Philosopher John Gray: 'We're not facing our problems. We've got Prozac politics'
The philosopher John Gray is riding high as one of the few thinkers to have predicted the current economic chaos. Here, he tells Deborah Orr how we got into this mess – and how we might get out of it .... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/philosopher-john-gray-were-not-facing-our-problems-weve-got-prozac-politics-1666033.html
The empire's facilitator
Beneath his seemingly boundless charisma and charm, Barack Obama has always been an utterly ruthless politician. He has been a compromiser who has danced with the darkest forces of political and criminal power, while winning over common people; a consensus-abiding chameleon and a "pragmatist." Obama is the true model of what George W. Bush only claimed to be: "a uniter, not a divider."
The signs were clear from the early days of the presidential contest that Obama was, like every presidential candidate, a handpicked puppet... (bow) http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/printer_4578.shtml
Big banks have reportedly passed the "stress tests." But the Treasury doesn't want them to talk about the results in their forthcoming earnings report. Will they keep their mouths shuts—and can regulators force them?..... http://www.businessweek.com/investing/wall_street_news_blog/archives/2009/04/the_governments.html?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis
Criticism continues to grow about the Geithner Plan, which is just a refurbished version of the original Paulson Plan. The consequences of this plan's failure — operational or political — could be severe. ... http://www.rgemonitor.com/financemarkets-monitor/256360/the_best_way_to_rob_us_is_to_own_a_bank
This is a microcosm of what the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) is intended to do: create an incentive for investors to pay $90 for a bet that is only worth $50. It is bad economics and bad public policy and it is probably fraudulent. Congress should act pre-emptively to halt Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's latest scheme..... http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article9974.html
The 20th century is well behind us, but we have not yet learned to live in the 21st, or at least to think in a way that fits it. That should not be as difficult as it seems, because the basic idea that dominated economics and politics in the last century has patently disappeared down the plughole of history. This was the.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/10/financial-crisis-capitalism-socialism-alternatives/print
