Youth in a Suspect Society: Coming of Age in an Era of Disposability

Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "For over 30 years, the North American public has been reared on a neoliberal dystopian vision that legitimates itself through the largely unchallenged claim that there are no alternatives to a hyper-market-driven society, that economic growth should not be constrained by considerations of social costs or moral responsibility and that democracy and capitalism are virtually synonymous. At the heart of this market rationality is an egocentric philosophy and a culture of cruelty that sells off public goods and services to the highest bidders in the private sector, while simultaneously dismantling those public spheres, social protections and institutions serving the public good. As economic power succeeds in detaching itself from government regulations, a new global financial class reasserts the prerogatives of capital and systemically destroys those public spheres - including the university - that traditionally advocated for social equality and an educated citizenry as the fundamental conditions for a viable democracy."
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The Global Economy's Corporate Crime Wave

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Project Syndicate: "Poor-country governments probably accept more bribes and commit more offenses, but it is rich countries that host the global companies that carry out the largest offenses. Money talks, and it is corrupting politics and markets all over the world. Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs. A massive insider-trading ring is currently on trial in New York, and has implicated some leading financial-industry figures. And it follows a series of fines paid by America's biggest investment banks to settle charges of various securities violations. There is, however, scant accountability."
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Supreme Court Protects Corporations From Consumers

Scott Lemieux, The American Prospect
Excerpt: "The Roberts Court tendency to favor business interests is very strong. And the Court's bias in favor of groups that are already grossly over-represented in the political process is not easy to reconcile with our expectation of what courts should do: protect the downtrodden."
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Another One Makes It Up

Keith Olbermann lambastes Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio who has fabricated data claiming, "For every 33 pregnant women that walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic, 32 receive an abortion."
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Empty Wallets by George Packer July 25, 2011 Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/07/25/110725taco_talk_packer#ixzz1T1faVTvO

In the midst of the debt crisis in Washington, D.C., Danny Hartzell backed a Budget rental truck up to a no-frills apartment building that is on a strip of motels and pawnshops in Tampa, Florida. He had been laid off by a packaging plant during the financial crisis of 2008, had run through his unemployment benefits, and had then taken a part-time job stocking shelves at Target in the middle of the night, for $8.50 an hour. His daughter had developed bone cancer, and he was desperate to make money, but his hours soon dwindled to four or five a week. In April, Hartzell was terminated. His last biweekly paycheck was for a hundred and forty dollars, after taxes. “It’s kind of like I’ve fallen into that non-climbable-out-of rut,” he said. “If you can’t climb out, why not move?”

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Winning With Kamikaze Tactics

By Danny Schechter, Reader Supported News
23 July 11

The war of the kamikazes as the debt-ceiling debate takes center stage and appears suicidal.

ew York: During World War II, the Japanese deployed units of pilots who turned their planes into bombs and sacrificed themselves in the name of their emperor in a holy war against US ships. They would aim for the deck of aircraft carriers and do as much damage as they could at the cost of their equipment and their lives.
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The Party That Can't Say Yes

The New York Times | Editorial
Intro: "... on the eve of economic calamity, the Republicans killed an overly generous deal largely over a paltry $400 billion in deductions.... If last-ditch talks beginning Saturday fail, they will have to take responsibility if the unimaginable - a government default - happens in 10 days and the checks stop going out."
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