According to one of the UK’s leading economic think tanks, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), Greece faces a permanent recession if it receives no debt relief whatsoever. The NIESR estimate that only a 55% reduction (equivalent to 195 billion euros or $212 billion) in the total(…)
With Congress set to vote on an emergency funding bill for Veterans Affairs to plug a $2.6 billion shortfall, the system continues to let down veterans who are having to wait, on average, 115 days just for an appointment. President Obama said back in July that the VA budget historically(…)
Historically heavily reliant upon exports, the vast majority of South American countries are now considered to be in recession or very close to one. The current strength of the U.S. dollar and a collapse in the price of commodities is placing Latin exports under severe economic strain. In times of(…)
Following the state of New York’s decision to approve a new $15 minimum wage for all fast food workers, a report from the American Action Forum (AAF) has stated that a rise even to $12 per hour would result in the loss of jobs and would actually inflict financial harm(…)
On July 22, the Social Security (SS) and Medicare Boards of Trustees published their 2015 report, providing their current and projected financial program status. Of the many trust funds managed by the Social Security Administration, the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund faces the distinct possibility of reserve depletion by late(…)
At 4.00am last Thursday morning, the Greek Parliament finally approved a host of national reforms (much worse and more austere than those the Greek public were allowed to vote on in their referendum), allowing the country to begin negotiations on a third bailout, estimated at around 86 billion euros. The(…)
ISIS, formerly al-Qaeda in Iraq, currently holds significant areas of land in both Syria and Iraq, and presents the most potent military group terrorizing that region and, in sporadic yet horrific incidents, the world itself. Iran, having successfully struck a nuclear deal with Obama that will lift economically-crippling sanctions on(…)
Today, the BRICS group, a financial alliance formed between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, launched its New Development Bank (NDB), set up to provide loans to developing countries to assist in financing their infrastructure projects. Although the BRICS group deny it was launched to rival the World Bank(…)
Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigators last year managed to enroll 11 completely fake people onto the government’s HealthCare.org website. This year, the 11 “people” were promptly re-enrolled automatically by the site. Worrying as this is, even more so was that some of the 11 were given significant increases in their(…)
847,000 names appear on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official list of veterans awaiting healthcare services, but 238,000 of these have actually passed away since their application. A report entitled “Analysis of Death Services,” produced in April, 2015 jointly by the VA Health Eligibility Center and the VA Office(…)
