Central banks across the globe are joining forces to support a much larger rescue package for Greece. The news of the rescue seems to have calmed jittery investors and indicates that Greece is in fact “too big to fail” and, thus, will be bailed out with an astounding $950 billion from the European Central Bank. The New York Times is reporting that the central banks of England, Switzerland, Canada and Japan, along with the US Federal Reserve will make a coordinated effort to support the European banks. The US stock market responded very favorably to the news on Monday in early trading.
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A video (below) released by the the government shows the first images of one of the oil geysers currently pumping in excess of 200,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico. The geyser is visible about 2:15 minutes into the video.
The BBC is reporting that BP officials are scrambling after an attempt to cap the oil geyser with a massive dome failed this weekend. One option BP is said to be considering is dumping shredded tires and golf balls into the leak to try and plug it. According to the report, experts warn that if this technique were to fail and cause more damage to the equipment on the sea floor, the oil geyser could actually get much worse, potentially leaking oil at 12 times the current rate.
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Fannie Mae, the nationalized mortgage clearing house, continues to lose billions of dollars because of the ongoing deflation of the housing market bubble. Reuters is reporting that Fannie Mae lost $13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2010 and has requested an additional $15.3 billion from the US government. The continued taxpayer rescue of the mortgage industry does not have an end in sight as long as the housing market continues to lose value.
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The Guardian UK is reporting on the United Nations describing the coming economic impact of the destruction of animal species and habitats around the globe. The threats to humanity include food supply disruption, industrial production and an accelerated global warming. According to the report, goals set by the international community to limit biodiversity loss have been missed.
“Humanity has fabricated the illusion that somehow we can get by without biodiversity or that it is somehow peripheral to our contemporary world: the truth is we need it more than ever on a planet of 6 billion [people], heading to over 9 billion by 2050. Business as usual is no longer an option if we are to avoid irreversible damage to the life-support systems of our planet.” Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), told The Guardian.
The UN report can be read here.
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