Submitted by Tony Wikrent on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 3:10pm
Submitted by libbyliberal on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 1:52am
Submitted by okanogen on Tue, 08/24/2010 - 12:23pm
Yow! From the Sociological Images blog:
It isn’t about making sure you’re buying from companies that pay a living wage or fighting for better working conditions. Symbolic solidarity — paying a nod to the working class by buying products (beer, clothing, etc.) — is often seen as sufficient. By drinking PBR you’re identifying with blue-collar workers in spirit, if not in any specific, concrete way.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by libbyliberal on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 11:00pm
Yo, head-buried-in-sand Americans!!! The Iraq War is over!!!! Let yourselves enjoy a long-awaited exhalation.
Well, half of one. There is still that other war.
However, this sure sounds like a big deal. Obama is telling us in that deliberate, endearingly self-effacing (i.e., slickly cautious and calculating) way of his that he has fulfilled a great promise.
What a relief! The news media can pump up the national esteem a bit on this one to help compete with the insanely irrational tea party and racist right drumbeats. As we round the corner to midterms, Dem government officials, military operatives and pundits can posture "Iraq victory" before the BP- and war-battered vast, struggling, myopic majority of citizens. Read below the fold...
Submitted by lambert on Thu, 08/05/2010 - 9:37am
Submitted by Tony Wikrent on Thu, 08/05/2010 - 12:35am
Cross-posted from Real Economics.
Most of the economic ideas behind the libertarian movement in the United States today can be directly traced to “Austrian school” economist Ludwig von Mises. This is the crowd whose persistent answer to almost all government mismanagement of the economy is to return to the gold standard. Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 2:06am
Submitted by lambert on Wed, 06/16/2010 - 6:05pm
Corporations, that is:
The BP oil spill is part of the same problem as the financial crisis: The BP oil spill and the banking crisis are two examples of the era we are living in, the era of corporate anarchy.
In a nutshell, in this era of corporate anarchy, corporations do not have to abide by any rules—none at all. Legal, moral, ethical, even financial rules are irrelevant. They have all been rescinded in the pursuit of profit—literally nothing else matters.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Sun, 06/13/2010 - 9:51pm
U.S. Discovers Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by okanogen on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:12am
While reading a link from The Oil Drum, provided to document that the leak rate is far exceeding bp's capability to process it*, I noted this curious fact:
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is leading efforts to fend off any potential takeover attempts for the U.K. oil major, according to a report in the Independent on Sunday.
Goldman, as BP's regular advisor, is "rumored to be dusting off the company's defense playbook," the newspaper said.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by Randall Kohn on Thu, 05/27/2010 - 2:22pm
Submitted by john.halle on Sun, 05/16/2010 - 8:42pm
Salazar Unleashed
Why Big Green Must Die
Following the announcement of the right wing rogues' gallery which would serve as Obama's cabinet, the appointment of Ken Salazar, a well known shill for the oil and gas industry, elicited comparatively little comment.
Among the few who managed to express their outrage was Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity who described Salazar as "a right-of-center Democrat who often favors industry and big agricultural interests in battles over global warming, fuel efficiency and endangered species." Read below the fold...
Submitted by lambert on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 12:59pm
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Sun, 05/09/2010 - 9:02pm
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Sat, 04/24/2010 - 5:27pm
The administration's roll-out of its austerity program for Americans fits a pattern we saw in health care reform, in the run-up to the Stimulus bill, in cap-and-trade, in financial reform, whatever. The Administration always operates from the top down, and then tries to mobilize support from the bottom. It decides what it wants to do and then brings interest group/think tanks like the Peterson Foundation to bear to reinforce its narrative in the non-Government sector. The think tanks collaborate with the Administration to set the parameters of public debate in the media. Much of the netroots joins the chorus. If needed parts of the public are mobilized to support the received view through Administration-friendly “progressive” organizations, and real solutions to real problems get shut out of sight and out of mind.
In the fiscal responsibility/reform drive the narrative is that we (the US Government) will run out of money (US Dollars), and won't be able to borrow it, because interest rates will be too high; or get it through taxation, because raising taxes is deflationary. So the only way not to run out and leave some dollars for our children is to cut Government spending and at least decrease the debt-to-GDP ratio.
We can't cut the Wars, 'cause that's national security. We can't cut the fight against terrorism 'cause that, too, is national security. We can't cut tax expenditures (or other welfare for businesses), because that will hurt business in a time of recession. So what's left? Why, only entitlements,
of course. Read below the fold...
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