In the past couple of days, I’ve read some interesting articles and want to share:
Great article on historical/recession events: http://chronicle.com/article/Mad-Men-in-the-He-Cession/63510/
Professor Stiglitz , author of Freefall: America, Free Markets And The Sinking of The World Economy was interviewed recently by the Huffington Post and elegantly relates why the U.S. has not seen a real recovery, despite the assurances of leaders last Spring that the recession was beginning to turn around. Many, myself included, believe we haven’t even hit rock bottom. Stiglitz says:
This approach is having profound implications that are likely to last. In 2010, the projections say that there will be between 2.5 to 3.5 million foreclosures, more than the 2 million that occurred in 2009. So, that’s an example of the dynamics going the wrong way, probably because we put in place the wrong policies. . . .
We haven’t had those kind of policies that would make American more competitive. We had a banking sector that was one of our leading sectors. Some people think that was part of the problem. We diverted people who would have been talented in other areas into banking. It’s not just capital resources problem, it’s our human resources that were misused. . . .
Also, small businesses are having trouble getting credit. These type of companies tend to borrow on the basis of collateral. Collateral is usually the value of their mortgages. That’s gone down, and now they can’t borrow. That’s an area where things seem to be keep getting worse.
When we had our welfare reform of 1996 [when Stiglitz was in the Clinton administration], we made welfare conditional. That is to say, you got welfare payments but you had to go to training and look for a job. . . .
We put the banks on welfare, but we didn’t put any conditions. We said, “You can spend the money you gave them on a Florida vacation.” It’s ironic that we were more “strict” with our poor than our banks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/20/joseph-stiglitz-interview_n_429437.html
See Huffington Post for
Brown win could spark Obama war on Wall Street by James Pethokoukis
(even you “righties” will enjoy the comments to this article)
http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2010/01/20/brown-win-could-spark-obama-war-on-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-6517
As of one hour ago, the ship has sunk! Democracy no longer exist in the United States of America.
A new supreme court ruling proclaiming that corporations has the same rights as people and money is free speech. What does that mean?
It means that corporations who already control most of our political leaders can spend more money to buy more politicians.
Elections and our votes will only be a facade.
The rulers of this country are now the transnational corporations as well as the major corporations in the US. They have no loyalty to America. They do not care about the average Americans let alone the working poor.
What can we do? Impeach John Roberts on the basis of lying at his nomination hearing. He said that he would not overturn the 100 year law that corporations are not people and should not have the rights of an individual.
If you are independently wealthy or are in the upper middle class, you might be saying that you could care less about this. But mark my words, it’s only a matter of time before it catches up to you.
We need to elect progressive officials who will stand up to big money. We need politicians with balls!