Redha Al-Najar was at home with his wife and child in May 2002 when armed, masked men kicked in his front door and trained their guns on him while his family looked on. He was taken from his home and loaded into an awaiting vehicle. Then he was gone. Eighteen months later, Houcine Al-Najar, who […]

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IF YOU OWN A reasonably balanced asset portfolio, there’s good news. Stock prices continue to climb in a post-New Year rally. Your recession is over. If you’re a working stiff, the news is not so good. There are 50 percent fewer job opportunities today than there were at the recent job-market peak in 2007. Your […]

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Make Wall St. Pay to Play—President Obama’s proposed tax on big Wall Street banks, to recover $117 billion taxpayers lost on the bank bailout, is actually a fee. It’s revenue neutral, sets out to recover a specific amount of money lost in the bailout, and ends in ten years. In contrast, two hundred economists have […]

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Long Time Passing“The other day, I asked a young, but combat-experienced, sergeant where he was on 9/11. And his answer, ‘Getting my braces removed,’ reminded me that it has been more than eight years since 9/11.” General Stanley McChrystal —December 8, 2009 The day after the Fort Hood shootings, a soldier’s wife told National Public […]

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THERE WAS A TIME WHEN golpes de estado—military coups—seemed as common in Latin America as elections. A president would lose the support of the army, the business oligarchy, American corporate interests, Washington, or any combination of the foregoing, and golpistas would depose the president—always promising to restore constitutional government as soon as the domestic tranquility […]

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