Daily Archives: 2 July 2012

Anti-democratic, Anti-sovereign banking Union Enveloping EU

open quote A classified draft of next week’s EU summit conclusions is the first step on an emerging “roadmap” to a banking union, pooling debt via eurobonds and political union via EU treaty change over the next 10 years.

The “limite” text – published exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, is secret, restricted for the “eyes only” of diplomats and officials preparing for the 28 and 29 June European Council in Brussels.

Most of the text, the annexed “Compact for Growth and Jobs”, are deals on project bonds and other small scale EU initiatives that FranCois Hollande is trumpeting as a â‚¬120bn “growth pact”.

The first draft is relatively uncontroversial because the eurobond and “banking union” issues are currently all too sensitive to be committed to paper for officials.

Other so-called “non-papers” are circulating at a top secret level between national capitals and Brussels. close quote (Read more)

Bernanke admits that he is ready–AGAIN–to lend dollars to Europe

open quote The moves in Britain are the latest in a flurry of recent actions taken by European governments and central banks trying to arrest the continent’s more-than-two-year crisis. Late last year, the European Central Bank started doling out more than â‚¬1 trillion, or about $1.25 trillion, of cheap three-year loans to hundreds of banks that were at risk of running short of funds. Last week, the Spanish government said it would request up to â‚¬100 billion to help its crippled banking system.

In the U.S., Fed officials say they are prepared to reactivate several programs to provide short-term funding to markets if conditions deteriorate. Those programs, originally created during the 2008-09 financial crisis, offered cheap loans to banks and flooded the U.S. financial system with liquidity to prevent strains.

The U.S. central bank is also providing dollar funding to Europe through the European Central Bank to ensure that continent’s financial institutions have access to the U.S. currency, which they use to make loans around the world.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said those currency swap lines were “very helpful in reducing stress in dollar-funding markets.” close quote (Read more)

Alice Walker rejects Israeli translation of book

open quote American writer Alice Walker won’t let an Israeli publisher release a new Hebrew edition of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple,” saying she objects to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people.

Walker, an ardent pro-Palestinian activist, said in a letter to Yediot Books that Israel practices “apartheid” and must change its policies before her works can be published there.

“I would so like knowing my books are read by the people of your country, especially by the young and by the brave Israeli activists (Jewish and Palestinian) for justice and peace I have had the joy of working beside,” she wrote in the letter, obtained by The Associated Press. “I am hopeful that one day, maybe soon, this may happen. But now is not the time.” close quote (Read more)