March 2011

Portugal Votes Against "Austerity"

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Anyone notice a pattern? The banks bring about economic armageddon. Governments bail out the banks Carte blanche and then insist on screwing workers everywhere, from pensions to retirement to wages. The new crisis is under the guise that nation must now get out of debt.

What's wrong with this picture? Quite a bit according to Portugal's Parliament:

Opposition parties said the budget - the fourth package of austerity measures in a year - went too far.

"Today, every opposition party rejected the measures proposed by the government to prevent that Portugal resort to external aid," Mr Socrates said in a televised address.

"The opposition removed from the government the conditions to govern."

The vote late on Wednesday came on the eve of a European Union summit to finalise a eurozone debt crisis plan.

On Thursday, Eurozone leaders begin a two-day summit during which they hope to finalise details of a "grand bargain" to deal with the 17-nation group's debt burden.

The country's borrowing costs have surged as investors worried over its financial health.

Lisbon has argued its situation is different from Greece and the Irish Republic - both of which have agreed to bail-outs from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

It says that its deficit and debt are lower than those nations, that it has not suffered a bubble in property prices and that its banks are sound.

Jose Socrates, Portugal's prime minister, resigned in protest that his plan was rejected. While Parliament won this round, when the EU and IMF come knocking, odds on Portugal's workers are going to lose.

Japan Causes Public Doubts on Nuclear Power - Future of Industry in Question

Michael Collins
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Citizen response to the disaster in Japan will have a major impact on future sources of power in the United States, our ability to live in a healthy environment, and the future of the nuclear power industry.

We do not yet know the outcome of the unfolding disaster at Fukushima I in Japan. There are conflicting stories about attempts to contain the reactors and public health hazards posed by this extreme nuclear event. At Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden has a breaking story on reactor number 1 at Fukushima that could have dire implications.

However, we are getting a glimpse of public reaction to the events in Japan. The Christian Science Monitor reported the results of a national survey on nuclear power conducted by OCR for the Civil Society Institute (March 15, 16-814 individuals).

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - WaMu Executives, Courts, Judges & Debtor's Prison

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shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

This week a flurry of events happened that were obscured by the tragedy in Japan.

Debtor's Prison is Back!

Supposedly abolished 1833, Debtor's Prison is back with a vengeance. Did you know you can go to jail over some unscrupulous creditor trying to collect from you? O'Reilly? How come we can't lock up unscrupulous creditors trying to collect on services not rendered or 80% interest rates? The Wall Street Journal:

Some lawmakers, judges and regulators are trying to rein in the U.S. debt-collection industry's use of arrest warrants to recoup money owed by borrowers who are behind on credit-card payments, auto loans and other bills.

More than a third of all U.S. states allow borrowers who can't or won't pay to be jailed. Judges have signed off on more than 5,000 such warrants since the start of 2010 in nine counties with a total population of 13.6 million people, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal of filings in those counties. Nationwide figures aren't known because many courts don't keep track of warrants by alleged offense. In interviews, 20 judges across the nation said the number of borrowers threatened with arrest in their courtrooms has surged since the financial crisis began.

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