Category Archives: economic collapse

Two-party system = no change


I still can’t tell if most “middle-class” Americans understand what hit them, and why, when the economy tanked in 2008. Robert Scheer takes a crack at explaining the catastrophe with what seems the perfect metaphor. But then again, I used … Continue reading

Posted in casinos, Congress, economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, mainstream media, Occupy Wall Street, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Zizek on OWS: Where to next?


Bill O’Reilly recently denounced liberal economist Robert Reich as a communist, and Reich responded to this absurd charge by challenging O’Reilly to debate him. The debate I’d like to see, which will never take place, would be between O’Reilly and … Continue reading

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

Yes Men’s fake BofA site is back


As the movie trailer put it, “Sometimes it takes a lie to expose the truth.” The Raw Story reported earlier today that “Google blacklisted on Wednesday a website made to look like an outreach campaign by Bank of America, in … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, humor, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The dog days of spring


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


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’


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


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


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


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


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