Economic crisis continues

The number of people in the US filing for bankruptcy rose by 9 percent last year to 1.53 million, as more working families fell victim to job losses, plunging home values and unforgiving creditors: here.

The number of poor people in the US is millions higher than previously acknowledged, with one in six US citizens – many of them 65 and older – struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs: here.

There are over 4 million more Americans living in poverty than previously reported and poor people make up 15.7 percent of the population instead of 14.3 percent, according to new figures for 2009 released by the US Census Bureau on Wednesday: here.

Michael Hudson, Center for Public Integrity: “William M. Daley, President Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, is a major Wall Street player who sought to loosen corporate reform laws and protect big accounting firms from investor lawsuits and criminal prosecution. His pro–business credentials are so impeccable the U.S. Chamber of Commerce enthusiastically embraced Daley’s appointment Thursday, calling him ‘a man of stature and extraordinary experience in government, business, trade negotiations, and global affairs”: here.

Robert Weissman, Truthout: “Corporate crime and wrongdoing is an everyday fact of life in the United States and around the world. Still, the last year has been remarkable for a series of high-profile, deadly corporate disasters: the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the deadly explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine and unintended acceleration of Toyota cars. You might think that these disasters, singly and together, would impel desperately needed legislative reform. You might think that, but if you did, you would be wrong. Despite blanket TV and newspaper coverage of the corporate wrongdoing in each case, despite deep public outrage and fear, despite public clamor for action to prevent the same things from happening, Congress has done – exactly nothing. And the situation is about to get worse”: here.

The international financial and economic crisis has hit the working population particularly hard in Europe’s “poorhouse”―Bulgaria: here.

Portugal workers asked to pay for a crisis caused by the country’s membership in the Eurozone: here.