Portside

 REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

February 2 - 9, 2013

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
February 3, 2013

'You cannot police poverty. You cannot police broken dreams, you cannot police aspirations," said Jackson. "This cannot be dealt with on just a citywide level. We have drugs and guns coming in, and jobs going out. In most of the areas where these shootings are taking place, the unemployment rate is between 45 percent and 55 percent.'

Rev. Jesse Jackson at a press
conference at the Rainbow/Push
Chicago headquarters following the
fatal 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton
on the city's Southside earlier in
the week.

Guardian (UK)
February 2, 2013

Toon of the Day

http://Martian's Confusion
Gary Trudeau

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
February 4, 2013

'[In] Portugal we have to live under the rules dictated by this enormously powerful troika, making us bow to a global financial system that is unscrupulous and completely heartless and that forces us to surrender our country to that pack of vultures that are the large banks.'

Marina Oliveira, a 26-year-old
psychologist who has been
unemployed for the past 13 months
Aljazeera
February 2, 2013

Toon of the Day

A Little Off the Top
Tom Toles - Wahington Post

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day
February 5, 2013

'If Karl Rove wants to throw out bad candidates, I have four words for him.  John McCain and Mitt Romney. If you are a wealthy Republican Donor and are thinking about giving money to Karl Rove or one of his groups, let me suggest you give your money to Bernie Madoff instead.  You will get a better return on your money from Madoff or any other ponzy [sic] schemer than you will from Karl Rove.'

Judson Phillips,
head of Tea Party Nation
Salon
February 4, 2013

Toon of the Day

Legal Precedent
Jeff Danziger

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
February 6, 2013

'In short, every part of what Summers said was not true, and he surely knew that what he was saying was not true. Summers is a very knowledgeable economist who has been in the middle of the major economic debates over the last two decades. It is inconceivable that he doesn't know such basic facts about the US economy.

'This raises the question of why he would deliberately concoct a story that is 180 degrees at odds with reality. He obviously was telling his audience what he assumed they wanted to hear.

'This puts the discussions in Davos in an interesting light. Here we have one of the most prominent economists in the world making up a fantasy story to pass along to the rich and powerful. The other economists present must have just implicitly consented to ignore the nonsense, since these are facts well-known to anyone who follows policy debates. The reporters who were present acted as stenographers, dutifully copying down Summers' assertions as though they were pearls of wisdom.'

Economist Dean Baker,
on presentation by Obama economic
adviser Larry Summers at the recent
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Aljazeera
February 6, 2013

Toon of the Day

http://Checks and Balances
Nick Anderson

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
February 7, 2013

'The fallout from the interest rate manipulation scandal hit three continents on Wednesday as Royal Bank of Scotland paid £390m ($612m) and admitted criminal price-fixing charges over Libor- rigging. A series of lurid emails cited in the settlement laid bare a culture where employees would readily alter rates in exchange for steak dinners.'

CNN
February 7, 2013

Toon of the Day

Drone Memo Torture
Jim Morin - Miami Herald

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day
February 8, 2013

'Now that Tim Geithner has resigned as US Treasury secretary, it is time to survey the damage wrought from four years of his approach to the financial crisis. The "Geithner doctrine" made the preservation of the largest banks, no matter the consequences, a top priority of the US government. Aside from moral hazard, it has also meant the perversion of the US criminal justice system. The US faces a two-tiered system of justice that, if left unchecked by the incoming Treasury and regulatory teams, all but assures more excessive risk-taking, more crime and more crises.'

Neil Barofsky, former special
inspector-general of the troubled
asset relief program (TARP), a senior
fellow at NYU School of Law and
author of `Bailout', out in paperback
this week.

Financial Times
February 8, 2013

Toon of the Day

Drone Targeting
Ben Sargent

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
February 9, 2013

'Deficit hawks and government-haters are still framing the debate. That bodes ill for all of us.'

Economist Robert B. Reich,
chancellor's professor of
public policy at UC Berkeley.
His latest book, "Beyond Outrage,"
is now out in paperback.

Robert Reich blog
February 6, 2013

Toon of the Day

Anchored Down
Mike Luckovich