World-News

US bank Goldman Sachs has posted third-quarter profits that are more than three times the earnings it made at the same time last year.

https://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091015164452667523.html



Goldman Sachs: Your tax dollars, their big bonuses

Goldman Sachs is having a banner year, and is getting a big boost from government programs.

https://snipurl.com/sk360



Recession Will Be 'Full-Blown Depression': Strategist

This global recession will turn into a "full-blown depression," Nicu Harajchi, CEO of N1 Asset Management, said Friday, adding that global stimulus hasn't come down to Main Street.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/33341496



Dollar May Drop 20% More, Harvard's Ferguson Says

The dollar will extend its drop versus the euro over the next two to five years, falling as much as 20 percent to an all-time low under a widening U.S. budget deficit, Harvard University's Professor Niall Ferguson said.

https://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZYblKZy9jTs



Britain is in danger of going bust, warns EU

Britian's economy was consigned to a list of those at 'high risk' yesterday because of the spiralling national debt.

https://snipurl.com/sk36y


From Information Clearing House



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Goldman+Sachs
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bonus
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=budget+deficit
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+debt
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stimulus
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Main+Street
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Niall+Ferguson

The British Government must publish US intelligence material about the torture allegedly suffered by Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, the High Court has ruled.

https://snipurl.com/sk33b



Torture Saved Lives: MI5 chief

The head of MI5 has issued a vigorous defence of the organisation's co-operation with intelligence agencies known to use torture, saying that it thwarted many terrorist attacks after 9/11 and saved British lives.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/16/mi5-chief-torture-al-qaida



MI5 Can't Keep Turning a Blind Eye to Torture

Torturing people doesn't keep us safe. MI5 should stop making policy by anecdote and condemn those who abuse prisoners.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/oct/16/mi5-torture


From Information Clearing House

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UK Judges Order Release of Details About the Torture of Binyam Mohamed by US Agents

Andy Worthington, Truthout: "In August 2008, while British resident Binyam Mohamed still languished in a prison cell in Guantanamo, two British High Court judges attempted to inform the public about what, in May 2002, the CIA had told their British counterparts about how they had treated him while he was being held in Pakistani custody, shortly before a British agent interrogated him."

https://www.truthout.org/1019096



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=abuse
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogat
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=MI5
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Binyam+Mohamed
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andy+Worthington

The grounds have reportedly been established for armed American presence on Somali soil with a US security firm winning a contract in the war-ravaged country.

https://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108834&sectionid=351020501


From Information Clearing House



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Somalia
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater

By Paul Craig Roberts

The political system is unresponsive to the American people. It is monopolized by a few powerful interest groups that control campaign contributions. Interest groups have exercised their power to monopolize the economy for the benefit of themselves, the American people be damned.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23739.htm



Barney Frank and the Planet of the Banks

By Ralph Nader

What planet is Congressman Barney Frank on, anyway? It is the planet of the banks and other financial firms that keep his campaign coffers humming, as their chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23738.htm



Oligarchic Senate Still 'Treasonous' After All These Years

By Robert S. Becker

In the 19th Century, aristocratic deToqueville warned against the "tyranny of the majority." Dream on. Today, we face permanent tyranny by operatives speaking for tiny populations.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23741.htm



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Barney+Frank
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=oligarch
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=tyranny
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ralph+Nader
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Craig+Roberts

Reason
by Steve Chapman

10/15/09

Watching Washington policymakers in action, I sometimes think they make mistakes because of unrealistic goals, flawed thinking, blind obedience to party, or dubious information. And sometimes I think they make mistakes because they are — how to put this? — clinically insane. There is no other way to explain what is going on at the Federal Housing Administration, which provides federal guarantees for home mortgages. Given the collapse in real estate prices, the weak economy, and the epidemic of foreclosures, banks are acting with more caution than before. They now commonly require home buyers to make down payments of 20 percent to qualify for a loan. But the FHA often requires only 3.5 percent...

https://reason.com/archives/2009/10/15/mortgage-madness-again


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=real+estate
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreclosure
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steve+Chapman

Campaign For Liberty
by John Browne

10/15/09

Earlier this year, I predicted that the 2009 rally in U.S. stocks could bring the Dow Jones Index as high as 10,000. It looks like that level has been achieved. If, at this point, the index reverses course, I would have made a fairly good prediction. However, it is important to get beyond the charts and look at the fundamentals. The furious six-month rally in the stock market has certainly not been mirrored by the economy as a whole. Instead, the country remains in recession, with unemployment continuing to rise and corporate earnings continuing to decline...

https://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=276


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stock+market
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemploy

Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee had objections to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to US President Barack Obama, the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) reported Thursday.

https://snipurl.com/sj4vz


From Information Clearing House



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nobel+laureate

Bill Moyers Journal: "Barack Obama was elected on a message of change, promising a new era of diplomacy and international cooperation - but can the president deliver a new vision of America?"

https://www.truthout.org/10150910



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=what+change
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Moyers

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/15-10



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/15-0

Public Citizen: Wall Street Mocks America; Compensation Estimates Highlight Need for Reforms
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/15-6

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The Banks Have Learned They Can Do Anything

Marie-Noelle Lienemann, David Cayla and Paul Quiles, Liberation: "If bank profits had any connection to the activity of the real economy, it would be good news. Instead, with unemployment growing (the American private sector destroyed another 250,000 more jobs in September), companies are not investing and households strangled by debt are legion. In such a context, in which banking practices have not changed, it is illusory to hope, as the government does, for lending that would be likely to relaunch production and consumption to resume."

https://www.truthout.org/1015095



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wall+Street
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemploy
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+Foley
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Marie-Noelle+Lienemann
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Cayla
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Quiles