Daily Digest 11/8 - Aftermath Of A Crisis, The Drought Of 2012 In Pictures

Economy

Aftermath Of A Crisis (Nervous Nelly)

Right after the financial crisis happened in 2008, sociologist Manuel Castells convenes the Aftermath Network, an international group of intellectuals who will analyze the crisis as it is unfolding. They think it is not just a financial crisis, but a social crisis as well, bringing about a fundamental transformation of societies at large.

112-year-old Pennsylvania apparel maker to close (Thomas C.)

FesslerUSA had survived war and depression, free trade and foreign imports, producing millions of knitted garments from its base in eastern Pennsylvania. Five years ago, third-generation owner Walter Meck and his family were feeling so good about the company's prospects they doubled capacity, moving into a former pencil factory outside the small town of Orwigsburg.

They were still setting up shop in the new place when the Great Recession hit.

Storm Sandy: New York inquiry into overpricing (westcoastjan)

And there was some good news for the region's beleaguered public transport-users. A limited Path train service between Jersey City and Manhattan is due to resume on Tuesday morning, Port Authority officials have announced.

Mourning The Vanishing Greece Of My Childhood (westcoastjan)

Debts are rising, the economy is shrinking. There is high unemployment, an increase in drug use, depression and prostitution. People have been filmed foraging for food in bins after dark, and schoolchildren are reported to have collapsed from malnutrition. It seems a long way from the pretty pictures on dusty postcards at stalls beneath the Acropolis.

In B.C., energy companies forgot about the ‘social licence’ (westcoastjan)

Historically, an NEB approval was the biggest rubber stamp in the drawer, encircling the interests of all Canadians . At the end of the arduous process, the validation of conscientious safety practices, stringent environmental protection, enhanced economic value and overall social benefit delivered a stamp on the applicant’s licence that confidently said, “APPROVED.”

Blame and shame in Ireland over financial crisis (westcoastjan)

Former US bank regulator and criminologist Prof Bill Black, who was responsible for aiding prosecutors during America's savings and loans crisis of the 1980s, is a regular at Kilkenomics. He would like to see many more financiers in Ireland and beyond prosecuted for what went wrong in the run up to the 2008-9 financial collapse.

Greece austerity vote: Will it secure Greece's future? (westcoastjan)

With the left-wing and socialist members of the fragile coalition government wavering, Mr Samaras has insisted that these cuts will be the "very last", with the only other option a eurozone exit leading to what he has estimated would be an 80% drop in the standard of living.

Why are we bailing out the banks? – Part Four – What happens now? (Thomas C.)

I argued that one of the legion problems with this world view is the fact that whatever the ideology says should happen, the reality is that giving money to the banks for them to invest has simply not worked. It was never going to work because it is founded on a misapprehension about the nature and business of modern banks. Namely – that they invest for growth. They do not – certainly not in the broader economy during a recession. Banks used to ‘invest’. Today they much prefer to speculate. Investing is long and slow and does not make big bonuses. Speculating on food prices, currency fluctuations and sovereign debt, lending for leveraged, debt ladened buy-outs - now these things can all provide the quick returns and big bonuses which old fashioned investment does not.

The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, A Long Term
View (Tall)

I want to ask a question here. We built
all this infrastructure in this country - the roads, the bridges, the dams
and so on - why can't we maintain them? It is fundamentally because our
culture does not understand what wealth is.

The Drought Of 2012 (westcoastjan)

A dead fish lays several feet from the water in Lake Corpus Christi near Mathis, Tex., as the lake continues to shrink due to this year's drought. The city of Corpus Christi is thinking of mandatory water conservation restrictions, which could be in place by mid-September unless Corpus Christi's lakes receive rain.

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