Nation Topics - Economics | The Nation

The article presents Ohio Representative Sherrod Brown's views on globalization and the policy's of the United States government. The conflict over the ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is discussed. The author reviews House Resolution 295, which calls for strong environmental and food-safety standards in trade agreements.

The article discusses the indictment of United States Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, for allegedly lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents or grand jurors about his role in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) leak. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has not focused on which Administration official outed CIA agent Valerie Plame. It is claimed that Cheney had a role in undermining Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had challenged the Administration's reasons for the Iraq War.

The article discusses the problems and scandals facing the administration of United States President George W. Bush. The public is losing its support for the U.S.-led Iraq War. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, has been indicted. The article discusses whether the Bush Administration willfully misled the public in regards to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction. Bush is criticized for his lack of planning prior to the Iraq War as well as for his lack of political planning in the United States on issues such as crisis management and Social Security.

The article reports that U.S. Democrats rose up as an opposition party in the Senate after the indictment of Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Democrats called for an investigation into the President George W. Bush Administration's misuse of intelligence before the Iraq War. Republicans in the Senate have not been used to facing a minority opposition leader. The Senate has established a committee to examine charges that Intelligence Committee chair Pat Roberts stalled the investigation.

Presents an editorial discussing how Republican legislators and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush have confronted the issue of poverty in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. Suggestion that some Republicans believe that federal aid makes poor people dependent; Review of how the storm effected the situation of impoverished people in areas damaged by the hurricane; Proposed cuts to Medicaid and food stamp programs.

Focuses on the support given to economist Jeffrey Sachs by rock star Bono. Role of both in educating others on the moral urgency of relieving poverty in Africa; Role of Sachs as an economic adviser to Bolivia; Claim that Sachs failed to help Poland and Russia transition economically to post-Communist societies; Praise for Bono's role in gaining assistance for Africans with AIDS; Role of Sachs as a lobbyist for debt relief for poor countries.

Presents a satirical letter regarding the judicial nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush. Reasons why Bush should have chosen the author instead of Miers; Suggestion that the author is a woman and is not a Christian, and therefore should be nominated; Lack of experience of the author as a lawyer; Criticism of people who claim they do not know where Miers stands on the issue of abortion.

Presents news briefs related to politics and current events. Report that the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats decided to form a coalition government in Germany with Angela Merkel as chancellor; Reference to the book "What's the Matter With Kansas?" by Tom Frank, which argues that the working-class in the U.S. are voting Republican against their economic interests because the party is conservative on social issues; Reasons why U.S. President George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

The article presents the author's views on how Democratic legislators will react to forthcoming nomination of a replacement for Chief Justice Sandra Day O'Conner on the United States Supreme Court. Will George W. Bush nominate a conservative or a moderate to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor? Will he name his friend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales? Will he move with dispatch, or draw out his deliberations in order to shorten the window available for a contentious nomination? Instead of holding our collective breath, we should use this pause between O'Connor's resignation and Bush's nomination of a successor to pose one eminently answerable question in a different direction entirely: to Senate Democrats. Will the future of the Supreme Court inspire greater unity than the war on Iraq, greater energy than tax cuts for the wealthy, more nerve than the recent compromise over lower-court filibusters? How those Democratic senators--most of whom have never faced a Supreme Court nomination--reply may well define their careers.

Discusses the issue of increasing life expectancy in the United States and the political and economic issue inherent in the fact that people are living longer. Author's view that longer life expectancy is a meaningful achievement that is being transformed into a monumental problem by contemporary politics and narrow-minded accounting; Discussion of the views of economist Robert Fogel, who asserts that expanding longevity is not a financial burden but an enormous and underdeveloped asset; View that Fogel's perspective is ignored by other economists; Analysis of Fogel's idea regarding the restructuring of the American Social Security system; Review of the effect of decreasing pensions and personal savings; Increases in the cost of health care; Analysis of how the economic issues associated with increased longevity should be considered with a progressive political framework.