Tag: Barack Obama

Jeffrey Sachs: Bipartisan Support of War, from Iraq to Ukraine, Is Helping Fuel U.S. Debt Crisis

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The United States faces a default on its debt in early June if a deal on the debt ceiling is not reached between the Biden administration and Republicans in Congress before then. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pushing for sweeping budget cuts and new work requirements for recipients of government programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. Notably, however, neither Republicans nor Democrats are proposing cuts to one of the biggest drivers of the nation’s debt: the massive U.S. military budget. “We’ve got to get this military-industrial lobby under control, but it’s hard to do, because it’s a bipartisan affair,” says our guest, economist Jeffrey Sachs, whose recent article is headlined “America’s Wars and the US Debt Crisis.”

Jeffrey Sachs: Bipartisan Support of War, from Iraq to Ukraine, Is Helping Fuel U.S. Debt Crisis

Previously:

The War in Ukraine Was Provoked—and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace

Biden proposes $1 trillion in social spending cuts after announcing $375 million more for war in Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

At a press conference Sunday following the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, President Joe Biden called on Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet face to face to revive talks on a bipartisan plan to slash social spending in return for raising the nation’s debt ceiling and averting a default.

Biden proposes $1 trillion in social spending cuts after announcing $375 million more for war in Ukraine

5/11/23 Joziah Thayer on AQAP’s Standing in Yemen

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Joziah Thayer joins to show to discuss some of the work he’s done digging into the many factions and groups within Yemen and the foreign powers working to pull their strings. Scott and Thayer drill in on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, and explore how the group’s standing in Yemen has changed and how the country is likely to evolve going forward.

Discussed on the show:

The CIA, AQAP, and the Never-Ending Excuse to Bomb Yemen

How the IMF & World Bank Destroyed Yemen

5/11/23 Joziah Thayer on AQAP’s Standing in Yemen

The Worthless Naval Base at Gitmo

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The American empire has over 1000 overseas military bases with between a dozen and 45,000 personnel. The United States spends more to operate its overseas military bases each year than China spends on its entire military. Several of these bases have become worthless yet remain open because of bureaucratic resistance. The largest unneeded base is also the oldest overseas base, the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, known as Gitmo. No combat forces are based there or even combat support forces. There are no ships, no aircraft, no weapons, nor munitions based at Gitmo. The lights could be shut off at expensive Gitmo tomorrow and everyone flown home and the US Navy wouldn’t notice, except that it would free manpower and resources for a dozen more warships.

Sources:

All Bases Covered

Overseas Base Closure List

Related Tale: The Empires Cuban Colony 1898 -1959

The Worthless Naval Base at Gitmo via Tales of the American Empire

[2012] Biden Says He’s Not Blue Collar: “No One In My Family Worked In A Factory”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

“My dad never worked in a Food Fair. My dad never wore a blue collar, Barack makes me sound like I just climbed out of a mine in Scranton, Pennsylvania carrying a lunch bucket,” Vice President Joe Biden said at a conference with U.S. mayors in Orlando.

“No one in my family worked in a factory,” Biden added.

Biden Says He’s Not Blue Collar: “No One In My Family Worked In A Factory”