Job Loss Sends Employment Ratio Downward

Sunday 08 August 2010

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Report

Temporary employment is falling rapidly, suggesting weaker job growth ahead.

For the second consecutive month, the economy created virtually no jobs, net of temporary Census jobs. The Labor Department reported that the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July, 12,000 less than the 143,000 drop in the number of temporary Census workers. The June numbers were revised down by 100,000 to show a gain of only 4,000 non-Census jobs.

The job loss corresponds to a decline in labor force participation. While the unemployment rate has edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 9.5 percent since May, this is attributable to people who gave up looking for work and left the labor force.

Social Security: Don't Fear the Boomers

By Richard Eskow

Created 08/07/2010 - 1:22pm

Must Read:

An Economy for All

They're too old to rock and roll, too young to ... ruin Social Security. Despite the scaremongers' attempts to incite generational war, people born between 1946 and 1964 are not going to destroy the Social Security system. The Baby Boom cohort isn't going to be a crippling financial burden for Generation X, Generation Y, Generation XYY, or any other generation. It may be true that their descendants will be forced to listen to their greatest hits until the sun goes supernova (more cowbell, please!), but economically there's nothing to worry about.

Since I'm one of the dreaded boomers myself I guess I can't be considered objective, so don't take my word for it. Ask an actuary.

Harry C. Ballantyne's biography demonstrates that he's the nation's leading expert in forecasting Social Security trends. His career includes eighteen years as the Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration (under Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton) and a degree in Physics - but no time whatsoever as the bass player for Jethro Tull. Actuarial certification is extremely hard to receive, and those guys know their stuff. (I know because when I was a young Boomer and numbers guy, my boss offered to finance my actuarial training. But I had small children at home, you gotta take a lot of really hard exams, yada yada yada ... you know how flightly these boomers are.)

What does Harry C. Ballantyne says about all the generational fear being whipped up today? A new report [1]released yesterday by the Economic Policy Institute [2](EPI), co-authored by Ballantyne with EPI President Lawrence Mishel and economist Monique Morrissey, explains: "Social Security is running a surplus of $77 billion this year and amassing a trust fund large enough to last through the peak retirement years of the Baby Boomers."

October Surprise Cover-up Unravels

By Robert Parry
August 6, 2010

Not to belabor a point, but some die-hard defenders of the October Surprise cover-up continue to insist that there is real evidence debunking the now overwhelming case that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign interfered with President Jimmy Carter’s negotiations to free 52 American hostages then held in Iran.

One defender claimed in a recent blog post: “calendars, eyewitness accounts, telephone logs and credit card receipts showed that [Reagan’s campaign chief William Casey] was in the United States and London at the time of the alleged meetings” in Madrid and Paris.

But that simply isn’t true. What is true is that a series of fabricated alibis for Casey and others have come apart at the seams, starting with the initial alibi that was concocted for Casey by The New Republic and Newsweek.

Watergate Becomes Sore Point at Nixon Library

By ADAM NAGOURNEY

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — The sign at the entrance to the largest exhibition room devoted to a single subject at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum reads “Watergate.” But on Friday, the exhibit was nearly empty, dominated by a 30-foot blank slate of a wall that is testimony to a new battle set off by this still-polarizing former president: how to mark the scandal that forced him from office 36 years ago.

Officials at the National Archives have curated a searing recollection of the Watergate scandal, based on videotaped interviews with 150 associates of Richard M. Nixon, an interactive exhibition that was supposed to have opened on July 1. But the Nixon Foundation — a group of Nixon loyalists who controlled this museum until the National Archives took it over three years ago — described it as unfair and distorted, and requested that the archives not approve the exhibition until its objections are addressed.

The foundation went so far as to invoke Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, noting that those presidents surreptitiously taped White House conversations before Nixon stepped on the scene.

Militarization and the Authoritarian Right

Saturday 07 August 2010

by: Barry Eisler, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Yes, former Bush administration speechwriter and current Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen's demand that "WikiLeaks Must Be Stopped" is, as his colleague Eva Rodriguez notes, "more than a little whacky." But it's useful, too, because an infatuation with the notion of using the military in nonmilitary operations, particularly domestic ones, is a key aspect of the modern American right and of the right-wing authoritarian personality. Examining Thiessen is a good way to understand both.

Glenn Greenwald: What collapsing empire looks like

As we enter our ninth year of the War in Afghanistan with an escalated force, and continue to occupy Iraq indefinitely, and feed an endlessly growing Surveillance State, reports are emerging of the Deficit Commission hard at work planning how to cut Social Security, Medicare, and now even to freeze military pay. But a new New York Times article today illustrates as vividly as anything else what a collapsing empire looks like, as it profiles just a few of the budget cuts which cities around the country are being forced to make.

Nature's Air Conditioner

Does it really save gas to roll down your windows instead of flipping on the AC?

By Brendan I. KoernerPosted Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, at 7:17 AM ET

It's summer, which means many drivers will be cranking up the AC or rolling down the windows to keep their cars from turning into mobile toaster ovens. Which method uses more gas? In a column first published in 2008 and reprinted below, the Green Lantern explained that it depends on how fast you're driving.

Like most people, I crank up my car's air conditioning on hot summer days. But my wife has recently been tsk-tsking me for this practice—she says the AC wastes too much gas, and that we should roll down the windows instead. But I've read that rolled-down windows also decrease fuel economy, since they increase drag. What's the most efficient way to cool ourselves while driving?

The rule of thumb is to keep the windows down while on city streets, then resort to air conditioning when you hit the highway. Every car has a speed at which rolled-down windows cause so much drag as to decrease fuel economy more than a switched-on AC. As you might expect, however, that milestone speed varies widely from car to car—and in some cases, it may be well north of posted speed limits.

AP Exclusive: CIA whisked detainees from Gitmo

By The Associated Press
Friday, August 6th, 2010 -- 4:06 am

AP Exclusive: To keep program secret, CIA whisked 9/11 figures from Gitmo before court ruling.

Four of the nation's most highly valued terrorist prisoners were secretly moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2003, years earlier than has been disclosed, then whisked back into overseas prisons before the Supreme Court could give them access to lawyers, The Associated Press has learned.

And Now for Some Good News

We'll never know the names of all the people who paid with their limbs, their lungs or their lives for the goodies in my home and yours

by Johann Hari

At first, this isn't going to sound like a good news story, never mind one of the most inspiring stories in the world today. But trust me: it is. Yan Li spent his life tweaking tiny bolts, on a production line, for the gadgets that make our lives zing and bling. He might have pushed a crucial component of the laptop I am writing this article on, or the mobile phone that will interrupt your reading of it. He was a typical 27-year-old worker at the gigantic Foxconn factory in Shenzen, Southern China, which manufactures i-Pads and Playstations and mobile-phone batteries.

Li was known to the company by his ID number: F3839667. He stood at a whirring line all day, every day, making the same tiny mechanical motion with his wrist, for 20p an hour. According to his family, sometimes his shifts lasted for 24 hours; sometimes they stretched to 35. If he had tried to form a free trade union to change these practices, he would have been imprisoned for 12 years. On the night of 27 May, after yet another marathon-shift, Li dropped dead.

Medicare funds to last 12 years longer than earlier forecast, report says

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 6, 2010; A06

Medicare's finances have been strengthened by the new law setting in motion broad changes to the nation's health-care system, according to a government forecast issued Thursday, which says the fund that pays for older Americans' hospital care will last a dozen years longer than expected.

The report, prepared annually by the trustees who monitor the two enormous federal entitlement programs for the elderly -- Social Security and Medicare -- says that the Social Security system has, at least for now, been damaged more severely than Medicare by the weak economy. For the first time in nearly three decades, the report says, Social Security will pay out more in retirement checks this year and in 2011 than it will take in through payroll taxes.

Paul Krugman: The Flimflam Man

One depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans. But no: as long as someone on the right claims to have bold new proposals, he’s hailed as an innovative thinker. And nobody checks his arithmetic.

Which brings me to the innovative thinker du jour: Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Mr. Ryan has become the Republican Party’s poster child for new ideas thanks to his “Roadmap for America’s Future,” a plan for a major overhaul of federal spending and taxes. News media coverage has been overwhelmingly favorable; on Monday, The Washington Post put a glowing profile of Mr. Ryan on its front page, portraying him as the G.O.P.’s fiscal conscience. He’s often described with phrases like “intellectually audacious.”

But it’s the audacity of dopes. Mr. Ryan isn’t offering fresh food for thought; he’s serving up leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce.

7 Ways Republicans Want to Alter the Constitution They Claim to Hold Sacred

Since President Obama took office, Republicans have shrouded their agenda of opposition by wrapping it in the flag and the Constitution. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) even went so far as to label her radical anti-government views “constitutional conservatism.” Yet, for all of their constitutional pablum, the GOP’s agenda is nothing less than a direct assault on America’s founding document.

Crazy Economists Are Still Defending The Wall Street Bailout As The Recession Gets Worse

Economists are still spinning fairy tales so they can celebrate bank bailouts. Too bad everybody's still broke and out of work.

August 6, 2010 | It is amazing that angry mobs have not risen up and chased all the economists out of the country. While the greed of the Wall Street gang provided the fuel for the bubble, the economists played an essential role as enablers. This was most directly true for economists in policymaking positions, like Alan Greenspan at the Fed.

Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered

A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives. An undercover investigation has exposed this effort, which has been in action for more than one year.

“The more liberal stories that were buried the better chance conservative stories have to get to the front page. I’ll continue to bury their submissions until they change their ways and become conservatives.”
-phoenixtx (aka vrayz)

Digg.com is the powerhouse of social media websites. It is ranked 50th among US websites by Alexa (117th in the world), by far the most influential social media site.

It’s Hard To Take The Fiscal Hawks Seriously: Testimony To The Senate Budget Committee

By Simon Johnson

Most of the discussion of federal budget issues today is misdirected. The shorter run issues are dominated by the likelihood of another financial crisis – and the implications that would have for the budget deficit – but no “fiscal hawks” even want to acknowledge the issue. It is very hard to take anyone seriously if they refuse to look at these (uncontroversial) numbers. Medium term, we obviously need tax reform. The good news, in a sense, is that the US has an antiquated and inefficient tax system; it would not be hard to improve how this operates, raising revenue and actually reducing distortion. Longer term, Medicare is obviously a tough problem with no easy solutions yet in sight. But the argument “just cut entitlements” cannot be taken seriously.

What Social Security Report SAYS vs What They Tell You It Says

By Dave Johnson

Created 08/05/2010 - 1:59pm

The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees today released their report on the Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs [1]. Here is what it says:

Social Security Just Fine Until At Least 2037

The summary of the report says, "The financial outlook for Social Security is little changed from last year. The short term outlook is worsened by a deeper recession than was projected last year, but the overall 75-year outlook is nevertheless somewhat improved..." and is otherwise fine until at least 2037 with no changes.

It is just fine forever, in fact, if we do something simple like raise the "cap" on earnings that are taxed to pay for the program. (That's right, when you make more than a certain income level you stop paying the tax!) Compare that to the military budget [2]. We spend more than $1 trillion on military and related programs each year - more than every other country combined - and unlike Social Security that is completely "unfunded," and adds to the deficit.

Medicare Outlook Improved Substantially

The report also says, "The outlook for Medicare has improved substantially because of program changes made in the [Health Care Reform Bill]"

The 401(k) Travesty

Hugely profitable companies that won't restore the 401(k) match they ditched in 2008.

By Daniel Gross
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at 3:56 PM ET

---

Recent government data suggest an economy in confusion. Growth and consumption are slowing, but savings are rising, up to 6.4 percent of personal income. The savings rate, in fact, has been climbing for three years, as Americans have been hoarding cash to protect themselves against the struggling economy.

While the rising savings rate is generally good news for the economy, it is the problem that's discouraging businesses from taking risks, investing, and hiring. In its June 2010 survey of its members, the National Federation of Independent Businesses found that the single most important problem, by a long shot, is "poor sales" (30 percent). Twice as many identified poor sales as the single most important problem as they did "government regulations and red tape."

But businesses aren't helping matters much. One of the reasons Americans are saving more of their salaries and wages is that in 2008 and 2009, employers stopped doing the things they have historically done to make their employees feel confident about spending—contributing to 401(k)s, paying for benefits, raising salaries in line with inflation. Corporate America's productivity and efficiency gains since the onset of the Great Recession have been impressive and an important contributor to the recovery. Businesses cut costs aggressively largely by cutting jobs, salaries, benefits, and perks.

George Shultz's Counterfeit 'Coin'

By Robert Parry
August 4, 2010

Official Washington’s favorite quote from the Iran-Contra scandal was from Secretary of State George Shultz who famously assured congressional investigators that “trust is the coin of the realm.” What is never acknowledged is that Shultz's coin was counterfeit, that he then lied through his teeth.

At the time, in 1987, to protect the myth that Shultz was the principled opponent of the secret Iran-Contra arms deals who was then cut out of the project, Shultz and his senior aide, Charles Hill, withheld key documents about Shultz’s actual role and knowledge.

However, in 1992, after Iran-Contra prosecutors discovered the hidden notes that undercut Shultz’s testimony, they altered Shultz’s status in the criminal investigation from “witness” to “subject” – one step short of becoming a “target.” At that point, Shultz agreed to some closed-door interviews.

“Over the course of the interviews, Shultz’s attitudes evolved from combative to contrite,” the final Iran-Contra report stated. “In the end, after confronting the evidence contained in contemporaneous notes created by his closest aides, he repeatedly admitted that significant parts of his testimony to Congress had been completely wrong.” [See Iran-Contra Report, Chapter 24.]

Google and Verizon Near Deal on Web Pay Tiers

By EDWARD WYATT

WASHINGTON — Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege.

The charges could be paid by companies, like YouTube, owned by Google, for example, to Verizon, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users.

Such an agreement could overthrow a once-sacred tenet of Internet policy known as net neutrality, in which no form of content is favored over another. In its place, consumers could soon see a new, tiered system, which, like cable television, imposes higher costs for premium levels of service.

Fannie and Freddie's Foreclosure Barons

How the federal housing agencies—and some of the biggest bailed-out banks—are helping shady lawyers make millions by pushing families out of their homes.

— By Andy Kroll

Wed Aug. 4, 2010 12:01 AM PDT

LATE ONE NIGHT IN February 2009, Ariane Ice sat poring over records on the website of Florida's Palm Beach County. She'd been at it for weeks, forsaking sleep to sift through thousands of legal documents. She and her husband, Tom, an attorney, ran a boutique foreclosure defense firm called Ice Legal. (Slogan: "Your home is your castle. Defend it.") Now they were up against one of Florida's biggest foreclosure law firms: Founded by multimillionaire attorney David J. Stern, it controlled one-fifth of the state's booming market in foreclosure-related services. Ice had a strong hunch that Stern's operation was up to something, and that night she found her smoking gun.

It involved something called an "assignment of mortgage," the document that certifies who owns the property and is thus entitled to foreclose on it. Especially these days, the assignment is key evidence in a foreclosure case: With so many loans having been bought, sold, securitized, and traded, establishing who owns the mortgage is hardly a trivial matter. It frequently requires months of sleuthing in order to untangle the web of banks, brokers, and investors, among others. By law, a firm must execute (complete, sign, and notarize) an assignment before attempting to seize somebody's home.

Judge Strikes Down California Prop. 8, the Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

by Bob Egelko and Demian Bulwa

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge today struck down Proposition 8, the voter-passed November 2008 initiative that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker found that the ban on same-sex marriage violated the constitutional due process and equal protection rights of a pair of couples - one lesbian and one gay - who sued.

James K. Galbraith Champions The Beast Manifesto

While seers from Wall Street proclaim a "deficit crisis," obviously the capital markets don't take that talk seriously. If they did, they wouldn't be willing to lend to Uncle Sam for thirty years at four percent! But in fact they are doing this every week. Yes, long-term interest rates could change, but supposedly everything we need to know about future deficits is known right now. There simply is no funding problem for the U.S. government, and in the real world of financial markets, none is foreseen.

So what are the real effects of cutting Social Security and Medicare?

Blame the Babies

Wednesday 04 August 2010

by: Connie Schultz, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

They call them "anchor babies."

Not "God's children," you understand. There'll be no celebrating these infants as the joyful proof that each was "a baby, not a choice." These precious little faces will not be smiling from a right-to-life billboard any time soon.

No, these are bad babies, the ones born in America to undocumented immigrants. You may remember how Lou Dobbs, before he left CNN last year, used to call them "anchor babies" as a way to promote his dastardly version of America.

Bee Pastures May Help Pollinators Prosper

By Marcia Wood
August 4, 2010

Beautiful wildflowers might someday be planted in "bee pastures," floral havens created as an efficient, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically sound way to produce successive generations of healthy young bees.

The pesticide-free pastures could be simple to establish, and—at perhaps only a half-acre each—easy to tend, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist James H. Cane. He's based at the Pollinating Insects Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit operated by USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Logan, Utah. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Shareholder Protection Act Stands on Shaky Legs

Wednesday 04 August 2010

by: Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report

The House Financial Services Committee approves the Shareholder Protection Act, granting a corporation's shareholders new oversight in the company's political expenditure.

The act requires shareholders to approve a corporation's political spending for federal races, a move by House Democrats calculated to mitigate the effects of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This Supreme Court decision treated corporations as individuals, giving them the right to spent unlimited funds from their treasuries to support or attack political candidates.

Clean water bottle wins UK leg of James Dyson Award

A bottle that uses ultraviolet light to sterilise drinking water has won the UK leg of the James Dyson Award.

The Pure bottle is the brainchild of Timothy Whitehead, a design and technology graduate from Loughborough University, who had the idea while travelling in Zambia.

It eliminates the need for chlorine and iodine tablets which take 30 minutes to work and can leave an unpleasant taste.

GOP Politician Confirms What Was Long Suspected: Republicans Intentionally Feed the Racism, Anger, and Paranoia of the Far Right

By David Corn, Mother Jones Online
Posted on August 4, 2010, Printed on August 4, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/147732/

It was the middle of a tough primary contest, and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) had convened a small meeting with donors who had contributed thousands of dollars to his previous campaigns. But this year, as Inglis faced a challenge from tea party-backed Republican candidates claiming Inglis wasn't sufficiently conservative, these donors hadn't ponied up. Inglis' task: Get them back on the team. "They were upset with me," Inglis recalls. "They are all Glenn Beck watchers." About 90 minutes into the meeting, as he remembers it, "They say, 'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'" Inglis didn't know how to respond.

The US economy is not yet on the road to recovery

Getting the economy growing at a more rapid pace will inevitably require another round of stimulus from the government

Dean Baker
guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 August 2010 19.00 BST

The 2.4% GDP growth figure reported for the second quarter caused many economists to once again be surprised about the state of the US economy. It seems that most had expected a higher number. Some had expected a much higher number. It is not clear what these economists use to form their expectations about growth, but it doesn't seem that they have been paying much attention to the economy. For those following the economy, a weak second quarter growth number was hardly a surprise.

As a basic way to assess growth, economists often separate out final demand growth from GDP growth. The difference between GDP growth and final demand growth is simply inventory accumulation. If the rate of inventory accumulation accelerates then GDP growth will exceed final demand growth. If the rate of inventory accumulation slows, then GDP growth will be less than the rate of final demand growth. If there is no change in the rate at which inventories are accumulating, then GDP growth will be equal to final demand growth.

"Freedom:" The Right of Religious Fundamentalists to Discriminate Against Everyone Else

by Amanda Marcotte

Conscience clauses. They practically have the term "slippery slope" built right into their definition. Anti-choicers started by pushing the idea that pharmacists shouldn't have to sell contraception if it somehow violates their heartfelt repulsion to what they believe is unapologetic sluttiness. But did anyone think it would stop there? Once the idea got loose that you have a right to not do your job if you disapprove of a client's sex life, the doors were thrown wide open to all sorts of discrimination against customers, followed by a bout of acting like a martyr if you were pushed to do your actual job.

Forget Populism

"The people" are no more virtuous or incorruptible than elites, and pandering to them won't advance liberal political goals.

Kevin Mattson | August 3, 2010

You've heard the strategy before: Speak for the people. Decry powerful special interests and elites (if that includes financial institutions, bless your stars for aligning). Show indignant anger that the times demand. Mobilize frustration. In short, play the populist card to win votes on Election Day.

Indeed, fiery populism seems perfect for this moment, with fat-cat bankers jacking up their salaries while still claiming bailouts, big corporations ruining the ocean, and what's left of the middle class falling off an economic cliff. What better time than now to deride economic royalists? What better time than now for elected officials to bond with the salt of the earth in pitched battle against elites?

The crisis of middle-class America

By Edward Luce
Published: July 30 2010 17:04 | Last updated: July 30 2010 17:04

Technically speaking, Mark Freeman should count himself among the ­luckiest ­people on the planet. The 52-year-old lives with his family on a tree-lined street in his own home in the heart of the wealthiest country in the world. When he is hungry, he eats. When it gets hot, he turns on the air-conditioning. When he wants to look something up, he surfs the internet. One of the songs he likes to sing when he hosts a weekly karaoke evening is Johnny Cash’s “Man in Black”.

Yet somehow things don’t feel so good any more. Last year the bank tried to repossess the Freemans’ home even though they were only three months in arrears. Their son, Andy, was recently knocked off his mother’s health insurance and only painfully reinstated for a large fee. And, much like the boarded-up houses that signal America’s epidemic of foreclosures, the drug dealings and shootings that were once remote from their neighbourhood are edging ever closer, a block at a time.

99 Weeks Later, Jobless Have Only Desperation

By MICHAEL LUO

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Facing eviction from her Tennessee apartment after several months of unpaid rent, Alexandra Jarrin packed up whatever she could fit into her two-door coupe recently and drove out of town.

Ms. Jarrin, 49, wound up at a motel here, putting down $260 she had managed to scrape together from friends and from selling her living room set, enough for a weeklong stay. It was essentially all the money she had left after her unemployment benefits expired in March. Now she is facing a previously unimaginable situation for a woman who, not that long ago, had a corporate job near New York City and was enrolled in a graduate business school, whose sticker is still emblazoned on her back windshield.

“Barring a miracle, I’m going to be in my car,” she said.

Ms. Jarrin is part of a hard-luck group of jobless Americans whose members have taken to calling themselves “99ers,” because they have exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits that they can claim.

Is Biochar the Answer for Ag?

Long-term study digs up new information on biochar’s ability to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from soils

MADISON, WI, August 2^nd, 2010 – Scientists demonstrate that biochar, a type charcoal applied to soils in order to capture and store carbon, can reduce emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, and inorganic nitrogen runoff from agriculture settings. The finding will help develop strategies and technologies to reduce soil nitrous oxide emissions and reduce agriculture’s influence on climate change.

Paul Krugman: Defining Prosperity Down

I’m starting to have a sick feeling about prospects for American workers — but not, or not entirely, for the reasons you might think.

Yes, growth is slowing, and the odds are that unemployment will rise, not fall, in the months ahead. That’s bad. But what’s worse is the growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal.

And I worry that those in power, rather than taking responsibility for job creation, will soon declare that high unemployment is “structural,” a permanent part of the economic landscape — and that by condemning large numbers of Americans to long-term joblessness, they’ll turn that excuse into dismal reality.

Bob Herbert: 'Treatment of workers by American corporations has been more treacherous than most of the population realizes'

by Gaius Publius on 8/01/2010 07:56:00 PM

I've been writing about this for a while (for example, here and here and here), as have a great many others.

Profits are up on the backs of workers, who desperately need their share of whatever wealth the country is producing. Because, frankly, if workers can't buy — if demand doesn't increase — there's no way out. Deflation, here we come.

Firing Line

By MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ

One June morning last year, Jack Dailey drove from his home in North Carolina’s Piedmont country, through verdant, hilly farmland to a rifle range near the town of Ramseur. Eleven men and a woman had mustered there for a weeklong boot camp run by the Appleseed Project, a group Dailey started that is dedicated to teaching every American how to fire a bullet through a man-size target out to 500 yards. So far Appleseed has taught 25,000 people to shoot; 7,000 more will learn by the end of this year. Its instructors teach this skill not for the purpose of hunting or sport. They see marksmanship as fundamental to Americans’ ability to defend their liberty, whether against foreigners or the agents of a (hypothetical) tyrannical government. Appleseed frames this activity as being somewhere between a historical re-enactment and a viable last resort. I came to find out how serious they were.

Dailey, Appleseed’s founder and rhetorician in chief, is a tall man with silver hair. He wore black sneakers, a red polo shirt tucked into jeans and a red baseball cap. Sixty-six years old, he could have been a grandfather spending a leisurely morning on a public golf course if not for his unyielding expression and his voice, which is well equipped for the stirring up of men.

In the previous day’s lecture, Dailey discussed taxes — the situation of the American taxpayer, he said, compared unfavorably with the lives of slaves in ancient Egypt. Today he got down to the matter at hand: defense against overweening government. “Look at the choice those guys made,” he said, referring to the colonial-era militia. “I’ll post you 65 yards from the road. In a few hours there’s gonna be hundreds of redcoats marching down that road. Your liberty depends on you stopping ’em.”

Wash Post business writer hits on the biggest problem in American economy

by RiseUpEconomics
Fri Jul 30, 2010 at 08:58:37 AM PDT

There was this amazing nugget today by Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein:

It is only in the world of Chamber of Commerce propaganda that businesses exist to create jobs. In the real world, businesses exist to create profits for shareholders, not jobs for workers. That's why they call it capitalism, not job-ism. There's no reason to beat up on business owners and executives simply because they're doing what the system encourages them to do.

This bears repeating: "businesses exist to create profits for shareholders, not jobs for workers."

It's a truth that we on the left sometimes ignore, to our own peril.