• House of Public Discourse Progressive News Network

  • By: Johnny Hill
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House of Public Discourse Progressive News Network

By: Johnny Hill
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  • News, Politics, News Commentary, Progressive News, Progressive Commentary, Talk Shows, Music
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Episodes
  • The U.S. Capitol Riot Began Years Ago. Let’s Understand Why America Is So Divided.

    The U.S. Capitol Riot Began Years Ago. Let’s Understand Why America Is So Divided.
    Mar 12 2022

    House Founder Johnny Hill discusses the current issue of division in our American society.
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    20 mins
  • Until the oligarchs lose power, there will be no reform in Ukraine!

    Until the oligarchs lose power, there will be no reform in Ukraine!
    Mar 4 2022
      Discontent is looming in Ukraine this winter. Following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, the country's political climate has changed dramatically after six years of imperfect progress. In recent months, the government has abandoned reforms and reverted to the worst practices of the toxic past. Ukraine is now in danger of descending into the same kind of corrupt chaos that characterized its first two decades as an independent nation.   As one of the reformers who entered government in the tumultuous period after the traumatic events of early 2014, I recognize that now we are at an ominous crossroads in Ukraine's nation-building journey. Indeed, we haven't lost the war yet, but we've lost a significant battle.   Over the past six years, thousands of young Ukrainians have interrupted their careers to contribute to the transformation of their country. In the immediate aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, some took up public office. Volodymyr Groysman and Oleksiy Honcharuk both did so during their later governments. This period of optimism and idealism has ended.   Their place has been taken by officials whose values are completely different from their own. Advocates of reform and supporters of liberal, pro-Western views have been forced out of public service altogether. They are now being illegally targeted by the security services.   Young Ukrainians' enthusiasm for public service in recent years is unlikely to be repeated. Despite the patriotic sentiment in the private sector, the government has done everything it can to discourage its top talent from joining the government.   In addition to intentionally low wages, bogus criminal charges, and the near-certainty of persistent attacks by Ukraine's oligarch-controlled mainstream media, there are other deterrents. Few people find this appealing, as it is understandable.   The most tragic aspect of the current situation is that President Zelenskyy had the opportunity to fundamentally change this country a little over one year ago. Following his unexpected victory in Ukraine's presidential election in April 2019, coupled with the Servant of the People party's equally impressive victory in parliamentary elections three months later, he had an unprecedented opportunity to push through a program of potentially tough reforms.   Ukraine, on the other hand, has shifted in the opposite direction. Ukraine's president has now undone most of the modest progress that came before him, despite running on a vague but broadly reformist platform. Eight years have passed subsequently Ukraine has regressed.   What has led to this dramatic reversal of Ukraine's national trajectory?   Insert Photo    It has been the country's oligarchs who have played the decisive role so often in its history as an independent state. Due to their near-total control over the Ukrainian media, democratic forces have been marginalized and discredited. Through their widespread influence in the civil service, law enforcement, business, and particularly the judiciary, they have sabotaged, blocked, stifled, and ultimately reversed reform after reform.   This oligarch-led counter-revolution is evident. Now that Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration isn't a foregone conclusion, the country's pro-Russian lobby is once again gaining confidence and raising its voice. The West is gradually lessening its support for Ukraine as formerly dependable allies begin to doubt the direction it is taking under President Zelenskyy. What better way to change that than war?   Ukraine's future trajectory is a subject of doubt among the domestic audience. Millions of Ukrainians have watched bewildered and angry in recent weeks as the Constitutional Court casually annulled some of the most significant reforms of the past six years.   Zelenskyy's blustering response to the crisis has become bogged down in parliament, so there are concerns that the Constitutional Court will now follow the same course. There is widespread expectation that the court will reverse even more of the post-2014 legislation that briefly brought Ukraine closer to the dream of a European future.   Zelenskyy's first eighteen months as president have had little in common with the ideals that he claimed to represent throughout his campaign. On top of that, they directly contradict the will of the Ukrainian people, who have made it clear that they wish to see the country pursue radical reforms.   Unrest and instability are a result of this disconnect between policy and promises. Ukraine's underlying problems need to be resolved before mass protests can succeed.   It has now become painfully clear that efforts to transform Ukraine since 2014 have not succeeded in changing the state's foundation or ushering in a truly new era. As long as we continue to play by the rules of the oligarchic system, Ukraine will remain destined to repeat its mistakes.   Ukrainian popular uprisings have achieved some important gains such as the right to free and...
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    26 mins
  • Neoliberalism has basically cannibalized our Heartland and Rural America!

    Neoliberalism has basically cannibalized our Heartland and Rural America!
    Dec 18 2021
    The Script Neoliberalism has badly damaged the economy in half of America in order to make a very small percentage of Americans much better off than they once were. Neoliberalism has basically cannibalized our Heartland and rural economy in order to concentrate our economy into a couple dozen hot desirable urban areas and several dozen upscale resort towns. Hot desirable high tech urban areas are doing fairly well though rapidly rising housing costs there are making it impossible for many young people to buy homes without lots of down-payment assistance. High rapidly-rising housing costs are also driving low-income and even lower-middle-income residents out of high-cost cities and resort towns. Metro-Denver where my wife and I live is a good example. Here our non-tipped minimum wage is $12.32/hour and our tipped minimum is $9.30/hour. Both rates will rise in January by 2.5%. Our median household income is $87K. However, our median home sales price has risen to $704K and our median rent to $1825/month. Our current jobless rate is only 4.6%. Retail price inflation here in housing, healthcare, grocery costs, and utility bills is up by about 40% since 2018. Housing cost here is up by close to double since 2012 and by 550% since 1991. (St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank's MSPUS chart). In 1991 the Federal non-tipped minimum wage was $4.25/hour. Healthcare costs here including the rise in out-of-pocket costs is up by close to triple since 2014 and by close to 1000% since 2000. Utility costs and numerous other costs are up by 250% since 2000 also. In 2000 the Federal minimum wage was $5.25/hour. I can see why older married homeowners are much more supportive of Biden than younger mainly renters are. Young people have never seen the kind of inflation we are seeing now even though inflation was in the 6-7% annual range from 1987-1991 and even higher in the 1970s. Rents and home prices are skyrocketing in most of America as new housing construction has greatly lagged demand in most of America. A recent real estate industry study found that new housing construction has been about 5 million units less than demand since 2000. Our hottest most-desirable cities and towns are out of land and nothing short of declaring eminent domain over entire suburbs of single-family housing, some of it nearly new, will fix the problem in our most-desirable urban areas, which also have our highest median incomes. Cost-driven outmigration from high-cost cities is driving housing and other living costs up in nearby lower-cost cities too. There are several articles in Kansas City media, the Kansas City Star and others, going back several years, decrying the Denverization of Kansas City. Outmigration from our even higher-cost West Coast cities has been driving home prices up in Boise, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, and Salt Lake City too. There are still bargain cities in our Heartland such as most Southern Great Lakes cities, or many cities in the Deep South, but wages there are a lot lower too. Our older son lives in Valdosta, GA, where the median home sales price was $133K just a year ago, but don't plan on making more than $40K to $50K there either. Tallahassee is almost as affordable. In Metro-Detroit and the Cleveland, OH area there is plenty of affordable housing but both cities suffer high violent crime rates and a paucity of good-paying employment too. Numerous other Southern Great Lakes cities are affordable too. Obviously with Red Joe Manchin and his sidekick from Arizona relentlessly blocking the Democrat agenda on-behalf of Republicans Joe Biden's agenda is going nowhere. It is too bad that liberals and progressives didn't hold out on passing the infrastructure bill until the Build Back Better Act passed, as now Red Joe has reneged on his tacit agreement to the BBB Act before the infrastructure bill passed. Lots of average Americans are hurting but Red Joe like Republicans only cares about rich Americans and about maintaining his coal-fueled lifestyle. Likely absolutely no change is possible on climate change policy with Red Joe blocking every Democrat initiative. So we are in a stalemate hoping to break the logjam in the 2022 election. Republicans are going to vote in force so Democrats had better be ready to vote as close as possible to 100% of the electorate too. We really need at least 55 votes in the US Senate and control of the US House to have any chance of overcoming Red Joe and the other Blue Dogs and passing any of the Democrat agenda. Otherwise, we are going to lose our democracy to the Republican goal of a brutal right-wing rich makes right faux-Christian police and prison state banana republic dictatorship that liberals and progressives should seriously consider migrating away from. Mark Richardson- House of Public Discourse Member  

     
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    6 mins

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