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Understanding Supply Side Capitalism
Part #2 of Understanding Capitalism and Socialism (Part 1)
by Joaquin posted by Michael Collins
Now that Republicans are starting to talk about restoring Reaganomics, it is a good time to review Reaganomics; i.e., Supply Side Capitalism. This is number two of my technical essays about how the world works. Today we will explore how supply side economics will save the world. So let's get to it.
Supply side economics became so powerful that it was renamed Reaganomics in honor of the president and WW II movie hero. Reaganomics helped poor Americans understand what rich people have been telling us since the Middle Ages i.e., Robin Hood was doing it wrong.
Some people call Reaganomics "Trickle Down theory". Its kind of like when I went to college; most of the students studied hard to get in to our college and were from middle class families like me, but this one guy got in because his parents bought a new building for the school.
Dawn Johnsen is a victim of the war on terror
Mary Shaw
On April 9, Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's nominee to lead the Office of Legal Council (OLC), withdrew her nomination. Her nomination had been in various stages of limbo for more than a year.
There is a great deal of speculation out there regarding the reasons for Johnsen's withdrawal. Sadly, most of the speculation I've heard involves the fact that Johnsen was an outspoken critic of the George W. Bush administration's torture and state secrecy policies. She also previously served as an attorney for NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Because of her "controversial" (i.e., law-respecting) positions, the Senate Democrats apparently do not have the votes to confirm her.
University of Ottawa Activist Student Persecutions: The Case of Marc Kelly
by Stephen Lendman
On October 21, 2008, for the first time in school history, the University of Ottawa (U of O) Faculty of Science, without cause, deregistered undergraduate Marc Kelly, an exemplary student, expelling him for the semester and preventing him from completing the final three courses he needed to graduate. The official email sent him read:
"The Faculty of Science has been asked to deregister you. (This) message is to notify you that you are no longer registered...."
The official reason was the Department of Physics' displeasure over the nature and methods of his valid, legitimate research, twice secretly rejecting it, then informing him through pro forma letters saying, "It is common sense that (your research) has to use physics tools and physics knowledge."
Kyrgyzstan: Another colour revolution bites the dust
Eric Walberg
So what’s the real story behind the coup in Kyrgyzstan?
The pretense that a president of a modest country like Kyrgyzstan can play in big league politics is shed with the ouster of the tulip revolutionary president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, after last week’s riots in the capital Bishkek that left 81 dead and government buildings and Bakiyev’s various houses trashed.
Bakiyev tried to have the best of both big power worlds, last year brashly threatening to close the US airbase, vital to the war in Afghanistan, after signing a cushy aid deal with Russia, and then reversed himself when the US agreed to more than triple the rent to $60 million a year and kick in another $100m in aid. As a result he lost the trust of both, and found himself bereft when the going got tough last week, as riots exactly like those that swept him to power erupted.
Alarming Racism in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Mossawa means equality, the Mossawa Advocacy Center promoting it for Israel's Arab citizens - about 1.5 million, comprising 20% of the population. Established in 1997, it "strives to improve the social, economic and political status of (Israeli Arabs), while preserving their national and cultural rights as Palestinians." It also promotes gender equality "in all spheres of society."
Its September 29, 2009 press release headlined the "High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens (an organization representing Israeli Arabs) call for a general" October 1 one-day work stoppage to protest deteriorating conditions they face, and Israel's failure "to bring justice to the families of the 13 Arab victims that were killed by security forces during the events of October 2000," the start of the second Intifada.
The Committee asked all Arab institutions, organizations and businesses to honor it in opposition to Triangle and Negev area home demolitions; Galilee and Triangle area settlement building; discrimination in allocating resources; police violence, intimidation, racial, and political incitement; and the right of Arab citizens "to exist and live in dignity in their historic homeland."
Targeting Activist University of Ottawa Students
by Stephen Lendman
Until his early March Board of Directors removal, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya was Fulcrum Publishing Society (FPS) Ombudsman, the English-language student newspaper at Canada's University of Ottawa (U of O).
It resulted from his critical reports, including a preliminary February 23 one for FPS's editorial mistreatment of Professor Denis Rancourt, fired in March 2009 for his political activism - specifically his courageous stance on Occupied Palestine.
Dangerous coal, neglected lives
Mary Shaw
Last week, 29 workers died as a result of an explosion at a West Virginia coal mine. The mine was owned by Massey Energy.
Apparently, Massey CEO Don Blankenship has a history of putting profits over worker safety by fighting against any kind of regulation, accountability, or labor rights, as Bloomberg News reports:
"Don Blankenship, chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co., has fought with mine regulators, unions, residents of his town and even his personal maid.
"His company regularly appeals fines for safety infractions. He has personally gone into mines to persuade workers to abandon union organizing efforts. Massey is fighting lawsuits that claim it contaminated groundwater in Blankenship’s town. A maid supplied by a company she claimed was a Massey unit was forced to fight all the way to West Virginia's highest court to collect unemployment benefits."
Easy to Avoid Paying Income Tax
Joel S. Hirschhorn
Would you choose being wealthy and paying income tax or making little enough to escape income tax? Americans have a far greater chance of being in the latter group.
Sometimes there are statistics that you really need to meditate on for awhile. They open the door to critical thinking about American society. They shed light on a host of hot political and public policy issues. This is especially true for rich versus poor issues, taxes, justice and equality. First, note the number of households in the United States: now at 115 million, which equates to an average of 2.6 people per household.
Now, think for a few moments and guess the answers to this question: What fraction of households have assets of $1 million or more and what fraction will pay no federal income tax for 2009?
Take a moment, think seriously about what these two fractions might be. To have net assets of $1 million or more certainly signifies people at the top of the economic ladder, but is a far greater number than the superrich, because a million bucks is not what it used to be. A lot of ordinary people seeing themselves as middle class, but making good incomes and probably older, even with lower house values, can have wealth at this level.
Obama's Brave Nuke World
by Stephen Lendman
NPR 2010 says America "reserves the right" to use nuclear weapons...
At the same time the Pentagon issued its new Nuclear Posture Review, Obama officially ordered the murder of a US citizen, Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki - accused of terrorism and an Al Qaeda connection without evidence.
Earlier on February 4, Washington Post writer Ellen Nakashima headlined, "Intelligence chief acknowledges US may target Americans involved in terrorism," saying:
"Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged (February 3 in testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) that government agencies (specifically CIA operatives and Special Forces death squads) may kill US citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are 'taking action that threatens Americans," or administration officials say so.
After Peak Oil, Are We Heading Towards Social Collapse?
By Emily Spence
Recently, Glen Sweetnam, director of the International, Economic and Greenhouse Gas division of the Energy Information Administration at the DoE, announced that worldwide oil availability had reached a "plateau". However, his statement was not made known through a major U.S. mainstream media outlet. Instead, it was covered in France's "Le Monde" as follows: article in Le Monde.
One could assume that the U.S. assessment of the oil decline was exposed through this particular publication perhaps due to some arrangement that Barack Obama made with Nicolas Sarkozy. (Maybe it is an indirect way to alert the French while keeping most Americans still in the dark on the topic so that the later bunch can ignorantly carry onward as usual. After all, no unsettling prognosis should disturb their slow return into shopoholic ways that keep the economy, particularly China's on which the U.S. federal government depends for loans, going strong.)
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