The trucks won't load themselves.... 5.31.11 Morning Reads...

I'm about to head to work.  Here are your morning reads...

quote of the day:

"When the financiers become, as happened in the United States from the mid-1980's onwards, dominant over all other sectors and when those who should be regulated capture the state regulatory apparatus, then the state-finance nexus tilts to favor particular interests rather than those of the body politic at large.  Sustained populist outrage is then essential to restore the balance."    --David Harvey The Enigma of Capital

South Korea digging for evidence in Agent Orange probe:

South Korea is launching an investigation into whether toxic chemicals were buried at former US military sites in the country.

Military and civilian experts have begun surveys at the site of the former Camp Mercer, outside the capital Seoul. The investigation team includes army and government officials, environmental experts and local residents. Inquiries were prompted by allegations that American soldiers dumped large amounts of Agent Orange on Korean land.

Investigators will drill holes to collect soil and water samples at the former base at Camp Mercer. If signs of contamination are found, the investigation could be widened to include more than 80 former US military sites across the country.

The investigation was sparked by former US servicemen, who told a TV documentary that the toxic chemical, Agent Orange, used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, had been buried at another US base in South Korea, Camp Carroll.

Japan Faces Debt Downgrade --Bloomberg:

Japan’s debt rating was put on review for a downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service, adding to Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s fiscal challenges after an increase in joblessness and smaller-than-forecast gain industrial production.

Faltering growth prospects and “a weak policy response” may hinder government efforts to cut the nation’s debt burden, said Moody’s, which had put Japan’s Aa2 rating on negative outlook in February. Government reports showed separately that output rose 1 percent in April, half the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey, while unemployment rose to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent.

Kan, facing a no-confidence motion in parliament, said today he won’t step down, signaling continued political infighting that may hamper legislation to finance long-term reconstruction after the March earthquake and tsunami. Japan, which has the world’s biggest public debt, saw its currency retreat for a second day against the dollar and bonds fall.

“This means we’re one step closer to a downgrade, and it reflects how we haven’t seen any political progress on fixing public finances,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, a senior economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo. “There are still plenty of people in the JGB market to keep buying, so it’s not like we’re going to see a sudden spike in yields. But this will put upward pressure on yields through an added risk premium.”

Food prices 'will double by 2030', Oxfam warns:

The prices of staple foods will more than double in 20 years unless world leaders take action to reform the global food system, Oxfam has warned.

By 2030, the average cost of key crops will increase by between 120% and 180%, the charity forecasts.

Half of that increase will be caused by climate change, Oxfam predicts, in its report Growing a Better Future.

It calls on world leaders to improve regulation of food markets and invest in a global climate fund.

"The food system must be overhauled if we are to overcome the increasingly pressing challenges of climate change, spiralling food prices and the scarcity of land, water and energy," said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive....The World Bank has also warned that rising food prices are pushing millions of people into extreme poverty.

In April, it said food prices were 36% above levels of a year ago, driven by problems in the Middle East and North Africa.

Oxfam wants nations to agree new rules to govern food markets, to ensure the poor do not go hungry.

It said world leaders must:

increase transparency in commodities markets and regulate futures markets

scale up food reserves

end policies promoting biofuels

invest in smallholder farmers, especially women

"We are sleepwalking towards an avoidable age of crisis," said Ms Stocking.

"One in seven people on the planet go hungry every day despite the fact that the world is capable of feeding everyone."

Gold futures gain as dollar weakens

Gold futures moved higher in electronic trading on Tuesday as the dollar weakened against the euro on new promise of a soothing of Europe’s sovereign-debt woes...

A softer U.S. dollar tends to encourage buying in dollar-priced commodities.The dollar index DXY,which measures the greenback against a basket of six other rival currencies, fell to 74.633, from 74.954 late Monday.

The dollar weakened against the euro amid reports that Germany is considering easing its stance on Greece. Read more on Germany reportedly softening its approach to Greece.

The news came against a backdrop of public protests in Athens over the government’s austerity policies and crippling debt crisis, while the International Monetary Fund warned recently that unless the nation’s European partners provide additional help, it would not lend money to Greece on its own.

Colombia Raises Benchmark Rate as Growth Forecasts Climb

Colombia’s central bank raised its borrowing costs for a fourth month to cool inflationary pressure as bank lending and consumer spending fuel faster-than-expected economic growth.

The seven-member board, led by bank chief Jose Dario Uribe, increased the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 4 percent today, meeting expectations of all 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The bank also extended a plan to purchase about $20 million per day in the foreign exchange market to “at least” Sept. 30. The program was set to expire June 17.

“Adjustments toward a less-expansive monetary policy should continue,” Uribe said in Bogota today. The move will help keep inflation near the bank’s 3 percent target this year and next, he said.

Pressure built on policy makers to keep inflation expectations anchored around their target as economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their growth forecasts. The bank increased the rate because of “the possible pressure on prices” and “strong” economic growth, said Camilo Perez, head analyst at Banco de Bogota SA.

“Available indicators point toward economic growth maintaining its dynamic,” Uribe said after announcing the rate decision. “This is supported by strong expansion of internal demand, consumption and investment, and also due to strong external sales.”

Yemeni forces and tribal militants break ceasefire

Truce between Saleh's gov't and supporters of Sadiq Ahmar, who heads Hashad tribe, breaks down just days after being brokered.

SANAA - A truce that ended days of street fighting between Yemeni tribesmen and security forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh has broken down, a government official said on Tuesday.

The government and the supporters of Sadiq Ahmar, the leader of the powerful Hashad tribe, accused each other of breaking the truce and bringing the embattled country closer to a civil war. "The ceasefire agreement has ended," a government official told Reuters when asked whether an overnight exchange of fire between the two sides had broken the fragile truce.Militants loyal to Ahmar regained control of Yemen's ruling party building in the Hasaba district of the capital Sanaa where much of the fighting took place.

The violence, pitting Saleh loyalist forces against Hashed tribesmen has been the bloodiest since pro-democracy unrest erupted in January and was caused by Saleh's refusal to sign a power transfer deal. 

Prisoners in Thailand kept 'shackled and cramped

An independent rights group in Thailand, the Union for Civil Liberties, has opened a campaign to improve conditions in Thailand's jails.

It has issued a report on prisons which highlights overcrowding, the use of shackles and the lack of medical care. The group has campaigned against the death penalty and praises the government's promise to commute death sentences to life imprisonment. That makes improving prison conditions even more important, it says.

Thailand's prisons are built to hold about 100,000 people - but according to the government's own figures, they are holding more than twice that number. As a result, the conditions, says the Union for Civil Liberties, are horrendous.

People have to sleep in tight rows on hard floors. In these sleeping cells, each prisoner has an average of one square metre - in opposed to the four to six square metres described as the minimum by the Council of Europe.

Spain’s “Real Democracy Now” Movement

Political analysts and specialists agree that the movement had great initial success during the week before the elections, but doubt their success in the long term.

Ignacio Molina, associate professor in the department of politics and international relations at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, believes that the movement is limited and focus their claims too narrowly on matters of political theory.

“In other words, protesters are naive enough to think that changing the political model on institutional issues such as the republican form of government, participatory democracy or the proportional electoral system can help resolve the crisis and improve the life prospects of young people or the unemployed,” he said.

However, other specialists such as Jaime Pastor, professor at the department of political science and administration in the National University of Distance Education (UNED), consider that political and economic reform should go hand in hand – but argues that the movement is now at a crucial state.

“Protestors have at least established a series of basic goals. But now, after the election, it remains to be seen if they are able to keep the flame alive.”

What seems to be clear is that the movement has, so far, succeeded in awakening the Spanish youth that were mired in a prolonged slumber. According to many participants, the movement will continue – regardless of election results.Mario mentioned that there was a plan to move the protest out of the plaza and that they were thinking to start working at a “grassroots” level, organising committees and assemblies across the city’s neighbourhoods. He added that people in France and London had already contacted members of the committees.

“We are discussing many issues related to policies and regulations that concerns everybody in the European Union.” Mario says.

It is undeniable that protestors have received wide support from the population, and it has proved – so far – to have a considerable impact on Spanish politics as well. The strength of the movement lies in their capacity to mobilise a large percentage of the youth. This ability could be crucial in next year’s presidential elections.

However, the government’s mistake to underestimate the power of protest – in addition to the tendency among protestors to remain apolitical – has been capitalised by the right wing opposition, which gains popularity each day.

Ironically, the presidential election may yield a very different change than that which the protesters filling plazas across the country desire.