Monthly Archives: January 2012

Turmoil in Egypt and Syria

Posted on January 30, 2012 by jackgoldstone

Egypt and Syria today are demonstrating two keys to understanding revolutions: (1) No one gives up power willingly; and (2) building coalitions with mass support is the key to gaining command. In Egypt, two titans are contending — the military … Continue reading →

Posted in The Middle East Revolts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Economic Mess (again, and again, and again)

Posted on January 27, 2012 by jackgoldstone

Global growth is clearly fading.  China may slow to under 8% this year, as exports are being hit sharply by slowdowns abroad.  Japan’s eternal trade surplus faded and fell to a deficit last quarter for the first time in decades.  … Continue reading →

Posted in The Global Economy | Leave a comment

Class warfare or class welfare?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by jackgoldstone

It is remarkable the mileage that GOP and conservative talkers have gotten out of using the phrase “class warfare” to stigmatize raising taxes on high income earners. Sure, if the goal of tax reformers was to return to the punishingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

And then there were three — for the GOP

Posted on January 22, 2012 by jackgoldstone

Amazing, isn’t it?  A week ago, everyone was crowning Mitt Romney with the Republican nomination.  A small win in Iowa, a big win in New Hampshire, and a big lead in the polls in South Carolina, and it looked like … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Perception is Everything, Isn’t it? (Or – Don’t Worry, be Happy!)

Posted on January 19, 2012 by jackgoldstone

The Washington Post published a remarkable poll on Wednesday.  When asked “are you better off financially than you were when Obama became President?”, most people (54%) said they were in about the same shape, 30% said they were worse off, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ahem, Eurozone…

Posted on January 14, 2012 by jackgoldstone

The Eurozone south of the Netherlands has been emabarked on a painful austerity strategy — the goal of which was to reassure the credit markets that these nations will be economically sound. That strategy has so far failed spectacularly as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Romney’s weakness — or strength?

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jackgoldstone

Mitt Romney has been getting attack from all sides for his work at Bain Capital, which involved buying up companies, reconfiguring them to be more successful, then selling them.  “Reconfiguring” often involved firing lots of people, and that is why … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Blood from a Stone?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by jackgoldstone

Germany and France announced that Greece will not get the bailout it needs unless it gets tougher and faster in implementing promised austerity measures.  Only about one-quarter of promised measures have been implemented, and targets for deficit reduction have not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Corruption at home

Posted on January 8, 2012 by jackgoldstone

At a time when Americans are anxious that corruption in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan, or Russia, or any other distant place makes dealing with them difficult, it is painful to see spectacular corruption close to home.  That is why … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Who won and lost in Iowa?

Posted on January 5, 2012 by jackgoldstone

We don’t really know who won in Iowa (the media treating Romney’s 8 vote margin over Santorum as a ‘win’ shows only that our media have no knowledge of what constitutes a margin of error.  If there were a recount … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments