Our October issue featured the story "Behind the Econocataclysm: Globalization, Oil Shock and the Iraq War" by Vilosh Vinograd, citing George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz and Walden Bello to argue that the financial crisis was sparked by George Bush's imperialist aggression in the Middle East. Our October Exit Poll was: "Is it 1929 yet?" We received the following responses:

Even now that the economy is hitting the skids bigtime and the price of oil is back down below $100 ($66 per barrel on Oct. 30 according to CNNMoney)—prompting OPEC at its Vienna meeting to decide to cut production, after months of high output (WSJ, Oct. 25)—Exxon's profits continue to break records. John McCain seizes on this to take a cheap (if none too logical) shot at Obama...

The US has plundered global wealth by exploiting the dollar's dominance, and the world urgently needs other currencies to take its place, a front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily said Oct. 24. "The grim reality has led people, amidst the panic, to realize that the United States has used the US dollar's hegemony to plunder the world's wealth," said the commentator, Shi Jianxun, a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University.

More than 900 million people in developing countries face starvation as food prices soar, a new report from Oxfam finds. Spiraling inflation in the cost of basic foods, such as rice and cereals, have pushed an extra 119 million people into hunger this year, according to the report, released to coincide with the UN International World Food Day. Oxfam's "Double Edged Prices" report found 967 million people are now officially living below the hunger line. It found there had been a 300% rise in the cost of wheat in Somalia, a 100% increase in the price of flour, and a doubling of the cost of rice in Cambodia and the Philippines in the past year. Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking said the effects of the price rises are "devastating." (Press Association, Oct. 15)

Oil prices posted the biggest one-day dollar gain ever Monday Sept. 22 as the dollar fell in response to Washington's $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan. October oil contracts surged in afternoon trading, reaching $130—a more than $25 gain. It dropped back down to settle at $120.92 a barrel, up $16.37 from Friday's close. The gain eclipsed the $10.75 spike in oil on June 6. (CNNMoney.com, Sept. 22)

The price of crude oil dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time in six months Sept. 15, closing at $95.71 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With Lehman Bros. heading into bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch agreeing to a buyout, the market reacted to fears that a global economic decline would cut demand. Prices also slid because Hurricane Ike closed 14 refineries along the Gulf Coast, which together make about 22% of all the gasoline produced in the US. But the refinery closures triggered a jump in gasoline prices by as much as 10 cents overnight in some states. (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 15)

Our August issue featured the story "Hokkaido: The Anti-Climate Summit" by Walden Bello of Foreign Policy in Focus, arguing that the G8 nations derailed meaningful efforts to address global climate change at the July summit in Japan. Bello protests that "like the United States and Japan, the European governments continue to hang on to the position that economic growth can be 'decoupled' from energy use. In other words, they think they can maintain current European consumption levels and only have to achieve the more efficient use of energy and replace oil with other energy sources." Our July Exit Poll was: "Is it possible to meaningfully address global climate change while maintaining current levels of economic growth?" We received the following responses:

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva said Aug. 4 he hopes an agreement may still emerge from the Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations. "I don't believe the round has failed. We still have enormous possibilities to negotiate," said Silva in a weekly radio address. The round was initiated in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, but collapsed July 29 at a meeting in Geneva, when the US, India and China failed to agree on agricultural policy. (Forbes, Aug. 5)