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Archives
economy and revolution
Four time bombs that will blow up Wall Street "Put Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in jail for six months, and all this will stop, all over Wall Street and America, a former congressional aide tells Matt Taibbi in his latest Rolling Stone attack, “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail? Financial crooks brought down the world’s economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them.” "Taibbi’s right, everyone knows Wall Street’s run by a bunch of dictators who are doing more damage to democracy and capitalism than North Africa’s dictators. But jail the CEOs of Goldman, Citi, B. of A. or my old firm Morgan Stanley? Too late. "Only a revolution will stop Wall Street’s self-destructive capitalism. And watching the people revolt against dictators like Mubarak and Gadhafi reminds us of the spirit that sparked America’s revolution in 1776. But today we need a 1930s-style revolution. "During the S&L crisis two decades ago America had a backbone, indicted 3,800 executives and bankers. Today’s leaders have no backbone. Besides jail time won’t reform the darkness consuming Wall Street’s soul. We’re all asleep, in denial about the moral crisis facing America. Yes, we need a new revolution."
a musical interlude
One of the best guitar players. Ever.
more oil As oil gets over $100 a barrel the economy starts taking a big hit. How is that oil price doing?
oil and revolution
How Uprisings in a Tiny Persian Gulf Country Could Send Oil to $150 in a Matter of Days
why the poor and middle class are screwed Why Washington Doesn't Care About Jobs
a musical interlude
oil
The Collapse of the Old Oil Order "Whatever the outcome of the protests, uprisings, and rebellions now sweeping the Middle East, one thing is guaranteed: the world of oil will be permanently transformed. Consider everything that’s now happening as just the first tremor of an oilquake that will shake our world to its core. "For a century stretching back to the discovery of oil in southwestern Persia before World War I, Western powers have repeatedly intervened in the Middle East to ensure the survival of authoritarian governments devoted to producing petroleum. Without such interventions, the expansion of Western economies after World War II and the current affluence of industrialized societies would be inconceivable. "Here, however, is the news that should be on the front pages of newspapers everywhere: That old oil order is dying, and with its demise we will see the end of cheap and readily accessible petroleum -- forever."
what next? The snow is finally gone. Then we had a wind storm and our power has been out for 12 hours now. I'm so happy I bought that Honda generator last November! Maybe the plague of locusts is next.
national insecurity budget Tomgram: Chris Hellman, $1.2 Trillion for National Security Until Congress cuts back the military and national security leeches any talk about reducing the budget deficit is only theater.
saudia arabia Robert Fisk: The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil
snow begone
The snow is still here. There was a little dusting last night. Our neighbor, Bonnie, who usually mows lawns with this rig now has a blade for clearing the road. The County snow plow came through several days ago but hasn't been seen since. She is scraping pretty much the last of the ice and slush of the road yesterday. It's supposed to start raining any time now...
libya "With the 42-year reign of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi coming to a seemingly inevitable end, it is worth reflecting on the significance and regional implications of his ouster. Perhaps most importantly, Qaddafi’s removal cannot but result in genuine regime change. Unlike Egypt or Tunisia, Libya does not possess autonomous state institutions or state-sponsored elites with the capacity to force out the leader in order to perpetuate their custodianship of the state. If Qaddafi falls – and absent foreign intervention – Libya’s power elite will either go down with him, or remain masters of institutions and networks that no longer exist, are shattered beyond repair or have lost their relevance. Libya, in other words, will be spared the spectre of a permanent transition, and any successor appointed by the Ancien Régime will make Shapour Bakhtiar’s 39-day tenure look everlasting. As with the national uprising against the Shah in the late 1970s, the only possible outcomes are restoration or revolution."
class warfare Wisconsin is the front line in right-wing class warfare "The political showdown in Wisconsin is about class warfare. No one in the traditional media wants to admit it. No one in the traditional media wants to admit that the Republican agenda is about class warfare. Many in the traditional media long ago chose sides, and they don't want anyone to know that the war exists. They only call it class warfare when those who aren't of the plutocratic elite try to stand up for their rights. They only call it class warfare when those who aren't of the plutocratic elite attempt to draw attention to what the plutocratic elite are trying to do. "Wisconsin has become ground zero in the class war. That's the real story about Wisconsin. Against all odds, the real story about Wisconsin even began to emerge last week in the traditional media. It wasn't named for what it is, but some of the facts began to be reported, and those facts speak for themselves. "
photography books
I've been buying photography books. Some new, some used. But there are some I would like that are extremely rare and expensive. Errata Editions is doing a very interesting thing by publishing books on books. Jeffrey Ladd on Errata Editions
"Errata Editions embarked on an exciting publishing project in 2008. The Books on Books series is a unique venture to bring out-of-print volumes from the cannon of photobooks back to their audience. They are scholarly editions, seeking to approach a complete representation of the original edition, highlighting not just the work contained inside, but the object itself. Beyond a reprint or facsimile, the Books on Books series acknowledges the importance of book design and materials, the images contained within showing reproductions of the actual photobook, flipped through, page by page. The result is a viewing experience not just about the work, but the total package, expanding the discourse on the photobook as a mode of fine art in and of itself and reopen them for study, making these treasures of the past available again, and to a new generation."
the right wing destruction of america
delusions
All-American Decline in a New World
empire How will America handle the fall of its Middle East empire?
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