Monday, February 23, 2009
Keep Buying Our Debt!
Clinton Urges China to Keep Buying U.S. Treasury Securities
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China to continue buying U.S. Treasury bonds to help finance President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, saying “we are truly going to rise or fall together.“Our economies are so intertwined,” Clinton said in an interview today in Beijing with Shanghai-based Dragon Television. “It would not be in China’s interest” if the U.S. were unable to finance deficit spending to stimulate its stalled economy.The U.S. is the single largest buyer of the exports that drive growth in China, the world’s third-largest economy. China in turn invests surplus earnings from shipments of goods such as toys, clothing and steel primarily in Treasury securities, making it the world’s largest holder of U.S. government debt at the end of last year with $696.2 billion.
Soros " No Sign We Are Near A Bottom"
Soros Sees No bottom For World Financial "Collapse"
Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis. Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union. He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.
Volcker: "Worse Than Depression"
Crisis May Be Worse Than Depression: Volcker
The global economy may be deteriorating even faster than it did during the Great Depression, Paul Volcker, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, said on Friday. Volcker noted that industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain."I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world," Volcker told a luncheon of economists and investors at Columbia University.
CDN Schools Fail On Financial Literacy
Failed On The Financial Literacy Front
The recent federal budget included the establishment of an independent task force to make recommendations on financial literacy, among other issues. Our organization, the Investor Education Fund, applauds this development and looks forward to working with such a committee. In the past nine years, we have learned that the key problem this task force will face is that our education system is not providing the essential skills necessary for Canadians to understand money management. As a result, Canadian households have been buried under a mountain of household debt and have forgotten the importance of saving and asset building, lessons that boomers should have learned at their parents' knees. We are not talking about learning the specifics of investment products or understanding what a short is. It's much simpler than that. There are a few concepts central to good money management – which we seem to have lost in schools and households – that are the foundation of financial prosperity.
Brown: World Needs 'Global New Deal'
Brown: World Needs 'Global New Deal'
The world needs a "global New Deal" to haul it out of the economic crisis it faces, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom said Sunday."We need a global New Deal -- a grand bargain between the countries and continents of this world -- so that the world economy can not only recover but... so the banking system can be based on... best principles," he said, referring to the 1930s American plan to fight the Great Depression.Brown was speaking as the leaders of Europe's biggest economies met to try to forge a common position on the global financial crisis ahead of a major summit in London in April.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Huge Protest Over Irish Economy
Huge Protest Over Irish Economy
About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession. They oppose plans to impose a pension levy on 350,000 public sector workers. Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it. In a statement, the Irish government said it recognised that the measures it was taking were "difficult and in some cases painful". The pension levy was "reasonable", the government said. It reflected "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue", it added. Reports say the plan could cost the 350,000 public sector workers between 1,500 euros and 2,800 euros (£2,500) a year.
Kansas Suspends Income Tax Fefunds
Kansas Suspends Income Tax Fefunds
Expecting money back from the state for your taxes? You may not be getting that cash for a while. The state is suspending all income tax refunds. In addition, it says it may not be able to pay its employees on time either. The simple answer is there's not enough money in the state's main bank account. That's not unusual around this time of year. The governor just usually asks the finance committee to transfer funds into the account. But today, that committee said no.
Canadians Carrying Huge Consumer Debt
Carney Worried Over Canadians' Debt
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is worried Canadian households are becoming overextended.In a television interview Tuesday, Mr. Carney said the almost 10-per-cent increase in the level of consumer debt in 2008 is a growing concern for policy makers.After the global recession and turmoil in financial markets, the biggest risk facing the Canadian economy is household debt, he said.“When you look at the structure of the Canadian economy, the issues over which we have concern would include the level of household debt and household finances,” Mr. Carney said when asked what troubled him most about Canada's prospects.
GM Is Out Of Cash
GM Seeks As Much As $16.6 Billion
General Motors Corp. asked the U.S. for as much as $16.6 billion in new loans, more than doubling the aid to date, and said it needs some of the cash next month to survive as it sheds brands and cuts 47,000 more jobs worldwide. Chrysler LLC, propped up like GM with federal assistance, said it’s seeking $5 billion more from the government and will shed 3,000 more positions. The automakers’ fates are now in the hands of the Obama administration, which must decide whether to give them the additional money or let them go bankrupt. Robert Gibbs, President Barack Obama’s chief spokesman, yesterday didn’t rule out forcing the companies to restructure through bankruptcy.
Higher Strokes Risk Near Fast Food Vendors
Large numbers of fast food restaurants in an area can push up the stroke risk by up to 13 per cent, researchers found. The findings were released as another study showed that having an unhealthy lifestyle, including drinking too much, eating unhealthily, smoking and shunning exercise, can more than double the risk. Strokes are the third biggest killer in Britain, after cancer and heart disease. More than 150,000 people have a stroke every year in this country, of whom about 67,000 die. Researchers found that a single fast food outlet could increase the stroke risk for an area by one per cent. The study, by the University of Michigan, compared the number of strokes in different parts of Nueces County, Texas, home to 262 fast food restaurants.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Canada Job Losses Hit Record Highs
Canada Lost 129,000 Jobs In January
Canada's job losses in January surpassed anything seen during the previous economic downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, Statistics Canada said Friday.With the economy staggering in recession, Canada's unemployment rate shot up by 0.6 percentage points in January to 7.2 per cent as 129,000 jobs were lost. Almost all of the job losses were in full-time work.Since October, the battered Canadian economy has lost 213,000 jobs. Between January 2008 and January 2009, overall employment across the country was down by 88,600 jobs.
Facial Recognition Drivers License
High-Tech Driver's Licences
High-tech driver's licences will soon make their debut in British Columbia to help prevent identity theft and fraud. Solicitor General John van Dongen said Friday the new licences will be hard to forge or get under false names.“Driver's licences are widely trusted as ID and, when tampered with, can cost people, business and financial institutions millions of dollars each year,” Mr. van Dongen said in a statement. Security features will include facial recognition technology that analyzes facial characteristics that do not change, such as the size and location of cheekbones and the distance between the eyes.
California Falling Apart
California's Pain Is Only Beginning
As Sacramento squabbles over the state's $42 billion deficit, Californians are getting a bitter taste of what's to come after the steep budget cuts that are inevitable when legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally hammer out a deal.Some world-famous parks like Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park may not open this year. After-school programs in low-income areas are being scuttled, putting high-risk teens on the street just as police forces are being cut. Schools are closing classrooms, and some highway projects have ground to a halt. The state may not be able to monitor some sex offenders as required under law.
U.S. Judges Seek Massive California
Prisoner Release Federal judges on Monday tentatively ordered California to release tens of thousands of inmates, up to a third of all prisoners, in the next three years to stop dangerous overcrowding. As many as 57,000 could be let go if the current population were cut by the maximum percentage considered by a three-judge panel. Judges said the move could be done without threatening public safety -- and might improve a public safety hazard.
GM Trimming 10,000 Jobs
GM Trimming 10,000 Jobs
General Motors Corp, the largest U.S. automaker, will cut 10,000 salaried jobs globally and reduce pay by as much as 10 percent to slash costs and prove its viability to keep $13.4 billion in government loans. About 3,400 of GM’s 29,500 U.S. salaried workers will be dismissed by May 1, the Detroit-based automaker said in a statement. U.S. salaries will be cut temporarily by 10 percent for executives and by 3 percent to 7 percent for most others. GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, who already sliced his annual salary to $1, is reviewing salaries and benefits abroad.
U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion
U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs
The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages. The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged up to $5.7 trillion more. The Senate is to vote this week on an economic-stimulus measure of at least $780 billion. It would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.
Toyota First Annual Net Loss Since 1950
Toyota Sees First Loss Since 1950
Toyota forecast its first annual net loss since 1950 on Friday as plunging demand for cars, especially in the U.S., and the strong yen pummeled earnings at the world's No. 1 automaker.Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 164.7 billion yen ($1.8 billion) loss for the October-December quarter, down sharply from the 458.6 billion yen profit for the same period the previous year. Quarterly sales plunged 28.4 percent to 4.8 trillion yen. Joining a string of Japanese companies that are now expecting to slide into the red for the year, Toyota said it expects a net loss of 350 billion yen ($3.85 billion) for the fiscal year through March -- a stunning reversal from the record 1.72 trillion yen profit it posted the previous year.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Deal Reached On 800 Billion Stimulus Bill
U.S. Senate Democrats agreed on Friday to cut their hopes for a larger economic stimulus package and support a $800 billion (541 billion pound) compromise that would give President Barack Obama an important but narrow victory. Democrats said a vote on passage of the measure -- drafted by leaders of a group of moderate lawmakers from both parties -- and closely watched overseas as a sign of U.S. commitment to help revive the world economy, would be held on Tuesday.
Most Jobs Lost In 34 Years
U.S. employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January, the biggest monthly loss in 34 years, and the jobless rate soared to a 16-year peak, putting pressure on lawmakers to act quickly to counter a deepening recession. "The economy is just falling into oblivion and it will get worse," said Greg Salvaggio, vice president for trading at Tempus Consulting in Washington. The latest bad economic news, contained in a report from the Labor Department on Friday, came as the Senate was aiming for a night-time vote on a package of measures to spur the economy that could cost $780 billion or more.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Canadian Debt Soars
Canadians now carry more debt as a percentage of their disposable income than American consumers, according to a report released on Tuesday, posing new risks for lenders and challenging Canada's reputation for financial prudence.The ratio of debt to disposable income has increased to more than 130 percent, the Deloitte & Touche consulting group report said. It is a troubling sign for Canadian banks, which have seen their credit card balances increase by almost 40 percent since 2004, it said.The global credit crunch in placing unprecedented stress on Canadian credit card companies, which could ring up similar losses to their U.S. counterparts, the report warned.
Car Sales In China Suprass US
US Car Sales Below 10m...
US car sales below 10mAnnualized US car sales slipped below 10m last month in spite of steep discounts offered by carmakers and government efforts to ease lending.General Motors’ monthly sales of cars and light trucks fell by 49 per cent last month, Chrysler’s by 55 per cent and Ford Motor’s by 40 per cent, including vehicles made by Volvo, its Swedish premium brand.GM said it estimated the overall annualised selling rate for cars at 9.8m in the US in January, compared with 10.3m in December, and less than China’s estimated selling rate of 10.7m last month.”This is the first time in history that China has surpassed the US,” said Michael DiGiovanni, GM’s head of global sales and industry analysis. However, auto market analysts in China said the figures were not comparable because the Chinese figure included all vehicles produced in China - including heavy commercial vehicles and buses - while the US figure did not.
Chinese passenger car production last year was 5.8m.The slide in car sales hit all major manufacturers, but will intensify the pressure on Detroit’s carmakers in particular, which are scrambling to avoid bankruptcy. GM and Chrysler are working on restructuring plans due by February 17, as conditions of their $17.4bn emergency government loans.
Monday, February 2, 2009
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