How Not to Run an Economy

Surging wage growth for topmost sliver

The ratio of the wage income of the top 1% of earners to that of the bottom 90% more than doubled between 1979 and 2006, increasing from a ratio of 9.4-to-1 to 19.9-to-1. In contrast there was relatively little change in the earnings disparity from 1947 to 1979, when wages at all levels of the economy grew apace.

See? When the rich do better, we all do better. (Just keep repeating that, like conservatives do, and maybe it will come true.)

But that's really the point behind the Bush-McCain tax cuts--the rich just simply aren't rich enough. If they were just richer, we'd all be better off. If they only had a bigger slice of the pie, somehow, we'd all have more pie.

It would be funny if they didn't actually believe it. Which makes me wonder, when is conservatism going to finally be recognized in the DSM IV?

Supporting the bad guys, not always a good idea, it seems

This is from an article in "Z Magazine" that appeared in the November, 2000 issue, well before 9/11:

The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and occupied the country throughout the 1980s. The CIA hired the Mujaheddin (soldiers of God) to expunge the Communists from Afghanistan. The Mujaheddin were trained by Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence Directorate, and funded and armed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, Britain, Israel, Iran, Japan, and China. The U.S. spent $5 billion to support the rebels during the 1980s, and used Osama bin Laden, then an ally of the U. S ., to help recruit non-Afghan Muslims to the Mujaheddin.

RAWA has pointed out that there were several democratic-minded groups the U.S. and other countries could have supported if they had wanted to drive out the Communists and help restore independence to Afghanistan. Why did these countries instead back the fundamentalist Mujaheddin? RAWA member Sajeda told Said lt magazine in August that pro-democracy groups would have refused to act as "puppets" for other countries, and would have made it difficult for those countries to "maintain their economic and political interests in Afghanistan."

Maybe, just maybe, if we had acted like human beings before, things wouldn't be like they are now, eh? I know, it's a crazy idea, but I think it might be worth a try, at least once.

Obama, Warrior King

I guess this shouldn't surprise anyone.

Obama’s circle of hawks

Obama: Yes We Can (rule the entire world by force)

This won't stop the NYT from lying

Hey now now, guess what?

INTERPOL Clarifies it Never Determined Authenticity of Laptops that Implicate Venezuela

Imagine that! Also:

FARC leader Iván Márquez, who had met with Chávez to discuss hostage release last year, alleged in a communiqué last weekend that President Uribe “attempted and continues trying to kill” Chávez and Correa with the help of the United States.

The Colombian Department of Security Administration (DAS) has already infiltrated Caracas with 100 paramilitary forces to assassinate Chávez, and a similar plan exists for Correa, Márquez alleged.

In the statement, Márquez also railed that the laptops examined by INTERPOL are fake and used by Uribe to threaten neighbors and to cover up the political scandal in Colombia in which Uribe allies have recently been convicted of contracting paramilitaries to perform politically motivated assassinations.

No U-Turn

If you've read the editorial pages recently, you've probably seen talk of Hugo Chavez's "U-Turn" on FARC.

Don't believe it.

Chavez's Call for FARC Disarmament Takes Washington By Surprise

Washington's foreign policy establishment -- and much of the U.S. media -- was taken by surprise this week when President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) should lay down their arms and unconditionally release all of their hostages. The FARC is a guerilla group that has been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government for more than four decades.

Chavez's announcement should not have come as a surprise, because he had already said the same things several months ago.

On January 13, for example, Chavez said: "I do not agree with the armed struggle, and that is one of the things that I want to talk to Marulanda (the head of the FARC who died last March) about." Chavez also stated his opposition to kidnapping, and has made numerous public appeals for the FARC to release their hostages.

Once again, the US propaganda machine moves forward, leaving the truth's twisted body in its wake. (And, once again, thanks to BoRev.Net, which everyone should read.)