World-News

Worst retail sales trend since 1974 expected

"October will prove to be a disaster for retail sales, with only the discounters having anything to cheer about," wrote Avery Shenfeld, an economist for CIBC World Markets.

http://tinyurl.com/689nne



Dismal economic news and it's certain to get worse

Friday's dismal news that the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent and employers shed another 240,000 jobs in October made it clear that the U.S. economy is now in recession.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/55471.html



Just 3 'superbanks' now dominate industry

Sudden consolidation raises questions about regulation, consumer impact.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27441147



States face unemployment cash crisis

Rising unemployment drains state trust funds, forcing them to borrow from Washington to continue paying claims.

http://tinyurl.com/5qcb3q


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemployment
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=job+loss
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession

By Christopher Laird

The two insoluble problems that will lead to a depression and ultimately the final USD collapse.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21179.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=depression

Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith, The Washington Post: "Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team. A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration."

http://www.truthout.org/110908C

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Obama to use executive orders for immediate impact

Yuma Sun

11/09/08

President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. John Podesta, Obama’s transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush’s executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own...

http://tinyurl.com/6cuc6h


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=executive+order
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=R.+Jeffrey+Smith

Tim Shipman, The Telegraph UK: "Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign. The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of 'palling around with terrorists', citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers. The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling 'terrorist' and 'kill him.' until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric."

http://www.truthout.org/110908Y



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Palin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tim+Shipman

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/08-3



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Marisa+Taylor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Doyle

by Mike Pflanz

GOMA - After two hours, drenched in sweat, he tugs on a cord tied to his waist and is pulled back to the surface, carrying with him a 30 kilogram sack of raw columbium-tantalite ore.

[More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.]More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.

Few people have heard of this rare mineral, known as coltan, even though millions of people in the developed world rely on it. But global demand for the mineral, and a handful of other materials used in everything from cellphones to soup tins, is keeping the armies of Congo's ceaseless wars fighting.

Read More...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/09-2

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Mobile phones "Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa

Perhaps, he suggests, mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that
read:

"Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa.

These materials are rare, nonrenewable, were sold to fund a bloody war of
occupation, and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species.

Have a nice day."

People need to realize, he says, that there is a direct link between the
gadgets that make our lives more convenient and sophisticated-and the
reality of the violence, turmoil, and destruction that plague our world.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Project%20Censored/CensoredNews_2007.html



Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Long-distance calling
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3326551/Confessions-of-an-Eco-Sinner-Long-distance-calling.html


From Mast Sanity/Mast Network

--------

How electronics-fueled market for tin funds war in Congo
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8056/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Congo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Coltan

Rupert Read, a Green Party city councillor for Wensum Ward, is fighting another mast application in the area.

SARAH HALL

09 November 2008 15:00

Families in one city ward are gearing up for yet another fight against plans to install a mobile phone mast near their homes.

Concerns have been raised over an application by phone giant Orange, which is the third application in just one month in Wensum ward, to put up a 20-metre mast on the industrial estate on Guardian Road.

Rupert Read a Green city councillor for the ward has vowed to fight the application and will this week get families on board to oppose the plans.

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/6rm732

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/476.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=derivatives

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29091/1.html

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Das Flüchtlingssterben geht weiter. Die Abschottung Europas durch Frontex ist gescheitert und die Weltwirtschaftkrise wird mehr Menschen zur Flucht treiben

„Seit Jahren wird die EU-Grenzschutzbehörde Frontex ausgebaut, um Flüchtlinge von Europa fernzuhalten. Doch die Behörde räumte nun ihr Scheitern ein, was leicht vorherzusagen war. Es war klar, dass Frontex nur für eine weitere Verlagerung der Routen sorgen würde und wohl noch mehr Menschen auf dem Weg nach Europa ihr Leben verlieren würden. Am Mittwoch kam ein Boot mit 126 Einwandern auf der Ferieninsel Gomera an, darunter waren erneut drei Tote, ohne das es von Frontex oder der Küstenwache entdeckt worden wäre. Die Zahl derer, die die Kanarischen Inseln erreichen, steigt wieder an und auf der italienischen Insel Lampedusa wurden seit Jahresbeginn schon 24.000 Flüchtlinge gezählt. Wegen der weltweiten Wirtschaftskrise wird die Zahl weiter steigen. Schon jetzt wird beobachtet, dass sich immer mehr Minderjährige und Frauen auf den tödlichen Weg machen. Dabei sind Einwanderer von den Folgen der Rezession stark betroffen, wie sich in Spanien und Mexiko zeigt…“ Artikel von Ralf Streck in telepolis vom 31.10.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29036/1.html


Gewerkschaften und die Krise des Neoliberalismus

„Lieber Bernd, lieber Werner, mit Interesse habe ich Euren Diskussionsbeitrag zu Gewerkschaften in der Weltwirtschaftskrise gelesen. Ich finde es sinnvoll, eine Debatte zu führen, wie die Gewerkschaften mit der Krise umgehen sollten, wie wir sie vielleicht sogar auch als Chance nutzen können. (…) In Eurer Auseinandersetzung mit dem, was Ihr „Sackgasse Nationalkeynesianismus“ nennt und anscheinend uns im ver.di Bereich Wirtschaftspolitik als Position unterstellt, sehe ich einen Rückfall in alte und falsche Entgegensetzungen und gravierende Missverständnisse oder sogar bewusste Missinterpretationen unserer Position, weil Ihr diese eigentlich besser kennen müsstet. Insoweit finde ich einige Passagen eures Textes ärgerlich und desorientierend…“ Kritik von Ralf Krämer, ver.di Bereich Wirtschaftspolitik, vom 05.11.2008 (pdf) http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/finanz/adriexsauer.pdf

Es handelt sich um eine Erwiderung auf „Gewerkschaften in der Weltwirtschaftskrise: Weiter so - oder Krise als Chance?“, Diskussionsbeitrag des AK Weltwirtschaftskrise ver.di Baden Württemberg von Bernd Riexinger und Werner Sauerborn vom Nov. 2008 (pdf) http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/finanz/riexsauer.pdf Dieser Diskussionsbeitrag wird übrigens nun auch von Thomas Böhm, Günter Busch und Stefan Heim mitverantwortet.


Crashkurs. Warum am Platzen der Finanzblase nicht die „Gier der Banker" Schuld ist und es keine Rückkehr zum „Rheinischen Kapitalismus" geben kann

Flyer der Gruppe Krisis bei infopartisan http://www.trend.infopartisan.net/trd1108/t031108.html


Demokratie statt Spekulation. Profiteure zur Kasse bitten, Banken verstaatlichen, Nachhaltigkeit durchsetzen

Eine linke Antwort auf die Finanzkrise von Beat Ringger, geschäftsleitender Sekretär des Denknetz, vom 20.10.08 (pdf) http://www.denknetz-online.ch/IMG/pdf/Demokratie_statt_Spekulation._Die_Linke_und_die_Finanzkrise.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 10. November 2008



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bankenkrise
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Finanzkrise
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rettungspaket
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Frontex
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Neoliberalismus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Spekulation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Profiteur

By Richard Brenneman

Saturday November 08, 2008

Neighbors worried about cell phone antenna radiation and angry at city officials who have allowed it in their neighborhoods poured out their frustrations at the Berkeley Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday night.

Planning commissioners listened, questioned, then decided to hold off on any decision for another two weeks—in part because of a recent federal appellate court ruling.

But whatever the commission decides, Deputy Planning Director Wendy Cosin said she is obliged to make a recommendation to the City Council in January.

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/5zqnfc

According to Seymour Hersh there is a conga line of insiders waiting until January 20th to spill the beans on the gross criminality of the Bush/Cheney administration. Waiting . . . because if they did it now the two of them would be tarred and feathered on the way out the door.

But we the people do not have to wait. We can and must demand the immediate impeachment of both Bush and Cheney for what is already known. At the very least the defiance of congressional subpoenas at the behest of the White House is an open and shut case for accountability now.

Impeach Now Action Page: http://www.usalone.com/impeach_now.php

Because as his final constitutional insult, his final spit in the face to the American people and all rule of law, it is transparently obvious that Bush is planning the most wholesale and wrongful pardon of the worst political criminals in American history, his whole criminal gang, INCLUDING himself.

And don't think that is not their precise plan. Please, what power has Bush NOT abused? What heinous, self-serving, shameless and dishonest act has he ever shied away from, when he was torturing and eavesdropping and lying us into wars of corporate aggression. Does anyone doubt that is what he is planning on doing?

And when you submit this action page, you will have one last chance to get one of the "Impeach Both!!!" caps, which after January 20th will no longer be available from us for love or for money.

Impeach Now Action Page: http://www.usalone.com/impeach_now.php

Will Congress now act? That is not the yardstick of the worth of our activism. We speak out because we must speak out, whether we are heeded or not. Let history record that we spoke out until the last minute to the eternal shame of those who did not. Because when enough of us speak out at once, the worst thing that can possibly happen is that we are building the progressive base for the REAL change of the future.

So Bush most certainly is planning on pardoning himself. And all the right wing lock down ideologues in the corporate controlled media will call it "healing". Let's all make nice with war criminals? Shall we all make nice with the gang rape of our economy, our environment and our Constitution? We think not.

And one more thing. You know that come January 20th the right wing will start calling for the impeachment of our new president, over a endless litany of the most ridiculous of trivial trifles. In fact it has already started even though he has not even taken office. If they are so hot on impeaching someone, let them speak out now, when it truly is called for, or shut the hell up in 73 days.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.

usalone281b:240444

Powered by The People's Email Network Copyright 2008, Patent pending, All rights reserved



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Seymour+Hersh

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6201900&page=1


From APFN daily update

--------

Conned Again
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21177.htm

--------

Hail to the Chief of Staff

CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn

11/08/08

The first trumpet blast of change ushers in Rahm Emanuel as Obama’s chief of staff and gate keeper. This is the man who arranges his schedule, staffs out the agenda, includes, excludes. It’s certainly as sinister an appointment as, say, Carter’s installation of arch cold-warrior Zbigniev Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor at the dawn of his ‘change is here’ administration in 1977...

http://counterpunch.org/cockburn11072008.html



Freddie Mac loses $25B, asks Treasury Department for $13B

Triangle Business Journal

Government-controlled mortgage lender Freddie Mac lost more than $25 billion in the third quarter and has asked the Treasury Department for almost $14 billion in equity. McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) reported a net loss of $25.3 billion, or $19.44 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, compared to a net loss of $1.2 billion, or $2.07 per diluted common share, for the year ago quarter. … Freddie Mac stated that as a result of the net loss, the company’s net worth, also known as stockholders’ equity, was a negative $13.8 billion. To cover the deficit in shareholder equity, Freddie Mac’s conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has submitted a request to the Treasury to buy $13.8 billion in preferred stock to restore the company’s balance sheet. It expects to receive the funds by November 29, 2008...

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/11/10/daily40.html



Obama the war hawk
Ayn R. Key

11/14/08

In the primaries, when campaigning against Hillary Clinton, she ran as a staunch hawk on foreign policy issues. Obama ran a campaign opposing both Clinton and Bush by running as a peace candidate …. Then, in the general election, his anti-war rhetoric was dramatically softened. … After having won the general election, Obama’s first major cabinet appointment was pro-war Rahm Emanual for Chief of Staff. Now it appears he is planning to offer the major diplomatic spot, the Secretary of State, to Hillary Clinton...

http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-war-hawk.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Political Roast : Obama Emauel 2005



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdphzxz64BY


From APFN daily update

--------

Sooner Than We Thought
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/maltsev6.html

--------

Rahm Emanuel's Political Pirouettes
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/19



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rahm+Emanuel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hillary+Clinton
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+hawk
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Freddie+Mac
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Treasury
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Craig+Roberts
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Alexander+Cockburn
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+MacArthur

Am Abend seines Wahlsiegs versprach Obama der Welt einen Neuanfang in der "amerikanischen Führerschaft". Das eben will aber die Welt nicht.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741684717ms127

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Stühlerücken in Washington

Wer wird in Obamas Kabinett welchen Posten bekleiden?
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29096/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama

„Ein Temperaturanstieg von über zwei Grad Celsius gegenüber vorindustriellen Werten muss verhindert werden," so der Parlamentarische Staatssekretär im Bundesumweltministerium Michael Müller.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741684715ms127



Energie, ein Luxusgut?

Sie ist kostbar. Ohne sie geht fast nichts. Energie – ihre gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Be­deutung lässt sich nicht in Geld umrechnen. Sehr wohl kann man aber den Wert beziffern, den wir für sie in Form von Strom, Gas oder Öl bezahlen. Und dieser ist hoch.

Von Stephan Kohler
http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741684704ms127



Achim Steiner: Finanzkrise mit "Grüner Ökonomie" bewältigen

UNEP-Chef plädiert für ökologische Industrie- und Entwicklungspolitik. Achim Steiner im Gespräch mit Christopher Ricke | Deutschlandradio Kultur.

http://sonnenseite.kjm4.de/ref.php?id=d8741684706ms127



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Klimapolitik

Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian UK: "As the implosion of the defeated Republican campaign continued yesterday, the landscape of American conservatism was dotted with signs that these were very strange times indeed. Rush Limbaugh, behemoth of rightwing radio, took to the airwaves to declare war on two enemies: Barack Obama and the Republican party. Bloggers at FreeRepublic.com, an internet hub for conservatives, announced a boycott of Fox News and John McCain's aides fell over one another to leak embarrassing details about the campaign to the press."

http://www.truthout.org/110808D



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Oliver+Burkeman

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8026/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama

Erstmals seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg werden die Wirtschaftsleistungen der Industriestaaten über ein Jahr schrumpfen, kündigt der IWF an.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29092/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rettungspaket
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=IWF

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north664.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Palin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/north

With most economic indicators signaling even more difficult times ahead, job losses will likely deepen and continue through at least the first half of 2009.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/07/news/economy/jobs_october/?postversion=2008110711



Consumer bankruptcies in October top 100,000

The sagging economy sparked 106,266 consumer bankruptcy filings in October, the first time monthly filings topped 100,000 since the bankruptcy law changed in 2005, the American Bankruptcy Institute said Tuesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/2008-11-04-bankruptcies_N.htm



Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Fell 4.6%

Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in September, indicating the credit crisis will inflict more damage on the housing market.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awq3yJZ0NBLk&refer=home



US retail sales worst in 35 years; holiday view cut

"The great unknown is just how much lower can consumer spending go?" said Piper Jaffray analyst Jeff Klinefelter. "With savings rates at historic lows and constraints on the availability of consumer credit, I just think there's concern that the perfect storm is brewing."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7993582


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=job+loss
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemployment
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bankruptcy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=credit+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=consumer+spending

Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said on Thursday that the US had agreed to remove a clause from the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which would allow US troops to stay in Iraq after 2011.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=74609&sectionid=351020201


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=security+pact

An interview with Dr. Michael Hudson - financial economist and historian

By Guns and Butter - Audio

Will the US default on its foreign debt?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21164.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreign+debt
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Hudson

By David Cook

If you ever doubted the concept of white privilege, ask yourself: when was the last time a white man wept with joy because another white man was elected president?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21172.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jesse+Jackson

By Naomi Klein

Terrible looting of public capital has a habit of taking place during periods of dramatic political transition, and Bush has one underway.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21166.htm



The Escalation of the New Arms Race

By Rev. Richard Skaff

So here we are, once again, a new American administration, a new conflict, a new monster to quell, and a new arms race.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21168.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=public+capital
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=arms+race
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Naomi+Klein
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Richard+Skaff

By Robert Farago

Cerberus Capital, a highly secretive NYC-based vulture investment fund, wants the U.S. government and taxpayers to bailout its failed investment in Chrysler and its failing investment in GMAC. Its partner in this raid on the US Treasury is General Motors, a woefully insolvent automobile manufacturer whose CEO is paid $40k each day. Here's why a bailout for GM and/or Chrysler is a bad idea.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21171.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=US+Treasury

Richard Wolf, USA TODAY: "For voters who encountered problems at the polls Tuesday, ranging from hours-long lines to missing registrations to deceptive fliers and phone calls, help could be on the way. State and federal officials are poised to consider a number of changes designed to make it easier for millions of Americans to get registered, stay registered and vote without problems."

http://www.truthout.org/110708VA



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Election+Day
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Richard+Wolf