Once again, comics and the artisans of comedy are the best truth-tellers. The Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart proved brialliant earlier this year in calling-out CNBC’s so-called “ahead of the curve” financial “news” personalities for their abscense of accountability in the lede up to the banking crisis and the global economic crisis that followed. Now, Saturday Night Live (SNL) deadpanned U.S. […]
Chevron CEO David O’Reilly spoke out last week against the Administration’s plan to use a cap and trade system to limit carbon emissions. His stance against US policy is nothing new. from a policy standpoint, America has been moving in the wrong direction for a very long time. He further outlines his list of grudges […]
This weekend Russia unveiled its new missile defense system as part of a military parade to celebrate Victory Day (WWII) in Moscow. Put on show around Red Square was the S-400 missile defense system, which many in Russia consider to be a counterweight to American Patriot missiles. President Dimitry Medvedev spoke at the event, stating: […]
First of all, sorry to have been absent for a week (plus), but I’ve been wrapping up the end of semester with my great students at NYU, been to a conference (more on that next week), had a house guest with whom I did some local culture, and a few other odds and ends. I’ll […]
In global markets around the world, the free market is being challenged by the rise of ‘State Capitalism’ — a system in which the state through regulatory reforms to check the excesses of greed & volatility becomes the leading economic actor. With the Feds set to announce the outcome of the bank stress tests this week, the ‘nationalization’ of U.S. banks, in some form, seems inevitable. Is state capitalism the future of 21st-century capitalism?
There is something terribly disturbing about it all. Since 2003, the US has imprisoned 43,000 people seeking asylum. The Department of Homeland Security has increased immigration detention beds by 78% says Human Rights First. Jailed in Texas. Why does that not seem surprising? A teacher who fled the persecution and beatings in Burma arrived in […]
“It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” – Mother Teresa of Calcutta Over a billion people across the globe live on less than a dollar a day, placing them in extreme poverty. Moderate poverty is defined as those living, on $1 to $2 a […]
Mas Selamat bin Kastari, a high ranking leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, is in Malay custody. He was recaptured more than a year after he escaped, pantsless, through the bathroom window of the Whitley Road Detention Center in Singapore. His recapture has resulted in much celebration among the Malaysian and Singaporean security industries, though it has […]
6. Six countries chose not to participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s ongoing military exercises in Georgia. Largely to appease Russia, Armenia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova and Serbia withdrew from the “war games.” Stratfor notes that “while most of these countries either hold strong political ties to Russia or are wary of angering Moscow […]
Gary Shilling on Bloomberg: bank stress test analysis. According to reports from the New York Times (NYT) here, and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) here, the Federal Reserve with the backing of the U.S. Treasury, directed at least ten of 19 of the nation’s largest banks to bolster their balance sheet capital ratio levels by $75 […]
Is it possible to make a difference in the fight against global hunger from your computer? Organizations that are dedicated to fighting hunger work approach this challenge in many ways, and must dedicate a great deal of time and resources to raising funds to support their programs. The United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) for […]
Despite Russian objections to “meddling” in its sphere of influence, the European Union launched an “eastern partnership” with six former Soviet republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – at a summit yesterday in Prague. The plan is designed to extend political and economic ties and promote democratic reforms. Notably, leaders from Britain, […]
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