The big business media is focusing all eyes on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs and the question of financial regulatory reform. An economic recovery has been declared and now attention is being shifted to a supposedly “titanic” battle shaping up between the bankers and the Obama administration over reforming the financial system.

COP-15 was a failure waiting to happen.

Hardly any of the disagreements between countries on major issues that the two-year Bali Roadmap intended to resolve were bridged, in time to conclude with a full set of agreements in Copenhagen. Coming into the summit, almost everyone knew that a final deal could not be reached. As the deadline closed in, leaders downgraded expectations for the summit’s presumed outcome to a “political agreement”, something that can at least provide a framework for details to be filled in as negotiations extend for another six to twelve months. This, despite the science pointing to the need for urgent and drastic action, particularly as emissions continue to climb and as changes in the climate continue to overshoot earlier projections.

We are the displaced workers of Triumph International Philippines Incorporated who were unjustly laid off by the company last June 27, 2009. Many of us have served the underwear company for more than 30 years before the lay-off.

If you’re an average American taxpayer, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, since 2001, cost you personally $7,334, according to the “cost of war” counter created by the National Priorities Project (NPP).  They have cost all Americans collectively more than $980,000,000,000.  As a country, we’ll pass the trillion dollar mark soon.  These are staggering figures and, despite the $72.3 billion that Congress has already ponied up for the Afghan War in 2010 ($136.8 billion if you add in Iraq), the administration is about to go back to Congress for more than $35 billion in outside-the-budget supplemental funds to cover the president’s military and civilian Afghan surges.  When that passes, as it surely will, the cumulative cost of the Afghan War alone will hit $300 billion, and we’ll be heading for two trillion-dollar wars.

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