2008

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  Can Obama Stay the Course?

  Robert Scheer : US Foreign Policy

  As he drives his team of retreads, the challenge for Obama is to remain the agent of change who electrified the nation.

• The Bailout: Bush's Final Pillage

  Naomi Klein : U.S. Economy

  Brace yourself for a final, frantic stripping of public wealth as the Bush regime goes out the door.

• Obama's Bailout Strategy

  Tom Hayden : Presidential Election 2008

  Framing the financial crisis as a verdict on free-market fantasies, Obama can win with a mandate to end the war and build a better economy from the bottom up.

• The Fundamental Deregulator

  Huffington Post : Presidential Election 2008

  John McCain may have recently discovered his inner populist, but he has been pushing for deregulation all year.

• 

  A Conservative Confidence Game

  Deborah Stone : U.S. Economy

  The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac crisis strips the clothes off the Emperor of Markets.

• State Capitalism Comes to America

  Nicholas von Hoffman : Banks & Banking

  A historic line has been crossed. With no debate or commitment to policy or principle, an enormous segment of the American economy has been turned over to the government.

• For a New Economics

  The Editors : U.S. Economy

  The tepid platform Democrats will adopt in Denver isn't a new social contract, but it does go places Republicans never will. Let's hope Obama does better.

• Economic Free Fall

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  We are flirting with catastrophe, and our foreign creditors are part of the story.

• 

  Portrait of a Panic

  Nicholas von Hoffman : Banks & Banking

  America is shaken by images of panicked customers lined up to withdraw money from the failed IndyMac Bank.

• Where's the Beef?

  Bruce Cumings : South Korea

  South Koreans won't be buffaloed by US beef or the Bush Administration's erratic policies.

• Extreme Inequality: A Nation Guide

  : Ethical Economics

  More information about our extremely unequal world--and to help advance the struggle for a more equal future (web only).

• Truckers Take Their Case to the Capitol

  Barbara Ehrenreich : Energy

  Riding with a caravan that descended on Washington Monday, to call for immediate government action to push down fuel prices.

• Truckers Hit the Brakes

  Barbara Ehrenreich : Energy

  Hard hit by rising costs and the threat of losing their rigs, truckers are staging protests, calling for a bailout and lower fuel prices. What if the rest of us joined them?

• Dems Flunking Trade 101

  John Nichols : Democratic Party

  As Clinton rewrites the history of her support for NAFTA, Obama needs to prove he understands what's wrong with global trade pacts.

• Put Inflation on the Political Agenda

  Nicholas von Hoffman : Presidential Election 2008

  Gas is up, sneakers are up, onions are up and eggs, too. The only thing that is not up is your income.

• For a Social Bailout

  Robin Blackburn : Banks & Banking

  Let's reinvent progressive economic policy, starting with our own sovereign wealth fund to deal with urgent social needs.

• Extreme Inequality

  Daniel Brook : Gap Between Wealth & Poverty

  A look at the gap between rich and poor via two books: David Cay Johnson's Free Lunch and Michael J. Thompson's The Politics of Inequality.

• The Only Fitting Tribute

  Frances Moore Lappé : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left

  For Roosevelt, the New Deal was a way of advancing freedom, which depended on economic as much as political rights.

• The Gentlemen's Bailout

  The Editors : Banks & Banking

  The power of Wall Street money and ideas must give way to a new public agenda to restore the real economy.

• The Math on Government Spending

  Daniel Carol : Budget

  Proving once and for all that progressive economic projects are worth more than tax cuts.

• How to Swim Against the Current

  Jim Hightower & Susan DeMarco : Corporate Responsibility & Accountability

  People are wriggling free of the fetters of corporate culture.

• The Faith of Roosevelt

  The Editors : History

  "To achieve 'social values more noble than mere monetary profit,' to 'keep the money changers permanently out of the temple of our civilization'...would be to transform America."

• The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck

  Nancy Cleeland : U.S. Economy

  Feeling squeezed? It's official: if you're not in management, the value of your paycheck is dropping at an alarming rate.

• Half-a-Loaf Stimulus

  Nancy Cleeland : U.S. Economy

  Good news in the stimulus package: low and middle income Americans receive cash to rev a slowing economy. Bad news: tax breaks for businesses won't help much at all.

• The Ron Paul Economy

  Nicholas von Hoffman : Federal Reserve Board

  OK, three-quarters of what he says is wacky. But his view of the Fed's contribution to rampant inflation is right on the money.