More THREATS From Obama As He WARNS He'll Present "Very Difficult Choices to the Country" Next Year

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...

President Alfred E. Obama:Our worry-free chief exec
Observing President Obama's relentlessly reckless approach to our nation's fiscal integrity is reminiscent of the signature phrase of Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, "What, me worry?" Obama struck again last week at the G-20 conference in Toronto, urging other nations to follow his Pied Piper lead into Deficit-spending hell. Unlike recent U.S. presidents who recognized and touted this nation as the world's exemplar for Economic Growth and prosperity, Obama is turning us into a poster nation...

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...

Obama Sends A Threat From Canada [Reader Post]
At the G20 meeting in Toronto, Obama made a threat which is sliding under rug. In a rambling, semi-coherent answer to a rare question from the media, Obama had this to say on controlling the Debt: “Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics. I’m doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it’s the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very...

Harper on the G20: Toronto’s pain, the world’s gain
P rime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledges that the G20 summit was an inconvenience to Torontonians, but says meetings like the one that took place in Canada’s largest city this past weekend are the only way world issues move forward. “Somebody told me when I first became Prime Minister – somebody who knew a little bit about the job – told me that even though the government of Canada is large and complex and there’s hundreds and even thousands of people working on...

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...

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...

David Cameron's agony and ecstasy | Simon Hoggart's sketch
David Cameron came back from the G20 and G8 summits in Canada, and like all Prime Ministers before him explained how world leaders had agreed with everything he said. "Why, the scales have fallen from our eyes, Prime Minister!" " that was the gist of what Messrs Obama, Sarkozy, etc told him. But it wasn't all fun. "I suffered the exquisite agony of watching England lose 4-1 to Germany in the company of my good friend Angela Merkel and the German summit team." Well, it's his own silly fault....

Britain is squandering lives in Afghanistan to save the faces of politicians
The thrashing around of Military and political leaders in the quagmire of Afghanistan is an increasingly desperate exhibition of impotence. Yet, through the contradictions and incoherence, a familiar pattern is emerging. The latest symptom is the remarks of The Army chief General Sir David Richards, advocating talks with the Taliban: “If you look at any counter-insurgency campaign throughout history there's always a point at which you start to negotiate with each other...” Not...

Britain is squandering lives in Afghanistan to save the faces of politicians
The thrashing around of Military and political leaders in the quagmire of Afghanistan is an increasingly desperate exhibition of impotence. Yet, through the contradictions and incoherence, a familiar pattern is emerging. The latest symptom is the remarks of The Army chief General Sir David Richards, advocating talks with the Taliban: “If you look at any counter-insurgency campaign throughout history there's always a point at which you start to negotiate with each other...” Not...

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...

BP denies Hayward to resign
AFP BP has denied that its embattled chief executive Tony Hayward was set to resign over the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, after revealing that the crisis has so far cost $US2.65 Billion ($A3 Billion). Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, preparing to meet Hayward on Monday, said the British boss was to resign and present a successor, Russian news agencies reported. However, a BP company spokeswoman insisted Hayward was not stepping down. "Tony Hayward remains chief executive and is not...

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...

Bemusing the Deficit
I've been struck by the wave of Austerity capturing not only American politics but politics across the globe. Not only has the Senate failed to pass an extension of Unemployment Benefits and aid to states, the post-mortem G8/G20 headlines were that the world's leaders would primarily be focused on Deficit/Debt reduction as opposed to additional large overtures to stimulate The Economy. Deficit hawks or Austerians seem to be winning the day! Don't get me wrong, Deficits and the Debt...

Deficit worries trump fears of new recession at G20 summit (McClatchy Newspapers)
Toronto - Still concerned about slipping back into Recession, world leaders signaled Sunday they have a new fear — that the Deficit spending they used to stimulate growth could produce a crippling Debt crisis that also could stagger the world Economy . They pledged Sunday to cut Deficits in half within three years, their fear of Debt outweighing warnings from President Barack Obama that cutting back too quickly risks starving The Economy just as its starting to recover. The leaders...

Japan's factory output down as export demand moderates, unemployment climbs to 5.2 percent
Tokyo — Japan's Economic Recovery faltered in May as moderating export demand dented factory output, household spending fell and the jobless rate unexpectedly rose for a third straight month. Industrial production dropped 0.1 percent from the previous month — the first decline in three months, the government said Tuesday. Shipments overseas fell 1.7 percent. Lower output from automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. dragged the index south, reflecting softening...

Japan and Russia agree to territory talks
Tokyo, June 29 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated a desire to solve the 65-year territorial dispute over the Russian-occupied Kuril Islands group. Kan and Medvedev made their statements in Canada where they briefly met on the sidelines of the Group of Eight Summit near Toronto. The G8 Summits bring together leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. Russia occupied four Japanese Islands,...

Save the Fake Lake!
D espite all the controversy over the so-called fake lake, the Muskoka-inspired display built for the G8/G20 Summits should be preserved – not as a sort of museum of government excess, but as a playful and successful exhibit that succeeded as few Tourism promotional displays ever have. Current plans call for dismantling the “Experience Canada” exhibit in the near term, and with it goes the $200,000 “Northern Oasis.” The fake lake is to be drained, the looping loon...

NY case alleges Russian snooping by 10 agents
New York (AP) - Behind the scenes, they were known as "illegals"—short for illegal Russian agents—and were believed to have fake back stories known as "legends." U.S. authorities say they sometimes worked in pairs and pretended to be married so they could blend into American society as the couple next door. Aside from fake identities, authorities say, they used Cold War spycraft—invisible ink, coded radio transmissions, encrypted data—to avoid detection. On Monday in...

UK Gov Spending Challenge: “Help us get more for less”
Earlier today, UK Prime Minister David Cameron kicked off a consultation exercise on ways to reduce Government Spending. Together with Nick Clegg he has written to Public service workers asking them to share their ideas on where to make Spending cuts. A Spending Challenge website has been launched to solicit suggestions from Britain’s 6 million Public Sector workers. The challenge states that “Every single idea will be considered and the best ones taken forward by ...

China's military to conduct live-fire sea drill as US, Korea plan joint exercises
Beijing — China will start six days of live-fire drills off its eastern coast Wednesday amid plans for joint U.S.-Korea Military exercises in the region. The People's Liberation Army will ban all vessels from entering a large portion of the East China Sea from midnight until 6 p.m., starting from Wednesday until Monday. The Chinese Military announcement Tuesday is seen by some analysts as a response to one by the United States and South Korea that they would conduct joint exercises in...

China's military to conduct live-fire sea drill as US, Korea plan joint exercises
Beijing — China will start six days of live-fire drills off its eastern coast Wednesday amid plans for joint U.S.-Korea Military exercises in the region. The People's Liberation Army will ban all vessels from entering a large portion of the East China Sea from midnight until 6 p.m., starting from Wednesday until Monday. The Chinese Military announcement Tuesday is seen by some analysts as a response to one by the United States and South Korea that they would conduct joint exercises in...

Russia irritated by U.S. spy-ring announcement
Moscow - Russia expressed irritation over a U.S. announcement it had arrested 10 Russian spies just days after President Dmitry Medvedev met Barack Obama, but stopped short of any outright denial. U.S. authorities said on Monday they had broken up a major spy ring that recruited political sources and gathered information for the Russian government, hours after Medvedev flew back to Russia from a trip to North America. "The choice of timing was particularly graceful," said Foreign Minister...

Afghanistan: the wait for talks to start | Richard Norton-Taylor
'We need to get the job done and bring our Troops home," the Prime Minister told the House of Commons today. A day earlier, the head of The Army said talks with Taliban leaders could begin "pretty soon". Officials are anxiously trying to downplay these comments from David Cameron and General Sir David Richards . But the interventions are hugely significant, for they go the heart of how Britain's Military presence in Afghanistan is justified " namely, to prevent Afghanistan becoming a safe...

Plans for global bank tax 'dead'
HUNTSVILLE, Canada — The drive for a punitive Global Tax on the world's largest Banks ran into the sand Saturday with key G8 and G20 nations dismissing the European plan as unwarranted. A last-gasp European push for the levy failed as a raft of developed and Developing Countries -- led by G20 hosts Canada -- rejected one-size-fits-all rules. Britain, France and Germany had argued the Tax would curb the type of excessive Financial risk-taking that pushed the Global Economy to the brink,...