The Cafe' [Think Tank]

S.C.  1993, c. 44 Assented to 1993-06-23 An Act to implement the North American Free Trade Agreement Preamble WHEREAS the Government of Canada, the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the United States of America have entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement having resolved to strengthen the special bonds of friendship and cooperation among their nations, contribute to the harmonious development and expansion of world trade and provide a catalyst to broader international cooperation, create an expanded and secure market for the goods and services produced in their territories, reduce distortions to trade, establish clear and mutually advantageous rules governing their trade, ensure a predictable commercial framework for business planning and investment, build on their rights and obligations under the  General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade  and other multilateral and bilateral instruments of cooperation, enh...

We'd like to welcome you to the  Clinton Library  -- dedicated to preserving the true legacy of the 42nd President of the United States. Bill Clinton promised as President that his would be the "most ethical administration in the history of the country.” As you explore the pages of this website, you can decide for yourself whether he lived up to that promise Clinton's Foreign Policy Bill Clinton's foreign policy was dictated by whatever  scandal  he was embroiled in while his weak and vacillating policies allowed other countries to run rough-shod over American interests. Korean Nuclear Development In 1994, President Clinton sent Jimmy Carter to cut a deal with the North Koreans in their effort to develop nuclear weapons. We agreed to give Pyongyang free oil, two free nuclear reactors, diplomatic ties, and increased trade - and Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its bomb-making facilities in 10 years. In December 2002, North Korea restarted its nuclear reactor ...

Something really strange appears to be happening.  All over the globe, governments and big banks are acting as if they are anticipating an imminent financial collapse.  Unfortunately, we are not privy to the quiet conversations that are taking place in corporate boardrooms and in the halls of power in places such as Washington D.C. and London, so all we can do is try to make sense of all the clues that are all around us.  Of course it is completely possible to misinterpret these clues, but sticking our heads in the sand is not going to do any good either.  Last week, it was revealed that the U.S. government has been secretly directing five of the biggest banks in America " to develop plans for staving off collapse " for the last two years.  By itself, that wouldn't be that big of a deal.  But when you add that piece to the dozens of other clues of imminent financial collapse, a very troubling picture begins to emerge.  Over the past 12 months, hundr...

Most The Cafe'   readers are already aware of a foreknown scandal involving the pro-forced unionism Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in New York, Baltimore, Washington, and now, California. For those who missed it, ACORN representatives were caught on camera giving advice to undercover journalists on how to open an illegal brothel, launder its profits, and commit a host of other illegal activities. According to  The Washington Examiner , teacher union officials have contributed over 1.3 million dollars (in mostly forced union dues) to ACORN since 2005. We decided to do a little digging into union financial disclosure forms on the Department of Labor's website. After examining union financial records, it turns out that officials of several high-profile unions diverted large sums of mostly forced union dues dollars to the same ACORN offices in Washington and New York that are implicated in the hidden camera scandal.  In 2008, for examp...

Four years after the 2008 financial crisis, banks are behaving more recklessly than ever Photo by Josh Hallett In 1989, the CEOs of our seven largest banks earned an average of $2.6 million. In 2007, the average CEO income had risen to $26 million. The ordinary citizen might believe that this is grotesque overcompensation, but the financial sector found the pay perfectly reasonable. A year later, this sort of thinking led us to the brink of complete financial collapse. The financial crisis of 2008 now looks more and more like a defining moment, a crisis of capitalism. Globally, it has produced, in addition to a crippling recession, an unending debt crisis. Our own escalating, unpayable debt makes the future of U.S. power increasingly uncertain. Government borrowing and spending policies have failed to stimulate growth in the economy. The crisis is, at its heart, a cultural failure combined with a political collapse. Behavior by bank executives that once was discouraged by a ...