Competing Ideologies: G20 v. US Social Forum

How Canada made the G20 happen
P aul Martin sat in Lawrence Summers' spacious office in the Greek-columned U.S. Treasury building in Washington, searching in vain for a piece of paper. With none in sight, the two men grabbed a Brown Manila envelope, put it on the table between them, and began sketching the framework of a New World Order. It was April 27, 1999. For the past five years, the Global Economy had shuddered under a string of massive Debt defaults – first in Mexico, and then in Southeast Asia and Russia. In...

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
From CNN's Leslie Bentz The CNN Washington Bureau's morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Washington/POLITICAL For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com CNN: Senators often Talk past Kagan on opening day of Confirmation Hearing Elena Kagan was the nominee at her Confirmation Hearing Monday for the Supreme Court, but you would not be faulted for believing the Real spotlight was on those not attending- the conservative...

Summit Backstage
The biggest news at the Canadian G-8 and G-20 summits was that the United States held to the position of the need for additional Stimulus, while the other majors all had decided the time had come to tighten their belts. The Obama Administration just doesn't get it. But we knew that beforehand, didn't we? What was important was what swirled around the event. The arrest of the ten deep cover agents of Russia at the end of the G-8 and G-20 summits carries with it a significance far beyond the...

G20 Wrap-up: What happened? Part 1: The Money
Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife So now that the G20 is over, the lasting images will no doubt be of the violence and Vandalism in downtown Toronto, and most likely little of what the summit accomplished. The intended sound bite that leaders hoped would be heard through the din of the self-styled Anarchists and reciprocal police crackdown, was that the G20 nations had committed to cut their national Deficits in half by 2013 and stabilize overall Debt by 2016. Canadian Prime...

How do other nations balance their trade? Try Germany
As America continues to contemplate its Trade mess, the question naturally arises how other developed nations manage to Trade with the world without Deficits and without turning high-wage industries into low-wage industries to compete. Although some other developed nations, like Britain and Spain, have Trade situations almost as bad as ours in recent years, some have been quite the opposite. Germany is perhaps the best case in point, as this Montana-sized country of 82 million people was the...

RBS tells clients to prepare for 'monster' money-printing by the Federal Reserve
As recovery starts to stall in the US and Europe with echoes of mid-1931, bond experts are once again dusting off a Speech by Ben Bernanke given eight years ago as a freshman Governor at the Federal Reserve. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Utter nonsense, deflation is another imaginary government bogyman, it's nothing more than an excuse for the government to print Money. Watch this video by Jorg Guido Hulsman: The Economics of Deflation Entitled " Deflation: Making Sure It Doesn't Happen Here ",...

Dutch stand in way of Brazil juggernaut
Brazil swept into a World Cup quarter-final showdown with the Netherlands after a clinical and uncompromising 3-0 victory over Chile at Ellis Park on Monday. Bert van Marwijk's Dutch side saw off Slovakia 2-1 earlier in the day, with star winger Arjen Robben marking his first start of the tournament with the opening goal. The sides will meet in Port Elizabeth on Friday, in a repeat of their 1998 semi-final encounter in France, which Brazil won on penalties. The Selecao went on to lose to the...

Why Obama is Sabotaging U.S. Economic Growth
They do not want the United States of America to drive Global Growth anymore. If the Financial Reform Bill passes, the bad Wall Street will win, the good Wall Street will not. And investors and American

Asia shares slip and debt puts euro on defensive
Singapore (Reuters) - Asian stocks were on course on Tuesday for their worst quarterly performance since the end of 2008, as the tepid nature of rich world's recovery from global Recession keeps investors on the defensive. The Euro was under pressure and dangerously close to a key support level, as funding concerns about the Euro zone drove investors to the safe-haven of the Swiss franc and Market players looked anxiously toward European Debt sales this week. "Aside from buying on dips, it's...

G-20: Only Stimulus is Security Tab
Good Evening: With global market participants continuing to pay more attention to sporting events like the World Cup and Wimbledon than to political events like the G-20, U.S. stocks were fairly quiet for a second straight day today. Some investors had hopes the G-meetings (G-8 & G-20) over the weekend in Toronto would bring forth fresh policy guidance from World leaders, but the squawking, er, Debates about the need for Economic Stimulus yielded little. The Obama Administration would...

Even Europe Sees What U.S. Doesn't
You know you're way out of bounds, economically speaking, when the spendthrift European Union rejects your advice to spend more. But that's exactly what happened to the White House. In advance of the G-20 meetings in Canada, President Obama politely asked the EU to boost its spending, the classic Keynesian response to an economic slowdown, despite the region's out-of-control Deficits and Debt. The EU's response: A not-so-polite, "Are you nuts?" In a letter to G-20 members last Friday, Obama...

Economics: The shaky science
"The ideas of Economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. . . . Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct Economist." -- English Economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) Almost everyone wants the world's governments to do more to revive ailing economies. No one wants a "Double Dip" Recession. The...

G20 Plans One Foot On The Brake, The Other On The Gas Pedal. Will They Blow Up The Global Economy?
You really can't blame them for not listening . After all, the U.S. is caught up in Deficit fever, too - a cyclical illness that occurs only when we have a Democratic president or Democratic control of the House. The only thing that worries the Villagers is when the Government spends money on the people who gave it to them: Toronto -- President Obama warned Sunday that the world Economic Recovery remains "fragile" and urged continued Spending to support growth, an expansionist call at the end...

Brazil, Netherlands qualify for World Cup quarterfinals
Brazil's Soccer players Robinho, top right, Kaka, left, and Luisao, right, joke during a training session in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday June 27, 2010. Brazil will face Chile on June 28 in the second round for the Soccer World Cup. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) (AP) Johannesburg — Make way for the Oranje and the Samba Kings in the World Cup quarterfinals. The Netherlands and Brazil advanced comfortably Monday, while anger simmered over refereeing blunders and FIFA's refusal to adopt...

Asian stocks slide ahead of crucial Japan business survey, US jobs data; China off 3.3 percent
Bangkok — Asian markets slid Tuesday as a mammoth share sale in China dragged Shanghai stocks down more than 3 percent and investors trimmed bets before the release of crucial indicators from the world's two biggest economies. Investors were wary of riskier assets like stocks following a fall on Wall Street Monday and dour Japanese Economic data that could foreshadow weaker business confidence when the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey is released on Thursday. Markets are also jittery...

Dumb and Dumber
With Job Creation in the U.S. basically at a standstill aside from some Government hiring of temporary Census Workers, even after a Trillion-plus in Stimulus spending, Hillary Clinton's answer for more Growth and more Jobs is to remove even more money from the people who earned it and hand it over to the Federal Government. In a recent address at the Brookings Institution, Mrs. Clinton succinctly delivered her recipe for reducing Unemployment: "The rich are not paying their fair share in...

Keynes: The End of a Bad Idea
The dream of spending our way out of Recession got a step closer to death at the Toronto Summit of G8 and G20 leaders. Things just aren't what they were. Every bad idea seems to have its Wordsworthian moment: Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive But to be young was very heaven. The early enthusiasm for Keynesian Economics certainly qualifies. The dawn of Keynes was very heaven, if you were young back then. But now we are at the moment when a new generation asks: What was all the fuss...

In wake of blown calls, pressure mounts on FIFA to give referees some high-tech help
FILE - This Sunday, June 27, 2010 file combination of six photos shows Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer looking at the ball that hit the bar, bounce over the line during the World Cup round of 16 Soccer match between Germany and England at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The goal was disallowed by the Game's referee. After blown calls at vital moments of vital Games, before a worldwide audience at the World Cup, the guardians of international Soccer are being pressed harder...

LEAD: Soccer: Okada pinning hopes on Honda as date with destiny looms+
PRETORIA, South Africa, June 29 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES THROUGHOUT) Japan coach Takeshi Okada is praying midfield maestro Keisuke Honda can conjure up more magic when Japan take on Paraguay for a place in the quarterfinals of the World Cup on Tuesday. "The players know it is a rare chance for them to aim for the last eight and I believe they will be fully motivated," said Okada. "Nobody knows how far we can progress but as long as there is a chance we will keep...

How Did the New Deal Work Out?
Since the Administration is in the process of trying to "jump-start" The Economy with Deficit Spending, it is useful to review how the policies of FDR actually worked out in terms of economic performance in the 1930s.  The New Deal was not specifically a "Keynesian" program, in part because Keynes' magnum opus, The General Theory , was not published until 1936. However, the New Deal is regarded by Keynesians as the ur-program of Government Stimulus of The Economy. This...

Brazil beats Chile 3-0 to reach WCup quarterfinals
Johannesburg (AP) - As Brazil was dismantling Chile, a couple of fans delighted the crowd by parading around the stadium with two giant gold replicas of the World Cup trophy. Another three games like this and Brazil could be hoisting the real thing—yet again. With an impressive mixture of symphony-like teamwork and standout individual plays, Brazil routed South American rival Chile 3-0 on Monday night to advance to the quarterfinals. The five-time champions will face the Netherlands,...

Greece's Best Option Is To Come Clean And Go Bust
It is time to recognise that Greece is not just suffering from a Liquidity crisis; it is facing an insolvency crisis too. Rating agencies have started to downgrade its public Debt to junk level, while spreads on Greek sovereign bonds last week spiked to new highs. The €110bn bail-out agreed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in May only delays the inevitable default and risks making it disorderly when it comes. Instead, an orderly restructuring of Greece’s...

G20 Wrap-up: What happened? Part 2: The power
Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife What the fuck happened? The fallout from the G20 weekend in Toronto isn't likely to dissipate any time soon, and certainly not while the numerous accounts of mass arrests and allegedly repugnant detention practices continue to flood the Internet. So, what do we make of them? At the Guardian on Monday, I made the point that both sides of this argument " the Protesters and the Police " got what they wanted this weekend. That is, the...

Greeks walk off job over reforms
AAP Public services shut down across Greece on Tuesday as workers walked off the job in a new nationwide general strike that disrupted Public transport and left Hospitals operating with emergency staff. Tension mounted once more in the country's main port of Piraeus, where hundreds of demonstrators from a Communist Party-backed Labour Union attempted to prevent tourists and locals from boarding ferries to Aegean islands, even though a court had declared seamen's participation in the strike...

Greek unions hold general strike over proposed pension, labor reforms
Athens, Greece — Public services shut down across Greece Tuesday as workers walked off the job in a new nationwide general strike that disrupted Public transport, left Hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air. Tension mounted once more in the country's main port of Piraeus, where hundreds of demonstrators from a Communist Party-backed Labor Union attempted to prevent tourists and locals from boarding ferries to Aegean islands, even though a court...