Imagine how life will be now that giant corporations may spend as much as they want on political campaigns, as the Supreme Court recently decreed. All they will have to do to get their way is ask members of Congress: Do you want our money helping you — or your opponent? Given the sums available to Big Business, most politicians will be desperate to please.So you might think. But consider a state where corporations are already allowed to spend as much as they want on elections: Illinois. Here, companies have established beyond doubt that this prerogative, when combined with $2, will get them…
from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/11/enhancing_democracy_by_banning_speech_104726.html
WASHINGTON — The bubbly enthusiasm that many analysts express about the Chinese economy reminds me of the old-time variety show host Lawrence Welk, who banished worries each week with soothing sounds from his “Champagne Music Makers.”China watchers should turn off the music and listen to Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been surprisingly frank in warning that overinvestment and lack of domestic demand are producing an economic bubble in his country.”The biggest problem with China’s economy is that the growth is unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable,” Wen…
from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/11/chinas_bubble_trouble_104732.html
WASHINGTON — There is a pathetic quality to our discussion of deficits and fiscal responsibility because we never face up to how much we need government to do.Our debates are also characterized by a politically convenient amnesia. Just a decade ago, we were running surpluses so big that Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, worried about what would happen once our national debt was liquidated. We had this problem well in hand until we started waging wars and cutting taxes at the same time.What would a rational approach to the budget look like? It would begin by accepting…
from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/11/good_debt_bad_debt_104730.html
