Z Nightly Commentaries
There are no commentaries for today.
Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Wallerstein: "Is Europe Imploding?"
May 01, 2010
Europe has had its nay-sayers since it started on the long road to unification. There were many who believed it impossible. And there were many who thought it undesirable. Still one has to say that, in the long and sinuous path it has taken since 1945, the project of European unification has done remarkably well....
Wallerstein: Ahmadinejad Thanks America
Apr 16, 2010
Relations between Iran and the United States have been turbulent for almost 60 years now. Before the Second World War, the Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, sought to maneuver between the outside demands and pressures of Great Britain, the U.S.S.R. and Germany. When the war broke out, he proclaimed neutrality. This led to an allied Soviet-British invasion in 1941. The allies forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son.
Wallerstein: The Case of Brazil
Mar 17, 2010
On the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, the Workers' Party) in Brazil, the principal independent left newspaper, Brasil de Fato, published interviews with four leading left intellectuals in Brazil. All four were once active in the PT, indeed among its founders. Three of them have withdrawn from the PT - the historian Mauro Iasi to join the Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB); the sociologist Francisco de Oliveira to join the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL); and the historian Rudá Ricci to be an independent leftist. The fourth, the historian Valter Poner, remains in the PT as a leading figure in its left faction.
Wallerstein: Euromess
Mar 03, 2010
Everyone is discussing what Fortune magazine is calling the "Greek maelstrom" and everyone is pointing the finger at someone else. Whose fault is it? The Greek government is accused of cheating and allowing Greeks to live beyond their means. The European Union is accused of having created an impossible structure for the euro.
Weisbrot: How Wars Are Made
Feb 20, 2010
In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran "is moving toward a military dictatorship," and continued the Administration's campaign for tougher sanctions against that country.
Wallerstein: Chaos Everyday
Feb 17, 2010
You know you're living in a chaotic situation when (1) the mainstream media are constantly surprised by what is happening; (2) short-term predictions by various pundits go in radically different directions and are stated with many reserves; (3) the Establishment dares to say things or use words that were previously taboo; (4) ordinary people are frightened and angry but very unsure what to do. This is a good description of the past two years throughout the world, or at least in most parts of the world.
Wallerstein: US Misreads Brazil
Feb 02, 2010
When the United States first realized circa 1970 that its hegemonic dominance was being threatened by the growing economic (and hence geopolitical) strength of western Europe and Japan, it changed its posture, seeking to prevent western Europe and Japan from taking too independent a position in world affairs.
Wise: Santa & Other Fibs
Jan 04, 2010
This Christmas Eve, I stood guard, anxiously surveying the narrow border between childhood innocence and the complex wisdom of messy adulthood. Little had I realized before now, how perilously close to one another are these two geographic spaces, and with what relatively modest effort a person might cross from the first of these to the next, all in a matter of seconds.
Weissman: Glass-Steagall Reflections
Nov 13, 2009
Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the passage of the repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and related legislation. It is an anniversary worth noting for what it teaches us about forestalling financial crises, the consequences of maniacal deregulation, and the out-of-control political power of the megafinancial institutions.
Weissman: Medicare-for-All Moment
Nov 10, 2009
There is only one solution to the twin problems of escalating health care costs and the epidemic of the uninsured: a Medicare-for-All, single payer system.
Weissman: Corporate Grip
Sep 10, 2009
Can things get still worse in Washington?
Wilpert: 21st Century Socialism
Jul 20, 2009
Contribution to the Reimagining Society Project hosted by ZCommunications
Weissman: 150 Years
Jul 05, 2009
One hundred and fifty years jail time for Bernard Madoff is a good thing.
Weissman: Financial Reform
Jun 18, 2009
There are major gaps and shortcomings in the Obama administration's financial regulatory proposals, formally released today, and the proposals alone leave the financial sector vulnerable to future crisis. Still, it's nice to be able to say that the proposal does contain meaningful reforms.
Weissman: IMF Accountability
Jun 15, 2009
Seeking to avoid a direct up-or-down vote on a proposal to send $108 billion to the International Monetary Fund, the administration, at the last moment, had the money stuck into a supplemental appropriations bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Wallerstein: World Headed Where?
May 08, 2009
As the world heads into the next decade, there are two arenas where we can anticipate great turbulence the geopolitical arena and the world economy, with the relative decline of US geopolitical power, now acknowledged by almost everyone and which even President Obama will be unable to reverse.
Wise: White Victimhood
May 06, 2009
As a general rule, one should regard with a mountain of salt anything to be found on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Committed to the promotion of right-wing economics and social policy, and unburdened by such mundane requirements as fact checking, the writers of the Journal's daily screeds have long taken liberty with supposedly sacrosanct journalistic principles like truth. To wit, their utterly fallacious hit job on the Community Reinvestment Act back in September, in which they blamed the subprime mortgage meltdown--and virtually the entire economic crisis--on black and brown poor folks who received loans for which they were unqualified thanks to liberal reforms. A few months later, the generally splendid and fair-minded news reporters at the Journal utterly debunked the claims that the CRA had been the cause of the problem, but this mattered not to the editorial staff. They never printed a retraction for their wrong-headedness. Dishonesty in the pursuit of Austrian economics is no vice, apparently.
Weissman: Detroit vs. Wall Street
Apr 05, 2009
Why the tough love for Detroit and kid gloves for Wall Street? Wall Street has bought its gentle treatment through a long-term investment in Washington.
Weissman: Wall Street
Mar 08, 2009
Over the 1998-2008 period, the financial sector spent more than $5 billion on U.S. federal campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures.
May 06, 2010
Any time in the next couple days, the Senate may consider a measure, sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ted Kaufman, D-Delaware, to break up the biggest banks. It's a vital step to strengthening the economy and rescuing our democracy.