Rethinking Open Checkbook for Security Colossus – NYTimes.com

The NYTs reports on the diminishing public support for Homeland Defense.  Americans are preoccupied with domestic issues and are not in the mood for more extra national nation building.

“Last week, a Bangladeshi student was charged in an F.B.I. sting operation with plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. A Somali-American man was convicted of sending young …”

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Downturn and Legacy of Bush Policies Drive Large Current Deficits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities provides strong evidence and argument about current deficit, which has hampered economic recovery for the Obama administration, has it’s roots in Republican policies under the previous Bush administration and Republican obstructionism …

 

“Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010.  But, the fact remains:  the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain most of the deficit over the next ten years — according to …”

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The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent – NYTimes.com

IN the early 14th century, Venice was one of the richest cities in Europe. At the heart of its economy was the colleganza, a basic form of joint-stock company created to finance a single trade expedition. The brilliance of the colleganza was that it opened the economy to new entrants, allowing risk-taking entrepreneurs to share in the financial upside with the established businessmen who …

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Downturn and Legacy of Bush Policies Drive Large Current Deficits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010.  But, the fact remains:  the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain most of the deficit over the next ten years — according to this update of our analysis, which is based on the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent ten-year budget projections (from August) and congressional action since we released the previous version of this analysis in May 2011.  (For a fuller discussion, see the technical note that begins on p. 6.)

The deficit for fiscal year 2009 — which began more than three months before President Obama’s inauguration — was $1.4 trillion and, at 10 percent of Gross …

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U.S. Sues Wells Fargo: Yet Another Bailed-Out Bank Accused of Fraud | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Earlier this year, Charlie Munger, who is billionaire Warren Buffet’s right hand at Berkshire Hathaway and a sort of self-proclaimed mad oracle of Wall Street, made some interesting comments. He bashed people who buy gold, delivering an all-time …

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A Recovery from Great Recession Bypassing American Households – Pew Research Center

The median income of American households decreased by as much in the two years after the official end of the Great Recession as it did during the recession itself.

The latest estimates from the Census Bureau show that the median income for U.S. households in 2011 was $50,054. In 2009, the year the Great Recession ended, the median income of U.S. households had been $52,195 (in 2011 dollars). Thus, in the two years since the end of the recession, median household income has fallen by 4.1%.

The decrease in household income from 2009 to 2011 almost exactly equaled the decrease in income in the two years of the recession. During the Great Recession, the median U.S. household income (in 2011 dollars) dropped from $54,489 in 2007 to $52,195 in 2009, a loss of 4.2%. By this yardstick, the recovery from the Great Recession is bypassing most of the nation’s households.

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Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go? — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The federal government collects taxes in order to finance various public services. As policymakers and citizens weigh key decisions about revenues and expenditures, it is instructive to examine what …

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Clinton Delivers Stirring Plea for Obama Second Term – NYTimes.com

Former President Bill Clinton and President Obama hugged onstage Wednesday night after Mr. Clinton delivered an impassioned plea on behalf of …

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Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital | Politics News | Rolling Stone

The great criticism of Mitt Romney, from both sides of the aisle, has always been that he doesn’t stand for anything. He’s a flip-flopper, they say, a lightweight, a cardboard opportunist …

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Mitt Romney’s Federal Bailout: The Documents Pictures | Rolling Stone

To uncover the true story behind the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s $10 million bailout of Mitt Romney and Bain & Company, Rolling Stone made a Freedom of Information Act request that forced the FDIC to release more than 500 of …

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Paul Ryan: Marshmallow fluff | The Economist

THE other day my brother-in-law came back from a week-long family vacation in Maine, where he had visited a salt-water taffy museum, and announced …

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America’s economy: Waiting for a boom | The Economist

THESE days, a rich country growth figure not preceded by a minus sign is a rarity worth boasting about. Britain and much of Europe are in recession. By contrast, America’s first quarter performance—a 2.2% annual rate of growth—looks positively …

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