Free Market Flawed, Says Survey

November 09, 2009 "BBC" -- Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism.

In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well.

Most thought regulation and reform of the capitalist system were necessary.

There were also sharp divisions around the world on whether the end of the Soviet Union was a good thing.

Economic regulation

In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, it was a victory for ordinary people across Eastern and Central Europe.

It also looked at the time like a crushing victory for free-market capitalism.

Twenty years on, this new global poll suggests confidence in free markets has taken heavy blows from the past 12 months of financial and economic crisis.

More than 29,000 people in 27 countries were questioned. In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands.

Almost a quarter - 23% of those who responded - feel it is fatally flawed. That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil.

And there is very strong support around the world for governments to distribute wealth more evenly. That is backed by majorities in 22 of the 27 countries.

If there is one issue where a global consensus seems to emerge from the survey it is this: there are majorities almost everywhere wanting government to be more active in regulating business.

It is only in Turkey that a majority want less government regulation.

Opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided.

Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way.

But outside the developed West it is a different picture. Almost seven in 10 Egyptians say the end of the Soviet Union was a bad thing and views are sharply divided in India, Kenya and Indonesia.

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UN investigator accuses US of shameful neglect of homeless

UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.

"The housing crisis is invisible for many in the US," she said. "I learned through this visit that real affordable housing and poverty is something that hasn't been dealt with as an issue. Even if we talk about the financial crisis and government stepping in in order to promote economic recovery, there is no such help for the homeless."

She added: "I think those who are suffering the most in this whole situation are the very poor, the low-income population. The burden is disproportionately on them and it's of course disproportionately on African-Americans, on Latinos and immigrant communities, and on Native Americans."

Rolnik toured Chicago, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Wilkes-Barre, a Pennsylvania town where this year the first four sheriff sales – public auctions of seized property – in the county included 598 foreclosed properties. She also visited a Native American reservation.

The US government does not tally the numbers but interested organisations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children, often single parents. On any given night in Los Angeles, about 17,000 parents and children are homeless. Most will be found a place in a shelter but many single men and women are forced to sleep on the streets.

Los Angeles, which is described as the homeless capital of America, has endured an 18-fold increase in housing foreclosures. Evictions from owned and rented homes have risen about tenfold, with 62,400 people forced out last year in Los Angeles county.

Welfare payments are not enough to meet the rent, let alone food and other necessities. A single person on welfare living in Los Angeles receives $221 (£133) a month – an amount that hasn't changed in a decade. The rent for one room is typically nearly double that.

Rolnik said that while she saw difficult conditions in all the places she visited, the worst was on the Native American reservation of Pine Ridge in South Dakota.

"You see total hopelessness, despair, very bad conditions. Nothing I have seen in other cities compared to the physical condition of the housing at Pine Ridge. Nothing compared to the overcrowding. They're not visible, they're isolated, they're far away. They're just lost," she said.

Rolnik says that one of the greatest matters of shame is that the US has the resources to provide decent housing for everyone.

"In the US, it's feasible to provide adequate housing for all. You have a lot of money, a lot of dollars available. You have a lot of expertise. This is a perfect setting to really embrace housing as a human right," she said.

Rolnik has given a verbal report to the US state department, which has a month to respond to her observations. She will submit a final written report to the UN human rights council early next year.

America Is An Over-Indebted, Profligate, Spoiled Nation In Decline

In the following video interview with Tech Ticker Charles Ortel of Newport Value Partners discusses some of the reasons why the U.S. is in deep decline. Martel believes there’s a slight possibility for the federal government to default on its debts. He also goes into detail about how governments at every level have lost their fiscal discipline and how their irresponsible decisions will affect future generations.

Port Richey Dying on the Vine

Today I recorded the following footage to show how badly the Port Richey economic climate is deteriorating. A few days ago Target announced they were going to close their Port Richey location. The store closing will be a big blow to a plaza that presently has a vacancy ratio of over 40%.

Nine U.S. States Face California-Type Budget Crisis, Pew Says

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- At least nine U.S. states face similar fiscal strains brought on by the global recession as those that left California on the brink of insolvency four months ago, according to the Pew Center for the States.

Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are dealing with declining tax revenue, resurgent deficits and increasing unemployment and home foreclosure rates, the center, a public policy research group, said in a report. All but New Jersey, Illinois and Wisconsin also have been hampered by a rule requiring a two- thirds legislative vote to approve tax increases, the report said.

Lawmakers in California, which accounts for 13 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, have slashed $32 billion from spending, cutting into funding for schools, universities and welfare programs and raised taxes by $12.5 billion in the last nine months to close budget gaps brought on by the recession. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an $85 billion budget on July 28. The state expects another $14 billion of deficits over the next 19 months.

“California’s problems are in a league of their own,” the report said. “But the same pressures that drove it toward fiscal disaster are wreaking havoc in a number of states, with potentially damaging consequences for the entire country.”

中國‧中方：身為美首位黑人總統‧奧巴馬理解中維護統一

（中國‧北京）中國週四（11月12日）表示，即將訪華的美國總統奧巴馬作為美國首位黑人總統，更應該理解中國維護國家統一的決心。

外交部發言人秦剛當天在例行新聞發佈會上，被問及奧巴馬可能在訪華後，會見西藏流亡精神領袖達賴喇嘛時表示：“中方堅決反對奧巴馬或任何外國政要會見達賴喇嘛，這一立場是堅定和明確的。”

他指出，奧巴馬作為一名黑人總統，必然瞭解其偶像林肯總統當年解放黑奴的重大意義。

他說，在達賴統治的舊西藏，實行的是黑暗的農奴制度，而中國在1959年徹底廢除了農奴制度，與林肯廢除黑奴制度的性質一樣。

訪華之行備受關注

因此，他說：“我們希望奧巴馬能比其他任何一位外國政要都能更好、更深刻地理解中國在維護國家主權和領土完整問題上的立場。”

奧巴馬今次亞洲之行有一半的時間在中國，日程總計4天3夜，因此訪華之行最受關注。

據瞭解，奧巴馬將於15日抵達上海，16日行程先是和上海市長韓正會面，接著可能安排在上海市政府內和約50名青年學生對話2小時，談論話題應該圍繞中美關係。

交通大學消息人士透露，交大被挑選6名學生參加與奧巴馬的對話，學生們早前已被限制部份自由，集中活動和生活。

胡錦濤：新中關係飛躍‧李光耀是奠基人

（新加坡）中國國家主席胡錦濤稱，新加坡內閣資政李光耀為“新中兩國關係發展的奠基人”。

他週三（11月11日）晚上在新加坡總統府與李光耀會談時輕鬆地對李光耀說，儘管中國和新加坡都不同程度地受到國際金融危機的影響，但是他一路上看到的新加坡工地還不少，這表明新加坡政府採取的振興經濟配套還是發揮了效用。

這項原定45分鐘的會面，最終進行了1小時15分鐘。

另一方面，新中兩國週四（11月12日）早上簽署在新加坡設立中國文化中心的合作備忘錄。

新加坡總理李顯龍週四早上在瑞吉酒店會見到訪的中國國家主席胡錦濤，雙方就進一步發展兩國友好合作關係深入交換意見。

李顯龍和胡錦濤見證兩國官員簽署了共4項協議及備忘錄，其中一個備忘錄是在新加坡設立中國文化中心。