"Words that make actions speak louder."
President Bush addressed the Conservative Political Action Committee gathering in Washington today, and, according to the White House, he told the group that our “peace and prosperity” are at stake in the upcoming election. Eerily Orwellian, Mr. President. For a country at war and in a recession, “peace and prosperity” aren’t at stake; they have […]
David Frum, noted neocon and former Bush adviser, who is generally wrong about just about everything, just penned a lament for the Financial Times on the coming “Democratic sea-change.” This time, Frum gets it right. “Conservative ascendancy is coming to an end.” The catastrophic failures of conservative policy under the president Frum idolized have set […]
The old routines don’t work anymore. The presidential smirk seems sheepish. The threats seem like bluster. No one really listens anymore. Even George W. Bush seemed almost giddy that he wouldn’t have to go through this again. The president appears as tired of us as we are of him. Monday’s State of the Union speech […]
Barbara Ehrenreich memorably called the talk about the stimulus “clitoral economics.” And that was before we got screwed. The stimulus deal just announced is being praised more for its existence than its content. Much lamented partisan bickering was overcome; bipartisan cooperation that got it done. With Wall Street bankers in panic, better something than nothing. […]
“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.” These now-immortal words of former Citibank President Charles “Chuck” Prince were uttered in July, as Citibank was about to lose billions in everything from mortgages to credit cards. Prince departed with a reported $68 million good-bye package. Stanley […]
Remember the Enron employees who watched their retirement savings evaporate as the Enron ponzi scheme, chaired by George Bush’s best buddy, “Kenny Boy” Lay, went up in smoke? The conservative majority on the Supreme Court just told them all: “Drop Dead.” Forced to choose between protecting the rights of the small investors who got defrauded […]
It ain’t sexy, I know, but a word about the economy and the presidential debate. Wall Street banks are holding a fire sale; employment is down, holiday sales tanked. Burdened with record debt and stagnant incomes, homeowners are about to reckon with declining home values, their largest investments, with a projected $2 trillion in assets […]
Markets self-regulate, conservatives tell us. Just get government off our backs, companies tell us (after we pocket whatever subsidies we can grab). The Washington Post reported Tuesday on the safety of theme parks that feature rides that can whirl kids at speeds reaching 100 miles an hour. Most parents think the government makes certain the […]
The Republican CNN/YouTube debate lasted over two hours Wednesday night. But once more, we learned nothing about what the candidates would do about the economic straits we are in. Not a word about the housing crisis—the rising tide of foreclosures, plummeting housing prices and sales—and the credit crunch that now roils banks across the globe. […]
Do we have to wait for soup lines in Shaker Heights before we have a serious debate on the economy? In the last two Democratic debates, not one question was directed at what to do about the economy. Iraq, health care, the politics of parsing, pearls or diamonds — all got attention. But the economy […]