Rising unemployment raises threat of social crisis: World Bank

[Old Coot]

Source: Reuters

MADRID (Reuters) - World economic recovery will be slow and rising unemployment could bring the threat of social crisis and protectionism, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in an interview with Spanish Sunday newspaper El Pais.

"What began as a great financial crisis and became a great economic crisis is now becoming a great crisis of unemployment, and if we don't take measures there is a risk of a great human and social crisis, with major political implications," he said.

"That's a good breeding ground for populist, protectionist policies," he added.

"The finance ministers of the G7 and the G20 are displaying a certain relief because the contraction has slowed. Although we could still have low or negative growth, the situation is less bad," he said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54N0JV20090524

[WCGreen]

1. Populism is sooooo bad...

Well, if you worship capitalism as the only form of economic dogma...

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Actually it is

most expressions of populism = demagogy (Note that the Nazis in 1920's and '30's Germany, Mussolini's fascists, etc were populist in many of their methods).

In the current situation the threat of populism = the threat of the rise of far-right tendencies (nativist, anti-immigrant, protectionist, blaming other countries, immigrants, etc for fiscal and social problems).

[Mosaic]

17. The capitalist tool

The capitalist tool, the "World Bank" is afraid of being controlled by the people it looks down on, the masses. Typical.

[amandabeech]

2. Surprise! Surprise!

Frankly, I think that the surprise is that some of these globalism-is-god hacks have finally figured out the end game of their policies.

Now, what will they propose to do about it?

[AllentownJake]

3. Tax Cuts?

That seems to be always the answer.

[amandabeech]

21. Unfortunately, you're probably right.

Tax cuts are always the answer--even to ring around the collar.

[lib2DaBone]

4. in 1776 we fought a war to be independent of Foreign Bankers..

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson.... all fought to keep America free of the European Bankers.

How in the hell did they convince Woodrow Wilson to sign the Federal Reserve Act in 1913?

World War I, World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, now Afghanistan... it's been all war and inflation/recession since 1913.

Has anyone considered getting rid of the Fed... and let America print its own money?

oops.. I just remembered... wasn't it John F. Kennedy who advocated that the United States control its own currency? (He ended up with his brains blown out on the streets of Dallas)

[Old Coot]

7. What do you mean: let America print its own money? nt

[lib2DaBone]

9. Correct.... it goes far beyond the simple "Printing" of money...

it has to do with Interest, Usury, Monetization..

You Tube has a whole 12 part series on how money is created from thin air. (And how the wealth IS NOT spread around). Just Google it...

[Doctor Cynic]

12. What? You are aware that the War of Independence depended on the funding from Italian bankers?

[OHdem10]

5. Worrying about Protectionism makes me chuckle every time I hear

the Business Men --both foreign and homegrown, start wringing
their hands.

When are they going to see reality. Americans with no jobs,
or Americans with jobs with scaled DOWN salaries will no longer
be able to buy all that stuff the countries are accustomed to
selling here.

They can make all the Trade Deals they wish but if there are
not enough customers, Protectionism should be the least of their
concern.

THE U.S. has served as the largest market for many countries. This
worked until the Powers that Be decided to destroy the "world's
largest market."

I do not even think Wall Street gets it yet. Send all the jobs
away and lower salaries--duh, you fired all your customers.

Not a doomer gloomer, but this job situation is not going to get
better for a long long time. In fact, it will get worse.

[cyclezealot]

14. It's not protectionism that worries them.

It's their intellectual proprietary and franchise rights to export capital at will and maintain market share of offshore operations. . Not American jobs by any means. American jobs is of little interest because that certainly does not meet their standards for fast return.

[AllentownJake]

6. Ruh Roh

People are going to be broke with time on their hands and this world wide web thing has put a whole bunch of information available.

[izquierdista]

8. Not to worry

A lot of that world wide web information is porn, so people will have stuff to keep their hands busy.

[xchrom]

10. fuck these people.

governments are supposed to look after their people -- not the people bum-fuck-it-stan.

[pattmarty]

13. Well our government has been looking after "the people" for the.............

..................last 30 yrs. the people in the top 10% income bracket and above.

[bemildred]

15. You mean starving people can "act out"?

Give people food, shelter, clothing, basic health care, and education, and things will calm down.

[alfredo]

16. Bring back the WPA

[anonymous171]

18. lol scum of the earth capitalists bitching about protectionism.

This article made my day :rofl:

[mbperrin]

19. "the situation is less bad"?

Oh? Millions of citizens in this country with no access to health care, rising homelessness, huge debt burdens, crumbling infrastructure, and all this stupid fuck can say is "the situation is less bad"?

Well, it is true that stupid people whose only attribute is power to enslave don't have imaginations or empathy of any kind.

And they always seem so shocked when the folk with torch and pitchfork find them and put them against a wall....

[SOS]

20. "Abusive banks make people angry"

These economic experts are impressive.