Economic Glance
The Supreme Court on Monday gave employers a green light to reduce health benefits for millions of retirees who turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. The justices turned away a legal challenge from AARP, the nation's leading senior citizens lobby, which had contended these lower benefits for older retirees violated the federal law against age discrimination.
White House Scrubs Web Site On The Economy
No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush’s glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House’s economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system.
The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America
At this point it seems pretty certain that we are facing an inflationary depression. What’s awful is that much of this is being done by design. The Federal Reserve would prefer to save the banking cartel instead of doing what’s best for the American people. A stable U.S. Dollar would be what’s best for the American people but of course they aren’t moving in that direction. It is likely that we are seeing the start of a domino collapse in the U.S. financial system and it's going to get ugly.
Wall Street fears for next Great Depression
One UK economist warned that the world is now close to a 1930s-like Great Depression, while New York traders said they had never experienced such fear. The Fed's emergency funding procedure was first used in the Depression and has rarely been used since.
TVNL Comment: The private bankers that control our currency created the last depression and they are creating this one. It is their method of pretty much acquiring your assets and buying up everything of value at a bargain. You want to stop this madness? End the Federal Reserve and execute everyone responsible for it's continued existence and anyone who suggests that we bring it back!
Paulson admits deregulation has failed us all
You know things are very very bad on Wall Street when a guy like Henry Paulson -- Treasury secretary, solid Republican, and former Goldman Sachs CEO joins the crowd calling for more regulation over the financial markets.
Paulson spared no one in his criticism Thursday of the excesses of deregulation that has now created the worst global financial crisis in a generation, threatening the health of the U.S. economy, the savings of millions of Americans, and the survival of some of the biggest financial institutions in the world.
It's been obvious for years now that Wall Street could not be trusted, and finally official Washington agrees.
Iraq war 'caused slowdown in the US'
THE Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Professor Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House was currently estimating the cost of the war at about $US500 billion, but that figure massively understated things such as the medical and welfare costs of US military servicemen.
The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.
"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.
That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.
Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
"The Federal Reserve System virtually controls the nation's monetary system, yet it is accountable to no one. It has no budget; it is subject to no audit; and no Congressional Committee knows of, or can truly supervise, its operations."
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