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In September last year, the Bush regime left behind its old refrain that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong,” and went to Congress for a quick $700B to bail out collapsing banks stuck with toxic assets.x60×61 Then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for giving himself total control of the fund and making his decisions “non-reviewable […]

(Analysis.) In his inauguration speech, President Obama made this appeal:x50

[T]he time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history …”

But when a child clings to childish ways, an adult should be firm. In a news conference last week, Obama […]

In the first days of the Bush regime, the National Security Council discussed invading Iraq around a map showing how its oil fields would be carved up, and Vice President Cheney held secret meetings with oil company executives to formulate the regime’s energy policy.x40×41 In its last days, still working for the fossil fuel […]

(Analysis.) Why should an American want to be a citizen of the great United States, instead of just a member of one’s own little tribe? What is the purpose of the United States? The preamble to the U.S. Constitution answers that question:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more […]

(Expletives not deleted.) After his stint on Wall Street, Michael Lewis wrote Liar’s Poker, a famous book that gave an inside story of the high-rolling Wall Street of the 80’s, with its exorbitant salaries and careless handling of investors’ money. In a recent article, Lewis wrote:

In the two decades since then, I […]