From Florida, to Atlantic City, to India and Back: Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump, and Narendra Modi and their Historical Connections

When Donald Trump took office in 2017, he redecorated the oval office with a famous portrait of President Andrew Jackson.  The message of this portrait was clear, that Trump would follow along in the populist traditions of Andrew Jackson and sought to emulate him during his Presidency.  Both men were outsiders to the political establishment when elected, both made fortunes in real estate speculation, and both have had reputations for controversial actions.  While Jackson was president, he spoke of internal enemies, tried to shake up the established order, and fired numerous officials of his cabinet.  Seems to sound familiar, doesn’t it?  However, there is one great difference which seems to have developed between the two presidents: Their relationships with Indians. 

Jackson Clears the Southeast

              Andrew Jackson’s popularity and success in politics was at least partially due to his reputation as an Indian fighter.  In the War of 1812, where he was honored for defending New Orleans against the British, many of his primary battles came with Indian nations of the Southeast.  Jackson defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, which led to that nation’s surrender.  After the war concluded, Jackson continued his military career by attempting to clear Indian nations out of the Southeast United States, to make room for American settlers. 

              During the first Seminole War, Jackson invaded Florida in order to attempt to subdue the Seminole Indians.  The Seminole Indians were a very distinct nation because of their ethnic composition.  Southeastern Indians as well as escaped slaves, fled to Spanish Florida in the early 1800s.  These different groups would come together and create the Seminole Nation.  Perhaps as the nation was founded by refugees from the United States, they created a strong warrior culture in order to preserve themselves.  Jackson and other Southern slaveholders believed that a powerful Indian nation which took in runaway slaves, was a major threat that needed to be eliminated. 

              Jackson then initiated a foreign invasion of Florida, which was still under Spanish control.  As Spain was in the midst of dealing with independence movements all throughout Latin America at the time, they had no ability to force back the invasion.  The war continued for some time, until the groups reached an uneasy peace and Florida was given to the United States. 

              When Jackson was elected president in 1828, it became even more clear that war would be made on the Indians of the Southeast.  In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which would prove to be the end of most of the Indians in the Southeastern United States.  Many of these Indian groups had attempted to assimilate into American culture, in order to try to preserve their lands in their home states.  The Cherokee Indians even challenged the constitutionality of Indian Removal in the Supreme Court in the case Worchester v. Georgia.   The court ruled in their favor, but the process of Indian Removal was already underway, and the Cherokee would not be given any help from a hostile executive branch led by Jackson.    

              After seeing several Southeastern tribes removed to the west of the Mississippi, many Seminole Indians were determined to stay.  As in the past, they would violently resist American incursions into their territory.  The Second Seminole War would turn out to be the longest lasting war the United States would fight until the Vietnam Conflict.  At the end, many Seminoles were forcibly removed from Florida, but many decided never to surrender, and to this day, the Seminoles never made any formal peace treaties with the United States.[i] 

              Jackson’s legacies of Indian wars and removal, while controversial both in his time and today, did much to increase his popularity.  He first ran for president in 1824 winning the most electoral and popular votes.  However, he did not win this election as more establishment politicians teamed up to defeat him in the House of Representatives.  He would run again and win by large majorities in 1828 and 1832.  As his second term was ending in 1836, his hand-picked successor, Vice President Martin Van Buren, won the next election easily winning almost a 100 more electoral votes than the 2^nd place finisher.  In fact, the Whig political party, forerunners to today’s Republicans, was founded as a political party to largely oppose the policies of Jackson.  Andrew Jackson is one of the most well-known U.S. presidents also because his portrait is on the $20 bill.  This honor demonstrates his legacy to be in line with that of America’s other great leaders, such as Washington and Lincoln.* While during President Obama’s presidency it was announced that Harriett Tubman was selected to replace Jackson on the $20 bill, President Trump and his Treasury Secretary have since reversed that decision.

 

Trump, The Taj Mahal, and Hindu Nationalists

              Since coming to power, President Donald Trump has tried to cultivate a close relations with the government of India and Indian-Americans.  Well before Trump was president of the United States, he was president of major casino operations in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  For many years, the largest casino in Atlantic City was a recreation of India’s great monument to love, prefaced of course with the Trump name.  The Trump Taj Mahal developed a reputation for luxury and high rollers, and was featured prominently in the 1998 film Rounders, where it was said to be the premier location for poker on the East Coast. 

              What is interesting about the Trump Taj Mahal, is where the basis of its motif come from.  The original Taj Mahal in India was built when India was under the control of an Islamic Dynasty known as the Mughals.  As such the Taj Mahal features a great deal of Islamic influence in its architecture and design.  Although the Trump Taj Mahal was very different than the original Islamic mausoleum, it did feature some architectural influence from the Islamic Alhambra Palace in Spain, as well as naming its main nightclub the Casbah, after the Arabic word for central part of a town or citadel.[ii] This seems very surprising that Trump would feature Islamic culture so prominently in one of his past businesses, as his term as president has been marked by statements and actions derided by some as Islamophobic. 

              Unfortunately for Trump, his crown jewel of the Atlantic City Boardwalk would be plagued by problems since its inception.  Although it made great deals of cash, the expenses were enormous, and Trump’s organization incurred great deals of debt just to make it operate.  After only a year of operation, Trump was filing for bankruptcy on the property.  The property survived for a time, but Trump largely divested himself from it, relinquishing all stake in it around the same time he began his run from U.S. President.  By the start of his Presidential term, the casino was being sold for pennies on the dollar.[iii]

              However, President Trump’s next venture with Indian ties would be much more successful.  Since being elected, President Trump has tried to cultivate a close relationship with the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.  Modi himself represents the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP.  The BJP is a Hindu Nationalist Party, which formed out of opposition to the Indian National Congress of Gandhi and Nehru. The Indian National Congress wished to create a secular state with no regard to religion, whereas the BJP has prioritized emphasizing India as a Hindu majority state. 

              For members of the BJP, President Trump seems to be a worthwhile ally in their cause.  President Trump’s travel ban on Muslim states, and his comments on Muslims, appeal to their nationalist causes.  Recently, a new law passed in India, would attempt to limit citizenship rights of Muslim-Indians.  This law caused a great deal of uproar in the nation, with millions of Indians taking to the streets to protest it.  During President Trump’s recent state visit to India, he expressed great support for Prime Minister Modi and by doing so, he seemingly gave international support of the BJP’s discriminatory policies.[iv]

              On Trump’s state visit to India, he spent time visiting its largest state, Uttar Pradesh.  This state is most famous for being the home of the Taj Mahal, where President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump posed for pictures.  Before that however, the President and his wife were greeted by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, BJP member Yogi Adityanath.  Adityanath is known as a firebrand who has made many inflammatory statements about Muslims in India.  When he took power of the state in 2017, Adityanath made it clear that he did not think that the Taj Mahal represented Indian culture, and had it removed from the official tourist brochure for Uttar Pradesh.  Under pressure Adityanath has changed his stance, and when he met with Trump, he presented a framed photo of the Taj Mahal to him.[v] There seems to be a great amount of irony in this: Adityanath, who like Trump, has been condemned for Islamophobic statements, presenting him with a photo of one of the world’s most famous Islamic structures, which served as the basis for one of President Trump’s failed casinos.

              However, for both Trump and Modi, the visit was a mark of their mutual admiration for one another, and how the two largest democracies in the world, have leaders now, who believe that discrimination is the best policy to take.  Trump has also tried to leverage his support of Modi into political support at home, as this past year he hosted a large rally with Modi in Texas entitled “Howdy Modi”, in order to try and gain support from a voting block that overwhelmingly voted against him in 2016.[vi] 

Historic Connections

              These three prominent leaders; Jackson, Trump, and Modi, seem to have a lot in common.  They all rallied against elites and speak directly to people who felt left behind by the political process.  All of them capitalized on existing ethnic and religious conflict.  One must wonder if this is the type of leader, which is best during a time of global crisis. 

              As with all leaders, history will be their final judge.  However, history is often laced with a sense of irony.  As Trump was beginning his term in 2017, his former “8^th Wonder of the World” was being sold.  The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built for $1.2 billion in 1990, sold in March of 2017 for $50 million to Hard Rock International.  And who owns Hard Rock International?  Florida’s Seminole Indians. It seems fitting that as President Trump was immortalizing Andrew Jackson, one of his failed business ventures was being sold to the Seminole Indians that Jackson had sought to eliminate.  If you put the picture of Jackson next to the picture of the Taj Mahal it would seem that history was having quite a laugh at President Trump’s expense. 

*Ironically Jackson’s portrait on the $20 bill presents a great deal of irony.  The current U.S. money supply is controlled by the Federal Reserve, a national bank.  President Jackson hated central banks and worked very hard to end the National Bank of his day.  It makes one wonder what he might have thought about his picture being on a Federal Reserve note. 

             

             

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[i] Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2014. Pgs 96-116. 

[ii] Johnson, Nelson. Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City.  Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing Inc, 2002. Page 233-235. 

[iii] The Chicago Tribune, “Trump’s Taj Mahal- the 8^th Wonder of the World-Sold for Pennies on the Dollar” by Wayne Parry.  https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-trump-taj-mahal-sold-20170509-story.html: Retrieved April 29^th, 2020. 

[iv] Vox, “Trump praises India’s Religious Freedom while Muslim-Hindu Violence Erupts” by Sigal Samuel and Kainaz Amaria. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/25/21152829/trump-india-modi-muslim-hindu-violence: Retrieved April 29^th, 2020. 

[v][v] The Week, “Islamophobia Paradox: When Yogi gifted Taj Mahal’s Portrait to Trump”. https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/02/25/islamophobia-paradox-when-yogi-gifted-taj-mahals-portrait-to-trump.html: Retrieved April 29^th, 2020. 

[vi] CNBC.com “Howdy Modi, Thousands, plus Trump, rally in Texas for India’s leader” by Reuters. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/thousands-plus-trump-rally-in-texas-for-indias-leader.html: Retrieved April 29^th, 2020. 

Ruminations From Within a Cage

By Michael Dunn


             Being pent up in my house due to the raging virus outside, I recently had the opportunity of watching the documentary The Tiger King, which is quite popular these days.   During the viewing, I found myself thinking about how strange this species of ours is.  For one thing, we seem to be the only creatures who not only take pleasure in capturing and caging animals for others to gawk at, but we engage in such endeavors for profit and gain.  Granted, other animals build things, but they do so to help them adapt and survive in the environment in which they live.  Whether it’s a bird building a nest, a beaver building a dam, or a swarm of bees constructing a hive, those endeavors have a constructive purpose.  Humans, on the other hand, the supposed highest form of life on the planet, the species with the ability to construct the most marvelous of structures, seem to be genetically programmed to build cages, walls, fences, and pens so that they can restrict movement and deprive creatures, including themselves, from moving freely about.

            I mention this now in the context of what’s happening around the world with the seemingly unstoppable spread of a virus that has caged all of us in our own little cells, whether they be in apartment complexes, houses, castles, prisons, or homeless shelters.  We are all prisoners now, sometimes allowed to roam around “the yard”, but prohibited from getting too close to one another for fear of contracting the dreaded disease perpetrated by a nonliving thing, a virus mysteriously created by a force of nature.  And for those thousands of us who are destined to do our time in the hole, at least we know that we will remain safe as long as we do not attempt to escape from solitary confinement.

And if you go back and examine the history of the human race and look at the madmen and megalomaniacs who tried and failed to conquer the world, you would indeed have to see the irony and admire the incredible power of a virus which, for the time being, holds sway over our species.  Without so much as issuing a decree or firing a shot, this virus has subjugated a species who see themselves as a cut above all forms of life on a planet that they alone are in the process of destroying.  Quite impressive, I’d say.

            And as you sit penned in your cage, like me, you just might ask yourself why exactly do we put creatures in cages and lock up so many of our own kind in prisons, gulags, iced cages, and detention centers that seem ill suited for members of any species.  What purpose is served by detaining individuals who don’t resemble us or share our beliefs?  And why do we so futilely attempt to correct and rehabilitate those who failed to adhere to the rules that were created by the many wardens in our society.  Surely, there must be a better way to help those who are different from us or who have made mistakes and been caged and walled off as a result.  In another stroke of irony, many of those prisoners may soon be released not because their time was well served, but rather because our leaders fear that their continued captivity would add to the virus’ army and further deplete our already short supplies.  Captives hardened by conditions that would make most of us cringe, I might add.   

            And so, we are forced to do battle with an invisible foe, a foe that gladly welcomes recruits into its ranks.  And what strategy have our generals devised to defeat this most formidable of enemies?  To cage and confine the entire human race until they can come up with a better plan or find a weapon to blunt the strength of the virus?  Scary.  But in the end, if they do come up with a winning strategy or a cure, only then will our cages be unlocked.  And when and if we emerge victorious, hopefully we will realize that capturing and caging is just not the best way to treat any creature that roams the planet. 

Decay, Reform, and Collapse: The fall of the Soviet Union in film and television

By Matthew Dunn

              2019 marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the symbolic end of communism in Eastern Europe.  Within three years the communist governments of Eastern Europe which were dominated by the Soviet Union in the postwar era, were overthrown and collapsed in a rapid span of time.  With the breakup of the Soviet Union several years later, this marked as Francis Fukayama put it, “the end of history”.  In the belief of Fukayama, the belief was that the failure of the Soviet Union showed that there was no alternative to the capitalist democracies of the west.  Perhaps because of the time that has passed, the Soviet Union has become the topic of several television and film productions which analyze different aspects of why the Soviet Union ceased to exist. 

              The first is a dark comedy about the Soviet Union under Stalin, entitled The Death of Stalin.  This comedy tries to take a humorous look at the kind of Soviet Union which was created under Joseph Stalin, who created a totalitarian system of government complete with repression and murder of those deemed political enemies.  In the film, the members of the Soviet Central Committee (Major Soviet governing committee) are all in competition to take over after Stalin’s death.  There are lots of jokes about people being murdered and plotting to take over the government. 

              What the film effectively shows though, is the kind of system that was set up by Stalin.  As the main ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924-1953, Stalin set up a system of government which couldn’t be maintained after his death.  There was a tremendous cult of personality set up around Stalin, which shows in how the Central Committee members all try to outdo one another to make Stalin’s funeral grand.  There was also a system set up, whereby members of the Central Committee were put into competition with one another in order to try and gain power through favor with Stalin.  Khrushchev, played by Steve Buscemi, is a master of this game and reviews his conversations with Stalin with his wife every evening in order to find which topics and jokes went over well in order to better position himself.  What is perhaps most shown through the film, is that the original goals of the Soviet Union were so completely compromised that they did not seem to be concerns of the Central Committee at all.  There are no mentions of workers or peasants who were supposedly who communism was supposed to bring out of oppression.  The film generally gives a good presentation of how the Soviet Union evolved into a degenerated worker’s state which essentially gave no power or rights to its working classes. 

              The next work takes place much later but shows one of the most traumatic events of the later Soviet Union.  Chernobyl a five part mini-series, shows the causes and effects of the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 1986.  Chernobyl first shows the meltdown occurring and how the party leaders are completely clueless to the scope of the disaster and how they refuse to take much responsibility for it.  Eventually through the work of nuclear scientist Valery Lagasov, played by Jared Harris, the Soviet government works to prevent further damage from occurring, and attempting to limit the casualties caused by the radiation of the nuclear explosion. 

              This mini-series graphically depicts the illnesses and conditions that people exposed to the radiation develop. One of the most tragic stories shown in the film is of a fire fighter who was one of the first to respond to the disaster, and the horrible and painful death he experiences because of radiation poisoning.  The town of Pripyat, which was the location of Chernobyl in Belarus, is completed evacuated never to be settled again. 

              However, although the story is a tragedy, the series does an excellent job of showing the heroic acts of ordinary Soviet citizens.  One in particular, is of a group of Soviet coal miners who are asked to come to dig tunnels so radioactive material can be removed.  Without almost any knowledge or concern for their well-being, the miners dig tunnels quickly and complete the necessary work.  This contrasts greatly with the party leaders, who consistently dragged their feet and insisted that nothing was wrong, while trying to cover up the true effects of the disaster to the Soviet public as well as the rest of the world.  The film shows effectively that the working classes, considered paramount to communism, were often just used for their labor, while party leaders ignored the needs of the population.

              The last film was a documentary about the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, entitled Meeting Gorbachev directed by Werner Herzog and Andre Singer.  In this film, Herzog meets with to discuss his life and his impact on the Soviet Union.  The film goes back and forth between historical clips of Gorbachev as well as getting his perspective on what he tried to accomplish as the last leader of the Soviet Union.  Much attention is paid to Gorbachev’s policies of Perestroika and Glasnost which aimed to make the political and economic system of the Soviet Union more open.  This is shown to have had a major impact on the communist block as a few years after Gorbachev took power, the communist nations of Eastern Europe rebelled and Gorbachev in contrast to previous Soviet leaders did not try to suppress the rebellions.  This then culminated in the various revolutions of 1989, where the nations of Eastern Europe overthrew their communist governments. 

              Gorbachev is shown as true believer in communism, who truly wanted to reform the system and make it more democratic.  He believed in demilitarizing the Soviet Union and focusing more on the needs of the people.  In some ways though, Gorbachev’s policies paved the way for the destruction of the Soviet Union, because nationalist elements could now freely express their desire for independence.   These factors coupled with communist hardliners opposed to reform, led to Gorbachev’s removal from power and the breakup of the Soviet Union.  In one particularly ominous scene Herzog shows us Vladimir Putin meeting with Gorbachev at the funeral of his wife, signaling how Russian independence from the Soviet Union did not bring democracy but a different type of dictatorship. 

              These three films together show us some aspects of why the Soviet Union collapsed so rapidly in 1991. Too much power in the hands of the central committee proved to be a disaster for people of the Soviet Union.   A party dictatorship, which claimed to represent the people, without really meeting their needs, could only survive for so long.  With the rise of authoritarian regimes throughout the former communist block and the rest of the world, it feels as though Fukayama’s prediction that history had ended is incorrect.  History has not ended but shown us something very different.  History has not ended but continued, and nations have not learned about the dangers of dictatorship. 

Income Inequality in the United States

By Matthew Dunn

                The popular and critically acclaimed television series “Mad Men” on AMC, brought viewers into the world of the advertising industry in the 1960s.  The protagonist of the series, Don Draper, is a successful executive who is well known for his brilliant advertising messages.  Although Draper is often presented as discontent with his personal life, he does have all the genuine markers of wealth that classify someone in the 1% of wealthiest Americans.  When the show begins in 1960, he is living with his beautiful wife and two children in the wealthy suburb of Ossining which is Westchester, New York.  Don lives in a very large house, has two cars, sends his children to excellent schools, has a full time nanny (even though his wife does not work), and even pays for his wife’s equestrian hobby.  In Don’ business life he frequently goes to the finest restaurants and travels the nation.  He manages to do all of this while having an alcohol dependency and several mistresses. 

                The fictional Don Draper lived through what is called by some as “The Golden Age of Capitalism”.  That is that business thrived, unemployment was low, people had money to spend, and economic crises seemed a thing of the past.  With all the new wealth that was created during this time, the United States government decided that it was best that those with the most would pay a very large share of their earnings in income taxes.  Between 1960 and 1970 the marginal tax rate for the highest incomes was between 70% and 90%.[i]  So even with 90% of his earnings going to taxes, Don Draper still had the ability to live quite the lifestyle. 

                However, in the 21^st century, income tax rates have gone down significantly.  During the 1980’s marginal tax rates declined significantly for the wealthiest Americans.  Between 1980-1988, the marginal tax rate declined from 70% to 28%.  Since then the highest marginal tax rate that wealthy Americans have paid has been 40%.[ii]  This has been part of a major income redistribution.  That redistribution has favored the wealthiest members of our society.  In fact for many of these wealthy Americans they earn their fortunes through capital gains and they pay a mere 15% on much of their wealth.   Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the world, once commented that “his tax rate was lower than his secretary’s”. 

                Republicans would like us to believe that business will be decimated by high taxes.  This is completely false.  In fact American business reigned supreme during the post-war years.  During the 1950s and 1960s General Motors was the largest company in the world.  GM’s President, Alfred Sloan, was so wealthy he was able to start a huge foundation bearing his name, and generously donate much of his fortune to causes such as treating cancer and education (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center bears the name of him and his head of research at GM, Charles Kettering).  Today, GM is mostly known for its 2009 bankruptcy.  There are many reasons for this of course, such as increased competition, and bad business practices by GM, however, it cannot be argued that GM performed better under lower government taxes. 

                So, wealthy Americans need not worry about high taxes.  Perhaps it is time that the wealthy only have two homes instead of five.  One boat instead of three.  A Mercedes instead of a Ferrari.  The tax policies which have been instituted since 1980, have only helped the wealthiest Americans, while everyone else has been struggling to stay afloat.  High taxes allowed governments to build tremendous infrastructure.  It allowed Americans to go to public colleges for free.  It even allowed people to buy a tremendous amount of consumer goods, without having to use credit cards.  It is time for the wealthy to pay their fair share. 

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[i] Piketty, Thomas.  Capital in the 21^st Century.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.  2014.  Graph on page 499.  

[ii] Ibid, pg 499-500

Ice Cream and Employment

By Matthew Dunn

On a warm summer evening where is one to go in order to fulfill that craving for something cool; to the ice cream parlor of course!  This past Sunday was National Ice Cream Day, and ice cream stores around the nation, created promotions designed to get people to buy ice cream.  When arriving at a local Carvel that evening, my wife and I had to wait in a considerable line because Carvel was offering a two for one deal.  Waiting in line is never a pleasant experience, but we shouldered through it because, I mean it was two for one. 

                Behind us, I could hear a woman who was dissatisfied with the service.  The main cause of the line was the fact that there were only two employees handling all of the business of the store.  She observed this and she said “Shame on the owner, for only having two people work today”.  However, as a frequent customer at this establishment, I don’t think that I have ever seen more than two or three people working there.  In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than two or three people working at any Carvel, or any other ice cream establishment.  As a person who briefly worked the ice cream counter at Friendly’s, it can become a fairly stressful experience for employees, especially when customers get agitated. 

                So why not have more people working?  Simple: Labor costs.  Labor is a large business cost, and it is one that is most easy to control.  Businesses have little effect on the overall cost of supplies needed like electricity, fuel, or food, but they can control labor costs.  So businesses generally try to do their best on saving on labor costs.  One can imagine that the two employees of Carvel were probably making close to minimum wage.  So judging by the fact that an ice cream cone is at least five dollars, the owner could pay their hourly salaries with the sale of four ice cream cones.  So it seems that this owner is probably doing very well. 

So who is the owner?  Carvel stores are independently owned franchises but  the Carvel brand is a subsidiary of Focus Brands, which is in turn an affiliate of The Roark Capital Group.  Roark Capital, is a private equity firm which specializes in buying businesses such as Carvel.  They also have ownership of restaurants such as Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Arby’s, Cinnabon, and Auntie Anne’s.  Because they have ownership of restaurants that sell mostly high fat, high sugar food, they balance that portfolio with diet and fitness products like Atkins Nutritionals and Anytime Fitness.  Besides these and other food service restaurants, they own supermarkets, pet stores, professional sports leagues, car service companies, and private schools.  Overall according to their website they have over $6 billion in assets under management. 

Now on this company’s website they list the members of their team.  By my personal count there were 54 people listed.  In fact those seem to be the only direct employees of Roark Capital.  There are 27 people listed under the investment professionals section, some of whom have the title of summer intern.  From the fact that they are in charge of such large brands and so much capital, it seems that they can do a lot with what they have.[i]  So if a $6 billion company has only 54 people listed as part of the team, why would we expect an ice cream parlor to have more than one or two? 

The simple fact is, is that there are too many people for the jobs that are available in the United States.  Walmart is the largest private employer in the world and the only two entities that employ more are The United States Department of Defense and the People’s Liberation Army of China.[ii] Now, Walmart is considered by many to be a terrible place to work.  Almost anything you can associate with a bad job, Walmart has it, and it has become well known.  So even with the things that people know about Walmart, The Washington Post reported that when a Walmart opened in the Washington D.C. area, 23,000 people applied for 600 jobs.[iii]  Just think of that statistic the next time you think, “man that person should get a job.” 

The fact is that the private sector is not in the business of employing people.  They are in the business of making profit.  If hiring people helps them make a profit, then they will hire.  If not, then they will not hire.  If they can have one person do several jobs, like at the ice cream store they will.  If they can replace an employee with a machine, they will.  At a time, when so many are desperate for employment, the business owners will not save us.  In fact the more we rely on business owners, we will continue to see great numbers of people who are unemployed, under-employed, or employed at positions which pay them a less than satisfactory wage. 

The government needs to step in and take charge in these situations.  When Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, many government jobs programs were created.  There are countless opportunities that can be created in any number of industries.  It is time that this period of our history was repeated. 

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[i] Information retrieved from the Roark Capital Group Website. http://www.roarkcapital.com/. Retrived 7/19/2015.  If there are any errors in the calculations they are the error of the author. 

[ii] “List of Largest Employers in the World.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers. Retrived 7/19/2015.

[iii] Ingraham, Christopher.  The Washington Post, 3/28/14 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/28/wal-mart-has-a-lower-acceptance-rate-than-harvard/. Retrieved 7/19/2015. 

Bernie Sanders for President!

By Matthew Dunn

                Last month the news of Puerto Rico’s impending default on its national debts made headlines.  Puerto Rico owes over $70 billion in debts and they simply cannot pay it.  So why is Puerto Rico so in debt?  Part of the reason owes to new policies it has carried out involving taxes and wealthy residents.  Under this tax law, new residents of Puerto Rico would pay no local or federal taxes on capital gains (profits made on trading securities such as stocks and bonds).   This was clearly a move to try and get wealthy residents to move to the island.[i] 

                One of the big supporters of this idea was John Paulson, a wealthy hedge fund operator.  Paulson is an investor who made one of his biggest profits betting against the sub-prime mortgage crisis.  Paulson invested heavily in Puerto Rico and also campaigned for wealthy individuals to move there.  So because Puerto Rico would not charge any taxes on capital gains (this is how many wealthy individuals make much of their money) they had to borrow in order to finance their government.  So who was one of the most prominent lenders to Puerto Rico?  You guessed it, John Paulson.  So after being convinced by wealthy individuals to eliminate taxes on capital gains, they then lend money to the distressed government.  With Puerto Rico now defaulting on its bonds, the bondholders will determine the government’s actions for some time.  Meanwhile the people who suffer are the ordinary people of Puerto Rico who have an official unemployment rate of 12%, well higher than any U.S. state.[ii]  It appears that the old trickle-down theory of economics, is more like flooding up economics.

                Now, this is just a symptom of a system gone terribly out of control.  The economic system of the United States has become so based on speculation and finance that speculators are basically free to do whatever they want.  There were almost no consequences for those responsible for the Great Recession.  Unless bankers committed outright fraud, none did any jailtime.  Meanwhile Wall Street continues to profit off of ordinary Americans, and right wing politicians and pundits keep clamoring on for de-regulation and lower taxes on the wealthy. 

                Bernie Sanders is a politician who is against all of this.  He is the only Presidential candidate who is prepared to take on Wall Street interests.  He wants to tax Wall Street.  He wants to create a federal jobs program to put Americans to work.  He wants America to be a more equitable place, and not just an opportunity for investment for the wealthy few.  And although he is running in the Democratic Primary, he has been a proud independent member of Congress for decades.  He is not beholden to any large financial powers. 

                Bernie Sanders will not be politics as usual.  Mr. Sanders talks about issues that other politicians ignore and does not give puff piece interviews.  He is the kind of president that we need.  We don’t need another Bush or Clinton in the White House. 

Vote Bernie Sanders in 2016!

https://www.berniesanders.com

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[i] Burton, Katherine, BloombergBusiness, “Paulson as Cheerleader for Puerto Rico Sees Rich Influx”. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-25/paulson-as-cheerleader-for-puerto-rico-sees-rich-influx. Retrieved July 3, 2015. 

[ii] Gonzalez, Juan, Common Dreams, “Puerto Rico-Like Greece- Will Default on its Debts, As the U.S. has Ignored the Island’s Financial Problems for Decades”. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/01/puerto-rico-greece-will-default-its-debts-us-has-ignored-islands-financial-problems. Retrieved July 3, 2015.  

The Backbone of the School Choice Movement

By Matthew Dunn

                “You wake up every morning knowing that 46,000 kids are counting on you right now, and that most of them are getting a pretty crappy education right now.”- Michelle Rhee, Waiting for Superman, 2010. 

                Michelle Rhee could be described as something of a lightning rod for the school choice movement.  During her tenure as the Washington D.C. Public Schools superintendent, she earned a reputation for a no-nonsense approach to pushing her policies through.  Her tenure at this position was marked by firings of teachers and principals based on school results.  She was hailed as the tough person who could turn around the public schools of Washington D.C. During her years at the head of the schools the students of D.C., showed great improvements on standardized tests.  However, she made many enemies throughout her time at this position and she contributed to the defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty who appointed her.  In the wake of her tenure, many of her claims of improving student test results have been called into question, and claims of cheating have appeared.

                However, she’s a go getter.  She started a non-profit called Students First in the wake of her short term as D.C.’s Superintendent.  This non-profit devotes itself to school choice efforts and changes in public education.  They rate states based on their educational policies, they attempt to create more school choice for parents, and they confront what they see as the powerful influence of teachers’ unions. 

                Rhee has made a name for herself with an aggressive public persona.  She has been shown firing staff on camera, and has made quite a name for herself.  She has appeared on many talk shows and in publications demonstrating her beliefs about the problems with public schools, and how organizations like hers are working to fix them.  Her organization has become an influential voice in the school reform movement, and is a very effective lobbying organization.  So how did Students First become so influential in only a couple of years?  In order to do that, we have to look beyond Rhee and take a look at some of the biggest supporters of her organization. 

John Arnold

The Laura and John Arnold Foundation has been one of the biggest donors to Rhee’s organization, Students First.[i]   They have pledged millions to Students First for lobbying and operating costs.  John Arnold is a former futures trader and hedge fund manager.  Arnold became a billionaire in the energy derivatives business (selling contracts based on the future costs of energy).  Arnold was so successful he was able to retire before the age of 40, with a net worth of $2.8 billion.  Arnold now devotes most of his energy with his wife to philanthropy, through their foundation The Laura and John Arnold Foundation.      

So how did Arnold become so wealthy at such a young age?  Arnold got his start in the business in the 1990’s at the now defunct Enron.  Arnold made a killing at Enron earning millions.  When Enron’s ponzi scheme came crashing down in 2002, Arnold went into business for himself founding his own energy derivatives hedge fund called Centaurus. 

                Arnold made his money largely through trading derivatives on natural gas.  While at Enron, one of his colleagues referred to him as the “king of natural gas.”[ii] His new hedge fund continued to make millions, so much so that he was able to do what many Americans dream of doing, retiring before the age of 40.  He and his wife started their foundation with their profits. 

                Now, Arnold appears to truly fit the mold of an unscrupulous businessman.  Enron was notorious for defrauding investors and employees, and the two major executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, were sentenced to long prison sentences.  Natural gas has also become a controversial issue because one of the main ways of obtaining it is through a geological practice known as Hydraulic Fracturing, or fracking.  What this process entails is drilling into the Earth’s shale layer and causing disruptions which cause natural gas to become available. 

                However, fracking has become controversial for a number of reasons.  One is that fracking is known to release a well known carcinogen, benzene, into the water supply.  Benzene has been documented by medical scientists as one of the carcinogens which can lead to leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.  Leukemia, is well known as the most common childhood cancer, and while treatable can still be fatal.

                Now, Arnold is someone who profits greatly off of natural gas extraction.  His operations lead to benzene being pumped into the water supply, and causing a great risk factor for childhood leukemia.  Children, who are diagnosed with leukemia, will definitely not be able to attend any school for long periods of time.  As important as education is to children, it is not as important as their health. 

Betsy and Dick Devos

                Betsy Devos, has been a strong campaigner for conservative causes and school reform in recent years.  She has worked with Students First to promote school vouchers as a form of school choice.  School vouchers are a controversial idea, in which parents are given money by the state government and then they can use that money to send their children to any school of their choosing.  This idea is controversial because it can been seen as a state subsidy to religious private schools.  Betsy has been very involved in this campaign along with her husband Dick DeVos Jr.

Betsy and Dick are throwbacks to the good old days when you could accuse a woman of being a witch and burn them at the stake.  As highly religious people, they put their faith into not only Jesus Christ but free unregulated capitalism.  Besty is a member of the prestigious Prince family of Michigan.  The Prince family became wealthy by owning an auto-parts supply manufacturing business.  Betsy’s brother Erik, became famous for serving in the Navy Seals and then founding the private security firm (which is code for mercenaries )Blackwater.  Blackwater has served all over the world as private soldiers, and has been implicated for their roles in war related crimes.    Dick, the son of Dick Sr. Devos, is heir to the Amway Corporation, as well as the Orlando Magic basketball team. 

Betsy and Dick spend much of their private time involved in a number of conservative causes.  Dick Jr. ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, running on a platform that included opposition to the teaching of evolution, opposition to abortion in all instances, and the promotion of religious charter schools.  Dick and his father, Dick Sr., have also donated large amounts of funds to the Dominionist Project which seeks to reclaim America for Christ.  They campaign largely against what they see as activist judges, and want to put LGBT (lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender) people in prison along with women who seek abortions.[iii]

                Betsy and Dick have worked hard to push not only for more school choice but for school vouchers which would allow parents to send their children to religious schools with state funds.  DeVos has given a great deal of time and energy to school privatization efforts and has worked with Rhee’s organization on several occasions.[iv]

                Now refusing to teach evolution in schools, while openly professing hatred for LGBT people does not seem like a recipe for creating good schools.  LGBT children have a significantly higher suicide rate than the rest of the population, and it seems that people who wish to deny them their civil rights, are hardly the kind of people we should take advice from on putting “students first”. 

Paul Tudor Jones

                Paul Tudor Jones is the founder of The Excellence Boys Charter School and he has been a financier and Board member of Students First NY.[v]

 Paul Tudor Jones is another financial power player, known for his aggressive style.  Working again in high finance he has become well known for a type “take no prisoners” style of financial trading.  Jones is kind of a carpetbagger in reverse, who was raised in a prominent southern family in Tennessee, and then moved to New York to make it big in finance.  Jones was profiled in a piece several years ago on 60 Minutes in 2013, where he talked about his philanthropy efforts at The Robin Hood Foundation which he founded.  Jones also founded his own charter school, The Excellence Boys Charter Schools, and he sits on the board of Students First NY.[vi]

                Now Jones was profiled about his so called business philanthropy efforts on 60 Minutes, but they did not talk about his background.  Jones’ family has great connections to the cotton business in the Southern states.  Jones’ cousin William Dunavant was the leader of Dunavant Enterprises which was one of the leading cotton transporters in the world.  Dunavant Enterprises goes all the way back to the post-civil war days.  Dunavant’s grandfather Colonel William Dunavant founded the company with Nathan Bedford Forrest after the Civil War as a railroad transport for cotton.[vii]

                For those who are not familiar with the name Nathan Bedford Forrest, he is probably someone that a company would try to disassociate themselves from.  Forrest was a general for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.  Known as a brilliant tactician, he fought the Union army strongly in several battles.  During this time, he also gained a reputation for massive brutality.  At the Battle of Fort Pillow, Forrest’s troops gunned down black soldiers and refused to take any prisoners.  Some of the black soldiers were burned alive.[viii] This became known as the Fort Pillow Massacre, and became a rallying cry for black Union troops in the battles that came after.  After the war, Forrest became a successful railroad executive.  In his spare time, he helped to found the Ku Klux Klan, and became its first honorary Grand Wizard.  The Klan’s reported goal at this time was “to keep the niggers in their place.”[ix] The Ku Klux Klan would then carry out acts of terror on blacks and their political allies in the Reconstruction years.  Colonel William Dunavant proudly went into business with Forrest after the war.  Southerners largely were able to keep blacks in a state of slavery after emancipation by creating the sharecropping system, which lead to blacks remaining in a state of poverty.

                Now if Jones talked about his family’s role in all of this, he would probably become a sympathetic figure.   However, his family connections have led to his wealth, so a family history of involvement with terrorists would not be mentioned.  It further complicates things because of the charter school that he helped found.  Jones’ charter school Excellence Boys Academy serves 690 boys in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn according to their website.  They proudly talk about the accomplishments of the proficiency levels of the students at their school.  If one looks closer at their school report card one can find other interesting statistics. 

                It seems as though the Excellence Boys Academy as well as being segregated by sex, is also segregated by race.  According the New York State Report Card 95% of the students at the school are African American.  There are no white students at the school.  During the famous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Case evidence was presented about the psychological harm of segregation.  Psychologist Dr. Kenneth Clark’s famous doll study concluded that segregation negatively affected the self-esteem and psyche of African American children.  These findings helped convince the court to desegregate public schools in the United States.[x] By the fact that his school is completely segregated Jones and the staff of this school would seem to be denying these studies.

                Also it is revealed with the New York State Report Card that Excellence Academy has a very high suspension rate for students.  In 2010-2011, the school reported a 35% suspension rate, signaling that the school has a strong discipline policy.  This is much higher than nearby Boys and Girls High School, a public school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which reported a suspension rate of 13% the same year.  One can imagine that students who face suspension and punishment, can probably be removed from the school easily as well.  It almost seems that Jones’ believes in hard work and discipline for black students, almost putting his staff at the school in the position of overseers.

                Jones, Arnold, and the DeVos family are some of the major power players behind the school choice movement.  They claim that public schools are failing American children and parents need to be given more school choice in order to improve American children’s education.  This message can have great appeal and seems to promote a positive message.  However, there is a darker side to this.  These people have shown that while they publicly speak of putting students first, they do not always have children’s best interests at heart.  Mr. Paul Tudor Jones, promotes racial segregation in his school, while the DeVos family helps to encourage negative attitudes towards marginalized members of our population.  Mr. Arnold has major ties to an industry which has been documented to be harmful to our environment and public health.  There is no doubt that American public schools have some problems, but are these the individuals we want to address them? 

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[i] Students First Information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StudentsFirst#Funding. Retrived 3/22/15.

[ii] John Arnold biography, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Arnold. Retrived 3/22/15. 

[iii] Zirin, Dave.  Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love.  New York; Scribner. 2010. 

[iv] Clawson, Laura.  “Rhee’s Students First hires Republican Lobbyist to Push Pennsylvania School Privatization Bill”. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/10/1024762/-Rhee-s-StudentsFirst-hires-Republican-lobbyist-to-push-Pennsylvania-school-privatization-nbsp-bill#, Retrived 3/22/15.

[v] Students First NY, http://www.studentsfirstny.org/board_of_directors. Retrived 3/22/15. 

[vi] Students First NY, http://www.studentsfirstny.org/board_of_directors. Retrived 3/22/15. 

[vii] Dunavant Enterprises, History.  http://www.dunavantenterprises.com/about-us/dunavant-history/. Retrived 3/22/15. 

[viii] DuBois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction.  New York; Russell and Russell, 1935. 

[ix] Roediger, David.  How Race Survived U.S. History. London; Verson, 2008. 

[x][x] Teaching with Documents: Order of Argument in the Case, Brown v. Board of Education. http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-case-order/. Retrived 3/22/15.