Archive for May, 2009
Failed Stress Tests…in 2004
From the Financial Times: Northern Rock risk revealed in 2004By Norma Cohen and Chris Giles Published: May 30 2009 00:03 | Last updated: May 30 2009 00:03 Banking regulators identified Northern Rock as the weak link in Britain’s banking system during secret “war games” held as long ago as 2004, the Financial Times has learned. ...Read more.
Job Fair Canceled Because of Crowds
Next up, bread lines? From the Boston Globe: A weekend job fair at a Dedham shopping center was postponed today after organizers became concerned that a flood of job seekers would snarl traffic and create safety problems. “The volume of expected attendees was much larger than we had initially anticipated,” said David Fleming, marketing director ...Read more.
Rallies for Single-Payer in 50+ Cities 5/30
From Healthcare Now!—important rallies this weekend, in a city near you (visit the website for a long list of cities and events–most are on Saturday): May 30th: National Day of ActionNationwide Rallies for Improved Medicare for All Join thousands of single-payer supporters in a nationwide week of action to support improved Medicare for all (HR ...Read more.
Peruvian Workers Protest for Higher Pay
From the Latin American Herald Tribune: LIMA – Thousands of workers demonstrated in different Peruvian cities to demand improvements in their economic situation and support the demands of Amazon Indians, who have been conducting protests for 48 hours against land and resource laws they say threaten their way of life. In Lima, the march organized ...Read more.
Hedge Fund Manager 'Less of a Capitalist'
One of our interns, Chris H., found this nugget at footnoted.org, about a talk that veteran hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt made at a Brandeis University event at the Harmonie Club in New York City recently. His admission that the financial crisis and its aftermath had made him “less of a capitalist” is interesting. I ...Read more.
Min. wage increases boost consumer spending
The most recent economic snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute fits nicely with an article from our March/April issue, Should We Be Talking About Living Wages Now?, in which Jeannette Wicks-Lim of the Political Economy Research Institute argues that a recession and financial crisis is not a time to abandon living wage campaigns and policies. ...Read more.
Fed In the Headlights
Disturbing C-Span footage of Rep. Alan Grayson questioning Elizabeth A. Coleman, Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, about whether her office has conducted any investigations of the Fed’s decision not to save Lehmann Brothers or about the $1tn+ increase in the Fed’s balance-sheet since last September. The website of the Fed’s Inspector General describes the ...Read more.
A Job and No Mortgage for All in a Spanish Town
Nice piece in today’s NYTimes about communists in Spain weathering the financial crisis. By VICTORIA BURNETTPublished: May 25, 2009 MARINALEDA, Spain—The people of this small Andalusian town have never been shy about their political convictions. Since they occupied the estate of a local aristocrat in the 1980s, they and their fiery mayor, Juan Manuel Sánchez ...Read more.
The Sinking Dollar (Wallerstein)
Very clear and interesting commentary by Immanuel Wallerstein; hat-tip to Bob F. Also check out the cover story from our Jan/Feb issue. May 15, 2009, Commentary No. 257 When Premier Wen Jiabao of China said in March of 2009 that he was “a little bit worried” about the state of the U.S. dollar, he echoed ...Read more.
The SEC and Investor Suffrage
Floyd Norris has an article in today’s New York Times about a proposed rule-making that the SEC just opened up comment on that “would make it easier for institutional shareholders to propose board candidates to be listed on the proxies that every public company sends to its shareholders.” Norris worries about potential mischief that shareholders ...Read more.
