In this video from the USA, Summer of Resistance & CodePink Greet Bush Poodle Tony Blair in Washington, D.C.
From British daily The Guardian:
Blair joins JP Morgan as $1m-a-year adviserJP Morgan is involved in the occupation of Iraq. Maybe they think faux ‘peace envoy’ Blair can help them in that bloody business.* Graeme Wearden
The US investment bank JP Morgan has signed up Tony Blair as a part-time senior adviser, on a salary said to exceed $1m (£500,000) a year.
The former prime minister would provide “strategic advice and insight on global political issues and emerging trends”, the company said last night.
Blair, whose contacts book could prove very valuable in the private sector, has indicated this could be just the first in a series of private-sector roles. “I have always been interested in commerce and the impact of globalisation. Nowadays, the intersection between politics and the economy in different parts of the world, including the emerging markets, is very strong,” he told the Financial Times.
Since leaving Downing Street last June, Blair has acted as an envoy to the Middle East. He has also joined the lucrative international speaking circuit – reportedly receiving $500,000 for one speech in China.
He also has a multi-million pound deal with Random House to publish his memoirs.
JP Morgan has been damaged by the US sub-prime crisis – caused by mortgages being given to people who could not pay them off. Blair himself has to service a large mortgage on a town house in Connaught Square in London, bought for £3.65m in 2004.
In moving from No 10 to the financial sector, Blair is following the example of his predecessor, John Major, who joined the private equity firm Carlyle Group in 1998.
Talking about Blair’s New Labour cronies: Peter Hain failed to declare £100,000 of donations.
Recession in the US ‘has arrived’
Posted by: “lilgeorgiehas2go” lilgeorgiehas2go@yahoo.com lilgeorgiehas2go
Wed Jan 9, 2008 5:14 pm (PST)
The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.
It said that Friday’s employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession.
Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing.
But a reserve member of the committee that sets US rates warned that it could do little about the below-trend growth expected in the next six months.
“I am concerned that developments on the inflation front will make the Fed’s policy decisions more difficult in 2008,” Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said.
He was referring to the problems faced by the US Federal Reserve, which might want to cut interest rates to avoid a recession, but is worried about inflationary factors such as $100-a-barrel oil.
‘Significant decline’
An official ruling on whether the US is in recession is made by the National Bureau of Economic Research, but this decision may not come for two years.
The NBER defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months”.
It bases its assessment on final figures on employment, personal income, industrial production and sales activity in the manufacturing and retail sectors.
Merrill Lynch said that the figures showing the jobless rate hitting 5% in December were the final piece in that puzzle.
“According to our analysis, this isn’t even a forecast any more but is a present day reality,” the report said.
‘Actual downturn’
But NBER president Martin Feldstein denied Merrill’s claims.
“I think we’re not in a recession now,” he told CNBC.
“But I think there is a serious risk that it could get worse and we could see an actual downturn,” he added.
Merrill said that the current consensus view on Wall Street that there is a good chance of avoiding a recession is “in denial”.
It also objected to the use of euphemistic terms for the state of the economy.
“To say that the backdrop is ‘recession like’ is akin to an obstetrician telling a woman that she is ’sort of pregnant’,” the report said.
Housing figures
There were further signs of the housing slowdown that has sparked off the problems in the US economy in home sale figures.
Pending sales of existing homes fell 2.6%, according to the National Association of Realtors, which saw its pending sales index drop to 87.6 in November, 19.2% below the point it was at a year ago.
The figures were better than expected, however, because October’s index reading was revised upwards from 87.2 to 89.9.
Meanwhile, US phone giant AT&T said it was now disconnecting a growing number of home phone and broadband customers for failing to pay their bills.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7176255.stm
Comment by Administrator — January 10, 2008 @ 1:24 pm