Empire // Current

Obama and Latin America

Hylton: Will Obama recognize Latin America is no longer "America's backyard'? Who will get the key job? Barack... more

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Obama, McCain and the Empire

Chalmers Johnson: No president has stood up to the military-industrial complex. Part 4 In Part 4 of his series of interviews... more

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PENTAGON SCORES A BIGGER RIP-OFF THAN BAILOUT

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE 1000 POUNDS GORILLA, BEAR OR GODZILLA STOMPING THROUGH CONGRESS, SENATE & DEMOCRACY... EVERYONE IGNORES IT SO ELEQUANTLY !

With All Eyes on the Bailout, House Passes Trillion-Dollar Defense Bill

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SHOCKING
IT'S EMPIRE BUILDING, NOT DEFENSE SPENDING ! http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/100524/

The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of a few lawmakers."

In keeping with the tradition of recent years, Bush held a gun to his own head and threatened to pull the trigger if his demands weren't met. According to the AP, "To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.

ALSO...

THE WAR ECONOMY
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/

Congress and the administration are embroiled in contentious talks over on the details of a $700 billion infusion into the financial system, intended to restore liquidity and maintain the flow of credit. But the talks stalled yesterday. "It was an implosion that spilled out from behind closed doors into public view in a way rarely seen in Washington," the New York Times observed. Tonight, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) are scheduled to debate foreign policy matters in Oxford, MS. While the subject matter seems disconnected from the situation in financial markets, prescient economists predicted this fall-out from the Iraq war long ago. In 2002, Gerd Hausler, director of international capital markets at the IMF, said that "a serious conflict with Iraq would not be a very healthy development" for the financial markets. Robert Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton administration stated, "If the [Iraq] conflict wears on or, worse, spreads, the economic consequences become very serious." The debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office; it will be $10.3 trillion by the time he leaves. While Congress hesitates to appropriate $700 billion for the financial crisis, the administration still is pouring $12 billion a month into Iraq, also raising the question of how the Iraq war funds could be spent better at home.

IRAQ RECESSION?: A significant reason for the current $9.6 trillion federal debt has been the Iraq war, which the U.S. largely financed through borrowing. This week, President Bush said that the crisis began after "a massive amount of money flowed into the United States from investors abroad because our country is an attractive and secure place to do business," which led to easy credit and to the housing bust. But the problem isn't simply one of excessive foreign investment because of businesses. "It's that the U.S. had to borrow money from foreign nations at an alarming rate, after it dug itself into debt paying for the Iraq War while cutting taxes," The Wonk Room observed. Thus, the United States had to turn to investment from abroad for financing. This, as well as lax regulation and oversight of Wall Street contributed to the credit troubles. Currently, 45 percent of Treasury securities are owned by foreign nations, with the most owned by China and Japan. Other nations owned less than 20 percent of these securities as recently as 1994. Bush left out of his assessment the fact that much of the foreign investment went to finance a war and his tax cuts.A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE 1000 POUNDS GORILLA, BEAR OR GODZILLA STOMPING THROUGH CONGRESS, SENATE & DEMOCRACY... EVERYONE... more