I intend to devote no more time to the upcoming presidential elections than walking to my local polling station on Election Day, voting for a third-party candidate, most likely the Green Party candidate, and going home. Any further energy invested in these elections, including championing Bernie Sanders’ill-advised decision to validate the Democratic Party by becoming one of its presidential candidates, is …
Aspirational parents condemn their children to a desperate, joyless life – George Monbiot
Perhaps because the alternative is too hideous to contemplate, we persuade ourselves that those who wield power know what they are doing. The belief in a guiding intelligence is hard to shake. We know that our conditions of life are deteriorating. Most young people have little prospect of owning a home, or even of renting a decent one. Interesting jobs …
Banker Deaths: JPMorgan Tech Workers Have New Conspiracy Theories; Former Intern Allegedly Commits Suicide By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Since December 2013 there have been a rash of unusual deaths among workers at JPMorgan Chase, including alleged leaps from buildings and two separate alleged murder-suicides in New Jersey. A noteworthy number of the deaths have been among technology workers. With the exception of Julian Knott, who was a high level technology expert for JPMorgan in both London and later …
You’ve Been Scammed! By Tom Engelhardt
It couldn’t be a sunnier, more beautiful day to exit your lives — or enter them — depending on how you care to look at it. After all, here you are four years later in your graduation togs with your parents looking on, waiting to celebrate. The question is: Celebrate what exactly? In possibly the last graduation speech of 2015, …
Is US Trade Rep a Wall Street Crony? Groups Demand Transparency. – Deirdre Fulton
Noting deep ties between the country’s top trade negotiator and Wall Street banks, ten groups representing millions of Americans are calling on the White House to make public all communications between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the massive financial institutions that stand to benefit from proposed trade deals. In a letter (pdf) addressed to Froman—lead champion of President Barack Obama’s corporate-friendly …
In Search of the Democratic Soul – Richard Eskow
A Google search for the phrase “soul of the Democratic Party” yields thousands of hits, because the struggle for that soul has been a perennial subject of debate. I’ve probably used the phrase myself. But after a week spent tracking the independent left’s political progress, I’ve become even more convinced that politicians should seek the soul of the country instead. Tap into that, and the …
Silicon Valley’s Eating Up Super Ritalin. I Got the Best of It. – Dan McCarthy
Nootropics, the new staple “brain enhancers” in Silicon Valley that purport to increase productivity and perception, exist in an unregulated legal gray area in the U.S. In Colombia, you can pick up even the shadiest kinds over the counter. I did just that. In the months before a recent trip to Colombia, off to visit an expat friend living there, …
The Big Banks Are Corrupt – And Getting Worse – Richard eskow
The Justice Department’s latest settlement with felonious big banks was announced this week, but the repercussions were limited to a few headlines and some scattered protestations. That’s not enough. We need to understand that our financial system is not merely corrupt in practice. It is corrupt by design – and the problem is growing. Let’s connect the dots, using news …
What Major University Charges $71K a Year and Epitomizes Corporatism and Self-Dealing? – Michael Arria
A new report [3] released by members of New York University’s faculty shows that NYU gouges students to raise billions for real-estate transactions and compensation packages for its top executives. Concerned about the economic situation of many students, the professors spent an entire academic year interviewing people and researching the school’s finances. They discovered that NYU students pay the highest tuition in the …
“War is just a Racket”: Memorial Day Is A Hoax. “Our Soldiers Died for the Profits of the Bankers” – Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Memorial Day commemorates soldiers killed in war. We are told that the war dead died for us and our freedom. US Marine General Smedley Butler challenged this view. He said that our soldiers died for the profits of the bankers, Wall Street, Standard Oil, and the United Fruit Company. Here is an excerpt from a speech that he gave in …