When Securitization Blew Up; So Did the Economy Corruption-US: Take the Money and Run War Comes Home To Britain Australia: Police get secret search powers and you won't even know: NEW South Wales Police are to be given covert search warrants, allowing them to search a property without informing the owners for up to three years. Bush reversed wartime powers: In its final days, the George W. Bush administration issued a Justice Department opinion dramatically reversing most of the legal arguments that governed its war on terrorism - from interrogations to electronic surveillance. Bair Says Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the fund it uses to protect customer deposits at U.S. banks could dry up amid a surge in bank failures, as she responded to an industry outcry against new fees approved by the agency. As Markets Slump, U.S. Tries to Halt Cycle of Fear: Top Officials Push to Inspire Confidence in Crisis Response By Emphasizing the Long-Run Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid: One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study. Report: 1 in 5 Mortgages Are Underwater: In Nevada, more than half of all mortgage borrowers are upside down Who You Calling Socialist?: "We are all socialists now," proclaims Newsweek. We are creating "socialist republics" in the United States, says Mike Huckabee, adding, on reflection, that "Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff." We are witnessing the Obama-era phenomenon of "European socialism transplanted to Washington," says Newt Gingrich.
By Mike Whitney
One thing is certain, this isn't a normal recession. In a normal recession aggregate demand declines, economic activity slows, and GDP shrinks. While those things are taking place now, the reasons are quite different. The present slump wasn't brought on by a downturn in the business cycle or a mismatch in supply and demand. It was caused by a meltdown in the credit system's central core. Continue
How Wall Street Paid For Its Own Funeral
By Marina Litvinsky
The 231-page report, "Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," shows that the financial sector invested more than 5 billion dollars on purchasing political influence in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse. Continue
By Ernest Partridge
A bank robber does not gain legal possession of his loot. Neither should today's "robber barons," notwithstanding the fact that the theft was accomplished under the guise of quasi-legality. The loot can be recovered legally, if the public demands it and the Congress responds accordingly, through the enactment and enforcement of appropriate legislation. Continue
By John Pilger
In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes the basic freedoms being lost in Britain as the "national security state", imported from the United States by New Labour, takes effect. Continue
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Posts
