Economic crisis

US Navy Falters; Yemen’s Blockade Bankrupts Israel’s Eilat Port

July 19, 2024 Robert Inlakesh, MintPress News. Resist! Economic crisis, Israel, Naval Blockade, Palestine, Ports, Yemen

Despite the formation of a multinational naval coalition led by the United States, the Israeli-controlled Port of Eilat has reportedly gone bankrupt and is seeking a government bailout. The situation underscores the failure of U.S.-led efforts against Yemen’s Ansar Allah–known pejoratively as the Houthis–blockade in the Red Sea, enforced until Israel ends its war on Gaza. “It must be acknowledged that the port is in a state of bankruptcy,” said Gideon Golber, CEO of the Port of Eilat, who has been vocal about the port’s dire economic condition for months and is now appealing for financial support from the Israeli government.

‘Israel In Collapse’: 46,000 Businesses Forced To Close Since 7 October

July 11, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Economic crisis, Israel, Palestine, Wars and Militarism

Forty-six thousand Israeli businesses have been forced to shut as a result of the ongoing war and its devastating effect on the economy, Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported on 10 July, referring to Israel as a “country in collapse.” “This is a very high number that encompasses many sectors. About 77 percent of the businesses that have been closed since the beginning of the war, which make up about 35,000 businesses, are small businesses with up to five employees, and are the most vulnerable in the economy,” Yoel Amir, CEO of Israeli information services and credit risk management firm, CofaceBdi, told Maariv.

A Fair Tax Agenda For Wall Street

June 15, 2024 Sarah Anderson, Inequality.org. Create! Economic crisis, Tax Reform, Wall Street, wealth inequality

Financial institutions still extract too much wealth from working families and funnel too much of that wealth into massive executive bonuses that encourage excessive risk-taking – and even financial fraud.[2] And, as we saw with the spate of regional bank failures in 2023, reckless executives can still drive their firms into the ground and walk away with grand fortunes while relying on taxpayer money to contain the damage.[3] Much more needs to be done to ensure our financial system contributes to a healthy economy and focuses on long-term value creation instead of short-term speculation that might pump up CEO pay but does little for the rest of us. Today’s hearing will examine one important tool for guiding Wall Street in this direction: tax policy. Next year, the scheduled expiration of several provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will force a major tax debate in Congress.

More Banks To Fail? Not In North Dakota

September 1, 2023 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Big Banks, Economic crisis, Finance and the Economy, North Dakota, Public Banks

U.S. banks are again in the crosshairs. Standard and Poor’s has downgraded five new middle-tier banks and put three others on negative outlook. This follows sweeping downgrades earlier in August by Moody’s, which cut credit ratings on 10 banks and placed four of the 15 largest U.S. banks on review for possible downgrade. As with the banks going into receivership earlier this year, concerns include interest rate risk due to unrealized losses from long-term securities. Meanwhile, the U.S. government itself has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, which questions the government’s ability to finance its nearly $33 trillion federal debt.

War By Other Means: Short Selling JPMorgan Chase

August 9, 2023 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Banks, China, Economic crisis, JP Morgan Chase

When the FDIC put Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank into receivership in March, a study reported on the Social Science Research Network found that nearly 200 midsized U.S. banks were similarly vulnerable to bank runs. First Republic Bank went into receivership in May, but the feared contagion of runs did not otherwise occur. Why not? As was said of Lehman Brothers 15 years earlier, the targeted banks did not fall; they were pushed, or so it seems. One blogger shows how even JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, could be pushed — not perhaps by local short-sellers, but by China.

Who Is Hustling Who?

August 6, 2023 Mukoma Wa Ngugi , Africa Is A Country. Strategize! Africa, Corruption, Cuba, Economic crisis, Kenya

There should be no doubt that Kenya is in an intractable economic crisis. Filling up gas for a drive from Nairobi to my hometown in Limuru cost 10,000 ksh (about USD70). As a result of the high gas costs prices for everything else have gone up, including public transportation. And those who cannot hike up operating costs, such as the hordes of boda boda motorcycle taxis, are hardly making anything or operating at a loss. Tax hikes mean those who are employed are taking less money home. And no point in kidding ourselves, in a corrupt country some of that money being generated from the higher taxes is going to the politicians.

On Second Anniversary Of ‘Presidential Coup,’ Tunisians Continue Resistance

July 27, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Coups, Economic crisis, Mass Action, Tunisia

June 25 marked two years since Tunisian President Kais Saied virtually took over the country in what has come to be called a ‘Presidential coup.’ Over the past two years, he has sought to reshape the state to fit his own vision. Notably missing in this project has been the people of Tunisia. Two years later, Tunisia has a new constitution and a new parliament but these were ‘approved’ despite intense opposition from political parties and civil society and extremely poor participation from the people. In a statement released on the anniversary of the Saied’s takeover, the Workers’ Party of Tunisia said that two years later, “the country is on the verge of bankruptcy and is suffering from increasing dependence.

The Federal Debt Trap: Issues And Possible Solutions

July 13, 2023 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Bubble, Debt, Economic crisis, Finance and the Economy, Pentagon Budget, Taxes

“Rather than collecting taxes from the wealthy,” wrote the New York Times Editorial Board in a July 7 opinion piece, “the government is paying the wealthy to borrow their money.” Titled “America Is Living on Borrowed Money,” the editorial observes that over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), annual federal budget deficits will average around $2 trillion per year. By 2029, just the interest on the debt is projected to exceed the national defense budget, which currently eats up over half of the federal discretionary budget. In 2029, net interest on the debt is projected to total $1.07 trillion, while defense spending is projected at $1.04 trillion.

The US Economy – Surprisingly Resilient Or Potemkin Village?

June 10, 2023 Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism. Resistance Report Bailouts, Banks, Economic crisis, Service Economy, United States

For today’s episode, we want to talk about what’s going on in the US economy. Because when you look at the discussion that’s going on, you see a lot of contradictory narratives. On the one hand, you have people like Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan, who said on Sunday that the country may face a mild recession later this year. You see a lot of major CEOs making similar predictions. By contrast, the Biden administration and much of the US mainstream media are insisting that the US economy is showing extraordinary resilience. So, Michael, I want to ask you, what is your analysis on the current state of the US economy?

Private Equity Is Out Of Control And Looting America

May 3, 2023 Lynn Parramore, Scheer Post. Educate! Book Review, Capitalism, Economic crisis, Private Equity, Wall Street

One of my favorite NYC restaurants had become understaffed and dirty – a shadow of its former self. I learned an interesting fact: a couple of years ago, a private equity firm had bought the local chain. The same type of firm that had already ruined my beloved neighborhood grocer. The kind that was rapidly taking over vet clinics, dental offices, and gyms on every block – though you wouldn’t know it unless you did some sleuthing. Price hikes, deteriorating conditions, and poor service — along with a certain slickness of marketing — could be signs that ownership of a business you count on has transferred to one or more firms in a rapidly-expanding Wall Street industry.

IMF Is Forcing Some Of Hardest-Hit Countries To Pay Unnecessary Fees

April 14, 2023 Center for Economic and Policy Research. Educate! Debt, Economic crisis, International Monetary Fund, Predatory Lending

Washington, DC — The International Monetary Fund is requiring that some of its most heavily indebted borrowers pay billions in unnecessary and counterproductive fees, new research from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) shows. The new issue brief, “The Growing Burden of IMF Surcharges: An Updated Estimate,” by Francisco Amsler and Michael Galant, finds that the IMF will charge over $2 billion per year in surcharges through 2025, even as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warns that “poverty and hunger could further increase,” and as the Fund notes that some 15 percent of countries are experiencing debt distress “and an additional 45 percent are at high risk of debt distress.”

Converging Debt Crises

February 26, 2023 Richard Heinberg, Resilience. Educate! Debt, Economic crisis, Finance and the Economy, Global Economy

An enormous debt bomb threatens the US federal government and the nation’s financial system unless warring politicians can agree on a plan to defuse it. However, there are even bigger debt bombs ticking away beneath us all, of which fewer people are aware. It may be impossible to disarm all of them, but action is required to minimize the casualties. Let’s start by focusing on the immediate US debt threat, then widen our view to take in longer-term and more serious liabilities that have the potential to bring down the entire global industrial economy.

How Sanctions Contributed To Venezuela’s Economic Collapse

January 10, 2023 Francisco Rodríguez, Global Americans. Educate! Economic crisis, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

During the past decade, Venezuela lived through the largest economic contraction documented in the history of the Western Hemisphere. The implosion took place at the same time as the U.S. government barred oil purchases, froze government bank accounts, prohibited the country from issuing new debt, and seized tankers bound for Venezuela. One would think it should be self-evident that any account of Venezuela’s economic contraction would place economic sanctions in a central role. However, sanctions play a surprisingly limited role in most mainstream accounts of the Venezuelan crisis. A recent Council on Foreign Relations background piece on Venezuela mentioned sanctions only in passing and instead attributed the country’s economic collapse to “decades of poor governance” and the “perils of becoming a petrostate.”

US Spreads Misery By Imposing Sanctions On A Third Of Humanity

January 2, 2023 Jeremy Kuzmarov, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Economic crisis, Global Economy, Sanctions, US Imperialism

On November 14, the Biden administration announced yet another round of sanctions on Russia, targeting this time Russia’s military supply chains by imposing sanctions on 14 individuals and 28 entities that it said were part of a transnational network that procured technology to support Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. One of the companies blacklisted was Milandr, a Russian microelectronics company that Washington says is part of Moscow’s military research and development structure. The sanctions additionally targeted several aviation-related companies and two individuals—Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov—who facilitated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s acquisition of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Iran, which have been used in the Ukraine War.

Anti-Government Protests In Haiti Enter Sixth Week

September 28, 2022 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. Resist! Economic crisis, Haiti, Mass Action, US Imperialism

Thousands hit the streets in Haiti once again on Monday, September 26, protesting amid the economic, political and social crisis in Haiti, demanding the resignation of de-facto Prime Minister and acting President Ariel Henry. In the capital of Port-au-Prince, protesters organized two massive simultaneous marches to Henry’s official residence. Citizens gathered at the Champs-de-Mars public square and at the Airport Crossing, renamed by protesters as the Resistance Crossing, from there marching to the Prime Minister’s residence. Similar massive rallies were held in the Carrefour and Gonaïves communes. Demonstrations, protests, roadblocks, and sit-ins denouncing the Henry government were organized in almost all main cities.

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