It is easy to blame politicians for our current economic woes, but do the public have to bear some of the blame as well? As Axel Weber would say, policymakers simply do not have the public mandate to get ahead of problems, especially novel ones that seem small initially, but, if unresolved, imply potentially large costs. What then should the public do to overcome this?
More Americans are in favour of their government cutting down on its spending to balance the national budget rather than trying to do so by increasing the tax rate for the wealthy, revealed an Associated Press-GfK poll on Friday, as Republican and Democratic politicians continue to debate over the merits of either move.
The European Commission has said in a report that the region’s divergent economies are staring at a bleak outlook, with a mild recession at the horizon that could turn far worse.
The 17-nation euro economy will contract 0.3 percent, the commission said, abandoning a November forecast of 0.5 percent growth. The downgrade was mainly due to projected contractions of 1.3 percent in Italy and 1 percent in Spain.
Olli Rehn, European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner said:
Greece may have reached a last-minute bailout deal with its debtors, but the country has been saddled with harsh austerity measures and debt conditions, which leaves serious doubt on their ability to recover and avoid default in the longer term. , In key respects, Greece is facing today what Argentina faced in August of 2001. Unless Europe reflects on Argentina’s experience, the parallels with Greece may end up including financial meltdown, a deep output collapse, and social and political turmoil.
In a deal to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, Congress has passed a law that would soon allow states to conduct drug-tests before handing out payments.
While the Republicans initially wanted to extend the drug-tests to all unemployment benefit applicants, the new law would only allow the tests to be conducted on people who were fired from their last job for drugs, or anyone seeking jobs that would already require a drug test.
A group of female college students in China are taking a unique spin of the Occupy movement spreading across the world, by protesting – both within and outside male’s bathrooms – what they perceive to be gender inequality in the country’s toilet offerings.
Li Maizi (an alias), a student in a Xi’an college, started the movement after she had been frustrated by the long wait taken to use a female bathroom while at a conference in Guangzhou; and began to plan to protest to call for the government to provide more toilet stalls for women.
The world needs a new paradigm for sustainable development. With economies teetering, ecosystems under siege, and inequality soaring, the world needs to act now to ensure our sustainable development. But how do we begin to tackle the massive challenge of retooling our global economy, preserving the environment, and providing greater opportunity and equity, including gender equality, to all?
A quick preview of the key economic events for the upcoming week:
After being held hostage by the Greek drama, leaders from the eurozone are expected to meet again this week. But the important question is – when will the drama stop?
On the other hand, a series of eurozone and U.S. economic data this week will reveal how the two economic powerhouses are keeping up.
Monday, February 20
The Obama administration has asked the Congress for a $800 million ‘Middle East Incentive Fund’ – a fund that would help ‘Arab Spring’ countries in transition and create incentives for long-term economic, political and trade reforms.
As part of America’s 2013 fiscal plan, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $800 million for the Arab Spring countries engulfed in revolutions, while asking to maintain $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt.
China’s central bank on Saturday lowered the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), the mandated amount of cash holdings banks must keep, boosting lending capacity by an estimated 400 billion yuan (US$63.5 billion).
The cut, which analysts have been eagerly anticipating, came days after Japan loosened its own monetary policy, underscoring global central banks’ drive to shield their economies from the eurozone debt crisis by flooding the financial system with cash.
In a thorough report, the Chinese central bank said:
