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Dean Baker is right on, as he usually is-- and just as he was on the housing bubble, I'm afraid he will be ignored (while the same 'experts' who gave us the financial meltdown continue to be listened to as the prescribe the wrong medicine for non-existent problems-- and surgery for the few healthy parts of the body economic). A generation ago we were sold on the idea that we had to raise payroll taxes in order to cover the cost of the baby boomers' retirement. Now that that retirement is around the corner we are told that we have to cut benefits. When are we going to hold the liars and thieves accountable and demand a dignified life and retirement for working people?

Rush Limbaugh becomes a Socialist on health care.

A unique non-profit that uses demographics and mapping to show ongoing patterns of discrimination, particularly in small Southern towns.

From the page: "A few blocks from the demonstration stands a former mint factory, a casualty of a second and even more pernicious wave of high-stakes real-estate speculation that targeted buildings where tenants already live. It was subsidized housing for artists until a private-equity firm bought the 42-unit building for $6.6 million and went to court to force residents' eviction. Those who held out faced faltering maintenance and security, then open threats of lawsuits. Once the tenants were cleared, the owner flipped the former factory and an adjoining lot to a condo developer for nearly $20 million, with the help of a $9.8 million investment from American International Group (AIG). In 2008, the Brooklyn apartments went on sale for a high of $1,100 a square foot. A year later, it is a derelict site of torn tarps, rusting scaffolding, and boarded-up windows. "

Forgive the toot on my own horn, but we've started a travel blog for our up-coming trip.

This is how my friend and I are planning to travel across Russia and into Mongolia at the end of this month.