As we continue our effort to keep you up-to-date on how money corrupts American government and politics, as well as other news of the day, we’re pleased to publish this daily digest of news compiled by BillMoyers.com’s Michael Winship.
IRS lies down and plays dead on secret campaign money –> According to this morning’s New York Times, “As presidential candidates find new ways to exploit secret donations from tax-exempt groups, hobbled regulators at the Internal Revenue Service appear certain to delay trying to curb widespread abuses at nonprofits until after the 2016 election.”
A big no to austerity –> Greek voters voted by a majority of 61.31% on Sunday to reject a bailout deal from its creditors that would require new budget cuts, a sweeping victory for Greece’s leftist government, but one that still leaves the country in economic turmoil. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufaki resigned, replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos, the minister for international economic affairs who has been leading Greece’s negotiations with Eurogroup since April.
Yves Smith at NakedCapitalism.com is concerned: “As much as I’d like to be hopeful about the Greek vote, I’m deeply concerned that like the Arab Spring uprising, which in the end seems to have done little to help struggling people in the Middle East, and led to civil war in Syria, that what seemed like a promise of a better day for ordinary people will lead to even worse outcomes.”
But The New York Times‘ Paul Krugman writes, “A ‘yes’ vote in Greece would have condemned the country to years more of suffering under policies that haven’t worked and in fact, given the arithmetic, can’t work: austerity probably shrinks the economy faster than it reduces debt, so that all the suffering serves no purpose. The landslide victory of the “no” side offers at least a chance for an escape from this trap.”
“European leaders who have been used to getting their way in the past cannot presume that they will do so in future.” The Guardian warns. “They must show some humility and listen to a Greek people who have been driven to this leap in the dark.” In an interview with the German weekly Die Zeit, economist Thomas Piketty, he of Capital in the 21st Century fame, declared, “Germany is the country that has never repaid its debts. It has no standing to lecture other nations.”
And speaking of German weeklies –> While we were waving flags and watching fireworks to mark the 4th of July, it was reported that the US government had not only eavesdropped on German government officials – including Chancellor Angela Merkel — but had also spied on the newsweekly, Der Speigel and possibly other publications. Andrea Germanos at Common Dreams has a good summary of coverage of the story and there’s this from The New York Times.
Also, as we celebrated our free and open society –> The Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch reported, “On the same day that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced his run for president, the Wisconsin GOP has proposed a virtual gutting of Wisconsin’s open records law, long considered one of the best in the nation. The drastic changes were proposed in a last-minute, anonymous budget motion, with zero public input on the eve of a holiday weekend.”
“I’m sorry but a gun is not a disease” –> Mother Jones reminds us of what Speaker John Boehner had to say the other day when the House Appropriations Committee once again blocked funding to research the causes of gun violence.
Must read –> Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Letter to My Son” in The Atlantic: “You have been cast into a race in which the wind is always at your face and the hounds are always at your heels. And to varying degrees this is true of all life. The difference is that you do not have the privilege of living in ignorance of this essential fact.”
RIP –> Burt Shavitz, co-founder of the Burt’s Bees line of natural care products.
And, of course –> Congratulations to the US women’s soccer team for their big 5-2 win over Japan in the final of the Women’s World Cup, their first championship since 1999. Rupali Srivastava at ThinkProgress noted that, “Despite a lack of coverage, bracket pools, and adequate playing fields, almost every game played by the U.S. Women’s National Team in this tournament has drawn more viewers that the last.” Here’s the emotional moment last night when victorious champion Abby Wambach ran to the stands to embrace her wife, Sarah Huffman.
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