CrossTalk: End of Capitalism

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Sep 26, 2011

Has the system outlived itself? Will a new form of capitalism emerge or will we see a completely different model? Is capitalism's demise inevitable or can it still prove itself? Tom Palmer, Richard Duncan and Arun Gupta CrossTalking on September 26.

UK anti-cuts group against neo liberal capitalism!

..holds rally in London : neo liberal capitalism undermines 4 things 1] NHS 2]Welfare 3]Women 4]Democracy

Published on May 28, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews :This is parliament in 2012. Where the British flag flies high and the politicians make their decisions. And on this unusually sunny day in London, there's a good old British street party going on. But it's not a celebration.

New age colonialism: West buying up Third World?

RT 22May 2012 : Multinational corporations are buying up swathes of land in underdeveloped countries in an unchecked scramble towards new-age colonialism. So-called “land grabbing” sees western powers vying for economic control of the developing world’s resources.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently gathered with members of the corporate elite and NGOs to develop guidelines against “land grabbing”.  Matters have been prepared over the last three years, leading to the present guidelines being published at the beginning of May 2012. While in principle a perfectly legitimate idea, it’s best to stay cautious.

Media have used the epithet “historic” to describe this new UN initiative. Days have long gone since the word was used to describe events that had a proven impact over time. These guidelines still have to be proven in practice.  Maybe they will lead to substantial changes. My experience with history tells me otherwise.

Once the flashy press brochures are left untouched on some desk and everybody runs off after new pressing issues, then it is time to take a closer look. What exactly are we talking about? Let’s look at this so-called “land grabbing”.   This is what Wikipedia has to say:

“Land grabbing is the contentious issue of large-scale land acquisitions; the buying or leasing of larger pieces of land in developing countries, by domestic and transnational companies, governments and individuals. While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as used today primarily refers to large-scale land acquisitions following the 2007-2008 world food price crisis … the target locations of most land grabs lie in the Global South, with 70% of land grabs in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Wikipedia being what it is – mostly an excuse for people (like me) too lazy to do real research – one can certainly not suspect it of having leftist tendencies. Precisely that makes their definition interesting. Let’s do some cross-checking.

Will money die?

How Money Dies

The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states. The dollar was tied to gold, and other (national) currencies exchange rate fluctuates relative to the U.S. dollar.

On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. As a result, "[t]he Bretton Woods system officially ended and the dollar became fully 'fiat currency,' backed by nothing but the promise of the federal government."

 Published on May 16, 2012 by TruthNeverTold - comes with a note : if you like this go to http://TheGreatestTruthNeverTold.com and Join Us.

Colonized by Corporations

A change of power requires a destruction of corporate domination and a new mechanism of governance to distribute wealth and foster the common good.

 May 15, 2012  |   In Robert E. Gamer’s book “The Developing Nations” is a chapter called “Why Men Do Not Revolt.” In it Gamer notes that although the oppressed often do revolt, the object of their hostility is misplaced. They vent their fury on a political puppet, someone who masks colonial power, a despised racial or ethnic group or an apostate within their own political class. The useless battles serve as an effective mask for what Gamer calls the “patron-client” networks that are responsible for the continuity of colonial oppression. The squabbles among the oppressed, the political campaigns between candidates who each are servants of colonial power, Gamer writes, absolve the actual centers of power from addressing the conditions that cause the frustrations of the people. Inequities, political disenfranchisement and injustices are never seriously addressed. “The government merely does the minimum necessary to prevent those few who are prone toward political action from organizing into politically effective groups,” he writes.

Illustration by Mr. Fish

Gamer and many others who study the nature of colonial rule offer the best insights into the functioning of our corporate state. We have been, like nations on the periphery of empire, colonized. We are controlled by tiny corporate entities that have no loyalty to the nation and indeed in the language of traditional patriotism are traitors. They strip us of our resources, keep us politically passive and enrich themselves at our expense. The mechanisms of control are familiar to those whom the Martinique-born French psychiatrist and writer Frantz Fanon called “the wretched of the earth,” including African-Americans. The colonized are denied job security. Incomes are reduced to subsistence level. The poor are plunged into desperation. Mass movements, such as labor unions, are dismantled. The school system is degraded so only the elites have access to a superior education. Laws are written to legalize corporate plunder and abuse, as well as criminalize dissent. And the ensuing fear and instability—keenly felt this past weekend by the more than 200,000 Americans who lost their unemployment benefits—ensure political passivity by diverting all personal energy toward survival. It is an old, old game.

Full article :

'EU banking system is corrupt'

Published on May 18, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews : Fitch Ratings have downgraded Greece's sovereign debt from B- to CCC, the lowest possible grade for a country that is not in default. The agency said an exit from the euro currency union is "probable" if politicians fail to form a government after the next round of elections, which is scheduled for June 17. It warned that the country's exit from the eurozone would hurt the economies of other European nations that use the currency.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Rodney Shakespeare, professor of Binary Economics, to hear his opinion on this issue.

Don't Look Now -- Banks Are Still Ruining America: 6 Harsh Lessons from the JP Morgan Fiasco

JP Morgan Chase is part of an entwined system of too-big-to-fail institutions that are ripping us off.

May 15, 2012  |  

Photo Credit: ShutterStock.com

Now, we know this was all a sham.JP Morgan, the white knight of banking, supposedly weathered the 2008 crisis with little difficulty. It was not in danger of collapsing like Lehman Brothers and it did not really need bailouts in order to survive, or so it proudly proclaims. Furthermore, its CEO, Jamie Dimon, was known as “Obama’s banker,” a relatively liberal financier who cared both about his bank and his country.

The truth is that there are no good banks and bad banks among the giants of finance.That’s just a feel-good story that gives us false hope that individuals and individual institutions can fix a system that is rotten to the core.

JP Morgan Chase is no different than other big banks, except that it is the biggest. It is part of an entwined system of too-big-to-fail institutions that are ripping us off. Leading up to the 2008 crash, it was up to its eyeballs packaging and selling mortgage-backed securities that were designed to fail. It helped pump up the housing bubble, profited while it was inflating and profited again while it burst. It was forced to pay a $153 million fine last year for “misleading big investors about the riskiness of mortgage-related securities it was selling just as the home-loan market was melting down.”

JP Morgan helped to crash our system in 2008 and profited handsomely from the bailouts it claimed it really didn’t need (but thank you very much, we’ll take them anyway). And now it's back in the gambling business just like all the other big banks and hedge funds. And should another crash come, we’ll again be asked to pick up the tab -- it's still “too big to fail” according to the conventional wisdom.

Full report :

Argentina celebrates nationalisation of oil firm.

Published on May 3, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish - Argentina's government is celebrating the seizure of Spanish-controlled oil firm, YPF.

Privatization and Argentina's Economic Crisis

Published on May 1, 2012 by BrookingsInstitution : Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has announced that the government will assume control of a Spanish oil company operating in Argentina. The action calls for the state to take a controlling interest in YPF as a means to funnel much needed money back into Argentina's troubled economy. Nonresident Senior Fellow Eduardo Levy-Yeyati suggests it might be the right move done the wrong way, saying the trigger for the government's move is largely due to its fiscal and external deficit, and both are growing, in part, because of the country's energy issues.