Tuesday, Feb 7th 2012
What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe
Old news now perhaps, but a useful reference for Michael Youltan’s piece on the front page.
Picking up well-connected policymakers on their way out of government is only one half of the Project, sending Goldman alumni into government is the other half. Like Mr Monti, Mario Draghi, who [...]
UK-US ’special relationship’ is alive and well - it runs from City of London to Wall St. | Nick Shaxson
Wisdom abounds that one of the many outcomes of Cameron’s Veto over the EU Summit Treaty was that not only did it isolate the UK in Europe, but it also occurred without the safety net [...]
Depression and Democracy | Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman says that the current ‘depression’ and turmoil in Europe is aiding and abetting the rise of authoritarian rule in Europe. He points to the anti-democratic actions of Fidesz in Hungry, a party he refers to as ‘Centre-Right’. People should stop using this ‘centre’ stuff as there is nothing [...]
The EU Treaty is a disaster for the Left | Owen Jones
In the New Stateman Owen Jones, author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class, has a take on what the EU is proposing. The EU will from now on be exactly like Ireland. We didn’t import neoliberalism. We’re exporters of oligarchical rule.
Stop your crowing about [...]
Michael Perelman | Occupy Chico State
Good interview with Michael Perleman for his local NPR station which he would have given to a Occupied Chico State teach-in broadcast if the location for the talk hadn’t been locked down due to a ‘bomb scare’. Perelman, who’s the author of the highly recommended Invisible Handcuffs talks about [...]
Justice for Magdalenes group | It’s wrong to appoint Seán Aylward to the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture
Letter from the Justice for Magdalenes group in the Irish Times about the inappropriateness of appointing former secretary general of the Department of Justice, Seán Aylward to the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of [...]
Martin Wolf | ‘Merkozy’ Failed to Save the Eurozone
Martin Wolf in the Financial Times argues that the Merkozy solution won’t work, as it is doesn’t address the cause of the crisis or the problems within the Eurozone.
Now consider average current account deficits over 1999-2007. On this measure, the most vulnerable countries were Estonia, Portugal, Greece, [...]
Dean Baker provides a simple truth…..
The NYT had a good piece on Ireland’s effort to get back on a solid growth path. At one point it refers to a 5.4 percent rise in exports as an encouraging sign:
“driven by gains from Pfizer, Intel, SAP and other multinational companies that were drawn to Ireland in the 1990s [...]
As we are forced to look at the budget over two days, a particular unnecessary cruelty, it’s worth emphasising, as those in the ULA and Sinn Fein have done, that this is a budget based on political choices. It is depressing to watch seasoned politicans like Pat Rabbitte claim pathetically that if they didn’t make [...]
Gary Younge | Indifferent elites, poverty and police brutality – all reasons to riot in the UK
Four months later the absurdity of the official response to the riots is painfully clear. It took a while. Given the spontaneous, geographically diverse and inchoate nature of these disturbances, there was never a credible single cause. Even if there had been, [...]
