Most of the gains have come via the stock market, which many have said are chimerical gains based on Quantitative Easing. That said, this bull market has been exclusively benefitting the 1% . The reality is that in times of financial chaos, the rich always get richer--unless otherwise constrained. Look at what happened in Germany in the 1930s.

Same thing is happening here. How many REITS do you think picked up huges swathes of property a dirt rock bottom prices. They HAD the money to do so, even during the worst of the recession--so while hardworking Americans were losing their houses, the rich were picking them up at cut rate prices. Now, with those valuations back to normal, they've got a whole lot more money in hand. Amerians who had 401ks in 2008 lost nearly half their value. The value didn't really disappear in the company though, simply the stock price took a hit. But those Americans couldn't afford to pick up a million shares a rock bottom prices, and wait them through this bull market.

The ability of the rich to make money off the hardships of others in difficult times, QZ, is nothing new. NOTHING short of a dictatorial legislation can prevent it--Caesar could but, then again, he was appointed dictator for exactly that purpose.

One thing I'd like to do is what Caesar did: debt forgiveness. For the most part, debt forgiveness would hit the 1% but leave the rest of us mostly alone. That would be a stimulus plan that would work, I guarantee it!

But, long and short, it's hardly fair to blame Obama for being unable to stop the historical reality of the rich benefitting from hard times for ordinary folks.

And especially given the alternatives of McCain or Romney--it would be hard to see even the dimmest glimmerings of any argument claiming we'd have been off electing either of them, ESPECIALLY the latter, who has spent his life feasting off the hard times of ordinary workers.

I think is truly a sad state because the abuse of men is one of the most under reported types of abuse. That coupled with the rape of men. When a man walks into a police station to report abuse, he is often met with laughter and insults about not being able to take it like a real man.

I really like the idea of calling it a "Shadow Internet" because it's got that whole sneaky-sly underground internet feeling. Like it's a series of tubes filled with ninja cats in spandex-y outfits with those cylinder tube things like the guy from the show Kung Fu The Legend Continues carried around instead of the Internet the rest of us use with is a series of tubes filled with normal cats wearing postal carrier hats that wave to each other as they scurry around carrying data packets in little mail bags over their backs.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

These are mercenaries hired to destabilize Nigeria, every Dumbo knows that to kidnap girls and loot and kill is the best way to loose any support or moral grounds ........ these are trying to malign and defame Islam from the word go .......................... NOW who will benefit from maligning the Islam ......... enemies of Islam of course ........................ trace their weapons and let no one be under impression that they have fooled the world ...........

I also want to say little about history of Boko haram. The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, is a terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria. The group is known for attacking churches, schools, and police stations. The group also kidnaps western tourists and has assassinated members of the Islamic establishment who have criticized the group. Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2002 and 2013.

Capitalism is like a bandwagon pulled by mighty horses. The rich being the horses that pulls the country forward. Because to get rich, they need a market that has money to buy their products. So they have to create jobs and develop the country if they want to get richer and increase their market.

If you are going to work in US then you should well aware of Work Culture in USA, their Working Hours, Lunch time, Meetings etc. It depend on the company and your role in the organization.

I guess women in Iran have no rights at all today.. They cant even roam freely around in the public without having their head covered... Few days back, a Facebook page was launched where women of Iran were allowed to post their pictures without their head coverings, and as expected, it raised questions.. Disgusting!!

It really is amusing, the desperation in you.....
You THINK? Is that supposed to be an educated response Sana? To have the resources right in front of you and refuse to read the information and form an educated opinion and instead opt to offer a negative opinion based on "I think" isn't a rebuttal or a defense for obama, its merely anti gop whining. And BTW tax cuts create jobs, that's a proven fact For a reference see the state of NY add offering 10 years of no state taxes for companies that move there. Did the liberal state of NY do that to make the rich richer?
Now, do you have an educated opinion on any of those bills including your reasoning that shows why tax cuts don't create jobs? I would ask you to list a few of the plans obama has presented to congress to create jobs and stimulate the economy but he hasn't provided any. And of course that is bush's fault just like everything else.

An Iranian actress, Leila Hatami who starred in the Oscar-winning fim "A Separation" angered religious authorities after she kissed the cheek of the president of Cannes Film Festival, Gilles Jacob and now she faces a call that she be publicly flogged by various groups in her country.

After the controversial kiss on the cheek, many hardline media outlets in Iran used the headlines "Leila Hatami kisses a strange man" to accompany the pictures to the dissaproval of hard line media and conservative political parties in her country.

A few days later, a group of female Iranian students wrote to Tehran’s minister of culture and media, Al Jannati. “We ask actress Leila Hatami be sentenced to one to ten years imprisonment and flogging,” the petition read. “We refer you to article 638 of Islamic Penal Code, which deems punishment for those who commit a sin in public. Leila Hatami, who is a beloved public personality in our Islamic nation, did not observe the proper Islamic attire and intentionally, and with full knowledge of her actions, volunteered to kiss a foreign non-Muslim man.” The group signed the petition the “Student Sisters of Hezbollah.”

What do you guys think of this? Massive over reaction or do the Iranians have the right to enforce moral codes unto artists who represent their country?

Do consider both sides of the argument.

His plan to save our economy was the stimulus plan, that failed. So what other plan did he have for the economy ? When did he have a budget that passed the senate ? What plan does he have for keystone ? What plan did he have to deal with Syria and the chemical weapons and why did that plan fail? What plan does he have for the current attack on iraq ? Other than to order his team to come up with options while he plays golf, what plan does he have? What plan does he have for the border and the tens of thousands of illegal aliens coming here to get the amnesty obama promised them? What are the plans to employ all those illegal aliens so they aren't on welfare living off the tax payers who are already taxed to the max? You claim he had so many plans that would save our economy and get it going so name a few dd.  Or perhaps you could take a few of the jobs bills the House passed and explain why the senate has refused to address them and then post the jobs bills the senate passed and show how many of those are sitting in the House. Put your money where your mouth is instead of passing off the old talking point lies.



http://catholicglasses.com/2013/01/22/40-jobs-bills-passed-in-house-butt-stuck-senate/

40 Jobs Bills – Passed in House – NOW Stuck In Senate!


40 Jobs Bills are Stuck in the Senate!!!

House Republicans have passed 40 jobs bills that are currently stuck in the Democrat controlled Senate.

http://majorityleader.gov/JobsTracker/

Empower Small Business Owners
Small business owners are being bogged down by burdensome regulations from Washington that prevent job creation and hinder economic growth. We must remove onerous regulations that are redundant, harm small businesses, and impede private sector investment and job creation.

Review of Federal Regulations
H. Res. 72 – Passed by the House (391-28) on February 11, 2011

Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act
H.R. 872 – Senate has taken no action to date

Energy Tax Prevention Act
H.R. 910 – Senate has taken no action to date

Disapproval of FCC’s Net Neutrality Regulations
H.J. Res. 37 – Senate has blocked a companion measure by a vote of 46-52

Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act
H.R. 2018 – Senate has taken no action to date

Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act
H.R. 1315 – Senate has taken no action to date

Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act
H.R. 2587 – Senate has taken no action to date

Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act
H.R. 2401 – Senate has taken no action to date

Yes. Which is exactly the problem caused by this "hearts and minds" nonsense.
Toss out Maliki, put in a Kurdish strongman who aligns his country with the US, and encourage him to start butchering Sunni Arabs who resist. Saddam could have EASILY put this nonsense down with a bit of well placed brutality. I mean, look at the Anfal campaign to see how to properly do counter-insurgency in the Muslim world. People like ISIS don't understand anything except brute force, which is exactly why they need iron fisted dictators like Bashar Assad or Saddam Hussein to keep them in line.

One thing is for sure, whatever road they choose, there would be hard times to deal with all those problems. I'm not smart to decide what is best for Scotland (or any other country) future, but, from mine point of view, both roads will introduce problems.

Actually, brutality-based, enemy-centric counter-insurgency is pretty much the most effective way of dealing with resistance forces. Indeed, the Russian state has been far more successful in counterinsurgency campaigns than most of the West. Aside from Afghanistan and the First Chechen War, there hasn't been a single example of an insurgent campaign successfully defeating the Soviet or Russian military.

(See here: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/zhu...r_PREPRINT.pdf)

Even looking at Western history, the successful counterinsurgency campaigns of the 20th century tended to be nasty and brutal. The British used mustard gas on Iraqi tribesmen. They also relocated Malay peasants to prison villages. They used carpet bombing on Somali towns. Hardly a hearts and minds strategy, is it?

The real reason Western military leaders have low regard for reprisal tactics and collective punishment has absolutely nothing to do with its effectiveness. It's simply not politically possible for Western democracies to use massive firepower on civilian targets (like Grozny) or use directed violence against the population. Any reasonable interpretation of history can point to brutal reprisal campaigns like Germany's destruction of Lidice or massive collective punishment like Stalin's deportation of the Chechens to be the ultimate in counter-insurgency, it's just not something Americans are willing to stomach.

As for Chechnya and Dagestan. The Russian state has effective control of the region. That is far more than can be said about Afghanistan.

The French were fine with doing brutality on a small scale. It's just that when they had to execute it on a wider scale, they backed down rather than keep up with a campaign of violence. The US didn't really use reprisal tactics in Vietnam.
I was thinking more like Russia in Chechnya, the Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica, or Genghis Khan in Afghanistan.
All very successful reprisal and violence-based strategies.

Just heard CNN say that the US and Iran might have to work TOGETHER to protect Baghdad.

Nicely pointed out I must say.. You are absolutely right... Today's society is actually driven by fashion, trend and other material things.. But then I don't think it is right to blame the multinational companies for this entirely.. It is the we people who have allowed them to do so.. If we wouldn't have accepted the latest trends promoted by them, they wouldn't have gone so far..

I wouldn't count on this happening anytime soon.