Reading

The pension reforms currently provoking general strikes, mass protests and widespread public anger in France were first pledged by Emmanual Macron in his 2017 presidential election campaign. Trade unions and opposition parties began to organise against the reforms before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the government to postpone its plans. Then, on January 6th of this […]

I had a sense of déjà vu this week when I read the latest release from Australia’s Productivity Commission – Advancing Prosperity – which was released on March 17, 2023 and is a five-yearly exercise conducted by the Commission on behalf of the Australian government. Frankly, if the government was looking to cut spending while advancing material well-being in the community, they could simply tell the Commission to cease doing this work and instruct the staff involved to get real jobs and do something that matters. We just get a regurgitation of GIGO, that well-practiced art of pretending to have something authoritative to say while one is grabbing money out of the till at a rate of knots to advance self-interest! The problem is that the ordinary citizen is ill-equipped to understand any of the technical hoopla that attempts to shroud these types of Report in ‘credibility’, and so is at a disadvantage when trying to determine whether they should support it through the ballot box. Neoliberalism relies on and exploits our ignorance....

Discover the precarious state of the banking system and the need for regulatory reform in this incisive interview with James Fauntleroy, a regular contributor to the Revolutionary Blackout Network, as he discusses the potential for a catastrophic economic crisis.

The post The Banking Crisis, Housing Insecurity and Preparing for the Coming Economic Collapse With James Fauntleroy appeared first on MintPress News.

Indulge me for a moment. This is how “The Prophecy” in my 1962 high school yearbook began. It was written by some of my classmates in the year we graduated from Friends Seminary in New York City.   As I wander, I finally run into one of my classmates, now “a skinny old man with bushy white hair, wearing a loose deer skin.” And yes, whatever happened (that “great invasion”) while I was underground in — as anyone of that period would have known — a private nuclear-fallout shelter, is unclear. Still, in the world I find on emerging, all my former classmates, whom I meet one after another in joking fashion, now live in caves. In other words, it had obviously... Read more

Source: Prophecies, Then and Now appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Mexico’s leftist President AMLO condemned “hypocritical” Republicans who want the US military to invade, declaring “Mexico is an independent and free country, not a US colony or protectorate!” In a massive rally, López Obrador also celebrated the expropriation of oil and lithium, condemning exploitative foreign corporations.

The post ‘Mexico Is Not a US Colony!’: AMLO Condemns Invasion Threats, Celebrates Nationalization of Oil and Lithium appeared first on scheerpost.com.

An economist digging below the surface of an IMF report has found something that should shock the Western bloc out of any false confidence in its unsurpassed global economic clout.

The post Scott Ritter: G7 vs BRICS — Off to the Races appeared first on scheerpost.com.

With apologies to the great Tracy Chapman.

This car is your ticket to anywhere. Just cruising in it feels like you’re entertaining yourself. It speeds so fast it feels like you’re drunk. Which, let’s be honest, is not recommended. I don’t want to feel like I’m drunk or buzzed while I’m driving; I want to feel safe and secure and, hopefully, get good gas mileage. I’m thinking maybe a Hyundai Kona or a Mazda CX-30.

Those cars might not be fast or powerful, but they offer a bit more stability. I had a job at a convenience store. Then once I was on track for a managerial position, they replaced half the staff with automated screens they purchased from a recently closed Wawa. Still, I managed to save a little bit of money and pay all my bills. But then all my bills steadily rose while my wage stayed the same. My electric bill got out of hand. Switching to high-speed internet costs an arm and a leg—and don’t get me started on the installation fees.

Moms have had their share of parenting fails, mostly tied to holidays. What parent hasn’t looked under couch cushions for Tooth Fairy money or made a mess on behalf of an Elf on the Shelf? This year it’s time to file a complaint with the Childhood Mythical Character Department. Apparently, the Easter Bunny has co-created Peeps Pepsi without any thought to parent supply-chain issues by giving all the Peeps to Pepsi. There are usually sixteen different flavors and colors of Peeps, but now it looks like Easter 2020—with nary a Peep in sight.