How Mitt Romney Can Win The Black Vote
Posted on August 26, 2012 in Political Cartoons
Larry Wilmore of the Daily Show on how Mitt Romney can win some of the black vote… sort of.
Rethinking American Exceptionalism
Posted on August 26, 2012 in Articles
The Article: Dimmed excellence: ‘American advantages serve those who can afford them’ in RT.
The Text: The concept of “American exceptionalism,” which traditionally places the US ahead of the rest of the industrialized world, should be dramatically reconsidered as the health and wellbeing of US citizens are sacrificed in the name of profit.
This is according to Dr. Howard Steven Friedman, a leading UN health economist and statistician, and author of the book ‘The Measure of a Nation.’
Friedman says that America – birthplace of the ‘American Dream’ and once an exceptional nation of freedom, equality, opportunity and high living standards – has long since lost many of these qualities. The richest one-third of the American population now rules the lives of the rest, he argues.
Howard Friedman: I was initiated by a conversation with my cousin when we were discussing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He had been defending the current system in America, saying that it is the best in the world. I asked him, “how do you know that?” and his response was, “I have no idea.”
One Of The Most Terrifying Moments On YouTube
Posted on August 25, 2012 in Videos
On creationism. When I’m not laughing about these troglodytes I’m crying. Must. keep. laughing.
Jon Stewart On Chick-Fil-A & Gay Rights
Posted on August 25, 2012 in Quotes
Too perfect:
“For people who are gay or support gay marriage, I get how seeing thousands of people come out to make this statement is incredibly disheartening, but take solace in this: Gay marriage is happening. Like many drive-through window lanes, it ain’t going backwards. And your bonus is this: You get gay marriage, and all your political opponents are going to get is Type 2 Diabetes. Here’s my prediction: In ten years, America will have a lot more gay marriage and a lot more Chick-fil-A restaurants because they are both quality products.”
The Escalating Scandal Of LIBOR
Posted on August 25, 2012 in Articles
The Article: The Rotten Heart of Finance in the Economist.
The Text: THE most memorable incidents in earth-changing events are sometimes the most banal. In the rapidly spreading scandal of LIBOR (the London inter-bank offered rate) it is the very everydayness with which bank traders set about manipulating the most important figure in finance. They joked, or offered small favours. “Coffees will be coming your way,” promised one trader in exchange for a fiddled number. “Dude. I owe you big time!… I’m opening a bottle of Bollinger,” wrote another. One trader posted diary notes to himself so that he wouldn’t forget to fiddle the numbers the next week. “Ask for High 6M Fix,” he entered in his calendar, as he might have put “Buy milk”.
What may still seem to many to be a parochial affair involving Barclays, a 300-year-old British bank, rigging an obscure number, is beginning to assume global significance. The number that the traders were toying with determines the prices that people and corporations around the world pay for loans or receive for their savings. It is used as a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion-worth of financial instruments, ranging from complex interest-rate derivatives to simple mortgages. The number determines the global flow of billions of dollars each year. Yet it turns out to have been flawed.
Over the past week damning evidence has emerged, in documents detailing a settlement between Barclays and regulators in America and Britain, that employees at the bank and at several other unnamed banks tried to rig the number time and again over a period of at least five years. And worse is likely to emerge. Investigations by regulators in several countries, including Canada, America, Japan, the EU, Switzerland and Britain, are looking into allegations that LIBOR and similar rates were rigged by large numbers of banks. Corporations and lawyers, too, are examining whether they can sue Barclays or other banks for harm they have suffered. That could cost the banking industry tens of billions of dollars. “This is the banking industry’s tobacco moment,” says the chief executive of a multinational bank, referring to the lawsuits and settlements that cost America’s tobacco industry more than $200 billion in 1998. “It’s that big,” he says.
