I learned of a petition at the presidents site, that one where anyone can start a petition and have it addressed if you reach 100,000 signatures. We the People it’s called. The petition is sponsored by United Front Against Austerity which also goes by the name Against Austerity.org  I know nothing about this organization, though […]

Ellen Brown from Web of Debt imagines a scenario close at hand. How accurate is it? Can They Do That? Although few depositors realize it, legally the bank owns the depositor’s funds as soon as they are put in the bank. Our money becomes the bank’s, and we become unsecured creditors holding IOUs or promises […]

I saw this as a proposal for cutting gasoline consumption: One of the easiest and most benign ways to cut energy waste and reduce the nation’s emissions of greenhouse gases is very simple, relatively painless and would actually save consumers money immediately, with no upfront costs – restore a lower national freeway speed limit of […]

The IMF has increased in importance over the last few years, especially in Europe.  Prof. Joyce writes on the background of its evolution. by Joseph P. Joyce  is a Professor of Economics at Wellesley College and the Faculty Director of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs. The IMF and the Return of Structural Conditionality […]

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition is the EU equivalent of the U.S. Department of Justice Anti-trust Division plus units for controlling domestic subsidies to industry. According to a new policy briefing from the European Policies Research Centre at the University of Strathclyde, DG-Competition has released a draft of new regulations on “regional aid” (subsidies […]

From Stormy, who has written on global trade for over a decade, sends an e-mail on the discovery that we are losing competitive advantage: I find it absolutely stunning that the Yves post and MIT study below is considered big news. Four or five years ago, I saw the writing on the wall. Off-shoring, outsourcing…name […]

From Naked Capitalism: Why Does No One Speak of America’s Oligarchs? One of the striking elements of the demonization of Cyprus was how it was depicted as a willing tool of Russian money launderers and oligarchs. Never mind the fact, as we pointed out, that Cyprus is not a tax haven but a low-tax jurisdiction, […]

Josh Marshall has a post entitled “Just Crazy”.  As usual I agree with some of what Marshall writes.  In this case, I think the post is just crazy.  In it he quotes “TPM reader AN” with approval who wrote (among other things) …is there significant and recent precedent of an Administration refusing to enforce a duly […]

By Jeff McCord ANTHONY LEWIS, ADULTERATED MILK AND A TAINTED ECONOMYMarch 28, 2013 In the early days of his brilliant career as legal journalist and commentator, Anthony Lewis, who passed at age 85 on March 25, referred to a vision of the Supreme Court that served as his touchstone: “[W]hen the channels of opinion and […]