Resistance

Catalan politicians ask for EU help against Spanish army

"Four Catalan MEPs have asked the European Commission to tell Spain it cannot use military force to stop Catalonia from splitting away. The letter says: 'We are writing to you to convey our deep concern over a series of threats of the use of military force against the Catalan population ... In these circumstances, the EU should intervene preventatively to guarantee that the resolution of the Catalan conflict be resolved in a peaceful, democratic manner.' Spanish MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras had said: 'They [the government] should be briefing a general of the Civil Guard ... the government should think of intervening in the rebellious region if they persist.'" Continue reading →

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Amid Austerity, Greek Doctors Offer Help to Poor

"Until recently, Greece had a typical European health system, with employers and individuals contributing to a fund that with government assistance financed universal care. Things changed in July 2011, when Greece signed a supplemental loan agreement with international lenders to ward off financial collapse. Now Greeks must pay all costs out of pocket after their benefits expire. The changes are forcing increasing numbers of people to seek help outside the traditional health care system. Elena, for example, was referred to Dr. Syrigos by doctors in an underground movement that has sprung up here to care for the uninsured." Continue reading →

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Fraud: Medicare vs. Walmart

"In 2010, Medicare disbursed $524 billion. The number of people receiving funds in 2012 was 49.4 million. For comparison, take a very large business that has high revenues. Number three is Walmart with $447 billion. Walmart has 100 million customers a week. How large is fraud against Medicare? It runs about $60 billion a year. How large is fraud committed against the Walmart company? A large fraud against Walmart reported recently was a $13 million credit card and gift card fraud. A recent large fraud case against Medicare was $430 million. Earlier this year, there was another large case of $452 million against Medicare." Continue reading →

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The most powerful person in the global economy

"The most powerful person will soon be the president of the European Central Bank, the Italian banker Mario Draghi. In the last few weeks, we have seen an extraordinary expansion of the European Central Bank’s powers. It can now set interest rates, control financial markets, and effectively dictate tax and spending policies across what remains — despite its current difficulties — the world’s largest single economic bloc. But history suggests that when you concentrate too much power in a single pair of hands, and even worse when the person who wields that power is not limited by any form of accountability, the results are catastrophic." Continue reading →

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Yes, Virginia, Social Security Really Is Going Bankrupt.

"At the heart of every defensive of Social Security's actuarial solvency is a series of lies. It is difficult to know who started the lie, but if you follow the lies, you always get back to the truth, and the truth is admitted by the Trustees of the Social Security trust fund. This is the best-case scenario. There is a worse-case scenario: the inevitable one." Continue reading →

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An assault on living standards set to run and run

"Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, warned this week that the next generation may have to live under the shadow of today's economic correction 'for a long time to come'. The Governor is still as reluctant as ever to concede the central bank's own culpability in the crisis. In his own speech, Sir Mervyn makes a clear distinction between what he calls 'good' money printing of the type the Bank of England is already practising through quantitative easing, and 'bad' money printing of the 'helicopter' variety." Continue reading →

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Firings Highest Since 2010 as Ford to Dow Face Slump

"Ford Motor Co. (F) and Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) joined a growing number of companies firing thousands of workers as sluggish U.S. growth and Europe’s deepening recession lead to a persisting slump in sales. North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The reductions coincide with a majority of U.S. companies missing analysts’ third-quarter revenue estimates and a focus on jobs in the final weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign." Continue reading →

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Get Ready: Everything Is Going to Cost More Next Year

"Consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets next year to pay for costlier health care, more expensive grocery bills and higher taxes, an extra drag on the country's already slow-moving economy. The additional outlays look set to test the resilience of consumers, whose spending accounts for around two-thirds of the U.S. economy. The strength of consumer spending has surprised some economists, given unemployment near 8 percent and anemic wage growth. Consumer spending has cushioned the blow to the United States from slower foreign demand for its goods." Continue reading →

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Soros Ex-Wife Lists Apartment for $50 Million

"Susan Weber Soros, the former wife of the billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros, has listed her elegantly appointed 10-room apartment at the Majestic, the soaring dual-towered Art Deco co-op at 115 Central Park West, for $50 million. It is being offered fully furnished — Ms. Soros is downsizing and making a clean break — and the price includes a separate one-bedroom one-bath unit for staff. Ms. Soros bought the apartment for $25 million in an under-the-radar transaction in 2006, a year after her two-decade marriage to Mr. Soros ended in divorce." Continue reading →

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Spanish unemployment tops 25 percent

"Spain announced Friday that its unemployment rate broke the 25-percent barrier for the first time as austerity cuts squeezed the recession-struck economy. Tens of thousands of jobs were destroyed in the third quarter, even as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government raised taxes, cut spending and pondered whether to snatch a eurozone rescue line. Among workers aged 16-24 the jobless rate towered at 52.34 percent in the third quarter, only slightly down from 53.27 percent in the previous quarter, the institute said. After more than a year of recession, the soaring jobless figures and biting cuts have prompted growing street protests." Continue reading →

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