Category Archives: economic collapse

The dog days of spring

Posted on April 16, 2012 by oddmanout215

It feels almost like August in April, and so what if glaciers are melting and the sea level rising and scientists predicting vast coastal areas will be underwater within a century? Jon’s Water Ice, which is usually shuttered until after … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, economic collapse, fiction, history, Iraq war | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

No mercy from bailed-out BofA

Posted on April 15, 2012 by oddmanout215

In the not-so-distant past, one of the most reviled characters in American popular culture was the landlord who threw families into the street if they couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage on their homes. Think of Lionel Barrymore as Mr. … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, movies, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

One word for you, young man: ‘Prisons’

Posted on April 12, 2012 by oddmanout215

The “too-big-to-fail” bank Wells Fargo received a $37 billion bailout from the government after playing a major role in sparking the 2008 collapse of the housing market. Now the bank is bigger than ever and investing heavily in one of … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, humor, movies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

U.S. is leader of the pack — in poverty rates

Posted on April 10, 2012 by oddmanout215

In an article in Boston Review, Paul Osterman notes that income inequality in the United States is much greater than in northern Europe, and that the situation here could improve if our government focused on raising and enforcing labor standards, … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, Occupy Wall Street, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Why liberalism is on life-support

Posted on April 9, 2012 by oddmanout215

Why do so many so-called liberal politicians in our time openly embrace cultural liberalism — i.e., equal rights for blacks, women, gays and other groups — while running like hell from the sort of economic liberalism that made the New … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Easter weekend supermarket dream

Posted on April 6, 2012 by oddmanout215

Perhaps the relevant truth… is that we all find ourselves in temporal currents and that unless you’re paying attention you’ll discover, often too late, that a undertow of weeks or of years has pulled you deep into trouble. – Joseph … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, fiction, humor | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Survival of the foulest

Posted on April 4, 2012 by oddmanout215

Barack Obama, quoted in yesterday’s New York Times: Disguised as deficit reduction plans, [the Paul Ryan budget] is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. And by gutting the very … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, history, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Mitt to America: Let’s go serfin’ now

Posted on April 3, 2012 by oddmanout215

You may have noticed that the American political system as it currently exists is helping reduce many of us to the status of serfs in a feudal system. Or, if you’d rather, into what sociologists Kevin Leicht and Scott Fitzgerald … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, Congress, economic collapse, humor, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mitt jokes about lost jobs

Posted on March 29, 2012 by oddmanout215

You don’t have to be a natural-born entertainer to win a major election, but you do have to be a fairly good liar. You have to know your audiences reasonably well, and tell them what they want to hear. That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, humor, Mitt Romney, New York Times | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Paul Ryan is Robin Hood for the rich

Posted on March 23, 2012 by oddmanout215

Ayn Rand wasn’t a good enough fiction writer to create protagonists who were anything more than mouthpieces for her cartoonish, elitist “philosophy.” However, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is the word made flesh — a real-life monster of selfishness and, fittingly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, The New Depression | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment