News Commentary

Obama and Israel Stoke a Sectarian Shia-Sunni War

"Obama is acting as an appendage of Israel. He does this by increasing arms shipments to rebels in Syria who are Sunnis. Islamist fighters are flooding into Syria, we read. Obama thereby rewards and encourages extreme religious sentiments, leading to religious conflicts. Moderate Muslims find that their nations are increasingly subject to the drives of the armed extremist contingents who become battle-hardened. Obama and Israel are lighting a keg of dynamite. It will explode in their faces. If enough extremist Muslims become armed and ready to fight, they will eventually turn on Israel." Continue reading →

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Dot-Coms and Bonds Aren’t So Different after All

"In the late 1990s, stocks were the asset du jour. Every single year saw inflows and, at the time, it was the single biggest influx of investor cash into any asset class ever. That massive tsunami of investor dollars drove dot-coms to ridiculous valuations, setting the stage for the epic crash that followed. But guess what? It pales in comparison to the amount of cash that has poured into bond funds in the past few years. A stunning $1.15 trillion in investor money flowed into bond funds between 2009 and April 2013. Not one year showed an outflow from bonds. One could argue the bond bubble is at least 30 percent bigger than the late-1990s stock-market bubble." Continue reading →

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The Real National Security Interest of America

"McCain thinks that our common good rests in deeply expanding U.S. government involvements in dozens of foreign countries. How such an indirect, tortuous, and demonstably dangerous path achieves the common good of Americans is a deep mystery. It is beyond belief that the McCains in the Senate think they can improve other countries when they cannot even identify America's common good and take steps domestically to improve that good. Can Senator McCain explain how the U.S. involvements in Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan have furthered the common good of Americans?" Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Special Independence Day Edition

"Eventually history will tell the story of how Edward Snowden came out and revealed the extent to which the feds - under the guise of protecting us from terrorism - were laying the foundation for a police state. This was deeply disturbing to thoughtful people...if there were any...who feared the rise of an all-knowing, all-powerful Big Brother, from whom no secrets are kept, from whom no desires are hidden. And it was disturbing too to the Big Brothers themselves. They insisted on knowing everything about everybody else's business. But they made it a crime to reveal what they were up to! In short, nobody likes a snitch...and a snoop especially dislikes a snitch." Continue reading →

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Something’s not all right with Medicare

"What could possibly be so powerful that it threatens the viability of the largest revamping of health care in half a century? It’s the amount of money Medicare pays doctors for services rendered. Next year the ACA mandates that the reimbursement rate for doctors’ services be cut by 24.7 percent. If that happens without a hitch — without the first Million-Doctor March on Washington or doctors forming a union as tough as the Teamsters — the health-care cost savings envisioned by the ACA may actually come to pass because doctors will either be working for less money from Medicare or they will have said goodbye and good luck to their Medicare patients." Continue reading →

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The Flashpoints of Revolution Here at Home

"During the Great Recession, 60% of the job losses occurred in the middle-income ranks. Yet, 60% of the jobs that have returned have come in the low-income ranks. Worse, the labor participation rate of America’s youth – those aged 16 to 24 – is at its lowest level since, at least, the 1970s. Obama’s America, thus, is breeding economic desperation as middle-income families struggle to reclaim a lifestyle they once knew and as easily agitated youth with little to lose find that America has too few jobs for them. That is a flashpoint. So, too, is the systemic and expanding welfare mentality that has infected our government and too many of our people." Continue reading →

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New dynamic in Iran’s European ties

"No other Western country has been harmed as a result of Iran sanctions as much as France, which a decade ago was Iran's fifth-largest trade partner. Between 2005 and today, French exports to Iran have shrunk 60% from 2 billion euros (US$2.6 billion) to 800 million euros. US exports to Iran - of computers, cellphones, soft drinks for example - have increased by 50% during the past two years. The French oil giant Total last month was forced to pay a US$400 million fine to the US to end a prosecution in connection with oil contracts in Iran. In 2012, French car maker Peugeot folded business in Iran after 35 years, thus losing the company's largest foreign market." Continue reading →

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The Brutality of “Border Security”

"This money will be used to create what John McCain calls 'the most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall,' staffed by at least 38,405 Border Patrol agents. That’s a larger force than George W. Bush had stationed in Afghanistan when he left office. No wonder it’s been called the 'border surge.' Those agents will be armed with billions of dollars worth of equipment from America’s leading war profiteers. As usual, militarization means obscene corporate profits at taxpayer expense. Moreover, increasing 'border security' funding means expanding an agency whose members routinely violate civil liberties and have even committed murder." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Has Washington’s Arrogance Undone Its Empire?

"The German Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenburger, demanded an 'immediate explanation' why Washington was applying to Germany policies 'reminiscent of the actions against enemies during the Cold War.' The president of France has said that France will not again cooperate with Washington on any issue until France receives 'full assurances' that Washington will cease spying on France. Do any of these protests from politicians who are almost certain to be on Washington’s payroll mean anything, or are they just make-believe protests to quiet the domestic European populations who have been betrayed by their elected leaders?" Continue reading →

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The Great Obamacare Intergenerational Swindle

"Will we be able to talk healthy young Americans into buying medical insurance that costs seven times what it would in a free market in order to subsidize our increasingly expensive health care? Or will we have to sic IRS enforcers on them for selfishly taking advantage of the law’s pre-existing condition protections to get care at someone else’s expense in case of serious illness? It’s a tough sell, but take heart, fellow Boomers. We’ve been preparing our children for community servitude for years. Why else did we feed them a steady diet of social consciousness, while preaching that it takes a village from the day we dumped them in daycare? Now, it’s time for them to pay up." Continue reading →

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