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Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy

Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy
Image copyright Thinkstock A review of the best commentary on and around the world... Today's must-read The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. The two professors came to this conclusion after reviewing answers to 1,779 survey questions asked between 1981 and 2002 on public policy issues. On the other hand: They conclude: South Korea Argentina Algeria Ukraine Related:  News Worthy of Thought

proposed-football-league-envisions-a-no-college-path-to-the-pros “Most other leagues usually took players who were deemed not good enough for the N.F.L.,” Yee said. “We’re now trying to go to the head of the line at the buffet instead of getting the picked-over ones.” Despite the long odds of success, Yee is not the only person trying to get a football league off the ground. In April, a new spring league will roll out in West Virginia, where players “who may have been overlooked by the N.F.L., C.F.L. and other professional leagues” can pay $350 to showcase their talents in a six-game season, the league’s website says. The N.F.L. also has toyed with starting a developmental league. Other leagues already employ teenagers who skip college. N.F.L. teams can draft only players who are three years removed from their high school class’s graduation, a rule the league said is intended to protect younger, less physically developed players. Yee acknowledged that his venture was risky, something his advisers have echoed. Continue reading the main story

a-bigger-economic-pie-but-a-smaller-slice-for-half-of-the-us The new findings, by the economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, provide the most thoroughgoing analysis to date of how the income kitty — like paychecks, profit-sharing, fringe benefits and food stamps — is divided among the American population. Inequality has been a defining national issue for nearly a decade, thanks in part to groundbreaking research done by Mr. Piketty at the Paris School of Economics and Mr. Saez at the University of California, Berkeley. But now a new administration in Washington is promising to reshape the government’s role in curbing the intense concentration of wealth at the top and improving the fortunes of those left behind. During his tenure in the White House, President Obama pushed to address income stagnation by shifting more of the tax burden from the middle class to the rich and expanding public programs like universal health insurance. Both strategies are now targeted by President-elect Donald J. Average incomes grew by 61 percent.

Michael Froman - Wikipedia Early life and education[edit] Career[edit] Froman served as liaison of the American Bar Association's Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI) legal assistance program in Albania. He was also a member of the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission in Brussels.[2] Between January 1993 and December 1995, Froman was Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs on the United States National Economic Council, a position held jointly at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.[2] He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eurasia and the Middle East, where his work was related to economic policy towards the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as economic components of the Dayton Accords.[2] He was a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations and a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. On May 2, 2013, Froman was nominated to serve as U.S. Personal[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]

Obama’s America Rises Again John Quincy Adams was defeated for reelection in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, who proceeded to win reelection in 1832, and whose fellow Democrat, Martin Van Buren, won in 1836. It seemed to cement for all time the defeat of Adams’ vision of an active federal government that would invest in education and infrastructure, and the triumph of the southern vision of slavery and weak central authority. “I fell, and with me fell, I fear never to rise again the system of internal improvement by national means and national energies,” he wrote in 1837, according to Louisa Thomas, and mourned that the defeats would “rivet into perpetuity the clanking chain of the slave.” Long-term pessimism about the liberal project has come roaring back in style since the election. Barack Obama’s pet line, “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” has been hauled out for a great deal of public mockery on all sides. The election has provided ample reasons for alarm.

Trial Balloon for a Coup? – Yonatan Zunger – Medium News Reports (1) Priebus made two public statements today. One is that the ban on Muslims will no longer be applied to green card holders. The other was that the omission of Jews from the statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day was deliberate and is not regretted. A point of note here is that Priebus is the one making these statements, which is not normally the Chief of Staff’s job. (2) Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the intent of yesterday’s order was very much a ban on Muslims, described in those words, and he was among the people Trump asked how they could find a way to do this legally. (3) CNN has a detailed story (heavily sourced) about the process by which this ban was created and announced. (4) The Guardian is reporting (heavily sourced) that the “mass resignations” of nearly all senior staff at the State Department on Thursday were not, in fact, resignations, but a purge ordered by the White House. (5) On Inauguration Day, Trump apparently filed his candidacy for 2020.

t But we really prefer the old-fashioned approach in which presidents put the public interest ahead of their own finances. Federal ethics officials have told Mr. Trump that he should divest his business interests to avoid allegations of bribery and to assure Americans that their needs are his only concern. Mr. Consider the Trump Hotel. Since Mr. Aside from violating the lease terms, Mr. Congress ought to demand that the G.S.A. uphold the terms of the hotel lease and shame Mr. If the agency doesn’t act, a competing hotel could sue to demand that it cancel the lease because the president’s control of the hotel represents unfair competition. Photo Mr. Continue reading the main story

Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy (A Council on Foreign Relations Book): Edward Alden: 9781442272606: Amazon.com: Books The Curse of Cash: Kenneth S. Rogoff: 9780691172132: Amazon.com: Books New details, ticket prices and seating chart for 2017 Alabama-Florida State game revealed Alabama and Florida State over the summer agreed to open the 2017 season opener. Now there are a few more details. Alabama will receive a $5 million payout to meet the Seminoles in the Sept. 1, 2017 game in Atlanta, according to the game contract obtained by AL.com through an open records request. That's $1.5 million less than the $6.5 million payout Alabama will receive to play USC in the 2016 opener in Arlington, Texas. The school will have to sell 30,000 tickets with prices ranging from $225 to $125 with upper-level student seats priced at $50 apiece. (See seating chart for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium above) A few more details from the contract: -- Alabama will be the home team wearing crimson. -- It will be televised by either CBS or ESPN/ABC. Ticket prices for Alabama allotment from the game contract.provided -- 550 parking passes will be provided to each school and will cost approximately $50 apiece. -- The game will be called the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. -- Sept. 3: vs.

A Single-Payer System Won't Make Health Care Cheap - Bloomberg View A few weeks back, I wrote a story on Vermont's adventures in single-payer health care. "So this is going to be expensive. So expensive that I doubt Vermont is actually going to go forward with it," I concluded. "This should be instructive for those who hope -- or fear -- that Obamacare has all been an elaborate preliminary to a nationwide single-payer system. It isn't. I was inundated by complaints from proponents of more government intervention in the health-care system. "Why are you ignoring all the evidence that single-payer works?" "Good question!" Let's start with where they are right. Ah, you will say, but the U.S. is so much richer! There is indeed a strong, though not perfect, correlation between how rich a country is and how much it spends on health care. Even if you look at spending as a fraction of national income, the U.S. is an outlier. The U.S. already has a government health-care system. The problem with this idea is that U.S. health insurers already buy in bulk.

The takeaways from Spicer's Monday briefing - Axios The Dow fell as much 140 points in the early hours of trading Monday, as investors digested the Trump Administration's failure to advance healthcare reform. Traders are worried that the lack of unity among Republicans on healthcare means that it will be unable to come to agreement on corporate tax cuts or infrastructure spending. Data: Money.net; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios The dollar also fell on Monday, with the U.S. currency's value droping to its lowest level since November 11th, when measured against a basket of competing currencies. Word on the street: Investors have reined in their expectations of comprehensive tax reform, but still see a path to a deal that allows U.S. multinationals to "repatriate" foreign earnings at lower tax rates, which would both raise government revenue and allow companies to distribute more income to shareholders.

America’s 100 Richest Places By Vincent del Giudice and Wei Lu March 22, 2017 Cities and towns with ties to Wall Street and the Silicon Valley, and a smattering of communities in between, boasted the highest U.S. household incomes in 2015, according to a Bloomberg analysis of census data. Atherton, California, in the technology corridor between San Francisco and San Jose, topped the list as America’s wealthiest town, while more than one-third of the nation’s 100 richest households were located within 50 miles of New York City. “The industries that are located in the so-called fly-over states don’t pay nearly the same as those on the coasts,” said Richard Yamarone, an economist at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Earnings for farmers, ranchers and manufacturers simply pale in comparison to the larger salary and bonus-laden occupations.” Bloomberg evaluated inflation-adjusted household income data for all U.S. places with a minimum population of 2,000 and ranked them based on average household income. From

If Trump Weren’t a Monster, Clinton’s Speeches Would Matter If the Republican Party hadn’t nominated a man whose favorite pastimes (apparently) include committing sexual assault and then bragging about it, the Clinton campaign would be having a very bad Saturday. Between the end of her tenure as secretary of State and the launch of her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton earned millions of dollars giving closed-door speeches to financial firms and other private entities. This was a risky enterprise for an aspiring presidential candidate to pursue. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, Wall Street remains an object of scorn with a large swath of the American public; the idea that our government is too cozy with the big banks has purchase among voters of both parties. So, taking large sums of money to speak at the private functions of Wall Street banks — including ones that admitted to defrauding investors in the run-up to the crash — was never going to be a great look in 2016. And then, Bernie Sanders made it a worse look.

Letter of Complaint: Cards Against Humanity Photo “Cards Against Humanity” is a pun, of sorts, on “crimes against humanity” — which isn’t really funny. But if you got a half-dozen people to vote on it, they’d probably say it was. Individual taste becomes awful in groups, and nothing demonstrates this phenomenon better than Cards Against Humanity, a party game for horrible people. That’s not even my opinion; it says so right on the box: “A party game for horrible people.” The website elaborates: “Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.” It’s a seductive pitch, inviting the reader to join a conspiracy at once self-deprecating and proud. Cards Against Humanity plays in the same way as Apples to Apples, a game for 5-year-olds, and it promises the same idiotic freedom that small children enjoy. For example, the black card “Instead of coal, Santa now gives the bad children [blank]” might pair with the white card “a bucket of fish heads.”

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