🙂 Canadian reserves make mouths water: When the U.S. Department of Energy formally acknowledged these reserves in 2003, it vaulted Canada’s oil reserves from 21st to 2nd in the world, behind only Saudi Arabia. It’s little wonder then that the U.S. Energy Policy Development Group has described the tar sands as “a pillar of sustained […]

Alan Greenspan and Naomi Klein discuss recent economic history in this interview: I changed my mind in 2002 and 2003, largely because the whole notion of which fundamentally got me in favor of significant tax cuts without offsetting expenditures was a very special event which probably had not occurred in the United States for 150 […]

The Middle East Times reports: June 22, 2007 BAGHDAD — Iraqi leaders beginning a weeklong China visit are hinting at reigniting a Saddam-era oil deal, though such a move is clouded by Iraq’s stalled oil law. President Jalal Talabani this week is leading a delegation that includes the oil minister and four other cabinet members, […]

George Lakoff offers a frame to consider about Iraq and the ME. Greenspan’s revelation and the contracts (PSA oil contracts) need to be discussed openly. The question must be asked, “Is our military there for the sake of oil?” I have been struck by the use of the word “victory” by the right wing, especially […]

Factcheck.org does a creditable job with quotes from President Bush’s public statements and links to real data. The summary is posted, but the links and data are worth the time: President Bush gave a false description of proposed legislation to expand the 10-year-old federal program to provide health insurance for children in low-income working families. […]

We have been discussing a lot of economics through the political viewer lately. And I certainly have laid my point of view out there, but I also like the theory discussion. I like to think and know how stuff works or how someone interprets what they see. I believe discussing theories leads to better political […]

The Ramadi strategy 2006, prior to the surge, begins success. It’s a dilemma familiar to counterinsurgency strategists: much of the fighting in Ramadi and other places continues because of the American presence, not in spite of it. U.S. commanders tasked with clearing Ramadi, the latest insurgent hub in Anbar Province, aren’t looking to assault the […]

PRODUCTIVITY Productivity growth is clearly slowing, and the key question is, is this a purely cyclical development or is it signaling a slowing in the long term trend growth rate. Slowing productivity is a normal cyclical development and it is such a strong pattern, that historically, it has been a very good leading indicator. But […]

This analysis of Gallup Poll data offers insights for us to seriously think about. It also fits in with John Robb’s expert theory on terrorisms. Often U.S. policy-makers and other intellectuals draw an analogy between the Cold War and the current “global war on terror” and recommend analogous strategies, because, after all, both conflicts battled […]

The Pinochio Law carries the fiction of companies as persons to greater depth, finally. Last week, the British government agreed to introduce a new law titled the “Corporate Manslaughter Statute.” This law is remarkable because it attempts to make companies–not persons–criminally responsible for deaths caused by a firm’s gross negligence. In this column, I will […]