'Here comes the great global fight for democracy. Who's in charge, banks or elected governments? President Obama puts up his fists and every other democracy had better stand with him. He is taking a colossal risk, as Goldman Sachs and the rest thumb their noses at mere governments. Someone had to take on the bully power of money – and only America has the clout. The world's economy depends on it, so Europe must stop pussy-footing and back his plans to dismantle "too big to fail" banks.

'In Britain this comes to lift the spirits after a week that saw a government powerless against malign market forces - forces it has too often extolled. The hostile takeover of Cadbury by Kraft, financed by RBS, is a deal that stands to be a loser for all but the deal-makers. Not even Kraft's biggest shareholder, Warren Buffett, could stop what he called "a bad deal", as financiers creamed off $390m in fees. Cadbury's CEO cried crocodile tears and flaked out for £12m. Mergers and acquisitions mania is back, despite ­voluminous evidence that takeovers often fail and only benefit the fixers. Think Sir Fred Goodwin crashing RBS with his macho capture of ABN Amro.' (Guardian article).

media-underground.net