YET ANOTHER ECONOMIST ASSERTS THAT THE DEBT CEILING "CRISIS" IS A CONTRIVED COVER FOR ROBBING AMERICANS OF THEIR SOCIAL SAFETY NET.

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  theREALnews

July 25, 2011

Debt Ceiling Extortion

Yves Smith: The finance sector used extortion against the American people in 2007-09 and are doing it again now



Bio

Yves Smith has written the popular and trenchant financial blog "Naked Capitalism" since 2006. Yves has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry and currently heads Aurora Advisors, a New York-based management consulting firm specializing in corporate finance advisory and financial services. Prior experience includes Goldman Sachs (in corporate finance), McKinsey & Co., and Sumitomo Bank (as head of mergers and acquisitions). Yves has written for publications in the United States and Australia, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Slate, The Conference Board Review, Institutional Investor, The Daily Deal and the Australian Financial Review. Yves is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEN PLAYING A GAME OF "CHICKEN" WITH THE U.S. ECONOMY. LIKE THE LEATHAL GAME WITH AUTOMOBILES, IT REQUIRES WILLFUL IDIOCY: NEITHER DEATH NOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY IS TOO GREAT A PRICE TO PAY FOR BEATING ONE'S ENEMY.

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July 15, 2011

U.S. Debt Default Looms as Talks Still on Deficit Reduction - Democracy Now! Part 1 of 2

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U.S. Debt Default Looms as Talks Still on Deficit Reduction - Democracy Now! Part 2 of 2

ThisBoyTV


Original Headline and summary:

U.S. Debt Default Looms as Talks Stall on Deficit Reduction: “We Are Playing with Fire”

Discussion on a deficit reduction deal has stalled after five consecutive days of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. In order to borrow beyond August 2, the United States must raise its $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. This week, Standard & Poor’s became the second of the major credit rating agencies to place U.S. debt under review, citing an increasing risk of a payment default. Republicans are pushing for massive spending cuts, many of which Obama has agreed to, even as Democrats say they want to raise taxes on corporations and wealthy households. We speak with Jeff Madrick, director of policy research at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School and author of "Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present." [Original includes rush transcript]

MUST-WATCH FOR ANY AMERICAN WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT OBAMA AND THE CONGRESS ARE PLANNING TO CARRY OFF ON BEHALF OF THE BIG BANKS UNDER THE RUSE OF "AVOIDING DEFAULT ON THE NATIONAL DEBT." WILL AMERICANS STAND UP LIKE THE GREEKS ...OR LIE DOWN LIKE SHEEP?

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  theREALnews

Greece--a Dress Rehearsal for United States

Michael Hudson: Cuts to Social Security and Medicare and privatization at the state level mirror strategy imposed on Greece

PERMALINK

More at The Real News

Bio

Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971). ISLET engages in research regarding domestic and international finance, national income and balance-sheet accounting with regard to real estate, and the economic history of the ancient Near East. Michael acts as an economic advisor to governments worldwide including Iceland, Latvia and China on finance and tax law.

OBAMA GETS SET TO CAVE TO REPUBLICAN PRESSURE TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND MEDICAIDE -- SUPPOSEDLY TO CUT THE BUDGET DEFICIT BUT IN REALITY TO TAKE THE VAULES OF THESE SERVICES AND GIVE THE MONEY TO WALL STREET, WHICH WILL POCKET THE MONEY WITHOUT CREATING A SINGLE JOB

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  theREALnews

Debt Ceiling Charade a Move to the Right

Michael Hudson: Panic about debt ceiling used to attack social programs; no real need for more borrowing

PERMALINK


Bio

Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971). ISLET engages in research regarding domestic and international finance, national income and balance-sheet accounting with regard to real estate, and the economic history of the ancient Near East. Michael acts as an economic advisor to governments worldwide including Iceland, Latvia and China on finance and tax law.

NOBEL ECONOMIST JOSEPH STIGLITZ SPEAKS OUT ON THE REPUBLICAN ASSAULT ON SOCIAL SPENDING

Blogger's Note: While Republicans are in the lead for the proposed cuts in social programs accompanied by tax cuts for the rich, a lot of Democrats are on board with this scheme.   As I've said before and I'll say again, the problem is not Republicans vs Democrats but the richest 1% against all the rest of us.

April 07, 2011

Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz: Assault on Social Spending, Pro-Rich Tax Cuts Turning U.S. into Nation "Of the 1 Percent, by the 1 Percent, for the 1 Percent"

This week Republicans unveiled a budget proposal for 2012 that cuts more than $5.8 trillion in government spending over the next decade. The plan calls for sweeping changes to Medicaid and Medicare, while reducing the top corporate and individual tax rates to 25 percent. We speak to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who addresses the growing class divide taking place in the United States and inequality in a new Vanity Fair article titled "Of the 1, by the 1, for the 1%." Stiglitz is a professor at Columbia University and author of numerous books, most recently Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy. "It’s not just that the people at the top are getting richer," Stiglitz says. "Actually, they’re gaining, and everybody else is decreasing... And right now, we are worse than old Europe." [Go here for original w/ transcript]