I normally post the Truthout Digest without commentary but the Paul Krugman article seems to me to be a distraction from the real issue of the fed.
His assessment of the economic incorrectness of the signatories to a 2010 letter about auditing the fed may be very logical and correct.
But, in my opinion the significant problem with the fed is not it’s investment policies or their potential for currency fluctuations.
The problem with the fed is that it is a ***privately owned for-profit business that issues our currency and charges us interest***.
Why should one of the most powerful nations on Earth go into debt paying interest to a private business when we could issue our own currency?
I have heard the arguments for it and they are not convincing.
The NATO invasion of Libya was very motivated by that country’s issuing its own currency as well as Gaddafi’s project of creating a pan-African currency.
When government oppresses people in service to corporations that is fascism-now nearly a global situation if you notice the power of banking and resource extractive corporations.
Marc McCord on How Dallas Was Saved From Frac’ing
Julie Dermansky, Truthout: Marc McCord tells Truthout about what it took to get the Dallas City Council to pass the most restrictive fracking ordinance in the United States.
Richard D. Wolff | Capitalism and Democracy: Year-End Lessons
Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: Increases in payroll taxes, opposition to the use of eminent domain to slow foreclosures, the implementation of Detroit bankruptcy to steal from public workers’ pensions and the increase of repression against those who protest capitalism’s depredations indicate the widening contradiction between capitalism and democracy.
The Fight Against HIV: Will Congress End the Syringe Exchange Funding Ban?
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: Despite overwhelming evidence that giving drug users access to clean syringes prevents HIV and hepatitis C transmission, Republicans have worked to keep federal funds from supporting syringe exchange programs. Now lawmakers have a chance to change that.
President Karzai, Stand Tall Against US Pressure to Sign the Troop Deal
Robert Naiman, Truthout According to the US news media, the fact that Karzai is holding out risks disaster. What’s the terrible thing that could happen if there’s no agreement? All US forces would have to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Why Are Republicans Socking It to the Unemployed?
The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: While the current bipartisan budget deal does address some of this nation’s economic woes, what’s notably missing is an extension of unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans who will lose their unemployment insurance at the end of the month.
“Men’s Rights” and “Revenge Porn” Sites Seethe With Anger Over Women’s Autonomy
Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check: On “men’s rights” forums and “revenge porn” sites, groups of men are gathering to find reinforcement for the plain old abusive belief that women who make their own choices about who to sleep with and who to marry are evil.
Media and the End of Apartheid in South Africa
Maria Armoudian, Truthout: This excerpt from Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the Worlddetails how mass media helped create and exploit fractures in apartheid, ushering in a new age in South Africa.
Noam Chomsky Inspires and Invigorates
Jeff Cohen, Consortium News: This month, Noam Chomsky turned 85 – and he is the subject of a new animated movie focused on his scientific and social philosophies. He actually has seen this movie, unlike other works about him: “I can’t stand watching myself.”
In today‘s On the News segment: The super rich have skipped out on paying $100 billion of estate taxes since 2000; Americans are working harder than ever, but most people won’t be seeing a larger paycheck; as renewable energy becomes more popular, the oil and gas industry is getting scared; and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
Paul Krugman | Auditing the Fed Is a Terrible Idea
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: We know what it means to audit a private bank, but the Fed isn’t in the business of investing, except for tactical purposes. It’s there to manage money, not to make it. So what exactly would be audited?
Some Spanish Police Protect Immigrants
Ines Benitez, IPS News: They are members of Spain’s Guardia Civil. But instead of pursuing undocumented immigrants like the rest of the police in Spain, they are there to defend them from the crimes to which they often fall victim.
Local Government Is the Secret Weapon in the Fight Against Economic Inequality
Joelle Gamble, Next New Deal: Unfortunately, the United States, despite being the world’s largest economy, is in the top quartile of the most unequal states. In addition to high levels of income inequality, the United States still faces a jobs crisis.
BuzzFlash
“A Society Under Surveillance Is No Longer a Democracy”
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout:Freedom at its heart is the ability to think, write and live without being monitored or watched. The United States has not reached the zenith of ironclad surveillance states, but the apparatus is in place.
USS Ronald Reagan Sailors Report Cancers After Fukushima Rescue Mission
Read the Article at Al Jazeera America
Paul Krugman and TPP
Read the Article at the Center for Economic and Policy Research
The Financial Crisis: Why Have No High-Level Executives Been Prosecuted?
Read the Article at The New York Review of Books
Elizabeth Warren Sheds Light on Washington’s Failure
Read the Article at The Washington Post
World of Warcraft: The Omnipresent Eye of the NSA
Obama and Climate Change: The Real Story
Read the Article at Rolling Stone
Flying Spaghetti Monster Joins Crowded Holiday Display at Wisconsin Capitol