Why progressives should gladly vote for Ron Paul over any Democratic candidate including Obama

Ron Paul has proposed many unacceptable positions, such as criminalizing abortion, rejecting climate change as a global threat, withdrawing Government funding from social programs, refusal to tax the rich, support of unlimited corporate donations to election campaigns, and promoting prayer in the public schools. But my objections to these and other positions of Ron Paul pale into insignificance when weighed against his clear and unequivocal promise, if elected, not only to stop our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan IMMEDIATELY, but to bring home all American troops -- not only from Iraq and Afghanistan -- but also from Germany, Japan, Korea and the nearly 800 U.S. military bases maintained around the world.

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Multi-Billion-Dollar Terrorists and the Disappearing Middle Class

By James Petras The US government (White House and Congress) spends $10 billion dollars a month, or $120 billion a year, to fight an estimated “50 -75 ‘Al Qaeda types’ in Afghanistan”, according to the CIA and quoted in the Financial Times of London (6/25 -26/11, p. 5). During the past 30 months of the Obama presidency, Washington has spent $300 billion dollars in Afghanistan, which adds up to $4 billion dollars for each alleged ‘Al Queda type’. If we multiply this by the two dozen or so sites and countries where the White House claims ‘Al Qaeda’ terrorists have been spotted, we begin to understand why the US budget deficit has grown astronomically to over $1.6 trillion for the current fiscal year

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A Boomers Revolt -- Madison a Foretaste of Things to Come?

The dramatic and inspiring occupation of the Wisconsin Statehouse in Madison by angry public workers and their supporters over the past few weeks is an exciting preview of what we can expect to see in the halls of Congress before long, as right-wing forces, funded by corporate lobbies and corporate-funded think-tanks push hard for cutbacks in Social Security and Medicare.

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Further Fiscal Folly

The people insisting on cuts to social security and Medicare have revved themselves up and are now in high gear. They see their final victory on the horizon, with the possibility of a bipartisan deal involving substantial cuts to both programmes. They argue that the large deficits facing the country make it imperative that we address the long-term budget problem – meaning, the cost of these programmes – immediately.

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Why Did the President Cross the Road? To Kneel Before the Corporate Throne of the Chamber of Commerce

Why did the President cross the road? To kneel before the corporate throne of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And here's what he had to say there on Monday. President Obama again stressed that he wanted to freeze non-war/military spending well into the next president's tenure: "That's why I've proposed that we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years. Understand what this means. This would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, and bring this spending -- domestic discretionary spending -- down to the lowest share of our economy since Eisenhower was president. That was a long time ago."

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Ayn Rand Railed Against Government Benefits, But Grabbed Social Security and Medicare When She Needed Them

Ayn Rand was not only a schlock novelist, she was also the progenitor of a sweeping “moral philosophy” that justifies the privilege of the wealthy and demonizes not only the slothful, undeserving poor but the lackluster middle-classes as well.

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Spinning Unemployment Figures in a Collapsing Empire

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December--not enough to keep up with population growth--but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.

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