Business & Economy

The Military-Industrial Complex: It’s Much Later Than You Think

Chalmers Johnson / Truthdig Jul 28, 2008 Since 1961, there has been too little serious study of, or discussion of, the origins of the military-industrial complex, how it has changed over time, how governmental secrecy has hidden it from oversight by members of Congress or attentive citizens, and how it degrades our constitutional structure of checks and balances. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

MTV Launches Political Spots With Anti-Obama Ad

Staff / Truthdig Jul 26, 2008 MTV has become quite the changeling, now resembling not in the least the network that debuted in the early 1980s. Recently, the cable mainstay announced it will start airing political advertisements, and Team McCain seems to be first out the gates with this "Both Ways Barack" attack ad. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Starbucks Economy

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Jul 24, 2008 In its own way, Starbucks has a lot in common with SUVs, hot tubs and television screens wide enough to fill a wall. That is, it represents the bit-by-bit extravagances that helped get us into the tight economic jam we find ourselves in today. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

There’s More to the Economy Than Taxes

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Jul 22, 2008 Using taxes as the centerpiece of -- or as a substitute for -- a more comprehensive economic policy is the idea that has dominated Washington since the rise of Reaganism nearly three decades ago, but the global forces shaping the U.S. economy are more powerful than a mere tax cut, or tax hike. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Do-It-Yourself Economy

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Jul 17, 2008 We are expected to interact with "labor-saving technology" without realizing that it's labor-transferring technology. The job has not been "saved"; it's been taken out of the paid sector, where employees have a nasty habit of expecting salaries, and put into the unpaid sector, where suckers 'r' us. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Real Legacy of the ‘Reagan Revolution’

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jul 16, 2008 McCain campaign co-chair Phil Gramm is right: We have "become a nation of whiners." But who is whining more than the bankers that former Sen. Gramm's financial deregulation legislation benefited? The very bankers who now expect a government bailout, such as those at UBS Investment Bank, where Gramm found lucrative employment. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Death of Reaganomics

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Jul 11, 2008 The biggest political story of 2008 is getting little coverage. It involves the collapse of assumptions that have dominated our economic debate for three decades. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Fiat Chief on the Global Finance Crisis

William Pfaff / Truthdig Jun 17, 2008 The Italian-Canadian chief executive of Fiat, the leading Italian industrial enterprise, Sergio Marchionne, speaking about the present economic crisis last weekend, mentioned the well-known argument first made by the Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter about the function of "creative destruction" in modern capitalism. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Blame Rising Oil Prices on Bush

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jun 11, 2008 Wow, a lot of people must have bought Hummers last week. How else to explain the spike in oil prices? No, I'm not being silly: They are, and by they I mean the gaggle of media pundits and other administration apologists -- abetted by some green zealots -- who want to explain our energy crisis by reference to profligate consumers. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Joseph Stiglitz on Recession

James Harris / Truthdig Jun 4, 2008 Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist and co-author of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," shares his insights into America's economic woes and explains why things are probably going to get worse. Dig deeper

Joseph Stiglitz on Recession

James Harris / Truthdig Jun 4, 2008 Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist and co-author of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," shares his insights into America's economic woes and explains why things are probably going to get worse. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

Indefensible Spending

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jun 2, 2008 What should be the most important issue in this election is one that is rarely, if ever, addressed: Why is U.S. military spending at the highest point, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than at any time since the end of World War II? Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )