The rise of Donald Trump raises opportunities and perils regarding the prospects for societal transformation and change. On the one hand, reactionary forces have been emboldened, on issues from health care reform and deregulation to militarism and taxes. But times of crisis also provide opportunities to build toward progressive change over the mid-to-long-term. With that in mind, it’s worth refl [...]

Again an interview of Chris Hedges which goes back to 2013, but is above all interesting because Hedges explains how he moved from wanting to be a pastor to becoming a war reporter. He explains why he considers "liberals" have no direct contact with what they "prestend" to defend from afar. His first hand description of working directly with young people for whom violence was a way of life and his [...]

The major takeaway from the US Presidential election, and from the events which have shaped the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s Presidency - both his actions and the reactions of his opponents - is that America is tired. It is not difficult to see why since the US has for decades been behaving in a way that was guaranteed eventually to exhaust it. [...]

Greece's national rail company TrainOSE has been sold to Italy's state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) for €45 million ($48.1 million). The sale is part of Greece’s €86 billion bailout agreed with international creditors two years ago. [...]

Israel controls America, and Israel wants all the Middle East as a 'Greater Israel'. That's what it's all about. Why are the US and Israel so friendly anyway? That's a hugely controversial question. Though American support for Israel really is massive, including billions of dollars in aid and reliable diplomatic backing, experts disagree sharply on why. S ome possibilities include deep support fo [...]

AMERICAN EMPIRE is a documentary about the hidden forces that are controlling America and the world, and how it affects you, your children and your grandchildren. The best way to get the truth these days is not from the media. It’s from documentaries like this. In this gripping film people are willing to reveal information that is being withheld from the public. This film reveals the world as [...]

Finland's health and social affairs ministry wants to try out a basic income scheme to test the impact of unconditional cash payments on work incentives. The experiment aims to show if the measure can simplify the welfare benefits system and lower unemployment in the country. [...]

Federal data released Aug. 9 shows that Americans’ wages are dropping again, seven years after President Barack Obama declared the economy had recovered from the property-bubble — and three months before the 2016 election. [...]

Pope Francis surprised reporters on a flight from Krakow to the Vatican late Sunday when he blamed the "god of money" for extremist violence in Europe and the Middle East, saying that a ruthless global economy leads disenfranchised people to violence. [...]

In June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) labelled Deutsche Bank as the most risky global financial institution. Experts do not believe the bank will suffer the same destiny as Lehman Brothers. But if it does this would be a global financial catastrophe. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia became the world's leading purchaser of gold when it bought 356,000 ounces of the precious metal in February, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China took second place; its Central Bank purchased about 320,000 ounces of gold in February, according [...]

Don’t try to praise bestselling author, Peter Schiff, for accurately predicting the 2008/2009 crash. That is, because in his opinion, the financial crisis wasn’t the REAL crash… It was only a tremor before the big one hits. “Armageddon is inevitable,” says Peter. So will 2015 be the year when we finally run out of fools willing to lend to us? [...]

Last week, US President Barack Obama, US Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen held a secret meeting at the White House, during which they discussed the US and global economy, an official statement released by the White House said. However, according to former US politician and political expert Ron Paul, the subject discussed behind closed doors could be m [...]

Despite favorable – even fawning – propaganda in Western media, the U.S./E.U.-backed regime in Ukraine tramples on traditional liberal values of tolerance and pluralism, notes James W Carden. The overnight train from Kiev to Slavyansk gives a passenger, if nothing else, ample time to read and think. On a return trip to war-torn eastern Ukraine in March, I took the opportunity the 13-hour jo [...]

In the article below by CNN Money, it says that Americans are becoming fearful of a future with a ’Dead-End Economy, Crap Jobs, and Awful Wages, and they have every reason in the world to think that way, because they’ll be lucky if it’s that... [...]

Riyadh has shot itself in the foot by adopting a predatory pricing policy in the oil market aimed at wiping its competitors out; now the House of Saud is reaping a whirlwind it sowed. Back in 2014 Saudi Arabia decided to drop oil prices in order to expel Russia from the European and Asian oil markets and at the same time to deal a heavy blow to the US shale oil industry. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned his attention to domestic issues on Tuesday, amid several high-profile arrests, in what could be seen as a shift away from foreign policy, which dominated his agenda for the past two years. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which answers directly to [...]

Kiev has announced a massive discount on the sale of state assets which have failed to find foreign buyers. Ukraine’s State Property Fund says all of the assets have been put up for sale more than 10 times and have found no takers. As a result, 22 of 34 state assets are now being put up for sale at a 60 percent discount, nine with a discount of 50 percent, and three are up for auction at a re [...]

The US Justice Department cautioned local courts that it is unconstitutional to jail someone for not paying fines without determining whether they are able to pay, and warned against using court fees to generate revenue for cities. The warnings came as part of an effort to reform court practices that “perpetuate poverty and result in unnecessary deprivations of liberty,” the Justice Depar [...]

Amid official economic statistics that claim “the world’s largest paper economy is in a marvelous recovery” and the insistence of leading US economists that the national debt doesn’t matter as it is owed to itself, geopolitical analyst F. William Engdahl argues that the country is almost bankrupt and its end could be nearer than any of us imagine. [...]

Canada has used up all of its gold reserves. For the first time since 1935 the country is out of gold. The volume of gold reserves in Canada has declined steadily over the past 50 years. In the mid-1960s, Canada’s gold reserves exceeded 1,000 tons. By 1985, half had been sold. In 2015, the reserves were down to three tons and now the country has no gold left. [...]

Political instability arising from European states’ crippling debt burdens may lead to the Eurozone’s implosion, ex-Bank of England (BoE) governor Mervyn King has said. The former central banker and staunch Euroskeptic made the prediction in his latest book, The End of Alchemy: Banking, the Global Economy and the Future of Money. [...]