What's really going on with the economy

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=891 The best explanation I've seen yet.

Megalomania

Wikipedia: Megalomania. The "See Also" links are also quite useful.

Surge, surge, who wants a surge?

Not the Iraqi government: International Herald Tribune
Not the American public: Yahoo News

If this sucker fails, we won't have to wonder why.

Bush targets Iran and Syria

Washington Post
International Herald Tribune

One could see this escalating into direct conflict with Iran and Syria. "Slippery slope" is a logical fallacy, but I think some slopes are greased.

Economists Don't Know What They're Talking About

Talking Past Each Other. Major disconnect between how pundits and average Americans perceive economic issues.

All of This Has Happened Before...

Sinking Globalization. Especially interesting in light of the previous article I linked.

War between Israel and Iran

is probably only a matter of time.
Financial Sense

News 12/19/06

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/18/MNG6CN1FJK1.DTL US-Chinese relations on a downtrend. This may be bad news, considering how much US debt they hold.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1891f962-8fc4-11db-9ba3-0000779e2340.html Congress already ready to respond.

News 12/16/06

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/daily/2006/1212c.html But, can a complex, technological civilization be maintained by a bunch of happy little slaves?

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/martenson/2006/1204.html If inflation is tame, why is everything so much more expensive? Can a complex, technological civilization be maintained by a bunch of happy little slaves who don't have accurate information about what's really going on?

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/sutton/2006/1214.html http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/hodges/2006/1116.html Hmm, the slaves don't seem to be as happy as they're told they ought to be. Selfish, ungrateful slaves!