New, giant sea oil plume seen in Gulf: Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama. Matt Simmons: "Theres another leak, much bigger, 5 to 6 miles away: Video Spain approves austerity measures: Spain's parliament has approved an $18bn austerity package by just one vote, narrowly avoiding what could have been an embarrassing defeat for the government. French protest retirement age plan: French labour unions have staged a day of strikes and street rallies to protest against plans by Nicolas Sarkozy, the president, to raise the retirement age beyond 60 years. Dubai unit seeks debt push-back": Dubai International Capital (DIC), an investment company owned by the ruler of Dubai, has requested a three month delay on repayment of part of its reported $2.6bn debt. US money supply plunges at 1930s pace as Obama eyes fresh stimulus: The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history. Both parties packing pork into war-funding bill: The bill has grown into a nearly $200 billion grab bag of unfinished business that includes $1 billion for summer-jobs programs, $1.5 billion in aid to farmers who had crops damaged and $4.6 billion to settle two long-running lawsuits against the government, one by black farmers claiming discrimination and one by American Indians over the government's management of their land. The War is Making You Poor: Next year's budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to "contingency operations," to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American's income each year, and beyond that, leave over $15 billion that would cut the deficit. Cooking the books? Banks Trim Debt, Obscuring Risks: The practice, known as end-of-quarter "window dressing" on Wall Street, suggests that the banks are carrying more risk most of the time than their investors or customers can easily see. This activity has accelerated since 2008, when the financial crisis brought actions like these under greater scrutiny, according to the analysis
Friday, 28 May 2010
By Mike Whitney
Wall Street has won this round. The window for real reform has closed, and now it's "business as usual" until the next catastrophe. Continue
By Dean Baker
People don't need economists to tell them that times are bad. However, what the public may not recognize is that the same people who caused this disaster are still calling the shots. Continue
Cooking The Books?
By MICHAEL RAPOPORT And TOM MCGINTY
The practice, known as end-of-quarter "window dressing" on Wall Street, suggests that the banks are carrying more risk most of the time than their investors or customers can easily see. Continue
By Richard Heinberg
The cheap, easy petroleum is gone; from now on, we will pay steadily more and more for what we put in our gas tanks—more not just in dollars, but in lives and health, in a failed foreign policy that spawns foreign wars and military occupations. Continue
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