It will definitely be a lean Easter! But what is Easter for us Greek Orthodox?
It's been a very bad week for the merchants of austerity. In Europe, the just-released statistics on first quarter performance show EU nations sliding deeper into recession. In Spain and Greece, unemployment rates are approaching a staggering 30 percent. In Britain, the Tory government took as good news the fact that the UK managed to eke out 0.3 percent growth. Even Germany, the prime sponsor of these policies, is on the edge of recession. You don't promote growth by slashing demand. Supposedly, fiscal tightening improves business confidence. But if some entrepreneur somewhere decided to break ground for a new factory because the president and Congress at last cut the budget, nobody could find such a person. Even the Washington Post editorial page, which has long been promoting a budget bargain built on more cuts, warned in its lead Sunday editorial, that austerity is pinching too hard -- in Europe, that is. How about at home?
The opportunists of austerity are as plentiful and as shameless as their military peers were regarding Iraq, and they share the same motivations: "tawdry ambitions, spineless leadership, and fear."
The cultural hegemony of the moneyed classes enables them to use the mass media and elite institutions as a transmission belt for these economic ideas.
If you are under 40, your generation is getting utterly screwed compared to mine, and you should be in the streets. There are plenty of injustices in this country, but they have little to do with old versus young and everything to do with the one percent versus everyone else. You don't have to cut my Social Security benefits to give your generation a decent break. The secret sauce of my generation was that when I was young, prosperity was widely shared, ladders were plentiful, and tax rates were progressive. If gazillionaires pay their fair share, and we invest adequately in the young, there's no reason why Generations Y and Z can't enjoy the same economic tailwind that my generation did. That, however, will not just happen. It requires a politics -- and not the politics of young versus old, much less the politics of austerity.
* Global markets shaken by fears of new euro zone instability * Vote is stunning success for populist movement * Berlus...
On Feb. 6, Yale student activists hosted a panel laying out the case for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement to pressure Israel into recog...
Whatever the reason, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if government spending drops, there will be less overall demand in the economy and fewer goods and services will be produced. But Republicans simply won't admit that is true.
A prominent conservative economist wrote Tuesday that Congress and President Barack Obama should avoid implementing austerity measures, a major depart...
MADRID (AP) — Spain's unemployment rate shot up to a record 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, leaving almost six million people out of work,...
Third Way's rationale for austerity is a marvel of duplicity or ineptitude so great that duplicity would do less damage to their reputation.
Three public figures associated with the movement to cut government spending appeared in the news this week. All three characters -- the Senator, the Lobbyist, and the Economist -- have encouraged steep cuts in government spending. But only one of them is going to heaven. Which one?
PARIS — The crass term for it is begging, but the French prefer a loftier description: “participatory financing.” For as little as a single e...
Recreating feudalism is not an option, especially in Europe and America. The Greeks would fight to the death defending their country. In addition, neither civilized societies nor the Earth can afford the policies the troika is pushing in Greece.
For years, the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee has faced criticism over its secrecy and selections, perhaps most notably in 1973 when Henry Kissinger ...
* Students, teachers protest against Monti's cuts * Far right group, anti-fascists also plan rallies ROME, Nov 24 (Reute...
While serious questions remain over the cost of obtaining money for Ireland when that moment arrives, the sheer fact that Ireland can now talk about leaving behind its official lenders is highly significant, and not just in Ireland, but further afield.
Our economic malaise has been consistently underestimated, and the result has been the adoption of inadequate half-measures. Swapping budget cuts at the edge of the fiscal cliff isn't a solution.
The health care system seems to have withstood the worst of Hurricane Sandy despite some high-profile breakdowns, including the evacuation of several ...
Will we continue to over-hunt, over-fish our customers, consumers, and our market -- our prey -- until they're either extinct or just too savvy to fall for our seductive calls? What is our responsibility to the health, happiness, and success of those who we fleece for money?
MADRID — Tens of thousands of people marched in 56 Spanish cities Sunday to protest punishing austerity cuts they say will only increase unemplo...
WASHINGTON -- Billionaire private equity mogul Peter Peterson is investing millions of dollars in a new Washington-based campaign for austerity, plann...
* Thousands of public sector workers march through capital * Colosseum, Roman Forum closed, traffic snarled * Strike coi...
Spain's National Police Headquarters admitted on Wednesday that a number of secret agents infiltrated Tuesday's protests against the conservative gove...
MADRID -- Tens of thousands of people from all over Spain rallied in the capital Saturday against punishing austerity measures enacted by the governme...
