The pace of wealth consolidation continues to accelerate, with the neoliberal model spreading rapidly [check out what’s happening in China after the jump].
Meanwhile, government-threatening developments continue in both Italy and Greece, multiple economic alarms sound in Russian, and Fukushima continues to leak irradiated water.
We begin close to home with some troubling news for law school grads form the Oakland Tribune:
Law schools at a crossroads: Weak job prospects, high tuition causing fewer to apply
Next, The Independent takes an appropriately jaundiced British look at events across the Bay from Casa esnl:
The dawn of the ‘start-up douchebag’: San Francisco locals disturbed as Google, Facebook, Apple and eBay professionals move in
As Google staff flock to the city, a battle is raging at the heart of San Francisco’s middle class
Next, from Salon, bad news for Golden State retirees:
Conservatives push secret deal to cut California pensions
If enacted, the proposed law would allow public employers to cut retirement benefits for those currently on the job
And CNBC reports on the latest corner cutting to esnure higher profits by providing less:
Fewer buttons? Retailers skimping to boost profits
And what’s the biggest hope for the global auto business? Consider this from the Economic Times:
China remains global auto industry’s best hope
At a time when Indian, Russian and Brazilian car markets are stumbling, China remains the major growth engine for the global automotive industry, analysts say.
On to Europe, first with this glum assessment via the European Union Times:
Up to 146 million risk poverty if EU’s austerity drags on
As EU countries battle the financial crisis with austerity, average citizens get hurt while unemployment rises and social programs disappear. Up to 146 million Europeans are at risk of falling into poverty by 2025, the head of Oxfam’s EU office told RT.
And from thinkSPAIN, a solid flesh-and-blood argument against austerity:
Higher government spending on healthcare leads to lower cancer mortality rates, says study
COUNTRIES in the European Union which spend the most per capita on healthcare have a much lower incidence of cancer mortality – particularly in the case of those cancers which can be successfully treated and cured if found quickly enough, says recent research.
And in Britain, more protests against the privatization of the Royal Mail via The Guardian:
Post Office workers to strike in 12th walkout since Easter
Around 4,000 staff in large city centre post offices will strike next week over plans to franchise 70 branches
On to Ireland, for the latest red ink tally from Independent.ie:
We are now €1.64 trillion in the red, says CSO
THE State, Central Bank, companies, banks and house-holds owe a combined €1.64 trillion, the Central Statistics Office said yesterday.
And to Holland, where The Independent reports an ominous royal decree:
Dutch King Willem-Alexander declares the end of the welfare state
Youngest monarch in Europe says people must take responsibility for their own future and create their own social and financial safety nets
Meanwhile, hard times intolerance thrives in the Hexagon, reports FRANCE 24:
Majority of French believe Roma should leave France
Controversy surrounding Roma immigrants is heating up in France, as a new poll shows more than three-quarters of French people agreeing with a recent statement by a top Socialist minister that Roma are “different” and should leave the country.
More from RFI on the odious declaration of the ersatz “socialist” Interior Minister Manuel Carlos Valls:
A majority of French people support Valls comments on Roma expulsions
According to a poll out on Saturday, nine out of ten French people consider Roma people to be poorly integrated into French society. This, after last week’s inflammatory remarks by Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who said the Roma way of life was incongruous with French society.
Meanwhile, sentiments are rising in Vienna, reports Open Europe:
Almost a third of Austrians projected to vote anti-euro parties in its national elections
From The Guardian, hints of renewed crisis in Iceland:
Icelandic bank says it cannot meet £1.5bn debt repayment schedule
New Landsbanki, said it will go bust if forced to stick to a steep repayment schedule, in euros, from the start of next year
And on to Spain, and the threatened death of a wonderful tradition via The Guardian:
Adiós, siesta? Spain considers ending Franco’s change to working hours
Spanish campaigners push for end to timezone anomaly, claiming it would boost productivity and improve civil society
And on the western shore of the Iberian Peninsula, hidden dealings via the Portugal News:
Portugal’s parallel economy represents one fifth of total – German expert
Portugal’s shadow economy represents 19.3% of gross domestic product, at about €33 billion a year, a German economist who is among the world’s leading experts on the subject told a conference in Braga, in the north of the country, on Wednesday.
From the Portugal News again, another symptom of crisis:
Birth rate continues dramatic drop
The number of births in Portugal has fallen by just short of ten percent in the space of just one year, and point to negative population growth as being a near certainty for 2013.
On to Italy, where crisis nears the boil, via Reuters:
Berlusconi’s ministers resign from Italian government
Italian center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the ruling coalition on Saturday, effectively bringing down the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta and leaving Europe’s third-largest economy in chaos.
More from Deutsche Welle:
Italy’s Letta threatens to quit as government teeters on collapse
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has threatened to resign unless parliament expresses its support during an expected confidence vote. A tax fraud conviction on former premier Silvio Berlusconi is heightening tensions.
And from the European Union Times, Vladimir’s lament:
If Berlusconi were gay he would never be on trial – Putin
Greece, China, Fukuhimapocalypse Now! And lots more, after the jump. . .
Our first Greek item comes from Deutsche Welle:
Greek police arrest Golden Dawn far-right party leader
Greek police have arrested the leader of the far-right Golden Dawn party on charges of forming a criminal organization. Police have said they also arrested a lawmaker after filing warrants.
More from The Independent:
Greek police arrest Golden Dawn far-right party leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos as head of ‘criminal organisation’
And from the London Telegraph:
Greek neo-fascist party leader and senior members arrested
Greek police arrested the leader and more than a dozen senior members from the far-Right Golden Dawn on Saturday after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by a party supporter prompted outrage and protests across the country
The latest from ANA-MPA:
Golden Dawn leader, 4 deputies and 15 followers appear before prosecutors Sat. night
Twenty extreme-right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) party members and followers – including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and four more deputies – who were arrested on Saturday morning on charges of setting up a criminal organisation, bribery and money laundering, were taken to the courts on Evelpidon Street to be read their charges.
Kathimerini English foreshadows:
Golden Dawn arrests are just the beginning
As does The Guardian:
Golden Dawn arrests take Greece into uncharted waters
The crackdown on the far-right party will undoubtedly release new tensions on to an already poisoned political scene
On to the latest economic news from Kathimerini English:
Debt-hit municipalities use tricks to stay afloat
In line with a decision by the union representing Greek municipalities, most mayors have chosen not to submit their draft budgets for next year to the Economic Observatory of the Local Authority Organizations (OTA), Kathimerini understands.
ANA-MPA sounds a moderately upbeat note:
Greek bond prices up, on speculation of credit rating upgrade
But Kathimerini English covers a blow to one of the Troika’s austerian mandates:
Council of State rules first round of civil service mobility unconstitutional
On to Russia with some truly worrying news from RIA Novosti:
Russia’s GDP Shows Zero Growth, Outlook Grim – Minister
Russia’s GDP Shows Zero Growth, Outlook Grim – MinisterRussia’s GDP in the first eight months of the year grew 1.5 percent year-on-year, but seasonally adjusted month-to-month growth was zero, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Saturday.
The one bright spot, from the Moscow Times:
Real Estate Market Continues Growth Amid Economic Slowdown
And from RIA Novosti, a defensive measure:
Russia to Use WTO to Protect Domestic Producers
Russia will actively use World Trade Organization mechanisms to uphold the interests of domestic producers who have suffered as a result of restrictions against them, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Saturday.
The Moscow Times, reporting more symptoms, reactions:
Central Bank Raises 2014 Inflation Target
The Central Bank raised its 2014 inflation target Friday, allowing for the impact of a government decision to raise utility charges and leaving scope to ease policy to help the sluggish economy.
Off to Latin America, fror some upbeat news from one of Russia’s BRICs partners via MercoPress:
Jobs market remains strong in Brazil; unemployment down to 5.3% in August
Brazil’s jobless rate fell unexpectedly and salaries jumped in August from the previous month, government data showed this week. It was the second consecutive month-to-month drop in Brazil’s jobless rate, which remains close to record lows.
And off to China, first with this from the South China Morning Post:
Hong Kong draws a poverty line for first time – with 1.3 million living below it
1.3 million Hongkongers are in poverty and will be the target of the government’s relief measures in the future, officials revealed on Saturday as the city announced it first “poverty line”.
From the South China Morning Post again, a companion story:
Poor still feeling squeezed despite the introduction of minimum wage
Want China Times covers another ,major development:
China’s online shopping market may exceed US$1tn by 2020
China may become the world’s largest digital market place as its online sales are predicted to exceed US$1 trillion by 2020, dwarfing the rest of the world, according to global consulting firm Boston Consulting Group and Beijing-based media Caixin.
And SINA English offers reassurance:
Foreign minister eases world concerns over China’s rise
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday reaffirmed China’s commitment to pursuing peaceful development, dispersing concerns that a stronger and more prosperous China might seek hegemony.
Meanwhile, Xinhua covers the latest neoliberal move:
Chinese domestic banks can conduct offshore business
Chinese banks in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) were allowed on Friday to conduct offshore business, a move further liberalizing financial markets.
And China Daily covers another one:
New doors for consumer finance firms
The consumer finance sector is to be opened to non-financial enterprises as a move to draw more private capital into the industry.
And on to Japan, for our first item from Fukushimapocalypse Now!:
NHK WORLD:
Waste water decontamination suspended
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it has suspended the process of decontaminating radioactive wastewater with a new filtration system. The move came less than one day after it resumed a test-run.
Jiji Press sums it up:
Fukushima N-Plant Water Decontamination System Goes Wrong
But the banksters promises salvation, via the Asahi Shimbun:
Banks agree to give ¥80 billion in refinancing loans to TEPCO
While the Progressive offers a suggestion:
Put Best Scientists on the Ground at Fukushima!
Why this is the most dangerous moment in human history since the nuclear confrontations between the US and USSR.
And ENENews notes a rational response and fears:
FDA Import Alert: U.S. bans Japan agricultural and fishery products from total of 14 prefectures due to Fukushima radionuclides — Top Newspaper: Concern over contamination is spreading to most countries around Pacific
Some slick poiliticking, via the Mainichi:
TEPCO president agrees with Abe that radioactive water is ‘blocked’
The president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), Naomi Hirose, told a Diet panel on Sept. 27 that he shared Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s view that the leaking radioactive water at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is contained within the bay there.
And to conclude, from the Mainichi again, a statement of the obvious:
TEPCO faces high hurdles in controlling contaminated water at Fukushima plant
