For the reasons explained above, we now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Jan. 21, 2010 I should have foreseen it on Monday. That […]
Naked Capitalism has an article The Continuing Depopulation of Detroit on Detroit which I attempted to answer. No one cause can be assigned to answer what happened to Detroit since 1950 and well before the first black Mayor was elected. I attempted to put this into perspective. This is not an easy and nor will […]
I think you want to read this excellent post by Jonathan Chait. That is all. update: US partisanshipe appears to be the meme of the day. Dana Milbank (who is very different from Chait) also wrote about it. Milbank cites a different academic study. From the brief summaries both academic studies sound very convincing to […]
As any conservative can tell you, Obamacare is a job-killing “train wreck.” Not only is it a job killer, there is no way that it could possibly work. Except, of course, it does. When I last visited this issue, the percentage of adults without health insurance had fallen from its peak of 18.0% in the […]
The much-ballyhooed announcement video offers little hint [of who, policy-wise, Clinton is]. For the first half-minute or so, you would be excused for thinking that it was some sort of detergent commercial, intended to air during the Olympics. Gay weddings! Babies being born! Moms going back to work! Clorox, this commercial seems to say, has finally gotten […]
I live in Michigan, a state which felt in its infinite Republican legislator wisdom it was important to remove all input from the cities, counties, and townships and leave the industry unfettered with any controlling influence. For those who are worried about capitalism and free enterprise if you own the land, there is such a […]
An understanding between Iran and the 5+1 countries about Iranian nuclear technology has been announced. Given my lack of expertise, no one should care what I think of the deal. That warning typed, I will write as if I were expert after the jump.
“Two Cheers for Corruption” and Bill Black’s Response Plunder has become a way of life for many elite Corporate CEOs, Bill Black argues in response to Deirdre McCloskey supposition: “But corruption can be efficient and just, too. It can be good for efficiency if, say, bribes are paid to get around bad laws (such as […]
Via Daily Kos, we learn that Wikileaks has released the investment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This is a critical chapter, as it was in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), because it establishes investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms. Despite its neutral-sounding name, ISDS is actually a radical concept. Instead of using the […]
I was intrigued by a very puzzling tweet (by @billmon1) which noted that Jonathan Chait had compared Benjamin Netanyahu to Yasser Arafat. I thought that a very odd comparison as they don’t seem similar to me, except for the part about participating in negotiotiations but never actually accepting a final peace agreement. But I now […]