USA - The meltdown has begun with Monopoly money sprinkled over the Nation as Fed’s Money-Printing Presses Are Fired Up and Ready to Go

Its actions Monday show it will do anything necessary to address a glaring shortage of dollars across the economy.

Read more at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/upshot/coronavirus-fed-extraordinary-response.html

USCDC: Corana virus could close down businesses and schools in US USCDC prepares for possible coronavirus pandemic

The CDC pointed to China, where schools and businesses have been closed to contain the outbreak, saying the U.S. may need to do the same.

Read more at:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/21/us-health-officials-prepare-for-coronavirus-outbreak-to-become-pandemic.html

Europe in 2015: A year of insecurity - by Gavin Hewitt

For Europe, 2015 will witness another attempt to reach a place of safety. For the past two years European officials and leaders have declared the economic crisis over. In the past six months a sense of foreboding has returned.

The dangers are not the same as 2012. There is no danger of countries being unable to fund their debts. The threat now is of stagnation and deflation.

European officials have warned time and again that the failure to create growth and new jobs risks not just social tension but support for the European project. Currently the economy will not return to its 2007 level until 2020.

In 2015 economic recovery will be uneven. Demand is chronically weak. Germany will remain the engine room of the European economy but will not be the powerhouse it was two years ago. Growth in France will be around 0.7%. Italy should edge away from recession but the eurozone is not expected to achieve growth of more than 1% and that will not be enough to dent an unemployment rate that remains at 11.7%.

Once again eyes are turned towards the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi. Sometime in the first three months of the year he is expected to turn on the taps, boost demand and buy sovereign bonds. It may not be straightforward however. There is opposition in Germany; there may well be legal challenges and there are doubts over what impact all of this will have.

Read more: BBC News - Europe in 2015: A year of insecurity

Report lists Ireland as second richest EU country after Luxembourg

Ireland remained the second richest country in the 27-member EU last year, according to the Central Statistics Office’s annual compendium of statistics, entitled Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2009.
Gross domestic product (GDP) per head, when adjusted for differences in the cost of living in different countries, was 31 per cent above the EU average. Although sharply down from its peak in 2007, when it stood at 48 per cent above the average, Ireland remained fractionally above the Netherlands, the country with the third highest standard of living. Luxembourg is by far the richest country among the 27, with per capita average GDP 168 per cent above the average, while Romania is the poorest at less than half the average.the second richest country in the 27-member EU last year, according to the Central Statistics Office’s annual compendium of statistics, entitled Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2009.

Gross domestic product (GDP) per head, when adjusted for differences in the cost of living in different countries, was 31 per cent above the EU average. Although sharply down from its peak in 2007, when it stood at 48 per cent above the average, Ireland remained fractionally above the Netherlands, the country with the third highest standard of living.

Luxembourg is by far the richest country among the 27, with per capita average GDP 168 per cent above the average, while Romania is the poorest at less than half the average.
For more: Report lists Ireland as second richest EU country - The Irish Times - Fri, Sep 17, 2010

Greece Passes First Deficit Test as Budget Challenges Mount

Greece’s austerity drive may pass its first test this week as a European Union-led mission prepares to dole out more rescue funds for a government trying to cut the euro-region’s second-biggest budget gap and weather a recession.

In approving the second tranche of a three-year, 110 billion-euro ($145 billion) bailout, the EU and International Monetary Fund are likely to praise Greece’s progress and say more work is needed to lock in the gains, economists said. Greece is battling the highest inflation rate in the 27-nation EU, revenue is trailing targets and the bloc and the IMF forecast the economy will shrink as much as 4 percent this year.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has raised taxes, cut wages and overhauled the state-run pension system, while braving months of strikes against the measures that helped shrink the budget gap by 45 percent in the first half. Sustaining the effort and qualifying for another 9 billion euros of EU-IMF funds will be complicated by a recession that has been deepened by his steps.

For more: Greece Passes First Deficit Test as Budget Challenges Mount - Bloomberg