by Les Blumenthal McClatchy Newspapers 5-22-2008 Department of Veterans Affairs officials said Wednesday that they oppose much of a Senate bill to improve care for female veterans even as the number of women seeking VA medical services is expected to double within the next five years.A top VA official admitted during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that [...]
Read More...
[Source: War On You
Showing posts with label consumers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consumers. Show all posts
5/23/2008
VA Opposes Much of Bill to Improve Care for Women Veterans
5/14/2008
Feds Accuse Student Of Terror and Espionage For Talking About Constitution
A student of a large bible college in east Texas was accused by federal agents of committing an “act of terror and espionage” after he gave a talk to a group of Boy Scouts in which he encouraged them to educate themselves about the U.S. constitution.Jeff, who wishes to remain anonymous at present, is a [...]
Read More...
[Source: War On You
The past catches up
Nigeria's president is troubled by his predecessor
Olusegun Obasanjo's reputation as a financially prudent president is being undermined by a series of investigations. This presents his successor with a dilemma.
A year after coming to power, Umaru Yar'Adua is finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil his campaign pledge of tackling Nigeria's endemic corruption. While the Nigerian president made an encouraging start, initiating various investigations and annulling a number of suspect deals, he faces a dilemma: the more investigations that take place, the greater the evidence of misappropriation under the previous administration, headed by Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo's reputation for leading a financially prudent administration is thus being gradually unravelled. Given that President Yar?Adua was hand-picked by his predecessor, and that Olusegun Obasanjo is widely perceived to be his mentor, this is something of an embarrassment to the head of state, and many Nigerians are now watching to see how he responds to the mounting evidence of mismanagement and corruption during the Obasanjo era. ...
Read More...
[Source: The Economist: News analysis
The Economist Intelligence Unit briefing: China and Japan
Despite warming relations, rivalry and suspicion persist
China and Japan have issued a joint communique emphasising their intention to take a forward-looking and constructive approach to bilateral relations. As a symbol of warming ties between the two countries, the communique is significant in its own right, as indeed is the state visit to Japan of China's president, Hu Jintao, during which the joint statement was released. Relations between China and Japan have undoubtedly improved compared with just a few years ago. Yet while both governments recognise the strategic benefits of a stronger friendship, fundamental tensions and areas of strategic rivalry remain.
At one level, Mr Hu's visit and the joint statement he signed with the Japanese prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, on May 7th are proof positive of the "warm spring" in relations that the two governments have recently claimed is occurring. Mr Hu's visit is the first to Japan by a Chinese head of state since 1998, and would not have been possible without an improvement on the situation that has prevailed for much of the intervening period. Not only was the previous visit to Japan by a Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, a diplomatic disaster (Tokyo took offence when Mr Jiang demanded a stronger Japanese apology for prewar and wartime atrocities in China), but relations between the two countries were also badly strained by Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo during his five-year tenure as Japanese prime minister from 2001 to 2006. ...
Read More...
[Source: The Economist: News analysis
4/19/2008
And the cupboard was bare
British banks start to pass round the begging bowl
EVER since the emperor bought new clothes, there have been few instances of self-delusion quite as stark as that of cavalier British bankers at the start of 2008. Just as rivals in America and other parts of Europe were writing down billions on their investments in dodgy mortgage loans and frantically raising money, the bosses of Britain?s biggest banks were instead blithely increasing their dividends in a blustery display of financial strength. Just how hollow it was became apparent on Friday April 18th when it emerged that Royal Bank of Scotland, the country?s second biggest bank, might have to raise money to satisfy bank regulators.
The amount will not be trivial, not will be its impact on shareholders. Analysts reckon that Royal Bank may have to raise between GBP10 billion ($19.9 billion) and GBP13 billion, about a third of its current market value of GBP37 billion. It is expected to do so through a share sale which will probably be announced at its annual shareholders? meeting on April 23rd. ...
Read More...
[Source: The Economist: News analysis -
4/17/2008
4/16/2008
Credit-Card Companies Put Tighter Squeeze on Cardholders
Credit cards are deeming more consumers risky, resulting in higher rates and lower limits.
Read More...
Under the same wing
Delta and Northwest are to merge
SEEING a well-matched couple finally getting together is one of life?s pleasures. And so the news late on Monday April 14th that a rumoured partnership between Delta and Northwest, America?s third- and fifth-largest airlines respectively, is out in the open should be reason to celebrate. Months of speculation that something was in the air ended when Delta announced it had agreed to buy Northwest in an all-share deal worth some $3.6 billion. They will create America?s biggest domestic carrier and could prove to be the spark that lights the flame for others of America?s six big airlines.
America?s airlines have enjoyed a reasonably happy time alone of late. In the past few years business has recovered after the dark period following the September 11th terrorist attacks. Business and leisure flyers have climbed back on to planes, and airlines have returned to reasonable profitability. But that recovery is fragile: a looming recession and high oil prices make the future look uncertain. In the past few weeks four smaller airlines have declared bankruptcy, in part because of high fuel costs. ...
Read More...
Protecting Yourself From Aggressive Collectors
As delinquencies rise, collectors are putting the pressure on consumers.
Read More...
Who wants to trade?
Politicians won't discuss trade on merit
DISCUSS a trade deal, and you might think that the main issues would be whether it is good for the American economy. But few debates on public policy ever reach this level of purposefulness. And in America, talking trade in an election year is no exception. Recent manoeuvres show how politicians are reluctant to talk about trade on its own merits.
George Bush?s administration signed a trade agreement with Colombia in 2006. But last week, under the auspices of Nancy Pelosi, the party?s leader in the House of Representatives, an arcane rule was invoked to prevent the bill from moving closer to ratification. Susan Schwab, America?s Trade Representative, called the move ?pure, partisan politics? in an interview on Sunday April 13th. ...
Read More...
The pope in America
Pope Benedict begins his tour
THREE years ago, in the final weeks of Pope John Paul II's papacy, the Vatican's diplomatic service took great care to distance the Catholic Church from American foreign policy, in order to protect Christians in mainly Muslim lands from being tarred with the same brush as the Bush administration. But as his successor Pope Benedict XVI arrives on Tuesday April 15th for a five-day trip to the United States, the gap between the Vatican and America seems to have narrowed a great deal.
The Vatican fear that Middle Eastern Christians would pay a high price for the perceived misdeeds of American policy seems to have been fully justified. The small Christian minority in Iraq has suffered terribly from that country's internal mayhem; only a few weeks ago a Catholic bishop in northern Iraq, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped and killed. But the perceived resurgence of militant Islam in many parts of the world seems to have pushed the Vatican's theological conservatives and America's political conservatives closer together. ...
Read More...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
