Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Inverted Cannibalism: How the US is Eating its Young By Chris Hedge




We all have seen the signs, the strange discomfort is changing into outright disbelief, but not too many can argue now that everything is well in the Republic of Palin and Snookie.

The Right is doing its job all right but the Left is seen as impotent, even thought all the political capital in the world were thrown at it so as to shake up, shape up and reaffirm this thing called democracy in a society that should not shudder at the mere mention of empathy and that assuredly should regard compassion and justice as valuable human principles.

TruthDig Chris Hedge's talk on 'The Death of the Liberal Class' go further into the dissection of the disease that seems to erode all the Left's political endeavors.

An eye opener and a somber take on the history, as well as the uncertain future, of a broken republic.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Thursday, October 7, 2010

More Stumble Upon News

  • Jobless Claims in U.S. Decreased 11,000 Last ...

    Rated 06:29am • 1 review • economics • bloomberg.com
     
    From the page: "Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in three months, indicating companies are slowing the pace of firings.

    Jobless claims dropped by 11,000 to 445,000 in the week ended Oct. 2, the fewest since July 10, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists projected 455,000 new claims last week, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The total number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased and those getting extended payments jumped. "

  • U.S. Companies Buy Back Stock Instead Of Investing...

    From the page: For months, companies have been sitting on the sidelines with record piles of cash, too nervous to spend. Now they're starting to deploy some of that money - not to hire workers or build factories, but to prop up their share prices.
    This Story

    Sitting on these unprecedented levels of cash, U.S. companies are buying back their own stock in droves. So far this year, firms have announced they will purchase $273 billion of their own shares, more than five times as much compared with this time last year, according to Birinyi Associates, a stock market research firm. But the rise in buybacks signals that many companies are still hesitant to spend their cash on the job-generating activities that could produce economic growth.

  • Goldman Sachs and the Economy - NYTimes.com

    Rated 05:55am • 1 review • economics • nytimes.com
     
    From the page: "Correlations in economic data that suggest higher credit helps cause higher growth are not worth much " if they fail to take into account future losses on bad credit. If G.D.P. were adjusted with provisions for future losses, G.D.P. growth would be lower during periods where credit grows very fast."

  • Senator sees hope for Obama-led tax code reform| Reuters

    Rated 05:35am • 1 review • politics • reuters.com
     
    From the page: "Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, the author with Republican Judd Gregg of the only bipartisan plan to overhaul the tax code, said he saw a sliver of light this week when Obama said he wanted to find ways to lower the corporate tax rate - a cornerstone of their plan.

    "The fact that the president has put it on the table so early I think is a huge deal," Wyden told a packed room of tax lawyers, experts and aides to lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss the Wyden-Gregg plan."

  • BBC News - UN condemned over 'appalling' Haiti...

    Rated 05:27am • 1 review • politics • bbc.co.uk
     
    From the page: "UN condemned over 'appalling' Haiti earthquake camps
    A girl stands next to tents destroyed by heavy rains in Port-au-Prince on 25 September The report says camps for displaced Haitians are squalid and close to anarchy

    A US charity has issued a damning criticism of efforts by the UN to help those made homeless by the devastating quake in Haiti almost 10 months ago.

    The group, Refugees International, says the UN bodies in charge of camps for displaced Haitians are inexperienced, dysfunctional and lack translators"

  • Poor healthcare may shorten American lives: study -...

    Rated 05:25am • 1 review • politics • yahoo.com
     
    From the page: "Americans die sooner than citizens of a dozen other developed nations and the usual suspects -- obesity, traffic accidents and a high murder rate -- are not to blame, researchers reported on Thursday.

    Instead, poor healthcare may be to blame, the team at Columbia University in New York reported."

  • Ted Hughes Poem Details Sylvia Plaths Suicide : NPR

    Rated 05:15am • 1 review • poetry • npr.org
     
    A previously unseen poem by Ted Hughes that details the painful moments surrounding the suicide of his wife Sylvia Plath is being published by The New Statesman on Thursday, the magazine said.

    Hughes, an English poet laureate, and Plath, his American wife, are considered among the 20th century's greatest poets. Their doomed marriage inspired some of their best work and has been the focus of endless fascination.

  • Measuring global poverty: Whose problem now? | The Economist

    Rated 05:11am • 1 review • shihtzuman • economics • economist.com
     
    'The thesis was true in 1990: then, over 90% of the worldâ€s poor lived in the worldâ€s poorest places. But it looks out of date now. Andy Sumner of Britainâ€s Institute of Development Studies* reckons that almost three-quarters of the 1.3 billion-odd people existing below the $1.25 a day poverty line now live in middle-income countries. Only a quarter live in the poorest states (mostly in Africa). '
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

More Stumbled Upon News Briefs

  • http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/10/05/lind...
    Rated 08:49am • 0 reviews • politics • salon.com
    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/10/05/lind_america_plutonomy/index.html?source=rss&aim=/opinion/feature From the page: ""In a plutonomy there is no such animal as 'the U.S. consumer' or 'the UK consumer,' or indeed the 'Russian consumer.' There are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the 'no-rich,' the multitudinous many, but only accounting for surprisingly small bites of the national pie." The Citigroup analysts speculated that a plutonomic world economy could be driven by the spending of the worlds rich minority, whose ranks are "swelling from globalized enclaves in the emerging world."

    The data support their analysis. According to Moodys Analytics, the top 5 percent of American earners are responsible for 35 percent of consumer spending, while the bottom 80 percent engage in only 39.5 percent of consumer outlays."

  • Big-name companies to help colleges train workers -...
    Rated 07:53am • 1 review • politics • yahoo.com
    Big-name companies to help colleges train workers - Yahoo! News From the page: "Tuesday's community college summit is considered a consolation prize for community colleges, which had been slated to receive $10 billion in federal money for job training, building projects and initiatives to graduate more students.


    But by the time an overhaul of the federal student loan program had made its way through Congress, all that remained for community colleges was $2 billion over four years for job training.

    Obama has set a goal of 5 million more community college graduates and certificate-holders by 2020, part of broader push for the U.S. to again lead the world in number of college graduates."
  • His Struggle: Glenn Beck's Hitler fetish | The Economist
    Rated 07:47am • 1 review • politics • economist.com
    His Struggle: Glenn Beck's Hitler fetish | The Economist From the page: "Mr Beck is trying to tilt the balance of anti-extremist critiques on the left and right, which normally accuse leftists of communism and rightists of fascism, by associating fascism as well as communism with the left. It then becomes impossible to accuse right-wingers of extremism, since all extremists must by definition be leftists. "
    1 view
  • Red toxic sludge spill sparks Hungary emergency| Reuters
    Rated 07:28am • 1 review • environment • reuters.com
    Red toxic sludge spill sparks Hungary emergency| Reuters From the page: "waste generated during bauxite refining, poured through Kolontar and two other villages on Monday after bursting out of a containment reservoir at the nearby Ajkai Timfoldgyar Zrt plant, owned by MAL Zrt.

    On Tuesday the Natural Disaster Unit (NDU) said four more villages were affected and the death toll had risen to four. Six people were known to be missing.

    Many others were suffering from burns and eye irritation caused by the lead and other highly corrosive elements"
    7 views 

     
  • Palin adviser worked for foreign governments| Reuters
    Rated 07:26am • 1 review • politics • reuters.com
    Palin adviser worked for foreign governments| Reuters From the page: "The firm is a Washington consulting firm founded and led by Randy Scheunemann, a lobbyist who served as a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain in his 2008 U.S. presidential bid and to Palin when she became McCain's Republican running mate.

    Controversy over campaign advisers who work as lobbyists for foreign or domestic interests can often blight national political campaigns. At least five of McCain's aides quit his presidential campaign because of their lobbying activities."
    8 views 

     
  • Joseph A. Palermo: Why Liberals Dont Stand a Chance in...
    Rated 06:59am • 1 review • politics • huffingtonpost.com
    Joseph A. Palermo: Why Liberals Dont Stand a Chance in the Corporate Media ''CNN has a lot more Republicans in its stable of commentators than Democrats, and its "go-to" Dems are people like James Carville and Donna Brazile, hardly fire-breathing progressives. But there's nothing going on at MSNBC that can even compare to Fox. Fox's entire 24-hours is dedicated, day-in and day-out, to cheerleading for greater corporate power. (And when I use the word "cheerleader" I really mean it: just look at Megyn Kelly.)''
    1 view 


     
  • Op-Ed Columnist - Fear and Favor - NYTimes.com
    Rated 06:26am • 1 review • politics • nytimes.com
    Op-Ed Columnist - Fear and Favor - NYTimes.com ''As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn't currently holding office and isn't named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News. ''
    8 views 




     
  • Op-Ed Columnist - That's Where the Money Is - NYTimes.com
    Rated 06:17am • 1 review • politics • nytimes.com
    Op-Ed Columnist - That's Where the Money Is - NYTimes.com ''The U.S. is in terrible shape right now because far too much influence has been ceded to the financial and corporate elites who have used that influence to game the system and reap rewards that are almost unimaginable. Ordinary working Americans have been left far behind, gasping and on their knees. ''




  • Health insurers pour money into GOP campaigns, hoping to...
    Rated 06:04am • 1 review • jbet777 • politics • latimes.com
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Best Stumbled Upon News Briefs

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)