Investors Fear Collapse Of Major European Bank

By Landon Thomas Jr. and Nelson D. Schwartz
The New York Times

Remember the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Europeans certainly do.

As Europe struggles to contain its government debt crisis, the greatest fear is that one of the Continent’s major banks may fail, setting off a financial panic like the one sparked by Lehman’s bankruptcy in September 2008.

European policy makers, determined to avoid such a catastrophe, are prepared to use hundreds of billions of euros of bailout money to prevent any major bank from failing.

But questions continue to mount about the ability of Europe’s banks to ride out the crisis, as some are having a harder time securing loans needed for daily operations.
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U.S. Economy Tumbles Down Down Down … Global Ranking Of Competitive Economies

U.S. in Fifth Place:  The World Economic Forum cited the U.S. for “a number of escalating weaknesses” including declining public faith in political leaders and corporate ethics.

By John Heilprin
HUFFINGTON POST

GENEVA — The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.

The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.

Switzerland held onto the top spot for the third consecutive year in the annual ranking by the Geneva-based forum, which is best known for its exclusive meeting of luminaries in Davos, Switzerland, each January.

Singapore moved up to second place, bumping Sweden down to third. Finland moved up to fourth place, from seventh last year. The U.S. was in fourth place last year, after falling from No. 1 in 2008.
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Options: Slave Labor

Policy makers are scrambling to do anything to put people to work … including slave labor (under the guise of “job training”). However, rather than addressing the real issues and solutions – the need for rigorous regulation of corporations, closing the gap on income disparity, and higher taxes for the rich – they’re continuing to propose plans that will lead to more of the same  … and ultimately a violent revolution.

Long-Term Unemployment: States Search For Strategies To Counter Joblessness

By Arthur Delaney
HUFFINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — When Steve Clark of St. Louis, Mo., lost his IT job in 2009, he intuitively knew that as someone older than 60, he’d have a tough time getting back to work. So he scrambled, compiling all of his professional contacts, drafting 13 different versions of his resume and meeting with anyone he could.
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Posted in CAPITALISM, CORPORATE BRUTALITY, ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT, EVIL CORPORATIONS, FASCISM, GOVERNMENT, GREED, POLICY | Leave a comment

Happy Labor Day! (If you’re a CEO): HOW LABOR IS GETTING SHAFTED BY CORPORATE AMERICA

By Josh Harkinson
Mother Jones

The red line is the share of the economy taken up by wages, salaries etc. The blue line is the share taken up by corporate profits. So the graph shows that corporations have bounced back from the recession even as workers’ share of the economic pie continues to narrow.

Why is this happening? Jared Bernstein of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, who put together the graph, says companies have raked in the dough by selling into emerging markets while cutting costs through outsourcing and automating domestic jobs. I’d say the demise of unions certainly also plays a role.

As the chart also makes clear, widening income inequality in America is no longer just a matter of stratified wages. Today’s investment class—the CEOs, the hedge fund managers, the bankers—owns a stake in an economic system that no longer needs to share much of its wealth with anyone else. In other words, it takes money to make money. And of course, spending some of it to buy off Washington doesn’t hurt either.

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Olbermann: “What The Hell Is Going On In The White House?”

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YES! Let The Riots Begin!

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SOLUTIONS!

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Obama’s Close Ties To CEOs Whose Firms Dodge Taxes

By Zach Carter and Jordon Howard
HUFFINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — As the nation struggles with a stagnant economy, President Barack Obama has preached overhauling the U.S. tax code to spur economic growth. But as he gears up for what looks to be a tough reelection campaign, the president has surrounded himself with the current loophole-riddled system’s prime offenders: corporate executives whose companies have profited off of those loopholes while reaping millions for themselves.
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Highest-Paid CEOs Often Earn More Than Company Pays In Income Taxes, Study Finds

REUTERS

Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax, a pay study said on Wednesday.

It also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.
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Luggage Store Projection Space: The Messaging of Politics

September 1 – 30, 2011
1007 Market Street
San Francisco, CA

Curated by Eliza Barrios
Messaging
has existed longer than media, but with the onslaught of technology – messaging and media go hand in hand. From television broadcasts, to YouTube and even graffiti campaigns co-opted by large corporations – there has always been an idea to be expressed or better yet an idea to be consumed. And at present, one cannot deny that the very act of consuming has become political.

For the month of September, Luggage Store’s Projection Space presents the program, The Messaging of Politics. This program looks at the various ways messaging has evolved and effected politics within the United States. With the integrity of our economy compromised, unemployment at an all time high, higher education becoming less important, healthcare barely accessible to the general populace and the wealth of this country being held by only 1% of our population, it is important now more than ever to understand how messaging has effected us and continues to effect us.

The Messaging of Politics presents three different perspectives of how messaging has and can be used. From vintage political campaigns presented through broadcast television between the late 50′s to the late 80′s (“Crime & Punishment”, Stephen Parr/Oddball Film + Video), to the usage of visual vocabulary targeted toward the millennial generation (“Solutions”, Megan Wilson), to a look at documenting actions in order to engage (or perhaps enrage) the public in real time (“Pignapped – An Anti-Capitalist Adventure”, TWCDC).

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