Since publication of economist Jeff Faux's 2012 book, The Servant Economy, America’s elite has continued policies that are pressing the living standards of much of the middle class ever downwards. At the same time, lavish gains have gone to Wall Street and Pentagon wars have become a continuing feature of the US posture in the world. Even though politicians talk about helping the middle class recover, wealth flows to the uppermost fraction of the top 1% and the military-industrial juggernaut thrives. It has become increasingly difficult to distinguish the liberal Obama from the neocons of the Bush years. Jeff Faux is founder of the Economic Policy Institute, the premier research center on economic issues effecting working people. He is a regular winter visitor to San Miguel.
This mostly forgotten war led to Mexico losing over half its territory and the United States expanding to the Pacific. The lecture examines the political and economic background of the conflict, what led to it, and the roles of such factors as Texas annexation in 1845, slavery, racism, the Democratic and Whig parties, and Manifest... Read more