Trickle-Down Preemption: Baghdad on the Mississippi ourfuture.org — Ten days ago, as the nation focused attention on the hurricane nearing the Mississippi delta, another storm was brewing far upstream in St. Paul, Minnesota — a storm far more dangerous, it turned out, but one by and large overlooked by the Fawning Corporate Media.
ROBERT KUTTNER
Little Orphan Fanny huffingtonpost.com — In virtually none of the coverage of the Bush administration's latest emergency action, did anyone bother to tell the back story. Fannie Mae, née the Federal National Mortgage Association, began life as a government invention. It was born "nationalized" — and it worked beautifully until it was privatized.
NICHOLAS VON HOFFMAN
State Capitalism Comes to America thenation.com — Though the particular arrangements may vary from one nation to another, under state capitalism government is the senior partner in the economy. Under state capitalism, the economy is manipulated to meet government set goals. Under state capitalism, Washington rules. Under the Freddie and Fannie takeovers, an enormous segment of the American economy has been turned over to the government, with the enthusiastic approval of the industries concerned.
MICHAEL E. LEWITT
The Fannie/Freddie Bailout: The End of the Beginning of the End marketoracle.co.uk — We have allowed our derivative markets — specifically those related to credit — to grow in a completely unregulated manner to the point where everybody is holding their breath and praying that a financial accident won't occur. This has occurred largely because it has been in Wall Street's interest to limit regulation of derivatives. But the time has come to stop allowing the fox to patrol the chicken coop.
DEAN BAKER
The Whiner's Recession truthout.org — It is easy to understand how a typical family experiences real hardship when their wages don't keep up with the price of food, gas, and heating oil. It's a bit harder to understand how the folks who can't keep track of their homes will suffer by restoring tax rates to the Clinton-era levels.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
Failure in Iraq? tomdispatch.com — Left unsaid through all the twists and turns in Iraq has been this: Whatever their disappointments, administration officials never actually gave up on their grandiose ambitions. But the client state that the Bush administration has spent so many years and hundreds of billions of dollars creating, nurturing, and defending has shown increasing disloyalty and lack of gratitude, as well as an ever stronger urge to go its own way.
PAUL KEIL
Doolittle's Lament propublica.org — The indictment of Kevin Ring is full of details about his allegedly corrupt work with Jack Abramoff. But it is especially colorful in describing the relationship between Ring, Abramoff and Rep. John Doolittle — who is identified as "Representative 5" in the filing — but not as descriptive as Doolittle's complaints of being a "subsidiary" of Abramoff.
TERRY J. ALLEN
High Court May Immunize Big Pharma inthesetimes.com — The FDA's new "preemption" doctrine jeopardizes consumers' right to sue for drug-caused injuries. What is at stake is tens of thousands of product-liability suits against drug makers; and a strong financial incentive for drug companies to set high safety standards, follow drugs after approval, update labeling and issue recalls.
ALAN BRINKLEY
The Party's Over online.wsj.com — Millions of voters have moved out of the political party system. The decline of loyalty has made politics less stable and predictable — and has resulted in close elections.
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