Unsere Gefängnisse sind gefüllt mit schwarzen und braunen Männern und Frauen. Die Anzahl der Gefangenen, in erster Linie farbige Menschen, hat sich in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten laut Alexander versiebenfacht, von 300.000 auf über 2 Millionen, die bei weitem grösste Anzahl in der entwickelten Welt. Viele Millionen mehr stehen unter Bewährung oder sind bedingt entlassen.

In einem System, in dem die Anhäufung von Geld durch den Zinseszins zwangsläufig die Schuldenlast anderer Gesellschaftsteilnehmer steigen lässt, kann in der Konsequenz keine gleichberechtigte, demokratische Politik funktionieren. Nicht die gemeinsamen Ideen bestimmen den Erfolg eines Handelns, sondern die Möglichkeiten der Umsetzung. Und diese Möglichkeiten werden von der Geldmenge bestimmt. Ausreichende Geldmengen wiederum verteilen sich auf immer weniger Schultern.

Napolitano, who floated down the Via dei Fori Imperiali last Saturday in the Presidential convertible Flaminia like some sort of surreal image of the future of the Republic, said that „The Letta Government is a temporary arrangement“ and will only remain in office for 18 months, at which point he will be on the verge of turning 90 years of age. I have to ask myself by whose authority the State President presumes to dictate the duration of a government’s term in office? And why 18 months? From July to December 2014 Italy will hold the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, around the time of the European Parliamentary elections in June 2014 and the re-appointment of the European Commission.

After three years criticizing the coalition‘s budget cuts in welfare and other areas, Labour have this week said they will broadly stick to the government‘s spending plans for the first year of the next parliament.

it is the youth unemployment rate that is most shocking. In Spain, more than 56% of young people are without work, while the figure in Greece stands at an astonishing 62.5%. Very nearly two out of three Greeks under the age of 25 are without a job.

I love Greek statistics. Honestly. They pose a challenge to any math-dude and long-memory impaired person. Every month unemployment hits a new record but every month the new unemployment rate is lower than the rate of the previous month. How comes? Oh, the rates of the previous months are revised due to ‘seasonal work and employment’.

Activists oppose cost, ‚environmental damage‘

Union leaders from the U.S. and Europe are questioning the value and safeguards for workers in a proposed „free trade“ pact between the world‘s two largest trading areas.

Reforms include a new electoral law, cutting the number of MPs and stripping the Senate of its equal status to the lower house.

During a session of the economic committee investigated the infamous Lagarde-List, GD MP Ilias Kassidiaris lambasted one of the witnesses – Greek-Jewish Samy Mioni – for not testifying in person in front of the committee but having submitted a written testimony. Samy Mioni’s name is on the Lagarde-list in connection with a 500 million euro account.

http://t.co/wflpOOYf0Z

Social-security agency cites ‚notable spending contraction‘

http://t.co/QKm0SEtlEX

„Natürlich kann kein Politiker sich für einen Euro-Austritt starkmachen. Doch Wirtschaftswissenschaftler wie ich, die über keine politische Autorität verfügen, sollten sich die Frage stellen.“

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http://t.co/VV9wdmNONa

The office of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday denied media reports he had set a time limit on the coalition left-right government of Premier Enrico Letta.