America's Last Economist, Michael Hudson, wonders if the "real scandal" behind the Clinton emails rests in the Clinton Foundation. I've wondered this, too, and it's not like we'll ever be able to read the emails to find this out, but it is too easy to imagine (as Mr. Hudson does) Mrs. Clinton using her Secretary of State connections to match up nations wanting to buy weapons with corporations that sell weapons, and also say, hey, by the way, want to donate to my foundation? The "liberal" media, of course, has been more preoccupied with whether or not Mrs. Clinton leaked national secrets than whether she fomented corruption, almost like that's the idea.
Dean Baker at TruthOut cautions the nations rubbing their hands together at the possibility that they might benefit from an exodus of London's financial corporations, saying "a larger financial sector will not necessarily be a boon to the winner's economy." The American financial sector has quintupled in size (as a percentage of GDP) since 1970, but "is there any reason to believe that the financial sector is doing a better job allocating capital to productive businesses now than it did four decades ago?" You'd very likely answer "no," even if banksters were to call your opinion "ignorant," but then banksters would be nowhere without their hifalutin talk.
Donald Trump says he'll probably use a teleprompter at the Republican National Convention -- not long after saying Presidential candidates shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters. I guess the good news is that if he were Scott Walker, he'd be telling you that he meant candidates for the nomination and not nominees and you're stupid for not knowing what he meant. Donald Trump, on the other hand, will probably just say he never said that, and there's a certain value in that, I suppose.
Evan Bayh unexpectedly declares he'll run for his old Senate seat in 2016. He'll probably win, which means a pickup for Democrats, but to what good end? In my Goofus and Gallant strip, Mr. Bayh would be the wrong kind of red-state Democrat, the kind who's basically a pro-choice Republican. Former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan would be Gallant in that strip, of course, the kind of red-state Democrat who finds what people across the political spectrum actually agree upon -- corporate crime, media consolidation, "free" trade -- and represents the people's will on those issues.
Finally, Paul Buchheit describes five ways the super-rich might destroy themselves, despite their gated communities and owned politicians. You'll get no joy from imagining the rich destroy themselves with their selfishness, short-sightedness, and worship of the financial sector, because we'll be getting destroyed along with them. But there may be some utility in persuading the rich they really are in the same boat as us, and that they're not going to die before things get really bad.
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