| Old Articles | | Tuesday, November 11 | | · | A Leftist Looks at the Near Future |
| · | Obama Mania |
| Thursday, November 06 | | · | Barack Obama: The Coming 'Anti-Chavez' of the Americas? |
| Wednesday, November 05 | | · | A Prism for the New Paradigm |
| Saturday, October 04 | | · | Marx's solution to Wall Street fiasco: Abolition of the wages system! |
| Thursday, October 02 | | · | Not One Dime! Why the Bailout Stinks |
| Tuesday, September 30 | | · | The Shadow of the Pitchfork: Elite Panic as Bailout Goes Bust |
| Tuesday, September 16 | | · | The Tumbrils Roll at Dawn |
| Monday, September 08 | | · | John McCain and Barack Obama are both caught up in the system’s game |
| Sunday, June 08 | | · | No, I Can't! Obama and The Israeli Lobby |
| · | Why Obama Won |
| · | The Empire's Hypocritical Politics |
| · | America's Racial Litmus Test: Farrakhan is not the Problem |
| Monday, May 19 | | · | Why Hillary Clinton's Loss Has Nothing to do With Sexism |
| Thursday, May 01 | | · | Jeremiah Wright Delivers the Knockout Punch |
| Tuesday, March 25 | | · | Clueless In America: Primed to protect the Homeland |
| Friday, March 14 | | · | Yassin Aref's Struggle for Justice in Police State America |
| Wednesday, March 12 | | · | The Sheriff of Wall Street |
| Friday, January 18 | | · | What Can Barack Obama Do For America? |
| Thursday, December 27 | | · | Insurgent Son- Jesse James and the Crucible of American Character |
Older Articles
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 | | Inside U.S.A.: Computer-Driven Bloodletting on Wall Street: Glitch in the System
Saturday, May 08 @ 16:00:10 AST |  By Mike Whitney
May 08, 2010 - counterpunch.org
On Thursday, shares tumbled across all major indexes on fears that Greece's debt woes would spread to other vulnerable countries in the E.U.. What began as a down-day on Wall Street, quickly turned into a full-blown rout as blue chips, financials, techs and transports were all caught in a program-trading downdraft. The bloodletting was mind-numbingly swift. In one 15 minute period, stocks plunged more than 300 points (and nearly 1,000 points at their nadir) before bouncing off the bottom and clawing back some of the day's losses. For the big brokerage houses and investment banks, the massacre could not have happened at a worse time. Skittish retail investors have already been steering clear of Wall Street, convinced that the markets are rigged. Thursday's ructions are sure to keep them on the sidelines even longer.
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Inside U.S.A.: Toxic Transfer: Bernanke's Biggest Bailout
Wednesday, May 05 @ 14:24:59 AST | By Mike Whitney
May 05, 2010 - counterpunch.org
The right-wing white paper mill, the American Enterprise Institute, is helping the Federal Reserve to develop a strategy to transfer $1.25 trillion in toxic mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and non performing loans onto the public's balance sheet. Although it's unknown whether Fed chair Ben Bernanke will act on the AEI's recommendations, it does show that the Fed's Quantitative Easing program (QE)--which moved the bulk of garbage assets from the banks to the Fed's balance sheet--poses long-term problems that will need to be addressed. Bernanke never intended to keep these assets any longer than necessary. Now he is actively exploring options for getting rid of them.
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Inside U.S.A.: The Right, the Left and the Ugly: Fear and Loathing in White America
Friday, March 12 @ 12:26:30 AST |  By BAR executive editor Glen Ford
March 12, 2010 - blackagendareport.com
"Are we witnessing a left-right convergence – or two fundamentally opposed camps intersecting at a certain point in time on the way to very different destinations?"
When President George Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first, unsuccessfully, attempted to ram a bank bailout bill through the U.S. House in late September 2008, only one-third of Republicans and three-fifths of Democrats voted for the measure. The Congressional Black Caucus was opposed, 21 to 18, with the more progressive CBC members mostly voting No. Former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich asked, "Is this the U.S. Congress or the board of directors at Goldman Sachs?" Two-thirds of the GOP Caucus bucked their president.
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Inside U.S.A.: Empire and Oligarchy: Whatever Happened to "We the People"?
Monday, March 01 @ 20:21:39 AST | By Ralph Nader
March 1, 2010 - counterpunch.org
The twin swelling heads of Empire and Oligarchy are driving our country into an ever-deepening corporate state, wholly incompatible with democracy and the rule of law.
Once again the New York Times offers its readers the evidence. In its February 25, 2010 issue, two page-one stories confirm this relentless deterioration at the expense of so many innocent people.
The lead story illustrates that the type of massive speculation—casino capitalism, Business Week once called it—in complex derivatives is still going strong and exploiting the weak and powerless who pay the ultimate bill.
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Inside U.S.A.: How I Stopped Hating Thanksgiving and Learned to Be Afraid
Monday, November 16 @ 03:36:32 AST | By Robert Jensen
November 15, 2009 - dissidentvoice.org
I have stopped hating Thanksgiving and learned to be afraid of the holiday.
Over the past few years a growing number of white people have joined the longstanding indigenous people’s critique of the holocaust denial that is at the heart of the Thanksgiving holiday. In two recent essays, I have examined the disturbing nature of a holiday rooted in a celebration of the European conquest of the Americas, which means the celebration of the Europeans’ genocidal campaign against Indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States.
Many similar pieces have been published in predominantly white left/progressive media, while indigenous people continue to mark the holiday as a “National Day of Mourning.”
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Inside U.S.A.: The Audacity of Failure: The 4-year presidency of Barack Hoover Obama
Monday, November 16 @ 03:27:31 AST |  By Mike Whitney
November 15, 2009 - globalresearch.ca
Barack Obama is on his way to becoming a one-term president. According to Politico:
"President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Uni0n address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.
The president’s plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House." (politico.com)
Er, now who exactly is telling Obama that raising taxes or cutting spending in the middle of a severe economic contraction is a good idea?
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Inside U.S.A.: Is Barack Obama steering a healthy ship out of turbulent titanic global waters?
Thursday, August 20 @ 00:12:43 AST | By: Franz J. T. Lee
August 20, 2009
Is the
capitalist world economic crisis over? Are we coming to grips
with the
financial scandal and banking fiasco? Have we saved world
capitalism
and can we now peacefully get down to big business, to big wars
again?
Although lately.
very little was reported from Wall Street, are its 'Crash, Crack
and
Slump' really just nightmares of the remote past?
Is US President
Barack Obama steering a healthy ship of State out of the
turbulent
titanic waters of the Bermuda Triangle? When will the 'Obamania'
stop
... when will we see imperialism as a global reality?
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Inside U.S.A.: Wall Street's House of Cards: Too Big...Period
Wednesday, March 11 @ 19:27:12 AST | By Ralph Nader
March 09, 2009
counterpunch.org
Does anybody in the federal government know or could know "who, what, where and when" of the massive, complex, vertical, horizontal, global collapse of Wall Street and its planetary tentacles in over 100 countries abroad? Step forward if you exist! Uncle Sam needs you!
Is the multi-million dollar bailout of this financial mess and house of cards, this phantom wealth mummy hitting air beyond the federal governments' salvage capability?
It is relatively easy to announce hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate rescue programs here and hundreds of billions of dollars of guarantees of corporate recklessness there and trillions of dollars of assorted stimulus, loan availabilities and foreclosure prevention initiatives in all directions. Now comes the rubber hitting the road.
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Inside U.S.A.: The Rove-Obama Deal: Tangled Up in Karl
Saturday, March 07 @ 20:55:18 AST |  By Chris Floyd
March 07, 2009
chris-floyd.com
There has been a flutter of congratulatory noise in some quarters about the recent "compromise" brokered by the White House regarding Karl Rove's criminal refusal to heed Congressional subpoenas requiring his testimony on the Bush Administration's transformation of the Justice Department into a goon squad targeting -- and imprisoning -- political opponents.
Whereas mere mortals can go to prison for ignoring a Congressional summons, Rove has been allowed to roam free, appearing on national television, writing for national publications, and carrying on his life's work of polluting and degrading the nation's political culture. This unelected, porcine bullshit-slinger is apparently so powerful that the new President of the United States felt compelled to step in and negotiate the very gentle terms under which said porcine polluter would deign to appear before Congress.
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Inside U.S.A.: A New Administration, Tired Old Policies
Monday, February 09 @ 14:30:15 AST | By Stephen Lendman
February 09, 2009
In Part I of his year-end analysis, money manager and market strategist Jeremy Grantham assessed the global economic crisis:
"Greed + Incompetence + A Belief in Market Efficiency = Disaster. Greed and reckless overconfidence on the part of almost everyone caused (risk avoidance) to a degree that is probably unparalleled in breath and depth in American history." The aftershocks hit everywhere. Tremors continue. No safe harbors exist. Buckle up. Turbulence and convulsions are ahead. Grantham is worried and angry.
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Inside U.S.A.: Change the Lobby
Monday, February 09 @ 11:20:38 AST | By Ramzy Baroud
February 09, 2009
One cannot emphasize enough the stranglehold Israel's lobbying infrastructure has on US foreign policy. The events of recent weeks undoubtedly attest to this. "The special relationship" that has been historically fostered between the US and Israel in fact, is often a relationship of leverage, manipulation and intimidation, and often leads to the US supporting actions or resolutions that stand at complete odds with the interests of the American people.
The promise of change echoed the world over as people from all corners anticipated the magic moment Obama could actually change the devastating reality in which we live today. But just weeks before his inauguration, Israel unleashed the most barbaric attacks on defenseless Palestinian civilians since 1948. Civil societies expressed outrage and called for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes and genocide. Other nations cut diplomatic ties completely with the Jewish state. But the man of change did absolutely nothing. For weeks he was completely silent. Even in his first days in office, Obama made no mention of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. So, what of this change that he promised? What kind of hold does Israel have to silence the President of the United States?
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Inside U.S.A.: Obama's economic plan won't fix the crisis
Wednesday, February 04 @ 18:38:39 AST | By Sadie Robinson
February 03, 2009
socialistworker.co.uk
Barack Obama's plan to save the US economy has been caught up in a growing panic among world leaders over protectionism.
The $819 billion scheme was passed in the House of Representatives last week and will be debated in the Senate this week.
The key elements of the plan are widespread tax cuts and funding for infrastructure projects – which Obama claims will create millions of jobs and stimulate economic growth.
The plan also includes a clause that would require companies engaged in the infrastructure projects to use US steel and iron rather than import them – the so-called "Buy American" clause.
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Inside U.S.A.: The Enduring Priorities in Obama's Time of Change
Monday, January 12 @ 02:23:58 AST | By Chris Floyd
January 12, 2009
chris-floyd.com
If you want a glimpse of the fundamental moral obscenity that underlies our bold new era of hope and change, look no further than Barack Obama's promise this week to "overhaul" Social Security and Medicare. This effort to cut back on support for the sick, the old, the weak, the unfortunate and the abandoned will be a "central part" of the new administration's economic program, a linchpin of its struggle to curb federal spending, Obama declared.
He pointed to a looming federal deficit of $1.2 trillion this year, with more to follow, as urgent reasons to deal with "entitlement spending." Given the hundreds of billions of dollars that the Bush Regime has already given away in its no-strings bailout of selected corporate cronies, and the hundreds of billions that Obama plans to spend on "economic stimulus" (a large portion of which is going to "tax breaks" that will give, at most, a few hundred dollars to people losing their jobs and homes and medical insurance), it is imperative to get government spending under control, said the president-elect. The New York Times described Obama's remarks as an effort to offer "some soothing words to Republicans and the financial markets" – two groups who certainly need special comforting in these trying times.
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Inside U.S.A.: Obama and Miracles that Never Happen
Sunday, December 07 @ 13:03:33 AST | By Stephen Gowans
December 06, 2008
gowans.wordpress.com
If 10 times more people claimed to have attended Woodstock than were actually there, I suspect 10 times more people claim to have wept at Obama's election victory than actually did. Weeping on the night of November 4 – or claiming you did – has now become a fashion. I, too, wept, though not because Obama won, but because the number of times I heard the words "Obama is the embodiment of hope" was too much to bear.
The day before the election, my son called me from school.
"I was just interviewed on Obama for the national news," he related excitedly.
"How'd that happen?"
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Inside U.S.A.: Vote first; ask questions later
Friday, December 05 @ 22:16:49 AST | By William Blum
December 3, 2008
killinghope.org
Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way. It was historic. I choked up a number of times, tears came to my eyes, even though I didn't vote for him. I voted for Ralph Nader for the fourth time in a row.
During the past eight years when I've listened to news programs on the radio each day I've made sure to be within a few feet of the radio so I could quickly change the station when that preposterous man or one of his disciples came on; I'm not a masochist, I suffer fools very poorly, and I get bored easily. Sad to say, I'm already turning the radio off sometimes when Obama comes on. He doesn't say anything, or not enough, or not often enough. Platitudes, clichés, promises without substance, "hope and change", almost everything without sufficient substance, "change and hope", without specifics, designed not to offend. What exactly are the man's principles? He never questions the premises of the empire. Never questions the premises of the "War on Terror". I'm glad he won for two reasons only: John McCain and Sarah Palin, and I deeply resent the fact that the American system forces me to squeeze out a drop of pleasure from something so far removed from my ideals. Obama's votes came at least as much from people desperate for relief from neo-conservative suffocation as from people who genuinely believed in him. It's a form of extortion – Vote for Obama or you get more of the same. Those are your only choices.
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