Category Archives: Economy

Can A Ship Sail Right Over The Edge Of The Earth?

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“The U.S no longer has a well-functioning self-government. . . .  American democracy has been hacked. The United States Congress, the avatar of the democratically elected national legislatures in the modern world, is now incapable of passing laws without permission from the corporate lobbies and other special interests that control their campaign finances.” 

The above quote is from Al Gore’s new book, “The Future.” It makes sobering reading as the U.S. ship of state drifts, apparently rudderless, toward “sequestration.” Is the bridge abandoned? Have the helm and the engine room broken down?

I don’t understand the panic over sequestration, but I am concerned about the ability of U.S. government institutions to function. Continue reading →

Is It Economic Contagion? Or Only the Flu?

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NOT TO WORRY. IT'S ONLY A BAD DREAM. THIS WALMART WAS BOARDED UP AS A PRECAUTION BEFORE HURRICANE IRENE A FEW YEARS BACK. -- John Hayden photo

NOT TO WORRY. IT’S ONLY A BAD DREAM. THIS WALMART WAS BOARDED UP AS A PRECAUTION BEFORE HURRICANE IRENE A FEW YEARS BACK. — John Hayden photo

February sales are a “total disaster” for Walmart? That’s what the cable news channels report. It must be a slow-news Saturday. Sounds to me like a desperate stretch for a headline. The month is barely half over!

You say Europe is in recession?  Fuh-get about it! Europe is peanuts. Europe went out with the 20th century. Get over Europe, already!  Walmart — now we’re talking important.

Continue reading →

What If Debt Is Not The Problem?

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Wipe our Debt

(Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

“As we return once again to our regularly scheduled program of ‘Crisis And Impasse,’ let’s take a moment to consider the following heretical idea: We have no debt problem.”

That’s the take-your-breath-away lead to a commentary by Zachary Karabell on the business section front of today’s Washington Post. Karabell gives a concise overview of the American debt debate from the time of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson through William Jennings Bryan and the long-running confrontation over the gold standard, up to the present day. Continue reading →

U.S. Congress Implodes; President Escapes To Hawaii

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What a bizarre spectacle of irresponsible brinkmanship! The ultimate House and Senate votes may have narrowly averted immediate fiscal crisis and tax increases, but they do not restore one iota of confidence in the legislative branch of American government.

President Barack Obama, after failing to exert the leadership the American people hoped for, immediately boarded Air Force One to resume a Hawaiian vacation with his family. What can he be thinking?

To put the cherry on top of the whipped cream,   Continue reading →

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Returning Now To Our Regular Program, “The Fiscal Cliff”

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Photo by John Hayden

It’s 10 days since I last posted on Work In Progress. The Earth continues to spin. Gen. John Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, et al., were pushed from the front pages by a deadly rocket battle between Israelis in Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

Full-out war appeared imminent, according to cable TV news. But a ceasefire was called in time for Thanksgiving.  (Appropriate that it’s an American holiday. We have so much to be thankful for, compared to the rest of the world. And we take it all for granted.)

The waning of the Middle East crisis made room for a seasonal story: Walmart employees threatening to disrupt kickoff of the Christmas shopping frenzy. (Starting time for the frenzy advanced from Black Friday to Thanksgiving Day, henceforth to be known as Black Thursday.)

The Walmart protests fizzled, naturally. They had as much impact as Y2K. Walmart workers stand exposed as powerless against the energy of American consumerism.

Now we return to the dreaded “Fiscal Cliff,” at least until the next distraction. Be not faint-hearted! In the grand scheme of things, the fiscal cliff is a bump in the road.

Most importantly, the fiscal cliff provides a unique opportunity to put the brakes on the runaway military-industrial defense complex.  Seize the day!    Continue reading →

The Fiscal Cliff — Seize the Day, Cut Military Spending Now

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The U.S. defense budget, worldwide military overreach, and the influence of the military-industrial complex — these are the root of America’s economic and debt crisis.

Not Social Security, not Medicare, not Medicaid, not government pensions, not anything else you want to label as “entitlements.”

Continue reading →

How High Is A “Fiscal Cliff”? What Happens At The Bottom?

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MAYBE THE FISCAL CLIFF LOOKS LIKE THIS sand dune in Ocean City, Maryland, after some serious pounding by Hurricane Sandy. A sudden drop off at the top, followed by a sloping hill of sand.

Ever notice how the terminology we apply to important issues in the public sphere can blow things all out of proportion. Continue reading →

Seasteading

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“Seasteading” is a long, amazing post that is very much worth reading. It’s “1984” all over again, but worse.

Are we really about to enter an age of extreme, anarchist wealth? I was aware that many of the ultra-rich are hoarding their money offshore. And many more have secured and stockpiled luxury survivalist redoubts in isolated areas.

Given the results of the 2012 presidential election — disappointing in the extreme to the super-rich — it’s not unreasonable to think that some of them might be of a mind to give up on democracy. Not that they ever liked the concept of popular rule.

Many among the wealthy seem to have a paranoid, survivalist bent. Are they crazy, or do they know something we don’t?

And why would they want to coop themselves up in some mountain hideaway or aboard a luxury oil rig or ocean liner, when they already have the Cayman Islands?

Obviously, there are many things I do not know or understand. — John

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Amused's avatarThis Ruthless World

For years now, slow-news days have brought us the breaking news that the world’s richest people — and hence the world’s best — fed up with taxation, government regulation, and having to co-exist with the unwashed masses without hunting them for sport, are about to go off to live on a modified oil rig, a “project” known as ”seasteading”. Alternatively, they may inhabit a giant cruise ship.

On the surface, it looks like a perfect futuristic Galt’s Gulch, a cluster of manicured, pastel-colored apartment buildings separated from the world of “parasites” by the forbidding ocean, but yet within a safe distance of some friendly country, one that does not mind having billionaire excrement, broken champagne bottles, and an occasional dead body washing up on its beaches. There are no taxes to pay, no building codes, no labor laws, no zoning regulations, no legal protections for non-residents (you know…

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Vote Robin Hood

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Hmmm . . . I was going to say, “No comment” . . . Seriously folks, Robin Hood’s not running this year . . . But, if the winner-take-all economy continues . . . and rich patriots continue to accumulate all the money . . . and stash their wealth in the Cayman Islands and Swiss bank accounts . . . Well, Robin Hood might begin to seem like a good idea. 

Robin Hood and Maid Marian (poster, ca. 1880)

ROBIN HOOD AND MAID MARIAN (poster, ca. 1880) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Robin Hood is the English folk hero who fascinates the creative imagination. His popularity never wanes. Let’s see, at least eight films, according to Wikipedia. Also, some television shows on BBC, at least one music album, and two computer games.

Robin Hood. Hold that thought. It’s something to stash away for some future election . . . if they still allow elections in the future.

— John Hayden

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