Economy

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Economy, military budget, National Politics, peace March 3, 2014

Budget Realignment Reflects Pentagon’s Vision of Covert and Endless War

by Brian J. Trautman The Pentagon’s budget proposal for next year was announced last week by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. In an interview with The New York Times, Hagel argued that to meet today’s national security needs, the Department of Defense (DoD) must shift its focus and capabilities away from “fighting grinding ground conflicts” and towards “new arenas of combat.” To achieve these ends, the budget calls for a realignment of the military that would reduce the total number of ground troops to its lowest level since 1940 and discontinue some military equipment deemed obsolete or unnecessary. According to…

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Climate Change, Economy, Environment, Fracking, Green Party, International, Labor, National Politics, New York January 20, 2014

Secretive trade agreement would undermine democracy

Post-Standard by Ursula Rozum January 20, 2014 Any speck of democracy and sovereignty we the people have left in this country is under attack. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a new international trade pact crafted by multinational corporations and currently being negotiated in secret by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) along with 11 other foreign governments. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) describes the agreement as “an attack on democratic governance” and “a punch in the face to the middle class of America.” The TPP began as trade talks among a few Pacific Rim countries, but has been expanded…

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Democracy, Economy, Health Care Reform, National Politics, on Obama October 8, 2013

Reasons to Lose Sleep over the Shutdown and Obamacare

by Scott McLarty Common Dreams, October 6, 2013 Sure, the government shutdown and Republican demands regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are reprehensible, but let’s not delude ourselves about the ACA itself. It’s needlessly complex. It preserves medical treatment as a commodity rather than a right: low-cost policies will provide low-quality insurance. It imposes a direct public subsidy to feed the insurance industry, which helped write the legislation. It isn’t universal. Millions of people who lacked it will now have health insurance, but the coverage they get won’t approach the level of health-care access guaranteed to every citizen in every…

Economy, Green Party, New York, political corruption, Public Campaign Finance Reform, State Politics May 21, 2013

Public campaign finance reform: clean money or throwing good money after bad?

by Howie Hawkins syracuse.com May 14, 2013 New York needs a Clean Money system of full public campaign funding. That’s how we end the privatized “public” elections funded by the 1% that make Albany a feeding trough for wealthy special interests. The so-called Fair Elections Act (A4980C-2013), which passed the Assembly and was delivered to the Senate on May 7, merely supplements the existing system of unlimited private campaign financing with partial public funding. This bill throws good public money after bad private money. The cesspool of pay-to-play influence peddling by wealthy private donors remains alive and well. The bill…

Economy, Green Party, National Politics, on Obama March 1, 2013

Cut the Military Budget – Now

by Mark A. Dunlea It is time to cut the military budget. It has been time to cut the military budget for many years. Like right after WWII. Otherwise known as a peace dividend. Free up funds to pay for school, job training, health care, clear water and air, mass transit, housing, hunger, jobs. Under sequestration as part of the federal budget deficit deal, half the budget cuts would come from the military, around $45 billion a year – perhaps 6% of existing spending. That is way too little. Lawrence Korb, defense advisor for former President Reagan. estimates $150 billion…