Is our economy here to serve average Americans, or are we here to serve those who own and control most of the money flowing through our economy? At the urging of Republican Senators Hawley and Rubio, a new think tank is working out ways for the GOP to change their messaging.

They want to shift their rhetoric from support for corporations and the morbidly rich to pretending they care about working people. This new organization will, they say, "think differently about labor vs. capital than Republicans have in recent generations."

It's a cynical effort to capture Trump's working class base. He'd promised he'd bring our jobs home from China, empower labor unions, raise taxes on the rich so high that "my friends won't ever talk to me again," and give every American full health insurance that cost less than Obamacare. Those promises helped win him the White House.

All were lies, but the GOP base bought it and gave him tens of millions of votes; now Hawley, Rubio, et al think they can bottle that populist rhetorical magic and repeat Trump's shtick for 2024.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Be not like the lintel, which no hand can reach, but like the threshold, trodden by all. When the building falls, the threshold remains.

—Eleazar HaKappar, Abot de R. Nathan, 26

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

The Best of the Rest of the News

— Next week will be the last official public meeting of the January 6th Select House Committee.
— When Twitter bans journalists, does it hurt Twitter or democracy?
— Is more voter suppression coming to Georgia after Democratic runoff wins?
— Will Puerto Rico become a state? That's great, but why not DC first?
— Are cars freedom machines or a new tool for destroying Black people's lives?
— As astonishing as it may seem, Ron DeSantis is empaneling a state grand jury to investigate Covid vaccines.
— Geeky Science! India's renewable plans include exporting solar energy globally.
— Crazy Alert! Yes - You are going to jail for an NFT Salesman...
— Good News! Oregon's Governor Kate Brown has commuted the death sentences to life without parole for all 17 people on that state's death row.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Should a Handful of Billionaires Own More Wealth than the Bottom 50% of All Americans? " by Thom Hartmann.

Book: Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith, 1759.

Book: Theory of Moral Sentiments by , Adam Smith, 1759.

Book: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776).

Book: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776).

Article: "Which Side Are You On, DC?" by Josh Hawley.

Article: "The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure" by Nick Hanauer, David M. Rolf.

Book: "The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore Its Greatness" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality" by Chad Stone, Danilo Trisi, Arloc Sherman and Jennifer Beltrán.

Article: "The Daily 202: Conservative intellectuals launch a new group to challenge free-market ‘fundamentalism' on the right" by James Hohmann.

Law: "Tillman Act of 1907".

Article: "Federal Income tax of 1913" by Steven A. Bank.

Article: "Estate tax in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "History of Federal Income Tax Rates: 1913 - 2019" by Bradford Tax Institute.

Article: "Roaring Twenties" by Wikipedia.

Book: The Great Gatsby: The Original 1925 Edition by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Quote: "Now, I want to say something very important to you about this issue of morality in government." - Harry S. Truman.

Book: It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Car repossessions are on the rise in warning sign for the economy" by Shannon Pettypiece.

Article: "The Road to Fascism" by Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Article: "What Real Interest Rates Tell about the Recession to Follow" by Carlos Garriga, Matthew Famiglietti.

Article: "Fed raises interest rates half a point to highest level in 15 years" by Jeff Cox.

Article: "Monthly 12-month inflation rate in the United States from January 2020 to November 2022" by Statista.

Article: "I have the virus." by kpete.

Article: "A 'Woke Army'? Republicans turn final House hearing on far-right violence into a clown show" by David Neiwert.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Article: "Veto of the Taft-Hartley Labor Bill" by Harry Truman.

Quote: "When the last man who remembers the horrors of the last great war dies, the next great war becomes inevitable." - attributed to Arnold Toynbee.

Article: "Sinema Slammed Over Deal to Pass Inflation Reduction Act, Keep Tax Loophole" by Aila Slisco.

Article: "Sam Bankman-Fried remains in rat-infested Bahamian jail after extradition confusion" by Evan Simko-Bednarski.

Article: "Tulip mania" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bitcoin" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Timeline of Japanese history" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Shogun" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Why Mueller said he couldn't indict Trump, explained" by Li Zhou.

Video: January 6 Hearings: Final Hearing on U.S. Capitol Attack, December 19, 2022.

Article: "Jan. 6 committee votes to refer Trump to DOJ on multiple criminal charges" by Aditi Sangal, Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond, Melissa Macaya and Meg Wagner.

Video: "Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.".

Article: "Jan. 6 committee refers Trump to Justice Department for prosecution" by John Wagner, Eugene Scott, Amy B Wang, Mariana Alfaro, Azi Paybarah.

Article: "WATCH: Jan. 6 Committee Issues Criminal Referral of Trump, Including Violations of 4 Federal Statutes" by Jackson Richman.

Article: "John Eastman" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Six very real threats to democracy" by Capital and Main.

Book: I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Rene Girard.

Article: "Liz Cheney's mission on Jan. 6 committee: Keep Donald Trump out of the White House" by Libby Cathey.

Article: "We need to plan now in case Trump loses in November — but refuses to leave the White House" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "1876 United States presidential election" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Kosovo rebel commander sentenced to 26 years in prison for war crimes in case overseen by the special counsel named in the Trump probe" by Evan Perez.

Article: "Who said these notable quotes from the Jan. 6 hearings?" by Hannah Knowles.

Article: "Les Moonves: Trump's run is 'damn good for CBS'" by Eliza Collins.

Article: "United States Senate Watergate Committee" (Watergate hearings) (1973-1974) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Liz Cheney Annihilates Trump in Blistering Jan. 6 Meeting Opener: First President to Betray ‘Miracle' of American Democracy" by Alex Griffing.

Article: "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen.

Article: "John Metzger Says He Spoke to Killer in Portland Case" by AP.

Article: "Trump NFT images are based on freely available photos, but his fans bought them anyway" by Matthew Sheffield.

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

Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) will be calling in to talk about the issues of the day and take your calls.

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...

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