The United States is hoping to stave off a general collapse of the currency system, writes Barry Sheppard. This threat gives the capitalist class extortion power to insist that the government bail out the big banks.
banks
Banks are hated for good reasons: they rip off and abuse ordinary customers while helping their richest clients spirit away ill-gotten gains. They help keep the poor poor while making the rich even richer, writes Peter Boyle.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's announcement of yet another inquiry into the banking sector is just the latest attempt by the Coalition government to pretend it is doing something about the crimes of the Big Four banks.
In recent weeks, senior judges in the loftiest halls of the Spanish legal system 鈥 the Supreme Court, the National High Court and the Constitutional Court 鈥 have been exposed as subverters of a fair legal process, lackeys of Spain鈥檚 almighty banking elite and bumbling incompetents, writes Dick Nichols from Barcelona.
The New Year is in full swing, and if there is one thing I am really looking forward to in 2018, it is the long overdue introduction of 鈥渞ank socialism鈥 in this nation.
This appears to be on the agenda to go by the dark warnings offered up last year by former prime minister, jogger and war-criminal-at-large John Howard on the matter of a royal commission into the banking sector.
Finance industry workers are facing increasing pressure as banks seek to maximise their already hefty profits. Our jobs are becoming increasingly precarious, and all the while our wages and conditions are being threatened with cuts.
These days, if you walk into a bank, you鈥檒l find very few staff and a lot of ATMs, which not only give cash but do almost everything a teller can do. You will also find a concierge, whose job is to shift customers to self-service via online banking. Tellers have performance targets for shifting customers online.
Complaints by conservative commentators that Treasurer Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have delivered a 鈥溾 show how low expectations are that any federal government in Australia will deliver a budget aiming to advance genuine social justice in this country.
The tribulations of major European banks, starting with 鈥渧enerable institutions鈥 like the Monte dei Paschi di Siena (the world鈥檚 oldest bank) and Deutsche Bank (Germany鈥檚 largest), have raised the spectre of a repeat of the crash of 2008 鈥 a 鈥淟ehman Brothers times five鈥 in the words of one market analyst.
Deutsche Bank has been found to be seriously under-capitalised, both according to the standards set under the Basel III international bank regulation standards and according to its own targets. The same goes for British giant Barclays.
Pork-barrel politics and scare tactics have dominated the final weeks of the 鈥渓ongest election campaign ever鈥. Voters in marginal seats have been warned to 鈥渧ote carefully鈥, to not 鈥渨aste your vote鈥 or 鈥渞isk a protest vote鈥 which might result in 鈥 shock horror 鈥渢he chaos of a hung parliament鈥.
We have had 鈥渢radies鈥 in political ads trying to convince workers that the Liberal National Party (LNP) is their party, and Labor trying to convince the public that they have 鈥渞ediscovered鈥 labor values.
Melbourne climate activists staged an 鈥淓nd of Coal鈥 parade on August 13. They were celebrating the Commonwealth Bank鈥檚 decision to cancel its involvement with Adani鈥檚 Galilee coal proposals. They called on all Australia鈥檚 Banks to stop investing in fossil fuels.
鈥淏illionaire hedge fund managers have called on Puerto Rico to lay off teachers and close schools so that the island can pay them back the billions it owes,鈥 on the debt crisis facing the United States' Caribbean colony.
In its latest federal budget, the Tony Abbott Liberal-National government announced the setting up of a $5 billion 鈥渃oncessional loan facility鈥 called the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. The proposal has been condemned by environmental and Aboriginal rights groups.
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