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Today's
Stories
July 29, 2008
John Ross
Return of the Gunboat
July 28, 2008
Dr. Bryant Welch
Torture, Political Manipulation and the American Psychological Association
Kathy Kelly
Pictures from Summer Camp on the West Bank
Mike Whitney
Bad News and Bank Runs
Peter Morici
Spreading Layoffs, Sagging GDP
Christopher Brauchli
Death by (Power) Surge in Baghdad
Clifton Ross
The Spectacle and the Movement in Colombia
Stephen Lendman
The Bush Administration's Secret Biowarfare Agenda
Website of the Day
Stone's Dubya: the Trailer
July 26 / 27, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
How Bush is Wiping Out McCain
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Politics of Alaskan Oil Spills
James G. Abourezk
The Surge Has Worked?
Joseph Nevins
Death as a Way of Life on the Borderlands
Uri Avnery
What's Driving the Jerusalem Attacks
Linn Washington, Jr.
Politics and Injustice in Philadelphia
David Yearsley
Sodomy, Snuff Scenes and the Berlin Opera
Binoy Kampmark
Socializing Losses: Bailing Out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Saul Landau
Truth in Comedy: Stop Whining It's All in Your Head!
Joshua Frank
Big Sky Rebels
Brendan Cooney
Europe's Hypocrisy
Jonathan Cook
Settlers Eye Historic Jerusalem Neighborhood
Robert Fantina
McCain, Iraq and the Campaign
Lee Sustar
Will the US Get Its Way with Iran?
Michael Winship
The Company We Keep
David Macaray
Organized Labor Makes a Convenient Target
Missy Beattie
Pelosi's Panhandling
Robert Weissman
The Scourge of the IMF
Kim Nicolini
Batman and the Old Order
Poets' Basement
Orloski, Ford and McEnteer
Website of the Weekend
Bad Hoosiers
July 25, 2008
Harvey Wasserman
NRC: New Nukes Not Ready for Prime Time
Paul Craig Roberts
Are You Ready for the Facts About Israel?
Alan Farago
Where's the Outrage?
Paul D'Amato
The Arrest of Radovan Karadzic and the Selective Prosecution of War Crimes
Gary Leupp
War With Iran? State Dept. Realists vs. Cheney's Ultras
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Eyes Wide Shut in India
Mike Whitney
Obama Dazzles Old Europe, While McCain Cries, "No Mas!"
Paul Krassner
Inside Camp Mogul
Mike Roselle
All Hail Nero!
Website of the Day
Pressing Starbucks
July 24, 2008
Greg Moses
Who Killed Azem Hajdari?
Andy Worthington
Folly and Injustice: Salim Hamdan's Guantanamo Trial
James Bovard
Daniel Ellsberg's Lessons for Our Time
Joe Bageant
Life in the Post-Political Age
George Wuerthner
Boondoggle in the Fields
DC Larson
Shutting Out Ralph Nader
William Willers
The Forest Products Industry in Public Education
David Macaray
On the Prospects for a SAG Strike
Website of the Day
Pacifica Radio Archive of 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago
July 23, 2008
Winslow T. Wheeler
An Air Force in Free Fall
Paul Craig Roberts
The Mother of All Messes
Ralph Nader
Pavlov's America
Mike Whitney
Visualizing Dow 6,000
Susie Day
Senator Sicko:
Jesse Helms and the Theatre of the Depraved
Website of the Day
"A Kinder and Gentler Machine-Gun Hand..."
July 22, 2008
Nikolas Kozloff
Ten Years On, Bolivarian Revolution at Crossroads
Patrick Cockburn
Boost for Obama Over Iraq Withdrawal
Soldz, Olson, Reisner Arrigo and Welch
Torture After Dark
Moshe Adler
Everyone Must Share, Not Just Charlie Rangel
Martha Rosenberg
Protecting Bones from Drugs that Protect Bones
Dan Bacher
Bechtel and the Big Dig
Harvey Wasserman
Is Gore Inching Toward Solartopia?
Anthony Papa
A Slugger's Drug Redemption
Binoy Kampmark
Mad Over Benedict
Website of the Day
Hiroshima: A-Bombed Objects
July 21, 2008
Ishmael Reed
Remnick's Latest Blunder
Mike Whitney
The Democrats are the Real Problem
Andy Worthington
Dictatorial Powers Upheld: the Meaning of the Al-Marri Decision
Scott Pellegrino
Should "Meet the Press" Desegregate?
John Ross
McCain Crosses the Border, Gets No Satisfaction
Robert Weitzel
Blowback Through the Looking Glass
Mike Stark
I was Spied on by the Maryland Police
Website of the Day
Pinky Solves the Illegal Immigration Crisis
July 19 / 20, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
It's a Dull Race
Jeffrey St. Clair
How to Beat a Mining Company: Why a Gold Goliath Threw in the Towel
Dave Lindorff
I Was a Victim of the TSA
Saul Landau
Obits for Opposites: Carlin and Helms
Ron Jacobs
Why Afghanistan is Not the Good War
Uri Avnery
Different Planet:the Israel / Hezbollah Prisoner Swap
Neve Gordon
The Untold Story of Ni'lin
Roane Carey
Dr. Benny and Mr. Morris
Robert Fantina
Ashcroft, Torture and the U. S.
Christopher Brauchli
The General Lied
Fred Gardner
Cannabinoid Researchers Won’t Take the High Road
David Macaray
Labor Unions and the Courts
Richard L. Hutto
The Ecology of Severely Burned Forests
Bill Moyers /
Michael Winship
Mother's Milk of Politics Turns Sour
Ronnie Cummins
Netroots Nation or Nation of Sheep?
David Yearsley
Opera and Globalization
Alison McKenna
A Close Call for Medicare
Wajahat Ali
The Dark Knight Ascends
Poets' Basement
Ko Un
Website of the Day
What If Edward Said Had Told This Joke?
July 18, 2008
Corey D. B. Walker
A Kinder, Gentler Imperialism?
Mike Whitney
Swan Song for Fanny Mae
Robert Bryce
Iran Rising
Mike Roselle
Ed's Chicken: Fighting King Coal in Appalachia
Bouthaina Shaaban
U. S. to Mandela: Happy 90th and You're No Longer a Terrorist
Eve Spangler
The Deaths of Children
Website of the Day
Lowbagger Needs Your Help
July 17, 2008
Paul Craig Roberts
Airport Gestapo
James G. Abourezk
Big Oil's Raid on the Great Plains
Ralph Nader
D. C. Socialists Save Crashing Capitalists
Allan J. Lichtman
Conservative Denial
Andy Worthington"Screwed Up" and"Abused": Omar Khadr's Interrogations at Gitmo
Ronnie Cummins
Move Over MoveOn
July 16, 2008
Jeffrey St. Clair
Star Whores: How John McCain Doomed Mt. Graham
Paul Craig Roberts
War Crimes Paradox
Conn Hallinan
To the Edge in the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Torture for Torturers?
William S. Lind
Running the Narrows in Iraq
Christopher Brauchli
Sweepstakes Politics
Website of the Day
History of Iraqi Art
July 15, 2008
Michael Hudson
Why the Bail Out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is Bad Economic Policy
Brian Cloughley
Iran's Missile Tests
Patrick Cockburn
Sadr's Militia May Live to Fight Another Day
John Ross
Crunchtime for Mexico's Oil
Howard Lisnoff
When Torture Was Practiced on U. S. Soil
Website of the Day
Rachel Corrie Soccer Tournament
July 14, 2008
Uri Avnery
Will Israel and / or the US Attack Iran?
Paul Craig Roberts
Enabling Tyranny
Trish Schuh
Talking to Iran's Only Jewish Member of Parliament: an Interview with Morris Motamed
Patrick Cockburn
Immunity in Iraq
Mike Whitney
Betancourt Unbound
Alan Farago
Will Miami's Cubans Vote Blue?
Seth Sandronsky
Taxing U. S. Stocks and Bonds
Phyllis Pollack
Stones Paint It Black
Website of the Day
Our Pal in Butte, Jackie Corr, RIP
July 12 / 13, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
Lock and Load--It's the Law!
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Origins of the Western Greens
James Abourezk
Talking World War III Blues: From Dylan to Iran
Nicole Colson
The Ethanol Scam
Stan Cox
Fixing a Broken Agriculture
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
Is There an Oil Shortage?
Wajahat Ali /
Omid Safi
The Future of Iran: an Interview with Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi
John Stauber
There May be a Left, But is it Moving? An Interview with David Sirota
Alan Farago
The Crash of the King of Liquidity
Missy Beattie
Dark Neighborhoods
Robert Fantina
Bush's Last Yes Man:
Canada, Guantanamo and Yankee Poodles
Rannie Amiri
Mubarak Hires the Mosque
Gregory Kafoury
After the Obama Betrayal
Fran Shor
The Audacity of Hype
Martha Rosenberg
Why Heifer International is Rolling in Dung
David Macaray
Will There be an Actors Strike?
Andrew Wimmer
No Lies! No War!
Ron Jacobs
They Call Me the Seeker
Farzana Versey
The Kashmir Chiaroscuro
Kim Nicolini
Angelina Jolie's Wanted:
Taking the M-Fers Down with Guns and Exploding Rats
Poets' Basement
Wright, Fleming, Solomon and Birnbaum
Website of the Weekend
Parsing Jesse Ventura
July 11, 2008
Kevin Alexander Gray
Why Does Barack Obama Hate My Family?
Sasan Fayazmanesh
Historical Amnesia and
the Shoot Down of Iran Air Flight 655
Peter Morici
Breaking Down the Trade Deficit
Mike Whitney
Worse Than McCain?
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Oiling the War Machine
Robert Weissman
Crime, Punishment and ExxonMobil
Ramzy Baroud
The Not-So-Historic Barak-Talabani Handshake
Kelly Overton
If There is a Chimp Heaven
Adrian Burgos
In Praise of Jules Tygiel
Website of the Day
Wendell Berry on Mountaintop Removal
July 10, 2008
Brian McKenna
McCain's Melanoma Cover-Up
Paul Craig Roberts
Watching Greed Murder the Economy
Saul Landau
Mississippi River Blues
Ron Jacobs
Who Will Leave Iraq First?
Joshua Frank
Cutting Deals with Big Timber's Darth Vader
Peter Morici
What's Driving the Wall Street Rout
Alan Maass
Jesse Helms Finally Does the Right Thing
Robert Weissman
Humanitarian Failure at the G8
William Blum
Dr. Strangelove
Alan Farago
Coral Reef Meltdown
Website of the Day
Lieberman Must Go!
July 9, 2008
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
Are They Really Oil Wars?
Luis Rodriguez
The Deadly Fallout from Gang Injunctions
Sheldon Richman
What's Wrong with Selling Your Vote?
Fatemeh Keshavarz
Lessons from Sa'di of Shiraz on"Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"
Chad Hanson
Blowing Smoke: Logging Industry Lies on Forest Fires and Climate Change
Sen. Russ Feingold
The Problems with the FISA Bill
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Defining Deviancy Down with FISA
Dave Lindorff
Paul Krugman's Blind Spot
Stanley Heller
A Damned Good Assembly
Philip Rizk
Sick at the Gaza Crossing
Website of the Day
Mumia on Nader
July 8, 2008
Nikolas Kozloff
Riding the Colombia Gravy Train
Laura Carlsen
North America Doesn't Exist: the New Geography of Trade
Mike Whitney
Bush's Rampage in Somalia
Andy Worthington
Scandal at Diego Garcia
Patrick Irelan
The Empire Goes to the Movies
Chellis Glendinning
The Un-tied States of America
David Macaray
A Union Story
Dave Lindorff
Mumia's Long-Shot Appeal
John Chuckman
The Myths of Independence Day
Phillip Doe
FISA and the Decline of America
Website of the Day
Daniel Ellsberg on Warrantless Wiretap Bill
July 7, 2008
Patrick Bond
Can Reparations for Apartheid Profits be Won in US Courts?
Kathy Kelly
Cold Shoulders
Andy Worthington
Repatriation as Russian Roulette
Clifton Ross
A Rescue Staged for the Screen
Elizabeth Schulte
Obama's War Room
Ralph Nader
The Patriotism of Deeds
Dave Lindorff
Keeping Count
Binoy Kampmark
The World According to Jesse Helms
Stephen Fleischman
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Change
Website of the Day
Time for a Change
July 5 / 6, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
Could Anyone be"Worse" Than Bush?
Jeffrey St. Clair /
Joshua Frank
Preliminary Notes from No Man's Land
Patrick Cockburn
Blowback from a Strike on Iran
Mike Whitney
Hunkering Down in Afghanistan with Field Marshall Obama
Robert Fantina
Obama, Iraq and Change
Binoy Kampmark
The Anwar Case: Snitching and Sodomizing
Rannie Amiri
Can Nasrallah Unite Lebanon?
Eric Ruder
Hidden Casualties
Brian Cloughley
Israel Flexes Its Muscles
William Blum
Some Thoughts on Patriotism
Frank Barat
The One-Word Solution
Christopher Brauchli
Bush's Phony Pollution Accounting
David Yearsley
Rubbert Shines, as US Envoy Puts Foot in His Mouth
Ron Jacobs
U. S. Blues
Karim Makdisi
On Soccer and Politics in Lebanon
Wendy Thompson /
Chris Kutalik
What Can We Learn from the American Axle Strike?
N. D. Jayaprakash
The NPT as a Roadblock to Disarmament
Ramzy Baroud
Journalistic Imperatives
Kelly Overton
Animal Rights and Obama
Richard Neville
Bitch Fights and Tomorrow's Top Model
Poets' Basement
Anderson, Gibbons, Matson and Buknatski
Website of the Weekend
Ginsberg and Cassady on"Extremists"
July 4, 2008
Kathy Kelly
Istiklal
Dave Lindorff
My War Story
Paul Krassner
Confessions of a Barista
Jackie Corr
In the Footsteps of Evel Knievel:
Obama Heads Back to Butte
Laray Polk
Military-Industrial Convergence
Dan Bacher
Dead Runs: Salmon Fishing Banned in Central Valley Rivers
Walter Brasch
The Rocket's Red Glare--May be Chinese
Charles Modiano
Hall of Fame Hypocrisy
Website of the Day
Springsteen: Independence Day
July 3, 2008
Sharon Smith
Exxon's Legal Guardians
Andy Worthington
Another Torture Victim Gets Charged
Laura Carlsen
NAFTA and the Elephant in the Room
Peter Morici
Crisis Grips the Jobs Market
Ramzi Kysia
Breaking Into a Prison
Martha Rosenberg
Mandatory School Milk and the Early Death of Football Players
Anne Landman
Who Really Benefits From Voluntary Codes of Corporate Conduct?
Dave Zirin
Grand Theft Hoops
Kristin Bricker
US Contractor Leads Torture Training in Mexico
Website of the Day
Bush Tours America to Survey Damage from His Presidency
July 2, 2008
Patrick Irelan
Holy Obama
Vijay Prashad
Lunch with Karzai
Brian Cloughley
Sense of Honor, French and US Style
Ralph Nader
Economic Domino Theory
Robert Fantina
General Stupidity: McCain, Obama and Clark
Dave Lindorff
What's So Special About Veterans?
Parvez Ahmed
Obama and Those Pesky Muslim Rumors
Robert Bryce
The Democrats and Off-Shore Drilling
Website of the Day
King Corn: Q&A
July 1, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
Two Months Later, Seymour Hersh Strains to Catch Up With CounterPunch
Mike Whitney
Getting to the Heart of America's Economic Crisis: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Douglas Macgregor
Obama's General?
Steven Higgs
Fighting the NAFTA Super-Highway
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo as Alice in Wonderland
Binoy Kampmark
The Global Seed Police
Dave Lindorff
Blood Money Democrats
Roger Burbach
Fighting Food Fascism
Richard W. Behan
The Story Behind George Bush's Lies
Gary Leupp
The McCain Edge Among Voters on Iraq
Website of the Day
Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice
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July 29, 2008
The Confidence Gap
When Will Henry Paulson Learn?
By
PETER MORICI
Once again, we have good news and bad from Wall Street.
Henry Paulson has announced Citigroup and three other banks will begin issuing covered bond in an effort to rejuvenate commercial bank mortgage lending and the housing market.
Concurrently, Merrill Lynch announced it is taking yet another big write down on its subprime securities, selling paper with a face value of $30.6 billion to private equity firm Lone Star for $6.7 billion. It will dilute its common stock 38 percent through the sale of additional shares to make up the losses.
Paulson’s covered bonds would be backed by specific mortgages held by the banks. In essence, these would be large certificates of deposit. Though not necessarily insured, the bonds would be back by specific assets on the banks books, and the banks would to take steps to ensure these mortgages were good—not the junk Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and others have been hoisting on investors.
Whether the bond market accepts these securities—essentially whether insurance companies, pension funds and other fixed income investors take the plunge—comes down to trust in the banks. Recent events at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and others indicate that such trust will require a bold leap of faith.
The basic problem at the big banks is compensation schemes that encourage bank executives to make risky bets that allow them to profit when things go well and to push the losses on bond and stockholders when things go sour. Upon taking over Merrill Lynch, John Thain increased executive bonuses, but established a risk management scheme. That hasn’t worked.
At Citigroup, CEO Vikram Pandit is selling off assets to cover losses, but he has not given back the $165 million he took from shareholders in his sale of the Old Lane hedge fund to his employer. The bank subsequently took more than $200 million in losses, yet the Citigroup bonus machine continues to payout to its executives.
USB is under investigation for fraud in the sale of auction rate securities.
It seems hard to find a major bank without some a record of sharp practices.
Mr. Paulson is trying to sell trust in the banks with his new covered bonds. It’s tough to sell trust in a Wall Street bank these days, because there is not much to trust.
An insurance company that buys Paulson’s covered bonds will likely be all right, but it is taking an imprudent risk. That should tell you something about the competence of its management, and it would be signal to dump its stock.
Paulson’s scheme to reopen the bond market to banks for mortgage lending will only work, if the commercial banks clean up the management practices that caused the subprime crisis, and massive losses imposed on shareholders and bond customers.
The federal government is imposing new a regulator on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which will have authority to regulate executive compensation. The Federal Reserve has loaned hundreds of billions to Wall Street banks and securities companies without any real commitments for management reform. The asymmetry is puzzling.
Mr. Paulson will only get the mortgage market, housing crisis and economy turned around when he resolves the confidence gap on Wall Street. That requires systemic reform in the business practices and compensation structures. What’s good Fannie and Freddie would be good for Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and the others.
Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
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