Free Breaking News

Support free news online by subscribing today!

Environmental Call for All: Marine Life struggling due to Oil Spill in Gulf

Code Pink activist marched down the BP PLC (British Petroleum-Public Limited Company) corporate headquarters in Houston last Monday, May 24, calling the BP executives to clean up the oil rig explosion in Gulf Mexico.

Protesters are becoming more aware of the environmental disadvantages of the BP Oil Spill or Deepwater Horizon oil spill or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout. This April 20 oil explosion and fire on the drilling rig of the deepwater horizon owned by Transocean Ltd. leased by BP PLC with eleven killed and 17 injured awakens the environmental sensitivity of about 100 protesters. Most of these activists are the women from code pink who demonstrated the reality of environmental hazards caused by the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. They also wore costumes and brought banners to air out their grievances towards this oil spill incident.

Currently, the spill’s impact on shore now stretches across 150 miles, from Dauphin Island, Alabama to Grand Isle, Louisiana. Oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well at a rate of at least 210,000 gallons per day. Some of the natural inhabitants and ecosystem in the affected areas are gradually damage and deteriorating. With oil pushing at least 12 miles into marshes of Louisiana – two major pelican rookeries are now coated in crude. Pelicans are especially vulnerable to oil because they dive into the water to feed. Oil has also reached a 1,150-acre oyster ground. Eventually, this year’s crop young oysters will perish. There are 264 birds, sea turtles and dolphins had been found dead or stranded on shore that may have been affected by the oil spill. There are also reports that the phytoplankton and fishes are continuously struggling with the lack of sufficient oxygen brought about the oil spill.

With the continuous call of the environmentalist groups, the BP plc announced that they are willing to utilize any less toxic and environmental friendly chemicals to lessen the environmental risks and damages as they removed the spill from the affected coastlines and marshes. THE BP PLC is also open to switch to any alternative equipments or chemicals as long as it is readily available. Meanwhile, BP is still using a contentious chemical dispersant to fight the oil, despite orders from federal regulators to use something less toxic.

Just like any other living organism existing in this world, we all share vulnerability especially when we encounter disasters. This oil spill incident threatens the ecosystem of the living creatures of affected areas. Eventually, we can suffer its consequences in the long run. Despite the progressing innovations and technology, the lives of the fragile living marine creatures are placed in an untoward difficulty and higher risks. Humans and other living organism in this world live in a continuous interconnected system making us work as one giant working community sharing each other’s resources but with this man-made disaster happens, we are somewhat overlooking the minority of the system making them suffer and perish. As part of this system, we should awaken our inner sensitivity towards the environment and rebuild the system that had been damage.

Resources:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/05/24/general-energy-us-gulf-oil-spill_7632217.html?feed=rss_asia

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100524/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_today_2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

May 28, 2010 Posted by | News | , , , | Leave a Comment

Housing Foreclosure Crisis in USA Threatens Financial Stability

The complexity of the causes of housing foreclosure crisis trims down to one simple origin-mortgage. From this mortgage emerges the root of financial instability and catastrophe.

Housing foreclosure crisis peaked from 2005-2006 in USA specifically in California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana. There are still an estimated 5 million foreclosure cases in the said country. With this huge number, the national government of USA is formulating variety of solutions to the impending foreclosure cases.

But, how did this housing foreclosure crisis threatened the entire global financial stability and economic growth of USA? There are various studies which explains the causes to this inevitable circumstance, it include the inability of homeowners to make their mortgage payments, due primarily to adjustable-rate mortgages resetting, borrowers overextending, predatory lending, speculation and overbuilding during the boom period, risky mortgage products, high personal and corporate debt levels, financial products that distributed and perhaps concealed the risk of mortgage default, monetary policy, international trade imbalances, and lack of government regulation.

Another unspoken cause of the crisis could be the greed of the investors and the bosses of financial firms who choose to gain more money at the expense of the American people. For years, the economic bubble had been on the brink of collapsing as a result of inflated lending schemes. These went unnoticed since everybody was kept contented with huge lumps of bonuses in their accounts as long as the money was kept rolling. But when push comes to shove and interest rates became unbearable, everybody suffered especially the common public, for if the investors and bankers have something to back them up, the common person have nothing that was left to them.

Such mistake by a few was felt by the entire business world all around the globe, from billionaires to simple businessmen, the effects of the economic crisis was felt. This led to the devaluation of several companies that had been the cornerstone of the American economy. Such weakening threatened to make things much worse than the “Great Depression” experienced more than half a century ago. Only a piece of hope was seen through the large scale bail-out plan that seemed distasteful to some, and now, the economy seemingly began turning around for the better.

It happened once, it happened again, and what’s keeping an economic crisis from never happening again? Several economists urged the government and the lending companies not to be lenient in lending and refrain from overspending funds in unsure lending investments. But as long as people see the economy as parallel to a casino game where in the gain seemingly outweighs the risks, another crisis like this can always be expected. It may not be today, not next month or the next couple of years. But it will be during a time when people are once again complacent with their lives with a mindset that nothing can go wrong. That’s the time when something will go wrong.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreclosure

http://www.foreclosurefish.com/blog/index.php?id=379

May 28, 2010 Posted by | Ecomonics | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

European Debt Crisis

After World War II, the European states built a system called the European Welfare State aiming to share prosperity with each other to prevent further conflict by keeping everyone contented. This meant a steady provision of welfare services provided by the state, wherein the state assumes the comprehensive responsibility of each citizen as a matter of right. With this safety-net, European citizens can enjoy, six weeks vacation a year, retirement at 60, monetary benefits for conceiving a child and cheap but quality education. Life is good for every European which they enjoyed for decades, yet all this good-life comes under threat because of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

The sovereign debt crisis is seen as originating from Greece, wherein there is a concern about the rising cost of government financial debt. Greece crisis threatens to pull the economic growth of the European Union, since its economy is seen as part of the performance of the whole of EU. It had been reported that the government of Greece, contrary to monetary union guidelines, “has been found to have consistently and deliberately misreported the country’s official economic statistics. In the beginning of 2010, it was discovered that Greece had paid Goldman Sachs and other banks hundreds of millions of dollars in fees since 2001 for arranging transactions that hid the actual level of borrowing.” This enabled the Greek government to overspend more than what they can pay back and hiding their deficits from the union.

This made several trading and commodity devaluate forcing several member country of the European Union to make tax cuts and reduce the welfare they are giving to their citizens. The crisis cannot come at a much better time for the Europeans who are just reeling from the major economic crisis, several conflicts involving European States and the large scale immigrations of Europeans. Once the continent had been seen as one of the most luxurious and profitable place to stay, now, this luxury is seen as a silent plague that threatens to kill the livelihood of its citizens.

Each year, governments of each European country experienced slow plunge in their GDP, forcing legislators and governments to reduce the benefits they are giving to their citizens. And because of this, the citizens are becoming more discontented, choosing to live somewhere else. The once strong union is faltering because of the slowly weakening support of its people who had been used to living in luxury and unwavering support from their respected countries.

Change seemed to be the idea for the day and a solution for the crisis. But will this be for short-term or long-term effect? As of the moment, every change hurts the life of every European, and the more the change, the more discontentment will be created. Each country in Europe cannot undermine this potential threat since without the support of the people, the economy will crumble. One thing is for certain, Greece must be fixed, or else, every European state will be dragged down with them.

May 28, 2010 Posted by | Ecomonics | , , , | Leave a Comment

Sinkholes Wreak Havoc – I-24 Sinkhole And Canada Sinkhole

If your evening commute consists of I-24 in Tennessee, the I-24 sinkhole is sure to throw a wrench into your plans. A deep sinkhole opened up on I-24 between Chattanooga and Nashville, and shut down a 13-mile stretch of traveled road. As a sinkhole opened up last week in Canada, a family was killed in their basement. So what is the deal with all of of these sinkholes?

Tennessee traffic snarled by I-24 sinkhole

The Tennessee Department of Transportation reported today that the I-24 sinkhole opened up Tuesday morning. A tractor-trailer missed the sinkhole just barely after it opened up, and nobody was injured or had to take out new auto loans as a result of the sinkhole. The sinkhole is 40 feet long and 25 feet deep, and will take $ 266,960 to fix as authority hopes repairs can be completed by May 22. A private contractor took it upon him to have the contract. Between mile marker 127 and exit 127 is where the sinkhole is located. Westbound lanes aren’t closed as eastbound lanes are.

Canadian sink hole responsible for family of four’s deaths

A family of four was killed in a sinkhole that opened up in Canada. One family was in their basement as the sinkhole appeared under several homes outside of Montreal and was killed. The homes were evacuated and now the Canadian government is treating the area as a disaster rehabilitation area.

What is a sinkhole?

Sudden sinkholes such as the ones in Tennessee and Canada have various causes. Typically it has something to do with water seeping in from above bedrock or running below. The water slowly dissolves the rock, and eventually the weight above the area simply becomes too much. At this point, a sudden sinkhole appears. Abandoned mines, sub-surface waterways, and sewer piping are common causes. Sinkholes could be really hard to predict, though Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri and Pennsylvania tend to have probably the most sinkholes among U.S. states.

May 28, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Tulsa Public Schools Cut 286 Teaching Jobs

Public school systems across the United States are in financial trouble – witness the school in Rhode Island that recently fired all of its teachers – and now Tulsa Public Schools are part of the disappearing budget act. According to the Tulsa World, 286 teachers (225 first-year teachers) working for Tulsa Public Schools will not be tendered new contracts, but notices of non-renewal. That’s nearly 10 percent of Tulsa Public Schools’ total faculty. Not long before, 125 non-teaching staff had been given their walking papers. Reports indicate that it is not an exercise in discarding dead wood, either. Good teachers are being cast away.

Tulsa Public Schools administrators hope to recall at least half

The Tulsa Public Schools administration would like to bring back half of the dismissed. But that will fall within the Oklahoma legislature’s court. The legislators must approve that as part of the spending budget, otherwise there could be no such optimistic action. They’ll need the short term loans simply to make it each day.

Saving dollars but lacking sense

Saving $9.7 million on cut teachers and $5.75 on cut office staff looks great on paper, but the dark side is all too apparent. Teachers can have to pick up the pieces and try to steer their own families in a financial boat with a broken rudder; similarly, the kids can have to try to learn while being stuffed into leftover classrooms like sardines. The World quotes Tulsa Public Schools Director of Human Capital Roberta Ellis as saying that they’re trying to be kind, then relays the usual platitudes about how it’s tough all around. Did Roberta Ellis or any similarly officious administrators do their part to keep teachers in Tulsa Public Schools by sacrificing personal salary, one wonders. Sadly, at TPS or anywhere else, cuts almost always come from the bottom.

Baby boomers talk the talk but do not retire to conserve jobs for the young

Baby boomer teachers in large numbers did not accept early retirement packages offered by Tulsa Public Schools. Cash bonuses for early retirement had been offered before, but the older teachers largely balked. Unfortunately, this lack of baby boomer compassion (and possibly preparing) kept the 286 younger teachers from a saving grace.

The reality is a harsh world now

The Tulsa World quotes the principal of the Eugene Field school, which is within the Tulsa Public Schools system, as saying that some of their non-renewed teachers had literally just purchased new homes. One of those teachers is a single mom. It’s callous to claim that “life is tough” and the teachers should get used to it, particularly in light of administrators who instantly schedule their tee times or anticipate their next educational retreat. The children of Tulsa Public Schools should know that even if they learn nothing else that will prepare them for the world, at least they can learn from this ordeal that being a mediocre administrator is inexcusable.

Sources for the article

Tulsa World

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=332&articleid=20100513_19_0_TulsaP94353

May 28, 2010 Posted by | News | , , | Leave a Comment

Making A Point About Free Speech With Everyone Draw Mohammed Day

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day - Making A Free Speech Point

May 20 is now “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day,” thanks to Facebook. There are lots of odd holidays out there – some official and some not. Some see this web meme a harmless way to spark debate. Rather than building understanding, though, this “holiday” is more likely to cause anger.

The history behind Everybody Draw Mohammad Day

For years, the questions essential to Everybody Draw Mohammad Day have been building – including free speech and religious expression. A tenant of the Muslim religion bans showing images of God or the prophet Mohammad. The controversy over non-Muslims drawing the prophet really began in about 2005, when a Danish newspaper printed 12 images of Mohammad. The creators of South Park have received multiple death threats after an episode was aired that satirizes the prohibition on showing Mohammad. Some estimates blame this five-year controversy for as many as 200 deaths, and it has led to lawsuits in and outside of the United States that have costs running to the millions of dollars. Rather than get instant money to hide from the! threats or hire bodyguards, numerous individuals are facing the threats head-on.

Everyone Draw Mohammad Day – what is the point?

An artist within the Northwest decided that Everyone Draw Mohammad Day would be a good way to spark debate. A paper in Portland, Ore., the Portland Mercury blog encouraged Everyone Draw Mohammad Day as a way to respond to the threats on the “South Park” creators. On Facebook, Everybody Draw Mohammad Day is billed as a “way to spark significant debate in international forums.”

The effects of Everyone Draw Mohammad Day

The popularity of Everybody Draw Mohammad Day has sparked reactions from a wide variety of organizations and individuals. At one point, the page was deleted by Facebook, though it was eventually restored. Free speech advocates are calling Everybody Draw Mohammad Day a way to exercise the right to free speech. Some religious tolerance groups are concerned that the “celebration” of the day could very easily turn into mockery of all Muslims, not just the extremists that are the intended target. In Pakistan, Facebook has been blocked until May 31 in response to Everyone Draw Mohammad Day.

Tell me your opinion? Is Everybody Draw Mohammad day a dangerous or offensive celebration? Or is this a a lot more benign idea, expressing free speech?

May 28, 2010 Posted by | News | , | Leave a Comment

History Repeating Itself? A revival of the Glass Steagall Act

Glass Steagall Act

Flickr Upload on September 24, 2008 by ttstam

A healthy private banking system is the grease that allows the wheels of business and employment to multiply in our economy. You may not realize it, but if your nations banking system is not healthy, then it is guaranteed that it will be harder for you, and your family to: buy a home, obtain a loan to start a new business, acquire a loan to fix your home’s roof, to buy a new car, or most importantly to find meaningful hourly employment. The most prosperous, and vibrant economies have: a high savings rate, a trade surplus, with a current account surplus that follows from that, low consumer and government debts, as well as a healthy banking system.

The United States economy, citizenry, and government in almost 41 years, has digressed from having all of those ingredients I just mentioned, to now in 2010 having none of the ingredients needed for a prosperous and vibrant economy for all of its citizens. The US banking system, was the last of these 6 key requirements of a vibrant economy to fall, began to publicly fail in late 2008 with the beginning of the ‘banking bailouts’.

This article will look at a few of the keys decisions made by Congress & the President, one in 1933, that was key to preserving post World War 2 prosperity for the citizens of the United States, and how the post ‘Glass-Steagalls’ “Universal Banking System” is the same banking structure that weakened pre World War One, and pre World War Two Germany.

The Glass-Steagall Act (aka: The Banking Act of 1933), was passed by Congress in response to failing of a large swath of the commercial banking system in the United States in early 1933. This bill brought forth the idea of separating banks according to the primary services they provide. For instance “Commercial Banks”, for smaller loans to citizen consumers, also these banks were for citizens to sign up, and use savings, and checking accounts for personal use. This bill also brought forth the idea of “Investment Banking”, being completely separate from the commercial banks mentioned earlier.

The following is a brief, and accurate summary of the banking conditions that forced the banking crisis in the early 1930’s that lead to the economic climate, that brought forth the Glass Steagall Act. This is courtesy of the Congressional Research Service (which is a part of the Library of Congress):

“In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bankers and brokers were sometimes indistinguishable. Then, in the Great Depression after 1929, Congress examined the mixing of the “commercial” and “investment” banking industries that occurred in the 1920s. Hearings revealed conflicts of interest and fraud in some banking institutions’ securities activities. A formidable barrier to the mixing of these activities was then set up by the Glass Steagall Act.”

From the time of Glass-Steagall’s passage in 1933, through to the 1970’s, the US banking system stayed relatively sound and stable, thanks to this separating of “commercial” and “investment” banking. However following the election of Ronald Reagan, with his belief in “liaise fair” government, where the ideal is minimal government intervention in both personal, and business freedoms, the push began growing stronger to begin chipping away, and eventually removing the “firewalls’ separating “investment” and “commercial” banking services, and institutions.

By the George H.W. Bush Presidency of 1989 to 1992, reports were commissioned, to study a possible return to what is referred to as the: “German Universal Banking System”. In a report from 1993 entitled: “The German Banking System: The System of the Future” it defines the: “German Universal Banking System as possessing these powers:

“The universal banking system in Germany allows banks to offer a variety of financial services to their. customers, such as the taking of deposits, consumer and commercial lending, securities underwriting and trading, mutual fund operations, and investment advising.”

This “Universal Banking System” structure was how the banking system was structured in Germany in the build up to World War I, and World War II, with Germany being the primary aggressor in those wars. Is it only a coincidence that our banking system is failing presently in the United States, in a similar fashion to the German banks preceding both World War I, and World War II?

Some statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which not only is the agency that insures bank deposits up to a specific amount, but also keeps statistics on US banks. Here are some sobering statistics on bank failures in the United States since 2008. In 2008 there were 24 US bank failures, in 2009 there were: 139 US bank failures, a 480 percent increase from 2008, and in 2010 there as of May of this year there have been: 73 US bank failures, which averages out to: 14.6 failures /month; with at that current pace the yearly projection for bank failures for 2010 is 175, which is a 26 percent increase from 2009.

Some of the benefits that Glass-Steagall offered, in terms of protecting United States citizens, and the greater economy included:
Eliminating destructive “conflicts of interest” that arise from a commercial bank lending to the investment arm of itself, which led to abuses by the banks, and their investment subsidiaries.
In order for “healthy competition” and a free market of lending institutions to serve the publics needs, the size of these banks must kept undersized in order to prevent monopolies and conflicts of interest which endanger the citizen depositor, and the health of the greater US economy.

Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state said it well commenting on the bill now in congressional “reconciliation” where the contentious aspects of each bill are limited to 20 hours of debate. She had this to say about the merits of the: “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010”:

“While this bill takes much needed steps to help prevent a crisis of this magnitude from ever happening again, it fails to close the very same loopholes in derivatives trading that led to the biggest economic implosion since the Great Depression…. Throughout this debate I have fought hard against efforts to weaken this legislation as well as to pass language to strengthen it further. But the fact of the matter is, without key reforms in derivatives trading, this bill does not safeguard America’s economy from a repeat of this crisis.”

“It sets up a process for responding the next time we have a financial crisis, but it doesn’t prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. We have to stop these kinds of dangerous activities. We need stronger bans on banks gambling with depositors’ money. We need bright lines – like  Glass-Steagall – that separate risky activities from the traditional banking system. We need to refocus our financial system away from synthetic bets and get more capital into the hands of job creators and Main Street businesses. There are good, strong provisions in this bill, and I’m proud of the work we did to get them in there, but I fear that without closing the loopholes primarily responsible for this economic meltdown, we are missing the entire heart of the matter.”

In conclusion, unless “Glass Steagall” is brought back, it will be much harder for the United States economy to climb out of the forty foot ditch that it is in.

—-

73 2010 US bank failures 14.6 f/m; yearly projection for bank failures for 2010: 175, 26 percent increase from 2009 est.

139 2009 US bank failures, a 480 percent increase from 2008

24 2008 US bank failures 

Sources:

“Glass-Steagall Act” summary and highlights of the bill: http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/SPECIALREPORTS/GlassSteagall.html#anchor852185

“Glass-Steagall Act” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act

“FDIC’s Failed Banks List”. http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

The German Banking System: “The system of the Future”. Pg: 105-6. http://www.jura.uni-frankfurt.de/ifawz1/baums/Bilder_und_Daten/Arbeitspapiere/paper7.pdf

Senator Maria Cantwell commenting on the: “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010”. http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/05/senate-passes-faux-financial-reform.html

May 26, 2010 Posted by | Ecomonics | , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

   

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.