NewsTrust - Money - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Take the Money and Run for Office

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

This American Life - By Ira Glass - Apr. 22 (Editorial) - For anyone who has ever heard the term "Washington insider" and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

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3 Corporate Myths that Threaten the Wealth of the Nation

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By William Lazonick, Ken Jacobson, Lynn Parramore - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - We need to confront some powerful myths of corporate governance as part of a movement to make corporations work for the 99%. To start, we have to recognize these corporations for what they are not. • They are not “private enterprise.” • They should not be run to “maximize shareholder value.” • The mega-millions in remuneration paid to top corporate executives are not determined by the “market forces” of supply and demand.

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How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Noam Chomsky - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - many measures have been taken to restore discipline. One is the crusade for privatization – placing control in reliable hands. Another is sharp increases in tuition, up nearly 600 percent since 1980. These produce a higher education system with "far more economic stratification than is true of any other country," according to Jane Wellman, former director of the Delta Cost Project, which monitors these issues. Tuition increases trap students into long-term debt and hence subordination to private power.

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Capitalism's Dirty Secret: Corporations Don't Create Jobs, They Destroy Them

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Parramore - Apr. 03 (Opinion) - For the last four decades, U.S. corporations have been sinking our economy through the off-shoring of jobs, the squeezing of wages, and a magician’s hat full of bluffs and tricks designed to extort subsidies and sweetheart deals from local and state governments that often result in mass layoffs and empty treasuries.

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Punk Economics: Lesson 3

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

YouTube - By David McWilliams - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - Irish Economist David McWilliams discusses the dangers of playing games with liquidity, in Lesson 3.

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It's Official: Money Now Governs America

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

creators.com - By Jim Hightower - Feb. 14 (Opinion) - American politics has developed into a game for the fun and profit of a few superrich narcissists.

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5 New Rules for an Economy That Works

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By David Morris - Oct. 09 (Opinion) - The 99% is growing stronger and larger. The next step is to move the country. Which requires us to decide where we want to go and how we want to get there.

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Food stamp program doubles in region, abuse soars | Leah Fabel | Virginia | Washington Examiner

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

washingtonexaminer.com - Sep. 08 () -

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The Economy Is Doomed Says Charles R. Morris

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:01:10 -0700

The Daily Beast - By Charles R. Morris - Aug. 11 (Opinion) - Over the last few days, global markets have been surging and collapsing like a teeny-bopper’s hormones. The Monday swoon was precipitated by the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating by one of the major credit agencies, while the Tuesday resurrection was in reaction to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s promise to keep interest rates near zero in perpetuity if necessary. Neither of those was a real event. Treasury risk premiums fell after the credit action, and American banks and corporations are already sitting on some $3 trillion in cash that they can’t spend. More free money won’t change anything. Gloom descended again on Wednesday, this time because of credit worries in Europe, which is at least a real problem. A deeper reason for the high market anxiety, however, is the sad state of financial governance in both Europe and the United States. The paralyzing standoff between the two major American parties was dramatized by the idiocies of the debt-ceiling debate. President Obama’s Monday speech only added to the nervousness by underscoring how far apart the parties were.

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Robert Parry’s July Fourth Appeal

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Robert Parry - Jul. 04 (Opinion) - In a modern age of mass communication, it has turned out that sophisticated propaganda and false narratives can be a more lethal threat to meaningful self-rule in America than all the armies of the world combined. If enough Americans can be deluded by clever talking points and endless spin – while many others are rendered confused and immobile – then the “consent of the governed” is made meaningless.

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Europe Is Warning Us

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Victor Davis Hanson - Jun. 09 (Opinion) - If Americans think fuel and food prices are high, they should try Europe, where both can nearly double those in the United States -- while salaries here are often lower.

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The U.S. Economic Outlook

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - By Ben S. Bernanke - Jun. 08 (Statement) - Although it is moving in the right direction, the economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed. Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established. At the same time, the longer-run health of the economy requires that the Federal Reserve be vigilant in preserving its hard-won credibility for maintaining price stability.

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Gloom-onomics

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Robert Samuelson - May. 23 (Opinion) - The recovery seems increasingly self-propelled. Americans are shopping again, albeit with less fervor; exports are improving; companies are hiring. Massive government spending and the Federal Reserve's low interest rates seem less crucial to growth. Although this is good news, the pervasive post-crisis gloom prevents us from acknowledging it.

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Billionaire Babies

Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Susan Estrich - May. 14 (Opinion) - I dislike insider trading, not so much because it's unfair (it's also unfair that so many people are so much better than me at investing) but because it undermines confidence in the markets, and our economy depends on that confidence.

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Dollar’s Biggest Decline? 2001-08

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Big Picture - By Barry Ritholtz - Apr. 24 (Opinion) - The hand-wringing about the US dollar is rather late to the party. Where were all you concerned dollar bulls earlier in the decade? It strikes me that like the late-to-discover inflation, you folks cannot spot a trend until it bites you in your collective asses.

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Gwyneth Paltrow Is Right. We're All Jealous. (Of Her and George W. Bush.)

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Keli Goff - Apr. 19 (Opinion) - Sometimes the truth hurts -- especially when it's an embarrassing truth and someone calls you out on it in public. Gwyneth Paltrow, whose image, particularly in cyberspace, has taken quite a drubbing in the last year or two, recently called out her critics (or anyone who doesn't appear to be her biggest fan) with her version of truth telling.

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War on the Weak

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Daily Beast - By Jonathan Chait - Apr. 11 (Opinion) - The class tinge of Ryan’s Path to Prosperity is striking. The poorest Americans would suffer immediate, explicit budget cuts. Middle-class Americans would face distant, uncertain reductions in benefits. And the richest Americans would enjoy an immediate windfall. Santelli, in his original rant, demanded that we “reward people [who can] carry the water instead of drink the water.” Ryan won’t say so, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.

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Charlie Sheen and the rich: time for a new war

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

livejournal.com - By Bill Maher - Apr. 09 (Comedy News) - “And if you think a guy living large, and rubbing your nose in it that you’re not, is funny, here’s one you’ll really love: you have to pay your taxes next week, and General Electric doesn’t.”

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America Is Not Broke

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Michael Moore - Mar. 07 (Opinion) - Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

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What Social Network?

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Chris Hayes - Mar. 03 (Opinion) - This disconnect between the jobs crisis in the country and the blithe dismissal thereof in Washington is the most incomprehensible aspect of the political moment.

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The Dual Oil Threats

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Matthew Yglesias - By Matthew Yglesias - Feb. 28 (Opinion) - When people talk about the risk posed to the economy by oil price spikes it’s worth keeping in mind the fact that there are really two separate threats here.

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Liberalism and the post-union future

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Michael Lind - Feb. 22 (Opinion) - The goal should be to do away with employer-based benefits in favor of universal social insurance programs

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Egypt's Scariest Financial Move Yet...

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

creditcardoutlaw.com - Feb. 03 () - Restricting the flow of capital is never a sign of a healthy regime... As the FOX Business brief below reports, Egypt's government is now limiting the amount of money that can be transferred abroad to $10,000 per citizen... hey, that's almost enough to buy a Hyundai!

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Standard & Poor’s Triple A Ratings Collapse Again. The Question is Why?

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

ProPublica - By Jesse Einsinger - Jan. 05 (Opinion) - Two weeks ago, Standard & Poor’s put out a press release: The credit rating agency warned it was poised to downgrade almost 1,200 complex mortgage securities. So what? Isn’t that dog-bites-man at this point?

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A New Year's Resolution for the Rich

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Harris - Dec. 30 (Opinion) - It is easy to understand why even the most generous person might be averse to paying taxes: Our legislative process has been hostage to short-term political interests and other perverse incentives for as long as anyone can remember. Consequently, our government wastes an extraordinary amount of money. It also seems uncontroversial to say that whatever can be best accomplished in the private sector should be. Our tax code must also be reformed--and it might even be true that the income tax should be lowered on everyone, provided we find a better source of revenue to pay our bills. But I can't imagine that anyone seriously believes that the current level of wealth inequality in the United States is good and worth maintaining, or that our government's first priority should be to spare a privileged person like myself the slightest hardship as this once great nation falls into ruin.

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