Budgets & Funding – Page 8 – Public Intelligence Blog

Dear Friend,

As co-founder and CEO of Ben & Jerry¹s, I saw that big business has gobs of money, and yes, I believe they should pay their fair share. However, the bank accounts of Fortune 500 companies pale in comparison to the US Treasury. In order to defeat poverty and financial instability we need to examine the federal budget. There is enough money to solve our fiscal problems simply by shifting already existing funds.

You may think of me as an ice cream guy, but I also care about excessive military spending. To use one of my favorite analogies, let¹s say that one Oreo represents $10 billion and that the $700 billion Pentagon budget is a stack of 70 Oreos. In comparison, the federal government spends just
four-and-half Oreos on education, half an Oreo on alternative energy, and a fraction of an Oreo on Head Start. If you take just seven Oreos out of the Pentagon budget, you could provide health care for all kids who don¹t have
it, AND you could provide college scholarships for all qualified students who can¹t afford to go, AND in ten years you could eliminate our need for Mideast oil through energy efficiency, AND you could repair and rebuild all
of our public schools, AND you'd still have money left over. This is not rocket science. We have enough cookies.

Continue reading “Ben Cohen: Time to Count and Reinvest the Oreos”

2011/10/242011/10/24

Reference: Smart Nation Act Draft (Full Text Online for Google Translate)

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Ethics, Hacking, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), IO Multinational, Key Players, Legislation, Methods & Process, Policies, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Real Time, Reform, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Strategy, Threats

Proposed Legislation: The Smart Nation Act

Institutionalizing Open Source Information Exploitation

and Multinational Information Sharing Beneficial to All

Continue reading “Reference: Smart Nation Act Draft (Full Text Online for Google Translate)”

2011/10/242011/10/24

Reference: Open Source Agency Synopsis (Full Text Online for Google Translate)

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Ethics, Hacking, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), IO Multinational, Key Players, Legislation, Memoranda, Methods & Process, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Policies, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Strategy, Threats

Open Source Intelligence Requires an Open Source Agency

Continue reading “Reference: Open Source Agency Synopsis (Full Text Online for Google Translate)”

2011/10/18

Winslow Wheeler: Media Plays Dead for Panetta Virus

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Corporations, Corruption, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

WinslowWheeler Cropped — Winslow Wheeler

Yesterday, the Nieman Watchdog journalism group at Harvard asked me to evaluate how well the press is scrutinizing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Basically, it's not; instead, Panetta seems to be free of informed, skeptical questioning; he must be absolutely delighted with the treatment he is receiving.

Why is the press ignoring Panetta's frenzied rhetoric and data-free myths?

The defense secretary likens budget-cutters to Nazis and makes assertions that simply aren't true — but the media don't seem to care, writes Winslow Wheeler.

The silence in the press about the overheated rhetoric and dubious myths from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta makes for a very unhappy comparison of today’s defense journalism compared to previous eras when, for example, SecDef Casper Weinberger was the subject of serious critical analysis.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: Leon Panetta, like Bob Gates before him, is a posturing pimp for the military-industrial complex that pays 5% bribes to get 95% discounts on the taxpayers treasure. He could not stand up to fifteen minutes on the same stage with any one of us–Chuck Spinney, Winslow Wheeler, Ralph Peters, Bob Scales, etcetera.

2011/10/182011/10/18

Gordon Cook: On the State of Economics – An Exchange Dedicated to #OWS and Society Achieving a Broader Understanding

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, Blog Wisdom, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

Here is the final paragraph from an essay by John Kay titled

The Map is Not the Territory: An Essay on the State of Economics

The preposterous claim that deviations from market efficiency were not only irrelevant to the recent crisis but could never be relevant is the product of an environment in which deduction has driven out induction and ideology has taken over from observation. The belief that models are not just useful tools but also are capable of yielding comprehensive and universal descriptions of the world has blinded its proponents to realities that have been staring them in the face. That blindness was an element in our present crisis, and conditions our still ineffectual responses. Economists – in government agencies as well as universities – were obsessively playing Grand Theft Auto while the world around them was falling apart.

to which I responded

What we are up against

A refreshing reminder of the staid mechanistic approach of so-called market-efficient economics. Good for the status quo as used to explain to the world WHY the Masters of the universe are in charge. I'm not sure how many of the deans of business schools and Harvard economics professors are prime advocates. But I imagine a substantial amount remembering the interviews that Ferguson did in the documentary Inside Job. They get very well rewarded for being apologists for the current system.

But I would like to take off from this point and try 500,000 foot summary of some of the issues. I am not sure how many people really understand the nature and the reasons for our problems I have a stack of books on my porch more than 3 feet high that I've read since 2008 attempting to grasp it. It is only with the addition of the latest by Nicholas Shaxson called Treasure Islands Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens that I feel I have made really significant progress.

Whether it is possible for the occupy movements to create among their followers and the wider public at large an understanding of the situation, I'm not sure. But I suspect that short of violent revolution which has never been a positive accomplishment–the only way forward is to formulate this broader understanding.

Continue reading “Gordon Cook: On the State of Economics – An Exchange Dedicated to #OWS and Society Achieving a Broader Understanding”

2011/10/162011/10/17

Graphic: Government Executive Cuts 1 Trillion Over Ten Years – Still Borrows a Trillion a Year

Budgets & Funding, Government

Source

Marcus Aurelius

Phi Beta Iota: This is the idiot's solution. It assumes that we can continue to borrow $1 trillion a year during the ten years over which this $1 trillion will be cut. The ignorance and hypocrisy of the entire Washington world, including all the NGOs and niche publications, cannot be under-stated.

2011/10/162011/10/17

MELTDOWN: Al Jazeera Four Part Video Special

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

MELTDOWN

Part I: The men who crashed the world

The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse.

In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the thron

Part II: A global financial tsunami

Meltdown examines how an epidemic of fear caused banks to stop lending, triggered protests and led to industrial action.

In the second episode of Meltdown, we look at how the financial tsunami swept the world. We hear about a renegade executive who nearly destroyed the global financial system and the US treasury secretary who bailed out his friends.

Part III: Paying the price

As the toll of the financial crisis continues to mount, many are looking for its true causes – and finding a crime.

The third episode of Meltdown looks at how the victims of the 2008 financial crash fight back. A protesting singer in Iceland brings down the government; in France a union leader oversees the kidnapping of his bosses; and thousands of families are made homeless in California.

Part IV: After the Fall

Some responded with denial, others by re-thinking capitalism, but who is preparing for the next crisis?

In the final episode of Meltdown, we hear about the sheikh who says the crash never happened; a Wall Street king charged with fraud; a congresswoman who wants to jail the bankers; and the world leaders who want a re-think of capitalism.

Phi Beta Iota: This is a world-class series that misses just two things:

A. Goldman Sachs has owned the US Treasury–providing the Secretary of the Treasurer (and today also the National Security Advisor to the President–for three critical administrations, each of which willfully eradicated safeguards.

B. Senator Phil Graham (R-TX) and the other Senators who had and still have zero integrity, passing 200 pages of lobbyist written deregulation inserted into the bill five minutes before the vote.

Penguin adds:

C. The perfidy of Clinton in his Glass-Steagall sellout and his CONTINUED malignant hyping of its ethic through obfuscation and the pimping of what “reputable” analysts who want access to his solon. For him America was built on deal making and networking.