Entries from Byline Portal tagged with 'Financial Crisis'
German Schools Struggle with Wave of Immigrants
by Katja Irle, Der Spiegel, Germany - Germany is experiencing a well-documented boom in immigrants from countries hard-hit by the euro crisis. Less visible, however, are their children. They rarely have any knowledge of German, and schools are struggling to...
Evictions Become Focus of Spanish Crisis
by Helene Zuber, Der Spiegel, Germany - After a record number in 2012, evictions in Spain have become the symbol of a crisis that shows no signs of improving. Next year isn't likely to be any better, but with more...
Greece: A Therapist’s Worst Nightmare
by Melanie Mühl, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany - In October 2012 Pieper saw a Greece where heavily pregnant women were rushing around, going from from hospital to hospital begging, but because they had neither health insurance nor enough money, nobody...
Low-Income Americans Are Facing the Real Cliff
by Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC, USA - If Congress can’t reach a deal by New Year’s, 2.1 million people will be kicked off unemployment benefits. Not only would that be catastrophic for millions of low-income families across the country, it could...
The Neets, a Generation in Need
by Fleur de Weerd, Trouw, The Netherlands - Fourteen million European young people are neither working nor in school. Their number is growing because of the economic crisis, with disparities according to the countries. Sociologists worry of the social and...
The Life of Greece's One Percent
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - The Greek economy has been tanking for years now as the country struggles to balance its budget by imposing deep austerity measures. But the country's richest residents haven't noticed. Many aren't taxed...
Why Bankers Rule the World
by Ellen Brown, Asia Times, Hong Kong - In the 2012 edition of Occupy Money released this month, Professor Margrit Kennedy writes that a stunning 35% to 40% of everything we buy goes to interest. This interest goes to bankers,...
Mark Mazower Versus Orhan Pamuk
by Ariana Ferentinou, Hurriyet, Turkey - Looking at Europe from “inside the walls,” from a country deeply ensconced in an unmanageable recession and with a political elite still unable to find a sustainable model of governance which would guarantee the...
When Parents Can't Feed Children, It's Not a Recession, It's a Catastrophe
by Martina Devlin, Irish Independent, Ireland - Food poverty -- what a phrase to send a chill through the national consciousness. How is it possible in the 21st Century for our neighbours to be struggling with the most basic survival...
Corruption Continues Virtually Unchecked in Greece
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - While Athens waits for more aid from the European Union, the country continues to be administered in the same old careless manner. Corrupt politicians and the rich continue to help themselves to...
Thousands March in Paris against 'Austerity'
by Rachel Holman, France 24, France - Chanting "resistance", demonstrators took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against austerity policies and Europe’s new budget treaty, in the first major demonstration since President François Hollande took power four...
The Myth That Japan Is Broke: The World's Largest "Debtor" Is Now the World's Largest Creditor
by Ellen Brown, Truthout, USA - Japan's massive government debt conceals massive benefits for the Japanese people, with lessons for the US debt "crisis."...
It's Not Rhetoric to Draw Parallels with Nazism
by Laurie Penny, The Independent, UK - Fascists march with black shirts and flares through Athens, terrorising ethnic and sexual minorities, waving an insignia which looks like nothing but an unravelled swastika, and declaring disdain for the political process. And...
Berlin Restores Realpolitik
by Adriana Cerretelli, Il Sole-24 Ore, Italy - Neither Berlin, nor its northern allies, nor Mario Draghi’s ECB intend to reduce the pressure that they believe to be necessary for the restoration of the stability, cohesion and credibility of the...
Black Autumn for the Euro
by Teresa de Sousa, Público, Portugal - If August was relatively reassuring on the sovereign debt front, the signals that we are moving towards a “Black September” for the euro are getting stronger. The distrust between the "virtuous" states and...
EU Membership Losing Its Appeal
by Kristina Karasu, Der Spiegel, Germany - Amid the euro crisis drama, Turkey has seen economic growth as its European neighbors have suffered. As a result, the country has a newfound confidence that makes EU membership seem less important. But...
Men: Suffering Secretly and Silently
by Siobhan Courtney, Al Jazeera English, Qatar - Trapped in cycles of despair, men are committing 75 per cent of all suicides in the UK....
EU’s Leaders Roam Uncharted Waters
by Melle Garschagen, NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands - If Europe as a whole cuts back and taxes are raised, the economy won’t grow. This will fuel unemployment, the slump will worsen in the short term, and resistance against reform will...
Greece and Germany Take Their Fight Outside
by Miriam Widman, Der Spiegel, Germany - For months, Germans have been complaining of Greek profligacy while Greeks have been griping about German bullying. Now, the two countries will have it out on the football pitch. The symbolism of Friday...
Dimitris Dimitriadis — “Living in the Light of a Dead Star”
by Fabienne Darge, Le Monde, France - The multifaceted crisis that has struck Greece is the result of several centuries of decadence marked by the deterioration of the state and the loss of a sense of morality, argues Dimitris Dimitriadis....
How to Leave Your (Euro) Lover
by Ellen Brown, Asia Times, Hong Kong - The treaties binding the 17 member nations are just a set of rules, entered into by mutual agreement; and rules can be bent or broken, especially in crises. The European Central Bank...
A New Political Face for Greece?
by Ariana Ferentinou, Hurriyet, Turkey - What we are witnessing unraveling before our eyes is not just a “Greek tragedy;” it is a systemic eurozone problem where the dramatic heroes are all the Europeans who have already started to share...
Comedian Beppe Grillo Shakes Up Italian Politics
by Fiona Ehlers, Der Spiegel, Germany - All across crisis-hit Europe, voters are disillusioned with mainstream politicians and are turning to populist and radical parties. In Italy, the new rising force is comedian Beppe Grillo's grassroots Five Star Movement. But...
Banks Could Sink the Euro
by Caroline de Gruyter, NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands - Forget the debate about austerity versus growth, the future of the single currency is being played out in the banking sector. As a result of the crisis, governments and financial institutions...
May 9: Europe Day
by Beril Dedeoglu, Today's Zaman, Turkey - It is hard to observe any kind of enthusiasm for the EU as people all over Europe are quite angry at the union, which is perceived as bearing the main responsibility for the...
After French, Greek Votes, What Now for Austerity?
by Claire Bigg, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Proponents of economic austerity policies to contain Europe's debt crisis suffered a major setback on May 6 when French and Greek voters cast their ballots for staunch antiausterity advocates....
Greeks Cast Ballots against Austerity
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - Frustrated Greek voters on Sunday punished the country's two biggest parties. The vote represents a protest against draconian austerity and the massive influence the EU and IMF are having on the country....
The Aggressive Tactics of the Greek Right Wing
by Xenia Kounalaki, Der Spiegel, Germany - Greek far-right parties could end up with as much as 20 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has intensified the xenophobic atmosphere in the country. Those who...
May Day Special: “No Work, No Shopping, Occupy Everywhere"
by Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW!, USA - “People all over the country are talking about May Day as our day, whether you want to call it 'workers’ holiday' or 'immigrant rights' or 'the 99 percent,'’ says Martina Sitrin, who notes...
European Refugees Meet Austerity-Era Hostility
by Claudia Ciobanu, IPS, Italy - As the economic slump drags on in Europe, refugees and immigrants are keeping a wary eye on state budgets, as governments in the throes of austerity slash the social protections and public services that...
Europe's Youngest State: No Work, No Way out, No Country for Young People
by Mary Fitzgerald, Irish Times, Ireland - Unemployment in Kosovo is at 45 per cent overall, and its population is the youngest in Europe. With no chances to travel and few opportunities at home, what hope is there for the...
Europe's Pain Is Coming America's Way
by Frida Ghitis, CNN, USA - It's a good bet that just as Europe has come up against the reality that deficits cannot grow forever, so too will America. Investors, who have taken losses in the European debacle, will start...
Child Labour Re-emerges in Naples
by Cécile Allegra, Le Monde, France - In one of Europe’s poorest cities, thousands of children are leaving school to help their families make ends meet. Part of a trend that has been accentuated by the crisis, they find work...
Crunch Time in Zimbabwe's Banking Sector
by Tendai Marima, Al Jazeera, Qatar - A liquidity crisis in the southern African country highlights the urgent need for banking and regulatory reforms....
Black Sheep of Finance
by Ellen Brown, Asia Times, Hong Kong - When we remove our myopic US blinders, it turns out that globally, not only are publicly owned banks quite common but that countries with strong public banking sectors generally have strong, stable...
Try the Greek Yoke on, Herr Hansen
by Marie Amrhein, Cicero, Germany - What would the life of an average German official be like if the Federal Republic were forced to follow the same draconian austerity measures it is currently imposing on Greece?...
Greece Lurches to Left Amid Radical Austerity
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - A radical austerity drive has triggered the biggest political upheaval in Athens since the end of the military dictatorship in 1974. So far, it is leftist parties who have benefitted the most...
Athens Recovers from Riots, but Anger and Anxiety Remain
by Gaëlle Le Roux, France 24, France - Life in Athens is returning to normal after weekend riots in protest of a new austerity package. But the anger of the people has not subsided....
Reform Hero Takes on Corruption in Thessaloniki
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - European Union officials have nothing but praise for the mayor of the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Yiannis Boutaris has been pushing ahead with far-reaching reforms to undo the abuses of his predecessors...
The Faces of French Poverty
by Valérie Labonne, France 24, France - With the rise in fixed expenses such as rent, public transport, electricity and healthcare, French people on small salaries are having difficulty making ends meet. Twelve to fifteen million of them, who live...
Poverty in a Time of Economic Diktat
by Maria Malagardis, Libération, France - While negotiations on the write-down of Greek debt remain ongoing, Athens city hall is supplying two meals a day to jobless workers who are now threatened with famine in the wake of austerity measures:...
Paying with Pesetas in Salvaterra de Miño
by Claire Gatinois, Le Monde, France - In response to the crisis, shopkeepers in Salvaterra de Miño have decided to once again accept the former national currency. And the customers, attracted by prices at the same exchange rate that applied...
Is the Eurozone Crisis Changing EU-China Relations?
by Alicia Sorroza, Real Instituto Elcano, Spain - The economic and financial crisis affecting Europe seems to be changing the map of the interests involved in the EU-China relationship....
Rethinking Europe's Democratic Crisis
by Paulina Tambakaki, OpenDemocracy, UK - It has been argued that the euro-crisis and the events unfolding during the past week raise some serious questions about democracy in the member states of the European Union. The reason behind these questions...
A Day Of Thanks & Of Aspiration: No Child Should Be Hungry On Thanksgiving, Or On Any Day
by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Huffington Post, USA - Right now, every day, American families are facing decisions between putting food on the table, paying the rent, buying school supplies, and obtaining medical care and prescription drugs. This is no time to...
Euro Crisis Set to Claim Next Victim
by Helene Zuber, Der Spiegel, Germany - Spaniards will go to the ballot boxes this Sunday for parliamentary elections in which polls predict that the conservatives will wrest power from the socialists. Though the party's leader has fewer ideas and...
‘Take Five’: Understanding Greek Manifestations of ‘Disrespect’
by Rodanthi Tzanelli, OpenDemocracy, UK - Parading on Greek National Days used to be the quintessential celebration of Greek identity. In the age of austerity it has evolved into an arena of contestation of rituals Greeks used to take for...
The Crisis and Three Europes
by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, România libera, Romania - European identity is only for those who still aspire to the standards of Europe; those who already have it have stopped paying it any attention. They’re worried by other things – like the...
Europe’s Financial Flop Fund
by Cerstin Gammelin, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany - The EFSF was meant to save the single currency. And yet it has found no buyers. Investors are shying away from a complicated, uncertain financial product whose weaknesses the politicians are trying to...
Emerging Economies Join G20 Coalition to Tax Speculation
by Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, USA - Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been the strongest supporters of taxing financial transactions for nearly two years. A few months ago, the European Commission also reversed its earlier opposition...
Thinking Big on Poverty
by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation, USA - More than one in three Americans now lives on less than $44,700 annually for a family of four. That makes it pretty tough—sometimes impossible—to afford the basics like housing, healthcare, food and...
Police Turn Oakland into War Zone
by Allison Kilkenny, In These Times, USA - Incredible footage emerged from downtown Oakland last night - not of basic law enforcement efforts to maintain public "health and safety" as the police have been claiming - but of a war...
How I Was Arrested at Occupy Wall Street
by Naomi Wolfe, Occupy Cyberspace, USA - Last night I was arrested in my home town, outside an event to which I had been invited, for standing lawfully on the sidewalk in an evening gown. Let me explain; my partner...
Fear Is Gobbling up Politics
by Brigitte Fehrle, Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany - Out of fear and ignorance, the politicians have been trying since the beginning of the financial crisis to beat the financial markets with their own weapons – and they can still flourish many...
How to Make Inequality Obsolete
by Linda McQuaig, The Star, Canada - Already, the occupiers have made an economic system that has dominated for the past 30 years — based on unbridled greed at the top and indifference to the well-being of the bottom 99...
Straws Grasped from China Won't Solve This World Crisis
by Jayati Ghosh, Guardian, UK - Expecting China to save the world is also based on an unrealistic assessment of the state of the Chinese economy. The global slowdown is bringing out more clearly that the investment and export-led model...
Occupy Movement Attracts Support of Top Authors
by Alison Flood, Guardian, UK - Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Noam Chomsky among star names added to online petition at occupywriters.com....
Letter to a Dead Man About the Occupation of Hope
by Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch, USA - The United States is now the wealthiest country the world has ever known, and has an abundance of natural resources, as well as of nurses, doctors, universities, teachers, housing, and food -- so ours,...
Where The 99 Percent Get Their Power
by Sarah van Gelder, Yes!, USA - The #OccupyWallStreet movement is powerful because it is naming the source of the crisis—something that the political establishment had been unwilling to do....
Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now
by Naomi Klein, The Nation, USA - If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is...
'The Finale of the Greek Drama Is Drawing Closer'
by Kristen Allen, Der Spiegel, Germany - With Greece's next aid payment delayed following the release of dismal economic figures, insolvency is looming. European leaders have promised they won't abandon Athens, but some German commentators on Tuesday suggest that allowing...
Green Economy: Fix Our 'Ends' Not Just Our 'Means'
by Olivia Bina, OpenDemocracy, UK - While growth remains as our main goal economic and environmental crisis will persist. A green economy requires us to aim at development rather than growth, through the responsible promotion of justice, the common good,...
Risky Business: The Pitfalls at the Corner of Church & Wall Street
by Elizabeth Drescher, Religion Dispatches, USA - What role should churches play in economic change?...
Helping Women Reach Their Economic Potential
by Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen, Washington Post, USA - The National Science Foundation (NSF) will announce new steps to make it easier for women to pursue careers in engineering and the sciences — fields that are critical to our...
Countries Cutting off Europe’s Poor
by Sabine Verhest, La Libre Belqique, Belgium - Six member States refuse to allow funds from the Common Agricultural Policy to be used as food aid to the poor. On 1 January 2012, the budget for assistance to 18 million...
Gold Fever Hits Bucharest
by Lidia Moise, Revista 22, Romania - As the economic crisis drives up the value of gold on world markets, the Romanian state intends to hitch a ride by reopening the mine fields at Roşia Montană in association with a...
The New Road to Europe: Ways Out of the Hydra-Headed Crisis
by Mary Kaldor, OpenDemocracy, UK - The European Union is uniquely placed to solve the problems that have been caused by the tensions and templates of national political solutions in a globalised economy. There exists a positive European reinvention of...
New Drug Tests Target the Poor
by Rania Khalek, In These Times, USA - A spate of new laws ties government assistance to sobriety—furthering an unfounded stereotype....
31 Million U.S. Kids Live in Poverty Today As Racial Inequality Deepens
by Julianne Hing, ColorLines, USA - The foreclosure crisis, which had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, stole much of whatever wealth black and Latino families had been able to accumulate throughout the 1990s....
Dear Protesters for 'Social Justice'
by Diana Kimmerling, Ha'aretz, Israel - How could it be that you have nothing to say when the country is sinking into anti-democratic laws, but you have so much to shout about when it comes to money?...
Pope Lands in Madrid amid Protests
by Helen Percival, France 24, France - Pope Benedict XVI landed in Madrid on Thursday for World Youth Day, hours after clashes broke out between police and demonstrators angered by the cost of hosting the lavish event at a time...
True Cost of Afghan, Iraq Wars
by Nancy A. Youssef, Countercurrents, India - When congressional cost-cutters meet later this year to decide on trimming the federal budget, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could represent juicy targets. But how much do the wars actually cost the...
Daylight Robbery, Meet Nighttime Robbery
by Naomi Klein, The Nation, USA - Of course London’s riots weren’t a political protest. But the people committing nighttime robbery sure as hell know that their elites have been committing daytime robbery. Saqueos are contagious....
War, Debt and the President
by Amy Goodman, Truthdig, USA - President Barack Obama touted his debt ceiling deal Tuesday, saying, “We can’t balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession.” Yet that is...
Forget Compromise
by Ellen Brown, Asia Times, Hong Kong - The United States debt ceiling crisis can be averted by enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment, which mandates the government to pay its debts already incurred, including pensions. That means social security, which is...
Stress Tests Fine, Now Move Along
by Martine Orange, Mediapart, France - Can European governments atone for their mistakes in the handling of the financial crisis and forcibly introduce genuine transparency on the accounts and risk exposure of financial institutions?...
Debt Crisis Puts Pressure on Wealthy Orthodox Church
by Alexia Kefalas, France 24, France - The wealthy Greek Orthodox Church is under pressure to do more to help the country while it struggles through a debilitating financial crisis....
Athens Protesters Resolve to Fight to the Finish
by Helena Smith, Guardian, UK - In the 18 months since the crisis erupted, Greeks have suffered a wave of belt-tightening that has seen wages cut, pensions slashed and benefits lost....
Europeans Have a Right to the Truth
by Barbara Spinelli, La Repubblica, Italy - The financial crisis has exposed the deception and subterfuge of politics, yet the leaders of Europe continue to deny the obvious. Only honesty, and the courage to tell the truth, can save Europe....
Where Next for the #spanishrevolution?
by Gemma Galdon Clavell, EU Observer, Belgium - Zapatero has led the biggest, harshest attack on welfare and wages since the end of the Civil War in 1939. Appealing to the need to please ‘the markets’ and implement ‘responsible’ policies,...
The Real IMF Assault
by Nomi Prins, Truthdig, USA - As newly resigned International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn (aka DSK) hunkers down in his jail cell, IMF news has fallen into two categories. The first involves salacious details of his alleged attempted rape,...
Don’t Get Fooled Again: Writing Our Own Economic Future
by Sarah Byrnes, Yes!, USA - My neighbors and I know we can't go back to the old economy. But what can we do to build a new one?...
The Glossary of Greed
by Joan Baxter, Pambazuka News, Kenya - The list doesn’t include men like Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, who controls a stash worth ‘tens of billions’ that he managed to launder over the years using Swiss banks. Nor does it include Egypt’s...
We Need New Tax on Financial Craps
by Sarah Anderson, The Providence Journal, USA - One place to look for new revenue: the financial sector that got us into this mess in the first place. Wall Street is one of the most under-taxed sectors of our economy....
Europe Takes the Lead in Drive to Tax Speculators
by Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, USA - There are still places in the world where folks from across the political spectrum can have a rational discussion about fair taxation....
Rejoice! We Are Free! says the Heritage Foundation
by Laura Slattery, Irish Times, Ireland - Ireland is the seventh freest economy in the world, according to the conservative US thinktank the Heritage Foundation, an organisation for which the ability of millionaires to transform themselves into billionaires unencumbered by...
The Year in Wall Street Investigations
by Karen Weise, Pro Publica, USA - Despite revelations coming up and down the financial spectrum, there have been no major criminal charges and almost no civil charges against executives....
A Real Solution to Global Debt Crises
by Julia Dowling, Yes!, USA - Why the world needs a fair and transparent process for dealing with debt....
For-Profit Schools See “Subprime-Opportunity”
by Julianne Hing, Color Lines, USA - The arc of the for-profit schools industry, and the disproportionate impact its had on the poor and people of color, mirrors another financial debacle that the country should be in no rush to...
Benefit Cuts Will Hit Women the Hardest
by Janet Davies, Guardian, UK - Housing associations need to find their voice and lobby against inequality, as well as embracing tenant profiling if they're to support those who need it most....
Where to Cut the Pound of Flesh
by Priya Shrestha, Russian Times, Russia - In October 2010, facing similar struggles, Americans have shown very little passion compared to the fury displayed overseas, where Europeans are striving much harder to protect their pockets....
Sticking the Public With the Bill for the Bankers’ Crisis
by Naomi Klein, Common Dreams, USA - When the G20 met in the London in 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, the leaders failed to band together to regulate the financial sector so that this type of crisis...
Greek Tourism Put to the Test by Debt Crisis
by Sarah Harman, Deutsche Welle, Germany - Tourism is an important part of the Greek economy, but with strikes, a debt crisis and the falling euro, can the nation still count on the usual load of summer tourists?...
The New Poverty
by Claudia Rowe, Equal Voice, USA - In America, where we celebrate success above all, the worst thing a person can be is poor....
Tax Day and America’s Wars
by Jo Comerford, Tom Dispatch, USA - By September 30, 2010, the Binghamton's “war tax” will reach $138.6 million -- or even more if, as expected, Congress passes an Obama administration request for supplemental funds to cover the president’s “surge”...
Machel Roots for Kenyan, African Women
by Sarah Wambui, Capital FM, Kenya - Renowned advocate for women and children’s rights Graca Machel is challenging African governments to invest in women as they come up with revival plans to reshape and reform their financial systems after the...
Seething over Bailouts
by Frida Ghitis, Miami Herald, USA - The people of Iceland have just shouted a message that demands close attention from the rest of the world: They are angry -- furious -- at the way governments have handled the irresponsible...
Economists in Davos Look with Concern to 2010
by Anne Seith, Spiegel, Germany - Many countries have started to see a rebound from last year's economic recession. But will it last? Economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos warn that paying down massive public debt will be...
What Toronto Can Teach New York and London
by Chrystia Freeland, Financial Times, UK - Canada is the only G7 country to survive the financial crisis without a state bail-out for its financial sector....
Economic Inequities Worsen in Recession
by Sharon Parks, Detroit Free Press, USA - The recession will, for years to come, widen the economic divide between the economically secure and those families, particularly families of color, who were already struggling....
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