COA News

Just a few weeks after releasing its official forecast for the next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) adjusted its growth estimates downwards, predicting that poorer countries will see big losses in GDP over the next two years as a result of the global financial meltdown. Independent assessments estimate that developing countries' losses between now and 2010 will be in excess of $300 billion.

The financial crisis has put to rest the myths that our economic institutions are sound and markets work best when deregulated.

President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.

Two days before he lost the election, John McCain summarized what had become the central message of his campaign: "Redistribute the wealth, spread the wealth around -- we can't do that."

Oh yes we can.

Elections won’t reverse the decline of American democracy, the prolific literary legend says Gore Vidal is one of the singular literary figures of this era.

Last week, the New Mexico Republican Party publicly wrongfully claimed that 28 people cast fraudulent votes in the June Democratic primary in House District 13.

The head of a signature-gathering firm hired by the California Republican Party was arrested over the weekend for allegedly lying about his address to to vote in the state.

In a replay of a tactic used to help secure President George W. Bush's second term, Republicans – aided by investigative agencies of the federal government – are making a campaign issue out of voter-registration forms with fake names like "Mickey Mouse."

This extraordinary capacity to finance not on past wealth but on the present value of future anticipated cash flows is at the core of America's dynamic approach to wealth creation” - Edelstein, R., and Paul, J.M. Europe needs a new financial paradigm. Wall Street Journal Europe June 12-13, 1998. Quoted in The Fisherman and the Rhinoceros.