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According to internationally acclaimed author and highly regarded expert Lester Brown, writing in the January 10 issue of Foreign Policy magazine:
Tonight there will be 219,000 additional mouths to feed at the dinner table, and many of them will be greeted with empty plates.
Another 219,000 will join us tomorrow night.
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When the Portuguese Parliament failed to pass an austerity bill on March 23, the country’s Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, resigned. That move leaves Portugal leaderless for at least two months while facing a significant financial crisis: it must refinance nearly $13 billion of short-term debt by June. Investors have already pushed interest rates on Portugal’s sovereign 10-year debt to almost 8 percent, while credit-rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor’s both downgraded that debt’s quality on March 24.
The European Union (EU) has already bailed out Greece and Ireland, and a top official announced that the EU has the resources to rescue Portugal, if necessary. The bailout would cost an estimated $60 billion to $80 billion.
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In their haste to leave Washington and attempt to rescue whatever might be left of their political careers, politicians put off until a lame-duck session any serious discussion of last-minute agenda items. And many of those aren’t expected to see the light of day at the post-election session set to being November 15, according to The Hill. Alexander Bolton wrote that “Democrats will be hard-pressed to pass even a small part of their lame-duck agenda.”
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