Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Three things

Thing One:

Ecuador's president announced in early December that his country would not be paying the interest on its foreign debt in 2009, repudiating it as "illegal." The value of the bonds defaulted on amounts to 19% of GDP.

As the Australians would say, good on them. Denvir quotes a statement by the Confederation of Ecuadorian Kichwas (ECUARUNARI), part of the country’s indigenous peoples movement: "We have not acquired any debt. The so-called public debt really belongs to the oligarchy. We the peoples have not acquired anything or been benefited, and thus we owe nothing."
-- Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society:


Thing Two:

The federal budget deficit will rise to a record $1.2 trillion this year, and a package of new spending increases and tax cuts planned by President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats will push that figure higher, the Congressional Budget Office reported today. -- USA Today


Thing Three:

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