Quotation for Today

Today, America is an outlier among industrial nations. Its distribution of income looks closer to that of Argentina than, say, Germany.

So it is perhaps unsurprising that our recent economic crisis had some characteristics of boom-and-busts in less developed nations. It was triggered, in part, by 1 percenters on Wall Street persuading regulators to remove restrictions on their casino. 

Eduardo Porter

Porter, Eduardo. "The 1 Percent Club’s Misguided Protectors."  The New York Times 10 December, 2011: online edition. 

Europe Seethes

The current anger in Europe -- supposedly because of the United Kingdom's veto of an atrocious economic austerity plan advanced by Germany with the support of Mrs. Merkel's French poodle -- is at the boiling point.

The Roberts Court's Special Hearing: Texas Redistricting Case

The Roberts Court announced it would hear "special arguments" in the Texas redistricting case.

Quotation for Today

"Much more difficult – the main beneficiary of the Iraq war was the Iranian government. Iraq traditionally was a sort of buffer but that has now disappeared because of the stupid policy of the US and Tony Blair's government."

Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC MP (UK) (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1995-1997)

Rustin, Susanna. "Is war with Iran inevitable?" The Guardian 9 December, 2011: online edition UK 

Protecting the Gordon Gekkos

As a reminder, Gordon Gekko was Oliver Stone's "greed-is-good" character in the movie "Wall Street", and today we get a look at a "real-life Gordon Gekko" courtesy of Paul Krugman.

Quotation for Today

"Never has Europe been so necessary. Never has it been in so much danger."

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic

"Eurozone crisis: Talks to save euro begin in Brussels." BBC-UK 8 December, 2011: online edition 

Is Brazil the "Sucuriju Gigante" of South America?

As Brazil grows in wealth it is beginning to flex its new found powers in old, imperial ways.

Social Security and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer

This story is one filled with hypocrisy. It is a tale of a politician publicly advocating one thing while privately doing the opposite.

Quotation for Today

"What is going to have people pushing their euro notes around in wheelbarrows, as they famously did their Deutschmark notes in Weimar Germany's hyperinflation, is not, at the moment, inflation – it is a collapse of the eurozone."

Timothy Garton Ash

Think Tank: UK Now in Depression

The United Kingdom is considered to be in a depression and will be until the year 2013 according to the UK think tank -- National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).