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The Myth of Military Job Creation
Today, as the Super Committee meets, the House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on “The Economic Effects of Defense Sequestration.” HEIDI GARRETT-PELTIER, hpeltier at econs.umass.edu Assistant research professor at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-author of the report “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending…
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Occupations and Public vs Congress and Super Committee?
Today, the “Super Committee” will hold its first open public hearing in more than a month. Congressional Budget Office head Doug Elmendorf will testify. The CBO just released a study finding that the top 1 percent of earners more than doubled their share of the nation’s income over the last three decades. THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson…
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* Greenwald * Occupy Tour * Oakland Attack
GLENN GREENWALD, via Elizabeth Shreve, elizabeth at shrevewilliams.com Greenwald is author of the new book With Liberty and Justice for Some. He just wrote the piece “Immunity and Impunity in Elite America: How the Legal System Was Deep-Sixed and Occupy Wall Street Swept the Land.” ARUN GUPTA, ebrowniess at yahoo.com A founding editor of the…
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Occupation: The Challenges of Urban Camping
BARBARA EHRENREICH, barbara.ehrenreich at gmail.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Ehrenreich just wrote a piece on the “occupy” movement and homelessness that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and TomDispatch. She writes: “Political protesters are not alone in facing the challenges of urban camping. Homeless people confront the same issues every day: how…
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The Iraq War is Not Over
AP reports today: “On his flight to Indonesia on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters that negotiations with Iraq on future training possibilities will begin later. “If such talks are held, they likely would start either when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visits Washington in December or after the end of the year, according…
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Argentine Election Highlights Successful Economic Policies: Lessons for the Eurozone
Argentina’s election this weekend, in which President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner — who succeeded her now-deceased husband as president in 2007 — is expected to win handily in the first round. MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton, beeton at cepr.net Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which today releases a report…
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* Gadhafi’s Killing * Bush in Canada, a Challenge to Impunity
VIJAY PRASHAD, Vijay.Prashad at trincoll.edu Author of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, Prashad said today: “The death of Gadhafi closes a chapter in Libyan history, but it does not settle many open questions for the Libyan people. What, for instance, will be the character of the next Libyan epoch? Gadhafi’s…
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New Book Chronicles “Oligarchy”
JEFFREY WINTERS, winters at northwestern.edu Author of the new book Oligarchy, Winters said today: “By choosing Wall Street as the origin of their action, and by focusing on the gap separating the 1% from 99%, the Occupy movement has hit upon the chronic problem of oligarchy and democracy in America. The power of concentrated wealth…
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Protests Build to Massive General Strike in Greece
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, cpanayotakis at gmail.com Panayotakis is associate professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of the forthcoming book “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.” He said today: “What happened in Greece today was the beginning of a two-day general strike in response to the…
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Protests vs. Pay to Play and Petrified Politics
THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. He said today: “A desperate population is plainly losing patience with the leaders of both major parties. At least a quarter of all the signs at Occupy Wall Street meetings…