Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has unveiled a new plan to combat the financial crisis: persuading private financial institutions to buy up toxic assets with the government's backing. While this is a step up from former Secretary Henry Paulson's original bailout plan — in which the government itself would buy up the bad securities — it is still not the right approach. More
Homeowners Ask: Hey, Washington, a Little Help?
It was on a sunny day in the White House Rose Garden that President George W. Bush announced his plan to enable as many as 700,000 American families to avoid foreclosure amid a growing mortgage crisis. "I've made this a top priority to help our homeowners navigate these financial challenges," he said, "so that as many families as possible can stay in their homes." That was in the summer of 2007.More
For US Banks, The Glass Is 1% Full
The raging debate about the largest American banks is whether their stock market values should be zero. Economist Nouriel Roubini, the most highly paid pessimist in the world, recently said that U.S. banks are "insolvent" and credit crisis write-downs will total $3.6 trillion. That is a great deal more than has been taken as losses by financial firms to date....More
18 Tough Questions (and Answers) About the Bailout
I got an e-mail from a reader late last week with a bunch of very good questions about the bailout bill. I hadn't quite finished answering them when it was voted down in the House Monday. But since some version of the plan is likely to be resurrected later this week, I figured I should go ahead and finish.More
Feature
Story
Wall Street’s Best Investment: Ten Deregulatory Steps to Financial Meltdown
Wall Street has no one but itself to blame for the current financial crisis. Investment banks, hedge funds and commercial banks made reckless bets using borrowed money. ...more
One Teacher’s Cry: Why I Hate No Child Left Behind
"I'm a teacher. I’ve taught elementary school for eleven years. I’ve always told people, “I have the best job in the world.” I crafted curriculum that made students think, and they had fun while learning. At the end of the day, I felt energized. Today, more often than not, I feel demoralized. ...more
It's been widely reported that President-elect Barack Obama's campaign organized a database of more than 10 million names, including at least three million cash donors and who knows how many foot soldiers who took his agenda door to door. ...more
Mixed Assessment on Racial Impact of Obama’s Historic Election
During his campaign President-elect Barack Obama suggested he would try to usher in a new political era in which race would no longer be such a sharp wedge dividing Americans. ...more
Nothing to Fear: Adam Cohen on "FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America"
Rush, Sean, the Billous One, and other bloviators like Ann Coulter have long complained about media bias. A LIBERAL bias. Imagine my shock when after searching long and hard for such a welcome viewpoint, that no such bias exists. ...more
Jaffa was the largest city in historic Palestine during the years of the British mandate, with a population of more than 80,000 Palestinians in addition to the 40,000 persons living in the towns and villages in its immediate vicinity. ...more
Patriot Pirates
The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution
Eighteen U.S. veterans kill themselves every day. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas. One in every three homeless men in the United States has put on a uniform and served his country. On any given night, the U.S. government estimates 200,000 veterans sleep on the street. ...more
Guitar Heroes
The Sustainable Guitar Movement Is Out to Save Trees
In musical terms, “sustain” is the duration of a sound before it becomes inaudible. Guitars have a lot of sustain, which is one reason for their rich, versatile sound. But the kinds of guitars that traditionally have the most sound—high-end, handmade instruments crafted from rare and exotic woods—are among the least sustainable, environmentally speaking. ...more
The presidential campaign of 2008 will be recalled for many firsts: the first African-American presidential nominee, the near-miss campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, the record spending and record turnout. ...more
Greenpeace has earned a reputation as the environmental movement's radical faction, and John Passacantando, executive director of the organization's U.S. arm, has been right in the midst of the action. ...more
We have at the present time two government leaders, a president and a vice president, who, according to all available evidence, have carried out grave crimes. ...more
COWS, sheep and goats may seem like innocent victims of humanity's appetite for meat, but when it comes to climate change they have a dark secret. ...more
The System Implodes: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008
Erstwhile kings of the mountains, Iraq’s Kurdish parties have become kingmakers in Baghdad. No federal government can be established without them—and they know it. ...more
IF YOU WATCHED television at any point in the seventies, you saw him: America’s most famous Indian. Star of perhaps the best-known public service announcement ever, he was a black-braided, buckskinned, cigar-store native come to life, complete with single feather and stoic frown. ...more
Antarctica and Climate Change
--Andrew Monaghan | WorldWatch Institute
Visiting Antarctica is an incredible, almost unearthly, experience. Icebergs bigger than cities. Glaciers with cracks large enough to swallow a football stadium. A floating ice shelf the size of France. ...more
An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President
RANDALL ROBINSON HAS WRITTEN a searing, unforgiving expose of the forcible abduction, in February, 2004, of the democratically elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the consequent deepening wretchedness of its citizens. But he does more than that. ...more
One theory about the collapse of the Maya civilization in Mexico some 1100 years ago is based on evidence that they had perfected a bureaucracy of corn. ...more
Among the many absurd linguistic artifacts of the now-delightfully-receding era of George W. Bush, the preceding question surely deserves the cocaine Christian cowboy duncecap as much as "Mission Accomplished" or "Freedom Fries." ...more
Noah Pierce’s headstone gives his date of death as July 26, 2007, though his family feels certain he died the night before, when, at age twenty-three, he took a handgun and shot himself in the head. No one is sure what pushed him to it. He said in his suicide note it was impotence—a common side effect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was “the snowflake that toppled the iceberg,” he wrote. ...more
Thanks A Lot, Mr. Meese
How Alberto Gonzalez Learned to Get You to Pay for His Legal Bills
No one has ever accused them of being quick learners but when it comes to reaching into the taxpayers’ pockets you’d have thought they’d have tumbled to it more quickly than they did. ...more
We have at the present time two government leaders, a president and a vice president, who, according to all available evidence, have carried out grave crimes. Will these two men leave office and live out their lives without being subjected to legal proceedings? ...more
In the winter of 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study indicating that 200,000 two- to four-year-olds had been prescribed Ritalin for an “attention disorder” from 1991 to 1995. ...more
Pat Boone came to prominence in the 1950s, a dark, primitive time before Facebook, text messaging and Anne Hathaway. But there was one bright spot: the birth of rock 'n' roll, a joyous, vibrant sound that made you awfully glad to be alive.
When we think of the founding of the early colonies, we usually think of the journey to freedom, in particular of the Puritans fleeing religious persecution to settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ...more
The Grapes of Wrath . . . Lewd, Foul, and Obscene?
It was an uneasy time in America, late summer 1939. The Roosevelt Recession—in which industrial production had tumbled by 40 percent, unemployment had jumped by four million, and stock prices had plunged by nearly 50 percent—was barely more than a year past. ...more
The CEOs of the Big Three automakers promised last week to limit themselves to $1 personal salaries in return for federal bailout money for their cash-strapped companies. ...more
Every four years, when the British and other Europeans watch with shock, awe, and incomprehension the presidential contest that convulses the United States, I’m reminded of President Julius Nyerere’s joking retort decades ago to American visitors who criticized his one-party state in Tanzania. ...more
Wendell Willkie in Baghdad: Roads Not Taken in the Middle East
Our view is so clouded by recent events that we exaggerate the novelty of today's situations. I want to recall some issues of the 1940s when, in contrast to the present, the United States won global pre-eminence and influenced the world order. ...more
Was Thomas Paine One of the Greatest American Thinkers?
In 1791 Thomas Paine published a slim volume dedicated to George Washington: “a small Treatise in defence of those Principles of Freedom which your exemplary Virtue hath so eminently contributed to establish.” ...more
In Los Gatos, California, controversy has raged over the city planning commission's approval of a proposed hillside home that will occupy a whopping 3600 square feet - and that's just the basement. Atop that walkout basement will be 5500 more square feet worth of house. ...more
Academic Freedom?
The right-wing campaign against women's studies turns a treasured ideal on its head
Within a month of the horrifying mass murder at Virginia Tech last spring, Phyllis Schlafly was busy on her Eagle Forum blog, blaming left-wing professors. ...more
Just four years ago, a flood of books and essays hit newsstands and shelves, all diagnosing what went wrong with the Democratic Party and how to fix it. A cottage industry emerged, of which my own book was a small part. ...more
When Republican Helen Chenoweth ran for Congress in Idaho in 1994, she not only endorsed term limits on members but pledged she would leave Washington after three terms no matter what. But something strange happened in 2000, when it was time for Chenoweth to step down: She did it. ...more
The enormous growth of the financial sector is one of the wonders of our age. In the 1960s the business of banking, broking and insuring accounted for just 10 per cent of total corporate profits in most developed economies. ...more
"The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct; the party has lost the mid-South states — Virginia, North Carolina — and the party is in deep trouble in the Rocky Mountain West, and there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again." ...more
In every phase of the automotive industry certain factors have been more important than all others in relation to the way the automobile has looked. ...more
Twenty-five years ago, along with another young journalist, I coauthored a book called California, Inc. about our adopted home state. The book described “California’s rise to economic, political, and cultural ascendancy.” ...more
AGRICULTURE: Wealthy ‘Farmers’ Snag Federal Dollars
Forget stimulus checks; wealthy farmers raked in more than $49 million in federal funds between 2003 and 2006 that they may have been ineligible for, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. ...more
The name Pearl Harbor resonates in American history; it is synonymous with the U.S. entry into World War II. It stands for tragedy - and for treachery. On December 7, 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked United States naval and air forces in the Hawaiian Islands, and scored a major victory. ...more
In early 1942, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the entire U.S. auto industry to make a sudden and wholesale switch from producing cars to churning out tanks, armored cars, tank engines, and aircraft propellers. ...more
The United States in the Middle East: The Evolution of Its Israeli Policy
In 2007, the United States has no foreign policy involvement greater and more significant than its military presence in Iraq. And in 2007, the United States has no closer ally and co-actor on the world scene than Israel. The relationship is arguably closer than the vaunted U.S.- British link. ...more
Far out of sight, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean— roughly between Hawaii and San Francisco—lies the North Pacific Gyre, popularly known as “the Pacific trash vortex” or “great Pacific garbage patch.” ...more
Despite the glitter that surrounded the Olympics in Beijing, the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, the messages coming to Asia from these events were very different. ...more
AS PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN visibly aged in office, skin wrinkling and memory fading, his abundant hair remained deep black and glossy—a perennial topic of wonder to gossip columnists and shallow journalists. But late-night TV host Johnny Carson offered a novel explanation: “Reagan doesn’t dye his hair—he bleaches his face.”. ...more
Mountain Music
Saving a Kentucky community and its culture, one kid at a time
Ten years ago old-time music was dying in the Kentucky mountains where it was born. “Fiddlers were hard to find around here,” says Knott County banjo player Randy Wilson. “I could count the ones I knew of on one hand.” ...more
I seldom offer economic or political predictions, but it isn’t too much of a risk to suggest that the next president will come to office in the midst of a far deeper recession than we are now experiencing.
In Fünf Jahre meines Lebens (“Five Years of My Life”), the most powerful memoir yet published by a former Guantánamo detainee, the German Murat Kurnaz remembers an especially disturbing episode that took place while he was in a cage at Camp X-Ray: “One time there was a long, tortured cry. ...more
In early August 2007, as the House moved rapidly to pass legislation modifying the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before its summer recess, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seemed uncertain about the details of the bill they were debating. ...more
Leaders of the 22-member Arab League and 12 South American countries met last week and agreed to an 11-point declaration on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to economic cooperation. ...more
The Army’s expensive Future Combat Systems is likely to be cut back. So are exotic missile defense programs. But the supersonic F-22 fighter jet might survive. ...more
The Obama administration today announced a multi-agency effort to combat loan modification scams, which government officials said are preying on distressed homeowners searching for help. ...more
Somali pirates have seized a British-owned cargo ship and a Taiwanese ship, maritime officials say, after capturing three other vessels over the weekend. ...more
Corruption charges dropped against South African leader
Prosecutors dropped corruption charges Monday against South Africa's ruling party president Jacob Zuma, who is expected to win the presidential race later this month. ...more
Reporting from Seoul -- Never mind that much of the world is calling North Korea's weekend space launch a dud -- that the regime's vaunted communications satellite probably now sits somewhere on the Pacific Ocean floor. ...more
US judge clears way for deportation of accused Nazi guard
For media makers and consumers alike, the game changing power of online social networks is simply this: they greatly decrease the cost of creating so-called “bridging social capital. ...more
In the Jester's Court: Paul Krassner On The Virtues Of Irreverence, Indecency, And Illegal Drugs
In the 1960s Dr. Stanley Milgram set off a firestorm of controversy with his scientifically illuminating but ethically questionable experiments on obedience.
The turd tossed by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich into Barack Obama’s punch bowl had been floating there for 48 hours when the president-elect stepped to the podium at his press conference last Thursday morning. Obama’s initial response to the astonishing—and comical, and nauseating, and DSM-worthy-crazy—corruption case had seemed wan, perfunctory. ...more
On January 13, 2005, the London Sun published a photograph of Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, dressed in Nazi regalia at a birthday party. Expressions of dismay came from many quarters, including Michael Howard, then leader of the Conservative Party, and the heads of many British Jewish communal organizations, who widely expected a full-throated public apology. ...more
This Alien Legacy
The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism
In 2008, a case stood unresolved before India's High Court, calling for reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. That provision, almost 150 years old, punishes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" with imprisonment up to life. ...more
The idea of Muhammad as a military man will be new to many. Yet he was a truly great general. In the space of a single decade he fought eight major battles, led eighteen raids, and planned another thirty-eight military operations where others were in command but operating under his orders and strategic direction. ...more
Pray the Devil Back to Hell: Liberian Women Bring Peace to their War-Torn Country
The recent history of Liberia is bloody. Valuable natural resources, corrupt leaders, ethnic conflicts, and thousands of displaced people led to 8 years of conflict during Liberia’s two civil wars (1989-1993 and 1999-2003). ...more
It is the eighth day of our sponsored junket of “The Other Iraq” (a.k.a. Kurdistan), during which we have ridden the roller coasters at a new mountaintop theme park, been paraded through tony shopping malls, and met with the region’s political, media, and academic leaders. ...more
There is a certain vogue gathering around urban issues. No -- not inner-city poverty, crime, or joblessness -- but, rather, those issues that might broadly be described as ones of "human geography." ...more
Commentary
Alternative Media
After his closed door meeting with Barack Obama regarding the release of the remaining TARP funds, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson was quoted as saying, "I think in this era of freshness and transparency, that the new administration would want to come forth with detail instead of this mumbo jumbo that is going on," Meanwhile,... More
The former managing editor of The Chicago Tribune probes the collapse of the newspaper industry and tries, mostly in vain, to find hope for the future of journalism. ...more
An 11th-hour ruling from the Bush administration gives health care workers, hospitals, and insurers more leeway to refuse health services for moral or religious reasons.. ...more
Two master writers, two African Americans taking different paths through life's experiences and insights. Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright show us the variety of life in the African American epic. Different – yet similar and linked as Hurston writes of living that epic and Wright writes of surviving in it. ...more
As the U.S. credit markets continue to struggle and the economy further erodes, one of the most intriguing questions to ask is why is it costing trillions of dollars to address a problem that can be measured in the billions? ..more
Ode asked celebrated activists, artists, business people, politicians and thought leaders to pick their favorite Intelligent Optimists, individuals who aren't famous yet but should be because of the work they're doing to bring positive change to their communities, their countries and the world. That's how we got 25 reasons to be optimistic in these challenging times. ...more
Newspapers have been under siege for a long time. There were the challenges brought by the pamphlet and broadside industries back in the 1700s. ...more
Presented with the opportunity to make an appointment coveted by numerous influential and well-connected politicians, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had, according to federal prosecutors, the following reaction: “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and I’m not giving it up for fucking nothing.”
Which is the exact same thought process – minus the profanity, at least in some instances – that goes through the mind of every politician in the United States who has a valuable appointment to hand out. ...more
If genuine liberalism relies on free markets and civil society to solve economic and social problems, then the “Keynesian Revolution” signaled its abandonment. Why, then, do many historians consider John Maynard Keynes—a neomercantilist and welfare statist—to have been a great liberal in the tradition of Locke, Smith, and Jefferson? ...more