US Politics
US: Cuts in Social Security, Medicare to pay for bank bailouts
By Tom Eley, May 14, 2009
A new report from the Obama administration predicting declines in the trust funds supporting Medicare and Social Security has been used to set the stage for cuts in the payouts the two programs make t...
Seven Days in May, 2009
By Patrick Martin, May 13, 2009
The past week has seen a series of incidents that suggest a mounting crisis within the American state machine.
CIA memo cites 40 Congressional briefings on torture
By Bill Van Auken, May 9, 2009
A memo released Wednesday lists 40 secret briefings for members of Congress on the use of “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”—in plain words, torture. Republicans have used the memo to indict De...
Mass abstention in Detroit mayoral election
By Andre Damon and Jerry White, May 8, 2009
David Bing, a former basketball star and wealthy businessman, defeated Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., in an election with less than 15 percent participation.
The Obama recovery
By Jerry White, May 6, 2009
In an extraordinary interview published in Sunday’s New York Times magazine, President Obama outlined his reactionary vision for the US economy in a piece entitled “After the Great Recession.”
Obama proposes token measures to close foreign tax loopholes
By Andre Damon, May 6, 2009
Couched in national chauvinist language, the Obama administration on Monday unveiled a proposal to limit certain tax loopholes for US corporations operating in foreign countries.
US Supreme Court Justice Souter to retire
By Don Knowland, May 4, 2009
US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter announced on Friday that he will retire after the end of the court’s current term in June. Although appointed by the first President Bush in 1992, Souter ten...
What happened in the skies over New York City?
By Alex Lantier, April 29, 2009
On the morning of April 27, one of two Boeing 747 jetliners used by the US president flew at low altitude over downtown New York, escorted by fighter jets. The official explanations and media commenta...
Obama’s 100 days
By Tom Eley, April 29, 2009
Obama’s first 100 days have made clear the right-wing character of his administration and the class interests it serves.
Obama, Democrats move to block torture investigation
By Tom Eley, April 25, 2009
Buckling before Republican attacks, President Obama and leading Democrats have signaled their opposition to any investigation, even a whitewash “truth commission,” into the torture of “terror su...
Torture memos provoke deepening political crisis
By Tom Eley, April 22, 2009
The Obama administration has made repeated assurances that it will not investigate top Bush administration officials or CIA agents, while leaving open the possibility of a whitewash commission.
Obama’s adviser in Trinidad: the real face of “change”
By Bill Van Auken, April 21, 2009
The selection of Jeffrey Davidow as Obama’s chief adviser at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad exposes the real character of US policy underlying the claims of “change” in Washington’s re...
