Sometimes when I look at the stock market, I get awed and repulsed at the same time. Awed sometimes by the fact of pure capitalism at work. Tremendous amounts of money literally flowing between financial and corporate entities. Deals, trades, etc. The business of America is business, indeed. Repulsed sometimes by the fact of pure capitalism at work. Tremendous amounts of money literally flowing between...

Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet: A concerted effort featuring huge infusions of money supplied by the Fed, highly focused buying orchestrated by Treasury officials that gave a positive skew to key averages, abetted by buying opportunity calls to individual investors by every stock broker from Panama to the Yukon, kept financial markets from total...

The newest Census figures put a statistical face on the sickening truth about health care in America. Even as household incomes go up, some do the number of uninsured. The creeping crisis has moved beyond the poor into the middle class. A record high 47 million Americans were priced out of health care, even as the poverty rate went down and median household income rose to $48,200 in 2006. Uninsured families...

Pieter Dorsman wrote a fascinating post at my own blog about – what he calls – culture of death. It is Pieter’s first post for The Gazette (my blog) and, when you read it, I am sure you will understand why I asked him to co-blog (again at my blog not at TMV). A small excerpt in an attempt to persuade you to read the post: Diana’s death accelerated the emergence of a new and very public...

A penny, that coin destined to be tossed into drawers, given as tips to waitresses who don’t do a good job, or saved in jars and spitefully paid for a big purchase at your least favorite store, is now more unpopular for a specific reason: Making pennies now just doesn’t make sense: The U.S. penny is not what it appears to be, and some in Congress would like to see it change further, if not disappear...

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant

In response to criticism that I’m picking on President Bush, I’d like to praise him in providing these morsels from his pre-vacation news conference today: * In a gesture of empathy to the residents of Minneapolis where a major interstate highway bridge collapsed last week, he dismissed dealing with the nation’s 70,000 structurally deficient bridges until Congress changes the way it spends...

At a time when President George Bush is threatening to veto a bill enjoying widespread bipartisan support that would increase money to fund health insurance for poor kids he is making it clear he’s no naysayer. He does have something he’s firmly for: President Bush said yesterday that he is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations to make them more competitive around the world,...

The Moderate Voice runs Guest Voice posts by people who don’t have their own weblogs, websites or who want to discuss something with TMV’s ideologically diverse readership. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV. This is by Mark A. Smith, an associate professor of Political Science and an ajdunct professor of communication at the University of Washington. He is the author...

NOTE: The Moderate Voice runs Guest Voice posts from time to time by readers who don’t have their own websites, or people who have websites but would like to post something for TMV’s diverse and thoughtful readership. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Moderate Voice or its writers. This guest post is by Hunter Hatfield, who is also writes comments under our posts here...

Recent developments have pretty much cinched that George Bush will occupy a special place in American history as a coward of staggering proportions who gave even his most steadfast supporters the finger when they tried to help salvage his presidency and he then dumped the Iraq war on his successor. While the president technically has 18 months to prove me wrong, his continued obeisance to a strategy (if you’ll...

New polls show Americans unhappy with just about everything. “A very sour mood” is the Gallup conclusion. Only 24 percent say they are satisfied “with the way things are going,” a figure that hasn’t been this low since 1992. At that time, Bill Clinton’s advisers saw a reason (“It’s the economy, stupid”) and used it to get to the White House. According...

NOTE: The Moderate Voice runs Guest Voice posts from time to time by readers who don’t have their own websites, or people who have websites but would like to post something for TMV’s diverse and thoughtful readership. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Moderate Voice or its writers. NOTE: Broken link has been FIXED on this post. Today’s Guest Voice post is by Hunter...

If there was ever truly bad news for the White House and the Republican party, the latest Gallup poll is definitively it: A new Gallup Poll will only reinforce those who claim that while the rich get richer most Americans don’t feel they are sharing in the growth in our economy. The stock market may be climbing and the unemployment remains relatively low, but 7 in 10 Americans believe the economy is getting...

Wait, death and taxes are inevitable, OK, for sure on one, but not necessarily on the other. But what if taxes cause such overburden that taxes actually bring death… death of businesses, death of access, death of wherewithal. Where does it end? Isn’t it enough that there are taxes on water, electricity, property, cars, licenses, dogs, for heaven’s sakes… dogs… if anyone ought be...

Hillary Clinton, ‘liberal’: Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it’s time to replace an “on your own” society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity. The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an ownership society really is an “on your own” society that has widened the gap...

BBC: President Bush chooses former top diplomat Robert Zoellick to replace Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank, officials say.

When his new grandchild is old enough, the Vice President can take him to a new British theme park that reflects his world view–Dickens World, where tourists get a buzz from the Victorian squalor that the underprivileged deserve. This non-Halliburton environment is chock full of rat-infested sewers, ragged beggars, debtors’ prisons, child pickpockets–in short, a tax-cuts-for-the-upper-one-percent...

As Father’s Day approaches, a troubling question is raised by a new study: Will our children and grandchildren have a better life than our own? The “American Mobility Report” shows young men today worse off financially than their fathers were at the same age, a reversal of the generational progress that has made the “Land of Opportunity” a reality for two centuries. In 2004, the...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

A few Congressman are trying to live a week on just $21 of food stamps. Turns out it’s, you know, really hard. One dollar a meal does not lend itself to a healthy diet. Via Bitch, Ph.D

Corporations are increasingly turning to White men to be the point men on diversity projects.

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

To the moon, foreclosure rates, to the moon If ever a stock market milestone is not only meaningless to many people but masks a dark economic reality, it is the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting the 13,000 mark on Wednesday. This is because of the enormous disconnect between the boom on Wall Street and the bust on Main Street. Many people must wonder what the hell the ebullient talking heads on MSNBC and...

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant