Life the Universe and ....: More economic issues

AIG Will Receive More Aid, Bigger Loss...OBAMA READY TO TALK 'GLOBAL NEW DEAL' WITH UK PM; SECURITY FOR FAMILIES IN 'EVERY COUNTRY'... BROWN: 'The special relationship is going global'...

St. Louis Tea Party Protests Stimulus Plan...

Buffett Says Economy Will Be 'Shambles' in 2009, Likely 'Well Beyond'... BERKSHIRE has worst year...

PAPER: Obama 'urban czar' campaign donations raise eyebrows...1 in 10 Californians unemployed...Kudlow: Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And More... Bankers: Stop trashing us... Wall Street slides after CITI-government deal... Sets Single-Day Trading Volume...

Abu Dhabi reviewing CITI investment...

Arsonists Torch Berlin Porsches, BMWs on Economic Woe...Economic crisis threatens to rip European Union -- and its single currency -- apart... Calls for Eastern Europe Bailout -- Rejected... New 'Iron Curtain' will split rich and poor...Bank Collapse Threatens Venezuela...

Who Will Rescue Us?

No One Seems To Know Or Be Willing To Say How Bad Things Are

By Danny Schechter

Does anyone even know how bad the economy is, or how much worse it will get? Continue

A Banana Republic By 2012?

Change for the Worse

By Paul Craig Roberts

President Obama has presented the most irresponsible budget in US history. His fiscal year 2010 budget projects federal spending of $3.5 trillion and a federal deficit of $1.75 trillion. In other words, 50 percent of the government’s budget consists of red ink. Continue

UK: The 1.3 trillion pound bank job: The furore over Sir Fred Goodwin's massive pension worked as an effective smokescreen for far worse financial news that the Government was happy to keep out of the public eye. David Randall and Margareta Pagano report

U.S. readies another $30B as AIG debt problems mount: Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) on Sunday moved toward another restructuring of its massive debt, marking a further widening of the historic federal bailout of financial markets.

Mortgage Delinquencies Jump 50 Percent: More U.S. consumers are filing for personal bankruptcy or relying on credit cards as the recession deepens and unemployment rises, a top credit bureau executive told Reuters

Buffett: Economy will remain in 'shambles': Profit fell 96 percent, the fifth straight quarterly decline, and Berkshire's net worth tumbled $10.9 billion in the year's final three months.

16 US banks collapse in just two months: With the financial meltdown continuing unabated, US has already seen the collapse of 16 banks in the last two months -- which is more
than one-fourth the total number of failures in the last nine years.

Pension bombs going off: Exploding pension fund shortfalls are blowing billion-dollar holes in the balance sheets of some of the Chicago area's biggest companies, forcing them to make huge contributions to retirement plans at a time when cash flow and credit are already under stress.

Right-Wing 'Tea Party' Movement Was Planned Months Ago by GOP Billionaires: Bloggers reveal how the latest so-called "populist" revolt against the federal government was a pre-planned PR stunt.

The Great Financial Crisis:

Interview of John Bellamy Foster

By Mike Whitney

The robbing of public funds to bailout private capital is now on a scale probably never before seen. A politicized, organized working class capable of understanding and reacting to that theft, and choosing thereby to restructure society, to meet real social, egalitarian needs is what is now to be hoped for. Continue

Ron Paul : On The Collapse Of Capitalism

By Ron Paul
Nations will be redefined in this period. Continued

'We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!': Anger rises in Germany as the economy falls. Trade unions and globalization-critical protesters are planning demonstrations in Berlin and Frankfurt under the banner: "We're not paying for your crisis."

Supermarket Cashier Becomes German Anti-Capitalist Hero: In these times of economic crisis, even such a measly sum as €1.30 ($1.66) can turn a supermarket cashier into a national hero -- and may ultimately cost a leading German politician his job.

Thousands of Opel Workers Demonstrate against GM: Huge losses in Detroit threaten to doom the German carmaker Opel, and the workers want a divorce from the parent company.

Warning for the West as crisis spills onto streets: The slump that has swept through developed nations like the UK, the eurozone and the United States is hitting the world's emerging economies with a speed and ferocity that has shocked even the most pessimistic analysts.

Violence between repo men, car owners on the rise: The 67-year-old railroad retiree grabbed a gun, walked out the back door and confronted not a thief but a repo man and two helpers trying to tow off the Chrysler Sebring. Shots were fired, and Tanks wound up dead, a bullet in his chest.

Citi Gets Nationalized; Don’t Call It Nationalization: The Government has reached a deal to buy 36% of Citigroup’s common stock. The United States will now be the largest shareholder of the troubled bank (But don’t call it nationalization). Citigroup announced another huge quarterly loss.

Citigroup Stock Costs Less Than Their ATM Fee: The shareholders have essentially been wiped out

Problem bank list tops 250: FDIC reports that number of troubled institutions soared during the fourth quarter to the highest level since 1994.

Dow Jones Industrial Average marks worst February point drop in history: The S&P closed at 752.44 on Nov. 20, though the benchmark on Monday undercut that prior bear-market low.

Govt: 'Mass Layoffs' Soared In January: Employers took a large ax to their payrolls in January, the government said Wednesday, and the cuts are likely to get worse over the next few months.

The U.S. Economy: Designed to Fail

By Richard C. Cook

Neither President Obama, nor his Democratic supporters or Republican antagonists, should feel badly about what is happening. This is because the system they have been given to work with was designed to fail. Continue

The California Budget and Class War

By Ann Robertson

On February 19, the California legislature, after weeks of wrangling, passed a special budget to address the historically high $42 billion deficit. It represents an unadulterated washout for working people who are attacked on almost every front by the Democratic Party, which controls a broad majority in the legislature. Continue

Obama forecasts $1,750bn deficit: The budget would see George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest expire by 2011 and introduce new tax increases on families earning $250,000 or more to pay for healthcare expansion.

Grim US data show deepening downturn: New US jobless claims unexpectedly spiked last week, reaching the highest level since 1982 as companies continued cutting jobs.

The worst business loss in UK history: Royal Bank of Scotland came a step closer to full-scale nationalisation today as the bank unveiled a record £24.1 billion loss and plans to raise up to £25.5 billion from the taxpayer.

Chinese Counterfeiting US Gold Coins!

Obama Buries Reaganomics Under $3.6T Mtn

Brown Wants Global 'New Deal' With Barky

Harvard's Masters Of The Apocalypse

Warren Buffett Loses Billions

BoE Poised For Rate Cut To Zero

Bankers Lucky They're Aren't In Jail

Lloyds Heading For 75% State Ownership

HSBC Takes £17 Billion Hit On Bad Loans

Tycoons Fall As China Turns Against Capitalism

Shock And Awe Needed To Stop Depression

UK Given EU Permission For $4B Auto Bailout