Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

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Democracy Now!
Nov 25, 2008

Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

On Monday Obama named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House. Obama also called for a stimulus plan that will “give a jolt to the economy.” We host a roundtable discussion about Obama’s latest economic moves [includes rush transcript].

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via Democracy Now! | Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

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Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Jan 1, 2009 Added map and link to another story and another video report

Updated: Nov 27, 2008 added video

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
19:31 | 24/11/2008

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily Izvestia published on Monday: “The dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”

The paper said Panarin’s dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year’s events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: “It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world’s financial regulator.”

[…]

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts – the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that “we could claim Alaska – it was only granted on lease, after all.”

[…]

via RIA Novosti – World – Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

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Update

“There will be civil war in US in 2009”

RussiaToday

The break-up of America into six pieces? Alaska joining the Russian Federation? Will Russia survive the crisis? Igor Panarin, a Russian professor of economics, discusses these questions when he dropped by the RT studio on Thursday.

`There will be civil war in US in 2009`

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Updated

More: Barack Obama: the United States of America’s forty-third, and last, President? – OPERATION ITCH

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Russian Professor Predicts the USA Disintegrates

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CNN talks to Prof. Igor Panarin who theorizes that by 2010 the United States will fracture.

Russian Professor Predicts the USA Di…

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You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

Colossal Financial Collapse: The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization” by F. William Engdahl

$20 billion here, $20 billion there… by Josh Sidman

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Mosaic News – 11/24/08: World News from the Middle East

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Warning

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This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Woman in suicide attack as 19 die in Baghdad bombings,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar”
“PLO declares Abbas ‘symbolic president of State of Palestine’,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Israelis in US desperate to return home,” IBA TV, Israel
“Jerusalem The Capital of Arab Culture,” Dubai TV, UAE
“The military implications if the Gaza cease-fire collapses,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“Egyptian court orders gas export halt to Israel,” New TV, Lebanon
“Kasala, Sudan: A Town of Coexistance,” Nile TV, Egypt
“The Chicken Hawks,” Saudi TV, Saudi Arabia
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Mosaic News – 11/24/08: World News fr…“, posted with vodpod

U.S. Uses al-Qaeda To Justify Foreign Policy By Fidel Castro Ruz

Dandelion Salad

By Fidel Castro Ruz
ICH
November 25, 2008 “Granma”

Reflections of Fidel – Stella Calloni

HER book exposes a series of atrocious crimes recently committed by the United States against the Latin American peoples. It is a basic text for understanding the real meaning of the Yankee imperialism. It is the most objective and detailed denunciation that I have read to date, unsurpassed in its style and eloquence. She gives an impressive list of outstanding figures, both military and civilian, vilely assassinated inside and outside their respective countries, including such prestigious personalities as the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the Chilean Generals Schneider and Prats, presidents of other nations, as well as the conspiracy in Chile which concluded with the death of Salvador Allende and the establishment of a fascist government. There were U.S. Presidents directly involved, like Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr.  Stella is known in our country for that work.

But it was the paper given by the Argentine author to the International Conference “Revolution and Intervention in Latin America,” which took place recently in Caracas, which called my attention to her again. She sent a copy of the paper to us in Cuba.

She refers to a silent invasion on all fronts: the weapon of disinformation, the neocolonization of Latin America, the “backyard” as the “strategic reserve” of the empire, operative counterinsurgency, the “soft” blows, the informatics intoxication, left-wing groups acting together with extreme-right pro-coup sectors; the powerful enemy deliberately assaulting the soul of the peoples, their culture and identity; advanced colonialists and belated colonialisms. The author reminds us of the brutal invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989, preceded by a disinformation campaign which, in this case, managed to penetrate progressive and leftist sectors. She recalls incredible and crude media manipulation of the reasons advanced by the United States to invade the small nation of little more than two million inhabitants – a country divided into two by a colonial enclave maintained there by the hegemonic power since the beginning of the past century – and the still incomprehensible paralysis of Latin America. Up until today, she told us, it is unknown that thousands of people died there. “Panama was the Guernica of Latin America.”

The System Implodes: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008

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by Robert Weissman
Multinational Monitor

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Multinational Monitor’s annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the year.

In the 20 years that we’ve published our annual list, we’ve covered corporate villains, scoundrels, criminals and miscreants. We’ve reported on some really bad stuff — from Exxon’s Valdez spill to Union Carbide and Dow’s effort to avoid responsibility for the Bhopal disaster; from oil companies coddling dictators (including Chevron and CNPC, both profiled this year) to a bank (Riggs) providing financial services for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet; from oil and auto companies threatening the future of the planet by blocking efforts to address climate change to duplicitous tobacco companies marketing cigarettes around the world by associating their product with images of freedom, sports, youthful energy and good health.

But we’ve never had a year like 2008.

The financial crisis first gripping Wall Street and now spreading rapidly throughout the world is, in many ways, emblematic of the worst of the corporate-dominated political and economic system that we aim to expose with our annual 10 Worst list. Here is how.

[…]

Companies:
AIG
Cargill
Chevron
CNPC
Constellation Energy
Dole
General Electric
Imperial Sugar
Philip Morris Int’l.
Roche

via Multinational Monitor

h/t: Global Research

see

Who Is A.I.G. And Why Should You Care? By Mike Ruppert (2001)

The Burmese Regime’s Lifeline – Chevron’s Pipeline By Amy Goodman

Eaten Up By Ed Pilkington

Colossal Financial Collapse: The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization” by F. William Engdahl

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by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, November 24, 2008

On Friday November 21, the world came within a hair’s breadth of the most colossal financial collapse in history according to bankers on the inside of events with whom we have contact. The trigger was the bank which only two years ago was America’s largest, Citigroup. The size of the US Government de facto nationalization of the $2 trillion banking institution is an indication of shocks yet to come in other major US and perhaps European banks thought to be ‘too big to fail.’

The clumsy way in which US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, himself not a banker but a Wall Street ‘investment banker’, whose experience has been in the quite different world of buying and selling stocks or bonds or underwriting and selling same, has handled the unfolding crisis has been worse than incompetent. It has made a grave situation into a globally alarming one.

‘Spitting into the wind’

A case in point is the secretive manner in which Paulson has used the $700 billion in taxpayer funds voted him by a labile Congress in September. Early on, Paulson put $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for his old firm, Goldman Sachs. However, if we compare the value of the equity share that $125 billion bought with the market price of those banks’ stock, US taxpayers have paid $125 billion for bank stock that a private investor could have bought for $62.5 billion, according to a detailed analysis from Ron W. Bloom, economist with the US United Steelworkers union, whose members as well as pension fund face devastating losses were GM to fail.

That means half of the public’s money was a gift to Paulson’s Wall Street cronies. Now, only weeks later, the Treasury is forced to intervene to de facto nationalize Citigroup. It won’t be the last.

Paulson demanded, and got from a labile US Congress, Democrat as well as Republican, sole discretion over how and where he can invest the $700 billion, to date with no effective oversight. It amounts to the Treasury Secretary in effect ‘spitting into the wind’ in terms of resolving the fundamental crisis.

$20 billion here, $20 billion there… by Josh Sidman

Josh

by Josh Sidman
Dandelion Salad
featured writer
Josh’s Blog Post
November 25, 2008

The late Senator Everett Dirksen famously quipped, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Times have changed. Nowadays a billion is a mere rounding error, ten billion elicits little more than yawns, a hundred billion might start to raise a few eyebrows.

In the latest of a never-ending series of public bailouts, today the government injected $20 billion into Citigroup (on top of a previous infusion of $25 billion). In response, the stock price of the company surged 60%, representing an increase in shareholder wealth of approximately $13 billion. In other words, while increasing numbers of Americans are crushed by a financial crisis caused in large part by companies like Citigroup, the government saw fit to take another $20 billion of taxpayer money and give it to the very people who caused the problem in the first place.

Now, I agree with the notion that a company like Citigroup may be “too big to fail”. The consequences of letting an institution like Citi go under would be dramatic and far-reaching, but this is no argument for rewarding shareholders. Those who profited from the excesses of the lending bubble ought to bear the full brunt of the crisis they helped to create, and if that means that the stock price goes to zero, so be it.

Let’s think about what we could do with $20 billion if we decided not to use it to reward the very people who caused the problem in the first place.

We could open the phone book and select 20,000 people at random and give each of them a million dollars. I bet that would stimulate the economy. Or we could select 400,000 high school seniors and give them each $50,000 to put toward a college education. Or we could identify 20 companies that are likely to play a leading role in the “green economy” of the 21st Century and give each of them a billion dollars to invest in research and development.

And that’s just one bailout. Imagine what we could have done with all of the money that has been plowed into AIG, Fannie, Freddie, etc., etc. I guess all of this should come as no surprise given that the man in charge is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. And, hopeful as I am that President Obama will deliver on his promises of change, his appointments of such establishment figures as Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Tom Daschle doesn’t instill a great deal of confidence that his administration will represent a true changing-of-the-guard.

Aw hell, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I think I’m just gonna try to figure out which will be the next mega-corporation to receive a $20 billion bailout and buy their stock. Heck, I might even see if I can put it on my credit card.

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Is Citigroup Thankful for Corrupt Government and Robbed Taxpayers? by Cindy Sheehan

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

Dandelion Salad

RussiaToday

A Democratic Congressman in the US has launched a scathing attack on some bank executives, who he accuses of throwing parties while the US economy goes up in smoke. Dennis Kucinich added that restoring good relations with Russia is vital for the recovery of the American economy.

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

By Mike Whitney
November 24, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse”

“The problems we face today cannot be solved by the minds that created them” — Albert Einstein

Obama hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and already the Wall Street cheerleaders are celebrating his first great triumph. According the pundits, the stock market staged a surprise 494 point rally on Friday because–get this–it was announced that Timothy Geithner would be appointed Obama’s Treasury Secretary.

Timothy who?

What nonsense. The sudden turn-around in stocks had a lot more to do with short-covering than anything else, but don’t let that get in the way of a good story. Even so, the last minute surge on the NYSE couldn’t stop another week-long bloodbath that ended with the Dow and S&P 500 tumbling another 5 percent. That’s not to say that Geithner is not bright and talented guy. He is; and so is his White House counterpart, Lawrence Summers. But the media hype is way overdone. Geithner doesn’t drive the markets and he isn’t “change you can believe in”. In fact, he’s a protege of Henry Kissinger, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has the same political pedigree as his predecessor, Henry Paulson. They’re both part of the ruling fraternity and their views of the world are nearly identical. There’s no doubt that Geithner will be more competent and effective than Paulson but, then again, who wouldn’t be? Paulson may be the biggest flop at Treasury since Andrew Mellon steered the country onto the reef during the Great Depression. The recent flap over the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) just proves the point. After convincing Congress to pass a $700 billion bailout plan–by invoking the specter of economic Armageddon and martial law–the former G-Sax chairman proceeded to set up a program for buying back mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other junk paper from his banking buddies. Paulson argued that removing the crappy loans would help the banks get back on their feet and start lending again. Of course, no one could really figure out how the process was going to be executed, but maybe that’s just nit-picking. Fortunately, Paulson never got a chance carry out his plan. He was torpedoed by the stock market which plunged seven days in a row losing nearly 20 percent of its value until Paulson threw in the towel and did what 200 economists had suggested from the very beginning—buy preferred shares in the banks so they could rev-up their credit engines again.

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk
25 Nov 2008

The money will be used to buy mortgage- and asset-backed securities to try to get banks lending to consumers again, in the form of car and student loans, mortgages and credit cards.

The vast sum is in addition to the $700billion bank bailout announced last month.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said: “Millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for their basic credit needs.”

He added that the boost could grow “over time” to cover other types of assets.

The loan system for this type of debt in the US came to a near-standstill in October.

The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to holders of AAA-rated asset-backed securities for a term of at least one year, with holders of the securities expected to accept “a haircut” reflecting the reduced market value.

via Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy – Telegraph + video

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Federal Reserve

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

UN General Assembly president calls for boycott of Israel

Dandelion Salad
by Yitzhak Benhorin
http://www.ynetnews.com
11.25.08, 20:21

After his controversial embrace with Iran’s Ahmadinejad, UN General Assembly president sparks Jerusalem’s ire once more after calling for international boycott on Israel

WASHINGTON – Israel filed a formal complaint with the United Nations on Tuesday over statements made by UN General Assembly President, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, who called for an international boycott of Israel after accusing it of being an apartheid regime. D’Escoto went on to decry the plight of the Palestinians, describing the failure to create a Palestinian state as “the single greatest failure in the history of the United Nations.”

The United Nations is currently marking its annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which is set on the anniversary of the 1947 date it adopted Resolution 181, calling for the partition of the land under British control into two states – Jewish and Arab.

[…]

In his address on Monday d’Escoto said: “Although different, what is being done against the Palestinian people seems to me to be a version of the highest policy of apartheid.” D’Escoto said the fact that Palestinians still had no statehood represents the “single greatest failure” of the UN.

The General Assembly president called on international institutions to boycott Israel and sever its financial ties to the world, and for the imposing of sanctions against Jerusalem.

[…]

via UN General Assembly president calls for boycott of Israel – Israel News, Ynetnews

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply

Dandelion Salad

by Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 22 2008

Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies.

The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, has warned that the controversial rise in land deals could create a form of “neo-colonialism”, with poor states producing food for the rich at the expense of their own hungry people.

Rising food prices have already set off a second “scramble for Africa”. This week, the South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics announced plans to buy a 99-year lease on a million hectares in Madagascar. Its aim is to grow 5m tonnes of corn a year by 2023, and produce palm oil from a further lease of 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres), relying on a largely South African workforce. Production would be mainly earmarked for South Korea, which wants to lessen dependence on imports.

[…]

via Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply | Environment | The Guardian

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Miliband’s speech in Abu Dhabi + Iraq’s neighbors rejects using Iraqi lands as base for attack

Dandelion Salad

compiled by Cem Ertür
featured writer
Dandelion Salad

24 November 2008

1) Partnership in the Middle East, with the Middle East

2) Britain and France step up pressure on Iran

3) Iraq’s neighbors rejects using Iraqi lands as base for attack

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http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=Speech&id=9633162

excerpt from ‘Partnership in the Middle East, with the Middle East‘

by UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, 24 November 2008

Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, delivered a speech in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.

I remain convinced that the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran poses the most immediate threat to the stability of this region.

When I talk to Arab leaders, journalists or academics, they invariably raise their concerns about Iranian influence and activities. Iraqis complain about Iranian support for the Special Groups who have been responsible for much violence against other Iraqis as well as against multi-national forces. Afghans voice concerns about the assistance Tehran provides to the Taleban. Then there is its political, financial and military support for Hezbollah, as well as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who are determined to frustrate efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine.  And the wholly unacceptable comments from Iran’s President about Israel.

A nuclear armed Iran would be a decisive blow against those seeking to promote pragmatic and peaceful solutions to the regions problems.  The consequent nuclear arms race would be very dangerous.   The acquisition of a nuclear weapon would strengthen Tehran’s regional position, injecting its attempts to stoke up division and promote instability with much greater confidence.

The pressure we are applying to Iran, the sanctions we have supported in both the EU and the UN, are not an attempt at regime change. And nor are they a precursor to military action.   We are 100% committed to a diplomatic resolution of this dispute.

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http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto112320082030013878

excerpt from ‘Britain and France step up pressure on Iran‘

by James Blitz and Daniel Dombey, Financial Times, 24 November 2008

Britain and France are seeking to persuade financial and energy companies to stop doing business with Iran in what officials say is an attempt to increase pressure on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The move by London and Paris focuses on companies involved in three key sectors in the Iranian economy – banking and insurance, oil refining and liquefied natural gas – and is at the heart of a new international strategy to increase leverage on Tehran through informal means.

As the dispute deepens, with a United Nations report last week indicating that Tehran is building up a stockpile of enriched uranium, London and Paris are looking to use “moral suasion” to persuade companies not to sell much-needed equipment and services to the Islamic republic.

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http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2008/11/23/202464.htm

Iraq’s neighbors rejects using Iraqi lands as base for attack

SANA, 23 November 2008

Editorial note: Representatives from Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain, Turkey, Iran and Iraq took part in third meeting of the Security Cooperation and Coordination Committee for Iraq’s neighboring countries.

The third meeting of the Cooperation & Coordination Security Committee for Iraq Neighboring countries on Sunday reiterated rejection of using Iraq’s lands, waters or airspace as a passage or base to launch attacks against the neighboring countries.

In a final statement concluding meetings in Damascus today, the participants underlined their rejection of using Iraqi lands or any of the neighboring countries as a base to launch any terrorist acts that pose a threat to stability of Iraq and any of the neighboring countries’.

The participants appreciated Syria’s efforts and cooperation in controlling borders with Iraq that led to improving security and stability, stressing that condoling borders is a common responsibility between Iraq and the neighboring countries.

That statement announced that the Iraqi delegation expressed rejection of the US aggression on the Syrian lands in al-BouKamal area last month, showing keenness to overcome repercussions of this act.

It added that the participants underlined respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity and unity as well as preserving its Arab and Islamic identity, condemning all terrorist acts and aggressions targeting security of Iraq and the neighboring countries.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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“Bush’s Iran War Plan Delivered to Obama” + “Iran threatens global order”

Iranian General: Don’t be a launch pad for war

Iran

Iraq