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Obama’s Team: Pro Biz, Pro War
Did Obama’s progressive base get anything? Is it going to be four years of let-down? CounterPunch editors Cockburn and St Clair take a hard, sharp look at the new line-up. A MUST for all Paul Craig Roberts fans: part one of the shortest, simplest, sharpest outline of economics ever written. Alexander Cockburn’s Trans-America Diary: this time it’s the story of a true conspiracy: the Secrets of Jekyll Island. Get your Legacy Edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
Saul Landau in Portland January 23 / 24 Click Here for Details
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Today's Stories January 22, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts January 21, 2009 Gabriel Kolko Harry Browne Michael Colby Lawrence R. Velvel Audrey Stewart Wajahat Ali Binoy Kampmark David Kεr Thomson John Ross Allan Nairn Sheldon Richman Website of the Day January 20, 2009 Chuck Spinney Kathy Kelly Raymond Deane Ralph Nader Audrey Stewart Jonathan Cook Harvey Wasserman Christopher Ketcham Robert Jensen Dave Lindorff David Macaray January 19, 2009 Kevin Alexander Gray Uri Avnery Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Lawrence R. Velvel Mats Svensson Harry Browne Norman Solomon Jeffrey Sommers Kenneth Libby Peter Ewart Bob Sommer Website of the Day
January 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Caoimhe Butterly Audrey Stewart / Jeffrey St. Clair Ellen Cantarow Neve Gordon Vijay Prashad Jonathan Cook Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Brian Cloughley Belén Fernández Missy Beattie Fred Gardner George Ciccariello-Maher John V. Whitbeck Stephen Fleischman Mischa Gaus Saul Landau Norm Kent Alejandro López David Yearsley James McEnteer Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Day
January 15, 2009 Pam Martens Karl Grossman M. Shahid Alam Jules Rabin Alan Farago Ron Jacobs Timothy Seidel George Ochenski Todd Chretien Bob Fitrakis / Website of the Day January 14, 2009 Henry A. Giroux Kathy Kelly Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Aditya Chakrabortty Dave Lindorff Jonathan Cook David Swanson Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
January 13, 2009 Norman Finkelstein Jonathan Cook Michael Neumann Coleen Rowley / Robert Sandels Saul Landau David Swanson Wajahat Ali Sam Bahour Stanley Heller Robert Jensen Robin Mittenthal Website of the Day
January 12, 2009 Uri Avnery Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Ewa Jasiewicz Bill Quigley Dave Lindorff Bill and Kathleen Christison Jonathan Cook Andy Worthington Kara N. Tina Brenda Norrell Nour Kharma Website of the Day
January 9/11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Kathy Kelly Bill Quigley George Ciccariello-Maher Elaine C. Hagopian Mike Roselle Steve Hendricks Gary Leupp Jonathan Cook Karim Makdisi Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Peter Montague Ralph Nader Andy Worthington Nadia Hijab Dan Bacher Catherine Fenton David Macaray Valia Kaimaki Richard Morse David Yearsley Charles R. Larson Richard Rhames Stephen Martin Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend January 8, 2009 Jean Bricmont / Franklin Lamb Paul Craig Roberts Kevin Alexander Gray Chris Floyd Ewa Jasiewicz Steve Conn Harvey Wasserman Wayne S. Smith Linda Mamoun Adam Turl Chris Papaleonardos Website of the Day January 7, 2009 Saree Makdisi Franklin Lamb William Blum Belén Fernández Lawrence Davidson Allan Nairn Jonathan Cook Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Deepak Tripathi Cal Winslow Manuel Garcia, Jr. Dr. Hannah Safran Website of the Day January 6, 2009 Pam Martens Victoria Buch Neve Gordon Tami Sarfatti / Mike Whitney Alan Farago Gary Leupp Larry Everest Ron Jacobs David Macaray Stephanie Basile Stacey Warde Website of the Day January 5, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Sousan Hammad Wajahat Ali Mats Svensson Jen Marlowe Muhammad Ali Khalidi Brian Cloughley Faheem Hussain William Cook Dr. Trudy Bond Christopher Ketcham Steve Early Dave Lindorff Website of the Day January 2 - 4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts Brian Eno Ralph Nader Omar Barghouti Graham Usher P. Sainath Belén Fernández Deb Reich Gary Leupp Michael Yates Joanne Mariner Seth Sandronsky Cynthia McKinney Sonja Karkar Deepak Tripathi Robert Fantina John Ross Norm Kent Larry Portis Richard Rhames Dee C. Lubell David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Marc Catone Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 1, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Oren Ben-Dor Wajahat Ali Saul Landau David Michael Green Website of the Day December 31, 2008 Pam Martens Neve Gordon / Ted Honderich Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Vijay Prashad Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney David Macaray Richard Thieme Mary Lynn Cramer Stephen Lendman Worthy Group of the Day December 30, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Tariq Ali Robert Bryce Jonathan Cook Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff Brian McKenna John Walsh Ramzy Baroud Bob Sommer Worthy Activist of the Day
December 29, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Neve Gordon Joshua Frank George Salzman / Norman Solomon Ewa Jasiewicz Rob Larson Kenneth Libby Robert Weissman Elsa Johnson Nicola Nasser Belén Fernández Worthy Group of the Day December 26-28, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Dr Eyad Al Serraj Jeffrey St. Clair Bradley Simpson Ralph Nader Gary Leupp Ellen Cantarow Matt Landon David Macaray Patrick Bond Norm Kent Brian T. Ketcham Rannie Amiri Larry Portis Richard Rhames Stephen Lendman James L. Secor Ramzy Baroud Harold Pinter Cpt. Paul Watson Howard Lisnoff Michael Dee Steve Conn Poets' Basement Worthy Group of the Weekend December 25, 2008 Judy Gumbo Albert Rev. William E. Alberts Hannah Mermelstein Worthy Group of the Day December 24, 2008 Bill Quigley Saul Landau Sam Smith Brian Cloughley John Ross Eric Walberg Norm Kent Stephen Martin Worthy Group of the Day December 23, 2008 Michael Hudson Michael Yates Chuck Spinney Vijay Prashad Brian Horejsi David Macaray Neil Watkins / David Michael Green Worthy Group of the Day
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January 22, 2009 A Damage AssessmentThe First MBA Presidency and the Business AcademyBy JOSEPH G. DAVIS This week marked the end of the first MBA Presidency in US history. Not any MBA, a Harvard MBA to boot. While it is unlikely that Harvard Business School would deem George Bush as one of its shining stars, the fact remains that he walked the corridors of the hallowed Spangler Hall and graduated with an MBA from the School in 1975. As pointed out by Brian Dutt the Viewpoints Editor of "the Harbus" (an independent HBS student weekly), for an institution that claims to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, there is deafening silence from Bush's alma mater when it comes to this well-known graduate whose reign has adversely affected the lives of millions of people all over the world. After all, it is difficult for HBS to hang a portrait or dedicate a building to honor arguably the most incompetent president in the history of the Union, who often struggled to piece together words and phrases to complete a sentence. One of the HBS professors, Richard Tedlow, went to the extent of disowning Bush from the MBA club when he said that Bush administration failed to apply the MBA skill set and problem solving approach. In an office dominated by lawyers (28 to date out of 44 counting Obama), it is fair to say that Bush has not done legions of MBAs any favors by virtue of his performance in office. The general consensus on the Bush presidency is that it was riddled with strategic and operational blunders, not to mention moral and ethical failures. These culminated in the deep economic crisis starting 2007-08. While Bush cannot be exclusively held responsible for the economic crisis, thousands of fellow MBAs have contributed their share. This may be an opportune time to look into the role, influence, attitudes, mind and skill sets, and ethics of this large and influential group of professionals and the business academy which has trained them. Business schools have clearly emerged as important pillars of modern university life in recent years and yet a sober assessment of their influence and impact on the economy and the broader society is long overdue. The business academy was initially established in the early part 20th century in the US with the goal of shifting the focus of higher education away from educating civic leaders and ministers for an agrarian society and professionals in medicine, engineering, and law to training managers for the industrial economy. It was also meant to raise the legitimacy, prestige, and profile of the emerging managerial class. The 'scientific management' school inaugurated by Frederick Taylor with the goal of measuring and monitoring work using scientific principles and industrial psychology in the 1920's gave business pedagogy greater credibility and acceptance. By the 1960's, postgraduate training in management through the MBA degree had firmly established itself in most of the elite US universities. Various research-based specializations such as Accounting and Finance, Marketing, Quantitative Methods and Operational Research, Organizational Behavior and Management had been established, accompanied by peer-reviewed academic journals to publish the research. The MBA model was successfully ported to the UK, France, and India among others with the assistance of Ford and Rockefeller foundations in the 60's and 70's. The growth of business degrees at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels has accelerated globally in recent decades, so much so the business schools constitute major purveyors of quasi-scientific training and ideological conditioning in business and the society at large. In more recent times, the intellectual leadership of the business academy has been captured by the neo-liberal economists and finance researchers, in keeping with the rise of finance capital in the advanced economies. It is well-known that some of the brightest students gravitate towards finance and join the beeline to work for investment banks and other financial institutions. The financial incentives for doing this are enormous. The take of this sector till recent months was anywhere between 5 and 8% of the GDP! Despite many business schools paying lip service to social and environmental responsiveness and ethics from time to time, the single-minded focus of most of the MBA hordes has been on maximizing personal and firm earnings at any cost. Many see themselves as technocrats who are exclusively focused on competition, efficiency and technology where there is no room for social concerns and community values. This is more often a simple reflection of the thrust of the substantive and symbolic learning acquired in business schools. Several of the recent business collapses such as Enron, Global Crossing, and Lehman Brothers can be attributed to the limitations of this MBA logic. Many of the faculty are openly contemptuous of any mention of social considerations by echoing the words of the laissez faire patron saint Milton Friedman who wrote in 1970 that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. Amitai Etzioni, a professor at George Washington University, has written about a debate at Harvard Business School in the late 1980's after it was given $20 million by a former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, John Shad, to introduce a formal program in ethics. Most of the faculty were dismissive of the idea wondering whose ethics and values they were going to teach. Some were uncomfortable with the idea knowing it would be at odds with many of the things they teach. Some were convinced that they were teaching science in which ethics has little role if any. It is worth noting that until the collapse of Enron in 2001, many business school professors in the US were singing hosannas to the brilliant Enron innovation model. Several case studies were written on various aspects of Enron's business strategy and model which were energetically and approvingly discussed at length in the MBA classrooms. Even though these case studies were buried after the firm's collapse, there is not much of an indication that the Enron ethics has been left behind. It is not much of a coincidence that many of the protagonists in the recent business collapses and the subprime crisis happen to be MBAs like dubya! Joseph G. Davis is a lapsed MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India. He teaches at the School of Information Technologies, the University of Sydney in Australia.
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