According to a recent WikiLeaks cable, China is allegedly buying into gold, away from the U.S. dollar, in a bid to undermine the dollars’ role as a world reserve currency.
The cable, titled “China increases its gold reserves in order to kill two birds with one stone,” together with recent policy announcements by the Chinese banking authorities indicates that China is slowly moving to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
The Obama administration has ordered federal agencies to do a complete expense review for conferences after an internal audit by the US Justice Department discovered “extravagant and wasteful” spending by the agency in 2009.
According to a report done by its own Office of Inspector General on Tuesday, the Justice Department spent $121 million on conferences from 2008-2009, exceeding its own spending limits.
21 September 2011.
Human trafficking is a global industry worth $32 billion and places millions of vulnerable people from poor countries in servitude, but the number of successful prosecutions is still pitifully small.
The Obama administration will upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of F-16 fighter jets in a deal worth up to US$6 billion, said a senior US official to Reuters on Tuesday.
The decision came after Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou had previously requested for 66 new C/D models of the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters jets to replace its current A/B jets that were sold by the US to Taiwan in 1992.
20 September 2011.
Global markets are in unchartered territory. A series of austerity measures have been announced, but the news coming out from Europe and the United States continue to bear the same consistent note of pessimism. The risks ahead are not a double-dip recession, but a severe contraction that could lead to Great Depression II. But can it be prevented?
Global markets are bracing themselves for another bloodbath after S&P downgraded Italy. The country is the third largest economy in the eurozone, but also holds the second largest debt in Europe with a debt burden of 120% over its GDP.
Italy’s long term debt rating was cut from A+ to A, the first downgrade since October 2006. According to S&P, the outlook for the Italian market was negative, a sign that the credit rating agency could further downgrade Italy.
19 September 2011.
Unemployment in the US has remained above 9 percent for 22 of the last 24 months. While some are supporting additional stimulus, others are calling for UK-style austerity. With Nobel-prize winning economists on either side of the debate, the public is rightly confused. But would either of these approaches really reduce unemployment effectively?
New York City police may continue to restrict access to Wall Street for a third consecutive day, requiring workers and residents to present their identification after protestors staged a peaceful weekend demonstration at New York’s financial district.
A quick preview of the key economic events for the upcoming week:
Monday, 19th September
U.S. President Barack Obama attends the UN general assembly in New York.
World Trade Organization holds its annual public forum in Geneva. Key issues to be discussed include trade policy and growth.
International Monetary Fund and Greek business leaders gather in Athens for an open discussion about the future of Greek debt.
The Greek government will finalize a fresh package of deficit cutting measures for the country once it has completed talks – scheduled for today – with lenders from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Sunday evening.
