Negotiators in Brussels agreed on Wednesday to a large expansion of the bailout fund which eurozone member nations have set up in response to the sovereign debt troubles at the epicenter of the European portion of the global financial crisis.

The BBC provides background and news on the Eurozone crisis:

If economies are not growing, tax receipts fall, making it harder for governments to pay off their debts.  So far Greece, Portugal and the Irish Republic have received international help to deal with their crippling debt problems.  In July, eurozone leaders agreed a second bailout deal for Greece, and also agreed more powers for the European Financial Stability Fund to help countries struggling with indebtedness.  This allowed the fund to buy government debt (bonds), offer credit to nations in difficulty and created a special facility for recapitalising banks.

Wednesday’s development greatly increased the size of the EFSF bailout fund, from 440bn euros to 1tn euros.  This money comes from the richer countries, such as France and Germany, by way of taxpayer funds or inflation from the countries’ central banks printing money.  As a condition of their help, the donor nations insist on budget reforms in the countries who receive funds.  In Greece, this has resulted in austerity measures such as wage and pension cuts that have sparked sometimes violent protests.

With the complexity of today’s globally intertwined financial markets, the biggest fear of authorities is contagion, whereby a faltering bank or government causes a cascade of failures of other banks or governments who hold debt or other interests in the troubled entity.  In the United States, the taxpayer-funded TARP program and trillions of dollars in near-zero-interest loans made by the Federal Reserve have been used to prevent contagion.

This most recent eurozone deal has resulted in some losses and concessions from the banks and countries which hold troubled assets.  Banks and creditor nations have agreed to swap old bonds the Greek government has little hope of repaying for replacement bonds that pay less interest.   In addition, banks will be forced to raise additional capital to reduce their risk of failure in the event of a future contagion.

Like many of the deals reached in recent years around the world, these agreements represent enormous sums of money, yet few people understand where it’s coming from or going to, and most decisions are made behind closed doors by negotiators from banks, central banks, and the national treasuries.  Protesters from the streets of Greece to the encampment of Occupy Boston are demanding greater transparency in such deals, and greater consideration of how people will be affected, rather than worrying only about saving banks which have chosen to make risky loans.

To Our Brothers and Sisters of Occupy Boston:

We wish to express our solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Your struggle has inspired us here in Dublin, just as it has inspired people across the world.

While certain problems are unique to Ireland, we see this ultimately as a global struggle, and we stand united with you as the 99%. We hope to open a dialogue with you and find a way to share strategies and support.

You can learn more about our occupation at OccupyFameStreet.org.

Le gach dea ghui,^*

The People of Occupy Dame Street

^* “With good wishes”

The following letter was written to the Boston Teachers Union regarding a potential fundraising event by Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel, who were both unanimously voted to be disavowed from all Occupy Boston financial activities. The letter was written by the Financial Accountability Working Group and addressed to publicly listed members of the Boston Teachers Union. It is being reposted here for transparency.

On behalf of Occupy Boston, we wanted to reach out thanking for your
support for our movement. However, it has come to our attention that
you all may be the target of a potential fundraising scam. Recently,
the Finance Accountability Working Group of Occupy Boston has passed a
resolution disavowing Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel from any
financial activities on behalf of Occupy Boston. We’ve included the
text to the resolution that we passed below, as well as a link to the
Press Release that was posted on our official website. The reason for
their disavowal was embezzlement of Occupy Boston funds and a lack of
transparency and accountability in all actions. They have specifically
been stripped of any privilege to raise funds on behalf of Occupy
Boston.

We were informed they may be trying to throw a fundrasier in
conjunction with the Boston Teachers Union, so we felt it incumbent on
ourselves to let you all know the actions we’ve taken on the matter.
Given their corruption, we strongly recommend against giving them any
funds for any reason whatsoever.

We regret that our first point of contact with you had to come with
such a negative tone. We cherish your support and look forward to
working with you in the future.

Unfortunately, the heavy-handed police response in Oakland, California that we posted about earlier has continued. Tuesday evening, and throughout the night, over 500 members or the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and 16 other agencies around central California arrested around 97 protesters at Occupy Oakland and dispersed hundreds more. Protesters who went to reoccupy the space at the Oakland Library were met with heavily armed riot police using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades.

As in Boston, the Oakland Police Department’s use of force seriously injured an Occupy activist who was also an Iraq War veteran:

Scott Olsen, 24, remains sedated on a respirator, in stable but critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital after being hit in the head with a police projectile . . . .

In another instance of misconduct, OPD treated Occupy Oakland street medics as an excuse to throw more firepower, lobbing a flash-bang grenade at a group of people trying to evacuate a protester who had been knocked out by police.

This video highlights the extreme tactics used by police to remove the peaceful protesters of Occupy Oakland:

This is what the OPD had to say after their actions:

Q. Did the Police deploy rubber bullets, flash-bag grenades?

A. No, the loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at Police by protesters. In addition, Police fired approximately four bean bag rounds at protesters to stop them from throwing dangerous objects at the officers.

There are reports that some protesters may have thrown bottles, rocks, and possibly fireworks at police; however, it should be noted, that, as The Guardian reports,

The violence in Oakland is against a backdrop of a troubled city whose police force is notorious for its heavy-handedness and has been the subject of numerous allegations of abuse and police brutality.

Oakland City Hall claims that this is a “peaceful dispersion.” To the mayor we respond that this is an unqualified lie. We stand in solidarity with the protesters of Occupy Oakland. For further information we recommend their website: www.occupyoakland.org.