| Debtor Nation
"News Dissector" Danny Schechter edits MediaChannel.org, where this article first appeared. His film "In Debt We Trust," is now in release. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org Well over a year ago, I wrote an article for Harvard's journalism journal Nieman Reports complaining about deeply flawed media coverage of credit and debt issues in America. "There is a credit divide in America that fuels our economic divide," I wrote, warning of a potential economic implosion because so many Americans are trapped by a debt squeeze. I was not alone in projecting a crisis, although my focus was more on the failure of many media outlets to track the problem and ask deeper questions. "Ours has become a nation in which the carrot of instant affluence is quickly menaced by the harsh stick of bill collectors, lawsuits, and foreclosures," I argued.
Dollar's climb vs. Euro
The dollar edged up from a two-year low against the euro in Asian trade Friday as players took to the sidelines ahead of keenly awaited U.S. jobs data, dealers said.
The euro slipped to 1.3417 dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade from 1.3427 in New York late Thursday, when it had hit 1.3441 dollars, the highest level since March 2005.
Dealers said trading was quiet with the U.S., European and many Asian financial markets closed Friday, even though Washington releases its nonfarm payrolls report, seen as a critical economic indicator on the world's largest economy.
Investors are paying close attention to the jobs data following a slew of weak U.S. figures which have fanned jitters over the pace of the U.S. economic slowdown, dealers said.
IKK/DB
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Key Charts & Major Clues
This holiday piece is intended to read like a magazine, with brief messages like captions under key charts. The sequence tells a story highly bullish for gold & energy, as well as its investments. The April full reports for the Hat Trick Letter tell the story in much more detail, delivered at the time of the US income tax deadline in mid-month. You know? That voluntary tax donation system which people are intimidated into thinking is part of law and existing statutes. Increasingly, taxpayer money supports private enterprise on a visible basis on Wall Street and a clandestine basis with defense contracts linked to the war on terrorism. HOUSING SECTOR SPIRALS DOWN Housing is a disaster and debacle already, soon to become a major meltdown crisis. On the tangible side is the lost opportunity to raid home equity, the lost sense of wealth, the primary piggy bank suffering erosion.
Paradox of the Southasian welfare state
Southasian governments as a whole are already espousing a forward-looking state policy on welfare. The challenge now is to transform policy into action, while addressing the peculiar regional problem of social exclusion. by | GABRIELE KöHLER .
The Tommy Thompson plan for Iraq
During his speech announcing the launch of his 2008 GOP presidential campaign, Tommy Thompson laid out what he called his three part plan for getting the U.S. troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later. Two parts of his plan are very interesting. The first part is that, “The Iraqi government should vote on whether they want us there. If they do, we have greater world standing to be there. If not, that certainly sends a strong message upon which we can base our next move." The second part is focuses on the development of local governments. “As do here in America, we should work with Iraqi leaders to form governments in 18 self-governing provinces that would operate under a national government. What this will do is give Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds their own pieces of Iraq – their own land and their own say in how it is run." Part three of his plan is the most unoriginal.
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