Thursday, March 20, 2008
The new New Deal (10:05 am)
Harold Meyerson, in probably the best op-ed you’ll see about the Bear Stearns deal.
And out of this debacle emerge two paramount lessons for our highest-ranking policymakers: Regulate the American financial sector, which is now turning to the government for a bailout. And commit the government to doing all in its power to generate broad-based prosperity, through laws enabling workers to bargain collectively, through a massive public commitment to projects “greening” the economy, through provision of universal health coverage and affordable college educations.
posted by Adam Doster | start the discussion
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
More on religious double standards (4:16 pm)
In These Times reader GA chimes in on the Obama/Wright business:
I’m thinking how is it that McCain needs to court the religious right, people who think 9/11 was caused by the homosexual agenda and moral relativism, but Obama must distance himself from moral certitude from his church. And it’s all because of what white men might think. Amazing.
Exactly.
posted by Jarrett | 2 comments
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Big bad business link dump (2:51 pm)
1) A few days late, but a worthy read in the Times magazine on the business-friendly shift of the SCOTUS.
2) Wall Street Titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients, says Dionne.
3) Krugman says we can expect a 25 percent drop in home prices, but he’s unsure how the madness on Wall Street will affect Main Street. (h/t Ezra)
posted by Adam Doster | start the discussion
If America won’t accept this … (11:27 am)
then I might start looking at real estate in Stockholm.
posted by Adam Doster | 1 comment
Monday, March 17, 2008
American Nightmare (8:36 pm)
In the February issue of In These Times, Adam Doster reported that, despite being a predatory trap, millions of Americans rely upon credit cards to meet basic needs in a rapidly unaffordable economy, (see “Killer Credit”). Doster points out that the instant security of plastic in your wallet is only partially what is driving Americans into their ever-deepening, labrynthine tunnels of debt. One of the other major traps? The promise of owning a home. “The housing bubble,” writes Doster, “pushed prices through the roof, leading to the doubling of median mortgage debt from 1989 to 2004.” Foreclosures were imminent, (something In These Times predicted back in 2003), and in only the first few months of this year we’ve witnessed a massive spate of ‘em.
In northern Minneapolis today, it gets worse. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the legacy of the housing-bubble burst extends beyond the pain of foreclosure: one-third of the vacated houses in northern Minneapolis are now being condemned. And, according to local community leaders, that estimate is low:
Some houses have caving retaining walls. One otherwise nice triplex was covered in mold, Olson said.
One reason for the neglect, Olson said, is that about two-thirds of the foreclosed homes were owned by investors rather than occupants. “Some of that has not been very well taken care of,” she said.
Olson’s one-third estimate sounds low to one neighborhood leader, Roberta Englund of the Folwell and Webber-Camden areas.
“I think she’s underestimating it, without a doubt,” said Englund, based on her walk-throughs of similar housing.
“This is an American nightmare,” said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Ellison represents the area and organized a discussion of foreclosure and credit issues Monday.
American nightmare, indeed.
posted by Jarrett | 1 comment
Björk To Be Banned In China? (4:47 pm)
Björk, the prolific and often brilliant Icelandic singer (and devastating actress), has hurt China’s feelings, according to officials of the currently tumultuous country. From Truthdig:
Pixieish provocateur Björk sparked the ire of Chinese officials by voicing her support for an independent Tibet at the close of her concert in Shanghai last Sunday. According to China’s Culture Ministry, the Icelandic chanteuse broke “Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings” by chanting “Tibet, Tibet” at the end of her protest song “Declare Independence” (which she’s frequently customized to suit other countries’ bids for independence). In her own statement, Björk said, “[T]his song was written more with the personal in mind but the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure.”
posted by Jarrett | start the discussion
White Christian Rage Gets A Free Pass - To The Country’s Detriment (4:26 pm)
Greenwald wallops the media and the right-wing for their reprehensible double-standards in this whole Wright-Obama business. He tears into the media’s penchant for doting on hateful, “white, right-wing Christian evangelical” leaders while treating milder, albeit angry, “liberal, black Christian” leaders like mutinous traitors:
“…The idea that America deserves terrorist attacks and other horrendous disasters has long been a frequently expressed view among the faction of white evangelical ministers to whom the Republican Party is most inextricably linked. Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God. John Hagee continues to believe that the City of New Orleans got what it deserved when Katrina drowned its residents and devastated the lives of thousands of Americans. And James Inhofe — who happens to still be a Republican U.S. Senator — blamed America for the 9/11 attacks by arguing in a 2002 Senate floor speech that “the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America” because we pressured Israel to give away parts of the West Bank.
“The phrases “anti-American” and “America-haters” are among the most barren and manipulative in our entire political lexicon, but whatever they happen to mean on any given day, they easily encompass people who believe that the U.S. deserved the 9/11 attacks, devastating hurricanes and the like. Yet when are people like Falwell, Robertson, Hagee, Inhofe and other white Christian radicals ever described as anti-American or America-hating extremists? Never — because white Christian evangelicals who tie themselves to the political Right are intrinsically patriotic…
“By all accounts, George Bush had private conversations with Pat Robertson about matters as weighty as whether to invade Iraq. Isn’t that a big scandal — that the President is consulting with an American-hating minister — someone who believes God allowed the 9/11 attacks as punishment for our evil country — about vital foreign policy decisions? No, it wasn’t controversial at all.”
I’m waiting for a column by Hedges on this bile. Bring it.
posted by Jarrett | 1 comment
Friday, March 14, 2008
Twentieth Century World Wars Reenacted by Food (4:00 pm)
posted by Anna Schneider | start the discussion
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