And then you have a Koch brothers shill, (Austen, I think's his name)as seen in the documentary 'Astroturfwars' advising those at his seminar to go to Amazon, look up all Liberal books and give reviews by going down the line giving 1 star ratings, and implying don't worry about reading the books. Imagine what this does to social discourse where already everyone is distrustful, we're so polarised, and a 'win' however gotten is the name of the game. People do read book reviews with some sense of not believing all are liars, and even those opposed can give an honest impression of even what's disagreed with but not giving an honest impression of a book destroys that idea, so then cynicism is the only path. So, the rule today seems to be having an opinion and yelling it out cuz you're entitled to your opinion is more important than being informed and having an informed opinion. Gore Vidal was of a time when the idea was unless you have a thoughtful response, then just be silent. I tried to discuss HRCs ideas with her supporters calling me sexist to even question her views, and 'HER' Feminists shot me down(those faux Fems who actually are more Female chauvinists than Feminists). WORD is the correct Fems of today. We have so many issues calling for our attention and we care more about who won American IDLE, or the scores of the game than that 1000s died from preventable disease. PRAYER is no solution. Tragic indeed, Chomsky's not getting any younger, Howard Zinn is gone, what now? Chris Hedges?

We still do have a few great intellectuals left, I would say James Petras, Michael Parenti, Adolph Reed, Robert Parry, Paul Craig Roberts, Hedges as you stated, Ralph Nader and Jeffrey St. Clair, all are deserving of a thorough read whenever they publish a book, essay or article.

Knowing Vidal's view on corporations and how American politics and residential elections work, I don't think he would have been that critical as some might expect.... Of course he would have laughed sardonic about Trump's vulgarity....

He would have pointed at the Democratic and the Republican party who caused Trump in the first place. Because that's the only rational way to explain it.

Well,Norm Cromsky is still alive. Just as wise, and a great man.

This will never happen. The U.S. has been at full-throttle censoring truth tellers on television, radio, the internet, print media, even academia. The U.S. will collapse from within, very likely in the next 10-15 years max. But before that, they will go to war with Russia and China; very likely simultaneously. Then it's "game over" for all of us.

PROVE THAT HE WAS LIVING ON Alcohol and snacks....then prove you are not

I began to smell a rat on the same morning of the New York-DC "9-11"attacks. Within an hour or so of that disgraceful governmental betrayal of the American people, all three corporate-governmental networks (Fox News Corporation is solely a propaganda voice of the US Republican Party - so are all TV "free TV networks") had cameramen and reporters broadcasting from a motel in Afghanistan. Obviously the upper class rich people knew ahead of time the attacks were gonna happen to roll out "The Project for a New American Century." The American people are more skillfully brainwashed than the citizens of the former Soviet Union were, and were even, back in those days, complemented by Soviet bosses on their (our?) achievement.

Knowledge is power. We can take back power through the knowledge of how our currency functions. 1. Taxes do not fund federal spending. Taxes are deleted to offset what's been keystroked into the system throughout the year. Taxes serve to hold our currency's value and stave off inflation precisely because they are deleted. 2. All government spending is created currency, this is how currency gets injected into our economy. And only congress has the power to create currency per our Constitution article 1 section 8 clause 5, the coinage clause. 3. The Fed is NOT a private bank or private entity, it's a glorified middle man. Congress approves and appropriates funds, the fed and treasury dole it out. Done. This currency does not come from anywhere or anyone and is NOT a debt we owe. We created it from thin air and don't owe thin air a debt. All 12 board members of the fed are approved and appointed by Congress and all profits from the fed, after operating costs, are given to the Treasury. The only thing the fed does independently is to set policy to hit target interest rates, all else is dictated by congress. Not a private entity. This also means that our national debt is not 20 plus trillion, it's around 5.6 trillion, this is debt held by foreign entities and what we owe. We owe no debt on created currency. 4. Inflation/spending. Inflation is touted as an absolute if our government spends but this is a complete falsehood. Spending is about actual resources including labor to allow spending, not inflation to rule spending out. We have an abundance of resources, including labor, and can spend as needed until resources run low and real full employment is reached. This means we can fund healthcare, education, infrastructure, renewable energy, all of it and our economy would boom. 5. Why is not an eye blinked over 700 BILLION defense budget for one yr but we can't fund CHIP at 9 billion over 10 yrs?? Because the defense budget goes to the top, as most government spending does which has created the worst wealth and income inequality we've known post WWll. ANY programs for The People are met with the lies of "we can't afford it" or "we're broke" or "taxes must be raised and spending lowered to fund insert program here". We are not broke, literally cannot go broke as the sole issuers of our currency, and as a monetarily sovereign nation can afford what we choose to afford. We can afford to fund the oligarchy but are " too broke" to fund The People. See the con job yet? Now take in these stats. Our life expectancy has dropped for the second consecutive year. 83% of all economic gains went to the top 1% in 2017. 2 years ago 45,000 people died a yr due to lack of healthcare, it's now over 66,000 a yr. We now have the highest infant mortality rate of all developed nations. Over 77% of available u.s currency is owned by the 1%. These stats are what they are because our power of currency has funded the few, creating an oligarchy. It could fund The People to the betterment of us all, our society and nation. It's not about hard work, who "deserves" what, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps or any of that bs. We The People are turning into We The Indentured Servants of the Oligarchy precisely because our power of currency has been usurped, abused, and now amassed by the few. We NEED a critical mass to understand how our currency works and get it working for The People once again. ~ Erin Story #LearnMMT #EachOneTeachOne MODERN MONEY BASICS modernmoneybasics.com

Eric Brown yes , yes he did and it makes sense