government
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The Reign Of Morons Is Here | Esquire
We have elected a national legislature in which Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann have more power than does the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has been made a piteous spectacle in the eyes of the country and doesn’t… Continue reading
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Freelance Nation: How to Become a Part-Time Worker Without Really Trying | The Nation
This originally appeared as a Tomgram over at Tomdispatch and was picked up by the Nation… …what a weird economic downturn and recovery this has been. From the end of an “average” American recession, it ordinarily takes slightly less than… Continue reading
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Ripping Off of Young America: The College Loan Scandal
Good investigative piece from Matt Taibbi and well worth your time. If you are not sure, just read these few paragraphs and decide if you can afford to not read the whole article. …How is this happening? It’s complicated. But… Continue reading
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Corporate sell-outs exploit a secret new gimmick – Salon.com
With more and more operations of the executive and judiciary branches happening behind closed doors and out of public view, the legislative branch was bound to join Washington’s secrecy-fest at some point. That point apparently is now. As The Hill… Continue reading
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Debt – a global scam | New Internationalist
Large outstanding personal debts – say a mortgage taken out during a housing bubble – can turn even the stoutest of us into ‘quivering insomniac jellies of hopeless indebtedness’ (as Margaret Atwood so accurately puts it). Debt is, we feel,… Continue reading
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There is no fiscal crisis. And macroeconomics is not a morality play.
Nice overview of how things stand vis. the “fiscal cliff.” The Puritanism that surrounds how most people talk about debt–esp. government debt–really irritates and shows the lasting influence of Christian dogmatism on our sociocultural situation. Sometimes I cannot tell if… Continue reading
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Robots, Robber Barons, & the Situation for Existential Innovation
A more full account from Paul Krugman on some of the topics I originally brought up yesterday. Still, can innovation and progress really hurt large numbers of workers, maybe even workers in general? I often encounter assertions that this can’t… Continue reading
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Tax Incentives to Companies Bleeding Towns Dry, With Few Results
A lot of the abatements & other supports to bring in business to townships & cities centers on one main process: job creation. Yet nobody tracks any meaningful statistics to see if the economic argument holds up. Yes we can… Continue reading
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Freedom of Religion Clause a “Shield” NOT a “Sword”
A key insight in this opinion is that salaries and health insurance can be used to buy birth control, so if religious employers really object to enabling their employees to buy birth control, they would have to not pay them… Continue reading
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The Corporate Capitalist Gamble: American’s will “venture” for Mitt
Romney’s suggestion that only business owners should occupy the White House was hardly surprising; it just reinforced the reverence for builders of small businesses manifested in the Republican gathering in Tampa. But it is a curious claim nonetheless. For most… Continue reading
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Opposing Views on What the American Public Provides
The notion of fair taxation is based on three ideals: First, taxes are a way to reimburse the community for what it has provided beforehand. This is about reciprocity. Second, taxes are a way to maintain freedom in America, by… Continue reading
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