Puppet Masters
There is no doubt that, between 2008-2009, the capitalist system in Europe and the United States suffered a severe shock that shook the foundations of its financial system and threatened to bankrupt its 'leading sectors'.
However, I will argue the 'crises of capitalism' was turned into a 'crises of labor'. Finance capital, the principle detonator of the crash and crises, recovered, the capitalist class as a whole was strengthened, and most important of all, it utilized the political, social, ideological conditions created as a result of "the crises" to further consolidate their dominance and exploitation over the rest of society.
In other words, the 'crises of capital' has been converted into a strategic advantage for furthering the most fundamental interests of capital: the enlargement of profits, the consolidation of capitalist rule, the greater concentration of ownership, the deepening of inequalities between capital and labor and the creation of huge reserves of labor to further augment their profits.
As Zero Hedge and the Press Project report:
Salary cutbacks (called "unified payroll") for contract workers at the public sector set to be finalized today. Cuts to be valid retroactively since november 2011. Expected result: Up to 64.000 people will work without salary this month, or even be asked to return money. Amongst them 21,000 teachers, 13,000 municipal employees and 30,000 civil servants.

Nicolas Sarkozy has clung to the fig leaf of Franco-German parity, staking all on ties to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Yet they can hardly ignore the evidence. While German unemployment has fallen to a post-Reunification low of 5.5pc, France's jobless rate has crept up to a post-EMU high of 9.9pc and is certain to rise further as recession bites again.
While both countries had the same sorts of export surplus in the early 1990s, they have diverged massively since the D-Mark and franc were fixed in perpetuity. Germany has a current account surplus of 5pc of GDP: France has a deficit of 2.7pc, anathema for Colbertistes.
Comment: Whereas a return to the national currencies might help some EU-controlled countries reclaim their sovereignty, the power struggles between the French and German governments are just that: who's going to have political and economic control over all else. It is not about the welfare of the citizens, and never has been.
- Greece's 2012 GDP will shrink by as much as 5%.
- Greece is expected to return to growth in 2013.
- Greece will cut 15,000 state jobs in 2012.
- Minimum wage will be cut by 20 percent.
- There will be no increase to sales tax.
- The government will cut medicine spending from 1.9% to 1.5% and merge all auxiliary pension funds.
- It will also sell stakes in six companies - in particular, energy companies and refineries.

Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos (l.) and Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (r.) hold a joint news conference after a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels February 21. Eurozone finance ministers struck a deal early on Tuesday for a second bailout program for Greece that will involve financing of 130 billion euros ($172 billion) and aims to cut Greece's debts to 121 percent of GDP by 2020, EU officials said.
The sheer size of the bailout and a promised debt write-off of roughly 100 billion euros ($132 billion) represents a more favorable outcome than Greek officials expected. But the bailout comes with rigorous budget cuts demanded by northern European states and other requirements that represent an unprecedented amount of European Union control over a sovereign member.
"We have been learning for years how to share sovereignty in Europe," says Loukas Tsoukalis of the University of Athens and head of the think tank Eliamep, which deals with European and foreign policy. "With the crisis, we are all being asked to take some difficult steps further. It is uncharted territory. If you are a country on the verge of default, such as Greece, sovereignty and economic survival may create awkward tradeoffs."
In the second such trip in less than a month, a senior team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had travelled to Tehran to press Iranian officials to start addressing mounting concerns that the Islamic Republic may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
The outcome seems likely to add to already soaring tension between Iran and Western powers, which have ratcheted up sanctions on the major oil producer in recent months.
"During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place," the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement after the Feb 20-21 talks.
The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran was working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials reject.
Comment: In the "already soaring tensions" did they "press" Iran or did they "request" information?
"its track record of years of nuclear secrecy" Years eh? Iran Says Invites UN Nuclear Agency To Visit then there is: IAEA has no evidence on Iran''s building nuclear arms - ElBaradei, or how about: IAEA Chief: Iran can't make nukes unless it leaves the NPT - will resign if Iran is attacked?
With the Middle East peace process stalled, the president and his guest are likely to focus on the best way to confront Iran over its suspect nuclear program, as well as the response to Syria's bloody crackdown on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The president's speech to the most powerful US pro-Israel lobby group could also have an election-year flavor: Republicans have tried to portray Obama as insufficiently supportive of Israel's security, a charge rejected by several high profile Israeli officials including Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The announcement came after Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, paid a two-day visit to Israel.
Comment: Middle East peace process? Is that what this is:
Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, said on MSNBC Tuesday that he could not verify that President Obama is a Christian. "I just have to assume that he is," Graham said.
But he has no question about Rick Santorum. "His values are so clear on moral issues. No question about it. ... I think he's a man of faith."
Santorum's faith was in the news for another reason, too. The Pennsylvania Republican said in 2008, two years after losing his Senate seat and four years before seeking the presidency, that Satan was attacking U.S. institutions in government and religion.
The comments, not before mentioned during the 2012 election cycle, were the lead item on the Drudge Report Tuesday. Santorum has surged to even or even ahead of Mitt Romney in opinion polls, including in Romney's home state of Michigan, where Republican voters cast their preference for the GOP nominee next Tuesday.
And that's not all. If borrowers stay current on their payments after their loans are restructured, the banks could qualify for additional government funds which (according to the FT) "could then turn a profit for the banks according to people familiar with the settlement terms."
How do you like them apples? Leave it to the bank-friendly Obama administration to turn a penalty into a windfall. In effect, the settlement will help the banks avoid losses on mortgages that are vastly overpriced on their books and which were probably headed into foreclosure anyway.
Taxpayers will stump up the money for the principle writedowns that will allow the banks to extract even more tribute from underwater homeowners. What kind of penalty is that?
The ascension of Mario Monti to the Italian prime ministership is remarkable for more reasons than it is possible to count. By replacing the scandal-surfing Silvio Berlusconi, Italy has dislodged the undislodgeable. By imposing rule by unelected technocrats, it has suspended the normal rules of democracy, and maybe democracy itself. And by putting a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs in charge of a Western nation, it has taken to new heights the political power of an investment bank that you might have thought was prohibitively politically toxic.
This is the most remarkable thing of all: a giant leap forward for, or perhaps even the successful culmination of, the Goldman Sachs Project.
It is not just Mr Monti. The European Central Bank, another crucial player in the sovereign debt drama, is under ex-Goldman management, and the investment bank's alumni hold sway in the corridors of power in almost every European nation, as they have done in the US throughout the financial crisis. Until Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund's European division was also run by a Goldman man, Antonio Borges, who just resigned for personal reasons.
Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living down its nickname as "the Vampire Squid", and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the eurozone, sceptical voices are raising questions over its influence. The political decisions taken in the coming weeks will determine if the eurozone can and will pay its debts - and Goldman's interests are intricately tied up with the answer to that question.













Comment: As we've said time and again, as long as individuals without conscience are in positions of power, whether hiding their true agenda for personal power and control behind the capitalistic or socialist or any other ideology, the problems of the common people will not go away. Only knowledge about the truth of the matter will ever get us out of this mess, because it is this knowledge that will open our eyes and give us the power and incentive necessary to get off our collective butts and act towards creating a world by the people and for the people.