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IMF finally knocks on Uncle Sam's door
David Hirst, The Age
IMAGINE the Reserve Bank of Australia, concerned that its friends in the city of Sydney (but perhaps Melbourne) who, having wallowed in wealth all their adult lives, were no longer gainfully employable and their wildly extravagant lifestyles were in danger, and, having the powers to intervene in the market, decided to do just that on their behalf.

Imagine them offering to enter the market and buy shares that would prop up the foolish gambles of the bankers, gambles they had encouraged them, until recently, to take by providing them with cheap money.

On top of that, they told this group they would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in credits to these same profiteers on the grounds they were so big and important to the economy they were indeed too big to fail.

Then, imagine, despite pouring untold taxpayers money into stocks and allowing their cronies access to vast sums, the system continued to fail. So they announced they would need greater power and with it more secrecy.

For its growing band of critics has, perhaps unwittingly and in the interest of public good, this has become the principal function of the US Federal Reserve.

If this was to happen in Australia the International Monetary Fund would be hammering at the door of the Reserve Bank. ...

Der Spiegel wrote that the IMF had "informed" Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke of plans that would have been unheard of in the past: a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF's board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment Program is to be carried out in the US.

This, Der Spiegel wrote, "is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system", adding that "no Fed chief in US history has been forced to submit to the kind of humiliation that Ben Bernanke is facing".

The fact that the IMF is knocking on the very doors of its parents and waving legal papers about who lost the house, the car and the kids will, if the past is anything to go by, be buried in the US by pom-pom waving on CNBC telling all what a great time it is to buy.
(30 June 2008)
Submitted by contributor Shane, who added the links to the Spiegel articles.

Midwest floods spotlight decrepit infrastructure
Andrew Stern, Reuters
The latest U.S. natural disaster is triggering fresh rounds of concern and debate about how to repair America's aging infrastructure.

... "The patch-and-pray approach simply won't succeed," said David Mongan, head of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

But the group also said its five-year cost estimate was outdated and does not count the price of new roads, rails, and sewers required by a growing population, nor the cost to repair damage inflicted by the recent Midwest floods
(1 July 2008)
Contributor Scott Chisholm Lamont writes:
Mentions the need for better passenger rail support, congestion pricing, and the need to factor in increased energy costs when planning infrastructure repair.

House hearing on climate change: costs of inaction (video)
US House, Energy Policy TV
The Subcommittee hears testimony on characterizing the costs should the federal government not move forward with regulating carbon emissions.

Part 1 of 4

Washington, DC - Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford Kt, FBA, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics and Political Science; Sherri Goodman, General Counsel, CNA, Executive Director, CNA Military Advisory Board; Anthony Janetos, Director, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Maryland; Jim Lyons, Vice President, Policy and Communications, Oxfam America; Ross McKitrick, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Economics, University of Guelph; Roger Pielke Sr., Senior Research Scientist, (CIRES), Senior Research Associate (ATOC), University of Colorado, Boulder; Chaired by Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA)
(26 June 2008)

Georgia Judge cites carbon dioxide in denying coal plant permit
Matthew L. Wald, New York Times
A judge in Georgia has thrown out an air pollution permit for a new coal-fired power plant because the permit did not set limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

Both opponents of coal use and the company that wants to build the plant said it was the first time a court decision had linked carbon dioxide to an air pollution permit.
(1 July 2008)