The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There's no price the big banks can't fix
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
Thursday, April 25, 2013
It's Official: Paul Krugman Is Right - Business Insider
It's Official: Paul Krugman Is Right - Business Insider
On one side were economists and politicians who wanted to increase government spending to offset weakness in the private sector. This "stimulus" spending, economists like Paul Krugman argued, would help reduce unemployment and prop up economic growth until the private sector healed itself and began to spend again.
On the other side were economists and politicians who wanted to cut spending to reduce deficits and "restore confidence." Government stimulus, these folks argued, would only increase debt loads, which were already alarmingly high. If governments did not cut spending, countries would soon cross a deadly debt-to-GDP threshold, after which economic growth would be permanently impaired. The countries would also be beset by hyper-inflation, as bond investors suddenly freaked out and demanded higher interest rates. Once government spending was cut, this theory went, deficits would shrink and "confidence" would return.
This debate has not just been academic. It has affected the global economy, and, with it, the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-is-right-2013-4#ixzz2RU985oSJ
On one side were economists and politicians who wanted to increase government spending to offset weakness in the private sector. This "stimulus" spending, economists like Paul Krugman argued, would help reduce unemployment and prop up economic growth until the private sector healed itself and began to spend again.
On the other side were economists and politicians who wanted to cut spending to reduce deficits and "restore confidence." Government stimulus, these folks argued, would only increase debt loads, which were already alarmingly high. If governments did not cut spending, countries would soon cross a deadly debt-to-GDP threshold, after which economic growth would be permanently impaired. The countries would also be beset by hyper-inflation, as bond investors suddenly freaked out and demanded higher interest rates. Once government spending was cut, this theory went, deficits would shrink and "confidence" would return.
This debate has not just been academic. It has affected the global economy, and, with it, the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-is-right-2013-4#ixzz2RU985oSJ
Anti-Islam America | The Progressive
Anti-Islam America | The Progressive
That is not the America we should be creating in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
At Sandy Hook elementary school, and at that theater in Aurora, Colorado, we also had scenes of horrible mass violence.
But when white people kill, they are mentally unstable. When Muslims kill, they are terrorists, or as King and others would likely say, “just Muslim.”
That is not the America we should be creating in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
At Sandy Hook elementary school, and at that theater in Aurora, Colorado, we also had scenes of horrible mass violence.
But when white people kill, they are mentally unstable. When Muslims kill, they are terrorists, or as King and others would likely say, “just Muslim.”
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Our Hidden Government Benefits - NYTimes.com
Our Hidden Government Benefits - NYTimes.com
DON’T take at face value the claims that Americans dislike government. Sure, a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 56 percent of Americans said they wanted smaller government and fewer services. Tea Party activists, the most vocal citizens of our time, powerfully amplify those demands. Yet the reality is that the vast majority of Americans have at some point relied on government programs — and valued them — even though they often fail to recognize that government is the source of the assistance.
DON’T take at face value the claims that Americans dislike government. Sure, a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 56 percent of Americans said they wanted smaller government and fewer services. Tea Party activists, the most vocal citizens of our time, powerfully amplify those demands. Yet the reality is that the vast majority of Americans have at some point relied on government programs — and valued them — even though they often fail to recognize that government is the source of the assistance.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
U.S. Practiced Torture After 9/11, Nonpartisan Review Concludes - NYTimes.com
U.S. Practiced Torture After 9/11, Nonpartisan Review Concludes - NYTimes.com
The sweeping, 577-page report says that while brutality has occurred in every American war, there never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” The study, by an 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group, is to be released on Tuesday morning.
The sweeping, 577-page report says that while brutality has occurred in every American war, there never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” The study, by an 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group, is to be released on Tuesday morning.
Debate over the coercive interrogation methods used by the administration of President George W. Bush has often broken down on largely partisan lines. The Constitution Project’s task force on detainee treatment, led by two former members of Congress with experience in the executive branch — a Republican, Asa Hutchinson, and a Democrat, James R. Jones — seeks to produce a stronger national consensus on the torture question.
While the task force did not have access to classified records, it is the most ambitious independent attempt to date to assess the detention and interrogation programs. A separate 6,000-page report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s record by the Senate Intelligence Committee, based exclusively on agency records, rather than interviews, remains classified.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Preschool benefits students for years, education committee hears | NOLA.com
Preschool benefits students for years, education committee hears | NOLA.com
The Picard Center carried out a ten-year study looking at whether education provided through LA4, the state's primary preschool program for at-risk 4-year-olds, stuck with its participants for any meaningful amount of time.
The study found that when compared across a host of measurements, LA4 participants scored better than other at-risk children not enrolled in pre-K programs, even through eighth grade.
The Picard Center carried out a ten-year study looking at whether education provided through LA4, the state's primary preschool program for at-risk 4-year-olds, stuck with its participants for any meaningful amount of time.
The study found that when compared across a host of measurements, LA4 participants scored better than other at-risk children not enrolled in pre-K programs, even through eighth grade.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Texas Refinery Is Saudi Foothold in the U.S. - NYTimes.com
Texas Refinery Is Saudi Foothold in the U.S. - NYTimes.com
In 2002, after Texaco was purchased by Chevron, its stake in what became known as Motiva Enterprises was bought by Shell and Saudi Refining, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. Today, Motiva also has two refineries in Louisiana and markets its production through a network of 7,700 Shell-branded gasoline stations across the United States.
Motiva’s crown jewel is its refinery here. The expansion allowed the facility to refine various varieties of crude oil and more than doubled its production capacity to 600,000 barrels a day of diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and other products.
The refinery is designed primarily to refine various grades of Saudi crude and crudes that Shell produces in the Gulf of Mexico, but it has the flexibility to process crude from Canadian oil sands and from other American and Latin American fields. (The proposed Keystone XL pipeline being considered by the Obama administration would connect the Canadian oil sands fields to Port Arthur, a major refinery hub.)
In 2002, after Texaco was purchased by Chevron, its stake in what became known as Motiva Enterprises was bought by Shell and Saudi Refining, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. Today, Motiva also has two refineries in Louisiana and markets its production through a network of 7,700 Shell-branded gasoline stations across the United States.
Motiva’s crown jewel is its refinery here. The expansion allowed the facility to refine various varieties of crude oil and more than doubled its production capacity to 600,000 barrels a day of diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and other products.
The refinery is designed primarily to refine various grades of Saudi crude and crudes that Shell produces in the Gulf of Mexico, but it has the flexibility to process crude from Canadian oil sands and from other American and Latin American fields. (The proposed Keystone XL pipeline being considered by the Obama administration would connect the Canadian oil sands fields to Port Arthur, a major refinery hub.)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
GOP Gerrymandering: Republicans Have House, But Dying Nationally | New Republic
GOP Gerrymandering: Republicans Have House, But Dying Nationally | New Republic
As I say, reality isn’t really the strong suit of the House GOP’s rank and file. But, then, why would it be? At this rate, the party is destined to keep losing presidential races, Senate races, governor’s races … student council elections. But as long as they can avoid outright criminality or damning sexual improprieties—admittedly not always a sure thing—they’ve got the House majority for as long as they want it.
As I say, reality isn’t really the strong suit of the House GOP’s rank and file. But, then, why would it be? At this rate, the party is destined to keep losing presidential races, Senate races, governor’s races … student council elections. But as long as they can avoid outright criminality or damning sexual improprieties—admittedly not always a sure thing—they’ve got the House majority for as long as they want it.
Most Americans think teen pregnancy is getting worse. Most Americans are wrong.
Most Americans think teen pregnancy is getting worse. Most Americans are wrong.
Teen births and pregnancies have plummeted over the past two decades, down 42 percent from 1990. Most Americans, it turns out, have no idea that we’re actually in the midst of a big public health success story.
In a new survey from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 50 percent thought the teen pregnancy rate had gone up over that period. Eighteen percent correctly answered that it has declined.
Teen births and pregnancies have plummeted over the past two decades, down 42 percent from 1990. Most Americans, it turns out, have no idea that we’re actually in the midst of a big public health success story.
In a new survey from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 50 percent thought the teen pregnancy rate had gone up over that period. Eighteen percent correctly answered that it has declined.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
The confused debate over Obamacare and insurance premiums
The confused debate over Obamacare and insurance premiums
The intent of Obamacare is to ensure that almost all Americans are covered by high-quality insurance that they can afford. To say that the law will move many Americans onto more costly insurance products is simply to restate part of that premise more negatively, and to leave out the effect of the subsidies, or the change in the underlying insurance product, is to mislead.
The intent of Obamacare is to ensure that almost all Americans are covered by high-quality insurance that they can afford. To say that the law will move many Americans onto more costly insurance products is simply to restate part of that premise more negatively, and to leave out the effect of the subsidies, or the change in the underlying insurance product, is to mislead.
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