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Daily News Caster Monday, Nov 10, 2008 Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours “Australian PM Kevin Rudd - “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant” and other weird warnings”. “Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

Telegraph UK. By Rupert Neate and Robert Miller. 12 Nov 2008 Ken Clarke warns Britain is on the brink of 'meltdown'
Kenneth Clarke, the former Conservative Chancellor, has warned the economy is on the brink of "meltdown" and unemployment could reach three million.

The Age, Telegraph AU. November 10, 2008. Warning of new "bin Laden" attack. Paola Totaro, London. OSAMA bin Laden is planning an attack against the United States that will "outdo by far" September 11, an Arab newspaper in London has reported.

Bloomberg News. Nov. 7. By Mark Pittman. Bloomberg News Sues Fed to Disclose Collateral From Taxpayer Loans to Banks. (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg News asked a U.S. court today to force the Federal Reserve to disclose securities the central bank is accepting on behalf of American taxpayers as collateral for $1.5 trillion of loans to banks.

The lawsuit is based on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which requires federal agencies to make government documents available to the press and the public, according to the complaint. The suit, filed in New York, doesn't seek money damages.

The Guardian, Saturday November 15 2008
Why tupping the puppet is a recipe for ruined lives
Whether through Second Life or The X Factor, the industrialisation of day dreaming seems deeply symbolic of modern life

The Guardian, Friday November 14 2008 Naomi Klein.
Ditch the smooth transition. The people voted for change
Instead of accepting the corrupted bail-out and reassuring Wall Street, Obama's team must start doing the hard stuff now

NEWSWEEK November 14 2008 By Michael Hirsh. Barack The Savior? The new president may think his only task is to rescue the economy. But like FDR, he may have to save capitalism itself.

Beware The Obama Hype. What "Change" In America Really Means.By John Pilger. November 12, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" - -My first visit to Texas was in 1968, on the fifth anniversary of the assassination of president John F Kennedy in Dallas. I drove south, following the line of telegraph poles to the small town of Midlothian, where I met Penn Jones Jr, editor of the Midlothian Mirror.

The New Trough Rollingstone magazine. NAOMI KLEIN. Nov 13, 2008 11:22 AM
The Wall Street bailout looks a lot like Iraq — a "free-fraud zone" where private contractors cash in on the mess they helped create

Newsweek. By Daniel Gross | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Nov 10, 2008 MONEY CULTURE What Are Rich People Thinking? Why the wealthy voted for Obama and higher taxes.

From The Times. March 21, 2008. Community intervention to beat home-grown terrorism. Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent. Eight areas of the country identified as potential breeding grounds for violent extremism are to start government-funded “intervention programmes” to prevent susceptible individuals being radicalised.

Flash art online. October 2008: The "VOID" bienneal. 28th São Paolo Biennial: artists announced. The event will run from October 26 to December 6 under the direction of Ivo Mesquita and Ana Paula Cohen. This year the Biennial is also known as the “Void Biennial,” because of the anticipated emptiness of the exhibition space on the second floor, and for the intention to turn the top floor into a library.

CNN September 25, 2008. Commentary: Financial meltdown is an absolute disaster

Zeit 23/9/08 Finanzkrise. Wenn Ideologien sterben. Nach dem Finanzdebakel in Amerika sind in Europa die postideologischen Sozial- und Christdemokraten gefordert

AlterNet. Meltdown and Bailout: Why Our Economic System Is on the Verge of Collapse. By Joshua Holland. Posted September 22, 2008. Bush wants to fleece us for hundreds of billions in the financial crisis, but that's just the first layer of a more fundamental economic problem.

powerofnarrative.blogspot.com September 15, 2008 The Vampire, Struck by Sunlight
Simplicity and directness would appear to be advisable, as we are all buried in a torrent of irrelevancies, self-justifications, explanations which explain nothing and serve only to confuse everyone (which is precisely their aim), and an unending stream of lies and half-truths.

atlanticfreepress.com Grasping at Straws - Full-Spectrum Breakdown
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 by Mike Whitney. On Friday morning, Senator Christopher Dodd, the head of the Senate Banking Committee, was interviewed on ABC's “Good Morning America.” Dodd revealed that just hours earlier at an emergency meeting convened by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, lawmakers were told that "We’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system.” Dodd added somberly, that in his three decades of serving in public office, he had "never heard language like this.”

newsweek.com Paulson's Panic. Newsweek Web Exclusive

newsweek.com Why It’s Worse Than You Think. For months, economic Pollyannas have looked beyond the dismal headlines and promised a quick recovery in the second half. They're dead wrong.

States feel debt pinch. FT September 5 2008 23:32 Bond yields of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain widened to record levels against Germany on Friday as fears rose that these economies could face increasing problems in a deteriorating financial climate.

Stern 4 Sep 2008. Reste-Rampe beim Star-Künstler? Beim britischen Auktionshaus Sotheby's hat die Verkaufs-Ausstellung zur weltweit ersten Auktion neuer Werke eines lebenden Künstlers begonnen. 223 Posten will Damian Hirst am Mitte September versteigern lassen, darunter auch sein goldenes Kalb in Formaldehyd, dessen Wert auf bis zu 15,2 Millionen Euro geschätzt wird.

Not on the label. Sep 4th 2008. From The Economist print edition
Why pet-food safety matters, even to people who do not have pets

Spectre of inflation over global economy FTJune 24 2008 The spectre of inflation returned to haunt the global economy on Tuesday as companies ranging from Dow Chemical of the US to South Korea’s Posco unveiled sharp price rises to combat the soaring cost of energy and raw materials.

Newsweek. Jun 2, 2008 Issue The Dumbest Generation? Don’t Be Dumb. George Santayana, too, despaired of a generation's ignorance, warning that 'those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' That was 1905. Really, don't we all know by now that finding examples of teens' and twentysomethings' ignorance is like shooting fish in a barrel? If you want to exercise your eye-rolling or hand-wringing muscles, take your pick

FT Think oil prices hurt now? Just wait
Thu May 22, 2008 DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) - Sky-high oil prices are causing pain at the pump, but bills for air conditioning this summer and heating next winter -- combined with rising food costs -- promise to squeeze U.S. consumers even more.

Unsold houses rise to 23-year high in April. Sales decline 1% even as prices plunge 8% year-on-year By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
May 23, 2008. WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. housing market weakened further in April with a flood of homes coming on the market even as sales and prices declined, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday.

Aljazeera Magazine By Nick Turse * The strange reversals of a Pentagon blockbuster: Torturing Iron Man 23/05/2008. The Pentagon keeps pro-military blockbusters in front of young eyes during two unsuccessful foreign occupations.

"Liberal Hollywood" is a favorite whipping-boy of right-wingers who suppose the town and its signature industry are ever-at-work undermining the U.S. military. In his Iron Man review, Roger Ebert called the pre-transformation Tony Stark, "the embodiment of the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned against in 1961 -- a financial superhero for whom war is good business, and whose business interests guarantee there will always be a market for war."

Here's the irony that Ebert missed: What the film Iron Man actually catches is the spirit of the successor "complex," which has leapt not only into the cinematic world of superheroes, but also into the civilian sphere of our world in a huge way. Today, almost everywhere you look, whether at the latest blockbuster on the big screen or what's on much smaller screens in your own home -- likely made by a defense contractor like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic or Toshiba -- you'll find the Pentagon or its corporate partners.

FT Over a barrel: Businesses and consumers feel shock of record oil prices. By Chris Giles.May 23 2008 Oil prices at record highs; soaring commodity values pushing up consumer costs; an economic slowdown driven by turbulence in financial markets. In the 1970s, the result was stagflation: a high level of inflation that took years to drive down and created mass unemployment. Today, politicians and central bankers are struggling to find the right policy mix to avoid a rerun of the 1970s oil crises – as rising fuel prices stretch household budgets and squeeze business profits.

FT, Published: April 28 2008. Europe’s economic outlook deteriorates. By Tony Barber in Brussels. Europe’s outlook for economic growth and inflation deteriorated sharply on Monday as official forecasts showed the US downturn and the turmoil in world financial markets damping prospects. In its latest six-monthly forecast, the European Commission said economic growth in the 27-nation European Union would slow to 1.8 per cent in 2009 from 2.0 per cent this year. Growth in the 15-nation eurozone would fall to 1.5 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

FT April 28th, 2008 Opec says oil could hit $200. By Carola Hoyos in London. Opec’s president warned on Monday that oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help.

The comments made by Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s energy minister, came as oil prices hit a historic peak close to $120 a barrel, putting further pressure on global economies.

FT April 28th, 2008 Lucas Zeise: Die wahren Opfer der Inflation
von Lucas Zeise
Im Weltbild der Bundesbanker dürfen nur Lohnbezieher und Rentner ihre Lasten tragen. Man muss den vom Ifo befragten Unternehmen fast schon dankbar sein, dass sie etwas Vorsicht bei der Beurteilung ihrer Geschäftsaussichten walten ließen.

CNN Fri April 18, 2008 Spain suffers worst drought. MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain is reeling from its most severe drought in 70 years with the nation's reservoirs on average just half full, the Environment Ministry reports. The tower of a former church, underwater before the drought, reappears in the Mediano reservoir.Rainfall has been less than half of what's considered normal for the last six months and reservoir levels were already low after two years in which normal rain levels failed to rebound from the driest 12 months on record -- October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005.

REUTERS DE Clinton droht Iran mit "völliger Vernichtung" nach Atomangriff Di Apr 22, 2008 "Ich will, dass die Iraner wissen, dass wenn ich die Präsidentin bin, wir den Iran angreifen würden", sagte die demokratische Präsidentschaftsbewerberin am Dienstag dem Sender ABC. "In den kommenden zehn Jahren, in denen sie unklugerweise einen Angriff auf Israel in Betracht ziehen könnten, würden wir in der Lage sein, sie völlig zu vernichten." Es sei furchtbar, so etwas zu sagen, ergänzte die Senatorin aus New York. Aber die Machthaber im Iran müssten das verstehen, um sie von einen solchen Schritt abzuhalten.

REUTERS DE Kreditkrise zwingt RBS zu Rekord-Kapitalerhöhung
Di Apr 22, 2008 London (Reuters) - Die Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) hat nach weiteren Milliarden-Löchern wegen der Kreditkrise die Notbremse gezogen und eine für Europa beispiellose Kapitalerhöhung angekündigt.

Für das laufende Jahr müssten Abschreibungen von bis zu 5,9 Milliarden Pfund (etwa 7,4 Milliarden Euro) befürchtet werde, teilte die zweitgrößte britische Bank am Dienstag mit. Als Konsequenz plant RBS eine Kapitalerhöhung im Wert von zwölf Milliarden Pfund, die über die Ausgabe von Bezugsrechten umgesetzt werden soll. Damit handelt es sich um die größte Kapitalerhöhung dieser Art in der europäischen Bankengeschichte.

REUTERS DE Euro steigt erstmals über 1,60 Dollar - Renten im Minus
Di Apr 22, 2008

FT A turning point in managing the world’s economy. By Martin Wolf. Published: April 22 2008. As the latest World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund remarks, “the world economy has entered new and precarious territory”. What are perhaps most remarkable are the contrasts between booming commodity prices and credit-market collapses and between buoyant growth in emerging economies and incipient recession in the US. So where are we? How did we get here? And what should we be doing?

FT Saudis warn on oil capacity By Carola Hoyos in Rome. April 22 2008 The biggest threat to the future security of oil supplies is the lack of spare production capacity worldwide, Saudi Arabia warned on Tuesday. In unusually frank remarks, Ali Naimi, the kingdom’s oil minister, said: “Limited capacity along the entire supply chain is the real source of current global supply tightness and represents the greatest threat to ensuring adequate energy to fuel future economic growth.is comments came as oil prices rose to a fresh all-time high of $119.86 a barrel on worries that supply outages in Nigeria and the UK could cause shortages in the market.

AP Feds want to require visitors' fingerprints when leaving US By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer Monday, April 21, 2008 The Bush administration would require commercial airlines and cruise-line operators to collect information such as fingerprints from international travelers and send the information to the Homeland Security Department soon after the travelers leave the country, according to a proposed rule.

FT Singapore SWF in recession warning By John Burton in Singapore Published: April 21 2008 The world is teetering on the edge of the worst recession for a generation, according to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, the world’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund.

China at risk of food shortages tied to the loss of arable land
IHT By Niu Shuping and Nao Nakanishi Reuters. April 10, 2008
BEIJING: The fear of failing to grow enough corn, wheat or rice to feed its people has spurred China into action this year, but Beijing may be doing too little, too late to overcome the powerful forces of urbanization.

Leniency for big corporations in the U.S.
IHT By Eric Lichtblau Published: April 9, 2008
WASHINGTON: In 2005, the U.S. authorities concluded that a Monsanto consultant had visited the home of an Indonesian official and, with the approval of a senior company executive, handed over an envelope stuffed with hundred-dollar bills. The money was meant as a bribe to win looser environmental regulations for Monsanto's cotton crops, according to a court document. Monsanto was also caught concealing the bribe with fake invoices.

Krugman: Grains gone wild
By Paul Krugman Published: April 7, 2008

Grains gone wild. What's behind the world food crisis?

Record oil price drags down U.S. stocks
Reuters Published: April 9, 2008
NEW YORK: Oil prices surged to fresh record highs on Wednesday as a new spate of recession fears and a bleak corporate profit outlook pulled down U.S. stocks and bolstered demand for less-risky investments like government bonds.

Credit crisis could cost nearly $1 trillion, IMF predicts
Bloomberg News. Published: April 8, 2008

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that financial losses stemming from the U.S. mortgage crisis might approach $1 trillion, citing a "collective failure" to predict the breadth of the crisis.

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer. Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms Saturday, April 5, 2008 It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long. Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months.

AP, By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Bernanke Says Recession Possible
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the U.S. could reel into recession from the powerful punches of housing, credit and financial crises. Yet, he was coy about the Fed's next move.

Reuters Sun Mar 30 Al Qaeda recruiting "western" fighters: CIA boss
NO longer difference between citizens of the US and acclaimed terrorists: "(They) look western (and) would be able to come into this country without attracting the kinds of attention that others might," Hayden said, without offering further details.

reuters,Tue Mar 25, 2008 Consumers turn grim; house prices slid in Jan
Consumers' confidence plunged to a five-year low this month on worries over rising inflation and fewer jobs, with a record drop in home values in January providing additional cause for their woes, reports showed on Tuesday.Prices of existing single-family homes slumped about 11 percent in January

-FT, March 19 2008. World trade decelerates almost to standstill
Global trade slowed almost to a standstill over the new year, threatening to shrink for the first time since the US economy went into recession in 2001.

An indicator produced by the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, a Dutch research institute, showed that in the three months to January world trade in goods rose at annualised rate of 0.2 per cent over the previous three months. The equivalent growth rate in the three months to October was 6.9 per cent. “This is a substantial deceleration,” the institute said. “World trade volume growth is on a downward trend.” Trade figures tend to be volatile but even on a longer-term smoothed basis, comparing the three-month average with the same period a year earlier, the growth in goods trade is at its lowest since 2003.

FT, March 20 2008. Eurozone growth slows
Eurozone growth has shown fresh signs of slowing this month, according to a closely-watched survey, but inflationary pressures show little sign of abating. Eurozone inflation is at a 14-year high of 3.3 per cent – compared with the ECB’s target of an annual rate “below but close” to 2 per cent. The latest data showed prices charged by service and manufacturing companies rising at a faster rate than in February and matching the rate seen in January, which was the highest for nine months.

FT, March 20 2008. ECB injects €15bn into money markets
An extra €15bn of liquidity has been pumped into eurozone money markets by the European Central Bank as it resumes emergency steps aimed at easing financial market tensions.

FT March 21 2008. Bankers detect shift in regulatory power
With the credit crunch worsening and public money at stake, the Fed and the Treasury are taking a hands-on approach to the oversight of Wall Street banks, whose primary regulator for the past 70 years has been the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reuters, Sat Mar 22, 2008 Central banks in mortgage crisis talks: report
Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are in talks about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities in a bid to solve the global credit crisis, the Financial Times (FT) said on Saturday.

Reuters, Thu Mar 20, 2008At least 200 arrested in U.S. antiwar protests
More than 200 people were arrested across the United States on Wednesday as protesters marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq obstructed downtown traffic and tried to block access to government offices.

Reuters, Mar 19. New Bin Laden Video
- A new alleged audio message from Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has appeared on the internet.

ALT NET March 14, 2008. Coke and Pepsi's New Marketing Strategy: Pull at Your Heart Strings
The big bottled water companies are trying to counter negative press by tying their products to charitable causes.

Reuters, Mon Mar 17, 2008 Bear fire sale sparks rout
"If you get a crisis of confidence in the wholesale banking space and something the size of Bear Stearns could go under, then people start to panic. You get a real fear factor," said Simon Maughan, analyst at MF Global in London.

Aljazeera WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 Warning over world food shortages
The UN secretary general has warned that millions of people are at risk of starvation as global food stocks have fallen to their lowest levels for decades. The most acute effects have been seen in Egypt, where thousands of people have resorted to violence due to shortages of basic food commodities and rising food prices.
At least 10 people have died over the past two weeks, in riots that erupted at government subsidised bakeries. An Egyptian man said: "People are fighting. Killing for bread, some are even pulling out knives. What is happening? What is this? Famine? "

Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Top cop who led probe into secret CIA flights found dead
The police chief led an investigation into charges that Britain cooperated with secret CIA flights to transport terrorism suspects without formal proceedings.

Daily Mail 13th March 2008. 'Suicide' police chief feared affair with high-flying married mother-of-two was about to be exposed
..Now really, only a morron would believe this to be a suicide? Even the title and the content is totally inconsistent. And why does the police have to "contain" the family"?? Obviously its because Todd send out "worrying" text messages on his escapes route to expose who ever was that killed him:

"According to his profile on the Greater Manchester Police website, Mr Todd believed the police's relationship with the media was very important.

In 1992 he invited TV crews to join him on raids in an attempt to demonstrate openness and reassurance to the public.. He was elected Vice President of the ACPO in 2006 and was also a member of the ACPO Terrorism Committee." (LINK)

CIA flights are not only for rendition, Gary Webb was an American journalist who was a, 'two shot suicide,' in LA in December 2004, initial reports said his death was caused by multiple gunshots. Like Michael Todd he was investigating CIA flights, not for rendition, but for large scale drug shipments into the US.

Financial Times, March 12 2008, Australian consumers growing gloomier
Australian consumer confidence recorded its sharpest quarterly decline in at least 23 years as higher interest rates and a weaker equity market combined with the threat of a US recession to undermine sentiment.

Reuters, Fri Mar 7, 2008 UK housing market balanced on knife-edge
According to Leigh Goodwin, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton, someone buying a house today will, on average, spend 24 per cent of their income servicing the mortgage over its 25-year life. This compares to just 14 per cent at the peak of the last housing boom, in 1989. These figures suggest that one of the factors in peoples’ decision to buy property is an expectation that it will continue to rise in value. If house prices fall, this spiral could go into reverse, triggering a broader slump. It is also unclear how buy-to-let investors, who have yet to weather a serious downturn, would respond if prices fell. “When house prices fall, the mortgage goes from being the last thing people stop paying to be being the first thing they stop paying,” says Mr Goodwin. “The potential for something very nasty is with us.”

Reuters, Fri Mar 7, 2008 Jobs report ends U.S. recession debate. Now what?
A second straight month of job losses all but ended the debate over whether the U.S. economy has slipped into recession. Now the question is how to get out. "Turn out the lights. The party's over. We are in a recession," said Joseph Brusuelas, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal in New York.

Reuters, Sat Mar 8, 2008, Recession fears rise on more job cuts
Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the world's largest economy has skidded into recession."The question appears no longer to be are we going into a recession but how long and deep it will be," said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc in Holland, Pennsylvania.

Blog, March 5, 2008, Must Watch: I Am Legend's Original Ending - This is Amazing
speculative fiction often deals with harsh realities even more head-on than mainstream fiction, and this would be a perfect example of just that.: the entire purpose of the title I Am Legend is that in the book, Robert Neville actually is the last man on the planet. And he has switched places from our reality of what we perceive as legend, to actually being the legend. As in, vampires are "legendary" to us because they're a myth from fantasy. In the book, Robert Neville is "legendary" because he is that myth and goes out day after day hunting them. With the original theatrical ending, they never actually touched on that idea at all - but when you think about, that's a pretty damn cool concept.

Reuters, Thu Mar 6, 2008 Home price declines could make matters worse
A decline in U.S. home prices is needed to attract buyers back and end the housing slump, but with no bottom in sight, more trouble lies ahead for an economy that may already be in recession.

Financial Times, March 7 2008 Weak dollar rattles equity markets
Wall Street stocks plummeted as an onslaught of bad news in the housing, mortgage and credit markets rattled traders.

Politiken, March 6 2008, En million danskere skal screenes for depression
Sundhedsstyrelsen vil have de praktiserende læger til at gøre mere for at opspore ubehandlet depression hos deres patienter.

Financial Times, March 6 2008 22:00 Companies face bigger pensions risk levy
In June, UK pension funds had assets valued at £99bn more than the liabilities the PPF would face if all employers became insolvent. By February, falling gilts yields and stock markets had turned that into a £99bn shortfall, and it might get worse.

Times Online, March 6, 2008 Home Secretary reveals timetable for identity cards
From 2010, students and young people will be encouraged to provide their details voluntarily, she told BBC Breakfast, and from 2011 onwards, anyone applying for a passport will be added to the national identity register. The controversial ID scheme will eventually see everyone’s personal details stored on a plastic card with a microchip and will cost £5.6 billion over 10 years, according to Government estimates.

The ID project has already been damaged by a series of scandals over the way Government departments have lost personal information, including the list of 25 million child benefit claimants mislaid by HM Revenue and Customs at the end of last year.

The Financial Times, February 29 2008 Eurozone growth outlook darkens
The fall was led by the region’s service sector but the index for Spain, hit by fears of a bursting property bubble, was particularly gloomy. It plunged to the lowest level since January 1994. Italy’s index also dropped steeply, to the lowest level since August 2005.

Der Zeit, Dienstag 26.02.2008. Den Unternehmen geht’s gut, den Verbrauchern nicht
Bislang hat sich bei den Realeinkommen aber noch nichts getan. Trotz der schönen Erfolge bei der Beschäftigung lag die Summe aller Nettolöhne und -gehälter im vierten Quartal nominal nur um 2,6 Prozent über ihrem Vorjahresniveau, bei den sogenannten Masseneinkommen, in die zusätzlich die empfangenen Sozialleistungen eingehen, waren es nur 1,5 Prozent. Da die Inflation bei den Verbraucherpreisen im vierten Quartal 2,8 Prozent betrug, blieb für die Verbraucher unter’m Strich nichts übrig. Es wurde mehr gearbeitet (gemessen an der Anzahl der Jobs), aber nicht mehr verdient. Gleicher Lohn für mehr Arbeit.

Die privaten Konsumausgaben sind im vierten Quartal real gegenüber dem dritten Quartal um 0,8 Prozent gesunken. Das war kein Ausreißer, denn auch gegenüber dem Vorjahresquartal ergab sich ein Rückgang (-1,5 Prozent). Seit sechs Jahren gibt es hier per Saldo Stagnation.

Süddeutsche 27.02.2008. Staatliche Trojaner: Ich bin schon drin
Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat in seinem Urteil heimliche Online-Durchsuchungen zwar erlaubt, aber nur unter ganz bestimmten Bedingungen und Auflagen. Andere Länder setzen bereits auf staatliche Spähprogramme.

The Financial Times, Published: February 25 2008. Wheat prices in biggest one-day rise
Prices of top-quality wheat jumped 25 per cent to a record high on Monday in their largest one-day increase as Kazakhstan, one of the largest grain exporters, said it would impose export tariffs to curb sales. The move, which follows similar export restrictions in Russia and Argentina, is likely to put further pressure on already tight global wheat supplies, analysts said. pring wheat at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange surged an unprecedented $4.75 to a record high of $24 a bushel as consumers scrambled to secure supplies and speculators poured fresh money into the agriculture market. The price of spring wheat, used to bake bread, has more than doubled since January and has risen fourfold in the last year, contributing to a rise in global food inflation. Gavin Maguire, of Iowa Grain in Chicago, said consumers such as mills and bakers, who needed wheat, were “panicking”.

The Financial Times, Published: February 25 2008 Why are food prices rising?
Food prices have been rising steadily in the past few months and the effects are being felt globally.

The Financial Times, February 26 2008. Why Washington’s rescue cannot end crisis story
The biggest danger is a loss of US creditworthiness. In the case of the US, that would show up as a surge in inflation expectations. But this has not happened. On the contrary, real and nominal interest rates have declined and implied inflation expectations are below 2.5 per cent a year. An obvious danger would be a decision by foreigners, particularly foreign governments, to dump their enormous dollar holdings.

The Financial Times, Published: February 26 2008. Food and the spectre of Malthus
United Nations’ world food programme might have to ration food aid. Set against a backdrop of rising food prices worldwide – global food prices have now risen by more than 75 per cent since their lows of 2000, jumping more than 20 per cent in 2007 alone – the news revived fears from a much earlier era, conjuring up the Reverend Thomas Malthus.

Soaring food prices have also revived some more contemporary worries. When China’s annual inflation rate spiked to an 11-year high in January on the back of an 18 per cent increase in food prices, China-watchers found themselves casting their minds back to the food price rises of 1988 and the social disturbances, protests and civil unrest that followed. Inflation is often cited as one of the factors behind the major demonstrations in 1989.

The Sunday Times, February 24, 2008. Don’t worry, 007, you’re still licensed to kill
Last week Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, told the Diana inquest that its agents had killed nobody since he joined in 1966. But our correspondent says they have come very close

The Financial Times, February 21 2008. Jump in eurozone inflation feared
"Eurozone inflation, driven by food and energy prices, touched a 14-year high last month of 3.2 per cent, stoking fears among policymakers of a dangerous spiral in which high prices provoke high wage claims, bringing even higher prices in their wake."

The Financial Times, February 21 2008. Mammoth tax evasion probe widens
"Germany’s mammoth tax evasion investigation widened on Thursday as German bankers came under suspicion of assisting wealthy clients to hide millions of euros in Liechtenstein."

Financial Times Deutschland, February 21 2008. "Super egos, no deals"
Seit die Krise auf dem US-Hypothekenmarkt im Sommer 2007 auf die Kreditmärkte in den USA und Europa übergriff, erhalten Finanzinvestoren kaum mehr Geld für ihre Übernahmen. So ist ihr Geschäft weltweit um drei Viertel eingebrochen - obwohl mittelgroße Deals noch laufen, wie diverse Private-Equity-Manager und Banker nicht müde werden zu betonen.

Financial Times Deutschland, February 21 2008. USA blasen zur Jagd auf Liechtenstein-Sünder
Die im Besitz der Fürstenfamilie befindliche LGT-Bank in Liechtenstein habe offensichtlich das Geld von tausenden Steuerflüchtlingen aus aller Welt verwaltet. "Ich gehe davon aus, dass auch viele US-Bürger ihr Vermögen bei dieser Bank versteckt haben, was eine wirkliche Ungerechtigkeit gegenüber Millionen arbeitender Familien in diesem Land darstellt, die jedes Jahr ehrlich ihre Steuern zahlen", sagte Levin.

Time Magazine, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. John McCain's Very Bad Day

Later, as his tour of the Ford plant 50 miles north was winding down, McCain was finally forced to wander over to the print reporters—not to talk, just to look at more cars. He was trailed by a mob of photographers and Cindy, smiling in a black turtleneck, her hair tightly wound. "Very interesting," he said, just before someone showed him the Escape Hybrid. "This is the future obviously." Another Ford executive put him in the driver's seat of a Focus, which could play an iPod on voice command. "Play Abba," said McCain. But the iPod did not have Abba. It could play The Doors—"Roadhouse Blues."

The Financial Times, February 19 2008 America’s economy risks mother of all meltdowns

FT, January 28 2008 Eastern Europe to feel credit squeeze
The turmoil in financial markets is turning into a nerve-racking test for the economies of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Economists have said the fast-growing region faces a slowdown following the financial shockwaves reverberating around the globe.