Obama will solve the global financial crisis in a day – Amnesty

It will take Obama just one day to solve the global financial crisis and 20 days to reverse climate change, says an advert by Amnesty International released today.

Impossible? Amnesty International agrees, but it also says that Obama’s pledges on human righs are not impossible to achieve launching an online petition and checklist to this end.

 “We’re not asking for the impossible from Barack Obama, just that the USA makes a clean break with the past and begins to stand up for human rights,” Amnesty International’s UK director Kate Allen told The Guardian.

You can see the checklist and sign the petition here.

It’s a bad day for Banks, Germany

Today’s a bad day for banks worldwide as Barclays announces that 2,100 of its employees will see the sack. 

The stock market is also feeling bad vibes coming from HSBC as it mulls over whether it should increase its capital by $30 billion.

Meanwhile Deutsche Bank has posted a record loss of $4 billion in 2008. This has prompted the German government to invest money in the bank.

Germany too is not not being spared by bad news today as Le Monde quotes German finance minister Pier Steinbruck saying that his government’s deficit will be equivalent to 4% of his country’s total production.

(Video: REM – It’s been a bad day)

Brits are negative; Italians still upbeat

 

As sad as Onslow

When it comes to the economy, everyone’s become a bit like Onslow – negative.

Brits simply can’t trust Banks, the stockmarket and the government’s handling of the economy, The Guardian reports today as it refers to a global poll which tries to guage the different levels of trust towards these institutions in different countries. 

While Brits emerge as mostly pessimistic on most measures interviewed upon, the Italians are more optimistic.

Hoewever, Indians are the most optimistic of the lot, the survey shows.