IDEALS

BERLIN, (Aug. 10, 2009) IPS/GIN – European banks are back to paying
high bonuses to managers despite their heavy losses. But this time
most of the money is coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.

Germany’s Commerzbank, saved last year by a 18.2 billion euros (25
billion dollars) state bailout, has announced losses adding up to
more than 1.6 billion dollars in the first half of this year. But
the bank, in which the German government took a 25 percent share,
has announced also that it will pay unspecified bonuses to staff. Read the rest of this entry →

WASHINGTON, (Aug. 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – Fifty advocacy organisations
are calling on the U.S. Congress to put a stop to investment funds
which purchase heavily indebted countries’ debt and jeopardise the
impact of bilateral and multilateral debt cancellation to over 30
countries.

The groups – which include the NAACP, the Jubilee USA Network,
TransAfrica Forum, the American Jewish World Service, the United
Methodist Church and Africa Action -are seeking a stop to what they
have dubbed “Very Unscrupulous Loan Transfers from Underprivileged
countries to Rich, Exploitive Funds”. Read the rest of this entry →

BRUSSELS, (May 3, 2010) IPS/GIN – The intimate relationship between
Europe’s top policy-makers and major corporations has been
underscored once more in recent days. Barely six months after they
ceased being members of the European Commission, Germany’s GÅnter
Verheugen and Ireland’s Charlie McCreevy have been handed lucrative
posts with the Royal Bank of Scotland and the no-frills airline
Ryanair.

‘Bursting the Brussels Bubble’, a newly-published book, draws
attention to how a pin-striped army of lobbyists are shaping the
European Union’s economic, social and environmental laws. One of
its authors – Olivier Hoedeman, research coordinator with Corporate
Europe Observatory – has been campaigning for 15 years to ensure
that this increasingly powerful army is subject to the rules of
engagement. Read the rest of this entry →

MIDRAND, South Africa, (May 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – It will remain
difficult for Africa to address the effects of the global financial
crisis or tackle other problems the continent faces as long as
African countries try to go it alone.

“The progress on the African unification project has been
frustratingly slow,” Ghana’s vice president, John Mahama told
members of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) at the opening of its
11th Ordinary Session in Midrand, South Africa.

“We have parochially clung to our little flags and national anthems
without seeing the advantages a more united Africa offers us All
that Africans want is a continent where they can hold up their
heads with dignity and pride as Africans,” Mahama said. Read the rest of this entry →

BOSTON, (May 20, 2009) IPS/GIN – Just months after massive handouts
from Uncle Sam big banks say they are ready to repay the money.

The banks are selling stock and debt, and seeing returns on
mortgages, loans, high credit card rates and re-financings.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, indicate they can begin
to pay back the billions they were given by the U.S. Treasury in
December. Read the rest of this entry →

JOHANNESBURG, (Jun. 15, 2009) IPS/GIN – Countries around the world
committed themselves to reach eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by 2015. Among the MDG 8’s guidelines for development are
sustainable debt and an open, rule-based and non-discriminatory
system of trade and finance-all of which are important to the
economic future of South Africa.

As the government here races to do its part, economist Terence
Corrigan reflects on how far along South Africa has come to achieve
the MDG 8’s goals of good governance, fair trading mechanisms and
economic growth.

IPS: MDG 8 is to develop a global partnership for development. What
has the South African government done to reach this target? Read the rest of this entry →

CAIRO, (Jun. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – While the global financial crisis
has forced Egyptian companies to lay off thousands of workers,
labor rights groups warn it also is being used by some to evade
legal and financial obligations to their workers.

“(There is) a rising phenomenon of business owners exploiting the
global financial crisis as an opportunity to dismiss employees
without paying them their legal financial rights…or to violate
the rights of workers,” according to a study by the Center for
Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS), published Jun. 1. Read the rest of this entry →

LONDON, (Mar. 25, 2010) IPS/GIN – The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has published the first details of a proposed financing
framework, dubbed the ‘Green Fund’, intended to mobilize 100
billion dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries cope
with the consequences of climate change and mitigate further
emissions.

Outlined in a staff paper by IMF economists Hugh Bredenkamp and
Catherine Pattillo, the Green Fund could launch from a capital
injection by developed countries, in the form of Special Drawing
Rights (SDRs), a currency issued by the IMF to member countries.

The facility would eventually combine resources from investors,
raised through ‘green bonds’ in global capital markets, with
developed country subsidies. Contributors could scale their equity
stakes in proportion to their IMF quota share. Read the rest of this entry →