Millions have hoped against hope that Barack Obama represents real
change. But these sincere hopes were dealt another blow with the
selection of Senator Joseph Biden from Delaware as Obama’s vice
presidential running mate. Biden has had a long career in politics, and
is often portrayed as a “liberal.” However, a brief look at his
policies only goes to show the sorry state that bourgeois liberalism
finds itself in!

“The
Icelandic economy is prosperous and flexible” (IMF 4 July 2008)

(There
is) “a very real danger…that the Icelandic economy, in the worst case, could
be sucked with the banks into the whirlpool and the result could be national
bankruptcy.” (Iceland’s Prime Minister Geir Haarde – address to the nation 6
October 2008)

What happened to Iceland in the period of three
months to explain this change?

Communism is
suddenly back in fashion in Japan. The reason is not hard to seek. ‘Lifetime
employment’ is a thing of the past for young workers, who face a casualised and
insecure future. One in three is temping. Some 44% of country’s workforce are
part-time only, while a profusion of short-term contracts has created a
generation of freelancers who are often ‘between jobs’. They have already worked
out that, as recession bites, they will be first in the firing line. They are
drawing political conclusions in increasing numbers.