DEI? WWJD?

 

February 18, 2025

 

Companies that made a big production out of adopting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices are now rolling them back because of the political climate. They’re afraid that adherence to the ideal will make them unpopular and cause them to lose money.

 

Here’s the thing: If they’d been following fair hiring practices all along, they wouldn’t have needed to trumpet their newfound initiatives when it was all the rage. They could have just pointed to their hiring history and called it good. Then they wouldn’t need to backpedal now.

 

Remember that once-popular question WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”)? It’s funny that the conservatives who call themselves Christians aren’t asking themselves that when it comes to including everybody in employment opportunities.

 

DEI? What WOULD Jesus do?

 

 

 

A Real Problem

 

February 12, 2025

 

There is talk in the Missouri legislature about eliminating the capital gains tax. Let’s move on from the part where wealthy people and corporations would pay less tax while the state already has a huge budget problem; and let’s not concern ourselves with the fact that separate legislation is being floated that would give the General Assembly the power to tax services that ordinary people use: HVAC work, lawn care, dog grooming…I hope that doesn’t include haircuts. 

 

No, the real losers in the deal will be the Real Estate brokers, who routinely try to talk people into buying more expensive houses when they sell their current ones. “You don’t want to pay that Capital Gains tax,” they say, as if paying the tax is worse than paying a ton of interest over the next 15-30 years on the more expensive home that you don’t need. Now what leverage will they use in order to upsell?

 

I wonder if Missouri realtors will rally to protect their  interests?

 

 

 

Appeasing the Great Appeaser

 

February 10, 2025

 

When you look at Donald Trump’s position on many matters, it’s evident that they’re not based on any real convictions or ideas that he has. Nope, he’s taking the position of powerful business interests—rolling back protections on consumers and on the environment, for example—and the people who chant his name the loudest.

 

And he’s doing it because he wants their approval. He wants them to like him.

 

It’s too bad that people who believe in protecting workers, consumers, and the environment don’t have the bucks to flash around to impress him; and that they aren’t as shrill and fawning as his current base. He’ll go with the biggest crowd—he NEEDS people to like him—and with the biggest bucks—he WANTS to impress the people he sees as being powerful.

 

We should try outshouting the other people. Have a big mob chanting “Environmentalists for Trump!” or something. We need to make him feel like WE’RE the people he wants to appease.