Economy

More Hostage taking over the BCA

"Look at your national budget."

That was the answer given to a question that was asked of former Chilean political prisoner Rev. Ulises Torres. The question was...

"When do you know if you have a military government?"

No matter reports to the contrary once again the MIC and governmental figures are telling tales of woe if the BCA (Budget Control Act of 2011) is allowed to take effect. In his new article Dr. Joseph Gerson nails it that what we need is an honest conversation of what's needed to turn our economy around and not "hair on fire" rhetoric from people who's livelihoods depend on feeding at the taxpayers teat.

Kick the Habit: Fund Our Communities, Not War

Like a crack addict reaching for the next hit, unable to envision or take steps toward a regimen of health, too many of our political leaders are embracing their roles as hostages of what President Eisenhower termed the military-industrial complex.

It get's better down there.

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The Economist via Yves Smith: U.S. Cities May Seek $40 Bln Damages Due to Banks’ LIBOR Fraud

With all the noise being generated throughout the business press about LIBOR-gate (the fraudulent manipulation by many of the world’s largest banks of the London Interbank Offered Rate and the LIBOR-OIS spread), it’s nice to see folks finally getting down to brass tacks and discussing just how much money in damages will be sought out by those adversely affected by the scandal on this side of the pond.

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CBO: Federal debt to exceed 70 percent of economic output

McClatchy Newspapers has reported on a "nonpartisan" CBO report concerning the United States budget deficit and the national debt. This is what we're going to be dealing with later this year and into next year, the deficit and the debt. Again.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/05/151255/cbo-federal-debt-to-exceed-...

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Populist conservative backlash against "The Loathsome Romney Candidacy"?

This in yesterday from The American Conservative magazine. There may be hope for bringing over disaffected Republican-leaning independents, but also perhaps even classical conservative Republicans -- versus the maniacal Ayn Rand-luvin' GOP radical libertarians like Paul Ryan, Romney, and Rand Paul.

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Anti-Capitalist Meet Up: Part I, Unemployment and Workfare in the UK

“The industrial reserve army, during the periods of stagnation and average prosperity, weighs down the active army of workers during the periods of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions. The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work. It confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers (Marx, 1867, Capital, volume I, Penguin edition, p. 792).”

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Economic Populist: Why Is Europe's Economy Imploding?

Burning the Midnight Oil for Economic Populism

(NB. This is a copy and paste of what started as a "blog post". See also the original blog post for some excellent contributions by commentators there)


The European Union is in a world of hurt right now, as economies go. The crises in Greece and elsewhere are becoming famous, and latest confidence surveys from Germany (pdf) suggest Germany is risking recession.

The problem? The system was built broken, based on unfounded fantasies about how real world economies actually work. Or, as John Maynard Keynes said nearly a century ago:

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

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Broken Promises and the Fear From the Fallout.

Update: Changed title as suggested in comments below

Once you have experienced extreme poverty, even years later, the fear of slipping back into it lingers. The Great Recession brought back some memories from when I was a too young father, and struggling musician, and the fear of having no shelter, nothing to eat, and the humiliation of those experiences.

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Why Is Europe's Economy Imploding?

The European Union is in a world of hurt right now, as economies go. The crises in Greece and elsewhere are becoming famous, and latest confidence surveys from Germany (pdf) suggest Germany is risking recession.

The problem? The system was built broken, based on unfounded fantasies about how real world economies actually work. Or, as John Maynard Keynes said nearly a century ago:

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

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