Tonight's GOP debate may crowd out a lot of important stories today. Here are some of the ones that deserve more attention than they're getting. Spread the word, and add to the list in the comments if you've got your own.
- I'm a little sketchy on the finer points of this story, but Goldman Sachs (which helped turn commodity trading into a casino) is now looking to pump even more money into speculation on gas and food. They've teamed up with a hedge fund to create a commodities index. What this means is opening a firehouse of money into speculation on everything from gas to wheat to sugar. The more demand there is for these commodities among the commodity-casino players, the higher prices are gonna go.
- What kind of hippie liberals think we shouldn't be fighting the War on Drugs? George Schultz and Paul Volcker. Turns out we're addicted to the War on Drugs, and it's killing us. It's important to keep in mind, this follows several reports from inside and outside the US government concluding the exact same thing. If someone's trying to get a drumbeat going against the simplistic, self-destructive War on Drugs, they're doing a pretty good job so far.
- The NLRB sues Boeing over its attempt to shift work to non-union jobs. Don't be surprised if this comes up at tonight's debate, it's a Republican pet story right now -- even though this is exactly the kind of thing the NLRB has done for decades.
- SEC regulators give banks extra time