Nothing better shows corporate control over the government than Washington's basic response to the current economic crisis.  First we had "the rescue" and then "the recovery."  Trillions in public money flowed to the biggest US banks, insurance companies, etc.  That "bailed" them out (suggestion of criminality?) while we waited for benefits to "trickle down" to the rest of us.  As usual, the "trickle down" part has not happened.

Building a Powerful Left in the United States" is a special radio series focusing on the questions: How can a powerful left-wing political movement take shape in the United States? What policies and programs would such a “left” promote? How would it articulate and spread its message, so that it gains a critical mass of support across the US population? And how do we build such a movement? Hear prominent authors, intellectuals, and activists in conversation around the big questions for our times.

Appeared in the Guardian "Comment is Free" on February 14th, 2011

President Obama's basic budget for fiscal 2012 is mostly a done deal, supported by the entire political establishment. The hyped choreography of forthcoming battles between Democrats and Republicans is a very secondary sideshow. The battles clothe basic agreement in a disguise of fierce oppositions – perhaps aimed to mollify each party's none-too-discerning militants.

Published in the Guardian Comment is Free America

Time out: question time is up for Ben Bernanke, testifying before the House budget committee, 9 February 2011. Photograph: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the House budget committee on Wednesday largely repeated what he has been saying recently. It was interesting only for its likewise repeated silences which, as so often, spoke loudly. The biggest silence concerned taxing corporations and the rich in the US.

Overdrawn US cities could face financial collapse in 2011, defaulting on hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowings and derailing the US economic recovery.

But as cities are choosing between devastation and default, analysts say really it’s about the fall of American cities and the coming collapse of the Union.

It’s the reality America cannot escape, news of debt cash-strapped cities and states all over the country. All together it could amount to two trillion dollars and a bill many of them may not be able to pay.