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Question time on the FM website (plus The Week in Review)

Larry Kummer, Editor

Ask any question about geopolitics, broadly defined. We — and others reading the FM website — will attempt to answer it in the comments.   All answers welcomed!  This is the penultimate chapter in this series (next week will be the last).  It started well, but the questions have tapered off in quantity and quality — and it takes a lot of work.

Contents

  1. Questions received so far
  2. Quote of the week, advice that America’s leaders have taken to heart
  3. To start the discussion: articles of interest this week
  4. A graph that will disturb your sleep

(1)  Questions received so far

Click on the link to go directly to that thread.  Please use the REPLY button when replying to a previous comment, to keep threads together.

  1. FM expects a lot from individuals, to volunteer, to study, to care, etc. I’m wondering if FM has any indictment on the social institutions– the churches, societies, and clubs?
  2. Is there any way to convince people, especially libertarians like John Stossel, that manufacturing is necessary for economic competitiveness?
  3. Will the dollar collapse as the world reserve currency?
  4. Any thoughts about this article from the Archdruid Report? Does it offer sound advice?
  5. What is the current best thinking on the purpose and usefulness of the old age rent systems?
  6. Does Ron Paul believe that people have the right to leave their State?  For example, to seek freedom?
  7. How much does the US spend on defense?
  8. A comment about libertarianism
  9. A reader reply to this being the penultimate Question Time post.
  10. Should the United States return to a protectionist trade policy to reboot manufacturing?
  11. During the last 20-30 years have the elite in this country exploited our trust in community institutions for their benefit?

(2) Quote of the week, advice that America’s leaders have taken to heart

Liberty is precious.  So precious that it must be rationed.
— Said by Lenin.  Quote from Soviet communism: a new civilisation by Sidney and Beatrice Webb (1937)

(3)  To start the discussion:  articles of interest

Some recent articles which deserve attention:

  1. “Expect the Unexpected“, The Economist, 7 December 2011 — How the people of 1931 saw the world (unaware of what was happening)
  2. “The ‘No True Libertarianism’ fallacy“, David Atkins, Hullabaloo, 28 December 2012
  3. “Construction Spending And The Housing Quagmire“, Wolf Richter, The Testosterone Pit, 3 January 2012
  4. “Hey, Washington: We Don’t Have to Overhaul Medicare to Save It“, James Kwak, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011 — “Republicans and some Democrats claim that we have to radically change Medicare because we can’t afford it. They’re wrong on both counts.”
  5. “False Flag“, Mark Perry, Foreign Policy, 13 January 2012 — “A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.”
  6. “Cyber War: Reality or Hype?“, Conn Hallinan, AntiWar.com, 14 January 2012 — For more information see the FM Reference Page on CyberWar.
  7. Did anybody see this coming? “In Libya, a Fundamentalist War against Moderate Islam Takes Shape“, TIME, 18 January 2012
  8. “Japanese, Canadian and American Officials Have ‘Betrayed’ their Citizens By Hiding Radiation … ‘Akin to Murder’”, Washingtons Blog, 19 January 2012
  9. “The ‘anti-Semitism’ smear campaign against CAP and Media Matters rolls on“, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, 19 January 2012
  10. The GOP candidates’ tax policies: “Department of ‘Duh’”, James Kwak, The Baseline Scenario, 19 January 2012
  11. An example of why so many people are skeptical of mainstream climate  science: “Neukom and the Steig Over/Under“, Steve McIntyre, 19 January 2012 — It’s a sad story.

(4)  A graph that will disturb your sleep

One of the many disturbing graphs from About Mobility, a chapter by Jared Bernstein in the State of Working America report, by the Economic Policy Institute:


For more information see:

Posts on the FM website about increasing inequality in America:

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