The most important takeaway from today's inflation crisis is that we must get our corporations back under control if we're to have an economy that works for us instead of just for the billionaires.

As CBS News noted, based on Bureau of Labor statistics, just last week:

"When the numbers are adjusted for rising prices, wages and salaries have actually declined 3% over the year."

This "gotta cool down the economy" pitch from the Fed is, in reality, most likely a case of Abraham Maslow's famous dictum: "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem you face looks like a nail."

Interest rates are about the Fed's only tool, and Powell and his colleagues are under mind-boggling pressure to slow down or stop prices from rising.

So, what's really going on with inflation? And when and how will it end?

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: National Progressive Townhall Meeting
- Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) / Member & Former Co-Chair-Congressional Progressive Caucus / (Committees: Appropriations / Also, Education & Labor)

Article: "Latest Polls" by FiveThirtyEight.

Article: "Are right wing polls laying the ground for contesting results?" by Tax Haven.

Site: NALC Health Benefit Plan.

Article: "Inflation Rate - By Country" by Trading Economics.

Article: "Sen. Johnson suggests ending Medicare, Social Security as mandatory spending programs" by Amy B Wang.

Article: "Rural hospitals rely on Medicaid expansion to stay open, study shows" by Casey Moss. "Rural hospitals rely on Medicaid and Medicare as primary payers."

Article: "Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending 50 years of federal abortion rights" by Dan Mangan, Kevin Breuninger.

Article: "President Biden says 22 million people have signed up for student loan forgiveness" by Emma Kinery.

Article: "Midterm Legislative Cheat Sheet." by gdaigon.

Article: "Biden Wins" (list) by AtheistsAgainstFairytales.

Article: "Democrats Hate You Billboard in Atlanta (I-85N)" by Codeflier.

Law: "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006".

Law: "Postal Service Reform Act of 2022".

Article: "Some Medicare drug prices will drop under new law, insulin co-pays to be capped" by Caitlin Granfield.

Site: When We All Vote.

Site: Movement Labs.

Article: "Fact check: President Trump has not said he will terminate Social Security" by Camille Caldera.

Article: "Assailant tried to tie up Paul Pelosi in home attack and shouted, ‘Where is Nancy?' sources say" by Jamie Gangel, Clare Foran, Whitney Wild and John Miller.

Article: "Elon Musk tweets - then deletes - link to article with unfounded theory about Paul Pelosi attack" by Sky News.

Article: "Musk's SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy on first military mission to space" by DeLon Thornton.

Article: "Your Complete Guide to the 2018 Tax Changes" by Matthew Frankel.

Article: "State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction" by Tax Foundation.

Article: "Pocan Launches Bipartisan Rural Broadband Caucus" by Mark Pocan.

Article: "Wisconsin Gerrymandering Project" by Princeton University.

Hour Two: Has the Time for the Nationalization of Oil & Gas Arrived?
- Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books - his latest is The Sickness is the System (now also available as an e-book) & Host - Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff on Free Speech TV

Article: "Dems Call For Nationalization Of Oil And Gas To Protect Planet From ‘Climate Apocalypse'" by Kevin Killough.

Article: "Bedeviled by high inflation, Federal Reserve hikes interest rate by 0.75% again" by Rob Wile.

Article: "General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Windfall tax - United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Could the Keystone XL pipeline help lower U.S. gas prices?" by Li Cohen.

Article: "Is Most of America's Inflation About Monopolies, Price-Gouging, & Oil Barons Fleecing Us?" by Thom Hartmann.

Tweet: "For every extra $1 you're paying due to inflation, 54¢ is going right into the pockets of big corporations. Wall Street is price gouging families to earn sky-high profits, jeopardizing our entire economy in the process." by Katie Porter.

Article: "Judge blocks Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger" by Hillel Italie.

Article: "Why Is America Still Buying Saudi Oil When We Could Be Self Sufficient?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Biden's FTC Has Blocked 4 Hospital Mergers and Is Poised to Thwart More Consolidation Attempts" by Harris Meyer.

Book: The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon.

Book: The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "$38,398 for a single shot of a very old cancer drug — and one "no-brainer" alternative" by Arthur Allen.

Article: "Increasing wages not keeping up with inflation" by Garrett Behanna.

Article: "Sanders Says Biden Admin 'Must Reject' Merger of Kroger and Albertsons" by Kenny Stancil.

Article: "Global inflation tracker: see how your country compares on rising prices" by Valentina Romei and Alan Smith.

Article: "Big Business Is Overcharging You $5,000 a Year" by David Leonhardt.

Article: "‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable': How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions" by Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz.

Article: "comparing" by .

Article: "Watch: Biden compares oil firms to war profiteers, talks of windfall tax" by AP.

Article: "Why is inflation so low in Japan?" by Oct 6, 2022.

Site: Social Security Works.

Site: "Sherrod Brown".

Article: "Adam Laxalt's Extended Family Can't Stop Dunking On Him" by Matt Stieb.

Article: "Joseph Kennedy III beaten by Ed Markey in Massachusetts primary" by BBC.

Article: "Net metering" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Illinois Net Metering" by Citizens Utility Board.

Article: "Public–private partnership" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Nixon shock" by Wikipedia.

Article: "As US oil booms, Congress lifts 40-year oil export ban" by Charlotte Raab.

Article: "Historical Inflation Rate by Year" by macrotrends.

Article: "Inflation has Fed critics pointing to spike in money supply" by David J. Lynch.

Article: "ACO REACH" by CMS.

Article: "DCEs: Handing Traditional Medicare to Wall Street"(REACH) by PNHP.

Site: Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP).

Article: "President Biden to Nominate Retirement Expert Andrew Biggs to SSAB " by SSAB.

Hour Three: "What Brian Kemp is Hiding From You"
- Greg Palast, Investigative Reporter / Author of several books including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy / Filmmaker - his latest, "Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman", produced by Martin Sheen which is debuting this week

Video: Vigilante film.

Video: Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman [Trailer].

Video: Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman [Trailer II].

Article: "DiCaprio, Foxx say: Watch Vigilante at No Charge Today" by Greg Palast.

Article: "Georgia's restrictive new voting law, explained" (SB 202) by Zack Beauchamp.

Article: "Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally sentenced to life in prison" by Terry Spencer.

Article: "Warrior on two fronts" by Greg Palast.

Article: "Georgia voter challenged by vigilante tells his story" by Greg Palast.

Article: "Give me 103 Seconds to Save the Election" by Greg Palast.

Article: "True the Vote" by Wikipedia.

Article: "2,000 Mules: Belly Laughs, Belly Aches from Film's "Proof" that Trump Won" by Greg Palast and Zach D. Roberts.

Video: It was Brian Kemp's family that first brought enslaved Africans to Georgia..

Article: "Georgia governor signs CRT ban and transgender athlete measure" by Jeremiah Poff.

Article: "American Legislative Exchange Council" (ALEC) by SourceWatch.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1 section 8 (Powers of Congress).

Article: "What Is Core Inflation?" by US Inflation Calculator.

Site: "US Inflation Calculator".

Article: "New Senate Report Spotlights 'Barbaric Consequences' of GOP Abortion Bans" by Julia Conley.

Article: "Parent sues Florida school district for displaying LGBTQ pride flags" by Brooke Migdon.

Article: "Andrew Garbarino" by Ballotpedia.

Article: "Jackie Gordon" by Ballotpedia.

Article: "Daniel Patrick Moynihan" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Deinstitutionalization Failed" by Patrick Moynihan.

Article: "Republican-controlled states have higher murder rates than Democratic ones: study" by Ben Adler.

Article: "Bitcoin Uses More Electricity Than Many Countries. How Is That Possible?" by Jon Huang, Claire O'Neill and Hiroko Tabuchi.

Article: "New York just passed a bill cracking down on bitcoin mining — here's everything that's in it" by MacKenzie Sigalos.

Article: "Understanding the price gap between gasoline and diesel fuel" by GlobalPetrolPrices.com.

Article: "Biden urges voters to ‘preserve Democracy' and stand up against political violence - live" by Maanvi Singh and Chris Stein.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be talking with Jamie McCleod-Skinner, Candidate for Congress (D-OR, 5th District) (Opponent is Republican Lori Chavez DeRemer)

Plus, Ali Velshi, Host - MSNBC "Velshi" (Sat/Sun 8-10aET) & "The Last Word" (Fri 10pET) / Host of the digital platform, The Velshi Exchange

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

New Report Proves Abortion Bans Kill Women & Abortion Saves Lives

Can Nationalizing Corporations Save Our Economy & Planet? Featuring Richard Wolff

The Rich Are Scared Of Democracy So They'll Take It