White House Cites Socialist To Make Its Case
The White House is touting the approval of a George Soros-funded economist who advocates more government regulation of the economy to bolster its claim that raising the minimum wage would strengthen the U.S. economy.
The economist, Joseph Stiglitz, chairs the Socialist International Commission on Global Financial Issues. Socialists International is the world’s largest umbrella socialist organization.
During his most recent State of the Union speech, Obama called for the minimum wage to be raised and tied to the cost of living, also known as a “living wage.” To supplement Obama’s speech, the White House released an eight-page document titled “The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America.” The section calling for the minimum wage to be raised references economists, including Stiglitz, who say it will help the economy.
This journalist previously reported that the “living wage” campaign has long been pushed by the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. It was largely initiated on a local level in the 1990s with the help of the New Party, a socialist-oriented party Obama apparently joined in the 1990s. Implementing a “living wage” has been attempted in over 80 U.S. cities, many times to disastrous effect.
Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner, previously held a so-called teach-in with the Occupy Wall Street movement and also addressed the social protests that rocked Spain.
Besides accepting funding from Soros, Stiglitz has engaged in numerous projects with Soros and sits on the boards of a number of Soros organizations, including one openly seeking to remake the world’s economy. Stiglitz is a leading proponent of more government regulation of the economy.
Stiglitz serves on the international advisory board of Soros’ Open Society Foundation. Perhaps most significantly, Stignitz sits on the board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, or INET, an organization seeking to reorganize the entire global economic system.
In April 2011, Stiglitz spoke at INET’s annual meeting, which took place in the mountains of Bretton Woods, N.H. A Business Insider report on last year’s event said, “George Soros has brought together a crack team of the world’s top economists and financial thinkers.”
“Its aim,” continued the business newspaper, “to remake the world’s economy as they see fit.”
Kerry May Push For Friendlier
Relations With Hamas
Will John Kerry use his position as secretary of state to push for dialogue with Hamas?
As a senator, Kerry has a questionable history when it comes to the Islamic terrorist group in power in the Gaza Strip. In 2009, Kerry became the most senior U.S. politician to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza, although at the time he did not meet with Hamas leaders, instead using his time in the coastal territory to tour United Nations camps there.
During his trip, there were reports that Kerry accepted a letter for President Obama from Hamas leaders. UN relief agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by his agency and passed on to an unnamed American official. Fox News confirmed with UN representatives in Gaza that the Hamas letter was passed to Kerry.
During a tour of Israel the same week, Kerry announced his trip to Gaza did not signal any change in U.S. policy toward Hamas.
Regarding U.S. dialogue with Hamas, the State Department has several times iterated a set of preconditions: Hamas first must recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Kerry, meanwhile, previously expressed support for American extremists who attempted a solidarity march to Hamas in Gaza.
In January 2010, WorldNetDaily reported Weather Underground bombers Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, along with Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, were involved in provoking chaos on the streets of Egypt in an attempt to enter Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement to join in solidarity with the territory’s population and leadership.
The three helped to stir riots after the Egyptian government refused to allow a large number of protesters to enter neighboring Gaza. Eventually, the protesters accepted an Egyptian offer to allow about 100 marchers into Gaza. Once in the territory, the marchers were reportedly met on the Gaza side by Hamas’s former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
At the time of the march, Kerry wrote a letter in support of a “humanitarian delegation from Massachusetts” to Gaza. Members of the Ayers group documented on their blogs how Kerry’s letter was used at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo in attempts to pressure Egypt to let their group into Gaza.