My Hesitant 2020 Election Prediction: 1980 Upside Down

I’ve had this hunch for months, but have held off going public with it, for fear of doing anything to contribute to a feeling of overconfidence. I suspect others have had the same feeling. I even fought against being overconfident myself. I increased my level of contributions several hundred percent. I spent time canvassing, a … Read more

Inequality in America: Far Beyond Extreme

The maldistribution of America’s income and wealth has reached levels that our conventional economic stats have trouble revealing. [Cross-posted from Inequality.org] We’ve all seen the stats on America’s extreme inequality. Over 20 percent of our nation’s income flows to the top 1 percent. The top 1 percent’s share of our country’s wealth is approaching 40 … Read more

A Message to our Trump Supporting Commenters

Texas Woman Who Claimed COVID-19 Was ‘Media Driven’ Hoax Dies From Virus (Image via Facebook) To our Trump-supporting commenters here at BfAZ (and those readers who share their worldview): Mark Twain famously observed that it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. But I’m going to give it … Read more

Welcome to Hectobillionaire Land

[Cross-posted from Inequality.org] You don’t hear much about millionaires these days in America. Which makes some sense. Add up all our nation’s personal wealth, divide by our number of people, and we have an average wealth per person in the United States today of about $300,000. At that average, a family of three worth a … Read more

Rodney the Ungood

[Readers: I cross-posted this two years ago. It’s one of the best political take-downs I’ve seen. Since Rodney is again running for office – this time, for Maricopa County Assessor — I figured it was worth re-posting]

[cross-posted from Pima Liberator]

By Joel Feinman

Note to BfAZ readers: In the annals of political takedown pieces in Arizona, this piece should have a secure place. Upon reading it, I emailed the author, Joel Feinman, and asked if I could share. And the target, Rodney Glassman, is so deserving. Those of you with sizable social media followings, please share.

“Oh, he’s a wondrous talker and has the power / To tell you nothing hour after hour / If, by mistake, he ever came to the point / The shock would put his jawbone out of joint” – Molière, The Misanthrope

American politics has vomited up some truly repellent characters as of late, but few are as soulless as Arizona Corporation Commission candidate Rodney Glassman. Trying to explain who and what Rodney is to people who have never heard of him can be challenging. A polite commentator might describe Rodney as a lawyer with a colorful past, who has been active in Arizona politics for many years as a Democrat and now as Republican. Others who are less polite and more judgmental could describe him as a supremely egotistical and morally corrupt individual, who would join any party and advocate for any cause, as long as doing so would advance his political career by the radius of a single electron.

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