Capitalism
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Trade deals – is the mood turning? By Gus Fagan
Political sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic is turning against anti-democratic trade deals – but high geopolitical and financial stakes means we shouldn’t expect those pushing the deals to give in gracefully. Continue reading
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85 billionaires rule the world: rich elite robs the poor By Rob Sewell
In Britain, a handful of super-rich plutocrats control our lives. On a world scale, according to Oxfam, a mere 85 top billionaires, who could all comfortably fit into a double-decker bus, own more wealth than half of the world’s population put together. Continue reading
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Capitalist Facts and Stats
The richest 400 individuals own as much as two-thirds of America and acquired $300 billion, equivalent to almost the entire welfare budget (SNAP, WIC, Child Nutrition $107 billion; EITC $56 billion; SSI $60 billion; TANF $17 billion; Housing $46 billion) Continue reading
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The Video Is Mightier Than the Missile
Can a video help change the world? It’s one of a great many tools we’re developing at http://worldbeyondwar.org and yes we hope it can. Continue reading
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Goldman Sachs Sued for Selling Libya Billions in Worthless Options By Richard Smallteacher
Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, is being sued in London for selling Libya “worthless” derivatives trades in 2008 that the country’s financial managers did not understand. Libya says it lost approximately $1.2 billion on the deals, while Goldman made $350 million. Continue reading
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Will transatlantic trade treaty really boost wages and growth, asks TUC By Owen Tudor
As Davos trade negotiators announced they would ‘consult’ over one part of the controversial deal, the TUC met them to ask if the deal would really benefit ordinary people – or just offer up our public services to multinational investors. Continue reading
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‘Doing more with less’, the low paid and the unpaid By Shibley Rahman
Re-engineering the health system has become a hobby of thinktankers, in the best spirit of the blind watchmaker. But policy wonks are still unable to escape from the fact that the NHS is not a widget factory. The management school of Frederick Taylor is unfit for purpose in considering outcomes rather than outputs. It can… Continue reading
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“The Death of Social Democracy in the Age of Global Monopoly-Finance Capital”: An Interview with John Bellamy Foster by Tassos Tsakiroglou, MRZine
John Bellamy Foster: The urgency of understanding the interconnections between the economic impasse and the ecological emergency derives from the combined threats they pose to the material conditions of the world’s population and to humanity’s long-term survival. On the surface they may appear to represent discrete, even diametrically opposed, problems. Their real interconnection is apparent… Continue reading
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Video: The UK Doubles Down on Austerity
John Weeks: The UK announces tens of billions of dollars of cuts to social programs despite a poor economic recovery Continue reading
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Video: Capitalism in Long Term Stagnation and Decay – Gar Alperovitz on Reality Asserts Itself (3/5)
Mr. Alperovitz tells Paul Jay that if you concentrate wealth at the top, there’s not enough purchasing power to make the rest of the system work Continue reading
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Osborne’s Britain: poverty, insecurity and cuts
Few people, other than the rich and the ruling elites, celebrated when some faltering growth crept back into the economy in the latter part of last year. This was because few could feel any benefit from it in any part of their lives. As the growth was talked up wages and living standards continued to… Continue reading
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Séralini study retraction intended to shut down possibility of long-term GMO tests forever
“It must be as if the study had never happened,” said French MEP Corinne Lepage, who also challenged EU science adviser Anne Glover over her conflicts of interest with industry. Continue reading
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NHS: Why this year’s Davos could be bad for our health By John Hillary
Tomorrow sees the start of the World Economic Forum, the annual Davos gathering at which the transnational capitalist class looks to the year ahead and celebrates its continuing domination of the global economy. Open only to invited guests from the highest echelons of the corporate and government elite, the event sees no need to be… Continue reading
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South Africa: Infrastructure ‘fast-track’ may trip up government and corporations By Patrick bond
What we academics often term South Africa’s ‘Minerals-Energy Complex‘ (MEC) keeps getting away with murder, including economic strangulation. As just one example, in spite of a recent trade surplus, the balance of payments is going into extreme deficit largely because MEC multinational mining houses – especially BHP Billiton, Anglo, DeBeers, Lonmin and Glencore – vacuum… Continue reading
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TPP: WikiLeaks releases the Environment Chapter
On Wednesday, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released a draft for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Environment Chapter. Previously, on 13 November 2013, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text of the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. Continue reading
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Capitalism's War on the Planet By Kirkpatrick Sale
I am reminded of a story told by Friederich Engels when he visited early industrial England and made some comment on the river of Manchester, “a coal-black, foul-smelling stream, full of debris and refuse,” and remarked to a leading manufacturer that he had never seen so ill-built and filthy a city: “The man listened quietly… Continue reading
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UK worsens global hunger crisis by ‘blocking reforms on food speculation’
The UK is being accused of attempts to block EU reform to prevent food speculation. It took EU negotiators three years to agree on a regulation against speculation by banks and hedge funds which drives up food prices, aggravating the global hunger crisis. Continue reading
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Press release: Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – Environment Chapter
Today, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Environment Chapter and the corresponding Chairs’ Report. The TPP transnational legal regime would cover 12 countries initially and encompass 40 per cent of global GDP and one-third of world trade. The Environment Chapter has long been sought by journalists… Continue reading
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Fracking study finds combustible levels of methane in water after EPA gave the all clear
A report has found contaminated drinking water in parts of Texas, infuriating residents who had pressured the EPA to test for methane only to see the agency back off when the company allegedly responsible claimed that its own tests proved otherwise. Continue reading
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GMOs and the fables of industrial agriculture By Colin Tudge
Governments these days are not content with agriculture that merely provides good food. In line with the dogma of neoliberalism they want it to contribute as much wealth as any other industry towards the grand goal of “economic growth.” High-tech offers to reconcile the two ambitions – producing allegedly fabulous yields, which seems to be… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 