Fernando Herrera un amigo localizado en Houston-Texas tiene un excelente BLOG sobre asuntos de política nacional e internacional. Vale la pena visitarlo.
sábado, diciembre 20, 2008
EL BLOG DE POLI-CAFE (Fernando Herrera)
Fernando Herrera un amigo localizado en Houston-Texas tiene un excelente BLOG sobre asuntos de política nacional e internacional. Vale la pena visitarlo.
EL BLOG del EDITOR BOB con sus 10 tarjetas de Navidad
El Editor BOB tiene la virtud de poder hacer una selección de las mejores tarjetas de navidad y esto es una ventaja para los que se quieren lucir enviando una buena CHRISTMAS CARD.
viernes, diciembre 19, 2008
AS CÚPULAS DE SAUÍPE
A Cúpula da América Latina e Caribe (CALC), evento inédito coordenado pelo governo Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, divulgará hoje uma declaração especial de condenação ao embargo econômico imposto pelos EUA a Cuba, vigente desde fevereiro de 1962. Ontem, em brevíssima reunião, os líderes de 18 países latino-americanos que formam o Grupo do Rio decidiram pela inclusão de Cuba.
Horas antes, o presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, havia lido um breve discurso na reunião do Mercosul, na condição de convidado especial da presidência brasileira do bloco. Embora tenham pouca repercussão prática, esses fatos somaram-se ao claro viés antiamericano dos quatro eventos de cúpula organizados e comandados desde ontem pelo Brasil, que tiveram como principal estrela o irmão de Fidel Castro.
Nos encontros de ontem, Raúl Castro evitou tocar diretamente no conflito entre seu país e os EUA. Indiretamente, atingiu Washington ao condenar as políticas neoliberais e ao dizer que a crise internacional foi o resultado de uma "ordem econômica injusta e egoísta", supostamente contrária à adotada nos últimos 50 anos por Havana.
NEGOCIAÇÃO
Na noite de segunda-feira, ao chegar ao balneário baiano, ele havia declarado à imprensa que esperava encontrar no futuro presidente americano, Barack Obama, disposição para uma conversa sobre o fim do embargo. "Se o senhor Obama quer discutir, discutiremos", afirmou. "É cada vez mais difícil manter Cuba isolada. Somos pequenos, mas demonstramos que não é possível nos dominar facilmente."
Ainda ontem, em nova atitude de confrontação a Washington, o presidente da Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, informou que defenderá a inclusão de Cuba na Cúpula das Américas. Trata-se de um mecanismo criado em 1994, sob a liderança dos EUA, que deu substância legal para a negociação da Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (Alca) e excluiu Cuba sob a alegação de que o país rompeu com a ordem democrática.
AFINIDADE
Chávez não chegou a defender o retorno de Cuba à Organização dos Estados Americanos (OEA), do qual Havana está suspensa desde o início dos anos 60 pelo mesmo motivo, mas atacou a organização, qualificando-a de "ministério das colônias dos EUA". Raúl Castro descartou ontem a possibilidade de um retorno de Cuba à OEA, "com ou sem a presença dos Estados Unidos na organização".
O movimento do Brasil em favor da inclusão de Cuba nos principais mecanismos regionais e de coordenação da América Latina e Caribe, sem influências ou tutelas externas, teve amplo respaldo. Os países que poderiam fazer oposição ou ponderação não foram representados nas reuniões por seus presidentes. Álvaro Uribe, da Colômbia, e Alan García, do Peru, desistiram de comparecer na última hora, por causa de inundações que afetam seus países.
Assim, as cúpulas na Bahia estamparam a afinidade cada vez mais forte entre os governos de Brasil, Venezuela e Bolívia nas discussões sobre uma posição autônoma e independente da América Latina em relação aos EUA.
"Sem intromissão do Norte, podemos resolver nossos problemas, apesar das diferenças", afirmou o boliviano Evo Morales. "Estamos começando a trilhar um caminho sem a tutela do império. Os EUA já não mandam mais aqui", disse Chávez.
SAPATADA
Ao chegar atrasado na Costa do Sauípe, quando a reunião do Mercosul já havia terminado, Chávez não deixou passar o episódio do ataque a sapatadas de um jornalista iraquiano ao presidente dos EUA, George W. Bush, no domingo, em Bagdá. "Vamos pedir respeito ao novo governo dos EUA. Vejam os sapatos que jogaram em Bush. Os que eu trouxe são muito mais leves."
AS CÚPULAS DE SAUÍPE
Mercosul: Projeto de mercado comum iniciado em 1991 do qual participam Argentina, Brasil, Paraguai e Uruguai. A Venezuela está em processo de adesão e Bolívia, Chile, Colômbia, Equador e Peru são associados
Unasul (União de Nações Sul-Americanas): Projeto de integração dos dois blocos do continente, Mercosul e Comunidade Andina de Nações, mais Chile, Guiana e Suriname. Panamá e México são observadores
Grupo do Rio: Mecanismo latino-americano de consulta criado para mediar a crise política na América Central, nos anos 80. Ajudou na solução da guerra Peru-Equador e no conflito recente entre Equador e Colômbia
Cúpula da América Latina e do Caribe: Projeto de integração latino-americana a partir dos blocos já existentes, desvinculado da interferência dos Estados Unidos. Em princípio, está aberto a todos os 33 países da região
OBAMA : el personaje del año en la carátula de TIME
Como todos sabemos la carátula de la revista TIME siempre coloca allí el personaje del año y ese personaje para el 2.008 es Barack Obama, Presidente de USA.
The Nature of an Economic Crisis
The Nature of an Economic Crisis
[Analysis] Why the discrepancy between ends and means?
Alfredo Ascanio (askain)
Published 2008
Edited by Carlos Arturo Serrano
Several years ago a dissident economist of the classical school, Thorstein Veblen, predicted the current crisis of capitalism. While classical economists were arguing for free competition among businesspeople who would make the best use of scarce resources to meet human needs, Veblen countered that these needs were not being met as society expected. Accordingly, today the UN reports that more than 963 million people suffer from hunger.
Veblen said that man had two behaviors: constructive and destructive. Production of goods and services is a constructive behavior, but using the stock market as a casino just to make money is a destructive one. That is why the production system is not efficient: while some work at making things, others wish to seize them. Whether or not these confrontations are won by those who want to make money without providing to society, crises appear. According to Veblen, there are no perfect competitors.
What a pity that he died in 1929, just a few months before the Great Depression. Veblen could not verify his hypothesis, but Keynes was able to promise a solution for the depression: economic institutions cannot agree to achieve a harmonious result. Another dissident from the classical school, Karl Marx, said that capitalism cannot reform itself, but Veblen said: the problems can be corrected.
Depression as a problem of the economic cycle was better studied after the crisis of 1930. English John Maynard Keynes and American Wesley Mitchell were the best economists that studied the problem of depression. Classical economists used to see it as a normal imbalance correctable by itself, but for Keynes depression is not solved within a laissez-faire economy. There is no automatic adjustment. It is therefore necessary that the government takes several measures, because a new equilibrium has emerged, albeit with unemployment and low consumption. A better distribution of income must be sought by using taxes.
But there is also the need for investment in capital goods. It is not desirable that savings do not go into investments. If the interest rate is low, investments will rise.
To Keynes these decisions were not miraculous. Society needs high government expenditure and investment. Economists Kahn and Keynes pointed out that investments could be reproduced three times in society, which is known as the multiplier effect. An example of this during the Roosevelt government was the New Deal in 1934.
Now Keynes appears as a prophet, although many neo-Keynesians are now his critics. Care should be taken with high inflation and the costly audits, as well as with the slowness of the Legislative and the courts to enforce decisions on deficit spending, tax-cyclical and non-balanced budgets. Several people and institutions have much to gain and little to lose, and are thus not interested in solving depressions, usually for political reasons. Business cycles can last on average 4 years.
A leader who feels uneasy facing a crisis will take decisions to seek solutions and he will do well if he knows better the problems. The problem is always human behavior. Many are unwilling to pay the full price for solving a crisis, and prefer palliatives instead. But as the basis of individual freedom is money, and money makes all men dependent on one another in a cash economy, crises must be resolved in a timely manner.
Banks tend to dominate economic crises and even may keep their debtors' properties, whether or not they have been ruthless and exploitative by providing impossible loans only for irresponsible speculation in the stock market.
Man determines institutions, which in turn determine him. They complement each other. Man is the central figure of economic science, which seems to echo Pascal's words:
"What a chimera is man! ... what a contradiction... what a prodigy!"
Alfredo Ascanio is a professor of economics at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela.
©2008 OhmyNews
Other articles by reporter Alfredo Ascanio
jueves, diciembre 18, 2008
miércoles, diciembre 17, 2008
Obama to announce education secretary
Obama to announce education secretary
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama intends to name a big-city schools chief to help fix the country's ailing schools as education secretary, a day after announcing an environmental and energy team he said signaled his determination to tackle global warming quickly.
President-elect Barack Obama intends to name a big-city schools chief to help fix the country's ailing schools as education secretary, a day after announcing an environmental and energy team he said signaled his determination to tackle global warming quickly.
People familiar with the decision said Obama had chosen Chicago's Arne Duncan as education secretary. Duncan has run the country's third-biggest school district since 2001, pushing to boost teacher quality and to improve struggling schools and closing those that fail. Student test scores have risen significantly during Duncan's tenure.
One of the schools Duncan turned around Dodge Renaissance Academy, which he shut and then reopened on Chicago's West Side was chosen as the backdrop for Obama's announcement Tuesday.
The individuals who confirmed the selection of Duncan on Monday spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama had not made the decision public.
Earlier Monday. Obama named his environmental and energy team, vowing to "move beyond our oil addiction and create a new hybrid economy."
Obama selected Nobel-prize winning physicist Steven Chu as energy secretary and Carol Browner, a confidante of former Vice President Al Gore, to lead a White House council on energy and climate. Browner, 53, headed the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration.
Separately, an Obama transition official said Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar will be named Interior Secretary later this week, rounding out the environment and energy team.
Chu, 60, is director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, and is a leading advocate of reducing greenhouse gases by developing new energy sources.
The selection of Chu, a Chinese American who shared a Nobel Prize for physics in 1997, received widespread praise on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he looked forward to "confirming Dr. Chu as quickly as possible."
"His appointment should send a signal to all that my administration will value science. We will make decisions based on the facts, and we understand that facts demand bold action," Obama said at a news conference in Chicago.
Obama also announced his choice of Lisa Jackson, former head of New Jersey's environmental agency, as EPA administrator.
Obama made clear he plans take energy policy in a sharply different direction from President George W. Bush, promising aggressive moves to address global warming and support research into alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and biofuels.
"America must develop new forms of energy and new ways of using it," he said.
Obama said the dangers of being too heavily dependent on foreign oil "are eclipsed only by the long-term threat of climate change which, unless we act, will lead to drought and famine abroad, devastating weather patterns and terrible storms on our shores, and disappearance of our coastline at home."
He rejected the notion that economic development and environmental protection cannot go hand in hand.
"We can spark the dynamism of our economy through a long-term investment in renewable energy that will give life to new businesses and industries with good jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced," he said.
"We'll make public buildings more efficient, modernize our electricity grid, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while protecting and preserving our natural resources. We must also recognize that the solution to global climate change must be global."
Salazar is a first-term Colorado Senator who has established a name for himself on public lands and energy resources issues. He headed the Colorado Natural Resources Department from 1990 through 1994. The Interior Department has broad oversight over US energy resources and environment. It oversees oil and gas drilling on public lands and manages US parks and wildlife refuges.
Salazar is expected to balance the protection of natural resources while tapping the nation's energy potential - an approach that Obama has said he wants .
Salazar, 53, opposed drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and objected to the Bush administration's efforts to lease Western lands for oil shale development. It will be up to the Obama administration whether or not to go ahead with leasing.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which must confirm the education nominee, called Duncan a consensus candidate.
"Arne has been a pragmatic and effective leader of Chicago's schools," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a written statement. "He's brought people together to address difficult challenges and expand opportunities so that every child can succeed."
A 44-year-old Harvard graduate, Duncan has played pickup basketball with Obama since the 1990s. Duncan co-captained the Harvard basketball team and played professionally in Australia before beginning his education career.
Obama has avoided taking sides in a contentious debate between reform advocates and teachers' unions, but Duncan may please the competing factions. Duncan's nomination will please reform advocates who wanted a big-city schools chief who has sought to hold schools and teachers accountable for student performance; while the teachers' unions have said Duncan seems willing to work with them.
Also Monday, the 538 Americans who voted in state capitols across the United States elected Obama president. The voting by the electors was a largely ceremonial procedure, but one mandated by the Constitution.
Obama defeated Republican Sen. John McCain in the November 4 election, but still the presidency is not his officially.
Under the convoluted electoral system devised by the drafters of the US Constitution 220 years ago, Obama's election will become official only on January 6, in Washington. That is when Congress meets in joint session to count the votes cast by the electors. Obama received 365 electoral votes, to 173 for McCain - well over the 270 electoral majority necessary for the presidency.
Obama takes office January 20, becoming the country's first black president. He is planning to leave soon for a more than week-long trip to Hawaii to celebrate the holidays and relax before his inauguration.
Inauguration organizers said Obama will kick off the celebration on January 17 , the weekend before his swearing in as the country's 44th president by traveling on a train to Washington.
Obama is retracing the journey of his political idol, Abraham Lincoln, who also rode to his swearing-in on a train from Philadelphia, making stops along the way.
"We hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can't be in Washington," Emmett Beliveau, the executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement.
Dos diarios Chinos de elevada circulación.
Today's celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up should have been euphoric. Instead, amid the global economic gloom, they will be muted. 30 Years of Reforms, en el: Diario del enlace de arriba que es el periódico CHINA DAILY.
El enlace que aparece en seguida es un Diario dedicado a los Jóvenes.
China Youth Daily is a very influential comprehensive daily newspaper in China . Starting publication on April 27,1951 in the era of the founding of new China,the newspaper was forced to cease publication for 12 years during the "Cultural Revolution". It resumed publication on October 7,1978 on the eve of the country's reform and opening to the outside world.
CHINA YOUTH On LIne
El enlace que aparece en seguida es un Diario dedicado a los Jóvenes.
China Youth Daily is a very influential comprehensive daily newspaper in China . Starting publication on April 27,1951 in the era of the founding of new China,the newspaper was forced to cease publication for 12 years during the "Cultural Revolution". It resumed publication on October 7,1978 on the eve of the country's reform and opening to the outside world.
Ley orgánica del sufragio
LA LEY ORGÁNICA DEL SUFRAGIO Y PARTICIPACIÓN POLÍTICA Y EL REFERENDO PROPUESTO POR EL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA.
.
Por
Juan José Caldera.
La vigente Ley Orgánica del Sufragio y Participación Política, en su título VI, "De los referendos", dispone en su artículo 193: "Podrá convocarse la celebración de más de un (1) Referendo simultáneamente en una misma fecha, pero no podrán convocarse a más de dos (2) actos de votación sobre distintos referendos durante un mismo año. En todo caso, si la materia objeto de un Referendo fuere rechazada por el pueblo, no podrá presentarse de nuevo durante los dos (2) años siguientes".
En mi criterio dicha norma impide que pueda realizarse el referendo de la enmienda presidencial propuesta antes del 2 de diciembre de 2009, cuando se cumplirán dos años del referendo de la reforma en el que fue rechazada la reelección indefinida propuesta en términos casi idénticos a los que ahora se plantean. Claro está que la ley del sufragio podría ser reformada a toda prisa para reducir o eliminar ese plazo, pero también el artículo 298 de la Constitución dispone: "La ley que regule los procesos electorales no podrá modificarse en forma alguna en el lapso comprendido entre el día de la elección y los seis meses inmediatamente anteriores a la misma"; por lo que la enmienda no podría ser sometida a referendo antes de que se cumplan seis meses de sancionada dicha reforma.
Juan José Caldera
martes, diciembre 16, 2008
AMERICA LATINA y la FRIA PATAGONIA
El enlace de arriba permite ver un artículo sobre ese interesante tema.
América Latina exige protagonismo global
América Latina exige protagonismo global
Brasil reclama una estrategia regional para Cuba en la macrocumbre de Bahía
SOLEDAD GALLEGO-DÍAZ
Sauípe - 16/12/2008
Cuba, su previsible evolución y cambio, es asunto de toda América Latina, y Brasil, empeñado en consolidar su incipiente liderazgo regional, lo ha dejado bien claro al promover el ingreso de la isla en el llamado Grupo de Río, uno de los organismos internacionales de consulta política más importantes del continente.
La ceremonia se celebrará mañana en Sauípe, una localidad turística cercana a Bahía, en la que el presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ha hecho coincidir cuatro cumbres en algo más de 48 horas: Mercosur, Unasur, Cumbre de América Latina y el Caribe (CALC), y el ya mencionado Grupo de Río, todas con una característica común: son exclusivamente latinoamericanas. No estarán presentes ni EE UU ni la UE.
El esfuerzo diplomático de Brasil ha sido enorme: en total acudirán a Sauípe, a una u otra reunión, 29 de los 32 jefes de Estado del área, incluidos el mexicano Felipe Calderón y el cubano Raúl Castro, que asiste por primera vez a un encuentro multilateral. Las ausencias más llamativas son las del peruano Alan García y la del colombiano Álvaro Uribe. Lula ha enviado incluso aviones de la Fuerza Aérea para recoger a los presidentes de algunos de los países centroamericanos y caribeños más pobres, con tal de asegurar su presencia.
Los resultados concretos de las cumbres son bastante inciertos -Mercosur es un organismo prácticamente paralizado, sin avances aduaneros desde hace años-, y no faltarán tensiones en estas 48 horas, pero el objetivo político está, sin embargo, claro: generar un espacio suramericano en el que se analicen los problemas de la región, sin la presencia de EE UU, como sucede en la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), ni de la UE, como ocurre en otras cumbres regionales.
Diplomáticos brasileños llevan semanas preparando un comunicado final en el que se exprese esa voluntad de crear una visión propia latinoamericana, pero los avances no son fáciles porque el pretendido liderazgo de Brasil despierta, también, recelos en otros países de la región.
En cualquier caso, la reunión de Sauípe tiene un especial significado porque se celebra, además, a sólo cuatro meses de la próxima Cumbre de las Américas, a la que sí asistirán Estados Unidos y Canadá (y no Cuba) y en la que se debatirá la marcha del ALCA, el tratado de libre comercio que Washington intenta extender, paso a paso, por Latinoamérica.
Brasil defiende que los avances en el proceso para lograr cierta integración de América Latina y del Caribe exigen la presencia de Cuba en esos foros de diálogo político exclusivamente latinoamericanos. De ahí la urgencia de que forme parte del Grupo de Río y de que el nuevo Gobierno de EE UU acepte que Brasil, y América Latina en su conjunto, y no sólo México, tienen algo que decir sobre el inminente proceso de cambio en la isla.
Y en sentido inverso, la urgencia de sentar a Raúl Castro en un foro latinoamericano en el que tenga que dialogar y analizar con algún realismo la situación global. Pero Brasil ha advertido que no se trata de enfrentarse con EE UU, con el que Lula mantiene una relación privilegiada, sino de reclamar un protagonismo imprescindible.
Las cumbres de Sauípe son también un buen termómetro para valorar los avances del pretendido liderazgo regional de Brasil. Extrañamente, está previsto que la cumbre de Unasur, el organismo suramericano (sin México) que impulsa también Brasil, dure sólo una hora, pero aun así será importante saber en qué se centran las cortas intervenciones de los distintos presidentes.
Ecuador, Rafael Correa, tiene pendiente su duro enfrentamiento con Brasilia por la deuda con el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social (BNDES) de Brasil, que pretende no pagar por considerar ilegítima. Brasilia necesita demostrar no tanto que se le paga la deuda, como que un país como Ecuador no puede actuar como lo ha hecho Correa, sin antes intentar dialogar y pactar con la potencia regional.
Lo mismo sucede con Paraguay, que reclama un aumento de las tarifas de la energía que vende a Brasil. El ministro paraguayo de Exteriores anunció que los dos presidentes mantendrán un encuentro personal para tratar el tema. Las cosas se le han complicado incluso con Argentina. Los argentinos dicen estar "frustrados" por el apoyo de Brasil en la Ronda de Doha (OMC) a una elevada reducción de aranceles para productos industriales y servicios que Buenos Aires rechaza.
Aun así, y por el mero hecho de ser capaz de convocarlas, las cumbres de Sauípe pueden servir para demostrar la enorme capacidad de Brasil y de Lula en el nuevo panorama político global.
Uruguay veta a Kirchner en Unasur
Una de las principales batallas que se desarrolla en Sauípe, entre bastidores, es la negociación sobre la secretaría general de la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur), el organismo que ha revitalizado Brasil como foro político y que obtuvo recientemente un importante logro al mediar en el conflicto interno de Bolivia.
La pelea la protagonizan Argentina y Uruguay, dos países que deberían ser uña y carne por motivos geográficos y económicos y que, sin embargo, protagonizan en estos momentos uno de los enfrentamientos más duros, e incomprensibles, de América Latina. Argentina aspira a que el ex presidente Néstor Kirchner ocupe la cada vez más atractiva secretaría general de Unasur, pero Uruguay ha amenazado, incluso, con abandonar la organización si Kirchner se sale con la suya.
En el conflicto argentino-uruguayo hay también un trasfondo que aparece en otras batallas regionales: el deseo de los países pequeños de no verse avasallados por los grandes. En este caso, Uruguay se niega a validar nada que afecte a Argentina mientras que ese país no acabe con el bloqueo del puente internacional de Gualeguaychú, cerrado desde hace dos años por ecologistas que protestan por la instalación de una empresa papelera en la ribera uruguaya del río que hace frontera. El bloqueo comenzó con el Gobierno de Néstor Kirchner y ha seguido con el de su esposa, la presidenta Cristina Fernández, sin que ninguno de los dos haya encontrado solución a una situación manifiestamente ilegal y que, probablemente, exigiría el empleo de la fuerza, algo en lo que los Kirchner no quieren verse involucrados.
Organismos de integración regional
Grupo de Río
- Fue creado en 1986 como mecanismo de diálogo político continental, resolución de conflictos e impulso a la democracia. Tras sucesivas ampliaciones, cuenta con 21 países miembros, a los que ahora se une Cuba.
Latinoamérica-Caribe
- La Cumbre de América Latina y el Caribe (CALC) reúne, a iniciativa de Brasil, a 33 países para coordinar las múltiples instancias de integración regional. Es la primera al margen de la UE o EE UU. Para Brasil es una vía para fortalecer su liderazgo.
Unasur
- De nuevo Brasil es el impulsor de este organismo de integración suramericana, creado en mayo de 2008 por 12 países y considerado como espacio de concertación y resolución de conflictos. Dos de sus proyectos son el Consejo Suramericano de Defensa y el Banco del Sur.
Mercosur
- Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay y Paraguay acordaron en 1991 eliminar barreras arancelarias, impulsar el libre comercio y crear un mercado común que, 14 años después, no acaba de cuajar. Mercosur tiene acuerdos con EE UU y la UE.
lunes, diciembre 15, 2008
Nuevo periódico venezolano comunista
El periódico PATRIA GRANDE está formado por socialistas radicales y comunistas. Es bueno conocer si es imparcial o no en cuanto a sus noticias.
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