Category Archives: Banana republic

What Are Taxpayers Spending for Those ‘Free’ Covid Tests? The Government Won’t Say.

The officialdom is not giving straight answers to simple questions about how much it spent procuring those “free” Covid tests.

Resource Limits to American Capitalism & The Predator State Today

James K. Galbraith discusses the shift of the US from industrialism to his so-called predator state: finance-led, military-centered corporatism

Ocean Summit Launches Today in France

The Ocean Summit launches today in France, a long overdue effort to grapple with marine regulatory issues, including climate change and plastics pollution.

The 50 Biggest US Donors Gave or Pledged Nearly $28 Billion in 2021 – Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Account for $15 Billion of That Total

No, you are not paranoid if you worry about the outsized influence of the Gates Foundation.

Resist Inflation Phobia Coup

Efforts to cure inflation, at least for poorer countries, will prove to be more damaging than the disease.

Quelle Surprise! Covid Burden Falling Hardest on Low Income Workers…But Don’t Expect Any Help

Don’t get us wrong. We really like EPI. But a new piece on Covid’s impact on low income workers has good analysis and out of date proposals.

IMF Surcharges: A Lose-Lose Policy for Global Recovery

The IMF seems unable to drop its punitive, self and “client” destructive habits.

‘Keep Pushing’: Momentum Grows Behind Effort to Ban Stock Trading

Will Congress move to ban its members from trading shares of stock while they’re in office?

Michael Hudson: America’s Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies

America has gone off the deep end re Ukraine. It’s pressuring allies to engage in economic self-harm, which is not a relationship-builder

News Flash: CalPERS Invents Time Machine! Not News: CalPERS Again Lies in Suit Over Illegal Secret Board Meeting and Smears Former Board Member Margaret Brown as Diversion

CalPERS digs its hole even deeper in its effort to keep parts of a board transcript secret. What dirt does it contain?

Blinken’s Booby Traps – How The US Propaganda Paper Released In Madrid Proposes to Go to War With Russia While Claiming to Do The Opposite

The US seems to think it is too clever by half in dealing with Russia. But some parties close to the action, like Europeans, aren’t so keen.

Right to Repair: Massachusetts Auto Measure Stalls

Automakers have mounted a legal challenge to Massachusetts auto telematics right to repair statute. Will the Biden administration and the FTC seek to apply data rules and tools to vehicle telematics data?

The Great Amazon Land Grab – How Brazil’s Government Is Turning Public Land Private, Clearing the Way for Deforestation

At the U.N. climate summit in 2021, 141 countries – including Brazil – signed a pledge to end deforestation by 2030. Yet land grabs continue to place the Amazon ecosystem at risk.

Senators Have Re-Introduced the Highly Unpopular EARN IT Bill That Would Scan All Online Messages

The EARN IT Act would authorize a massive new private surveillance system, rolling back important privacy and security features

Ending Drug Price Gouging: A Regulatory Framework for Pricing of Medicine Innovation

regulators can step in to ensure drug pricing both supports patient access and drug development.