Media

The airwaves are once again crackling with the saga of crime and punishment in the international banking sector. HSBC has been penalized $1.92 billion for money laundering in the service of rogue states, but has engaged in even more money laundering for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. It is reported that a Mexican drug lord was taped saying that, if you are interested in laundering your money, HSBC is the place to go. Can’t this get onto Saturday Night Live as a spoof ad for HSBC?

Washington is in a fiscal panic, yet surprisingly few people are asking an obvious question: Why in the world is the Obama Administration proposing to spend $8 trillion on security over the next decade? Included in that giant sum is not just Pentagon spending, but also outlays for intelligence, homeland security, foreign aid, and diplomacy abroad. 

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards has produced a report detailing five areas in which protections significantly help make the December and New Year festivities a safer and more joyful experience.

Despite what critics say, renewable energy is not only a viable alternative energy source, production is booming. The U.S. has installed a record amount of solar so far this year with even more installation in the fourth quarter expected. All this growth comes in the wake of the furious attacks on the solar industry after Solyndra and Congress’ inaction on extending important production tax credits.

The latest UN climate talks came to an end this past weekend with little to show for it. As Kate Sheppard writes at Mother Jones, Doha “failed to meet even the low expectations that had been set for the negotiations.” One of the main pieces to come out was an agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding treaty on greenhouse gases, for eight years.

Other Demos writers have been doing great work thinking about job quality, and ways to raise retail and service sector wages. I would like to broaden the focus a bit to include buying power, not just nominal wages.

NEW YORK — Miles Rapoport, President of national policy organization Demos, released the following statement in response to Michigan’s State House and Senate suddenly passing bills Thursday to defund unions and undermine the ability of working people to organize for better pay and benefits:

Today's jobs report shows that the economy continues to slowly improve. After getting run down by a truck driven by Wall Street bankers in 2008, the economy has — over the past four years — emerged from intensive care, left the critical condition list, and is slogging steadily forward through a grueling rehabilitation. 

A new Explainer from Dēmos looks at why Washington focuses so heavily on deficit reduction and not on job creation, even as unemployment rates remain high. In short: the affluent donor class and big business interests prioritize deficit reduction and Congress, in turn, prioritizes what they prioritize. As detailed in the Explainer, if deficit reduction was really the priority, Congress would increase spending and invest in job creating projects, like infrastructure upkeep.