Bailout: Bush vs Roosevelt
10/04/08 16:23 , Categories: Finance & Economy Statement on Congressional Approval of Bailout
By Dean Baker
This is the first time in the history of the United States that the president has sought to provoke a financial panic to get legislation through Congress. While this has proven to be a successful political strategy, it marks yet another low point in American politics.
It was incredibly irresponsible for President Bush to tell the American people on national television that the country could be facing another Great Depression. By contrast, when we actually were in the Great Depression, President Roosevelt said that, "we have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
It was even more irresponsible for him to seize on the decline in the stock market five hours later as evidence that his bailout was needed for the economy. President Bush must surely understand, as all economists know, that the daily swings in the stock market are driven by mass psychology and have almost nothing to do with the underlying strength in the economy.
The scare tactics of President Bush, Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Bernanke created sufficient panic, so that by the time of the vote, much of the public believed that the defeat of the bailout may actually have had serious consequences for the economy. Millions of people have changed their behavior because of this fear, with many pulling money out of bank and money market accounts, and in other ways adjusting their financial plans.
Economists Say "No" to Bailout
09/26/08 17:36 , Categories: Finance & Economy Is the bailout needed? Many economists say 'no'
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — A funny thing happened in the drafting of the largest-ever U.S. government intervention in the financial system. Lawmakers of all stripes mostly fell in line, but many of the nation's brightest economic minds are warning that the Wall Street bailout's a dangerous rush job.
President Bush and his Treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs chief executive Henry Paulson, have warned of imminent economic collapse and another Great Depression if their rescue plan isn't passed immediately.
Is that true?
"It's more hype than real risk," said James K. Galbraith, a University of Texas economist and son of the late economic historian John Kenneth Galbraith. "A nasty recession is possible, but the bailout will not cure that. So it's mainly relevant to the financial industry."
The Paulson plan will get some bad assets off the balance sheets of troubled Wall Street institutions and commercial banks. That may help thaw the lending freeze.
But it wouldn't reduce the crush of homes in or near foreclosure, said Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That's a problem that will surely grow worse if the U.S. economy enters recession, leading to greater job losses, which feed a vicious downward spiral of even more foreclosures and defaults on car loans and credit-card debt.
Americans are spooked by talk that financial Armageddon awaits.
Pages: 1 · 2
Time is running out...
Dear Friends,
Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.
The events of the past week are no exception.
The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China! "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It's bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters."
And So It Begins...
09/17/08 20:05 , Categories: APN Features And so it begins ...
by cynndara
I remember Ys
Though I have never seen her
Gold towers wreathed by mist
In the lands of lost Forever
Where the Old Gods lie sleeping
I can hear the bells ringing
One of my favorite quotes from a history text began, "In 400 BC the world was old, and knew it ..." Unfortunately, I’ve spent years trying to find that quote again, and even though I could swear it was in one particular book on my shelf, I can never find it. Accept however, as a starting point ... in 400 BCE, the educated elites of Western Civilization were poignantly aware of the history and peoples who preceded them. Egypt’s pyramids were as ancient, then, as the last ruins of the Colliseum are today; and the ziggurats of Babylon, then standing, were nearly twice that age. The sun-drowned temples of Thebes and Memphis were still the active sites of ongoing worship. And the histories of these peoples, their rulers and kingdoms, were known to legend if not scholarship, which would come a hundred years later when the staff of Alexander sat down to translate the Babylonian archives into Greek.
In ancient times, men knew that civilizations don’t merely rise and flourish; they also fall. Lands which were once famed for their fertility were barren with overgrazing, salinization, desertification. The effects were clear and unquestioned. Lions had roamed or crops had been grown in the reign of King Such-and-Such; they didn’t now. Cities were thrown down by earthquakes, razed both by accidental fires and the deliberate acts of conquerors. And yet others were drowned by encroaching seas. Ancient peoples lacked international committees providing them with two decades of advanced warning before torrential storm and flood overtook them, but judging from our ability to gratuitously ignore such blessings, the result is much the same. Granted, we would probably manage to evacuate most of the residents of Pompeii the day before the Big One – but nothing could rebuild the devastation. The past is littered with dead cities and dead empires. But our country, a country with a blissfully short past and shorter memory, fails to recognize the signs as they occur yet again, because in the intervening 2400 years, the human world has grown so young that it has trouble remembering past decades, let alone past centuries. At least once a decade, now, Someone Important declares that some new innovation has so thoroughly revolutionized human existence that all past experience is irrelevant. And seldom less than a decade afterward, they are shocked, just shocked to find that past experience was, in fact, rather predictive.
Pages: 1 · 2
Barr Files Suit in Texas to Boot McCain/Obama
Bob Barr Files Suit in Texas to Remove McCain, Obama from Ballot
September 17, 2008 9:31 am EST
Atlanta, GA – Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's nominee for president, has filed a lawsuit in Texas demanding Senators John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the ballot after they missed the official filing deadline.
"The seriousness of this issue is self-evident," the lawsuit states. "The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them."
Texas election code §192.031 requires that the “written certification” of the “party’s nominees” be delivered “before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before election day.” Because neither candidate had been nominated by the official filing deadline, the Barr campaign argues it was impossible for the candidates to file under state law.
"Supreme Court justices should recognize that their responsibility is to apply the law as passed by the Legislature, and the law is clear that the candidates cannot be certified on the ballot if their filings are late," says Drew Shirley, a local attorney for the Barr campaign, who is also a Libertarian candidate for the Texas Supreme Court.
A 2006 Texas Supreme Court decision ruled that state laws "does not allow political parties or candidates to ignore statutory deadlines."
Ron Paul Expected to Snub Major Parties
Ron Paul: Reject GOP, Dems at the polls
Out of the race for president, Lake Jackson congressman calls Obama, McCain 'the lesser of two evils' and wants voters to go for minor-party hopefuls instead
By BENNETT ROTH Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning, Houston-area congressman who waged a feisty Republican primary campaign for president, is expected on Wednesday to urge supporters to reject the two major-party candidates and vote for any of the four minor-party contenders on the November ballot.
"The two parties and their candidates have no real disagreements on foreign policy, monetary policy, privacy issues, or the welfare state," Paul is expected to say at a news conference in Washington, according to an advance copy of his remarks obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
"They both are willing to abuse the Rule of Law and ignore constitutional restraint on executive powers. Neither major party champions free markets and private property ownership."
Congo May Erupt in All-out War
Threat of all-out war in Congo
Matt Brown, Foreign Correspondent
NAIROBI // Clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week between government forces and a rebel militia threatened to plunge the region back into all-out war. The violence also threatened vulnerable wildlife including the rare mountain gorilla.
Fighting erupted yesterday when rebels from the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) clashed with the Congolese army near the Ugandan border.
The two sides exchanged machine gun and mortar fire. At least 18 rebel soldiers were wounded while 50 government troops were injured, news agencies reported.
The fighting is the worst since a peace deal was signed in January in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The deal was supposed to have disarmed the more than two dozen militia groups in the region, but periodic outbursts of violence have continued.
During a lull in the fighting last month, human rights groups and diplomats warned that rebels were rearming for a protracted fight. The CNDP, a rebel group controlled by Gen Laurent Nkunda, has refused to disarm. Mr Nkunda, who normally grants audiences to journalists, was unavailable last month and cancelled meetings with aid organisations, fuelling speculation that he was preparing his troops for battle. Recently disarmed child soldiers who fought for CNDP also said that Mr Nkunda was planning attacks.
The UN mission in Congo, or Monuc, which has 17,000 peacekeepers in the region and has been trying to broker a peace deal, denounced the recent fighting.
Pakistan Threatens Retaliation
Pakistan threatens to retaliate against US
A spokesman for Pakistan's army, Major Murad Khan, has slammed Washington for killing Pakistani civilians, warning of retaliatory action.
"Border violations by US-led forces in Afghanistan, which have killed scores of Pakistani civilians, would no longer be tolerated, and we have informed them that we reserve the right to self defense and that we will retaliate if the US continues cross-border attacks," Khan said in an exclusive interview with Press TV.
His warning came after US forces launched cross-border attacks in tribal areas in Pakistan's North Waziristan, killing at least 20 civilians and wounding 25 others on Monday.
Amy Goodman on Police Abuses
Why We Were Falsely Arrested
By Amy Goodman
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, “Democracy Now!” producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot.
The Democratic and Republican national conventions have become very expensive and protracted acts of political theater, essentially four-day-long advertisements for the major presidential candidates. Outside the fences, they have become major gatherings for grass-roots movements—for people to come, amidst the banners, bunting, flags and confetti, to express the rights enumerated in the Constitution’s First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Cop Dragging Protestor Gets Tackled
The UpTake captured video of a St. Paul police officer dragging a “black bloc” protester away from a bus, only to get tackled from behind. The officer sprayed a chemical agent all around him but ultimately lost the suspect and called for backup. Video by Conduit.
Thanks to Infowars
Gustav Worse Than Katrina?
Gustav hits U.S. economy
Storm is weaker than Katrina three years ago. But it hits an economy that is at greater risk.
By Chris Isidore
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Hurricane Gustav hit the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday with far less force than Hurricane Katrina did three years ago, but its economic bite could be worse as it hits a national economy that is far weaker than the one battered by Katrina in 2005.
Economists agree that in the long run, a major hurricane or other natural disaster can actually help lift economic activity because of insurance payments and federal assistance.
In the short-term, the destruction and the disruptions can be a hit to the economy.
EQECAT, a firm that estimates losses for the insurance industry, said Gustav could end up causing between $6 billion and $10 billion in insured losses. That amount is a fraction of the $41 billion in insured losses caused by Katrina three years ago, but still enough to make it among the ten most costly storms in U.S. history.
But even with lower loss estimates, the weakened state of the U.S. economy - suffering a housing downturn, credit crunch and job sector woes - is one of the biggest concerns of economists trying to assess the impact that Gustav will have.
Raids Target RNC Activists
RNC Raids Have Been Targeting Video Activists
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet.
In the run-up to the Republican convention, Minnesota police launched a series of preemptive raids to intimidate protesters and quash dissent.
St. Paul is a free country!" cried a resident of Iglehart Avenue, a neighborhood street in St. Paul, Minn., as she watched her next-door neighbor's house being overtaken by police officers on Saturday afternoon. Just one in a series of house raids over a 24-hour period the weekend before the Republican National Convention, St. Paul police surrounded the private home with weapons drawn, detaining people in the backyard, while journalists, activists and neighbors -- including several children -- looked on.
Their crime? None whatsoever. No one was trespassing or engaging in acts of civil disobedience. Instead, members of I-Witness Video, a New York-based media watchdog group that records police activity in order to protect civil liberties, were holding an organizing meeting at 949 Iglehart, the home of St. Paul resident Mike Whalen, when armed police officers arrived in the early afternoon and ordered their surrender.
Among them was Eileen Clancy, founder of I-Witness Video, as well as a producer with Democracy Now! DN! host Amy Goodman and her staff had just arrived at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport when they received word that producer Elizabeth Press was in the house and being threatened with arrest.
Police Refuse Right to Attorney to Protestors
Protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles, ACLU charges
John Byrne
The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention.
In the letter, obtained by RAW STORY, the ACLU revealed that the police refused those arrested access to attorneys. Police did not let detainees use phones unless they posted their own bonds, and even failed to provide shoes, in one case marching a protester into court in bare feet and leg shackles, according the ACLU.
What's more, police are said to have tricked protesters into pleading guilty, by giving them the impression they had to plead guilty in order to post bond. This meant that no one was allowed to make a phone call unless they plead guilty, thus making it impossible for arrestees to even call a lawyer until admitting guilt.
Most ominously, the ACLU letter claims that protesters were told they would be "facing 'years' in jail for a conviction of a single particular charge."
"In fact, all the charges were municipal court violations that do not carry such penalties," the ACLU added in a footnote.
US-Russian Nuclear Deal At Risk
US-Russian deal on nuclear access may be shelved
By CATRINA STEWART – 49 minutes ago
MOSCOW (AP) — A key civil nuclear agreement between Russia and the U.S. looks likely to be shelved until next year at the earliest amid mounting tensions over the fate of Georgia's breakaway republics.
The nuclear pact — signed last May — set the framework to give the U.S. access to Russian state-of-the-art nuclear technologies, while helping Russia establish an international nuclear fuel storage facility for spent fuel. Russia cannot achieve that goal without the deal, since the U.S. controls the vast majority of the world's nuclear fuel.
The Bush administration submitted the bill to Congress the same month, with hopes it would be passed into law by September.
But after the war between Russia and Georgia earlier this month — where Russia's actions have drawn sharp criticism from the West — both U.S. and Russian officials say that now looks unlikely.
:: Next >>
XML Feeds
