October 6, 2008 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

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Feature

Show Us the Money

Something needs to be done for the American taxpayer–something fair–to salvage Wall Street. We want the same deal Warren Buffet got.
William Greider
View From Asia

Flush with cash, most Asian governments and financial players are wary of being drawn into the Wall Street maelstrom.
Walden Bello
Bailout Plan: Trust But Verify

Bernanke is asking for trust he has not earned. Here’s a shortlist of conditions to make this a credible deal.
James K. Galbraith and William K. Black
Goldman Sachs Socialism

Instead of handing Bernanke $700 billion with no strings attached, government should take over the banking and finance sector, clean it up and start funneling money into the real economy.
William Greider
Socialism for Bankers, Savage Capitalism for Everyone Else?

The bailout jeopardizes the entire progressive agenda, undermines democracy, doesn’t compensate us for our money and doesn’t solve the problem. Otherwise, it’s great!
James S. Henry
GOP: Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote

A Michigan news site uncovers a GOP plan to deny people caught up in foreclosure proceedings the right to vote in November. Team Obama files suit to stop the practice.
Peter Dreier
Bridge Loan to Nowhere

The Paulson/Bernanke bailout plan is not the way to go, unless you work on Wall Street. Even if you do, there are compelling reasons to fear it. Here’s what Congress should do instead.
Thomas Ferguson and Robert Johnson
John McCain: Crisis Enabler

The deregulation binge that tanked global markets is a bullet deliberately fired into the economy by ideologues, heedless of the ultimate cost to taxpayers. And John McCain cheered them on.
Mark Sumner
Bankrupt AIG Underwrote McCain’s ‘Reform Institute’

John McCain is making a big show of criticizing the government “bailout” of insurance giant AIG. But it turns out that AIG is one of the largest donors to his pet think-tank.
Mark Ames
Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle

Paulson’s rescue plan represents a historic swindle–all sugar for the villains, lasting pain for the rest of us. Don’t let Wall Street get away with this without enacting significant reform.
William Greider
Wall Street and Washington

Washington’s mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt’s New Deal faced.
Steve Fraser
A Fair Plan to Pay for Economic Recovery

The corporations that rigged the casino economy and CEOs and investors who profited at our expense should bear the recovery costs.
Chuck Collins
The Free Gaza Movement

A mission to Gaza motivated by human misery broke the Israeli siege and raised Nobel hopes for a group of dedicated activists.
Richard Silverstein
Global Warming and Modern Capitalism

Environmentalists must learn to join forces with other agents of change.
James Gustave Speth
Why Has John McCain Blocked Info on MIAs?

The war hero has long sought to bury information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.
Sydney H. Schanberg
In Arizona, Illegal Immigrants Face Federal Criminal Charges

Massive workplace raids are part of a pressure campaign for guest-worker programs.
David Bacon
Foreign Policy Myths Debunked

The Editors Here’s what’s really at stake in this election, for America and the world.
The Nation

Editorial

Rescue Wall Street–and the Rest of Us

Any Wall Street bailout must also impose tax increases for the wealthy, market reforms and address the needs of middle class Americans caught in the crunch.
Sen. Bernie Sanders
The Contempt of Karl Rove

Fifty years ago, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that all citizens have an “unremitting obligation” to respond to Congressional subpoenas. Karl Rove has breached this obligation.
Rep. John Conyers
Haiti’s Unnatural Disaster

Haiti has been beaten down by storms and abandoned by its neighbors, and its suffering will only increase unless the world community responds.
Paul Farmer
Noted.

Tricky Dick Cheney, Canada Greens, the truth about the Rosenberg trial
The Editors
Palin’s Petropolitics

Palin’s opposition to government-supported renewable energy makes her stupendously ill equipped for national office.
Michael T. Klare
Crashing the Election

Puncturing John McCain’s Teddy Roosevelt persona will require brutal honesty from Barack Obama–about the causes of the crash and the regulatory solutions.
The Editors
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Column

Desperate Measures

Remember the National Lampoon cover showing a puppy with a gun to its head? That’s the Paulson plan.
Nicholas von Hoffman
Paulson’s Plan: Financial Fascism

Henry Paulson isn’t proposing the nationalization of private corporations–he wants a corporate takeover of government.
Robert Scheer
The Mother of All Bailouts

Even without knowing the specifics of Paulson’s staggering rescue plan, you can kiss the environment, preschool education and health insurance for all goodbye.
Nicholas von Hoffman
Something Stupid

John McCain is determined to lie his way into the White House, and pundits and reporters are doing everything they can to enable that strategy.
Eric Alterman
Lipstick Jungle

Andy Warhol would have loved Sarah Palin. She really is the ultimate soup can.
Patricia J. Williams
Playing White House

Awwww… aren’t they cute?
Zina Saunders
Truth by Repetition

She flips, she flops, she flips again.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

Darkness Becomes Him

A French pundit’s short journey from Maoism to the cult of moi.
Scott McLemee
Wall Street and Washington

Washington’s mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt’s New Deal faced.
Steve Fraser
Mandarins, Guns and Money: Academics and the Cold War

Four authors examine the evolution of the social sciences and how academic theorizing impacted global affairs before and after Vietnam.
Mark Mazower
Inconvenient Truths

Elizabeth Pisani and Jonny Steinberg explore antipodal aspects of the fight against AIDS.
Steven Epstein
Reviews: ‘Burn After Reading,’ ‘Moving Midway’

The Coen brothers’ dark comedy and Godfrey Cheshire’s story of plantation life.
Stuart Klawans
Back Talk: Chris Smith

The filmmaker discusses the American Dream, crummy jobs and his new work, The Pool.
Christine Smallwood
My Realtor

When I tell her the dining room seems a little small,
She opens the double doors to the garden
And motions me out with a gesture suggesting
Carl Dennis
The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

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Letters

Letters

Obama: Win First, Change Later
Oakland, Calif.
Our Readers and Thomas J. Sugrue

Crossword

Crossword Classic #18

From the February 14, 1948, issue.
Frank W. Lewis
Puzzle No. 3138

ACROSS

1 Not so much in where you sleep, but given divine protection. (7)
Frank W. Lewis

Log In

October 6, 2008 Issue

Feature

Something needs to be done for the American taxpayer–something fair–to salvage Wall Street. We want the same deal Warren Buffet got.

Flush with cash, most Asian governments and financial players are wary of being drawn into the Wall Street maelstrom.

Bernanke is asking for trust he has not earned. Here’s a shortlist of conditions to make this a credible deal.

Instead of handing Bernanke $700 billion with no strings attached, government should take over the banking and finance sector, clean it up and start funneling money into the real economy.

The bailout jeopardizes the entire progressive agenda, undermines democracy, doesn’t compensate us for our money and doesn’t solve the problem. Otherwise, it’s great!

A Michigan news site uncovers a GOP plan to deny people caught up in foreclosure proceedings the right to vote in November. Team Obama files suit to stop the practice.

The Paulson/Bernanke bailout plan is not the way to go, unless you work on Wall Street. Even if you do, there are compelling reasons to fear it. Here’s what Congress should do instead.

The deregulation binge that tanked global markets is a bullet deliberately fired into the economy by ideologues, heedless of the ultimate cost to taxpayers. And John McCain cheered them on.

John McCain is making a big show of criticizing the government “bailout” of insurance giant AIG. But it turns out that AIG is one of the largest donors to his pet think-tank.

Paulson’s rescue plan represents a historic swindle–all sugar for the villains, lasting pain for the rest of us. Don’t let Wall Street get away with this without enacting significant reform.

Washington’s mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt’s New Deal faced.

The corporations that rigged the casino economy and CEOs and investors who profited at our expense should bear the recovery costs.

A mission to Gaza motivated by human misery broke the Israeli siege and raised Nobel hopes for a group of dedicated activists.

Environmentalists must learn to join forces with other agents of change.

The war hero has long sought to bury information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.

Massive workplace raids are part of a pressure campaign for guest-worker programs.

The Editors Here’s what’s really at stake in this election, for America and the world.

Editorial

Any Wall Street bailout must also impose tax increases for the wealthy, market reforms and address the needs of middle class Americans caught in the crunch.

Fifty years ago, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that all citizens have an “unremitting obligation” to respond to Congressional subpoenas. Karl Rove has breached this obligation.

Haiti has been beaten down by storms and abandoned by its neighbors, and its suffering will only increase unless the world community responds.

Tricky Dick Cheney, Canada Greens, the truth about the Rosenberg trial

Palin’s opposition to government-supported renewable energy makes her stupendously ill equipped for national office.

Puncturing John McCain’s Teddy Roosevelt persona will require brutal honesty from Barack Obama–about the causes of the crash and the regulatory solutions.

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Column

Remember the National Lampoon cover showing a puppy with a gun to its head? That’s the Paulson plan.

Henry Paulson isn’t proposing the nationalization of private corporations–he wants a corporate takeover of government.

Even without knowing the specifics of Paulson’s staggering rescue plan, you can kiss the environment, preschool education and health insurance for all goodbye.

John McCain is determined to lie his way into the White House, and pundits and reporters are doing everything they can to enable that strategy.

Andy Warhol would have loved Sarah Palin. She really is the ultimate soup can.

Awwww… aren’t they cute?

She flips, she flops, she flips again.

Books & the Arts

A French pundit’s short journey from Maoism to the cult of moi.

Washington’s mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt’s New Deal faced.

Four authors examine the evolution of the social sciences and how academic theorizing impacted global affairs before and after Vietnam.

Elizabeth Pisani and Jonny Steinberg explore antipodal aspects of the fight against AIDS.

The Coen brothers’ dark comedy and Godfrey Cheshire’s story of plantation life.

The filmmaker discusses the American Dream, crummy jobs and his new work, The Pool.

When I tell her the dining room seems a little small, She opens the double doors to the garden And motions me out with a gesture suggesting

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Letters

Obama: Win First, Change Later Oakland, Calif.

Crossword

From the February 14, 1948, issue.

ACROSS 1 Not so much in where you sleep, but given divine protection. (7)

When I tell her the dining room seems a little small,
She opens the double doors to the garden
And motions me out with a gesture suggesting

Obama: Win First, Change Later
Oakland, Calif.

ACROSS

1 Not so much in where you sleep, but given divine protection. (7)