July 27, 2023 The Congress is about to embark on the longest of its numerous annual “recesses” – some would call these five weeks until after Labor Day in September a vacation from your Washington, D.C. workplace. Does it seem reckless not to be in session, holding hearings, floor deliberations, personally communicating with one another, … Read more
The Incommunicados is a 180-page compilation of unanswered letters to government officials and prominent figures in other non-governmental institutions who have become impenetrably cocooned and unresponsive to the public. Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein present their unrequited correspondences to major public figures on pressing issues facing the United States. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign … Read more
By Ralph Nader July 17, 2023 Our Capitol Hill Citizen (CHC) newspaper is just out with its latest edition. (To obtain a copy visit capitolhillcitizen.com). All forty pages in print only (more on that later) are devoted to empowering voters with news beyond official source journalism. The mainstream press pushes reporters to rely on official … Read more
By Ralph Nader Most heads of giant corporations are drunk with their own power. These corporate CEOs push the envelope in ways that harm defenseless people. They believe they can get away with anything, and they do, with few exceptions. The few corporate crime prosecutions keep declining from Obama to Trump to Biden, due to … Read more
By Ralph Nader Rick Claypool is a level-headed policy analyst and number-cruncher for Public Citizen, who is known for reporting the decline in corporate crime enforcement with each succeeding Presidency. (Biden less than Trump). His latest report (with Cheyenne Hunt) clearly shows him in an unusually agitated state. Its title is “Sorry in Advance!” Rapid … Read more
By Ralph Nader June 9, 2023 The pace of for-profit technological innovations is accelerating, but to what end beyond corporate sales? The gap between marketing new high-tech products and assessing their intended and unintended consequences has never been greater. Let’s start with the ballooning of augmented reality inside virtual reality. Facebook’s Oculus Rift escapism has … Read more
It is the season of annual shareholder meetings for giant corporations when CEOs go through the motions of elections for their Board of Directors and approval of other resolutions. People who own stock in General Motors (GM) receive the “GM Meeting Information” in an envelope emblazoned with this disingenuous message: “Your Voice/Your Vote/Be Heard. Every … Read more
By Ralph Nader May 10, 2023 Raising the federal debt limit over the years has secured unconditional routine Congressional passage and was endorsed by presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. After all, it allows the U.S. Treasury to pay past and existing bills, not expand future spending. Routine, that is, until the recent arrival of … Read more
By Ralph Nader April 28, 2023 Here is a letter that Steve Clifford and I sent to the CEO Tim Cook of Apple corporation, whose percentage of charitable giving relative to its taxable income is astoundingly low as compared to other corporations noted below. Apple should increase its charitable giving. April 24, 2023 Tim Cook, … Read more
By Ralph Nader April 14, 2023 Spring, the season of renewal, is here. The ants are diligently building their little symmetrical ant hills. The robins are in their nests occupied with posterity. And the anointed members of Congress, after a long recess, aka vacation, return to work on April 17th. The next day, April 18th … Read more