Congo forces leaders to pay taxes – ours?

The Democratic Republic of Congo, faced with a fiscal crisis, is now forcing their leaders to pay taxes. Reuters reports
Amid a growing budget shortfall, the government is under pressure to cut costs and boost tax revenues.
Budget Minister Michel Lokola told Reuters that last month’s decision to tax government salaries at source, rather than rely on [...]

Protest the 2016 Games

No Games Chicago, “a diverse group of citizens who have come together to oppose the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics,” is holding a protest rally today at the Federal Plaza at 5pm.
From their website:
The International Olympic Committee will be in town from April 2-8th to evaluate
Chicago’s potential as a Host City for the 2016 [...]

Clinton blames America’s drug users for Mexico’s drug war

The Latin American Herald Tribune quotes Clinton as saying,
“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Clinton told reporters earlier en route to Mexico. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”
She vowed that we would [...]

Bailing out investors won’t help the economy

Reuters led the story of yesterday’s stock market rally with the following:
Stocks rose on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 index attempting the first two-day advance in a month, as investors held out hope that Washington would restore confidence in banks by relieving them of money-losing assets.
This is a rather disingenuous conclusion to derive from [...]

Clinton, Rubin and Summers, Graham, Leach and Bliley – thank you

In the early 1900’s, commercial banks began to establish security affiliates that floated bond issues and underwrote corporate stock issues. (In underwriting, a bank guarantees to furnish a definite sum of money by a definite date to a business or government entity in return for an issue of bonds or stock.)
Then the stock market crashed.
In [...]