/oct2012

Further cuts leading to collapse of Greek health system
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/gree-o27.shtml

By Christoph Dreier
27 October 2012

Every newly released detail of the fifth Greek austerity package demonstrates that the European Union is prepared to resort to the most brutal measures to secure the profits of speculators. One of the hardest hit victims of the austerity program dictated by the EU and the IMF is the Greek health sector. In the heart of Europe a large proportion of the population is being deprived of any sort of health care.

On Wednesday a number of newspapers reported that the Greek government has agreed to a new austerity package with representatives of the IMF and the EU. A final decision will be made on Sunday. According to the reports, the package includes not only further cuts to wages and pensions and mass redundancies but also more cuts to the health system. Already decided are savings in health care totaling €2 billion. Part of this sum is to be achieved by laying off 10 percent of doctors and other staff in public hospitals.

#grèce #crise

A new downturn in the global economy

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o27.shtml
27 October 2012

There are increasing signs that the global economy is about to enter a new period of financial turbulence, coupled with deepening recession in a growing number of countries.

In the immediate aftermath of the global economic breakdown that began in 2008, set off by the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers, governments around the world took on increased debt as they made available trillions of dollars to prevent a complete collapse of the financial system. Meetings of the Group of 20 were dominated by pledges there would be no return to the conditions of the 1930s and assurances that the lessons of history had been learned.

The writings of John Maynard Keynes, the British economist of the 1930s who advocated increased government spending to counter depressions, were suddenly back in vogue. But a sharp turn came in June 2010, when a meeting of the G20 initiated a turn to austerity, emphasising the necessity to impose “fiscal consolidation.” The essence of this program was to claw back the money given to the banks through massive cutbacks to government spending, especially on social services.

Texas police helicopter fires on immigrants, killing two

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/texa-o27.shtml

By Bill Van Auken
27 October 2012

A Texas state police helicopter opened fire on a truckload of fleeing immigrants Thursday, killing two and wounding at least one other.

The deadly incident took place near La Joya, Texas, about 70 miles northwest of Brownsville. State authorities reported that it began when Texas Parks and Wildlife police began pursuing a red pickup truck packed with immigrant workers, who were suspected of having crossed the border from Mexico.

When the pickup failed to stop for the game wardens, they called in the Texas Department of Public Safety, which sent the helicopter. DPS helicopters patrolling the border area carry snipers armed with high-powered rifles.

A spokesperson for the DPS, also known as the Texas Rangers, initially called the shooting an “enforcement action,” but declined to comment further on the killings. On Friday, the agency issued a statement claiming that the police had fired on the vehicle in an attempt to disable it.

#états-unis #migrations #asile #meurtres

The danger of fascism in Greece
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o23.shtml

The danger of fascism in Greece
23 October 2012

As it mounts brutal attacks on the social rights of workers across Europe, the ruling class increasingly resorts to violence and authoritarian methods to suppress popular opposition. In Greece, which the financial aristocracy has targeted to serve as an example of social counterrevolution in Europe, political terror and intimidation have reached a new, ominous level in the form of open state support for the fascist gangs of Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn).

In Athens, immigrants, homosexuals and left-wing groups face repeated threats and attacks from this organization. Two weeks ago, one such attack was filmed at the performance of a play by American writer Terrence McNally.

The video clip shows Golden Dawn parliamentary deputy Ilias Panagiotaros insulting audience members and actors with racist and homophobic taunts. His thugs hurl stones and other objects, breaking bones and causing serious injuries. Policemen who are present stand idly by.

“We’re the one’s who are suffering—the poor, the working class”
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/inte-o23.shtml

“We’re the one’s who are suffering—the poor, the working class”

By our reporters
23 October 2012

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to some of the workers attending the Trades Union Congress demonstration in London.
Lorraine, Sheila and June

Asked why she was attending, June, a social worker said, “We are here today because we don’t believe in the economic measures that [Prime Minister David] Cameron is taking. There’s millions of youngsters unemployed, they want to attack our pensions and teachers’ pensions, and the austerity measures aren’t working. I’m a senior social worker. I’m losing £200 a month due to the changes that Cameron has forced on the county council. And I’m a single mum as well.”

Australian government imposes new spending cuts
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/myef-o23.shtml

C’est aussi l’austérité en Australie

Australian government imposes new spending cuts
By Patrick O’Connor
23 October 2012

The Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday announced additional socially-regressive spending cuts in its mid-year budget update, aimed at delivering the fiscal surplus it promised the financial markets and credit ratings agencies in May.

Two defenders of American imperialism
Obama-Romney foreign policy debate

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o22.shtml
22 October 2012

In the final debate of the US presidential election, to be held Monday night in Boca Raton, Florida, President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney can be expected to tout their contrasting “visions” on US foreign policy. However, on the fundamental issues of concern to the American corporate and financial elite, the two candidates are entirely united.

They will both declare themselves defenders of “democracy” and “freedom,” even as American money and weapons prop up dictatorships like the Saudi monarchy, the kleptocratic rulers of Congo and other resource-rich African states, and military-backed regimes from Honduras to Egypt. They accept unquestioningly the necessity to use military force and political subversion to safeguard the economic and strategic interests of the American financial aristocracy anywhere in world.

#états-unis #élections #impérialisme

The US elections and the unemployed

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o08.shtml
8 October 2012

The controversy that has broken out over the US Labor Department’s report Friday on jobs and unemployment only testifies to the unbridgeable gulf between the corporate ruling elite, including both the Democratic and Republican parties, and the working people who comprise the vast majority of the population.

The official figures showed a net gain of 114,000 jobs during the month of September, a number that closely tracked previous estimates, combined with a greater than expected drop in the unemployment rate, from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. More than 40 percent of the unemployed, nearly five million workers, have been jobless for more than six months.

#états-unis #elections #chômage

Poverty rises dramatically in Michigan

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pove-o05.shtml
By Debra Watson
5 October 2012

Poverty in Michigan has increased a staggering 66 percent since 2001 according to the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) released in September. This is the largest increase in poverty in any state in the country. Three-fourths of this rise occurred before the recession began in 2008.

Michigan’s poverty rate continued to rise sharply through 2011, to 17.5 percent up from 16.8 percent just a year earlier, and well above the national average of fifteen percent. The climb in the poverty rate only partially measures growing social distress because state and federal governments are at the same time cutting safety net programs once available to the most economically vulnerable populations.

#états-unis #pauvreté #inégalités #développement #santé #crise-économique

European Union demands further cuts in Greece

Oui, vous avez bien lu : « l’UE exige de la Grèce encore plus de coupes budgétaires... »

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/gree-o05.shtml
By Christoph Dreier
5 October 2012

Last weekend, representatives of the troika—the European Central Bank (ECB), European Commission (EC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—returned to Athens to discuss a third package of budget cuts with the Greek government.

Officially, the troika has the task of preparing a report on Greece’s budgetary situation for the European Union (EU) and IMF as the basis for agreeing to a further bank bailout to Greece’s creditors, amounting to €31.5 billion (US$41.6 billion).

#grèce #crise #banques #crise-bancaire #crise-financière

The euro crisis and the lessons of the Weimar Republic

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o03.shtml

3 October 2012

In the final years of the German Weimar Republic, between 1930 and 1932, the austerity program implemented by the Brüning government in response to the flight of capital and the world economic crisis precipitated the catastrophe that followed: mass unemployment, Nazism and war. For years, this has been regarded as evident and was taught in schools. However, the present developments in Europe show that the ruling class is not capable of learning from history.

In recent days, the Greek and Spanish governments have agreed to austerity measures that far exceed the emergency measures implemented by the Brüning government.

#finance #crise #europe #banque #république-de-weimar

US troop deaths in Afghanistan top 2,000

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o02.shtml
2 October 2012

The 2,000th American soldier died in Afghanistan last weekend as the result of a so-called “insider” attack, underscoring the crisis of the 11-year-old US occupation. The 2,000 mark was quickly surpassed, with another three US troops losing their lives in a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Khost that killed at least 14 others, including a translator and six Afghan policemen.

The grim milestone actually underestimates the toll of what stands as America’s longest war. It counts only those US troops killed on Afghan soil. At least another 100 have died from their wounds after exiting the country.

#afghanistan #etats-unis

World economy slides deeper into slump
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/econ-o02.shtml

By Andre Damon
2 October 2012

A string of negative reports coinciding with the start of the fourth quarter has revealed a significant deterioration in the global economy, with world trade slowing, manufacturing contracting, and the number of unemployed workers in the euro zone hitting a record high.

Despite these disastrous figures, stock prices in Europe and the United States rose on Monday, fueled by new central bank injections of cash into the global financial system, an intensification of austerity measures against the working class and expectations of new bank bailouts.

#economie #mondialisation #globalisation #crise

China’s sweatshops exploit students
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/stud-o02.shtml

By Louis Zou
2 October 2012

The brutal reality behind the much-hyped release of Apple’s new iPhone 5 was exposed last week when several thousand Foxconn workers in the Chinese city of Taiyuan clashed with security guards and police. The incident was apparently sparked by the aggressive behaviour of guards, but it gave vent to far broader frustration over wages and conditions.

Major corporations like Foxconn engage in large-scale exploitation of students as cheap labour, with the support of Chinese authorities at every level. While the practice is justified as a form of vocational education, students spend long hours in regimented conditions carrying out routine, repetitive tasks

#chine #industrie #sweatshop