Posted by smeddum on November 16, 2008
November 16, 2008
Downturn Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy
NewYorkTimes
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD and JENNY ANDERSON
The economy’s deep troubles are pushing a growing number of already struggling consumers into bankruptcy, often with far more debt than those who filed in previous downturns.
Plummeting home values, dwindling incomes and the near disappearance of credit have proved a potent mixture. While all the usual reasons that distressed borrowers seek bankruptcy — job loss, medical bills, divorce — play significant roles, new economic forces are changing the calculus of who can ride out the tough times and who cannot. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Financial crisis | 1 Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 16, 2008
What kind of democracy is it where discussion of the most crucial issues facing us is ruled out of order? Britain badly needs glasnost, openness.
Guardian
16th november, 2008
George Osbourne today dismissed criticism that he lacked judgment in predicting a run on the pound, insisting it was his job to tell “the truth about the British economy”.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: glasnost, join the euro!, run on pound | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 16, 2008
Deutsche-Welle
16th November, 2008
The Washington summit marked the first-ever meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 (G20) nations, a bloc that brings together the world’s leading industrial nations and some of the top developing economies including China, India and Brazil.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: G20 summit | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 16, 2008
By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp in Brussels
Spiegel
The extent of the harmony seen on Friday was rare: EU leaders and Russian President Medvedev agreed to new talks in Nice about political and economic partnership between Moscow and Europe. There was even talk of a “pan-European security pact.”
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: pan-european security pact, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on November 16, 2008
It might be politically toxic – but we must join the euro now
Will Hutton
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 16 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 16 2008
Hutton finally sees the light.
When the euro launched nearly 10 years ago, an unnamed euro-sceptic currency trader – now almost certainly redundant – famously called it a toilet currency. Last week it climbed to an all-time high against the pound. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: join the euro! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 15, 2008
Cailean Bochanan
15th november, 2008
Ever since 9/11 and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the world has been suspended between two possible outcomes: on the one hand, a reinforced US hegemony and on the other a sort of counter-globalisation movement at the core of which lay the reassertion of national sovereignty in the face of empire. Even as the coalition got bogged down in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrifying possibility remained of an escalation towards global war provoked by an attack on Iran, and at certain points this scenario may have been a lot closer to becoming a reality than the wider world realized. In addition, the collapse of the Anglo-American financial system opened the possibility of a wave of financial chaos spreading out from the imperial heartlands destabilising the world economy and inaugurating a neo-feudal dark age. The aggressive and arrogant stance of Washington and London and doubts about European leadership, in particular, left one fearing what further cards the empire had left to play. That has now been clarified: they have none.
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Posted in Iran, Uncategorized | Tagged: End of empire, G20 summit, Iran | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 15, 2008
MEXICO CITY, November 15 (RIA Novosti) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans to hold an alternative summit on the global financial crisis to counter the meeting of world leaders currently taking place in Washington.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Bolivarian Revolution | Leave a Comment »
Posted by alfied on November 15, 2008
Nov 15 2008 WalesOnline
France’s president said plans for an American missile shield in eastern Europe were misguided and would not make the continent a safer place. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Drive to Global War | Tagged: Nato's Missile sheild | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 15, 2008
The multipolar world is no longer a theory or an aspiration: it is a reality unfolding before our eyes.
Kaveh Afrasiabi
Eldib
On the eve of the United States presidential elections, a landmark visit to Tehran by the head of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been widely regarded in the Persian Gulf region as a major diplomatic overture toward Tehran by the US-backed oil sheikdoms.
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Posted in Iran, Multipolar world | Tagged: GCC, Iranophobia, Russian diplomacy, SCO | Leave a Comment »
Posted by alfied on November 15, 2008
A wise move by the Brits and one which, hopefully, will mean an end to interference in the internal affairs of China, and elsewhere. Britain now has enough on its plate with its own internal affairs, notably, economic disintegration. We would , therefore, do well to stop antagonising others, and seek, rather, their friendship and cooperation. Is Britain drawing China into a new world economic order or is it the other way round?
BBC NEWS
A senior Chinese official has welcomed the UK’s decision to recognise Beijing’s direct rule over Tibet.
Zhu Weiqun, who is leading talks with Tibetan exiles, told the BBC the move had brought the UK “in line with the universal position in today’s world”. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Tibet | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 