Juggling Dynamite

Iceland was the only country in 2008 to let their insolvent banks fail and foreign depositors take their losses. They also voted out the government that had aided and abetted the credit bubble that had demolished the domestic economy. Six years later, fed up with persisting capital controls, a kronur that has fallen 60% against the Euro and still crushing household debt levels, Icelanders voted back in the Independence and Progressive parties—which had led the small Nordic state into its financial collapse in 2008. Now forming a coalition, both parties had been promising tax cuts and a hard-line against joining the European union. There was also talk of across the board mortgage debt reduction for homeowners. Campaign promises will no doubt be hard to keep in the midst of some very harsh economic math. See: Iceland ousts pro-European leadership

Here is a direct link.

There are several sides to every story, and this discussion covers some very uncomfortable points about the urge to degrade democracy for vendetta. These are complex issues, but agree or disagree, adults must always be open to consider how our choices may play a leading role in creating our own adversity.

Lawyer, political journalist and essayist, Glenn Greenwald talks about the Boston bombings and government secrecy, and two political scholars explain who’s to blame in Congressional dysfunction.”  Here is a direct link.

Here is a direct link.

“A grassroots campaign pioneered by a loose coalition of shareholder activists, pension fund members and elected officials is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose a new rule that would force publicly traded corporations to disclose all political spending to their shareholders.

The active petition — which you can find on the Public Citizen website — has already gathered nearly 500,000 public comments, far more than any petition or rule in the agency’s history, reports The New York Times. Although “relatively few petitions” have resulted in concrete action in the SEC’s 79-year history, the Times reports that the commission staff filed a notice indicating it would consider adding the rule later this month.

Over the past decade, a growing number of corporations have voluntarily agreed to report their political spending to shareholders. By 2011, nearly 60 percent of S&P 100 companies had adopted the practice, many in response to shareholder demands. As the Committee on Disclosure of Political Spending outlined in their rulemaking petition, shareholders need specific information about corporate political spending, because without it they are unable to hold accountable “company directors and executives who use corporate resources for political speech that is inconsistent with shareholder interests.”

If you support this new rule, sign the petition or send in your own comment to the SEC.”