reheated

UK Security Services Fear Huge Bank Riots

MI5 Alert on Bank Riots
by Geraint Jones
Sunday March 1, 2009
Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a “summer of discontent” in Britain. The “double-whammy” of the worst economic crisis in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to [...]

In Depression, Rigidity a Boon, Flexibility a Scourge

FLEXIBILITY GIVES WAY TO RIGIDITY’S VIRTUES
By Paul De Grauwe, February 22 2009
The economic paradigm developed during the boom years was based on the idea of flexibility. The economically successful countries were those that allowed flexibility in goods and labour markets. Rapid growth lay ahead of them if they permitted companies to hire and fire without [...]

Eastern Europe into Abyss: Will Also Eurozone Be Sucked into It?

TURMOIL OVER EAST EUROPE
By Stefan Wagstyl in London, Alan Beattie in Washington, and Aline van Duyn in New York

Fears of banking upheavals in eastern Europe and the potential fallout on western Europe yesterday triggered widespread turmoil in global financial markets.
Sharp declines in east European equities and currencies prompted drops in west European bourses and the [...]

…while the Financial Crimes despairs at incompetent G7

Fiddling in Rome while world burns
Meetings of the finance ministers and central bank government of the group of seven leading high-income countries have appeared increasingly irrelevant in our world of new powers. But that is no longer true. For it is in the sophisticated financial systems of the advanced economies that the havoc began. How [...]

Italy in Deep Recession: Tremonti vs Euromayday

G7 host Italy dives deep into recession
ROME: Italy reeled on Friday from grim news which it will bring to the table as the host of Group of Seven economic crisis talks, with data showing it is deeper in recession than expected and protesters taking to the streets.
Italy, Europe’s fourth-biggest economy, is host to the G7 [...]

Roubini pulls out a bazooka…

Nationalize the Banks! We’re all Swedes Now
By Matthew Richardson and Nouriel Roubini
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The U.S. banking system is close to being insolvent, and unless we want to become like Japan in the 1990s — or the United States in the 1930s — the only way to save it is to nationalize it.
As free-market economists [...]

Madoff, Raju, Ponzi & Co.

ROGUES GALLERY
By Stanley Pignal
In retrospect, it did seem odd that Jérôme Kerviel hadn’t taken any holiday for a couple of years. But so what? The young trader was an affable colleague, diligent to the point of staying late and always courteous to the back-office staff. Being away from work forced him to confront the death [...]

European Monetary Union on the Rocks

EMU ON THE ROCKS AND ALL EXITS CLOSED
By Edward Chancellor

The euro was created to bring economic stability to Europe. However, the politicians who promoted European Monetary Union ignored inherent flaws in the project. The credit crisis has exposed these flaws. As a result, a number of the weaker eurozone members are facing severe deflation and [...]

Altvater on the Political Economy of Global Recession

We were sent by the author (one of the most respected red-green economists in europe) the paper on the crisis he has just presented at the World Social Forum gathered in the Amazon city of Belém. ENJOY!

Elmar Altvater
The Plagues of Capitalism
Energy crisis, climate collapse, hunger and financial instabilities
There is no historical proof that the ten [...]

Trillions for Bankers, Zero for People: Europe Protests

THE PARIS DECLARATION FOR MOBILIZING ON THE CRISIS
We won’t pay for your crisis!
More than 150 representatives of trade unions, farmers’ movements, global justice groups, environmental groups, development groups, migrants’ groups, faith-based groups, women’s groups, the have-not movements, student and youth groups, and anti-poverty groups from all over Europe gathered on the 10th and 11th [...]