February 16
GUEST: Sarahana Shrestha, climate organizer, DSA candidate, and now member of the NY State Assembly as well as the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, talks about taxing the wealthy for the public good.Shrestha bill to raise $9 billion with tax on wealthy corporations
Assemblywoman Shrestha has what it takes to be a progressive force for change. Or maybe she doesn't have the monetary backing that would make her work impossible. She doesn't take corporate contributions.
Wouldn't that be a different world? Our government is so corporatized that the last thing most government representatives care about is us. More than that, every governmental agency is packed with corporate stooges. Any breaks will be given to companies over workers, polluters over victims, and weapons makers over the general public that pleads for an end to our endless wars. Corporations are the ultimate in unfeeling power. The only thing they care about is making a profit. They would make hamburgers out of our grandparents if it was profitable.
Are we worried about AI taking over the human race? Could computers eventually be taking orders from other machines, and might those machines eventually get sick of our pesky, aggressive little selves? Well, think again about Capitalism. The system is run by machines that continually balance which course of action creates the most profit. Then policy decisions are made by those same machines. Finally, humans are hired to put in place their often barbaric policies. That is why our society poisons you with chemicals, sends you up in poorly designed planes, or runs bomb trains through your towns. The artificial Intelligence of Capitalism is already here.
Let's do our best to elect representatives who don't take orders from corporations. There is a brave new world coming that hearkens back to human intelligence. AOC and Shrestha are the vanguards.
