Noted Wall Street ski buddy and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling is moving to re-deregulate derivatives by gutting the Dodd-Frank Act. Apparently one financial crisis this century is not enough for Hensarling and friends as the House today is marking up a slew of bills to help Wall Street avoid derivatives oversight.

The Committee on Financial Services will meet in open session to mark up the following measures:

H.R. 701, to amend a provision of the Securities Act of 1933 directing the Securities and Exchange Commission to add a particular class of securities to those exempted under such Act to provide a deadline for such action
H.R. 801, the ‘Holding Company Registration Threshold Equalization Act of 2013

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Thanks FCC! Surfing the Web from the seat of an airplane may get a whole lot easier, due to a proposal from the Federal Communications Commission. According to a report from the New York Times, the U.S. government bureau is looking to host an auction of a handful of newly acquired airwaves. If done, this could not only provide better, faster connections – likely even 30 times speedier than the connection you have in your home – from 30,000 feet, but also could add some competition and help lower prices.

This decision shows that the FCC has its proverbial finger on the pulse, and knows that there is both the need and desire to be connected, even when flying between two destinations, whether it’s for business or pleasure. ‘The reality is that we expect and often need to be able to get online 24/7, at home, in an office, or on a plane,

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There is no plant on Earth more condemned than marijuana. We’re talking about a living organism which governments have taken upon themselves to designate as an illegal substance. Despite no existing evidence of anyone ever dying of a marijuana overdose, possession of this plant is still illegal in many parts.

Marijuana has been found to suppress cancer, reduce blood pressure, treat glaucoma, alleviate pain and even inhibit HIV. It is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective. Can you understand more now why it’s illegal?

Cannabis is one of the most powerful healing plants on the planet. Dozens of studies have made pseudoscientific attempts to indicate that young people who use cannabis tend to experience psychological, social problems and mental decline. However, there is no evidence that marijuana use is directly linked with such problems, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet.

‘Currently, there is no strong evidence that use of cannabis of itself causes psychological or social problems,

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There are more than 2 million unemployed Americans who might have jobs today if not for austerity.

That’s the conclusion of a new study by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney at the Brookings Institution. In the 46 months since the Great Recession ended, state, local and federal governments have cut about 500,000 jobs. In contrast, in every other U.S. recession since 1970, the government hired approximately 1.7 million people, on average. That means the U.S. is an estimated 2.2 million jobs in the hole.

Given the size of the U.S. labor force, an extra 2.2 million jobs would mean the U.S. unemployment rate would be about 6.1 percent, instead of 7.5 percent. That would be below the 6.5 percent rate the Federal Reserve is targeting with its extraordinary bond-buying program known as quantitative easing. Worried about Fed-fueled financial bubbles? Thank austerity. In fact, the Fed recently called out tight fiscal policy in explaining why it’s keeping the economy’s gas pedal floored.

That 2.2 million jobs would also get the U.S. job market back to its peak level of employment, set in January 2008, in the early months of the recession. Right now, we’re about 2.6 million jobs shy of that peak, making this […]

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At this point the economic case for austerity - for slashing government spending even in the face of a weak economy - has collapsed. Claims that spending cuts would actually boost employment by promoting confidence have fallen apart. Claims that there is some kind of red line of debt that countries dare not cross have turned out to rest on fuzzy and to some extent just plain erroneous math. Predictions of fiscal crisis keep not coming true; predictions of disaster from harsh austerity policies have proved all too accurate.

Yet calls for a reversal of the destructive turn toward austerity are still having a hard time getting through. Partly that reflects vested interests, for austerity policies serve the interests of wealthy creditors; partly it reflects the unwillingness of influential people to admit being wrong. But there is, I believe, a further obstacle to change: widespread, deep-seated cynicism about the ability of democratic governments, once engaged in stimulus, to change course in the future.

So now seems like a good time to point out that this cynicism, which sounds realistic and worldly-wise, is actually sheer fantasy. Ending stimulus has never been a problem - in fact, the historical record shows that it almost […]

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