Rich Men North of Richmond #1

[TheBigA]

Exactly. What I see is that local small communities supposedly do better than big ones where the authorities are distanced from the people.

It depends. A lot of federal programs are designed with local community handoffs. You don't go to a centralized federal hospital for an operation paid for by Medicare. Some foreign countries require government-paid medicine to be officiated in a government facility. As I said in an earlier post, what is covered by food stamps is often decided by a local check-out clerk. Other federal programs, such as unemployment compensation, are handled by state governments. The problem with small local communities is they simply don't have the resources to handle these problems. We live in a big country, and that's not going to change.

In my view, the song misunderstands how the government works, and how government programs work. That's not hard to believe, given how complicated all of this is. People in government obviously don't understand their own role, and who they serve. They're paid by all taxpayers, not just the ones who vote for them.

 

[davideduardo]

It depends. A lot of federal programs are designed with local community handoffs. You don't go to a centralized federal hospital for an operation paid for by Medicare. Some foreign countries require government-paid medicine to be officiated in a government facility. As I said in an earlier post, what is covered by food stamps is often decided by a local check-out clerk. Other federal programs, such as unemployment compensation, are handled by state governments. The problem with small local communities is they simply don't have the resources to handle these problems. We live in a big country, and that's not going to change.

You are comparing the United States system of decentralization with nearly every other nation of the world where there is very much less local government and nearly everything is handled by the national departments.

It's astounding to make a comparison of how much government activity is local, county and state based in the US compared with nations ranging from France to Japan to Mexico.

In my view, the song misunderstands how the government works, and how government programs work. That's not hard to understand, given how complicated all of this is. People in government obviously don't understand their own role, and who they serve. They're paid by all taxpayers, not just the ones who vote for them.

And all that is a reflection of how terrible civics education is in most American school systems. It's no wonder people don't "get it" when, for example, the Supreme Court returns rights to the individual states that they feel are not given to the Federal government by the Constitution and its amendments.

 

[TheBigA]

It's astounding to make a comparison of how much government activity is local, county and state based in the US compared with nations ranging from France to Japan to Mexico.

That is the federal system in action. For example local and state governments are allowed to own radio stations that program to citizens. Local and state governments own educational institutions. Local and state governments oversee all elections, including presidential ones.

And all that is a reflection of how terrible civics education is in most American school systems.

I agree. People will not get a lesson in civics from the lyrics to popular music.

 

[Bill Betten]

Considering it's just a figment of the right-wing paranoid imagination, I can't support something that doesn't exist.
I just said it because you brought up concerns over it in another thread. Haven't heard much about it on the radio lately, have you?

It doesn't exist, lol. Ok.

 

[davideduardo]

I agree. People will not get a lesson in civics from the lyrics to popular music.

I learned more about civics and government in my high school in Ecuador than I did in a highly reputed public school in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

 

[Kelly A]

I learned more about civics and government in my high school in Ecuador than I did in a highly reputed public school in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

Now you have members of Congress who learned all they need to know about civics from Facebook or Truth Social.

 

[TheBigA]

Mediabase reports that Rich Men attracted 14 more adds at country radio for a total of 22 stations, charting at #56

 

[CTListener]

Mediabase reports that Rich Men attracted 14 more adds at country radio for a total of 22 stations, charting at #56

These are just adds at those stations (60 or so, I think) that make up the reporting panel, right? Not adds at all 2,300-whatever country stations currently on the air?

 

[Mark Roberts]

You are comparing the United States system of decentralization with nearly every other nation of the world where there is very much less local government and nearly everything is handled by the national departments.

It's astounding to make a comparison of how much government activity is local, county and state based in the US compared with nations ranging from France to Japan to Mexico.

Or you could compare to Germany, Spain, or Belgium, and come to a different conclusion. West Germany had a federal system installed after World War II where the Länder (states) have considerable power. When it came time to accommodate additional states as a result of unification, the former East German states were folded into the West German structure and now function identically. Spain continues to spin off responsibilities to the comunidades autónomas, which are roughly equivalent to states, and sometimes more (e.g. Cataluña). There are days when it seems like Belgium is held together by bubblegum what with numerous disputes between the Flemish north and the Walloon south, both of which have more power than the national government. Or as is often stated in the Benelux region, "Belgium is the world's most successful failed state."

France is notable for being one of the most centralized democracies in the world. The Netherlands were once not far behind, but more responsibilities and powers have gone to the provinces in the past couple of decades.

 

[davideduardo]

Or you could compare to Germany, Spain, or Belgium, and come to a different conclusion. West Germany had a federal system installed after World War II where the Länder (states) have considerable power. When it came time to accommodate additional states as a result of unification, the former East German states were folded into the West German structure and now function identically.

But the German entities have far less of a wide scope in what they can do independently of the federal government.

Spain continues to spin off responsibilities to the comunidades autónomas, which are roughly equivalent to states, and sometimes more (e.g. Cataluña).

Very different. Spain was formed around the time of Columbus out of a whole bunch of independent kingdoms and principalities, most with their own language. While united with Castilian as the official language, some areas continued to use their own language and customs. There have been efforts to make some of them, such as the Basque Country, Galicia and Catalonia, independent but associated with Spain. Those areas are more like what Puerto Rico is to the United States... separate customs, language, culture, art, literature and identity.

There are days when it seems like Belgium is held together by bubblegum what with numerous disputes between the Flemish north and the Walloon south, both of which have more power than the national government. Or as is often stated in the Benelux region, "Belgium is the world's most successful failed state."

But, in the radio world I was thinking of larger nations, such as most of the former Soviet / USSR like Poland, Hungary as well as France, Spain, and even the radio anarchy of Italy.

France is notable for being one of the most centralized democracies in the world. The Netherlands were once not far behind, but more responsibilities and powers have gone to the provinces in the past couple of decades.

But you can take a two hour train trip from nearly anywhere in the Netherlands and be in another country.

France, though, has amazing national radio services with superb web complements including streamed format variants and very good use of the web to do weather and traffic for every significant metro in the nation except Basse-Terre and Fort-de-France.

 

[Mark Roberts]

But you can take a two hour train trip from nearly anywhere in the Netherlands and be in another country.

Even so, there are dialects - which can catch outsiders unaware. My mother-in-law had to learn Brabants when she moved from the west side of the country in order to deal with folks providing household services. Otherwise things would go wrong. My father-in-law never dealt with people working on their house because he spent all day at Philips working in English.

France, though, has amazing national radio services with superb web complements including streamed format variants and very good use of the web to do weather and traffic for every significant metro in the nation except Basse-Terre and Fort-de-France.

French public radio is pretty amazing and very well organized.

 

[davideduardo]

Even so, there are dialects - which can catch outsiders unaware. My mother-in-law had to learn Brabants when she moved from the west side of the country in order to deal with folks providing household services. Otherwise things would go wrong. My father-in-law never dealt with people working on their house because he spent all day at Philips working in English.

I was surprised on my visits to Philips in Eindhoven at how many people were speaking English among themselves. I got taken to the executive dining room one time, and there were more people speaking English than anything else.

French public radio is pretty amazing and very well organized.

I find the RTF to be as pedant as most Parisians are. It's the commercial stations I love.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I was surprised on my visits to Philips in Eindhoven at how many people were speaking English among themselves. I got taken to the executive dining room one time, and there were more people speaking English than anything else.

English is the official internal working language of Philips, so not surprising.

I find the RTF to be as pedant as most Parisians are. It's the commercial stations I love.

I've rarely had Parisians throw shade at me. Then again, I made considerable effort to learn the language and the etiquette (which is pretty comparable to what you need to do in a small or medium-sized Midwestern city) and that gets you a long way.

 

[boombox4]

What's your point? It's another shitty rightwing country hate song being amplified by conservative manipulators and Billboard fell for it. It's #71 at radio which is pretty irrelevant as far as airplay goes.

I personally know a tech guy who singlehandedly amplified his unknown musician friend's song up to #1 online several years ago. He didn't even need a team of collaborators to do it, he just wrote some automation. Now magnify that 1,000,000x for the political operatives who do it for money every day, and this is what you get.

If a song gets 17.5 million streams on Spotify, Pandora, etc. and 33 million views on YouTube, that's not artificial manipulation, and the money made is real.

 

[davideduardo]

English is the official internal working language of Philips, so not surprising.

As I said, when I got there the first time in around 1966 it surprised me, particularly in informal situations like at lunch. My FM, the first in northern South America, did a deal with Philips to promote the band and Philips radios. So, because this was a trial program, I got a number of free trips to the Netherlands and was treated with amazing respect, considering I was barely 20 years old!

I've rarely had Parisians throw shade at me. Then again, I made considerable effort to learn the language and the etiquette (which is pretty comparable to what you need to do in a small or medium-sized Midwestern city) and that gets you a long way.

My French at the time was passable, but not as good as my Portuguese and Italian. I preferred other parts of France, my favorite being the Rhone Valley wine district and anywhere along the Spanish border plus Andorra where I got along better in Spanish.

 

[boombox4]

Curious, I listened to the song. It's one of several posted versions, this one just has the guy singing and playing his steel string. 1.7M views, and it's not the official release.

160K comments below it. Obviously, people are engaged....

One line in the song talks about 300 pound welfare cheats. He should have replaced that line with something else during his last edit of the lyrics.

The rest of the words, however, are about what millions of working class people in the US are dealing with every day: Inflation. Numerous polls over the past few months show that Americans in general think inflation is still the biggest issue in the country, and according to a recent poll, only 15% approve of Congress -- presumably the "rich men north of Richmond" that Oliver Anthony seems to be singing about.

So, no matter how you slice and dice it, this song appears to be hitting a chord with a lot of people.

 

[TheBigA]

The rest of the words, however, are about what millions of working class people in the US are dealing with every day: Inflation.

The word inflation never appears. The word taxes appears several times It's obvious he's complaining about taxes, not inflation:

'Cause your dollar ain't sh*t and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

 

[Mark Roberts]

My French at the time was passable, but not as good as my Portuguese and Italian. I preferred other parts of France, my favorite being the Rhone Valley wine district and anywhere along the Spanish border plus Andorra where I got along better in Spanish.

My absolute favorite city in France is Lyon. Great restaurants, an amazing physical setting and good transportation connections.

The official language of Andorra is Catalan. The physical setting should be awesome but the place is geared towards high-end shopping. I wonder how Andorra's central business district is doing now that rich Russians aren't as plentiful as they were.

 

[davideduardo]

The official language of Andorra is Catalan.

But they speak Spanish, French, and some do OK in Basque. I don't do Catalán, though. I found Quechua much more useful, I guess.

The physical setting should be awesome but the place is geared towards high-end shopping. I wonder how Andorra's central business district is doing now that rich Russians aren't as plentiful as they were.

 

[Mark Roberts]

But they speak Spanish, French, and some do OK in Basque. I don't do Catalán, though. I found Quechua much more useful, I guess.

Catalan is really a transition between Spanish and Southern French dialects. I can understand it and read it but haven't ever dared try to say anything in it. Spanish almost always works in Cataluña. I did have a bookstore clerk once in Barcelona who refused to answer me in Spanish and who instead used carefully selected Catalan that a Spanish speaker could understand, including counting out change. Fortunately Catalan doesn't follow the French approach to counting in tens!