Susan George chairs the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She says the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement could give powerful companies the right to challenge domestic laws which restrict their future profits.
A LEADING international political economist has warned that democracy is being damaged by the insidious creep of transnational corporations into government policy and their refusal to adopt country-by-country accounting practices, which have helped them avoid taxes.
Twee weken geleden riep de voorzitter van de Brabants-Zeeuwse Werkgeversvereniging zijn leden op hun steun voor de euro te betuigen. Met als motto: Hijs de vlag voor Europa!
Il 12 Settembre i Paesi Bassi affrontano le elezioni politiche generali. Qui nessuno discute l'euro, ma cresce una certa insoddisfazione verso l'Europa. La crisi come colpa alla periferia che «ha vissuto al di sopra dei propri mezzi» fa parte del discorso politico dell'intero arco dei partiti in lizza, anche se con moltissime sfumature.
While banks and European leaders negotiate the next public bail out of private greed, and the financial speculation that caused the crisis continues unheeded, Europeans have shown that like many people around the world, from Tahrir to Syntagma Square and Wall Street, they are not going to take more neoliberal austerity lying down. The question already being asked by many observers is - where to now for the popular demonstrations?
China's fast growing capital expansion within South East Asia is raising concerns about landgrabs and exploitative practices, especially as it is often aligned with support for authoritarian regimes such as Burma.
In a recent editorial comment, The Economist issued a solemn call to all believers in global capitalism not to despair, not to panick, and to do nothing that could endanger the capitalist system (October 18-24, 2008). The magazine invoked the words and spirit of its founder, the Scottish businessman, James Wilson, who, about 165 years ago, gave the paper the philosophy of "economic liberty".
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's October 30 "economic statement" evoked a hoary old spirit that haunts Canadian politics at every level: the Invisible Hand of laissez-faire capitalism.
