The Pathology of U.S. Democracy
By Anthony Gregory
Electoral
politics is a moral and intellectual wasteland. There is no room for
anyone of principle, whatever that principle might be.
As a libertarian, I see little difference between Obama and Romney. They both favor a perpetual war on terror, an occupation of Afghanistan, military aid to Israel, indefinite detention of terror suspects, military imprisonment outside the bounds of habeas corpus, warrantless wiretapping, the TSA, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the FDA, the war on drugs, gun control, bailouts, Keynesian economics, income taxation, Social Security, Medicare, central banking, subsidies for rich and poor, licensing in industry, public education, employment regulation, agriculture corporatism, tariffs, and a federal budget that amounts to far more than ten thousand dollars for every man, woman, and child in this country.
As a libertarian, I see little difference between Obama and Romney. They both favor a perpetual war on terror, an occupation of Afghanistan, military aid to Israel, indefinite detention of terror suspects, military imprisonment outside the bounds of habeas corpus, warrantless wiretapping, the TSA, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the FDA, the war on drugs, gun control, bailouts, Keynesian economics, income taxation, Social Security, Medicare, central banking, subsidies for rich and poor, licensing in industry, public education, employment regulation, agriculture corporatism, tariffs, and a federal budget that amounts to far more than ten thousand dollars for every man, woman, and child in this country.
Obama or Romney: It Matters as much as Choosing Pepsi over Coke
Obama or Romney: It Matters as much as Choosing Pepsi over Coke
Most
Americans believe that they live in a democracy which implies options
to choose from. They still think that the United States is a two party
system with real differences between Democrats and Republicans. But in
reality the very same non-elected people have been pulling the strings
and making policy decisions for the sake of the same interests for
decades. Alan Greenspan is of course a typical example of this, but so
are Kissinger and Brzezinski for issues on foreign policy. Larry
Summers, a Clinton man who had a big responsibility in creating the real
estate bubble and the subsequent 2008 crash, became quickly one of
President Obama’s key economic advisers. Ben Bernanke, President Obama’s
Chairman of the Fed was George W. Bush’s Chairman of the Feds. The same
troubling continuity of powerful policy players took place between the
Reagan and Bush Sr. Administration and the Clinton administration.
It
is hard to pinpoint when this democracy took a wrong turn towards a
plutocracy where oligarchs stay in power from one generation to the
next. Where a political aristocracy has the impudence to maintain an
incestuous relationship with bankers and corporations at the expense of
the people that they are supposed to represent. And where a small group
of non-elected powerful “wise men” pull the strings in the background,
like puppet masters,one administration after the other. Americans are
not, in general, very well informed and most are still under the
illusion that the two parties give them real options. That said, US
citizens intuitively understand the corruption and failures of their
political class. Currently, the public approval rating of the US
Congress is 17 percent compared to 75 percent who disapprove. It is at
one of the lowest level of confidence in US history.US Drone Strikes And Bin Laden’s Killing: Turning Pakistan Into A Time-bomb
US Drone Strikes And Bin Laden’s Killing: Turning Pakistan Into A Time-bomb
Today, more than 150 Pakistani Taliban attacked 
South
Waziristan is described in US military and intelligence circles as the
“most dangerous place on earth”. Washington is currently putting a great
The War in Afghanistan: A Monumental Waste
The War in Afghanistan: A Monumental Waste
We have all seen the latest headlines about the war in Afghanistan. As of now more than two thousand American troops are dead. Innumerable others suffered wounds. More deaths and injuries will occur over the next weeks and months as America and the NATO forces wind down and mostly get out of the country by 2014. Many of the latest deaths are “green on blue,” meaning, in case you do not know, so-called friendly Afghan troops and trainees turning their weapons on their American counterparts. These seem to happen daily. Sometimes the killings are by the Taliban, by anti-government sympathizers, or simply disgruntled and ignorant men who object to and do not understand the ethos of those who train them and work alongside them. There is also a fair share of “green on green” killings where Afghans kill each other for a myriad of reasons, including tribe against tribe in a society dominated by tribalism and an inability or desire to move into the 21st Century.
The question simply put is what are we doing in that inhospitable country now that Bin Laden is dead? It should be clear that we are not going to build a nation out of one that never existed and does not now exist in any form.
Global War Economy: The Empire of the US Military Industrial Complex
Global War Economy: The Empire of the US Military Industrial Complex
Arguably, ever since entering World War II, the United States of America’s economy has been a war economy. Starting or fostering wars became essentially, independently of geopolitical reasons, a “good” business proposition. The early 1940s marked the start of the era of systematic wars for profit. War defined as the ultimate capitalist enterprise. The extraordinary war efforts of World War II turned the United States into a giant global arms factory for the war in Europe and in the Pacific. It was even, cynically, credited as the main factor in ending the Great
This trend continued at a slower pace, but without any real interruption, with the Korean war in the early 1950s, the Vietnam war in the 1960s until the early 1970s, and various proxy wars worldwide- including Afghanistan in the 1980s- against the Soviet Union. The event of 9/11/ 2001 gave American politicians the unique opportunity to start the perfect war on behalf of their friends and patrons of the military industrial complex. It is the endless war: the “war on terror” without any geographic boundaries, time frame or even the necessity to have a well defined enemy.
This permanent war business proposition is
Like Steve Jobs, Ben Bernanke Should Think Long-Term. by William Poole
Today, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke kicks off the annual
Economic Symposium of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which
draws central bankers, academics, market participants and policymakers
from around the world. I have taken the liberty of drafting his ideal
speech:
Again this year, as for the past three years, we seek to understand
the prospects for the U.S. and world economies following the most severe
recession since the Great Depression.We thought that by now economic growth would be picking up, but the expected sustained recovery has not occurred. In the U.S., employment is growing but far too slowly.
Why?
Democrats' Hypocrisy with the Rich. by Richard W. Rahn
Did you know that President Obama is responsible for
the loss of more U.S. jobs than any other person? Did you know that Sen.
John F. Kerry and his wife are three to four times as rich as Mitt and
Ann Romney, according to the New York Times, yet paid a lower
tax rate than the Romneys in 2003, the year before Mr. Kerry ran for
president? Do you know how to lower your tax rate? Read on.
Mr. Romney is being criticized in the mainstream media for having
paid just about 14 percent of his income in federal income taxes and
having some of his money in places like Switzerland and Cayman (even
though he appears to have paid all of the taxes on interest and
dividends that were due to the United States). Yet, eight years ago,
when the far richer Mr. Kerry and his wife paid a slightly lower tax
rate and also had their money dispersed globally, as sensible rich
people do, they were lauded by many of the same folks who are now in a
tizzy about Mr. Romney's finances. Note: Mr. Kerry's wife inherited her
money, while Mr. Romney earned his by building real businesses.Washington's Perilous Power Play. by Ted Galen Carpenter
Bitter disagreements about how to deal with the growing
violence in Syria are damaging Washington's relations with China and
Russia. Policy regarding the Syrian civil war has created worrisome
tensions in these crucial bilateral relationships, which became evident
as early as February 2012.
Following a decision by Moscow and Beijing to veto a United Nations Rice's boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, used equally accusatory and inflammatory language later that month. "It is distressing to see two permanent members of the Security Council using their veto while people are being murdered — women, children, brave young men," Clinton fumed. The actions by Beijing and Moscow were "just despicable, and I have to ask whose side are they on? They are clearly not on the side of the Syrian people", she said.
More Fed Bond Buying Won't Let 'Animal Spirits' out of the Cage. by Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.
Markets will be hanging on every word in Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech Friday morning in Jackson Hole,
Wyo. That is because the minutes from the July 31-Aug. 1 meeting of the
Federal Open Market Committee, released on Aug. 22, were widely
interpreted as signaling some kind of further easing of monetary policy.
The minutes stated in part that "many members judged that additional
monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless
incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable
strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery." And yet, one day
after the minutes were released, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard
said they were "a bit stale." This turned market sentiment around,
sending equity prices down.So will he send a signal favorable to "additional monetary accommodation"? Or will he endorse Mr. Bullard's comments?
D’Souza’s Anti-Obama Documentary: If Only It Were True!
Written by Gary North
I went to see 2016: Obama’s America. Dinesh D’Souza wrote, stars in, directed, narrates, and did the original research for it. If we look at this from the point of view of its success as a documentary, I think it is effective. It is making money in theaters. This is amazing for a documentary. It is a campaign year documentary, and it is a good one.It is also dead wrong. That is because it misses the fundamental political fact of the last dozen years: the Obama Administration is the operational successor of the Bush Administration. In Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Guantanamo, on Wall Street, Barack Obama is George W. Bush in blackface. Obama is the star of a twenty-first century minstrel show.
This fact has been deliberately ignored for almost four years by both the neoconservative Right and the grin-and-bear-it Left. Neither side will admit what I regard as the fundamental fact of this documentary. It is a long whitewash of the policies of George W. Bush.
Official: Iran would take action if US attacked Syria
Official: Iran would take action if US attacked Syria
Revolutionary Guard propaganda official says joint military pact of Syria's allies would be implemented in case of 'stupid American attack'
Reuters
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Iran has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad in his
Republican Platform Calls for Value-added Tax Scheme
Republican Platform Calls for Value-added Tax Scheme
Ann Romney says you can trust her husband.The last one is betrayed by the Republican platform.
“The 2012 Republican Platform calls for a
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