Eeyore's News and View

Brown: World needs 'global New Deal'
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- The world needs a "global New Deal" to haul it out of the economic crisis it faces, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom said Sunday.
Gordon Brown addresses a press conference following a G20 preparatory meeting in Berlin, Sunday.
Gordon Brown addresses a press conference following a G20 preparatory meeting in Berlin, Sunday.
"We need a global New Deal -- a grand bargain between the countries and continents of this world -- so that the world economy can not only recover but... so the banking system can be based on... best principles," he said, referring to the 1930s American plan to fight the Great Depression.
Brown was speaking as the leaders of Europe's biggest economies met to try to forge a common position on the global financial crisis ahead of a major summit in London in April.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the world's response to the global financial meltdown had to be profound and long-lasting, not just tinkering around the edges.
"Europe wants to see an overhaul of the system. We all agree on that. We're not talking about superficial measures now or transitional measures -- we're talking about structural measure, which need to be taken," he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the host of the meeting, urged nations of the world to work together to fight the problem.
"Confidence can only be restored if people in our countries feel that we are pulling in the same direction and have understood that we really must learn lessons from this crisis," she said.
And she proposed that a new institution grow out of the crisis, "which will take on more responsibility for global [financial] mechanisms."
The Europeans say they have agreed international financial markets must be regulated more thoroughly. That also means stricter rules for hedge funds and credit-rating agencies.
European and world leaders have been holding frequent summits as they struggle to cope with a financial crisis that has affected banks, homeowners, businesses and employees around the world.
London will host a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in April. The G-20 includes the G-7 leading industrialized nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- as well as the world's largest developing economies: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey, plus the European Union.
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund and the president of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/22/germany.financial.summit/index.html

Global warming? Faulty science
Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for Weeks Due to Faulty Sensor
By Alex Morales
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A glitch in satellite sensors caused scientists to underestimate the extent of Arctic sea ice by 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles), a California- size area, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said.
The error, due to a problem called “sensor drift,” began in early January and caused a slowly growing underestimation of sea ice extent until mid-February. That’s when “puzzled readers” alerted the NSIDC about data showing ice-covered areas as stretches of open ocean, the Boulder, Colorado-based group said on its Web site.
“Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality- control measures prior to archiving the data,” the center said. “Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.’’
The extent of Arctic sea ice is seen as a key measure of how rising temperatures are affecting the Earth. The cap retreated in 2007 to its lowest extent ever and last year posted its second- lowest annual minimum at the end of the yearly melt season. The recent error doesn’t change findings that Arctic ice is retreating, the NSIDC said.
The center said real-time data on sea ice is always less reliable than archived numbers because full checks haven’t yet been carried out. Historical data is checked across other sources, it said.
The NSIDC uses Department of Defense satellites to obtain its Arctic sea ice data rather than more accurate National Aeronautics and Space Administration equipment. That’s because the defense satellites have a longer period of historical data, enabling scientists to draw conclusions about long-term ice melt, the center said.
“There is a balance between being as accurate as possible at any given moment and being as consistent as possible through long time-periods,” NSIDC said. “Our main scientific focus is on the long-term changes in Arctic sea ice.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIe9swvOqwIY

Found this post at Family Readiness Center yesterday, posted by Kit.
Big Numbers
There's no question that we're talking big numbers -- with plenty of zeros -- when it comes to efforts to "rescue" the U.S. economy. But it didn't take the latest wave of profligacy to prove that Washington has a serious spending problem. That fact was obvious to anyone who was familiar with the all-in cost of the government's retirement safety net. In "Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP," WorldNetDaily's Jerome R. Corsi covers the issue in frightening detail.
Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?
As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.
The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.
The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The difference between the $455 billion "official" budget deficit numbers and the $5.1 trillion budget deficit cited by "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur.
But the numbers in the 2008 report are calculated on a GAAP basis ("Generally Accepted Accounting Practices") that include year-for-year changes in the net present value of unfunded liabilities in social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Under cash accounting, the government makes no provision for future Social Security and Medicare benefits in the year in which those benefits accrue.
"As bad as 2008 was, the $455 billion budget deficit on a cash basis and the $5.1 trillion federal budget deficit on a GAAP accounting basis does not reflect any significant money [from] the financial bailout or Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was approved after the close of the fiscal year," economist John Williams, who publishes the Internet website Shadow Government Statistics, told WND.
"The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fiscal year 2009 budget deficit as being $1.2 trillion on a cash basis and that was before taking into consideration the full costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, before the cost of the Obama nearly $800 billion economic stimulus plan, or the cost of the second $350 billion in TARP funds, as well as all current bailouts being contemplated by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve," he said.
"The federal government's deficit is hemorrhaging at a pace which threatens the viability of the financial system," Williams added. "The popularly reported 2009 [deficit] will clearly exceed $2 trillion on a cash basis and that full amount has to be funded by Treasury borrowing.
"It's not likely this will happen without the Federal Reserve acting as lender of last resort for the Treasury by buying Treasury debt and monetizing the debt," he said.
"Monetizing the debt" is a term used to signify that the Federal Reserve will be required simply to print cash to meet the Treasury debt obligations, acting in this capacity only because the Treasury cannot sell the huge of amount debt elsewhere.
The Treasury has been largely dependent upon foreign buyers, principally China and Japan and other major holders of U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves, including OPEC buyers purchasing U.S. debt through London.
"The appetite of foreign buyers to purchase continued trillions of U.S. debt has become more questionable as the world has witnessed the rapid deterioration of the U.S. fiscal condition in the current financial crisis," Williams noted.
"Truthfully," Williams pointed out, "there is no Social Security 'lock-box.' There are no funds held in reserve today for Social Security and Medicare obligations that are earned each year. It's only a matter of time until the public realizes that the government is truly bankrupt and no taxes are being held in reserve to pay in the future the Social Security and Medicare benefits taxpayers are earning today."
Calculations from the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" also show that the GAAP negative net worth of the federal government has increased to $59.3 trillion while the total federal obligations under GAAP accounting now total $65.5 trillion.
The $65.5 trillion total federal obligations under GAAP accounting not only now exceed four times the U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, the $65.5 trillion deficit exceeds total world GDP.
"In the seven years of GAAP reporting, we have seen an annual average deficit in excess of $4 trillion, which could not be possibly covered by any form of taxation," Williams argued.
"Shy of the government severely slashing social welfare programs, federal deficits of this magnitude are beyond any hope of containment, government or otherwise," he said.
"Put simply, there is no way the government can possibly pay for the level of social welfare benefits the federal government has promised unless the government simply prints cash and debases the currency, which the government will increasingly be doing this year," Williams said, explaining in more detail why he feels the government is now in the process of monetizing the federal debt.
"Social Security and Medicare must be shown as liabilities on the federal balance sheet in the year they accrue according to GAAP accounting," Williams argues. "To do otherwise is irresponsible, nothing more than an attempt to hide the painful truth from the American public. The public has a right to know just how bad off the federal government budget deficit situation really is, especially since the situation is rapidly spinning out of control.
"The federal government is bankrupt," Williams told WND. "In a post-Enron world, if the federal government were a corporation such as General Motors, the president and senior Treasury officers would be in federal penitentiary."
http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?topic=180.0

Chavez makes brief surprise visit to Cuba
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a brief surprise visit to Cuba to meet with Raul and Fidel Castro and celebrate with them his victory in last Sunday's constitutional referendum.
It was the Venezuelan leader's first trip abroad since winning a referendum on February 15 that removed term limits on his presidency and allowed him to seek reelection.
Chavez has already signaled his intention to run for a third term in office in 2012 in his bid to consolidate his brand of socialism critics compare to Cuba's communism.
Standing arm-in-arm with Chavez on his arrival late Friday, Cuban President Raul Castro raised the Venezuelan leader's fist in victory, declaring "I do this in Fidel's name" -- a reference to his brother, a long-time friend of Chavez.
Chavez, sporting a red beret and olive suit responded to the crowd's adulation with his own cries of "Viva Fidel! Viva Cuba! Viva Raul!"
During his brief stay in Havana, the Venezuelan leaders met with Fidel Castro twice -- first one-on-one on Friday night and then again on Saturday, accompanied by Raul Castro.
According to a brief communique read in a television broadcast, the two leaders discussed "bountiful relations" between the two countries as well as "the global economic crisis and its consequences for Latin America and the Caribbean."
No video or other images of the encounter have been circulated. Chavez flew back to Caracas late Saturday.
"The warm meeting between the two heads of state is a symbol of unity between two brotherly peoples," Cuba's official newspaper Granma commented after Chavez's meeting with the Castro brothers.
The visit is the latest in a series of exchanges between the two leftist countries, which have developed closer ties since Chavez took power ten years ago, and which have frequently sparred with the west.
Last December, Raul Castro visited Caracas in his first visit abroad since taking over in July 2006 from Fidel, who stepped aside due to medical problems.
Chavez said his first congratulatory message after last Sunday's win, which gave him the power to run for a third term in 2012, came from Fidel Castro.
Cuba receives nearly 100,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil under easy-to-pay conditions, and Venezuelan experts are working with Cubans on a petrochemical project in the southern city of Cienfuegos. Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA is among firms searching for oil off Cuba's north coast.
According to official figures, bilateral projects since 2006 represent some 3.6 billion dollars, and the two countries plan in 2009 173 joint projects worth more than two billion dollars.
More than 30,000 Cubans, including doctors, teachers and sports trainers work in Venezuela.
Fidel Castro, 82, definitively ceded the reins of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul in February 2008.
In a recent article, Fidel Castro congratulated Chavez on his referendum victory, calling it an event of "unmeasurable importance."
Five Latin American heads of state have visited Havana since the beginning of the year. The Cubans have released pictures from Fidel Castro's meetings with Presidents Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Michelle Bachelet of Chile.
The releases are seen as an attempt by the Cubans to quash rumors about Fidel Castro's deteriorating health.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ba8223fee88e66b348d46d625456b5e5.291&show_article=1

Russian general says watching Arctic militarization
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it was watching the extent of militarization in the Arctic as global warming makes potentially valuable resources in the polar region more accessible and would plan its strategy accordingly.
Russia has already staked its claim to a majority of the Arctic waters, which it shares with four NATO countries and planted a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole 18 months ago to reinforce its position.
"Overall, we are looking at how far the region will be militarized. Depending on that, we'll then decide what to do," Interfax news agency quoted General Nikolai Makarov, the head of Russia's General Staff, as saying during a visit to Abu Dhabi.
Makarov was in the United Arab Emirates for an international arms fair.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer last month asked whether the Western military alliance should increase its focus on the region, saying that it was necessary to build confidence and trust among the five Arctic states -- four NATO members and rival power Russia.
Private explorers in a Russian mini-submarine dived 4,200 meters (14,000ft) to the North Pole's seabed, to symbolically plant their national flag in August 2007, to the annoyance of other Arctic claimants, such as Canada.
Russia air and naval power in the region has also become more visible. Long-range strategic bombers fly over the Arctic and are frequently shadowed by NATO aircraft. Russia's Northern fleet based in Murmansk has expanded patrols, after a period of relative inactivity after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow is counting on the United Nations to grant it access not just to the seas of the Arctic, but the right to exploit its seabed for valuable fossil fuels and mineral reserves.
NATO members with Arctic Sea coastlines -- and in some cases competing claims -- are Canada, the United States, Norway and Greenland, an autonomous island within the kingdom of Denmark.
The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that about 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its undiscovered gas lie under the Arctic seabed.
New sea routes could also be opened up if, as expected because of climate change, ice continues to retreat from Arctic waters, shortening voyages between Europe and the Pacific.
Makarov also said in Abu Dhabi that Russia had not yet received any official proposals from Washington on significant cuts in strategic nuclear forces.
The Times of London reported earlier this month that President Barack Obama would convene ambitious arms reduction talks with Moscow, aiming to slash the number of intercontinental nuclear missiles on both sides by 80 percent.
"When there is a proposal, there will be a discussion," Interfax quoted Makarov as saying. "It is much too early to speak about that now."
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51M3ES20090223?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

North Korea to launch satellite
SEOUL (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile.
The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile — one capable of reaching the U.S. — within a week, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
North Korea asserted last week that it bears the right to "space development" — words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test. In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
"Full-fledged preparations are underway to launch the pilot communications satellite Kwangmyongsong No. 2" at a launch site in Hwadae in the northeast, the North's agency said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. The report did not say when the launch would take place.
Unnamed intelligence officials reported brisk personnel and vehicle activity at the Hwadae launch site, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday. However, the North has not yet placed the missile on a launch pad, the report said. After mounting the missile, it would take five to seven days to fuel the rocket, experts say.
Hwadae is believed to be the launch site for North Korea's longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which has the capability of reaching Alaska. Reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range: the U.S. West coast.
South Korea's defense minister has said launch preparations could be completed within days.
Analysts have warned for weeks that the North may fire a missile to send a strong signal to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took office a year ago Wednesday with a hard-line policy on North Korea, and to new President Barack Obama.
North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the North's first-ever nuclear test in 2006.
South Korea, Japan and the United States have warned Pyongyang not to fire a missile.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the North to stop its "provocative actions," saying a missile test would "be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward."
Pyongyang's efforts to make a case for space program could be an attempt to avoid international condemnation and sanctions.
But South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has stressed that missiles and satellites differ only in payload, and said any launch — whether a satellite or a missile — would be a breach of the U.N. resolution.
The missile move also comes as Pyongyang steps up its hostile rhetoric against South Korea, saying it is "fully ready" for war. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. They remain divided by a heavily armed demilitarized zone.
North Korea's missile program is a major security concern for the region, along with its nuclear weapons development.
The country test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff.
Experts believe the North has not yet mastered the miniaturization technology required to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, but the test alarmed the world and gave new energy to stop-and-go diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear program.
A 2007 disarmament-for-aid pact North Korea signed with five other nations has been stalled since last August.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-23-north-korea_N.htm