I’ve been a fan of David Stockman ever since he got in trouble for speaking the truth as Budget Director under President Reagan. But his new book, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America—what an awesome romp through the economic, financial, and monetary shenanigans of our times!
Debtor Nation
The Great Backpedal: The World Has NOT Come To An End
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Great Backpedal: The World Has NOT Come To An End
Now that the “sequester” is in effect, horrid budget cuts would hit the US. 750,000 people would lose their jobs, planes would stop flying, children would go hungry, the Navy would no longer be able to operate its ships, according to the media. Fear-mongering that the White House drove to shameless heights. But suddenly, furious backpedalling has commenced.
Broke Public Pension Funds And Exotic Boondoggles
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Broke Public Pension Funds And Exotic Boondoggles
That state and local government pension funds are going broke isn’t a new problem. That it’s much worse than reported by those pension funds isn’t a new problem either. Last June, Moody’s determined that the already dizzying unfunded pension liabilities were actually three times higher than reported. To top it off, trustees are blowing a bunch of retiree money on an exotic boondoggle.
Budget Hawks Till Something Gets Cut In Their Districts
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Budget Hawks Till Something Gets Cut In Their Districts
“Preventing future acts of terrorism” is the most critical foreign-policy goal for Americans. Next: proliferation of nuclear weapons, energy supply, trade policies, etc. Fighting off Soviet tanks rumbling towards Frankfurt didn’t make the list. Yet Congress, in its infinite wisdom, is still pushing weapons designed to do just that, whether the Pentagon wants them or not.
Facebook, Coolest Cutest Corporate Welfare Queen Of Them All
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Facebook, Coolest Cutest Corporate Welfare Queen Of Them All
Last year, the government extracted $1.1 trillion in taxes from us individual taxpayers. But now it will pay, along with the states, $429 million of our taxes to the coolest Silicon-Valley beauty queen: Facebook. In net tax refunds! Part of a vast package of juicy corporate welfare programs. Facebook isn’t just hogging our data; it’s gobbling up our money.
The New Reality Of ‘Economic Recovery’ For American Workers
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The New Reality Of ‘Economic Recovery’ For American Workers
Despite optimism-mongering in the media, in certain quarters of Washington, and elsewhere, we’ve had indication after indication in the economic data that American workers have not benefited from whatever lousy progress has been made in nudging up GDP. But now we know from the horse’s mouth: they’re mired in a tough new reality that is getting worse.
College Graduates Are The New Debt Slaves
by Contributor • • Comments Off on College Graduates Are The New Debt Slaves
Contributed by Chriss Street. With the average cost of attending college in America at $120,000, a family of four should expect their children’s college to cost more than a home. Yet, optimism about the value of education provided justification for students to borrow $42 billion from the US this year. And many of them will end up as student-loan debt slaves.
The Majestic US Debt, Visualized, Animated, With Rousing Music
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
The staged posturing with its tragic-funny theatrics and lurid special effects in Washington about the Fiscal Cliff—and whether to fall off, jump off, fly off, dive off, climb down, or somehow avoid it altogether—has become an inescapable media reality, much like Y2K once was. I remember well the worldwide letdown on January 1, 2000.
For-Profit Colleges: A “Business Model” That Blew Up
by Wolf Richter • • 9 Comments
Career Education, when it reported its quarterly results, shed light on an industry that had ruthlessly taken advantage of the American way of funding higher education, and that had preyed on gullible prospective students who were trying to better their lives. Then it handed the tab to the taxpayer. A perfect scam. Now the industry is in a vise between government crack-downs and reluctant students.
Fear of Impending Economic Collapse Or Just Manipulation?
by Wolf Richter • • 1 Comment
Two thermometers into the brains of corporate America plunged to depth not seen since the trough of the Great Recession when the US was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. One was based on responses from CEOs of America’s largest corporations; the other was based on responses from analysts who’d listened to their industry contacts. Just before Lehman, these people had exactly zero predictive capabilities. So, could they now have ulterior motives?