Report Shows Bonuses Paid by Bailed-Out Banks - NYTimes.com

Report Shows Bonuses Paid by Bailed-Out Banks - NYTimes.com

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama's Wars and Resisting the American Empire

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama's Wars and Resisting the American Empire

"This Is America. I Can Ask You Whatever I Want." : CJR

"This Is America. I Can Ask You Whatever I Want." : CJR

Zelaya Vows to Return to Honduras Despite Threats of Arrest by Coup Leaders

Zelaya Vows to Return to Honduras Despite Threats of Arrest by Coup Leaders

Up in Smoke: How the Tobacco Industry Shaped the New Smoking Bill

Up in Smoke: How the Tobacco Industry Shaped the New Smoking Bill

John Pilger Calls UK National Health Service a Treasure, Blasts US Lawmakers for Being "in Bed with Powerful Interests" and Neglecting "Their Own People's Basic Human Rights"

John Pilger Calls UK National Health Service a Treasure, Blasts US Lawmakers for Being "in Bed with Powerful Interests" and Neglecting "Their Own People's Basic Human Rights"

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Sex scandals, le style Français

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Sex scandals, le style Français

British Schools Secretary says recession is "worst in 100 years"

British Schools Secretary Ed Balls has warned that the world is facing its worst recession in more than a century, surpassing even the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In the gloomiest prediction yet made by a government minister, Balls said the pain of the economic downturn could be still be felt 15 years from now.

"These are seismic events that are going to change the political landscape," Balls told members of the Labour Party at a weekend conference.

"This is a financial crisis more extreme and more serious than that of the 1930s," he said. "The economy is going to define our politics in this region and in Britain in the next five years, the next 10 years and even the next 15 years."

Extracts of the speech by Balls, who is widely regarded as Brown's closest cabinet ally, were released by his office on Monday night.

Government officials said the remarks were in line with previous statements made "time and time again" by Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling.

"The unprecedented global nature of this crisis and its impact on the global financial sector is affecting every single economy in the world," a spokesman for Ed Balls said.

Britain fell into recession at the end of last year, with the economy shrinking by 1.5 percent in the last three months of 2008, the biggest decline since 1980.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland. Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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On Commerce, Gregg's Hot and Cold and Yes and No

clipped from politicalwire.com Gregg Voted to Abolish Commerce Department CQ Politics: Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) -- apparently President Obama's choice to be Commerce secretary -- voted in favor of abolishing the agency as a member of the Budget Committee and on the Senate floor in 1995. Said one Republican Senate aide: "I guess if you can't destroy it, go be in charge of it."

Don't worry Gov, imitation is the best form of flattery

clipped from politicalwire.com We have this thing called impeachment and it's bleeping golden and we've used it the right way." -- Illinois state Sen. James Meeks (D), quoted by the AP, mocking former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's expletive-laden words as captured by the FBI on a wiretap.

Bush Wants to Retain the Right of Executive Privilege

clipped from politicalwire.com Just four days before leaving office, Newsweek reports that President Bush "instructed former White House aide Karl Rove to refuse to cooperate with future congressional inquiries into alleged misconduct during his administration." A letter to Rove's lawyer said that Rove "should not appear before Congress" or turn over any documents relating to his time in the White House because Bush "was continuing to assert executive privilege over any testimony by Rove -- even after he leaves office." The letter sets the stage "for what is likely to be a highly contentious legal and political battle over an unresolved issue: whether a former president can assert 'executive privilege' -- and therefore prevent his aides from testifying before Congress -- even after his term has expired."

Senate torture report confirms Bush, top officials guilty of war crimes

clipped from www.wsws.org A report issued Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee has provided official and bipartisan confirmation that the infamous acts of torture carried out by US personnel at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo were planned, ordered and orchestrated by the highest-ranking officials in the US government. Based on the Senate's own conclusions, those named in the document, including President George W. Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are guilty of war crimes.

The Meltdown Continues

clipped from www.nytimes.com Old Ways of Life Are Fading as the Arctic Thaws For the four million people who live in the Arctic, in remote outposts and the improbable industrial centers built by Soviet decree, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, the preservation of their culture.

No Escape: Thaw Gains Momentum

clipped from www.nytimes.com Scientists have concluded that the momentum behind human-caused warming, combined with the region's tendency to amplify change, has put the familiar Arctic past the point of no return.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

clipped from www.nytimes.com Jdimytai Damour, 34 was crushed to death when a mob of shoppers would apparently rather kill a man than miss out on a holiday bargain.

Bush Last Minute Rule Changes Put Workers at Risk of Illness and Death

clipped from www.nytimes.com The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health. Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

Home Prices in Record Decline

clipped from realestate.yahoo.com The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price national index recorded a 16.6% decline in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. That eclipsed the previous record of 15.1% set during the second quarter.

Cuomo Investigates Bonuses at Banking Companies

clipped from dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com The New York attorney general has expanded his investigation of bonus payments to Wall Street executives whose banking companies are receiving $125 billion in support from the federal government.

Reverse Socialism

Over $60,000,000,000 in bonuses from taxpayers to rich bankers. True, but they only get that once a year.

clipped from www.foxbusiness.com

Why Bailouts Don't Work

clipped from www.commondreams.org The point is, however, there are more cost-effective ways to help out workers in failing businesses than to have the government simply subsidize the continued operation of enterprises that have been destroyed by management. In truth, all the talk in congress and in the Obama camp about rescuing jobs is just a cover for bailouts that are really aimed at rescuing managers and investors, not workers.