Podcast 4/9/2018: Panama

On this episode, Vinny and I discuss the Panama Papers and we ponder creating a series of profanely-named shell corporations to hide various activities of The Vomiting Brain.  We also talk about Bernie Sanders' interview with the Daily News, what a huge dick Rick Scott is, and then Charlie Rangel stops by briefly.

Sorry, this one was late.  We had some sound quality issues, which necessitated editing, which created nonsequiturs (more than usual), which necessitated more editing.  Plus, I'm lazy.

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7trkf-5e788b/download

NSFW

*Music is brought to you by Bensound.com
Notes:

• Daily News interview with Bernie Sanders
• MetLife's "too big to fail" designation being overturned.
• Vox on the Panama Papers
• Planet Money sets up a shell company.
• According to Planet Money, Deleware is unique in that they don't require any identification to set up a company.  Fortunately, setting up bank accounts is harder.
• Florida Governor Rick Scott presiding over widespread Medicare fraud as CEO at Columbia/HCA.  He pled the 5th 75 times.
• Rick Scott being called out on being the asshole that he is...

• Rick Scott proving that he is the asshole that we all think he is...

• Seriously dude, you're the governor; don't you have some governing to do?
• Sir Mark Thatcher, first of his name of House Thatcher, was among those named (thus far) in the Panama Papers for hiding his money offshore.  Thatcher was also a co-conspirator with a mercenary named Simon Mann in a failed coup attempt of Equatorial Guinea.  Mann is British not South African as I mistakenly said in the podcast.

Realism for One

One of the things that irritates me the most about the upcoming election is that the media's line of questioning only seems to treat one candidate's policy proposals as though they're actually serious. Bernie Sanders is routinely questioned as though his proposals are crazy and unrealistic despite the fact that he's basically advocating for what every other western democracy already has.  I have no problem with asking Sanders tough questions like how he plans to pay for universal education or how he would get massive overhaul of the health care system through congress.  What I do have a problem with, is why other candidates are not subject to the same level of scrutiny.

Hillary Clinton has proposed a number of "reasonable" policies that under the current congress, where Obama could nominate Robert Bork and still not get him through confirmation in the Senate, would stand absolutely no chance of passing.  Clinton routinely talks about how she "would get stuff done" despite not offering any actual evidence of it.  The only things I see Clinton actually able to do given the current political climate, is work together with the Republicans to get bad free-trade deals and deeper involvement in wars we can't possibly win.

I don't hear how Clinton would pay for her policies.  Sanders at least has the decency to tell us that his "free stuff" would result in higher taxes and not just for the super-rich.  I never hear Clinton questioned on whether her "reasonable" and "technocratic" health care or education policies would create a massive amount of paperwork and bureaucracy for ordinary citizens to navigate.  I haven't heard anything about how these means-tested policies would be extraordinarily easy for congress to remove precisely because they don't apply to everyone.

The Art of the Grift

Wikimedia Commons

Something amazing is happening in this Republican presidential primary, it is my belief that many of the candidates including the two front-runners have no intention of ever being President or holding any kind of public office.  These candidates are after something far more rewarding, profitable, and easier...the grift.

The most obvious example of these grifters is Mike Huckabee.  Huckabee is running for president you say?  I can forgive you if you forgot, but yeah, I mean he is pretending to anyway.  Huckabee hasn't held political office since 2007.  He ran for President in 2008, which got him a nice seven years of a television show on Fox, numerous media appearances, book deals, speaking tours, and supplement sales.  Since 2014, Huckabee has made just short of 1 million dollars in speaking fees alone.  His show on Fox News gave him a reported annual salary of $500,000, and has used his fame and weight loss story to hawk "natural" diabetes supplements.  Huckabee gave up his show to "pursue" the presidency but rest assured he'll have a job at Fox News when it's all said and done.

Vote in Your Primaries

 

There are choices in the next presidential election and better choices in the primaries.  There is the possibility (albeit unlikely), that radically different candidates in either party could secure the nomination for president.  This requires however, that voters actually show up for something other than the presidential election.  If you want choice, you must vote in your primary.

Beware Green Lanternism

Source: Wikimedia Commons

As the Presidential candidate carousel heats up for the 2016 election, I can't help but think about how terrible political coverage is in this country.  My specific gripe is how much importance is placed on the presidential election, while the other elections are mostly ignored. Without a doubt the President is the most important individual in our political system, however even he cannot take go to the bathroom without the consent of congress and the blessing of the judiciary.