John Helmer: As Merkel and the EU Look Wobbly and Obama’s Syrian Misadventure Misfires, Will Putin Be the Last Man Standing?
How has Putin managed to survive, and even arguably prosper from, a US/EU assault on his leadership?
Read more...Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents
Who Benefits From Sovereign Debt Crises?
Even though the struggle over Greece’s bailout has receded from the news, with many countries carrying large debt burdens, the need to restructure sovereign debts is not going away. This Real News Network segment gives an overview of the state of play.
Read more...Don Quijones: US Threatens UK over Brexit Vote
The spectacle of the US attempting to influence UK domestic politics through having the US Trade Representative Michael Froman issue a threat is pathetic, overreaching, and unconvincing.
Read more...Why is Helane Morrison, General Counsel for Hall Capital, Fund Manager for the Super-Rich, Attacking SEC Investor Protection?
Earlier this month, we excerpted a section of a panel discussion from an SEC securities enforcement conference. It showed the degree to which former senior SEC officials who’ve gone into private practice openly ridicule the idea that the SEC should do its job, for instance, by deriding enforcement as “gotcha”. Today, we’ll look at the […]
Read more...British Euroskeptics Go Off the Deep End, Flog Bogus Portugal “Coup” Meme
Making sense of the “overly dynamic” process of forming a new government in Portugal in the wake of an inconclusive election.
Read more...Weaker Unions Correlated with More Inequality, Higher Pay for Top Earners
The decline in union power plays an important role in explaining the rise in inequality in advanced economies.
Read more...Failure of Globalization and the Fourth Estate
“Free Trade,” the banner of Globalization, has not only wrecked the world’s economy, it has left Western Democracy in shambles.
Read more...Joe Firestone: Fiscal Myths of Campaign 2016
Most of the world, and most notably the United States, is in the grip of fiscal myths fostered by the ideology of neoliberalism. It’s time to debunk them.
Read more...Attacks on Sanders, Progressives Falsely Depict Obama As Lefty Failure as Opposed to Neoliberal Success
A sign that the progressive cause is moving out of the wilderness and starting to rattle The Powers That Be is that the messaging apparatus is starting to attempt to demonize Sanders as a hopeless cause. And the arguments made against him and the progressive cause generally are made via bizarre analogies to the neoliberal Obama.
Read more...TPP Teeters in US Congress
More and more Republicans look to be girding their loins to fight approval of the TPP. And it’s not as if Dems are all that keen either.
Read more...5 of the Biggest Acts of Corporate Hypocrisy in America
Socialism for the rich is inherently hypocritical….but which forms of corporate truth-distortion are the most brazen?
Read more...Eric Zuesse: Europe Secretly Starts Imposing TTIP “Trade” Deal Despite the Public’s Overwhelming Opposition
The European Union is already secretly imposing provisions from the secret Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty, even before anyone has signed it, and even before it has been formally approved in any nation.
Read more...Adam Levitin: Fighting for the Middle Class
How the deck is stacked against the middle class, and what it takes to change that.
Read more...Mark Ames: Why Finance is Too Important to Leave to Larry Summers
Mark Ames explains why the left became stupid about finance and why that was a very costly mistake.
Read more...Michael Hudson: The Paradox of Financialized Industrialization
The great question today is whether post-feudal rentier capitalism will stifle industrial capitalism instead of serving it. The aim of finance is not merely to exploit labor, but to conquer and appropriate industry, real estate and government. The result is a financial oligarchy, neither industrial capitalism nor a tendency to evolve into socialism.
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