martes, 5 de marzo de 2013

Libertad, Igualdad, Pluralidad. LEAP/E2020 Press Review on the Global Systemic Crisis. 01/03/2013

China and the emerging countries question the petrodollar’s supremacy 
 In 2005, emerging countries’ consumption exceeded that of the Western nations. The appearance of this “second” customer, rich and gourmand, constituted an irresistible opportunity for the producers, pushing up oil prices and radically transforming relations between the Western powers and OPEC. This major oil market rebalancing was obviously not done for the Western powers’ benefit, deep in debt and unable to pay the slightest increase in the price of oil. The strategies then implemented by the West have contributed to splitting the oil market into two: on one side, an OPEC increasingly oriented towards the emerging nations and diversifying its sales outside the petrodollar; on the other, a “new” unconventional market based on extraction from Western lands by extremely polluting fracking, a market “invented” to put downward pressure on world market prices, to keep the petrodollar alive and reduce dependence on the world market. It’s not difficult to see where the future lies.

White House, Republicans dig in ahead of budget talks 
Put into law in 2011 as part of an earlier fiscal crisis, sequestration is unloved by both parties because of the economic pain it will cause, but the politicians cannot agree how to stop it. A deal in Congress on less drastic spending cuts, perhaps with tax increases too, is needed by Friday to halt the sequestration reductions, which are split between social programs cherished by Democrats and defense spending championed by Republicans...  

Trans-Atlantic Rifts: European Activists Could Thwart US-EU Trade Deal
Consumer watchdogs, Internet activists and European farmers are gearing up to fight the planned trade agreement between Europe and the United States. Many in Europe are worried that politicians will make backroom deals at the expense of consumers...  

Release of about 300 illegal immigrants from federal custody in Arizona stirs up debate
Senior Republican officials in the state, including Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. John McCain, sharply criticized the releases, which the Obama administration said it is carrying out in several states in anticipation of budget cuts under sequestration.

Moscow casts wide net in Mediterranean
There was a bygone era that ended a little over four years ago when it used to be said that the Kremlin used energy as a "geopolitical tool". The threat perception propagated by cold warriors in the United States principally aimed at cautioning Europe against its rising energy dependency on Russian supplies...  

India budget surprises with spending surge, wealth tax
India unveiled new taxes on the rich and large companies on Thursday to fund higher-than-expected spending for the next fiscal year, in a budget that aimed to revive growth amid the country's worst slowdown in a decade ahead of a 2014 election...

Yuan rises to 13th as payment currency
Growing demand has led China's yuan to overtake the Russian ruble as a currency used for global payments, according to SWIFT, a messaging system used by international banks...  

Vidéo: A Strasbourg, Moncef Marzouki entre dans l'histoire du Parlement Européen 
Moncef Marzouki a prononcé un discours, le 6 février, qui fera date dans l'histoire du Parlement européen. Retour sur ce discours et sur ceux, tout aussi historiques, qui l'ont précédé... 

UK defeated as EU agrees to cap bankers' bonuses
European Union chiefs have agreed a package of financial laws that includes capping bankers' bonuses at a maximum of one year's basic salary. The bonuses will only be allowed to reach twice the annual fixed salary if a large majority of a bank's shareholders agrees, said Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator...

L'Italie est entrée dans une crise politique à l'issue des élections générales des 24 et 25 février.
Avec une Chambre des députés à gauche et un Sénat sans majorité, la troisième puissance économique européenne est plongée dans une impasse qui la rend ingouvernable et dont les effets se font déjà sentir sur les marchés...      

ECB turns €1bn profit despite rising HQ costs 
The European Central Bank (ECB) recorded a profit of almost €1 billion in 2012, according to the Frankfurt-based institution's annual accounts, released on Thursday (21 February). Its year-on-year profits soared by 37 percent to €998 million, with the bulk of the money coming from interest totalling €555 million on Greek government bonds... 

Fed admits that stock market gains are tied to central bank manipulation
On Feb. 21, the president of the Federal Reserve's regional bank in Dallas admitted in an interview that the recent gains in the stock market have come not through improvements in corporate fundamentals, or sustainable economic recovery, but instead through the artificial manipulation by the U.S. central bank in the markets themselves...

Why Should Taxpayers Give Big Banks $83 Billion a Year? 
So what if we told you that, by our calculations, the largest U.S. banks aren’t really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers?... 

Think there's no alternative? Latin America has a few
Ever since the crash of 2008 exposed the rotten core of a failed economic model, we've been told there are no viable alternatives. As Europe sinks deeper into austerity, governing parties of whatever stripe are routinely rejected by disillusioned voters – only to be replaced by others delivering more welfare cuts, privatisation and inequality.    

Merkel under fire for siding with Cameron on EU budget 
The German opposition has accused Angela Merkel of betraying Europe by siding with British leader David Cameron in negotiations on the EU budget, the first ever to be smaller budget than its predecessors...  

Gagner la guerre des changes, c’est mourir 
Guerre des monnaies : "Si la dévaluation avait du bon, le Zimbabwe serait aujourd’hui l’une des économies les plus prospères." 
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This special Press Review reviews articles from the French and Engligh-speaking international online media relating to the unfolding global crisis.
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