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Jobs, Money, Scott Walker: Is It Time for Democrats to Panic? - YAHOO!
Democrats are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad June. But if it’s time to start panicking, most of them haven’t gotten the memo.
Despite a spate of negative news, Democrats nationwide, both publicly and privately, seem remarkably Zen about their party’s prospects in November and unwilling to take out any frustration on their man in the Oval Office just yet. “Is there any anxiety on our side? Yes,” said Jerry Crawford, a longtime Democratic activist in Iowa. “Should the other side be feeling at least as much anxiety? Yes. There’s plenty of concern everywhere for both sides.”
(VIDEO: Obama Ad Blames Congress on Jobs)
The announcement on Thursday that the Republican National Committee and Mitt Romney’s campaign outraised Democrats and the Obama campaign by $15 million came on top of a stinging rebuke in Wisconsin’s recall election, rising unemployment, a churning economic crisis abroad, and increasingly tight polls that appear to show Obama’s reelection prospects dimming.
Many strategists say that despite the perceived intensity of the presidential race--propelled by the deluge of money already being spent and the volume of ads pounding the airwaves--June is too soon to start fretting about general-election voters, particular the sliver of undecideds who will largely determine the election outcome but may not tune in until after Labor Day. They also point to the fact that in various swing regions of the country, the president’s numbers have stayed more or less stable.
Moreover, even if the GOP success in Wisconsin shifted the traditionally blue state to toss-up status, as an Obama campaign video made by manager Jim Messina seemed to acknowledge, they say the president's campaign has a variety of plausible routes to reach the 270 electoral votes required for a second term.
The May jobs report indicating a slowdown in the economic recovery sparked much speculation over whether Obama is doomed. Democrats say that’s premature. “It’s unfortunate that the jobs recovery is not stronger than it is and that’s cause for concern, but hopefully the trend will reverse and we’ll see an improvement in the jobs market--and that remains to be seen,” said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
(RELATED: Disappointing Jobs Report Doesn't Make Obama an Underdog)
Mark Nevins, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic political consultant, said there will be many more ups and downs for both campaigns before Election Day and it’s best not to put too much stock in a single data point. “In general, people feel pretty good about the president’s ability to compete with Mitt Romney’s record, so right now I’m not sensing a lot of anxiety,” he said. “On an x’s and o’s level, there’s always been a roadmap for Democrats and Obama, and I don’t know that the roadmap has changed.”
The sentiment was confirmed in National Journal’s latest Congressional Insiders poll, which asked if after last week’s disappointing jobs numbers, the president is now the underdog against Romney. Both Democratic and Republican Congressional Insiders overwhelmingly answered no, citing the advantages of incumbency and the ephemeral nature of one jobs report.
Democrats are less worried about Obama’s performance than they are about factors out of their control, such as how Republicans will handle crucial upcoming debates on jobs, spending, taxes, and the debt ceiling; the prospect of a global economic slowdown, which they know Obama cannot control and which could easily derail his hopes for a second term; and whether their party can stay competitive with Romney on fundraising front. The alarmism about money by Democrats whose job it is to raise it intensified this week after the GOP released its fundraising report and an avalanche of outside money helped Gov. Scott Walker keep his job in Wisconsin.
Messina warned potential donors that the Wisconsin recall--in which Democrats were outspent more than seven-to-one--was a “terrifying experiment” in the power of money. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued a tense statement calling the defeat “a wake-up call” for Democrats that they can’t win without aggressive--and expensive--TV advertising.
(RELATED: Has the Presidential Turning Point Arrived?)
In a neighboring Rust Belt state, Brian Rothenberg, executive director of the liberal group ProgressOhio, didn’t seem spooked. He wasn’t expecting anything less than a tight race in 2012. “We’ve been a bellwether state now every year except 1996. I don’t think either party can take Ohio lightly. You have to do the things within your control--organize and plan and do a good field campaign,” he said. “The pressure and panicky-ness that’s going on in Washington with an extremely tight race—that’s nothing new here in Ohio. That’s just the norm.”
Even in places where the president’s prospects look most endangered, some Democrats see a silver lining. “To me, the important thing is we’re still debating about what [Obama’s] chances are in North Carolina,” said Democratic consultant Gary Pearce, who has worked on campaigns in the state since the mid-1970s. Running Democrats against Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 was “murderous,” he said. Now candidates at all levels are happy to piggyback off the formidable resources the Obama campaign has brought to the state. “They’re all hoping that the president is a tide that lifts all boats,” Pearce said.
With a few high-profile exceptions—including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Arizona congressional candidate Ron Barber, who is running for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's seat—there hasn’t been a concerted effort on Democrats’ part to divorce themselves from the president or the national party message. Obama leads the polls in a number of swing states, buoyed in some by his decision to bail out the auto industry. “I always say, send the president more, we would love to see him tomorrow and the next day and the next day,” said Chris Redfern, Democratic Party chairman in Ohio, where liberal Sen. Sherrod Brown is in the fight of his political career against up-and-coming conservative star Josh Mandel.
Democrats acknowledge that Obama has a nuanced sell to make to voters discouraged by how long economic misery has persisted. “It’s hard to get people to remember how bad things could’ve gotten—that’s a tough message to send,” said John Wertheim, a former Democratic Party official in New Mexico. Still, he said, there’s also a clear contrast to make with Romney and the GOP vision. Wertheim's outlook, like those of other Democrats: “Cautiously optimistic.”
Fair Finance criminal trial starts today in Indianapolis - Akron Beacon Journal
Wiretapped telephone conversations could provide key evidence as the federal government starts making its case Monday that the Indiana-based executives of Fair Finance Co. in Akron defrauded thousands of Northeast Ohio investors out of more than $200 million.
Jury selection starts today in Indianapolis in the criminal trial of Fair Finance co-owners Timothy S. Durham and James F. Cochran and the chief financial officer of the business, Rick D. Snow, a former Akron-based accountant.
Opening arguments are to begin Monday before Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson in U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Indiana in downtown Indianapolis.
Durham, Cochran and Snow are accused of defrauding about 5,300 Ohio residents and organizations — mostly in the Greater Akron area — who had purchased uninsured investment certificates totaling about $230 million from now-bankrupt Fair Finance.
The trial could take three to four weeks, prospective jurors have been told by the court. (News reporters have been told they may bring in only paper pads and pens — no electronic devices, including phones, are allowed.)
John Tompkins, Durham’s attorney, said it appears the government will try to build a major part of its case on excerpts of hours of wiretapped phone calls. The public defender representing Cochran declined to comment.
By contrast, Tompkins said he expects to provide the jury with the full tapes and transcripts, saying the government transcripts are an “alteration” that is not in context with the complete conversations.
The government has “taken words and phrases,” he said. “They had a preliminary filing in which they chose seven sentences out of a 50-minute phone call. ... We feel the full phone call is really the only context.”
Tompkins earlier claimed that the wiretaps were illegal but last month failed to get the wiretap evidence thrown out. He also has taken exception to what he says is the U.S. attorney’s attempt to make his client’s lifestyle a major part of the case.
Jeffrey Baldwin, the lawyer representing Snow, said he could not say much beyond that his client is anxious to get the trial over with.
“It’s going to be an interesting trial,” Baldwin said. “Obviously, there are a number of issues. It will deal with everyone’s perception of what happened and why it happened. Everyone has a different opinion on that.”
Baldwin said any lifestyle issues that the government might raise probably will not have a major impact on Snow’s case.
Snow “wasn’t a partner. He was an employee,” Baldwin said.
The weight of the wiretaps
The government alleges that wiretaps from 2009 bolster its claim that Durham and Cochran used Fair Finance money to pay for lavish lifestyles of mansions, valuable cars, artwork and more while failing to disclose that information and the weak financial state of Fair and related businesses to the thousands of Ohio residents who bought Fair’s investment certificates.
The uninsured certificates, which provided working capital to Fair, paid higher interest rates than what banks offered in insured accounts.
In court filings, the government has said the wiretaps showed that Durham and Cochran conspired to hide the true, poor financial state of Fair Finance from investors.
According to court filings, defense attorneys and U.S. attorney’s office continued to joust this week over what government wiretap evidence will be introduced.
Potential witnesses
Witness lists for both the defense and prosecution have not been made public. Tompkins said that while he would not provide any details, he did not see any surprises on the witness lists.
In other court filings, the government said it intends to call about 20 witnesses, including “investor-victims of the defendant’s fraud scheme,” former employees of Fair Finance and related companies, accountants, recipients of Fair Finance money and others.
“Among the most significant exhibits will be financial records, summaries of financial records, e-mails, wiretap calls and Fair’s offering circulars. Those witnesses and exhibits will establish the following scheme to defraud,” the government said in a May court filing.
The government’s exhibit list has 185 items on it.
Judge Magnus-Stinson on Wednesday ruled that Fair Finance investors may testify hypothetically about whether they would have invested in Fair had they known the facts that the government will introduce as evidence.
Durham’s defense
Tompkins’ exhibit and witness list is predominantly page after page listing wiretap call transcripts, Fair Finance documents and e-mails to and from various people, including Durham.
Tompkins has said that he intends to show that Fair Finance collapsed because of financial conditions in 2008, not fraud. So-called offering circulars given to investment certificate buyers disclosed what Fair Finance was doing with its money, he said.
Tompkins said he will not know until the government rests its case whether Durham will testify.
“It’s always the defendant’s choice,” he said. “I never give final advice until the government has rested its case.”
Tompkins said that Durham is “very much looking forward to the entire story being told” about Fair Finance.
“The trial really gets a lot closer to the full story,” he said.
Unfair finance
The FBI raided Fair Finance’s offices in Akron and related offices in Indianapolis just before Thanksgiving in 2009 and seized paper and computer records. The small accounts receivable and financing company, founded in 1934, never re-opened.
Fair Finance was forced into bankruptcy in February 2010; the Cleveland-based bankruptcy trustee overseeing the dissolution of the business and recovery of assets has said his investigation shows Fair Finance was operated as a Ponzi investment scheme after longtime owner Donald Fair — his father started the company — sold the business in 2002 to Durham and Cochran.
An Akron Beacon Journal investigation showed that immediately after Durham and Cochran purchased Fair Finance in January 2002, they began taking money from the Akron company to prop up other businesses they owned that were losing money; Fair Finance’s historic business model involved using certificate money to buy accounts receivable.
An investigation by the Indianapolis Business Journal, published shortly before the November 2009 FBI raids, noted that insider loans involving Fair Finance, Durham’s parent corporation Obsidian Enterprises and individuals, including Durham, Cochran and others, were piling up.
Durham, Cochran and Snow were arrested and charged in March 2011 following an indictment returned by a grand jury.
They are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; fraud by wire, radio or television; and securities fraud.
The charges carry maximum prison terms of five to 20 years plus a fine as large as $250,000 on each conviction.
The three men have been under house arrest.
At the time of the arrests last year, the FBI said that this was the largest fraud investigation in the history of the FBI in Indiana.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Indianapolis had little comment.
“We feel like we are prepared for the trial,” said spokesman Tim Horty.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Money fund assets fall $8.04 billion to $2.564 trillion in latest week - Washington Post
Meanwhile, assets of institutional money market funds fell $10.92 billion to $1.674 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable money market fund assets fell $10.97 billion to $1.588 trillion; assets of tax-exempt funds rose $50 million to $86.41 billion.
The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds was 0.03 percent in the week that ended Tuesday, unchanged from the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westborough, Mass.
The 30-day average yield was also unchanged from last week at 0.03 percent. The seven-day compounded yield was flat at 0.03 percent. The 30-day compounded yield was unchanged at 0.03 percent, Money Fund Report said.
The average maturity of portfolios held by money market mutual funds was the same as the previous week at 45 days.
The online service Bankrate.com said its survey of 100 leading commercial banks, savings and loan associations and savings banks in the nation’s 10 largest markets showed the annual percentage yield available on money market accounts was unchanged from last week at 0.13 percent.
The North Palm Beach, Fla.-based unit of Bankrate Inc. said the annual percentage yield available on interest-bearing checking accounts was unchanged from the week before at 0.06 percent.
Bankrate.com said the annual percentage yield on six-month certificates of deposit was also unchanged from the previous week at 0.21 percent. The yield on one-year CDs fell to 0.32 percent from 0.33 percent. It fell to 0.51 percent from 0.52 percent on two-and-a-half-year CDs. It was flat at 1.12 percent on five-year CDs.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Football and finance: how England will beat Spain in Euro 2012 - Daily Telegraph Blogs
Best of luck, mate, but how much will this trip cost us?
England football fans heading off to Euro 2012, which starts today, can be confident of beating their Spanish counterparts in at least one respect.
It would cost each England fan £1,273 less to follow their team all the way to the final – assuming results on the pitch warrant that – totting up ticket costs, local hotel bills, travel, food and drink, plus the price of a new replica shirt for the tournament.
A combination of playing two of their group games in Donetsk – which is the least expensive venue – plus lower costs later in the tournament, would send England fans to the final on July 1 in Kiev spending just £383 more than fans of host nation Ukraine.
The explanation is that Ukraine has a run of games in the most expensive location, Kiev. This means that its fans will spend £3,943 – more than fans from Greece and the Netherlands if they get to the final, according to Virgin Money’s Football Fans’ Inflation Index. In case you missed it, this index has been tracking English football fans’ costs since 1996, when a typical Premier League match day cost £78 compared to nearly £113 today; an increase of 45pc.
Back to Euro 2012, getting through all three Group D games against France, Sweden and the Ukraine would cost England fans around £2,122, with the opening match against France in Donetsk costing £819.
Disappointingly, England fans will lose out narrowly to German supporters, who would spend £57 less to follow the 2008 runners-up to the final. Simon Hall, spokesman for Virgin Money, said their calculations were based on information from UEFA.com and expedia.co.uk. He added: “Some fans might say that seeing England lift the Euro 2012 trophy would be priceless. But the costs will certainly mount up if – against the odds – England do make the final.
“To keep costs down, fans need to make sure they aim to get the best deals possible. A first Euro Championship win for England will last forever, but you don’t want the debts to last forever as well.”
With the cheapest hotel charging £660 for three nights in Kiev, perhaps it’s no surprise that more than half the 30,000 tickets allocated to England fans remain unsold. With rising fears of a double-dip recession, many seem to have decided the best way to save money is to stay at home and watch Euro 2012 on TV – you can see the full BBC and ITV schedule here.
Money Tips for Globe-Trotters - New York Times
GET A CREDIT CARD WITH A CHIP Many globe-trotting travelers have discovered that American credit cards, with their outdated magnetic stripes, are not always accepted now that most of the world has shifted to cards that use a smart chip instead. While merchants in Asia, Europe and elsewhere are supposed to be able to swipe our vintage plastic, many automated kiosks can’t do that, which can be a problem at train stations and subways.
The future has finally arrived — or at least the first wave of progress. Just before I left on my Asia trip, I got a FlexPerks Visa card from U.S. Bank that has a chip and a magnetic stripe, one of a growing number of American credit cards that now offer a “chip and signature” option. This isn’t entirely a solution because the global standard is “chip and PIN” technology, meaning you enter a PIN, or security code, after a payment terminal reads the card’s chip.
When I called U.S. Bank before my trip, I was told that I could get a PIN, but that any purchase using this code would be treated like a cash advance with 21 percent interest — obviously, not an option! Fortunately, the card worked fine when I used it without a PIN to buy a train ticket from an automated kiosk in Hong Kong. As I later learned, even without a PIN, a chip-and-signature card will work at most automated kiosks around the world because a signature is not required for purchases under $50. And at payment terminals used by stores and restaurants, the chip essentially tells the machine, “This card doesn’t have a PIN, so spit out a receipt for the customer to sign.”
The annual fee on my card is $49. Other chip-and-signature cards with annual fees under $100 include three options from Chase — the J. P. Morgan Select Visa, the British Airways Visa and the Hyatt Visa — and Citi Thank You or Executive/AAdvantage MasterCards. For a more complete list, visit FlyerTalk.com and search for “chip and signature” cards; the frequent fliers who trade tips there keep a running list of these cards and their annual fees.
CHECK YOUR CARD’S FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE Another consideration is whether your credit card issuer charges a foreign transaction fee — usually 1 to 3 percent of every purchase, including the 1 percent Visa or MasterCard fee that banks pass along to their customers. But now that the government requires card issuers to disclose these fees clearly, some companies have gotten rid of them.
The personal finance site NerdWallet.com lists dozens of cards that do not charge a foreign transaction fee, including all of the credit cards issued by Capital One (which bucked this trend long before other banks). Alas, many of the credit cards that travelers use because they earn frequent-flier miles still impose this charge, like the American Express Delta SkyMiles card, and the ones that don’t often have high annual fees, like the Chase British Airways Visa ($95 per year). But unless you travel abroad frequently or spend a lot on your credit card, it’s probably not worth paying a high annual fee to avoid this charge. Since most of my hotels were billed in dollars with no fees, and I paid cash for most purchases, I paid only $10 in foreign transaction fees during my trip.
TELL YOUR BANK WHERE YOU’RE TRAVELING Before I left for Asia, I made four phone calls to let my bank and credit card companies know that I would be traveling abroad — a step banks advise customers to take so an unusual spending pattern doesn’t trigger a fraud alert. As I waited on hold after working through the automated phone menu, I wondered why banks don’t make this chore easier and offer a travel notification tool online.
It turns out, some do. Jim Bruene, who blogs at Netbanker.com, posted the results of an informal test he conducted, finding it took him about a minute each to register travel notifications online with Capital One and Chase, and 7 to 10 minutes to do it over the phone with Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank (which don’t offer online options). Citi is another bank that does.
Someday, Mr. Bruene predicts, banking apps will provide a better solution to this problem.
“Your mobile banking app will sense where you are and your card will be able to work there,” he said. In the meantime, look for a “travel notification” tool in the customer service area of your bank’s Web site before you pick up the phone.
LEARN THE EXCHANGE RATE BEFORE YOU LAND Every time I travel abroad, I stumble off the aircraft, find an A.T.M. in the airport, press the button for English and get stumped when I’m asked, “How many yen (or pesos, or Brazilian real) do you want?” You can’t tell the machine, “Give me the equivalent of $200.”
After landing in Tokyo, I had to cancel the transaction and find a billboard down the hall with the current exchange rate; since $250 is about 20,000 yen, I had panicked about entering such a high number in a fog of jet lag at the A.T.M.
Save yourself that anxiety by visiting a currency conversion site like xe.com before your trip and writing down how much you want to withdraw once you land. I’d also recommend reading the “money” section of a guidebook to see if the country you’re visiting has any financial quirks. For instance, in Japan, many A.T.M.’s don’t accept foreign bank cards, and the ones that do are scarce. At the main train station in Tokyo, an information booth attendant gave us a map and highlighted the route we’d have to follow (down the escalator, left at the second corridor, up the stairs, etc.) to find an “international A.T.M.”
We had 10 minutes before our train left for Kyoto, and after that sprint I learned to keep an eye out for a Citibank or the local version of 7-Eleven, the two main operators of international A.T.M.’s. Belatedly, I noticed that information was mentioned in my guidebook. But it’s good advice anytime you’re in a foreign country, especially if you’re heading off the beaten path: don’t wait until you’re almost out of cash to look for an A.T.M.
Money skills programme to help Neet young people goes national - Children & Young People Now
A financial education programme for young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) is expanding following successful pilot projects.
Many young people do not have a household budget, so Barclays Money Skills aims to give them the skills to manage their finances. Image: Barclays
Barclays is linking up with a consortium of youth and information charities – the National Youth Agency, Citizens Advice, Rathbone UK, UK Youth, YouthNet, and Youth Access – to roll out the Money Skills champions programme.
The project aims to recruit young people who are classed as Neet, giving them skills and “money know-how” training to then go on to share the knowledge with their peer group.
Eventually it is hoped that 5,000 young people will be trained as “champions”, who can then go on to share financial capability skills with up to 100,000 other young people.
Fiona Blacke, NYA chief executive, said: “Young people are facing significant challenges and want to reach out to people they trust for help and advice.
“It is essential that the information they receive is accurate, to ensure they are appropriately equipped to negotiate financial problems and money management issues.
“The programme will prepare young people who need it most with skills and knowledge to support themselves and their friends."
Pilot projects for the programme have been completed in eight areas across England.
More than 100 of the 450 adult support workers that the project needs to roll out nationwide have so far been recruited.
Michelle Smith, head of community affairs in the UK for Barclays, said: “It is vital that young people are given the best start in life.
“Having good money management skills, particularly when faced with a constrained budget and trying to be financially independent for the first time, is vital to enhancing their life opportunities and preparing them for a secure future.”
CSC finance director exits as fraud probe hits UK - Computer Weekly
The Cabinet Office has meanwhile extended negotiations with CSC over the NHS contract until 31 August, a year-after the coalition government said it had resolved its NHS IT problems.
Computer Weekly understands finance director Neil Malcolm left within the last month. CSC refused to discuss the nature of his departure.
A CSC spokeswoman said: "It is company policy not to comment on internal matters or matters relating to staff departures."
$25m of "Intentional irregularities" were found in the accounts of CSC's £3bn NHS IT contract after a year-long investigation by independent auditors, said CSC in a financial statement last week.
"Certain CSC finance employees based in the United Kingdom were aware prior to fiscal 2012 of the aforementioned errors, but those employees failed to appropriately correct the errors.
"Therefore, the Company has classified these errors as intentional. As a result, certain personnel have been suspended and additional disciplinary actions are being considered."
The errors had overstated CSC's income from the NHS contract by $24m after failing to account for costs.
Andy Thomson, vice president of international finance at CSC, refused to confirm whether Malcolm's departure was related to any fraudulent activity. He refused to answer any questions about the matter.
Investigators had found other accounting problems with the NHS contract, on which CSC wrote off $1.5bn last year after its continued failure to meet a 2007 deadline to deliver computer systems to health bodies over two-thirds of England. The investigation was ongoing. CSC did not expect further revelations would involve amounts large enough to dent its financials.
The US SEC probe, which is also ongoing, led to a string of revelations about intentional accounting errors in CSC's Nordics, Australia and Americas businesses. CSC Denmark CEO Carsten Lind resigned as details of the accounting problems broke last Autumn. Hundreds of redundancies have followed in the wake of a major Danish public sector IT failure and the loss of CSC's largest private sector customer in the region, the telecoms firm TDC, to Indian outsourcer Tata.
CSC is making approximately 1,100 redundancies in the UK, thought to be about 15 per cent of its local workforce, as it stands down teams that had been working on the NHS contract and absorbs the shock of financial results that recorded a $4.3bn world-wide loss last week.
The majority of the loss was attributed to the NHS write-off and a $2.7bn loss of goodwill over numerous acquisitions CSC had made in the last 10 years. $269m was attributed to a settlement CSC made with the US Army over its Logistics Modernisation Programme, one of 11 ERP projects that caused trouble for the US Department of Defence.
Neil Malcolm was unavailable for comment.
Calls to stop British aid money pouring into Argentina: Country owes UK taxpayers £225MILLION - Daily Mail
By Gerri Peev
|
Argentina owes British taxpayers 225 million, it emerged, as the government faced calls to halt any further support to the aggressor country.
Ministers have been urged to oppose any further World Bank loans to Argentina, after an escalation of tension over the Falkland Islands and a threatened boycott of British goods.
The World Bank - which Britain is a major shareholder of - has shelled out 10.4 billion in loans to Argentina. The UK’s share of this is over 225 million, according to parliamentary answers given to Tory MP Priti Patel.
Both Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne and Barack Obama have spoken out against the World Bank loan to Argentina which currently stand at 10.4 billion
The TaxPayers’ Alliance yesterday launched an online petition called StopFundingArgentina.org.
It urged British ministers to use their votes to oppose further loans of the World Bank to Argentina.
A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: ‘Britain can and should act to stop further World Bank loans to Argentina. This is a key opportunity to show that our aid policy reflects rather than ignores Britain’s broader national interests.
The Argentinian government has launched recent attacks on British interests by advocating a boycott of British goods. It has also tried to claim sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
Britain’s response has been muted so far.
In contrast, President Obama has already ensured that America will oppose any new loans to Argentina because the country had failed to respect its obligations to earlier lenders.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Meanwhile the Foreign Office yesterday accused Argentina of ‘domineering’ behaviour ahead of an official visit to mark the 30th anniversary of the liberation of the Falklands.
Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said he was disappointed at the Argentinian government’s aggressive stance.
Buenos Aires is launching criminal proceedings against British oil firms operating off the Falkland’s coastline.
Mr Browne said Argentina seemed determined to destroy the islands’ economic livelihood.
Ahead of his visit to the remote isles, Mr Browne said: ‘Sometimes there is a narrative from Argentina - and the decolonisation committee is prompted by that narrative - that here is Britain, this big, global power, and poor Argentina, that is going to the decolonisation committee at the UN to try and have their voice heard, well that is the Argentinean narrative.
‘Let me put forward what I think is a much more accurate, contemporary narrative, which is that there is a G20 country, at the top table of world affairs, one would imagine keen to be responsible on the world stage, with a population of about 40 million people, seeking to put an economic blockade in place which will, in tangible terms the ambition of that is, to impoverish an isolated community with about 3,000 people.’
He added: ‘Which party in this arrangement are behaving in a domineering way and who are the vulnerable population who are having to make their way in the world despite a much more powerful country going out of their way to make that harder for them? I think that it’s pretty clear cut.’
Diplomatic sources have warned that the UK is facing a ‘difficult few months’ with Argentina during this anniversary year.
June 14 marks exactly 30 years since the liberation of the Falkland Islands.
The British Government is not organising its own official commemorations this year because it is Whitehall policy to use public money only for 25th, 50th, 60th and 100th anniversaries.
But Mr Browne will travel to the Island to attend the annual Liberation Day service on June 14.
A spokesman for the Department of International Development said: ‘No British taxpayers’ money is spent on World Bank loans to Argentina. The Secretary of State will consider Britain’s position on any future World Bank loans when the time comes.’
However, Britain’s share of Argentina’s outstanding loans is over 225 million, based on the UK’s shareholding of the two World Bank institutions who lend to the country.
As the Chinese say,'If this is how you treat your enemies, then how will you treat your friends?' That would buy a few Excocet missiles for the Argintinians!
- Dragonhead, New Zealand, 08/6/2012 05:37
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