|
|
Calling All CounterPunchers!
|
home / subscribe / donate / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events / faq
Calling All CounterPunchers!
Nearing the Half-Way PointWe are now entering our second week of fundraising. As you can see from the donation gauge there on the right, some of you have given us a great start. Some of you, but not enough of you! To those
who have not yet given, CounterPunch needs your financial support!
Either we meet our fundraising goal of $75,000 over the next two weeks or we'll be forced to drastically curtail the operation of our website.
CounterPunch's website is supported almost entirely by subscribers to the print edition of our newsletter. Yes, the continued existence of CounterPunch depends solely on the support and dedication of our readers. And we know there are a lot of you. We get thousands of emails from you every day. Our website receives millions of hits and nearly 100,000 readers each day-and those numbers grow by the month.
Unlike many other outfits, we don't hit you up for money every month ... or even every quarter, like our friends at Antiwar.com. We only ask for your support once a year. But when we ask, we mean it. Please, use our secure server make a tax-deductible donation to CounterPunch today or purchase a subscription and a gift sub for someone or one of our award-winning books (or a crate of books!) as holiday presents. (We won't call you to shake you down or sell your name to any lists--even Dick Cheney's.)
To contribute by phone you can call Becky or Deva toll free at: 1-800-840-3683
Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky, Alya, Deva and Kimberly
CounterPunch
PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558
|
Today's Stories November 5, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Ishmael Reed November 4, 2008 Kathleen Christison James Ridgeway Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Conn Hallinan Holly M. Barker Ashley Smith Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Doug Lummis Carlos Fierro Website of the Day November 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn John Kennedy O'Hara Peter Montague Steve Conn Andrew Gebhardt Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Niranjan Ramakrishnan Uri Avnery Dave Lindorff Fred Gardner DC Larson David Michael Green Val Strange Tuli Kupferberg / Website of the Day
October 31 , 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Douglas Valentine Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Dr. Ignacy Nowopolski Alan Maass William P. O’Connor Patrick Irelan Brian Cloughley Mats Svensson Binoy Kampmark Steve Conn Alan Farago Morton Skorodin Robert Bryce Wajahat Ali David Yearsley Dennis Loo Pam Martens Stephen Martin Richard Rhames Ramzy Baroud Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Richard Neville Saul Landau / Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 30, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Stanley Heller William Loren Katz Joshua Frank James McEnteer Felice Pace Jonathan Cook Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
October 29, 2008 Arno J. Mayer Eric Toussaint Matt Gonzalez Steven Conn Jonathan Cook Patrick Bond Ramzi Kysia Douglas Valentine Stephen Martin Margaret Dooley-Sammuli Amee Chew Website of the Day
October 28, 2008 James G. Abourezk Andy Worthington Gary Leupp Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Gregory V. Button Ralph Nader P. Sainath Martha Rosenberg Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 27, 2008 Michael Hudson Barbara Rose Johnston John Dinges Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Greenspan's Higher Power Alan Farago David Michael Green Andy Worthington George Wuerthner Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day October 24 / 26, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Mike Whitney Don Santina Scott Boehm Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Linn Washington Jr. Nicole Colson Bernard Chazelle Brian Jones Christopher Brauchli Benjamin Dangl Val Strange Steve Early David Macaray Allison Kilkenny Richard Rhames Jim Bell Kris De Welde Barry Clemson Adam Engel Mark Scaramella Tuli Kupferberg Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 23, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Todd Chretien John Ross Peter Morici Mats Svensson Marlene Martin Robert Jensen / Margaret Kimberley Deepak Tripathi David Morris Website of the Day October 22, 2008 Brian Cloughley Heather Gray Jeff Birkenstein Ralph Nader DC Larson David Swanson Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor Race and the Election: When the "Real" America Enters the Voting Booth Larry Everest Robert Fantina Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Website of the Day October 21, 2008 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Corey D. B. Walker Steve Breyman Eric Toussaint Wajahat Ali Robert Weitzel Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Marqueece Harris-Dawson / Bob Wing Patrick B. Barr Omar Barghouti Website of the Day October 20, 2008 Michael Hudson Anthony DiMaggio Tariq Ali Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Ben Rosenfeld David Michael Green William S. Lind Chris Genovali Stephen Martin Howard Lisnoff David Yearsley Website of the Day October 17 / 19, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whtney Michael D. Yates Suzanne Smith Carl Boggs Ralph Nader Fidel Castro Dave Marsh Saul Landau Jo Guldi Kevin Zeese Larry Everest Steve Early David Macaray Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Helen Redmond Dan Bacher Wajahat Ali Farzana Versey Vladimir Frolov Kim Nicolini Poets Basement Website of the Day
|
November 5, 2008 He Must Act NowObama's First Moves on the EconomyBy PETER MORICI President-elect Obama cannot indulge in a measured transition. He is compelled by events to act decisively, through quick selection of a Treasury Secretary who can work with incumbent Henry Paulson on the banking crisis and by helping House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fashion a stimulus package that Congress should pass in a post-election session. The Banks The country is in the grips of the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression, and the Federal Reserve and Treasury are throwing more than one trillion dollars at the banks through loans and equity purchases. Yet, they have imposed few conditions on the management of the banks. Lending rates remain high and funds scarce for mortgages and worthwhile business loans. Meanwhile, Paulson is scurrying around considering ad-hoc investments in the likes of General Motors to finance an ill-conceived merger with Chrysler. The unfolding mess at AIG should indicate that giving broken institutions cash without compelling meaningful changes in management strategy and compensation incentives for executives does not generate the results. J.P. Morgan’s announcement that it will rework about $70 billion in mortgages by writing down balances owed and restructuring payments may be the exception that proves the rule. Obama needs a Treasury Secretary that will compel the nation’s largest banks, which already have received billions in equity and loans, to do the same, and to rebuild the securitization market that pipelines funds from insurance companies and pension funds to regional banks, mortgage brokers and finance companies that are too cash starved to help worthy homebuyers and businesses. Stimulus Package A recession of unusual proportions is unfolding. Owing to the credit crisis and housing collapse and excessive borrowing to finance a huge trade deficit, built on too much imported oil and subsidized Chinese imports, the economy is entering a recession that may not be self correcting, unlike other post World War II corrections. Near-term, compelling private efforts to rework mortgages in the J.P. Morgan mode, as a condition for federal largess to the banks, is essential; however, a second stimulus package in multiple installments to limit the depth of the recession is necessary too. The lesson of the last stimulus package is clear. Tax rebates gave consumer spending a two month boost but not much else. Too much was spent on imports at the mall, and the money did not do much to stem job losses, even in retailing. Rather, a stimulus package that focused on roads, schools and other public buildings would do much more to generate domestic employment, directly in construction and through purchases of materials and fixtures to refit buildings. Any stimulus will require additional federal borrowing. A stimulus package spent on roads and other needed public infrastructure will leave a legacy in capital improvements that assist growth now and in the future. Fixing Structural Issues Longer term, the huge trade deficit, caused by too much imported oil and intervention by Asian governments in currency markets to boost their exports and ship unemployment here, had a lot to do with flooding U.S. capital markets with cheap funds and creating the first credit bubble. President-elect Obama waxed a lot about free trade agreements in his campaign but failed to adequately explain how he would fix either the oil or Asian-trade messes. Investments in alternative energy sources, as Obama has proposed, can’t fix the oil import problem alone. Both drilling off shore and windmills, as well as much tougher mileage standards, are needed to make America less dependent on unfriendly Middle East states. If China and others won’t stop subsidizing their exports by buying U.S. dollars to keep their currencies and exports artificially cheap, then offsetting taxes on purchases of yuan and other currencies are in order to encourage trade based on comparative advantage. Obama has not said nearly enough about conventional energy development or the China trade problem. Come January, he needs to implement policies on these issues or fixing the banks will only lead to another credit bubble and crisis, the stimulus package will prove a palliative, and neither will usher in lasting prosperity. Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
New in the Print Edition of CounterPunch For his 20-year stretch as Fed chairman, they all fawned on him – presidents, Congress, the press. Only a handful of left economists said he was pushing the economy over the cliff. Now Greenspan admits it in a humiliating confession. As the world’s financial structure tumbles in ruins, guess what? “I found a flaw in the model… To the extent that I figure out where it happened and why, I will change my views.” Read Frederick Claremont’s savage assessment of the fool who has plunged millions into misery. Also in our new issue: Bill Hatch on the story of one foreclosure; Kristian Williams on police torture in Chicago. Only in CounterPunch newsletter! Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents. Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
|
New in the CP Print Edition! For his 20-year stretch as Fed chairman, they all fawned on him – presidents, Congress, the press. Only a handful of left economists said he was pushing the economy over the cliff. Now Greenspan admits it in a humiliating confession. As the world’s financial structure tumbles in ruins, guess what? “I found a flaw in the model… To the extent that I figure out where it happened and why, I will change my views.” Read Frederick Claremont’s savage assessment of the fool who has plunged millions into misery. Also in our new issue: Bill Hatch on the story of one foreclosure; and Kristian Williams on police torture in Chicago. Only in CounterPunch newsletter! Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Waiting for Lightning
|
