Both inside the US and around the world, political observers have been waiting a long time for an election that would promise relief from the most noxious features of the American system. Alas, while it is high time that the US lead the way in reversing these trends, the outcome of the 18 month struggle to elect a new administration looks likely to scuttle all hopes for serious leadership and reform…

Both inside the US and around the world, political observers have been waiting a long time for an election that would promise relief from the most noxious features of the American system. Alas, while it is high time that the US lead the way in reversing these trends, the outcome of the 18 month struggle to elect a new administration looks likely to scuttle all hopes for serious leadership and reform.

What is a Ceausescu moment? Politically aware people above a certain age know immediately what I mean. They can remember the shock on the face of the Romanian dictator when a horde of workers broke from decades of placid obeisance and interrupted his year-end 1989 speech with jeers…

It would not be a stretch to argue that the most consequential development in the world over the last third of the twentieth century was the asphyxiation of the public interest in the United States. The largest and most advanced economy in history effectively neutered its own political system, thanks primarily to sustained pressure from wealthy interests (who promoted the dogma of free market beneficence, maligned and stigmatized government, systematically suborned politicians and regulators to do their bidding, narrowed the range of political discussion in the mass media, etc.). Momentous consequences ensued, both domestically and internationally…

"The Department of Defense is the only federal agency that cannot pass a clean audit. Many of its major acquisition programs suffer from chronic cost overruns. Virtually every defense contractor has been found guilty or has reached a settlement with the government because of fraudulent and illegal activities. This has got to change", – Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, explaining his opposition to a Department of Defense funding bill, Nov. 10th, 2015..

In broad terms, the spectacular diseconomies and immoralities of health-care in the US have long been known to observers the world over. Being in thrall to the monied interests that fund their election campaigns, including health insurance companies, US political elites have steadfastly resisted establishing government-delivered health insurance for many decades…

Even the most casual observer of international affairs since the turn of the century is familiar with the willingness of the government of the United States to bypass international law under circumstances it alone determines. The war of aggression launched against Iraq under false pretenses ten years ago this month may be the first example that comes to mind, but there are numerous others…

…We know, of course that very powerful monied interests are happy to fuel denial of global warming. Meanwhile, other powerful monied interests are devising ways of profiting from some dimensions of the developing climate crisis. Arguably the most important theater of operations in this respect is water… The list of investors acquiring or preparing to acquire water-related assets is long, and it is imposing: big banks, SWFs, multinational corporations, targeted hedge funds, tycoons, and pension funds all figure in large numbers…

The economic hardships of the past few years and the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement have made Americans more aware than at any time in living memory of the extraordinary inequalities of wealth that have built up in their society. From bloggers' datapoints to professors' treatises, a steady stream of publications has been feeding the nation's growing appetite for information on inequality and explanations for its emergence…

In US history, second presidential terms have had a pronounced tendency to disappoint. The causes have ranged widely, from political scandal (think Nixon and Watergate) to personal scandal (think Clinton and Lewinsky) to a loss of credibility (think George W. Bush). But the upshot has been quite similar in all cases: an inefficacious second term of office. What would efficacy for President Barack Obama's second term mean, and how likely is he to accomplish it?..