Finance Capitalism Hits a Wall Strange Math 10,000 Americans Going Into Foreclosure Every Day Germany drafts bank takeover law: Germany has approved a draft law allowing the forced nationalisations of banks, saying it would use its new powers to take control of giant propery lender Hypo Real Estate. European Union Says Cannot Support All of East Europe: The European Union may only be able to play a limited role in financially supporting countries on its eastern fringes like Ukraine and Croatia, Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said. G.M. To Cut 47,000 Jobs While Chrysler Will Dump 3,000 Positions: One thing is certain about the plan top officials at GM and Chrysler have come up with for restructuring and staving off bankruptcy - it's going to come with a huge price tag both monetarily and from the workforce. Goodyear posts loss, plans 5,000 job cuts: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co plans to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide in 2009, or 6.7 percent of its staff, after a prolonged downturn in vehicle demand led to a deeper-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter. Obama unveils massive mortgage plan: Obama said the measures would help between seven to nine million middle-class families restructure or refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure. Homeowners' rallying cry: Produce the note: Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork. Little-known agency that insures pensions of 44 million workers braces for recession fallout: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already has an $11 billion deficit that seems sure to grow larger as Corporate America suffers through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Consumers Cut Food Spending Sharply: Markets and Restaurants Feel the Pinch as People Purchase Generic Brands and Stay Home
The Oligarchs’ Escape Plan – at the Treasury’s Expense
By Prof. Michael Hudson
The financial “wealth creation” game is over. Economies emerged from World War II relatively free of debt, but the 60-year global run-up has run its course. Finance capitalism is in a state of collapse, and marginal palliatives cannot revive it. The U.S. economy cannot “inflate its way out of debt,” because this would collapse the dollar and end its dreams of global empire by forcing foreign countries to go their own way. Continue
By Ignacio Merino
Right now President Obama is a new broom and the country thinks he is resolving a problem left to him by a Republican administration. He is about to sign in a stimulus package that will fail to stimulate the economy. Then in three months he’ll be back at the trough looking for more money. Six months will pass, things will get worse, and it will be viewed as his problem to clean up. By the end of 2009, assuming he follows the path laid out with the stimulus bill, he will be viewed by the American public as inept and the “wrong man for the job”. Things will be a lot worse than they are now. Continue
It's Time to Treat America's Homeowners as Well as We've Been Treating Wall Street's Bankers
By Arianna Huffington
Why hasn't the foreclosure crisis gotten the attention it deserves? Contiue
Thursday, 19 February 2009
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