war

Bait and Switch - Stealing from Social Security to Pay for Wars and Bailouts

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Republicans regard Social Security as an "unfunded liability," that is, a giveaway that is interfering with our war-making ability.

By paul craig roberts

The American Empire is failing. A number of its puppet rulers are being overthrown by popular protests, and the almighty dollar will not even buy one Swiss franc, one Canadian dollar, or one Australian dollar. Despite the sovereign debt problem that threatens EU members Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, it requires $1.38 dollars to buy one euro, a new currency that was issued at parity with the US dollar.

The US dollar's value is likely to fall further in terms of other currencies, because nothing is being done about the US budget and trade deficits. Obama's budget, if passed, doesn't reduce the deficit over the next 10 years by enough to cover the projected deficit in the FY 2012 budget.

Indeed, the deficits are likely to be substantially larger than forecast. The military/security complex, about which President Eisenhower warned Americans a half century ago, is more powerful than ever and shows no inclination to halt the wars for US hegemony.

"Show Me the Money!" - Waste and Fraud in Iraq from the Start

Michael Collins

The Associated Press ran an article Sunday that focused on the wasted funds during the US reconstruction efforts in Iraq. There were stories of an unused children's hospital, a prison for 3,600 that will never open, and the diversion of reconstruction funds to pay off Sunni fighters to turn on al Qaeda.

AP failed to mention that the main reason that we have to rebuild Iraq is that the United States government invaded it and destroyed everything it could in a display of shock and awe. Also unmentioned were the unique post invasion strategies of no security for sites like power plants that keep the country running and the dissolution of the 400,000 man army, the main institution that kept order in the country before the invasion. But I digress.

Anyone paying attention should know that financial controls and accountability went out the window from the very first days following the defeat of Saddam Hussein's military.

What's Aiding the Terrorists Now? Outsourcing.

With all the breaking stories exposing KBR's policies of corruption, abuse and fraud leading up to Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on the misuse of taxpayer money in Iraq, the findings of KBR's gross mishandling of funds should come as no surprise. We already knew about KBR's use of a judicial loophole to avoid prosecution in an alleged rape case, and about their scheme to avoid paying taxes on employee salaries.

"Where Do We Go From Here" Speech of Martin Luther King, Jr, August 16, 1967

Martin Luther King, Jr delivered this speech in Atlanta, Georgia at the Southern Christian Leadership Council. I heard an excerpt of it yesterday on the new Sirius Left radio show of Dave Marsh called The Land of Hope and Dreams. I then went on line and got a copy of it. Well, it's another eye opener and it's another reminder of the paucity of ideas and the lack of eloquence in our politics today.

King talked in terms of philosophy not ideology. He spoke of Engels, Marx and Trotsky and how they got it wrong and then explains it by using the philosopher Hegel and Jesus. Communism forgets the individual and Capitalism forgets the social. God, I love that. I've often used a bit of Hegel on my weekly radio showin Bozeman, Montana; Uncle Thesis, and Auntie Thesis begetting little Syni Thesis. This is for what I hunger and thirst; real discourse and uplifting rhetoric. Not more weasel words and management speak.
This particular passage hit me between the eyes: