Critical Times

The Pinnacle Education Consortium has been selected by the Government of SA as its preferred bidder for the six PPP “Super Schools”. Two other consortia have been rejected.

The Public Private Partnerships process involves a radical departure from traditional methods of Government infrastructure procurement.

So, what is a quadrillion? It’s a thousand trillion, or one million billion. A bit later in this article, I’ll direct you to an amazing series of graphics that tries to give some sense to these terms.

For the moment, let us just note that the Bank of International Settlements has recently reported that global outstanding derivatives have reached 1.

Source: Monthly Review
by Rick Wolff

In Marxian terms, the current crisis emerged from the workings of the capitalist class structure. Capitalism’s history displays repeated booms and busts punctuated by bubbles. Capitalism’s cycles range unpredictably from local, shallow, and short to global, deep, and long.

ABC NewsRadio
By economics correspondent Stephen Long

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says global markets may still be set for severe economic downturn.

Last year, when inflation was low and the world economy was still strong and stable, BIS gave a a prescient warning about the growing risks that could bring it all undone.

In its latest annual report, released last night in Basel Switzerland, BIS gives a grim and candid assessment.

ABC Radio National
PM - Tuesday, 26 June , 2007 18:30:00
Reporter: Stephen Long

MARK COLVIN: When it comes to the economy, we’ve been living in a long boom, one of the longest ever, in fact.

All good things though come to an end, and today the central bank for central banks is warning that the world could be headed for another Great Depression.

The Bank for International Settlements says these may appear to be in benign economic times, with low inflation and strong growth.

The questions regarding U.S. macroeconomic policy these days come down to whether the country can keep borrowing.