Capitalism
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US: Retail Death Rattle Grows Louder
The absolute collapse in retail visitor counts is the warning siren that this country is about to collide with the reality Americans have run out of time, money, jobs, and illusions. The exponential growth model, built upon a never ending flow of consumer credit and an endless supply of cheap fuel, has reached its limit… Continue reading
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The Financial Times’ attack on Thomas Piketty
In a series of articles over the past several days, and in a major editorial published on Monday, the Financial Times has launched a scurrilous attack on Thomas Piketty and his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Continue reading
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The Real Agenda of the Gates Foundation
In 2009 the self-designated “Good Club” – a gathering of the world’s wealthiest people whose collective net worth then totaled some $125 billion – met behind closed doors in New York City to discuss a coordinated response to threats posed by the global financial crisis. Led by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and David Rockefeller, the… Continue reading
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The new aristocracy in Britain By Jordan Shilton
Remarking on social conditions at the end of the 18th century, Thomas Paine wrote, “The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye is like dead and living bodies chained together.” More than 200 years later, Paine’s scathing critique of social inequality can be applied even more forcefully to modern day Britain,… Continue reading
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Sunday Times rich list: “Astonishing year” for Britain’s most wealthy By Jordan Shilton
In its entirety, the list reveals that the richest 1,000 people in Britain possess combined wealth of £519 billion, equivalent to a staggering one third of the country’s GDP. This is a rise of 15.4 percent from the 2013 list, when the super-rich held total wealth of £449 billion. Since 2008, the year of the… Continue reading
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Video: Who Owns What Where?
TRNN Producer Lynn Fries hosts an extended interview with Thomas Piketty about his widely acclaimed Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Continue reading
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Renationalisation of the rail services? Why not start with the NHS? By David Zigmond
Labour is flirting with the idea of renationalising the railways – but it should start by renationalising the NHS. Continue reading
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Britain’s richest 1% own as much as poorest 55% of population By Phillip Inman
Britain’s richest 1% have accumulated as much wealth as the poorest 55% of the population put together, according to the latest official analysis of who owns the nation’s £9.5tn of property, pensions and financial assets. In figures that also lay bare the extent of inequality across the north-south divide, the Office for National Statistics said… Continue reading
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Labour support collapses in the polls – socialist policies needed! By Daniel Morley
Some recent opinion polls have put the Tories ahead of Labour for the first time since 2012. Does this mean that the public has made an historic shift to the right, at a time when the right wing is presiding over possibly the biggest ever fall in living standards and rise in inequality? Is the… Continue reading
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Video: Thousands across Europe rally against EU policies
Thousands of activists took to the streets of Germany and Spain on Saturday to protest the EU’s policies as the union prepares for parliamentary elections at the end of May. Continue reading
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Can the Top 10% Prop Up the Whole Economy? By Charles Hugh Smith
Since the entire economy depends on consumption for its “growth,” and discretionary consumption is financed with either cash or debt, that leads to two questions: 1) who has cash to spend on non-essentials and 2) who is credit-worthy enough to borrow money for non-essentials? Continue reading
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Washington‘s Shale Boom Going Bust By William Engdahl
To read the headlines, it seems that the USA has emerged out of the blue to the point of becoming the world’s oil and gas production giant. All thanks to the Shale Revolution. Recently President Obama made various noises that the US could solve the Ukraine gas dependency on Russian gas because of the spectacular… Continue reading
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England’s mean unpleasant land By Michael Dickinson
Michael Dickinson was found guilty of ‘insulting the dignity’ of the Turkish Prime Minister with one of his collage caricatures. Imprisoned and deported from Istanbul, where he had lived since 1986 working as a teacher, the 64 year old artist, actor and writer arrived back in England homeless and broke, and is currently sleeping rough… Continue reading
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“Global Society Destruction” and The Ukraine Crisis: Decoding its Deep Structural Meaning By Prof. John McMurtry
The “Ukraine crisis” repeats a script as old as the Cold War. The narrative features rising attacks by corporate states and media on the traditional whipping boy of Russia. As usual, “escalating the crisis” is US-led. As usual, alarm about “increasing lawless aggression” is projection of US policy itself. In fact, one more US-directed violent… Continue reading
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Chinese Ministry Newspaper: GM Soybeans Harm Health of China’s 1.3 Billion People
The Chinese ‘Science & Technology Abstracts Newspaper’ under the leadership of China’s State Science & Technology Ministry has published a paper that may deeply damage the Biotech industry worldwide. Continue reading
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Enron 2.0: Wall Street Manipulates Energy Prices … and Every Other Market
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says that JP Morgan has massively manipulated energy markets in California and the Midwest, obtaining tens of millions of dollars in overpayments from grid operators between September 2010 and June 2011. Continue reading
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Big Banks Started Laundering Massive Sums of Drug Money In the 1980s … And Are Still Doing It Today
For More Than 30 Years, the Big Banks Have Been Key Players In the Drug Trade. It has become mainstream news that at least some of the big banks are laundering staggering sums of drug money. But you may not know the scope or history of the problem. Continue reading
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Selling Hydraulic Fracking: The Myth Of Energy Independence Used To Hoodwink The American People By Dylan Murphy and Jo Murphy
In the last year the corporate media has been full of triumphant articles declaring that America is on the way to becoming energy independent thanks to oil and gas fracking. The hyperbole goes further declaring that fracking will lead to America overtaking Saudia Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer and so become an oil… Continue reading
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Video: The 1% and Piketty
So, Michael, this week we’re going to be talking about the very popular book by French economist Thomas Piketty. It’s a 700-page book that takes on the topic of income inequality. Why do you think so many people are talking about this book? What’s in it that has people buzzing? Statistics. It shows that wealth… Continue reading
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Osborne’s flagship employment scheme fails on launch date By Symon Hill
George Osborne’s headline policy at the last Conservative Party conference, known as “Community Work Placements” or “Help to Work” has launched today. However, the scheme is already in jeopardy, having failed to generate the voluntary sector participation it requires. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 