 |  | | Debt Crisis & West |
 YOU may recall the Latin
American debt crisis of 1982,
the Asian debt crisis of 1997,
the Russian debt crisis of 1998
- and you´ll certainly remember
the US sub-prime debt crisis of 2008.
Now we have a European debt crisis
and, horror of horrors, a US government
debt crisis.
That´s the word to keep hold of: debt.
Ignore the financiers´ jargon - bond
yields, credit default swaps, hedge
funds - which make finance sound like
quantum physics, a fearfully abstruse
subject beyond the grasp of ordinary
mortals. Financial crises occur when
people (or governments or companies)
can´t repay their debts. Or more precisely
when their creditors (or shareholders)
decide they aren´t likely to get
their money... |
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| |  | | US GRIPPED BY GREAT
CONTRACTION |
| IN the wake of the hugely disappointing
budget deal and
the S&P´s debt downgrade,
maybe we need to hang a new
sign in the immigration arrival
halls at all US ports and airports. It
could simply read: "Welcome. You
are entering the United States of
America. Past performance is not
necessarily indicative of future
returns."
Because our country is now finding
itself in the worst kind of
decline - a slow decline, just slow
enough for us to keep deluding ourselves
that nothing really fundamental
needs to change if our
future is to match our past.
Our slow decline is a product of
two inter-related problems. First,
we´ve let our five basic pillars of
growth erode since the end of the
Cold War - education, infrastructure,
immigration... |
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Jordan to begin talks on GCC membership in September
DPA
AMMAN JORDANIAN Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said on Monday that the inaugural session of talks for his country’s admission into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would be held early in September. The GCC leaders, who met in Riyadh in May, agreed to allow Jordan to join their political bloc in a move then attributed by analysts to the expanding Arab revolts. In an interview with the official Petra news agency, Judeh denied reports that feuds among the GCC’s member states over Jordan’s admission had prompted postponement of the discussions, which were originally scheduled to start in Saudi Arabia early in August. “The discussions were scheduled to start at the start of the fasting Holy Month of Ramadan but the first meeting will be held after the Eid Al Fitr feast, because some of the GCC foreign ministers were unable to attend due to certain commitments,” Judeh said. Arab media reports suggested that the first meeting was deferred after some GCC members expressed reservations over Jordan joining the pro-West gathering which comprises the hereditary regimes of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. “This is pure speculation and such reports lack accuracy,” Judeh said. “Jordan’s admission into the GCC is an old issue which is dictated by the common challenges, political coherence and geographic proximity,” he added. Judeh contended that both Jordan and the six GCC states have “an added value” to gain as a result of Jordan’s admission to the bloc.
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