Modern-day slaves' story repeats daily in plain sight: They worked at posh country clubs across South Florida, then returned to deceptively quiet houses in Boca Raton where they were captives -- and in the most dreadful cases, fed rotten chicken and vegetables, forced to drink muriatic acid and repeatedly denied medical help.
Japan downgraded over debt: Standard & Poor's downgraded Japan Thursday because it expects the country's "fiscal deficits to remain high in the next few years" as it continues to deal with problems like debt, deflation and an aging population.
U.S. budget deficit to hit $1.5 trillion: A continuing weak economy and last month's bipartisan tax cut legislation will drive the government's deficit to a record $1.5 trillion this year, a new government estimates predicts.
Watchdog Says Bank Bailouts Made 'Too-Big-to-Fail' Even Bigger: Neil Barofsky, head of the group charged with overseeing the government’s handling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) says the “too-big-to-fail” problem has not been solved; in fact, it’s gotten worse.
Mortgage applications tumble 12.9% as refinancing activity falls 15.3%: The number of refinancing applications fell 15.3% last week to the lowest point in 12 months, according to the MBA. And purchase applications didn't fare any better dropping 8.7% to the lowest point since October.
U.S. Home Prices Keep Weakening as Eight Cities Reach New Lows in November: Prices are now falling - and falling just about everywhere. As S&P noted "eight markets – Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland (OR), Seattle and Tampa – hit their lowest levels since home prices peaked in 2006 and 2007".
By Luisa Kroll
By Forbes’ count, 69 billionaires from 20 countries are expected to attend the annual World Economic Forum confab, which starts tomorrow in the Swiss Alps town of Davos. Continue
NGOs in Haiti
By Mike Whitney
They are part and parcel of what Naomi Klein has called disaster capitalism. International NGOs are really businesses and big ones at that. There are about 50,000 international NGOs that compete for about $10 billion in funding from the International Financial Institutions, the imperial powers, and local governments. Continue
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