In last week’s State of the Union Address, President Obama replayed themes he had touched on here in North Carolina when speaking at Forsyth Technical College in December.[1] He spoke of competitive challenges and the danger of a loss of global leadership.

And : "Free trade agreements are licenses to engage in what used to be called "Labor Racketeering" Give the 6 month notice. Likewise notify the wto that we are out the door " Jolly Roger, in a comment to SleepinJeezus' blog today, "The failure of a thirty year experiment."

It's intuitively convincing, but in my particular case, FWIW supported by observations from  the 20 years of my career which I spent in international business, usually living abroad, that John Maynard and Jolly Roger, are right.

Since the advent of Reaganomics, both Repubs and Dems have fully embraced supply-side, trickle-down economic policy as the course that would provide growth and prosperity for all Americans. Indeed, there was no greater advocate of this than Bill Clinton, who established NAFTA as the standard for our Free Trade policies.

It was just so over the top, and so wrongheaded that our usually fractious populace, and the politicians and hangers on who cater to them were, for once, united in their condemnation. After all what the congressman said was just, simply, out of bounds.

What the congressman said was this:

Up until now, President Mubarak has enjoyed the support of the armed forces. He was, after all, a career air force officer suddenly catapulted to the presidency when Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. But if these protests continue and intensify there are bound to be senior voices within the military tempted to urge him to stand down. BBC News

Lieutenant colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, who overthrew King Farouk, was an Egyptian army officer. Anwar El Sadat, who succeeded Nasser, was a military officer, who earlier had joined Nasser in overthrowing Farouk. Hosni Mubarak, an air force general, succeeded Sadat on his assassination.

Therefore it would be reasonable to suppose that Mubarak's successor will be a military officer too.

The question would be: what kind of a military officer, what rank?

Back when the Soviet Union was the Soviet Union, a friend of mine went there for a year (1976) as a doctor to accompany a group of American young people (all fluent in Russian) as they went from city to city to show how great America was, and to learn what they could about the USSR.  It was a USIA (United States Information Agency) project.  The reason he went was because in previous years people had died from such things as appendicitis, and other treatable medical problems.

Interesting couple of weeks in the Middle East, no? Tunisians take to the streets to depose their country's long-entrenched dictator. WikiLeaks-type revelations destroy the last shreds of credibility Mahmoud Abbas's regime had with Palestinians. Hezbollah (acting entirely within Lebanon's constitution, BTW) installs its own choice for prime minister. George Bush's vision of Arab democracy on the march finally takes form!

There is No Public Option without a Beginning

Jamie Dimon is on a public relations kick to sweep the financial crisis under the rug so that JPM and the other mega banks can continue their strangle hold on American capital.

At Davos, Dimon whined that people should stop bashing bankers.

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE