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"They are stealing the vote again"
In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.
In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelmingly Black voters.
In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.
In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.
Greg Palast In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all re... more -
Thailand's middle classes lead unlikely protest - against democracy
As the crowds of angry demonstrators beseiged the parliament, it looked as if a classic people's revolution was underway.
With the scent of police teargas in his nostrils and screams of protest ringing in his ears, Thailand's embattled prime minister Somchai Wongsawat fled the building, vaulted over a fence and clambered into a waiting helicopter to escape the crowds who had besieged all four exits.
Yet while it might have evoked memories of the fall of Saigon in 1975, last week's violent protest in Bangkok was not the dawn of a new order, but an attempt to restore an old one. Welcome to the Yellow Revolution - where the chosen hue represents the colours of the Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, and where the clamor is for less democracy, not more.
"We cannot accept this robber government, we want to protect this nation and royalty. This government is cheating everything from this land, and they want to destroy the monarchy," said Praek, a computer technician stood among the sea of yellow-clad demonstrators outside the parliament. As the crowds of angry demonstrators beseiged the parliament, it looked as if a classic people's revolution was underway. ... more -
US nuns come home to discover 'terrorist' status
Two Roman Catholic nuns whose non-violent action against nuclear weapons landed them with prison sentences returned home to Baltimore to learn they had been listed as terrorists, they said Friday.
Sister Ardeth Platte, 72, and Sister Carol Gilbert, 60, came back from two weeks out of town to find letters from the Maryland State Police saying they had been wrongfully listed as suspected terrorists in a federal database in 2005-2006.
"To be labelled a terrorist is really very hard to hear and to accept, when your whole life has been one of loving nonviolence," Platte said.
Maryland State Police have sent letters to a total 53 activists wrongfully labelled as terrorists, inviting them to look at their entries in the database -- after which the files would be deleted.
The Dominican nuns broke into a US nuclear missile silo in Colorado in 2002 and painted crucifixes with their own blood -- earning Platte and Gilbert prison sentences of 41 and 33 months respectively.
"If they can label us as terrorists, they can label all kinds of people as terrorists," Gilbert said. "So then people become afraid to speak out against what the established government might be saying -- and that is the demise of democracy." Two Roman Catholic nuns whose non-violent action against nuclear weapons landed them with prison sentences returned home to Baltimore ... more -
1000s of Illegals Are Registered to Vote in TX
County elections administrators reject the conclusions of a report alleging that up to 333,000 noncitizens may be registered to vote in Texas, saying there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the Lone Star State.
The report by David Simcox, the former head of a think tank that favors less immigration, said an estimated 1.8 million to 2.7 million noncitizen immigrants in the U.S. may be illegally registered to vote, thereby potentially influencing the outcome of the upcoming presidential and congressional elections. County elections administrators reject the conclusions of a report alleging that up to 333,000 noncitizens may be registered to vote i... more -
Our Hackable Democracy
Want to be sure that your vote won't be miscounted, redirected or sabotaged in November's election? If you live in New Jersey, Dick Kemmerer suggests you might want to deliver your vote to the county clerk--written on a paper absentee ballot--by hand.
"If I lived in New Jersey and had to choose between a voting machine and walking in a paper ballot," he says, "I'd take paper." Want to be sure that your vote won't be miscounted, redirected or sabotaged in November's election? If you live in New Jerse... more -
Mugabe's party to control money, arms and home affairs
So what exactly does that leave Zimbabwe's MDC party?
It is currently negotiating a "power-sharing" deal with the Zanu-PF party, headed up by veteran rule Robert Mugabe, but appears to have been shouldered away from the most important ministries.
Sky News suggest this bold move by a determined Mugabe may thrown negotiations into chaos.
Should Morgan Tsvangirai, who must still be reeling from being robbed of his election victory earlier his year, be happy with presiding over the Departments for Agriculture or Transport? So what exactly does that leave Zimbabwe's MDC party? ... more -
US Army "prepares to invade the US"
This is not an exercise in alternate realities. This is happening in America. With all that we know of human nature, the lessons from history, and the inevitably corrupting effect of power on the human brain, there should be no doubt left in our minds that if all the chess pieces are aligned, it is only a matter of time until checkmate.
By JS McDougall This is not an exercise in alternate realities. This is happening in America. With all that we know of human nature, the lessons from ... more -
Ex-political prisoner sends Cubans word of freedom, one book at a time
In his tiny Miami apartment, Nelson Rodríguez Dieguez collects books for Cuba's underground network of democratic independent libraries. A former political prisoner, Rodríguez has made it his mission now to set history straight until Cuba is free.
His latest project is a book lauding the hundreds of women -- he estimates as many as 13,000 -- imprisoned in the early years of Castro's communist power grab.
Like so many of the freed prisoners I've met over the years, Rodríguez recounts his decade in Cuban prisons calmly and methodically, picking apart Castro's proclamations that the regime never practiced torture.
Having spent 124 days naked and hooded during brutal interrogations at Las Cabañitas, a country home converted into a torture chamber of sorts outside Havana, Rodríguez learned the hard way about speaking truth to power at age 22.
FACING DEATH
Working to foment uprisings in Castro's home province of Oriente, Rodríguez was caught Nov. 3, 1961, and after three days of interrogations by state security in Havana was taken to Las Cabañitas. ''One-hundred-and-twenty-four days without clothes, without bathing, your hair's all pasty, your skin is full of welts,'' he told me. ``They throw buckets of ice water on you. They put you into an interrogation with chunks of ice on your back. You're so cold, you pass out.''
''First, they sentenced me to the firing squad,'' he said. The guards would line up a handful of men and go through the drill, pointing their rifles, and -- bang, bang! -- there were no bullets, only blanks.
Then came the ``hanging.''
A state security goon offered to lead an ''Our Father'' but a weak Rodríguez -- still nude, hooded and with a knotted rope tied around his neck -- jumped off the chair only to land on the cement floor with a busted big toe.
Even after those 124 hellish days, when he was sent to work camps at the Isle of Pines prison, Rodríguez said there were firing squads assigned to kill at least one man each weekend until 1967. ``The stress of living all those years without knowing if they were going to kill you on Friday or Saturday. . . .''
A WARRIOR'S OBLIGATION
After 10 years in prison and several more hounded by Cuban state security, Rodríguez left in 1978 for Venezuela, and eventually started an auto-parts business with family. When Hugo Chávez took up with Castro, Rodríguez headed to Miami.
He still has family and friends in Cuba, some of them former prisoners. Despite two hurricanes devastating much of the island, he's committed to getting ''democracy-building'' books to the independent libraries, though the Cuban regime keeps cracking down. At the movement's height there were about 200 libraries -- today 48 remain in the group Rodríguez helps.
On Saturday, the Grupo de Apoyo a Bibliotecas Democráticas, which supports independent libraries and helps the families of former political prisoners in Cuba, will commemorate the 12th anniversary of the library movement. For details, call Rodríguez at 786-306-2719. ''We send any book that will help give people a political formation, to help them understand true democracy,'' he said.
Rodríguez knows something about the risks of speaking up in a dictatorship. Having walked hooded and naked to face death -- and lived to tell about it -- he feels an obligation, as so many of our old warriors do, to spread the word about freedom's promise. In his tiny Miami apartment, Nelson Rodríguez Dieguez collects books for Cuba's underground network of democratic independent lib... more -
A Little More (Than) Ground Noise & Static
In November, one or the other of the corporate candidates will win, and then, as always, it will be what the people do, not the politicians, that counts.
A video report on the protests that occurred in connection with the Democrat and Republican National Conventions, Ground Noise & Static is a manifesto. We went to Denver and St. Paul to take the pulse of the movement. Corporate media would cover the platitudes and posturing of the politicians, we were interested in something else, a story hidden in plain sight, captured in the now-classic street chant, “This is what democracy looks like.” In November, one or the other of the corporate candidates will win, and then, as always, it will be what the people do, not the politi... more -
Branding Democracy
How are politics and art discussed here and abroad? A couple of exhibitions going on at the Parsons School of Design in New York and the Design Commission in Seattle look to shed light to the subject. How are politics and art discussed here and abroad? A couple of exhibitions going on at the Parsons School of Design in New York and t... more
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McCain turns back to economy after failing to win debate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/09/uselections2008.johnmccain
John McCain narrowed the focus of his campaign yesterday after failing to deliver the game-changing performance he needed in his presidential debate against Barack Obama. With instant polls awarding the debate to Obama, McCain's advisers refocused the campaign on a narrow field of battleground states. That suggests a best-case scenario for the Republican of a very slim victory over Obama.
The McCain camp also signalled an attempt to return to a more issues-based campaign, focused on the economy, only days after announcing a "gloves off" attack on Obama's character and his former associations in Chicago.
The verdict from Tennessee Speaking after Tuesday's televised debate in Nashville, Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, set out a narrow strategy that allows little room for manoeuvre. The Republicans' hopes now rest on holding on to the 252 electoral votes that President George Bush won in 2004 and on taking Pennsylvania from the Democrats. The state, with its 21 electoral votes, would push him over the 270 college votes needed to win.
Obama, in contrast, is in a position to expand his playing field, and is buying television advertising and making campaign appearances in traditional Republican states such as Indiana and North Carolina. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/09/uselections2008.johnmccain ... more -
States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal
Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.
States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.
The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.
Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.
In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.
Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver’s licenses or identification cards.
The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.
Officials of the Social Security Administration, presented with those numbers, said they were far too high to be cases where names were not in state databases. They said the data seem to represent a violation of federal law and the contract the states signed with the agency to use the database.
“It is absolutely essential that people entitled to register to vote are allowed to do so,” Mr. Astrue said in a press release.
In three states — Colorado, Louisiana and Michigan — the number of people purged from the election rolls since Aug. 1 far exceeds the number who may have died or relocated during that period.
Asked about the appearance of voter law violations, Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, which oversees elections, said they could present “extremely serious problems.”
“The law is pretty clear about how states can use Social Security information to screen registrations and when states can purge their rolls,” Ms. Rodriguez said.
Voting rights groups have urged voters to check their registrations with local officials.
In Michigan, some 33,000 voters were removed from the rolls in August, a figure that is far higher than the number of deaths in the state during the same period — about 7,100 — or the number of people who moved out of the state — about 4,400, according to data from the Postal Service.
In Colorado, some 37,000 people were removed from the rolls in the three weeks after July 21. During that time, about 5,100 people moved out of the state and about 2,400 died, according to postal data and death records.
In Louisiana, at least 18,000 people were dropped from the rolls in the five weeks after July 23. Over the same period, at least 1,600 people moved out of state and at least 3,300 died.
....... Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registeri... more -
Fed provides AIG with fresh $37.8 billion injection
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/3163263/Fed-provides-AIG-with-fresh-37.8-billion-injection.html
The Federal Reserve Board has injected a further $37.8bn (£22bn) into America International Group, to help the insurer deal with its perpetual liquidity crisis.
Didn't the AIG execs just get caught spending our "bailout" money on a vacation and spa treatments? Now they hand their hand out again!!
Here's where the Bush Admonsteration pretends to be appualled:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gKGBkg4DguI_k2NcQm5... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/3163263/Fed-provides-AIG-with-fresh-37.8-billion-injection.html ... more -
'Troopergate' report set for Friday, despite Palin resistance
With his "troopergate" report due Friday, legislative investigator Steve Branchflower appears to have the makings of a fairly complete account, despite weeks of resistance from the Palin family and administration.
Branchflower has, or soon will have, answers from nearly all the people he'd hoped to question regarding Gov. Sarah Palin's firing in July of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
Some of the final witnesses include seven state employees, including the governor's chief of staff, who lost a court fight to kill subpoenas Branchflower obtained through the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee to compel their testimony.
The seven this week are answering a list of questions known as interrogatories. The answers are submitted under oath.
Another key witness, Todd Palin, the governor's husband, also is answering a list of questions in writing, and has a deadline of today to turn them in.
A legislative panel has scheduled a meeting for 9 a.m. Friday to receive Branchflower's report on Monegan's firing and whether Palin or members of her administration abused their powers in pushing for the dismissal of a state trooper involved in a child-custody fight with the governor's sister.
The legislative inquiry into the so-called troopergate affair has gathered huge national interest because of Palin's run for the vice presidency, and because of campaign charges that biased Democrats in the Legislature have manipulated the investigation to damage the McCain-Palin ticket.
When they launched the troopergate probe on July 28, about a month before John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate, legislators designated state Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat and Judiciary Committee chairman, as director of the Branchflower investigation.
French said Tuesday that Branchflower, a retired state prosecutor, is working as fast as possible to finish his questioning and draft his report.
Whether in person or in writing, Branchflower has been able to interview nearly all the witnesses he wanted to question regarding whatever they might know about events surrounding Monegan's firing.
The big exception is the governor herself, who had said initially she would cooperate but has since resisted. Legislators decided against hitting the governor with a subpoena, saying they wanted to "de-escalate" tensions between her and the Legislature.
"We tried to schedule a statement from her but it never worked out," French said.
By Friday, Branchflower is expected to have heard from at least 15 witnesses, including Mike Nizich, Palin's chief of staff, and Annette Kreitzer, Palin's commissioner of administration. He's also gathering e-mail and other documents.
French said Branchflower will have to speak for himself as to whether he was able to gather enough witness cooperation and facts to prepare a proper report.
"That's a question that's going to have to get answered Friday," French said. "I've been pretty careful not to peer over his shoulder. He's a very experienced investigator."
Some Republican legislators have criticized French, however, saying he made media remarks that seemed to presage an unfavorable outcome for the governor.
Palin has said she fired Monegan over budget and policy conflicts, not the trooper issue.
At 3 p.m. today, lawyers for six Republican legislators who last week lost a court case seeking to halt the legislative investigation will try to persuade the state Supreme Court to overturn Superior Court Peter Michalski's dismissal of the case.
.........more With his "troopergate" report due Friday, legislative investigator Steve Branchflower appears to have the makings of a fairl... more -
The Fall of America, Inc.
In an article for Newsweek, Francis Fukuyama writes that our financial meltdown has severely harmed two influential, fundamentally-American ideas: 1) "a certain vision of capitalism—one that argued low taxes, light regulation and a pared-back government would be the engine for economic growth", and 2) "America as a promoter of liberal democracy around the world, which was seen as the best path to a more prosperous and open international order."
Fukuyama explains:
"It's hard to fathom just how badly these signature features of the American brand have been discredited. Between 2002 and 2007, while the world was enjoying an unprecedented period of growth, it was easy to ignore those European socialists and Latin American populists who denounced the U.S. economic model as "cowboy capitalism." But now the engine of that growth, the American economy, has gone off the rails and threatens to drag the rest of the world down with it. Worse, the culprit is the American model itself: under the mantra of less government, Washington failed to adequately regulate the financial sector and allowed it to do tremendous harm to the rest of the society.
Democracy was tarnished even earlier. Once Saddam was proved not to have WMD, the Bush administration sought to justify the Iraq War by linking it to a broader "freedom agenda"; suddenly the promotion of democracy was a chief weapon in the war against terrorism. To many people around the world, America's rhetoric about democracy sounds a lot like an excuse for furthering U.S. hegemony."
On the economic front, Fukuyama argues that, just as FDR's New Deal government had a time when its policies greatly benefited this nation, Reaganomics had its time too, but that that era should have ended a long time ago. On liberal democracy, Fukuyama argues that the Iraq War has ruined our credibility as promoters of freedom; that "'democracy' [has become] a code word for military intervention and regime change" in others' minds.
The solution: "First, we must break out of the Reagan-era straitjacket concerning taxes and regulation. Tax cuts feel good but do not necessarily stimulate growth or pay for themselves... Deregulation... can become unbelievably costly, as we have seen. The entire American public sector—underfunded, deprofessionalized and demoralized—needs to be rebuilt and be given a new sense of pride. There are certain jobs that only the government can fulfill.
As we undertake these changes, of course, there's a danger of overcorrecting. Financial institutions need strong supervision, but it isn't clear that other sectors of the economy do... If tax cutting is not a path to automatic prosperity, neither is unconstrained social spending... An irresponsible fiscal policy could easily add to the problem."
Full article at link... In an article for Newsweek, Francis Fukuyama writes that our financial meltdown has severely harmed two influential, fundamentally-Ame... more -
Thousands of troops are deployed on U.S. streets ready to carry out “crowd control...
photo used with permission by http://stpaulrnc.shutterfly.com/20
by Naomi Wolf
AlterNet
Oct 8, 2008
Members of Congress were told they could face martial law if they didn’t pass the bailout bill. This will not be the last time.
Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing “unruly individuals,” and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.
George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the “War on Terror,” the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.
He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined “insurrection” or many other “conditions” he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus — habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial — in the event of an “insurrection.” With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters “insurgents” staging an “insurrection” is strengthened.
[...]
continued at http://www.alternet.org/rights/101958/thousands_of_troo... photo used with permission by http://stpaulrnc.shutterfly.com/20 by Naomi Wolf AlterNet Oct 8, 2008 ... more -
FOX, CNN, CBS REACTION GROUPS: Obama Won the Debate
The insta-polls, which provide viewers with a somewhat skewed but important insight into how each candidate fared say, by and large, that Obama scored a victory in the second debate.
NBC's focus group of undecided Pennsylvania voters had the Illinois Democrat winning by roughly a 60-40 split. Frank Luntz's focus group, over at Fox, showed undecided voters leaning towards Obama because of his position on health care. CBS's focus group of independents had the Democratic nominee winning the debate at 39 percent to McCain's 27 percent, with 35 percent of the respondents saying it was a tie. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Democratic polling firm, had a focus group of undecideds leaning to Obama by a margin of 42 percent to 24 percent.
Meanwhile, SurveyUSA interviewed 741 debate watchers in the state of Washington, 54 percent of whom thought Obama was the "clear winner" compared with McCain's 29 percent. That same polling firm had the first debate as a tie. In tonight's survey: 42 percent of respondents said McCain was too forceful.
And the CNN focus group of undecided voters in Ohio had the margin at an even wider spread: Obama 54 percent to McCain's 30. The insta-polls, which provide viewers with a somewhat skewed but important insight into how each candidate fared say, by and large, t... more -
Kucinich: Bailout opened 'financial whirlpool of insatiable greed'
Dennis Kucinich opposed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout that went into effect Monday, and now that the stock market continues to fall he's warning that the attempt to rescue the economy missed its mark.
The Ohio Democrat says any government efforts need to focus primarily on putting more money into the pockets of middle- and lower-income Americans struggling to keep their homes and jobs, not to Wall Street institutions.
“If Wall Street does come back for another bailout, we must be prepared in advance to say NO,” Kucinich said in a press release Monday. “The bailouts of Wall Street must stop. It will never be enough. When the Federal Government gets involved in picking winners and losers on Wall Street, we open up a financial whirlpool of insatiable greed."
As the government began enacting its financial rescue program Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 800 points during the day before settling down around 350 points at closing. The Dow dipped below 10,000 for the first time since 2004.
“The fundamental problem that led to the credit crisis is that millions of homeowners are in jeopardy, and millions of people are out of work. Congress rushed to bail out Wall Street but sits on its hands when millions of homeowners are at risk,” he continued. “The only way to prevent another bailout is to take action which will directly impact the market stress at its root - - the millions of homeowners who face default on their mortgages. This is the path toward market stabilization.”
Kucinich says he is preparing a bill to "prime the pump of the economy" by giving the government controlling interest in mortgage backed securities to allow homeowners to renegotiate the payments, interest and principle loans they are unable to pay.
“We are now facing the perfect financial storm. The elements are the deficit spending for the war ... the lack of serious investment in our country and now $700 billion to Wall Street. We are being hollowed out," he said. "We are going to see more unemployment and more people losing there homes. ... Now we must invest in homeowners to prevent any additional bailout.” Dennis Kucinich opposed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout that went into effect Monday, and now that the stock market continues to ... more -
The next burden: inflation
It is now clear that every government in the west is going to try their best to ensure that no savers lose any of their deposits. The Federal Reserve is lending directly to companies, and here in the UK, the government is going to start buying shares in UK banks. There is no escaping the severity of the crisis. Monetary authorities around the world are now focused on trying to ensure that we avoid the fate of the United States in the Great Depression of the 1930s, when output fell by over 30%. Instead, their hope is that the recession to come is more like the early 1970s, when western economies shrank by 5% to 10%. Painful but not catastrophic.
What we cannot escape is the fact that the amount of money in the banking sector far outweighs the value of the assets that it was lent against. This is how it works. You want to buy a house, and you need to borrow £100,000. You go to a bank and they create the loan, and at the same time deposit £100,000 in your bank account. This money did not exist before: it is new money. You buy your house, and at the other end of the chain, the sellers deposit the £100,000 back into the banking system. The amount of money in circulation has risen by £100,000 and is represented by the seller's bank "savings". But those savings are a reflection of the value of the house. If the price of the house doubled while they owned it, then £50,000 of those savings is a result of inflation caused by the banking sector creating money.
Supposing the housing market crashes. There is now more money in the banking system than the value of housing stock. The value of that the money has to fall as well. During the Asian crisis 10 years ago, this is exactly what happened. Many banks went insolvent, many savers lost their deposits, and the value of money in the economy fell so as to reflect the new and lower value of assets in the economy. This was exactly what happened in Thailand, but unlike us, their government was simply too poor to bail out savers who happened to have their deposits in the wrong bank.
In the west, we are rich enough to be able to ensure that banks do not collapse, wiping out individual savers. (Indeed, why should some savers be OK just because they were lucky enough to put their deposit in the right bank?) However, what we cannot escape from is the fact that the value of money in circulation now has to shrink to match the falling value of property against which the money was lent. However little we like it, the value of our savings has to fall. It is now clear that every government in the west is going to try their best to ensure that no savers lose any of their deposits. The ... more -
Fed orders emergency rate cut, other banks follow
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, acting in coordination with other global central banking authorities, cut a key U.S. interest rate by half a percentage point Wednesday to steady a teetering economy.
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The Fed reduced its key rate from 2 percent to 1.5 percent.
In Europe, which also has been hard hit by the financial crisis, the Bank of England cut its rate by half a point to 4.5 percent, while the European Central Bank sliced its rate to 3.75 percent.
Other central banks also taking part include the banks of Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland.
China also cut its key interest rates Wednesday for a second time in less than one month to stimulate slowing economic growth amid the global credit crisis.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues ratcheted down their key rate by 0.5 percentage point to 1.5 percent. The action revives the central bank's rate-cutting campaign which had been halted in June out of concerns that those low rates would worsen inflation. Since then, however, economic and financial conditions have dangerously deteriorated, forcing the Fed to reverse course.
The fact that the Fed felt it couldn't wait until its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 28-29, underscored the urgency of the situation.
The Fed took the action in a coordinated move with other central banks, which also were cutting their rates. WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, acting in coordination with other global central banking authorities, cut a key U.S. interest rate b... more
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