Finance and the Economy

USTR Clears Advisers To Read TPP Draft

July 9, 2015 Victoria Guida, www.politico.com Educate! Finance and the Economy, Free Trade, Politics, TPP

By Victoria Guida in POLITICO - Advisers of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will receive access to the full negotiating text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership starting Thursday, a spokesman for the agency confirmed today. "This week, a diverse group of trade advisers — including labor unions, industry experts, environmental groups and public advocates — will begin viewing draft TPP negotiating text as part of the congressionally established trade advisory process," the spokesman told POLITICO. "These advisers will receive full and equal access to the draft negotiation text in an effort to ensure that they can adequately prepare congressionally mandated reports on TPP.

9 Ways The TPP Is Bad For Developing Countries

July 9, 2015 Rick Rowden, www.foreignpolicy.com Educate! Finance and the Economy, Free Trade, TPP

By Rick Rowden in Foreign Policy - The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a major new trade agreementunder negotiation among 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region — received a shot in the arm in the United States at the end of June when Congress voted to grant President Barack Obama “fast-track” authority to negotiate it. The TPP has fueled considerable dispute. Reasons for this include the secrecy with which talks have been conducted, the agreement’spotential effects on U.S. jobs and growth, and its geopolitical implications. But one issue that has received comparatively little attention is how the TPP is likely to impact the developing countries slated to join. The United Nations designates six of the 12 TPP members — Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, and Vietnam — as “developing countries.” If enacted, the TPP could block these countries from successfully industrializing and joining the developed world.

Austerity Has Failed: Open Letter From Piketty To Angela Merkel

July 8, 2015 Thomas Piketty , Jeffrey Sachs , Heiner Flassbeck , Dani Rodrik and Simon Wren-Lewis, www.thenation.com Create! Finance and the Economy, France, Germany, Truth

By Thomas Piketty , Jeffrey Sachs , Heiner Flassbeck , Dani Rodrik and Simon Wren-Lewis in The Nation - The never-ending austerity that Europe is force-feeding the Greek people is simply not working. Now Greece has loudly said no more. As most of the world knew it would, the financial demands made by Europe have crushed the Greek economy, led to mass unemployment, a collapse of the banking system, made the external debt crisis far worse, with the debt problem escalating to an unpayable 175 percent of GDP. The economy now lies broken with tax receipts nose-diving, output and employment depressed, and businesses starved of capital. The humanitarian impact has been colossal—40 percent of children now live in poverty, infant mortality is sky-rocketing and youth unemployment is close to 50 percent.

Private Health-Insurance Monopoly Or A Single Payer

July 8, 2015 Robert Reich, www.robertreich.org Educate! Finance and the Economy, Health Care

By Robert Reich - The Supreme Court’s recent blessing of Obamacare has precipitated a rush among the nation’s biggest health insurers to consolidate into two or three behemoths. The result will be good for their shareholders and executives, but bad for the rest of us – who will pay through the nose for the health insurance we need. We have another choice, but before I get to it let me give you some background. Last week, Aetna announced it would spend $35 billion to buy rival Humana in a deal that will create the second-largest health insurer in the nation, with 33 million members. The combination will claim a large share of the insurance market in many states – 88 percent in Kansas and 58 percent in Iowa, for example.

Climate Commission Issues Blueprint For Low-Carbon Economy

July 8, 2015 Kitty Stapp, www.ipsnews.net Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Global Warming

By Kitty Stapp in IPS News - Up to 96 percent of the emissions reductions needed by 2030 to keep global warming below a critical threshold of two degrees C could be achieved through a series of 10 steps, says a new report released by the Global Commission on the Economy and the Climate. “The low carbon economy is already emerging,” said former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón, Chair of the Commission. "Africa can ‘leapfrog’ the fossil-fuel based growth strategies of developed countries and become a leader in low-carbon development." -- Former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel “But governments, cities, businesses and investors need to work much more closely together and take advantage of recent developments if the opportunities are to be seized. We cannot let these opportunities slip through our fingers.”

12 Corporations Benefit From Prison Industrial Complex

July 7, 2015 Rick Riley, www.atlantablackstar.com Educate! Capitalism, Finance and the Economy, Labor, Mass Incarceration, Prison

By Rick Riley in Atlanta Black Star - According to the Left Business Observer, “the federal prison industry produces 100 percent of all military helmets, war supplies and other equipment. The workers supply 98 percent of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93 percent of paints and paintbrushes; 92 percent of stove assembly; 46 percent of body armor; 36 percent of home appliances; 30 percent of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21 percent of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.” With all of that productivity, the inmates make about 90 cents to $4 a day. Here are some of the biggest corporations to use such practices, but there are hundreds more. . .

Will The US Intervene To Remove The Greek Government

July 7, 2015 John Helmer, www.johnhelmer.net Educate! Finance and the Economy, Greece, Russia, usa, Wars and Militarism

By John Helmer - A putsch in Athens to save allied Greece from enemy Russia is in preparation by the US and Germany, with backing from the non-taxpayers of Greece – the Greek oligarchs, Anglo-Greek shipowners, and the Greek Church. At the highest and lowest level of Greek government, and from Thessaloniki to Milvorni, all Greeks understand what is happening. Yesterday they voted overwhelmingly to resist. According to a high political figure in Athens, a 40-year veteran, “what is actually happening is a slow process of regime change.” Can the outcome — the 61% to 39% referendum vote, with a 22% margin for Οχι (No) which the New York Times calls “shocking” and a “victory [that] settled little” – defeat Operation Nemesis? Will the new Axis – the Americans and the Germans – attack again, as the Germans did after the first Greek Οχι of October 28, 1940, defeated the Italian invasion?

We Must Support Greece’s Fight For Democracy

July 7, 2015 Owen Jones, www.informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Democracy, Europe, Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Owen Jones in Information Clearing House - From the cradle of democracy, a lion has roared. It is difficult to overstate the pressure the Greek people have both endured and defied. A country that has already experienced an austerity-induced economic disaster with few precedents among developed nations in peacetime has suffered a sustained campaign of economic and political warfare. The European Central Bank – which has only recently deigned to publish some of the minutes of its meetings – capped liquidity for Greek banks, driving them to the verge of collapse. There were stringent capital controls, and desperate queues outside banks followed. A country desperate to stay within the euro was told it would be ejected, and with calamitous results.

Greece – What You Are Not Being Told By The Media

July 6, 2015 Chris Kanthan, www.nationofchange.org Educate! Austerity, Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Chris Kanthan in Nation of Change - Every single mainstream media has the following narrative for the economic crisis in Greece: the government spent too much money and went broke; the generous banks gave them money, but Greece still can’t pay the bills because it mismanaged the money that was given. It sounds quite reasonable, right? Except that it is a big fat lie … not only about Greece, but about other European countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland who are all experiencing various degrees of austerity. It was also the same big, fat lie that was used by banks and corporations to exploit many Latin American, Asian and African countries for many decades. Greece did not fail on its own. It was made to fail.

The Promise Of Public Banking In Seattle

July 5, 2015 Anna Bergren Miller, www.shareable.net Create! Finance and the Economy, Public Banking, Seattle

By Anna Bergren Miller for Shareable. Seattle, like other cities, is strapped for money. We're the fastest-growing city in the country, and we need to build infrastructure to support that growth. We would also like to build more affordable housing, and create good family-wage jobs. We are close to our debt limit. Because Seattle and Washington state have the most regressive tax systems, we're constantly having to go to the levy system to get more money, or borrow it. We've borrowed [billions of] dollars. Big banks, mostly, have bought those bonds—they loaned the money to us. So even though Seattle is prosperous compared to Detroit, or Baltimore, it still has a lot of needs. To start a public bank in Seattle, we would need a capital investment. We see that coming from the investments that Seattle already makes, mostly in savings treasury bonds and CDs. I think [they are valued at] about $800 million. We're only getting 0.67 percent [interest] on those investments right now—that's not much of a return. We're thinking some of that investment money [could be used to start the bank]. It takes at least $100 million—but the more robust, the better. We could get a much higher rate of return through our own bank.

Newsletter – Struggle For Independence Continues

July 4, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Bankers, fast track, Finance and the Economy, Greece, Independence, indigenous, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Israel, Palestine, Racism, Slavery, TISA, TPP

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Today, there continue to be struggles for independence in the US and around the world. In the US, as the country celebrates the 4th of July, more are understanding that the so-called "founding fathers" have taken credit for a mass movement of colonists who sought independence, where nearly 100 "Declarations of Independence" were written before the Jefferson version; and where the issues of racism, sexism, and ethnic cleansing of the Indigenous were not recognized. Rather than celebrating the slave-owning plutocrats who hijacked this country we celebrate those who continue the struggle for self-determination here and around the world. The struggle, as we can see in Greece, is against the plutocratic bankers who profit while the 99 percent suffer the consequences of their wealth extraction. True independence is a worldwide struggle that is ongoing.

Greece: Europe’s Oligarch Bankers Want To Kill The Left In Europe

July 4, 2015 Seumas Milne, , www.theguardian.com Educate! Bankers, Finance and the Economy, Greece, Syriza

By Seumas Milne for the Guardian. The worst outcome of this crisis would be for Syriza to implement the austerity it was elected to end. A yes vote in next weekend’s referendum, if it goes ahead, would probably lead to the government’s fall, and almost certainly new elections. But even a no vote, which would offer the best chance for Greece, would need to be followed by more radical measures if the government was going to strengthen its negotiating hand or prepare the ground for euro exit. The real risk across Europe is that if Syriza caves in or collapses, that failure will be used to turn back the rising tide of support for anti-austerity movements such as Podemos in Spain, or Sinn Féin in Ireland, leaving the field to populists of the right. Either way, any Greek euro deal that fails to write off unrepayable debt or end the austerity squeeze will only postpone the crisis.

Socialism Means Abolishing Distinction Of Bosses & Employees

June 30, 2015 Richard D. Wolff, www.truth-out.org Educate! Capitalism, Finance and the Economy, Socialism

By Richard D. Wolff in Truthout - Actual large-scale socialism would thus predominantly entail worker cooperative enterprises such as these. Like the capitalist enterprises that once emerged from European feudalism, these new cooperative enterprises would seek to solve problems such as how to organize their interdependencies with one another and with the public, how to relate to private and public property, and how to manage transitions from smaller- to larger-scale enterprises. Different forms of societal socialisms will emerge: some with markets, private property and large corporations, and others with centralized and/or decentralized planning systems, socialized property, constraints on enterprise size etc. Debates, experiments and choices among them will likely characterize the multiple forms that socialism will take.

IMF & Germany Seek To Finish Off Even a Moderate Left In Greece

June 28, 2015 C J Polychroniou, www.truthout.org Educate! European Central Bank, Finance and the Economy, Germany, Greece, IMF, Syriza

By C J Polychroniou in TruthOut. Negotiations between Greece and its official creditors - the European Commission, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank - are currently in renewed deadlock. Yet, only a few days ago, in the Euro summit on Monday, June 22, all indications were that Europe’s political beasts and the "criminal IMF" were ready to accept thelatest capitulation on the part of the Greek leftist government, which, since coming to power in late January, has spent a lot of time doing nothing more than "yelling, kicking and screaming" against austerity and the bailout program (and treating senior-level EU officials with disdain in public as part of its well-orchestrated populist theatrics) while at the same time seeking to assure Greece’s euro partners that it is committed to keeping the country in the euro area and that it would fulfill all its obligations to the creditors.

Greece To Hold Referendum On Bailout Agreement

June 28, 2015 Anastasios Papapostolou, www.greece.greekreporter.com Resist! European Central Bank, European Union (EU), Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Anastasios Papapostolou for Greek Reporter. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece will hold a referendum on July 5 to ask the Greek people if they approve of a bailout deal with the country’s creditors. In a nationally televised address after midnight Friday in Athens, Tsipras announced the July 5 vote and excoriated a take it-or-leave it offer as a violation of European Union rules and “common decency”. “After five months of tough negotiations, our partners unfortunately resorted to a proposal-ultimatum to the Greek people,” Tsipras said. “I call on the Greek people to rule on the blackmailing ultimatum asking us to accept a strict and humiliating austerity without end and without prospect.” He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi have been informed of the plan, and he’ll request an extension of Greece’s existing bailout, due to end June 30, by a few days to permit the vote without having to introduce capital controls in the Greek banks.

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