Recession? What recession...

Another article written a while back...

As the worlds stocks and shares tumble to their all time low for many years it seems that the global financial crisis is becoming a big deal, not only for investors but for everyday people like you and me.

With the threat of a global recession looming the small island of Cuba cannot help but laugh as we in the west struggle due to financial institutions. Cuba remains unaffected by the turmoil in the world as the US have a trading embargo with the country. This means that no “western” company can have formal dealings with Cuba as doing so will mean the US will cut off ties with them. Having in effect been isolated by the world Cuba has been forced to invest in the power of its own people so solve and meet its own demands. Ethical investing is investing in companies/countries that operate ethically, provide social benefits and are sensitive to the environment.

So is Cuba an ethical investor? The answer can be yes depending on your definition. Can the rest of the world take a leaf from Cuba’s book? Well the short answer to this question is no, unless they choose to become self sufficient and reduce their dependence on any other countries. While this may not be possible in the short term educating people and companies to start thinking socially and investing locally would be a good start.

Governments could also change banking systems around the world so that banks do not rely on each other for lending money and are totally self sufficient instead, thus helping the banking system globally.

Most importantly, governments could bring in more socially conscientious people to run the failed banks as well as other companies to ensure that the same mistakes are not made again, by the same people. “If the banking system were to change globally there would be less chance of problems such as the ones we are experiencing taking place in the future, as new people are bought in with new fresh ideas that are beneficial to all” according to a John Townsend an economics student.

Shailyn Shah

Iraq...the convenient truth.

Written a while back, but thought I would post it on here for you guys...

With over 90,000 civilian deaths in Iraq since March 2003 the war in Iraq is still a very topical issue in the media, but it seems not all aspects are readily covered in the news..

With protests taking place globally, there continues to be extreme pressure put on governments to withdraw troops from Iraq. The major invading countries have pledged to withdraw from Iraq in the very near future, but many other players are speculative as to the actual reasons for invading.

This uncertainty comes as the British government debates whether a public inquiry in to the Iraq war would be “dangerous” to the British public.

While governments claim that the war was to find weapons of mass destruction, none have yet to be found to this day. However, despite the assurances made by both Bush and Blair, many people argue the war in Iraq was for oil as Iraq has the second largest known oil reserve in the world.

David Wilson is an activist from the Stop the War Coalition, a British based organisation which fights to end the war occupation in Iraq.

“The war occupation was morally unjustified. The war was there to serve the interest of US imperialism, regardless of the lives lost, in which many companies gained from contracts provided by the American government,” he says.

Many US companies are benefiting from the Iraq war under the pretence of helping rebuild the country out to American companies. One of these companies is Halliburton, an American oil company.

According to the Asia times, a former subsidiary of Halliburton known as KBR has made “$31 billion for a variety of services to the US military, notably in the field of logistics, and the money continues to flow in”, for the six plus years they have been in Iraq.

“It would appear that the war was an excuse the US government to make vast sums of money at the expense of American and Iraqi lives,” says Wilson.

Belatedly the US congress has started to investigate this profiteering with the aim of bringing some of these companies to justice. Talks are still ongoing, as it is a very sensitive issue.

Whether this is successful is debatable as, the Bush administration and Dick Cheney, the former vice-president of the United States of America, have personally blocked, or influenced much of the released information.

Coincidently, Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000.

Issues raised by bringing these companies to justice include possible fraud, malpractice and political unrest from the American people, who will begin lack confidence in the democratic system.

Shailyn Shah

No university places...but at what cost?

Over the past week UK news headlines have been full of stories of how some 150,000 A-level students will be denied places at university this year, accounting for one in four of university applicants not getting a place.

As a very recent A-level student, I too was unable to make my grades for my university placement to study geography. As with similar people in my position I was put in to the University College Admissions Systems (UCAS) clearing system where you can search for a university placement and apply based on the grades you received. Typically, the better known universities do not go through the clearing process, with a few exceptions of course.

What many may be unaware of is that there are two separate clearing systems. One for “home/EU applicants” and the other for “International applicants”. With UK places so short it would be expected that universities would favour UK students, but instead are listing many places for international applicants which are not available for home and EU applicants.

Take for example the University of Bristol. On the home/EU applicant clearing page it reads “No courses found. Please try again”. However, on the international applicants page there are some 154 courses available (as of 2100 on 26^th August), in disciplines such as geography, philosophy, mathematics and chemistry.

Whilst it is true that international applicants bring in more money to the UK university system, it should also be that universities actively seek to allow home/EU students to prevent a repeat of this situation.

In the next round of university applications beginning in September, the UK government has set a quota on the number of places available. Combined with the 30,000 applicants who were unsuccessful in the year 2008 – 2009 and the 150,000 applicants unsuccessful in 2009 – 2010 the issue is likely to get worse and worse over the coming years unless the new British government takes steps to safeguard the education of both home and EU citizens.

Shailyn Shah