Category Archives: Great Recession

Obama dumps Warren, keeps streak alive


If political betrayals were base hits, Barack Obama would be approaching the record for hits in most consecutive games. This week he kept the streak going by not nominating Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal … Continue reading

Posted in CFPB, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, Politics, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bastille Day for the well-fed


The crowd called for Marie Antoinette’s head, they bellowed for it, but in the end the only guillotine victim was a watermelon. The master of ceremonies sentenced the French queen to become Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new housekeeper, not a bad fate … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, fiction, food, Great Depression, Great Recession, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sound and fury, signifying status quo


Joseph Stiglitz, a few months ago in Vanity Fair: The more divided a society becomes in terms of wealth, the more reluctant the wealthy become to spend money on common needs. The rich don’t need to rely on government for … Continue reading

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Will Obama side with workers? Don’t hold your breath


I saw this from WP posted on Suburban Guerrilla and could hardly believe I was reading about a Democratic president: SEATTLE — President Barack Obama is calling once again for Boeing Co. and its workers to resolve their differences without … Continue reading

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Is Obama Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam?


Here’s Paul Krugman last week in The New York Times, urging Barack Obama “to draw a line in the sand” regarding the debt ceiling issue: So what’s really going on is extortion pure and simple. As Mike Konczal of the … Continue reading

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To Frank Rich, the future looks like Hamlet, Act V


You may have noticed that more and more social critics are looking at the future and seeing very few smiley faces. Here’s Frank Rich’s take on the end of the world as we know it: What haunts the Obama administration … Continue reading

Posted in arts, economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, mainstream media, Politics, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Friedman’s cure for Mideast crises? Lemonade


Mick Jagger once sang, “I could use a lemon squeezer!” Thomas Friedman is seeking lemon squeezers, too, but of a different sort. He’s a pollyanna pundit, not a rocker, who’s fond of using the cliche, “When life hands you lemons, … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, health care, Iraq war, mainstream media, New York Times, Politics, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why it’s so easy to hate LeBron James


It’s not because he embraced the nickname King James and has “Chosen1” tattooed on his back. It’s because he’s too arrogant or stupid (same thing?) to resist taking verbal shots at basketball fans who rooted against him during the NBA … Continue reading

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‘Rentiers’ to the jobless: Your pain is our gain


Those trying to escape the saga of Anthony Weiner and the Weiner-ettes may not have seen Paul Krugman’s Friday column, which focuses on the relentlessly high unemployment rate and on the fact that the most powerful people in government — … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Depression, Great Recession, mainstream media, New York Times, New York Times op-ed, Obama, Politics, unemployment, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Stick a fork in Weiner, he’s done


Denounced from the pulpit by the Gray Lady: For more than a week, Representative Anthony Weiner, a New York City Democrat, baldly lied in denying that he had sent a lewd photo of himself to a woman over Twitter, claiming … Continue reading

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