Posted on 09 November 2011. Tags: Debt, Deficits, Michael Bloomberg, Nonsense, Paul Krugman, Social Security
Billions of dollars can buy you a lot–for example, a little toy called New York City that you pocket for yourself and, then, keep for yourself even when the rules say it’s time to go (hey, if you’ve got billions, you can buy off politicians to let you keep the toy for a little […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 08 November 2011. Tags: "Free Market", Economists, Greg Mankiw, Harvard, protest
Ah, it’s Monday, and I’m walking the tip-to-tip–from upper Manhattan all the way to Wall Street–support march for #OWS. So, I feel optimistic–and here’s another little tidbit of news: the youthful economists-of-the-future are giving a big thumbs down to the teachings of the so-called "free market". They staged a walkout last week–which only got […]
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Posted on 05 November 2011. Tags: Capitulation, Debt, Deficit, Democrats, Financial Transactions Tax, Medicaid, medicare, Nonsense, Peter DeFazio, Super Committee, Tax Rates
Yesterday, I wrote about the monumentally crazy letter co-signed by 60 House DEMOCRATS, who, by adding their names to the letter, in my view, were embracing austerity, cuts in Medicare and a de-funding of basic government services. One of the signers of the letter, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), responded to my post. So, in […]
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Posted on 04 November 2011. Tags: Capitulation, Debt, Deficit, Democrats, Medicaid, medicare, Nonsense, Super Committee
In today’s installment of stupidity, crass political calculations and the desperate need to be inducted into the Washington Post’s circle of Very Serious People, I present to you a list of 60 House Democrats who now say they are willing to lock arms with the people who seek to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security […]
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Posted on 03 November 2011. Tags: Alan Simpson, Alice Rivlin, Debt, Deficit, Erskine Bowles, Molly Ivins, Moody's, Nonsense, Pete Domenici, Republicans, Super Committee, Taxes
Somehow, I’ve been thinking a lot about Molly Ivins recently and how she would know exactly what to say about the absurdity of our political leaders who are just clueless. She once said, of former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey, “If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drillin’ rights on that […]
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Posted on 02 November 2011. Tags: Eugene Isenberg, Golden Parachutes, Greed, Jon Corzine, MF Global Holdings, Shareholders
The "Greed is Good" ethos–let me get my hands on every dollar possible no matter how many people lose their jobs or how sleazy I look or how bad this is for the shareholders–has not gone away. As I’ve argued, part of the problem is that, since the financial crisis in 2008, the system […]
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Posted in General Interest
Posted on 01 November 2011. Tags: Clarence Thomas, Hermain Cain, Sexual Harassment
What’s all the handwringing from conservatives about? Well, that did not take long. Minutes after news broke Sunday night that Herman Cain had been accused of sexual harassment in the 1990s, comparisons were drawn to Clarence Thomas. Even 20 years after Justice Thomas joined the Supreme Court, and Americans heard the term “sexual harassment’’ […]
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Posted on 29 October 2011. Tags: "Free Market", Global Catastrophe, Greed, International Labor Organization, Poverty, Social Security, United Nations, Wages
1.4 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD MAKE $1.25 A DAY. That is a fact. That is a moral scandal. Yesterday, I was at the United Nations for the unveiling of an important, if a bit boringly titled, "Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization". You should read this report but […]
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Posted on 28 October 2011. Tags: Carl Levin, Crimes, Financial Crisis, Goldman Sachs, Greed, J.P. Morgan, Minnows, Pensions, Raj Rajaratnam, Rajat K. Gupta, Robert Rubin, Wall Street
Gupta. Rajaratnam. Blaring headlines are a potentially dangerous distraction from the truth: the bankers responsible for the economic catastrophe that wiped out millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in wealth are still free and clear, reaping tens of millions of dollars more and laughing all the way to next purchase of a yacht or […]
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Posted on 26 October 2011. Tags: Congressional Budget Office, Corruption, Democrats, Incomes, Inequality, Republicans, Robbery, Taxes, The Rich, Workers
Well, we didn’t really have to wait for the Congressional Budget Office to tell us this: the rich got richer. But, the timing is good, what with Rick Perry trying his snake oil salesman pitch for a flat tax, which would make the robbery grow, and the continued growth of the Occupy The Country […]
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Posted in General Interest