Banks ‘Too Big to Fail’ Have Grown Even Bigger

Behemoths Born of the Bailout Reduce Consumer Choice, Tempt Corporate Moral Hazard

"There's been a significant consolidation among the big banks, and it's kind of hollowing out the banking system," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. "You'll be left with very large institutions and small ones that fill in the cracks. But it'll be difficult for the mid-tier institutions to thrive."

"The oligopoly has tightened," he added.

t r u t h o u t | Health Industry Donates Heavily to Blue Dog Democrats' Campaigns

"As the Obama administration and Democrats wrangled over health care overhaul efforts during the first half of the year, the Democratic Party's Blue Dog political-action committee was receiving more than half of its $1.1 million in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical, health care and health insurance industries, according to watchdog organizations."
t r u t h o u t | Health Industry Donates Heavily to Blue Dog Democrats' Campaigns

Shared via AddThis

Alexander Cockburn: Teddy Kennedy the Hollow Champion

Cockburn in true form:
"To this day there are deluded souls who argue that Jack was going to pull US troops out of Vietnam and that is why he was killed; that Bobby, who worked for Roy Cohn and supervised a "Murder Inc" in the Caribbean, was really and truly on the side of the angels; that Ted was the mighty champion of the working people, even though he helped deliver them into the inferno of neoliberalism."
Alexander Cockburn: Teddy Kennedy the Hollow Champion

Shared via AddThis

t r u t h o u t | Iraqi Refugees Find US Life Not What They Expected

t r u t h o u t | Iraqi Refugees Find US Life Not What They Expected

Shared via AddThis

t r u t h o u t | Protesters Want UC Berkeley Law Professor Yoo Fired

t r u t h o u t | Protesters Want UC Berkeley Law Professor Yoo Fired

Shared via AddThis

t r u t h o u t | Obama: Encouraged on Mideast Peace

t r u t h o u t | Obama: Encouraged on Mideast Peace

Shared via AddThis

Maddow: Public Option Dying Because Of Dems' Political Collapse (VIDEO)

Maddow: Public Option Dying Because Of Dems' Political Collapse (VIDEO)

Posted using ShareThis

Even if Obama actually wanted to extend the right to health care to all Americans (as opposed to simply lining the pockets of his campaign contributors), aren't there real limits to what any chief executive can do - no matter how charismatic or ambitious- in the face of an entrenched bureaucracy? What Maddow and others seem to miss (or are not allowed to say on television) is that the system is incapable of meaningful reform.

My view is that LBJ only got what he got because he knew how to work the system and was willing concede foreign policy in exchange for the domestic legislation he wanted.

Obama Picks Fight With Left on Health Reform

Pardon me for suggesting a certain spinelessness on the part of Obama- when it comes to confronting his "friends on the left," Obama can be a pretty fierce advocate for corporate rule.

t r u t h o u t | Obama Picks Fight With Left on Health Reform

Shared via AddThis

Apocalypse Now!

Cobban: Zionist Pioneer Renounces Zionism

Shared via AddThis

Mike Whitney: Bulletins From Clunkerville

This article eviscerates the "green shoot" fantasy:

Mike Whitney: Bulletins From Clunkerville

Shared via AddThis

Obama Faces Rising Anxiety on Afghanistan

Mired in an economic crisis at home and still pouring billions into an escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan...

t r u t h o u t | Obama Faces Rising Anxiety on Afghanistan

Shared via AddThis

Forget the talk: Insurers buy into Obamacare | Washington Examiner

Forget the talk: Insurers buy into Obamacare | Washington Examiner

Shared via AddThis

t r u t h o u t | US Foreclosure Filings Set Third Record High in Five Months

t r u t h o u t | US Foreclosure Filings Set Third Record High in Five Months

Shared via AddThis

Sharon Smith: Something Stinks at Whole Foods

What the difference between the organic lettuce sold at whole foods and the organic lettuce sold at Wal-Mart? The organic lettuce at Wal-Mart is affordably priced! With high prices and low wages how could Whole Foods go wrong?

Sharon Smith: Something Stinks at Whole Foods

Shared via AddThis

Free Press? Venezuela Beats the US

Weisbrot argues that the new press law in Venezuela is certainly nothing to cheer, but at least the state of press freedom there still isn't as bad as here.

t r u t h o u t | Free Press? Venezuela Beats the US

Shared via AddThis

Senators, Military Advisers Urge Obama to Double Afghan Force

No one said controlling the Central Asian energy grid would be easy. If it was easy, it've been done already.

Senators, Military Advisers Urge Obama to Double Afghan Forces

by Indira A.R. Lakshmanan

Postponing Iraqi Public Opinion

Never under estimate the distance to which the US will go to protect Iraq from Iraqis...

Iraq was supposed to have a referendum on the SOFA on July 30. That up or down vote has been quietly swept under the carpet.

t r u t h o u t | Postponing Iraqi Public Opinion

Shared via AddThis

Paths to Social Equity

I like this idea (in the 2d article) of taxing wealth rather than work.

t r u t h o u t | Paths to Social Equity

Shared via AddThis

Obama and Double Consciousness: The Destruction of the Black Middle Class

Interesting how Obama ran cover for the Banksters as they pillaged Black America:

"... high income blacks were almost twice as likely as low income white to receive high interest subprime loans."

I think Obama can be seen as being afflicted with the "B.T. Washington Syndrome"- he's trying to sit on two stools, but he's just falling between them...

Dedrick Muhammad and Barbara Ehrenreich: The Destruction of the Black Middle Class

Shared via AddThis

The Last Throes of Yanqi Imperialism?

The US response to the Honduran coup has been really quite shameful. The US is trying to give the regime a veneer of legitimacy, but as Greg Grandin argues, the US only further isolating itself in the hemisphere and the world more generally. Are we witnessing the last throes of Yanqi Imperialism?

Greg Grandin: Honduran Coup Over?
Greg Grandin: Honduran Coup Over?

Shared via AddThis

The Left is in Disarray - the Reaction is Rising

This story illustrates the flaw in the following argument that was heard throughout Spectacle '08: "yeah, he's making ungodly compromises now, but that's what he has to do to get within the halls of power. Once he holds power he'll use it to advance progressive ends."

Now that he 'holds power' he's so beholden to those who put him there, that he can't but advance their interests.

Left Out: What the Left Ignored About Barack Obama

Progressives shouldn’t act so surprised, now that their ‘ignore-ance’ during the 2008 campaign has come back to bite them …

by Sandy LeonVest

Israel's Jerusalem Evictions Defy Obama, Undermine Peace Process

Obama: Will you please stop kicking Palestinians out of their homes, your conduct has become an international embarrassment.

Netanyahu: Shut up and give us the money!

Obama: Yes, sir...


t r u t h o u t | Israel's Jerusalem Evictions Defy Obama, Undermine Peace Process

Shared via AddThis

Obama and the Peace Process: Stuck in the slow lane on the road to nowhere...

"Why Obama's Peace Process is Still Going Nowhere"

Ali Abunimah

The idea of separating Palestinians and Israelis into distinct ethno-national entities has become an article of faith within peace process circles, but rarely are its supporters asked to justify why a "solution" that has eluded them for decades has any merit.