Multinational Monitor

Letters

On top of despising the billions of dollars worth of bonuses paid out by failed institutions which were bailed out by taxpayer money, I am angry that our justice system has not gone after the fraud of so many undocumented loans being resold with AAA ratings.

Merck's Doctor Hit List

The company is still under investigation by a U.S. federal grand jury and is currently fighting a class action lawsuit in Australia that alleges Merck knew of the increased cardiovascular risks of the drug, but played them down to doctors and patients.

Dangerous Breaths

Particle pollution, the "most dangerous and deadly" outdoor pollutant, according the American Lung Association, is caused by soot, diesel exhaust, chemicals, metals and aerosols, and can increase the risk of "early death, heart attacks, strokes and emergency room visits for asthma and cardiovascular disease."

No Legal Fees for Chevron

"The economic disparity between plaintiffs, who are Nigerian villagers, and defendants, international oil companies, cannot be more stark," wrote Judge Susan Illston in her brief denying costs to Chevron.

Minnesota's Bpa Ban

"Given the existing and growing body of scientific knowledge about the health risks of BPA to consumers and the growing consumer and industry movement against this chemical - we strongly support Minnesota's action to protect public health and ban BPA from baby bottles and drinking containers," says Urvashi Rangan, technical director for policy at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

Billions for Biofuels

[...] the ecological impact of increased biofuels production is evident, both in the U.S. and abroad, including deforestation, water pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Single Payer Sanity

Instead of advocating for this approach - which President Obama supported as a state senator, and which he still says would be superior if the system was being designed from scratch - the Obama administration has sought to reach an accommodation with the insurance industry, hospitals and Big Pharma. Concludes Business Week: "The carriers have succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send t...

Dying for Work

Employers reported more than four million work-related injuries and illnesses, but "Death on the Job" documents vast employer underreporting of workplace injuries, and estimates that a more accurate number would be 8 million to 12 million injuries and illnesses a year. "Unfortunately, as demonstrated by recent job safety disasters, such as the Sago mine explosion, the Imperial Sugar Refinery dust explosion and construction crane collapses in New York and Miami, which claimed dozens and dozen...

Radioactive Mining

According to Green, "The Great Artesian Basin is a vast body of underground water that lives deep under the surface from central to North Eastern Australia." According to the Environmental Impact Statement released by Southern Cross Resources, 1ST is the "preferred option," as it has "clear advantages in terms of economic benefits and minimal environmental impact."

Lawrence Summers Memorial Award

The May/June Lawrence Summers Memorial Award* goes to J. C. Penney for advertising over Memorial Day weekend a silkscreen T-shirt bearing the slogan, "American Made" - that was made in Mexico.

The Nationalization Option: Considering a Government Takeover of Citigroup

In its 2008 annual report, Citigroup presented itself as organized into five distinct segments. * Citigroup's credit card segment, Global Cards, is the largest consumer business within Citi and "the world's largest provider of credit cards." * Citi's historic core mission is consumer banking. * Citi's "Institutional Clients Group" includes its hedge fund activities, and its securities trading, which is responsible for massive firm losses, mostly on subprime mortgages, including $17.5 billion ...

The Wall Street Rip Off: Fees and Consequences

Fortune magazine named him as one of the four "Investment Giants" of the 20th century; he was named one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people by Time magazine; and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. [...] it doesn't take some leap of cynicism to realize that when a big international financial conglomerate buys a mutual fund management company for a couple billion dollars, they're interested in increasing the return on their capital, no...

Eyes On the Prize: Incentivizing Drug Innovation Without Monopolies

The two areas of the greatest waste in the current system are the vast sums spent marketing products that have few if any medical benefits relative to other medicines already on the market, and the costs of developing these "me too" products. The elimination of monopolies on products permits competition by generic manufacturers, and will lead to low prices, particularly in a market where there is no initial period of a monopoly to associate the product with a trademarked brand name. In resp...

New Directions for Government Motors

An Interview with Jerry Tucker Jerry Tucker is a former executive board member of the United Auto Workers union and co-founder of the UAW New Directions Movement. [...] the corporations refused to become part of the lobby for government insurance and social insurance like the single payer bills that we're fighting for now. By the time I was finished and into the early 1990s, with all of the union workplace concessions - I'm not talking about economic concessions, I'm talking about concessio...

A Big Idea: A Minimum Income Guarantee

An Interview with Karl Widerquist Karl Widerquist Is a lecturer In politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading In the United Kingdom. [...] consider an analogy. [...] consider child poverty.

Grassroots Power and Non-Market Economies

[...] is the Internet, through which movements have been able to communicate and unite to a degree that is historically unprecedented. Traditional people are finding their communities destroyed as they are pushed off their land, often for development projects, or they are forced into the cities for jobs because of worsening poverty in rural areas. A lot of what they are doing is fighting the World Trade Organization and its role in agriculture, and the World Bank and International Monetary ...

Luxury On a Budget

Style Amid Meltdown

THE LATEST CASUALTIES in the global economic crisis: the land- lords who lease retail space in the world's top luxury shopping destinations.

Shame and the Shameful

Among the security touches in the $608-million vessel: a military-grade missile defense system, bulletproof windows and a private submarine that "doubles as an escape pod."

The Meandering Market

Mansions with a View

Directv Did Call

According to the FTC, the calls made by DirecTV's telemarketers contained a prerecorded message that stated, "From time to time [DirecTV] extendfs exciting offers to our loyal customers like you, but because you are on the DirecTV Do Not Call list, we are not able to contact you for these exciting offers."

La Times Goes South

IN A MOVE THAT DREW HEAVY CRITICISM about the blurring of editorial and advertising content, the Los Angeles Times in April ran two advertisements designed to look like articles - one on the front page.

Thumbs Down for Bravo

Products from the network's popular Top Chef will include themed flower arrangements by Teleflora, wines from Terlato Wines International, Top CheP knives from Master Cutlery, and online cooking classes conducted by Top CheP contestants.

Walmart Fined for Death

OSHA's inspection found that the store's employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd due to the store's failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles.

Union Busting Surge

Employers are more than twice as likely to use 10 or more tactics - including threats of and actual firings, threats of and actual plant closings, harassment, disciplinary actions, surveillance, and alteration of benefits and working conditions - in their campaigns to thwart workers' organizing efforts.

Sec Charges Mozilo

The SEC alleges that Mozilo, along with former chief operating officer and president David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki, misled the market by falsely assuring investors that Countrywide was primarily a prime quality mortgage lender that had avoided the excesses of its competitors.

Organizations

Center for Responsible Lending 302 West Main Street Durham, NC 27701 www.responsiblelending.org Consumer Federation of America 1620 I Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006 E-mail: cfa@consumerfed.org www.consumerfed.org Center for Economic and Policy Research 1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009 E-mail: cepr@cepr.net www.cepr.net ACORN 739 8th Street, SE Washington, DC 20003 E-mail: natacorndc@acorn.org www.acorn.org National Community Reinvestment Coalition 727 15t...

Publications

Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation By Richard Bookstaber Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2007 Carbon-Free and Nuclear -Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy By Arjun Makhijani Muskegon, MI: