Greece

Hedge funds and banks should not reign supreme over governments.

Greek rescue blocked by hedge fund greed - Business News - Business - The Independent:

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Libertarians

Jeffrey Sachs: Libertarian Illusions

Israel, The US and Iran

Israel did do it? Sunday Times: Mossad agents behind Iran scientist assasination - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

[Netanyahu deputy voices ‘disappointment’ with Obama on Iran] because Obama won't start a war for them.

[More Terrorism]

Financed by the US taxpayer at 3 billion a year and by [US Citizens on their own]. Its no wonder "they" hate us.

Propaganda

I only heard one question in the republican debate last night, from Brett Bair.

BAIR: Governor Perry, since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey, the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there. Press freedom has declined to the level of Russia. The prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cypress. Given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?

Though not an expert on Turkey, I thought that sounded misleading. It was. Juan Cole, an expert on the middle east, gives his opinion here: [Juan Cole: Turkey].

[Dear Fox News: A cypress is a kind of tree. The Mediterranean island you are looking for is Cyprus.]

Bair’s charges against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey are mostly pure propaganda. Things like the murder rate of women don’t change in accordance with which party is in power! Turkey has not threatened military force against Israel– rather the Israeli military attacked a civilian Turkish aid ship in international waters in an act of piracy and killed 9 people including an American citizen, to which Turkey replied with a demand for an apology. Erdogan has urged a secular constitution on Egypt and has not “embraced” Hamas in the sense of agreeing with its fundamentalist ideology. He has simply declared that Israel’s policy of placing the whole civilian population of the Gaza Strip under severe embargo is illegal and immoral, and he has encouraged aid volunteers to get civilian supplies to Gaza’s children. (Fox Cable News and some of the Republican candidates feel about Palestinians pretty much the way Nazis felt about Jews before the Holocaust– i.e. that it was better that they be stripped of citizenship and kept stateless and downtrodden).

The only thing Bair got right is the point on press freedom. Turkey has jailed over two dozen journalists in the past year, which is very worrisome. I’m not sure, however, that the situation of journalists in Turkey is worse than in Putin’s Russia. Indeed, my impression is that there is substantially more press and political freedom in Turkey than in the Russian Federation at the moment. ( @JosephFCrater pointed out on Twitter that two dozen journalists have been arrested this fall by American mayors like New York’s Michael Bloomberg for covering Occupy Wall Street).

I think the question, as framed, was worse than Perry's response. Its easy to see Perry is an idiot but in asking the question like that Fox deliberately sent a false view of Turkey to their listeners.

The Fox Propaganda Network at its best.

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More on Big Government

From [Political Irony › The Party of Big Government]

The latest data we have is for the end of 2010, but the total number of federal employees is still smaller than it was when Reagan took office 30 years ago, even though the US population has grown more than 45% during that time.

Bottom line — under the last three Democratic presidents (Carter, Clinton, Obama), the federal workforce was reduced by 304,000 employees; while under the last three Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush I, Bush II) the federal workforce was increased by 261,000 employees.

The Right is only against big government when they aren't in power.

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Growth of Government

Jeffrey Sachs knows propaganda when he sees it. [Jeffrey Sachs: How the Wall Street Journal Misleads About Federal Jobs]

The big lie of our time is that the federal government is expanding out of control. Yes, there is undoubted waste, especially in military outlays and in outlays for over-priced private health services. The Journal is a promoter of that variety of waste, the kind that benefits the 1 percent represented by powerful lobbyists, and that hurts the rest of society. For government services that count for the 99 percent, the federal government is shrinking, alas, no matter which phony figures the Wall Street Journal throws our way.

Federal Employment 1981-2011

Federal employment as a percent of all non-farm employment

Do you think we'll wee this on CNN?

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Israel, The US and Iran #3

[Iran: We have evidence U.S. killed nuclear scientist in Tehran - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

So now who do we believe? Iran says it has evidence that the CIA did it but someone just released (conveniently) a report that Israel's Mossad has been known to impersonate the CIA, specifically to increase tensions between the US and Iran. Israel, of course, says they would never do such a thing as pretend to be the CIA but haven't really said they weren't responsible for the Iranian terror attack.

This is sort of like our political discussions here in the US. When the truth is out there and you don't like it, or it doesn't serve your purpose, hire a think-tank to confuse the issue with lots of seemingly serious, but conflicting reports.

On the Iranian terror bombing, I'm betting on Mossad with at least some US knowledge/support.

More on Mossad-CIA here [Mondoweiss]

Also, [Iran willing to talk, Israel's not] but you won't see that on the evening news here in the US.

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Israel, The US and Iran #2

Juan Cole's take on the [Israeli Mossad posing as CIA] story.

Including these.

If the allegations are true, they indict the right wing Israeli government on several counts:

1. Of being involved in terrorist operations against civilians and,

2. Of falsely implicating the US government in those terrorist operations, shifting blame onto the CIA and also encouraging Iranian counter-attacks on Americans.

Just to be clear, it is too soon to absolve US agencies from any involvement in Jundullah. But apparently from what Perry says, that would have been very indirect, through third or fourth parties. Washington is annoyed that Mossad made it look direct, in hopes of provoking Iranian terrorism against the US and ginning up a war.

and on AIPAC

In the peculiar American system of legalized bribery, AIPAC has bought most US congressmen by organizing thousands of Jewish and Christian Zionist groups to give money to Congressional campaigns. AIPAC ought to have to register as an agent of a foreign country, but is allowed to so function without any let or hindrance, by the FBI, which really ought to intervene here.

This [guy] went to jail for pretty much the same thing. The big difference though,... his foreign country was Muslim.

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Israel, The US and Iran

Several related posts about Iran, Terrorism and our great friend Israel. You have to wonder if the release of the "Mossad posing as CIA" story has to do with the recent Iran professor killing and the arrest of CIA spies by Iran. And remember,... the US taxpayers give Israel 3 billion a year for this crap.

[A Murder in Tehran | Informed Comment]

[Iran and the Terrorism game - Salon.com]

[Israeli Mossad agents posed as CIA spies to recruit terrorists to fight against Iran' - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

[how-israel-is-sponsoring-terrorism-and-betraying-its-american-allies]

[mossad-agents-posing-as-cia-apparently-didnt-give-a-damn-what-we-thought]

Free Markets

[More than half of U.S. employers surveyed by the staffing firm Manpower Group last year said they were having trouble filling job openings because they couldn't find qualified workers.]

The free market types always leave off the most important part of this line,.....

"... At the price they want to pay..".

If you raise the wage you're willing to pay, you will find your qualified workers.

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Ron Paul

[No More Mister Nice Blog] nails it.

I caught a nit of Ron Paul's speech tonight. I was particularly struck by this:

t’s been -- America has been the greatest country ever, the most prosperous country ever, the largest middle class ever. It’s not that way today. Our middle class is shrinking. The country is getting poorer.

Yeah, schumck, and you know what we had in this country back when we had the largest middle class ever? All kinds of big government programs and expenditures, of the kind you libertarians oppose. The GI Bill. The interstate highway system. FHA loans. Social Security, and eventually Medicare. Evil government! Oh, and (as Paul Krugman never tires of reminding us) a well-regulated banking system (Glass-Steagall!) that was rendered too boring and safe to put the public at risk of having to pay for booms that went bust.

Paul's invocation of the era of the thriving American middle class infuriated me just the way I was infuriated every time Glenn Beck, in his TV heyday, used to weep for the lost America of his viewers' youth. Hey, schmuck, I thought you said we've been living in a fascist nightmare ever since Woodrow Wilson was president! How can your viewers also have lived through a lost Golden Age?

You want to weep for what we had in the mid-twentieth century and lost? Remember how we got it in the first place. It wasn't through unregulated free markets, idiots.

Firing your Insurance Company

Romney thinks it's great to be able to fire his insurance company, [Hullabaloo] discusses what it's like for the rest of us, you know , the 99%.

But most of all, we don't see the health insurance company as providing us a service. We see ourselves, rather, as indentured supplicants forced to pay exorbitant monthly rates for a basic need that responsible people with means can't get out of paying for if we can help it. We don't see ourselves as in control of the relationship with them. They are in control of us--and no more so than when we get sick and need the insurance most. If the company decides to restrict our coverage or tell us we have a pre-existing condition after all, we're in the position of begging a capricious and heartless corporation to cover costs we assumed we were entitled to based on a contractual obligation. It's precisely when we need insurance most that we're least able to "fire" the insurance company.

The same goes for the rent/mortgage, for the utilities, for the car, for the cell phone bill, for nearly everything. Most of these things are necessary commodities for most Americans. Many are socially expected, even if not technically necessary. They all have (usually far overpriced) unavoidable monthly charges and premiums that fall on overworked and underpaid Americans every month like a load of bricks. We see many of them increase by at least 5-20% year over year even as our wages stay flat. All we can do is struggle to keep up, trying to find the least bad service for the lowest price we can afford, but knowing we're getting gouged every step of the way.

Romney talks about paying for health insurance as if it were the same as getting a pedicure, hiring an escort or getting the fancy wax at a car wash. It's a luxury service being provided to him, and he doesn't like it, he can take his business elsewhere. Romney's is the language of a man who has never wanted for anything, never worried about where his next paycheck would come from, never worried about going bankrupt if he got sick.

It is the language of an entitled empowerment utterly alien to the experience of most Americans, who feel victimized and bled dry without recourse by these rentier corporations. Romney sees himself as in charge of the relationship between himself and these entities. Most Americans don't. That's why the statement rankles and feels so off-putting to us. The mention of enjoying the act of "firing" them is just icing on the cake.

LInks

[Why I’m leaving the Republican Party…and Endorsing President Obama. | Jeff Wartman]:

Spot the bad guy, [government or big business]?

[Budget Propaganda]

[Iran Hype undermined by Obama Administration Admissions | Informed Comment]

Is the US or Israel behind this latest bit of [Terrorism]. Here's a list of a few more, [Timeline]

Ron Paul

I saw this post the day of the New Hampshire primary (Tuesday 1/10/2012) [Is Ron Paul getting too much media attention? - CSMonitor.com] and decided to check out some news sites to find out.

I went to the front page of each of these sites and searched for "PAUL" and "ROMNEY". Here are the results.

CNN:     1 Paul, 10 Romney.
Fox News:     1 Paul, 9 Romney
MSNBC:     0 Paul, 7 Romney.
AP Yahoo:     0 Paul 9 Romney
Reuters:     0 Paul, 13 Romney
USA Today:     2 Paul, 5 Romney
WSJ:      0 Paul, 1 Romney
NYT:     0 Paul, 5 Romney
WP:     3 Paul, 17 Romney
Boston Globe:     1 Paul, 8 Romney
Chicago Tribune:     0 Paul, 3 Romney

for a total of 8 for PAUL and 87 for Romney.

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Links from the last week or so

• [The Trouble with Principles: Or, How to Not Lose Friends and Alienate People When Learning Economics « naked capitalism]


• Noahpinion on libertarianism [Noahpinion: The liberty of local bullies]


• [Israeli High Court says screw international law,... Israel can take advantage of West Bank resources - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News


• Government of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%. [Wanna Know Why Congress Doesn't Care About the 99 Percent? Because They're the 1 Percent. | Crooks and Liars]


• Raising gas prices around the world just to satisfy the AIPAC lobby. [Will his New Sanctions on Iran Cost Obama the Presidency? | Informed Comment]


• AIPAC Buying Newt. [Sheldon Adelson gives $5 million to pro-Gingrich group - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]


• [US pressured Spain to implement online piracy law | Technology | guardian.co.uk]

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Those Darn Republicans

[Indiana Republican Governor Mitch Daniels with a tax increase and a plea for federal regulation]

Amazon.com and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels unveiled an agreement on Monday that may mean that the world's largest Internet retailer starts collecting sales tax in the state in 2014

and...

On Monday, Indiana's Daniels said he will also push for federal action on the sales tax issue.

"The only complete answer to this problem is a federal solution that treats all retailers and all states the same," Daniels said in a statement. "But for now, Amazon has helped us address the largest single piece of the shortfall and we appreciate the company working with us to find a solution."

Damn, I guess that ruins his chance at winning the nomination in a brokered convertion.

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Corporate Taxes

[30 Major Corporations Paid No Income Taxes In The Last Three Years, While Making $160 Billion | ThinkProgress]

I'm not big either way on corporate tax. I don't really see a problem with letting the corporation slide and just taxing the individuals when the profits are dispersed,... but... to make reducing corporate tax rates a campaign issue so they can create jobs when they're not really paying taxes anyway, is a bunch of shit.

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Military Spending

Found here: [US sees Iranian Military Spending as Threat | Informed Comment].

A couple of things. It does seem silly to worry about the level of Iranian military spending but also, is China's ramping-up of military spending going to affect the US like Reagan's military build-up affected the USSR?

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Third Time's a Charm

Found here: [Political Irony › Fool Me Thrice]:

Election 2012

Here's a great article from Matt Taibbi on the state of politics in the US.

[Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone]

A couple of quotes but everyone should read the whole thing.

"...This caucus, let’s face it, marks the beginning of a long, rigidly-controlled, carefully choreographed process that is really designed to do two things: weed out dangerous minority opinions, and award power to the candidate who least offends the public while he goes about his primary job of energetically representing establishment interests..."

and

..."Most likely, it’ll be Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama, meaning the voters’ choices in the midst of a massive global economic crisis brought on in large part by corruption in the financial services industry will be a private equity parasite who has been a lifelong champion of the Gordon Gekko Greed-is-Good ethos (Romney), versus a paper progressive who in 2008 took, by himself, more money from Wall Street than any two previous presidential candidates, and in the four years since has showered Wall Street with bailouts while failing to push even one successful corruption prosecution (Obama).

There are obvious, even significant differences between Obama and someone like Mitt Romney, particularly on social issues, but no matter how Obama markets himself this time around, a choice between these two will not in any way represent a choice between “change” and the status quo. This is a choice between two different versions of the status quo, and everyone knows it."

Taibbi nails it.

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They Hate us for our Freedoms

The last ten years has certainly helped our standing in the Arab World.

found here: GGDrafts: Arab world opinion

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Ron Paul - Israel

found here: [2 Political Junkies: Jack Kelly Sunday] source is here [link]

"Rep. Paul has zero chance to win the nomination. His libertarian positions on economic issues are popular, but his anti-military, anti-Israel foreign policy views appeal mostly to crackpots."

I'd say that even though Ron Paul's libertarian positions on economic issues are popular, they are the crackpot views. Returning to the gold standard, ending the FED, cutting government to leave the people at the mercy of big business, these may sound good but they're not going to work in today's world. Those are crackpot ideas. His anti-military, isolationist foreign-policy views, including those on Israel suit me fine.

Paul is not really anti-Israel. He's "anti-American-foreign-aid-to-everyone including Israel". That's only anti-Israel if you believe it's the duty of the the US to give billions of its taxpayer's dollars to Israel and then give additional billions to Israels enemies so that they play nice with Israel.

A good post on Ron Paul here: [Hullabaloo]

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New Year Links

Terrorism? [Fire attack against NYC Islamic center probed - CBS News]

Bring out your stereotypes. Take a look at the guy who may have shot a park ranger. What do you think he think's of Obama? [Washington Ranger Killed]

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?..... [Palestinians: Peace talks require halt to Israeli settlement construction]

A very good Greenwald post on the US support of democracy abroad. [Glenn Greenwald]

Note to our leaders. Raise taxes, borrow money, invest it in things that can give the country a better future. [Noahpinion: Is debt a burden on future generations? It depends.]

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