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Saturday, October 18, 2008 |
UN: "17 October 2008 - There is no time to waste in the fight against poverty, the Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro warned as she led a gathering at the United Nations to symbolically stand up against poverty today, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty."
As long as the same neocon criminals are in charge of our economies, the economic situation in the world will get worse, and spending money on war and the rich will go on unabated. It's as simple as that.
AlterNet: "Less than a week after the Washington Post reported that the Department of Defense will pay private contractors $300 million over the next three years to 'produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to engage and inspire the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government,' Virginia Sen. Jim Webb wrote a strongly worded letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. 'I have serious reservations about the need for this expenditure in today's political and economic environment,' he wrote. 'Consequently, I am asking that you put these contracts on hold until the Armed Services Committee and the next administration can review the entire issue of U.S. propaganda efforts inside Iraq.'
Regardless of what you call it, the so-called 'War on Terror' has cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in propaganda costs alone. As with so much of modern war-making, most of this work is carried out by private military contractors. With the word 'Halliburton' now shorthand for waste, fraud and abuse for many Americans, taxpayers' tolerance for war profiteering has reached new lows - especially when private military companies operating with no oversight undermine the very 'hearts and minds' that mission propaganda is supposedly meant to advance."
CommonDreams: "The George W. Bush administration handed 125 billion dollars to nine of Wall Street's richest banks, but this will do little to help the economy that is crumbling around ordinary U.S. citizens, independent experts and activists say.
Under the Paulson plan, the U.S. will receive 5 percent interest on the bank shares it purchases for three years and nine percent thereafter.
The British negotiated 12 percent interest in a similar arrangement with banks and investor Warren Buffet will receive 10 percent interest on the stock he purchased from General Electric."
NYTimes: "The decision this week to put $250 billion in banks in return for shares will make the government a major investor, and owner, in the banking industry. The bold move is one of many that is redefining and enlarging Washington's role in the country's banking system. Especially if conditions worsen, further government actions may be deemed necessary to shelter banks, businesses and consumers from the financial turmoil.
The government's frenzy of fire-drill policy making in recent weeks has been called 'creeping socialism', but even conservative economists generally applaud the moves as prudent in a time of economic peril. Concerns about government intrusion in the marketplace, they say, can be addressed after the financial storm has passed."
Well, it's time for a change. It's time for socialism in America. The neocons should realize that government is there not only to safeguard their own riches, but also to provide for the welfare of the majority of the population. Until now the profits have been privatized and the losses have been socialized. This can't go on. The neocons must realize that if the government helps them out now, after all it is the taxpayer who is paying for this, then the rich should deliver their contribution to a social system. A return to the previous bias in favour of the neocons is out of the question. It's time America learned the meaning of the word 'social'.
10:43:18 AM 
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© Copyright 2008.
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