Dr. Khair El-Din Haseeb’s Presentation  at Georgetown University

April 5, 2006

http://www.globalcomplexity.org/DrHaseeb%27slecture.htm

James Galbraith on Obama

Whose Side Is the White House On?

by James K. Galbraith

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/09-7

"Large countries can and do fail, they have done so in our own time. And the consequences are very grave: drastic declines in services, in living standards, in life expectancies, huge increases in social tension, in repression, and in violence. These are the consequences of following through with crackpot ideas such as those embodied in the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, as Jeff Madrick again outlined, such notions as putting arbitrary limits on the scale of government, or arbitrary limits on the top tax rate affecting the wealthiest Americans.

This isn’t a parlor game. The outcome isn’t destined to be alright. It will not necessarily end in progress whatever happens. What we do, how we proceed, and how we effectively resist what is plainly about to happen, matters very greatly for the future of our country, of our children, and of another generation to come. We need to lose our fear, our hesitation, and our unwillingness to face the facts. If we thereby lose some of our hopes, let’s remember the dictum of William of Orange that “it is not necessary to hope in order to persevere.”

The President should know that, as Lincoln said to the Congress in the dark winter of 1862, he “cannot escape history.” And we are heading now into a very dark time, so let’s face it with eyes open. And if we must, let’s seek leadership that shares our values, fights for our principles, and deserves our trust."

© 2010 New Deal 2.0

James K. Galbraith is a Vice President of Americans for Democratic Action. He is General Editor of "Galbraith: The Affluent Society and Other Writings, 1952-1967," just published by Library of America. He teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.

Economic links

On tax rates and wealth distribution:
http://empirestudies.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-rules-america.html

Michael Hudson on Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/5/new_600b_fed_stimulus_fuels_fears

Michael Whitney on inflation and other things:
http://empirestudies.blogspot.com/search?q=Whitney

Paul Craig Roberts:
http://empirestudies.blogspot.com/search?q=roberts

Game Plan for a Flat Tax, Social Security Cutbacks and Austerity: Obama's Sellout on Taxes
By MICHAEL HUDSON (Dec 8, 2010)
http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson12082010.html

The Endless Thanksgiving: Next Up: a "Flat Tax" for the Rich
By MICHAEL HUDSON (Nov 25, 2010)
http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson11252010.html

David Cay Johnson on Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/free_lunch_how_the_wealthiest_americans

Wealth for the Common Good:
 http://wealthforcommongood.org/resources/tax-fact-sheet/

“Shifting Responsibility: How 50 Years of Tax Cuts Benefited the Wealthiest Americans,” Chuck Collins, Alison Goldberg, and Sam Pizzigati (Wealth for the Common Good, April 2010)
www.ips-dc.org/files/1675/ShiftingResponsibility.pdf

Chuck Collins, “Reverse the Great Tax Shift”
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/07/reverse-the-great-tax-shift/

Dean Baker: Peter Orzag Goes to Citigroup

Dean Baker: Peter Orzag Goes to Citigroup

"Why do the folks in power in Washington seem unable or unwilling to consider a financial speculation tax? Let's imagine for a moment that during his stint as OMB director Peter Orszag had been a vocal advocate of financial speculation taxes. It doesn't seem likely that under these circumstances Citigroup would currently be offering him a job that, according to the New York Times, would typically pay $2 to $3 million a year."

An extensive bibliography compiled by Ed Moise of Clemson University:

Iraq Wars Bibliography

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/EdMoise/iraqbib.html#iraniraq

 

Anatomy of Defeat: Lessons from the Obama Debacle

Lessons of the Obama Debacle

by Walden Bello

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/12-0

"Obama had a tremendous opportunity to educate and mobilize people against the neoliberal or market fundamentalist approach that deregulated the financial sector and caused the crisis. Although Obama did allude to unregulated financial markets as the key problem during the campaign, he refrained from demonizing neoliberalism after he took office, thus presenting an ideological vacuum that the resurgent neoliberals did not hesitate to fill. No doubt he failed to launch a full-scale ideological offensive because his key lieutenants for economic policy, National Economic Council head Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, had not broken with neoliberal thinking.
...
In contrast to Obama, the right wing understood the demands and dynamics of politics at a time of crisis, as opposed to politics in normal times. While Obama persisted in his quest for bipartisanship, the Republicans adopted a posture of hard-line opposition to practically all of his initiatives.

Unlike Obama and the Democrats, the right posed the conflict in stark political and ideological terms: between left and right, between “socialism” and “freedom,” between the oppressive state and the liberating market. The Republican opposition used all the catchwords and mantras they could dredge up from bourgeois U.S. ideology.

Finally, in contrast to Obama’s neglect of the Democratic base, the right eschewed Republican interest-group politics. Fox News, Sarah Palin, and the tea party movement stirred up the right-wing base to challenge the Republican Party elite and drive a no-compromise, take-no-prisoners politics. To understand what has happened to the Republican Party in the last few weeks with the string of tea party successes in the primaries, historian Arno Mayer’s distinction among conservatives, reactionaries, and counterrevolutionaries is useful. In Mayer’s terms, the counterrevolutionaries, with their populist, anti-insider, and grassroots-driven politics are displacing the conservative elites that have long held sway in the Republican Party."

Obama Declares Wrong Emergency

by Lewis Seiler and Dan Hamburg

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/29-8

Dear Madam Speaker:

Consistent with Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I have sent to the Federal Register the enclosed notice, stating that the emergency declared with respect to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, is to continue in effect for an additional year.

The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2010, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.

Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA