Financial Crisis

The Fury of the Greeks

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet, Clickables

The whole world’s been shaken by the financial crisis, but not like the Greeks. Years of big spending and lending has left the country vulnerable. Its national debt is almost half a billion dollars – which is actually larger than the whole Greek economy. And the crisis has reverberated around the world, affecting stock and bond markets and currency exchanges. With the help of the EU and the IMF, the Greek government is trying to pull things together. But has life changed for the Greeks themselves? We checked in with our man in Athens – filmmaker Orfeas Peretzis, on a break from a music video shoot on the island of Mykonos – to talk about the crisis.
http://www.vimeo.com/11083618

Common Sense, Episode 8: The End of The Line (part 1)

Posted on 04. Nov, 2008 by filmat11tv in Open Mic

We’ve been listening to the candidates tell us what they what they promise to do. At the end of the long campaign season we tracked down someone to tell us what they HAVE to do.

Common Sense, Episode 8: The End of The Line (part 2)

Posted on 04. Nov, 2008 by filmat11tv in Open Mic

We’ve been listening to the candidates tell us what they what they promise to do. We tracked down someone to tell us what they HAVE to do.

What’s on First?

Posted on 27. Oct, 2008 by michelemitchell in Around the Planet, Clickables

So the chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Rahm Emmanuel, had this to say regarding the agenda ahead for Congress: “There are four reforms. There’s financial regulatory reform, tax reform, health care reform and energy. Regulatorywill kinda come down the chute fast. Tax reform will take a little longer, because it’s not until 2010 that Bush’s tax cuts expire. Energy, you can do some things immediately. And with health care, you’ve got the children’s health insurance as the first piece of a series of things you gotta do.”

Emphasis is ours on tax reform. Because considering that Emmanuel’s job is to set the agenda for his House Dems, we’re wondering if he’s canvassing the Blue Dogs at all. On November 5th, it’s likely that the fiscal conservatives of the Democratic party will be pivotal, and according to Charlie Stenholm, his former Blue Dog colleagues have put tax reform at the top of the list.

Why? Because an increasing number of members are increasingly concerned about the new note-holders of our $10 trillion debt: China.

There’ll be more in our eighth and final episode of this season’s “Common Sense” later this week.

–Michele Mitchell

Our Financial Times

Posted on 26. Oct, 2008 by michelemitchell in Around the Planet

Bustling Beijing, which showed few outward signs of the global fiscal crunch when David Bernknopf visited last week. China is the primary banker for the $10 trillion U.S. debt. By comparison, the U.S. debt in the 1990s was to itself.

Our Financial Times

Posted on 22. Oct, 2008 by michelemitchell in Around the Planet

If the Thamel section of Kathmandu looks unusually quiet to you, well, according to Rajneesh Bhandari, it is. Business is way down, especially for tourists, and not for lack of them. The police, Bhandari says, are enforcing an 11 p.m. closing time, citing crime as the reason. Owners of local businesses, not surprisingly, disagree.