Eurogroup finance ministers are expected to review the so-called troika report on Greece and come up with a bailout extension decision this week. Unless another bailout agreement and extension is reached, Greece is expected to run out of cash and default on almost 5 billion euro worth of treasury bills.
Monday, November 12
Historically, many of the world’s major financial crises have been, in some way, connected to the cost or supply of oil. Though numerous countries around the world are now attempting to reduce their oil consumption, the end of “cheap oil” will continue to have ramifications on financial & energy security, particularly in countries such as Greece, Spain, Egypt and India.
America’s budget watchdog, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, has said in a new report that letting the Bush-era upper-income tax cuts expire automatically would barely affect the economy.
Studying the effects of a potential fiscal cliff, the CBO said allowing income tax rates to rise for wealthy Americans while maintaining rates for the less affluent would not hurt US economic growth much in 2013.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised the Chinese government to increase its present taxes on tobacco, reported the China Daily on Friday, with nearly 1.2 million Chinese dying annually of smoking-related diseases.
China’s ruling party has restated its commitment to economic reforms and development with outgoing President Hu Jintao promising continuity as a new generation of anointed successors prepare for a leadership takeover.
Speaking at a key congress at the Great Hall of the People, Hu emphasised the country’s tremendous growth in the last three decades which has raised China to become the world’s second largest economy and lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty.
The Federal Reserve’s strategy of holding interest rates near zero to spur the economy has had its share of critics – especially since it caused a massive transfer of wealth from savers to spenders, while many middle class pensioners, who were relying on fixed interest returns, have been forced out of “safe” investments and into riskier investments. Yet, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is now attempting to redefine what we mean by “savings”, so as to continue dishing out ultra-low interest rates, while savers are made to suffer.
The European Union wasted more than 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) on errors in payments and ineffective economic programs last year, said its auditors on Tuesday, with about 3.9 percent of 2011’s budget payments directed at projects that didn’t comply with EU or national funding rules.
According to the European Court of Auditors (ECA), EU policymakers had failed to set up fully functioning systems and methods to detect and correct spending errors, while member states were also not distributing its allocated budget efficiently enough.
READER SUBMISSION – Natural disasters devastate the lives and livelihoods of millions of people and cause substantial loss to the economy. A proper disaster risk management framework would enable the affected population, especially women, in taking immediate and correct steps in emergency situations.
China has filed an official complaint with the World Trade Organisation over alleged subsidies provided by some EU members towards the solar panel industry, reported the New York Times on Monday, in retaliation to an anti-dumping investigation by the EU against China earlier this year.
The world is now in the midst of two financial crises: On the one hand, the sovereign debt crisis has rightfully been hogging the headlines as well the attentions of government policymakers; Yet at the same time, declining access to credit for small-to-medium-sized households and businesses has eroded societies’ integrity, productive capabilities, and ability to maintain living standards. With governments doing little to address the private credit debacle, has ‘Main Street’ been left to fend for itself?
