The whole capitalist system that controls the world is going through a mass extinction, and just like biological mass extinctions, something totally new will emerge


By Angus Miller
Published monthly: February 9, 2009

The neo-liberal dream of a world run by the free market is as dead now as the socialist dream of a world run without any markets at all. China and India might just become real rivals to the power of the US. The power of governments everywhere will increase compared to the power of big corporations. Basic economic theory will be reassessed. So, you’re probably not as interested in that as me (an economics student), and in the meantime with this mass extinction, it’s our jobs, our opportunities and ultimately our lifestyle that could be on the line.

First there was the subprime crisis, which then became the credit crunch and now that is just referred to as the economic crisis, which has more recently become the recession. The scary truth is that no one knows when things will get better.

Debt has become quite a big thing over the last twenty years. Many large companies have been boosting their profits by operating with very high levels of debt. In other words they borrow lots of money, invest it and hope that what they earn is more than their interest costs. This is called leveraging. . . . --NewsHammer 3/01/2009

Continue reading the Feb 9, 2009 article from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's Catalyst.

Link to current issue of Catalyst monthly magazine.

Columnist Geraint Anderson, the undercover scourge of London bankers, talks to Victoria Morrison


By Victoria Morrison
Published: February 26, 2009

Geraint Anderson, city analyst turned rogue, knows the high life. His recently published book, Cityboy: Beer And Loathing in the Square Mile, exposes the high-flying life of those working in the Square Mile, from £1,000 meals to insider trading—via drugs and a lot of drinks. . .

At a time when high-level bonuses have become infamous and symbolic of all that is wrong with the City, Anderson confirmed the notion that the bonus culture is the primary cause of the credit crunch.

‘The City and Wall Street became wild west casinos with everyone trying to make as much money as quickly as possible, thinking that the whole shebang, caboodle, whatever, was going to be falling down at any minute. The whole emphasis is to make money.’ Even since the publication of Liar’s Poker in the 1980’s, the original exposé of city life at Salomon Bros., Anderson thinks the city has developed a dangerous ‘get rich quick, anything goes’ attitude. He believes that the asymmetrical risk of the bonuses is to blame for much of the current economic situation—if you make money you keep some of it, if you lose it there’s little by way of a penalty. But the main problem is too short-term an outlook. . . . --NewsHammer 2/27/2009

Continue reading the Feb 26, 2009 article from Oxford University's Cherwell.

The idea that the stimulus package is akin to the New Deal is bad logic and bad history

By Tim Murphy
Published: February 6, 2009


If Sunday was any indication, the United States will be completely out of money—and cufflinks—sometime in the next six months. Employment agencies broke open their piggy banks to buy prime Super Bowl air time, where they spoke directly to America’s fastest growing demographic: the unemployed. Meanwhile, a previously unknown company called “Cash 4 Gold” (which in addition to being a great name for a rap album, hired MC Hammer to pitch its wares), invited viewers to send in their favorite family heirlooms for a quick cash payout.

But as the economy continues its steady decline toward bartering and petty theft, the last few months have brought about a bull market in the oddest of fields: historical revisionism.

First, in Virginia, curators at Mount Vernon have put a new painting of a younger, less frumpy Martha Washington on display, after forensic analysis revealed that, in her earlier years at least, Martha was actually kind of smoking. While there’s of course nothing wrong with a First Lady who bears a striking resemblance to the Michelin man—as the old portraits depicted her—the new image suggests that General Washington didn’t just marry her for her needlework. --NewsHammer 2/06/2009

Continue reading the Feb 6, 2009 article from the University of Chicago's Chicago Maroon

The U.S. Treasury has decided to go all “1984” in its latest attempt to rescue the financial system

By Kunal Khann
Published: January 30, 2009

In what can only be described as an episode of Orwellian modus operandi, the “Bad Bank” plan will save, not exterminate, flailing banks.

The financial chicanery works like so: The Treasury will form a holding company that will purchase troubled assets from banks. These include a variety of securities, from those linked simply to residential mortgages, to complex derivatives conjured by the minds of financial Frankensteins.

Banks will supposedly benefit from all this by having their balance sheets purged of nasty and unwanted assets. With their balance sheets freed up, banks can go back to making loans to consumers and facilitating the flow of money in the economy. Birds will sing, rainbows will spontaneously appear in the sky and Ben Bernanke will shave his beard. Or so the story goes… --NewsHammer 2/02/2009

Continue reading the Jan 30, 2009 article from Stanford University's The Stanford Daily.