CHOMP! MUNCH! A school of piranhas gets into a feeding frenzy. Photo by loozrboy.

Things that Dems should have learned, and must learn…

In politics, diplomacy and journalism it’s a mistake to ignore what the bad guys have to say. It’s even worse to pretend that there is no good and no evil, that there is no right and no wrong, that there is no truth and no falsehood, and thus “balance” preposterous and malicious lies with denials of such and pretend that it’s fair. Also useless is the pretense that a writer or a news medium has no point of view, and from that naïve obliviousness comes “objectivity.”

So what does a society, and one of its major political parties, do when major media upon which folks had depended to be supportive or at least open to persuasion have been led by their owners into the ranks of those spinning the big lies?

The first thing is a great exodus, of staffers, readers, listeners and viewers of the media that have disappointed. Such movements are already underway. Will The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times be mere shells of what they were in short order? Deservedly so, if that’s what happens.

What’s to replace the sunken former flagships of the corporate liberal press? Some of the mdedia businesses themselves will find new billionaires or new hedge funds to buy them out at reduced prices. Reputations and followings would be hard to restore. A lot of the individuals thrown away or driven away are going into business for themselves with Substack pages, their own websites or so on. They are taking fans with them but don’t have a lot of resources and face bans, shadow bans and denigration from corporate giants like Meta, X, Google and MSN. It’s rough going and it’s to be expected that the Trump administration will try all manner of things to add ‘do they share our interests?’ litmus tests to blacklist reporters, commentators and cartoonists.

Still, freedom of the press is an individual right and an enduring idea, such that what the sleazier politicians have complained about for years will come to greater fruition. A “piranha school” of small media without publishers to be bribed will make their political lives shorter and more miserable. Especially if the emerging new wave of small media ditch the corporate or ex-corporate airs of validation and find ways to cooperate and coordinate.

The Democratic Party itself will have to change with a new media environment and shed the disgraceful kowtow to the real or imaginary “donor base.” A hustler showing up and waving money should elicit more press attention and more suspicious reactions from party organizations. Those Democrats in public or party offices who were so friendly to the hustlers should be more likely to be called to account for that. The embrace of certain political action committees is likely to ever more often be the kiss of death because, after all, there is a piranha school forming out there-.

The relevant veto power here. CONUSI photo.

Painful changes to Seguro Social but
the business groups’ Plan A is out

There is this actuarial problem with Panama’s Social Security Fund (CSS). Everyone but the totally oblivious recognizes the severity of the situation, which has drawn international attention.

The original plan that was sent by the executve branch to the legislature was a creation of business lobbyists, the main points of which were that beneficiaries must páy more and get less, and those who stole get to keep.

President Mulino is not an idiot. He put the proposal out there to start a reform ball rolling, but with a caveat that he expected changes to happen in the course of the legislative process. The draft we are looking at now is different. Everybody knows that the retirement age will go up and that there may be other painful changes in what gets paid out. The need for additional revenues paid in is generally accepted.

However, in the legislature and from some of the business groups there are selfish demands. From the PRD especially, job protection for political hirees of the past is a big ticket item. The banks have taken their cut, and want to take more. The medicine importers’ cartel wants to continue playing their usual inflationary games. The copper mining hoodlums and the media they bribe are still telling us that, contrary to what we have experienced and to Panama’s constitution, reviving the unfavorable copper mine concession would be the salvation of Seguro Social. Some tourist industry investors, and some hustlers who purport to speak for the industry, say that a $10 fee for tourists coming into Tocumen Airport would be a national calamity. Private kidney dialysis clinic owners and others are pushing for more unfettered “externalization” of CSS services.

Mulilno says he won’t sign a financially non-viable bill, which he likens to paying a ransom.

The most relevant unions, those of the CSS doctors, the public school teachers and the construction workers, seem ready to accept some sacrifices by their members, but on condition that the special business interests don’t get to keep their dibs.

Union leaders warn that, however Mulino and the National Assembly manage their back-and-forth, the veto for an unacceptable bill is up to them, and would happen on the streets.

Let’s not put that to the test, which would be an expensive exercise for Panama. Pass a reasonable under the sad circumstances CSS compromise without all the business interest dibs.

Susan Sontag in 1979. Photo by Lyn Gilbert.

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