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Both a meeting of economists in Switzerland and a summit of European leaders in Brussels this week discussed the money issues that threaten to tear apart the European economy and cause another worldwide recession.
What is the World Economic Forum?
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The World Economic Forum is held every year in the mountain town of Davos, Switzerland. |
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Many of the world’s top economists, politicians and business leaders meet in Davos, Switzerland this time every year for the World Economic Forum. During this year's meeting, participants discussed topics ranging from the world’s resource sustainability to the debt that many countries face today.
Outside, young protesters who are part of the global Occupy Wall Street movement camped out in igloos in frigid temperatures to remind delegates at the Forum that they oppose concentrating the world’s wealth in the hands of a few.
“The point is to show here, where the mightiest of the mighty are meeting, that we can’t allow the one percent...to decide on the fate of all humanity,” Raphael Wuettrich, the Davos Occupy camp leader, told the Wall Street Journal.
European leaders debate another treaty
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been a major part of the group of leaders trying to address Greece's debt problems. She is shown here at the World Economic Forum. |
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Meanwhile, in Brussels, European leaders are trying to agree on a new treaty that would require all countries in the European Union to control how much money they borrow. The treaty was introduced because Greece, a European Union member, has a ballooning national debt that threatens to bring the entire European and world economies into another recession. Many banks and investors have money tied up in Greece’s debt and could falter if Greece fails to pay back its loans.
Greece agreed to pay back much of what it owed on March 14, a key payment deadline, with the help of bailouts from other EU countries. To make the payments, Greece agreed to try to cuts its government spending, but so far lawmakers can’t agree on the details. That makes investors and world leaders nervous and will likely lead to many more European summits in the coming weeks as they try to come to an agreement.
The state of the Occupy movement
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Occupy D.C. protesters are facing a deadilne by which they must remove all signs of camping from their gathering spaces. |
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As recession and debt worries plague the world’s economies, young protesters around the world continue to gather against what they view as an increasingly unequal distribution of wealth. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters say economic policies are putting most of the money in the hands of the wealthiest one percent of the population.
In New York City, where the Occupy Wall Street movement began, protesters remain camped out in Zuccotti Park, near the New York Stock Exchange and many of the world’s biggest financial institutions. In Washington, D.C., however, Occupy Wall Street protesters were told to pack up all camping equipment because National Park Police announced they would begin enforcing a law against camping in public areas.
Although some protesters did begin to pack up their belongings, others balked at the order and instead constructed a gigantic “Tent of Dreams” in the middle of their encampment, meant to send the message that they aren’t going anywhere. Currently, they are set for a showdown with police officers who were instructed to enforce the no camping ban at noon on Jan. 30.
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I think we've been witnessing violence for years, whether in reality through the media or through video games, and I don't think that's a first-hand effect.
