| Clinton the right choice
One word can sum up George W. Bush's presidency: incompetence. For seven years this nation has been subjected to an administration riddled with abject failures of leadership -- Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war instantly come to mind. We also have had an administration infested with cronyism and drenched in secrecy. The American people naturally are demanding change, and the 2006 election was the first evidence of this, as Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress. But the Democrats hold a majority too slim to override vetoes, and Bush and Senate Republicans have obstructed Democratic legislation. This year's presidential election offers an opportunity to change course and get our country moving in the right direction again. And, this Saturday, Nevadans will have their say.
The bank most likely to walk into a sharp object
What these investors didn't know was that CIBC was preparing to write down an additional $2-billion in a matter of weeks, enough to make it one of the costliest misadventures in Canadian banking history. Mr. McCaughey, whose entire tenure to this point had been geared toward erasing the taint of previous scandals, methodically stripping away risk and rehabilitating the bank's maverick reputation, knew that he would have to make senior management changes, and was already in secret negotiations to recruit his close friend Richard Nesbitt, who runs the Toronto Stock Exchange, as a replacement for Brian Shaw as head of the gaffe-prone investment bank, CIBC World Markets. Mr. Shaw, who probably suspected at this time that his days were numbered, nevertheless remained in Toronto while his family went to Mexico on vacation, helping to carry out one of Mr.
Pensions help for the fretful fifties
Fears of a generation of older workers retiring with negligible pension savings have prompted the City regulator to target those in their late fifties and early sixties with a new 'last-minute' saving awareness campaign. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) wants to warn what it calls the 'pre-retired' - those within two years of retiring - to the potentially huge gaps between the amount they expect to retire on and what they may actually end up with. Its national campaign for 'anxious aspirants', which will start on 17 September, will highlight how those who have saved little can still make up for lost time. 'We don't want these workers to panic; rather to consider their options,' says an FSA spokeswoman. For many with little in the way of savings, these options are not cheap and usually include an equity-release element to tap into the value of a home; working beyond 65; 'buying' extra years of an occupational pension scheme; and delaying the taking of the state pension.
Political background to the CPE protests
We are reposting the following series of articles on the revolt of the French working class in November-December 1995 in the hope that it will help to clarify the political background to the present upheaval in that country. The ongoing revolt by millions of youth and workers is a further response to the effort by the French ruling class to slash or eliminate entirely the social gains made in decades of struggle. In November-December 1995, the working class revolted against efforts by the right-wing regime of Prime Minister Alain Juppé to reform the social security system, just as today the government of Dominique de Villepin is reforming Frances labor laws. In 1995 millions of workers, led by the transport workers in particular, rejected the claims made by the government and the media and recognized the maneuver for what it wasan attempt to shift the burden of the social costs on to the back of the working population.
|
