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Global Economy - Guest - 03-05-2009
<b>Venezuela's Chavez seizes U.S. food giant unit</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Cargill takeover renews Chavez nationalization drive
* Tightening control over food comes after some shortages
* Chavez emboldened after referendum victory last month
By Patricia Rondon
CARACAS, March 4 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez seized a unit of American food giant Cargill on Wednesday and threatened to take over Venezuela's largest private company, <b>renewing a nationalization drive as the OPEC nation's oil income plunges.</b>
..........<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Global Economy - acharya - 03-05-2009
<b>What Are the Odds of a Depression?
International evidence suggests there is a 20% chance our stock-market crash will lead to much worse. </b>
By ROBERT J. BARRO
Central questions these days are how severe will the U.S. economic downturn be and how long will it last?
The most serious concern is that the downturn will become something worse than the largest recession of the post-World War II period -- 1982, when real per capita GDP fell by 3% and the unemployment rate peaked at nearly 11%. Could we even experience a depression (defined as a decline in per-person GDP or consumption by 10% or more)?
link
Global Economy - Guest - 03-05-2009
Friday unemployment report will give some picture.
Global Economy - Guest - 03-05-2009
<b>China Says 8% Growth Within Reach Using $585 Billion Stimulus</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The 8 percent growth target compares with the International Monetary Fundâs forecast that the nationâs economy will expand 6.7 percent, the least in almost two decades
...
<b>With 20 million rural laborers who previously found jobs in cities now unemployed, and 7.1 million college graduates seeking work, authorities are alert to the danger of social unrest</b>
...
The <b>2009 budget deficit was set at 750 billion yuan, widening to a record 950 billion yuan</b> including local-government bonds, as the slowdown cuts revenue and the government keeps spending.
....
Fiscal spending will rise 22 percent this year to 7.62 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion), a smaller increase than last yearâs actual 25.4 percent gain, Wen said
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They are smoking. For 1.5 billion population, it is very low. They are not goint to spend this amount in one year.
Global Economy - acharya - 03-05-2009
<b>The Obama Economy
As the Dow keeps dropping, the President is running out of people to blame.</b>
link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Listening to Mr. Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, on the weekend, we couldn't help but wonder if they appreciate any of this. They seem preoccupied with going to the barricades against Republicans who wield little power, or picking a fight with Rush Limbaugh, as if this is the kind of economic leadership Americans want.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Global Economy - Shambhu - 03-07-2009
I would like to share my story with you to show that <b>what is happening in Dubai </b>is surely and undoubtedly so vile, so manifestly an affront to our dearest Zoroastrian values and precepts, that one must ask: What in God's name are we doing here?
My story will convey to you the grave injustices that have been meted out to me and my family and which completely ruined our lives, and I would like to remain anonymous, for fear of persecution and harassment from the Dubai Government Authorities, to my friends and colleagues, who continue to work there.
Let me start from the beginning. I am a qualified construction engineer who was working for one of the most prominent engineering construction companies in Ahmedabad, responsible for generating project cost estimates and coordinating all aspects of planning, development, design and observation of construction and infrastructure projects. However, like all of the Zoroastrians I knew, the moment I received an offer from one of Dubai's leading engineering construction companies, to come on board as the Deputy Chief Engineer Construction for the numerous hotel construction projects underway, I was exuberantly happy at the thought of improving my prospects and status in life. After due consultation with my wife, family and friends, who were very supportive of me, I decided to accept the offer and my wife and I moved to Dubai, envisioning a bright and prosperous future ahead.
Unfortunately that dream soon diminished and our prospects of a good future were shattered. On my first day on the job, I was told by the other engineers in my construction team that human labour is the cheapest commodity in Dubai and that migrant workers are treated little better than cattle, with no access to healthcare and many other basic rights. At first I was skeptical and could not fathom how a construction company of this stature could ever be so disrespectful of basic human rights.. My work took me around the city and it was here that I saw at first-hand, the harsh reality that is Dubai and which is hidden from the rest of the world. The Dubai Government has always painted a rosy and glamorous picture of this city, which is far removed from the pain, agony and sorrow, etched into the faces of the thousands of migrant workers who have helped built this so-called "City of Dreams."
Behind Dubai's spiralling towers, man-made islands and mega-malls are hundreds of ghetto-like neighbourhood camps, hidden away from the eyes of tourists. These are areas around the Gulf set aside for an army of labourers, toiling and sweating in the hot sun at temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius, to build the icons of architecture and hotels that are patronised by tourists who are totally oblivious of the conditions under which these hotels are constructed. It was on the job visiting various construction sites that I saw the appalling conditions under which the workers operated. If we think that conditions in India are unsafe for construction labourers, I would call upon all who read my story, to witness first-hand the absolutely hazardous and unsafe conditions at numerous construction sites I worked on. I was also witness to horrific accidents resulting in the deaths of many workers, due to the non-provision of adequate safety equipment, fatigue or heat exhaustion. Although the UAE does have federal labor laws, contractors who mistreat workers or withhold wages are rarely punished.
The nature of my job not only entailed the inspection of construction sites but also necessitated late night meetings with local investors, high-ranking Government officials, overseas clientele and arranging sex-workers to entertain them, in order to secure the necessary funding for the company's numerous construction projects.
This is where I was subject to the reality of Dubai's human-trafficking and prostitution racket. This inexcusable trade in human flesh is a high-profile activity in a region which hosts Islam's two holiest places - Mecca and Medina.
We Indians readily accept the fact that India is not free from the clutches of human trafficking, the sex trade and child slavery, and that the Indian Government, despite undertaking several measures to root out this social menace readily acknowledges the problem our country faces. The Dubai Authorities on the other hand, have turned a blind eye to prostitution and illegal trafficking based solely on greed, hypocrisy and corruption, to the extent that when the Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) makes arrests, (at times) it is because they want to gang rape a particular woman. This is in a land where the legal system implemented by the Dubai Federal Judiciary is based on a very strict code of conduct known as Sharia law that imposes the death penalty for adultery and prostitution. This kind of hypocrisy and exploitation goes against all the tenets and teachings of our Zoroastrian religion and made me seriously reconsider my position.
During my three years in Dubai, I was witness and also subject to acts of racism, where people are strictly segregated and a hierarchy worthy of previous centuries prevails. At the top, dominating all other poor mortals, in their black or white robes, are the locals with their oil money. Under the locals come the western foreigners, the experts and advisers, making double the salaries they make back home, all tax free. Beneath them are the Arabs - Lebanese and Palestinians, Egyptians and Syrians. I realised that what unites these groups is a mixture of pretension and racism. We Indians come way below, at the bottom rung of this ladder, and it is indeed sad to see how many Indians, including Parsis, quietly accept and subject themselves to this inhuman treatment, all in the name of the money they worship.The final straw on the camel's back was when I decided to quit my job and move back to Ahmedabad as my wife was diagnosed as suffering from the worst form of Tuberculosis, a drug resistant strain of Pulmonary TB. I was told by my company that I needed to complete my three year contract before I could leave Dubai. It all started with Legionnaires' disease, which she contracted from the hotel in which we were put up for a month, when we first came to Dubai.
Legionnaires' disease has become increasingly prevalent in hotels in Dubai, due to the high flow of traffic in all hotels, including five-star hotels, which cannot cope with this traffic and therefore, have absolutely low or even zero maintenance and disinfection procedures of air conditioning ducts, humidifiers, shower heads, and any piping in which water can lay.
The Legionnaires' disease worsened and escalated to Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Because of the very nature of Pulmonary drug resistant TB, which is an often virulent infectious and contagious disease, my wife was refused permission by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) to fly back to Ahmedabad, and was quarantined for six months in hospital in an isolation ward.
My pleas of help and support to the Indian High Commission fell on deaf ears, as they too had no power to intervene with the DHA. I also contacted the Dubai-based Khaleej Times and Gulf News, to tell them my about my difficult situation and I was subsequently threatened with imprisonment by the Government, which controls and oversees each and every aspect of the press, enforcing media-related laws, censoring publications and even going so far as to appoint approved and vetted editors, who "toe-the Government-line."
Unlike in India, where we are so used to free and fair speech and freedom of the Press, my dear fellow Zoroastrians, that kind of freedom is absolutely unheard of and unimaginable in Dubai! Increasingly, my wife's condition worsened, until finally, exactly a year to the date she contracted the disease in this land, my beloved wife and the love of my life passed away.
My aim in writing my story is to reveal to the Zoroastrian Community the true character and nature of the city of Dubai. We as a community who are supposed to practise the tenets of "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds," "Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta," should rise as one to prevail upon our religious leaders to relocate the 9th World Zoroastrian Congress Dubai 2009 from this city. I appeal to all members of the Mumbai Parsi Panchayat, FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, World Zoroastrian Organization (WZO) and indeed all other Zoroastrian organisations and councils world-wide to unite as one, as it is not too late.
The 9th World Zoroastrian Congress should not be held in Dubai, as this alone would serve as a wake-up call to the Dubai Government, that there is a small yet significant community in the world, which is aware and opposed to the atrocities being perpetrated in Dubai.
We should as a community, which is peace-loving and amiable assert ourselves, and stand up against what is happening in Dubai. The inhuman behaviour that is quietly overlooked by the world at large, all for the money being thrown around by the Dubai Government, is an affront to the human race and deserves complete censure and total condemnation from the world-wide community. This would also serve as a fitting mark of respect to my beloved wife, and finally help to put her soul at rest. May Ahura Maza guide all our future actions and grant wisdom unto all our community leaders to take the right path.
I would with humble humility request all fellow Zoroastrians to sign a petition, to relocate the 9th World Zoroastrian Congress Dubai 2009 from this city, by following the link below:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/relocatedubai
This petition will prove to the leaders of our community that we are honest and God-abiding Zoroastrians, who will stand and unite together to support a fellow Zoroastrian, who has finally had the courage to speak out against what is unacceptable in society and goes against all our Zoroastrian tenets, precepts and values.
With regards and be safe,
Anonymous
........................................................
DUBAI
There was always something surreal about Dubai's fantastic development
plans. Skyscrapers were rising in the desert faster than anybody imagined
was possible. While some wondered about such rapid growth, others marveled
at the plucky Dubaians' go-get attitude. Nothing was considered out of
reach; the sky was the limit, literally - the tallest building in the world,
the most expensive hotel suites with helicopter landing pads, man-made
islands, huge shopping malls, indoor sky slopes and ice skating rinks in the
desert - all meant to attract foreigners and their investments. And they
came, by the hundreds of thousands. Dubai was nicknamed, "Do Buy"!
Over the last several years, property values hit the roof. People put down
payment on properties that would not be built for a year or more but would
flip them in a few months making a tidy profit. It was not unusual for some
properties to double in value in six months. Overall, real-estate values
surged fourfold over the past five years, fueled by a supply shortage and an
influx of expatriates. Rising commodities prices also drove inflation,
accelerating to a record 11.1 per cent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in
2007. The UAE is made up of seven tiny sheikhdoms, Dubai is the second
largest of the seven statelets after Abu Dhabi. Dubai opened its property
market to foreign investment in 2002.
Where on earth could people get such fantastic return on their investments?
Spurred by such phenomenal growth rate, people speculated lavishly putting
down payments for 10, 20 or even 50 properties at the same time. Borrowers
tapped mortgages for as much as 90 percent of a property's value to buy
homes on the man-made fronds of the Palm Jumeirah and villas with gardens or
golf course views in developments such as Emirates Hills, The Springs and
The Lakes. Many became multimillionaires overnight in this
made-for-speculators market until the financial crunch that started with the
bursting of the US housing and mortgage bubble hit the rest of the world.
Tiny Dubai could not remain immune from the ill effects of such financial
downturns.
The property bubble in Dubai has burst as credit has become scarce and
international investors have scrambled to dump their assets to minimize
losses. That may shatter Dubai's goal of creating a sustainable economy by
building the Persian Gulf hub for finance and tourism, forcing it to depend
on oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi for financing. The rulers of Dubai had
speculated that the price of oil would perhaps continue its upward surge -
it had reached $147/barrel before its precipitous fall to $40/barrel or less
in recent days. With Dubai's reserves at a paltry 4 billion barrels
compared to Abu Dhabi's 92 billion, Dubai is more vulnerable to such price
fluctuations.
Banks have tightened lending or froze it altogether. Amlak Finance PJSC,
one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the UAE, announced on November 19
that it had suspended new home loans. London-based Lloyds TSB Group Plc
stopped offering mortgages for apartments in Dubai on November 11 and
reduced the amount it will lend for villas from 80 per cent to 50 percent
of the price. This has naturally had a negative effect on property values..
For instance, in November, the cost of a seven-bedroom villa on Palm
Jumeirah dropped to 19 million dirhams ($5.2 million), still an exorbitant
price, down from 30 million dirhams in September, according to the Dubai
unit of German real estate company Engel & Voelkers AG.
On November 20, Nakheel PJSC, Dubai's state-owned developer of three
palm-shaped islands in the Persian Gulf, and its South African partner threw
a $20 million party for the opening of the $1.5 billion Atlantis resort,
complete with the world's biggest fireworks display and celebrities from
actress Charlize Theron to singer Kylie Minogue. The hotel's most expensive
suite costs $42,000 a night excluding breakfast. Ten days later, however,
Nakheel announced it was scaling back or delaying work on some of its $30
billion in projects, including the 62-story Trump International Hotel &
Tower near the Mega Yacht Club on the trunk of Palm Jumeirah.
There is fear the worst is yet to come as a glut of properties arrives on
the market. About 70,000 units are scheduled for completion in 2009, more
than half were originally planned for 2008 or even earlier, according to a
September report from EFG-Hermes.
Buyers willing to commit to purchases before construction are harder to find
now. Before the credit crunch, speculators accounted for 50 percent of the
market.
"Dubai is more precarious than it has ever been," said Christopher Davidson,
professor of Middle Eastern Affairs at Durham University in the U and author
of Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success (2008, Columbia University Press).
"If the property industry collapses in Dubai, it will be finished. Dubai's
relative autonomy will come to an abrupt end." Dubai's push into luxury
property developments and tourist attractions was diversification on "paper
sand," said Davidson.
Dubai has borrowed $80 billion to finance its transformation and make up for
lack of natural resources like its richer cousin Abu Dhabi. The latter is
not so badly affected because of the oil revenues it has accumulated. Even
US President George Bush has called upon Abu Dhabi for a $70 billion
handout, in addition of asking for $120 billion from Saudi Arabia, $60
billion from tiny Qatar and $40 billion from Kuwait. The Arab sheikhdoms
and kingdoms will not be able to say no to Uncle Sam.
Dubai built its property empire on the backs of expatriate workers from
Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka and maids from Indonesia and the Philippines
that frequently suffered abuse.. Such workers are paid pittance and kept in
miserably overcrowded localities, often lacking basic amenities.
Workers have been denied the right to bring their families and have few
rights. Regardless of how long they live in the UAE, they cannot become
citizens. The same is true of Saudi Arabia. The expatriate community is far
more numerous than the local emiratis but because they are not granted
citizenship, the expatriates remain vulnerable. With downturn in the
property market, these workers will now be the first to lose their
livelihood on which they depend so desperately and send to their families
back home.
There is also another side to Dubai's booming market. Most large hotels are
little more than dens of prostitution. Hotels are permitted to issue guest
permits to bring people from outside. In order to attract customers, many
hotels bring girls from Central Asia, Russia, Romania and Western Europe.
These girls are provided free accommodation in the hotel for three months
while they are expected to service hotel guests. Each hotel has a club
where girls enter for free while men must pay 100 dirhams. Alcohol is
available and consumed in large quantities. Customers come to these clubs
to pick up foreign girls. It has been pointed out to the authorities in
Dubai that they are sitting on a time bomb. Girls with such loose moral
character are likely to be infected with the AIDS virus. There are already
reports of AIDS spreading among the local population because of the behavior
of Emirati men who then infect their wives.
Whether Dubai will achieve its dream of becoming the hub of property and
tourist attraction is debatable. What is becoming certain is that it is
leading the way in becoming the AIDS capital of the Middle East.
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/03/dar...e-of-dubai.html
Global Economy - Guest - 03-08-2009
It is nothing to do with Global economy. Dubai was always like that.
Global Economy - Guest - 03-09-2009
link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Trading in credit derivatives is proving investors believe no borrower is immune from the seizure in credit markets that led to the U.S. governmentâs takeover of insurer American International Group Inc. and the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc</b>. Like those companies, Berkshire and GE relied on high credit ratings to generate profit and win new business. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Global Economy - Guest - 03-09-2009
<b>Chinaâs 2009 Rebound Is Pure Fantasy: William Pesek </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Here are five reasons a Chinese rebound in 2009 may not pan out:
1. <b>World growth is collapsing</b>. This isnât hyperbole, but a sobering fact. The International Monetary Fund canât downgrade its global growth estimates fast enough as the credit crisis overwhelms economies as diverse as Ireland, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.
Asian governments are increasing spending to soften the blow from falling asset prices, consumer spending and manufacturing. The European Central Bank is struggling to keep up with the regionâs plunging economy.
The trillions of dollars of wealth being lost as markets plummet are depleting public coffers and damaging consumer psychology. Itâs not a good environment for any government hoping for a revival in global demand.
<b>2. Chinaâs key customer is in hiding, indefinitely.</b> Just when you thought conditions in the $14 trillion U.S. economy couldnât get any worse, they âdeteriorated furtherâ in almost all corners of the country over the last two months, the Federal Reserve said in its regional business survey.
Wang Hanmin, a sales manager at Yixing Bochangyuan Garments Co. in Jiangsu province, spoke for many this week when he said exporters are facing a âlife and deathâ crisis. Exporters are so worried that they are calling on the government to weaken the yuan after the biggest slump in overseas sales in more than a decade.
One thing is for sure: The U.S. consumer isnât about to help China out of this dilemma.
<b>3. A lack of tools.</b> Itâs important to remember that the 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) spending plan unveiled in November was more spin than reality. Much of it wasnât new, but a tally of existing spending efforts. They were never going to boost a $3.3 trillion economy anyway.
Chinaâs almost $2 trillion of currency reserves would seem to give the nation considerable policy latitude. Yet Chinaâs vast economy lacks the financial infrastructure to get the bang it needs from its stimulus in yuan. Would building more roads, bridges and dams do the trick?
âEight percent GDP doesnât really tell you anything about job creation,â says Stephen Green, Shanghai-based head of research for China at Standard Chartered Plc. âMany of these projects are not particularly job-intensive.â
The spending will help, but such projects didnât propel growth as hoped over the last 30 years. Exports did.
<b>4. All those U.S. Treasuries</b>. Financing loads of new projects could prove dicey, even for cash-rich China. Any move to draw down $696 billion of U.S. government debt could leave China with major losses and prolong the U.S. recession.
That leaves domestic lending institutions. If China wants to avoid a Japan-like bad-loan crisis, or something far worse, it has to be careful about massive public-works projects with questionable economic benefits.
Of course, thereâs the âofficialâ gross-domestic-product figure, and then thereâs the real situation in the most populous nation. The double-digit drops in exports among Chinaâs biggest trading partners in Asia show how bad things are getting. Offsetting those trends wonât be easy and it wonât be cheap.
<b>5. Rebalancing takes time.</b> Just as the U.S. needs to become a nation of savers, China needs more consumers. Thatâs a destabilizing, decade-long process that requires the creation of national safety nets and more education and health-care spending
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Global Economy - acharya - 03-10-2009
<b>Too big to fail? 5 biggest banks are 'dead men walking'</b>
By Greg Gordon and Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers Greg Gordon And Kevin G. Hall, Mcclatchy Newspapers â Mon Mar 9, 5:19 pm ET
Global Economy - Guest - 03-10-2009
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Citibank, Bank of America , HSBC Bank USA , Wells Fargo Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase reported that their "current" net loss risks from derivatives â insurance-like bets tied to a loan or other underlying asset â<b> surged to $587 billion as of Dec</b>. 31 . Buried in end-of-the-year regulatory reports that McClatchy has reviewed, the figures reflect a jump of 49 percent in just 90 days.
The disclosures underscore the challenges that the banks face as they struggle to navigate through a deepening recession in which all types of loan defaults are soaring.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It is over 5 Trillion.
Global Economy - Guest - 03-10-2009
<b>Hedge Funds May Cut a Record 20,000 Jobs as Losses Erode Fees </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds may cut 20,000 workers worldwide this year, a record 14 percent of the industryâs jobs, as investment losses and client withdrawals erode fees.
The dismissals will come on top of the 10,000 jobs that disappeared last year at the investment partnerships, according to estimates by New York-based Options Group, an executive-search firm.<b> Employment peaked at 155,000 in 2007, and has since dropped to about 145,000, the firm said. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>U.S. Unemployment Rate to Reach 9.4% This Year, Survey Shows</b>
Global Economy - acharya - 03-18-2009
<b>China lost billions in diversity drive </b>
By By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing , Financial Times, 15 Mar 2009
China has lost tens of billions of dollars of its foreign exchange reserves through a poorly timed diversification into global equities just before world markets collapsed last year.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the opaque manager of nearly $2,000bn (â¬1,547bn, £1,429bn) of reserves, started making huge bets on global stocks early in 2007 and continued this strategy at least until the collapse of the US mortgage finance providers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in July 2008, according to analysts and people familiar with Safe's operations.
.................
Global Economy - acharya - 03-18-2009
<b>Krugman Says Mild U.S. Recession Became a âPlungeâ (Update1)
</b>
By Meera Louis
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman said the world is in a âcoordinated global slumpâ that âlooks worse in Europe and in Japanâ than in the U.S. and he called for more public spending to combat the crisis.
âWhat began as a relatively mild recessionâ in the U.S. âhas now turned into a plunge,â Krugman said in Brussels today. âThis is a crisis thatâs hitting manufacturing really hard.â
The financial turmoil that started in the U.S. has ricocheted through the global economy and pushed Europe and Japan into what may be their worst recessions in more than three decades. While governments around the world are pumping money into their economies to revive growth, Krugman says the measures are insufficient to tackle the problem.
âThe United States is not doing enough to fight the crisis and Europe is doing a bit less than half as much as the United States,â the Princeton University economist said. âWeâre in real danger.â
Krugman said the fiscal-stimulus programs in both the U.S. and Europe should be increased to total about 4 percent of gross domestic product. The European Union says its stimulus measures amount to 3.3 percent of the 27-nation blocâs GDP and EU policy makers are resisting calls to do more. The U.S.âs stimulus amounts to 2 percent of output in 2009 and 1.8 percent next year, International Monetary Fund data show.
âHorrific Economic Crisisâ
âMy back of the envelope says on both sides of the Atlantic we should be having a stimulus that peaks at 4 percent of GDP annually,â said Krugman, 56, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in October for his theories on international trade. The world is suffering a âhorrific economic crisis with as far as I can tell no end in sight.â
Global Economy - acharya - 03-18-2009
<b>Bernanke May Need to Ramp Up Fedâs Asset Purchases (Update2)
</b>
By Craig Torres
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Federal Reserve policy makers may have to ramp up their purchases of mortgage securities and other assets after the economy and job market deteriorated further since they last met.
The Federal Open Market Committee, gathering today and tomorrow in Washington, needs to redouble its efforts after the central bankâs balance sheet shrank 17 percent from a $2.3 trillion December peak, Fed watchers said. The retreat came even as Bernanke acknowledged the chance that the unemployment rate will exceed 10 percent for the first time in a quarter century.
âIt takes massive balance-sheet expansion to generate significant easing in financial conditions,â said Andrew Tilton, an economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York who used to work at the Treasury. âMore needs to be done.â
<b>
This weekâs FOMC meeting could mark a shift toward more aggressive monetary expansion to fight deflation after demand waned for many of the Fedâs existing programs. One top consideration is an increase in the pace and size of a $600 billion program to buy bonds issued and backed by U.S. housing agencies such as Fannie Mae, analysts said.
</b>
Global Economy - Guest - 03-18-2009
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>China Lost 25 Million Jobs on Financial Crisis, Center Says </b>
By Feiwen Rong
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- China lost 25 million jobs because of the financial crisis, Fan Jianping, head of the State Information Centerâs economic forecasting department said at a conference in Guangzhou today. Still, the governmentâs stimulus plan may create about 16 million jobs, Fan said.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Global Economy - Guest - 03-19-2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15school.html?em
The masterâs of business administration, a gateway credential throughout corporate America, is especially coveted on Wall Street; in recent years, top business schools have routinely sent more than 40 percent of their graduates into the world of finance.
<b>
But with the economy in disarray and so many financial firms in free fall, analysts, and even educators themselves, are wondering if the way business students are taught may have contributed to the most serious economic crisis in decades.</b>
Global Economy - Pandyan - 03-19-2009
B school degrees, most college degrees will be nothing but worthless pieces of paper.
Global Economy - Guest - 03-19-2009
Yes the dollar is down and the economies are going through a recession and this year 2009 may be a very tough year for all of us...but there will surely be better days again for all of us.the economies will pull up and there will be jobs for all.
Global Economy - Guest - 03-23-2009
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Inves...as-a-heist.aspx
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It was no accident.
The folks in power in Washington and on Wall Street want to pretend that the current global financial crisis -- you know, the one that reduced household net worth in the United States by $11.2 trillion in 2008, according to the Federal Reserve -- was an accident caused by some unfortunate confluence of greed and asleep-at-the-switch regulators.
What we're now living through, though, <b>is the result of a conscious, planned looting of the world economy.</b> Its roots stretch back decades. And <b>it wouldn't have been possible without the contrivances of the bought-and-paid-for folks who sit in Congress.</b>
Of course, just because the plan blew up on the looters, taking off a financial finger here and a portfolio hand there, you shouldn't have any illusion that they've retired. In fact, in the "solutions" now being proposed -- by Congress -- to fix the global and U.S. financial systems, you can see the looters at work as hard as ever.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->