Land Of The Flea

Larry Kotlikoff: Detroit Today, Washington Tomorrow

"The debt Uncle Sam publicly acknowledges is now $12 trillion. But the true measure of our debt -- the one suggested by economic theory -- is the fiscal gap, which totals $222 trillion. The fiscal gap is the present value of all future expenditures, including servicing outstanding official federal debt, minus the present value of all future receipts. Detroit's main means of hiding its true liabilities was discounting its future obligations at a rate far higher than appropriate, thus giving the appearance that less saving was needed to cover the shortfall. Washington's dirtier trick has been to keep virtually all of its future liabilities off the books." Continue reading →

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Economist: Obamacare Will Cost 4 Million Jobs

"A contraction of 3% means big job losses. About 4 million jobs, to be precise. This would, of course, end up added to the current jobs deficit of more than 8 million, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Obamacare, meanwhile, purports to enable access to insurance coverage to tens of millions of new people. 'What we are describing is a huge increase in the demand for care,' says Goodman. 'But the Affordable Care Act does nothing to increase supply. This is virtually guaranteed to put upward pressure on prices. To the extent that prices are prevented from rising, it will create enhanced rationing by waiting.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEconomist: Obamacare Will Cost 4 Million Jobs

Justice Department sues to block US Airways-American merger

"In a surprise move Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department sued to block the $11 billion merger of American Airlines and US Airways, which would create the world's largest airline. The Justice Department said it would harm competition and U.S. consumers, as just four airlines would control more than 80 percent of the U.S. commercial air travel market. The department took action against this merger, yet recently let go other combinations between major airlines. Industry experts said the move was out of step with past practices and would potentially leave US Air and American, which is emerging from bankruptcy, at a competitive disadvantage." Continue reading →

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Eric Holder Owes the American People an Apology

"Last year when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder boasted about the successes that a high-profile task force racked up pursuing mortgage fraud, the numbers he trumpeted were grossly overstated. Originally the Justice Department said 530 people were charged criminally as part of a year-long initiative by the multi-agency Mortgage Fraud Working Group. It now says the actual figure was 107 -- or 80 percent less. Holder originally said the defendants had victimized more than 73,000 American homeowners. That number was revised to 17,185, while estimates of homeowner losses associated with the frauds dropped to $95 million from $1 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Holder Owes the American People an Apology

The Secret History of G.I. Joe

"Joe, like much else in his era, was hardly what he seemed. Launched the year Lyndon Johnson ran for president as a peace candidate against Barry Goldwater while his administration was secretly planning the large-scale bombing of North Vietnam, Joe, too, was involved in a cover-up. For if Joe was a behemoth of a toy soldier, he was also, though the word was unmentionable, a doll. War play Joe-style was, in fact, largely patterned on and due to a 'girl' -- Mattel’s Barbie." Continue reading →

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On Target Pressure Points: Educational Compliance

"As John W. Whitehead explains in his new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, our nation's children are not being spared from the police state mentality which is slowly gripping all aspects of American society. While parents get ready to send their children back to school, Whitehead provides a chilling reminder that the police state mindset is pervasive in our public schools, with students becoming the victims of inflexible zero tolerance policies, mass surveillance, and arrest for childish, noncriminal behavior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOn Target Pressure Points: Educational Compliance

On Target Pressure Points: Educational Compliance

"As John W. Whitehead explains in his new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, our nation's children are not being spared from the police state mentality which is slowly gripping all aspects of American society. While parents get ready to send their children back to school, Whitehead provides a chilling reminder that the police state mindset is pervasive in our public schools, with students becoming the victims of inflexible zero tolerance policies, mass surveillance, and arrest for childish, noncriminal behavior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOn Target Pressure Points: Educational Compliance

Baltimore guard pleads guilty to drug smuggling racket in jail scandal

"Corrections officer Jennifer M. Owens pleaded guilty Tuesday to involvement in a racketeering conspiracy to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the Baltimore City Detention Center for an inmate, a gang leader who fathered two children with her and whose name she had tattooed on her neck. Owens, 31, of Randallstown, Md., is one of 13 female corrections officers who were indicted in April on charges of smuggling items into the state-run jail for Tavon White, a leader of the Black Guerrilla Family, enabling him to run a thriving drug enterprise inside the detention center. She is the first guard to enter a guilty plea." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBaltimore guard pleads guilty to drug smuggling racket in jail scandal

Baltimore guard pleads guilty to drug smuggling racket in jail scandal

"Corrections officer Jennifer M. Owens pleaded guilty Tuesday to involvement in a racketeering conspiracy to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the Baltimore City Detention Center for an inmate, a gang leader who fathered two children with her and whose name she had tattooed on her neck. Owens, 31, of Randallstown, Md., is one of 13 female corrections officers who were indicted in April on charges of smuggling items into the state-run jail for Tavon White, a leader of the Black Guerrilla Family, enabling him to run a thriving drug enterprise inside the detention center. She is the first guard to enter a guilty plea." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBaltimore guard pleads guilty to drug smuggling racket in jail scandal