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POPSFrom Empire to Democracy
(c0nt.)There is a much better solution to the current financial crisis. But it requires discarding what has been conventional "wisdom" for too long: that government intervention in the economy ("big government") must be avoided like the plague, because the "free market" will guide the economy towards growth and justice. Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no quarrel with "big government" when it served their needs. It started way back, when the founding fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft the constitution. The first big bail-out was the decision of the new government to redeem for full value the almost worthless bonds held by speculators. And this role of big government, supporting the interests of the business classes, continued all through the nation's history. The rationale for taki
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POPSMerck Cancels Obesity Drug Probably the right move. Why throw good money after bad. I will be interesting to see what Pfizer decides for its similar compound.
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POPSSenate Clears $1.5 Billion for Washington Metro Good news for Washington residents or anyone visiting. As detailed by the Washington Post here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092201144.html, Metro's needs are considerable and include "replacing one-third of its rail fleet, about 300 rail cars that are more than 30 years old and nearing the end of their life cycle; replacing about 100 buses every year; repairing leaky tunnels and crumbling station platforms; and repairing bus garages, one of which is more than 100 years old."
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POPSDoes Iran's President deny the Holocaust? (cont.) The German TV-station n24 spreads the following on 2006-12-14 using the title 'Iran's President calls the Holocaust a myth': "The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stepped up his verbal attacks against Israel and called the Holocaust a 'myth' used as a pretext by the Europeans to found a Jewish state in the center of the Islamic world . 'In the name of the Holocaust they have created a myth and regard it to be worthier than God, religion and the prophets' the Iranian head of state said."