[Marxism] And Now For Something Completely Different

[S. Artesian]

WSJ 8/4: Manufacturing contracted in 14/15 Eurozone countries, with only 
Germany showing some, but slow growth.  Outside the eurozone,  UK 
manufacturing contracted in July by  biggest one month amount in a decade.

FT 8/4:  Japan may have to "admit" to recession following 2 consecutive 
quarters of declining industrial production.

NYT 8/5:  Growth rate of China's exports stalls.   Rate of growth, measured 
by quarterly year-over-year change,  has been decreasing since 3Q 06, and in 
the latest quarter is almost at no-growth. Also, a survey of manufacturing 
purchase managers showed a month-to-month decline in new orders.

NYT 8/6:  Rethink that privilege.  Europe enacts pension cuts.  Italy raised 
retirement age to 59, Germany to 67, France increase tenure requirement for 
govt workers to 40 years for full benefits.  National Pensions Office in 
Brussels states 40% of all Belgians over 75 years will live in poverty by 
2016

And in the US, of course, "economists generally agree that the United States 
is not heading for another Great Depression."  That's good to know.  The NYT 
goes on to report "Most economists...blamed Alan Greenspan, the chairman of 
the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006, for his unwillingness to clamp down..."

So much for the Genius of the Free Markets-- cast out by his own acolytes, 
now stripped bare, exposed as just another putty-faced hack hiding his own 
incompetence behind the thicket of equivocation.

It's good news week.