The recent heat wave is perhaps a hint of our future. Climate change has been discussed for many years, but very little has been done to avert the process. Bill McKibben has a sobering essay in Rolling Stone about the dynamics behind the process, and it is definitely worth reading. One of the implications of his analysis is that the only way to avert a global catastrophe is to prevent hydrocarbons from being burned; but the immense wealth associated with those hydrocarbons almost assure that those resources will never be expropriated.
The protests in Spain against austerity programs on Saturday were quite large and loud. Der Spiegel assesses the impact of the protests and how Spaniards interpret the German role in their economic slowdown. The article contains some great quotations from a diverse set of German newspapers. In addition, reports are beginning to circulate that the IMF will no longer provide aid to Greece. That action would virtually assure that Greece will have to leave the eurozone.
Meanwhile, tax havens are slowly becoming huge–perhaps holding as much as $32 trillion, out of a total world gross product of around $70 trillion. The important point about this money is that it evades taxation, depriving many communities of needed money. Additionally, by and large, that money is not available for productive investment. That money is not performing its expected role in the global economy.
World Politics News 
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