who’s all symbol and image and without substance, a photo like the following conveys a brainless buffoon. It must drive him crazy.

Last night I deleted a tweet because it was widely misinterpreted and distorted by conservative media. "Back of the hand" is an idiom for rebuke. I wholeheartedly condemn violence against women.

Government doesn’t "intrude" on the "free market." It creates the market.

Those who argue for "less government" are really arguing for a different government—often one that favors them or their patrons.