Griechen streiken gegen Massenentlassungen
Griechenland muss weiterhin sparen: Etwa 15.000 Beamtenstellen sollen bis 2014 gestrichen werden um das Staatsdefizit zu bekämpfen. Vor dem Parlamentsgebäude in Athen gab es lautstarke Proteste.

Cost of Austerity Measures Is Poor Health
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Recession-driven austerity measures aren't just bad for your wealth - they're harming your health.

The after-effects of the financial crisis is driving a wave of suicide, depression and infectious diseases as medicine and treatment become prohibitively expensive across Europe and North America, according to new research by academics.

After examing a decade of studies, Oxford University political economist David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, an assistant professor of medicine and an epidemiologist at Stanford University, have concluded austerity is seriously bad for health.

More than 10,000 suicides and up to a million cases of depression have been diagnosed during what they call the "Great Recession" and the austerity that followed it , the pair conclude in a book due to be published this week.

They cite examples in Greece, which has seen the rate of the Aids-causing HIV virus increase by 200pc as the health budget have been cut. The more than 50pc youth unemployment rate has also seen drug abuse on the increase, hastening the spread of the virus.

Greece also experienced its first malaria outbreak in decades following budget cuts to mosquito-spraying programmes. » | Alan Tovey, and agencies | Monday, April 29, 2013

Top Economist Jeffrey Sachs Says Wall Street Is Full of 'Crooks' and Hasn't Changed Since the Financial Crash
THE INDEPENDENT: The IMF adviser also blamed 'a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system'


In a cutting attack on America's financial hub, one of the world's most respected economists has said Wall St is full of "crooks" and hasn't reformed its "pathological" culture since the financial crash.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs told a high-powered audience at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve earlier this month that the lack of reform was down to “a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system that absolutely can’t find its voice.”

Sachs, from Colombia University, has twice been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and is an adviser to the World Bank and IMF.

“What has been revealed, in my view, is prima facie criminal behavior,” he said.

“It’s financial fraud on a very large extent. There’s also a tremendous amount of insider trading - you can even watch when you are living in New York how that works.” » | James Legge | Monday, April 29, 2013

Inside Story Americas: Young and In Debt
Amid news that student debts may have long-term effects on US economic growth, we ask if students have any other choice?

Arbeitslosigkeit in Spanien und Frankreich auf Rekordhoch
Die Arbeitslosenquoten in Spanien und Frankreich sind auf astronomische Höhen gestiegen. Spanien steckt in einer tiefen Rezession und die Wirtschaftskraft schrumpft weiter. Brüssel zeigt schockier über die Ausmasse.

SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Den Artikel hier lesen »

Spain's Unemployment Rate Jumps to 27 Percent
Number of jobless people climbs to record 6.2 million in eurozone's fourth biggest economy amid double dip recession.

Farage: Eurocrats' Cyprus Cash Grab a Template for Future Stealing
RT's Aleksei Yaroshevsky spoke to a known eurosceptic, the head of the UK Independence party, Nigel Farage. He believes the days of the Eurozone are numbered, and that people should withdraw their money from its banks before what happened in Cyrpus happens elsewhere.

Insult to Injury: UK's Disabled Must 'Prove' Handicaps to Get Benefits
Life as a disabled person in Britain could soon become a lot harder. They're now being asked to prove, face to face, that they deserve the help that until recently had been taken for granted.

Executive Bonuses Incur Wrath of Church of England

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: When Justin Welby became Archbishop of Canterbury last month, he made it clear the Church of England would become more active on issues involving business ethics. And his first move is to go after executive bonuses.

Archbishop Welby, who is also the spiritual head of Anglicans worldwide, is no stranger to business. He is a former oil company executive and he sits on a British parliamentary committee that is reviewing the conduct of banks in the wake of the financial crisis. He also once wrote a paper titled “Can Companies Sin?” and concluded they could.

In one of the first major announcements since he was enthroned, the Church of England announced last week that it would use its hefty investment clout to rein in executive bonuses, which it said had become excessive owing to a culture of entitlement and greed at many companies. Drawing on the Bible and a variety of studies, the church said it will vote against bonuses that exceed 100 per cent of base salary.

“Awards of more than 100 per cent of base salary can only be justified if an executive director has delivered extraordinary results through exceptional performance to the significant benefit of shareholders,” the church said in the new policy. It added: “Businesses are vehicles for wealth creation, without which there can be no wealth distribution. However, businesses cannot contribute to their full potential to a good society and human flourishing if they have no regard for the society in which they operate, and if individuals in business have regard only for themselves.” » | Paul Waldie | London | The Globe and Mail | Monday, April 22, 2013

Time for Growth: Austerity Has 'Reached its Limits,' Barroso Says
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has said that Europe has reached the political limits of its austerity measures, suggesting that crisis countries should get more time to consolidate their budgets. But Germany warned against changing course on Tuesday.

Striking statements were made by one of Europe's most powerful men on Monday night, when European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the strict austerity measures thus far imposed on the EU's beleaguered economies may have reached their political limits.

Although this policy is "fundamentally right," it has nevertheless "reached its limits," he told a conference in Brussels. "A policy, to be successful, not only has to be properly designed, it has to have the minimum of political and social support," he added. » | kla -- with wire reports | Tuesday, April 23, 2013

BBC HARDtalk - Mark Carney - Governor of Canada's Central Bank (2012)

Mark Carney Interview (2011)

Spain's Population Shrinks as Immigrants Flee Economic Crisis
BBC: Spain's population fell last year for the first time in decades, as immigrants left the country amid a major economic crisis, officials say.

The National Statistic Institute (NSI) says the number of residents dropped by almost 206,000 to 47.1m - the decline entirely accounted for by foreigners.

Immigrants from Ecuador and Colombia showed the biggest fall.

The figures do not take into account many Spaniards who have left in search of work but are still on the census. » | Monday, April 22, 2013

Ioannis Kasoulides: Cracking Cyprus
Following the furore over the EU bailout, the Cypriot foreign affairs minister discusses the island's financial future.

Margaret Thatcher Funeral: Live Coverage
Follow our live coverage as Baroness Thatcher is laid to rest today following a procession through central London and funeral service at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Latest | Joel Gunter and Matthew Holehouse | Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Why Are Gold Prices Tumbling?

Ruinous Euro Rescues
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In an attempt to save the euro at all costs, Europe's technocrats are advocating policies of startling brutality

When the Dutch finance minister suggested that the Cypriot bail-out could become a “model”, the outcry was immediate. It was all very well to treat a minnow such as Cyprus in such a brutal manner, said Jeroen Dijsselbloem’s critics, but no country of real stature would put up with a raid on its savers’ funds. What a difference a few weeks makes. Germany’s council of economic experts has now scrutinised the Cypriot rescue package, and concluded that the critics had a point. Not about the arbitrary confiscation of wealth, but that a levy on bank accounts was an inefficient manner of going about it. They suggest, in future, a tax on property or other assets, paid predominantly by the wealthy, since it is far more difficult to move your home out of reach. » | Telegraph View | Monday, April 15, 2013

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou: 'The U.S. Is Like Greece'

Tranche Trance: Greece Struggles to Satisfy Lenders, Youth Flees Country
After the drama of Cyprus, the lending troika is sceptical about the merger between Greece's two biggest banks. The country insists it can handle recapitalisation, and the Finance Minister has assured Greeks their deposits are safe. He also promised there'll be no tougher austerity, but lenders are pressing for severe job cuts in the bloated public sector. They want a massive 25-thousand workers laid off this year, and a total of 150-thousand by 2016. Soaring unemployment has already been driving young Greeks away from their country, as Tom Barton reports. (April 2013)

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Greece enters deflation for first time in 45 years: Greek consumer prices fell year-on-year in March, taking the battered economy into deflationary territory for the first time since 1968. » | Denise Roland | Tuesday, April 09, 2013

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Southern Europe's brain drain over the Alps to Germany: Italians, Spaniards and Greeks are forsaking their homelands and heading over the Alps to the more robust economies of Germany and Switzerland, as economies contract across the Mediterranean. » | Nick Squires, Rome, Fiona Govan in Madrid and Jeevan Vasagar in Berlin | Sunday, April 14, 2013

Deputy PM: Turkey 'Inspiration' for Islam and Democracy

Read the CNN article here | Oliver Joy | CNN | Friday, April 12, 2013

Gold Prices Dive to $1,500 an Ounce

USA TODAY: The price of gold plummeted Friday to its lowest level in nearly three years as economists grew increasingly worried about the economy's forward momentum heading into spring.

Precious metal investors appear to losing their confidence in gold as a safe-haven investment from the risks of inflation or a major stock market meltdown. There is also growing concern that as the beleaguered banking sector in Cyprus worsens, citizens and investors there and in other parts of the debt-laden eurozone will ratchet up gold sales to raise cash. » | Beth Belton | USA Today | Friday, April 12, 2013

Eurozone Faces New Challenge as Portugal Blocks Cuts
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The eurozone crisis threatens to flare up again this week after Portugal's constitutional court blocked the country's planned austerity programme.

The single currency bloc has already been destabilised by Cyprus and now faces fresh uncertainty if Lisbon cannot find new savings to meet the conditions of its €78bn (£66bn) bail-out.

Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal’s prime minister, said last night that the rejection posed “serious obstacles and risks” to Portugal’s progress in meeting its bail-out commitments, but that it would “do everything to avoid a second rescue”.

“The government is committed to all the objectives of the programme,” he said. Luis Marques Guedes, secretary of state for cabinet matters, said at the weekend: "The constitutional court's decision places serious difficulties on the country to comply with the goals and budget targets it has to meet. The government doesn't agree with the interpretation of the constitution."

The court ruled that planned cuts in salaries to state workers and payments to pensioners were in breach of the constitution. The measures were expected to save as much as €1.3bn annually, a large slice of the €5bn of fiscal consolidation planned for this year. Mr Passos Coelho said that he had asked ministries to slash spending in order to avoid further tax rises. » | Philip Aldrick, Economics editor | Sunday, April 07, 2013

Blair Scorned at Home Builds Business Empire Abroad

BLOOMBERG: On a snowy morning in the middle of February, Tony Blair, looking trim from his four- to five-times- a-week workout regime, is sipping coffee in his office in London’s Mayfair district.

He’s sitting in a Georgian town house that was in the late 18th century the site of the first U.S. embassy to the Court of St. James’s. Now, almost six years after he resigned as British prime minister, it serves as the epicenter of a new Blair empire, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its May issue.

“If you become prime minister and step down in your early 50s,” Blair says, “what are you going to do? Play golf? It fills me with total dread.”

Blair, 59, has reinvented himself as a dealmaker, globe- trotting adviser and philanthropist. He presides over a network of companies and charities that operate in more than 20 countries, with financing from a tangle of private, corporate and government sources.

Since 2007, Blair and his firms have taken in at least 59 million pounds ($90 million). His charities have raised 25.5 million pounds. Last year, one of his eight companies, Windrush Ventures Ltd., booked a record 16 million pounds in revenue, up from 12 million pounds the previous year. A single bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM)., has paid the former Labour Party prime minister at least 10 million pounds since January 2008. » | Stephanie Baker | Bloomberg Markets Magazine | Friday, April 05, 2013


THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair: I would have given David Cameron a 'run for his money': Tony Blair has boasted he would have given David Cameron a "run for his money" in the last election and could have been even richer if he was motivated by money. » | Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent | Friday, April 05, 2013

Cyprus President Plans to Lift Casino Ban
Nicos Anastasiades risks Orthodox Christian Church's wrath in gamble to revive broken economy.

Athènes rêve d'or noir, au risque d'irriter la Turquie
LE FIGARO: INFOGRAPHIE - La détection de gisements pétroliers au fond de la Méditerranée menace de relancer les tensions entre les deux pays.

À l'heure où les négociations avec ses créanciers publics patinent, le gouvernement grec entend miser sur l'exploitation de ses ressources naturelles - au risque d'attiser les tensions régionales. Pour réduire le déficit et résorber la dette, le premier ministre Antonis Samaras est en effet prêt à tout plutôt que d'adopter de nouvelles mesures d'austérité, aussi impopulaires qu'inefficaces. Tandis que la troïka menace de couper les vivres au pays, sa dernière trouvaille consiste à tirer profit de la richesse supposée des fonds marins compris entre la Grèce et la Turquie. » | Par Alexia Kefalas | dimanche 31 mars 2013

Bomb from Brussels: Cyprus Model May Guide Future Bank Bailouts

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Should the Cypriot bailout become a model for the future? The mere suggestion sent markets tumbling last week. But increasing numbers of European politicians would like to see bank shareholders and investors bear a greater share of crisis risk. The EU may be changing its strategy. By SPIEGEL Staff

Jeroen Dijsselbloem's original game plan was to just keep a low profile. When the 47-year-old Dutch finance minister became head of the Euro Group three months ago, the first thing he did was deactivate his Twitter account. In meetings of the finance ministers of the 17 euro-zone states, he let his counterparts do most of the talking. And whenever he appeared before reporters in Brussels afterwards, he would start with sentences like: "Maybe it's good, if I say something."

Dijsselbloem seemed determined to become the most boring of all the boring bureaucrats in Brussels -- until last Monday, that is, when he did something no one would have anticipated: He detonated a bomb. The way that large depositors and creditors were being drawn into the bailout of Cypriot banks, he said, could become a model for the entire euro zone. In future aid packages, he said, one must look into whether bank shareholders, bond holders and large depositors could participate so as to spare taxpayers from having to foot the bill. He was announcing nothing less than a 180 degree about face.

Cyprus as a model? Dijsselbloem had hardly finished his comments before international news agencies began registering its impacts. Markets around the world nosedived, the euro sank to a four-month low and EU leaders had to rush into damage-control mode, as did the man who triggered the storm himself. Dijsselbloem backtracked by saying that Cypriot banks were obviously "a special case." Germany's top-selling daily tabloid, Bild, scoffed that Dijsselbloem would get a new nickname in Brussels: "Dusselbloem," the rough equivalent of "Dimwit-bloem."

But the ridicule might prove premature. In reality, Dijsselbloem merely expressed something that many Europeans already think. Whether at the European Parliament or in several Continental capitals, many are saying that the time is ripe for the financial sector to assume a greater share of the costs for rescuing ailing banks. » | Martin Hesse, Michael Sauga, Cornelia Schmergal and Christoph Schult | Translate from the German by Josh Ward | Monday, April 01, 2013

Inside Story: What Does the Future Hold for Egypt?
As the country's reserves fall and unemployment increases, we ask if it is tipping towards an economic breaking point.

Cyprus Big Depositors to Lose Up to 60%
The bank confirms depositors with about $130,000 could lose up to 60 percent of their savings in EU-IMF bailout plan.