Economy/Trade

Politics and the Financial Crisis Slow the Drive to Privatize

It was hailed as a win-win for Main Street and Wall Street - a way for states and cities, along with financiers, to make some money.

But now privatization, the selling of public airports, bridges, roads and the like to private investors, looks like a boom that wasn't. Deals are collapsing. Airy hopes of quick profits are vanishing. And what was celebrated as a new wave in finance is, for the moment, barely making a ripple.

Posted in Economy/Trade, privatization

Drugstore Health Clinics Treating More Ailments

Amid the economic downturn and slow growth for retail and outpatient medical-care services, pharmacy giants Walgreen Co. and CVS Caremark Corp. are rolling out specialized services at their in-store clinics, going beyond treatment of routine maladies.

Launched over the last four years to care for such simple ailments as ear and sinus infections, strep throat or pink eye, retail clinic operators now are training nurses to do specialized injections for such chronic conditions as osteoporosis and asthma.

Posted in Economy/Trade, healthcare

Homeowners Seeking Gov’t Loan Mods Are Fed Up

Last week, Christina McGrath of Riverside, Calif., got a loan modification. Now she has some advice for the millions of homeowners out there still seeking one: Call 10 to 15 times a day. Ask for the president's office. Get informed. Don't take "no" for an answer.

"The only way I got this was by being a royal bitch," she says.

Posted in Economy/Trade, foreclosures

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2009
2:06 PM

CONTACT: Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)

Phone: (202) 223-4975
Email: coha@coha.org

Free Trade With Panama: Some Winners and Some Losers

-Will the pact work for the average Panamanian and what’s in it for the elite and U.S. Agro-Industry

WASHINGTON - May 27 - Last Thursday the Senate Finance Committee convened in order to address a number of controversial issues that have sprung up regarding the pending U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama. Following the hearing, U.S. Trade Representative for Western Hemisphere Affairs Everett Eissenstat announced that President Obama would consult with U.S. lawmakers before sending the controversial FTA to Congress for approval. Eissenstat added that the "agreement has the potential to be a good deal for the United States."

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Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Links:

Posted in Economy/Trade

Capitalism Produces Rich Bankers, but Socialism Produces Happiness

Socialism is better than capitalism. So say 20 percent of Americans, and another 27 percent say they can't say which is better, according to an April 9 Rasmussen poll.

There's hope.

When you consider that virtually no newspaper, broadcaster, well-funded think tank, teacher, or anybody's boss or commander ever said something nice about socialism, it's remarkable that only 53 percent of us still favor rule by the moneyed class. Perhaps folks are learning how capitalism sacrifices happiness for individual gain.

Posted in Economy/Trade

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2009
9:00 AM

CONTACT: Applied Research Center (ARC)

Yana Walton - 347.296.8921 or yana@representinc.com

New Report Findings Link Racial Discrimination to Economic Recession

Applied Research Center Says Solving Structural Inequities will Alleviate Recession

NEW YORK - May 18 - A report released today by the Applied Research Center (ARC), a racial justice think-tank, finds that an inclusive and equitable national economic recovery will require that the country address deep patterns of racial discrimination and disparities. The report, titled "Race & Recession," found that numerous policies and institutional practices that create racial inequity are among the root causes of the subprime mortgage crisis and economic downturn.

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The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a racial justice think tank built on rigorous research. Founded in 1981, ARC investigates the hidden racial consequences of public policy initiatives and develops new frameworks to resolve racially charged debates.

Posted in Economy/Trade, housing, inequality, labor

Still There, Foreclosed No Longer

$\"I'm a happy homeowner again with a payment I can live with,\" said Thomas Quinn, with his daughter Hayley and his girlfriend, Pam Morrison. (Globe Staff Photo / John Tlumacki)$

Thomas Quinn did something that most people who lose their homes to foreclosure can only dream about: He bought back his family's Hyde Park house.

Posted in Economy/Trade, foreclosures

Israel Knows That Peace Just Doesn't Pay

Successive Israeli governments since 1993 certainly must have known what they were doing, being in no hurry to make peace with the Palestinians. As representatives of Israeli society, these governments understood that peace would involve serious damage to national interests.

Economic damage:

Posted in Economy/Trade, peace, water, Israel/Palestine

'One More Bubble!'

When I took an editing job at Bloomberg News in March 2000, my arrival coincided with the bursting of the Internet bubble. As once-hot IPOs tanked and the Nasdaq crashed. I would joke to other editors that what the U.S. economy needed was "to build a better bubble."

Posted in Economy/Trade

Economic Casualties Pile Into Tent Cities

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - Jim Marshall recalls everything about that beautiful fall day.

The temperature was about 70 degrees on Nov. 19, the sky was "totally blue," and the laughter from a martini bar drifted into the St. Petersburg park where Marshall, 39, sat contemplating his first day of homelessness.

"I was thinking, 'That was me at one point,' " he says of the revelers. "Now I'm thinking, 'Where am I going to sleep tonight? Where do I eat? Where do I shower?' "

Posted in Economy/Trade, homelessness