Neoliberalism, unregulated capitalism, socialism, tax breaks for the rich.
80 articles · page 4 of 4
Citizens who are getting very involved in the predictable debacle of the Trump administration should also be reminded that the U.S. is currently involved in at least four covert wars and more secret wars, perhaps in South America and the Middle East. Wars seem to be an essential element of U.S. foreign and…
In the 1960s, the sale of clear plastic ant farms was a popular gift for kids. The ant farms came complete with ants, a packet of sand and a clear plastic rectangular container that was placed on its own stand, so the ant farm could be viewed in full profile as it stood…
In a Jan. 9, 2019 press release, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) lists ten steps individual investors should take to transform themselves into “a new financial you” in 2019. The CPAs offered the list honestly to help Americans “ensure their financial house is in good order and set themselves up to achieve…
Seizing political control in the most advanced, economically sophisticated, and wealthy democracy in the western world requires huge amounts of money, political manipulation, military, and political control stealth, and raw power. Taking political control is a process that has to be almost imperceptible until it reaches its near-final stages. Only then, when…
New York Times by Janet Reitman, Oct. 3, 2018 From the FBI to the DHS to state police, U.S. law enforcement failed to see the threat of white nationalism. Now they have no idea how to stop it. Read next week’s cover story now. White supremacists and other far-right extremists have killed far…
Multi-million dollar donors to national political campaigns are businesspeople as much as political partisans. This means they, first and foremost, want tangible returns for their multi-million dollar donations. These returns can take the form of favorable regulations, repeal of legislation, and the appointment of political surrogates to courts or legislative bodies. Mega-million…
The combination of an overly corrupt presidency, headed by a mentally unstable president, combined with largely unaccountable 24-hour internet and cable TV commentaries has transformed American journalism cable TV beyond recognition. Traditional reporting, defined in the book Reporting for Journalists (Chris Frost, 2003; London: Taylor & Francis) as “a duty to seek the…
Making tuition loans to college students is a huge business. Some $1.5 trillion in loans are outstanding to student borrowers and some of these loans have been flagged for being abusive in terms of bad disclosure or aggressive collection practices from loan servicers and debt collectors. College tuition debt now exceeds credit card debt. The…
Artificial Intelligence, quant investing, and big data all contribute to generating above-index returns, but it looks like good, old-fashioned witchcraft also plays a role in some investing circles. Even more surprising, this “cosmology of investing” has things to teach Western investing professionals. The 2008 stock market crash was a global event, and its impact…
If only Congress had this much guts. https://www.facebook.com/alucidnation/videos/1676821885921428/…
In Carolina’s Campaign during the Civil War in February 1865, Confederate commander Wade Hampton started executing captured Union soldiers from General William Tecumseh Sherman’s cavalry. A clear violation of the rules of war, General Sherman sent a note to Hampton under a truce flag demanding that he stop the executions. A defiant Hampton said…
If you are sorry about your meager 4% annual raise or if you did not receive anything at all, you can take heart: Now, a new employee benefit is being offered to make it easier to borrow from your future wages. Like the poorly-regarded pay-day loan industry, the new employee benefit offers a line…
The poor disaster relief response to Puerto Rico has rightfully attracted national attention. Still, the many explanations about the failures to alleviate the suffering fail to address the main reason: Puerto Rico is a colony. This means the island, now classified as a commonwealth, is free to be financially and politically victimized by U.S.
By now, anyone seriously interested in Exxon’s long and twisted history in the oil industry worldwide can readily find information about its dealings with dictatorships, criminals, and shadowy politicians to extract and export black gold from the far reaches of the earth. But the proposed appointment of ex-Exxon Rex Tillerson as U.S. Secretary of…
History does repeat itself and that remains true today. Stolen elections, campaign fraud, wars conducted over false information, assassinations, dirty tricks among political parties, incompetent elected officials at the highest levels of government are nothing new. But here is an interesting memo written 70 years ago which rings true today. It is a…
While the 2016 election is going to have serious ramifications for political journalism for years to come, it should also be noted that financial broadcast journalism is more reactionary and conservative than political journalism and is just as dangerous to average Americans. The reason is that broadcast financial journalists are steeped in conservative…
Like their fearless leader, it looks like the 13 all male economic advisors named by Donald Trump in August have failed to make the grade, at least as far as some major independent economists are concerned. In numerous reports released by financial experts across the political spectrum after the last presidential debate, economists said…
Films are a great way of communicating complex and simple ideas, so the idea for this little column comes from two great movies: The Russians Are Coming and The Manchurian Candidate. Each film has something to help illuminate the insanity now taking place in the Republican Tea Party and how their holy conspiracy-driven candidate…
Like the citizens of Garrison Keillor’s mythical city in Minnesota, Lake Wobegone, where 90% of the residents are in the top half of the class, 90% of today’s wealth managers continue their quest to find the top 10% of the wealthiest Americans. It’s a tough search, and by all accounts, it looks like it will…
When it comes to taking sides publicly on major social issues, corporations have not led the way. Corporations do not like to state a public political position. This is not to say that corporations are not political—it is just the opposite. However, their vast political influence is hidden from the public via lobbying and contributions…
