Anti-austerity protesters had gathered outside Portugal's presidential palace to greet German Chancellor Angela Merkel with chants and placards telling her she is not welcome.
Merkel, who landed shortly before midday (12:00 GMT) on Monday, was set to renew her endorsement of spending cuts and tax increases being pushed through by fellow conservative Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to meet the terms of last year's German-backed European rescue deal for the deeply indebted Portuguese state.
Her six-hour visit also seemed intended to reassure German voters that the bailout money they lent is being well used.
Following her meeting with Cavaco, the German Chancellor headed to meet premier Passos Coelho before addressing business chiefs at a conference.
In a startling example of how a consensus on deficit-cutting has broken down within the Portuguese establishment, a major business newspaper, Diario Economico, ran an opinion piece on Monday condemning Merkel for pushing the Portuguese government to impose austerity measures in the depth of a recession.
The German leader, however, has insisted that only reforms to cut the public deficit can restore growth and she and her ministers have cited Portugal as a model for other debtors.
Read more: Merkel hails Portugal's austerity efforts - Europe - Al Jazeera English
11/13/12
Dutch Government coalition finds alternative for controversial health insurance premium plan - by Thomas Whittle
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| Mark Rutte: "I made a mistake" |
By linking health premiums to income, the plan on income-related health insurance premium means people with an annual income of over 70,000 euros (90,615 U.S. dollars) will have to pay 482 euros per month in health insurance fees while people on welfare benefits will pay just 20 euros, Nos television reported.
The plan has provoked strong reactions from voters and members of the VVD, traditionally a party of people with higher incomes. They blame VVD leader Mark Rutte for being trapped by PvdA leader Diederik Samsom.
The income-related healthcare premium is now replaced by higher tax. The new deal will still hit people with higher incomes the hardest, but their purchasing power will drop less than in the old agreement.
“I made a mistake as a negotiator of the VVD,” Prime Minister Rutte said at a press conference on Monday evening. “I offer my apologies. I considered it as my job to correct the mistake, and that’s what we did. We seek to reduce the income differences now in the atmosphere of the income tax, and no longer in the care premium,” he said.
Read more: Dutch coalition finds alternative for controversial health insurance premium plan - NZweek
German Banker Gains Support for Narrower Banking Union - by Annette Weisbach
Georg Fahrenschon, who led Germany’s savings banks in helping quash a proposal for Europe-wide deposit guarantees, is now seeking to limit the remaining aspects of a European banking union: a joint resolution fund and central supervision of all the region’s lenders.
Germany’s 423 savings banks and 11 landesbanks provide 43 percent of the loans to the small- and mid-sized companies, known as Mittelstand, that power the country’s export-driven economy. The lenders oppose a joint liability plan because they say it would put German depositors at risk over bank rescues in countries like Spain, where a real-estate collapse forced the government to seek a European Union bailout for its banking system.
“Our mandate is against that,” said Fahrenschon, 44. “The savings banks have a mandate to operate regionally by taking deposits and lending regionally.”
Read more: German Banker Gains Support for Narrower Banking Union - Businessweek
Renewable Energy - to push US past Saudi Arabia, will benefit economy - by Laurent Belsie
The United States is in the midst of an energy boom that at the end of the decade will make it the world's top oil producer, temporarily displacing Saudi Arabia, and a net exporter of natural gas, according to a new report.
By 2030, America will be nearly energy self-sufficient on net and North America as a whole will become a net oil exporter, says the report released Monday by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based research and advocacy group for oil-importing developed nations.
Governments could step in and encourage that switch toward renewables. Some economists are pushing for a carbon tax in the US that would help make renewables more cost-competitive. The IEA forecasts that a concerted global effort on energy efficiency could cut the growth in global energy demand in half through 2035 and cause oil demand to peak before 2020 and then fall substantially.
Global output would rise a cumulative $18 trillion, with India, China, the US, and Europe reaping the biggest gains.
Read more: Energy boom will push US past Saudi Arabia, benefit economy - CSMonitor.com
By 2030, America will be nearly energy self-sufficient on net and North America as a whole will become a net oil exporter, says the report released Monday by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based research and advocacy group for oil-importing developed nations.
Governments could step in and encourage that switch toward renewables. Some economists are pushing for a carbon tax in the US that would help make renewables more cost-competitive. The IEA forecasts that a concerted global effort on energy efficiency could cut the growth in global energy demand in half through 2035 and cause oil demand to peak before 2020 and then fall substantially.
Global output would rise a cumulative $18 trillion, with India, China, the US, and Europe reaping the biggest gains.
Read more: Energy boom will push US past Saudi Arabia, benefit economy - CSMonitor.com
Starbucks, Amazon, Google face British (and EU) tax questions - by David Stringer
In sometimes bitter exchanges at a three-hour parliamentary committee hearing, legislators questioned Starbucks, Google and Amazon.com about the amount of tax they pay to the United Kingdom.
Lawmakers scoffed as Troy Alstead, Starbucks global chief financial officer, claimed the Seattle-based coffee giant had reported losses for all but one of the 15 years it has operated in Britain because of poor performance — and was not an attempt to minimize its taxes in Britain. “You have run the business for 15 years and are losing money and you are carrying on investing here. It just doesn’t ring true,” said Margaret Hodge, head of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
Alstead acknowledged to the panel that its taxable profits in the U.K. are calculated after royalties paid to its European headquarters in the Netherlands have been deducted. He said Starbucks had a special tax arrangement with the Dutch government covering its headquarters, but he declined to give details.
“Respectfully I can assure you there is no tax avoidance here,” Alstead told the panel.
Companies operating in Europe can base themselves in any of the 27 European Union nations, allowing them to take advantage of a particular country’s low tax rates.
Note EU-Digest: this "tax loophole game" by multi-national corporations operating in Europe can only be stopped by coordinated action of EU-member countries and the European parliament. With little or no Government control or established guidelines multi-national corporations are presently exploiting the system to its fullest.
Read more: Starbucks, Amazon, Google face British tax questions | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times
Greece Gets More Time To Dig Out Of Deficit
Eurozone finance ministers have decided to give Greece two more years, until 2016, to turn around their budget deficit. What eurozone leaders did not agree on is whether to release more aid to Greece — money that's needed as its outstanding loans come due.
Read more: Greece Gets More Time To Dig Out Of Deficit : NPR
Read more: Greece Gets More Time To Dig Out Of Deficit : NPR
Corruption a pan-European problem
No country is immune to corruption and the damaging effects it has for citizens and society. Across Europe – a new report from Transparency International reveals – corruption is undermining confidence in national institutions and contributing to a sustained economic crisis.
Three-fourths of Europeans consider corruption a growing problem in their societies. And gaps in governance continue to plague European countries’ attempts to pull the region out of its ongoing economic crisis.
In a two-year project, Transparency International has analysed over 300 institutions in 25 countries. Using our tried and tested National Integrity System approach, we gauge the capacity and effectiveness of a range of institutions – from political parties, the police, and the judiciary, to the media and civil society – in their contribution to national anti-corruption efforts. These in-depth national studies carried out by our chapters formed the basis of the regional report released on 6 June in Brussels.
The report highlights strengths and weaknesses in individual states, but also points at commonalities shared by many European countries. For instance, 19 of the 25 countries surveyed have not yet regulated lobbying, while currently only ten ban undisclosed political donations. Four-fifths of the states covered in the report present obstacles to citizens seeking access to information, while 17 of the countries lack codes of conduct for their parliamentarians.
Read more: News - Features - Corruption a pan-European problem: new report
Three-fourths of Europeans consider corruption a growing problem in their societies. And gaps in governance continue to plague European countries’ attempts to pull the region out of its ongoing economic crisis.
In a two-year project, Transparency International has analysed over 300 institutions in 25 countries. Using our tried and tested National Integrity System approach, we gauge the capacity and effectiveness of a range of institutions – from political parties, the police, and the judiciary, to the media and civil society – in their contribution to national anti-corruption efforts. These in-depth national studies carried out by our chapters formed the basis of the regional report released on 6 June in Brussels.
The report highlights strengths and weaknesses in individual states, but also points at commonalities shared by many European countries. For instance, 19 of the 25 countries surveyed have not yet regulated lobbying, while currently only ten ban undisclosed political donations. Four-fifths of the states covered in the report present obstacles to citizens seeking access to information, while 17 of the countries lack codes of conduct for their parliamentarians.
Read more: News - Features - Corruption a pan-European problem: new report
11/12/12
US Economy: Moody's threat to downgrade US debt is political, part of rightwing agenda, not fiscal - by Mark Weisbrot
Moody's threat this week to downgrade the US government's credit rating says a whole lot more about the credit rating agency than it does about the US debt situation. It is really a way of telling the world that Moody's is making a political statement, rather than an assessment of risk for investors who want actual information about US Treasury securities. This is really an embarrassment for Moody's – since they are supposed to be evaluating risk – although most of the media didn't seem to notice.
If you had to pick any sovereign bond in the world that has the least risk of default, it would have to be a US Treasury bond. Anyone who is holding bonds issued by the US government can be pretty sure that they will get their full interest payments and principal, if they hold it to maturity, unless there is some calamity as gigantic as a nuclear war. One reason is that the US has its own central bank and can simply create the money to pay bondholders, if necessary.
That is the main reason why, for example, the UK government is paying just 1.8% interest on its ten-year bonds right now, while Spain is paying 5.6% – even though the UK has a larger net government debt than Spain has. The UK has its own central bank and currency, so UK bondholders can be pretty sure that they will be paid. Spain, however, is at the mercy of the European Central Bank, an alien and sometimes hostile entity – one that, as we have seen in the case of Greece, may be more willing to drive a country into depression and default than to guarantee its debt. The European Central Bank could push down Spanish borrowing costs simply by making the appropriate guarantees, but it has so far refused to do so.
Moody's wants us to be scared of the federal debt, so as to advance a rightwing agenda. But what they are doing is making a good case for serious reform of the ratings agencies.
Read more: Moody's threat to downgrade US debt is political, not fiscal | Mark Weisbrot | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
If you had to pick any sovereign bond in the world that has the least risk of default, it would have to be a US Treasury bond. Anyone who is holding bonds issued by the US government can be pretty sure that they will get their full interest payments and principal, if they hold it to maturity, unless there is some calamity as gigantic as a nuclear war. One reason is that the US has its own central bank and can simply create the money to pay bondholders, if necessary.
That is the main reason why, for example, the UK government is paying just 1.8% interest on its ten-year bonds right now, while Spain is paying 5.6% – even though the UK has a larger net government debt than Spain has. The UK has its own central bank and currency, so UK bondholders can be pretty sure that they will be paid. Spain, however, is at the mercy of the European Central Bank, an alien and sometimes hostile entity – one that, as we have seen in the case of Greece, may be more willing to drive a country into depression and default than to guarantee its debt. The European Central Bank could push down Spanish borrowing costs simply by making the appropriate guarantees, but it has so far refused to do so.
Moody's wants us to be scared of the federal debt, so as to advance a rightwing agenda. But what they are doing is making a good case for serious reform of the ratings agencies.
Read more: Moody's threat to downgrade US debt is political, not fiscal | Mark Weisbrot | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Italy - Flooding in Venice: Tourists swap gondolas for wellington boots as heavy rain hits
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| Venice under water |
But tourists refused to let the weather dampen their spirits and many donned wellington boots and swimming costumes to make the most of the city's historic waterlogged squares.
Read more: Flooding in Venice: Tourists swap gondolas for wellington boots as heavy rain hits | Mail Online
Belarus: Prize-winner Khalip: 'Freedom is indivisible'
Belarusian journalist Irina Khalip has been awarded the Hermann Kesten Prize for her courage in promoting democracy. She is under house arrest and was unable to attend Sunday's ceremony held in Darmstadt, Germany.
Mrs Khalip says about her house arrest: "I'm only nominally free. In reality, I've been placed under house arrest. I'm not allowed to leave Belarus. I have to report to the police every Monday. I'm not allowed to leave my house after 10 p.m. and sometimes the police check late at night whether I'm at home."
In July 2013, the court will decide whether I will be sent to a penal colony, be released, or whether or not they will adjourn my imprisonment.
Read more: Prize-winner Khalip: 'Freedom is indivisible' | Europe | DW.DE | 11.11.2012
Mrs Khalip says about her house arrest: "I'm only nominally free. In reality, I've been placed under house arrest. I'm not allowed to leave Belarus. I have to report to the police every Monday. I'm not allowed to leave my house after 10 p.m. and sometimes the police check late at night whether I'm at home."
In July 2013, the court will decide whether I will be sent to a penal colony, be released, or whether or not they will adjourn my imprisonment.
Read more: Prize-winner Khalip: 'Freedom is indivisible' | Europe | DW.DE | 11.11.2012
Sweden's H&M’s Miami Beach Debut - by Anna Edgerton
This past Thursday Sweden's popular H&M retail clothing company which has stores in 43 countries and employs some 94.000 people arrived on Miami South Beach in style — with more than a thousand fashionistas waiting in a line wrapped around the block, dancing to DJ Irie spinning that Miami mix of pop and Latin music.
Read more: Thousands celebrate H&M’s South Beach debut - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com
Read more: Thousands celebrate H&M’s South Beach debut - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com
European Insurance Industry: Dutch life insurance companies under stress
The Dutch life industry has sustained a number of serious setbacks in recent years. Among them was a severe financial beating at the hands of the global financial crisis which in late-2008 left three of its major players – ING Group, Aegon and SNS REAAL – scrambling for assistance from the Dutch government.
Among the major players the notable exception was Delta Lloyd, the country’s sixth-largest life insurer by gross premium income. ING, the largest life insurer, received €10bn in state assistance, Aegon (third-largest) €3bn and SNS REAAL (second-largest) €750m plus a €500m capital injection from its majority owner, Stichting Beheer.
Among the major players the notable exception was Delta Lloyd, the country’s sixth-largest life insurer by gross premium income. ING, the largest life insurer, received €10bn in state assistance, Aegon (third-largest) €3bn and SNS REAAL (second-largest) €750m plus a €500m capital injection from its majority owner, Stichting Beheer.
Among other companies, Eureko, the industry’s fourth-largest life insurer, was forced to raise €1bn from its two biggest shareholders, Rabobank and Achmea Association. In addition, following the rescue and dismantling of former Belgo-Dutch bancassurance group Fortis, its Dutch insurance operations became 100% state owned. The operations were consolidated into a single company renamed ASR Nederland which ranks fifth in the Dutch life market.
But the financial crisis was not the only major setback that hit Dutch insurers in 2008. Far more serious, and certainly a setback with longer-term structural ramifications, was the government’s granting in late-2008 of permission to banks to offer banksparen (bank savings) products which have the same tax advantages for consumers that insurance products have.
The result has been a sharp decline in premium income and in the number of life policies being sold. According to DNB, new life business fell from €1.25bn in 2007 to €690m in 2010. The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (DCIS) reported that the number policies sold in 2009 fell by 23% compared with 2008 to about 825,000 and by a further 19% in 2010 to about 750,000.
Under the weight of increased competition from banks, the sales of new savings products have been particularly hard-hit. According to rating agency Fitch, sales of savings products fell by more than 70% between 2007 and 2010, including a fall of nearly 40% from 2008 to 2009.
Given the problems facing Dutch life insurers it is hardly surprising that new life business product margins have come under significant pressure.
Indeed, according to a Moody’s study of average new business margins of seven major life insurers (Allianz, Axa, Generali, Aviva, Prudential, Aegon and SNS REAAL) new business margins in the Dutch market, 11% in 2010, were the lowest in Western Europe. New business margins in Germany were the highest at 25% followed by the UK at 20%.
Moody’s noted that despite the significant decline in interest rates, the highly competitive environment prevailing in the Dutch life market has forced insurers to maintain high minimum guaranteed rates on life products. These are at 3% for new business and between 3.5% and 4.5% on average for in-force business.
The rating agency stresses: "The Dutch market is the only major European market in which guarantees of traditional life products did not decrease during the financial crisis, despite their high level and the sharp decline in interest rates, effectively making these products unprofitable.
The complexity of the Dutch life insurance industry’s problems was highlighted in a study by the Dutch unit of French consultancy Atos Consulting, Creative Destruction in the Dutch Life Insurance Industry. The consultancy’s conclusions make for depressing reading.
Greece MPs approve new austerity budget amid protests
Greek lawmakers have approved the 2013 budget involving large spending cuts, despite mass public street protests.
In Athens, more than 10,000 people protested outside the parliament.
The vote comes as eurozone finance ministers are due to discuss the Greece crisis at a meeting in Brussels.
Read more: BBC News - Greece MPs approve new austerity budget amid protests
Sweden’s escalating household debt: A familiar story - by Naomi Powell
Household debt in Sweden now stands at 173 per cent of disposable income, following a steady climb from just 90 per cent in the mid-1990s, according to figures from the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank.
That’s well above the current Canadian ratio of 163 per cent and beyond levels reached in the United States prior to that country’s housing crash. Homeowners on both sides of the Atlantic have taken advantage of low interest rates , amassing debts some fear they will be unable to handle when borrowing costs rise or the job market worsens.
The issue has drawn repeated cautions from Swedish central banker Stefan Ingves and was mentioned in a statement following the bank’s recent decision to hold interest rates at 1.25 per cent, despite slowing economic growth. “The issue of debt requires constant attention,” Mr. Ingves said.
The escalation in Swedish household debt has gone hand in hand with house prices, which have increased threefold since 1995 as mortgage rates plunged from 10 per cent to 4 per cent. Not surprisingly then, any debate about household debt eventually winds its way back to questions about the health of the housing market.
Read more: Sweden’s escalating household debt: A familiar story - The Globe and Mail
That’s well above the current Canadian ratio of 163 per cent and beyond levels reached in the United States prior to that country’s housing crash. Homeowners on both sides of the Atlantic have taken advantage of low interest rates , amassing debts some fear they will be unable to handle when borrowing costs rise or the job market worsens.
The issue has drawn repeated cautions from Swedish central banker Stefan Ingves and was mentioned in a statement following the bank’s recent decision to hold interest rates at 1.25 per cent, despite slowing economic growth. “The issue of debt requires constant attention,” Mr. Ingves said.
The escalation in Swedish household debt has gone hand in hand with house prices, which have increased threefold since 1995 as mortgage rates plunged from 10 per cent to 4 per cent. Not surprisingly then, any debate about household debt eventually winds its way back to questions about the health of the housing market.
Read more: Sweden’s escalating household debt: A familiar story - The Globe and Mail
11/11/12
Polish police clash with rightwing independence day protesters
Polish riot police used truncheons in Warsaw on Sunday to break up a crowd of rightwing extremists pelting them with firecrackers and lumps of concrete after a parade to mark the national holiday turned violent.
Thousands of police had earlier lined the streets of the capital to try to stop rightwing nationalists and radical leftwing groups from using the independence day holiday as an opportunity to fight each other.
It was the second year the celebrations had degenerated into violence, underlining the deep gulf between those who want a conservative, religious society that rejects foreign influence and those who want Poland to join the European mainstream.
As demonstrators gathered for the rightwing rally, young men with their faces covered by scarves chanted nationalist slogans and railed against supposed Jewish conspiracies.
Read more: Polish police clash with rightwing independence day protesters | World news | guardian.co.uk
Thousands of police had earlier lined the streets of the capital to try to stop rightwing nationalists and radical leftwing groups from using the independence day holiday as an opportunity to fight each other.
It was the second year the celebrations had degenerated into violence, underlining the deep gulf between those who want a conservative, religious society that rejects foreign influence and those who want Poland to join the European mainstream.
As demonstrators gathered for the rightwing rally, young men with their faces covered by scarves chanted nationalist slogans and railed against supposed Jewish conspiracies.
Read more: Polish police clash with rightwing independence day protesters | World news | guardian.co.uk
Sweden: Future of Sony Ericsson uncertain
For three years a 'Gajin', meaning foreigner, has been heading Japanese giant Sony. His main responsibility is to give the company back the glow of its former times. Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer has spearheaded a cultural revolution within the traditionally Japanese company. Stringer has now given a German medium an interview for the first time ever. Interview by Thomas Heuzeroth and Martin Dowideit in New York.
Read more: WELT Exclusive Interview: Future of Sony Ericsson uncertain - Nachrichten English-News - DIE WELT
Read more: WELT Exclusive Interview: Future of Sony Ericsson uncertain - Nachrichten English-News - DIE WELT
Europe: St.Martin Day Celebration
Each
November 11, many northern European countries celebrate St.Martin's day.
This Sunday was no exception, also in the Netherlands. St. Martins day
is named after St. Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk
after being baptised as an adult.
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| Kids in Almere, the Netherlands, celebrating St.Martin Day |
He was born Born: 316 in Savaria,
Pannonia (modern day Szombathely, in Hungary) He eventually obtained
sainthood from the Catholic Church for being a kind man who became known
for cutting his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a
snowstorm. The modern version of what used to be a Catholic celebration
has now become a traditional children's event where kids between the
ages of 3 and 10, accompanied by their parents, participate in family
processions with paper lanterns in remembrance of St. Martin.
They ring
door bells in their neighborhood singing St.Martin songs. Kids usually
have made their own little paper lanterns in school or kindergarten
before taking to the streets. After singing their songs kids are
rewarded with candy.
Originating in France, the tradition of celebrating Martinmas spread to Germany in the 16th century and later to Scandinavia and the Baltics. In Estonia, Martinmas signifies the merging of Western European customs with the local Balto-Finnic pagan traditions, it also contains elements of earlier worship of the dead as well as certain year-end celebration that predates Christianity.
Martinmas actually has two meanings: in the agricultural calendar it marks the beginning of the natural winter, but in the economic calendar it is seen as the end of autumn.
Martinmas actually has two meanings: in the agricultural calendar it marks the beginning of the natural winter, but in the economic calendar it is seen as the end of autumn.
A European Union of More Nations? - by Steven Erlanger
Catalonia may be the catalyst for a renewed wave of separatism in the European Union, with Scotland and Flanders not far behind. The great paradox of the European Union, which is built on the concept of shared sovereignty, is that it lowers the stakes for regions to push for independence.
Read more: A European Union of More Nations? - NYTimes.com
While a post-national European Union may be emerging out of the euro zone crisis, with a drive for more fiscal union and more centralized control over national budgets and banks, the crisis has accelerated calls for independence from member countries’ richer regions, angry at having to finance poorer neighbors.
Artur Mas, the Catalan president, recently shook Spain and the markets with a call for early regional elections and promised a referendum on independence from Spain, although Madrid considers it illegal. Scotland is planning an independence referendum for the autumn of 2014. The Flemish in Flanders have achieved nearly total autonomy, both administrative and linguistic, but still resent what they consider to be the holdover hegemony of the French-speakers of Wallonia and the Brussels elite, emotions that will be on display in provincial and communal elections Oct. 14.
There are countless things that hold unhappy countries, like marriages, together — shared history, shared wars, shared children, shared enemies. But the economic crisis in the European Union is also highlighting old grievances.
Read more: A European Union of More Nations? - NYTimes.com
US Economy - 4 things to know about the 'fiscal cliff' - by Pete Evans
The Fiscal cliff is the term being used to describe a possible perfect storm of economic calamities that the United States is currently on track to hit in the near future. A series of tax cuts – some of which date back as far as the George W. Bush presidency – are set to expire.
Most of the so-called "Bush tax cuts" were targeted at the ultra-rich, but a payroll tax cut is also set to end, which will mean a two per cent tax hike for all salaried workers. Other tax breaks on things like the alternative minimum tax and the unemployment extension kick in, just as the first round of taxes related to President Obama's health care plan become law.
Add it all up and it's a bigger bill than American taxpayers are used to. That's all happening against the backdrop of a bunch of spending cutbacks coming into effect that the administration agreed to during America's acrimonious debate over raising the debt ceiling in the spring. All in all, it's been estimated that as many as 1,000 government programs are on the chopping block.
The increase in tax revenues might be good for Uncle Sam's finances, but the end of those tax breaks is going to mean less money in real people's pockets.
Read more: 4 things to know about the 'fiscal cliff' - Business - CBC News
Most of the so-called "Bush tax cuts" were targeted at the ultra-rich, but a payroll tax cut is also set to end, which will mean a two per cent tax hike for all salaried workers. Other tax breaks on things like the alternative minimum tax and the unemployment extension kick in, just as the first round of taxes related to President Obama's health care plan become law.
Add it all up and it's a bigger bill than American taxpayers are used to. That's all happening against the backdrop of a bunch of spending cutbacks coming into effect that the administration agreed to during America's acrimonious debate over raising the debt ceiling in the spring. All in all, it's been estimated that as many as 1,000 government programs are on the chopping block.
The increase in tax revenues might be good for Uncle Sam's finances, but the end of those tax breaks is going to mean less money in real people's pockets.
Read more: 4 things to know about the 'fiscal cliff' - Business - CBC News
India may surpass US economy over long term, says OECD
India's economy is expected to be bigger than the United States over the "long term" while neighbouring China would emerge as the world's largest economy by 2016, according to Paris-based think tank OECD.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of developed and developing nations, today said that divergent long-term growth patterns lead to radical shifts in the relative size of economies worldwide.
"The United States is expected to cede its place as the world's largest economy to China, as early as 2016. India's GDP is also expected to pass that of the United States over the long term.
"Combined, the two Asian giants will soon surpass the collective economy of the G7 nations," it said.
Read more: India may surpass US economy over long term, says OECD - NDTVProfit.com
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of developed and developing nations, today said that divergent long-term growth patterns lead to radical shifts in the relative size of economies worldwide.
"The United States is expected to cede its place as the world's largest economy to China, as early as 2016. India's GDP is also expected to pass that of the United States over the long term.
"Combined, the two Asian giants will soon surpass the collective economy of the G7 nations," it said.
Read more: India may surpass US economy over long term, says OECD - NDTVProfit.com
11/10/12
Canada: Benefits for New Brunswick from a Potential Canada-EU Trade Agreement
An ambitious trade agreement with the European Union would be of significant benefit to Canada, resulting in a 20-percent boost in bilateral trade and a $12-billion increase in Canada’s annual income (gross domestic product).
That translates to an increase of $1,000 to the average Canadian family’s income, or 80,000 new Canadian jobs—which is like adding the number of jobs currently in the city of Moncton to the Canadian economy.
Many of New Brunswick’s key sectors would benefit from an ambitious Canada-EU trade agreement:
Read more: Benefits for New Brunswick of a Potential Canada-EU Trade Agreement.
Read more from Foreign Affairs and Trade
That translates to an increase of $1,000 to the average Canadian family’s income, or 80,000 new Canadian jobs—which is like adding the number of jobs currently in the city of Moncton to the Canadian economy.
Many of New Brunswick’s key sectors would benefit from an ambitious Canada-EU trade agreement:
Read more: Benefits for New Brunswick of a Potential Canada-EU Trade Agreement.
Read more from Foreign Affairs and Trade
Aircraft Industry: United considers Airbus A350s to replace Boeing 747s - by Andrea Rothman and Mary Jane Credeur
United Continental Holdings is in talks with Airbus about buying A350-1000 jets, a step toward the first U.S. purchase for the planemaker's largest twin-engine model, people familiar with talks said.
The world's biggest airline is considering the 350-seat plane to replace older Boeing 747s, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. United already has agreed to buy 25 of the mid-sized A350-900 variant under a 2009 deal that included 25 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners.
A United order would help Toulouse, France-based Airbus in its effort to loosen Boeing's grip on the market for large twin- aisle aircraft. Airbus had suffered cancellations and a four- year A350-1000 order drought until July. United has said it's also looking at what Boeing will offer as a successor to its 777, the Chicago-based planemaker's biggest two-engine model.
Read more: United considers Airbus A350s to replace Boeing 747s | HeraldNet.com - Work
The world's biggest airline is considering the 350-seat plane to replace older Boeing 747s, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. United already has agreed to buy 25 of the mid-sized A350-900 variant under a 2009 deal that included 25 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners.
A United order would help Toulouse, France-based Airbus in its effort to loosen Boeing's grip on the market for large twin- aisle aircraft. Airbus had suffered cancellations and a four- year A350-1000 order drought until July. United has said it's also looking at what Boeing will offer as a successor to its 777, the Chicago-based planemaker's biggest two-engine model.
Read more: United considers Airbus A350s to replace Boeing 747s | HeraldNet.com - Work
Obama breaks with Reagan legacy - con-game persuading millions of Americans voting against their own economic interests could be over - by Eric Reguly
When Barack Obama was declared the victor in the U.S. presidential race, the immediate reaction of some was, so what has changed?
But when the voter breakdown trickled out, we realized that the Democratic incumbent’s rather thorough trouncing of Republican rival Mitt Romney was anything but trivial. Instead, it looks like a pivotal moment in U.S. electioneering. The Great Republican con game, which had persuaded millions of Americans to vote against their economic interests since the start of the Reagan era, in 1980, is finally breaking down.
It looks like Mr. Obama’s efforts to label Mr. Romney a bloodless plutocrat scored some points. This is bad news for the country’s richest 1 per cent, who had benefited enormously from the great warping of the U.S. economy, in which financial capitalism – speculation, to use another term – took precedence over efficient markets dominated by manufacturing. It saw the rigging of tax codes to benefit the rich more than the poor. It saw sweeping deregulation that gave birth to creative financial products, such as collateralized debt obligations, that mere mortals (Warren Buffett among them) could not understand and ultimately turned toxic and biblically destructive.
It now appears that the Democrats can rely on a broad, and broadening, coalition of voters who are not enthralled with the social and economic agenda of the Republicans. Mr. Romney wanted to drop taxes for “job creators.” Mr. Obama campaigned for higher taxes on the wealthy and vowed to veto any fiscal proposal that did not allow the top tax rate for those earning more than $250,000 (U.S.) to rise to 39.6 per cent from 35 per cent.
Republicans have spent decades telling Americans that the country can un-tax its way to endless prosperity. It didn’t quite work that way. The rich got very rich and the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else widened to obscene proportions. Infrastructure and schools fell apart. Budget deficits exploded in the Bush years and kept rising in the first Obama term, when spending to rescue the economy, financial institutions and the car makers became the necessary economic strategy.
It wasn’t as if the super-rich and the Wall Street bankers suffered in Mr. Obama’s first term, thanks in part to the rescues financed by the Troubled Asset Relief Program launched in the dying days of the Bush presidency. But they could suffer in Mr. Obama’s second term as his administration tries to re-balance the economy away from the Wall Street speculation-and-bubble machine.
If Mr. Obama had won a razor-thin victory, you could draw different conclusions, that Mr. Romney’s loss was the result of a few slip-ups or bad luck as opposed to something fundamental. But Mr. Obama won a convincing victory. The 1-per-centers and the social conservatives and the angry white guys who are still kicking have every reason to worry.
Note EU-Digest: Europe should also take good note of this new US political environment and stop protecting the financial interests of those which need to be put under far more scrutiny than has been the case in the past.
Read more: Obama win marks sharp break from Reagan legacy - The Globe and Mail
But when the voter breakdown trickled out, we realized that the Democratic incumbent’s rather thorough trouncing of Republican rival Mitt Romney was anything but trivial. Instead, it looks like a pivotal moment in U.S. electioneering. The Great Republican con game, which had persuaded millions of Americans to vote against their economic interests since the start of the Reagan era, in 1980, is finally breaking down.
It looks like Mr. Obama’s efforts to label Mr. Romney a bloodless plutocrat scored some points. This is bad news for the country’s richest 1 per cent, who had benefited enormously from the great warping of the U.S. economy, in which financial capitalism – speculation, to use another term – took precedence over efficient markets dominated by manufacturing. It saw the rigging of tax codes to benefit the rich more than the poor. It saw sweeping deregulation that gave birth to creative financial products, such as collateralized debt obligations, that mere mortals (Warren Buffett among them) could not understand and ultimately turned toxic and biblically destructive.
It now appears that the Democrats can rely on a broad, and broadening, coalition of voters who are not enthralled with the social and economic agenda of the Republicans. Mr. Romney wanted to drop taxes for “job creators.” Mr. Obama campaigned for higher taxes on the wealthy and vowed to veto any fiscal proposal that did not allow the top tax rate for those earning more than $250,000 (U.S.) to rise to 39.6 per cent from 35 per cent.
Republicans have spent decades telling Americans that the country can un-tax its way to endless prosperity. It didn’t quite work that way. The rich got very rich and the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else widened to obscene proportions. Infrastructure and schools fell apart. Budget deficits exploded in the Bush years and kept rising in the first Obama term, when spending to rescue the economy, financial institutions and the car makers became the necessary economic strategy.
It wasn’t as if the super-rich and the Wall Street bankers suffered in Mr. Obama’s first term, thanks in part to the rescues financed by the Troubled Asset Relief Program launched in the dying days of the Bush presidency. But they could suffer in Mr. Obama’s second term as his administration tries to re-balance the economy away from the Wall Street speculation-and-bubble machine.
If Mr. Obama had won a razor-thin victory, you could draw different conclusions, that Mr. Romney’s loss was the result of a few slip-ups or bad luck as opposed to something fundamental. But Mr. Obama won a convincing victory. The 1-per-centers and the social conservatives and the angry white guys who are still kicking have every reason to worry.
Note EU-Digest: Europe should also take good note of this new US political environment and stop protecting the financial interests of those which need to be put under far more scrutiny than has been the case in the past.
Read more: Obama win marks sharp break from Reagan legacy - The Globe and Mail
European Car Industry: Munich, Germany Parlays Reputation for Car Culture into Electric Vehicle Leadership
Munich, Germany and luxury car culture are concepts so intertwined, it is difficult to imagine one without the other. With Munich as the capital of the Bavarian home of BMW and Audi, among many other automotive-sector leaders, it is not surprising to discover that Munich is also leading the way in innovating on electric car technology and is introducing consumer-ready electric cars to the market.
Designated as a 2009-2011 model region for electronic vehicles by the German government, Munich participated in a federal funding initiative promoting and supporting electromobility. Some of the programmes implemented as a part of the project included Munich public transport experimenting with hybrid buses, and most notably, automakers BMW and Audi launching fleet tests of their prototype BMW Mini E and Audi A1 e-tron vehicles.
The current BMW ActiveE is a demonstration electric car based on the BMW 1-series and the second after the Mini E to be developed under BMW's Project i. BMW is set to launch its first electric car, the long-awaited i3 Megacity Vehicle in 2013.
The Audi project puts the carmaker into partnership with Munich's municipal utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) who have worked together to launch 20 Audi A1 e-tron car models onto Munich's roads. In addition to getting these electric cars on the road, the project also dealt with data transfer and smartphone interface technology to make the human-machine interface issues more seamless. As a part of the infrastructure to support the scheme, E.ON and SWM have installed the charging stations required to keep the electric auto fleet up and running. (And the project would not be complete without ensuring that all electricity supplying the fleet came from renewable sources!) With the data gathered from the trials, the partners can make the case that it is not a matter of if electromobility is adopted but when - and Munich is at the forefront of the mass-market electromobility adoption efforts.
Read more: Munich, Germany Parlays Reputation for Car Culture into Electric Vehicle Leadership
Designated as a 2009-2011 model region for electronic vehicles by the German government, Munich participated in a federal funding initiative promoting and supporting electromobility. Some of the programmes implemented as a part of the project included Munich public transport experimenting with hybrid buses, and most notably, automakers BMW and Audi launching fleet tests of their prototype BMW Mini E and Audi A1 e-tron vehicles.
The current BMW ActiveE is a demonstration electric car based on the BMW 1-series and the second after the Mini E to be developed under BMW's Project i. BMW is set to launch its first electric car, the long-awaited i3 Megacity Vehicle in 2013.
The Audi project puts the carmaker into partnership with Munich's municipal utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) who have worked together to launch 20 Audi A1 e-tron car models onto Munich's roads. In addition to getting these electric cars on the road, the project also dealt with data transfer and smartphone interface technology to make the human-machine interface issues more seamless. As a part of the infrastructure to support the scheme, E.ON and SWM have installed the charging stations required to keep the electric auto fleet up and running. (And the project would not be complete without ensuring that all electricity supplying the fleet came from renewable sources!) With the data gathered from the trials, the partners can make the case that it is not a matter of if electromobility is adopted but when - and Munich is at the forefront of the mass-market electromobility adoption efforts.
Read more: Munich, Germany Parlays Reputation for Car Culture into Electric Vehicle Leadership
Archaeology: Europe's oldest prehistoric town found in Bulgaria
Archaeologists in Bulgaria say they have discovered the oldest prehistoric town found to date in Europe.
The settlement, walled and fortified near the modern town of Provadia, was possibly an important center for salt production, which may explain the huge gold hoard found in the nearby northeast region nearly 40 years ago, reported BBC News. Archaeologists believe the town dates back to between 4700 and 4200 BC, and was home to around 350 people. Its age puts it about 1500 years before the start of ancient Greek civilization.
Read more: Europe's oldest prehistoric town found in Bulgaria
The settlement, walled and fortified near the modern town of Provadia, was possibly an important center for salt production, which may explain the huge gold hoard found in the nearby northeast region nearly 40 years ago, reported BBC News. Archaeologists believe the town dates back to between 4700 and 4200 BC, and was home to around 350 people. Its age puts it about 1500 years before the start of ancient Greek civilization.
Read more: Europe's oldest prehistoric town found in Bulgaria
Aquaculture - Scotland: Cutting-edge Dutch - Scottisch firm making waves in salmon industry - by David Ross
The Ormsary Estate is a beautiful, if unlikely, location for a company involved in cutting-edge scientific research that could have a global impact on aquaculture. It is also the base from which the firm hopes to make inroads into Norway and Chile – the largest players in the industry.
Neil Manchester is director of Landcatch Natural Selection, which, he explains, is not a normal fish-farming company: "We like to say that we sell one thing and that is science, but we sell it in three packages: genetic services; eggs; and salmon smolts, juvenile fish."
He explains the genetic services work, undertaken at the firm's base in Alloa, is all about improving the product through breeding, which is done at Ormsary.
Neil Manchester says the more progress that is made, the less controversial fish farming should become. Fish welfare and consumer safety are the watchwords. "We are looking at disease resistance, so that will result in fewer therapeutics [chemicals] being used in the industry and that should satisfy environmental concerns. Sea lice is a major project we are involved with. If we can eliminate the sea lice issue within Scotland, then you take away one of the major arguments against aquaculture raised by the wild fish lobby."
In the mid-1990s, the Lithgows decided to focus on fish breeding. As a result, Landcatch became heavily involved in exporting eggs to Chile in the early years of the 21st century.
But the Chilean salmon industry had suffered major losses to infectious salmon anaemia in 2007, and one of the measures taken to recover the situation was to close the door to imported salmon eggs in 2008. So the Lithgow family decided that aquaculture wasn't for them, and look for a buyer.
Enter Dutch-owned multi-national livestock breeding company Hendrix Genetics. Hendrix has operations and joint ventures in 24 countries and more than 2500 employees. So being part of that is significant for Landcatch, not least the access it gives to research and development facilities.
It took over in June 2011, with Landcatch a loss-making concern. "We have undergone a restructuring of the company and so 2012 is a difficult trading year. But our anticipated turnover for 2013 is just over £6m with a target return on capital in excess of 15%. We already have markets to deliver these figures, and we are looking for more.
"Our parent company Hendrix is used to being number one or number two in the world in every field they operate in. So that's an indication where they see aquaculture going. The only way we can make substantial inroads into the global market is to make an entry into Norway."
Read more: Cutting-edge firm making waves in salmon industry | Herald Scotland
Neil Manchester is director of Landcatch Natural Selection, which, he explains, is not a normal fish-farming company: "We like to say that we sell one thing and that is science, but we sell it in three packages: genetic services; eggs; and salmon smolts, juvenile fish."
He explains the genetic services work, undertaken at the firm's base in Alloa, is all about improving the product through breeding, which is done at Ormsary.
Neil Manchester says the more progress that is made, the less controversial fish farming should become. Fish welfare and consumer safety are the watchwords. "We are looking at disease resistance, so that will result in fewer therapeutics [chemicals] being used in the industry and that should satisfy environmental concerns. Sea lice is a major project we are involved with. If we can eliminate the sea lice issue within Scotland, then you take away one of the major arguments against aquaculture raised by the wild fish lobby."
In the mid-1990s, the Lithgows decided to focus on fish breeding. As a result, Landcatch became heavily involved in exporting eggs to Chile in the early years of the 21st century.
But the Chilean salmon industry had suffered major losses to infectious salmon anaemia in 2007, and one of the measures taken to recover the situation was to close the door to imported salmon eggs in 2008. So the Lithgow family decided that aquaculture wasn't for them, and look for a buyer.
Enter Dutch-owned multi-national livestock breeding company Hendrix Genetics. Hendrix has operations and joint ventures in 24 countries and more than 2500 employees. So being part of that is significant for Landcatch, not least the access it gives to research and development facilities.
It took over in June 2011, with Landcatch a loss-making concern. "We have undergone a restructuring of the company and so 2012 is a difficult trading year. But our anticipated turnover for 2013 is just over £6m with a target return on capital in excess of 15%. We already have markets to deliver these figures, and we are looking for more.
"Our parent company Hendrix is used to being number one or number two in the world in every field they operate in. So that's an indication where they see aquaculture going. The only way we can make substantial inroads into the global market is to make an entry into Norway."
Read more: Cutting-edge firm making waves in salmon industry | Herald Scotland
11/9/12
US Set to Restage Greek Tragedy - and they are too big to bail
The German der Spiegel sums up the perspective of foreign investors about America.
Greece’s economic problems and the resulting austerity packages it has passed have plunged the country into five straight years of recession. Germany, Europe and the world are hoping that the same fate is not in store for the US.
We could be wrong, but really think we’re right. Get it done, Washington!
Read more: “US Set to Restage Greek Tragedy” – Der Spiegel - Business Insider
Greece’s economic problems and the resulting austerity packages it has passed have plunged the country into five straight years of recession. Germany, Europe and the world are hoping that the same fate is not in store for the US.
We could be wrong, but really think we’re right. Get it done, Washington!
Read more: “US Set to Restage Greek Tragedy” – Der Spiegel - Business Insider
USA: David Petraeus resigns as CIA director - by Greg Miller
CIA Director David H. Petraeus resigned Friday and admitted to having an extramarital affair, bringing a surprisingly abrupt end to his brief tenure at the spy agency as well as his decorated career in national security.
Petraeus, a retired four-star U.S. Army general once considered a potential presidential candidate, met with President Obama on Thursday and said he was prepared to step down because of the affair. Obama accepted the resignation in a phone call to Petraeus on Friday, officials said.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” Petraeus said in a statement distributed Friday to the CIA workforce. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation.”
Read more: David Petraeus resigns as CIA director - The Washington Post
Petraeus, a retired four-star U.S. Army general once considered a potential presidential candidate, met with President Obama on Thursday and said he was prepared to step down because of the affair. Obama accepted the resignation in a phone call to Petraeus on Friday, officials said.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” Petraeus said in a statement distributed Friday to the CIA workforce. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation.”
Read more: David Petraeus resigns as CIA director - The Washington Post
Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader - by Karin Laub
 |
| George Sabra |
George Sabra, a Communist-turned-social-democrat and former high school teacher who once wrote for the Arabic version of Sesame Street, said his election as head of the Syrian National Council is proof that Syrians are not beholden to sectarianism.
"This day is a victory of the Syrian people to prove all over the world the reality of the Syrians ... as young people shouted in the streets, 'Syrian people are one, one, one,'" he said moments after his victory was announced at a conference in Doha, Qatar.
Sabra's election came on the eve of a crucial decision for the SNC.
The Istanbul-based group, widely seen as out of touch with activists fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad, must decide Saturday whether to join a broader opposition leadership, an idea promoted by Western and Arab backers of those trying to oust President Bashar Assad.
Read more: Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader
Iran confirms its planes fired on U.S. drone - by Paul Richter
Iran's government confirmed Friday that two of its warplanes fired at a U.S. surveillance drone flying over the Persian Gulf, but contradicted Pentagon claims that the unarmed aircraft, which was not damaged, was in international airspace when attacked.
Iran's defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said an unidentified aircraft was detected Nov. 1 over Iranian territorial waters, and it was forced to flee "due to the timely, quick and decisive action of the Iranian armed forces," according to the official Press TV news agency.
The attack, the first known episode in which Iranian jets shot at a remotely piloted U.S. spy plane, increased tension in the volatile region. Washington and Tehran broke off diplomatic relations in 1979, so the Obama administration has lodged a formal protest via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.
Read more: Iran confirms its planes fired on U.S. drone - latimes.com
Iran's defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said an unidentified aircraft was detected Nov. 1 over Iranian territorial waters, and it was forced to flee "due to the timely, quick and decisive action of the Iranian armed forces," according to the official Press TV news agency.
The attack, the first known episode in which Iranian jets shot at a remotely piloted U.S. spy plane, increased tension in the volatile region. Washington and Tehran broke off diplomatic relations in 1979, so the Obama administration has lodged a formal protest via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.
Read more: Iran confirms its planes fired on U.S. drone - latimes.com
U.S. House vote on Russia trade bill expected next week
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on a long-delayed bill to ensure U.S. companies receive all the market-opening benefits of Russia's recent accession to the World Trade Organization, congressional aides said on Friday.
The House Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting late Tuesday afternoon on the legislation to establish "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with Russia, setting the stage for a full House vote on the bill by the end of the week, a House leadership aide said.
The Senate would also have to approve the White House-backed legislation for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.
On Thursday, a coalition of more than 500 companies and business organizations urged members of Congress to approve the bill quickly.
"For nearly eighty days now, all of the other 155 members of the WTO have been able to fully access Russia's market liberalizations, including new rules related to services, science-based animal and plant health, and intellectual property protection - but U.S. businesses cannot," the groups sai
Read more; U.S. House vote on Russia trade bill expected next week | Reuters
The House Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting late Tuesday afternoon on the legislation to establish "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with Russia, setting the stage for a full House vote on the bill by the end of the week, a House leadership aide said.
The Senate would also have to approve the White House-backed legislation for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.
On Thursday, a coalition of more than 500 companies and business organizations urged members of Congress to approve the bill quickly.
"For nearly eighty days now, all of the other 155 members of the WTO have been able to fully access Russia's market liberalizations, including new rules related to services, science-based animal and plant health, and intellectual property protection - but U.S. businesses cannot," the groups sai
Read more; U.S. House vote on Russia trade bill expected next week | Reuters
The 36 Best Healthcare Systems In The World - by Adam Taylor and Samuel Blackstone
12 years ago, the World Health Organization released the World Health Report 2000. Inside the report there was an ambitious task — to rank the world's best healthcare systems.
The results became notorious — the US healthcare system came in 15th in overall performance, and first in overall expenditure per capita. That result meant that its overall ranking was 37th.
Note EU-Digest: conservative news resources like the Wall Street Journal which is owned by the Rupert media conglomerate cried foul about the way the report was put together by the World Health Organization. It has been suggested by many many of the WHO member countries to update the report which now dates back 12 years.
Read more: The 36 Best Healthcare Systems In The World - Business Insider
The results became notorious — the US healthcare system came in 15th in overall performance, and first in overall expenditure per capita. That result meant that its overall ranking was 37th.
Note EU-Digest: conservative news resources like the Wall Street Journal which is owned by the Rupert media conglomerate cried foul about the way the report was put together by the World Health Organization. It has been suggested by many many of the WHO member countries to update the report which now dates back 12 years.
Read more: The 36 Best Healthcare Systems In The World - Business Insider
World Health Organization Ranking of Health Care Systems around the world
The World Health Organization ranked the health care systems of its 191 member states in its "World Health Report". This ranking provided a framework and measurement approach to examine and compare aspects of healthcare around the world. It developed a series of performance indicators to assess the overall level and distribution of health in the populations, and the responsiveness and financing of health care services. It was the organization's first ever analysis of the world's health systems.
In this ranking the top 20 countries were:
1
France
2
Italy
3
San Marino
4
Andorra
5
Malta
6
Singapore
7
Spain
8
Oman
9
Austria
10
Japan
11
Norway
12
Portugal
13
Monaco
14
Greece
15
Iceland
16
Luxembourg
17
Netherlands
18
United Kingdom
19
Ireland
20
Switzerland
EU-Digest
In this ranking the top 20 countries were:
1
France2
Italy3
San Marino4
Andorra 5
Malta 6
Singapore7
Spain8
Oman9
Austria10
Japan11
Norway12
Portugal13
Monaco14
Greece15
Iceland16
Luxembourg17
Netherlands18
United Kingdom19
Ireland20
SwitzerlandEU-Digest
Ireland: ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award winners announced
ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards were held at Mansion House, Dublin, Ireland yesterday evening (Tuesday 6th November) where Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Lijia Xu (CHN) were named the male and female winners of 2012.
Four-time Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie commented: 'Winning the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award is a huge honour, especially for everyone who has helped me. There is a huge team in the background from family, friends, coaches and sponsors who helped make it happen. It is a huge honour to be part of such a group of exceptional sailors who were put forward for this award.'
It is the fourth time that Ainslie has been named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, following titles gained in 1998, 2002 and 2008. Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor of all time. The 35-year old’s achievement at London 2012 elevated him to five Olympic medals (four gold, one silver), surpassing Rolex Testimonee Paul Elvstrøm (DEN), winner of four gold medals between 1948 and 1960.
Lijia Xu, Laser Radial Gold Medallist at London 2012, expressed her delight at becoming only the second Asian athlete to be crowned ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year and spoke of her passion for the sport: 'Sailing has given me the chance to chase my dreams and the stage to show my potential. It has provided me with the opportunity to see, feel and explore the world. Sailing leads me to a path of a better life, a life full of vitality, excitement and joyful experiences.'
In August, Xu became the first Chinese, and indeed Asian, sailor to win an Olympic Gold medal in a dinghy sailing boat.
Read and view more at Sail-World.com : ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award winners announced + Video
Four-time Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie commented: 'Winning the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award is a huge honour, especially for everyone who has helped me. There is a huge team in the background from family, friends, coaches and sponsors who helped make it happen. It is a huge honour to be part of such a group of exceptional sailors who were put forward for this award.'
It is the fourth time that Ainslie has been named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, following titles gained in 1998, 2002 and 2008. Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor of all time. The 35-year old’s achievement at London 2012 elevated him to five Olympic medals (four gold, one silver), surpassing Rolex Testimonee Paul Elvstrøm (DEN), winner of four gold medals between 1948 and 1960.
Lijia Xu, Laser Radial Gold Medallist at London 2012, expressed her delight at becoming only the second Asian athlete to be crowned ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year and spoke of her passion for the sport: 'Sailing has given me the chance to chase my dreams and the stage to show my potential. It has provided me with the opportunity to see, feel and explore the world. Sailing leads me to a path of a better life, a life full of vitality, excitement and joyful experiences.'
In August, Xu became the first Chinese, and indeed Asian, sailor to win an Olympic Gold medal in a dinghy sailing boat.
Read and view more at Sail-World.com : ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award winners announced + Video
Balkan asylum seekers come under suspicion in EU - by D. Stojanovic
Azra Ajeti's fellow Gypsies have been buffeted by accusations of filing bogus asylum claims in the rich EU, but she says there's nothing phony about her family's life of misery. "We are starving," said the woman from this impoverished southern Serbian town. "Life here is a disgrace."
Ajeti's son was among some 60,000 people from Serbia and other Balkan countries who have sought asylum in Western Europe since the EU allowed visa-free travel from their nations three years ago.
Many EU and local officials describe the exodus as little more than a fraud in which mostly Gypsy migrants cross over knowing their asylum requests have no chance, their main goal to obtain the food, lodging and, in some cases, living expenses worth hundreds of euros (dollars) per month they are entitled to while awaiting an answer.
As a result of the continued surge, the EU states with the most Balkan asylum requests – Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg – are moving toward re-imposing visas for Serbia and Macedonia, the two countries that send the most asylum applicants.
Many seekers, however, cite racial discrimination in their home countries as the reason for their flight, saying it constitutes legitimate grounds for asylum.
Read more: Balkan asylum seekers come under suspicion
Ajeti's son was among some 60,000 people from Serbia and other Balkan countries who have sought asylum in Western Europe since the EU allowed visa-free travel from their nations three years ago.
Many EU and local officials describe the exodus as little more than a fraud in which mostly Gypsy migrants cross over knowing their asylum requests have no chance, their main goal to obtain the food, lodging and, in some cases, living expenses worth hundreds of euros (dollars) per month they are entitled to while awaiting an answer.
As a result of the continued surge, the EU states with the most Balkan asylum requests – Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg – are moving toward re-imposing visas for Serbia and Macedonia, the two countries that send the most asylum applicants.
Many seekers, however, cite racial discrimination in their home countries as the reason for their flight, saying it constitutes legitimate grounds for asylum.
Read more: Balkan asylum seekers come under suspicion
Middle East set to benefit from Arab Entrepreneurship Education Strategy
The future of entrepreneurship education in the Arab world topped the agenda of the Entrepreneurship for Arab Schools which was recently hosted at the Qatar Foundation's Student Centre in Doha by INJAZ Al Arab, a non-profit organization and affiliate of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide.
The Entrepreneurship for Arab Schools, which brought together Arab Ministries of Education, the Arab League, World, business leaders and leading NGO's in the field, made plans on the way forward for an aligned Arab Entrepreneurship Education Strategy across the Arab region.
The meeting's objectives showed that it was imperative for an entrepreneurship education policy in Arab governments and launched a regional strategy for integrating entrepreneurship education into national school systems across the Arab World.
A collaborative ethos encouraged the participants to work in partnership towards a shared policy goal.
EU-Digest
The Entrepreneurship for Arab Schools, which brought together Arab Ministries of Education, the Arab League, World, business leaders and leading NGO's in the field, made plans on the way forward for an aligned Arab Entrepreneurship Education Strategy across the Arab region.
The meeting's objectives showed that it was imperative for an entrepreneurship education policy in Arab governments and launched a regional strategy for integrating entrepreneurship education into national school systems across the Arab World.
A collaborative ethos encouraged the participants to work in partnership towards a shared policy goal.
EU-Digest
Greece: A ticking budget bomb - by Nicholas Paphitis and Juergen Baetz
Greece's euro partners won't be able to release the country's next batch of bailout cash next week, even though the Greek Parliament narrowly backed more unpopular austerity measures Thursday.
Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the 17-country eurozone is not yet in a position to make a decision on releasing the funds, as many in Athens may have hoped. As anticipated, the cash-strapped country still has to pass its budget for 2013, while lawmakers in some countries, including Germany, have to authorize the release of funds. "We're not there yet," Schaeuble said in Hamburg.
The approval of the austerity bill, which will further cut salaries and pensions and increase taxes, was the key step toward persuading Greece's international creditors to release the next 31.5 billion-euro ($40.2 billion) installment of the country's vital bailout loans.
Without it, the government has said the country will start running out of cash on Nov. 16, paving the way to Greece's potential bankruptcy and exit from the euro. That scenario has kept financial markets on edge for the past three years.
Read more: Greece: A ticking budget bomb
Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the 17-country eurozone is not yet in a position to make a decision on releasing the funds, as many in Athens may have hoped. As anticipated, the cash-strapped country still has to pass its budget for 2013, while lawmakers in some countries, including Germany, have to authorize the release of funds. "We're not there yet," Schaeuble said in Hamburg.
The approval of the austerity bill, which will further cut salaries and pensions and increase taxes, was the key step toward persuading Greece's international creditors to release the next 31.5 billion-euro ($40.2 billion) installment of the country's vital bailout loans.
Without it, the government has said the country will start running out of cash on Nov. 16, paving the way to Greece's potential bankruptcy and exit from the euro. That scenario has kept financial markets on edge for the past three years.
Read more: Greece: A ticking budget bomb
European Airline Industry: Iberia to cut 4,500 jobs to stay alive - by Ben Perry
Iberia is to shed 4,500 jobs to save Spain's biggest airline from collapse and more may follow amid the economic crisis in the indebted eurozone nation, parent group International Airlines Group said Friday.
"Iberia is in (a) fight for survival," the carrier's chief executive Rafael Sanchez-Lozano said in a statement issued by IAG, which also owns British Airways.
"It is unprofitable in all its markets. We have to take tough decisions now to save the company and return it to profitability.
"Unless we take radical action to introduce permanent structural change the future for the airline is bleak. However this plan gives us a platform to turn the business around and grow," he added.
Sanchez-Lozano said "the Spanish and European economic crisis has impacted on Iberia, but its problems are systemic and pre-date the country's current difficulties."
Read more: AFP: Iberia to axe 4,500 jobs to stay alive
"Iberia is in (a) fight for survival," the carrier's chief executive Rafael Sanchez-Lozano said in a statement issued by IAG, which also owns British Airways.
"It is unprofitable in all its markets. We have to take tough decisions now to save the company and return it to profitability.
"Unless we take radical action to introduce permanent structural change the future for the airline is bleak. However this plan gives us a platform to turn the business around and grow," he added.
Sanchez-Lozano said "the Spanish and European economic crisis has impacted on Iberia, but its problems are systemic and pre-date the country's current difficulties."
Read more: AFP: Iberia to axe 4,500 jobs to stay alive
11/8/12
ECB: Upbeat Draghi looks beyond euro zone indicators - Eric Reguly
Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, was not all gloom and doom on Thursday, though the man has every right to be given this week’s dismal stream of economic data.Only the day before the ECB’s monthly rate-setting meeting, the European Commission dropped its estimates for euro zone growth to a mere 0.1 per cent next year, against its previous forecast for 1 per cent growth, and said that Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, will expand by only 0.8 per cent.
German factory orders and industrial production are falling alarmingly fast. And the economies of Spain and Greece continue to sink, with the chances of a Spanish bailout rising by the day as the jobless rate climbs and growth remains deep in negative territory.
Yet in response to a question during the press conference about the euro zone’s ability to emerge from its vat of mud, he seemed surprisingly optimistic, which made some of us wonder whether he had been infected by Barack Obama’s cheery victory speech, which made Americans think that ambition, fairness and hard work would make anything possible.
Certainly the worst is over, he said, for the euro zone as a whole and its 17 member countries. “I would not have made this statement a year ago,” he said. “Both have a fundamental position which is way more balanced than the U.S. but also other countries – Japan and the UK . The euro has a current account balance, which is basically in balance, corporate debt and household debt is relatively low all over the euro area, savings ratios are high, unit labor costs are down.”
Read more: Upbeat Draghi looks beyond euro zone indicators - The Globe and Mail
Europe Intensifies Chinese Solar Panel Investigation - by James Kanter
European Union regulators ramped up their investigation of the Chinese solar panel industry Thursday by accusing the Chinese government of unfairly subsidizing panel makers.
Read more: Europe Intensifies Chinese Solar Panel Investigation - NYTimes.com
The latest step in an increasingly acrimonious battle engulfing the global clean-energy industry came a day after the United States made a final decision to impose duties on billions of dollars of solar products from China over the next five years, to shield American producers against lower-priced imports.
It also came after the Chinese government said Monday that it had filed a case with the World Trade Organization accusing some E.U. countries of violating free trade rules with policies that favored the purchase of solar energy equipment produced in Europe.
The European Commission is already investigating whether Chinese manufacturers sold equipment for less than the cost of making it. That so-called anti-dumping investigation is the biggest case of its kind in terms of value, covering imports from China worth an estimated €21 billion, or $27 billion.
Read more: Europe Intensifies Chinese Solar Panel Investigation - NYTimes.com
US Presidential Elections: Obama also wins Florida - Romney advisor concedes Florida to Obama - by Marc Caputo
Though votes are still being tallied, President Obama is all but assured a victory in Florida because the lion’s share of the outstanding ballots come from Democratic-heavy counties.
Obama leads Republican Mitt Romney by 55,832 votes — or 49.9 percent to 49.24 — but there just aren’t enough votes from Republican areas to allow the challenger to catch up.
Romney’s Florida campaign has acknowledged their candidate lost in Florida as well. Romney already conceded the national race after he lost the other battleground states.
Even if the estimates from South Florida were reversed and Obama’s extra projected votes were handed to Romney, the Republican would still lose by about 32,000 votes.
The wild card: Provisional ballots. These are cast by voters whose status is in doubt. Often they’re rejected, in part because people vote in the wrong precinct. Most studies show, however, that provisional ballots are more likely to be cast by Democrats than Republicans.
Obama also nearly won the solidly Republican Cuban-American vote in Florida and rolled up huge margins with every other Hispanic group in the state, according to an exit poll performed by a firm that also worked for his campaign.
For more: the Miami Herald
Obama leads Republican Mitt Romney by 55,832 votes — or 49.9 percent to 49.24 — but there just aren’t enough votes from Republican areas to allow the challenger to catch up.
Romney’s Florida campaign has acknowledged their candidate lost in Florida as well. Romney already conceded the national race after he lost the other battleground states.
Even if the estimates from South Florida were reversed and Obama’s extra projected votes were handed to Romney, the Republican would still lose by about 32,000 votes.
The wild card: Provisional ballots. These are cast by voters whose status is in doubt. Often they’re rejected, in part because people vote in the wrong precinct. Most studies show, however, that provisional ballots are more likely to be cast by Democrats than Republicans.
Obama also nearly won the solidly Republican Cuban-American vote in Florida and rolled up huge margins with every other Hispanic group in the state, according to an exit poll performed by a firm that also worked for his campaign.
For more: the Miami Herald
IMF warns of fresh global crisis unless eurozone finds a fix - by Phillip Inman
The International Monetary Fund has urged Eurozone leaders to act swiftly in response to the debt crisis in Greece and Spain, or risk dragging down the global economy with another financial crisis.
The IMF warned that the situation was grave and could escalate into a wider downturn unless national leaders ended their disputes with a long-lasting deal. As eurozone finance ministers met in Luxembourg for crisis talks and the launch of the euro's permanent rescue fund, the IMF urged Europe and the US to promote growth to help major developing economies like China, Brazil and India .
The Washington-based lender said at the start of its annual meeting, in Tokyo, that the "downside risks are judged to be more elevated than in the April 2012 or September 2011 world economic outlook reports". The annual assessment of the global economic situation said it was not clear whether the situation was another bump in the road to recovery or a worsening of the situation. "The answer depends on whether European and US policymakers deal proactively with their major short term economic problems," it said.
The warning comes against a backdrop of slowing GDP growth across developed countries and much of the developing world as trade dries up and governments increasingly hide behind protectionist barriers.
Read more: IMF warns of fresh global crisis unless eurozone finds a fix | Business | The Guardian
The IMF warned that the situation was grave and could escalate into a wider downturn unless national leaders ended their disputes with a long-lasting deal. As eurozone finance ministers met in Luxembourg for crisis talks and the launch of the euro's permanent rescue fund, the IMF urged Europe and the US to promote growth to help major developing economies like China, Brazil and India .
The Washington-based lender said at the start of its annual meeting, in Tokyo, that the "downside risks are judged to be more elevated than in the April 2012 or September 2011 world economic outlook reports". The annual assessment of the global economic situation said it was not clear whether the situation was another bump in the road to recovery or a worsening of the situation. "The answer depends on whether European and US policymakers deal proactively with their major short term economic problems," it said.
The warning comes against a backdrop of slowing GDP growth across developed countries and much of the developing world as trade dries up and governments increasingly hide behind protectionist barriers.
Read more: IMF warns of fresh global crisis unless eurozone finds a fix | Business | The Guardian
EU and IMF clash over austerity
The British Financial Times recently posed the question: "Are the austerity measures imposed on struggling eurozone countries contributing to a deepening recession in the region?"
It is a question that returned to the front burner last month when the International Monetary Fund published a study arguing both the IMF and the European Commission were routinely underestimating the impact of austerity on economic growth over the course of the eurozone crisis.
Olli Rehn, the EU economic chief who is responsible for setting budget targets -- which, for eurozone countries, come with large penalties and fines if they are missed -- defended the focus on "budget consolidation", saying that while it may hit growth in the short term, it revives confidence in financial markets over the longer haul.
"We are having an open and constructive exchange of analysis with the IMF," Mr Rehn said on Wednesday. "It is important not only to look at the quantitative effect but to look at the confidence effect."
But even as he publicly defends the austerity-led reforms, Mr Rehn has quietly been easing off on the hardest-hit countries.
It is too early to say whether Mr Rehn's quiet easing will bear fruit. In the commission forecasts, most troubled eurozone "periphery" countries -- including Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal -- will see a second straight year of contraction in 2013. All are projected to return to growth in 2014. Whether they do or not will be the real test.
Obama triumph raises hope of fresh start with Africa - by Njuwa Maina and Ben Makori
Kenyans in Barack Obama's ancestral homeland stayed up all night and danced with joy on Wednesday as America's first black president won a second term in the White House, raising the prospects of a fresh start for his ties with Africa.
Many Africans feel Obama has not responded to their huge enthusiasm when he won the presidency four years ago with an increased U.S. commitment to the world's poorest continent during his first term.
In the tiny western hamlet of Kogelo, men waved tree branches and banged drums at the Obama family home where his grandmother Sarah lives. Women ululated and cried tears of joy, muttering prayers of thanksgiving.
Obama's grandmother joined in the dancing and cheering outside her house after the results were declared.
"He is welcomed home," she told reporters. "I would just like to tell him to give his best to the people who have shown their faith in him by electing him."
Read more: Obama triumph raises hope of fresh start with Africa - chicagotribune.com
Many Africans feel Obama has not responded to their huge enthusiasm when he won the presidency four years ago with an increased U.S. commitment to the world's poorest continent during his first term.
In the tiny western hamlet of Kogelo, men waved tree branches and banged drums at the Obama family home where his grandmother Sarah lives. Women ululated and cried tears of joy, muttering prayers of thanksgiving.
Obama's grandmother joined in the dancing and cheering outside her house after the results were declared.
"He is welcomed home," she told reporters. "I would just like to tell him to give his best to the people who have shown their faith in him by electing him."
Read more: Obama triumph raises hope of fresh start with Africa - chicagotribune.com
US Political Scene: Decline of white might hurts right - by Ewen MacAskill and Gary Younge
It was telling that the greatest cheer during newly re-elected President Barack Obama's acceptance speech came when he reprised a version of the speech that made him famous when he introduced John Kerry at the Democratic convention in 2004.
"I believe we can keep the promise of our founders," he said. "The idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try."
For the best part of half a century the Republicans have invoked Richard Nixon's Southern strategy to take away suburban and southern whites away from the Democrats.
This made electoral sense as recently as the 90s. But since 1980 the white share of the vote has fallen in every election bar one and over the last four election cycles fewer and fewer people of colour will have voted Republican. That leaves Republicans fishing for a larger number of voters in a smaller pool of white people.
It was therefore that a coalition of minority groups helped deliver Obama his victory.
Read more: Decline of white might hurts right
"I believe we can keep the promise of our founders," he said. "The idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try."
For the best part of half a century the Republicans have invoked Richard Nixon's Southern strategy to take away suburban and southern whites away from the Democrats.
This made electoral sense as recently as the 90s. But since 1980 the white share of the vote has fallen in every election bar one and over the last four election cycles fewer and fewer people of colour will have voted Republican. That leaves Republicans fishing for a larger number of voters in a smaller pool of white people.
It was therefore that a coalition of minority groups helped deliver Obama his victory.
Read more: Decline of white might hurts right
Greece passes crucial austerity bill
Greece's parliament passed a crucial austerity bill early on Thursday in a vote so close that it left the coalition government reeling from dissent.
The bill, which will further slash pensions and salaries, passed 153-128 in the 300-member Parliament. It came hours after rioters rampaged outside parliament during an 80 000-strong anti-austerity demonstration, clashing with police who responded with tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.
Approval of the cuts and tax increases worth €13.5bn ($17bn) over two years was a big step for Greek efforts to secure the next installment of its international rescue loans and stave off imminent bankruptcy.
The country's international creditors have demanded that the bill and the 2013 budget, due to be voted on Sunday, pass before they consider releasing an already delayed €31.5bn installment from Greece's €240bn bailout.
Read more: Greece passes crucial austerity bill | Fin24
The bill, which will further slash pensions and salaries, passed 153-128 in the 300-member Parliament. It came hours after rioters rampaged outside parliament during an 80 000-strong anti-austerity demonstration, clashing with police who responded with tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.
Approval of the cuts and tax increases worth €13.5bn ($17bn) over two years was a big step for Greek efforts to secure the next installment of its international rescue loans and stave off imminent bankruptcy.
The country's international creditors have demanded that the bill and the 2013 budget, due to be voted on Sunday, pass before they consider releasing an already delayed €31.5bn installment from Greece's €240bn bailout.
Read more: Greece passes crucial austerity bill | Fin24
11/7/12
Automobile Industry: Renault wins RAC's Future Car Challenge in Britain
French automaker Renault can celebrate a victory of sorts on UK soil after its Zoe all-electric car won the Royal Automobile Club's (RAC) Future Car Challenge, which also included hybrids, hydrogen-powered cars, diesel cars and other "green"-ish vehicles.
Renault joined automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, General Motor's Vauxhall unit, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover on the 63-mile trip from Brighton to London and won the competition for using the least amount of energy among production cars. Other victors in various categories included the Vauxhall Ampera (the sister car of the Chevrolet Volt), the Mercedes-Benz E300 Hybrid and the Jaguar XJ_e.
Renault debuted the production version of the Zoe at the Geneva Motor Show in March, saying at the time that the car would retail in the low $20,000 range after government incentives, but that's not including the electric batteries. Those lease for about $100 a month. The car has a single-charge range of about 130 miles.
Read more: Renault wins RAC's Future Car Challenge in UK
Renault joined automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, General Motor's Vauxhall unit, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover on the 63-mile trip from Brighton to London and won the competition for using the least amount of energy among production cars. Other victors in various categories included the Vauxhall Ampera (the sister car of the Chevrolet Volt), the Mercedes-Benz E300 Hybrid and the Jaguar XJ_e.
Renault debuted the production version of the Zoe at the Geneva Motor Show in March, saying at the time that the car would retail in the low $20,000 range after government incentives, but that's not including the electric batteries. Those lease for about $100 a month. The car has a single-charge range of about 130 miles.
Read more: Renault wins RAC's Future Car Challenge in UK
Denmark: Vestas slashes 1,400 more jobs following huge loss
In total Vestas expects to make 3,700 staff redundant in 2012. Having let 1,000 of these staff go already, the firm says the remaining job losses will be split geographically as follows: 55% in Europe and Africa, 25% in Asia Pacific and 20% in Americas.
Vestas said it was making the additional job cuts in order to ensure it remained profitable in 2013, when it expects a significant drop in shipments to 5GW. Meanwhile, it has revised its full-year shipments expectation for 2012 down from 7GW to 6.3GW, blaming "a lower order intake in the first half year and delays of grid connections in China".
Chief executive Ditlev Engel said: "The further reduction in the workforce is part of the continued cost saving plans which Vestas has been working on since November 2011.
Read more: Vestas slashes 1,400 more jobs following huge loss | Windpower Monthly
America Has a Structural Problem - by Gordon T.Long
Though, even the Wall Street Journal recently featured an article on the re-emergence of the Austrian School of Economic philosophy, it would appear that President Obama’s administration still neither gets it, nor I am afraid ever will. Key defections by his leading economic advisers, talk of the need for QE II and a Stimulus II, and a political collapse in public confidence suggests a growing awareness that Keynesian policies are not working, as many predicted they wouldn’t. Obama's exciting rhetoric of Hope and Change has left myself and the majority of recent polled Americans disillusioned and disappointed. What I see the administration failing to grasp is twofold:
Read more: INNOVATION: America Has a Structural Problem
I-America has a Structural problem, not a cyclical business cycle problem. Though the cyclical business cycle was greatly worsened by the financial crisis, I would argue that the structural problem facing the US is actually a contributor to what caused the financial crisis.
II- America has a Credit demand problem, not a Credit supply problem. It isn’t that the banks won’t lend, but rather that few can any longer afford or qualify (on any reasonably and historically sound basis) to borrow.
Germany, UK propose e-commerce tax effort
Germany and Britain on Monday urged the world's biggest economies to form a common front against tax evasion related to internet commerce and other revenue-shifting schemes, and said they received strong support at the meeting of officials from the G-20 nations.
"We've just been discussing it in the meeting we had. There was widespread support," U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne told reporters.
Osborne and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said they don't want to scare businesses away, but said companies must pay what they owe.
"International tax standards have had difficulty keeping up with changes in global business practices, such as the development of e-commerce," the two said in a joint statement. "As a result, some multinational businesses are able to shift the taxation of their profits away from the jurisdictions where they are being generated."
They said a united approach among the world's largest economy is the best way to fight evasion, without penalizing any single country.
Consumerism: Has the tipping point arrived - SURE
"If consumerism is the bullet in our demise, then undoubtedly the media is the
weapon. Obviously the media are a very powerful tool in all this as it features
heavily in our lives in many different forms, Internet, TV, Radio, Press. It is
literally everywhere we go. Consequently a large influence on what we think, do
and mainly what we buy. What makes it even more complex is that the media at
large is not independent anymore, but controlled by large corporations, who
obviously look at their bottom-line and not the social consequences.
Facebook and a variety of other corporate controlled social media services and search engines who in their corporate statements all pride themselves to respect your personal privacy actually make it technically very difficult for you to control what becomes Public knowledge or not. Case in point was the birthday party of a teenager in the Netherlands who did not set her privacy settings properly on Facebook and what had been planned as a small birthday party of friends and family became a major public event attended by thousands, turning it into a "free for all" fight between drunk teenagers, hooligans and the local police.
Even though you might be thinking – 'just because it’s on TV or in the latest news report it doesn’t mean I am forced to go and buy it'. Yes, in theory that might be correct but in practice it is not. Advertising basically works like Chinese torture "drip - drip" - a constant bombardment of images of wealth, material possessions and body images, etc. Indeed, we are slowly being brain-washed and our mind is changed to thinking, ‘well if everyone else has one of those, maybe I need one too!’. That's it: the driving force of consumerism explained in one paragraph."
Read more in SURE
Facebook and a variety of other corporate controlled social media services and search engines who in their corporate statements all pride themselves to respect your personal privacy actually make it technically very difficult for you to control what becomes Public knowledge or not. Case in point was the birthday party of a teenager in the Netherlands who did not set her privacy settings properly on Facebook and what had been planned as a small birthday party of friends and family became a major public event attended by thousands, turning it into a "free for all" fight between drunk teenagers, hooligans and the local police.
Even though you might be thinking – 'just because it’s on TV or in the latest news report it doesn’t mean I am forced to go and buy it'. Yes, in theory that might be correct but in practice it is not. Advertising basically works like Chinese torture "drip - drip" - a constant bombardment of images of wealth, material possessions and body images, etc. Indeed, we are slowly being brain-washed and our mind is changed to thinking, ‘well if everyone else has one of those, maybe I need one too!’. That's it: the driving force of consumerism explained in one paragraph."
Read more in SURE
European Airline Industry:As Europe scrimps, budget airline Ryanair soars - by Ben Quinn
Spartan, garishly colored cabin interiors, seats stripped of pockets, a seemingly constant bombardment of mid-air retail offerings, and a cheesy automated trumpet fanfare that announces “yet another on-time arrival.”
While companies from a range of sectors across the continent continue to struggle against the headwinds of deep austerity, better than expected results released this week by the Dublin-based carrier for the first half of this year underlined the apparent resilience of one of Europe’s most extraordinary business success stories. Despite operating in cash-strapped times where many Europeans are cutting back on the pre-austerity habit of taking multiple weekend city vacations, it posted a 10 percent rise in net profit and 15 percent rise in revenues to €3.1 billion (almost $4 billion).
EU-Digest
Vatican: Pope cancels Syria trip due to danger
The Pope has cancelled a high-level papal delegation to Syria to promote an end to the conflict due to the deteriorating situation there.
Read more: Vatican cancels Syria trip due to danger - Yahoo! News
Pope Benedict had originally intended to send seven senior clerics to Damascus, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. Instead, Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Vatican Cor Unum department which coordinates Roman Catholic charities, will visit Lebanon and meet religious and political figures there, including Syrian Church leaders and refugees, the pope said on Wednesday.
Speaking to pilgrims and tourists at his weekly general audience, the Pope called on the world powers to help end the civil war in Syria. He also urged both sides to spare no effort to seek peace through dialogue. "We have to do everything possible because one day it could be too late," he said.
Read more: Vatican cancels Syria trip due to danger - Yahoo! News
EU Leaders Eye 'Close Cooperation' With Obama
European Union Presidents Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday they looked forward to continuing their "close cooperation" with re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama, stressing the need to work together on security and economic issues.
"We have the pleasure of extending our warm congratulations to President Obama on his re-election as President of the United States of America," they said in a joint statement.
"The United States is a key strategic partner of the European Union and we look forward to continuing the close cooperation established with President Obama over these last four years, to further strengthening our bilateral ties and to jointly addressing global challenges, including in the fields of security and economy."
The two presidents said they look forward to meeting Mr. Obama "at an early date."
"Creation of growth and jobs remains a priority for both the U.S. and the EU and we will continue to work with President Obama to unlock the unparalleled potential of the transatlantic market," they added.
Read more: EU Leaders Eye 'Close Cooperation' With Obama
"We have the pleasure of extending our warm congratulations to President Obama on his re-election as President of the United States of America," they said in a joint statement.
"The United States is a key strategic partner of the European Union and we look forward to continuing the close cooperation established with President Obama over these last four years, to further strengthening our bilateral ties and to jointly addressing global challenges, including in the fields of security and economy."
The two presidents said they look forward to meeting Mr. Obama "at an early date."
"Creation of growth and jobs remains a priority for both the U.S. and the EU and we will continue to work with President Obama to unlock the unparalleled potential of the transatlantic market," they added.
Read more: EU Leaders Eye 'Close Cooperation' With Obama
Opportunity for Obama: Ending U.S. embargo on Cuba would be a major economic boost for both countries - by RM
Now that Obama has been reelected for 4 more years it would probably be beneficial for the President to put the Cuba embargo on his 'to do list', if he hasn't done so already.
There can be no doubt that both the United States and Cuba would benefit from a negotiated lifting of the archaic embargo, in place since 1962. The cold war has now been over for many years and the old guard "anti -Castro freedom fighters" living in Florida have nearly all been replaced by young energetic Cuban-American businessmen. In all honesty, the Obama Administration can rest assured that political repercussions coming from the US Cuban community following the lifting of the embargo might be vocal, but would certainly not be supported by the majority of the Cubans living in the US.
Apart from the human tragedy the embargo has caused it has also done billions of dollars of damage to the Cuba's economy by turning a market of 11 million people off limits to U.S. companies.
The economic and political effect of lifting the embargo on Cuba today would probably be similar to when Easter Germany rejoined Western Germany
Opening a new market of 11 million people so close to the U.S. (90 miles) would quickly benefit both U.S. businesses and the Cuban people.
© EU-Digest
There can be no doubt that both the United States and Cuba would benefit from a negotiated lifting of the archaic embargo, in place since 1962. The cold war has now been over for many years and the old guard "anti -Castro freedom fighters" living in Florida have nearly all been replaced by young energetic Cuban-American businessmen. In all honesty, the Obama Administration can rest assured that political repercussions coming from the US Cuban community following the lifting of the embargo might be vocal, but would certainly not be supported by the majority of the Cubans living in the US.
Apart from the human tragedy the embargo has caused it has also done billions of dollars of damage to the Cuba's economy by turning a market of 11 million people off limits to U.S. companies.
The economic and political effect of lifting the embargo on Cuba today would probably be similar to when Easter Germany rejoined Western Germany
Opening a new market of 11 million people so close to the U.S. (90 miles) would quickly benefit both U.S. businesses and the Cuban people.
© EU-Digest
Russia: Kremlin Cheers Obama’s Re-Election
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory note to President Obama after his re-election Tuesday, his spokesman said. The Kremlin says it will make the text public after the Americans have received it.
Putin is also expected to call Obama personally “in the near future.”
“In general, the Kremlin took the news about Barack Obama’s victory in the elections very positively,” spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “We have the hope that positive initiatives in bilateral relations and in Russian-U.S. interaction on the international arena in the interests of international security and stability will be developed and improved,” he added.
It is perhaps not surprising that the Kremlin is pleased with the outcome of the election, especially since President Obama told then-President Dmitri Medvedev earlier this year that he would have more flexibility after the election to negotiate NATO plans to place components of a missile-defense shield in Eastern Europe.
Read more: Kremlin Cheers Obama’s Re-Election - ABC News
Putin is also expected to call Obama personally “in the near future.”
“In general, the Kremlin took the news about Barack Obama’s victory in the elections very positively,” spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “We have the hope that positive initiatives in bilateral relations and in Russian-U.S. interaction on the international arena in the interests of international security and stability will be developed and improved,” he added.
It is perhaps not surprising that the Kremlin is pleased with the outcome of the election, especially since President Obama told then-President Dmitri Medvedev earlier this year that he would have more flexibility after the election to negotiate NATO plans to place components of a missile-defense shield in Eastern Europe.
Read more: Kremlin Cheers Obama’s Re-Election - ABC News
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