Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/151963/they_got_bailed_out%2C_we_got_sold_out%3A_how_the_banks_profit_from_the_lack_of_jobs/

They Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out: How the Banks Profit from the Lack of Jobs
Consumer borrowing hit its highest level since August 2007 this June; here's why that's not a good sign for the economy. Amidst a lot of indicators that say we could be heading for another round of recession—before the so-called recovery even reaches most people, let alone our millions of unemployed—June saw a jump in consumer borrowing, three times as much as expected, according to Bloomberg News. The $15.5 billion increase in credit was the biggest since August 2007, and revolving debt, which includes credit cards, was up by $5.21 billion, the most since March 2008. In a consumer-dependent economy, that's a good thing, isn't it? After all, borrowers must have some confidence in their ability to pay back their debt, right? Not so fast.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/pers-a11.shtml

The downgrading of the credit rating of the United States last Friday means that August 5, 2011 will be recognised as one of the key turning points in the historic crisis of US and world capitalism along with September 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, and August 15, 1971, the day President Nixon withdrew the gold backing from the US dollar.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/08/11/chicagos-clean-coal-lie

CHICAGO'S THIRD coal plant isn't about "green jobs" or "clean power," but propping up the dirty and destructive coal industry, rather than investing in proven renewables like wind and solar.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/08/11/mayhem-of-the-market

The wild plunges of international markets in the past weeks are related to deeper economic and financial problems. PANIC RETURNED to Wall Street and financial markets worldwide in the first weeks of August. The specter of several new financial crises and fears that the economies of the U.S. and Europe could slump back into recession led to the biggest drop in the U.S. stock market since 2008, and worse than that in other countries.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56816

BOGOTA, - "I accept this apology as a sign of a new time in Colombia, when democratic participation by all political forces will be possible," leftwing legislator Iván Cepeda said ? and a ripple ran through the crowd in the packed gallery in Congress. In compliance with an Inter-American Court of Human Rights sentence, the Colombian state apologised to the family, friends and fellow party members of Manuel Cepeda, a senator of the now-defunct leftist Patriotic Union (UP) party, 17 years after his assassination.