Standard and Poor’s downgrades US debt, stock markets gyrate around the world, Sarkozy and Merkel perform yet another empty summit, the Chinese and Japanese economies look worrisome. Serious commentators worry about global recession, another global banking collapse, eurozone dissolution, and austerity programs that only make matters worse. Nouriel Roubini, famed Professor at NYU’s Stern School […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
A First Ever Default? Closing the Gold Window, Forty Years On
During the recent “Debt Ceiling” debacle, many warned that the failure to lift the debt ceiling would lead to a “first ever” US default and to numerous financial catastrophes, including the demise of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. “First Ever Default?” Think again. Forty years ago this month, on August 15, 1971, […]
Bounce in Core Energy Prices Lead to 0.5 Percent Rise in CPI
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent in July, following a 0.2 percent fall in June. Over the last three months, headline inflation has run at a 1.8 percent annualized rate, compared with 6.2 percent from January to April. Consumer prices less food and energy rose 0.2 percent last month. Since April, these core prices […]
Looking Back for Insights into a New Paradigm
It is becoming widely acknowledged that the leading ideas of some of the most prestigious late-20th-century economists (such as Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers in the American government) are outmoded and that a new paradigm of economics is needed. Part I of this essay will focus on two issues which we think it has to […]
Turkish and Kurdish Labourers and Traders Must Refuse to Be Pitted Against the Black People
To the attention of the Press and the Public: As it is known, last Saturday a protest took place outside Tottenham police station in order to attain answers or explanations as to how and why Mark Duggan, a father of four, was killed by the police on Thursday 4th August. The events were unleashed as […]
Compensate Victims of U.S. Chemical Warfare in Vietnam
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare program in Vietnam without sufficient remedial action by the U.S. government. One of the most shameful legacies of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange continues to poison Vietnam and the people exposed to the chemicals, as well as their offspring. H.R. 2634, the Victims […]
India’s ‘World Class’ Heist: What the Commonwealth Games Audit Shows
This has been a turbulent week in India. On August 5th, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India released its final report on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, placing it before the parliament. No one expected good news. The games, which were held in Delhi last October, have been under a cloud of corruption and […]
On the S&P Downgrade
The decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade U.S. government debt reflects its own failings as a credit rating agency. It says nothing about the creditworthiness of the U.S. government. The Treasury Department revealed that S&P’s decision was initially based on a $2 trillion error in accounting. However, even after this enormous error was corrected, […]
“Living within Our Means” and Standard and Poor’s Downgrade
The President, Senators, Congresspersons, media representatives, and many ordinary people speak often, these days, about Washington “learning to live within our means.” Last Friday, the private rating company, Standard and Poor’s (S&P), said the riskiness of lending to the US had risen because the US was not living within its means (i.e. borrowing too much). […]
Iran and al-Qa’ida: Can the Charges Be Substantiated?
Last week, the Obama Administration formally charged the Islamic Republic of working with al-Qa’ida. The charge was presented as part of the Treasury Department’s announcement that it was designating six alleged al-Qa’ida operatives for terrorism-related financial sanctions. The six are being designated, according to Treasury, because of their involvement in transiting money and operatives for […]
India: Saying No to Iranian Oil to Please America
“[A]n assessment of whether India is fully and actively participating in United States and international efforts to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability (including the capability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear fuel), and the means to […]
U.S. Sanctions and China’s Iran Policy
The Financial Times reports that Iran and China are “in talks about using a barter system to exchange Iranian oil for Chinese goods and services, as U.S. financial sanctions have blocked China from paying at least $20 billion for oil imports.” According to the story, Tehran and Beijing are now discussing how to “offset” the […]
Weak Consumption and Shrinking Government Slow GDP in Second Quarter
Consumption grew at just a 0.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter, while government spending shrank at a 1.1 percent rate, holding GDP growth to 1.3 percent in the quarter. This report also revised down first-quarter GDP growth to just 0.4 percent from a previously reported 1.9 percent. Together, these numbers indicate that the […]
Entangled in Neocolonialism: The Weight of Chains
An interview with documentary filmmaker Boris Malagurski Who in their right mind would actually want to be a colony? That is the question asked in the opening section of The Weight of Chains, the latest film directed by Boris Malagurski. His film demonstrates how the South Slavs emerged from centuries of colonial rule under the […]
Jamaica Remains Buried Under a Mountain of Debt, Despite Restructuring
As the eurozone authorities move closer to accepting the inevitable Greek debt default/restructuring, there are some who have pointed to the Jamaican debt restructuring of last year as a model. It’s hard to imagine a worse disaster for Greece. It is worth a closer look at what has been done to Jamaica, not only as […]
India: The Latest Employment Trends from the NSSO
No sooner were the results of the 66th Round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (relating to data collected in 2009-10) released, than they became the subject of great controversy. Surprisingly, the controversy was created not by critics of the government and its statistical system, but from within government circles! Some highly placed officials found […]
What Happened at Fukushima and Why It Can Happen Here
“The primary cause is an extended loss of power at the power plant, as ironic as that might be. When the earthquake occurred, the normal grid was lost, and the plant’s own in-plant power from the generators was also lost because of the result of the earthquake. . . . The tsunami came in […]
Malaysia: Fight to Free the PSM 6
Activists fight to free the six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members — Choo Chon Kai, Sarat Babu, Sarasvathy Muthu, Sukumaran A/L Munisamy, A. Letchumanan, and Dr. Jeyakumar Devaraj — detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO). Cf. Peter Boyle, “Huge Rally in Malaysia, Free PSM 6 Campaign Grows” (Green Left Weekly, 17 July 2011); <www.parti-sosialis.org>; <aliran.com>; […]
Raising Prices to Curb Inflation
The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission made an extraordinary statement the other day, namely that the oil-price increase, which everybody opposes for adding to inflation, was really an anti-inflationary measure; it would reduce inflation. The deputy chairman’s is an exalted position; and the current incumbent is an economist of repute. There is a danger […]
Let’s Join TEPCO!
東電に入ろう（倒電に廃炉） Among you, gentlemen, here Anyone wants to join Tokyo Electric? Anyone wants to make a name for himself? TEPCO is looking for talent Let’s join TEPCO, TEPCO, TEPCO Join TEPCO, a heaven on earth All the men’s men are joining TEPCO Ready to die a hero’s death Anyone dying for thrills? Come join […]
