Anger in the streets over Sarkozy reforms
March 21, 2009
Record numbers of people have taken to the streets of France, in the biggest demonstrations since Nicolas Sarkozy’s election to the presidency, to protest about his handling of the economic crisis.
Unions estimated that more than 3 million people took part in demonstrations across the country on Thursday, in the second general strike over the economic crisis in two months. Police put the figure at 1.2 million.
Obama faces an angry nation
March 21, 2009
Stephen Colbert, a comedian who plays a slightly goofy conservative Republican, began his Comedy Central TV show The Colbert Report this week brandishing a pitchfork.
“Nation! I am enraged!” he yelled to his audience.
“AIG announced this week that they are giving executives $US165 million in bonuses. Excuse me? That bail-out money is supposed to be used responsibly – in ways we never see, to prop up businesses we don’t understand,”
Man who wouldn’t talk takes $65b secret to jail
March 13, 2009
While Bernard Madoff sits in his New York cell facing a life behind bars today, the search for any accomplices continues.
By choosing to plead guilty in court, Madoff has robbed the prosecution and victims of the chance to hear details of how he perpetrated the world’s biggest fraud to date. Questions about whether Madoff acted alone or in concert remain unanswered but the victims of Madoff’s fraud will hope that remains a temporary state of affairs.
Talkback king Rush Limbaugh leads backlash to Obama
March 2, 2009
THE radio talkback host Rush Limbaugh has said he wants to see President Barack Obama fail, warning that the core free enterprise values of the nation are “under assault” and its very survival is at stake.
American Public Remain Strong in Their Support of Barack Obama
February 23, 2009
With his first month as President in the bag, Barack Obama is receiving an unparalleled level of support from the American public in regards to his ability to handle, and in this case fix, the shattered economy. In fact President Obama has the largest lead over opposition party in overall trust to handle the economy as any U.S. President has had in over 20 years.
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Obama aims to control ‘exploding’ deficits
February 22, 2009
US President Barack Obama is vowing to tackle trillion-dollar budget deficits facing the nation after he launched an unprecedented spending program aimed at helping the troubled US economy get back on its feet.
Obama takes aim at housing crisis
February 19, 2009
President Barack Obama has taken aim at the housing crisis which helped tip the US economy into meltdown, with a program which could cost $US275 billion and reach nine million homeowners.
- Housing plan
- Six million foreclosures expected
- Arizona among worst-hit states
Obama savors victory as Congress approves stimulus
February 15, 2009
President Barack Obama on Saturday savoured his first major victory in Congress with the newly passed $US787-billion economic stimulus package aimed at combating the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The president could sign the bill as early as next week, less than a month after taking office. He described the bill’s passage as a “major milestone on our road to recovery”.
Bipartisan drive hits second snag
February 13, 2009
BARACK OBAMA’S bold experiment in bipartisanship has taken another hit with his second nominee for commerce secretary, the Republican senator Judd Gregg, abruptly withdrawing his nomination citing “irresolvable differences”.
Senator Gregg pointed to the stimulus package and changes to the Census Bureau as the two areas where he could not support Administration policy.
How Madoff’s wife pocketed $US16m
February 12, 2009
The wife of disgraced US money manager Bernard Madoff withdrew more than $US15 million from a firm co-owned by her husband just before his alleged $US50 billion fraud scheme collapsed, authorities say.
Massachusetts secretary of state William Galvin has filed a complaint in which Madoff’s wife Ruth is said to have withdrawn $US15.5 million from a Madoff-linked brokerage ahead of his arrest and alleged confession.
