The fear factor has spiked in recent weeks as a series of indicators signal that Wall Street's troubles are starting to spread to Main Street
(Fortune Magazine) -- Housing price declines. Slowing job creation. Profit warnings from the country's biggest retailers. To an Econ 101 student, those are telltale signs of an imminent recession. Not surprisingly, the R-word has dominated talk among bankers for weeks.
"We're very close to stall speed in the economy," says Paul Kasriel, director of economic research at Northern Trust. And it's not just the usual Chicken Littles talking about it: Everyone from top auto executives to normally ebullient tech venture capitalists are making noises about the slowing economy. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, now at hedge fund D. E. Shaw, is adamant that there's a greater than 50% chance of a recession.
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Greenspan talks down US recession risk (Adelaide Now)
THE probability of a recession in the US has increased but is still less than 50 per cent, former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in comments overnight.
More...US recession gauges send mixed signals (Gulf Times)
WASHINGTON: Recession talk is heating up as the slumping housing market threatens to shackle free-spending consumers, yet stocks remain near record highs, indicating that many investors see little cause for alarm.
More...Greenspan says US recession more likely (Guardian Unlimited)
Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan says the risk of a US recession has increased, and denies regulators were caught unawares by the problems which caused the global credit crunch. By Julia Kollewe.
More...(AFX UK Focus) 2007-09-28 12:01 GMT: Stockholm shares weaker midday as Greenspan warns of raised US recession risk (Interactive Investor)
STOCKHOLM (Thomson Financial) - Stockholm shares were marginally lower on nervousness after former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned that the chances of a recession in the US have increased, and said he is more pessimistic over the outlook for the world economy.
More...US rate-cut optimism propels Asia higher (Taipei Times)
Asian stocks climbed this week, driving a regional benchmark to a record, on speculation the US Federal Reserve will trim borrowing costs to help avert a recession in the world's biggest economy.
More...Saturday, September 29, 2007
Recession in USA Latest Update.
US economy, consumer hold up, inflation eases (Gulf Times)
NEW YORK: US consumers spent more freely in August, soothing immediate concerns that the housing bust would stall the economy, and inflation eased, helping clear the way for lower interest rates, according to data released yesterday.
More...Colombian Peso Strengthens On Concerns About US Economy (The Forex Market)
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Colombian peso strengthened on Wednesday on expectations by local investors that a slowdown in the U.S. economy may push the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate further.
More...Oil falls on profit taking (Daily Telegraph)
OIL fell overnight as traders took profits from near-record prices and as worries lingered over a slowdown in the US economy.
More...Oil falls on profit-taking (Gulf Times)
NEW YORK: Oil eased yesterday as traders took profits from near-record prices and as worries lingered over a slowdown in the US economy. US crude dipped 15¢ to $82.73 by 1814 GMT, after gaining $2.58, or 3.24%, in the previous session. London Brent crude rose 11¢ to $80.14.
More...US consumers spend freely as inflation eases (Gulf Daily News)
NEW YORK: US consumers spent more freely last month, soothing immediate concerns that the housing bust would stall the economy, and inflation eased, helping clear the way for lower interest rates, according to data released yesterday.
More...The Falling Dollar and Rising Debts
There is no way to dress it up- the greenback is losing its worth. A Congressional Quarterly article noted the dollars recent performance against major currencies during June 2007:
A 30-year low against the Canadian dollar.
A 26-year low against the British pound.
An all-time low against the Euro.
These economic indicators are not favorable, but the declining dollar is a symptom- not the sickness. The root of the problem is the underlying debt, loans and imports America and its people are forced to depend on to maintain our present day standards of living.
The U.S. continues to go deeper and deeper into the red: a rising national debt approaching $9 trillion, the 2006 trade deficit a record high $765 billion.
At the same time Americans are saving less: in 2005 Americans had the lowest reported savings rate since the great depression at negative 1%. During the same year, consumer debt totaled $2.2 trillion.
These debts are supported by nations like China that buy debt in the form of loans and stabilize (prop up) the U.S. economy. As of December 2006, China loaned almost $350 billion in U.S debt, a figure dwarfed only by Japanese debt loans of almost $645 billion that same year.
A sinking currency value, skyrocketing debt, and a dependence on other nations to support America through loans, are a far cry from the profile of a superpower the U.S. presently enjoys
It is a reality for America that many have not fully come to grips with: the country that was the world’s greatest producer is now the world’s greatest debtor nation. But it does not have to remain this way.
The fight against accumulating debt from all corners of society will not be easy- but it must be undertaken. America must invest to reinvigorate its industrial base and give the nation’s best companies incentives to operate domestically rather than selling out to overseas investors, which jettisons American wealth and opportunity abroad.
Through the creation of better domestic job opportunities and revitalizing industries, America can start to wean itself from its import-driven debt dependence. Let’s hope Congress starts to listen- and companies start migrating into and not away from the land of opportunity
A 30-year low against the Canadian dollar.
A 26-year low against the British pound.
An all-time low against the Euro.
These economic indicators are not favorable, but the declining dollar is a symptom- not the sickness. The root of the problem is the underlying debt, loans and imports America and its people are forced to depend on to maintain our present day standards of living.
The U.S. continues to go deeper and deeper into the red: a rising national debt approaching $9 trillion, the 2006 trade deficit a record high $765 billion.
At the same time Americans are saving less: in 2005 Americans had the lowest reported savings rate since the great depression at negative 1%. During the same year, consumer debt totaled $2.2 trillion.
These debts are supported by nations like China that buy debt in the form of loans and stabilize (prop up) the U.S. economy. As of December 2006, China loaned almost $350 billion in U.S debt, a figure dwarfed only by Japanese debt loans of almost $645 billion that same year.
A sinking currency value, skyrocketing debt, and a dependence on other nations to support America through loans, are a far cry from the profile of a superpower the U.S. presently enjoys
It is a reality for America that many have not fully come to grips with: the country that was the world’s greatest producer is now the world’s greatest debtor nation. But it does not have to remain this way.
The fight against accumulating debt from all corners of society will not be easy- but it must be undertaken. America must invest to reinvigorate its industrial base and give the nation’s best companies incentives to operate domestically rather than selling out to overseas investors, which jettisons American wealth and opportunity abroad.
Through the creation of better domestic job opportunities and revitalizing industries, America can start to wean itself from its import-driven debt dependence. Let’s hope Congress starts to listen- and companies start migrating into and not away from the land of opportunity
Welcome to Richistan, USA
Home of the Few and Ultra-Wealthy
The rich are getting much richer and luxuriating in the most fantastic conspicuous consumption since the Gilded Age. Robert Frank has dubbed the new American world of the super-rich “Richistan.”
In Richistan there is a two-year waiting list for $50 million 200- foot yachts. In Richistan Rolex watches are considered Wal-Mart junk. Richistanians join clubs open only to those with $100 million, pay $650,000 for golf club memberships, eat $50 hamburgers and $1,000 omelettes, drink $90 a bottle Bling mineral water and down $10,000 “martinis on a rock” (gin or vodka poured over a diamond) at New York’s Algonquin Hotel.
Who are the Richistanians? They are CEOs who have moved their companies abroad and converted the wages they formerly paid Americans into $100 million compensation packages for themselves. They are investment bankers and hedge fund managers, who created the subprime mortgage derivatives that currently threaten to collapse the economy. One of them was paid $1.7 billion last year. The $575 million that each of 25 other top earners were paid is paltry by comparison, but unimaginable wealth to everyone else.
With the real wages and salaries of American civilian workers lower than 5 years ago, with their debts at all time highs, with the prices of their main asset--their homes--under pressure from overbuilding and fraudulent finance, and with scant opportunities to rise for the children they struggled to educate, Americans face a dim future.
In America today the greatest rewards go to investment bankers, who collect fees for creating financing packages for debt. These packages include the tottering subprime mortgage derivatives. Recently, a top official of the Bank of France acknowledged that the real values of repackaged debt instruments are unknown to both buyers and sellers. Many of the derivatives have never been priced by the market.
Richistan wealth may prove artificial and crash, bringing an end to the new Gilded Age. But the plight of the rich in distress will never compare to the decimation of America’s middle class. The offshoring of American jobs has destroyed opportunities for generations of Americans.
*The above has been excerpted from “Return of The Robber Barons” by Paul Craig Roberts. Roberts served as Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was an editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Business Week. In 1993, Forbes Media Guide ranked him as one of the top seven journalists in the United States.
The rich are getting much richer and luxuriating in the most fantastic conspicuous consumption since the Gilded Age. Robert Frank has dubbed the new American world of the super-rich “Richistan.”
In Richistan there is a two-year waiting list for $50 million 200- foot yachts. In Richistan Rolex watches are considered Wal-Mart junk. Richistanians join clubs open only to those with $100 million, pay $650,000 for golf club memberships, eat $50 hamburgers and $1,000 omelettes, drink $90 a bottle Bling mineral water and down $10,000 “martinis on a rock” (gin or vodka poured over a diamond) at New York’s Algonquin Hotel.
Who are the Richistanians? They are CEOs who have moved their companies abroad and converted the wages they formerly paid Americans into $100 million compensation packages for themselves. They are investment bankers and hedge fund managers, who created the subprime mortgage derivatives that currently threaten to collapse the economy. One of them was paid $1.7 billion last year. The $575 million that each of 25 other top earners were paid is paltry by comparison, but unimaginable wealth to everyone else.
With the real wages and salaries of American civilian workers lower than 5 years ago, with their debts at all time highs, with the prices of their main asset--their homes--under pressure from overbuilding and fraudulent finance, and with scant opportunities to rise for the children they struggled to educate, Americans face a dim future.
In America today the greatest rewards go to investment bankers, who collect fees for creating financing packages for debt. These packages include the tottering subprime mortgage derivatives. Recently, a top official of the Bank of France acknowledged that the real values of repackaged debt instruments are unknown to both buyers and sellers. Many of the derivatives have never been priced by the market.
Richistan wealth may prove artificial and crash, bringing an end to the new Gilded Age. But the plight of the rich in distress will never compare to the decimation of America’s middle class. The offshoring of American jobs has destroyed opportunities for generations of Americans.
*The above has been excerpted from “Return of The Robber Barons” by Paul Craig Roberts. Roberts served as Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was an editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Business Week. In 1993, Forbes Media Guide ranked him as one of the top seven journalists in the United States.
Don't Listen To Wall Street
The US Housing Bust IS a Big Deal
As U.S. home prices at the national level begin to decline for the first time since the Great Depression, most Wall Street analysts maintain their rosy outlook for the U.S. economy by allowing hope to triumph over experience. For while they concede that any bottom to the housing market bust is slipping ever further into the distant future, they hew to the view that the U.S. housing sector is far too small to derail the overall U.S. economy.
In maintaining their rosy economic outlook, most Wall Street analysts choose to ignore Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's recent reminder that a protracted decline in home prices could have a material impact on consumer spending. According to Mr. Bernanke's congressional testimony last week, the Federal Reserve estimates that household consumption could be negatively impacted by as much as 9 cents for every dollar that home prices decline on a sustained basis. And considering that housing wealth, which is the main source of household wealth, presently amounts to 150 percent of GDP, and that household consumption still accounts for around 70 percent of GDP, the prospect of a protracted period of declining home prices is not something one wants to cavalierly brush aside.
Contrary to what many on Wall Street would have us believe, the prospect of a protracted period of declining home prices now seems to be anything but a remote possibility. Indeed, with home prices already falling and with increased inventories of unsold homes rapidly mounting, it is difficult to see how home prices do not start falling at an accelerating rate over the next few months in order to clear a saturated market. This would seem to be all the more so the case as a tightening in mortgage lending standards and as the resetting of adjustable rate mortgages further crimp housing demand at the very same time that a marked increase in home foreclosures leads to more houses returning to an already glutted market.
If the economy indeed slows abruptly over the next few quarters under the weight of its housing market woes, it will not be the first time that Wall Street analysts as a group missed a major turning point in the economic cycle. Rather, it will only confirm that those analysts seem to have learnt little from the bursting of the earlier dot.com bubble in 2001.
*The above article has been excerpted from Desmond Lachman’s article “The US Housing Bust Is a Big Deal,” from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Lachman is a resident fellow at AEI. Read the entire article at http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.26627/pub_detail.asp.
As U.S. home prices at the national level begin to decline for the first time since the Great Depression, most Wall Street analysts maintain their rosy outlook for the U.S. economy by allowing hope to triumph over experience. For while they concede that any bottom to the housing market bust is slipping ever further into the distant future, they hew to the view that the U.S. housing sector is far too small to derail the overall U.S. economy.
In maintaining their rosy economic outlook, most Wall Street analysts choose to ignore Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's recent reminder that a protracted decline in home prices could have a material impact on consumer spending. According to Mr. Bernanke's congressional testimony last week, the Federal Reserve estimates that household consumption could be negatively impacted by as much as 9 cents for every dollar that home prices decline on a sustained basis. And considering that housing wealth, which is the main source of household wealth, presently amounts to 150 percent of GDP, and that household consumption still accounts for around 70 percent of GDP, the prospect of a protracted period of declining home prices is not something one wants to cavalierly brush aside.
Contrary to what many on Wall Street would have us believe, the prospect of a protracted period of declining home prices now seems to be anything but a remote possibility. Indeed, with home prices already falling and with increased inventories of unsold homes rapidly mounting, it is difficult to see how home prices do not start falling at an accelerating rate over the next few months in order to clear a saturated market. This would seem to be all the more so the case as a tightening in mortgage lending standards and as the resetting of adjustable rate mortgages further crimp housing demand at the very same time that a marked increase in home foreclosures leads to more houses returning to an already glutted market.
If the economy indeed slows abruptly over the next few quarters under the weight of its housing market woes, it will not be the first time that Wall Street analysts as a group missed a major turning point in the economic cycle. Rather, it will only confirm that those analysts seem to have learnt little from the bursting of the earlier dot.com bubble in 2001.
*The above article has been excerpted from Desmond Lachman’s article “The US Housing Bust Is a Big Deal,” from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Lachman is a resident fellow at AEI. Read the entire article at http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.26627/pub_detail.asp.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Colombian Peso Strengthens On Concerns About US Economy (The Forex Market)
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Colombian peso strengthened on Wednesday on expectations by local investors that a slowdown in the U.S. economy may push the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate further.
More...Greenspan: US economy has 'less than 50-50' odds of recession (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard.
More...Mortgage slowdown threatens home sales (Daily Mail)
The property market is facing a dramatic slowdown, as the number of mortgages approved by banks falls 14 per cent. Experts believe the chances of a recession have become more likely following the US credit crisis. They say cuts in interest rates might be necessary to stop the market slowing down
More...India's growth prospects (Indian Express via Yahoo! India News)
Over the last one year, India's spectacular GDP growth performance led many sceptics to wonder if India was overheating. The recent crisis in the US economy has added to the concern that India faces a slowdown. While it is true that a downturn in the US economy adds to the risks that India faces, and the domestic business cycle may move down with a global business cycle, the medium term ...
More...DATAWATCH Hong Kong exports to face more pressure after Aug slowdown - Citigroup (FinanzNachrichten)
HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Hong Kong's exports will face further pressure in the coming months after a slowdown in August, as a diversification of export destinations achieved in the first half of the year will not be sufficient to offset continuing weakness in exports to the US, said Joe Lo, a senior economist at Citigroup.
More...Globalisation Sends US Manufacturing Jobs Overseas
You know the subprime collapse has hit the big-time when the guy who sells you coffee in the morning asks you about it. “Did you see that report on Four Corners last night about Cleveland?” we were asked this morning. “Yes. It was pretty sad.”
And it is sad. Cleveland was one of America’s great industrial cities. It became a hub of the iron ore trade when the iron ore from the Mesabi iron range in Minnesota made its way from Lake Superior to Lake Erie and then to the Steel City, Pittsburgh, where the hard anthracite coal of Western Pennsylvania happened to be.
Appalachian coal went from Cleveland back to cities like Chicago and Detroit and Minneapolis. Steel went too, building Chicago’s skyline, Detroit’s factories, and the millions of cars built by GM and Ford in the post-war boom.
All of that trade still takes place, but on a vastly reduced scale. The jobs, the manufacturing, and much of the heavy industry have moved off-shore, where wages are cheaper and the cost of production is lower (and where environmental regulations are less stringent.) Globalisation brought cheap manufactured goods from China, but it cost high-paying manufacturing jobs in America’s Midwest. It was high price, in exchange for everyday low prices.
And now comes the housing bust. A generation of blue-collar workers whose wages are falling now have subprime mortgages that will re-set at higher rates in the coming months—unless the Fed cuts rates dramatically or a bail out is organised. It is strange that the housing bubble should hit America’s Rust Belt as hard as it’s hitting the Sun Belt. But easy money is universally tempting.
For the speculators in the housing boom, we don’t feel any pity. But there’s no denying a lot of Americans, through ignorance and not greed, are going to pay a very steep price for thinking they can get something for nothing. We hope the same doesn’t happen here in Australia. But there are many similarities.
And it is sad. Cleveland was one of America’s great industrial cities. It became a hub of the iron ore trade when the iron ore from the Mesabi iron range in Minnesota made its way from Lake Superior to Lake Erie and then to the Steel City, Pittsburgh, where the hard anthracite coal of Western Pennsylvania happened to be.
Appalachian coal went from Cleveland back to cities like Chicago and Detroit and Minneapolis. Steel went too, building Chicago’s skyline, Detroit’s factories, and the millions of cars built by GM and Ford in the post-war boom.
All of that trade still takes place, but on a vastly reduced scale. The jobs, the manufacturing, and much of the heavy industry have moved off-shore, where wages are cheaper and the cost of production is lower (and where environmental regulations are less stringent.) Globalisation brought cheap manufactured goods from China, but it cost high-paying manufacturing jobs in America’s Midwest. It was high price, in exchange for everyday low prices.
And now comes the housing bust. A generation of blue-collar workers whose wages are falling now have subprime mortgages that will re-set at higher rates in the coming months—unless the Fed cuts rates dramatically or a bail out is organised. It is strange that the housing bubble should hit America’s Rust Belt as hard as it’s hitting the Sun Belt. But easy money is universally tempting.
For the speculators in the housing boom, we don’t feel any pity. But there’s no denying a lot of Americans, through ignorance and not greed, are going to pay a very steep price for thinking they can get something for nothing. We hope the same doesn’t happen here in Australia. But there are many similarities.
New-home sales plunge 8.3% to seven-year low
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales of new homes dropped 8.3% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000, the slowest sales pace since June 2000, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday.
Sales are now down 21.2% in the past year, with no sign of a bottom in the crippled housing market. Read the full government report.
"This is just hideous," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.
"This is more evidence that it's going to be a long and -- for a lot of people -- a painful process," said Mike Schenk, economist for the Credit Union National Association. "The soft housing market will be with us for a long time, at least 18 months."
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Sales are now down 21.2% in the past year, with no sign of a bottom in the crippled housing market. Read the full government report.
"This is just hideous," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.
"This is more evidence that it's going to be a long and -- for a lot of people -- a painful process," said Mike Schenk, economist for the Credit Union National Association. "The soft housing market will be with us for a long time, at least 18 months."
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Profit Growth in U.S. May Hit 5-Year Low on Housing (Update1)
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Profit in the U.S. may grow at the slowest rate in more than five years this quarter as the housing slump hurts results at companies from IndyMac Bancorp Inc. to Target Corp.
Earnings of Standard & Poor's 500 Index members may rise an average of 2.7 percent from a year earlier, breaking a 20- quarter streak of gains exceeding 10 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Since Aug. 20, at least 52 financial and consumer discretionary companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have issued third-quarter forecasts that met or fell short of analysts' estimates, compared with 10 that said earnings would be higher than forecast.
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Earnings of Standard & Poor's 500 Index members may rise an average of 2.7 percent from a year earlier, breaking a 20- quarter streak of gains exceeding 10 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Since Aug. 20, at least 52 financial and consumer discretionary companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have issued third-quarter forecasts that met or fell short of analysts' estimates, compared with 10 that said earnings would be higher than forecast.
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Credit Fuelled US Economy Becoming Like Soviet Union
Now we’ve finally figured it out. We were sitting in a pub, listening to a crazy woman. All of a sudden, it was clear…what went wrong with the US economy, we mean.
The dollar has dropped so low that America is becoming a shopping paradise for foreigners. Of course, we’ve been predicting that foreigners would buy up US assets…
Already, we’ve seen Arabs make bids for the NASDAQ…and a big chunk of the buyout-firm Carlyle. Poor Carlyle took a hit last month. It made bad bets and lost 24% of its assets. So let’s hope Abu Dhabi got a good deal for its billions.
What’s going on in the stock market? The Dow rose again yesterday – nearly 100 points. If there is a recession coming, the stock market doesn’t see it. What’s wrong with investors? Are they blind?
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The dollar has dropped so low that America is becoming a shopping paradise for foreigners. Of course, we’ve been predicting that foreigners would buy up US assets…
Already, we’ve seen Arabs make bids for the NASDAQ…and a big chunk of the buyout-firm Carlyle. Poor Carlyle took a hit last month. It made bad bets and lost 24% of its assets. So let’s hope Abu Dhabi got a good deal for its billions.
What’s going on in the stock market? The Dow rose again yesterday – nearly 100 points. If there is a recession coming, the stock market doesn’t see it. What’s wrong with investors? Are they blind?
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Bank of America to cut 4,000 jobs post-LaSalle buy
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it will lay off about 2,500 workers in Illinois and 1,500 in Michigan over the next two years in connection with its $21 billion (10.4 billion pound) purchase of LaSalle Bank Corp from Dutch bank ABN AMRO Holding NV (AAH.AS: Quote, Profile, Research).
The cuts are intended to help the second-largest U.S. bank save about $800 million by 2009. Following the cuts, Bank of America expects to employ about 8,000 people in Illinois and 2,500 in Michigan. It ended June with 195,675 employees.
"We're buying LaSalle with the goal of growing the combined organization," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "The layoffs are a necessary first step toward meeting that long-term goal."
On September 14, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America won approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve to buy LaSalle. The transaction is expected to close in early October.
LaSalle has about $160 billion of assets, 411 branches, 1,500 automated teller machines and 1.4 million customers.
Adding LaSalle would give Bank of America about $1.7 trillion of assets, trailing Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and more than 6,100 U.S. branches, nearly twice as many as any other bank.
The cuts are intended to help the second-largest U.S. bank save about $800 million by 2009. Following the cuts, Bank of America expects to employ about 8,000 people in Illinois and 2,500 in Michigan. It ended June with 195,675 employees.
"We're buying LaSalle with the goal of growing the combined organization," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "The layoffs are a necessary first step toward meeting that long-term goal."
On September 14, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America won approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve to buy LaSalle. The transaction is expected to close in early October.
LaSalle has about $160 billion of assets, 411 branches, 1,500 automated teller machines and 1.4 million customers.
Adding LaSalle would give Bank of America about $1.7 trillion of assets, trailing Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and more than 6,100 U.S. branches, nearly twice as many as any other bank.
Dollar plumbs new depth against the euro
LONDON (AFP) — The dollar plumbed new depths against the euro Thursday but later managed to claw back some lost ground despite fresh signs of US housing market woes.
The single European currency shot to a new record, 1.4189 dollars, for the sixth straight day before slipping back to 1.4134 dollars, against 1.4125 on Wednesday.
The euro recorded its gains before the publication of several US indicators that were seen as mixed at best.
Second quarter economic growth was revised downward from 4.0 percent to 3.8 percent, a still respectable figure that seemed to have little impact on the currency market.
But sales of new US homes were reported to have plunged to their lowest level in seven years in August, when median sale prices dropped by their sharpest in 37 years.
Some 795,000 new homes were sold, down 8.3 percent and lower than initial forecasts for a smaller decline to 825,000.
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The single European currency shot to a new record, 1.4189 dollars, for the sixth straight day before slipping back to 1.4134 dollars, against 1.4125 on Wednesday.
The euro recorded its gains before the publication of several US indicators that were seen as mixed at best.
Second quarter economic growth was revised downward from 4.0 percent to 3.8 percent, a still respectable figure that seemed to have little impact on the currency market.
But sales of new US homes were reported to have plunged to their lowest level in seven years in August, when median sale prices dropped by their sharpest in 37 years.
Some 795,000 new homes were sold, down 8.3 percent and lower than initial forecasts for a smaller decline to 825,000.
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Greenspan sees threat of '70s-style inflation
WASHINGTON —An important point in Alan Greenspan's much-hyped memoir has gone largely unnoticed: He acknowledgesthat global economic forces, more than Federal Reserve policy, kept inflation low and manageable for two decades.
By global forces he means free trade, the rise of emerging, cheap-labor economies led by China and India and the benefits from information technology and the Internet.
He warns that these forces — "globalization," in shorthand — are weakening as they mature. He fears that could mean a gradual return to persistent 1970s-style inflation over the next 20 years or so. And he worries that could cripple a U.S. economy that's already facing strains from the graying of the population over the same period.
Not everyone agrees.
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By global forces he means free trade, the rise of emerging, cheap-labor economies led by China and India and the benefits from information technology and the Internet.
He warns that these forces — "globalization," in shorthand — are weakening as they mature. He fears that could mean a gradual return to persistent 1970s-style inflation over the next 20 years or so. And he worries that could cripple a U.S. economy that's already facing strains from the graying of the population over the same period.
Not everyone agrees.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Greenspan: US economy has 'less than 50-50' odds of recession (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard.
More...NAB downgrades outlook for US economy (AAP via Yahoo!7 News)
National Australia Bank predicts the US Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates as it tries to prevent the US economy from sliding into recession.
More...Greenspan: US economy has 'less than 50-50' odds of recession (TODAYonline)
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, pictured in 2005, said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard.
More...Record euro not blamed for slowdown (FT.com via Yahoo! News)
The slowdown begins. An unexpectedly steep fall in the German Ifo business-climate index on Tuesday - to its lowest level since February 2006 - shows that the best part of the upswing in Europe's biggest economy is over, with consequences all over the 13-nation eurozone.
More...NAB downgrades outlook for US economy (Tenterfield Star)
National Australia Bank (NAB) predicts the US Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates aggressively over the next few months as it attempts to prevent the world's largest economy from sliding into recession.
More...Bernanke says supply of educated workers in US is falling behind demand
Demand for highly educated workers has been rising fast in the US economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today, but 'the supply of educated workers has not kept pace with demand,' causing more income inequality.Bernanke made no references to monetary policy or current economic conditions in his prepared speech to a US Chamber of Commerce education and workforce conference. The Fed released his text to reporters.While the US education system made great progress in raising the percentage of the population with high-school and college degrees during the 1970s and 1980's, Bernanke said progress has stalled since.
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U.S. Durables Orders Fell by Most in Seven Months
The U.S. economy will grow 2 percent this year, the least since 2002, based on the median estimate of 64 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. Economists projected 2.5 percent growth at the beginning of the year.
Orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell in August by the most in seven months, raising concern business investment will soften. Demand for products meant to last several years fell a greater-than-forecast 4.9 percent after a revised 6.1 percent gain the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding transportation equipment such as airplanes, orders declined 1.8 percent after a 3.4 percent gain.
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Orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell in August by the most in seven months, raising concern business investment will soften. Demand for products meant to last several years fell a greater-than-forecast 4.9 percent after a revised 6.1 percent gain the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding transportation equipment such as airplanes, orders declined 1.8 percent after a 3.4 percent gain.
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Steepest fall in US house prices in 16 years fuels fears of recession
Words almost failed observers on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday as they reacted to the worst American economic data to emerge for some considerable time. Consumer confidence slumped to the lowest level in almost two years and home prices scored their worst performance in 16 years, threatening US household spending, spurring talk of recession and prompting calls for the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence fell more than forecast in September, to 99.8 from 105.6.
Meanwhile, the American National Association of Realtors said August sales of previously owned houses dropped 4.3 per cent, with inventories at exceptionally high levels, indicating that house sellers are not yet willing to reduce prices by as much as the collapse in demand would warrant.
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Meanwhile, the American National Association of Realtors said August sales of previously owned houses dropped 4.3 per cent, with inventories at exceptionally high levels, indicating that house sellers are not yet willing to reduce prices by as much as the collapse in demand would warrant.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2007
General Motors is on the ropes, should Americans care?
What happens when we run out of land to sell, bonds to issue, dollars to print, and companies for foreigners to acquire? The difference between what Americans think they deserve and what they will be soon able to afford may be affected by this general attitude of consumer first, country second.
Its seems that most American consumers do not consider the impact (beyond their own wallet and personal gratification) in choosing between foreign and domestic cars, gasoline, or foreign produced electronics, clothes, and other goods. They seem to believe they deserve the best price, features, warranty, and service. There appears to be little loyalty to brands or country, only to their own perception of quality and value.
This has been driven successfully for 70 years (following the great depression) thus far by the American free-market consumption model, which has led to tremendous innovation, choice, and low prices.
However, it wasn't consumerism that led to American buying power, it was American global dominance of key industries that produced goods in demand by the entire world.
Read Complete Story
Its seems that most American consumers do not consider the impact (beyond their own wallet and personal gratification) in choosing between foreign and domestic cars, gasoline, or foreign produced electronics, clothes, and other goods. They seem to believe they deserve the best price, features, warranty, and service. There appears to be little loyalty to brands or country, only to their own perception of quality and value.
This has been driven successfully for 70 years (following the great depression) thus far by the American free-market consumption model, which has led to tremendous innovation, choice, and low prices.
However, it wasn't consumerism that led to American buying power, it was American global dominance of key industries that produced goods in demand by the entire world.
Read Complete Story
Glut of unsold homes rises to 18-year high
U.S. sales of existing homes falling 4.3% to a five-year low seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.50 million in August, inventories of unsold single-family homes rose to an 18-year high.Meanwhile, a separate gauge of home prices fell for the 12th straight month in July, with prices falling in 15 of 20 major cities over the past year. Prices in 10 major cities are falling at the fastest pace in 16 years. Consumers are getting more worried about the economy. The consumer confidence index fell sharply for a second straight month, hitting depths not seen since Hurricane Katrina struck two years ago, the Conference Board reported in yet another report. See full story.
The U.S. is on sale
This week's announcement that Dubai's investment company will take a 20% stake in the Nasdaq may have set off alarm bells in Congress, but it's probably just the beginning.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was especially quick to fire up his press operation and release a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson seeking assurance that the deal won't compromise U.S. national security.
However, as a political opportunity for Schumer and his ilk the Nasdaq deal has some problems. One is that Dubai is only acquiring 20% of the exchange, rather than a controlling interest. Another is that even the Bush administration is unlikely to be completely flat-footed for a second time on an issue that burned them so badly the first time around -- in the Dubai Ports fiasco.
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Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was especially quick to fire up his press operation and release a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson seeking assurance that the deal won't compromise U.S. national security.
However, as a political opportunity for Schumer and his ilk the Nasdaq deal has some problems. One is that Dubai is only acquiring 20% of the exchange, rather than a controlling interest. Another is that even the Bush administration is unlikely to be completely flat-footed for a second time on an issue that burned them so badly the first time around -- in the Dubai Ports fiasco.
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The US economy looks distinctly Old World
Commentators at the Paris Europlace Financial Forum in Hong Kong point to a prolonged period of US weakness, a booming Asia and a resurgent European Union. When the revitalised Eastern European countries of the former Soviet Union queued up to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 (in the face of French opposition), there was much talk of the ‘Old Europe’ versus the ‘New Europe’. That bifurcation between fast-growing dynamic economies and slow, lumbering economies is now becoming increasingly commonplace when referring to the US and the rest of the world, according to the speeches made at the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum held in Hong Kong on Monday. And ironically, it is the US that is being described in the same unflattering terms as ‘Old Europe’ was then.
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Bond traders tip a US slowdown
Traders in government bonds, who predicted six of the last seven recessions, say America's Federal Reserve will lower interest rates again before the end of the year as the US economy comes to a standstill.
Since the Fed last week lopped half a percentage point off the central bank's target for overnight lending between banks - the first orchestrated decline in so-called federal funds rate since 2003 - traders have pushed the yield on Treasury two-year notes to almost three quarters of a point below the designated 4.75 per cent funds rate. In the three previous occasions during the past 20 years when that has happened, policymakers have cut borrowing costs.
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Since the Fed last week lopped half a percentage point off the central bank's target for overnight lending between banks - the first orchestrated decline in so-called federal funds rate since 2003 - traders have pushed the yield on Treasury two-year notes to almost three quarters of a point below the designated 4.75 per cent funds rate. In the three previous occasions during the past 20 years when that has happened, policymakers have cut borrowing costs.
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Euro hits another record high
Last week's rate cut by Federal Reserve continues to boost European currency.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The euro rose to another new record against the dollar Monday, hitting $1.4130 as last week's Federal Reserve interest rate cut continued to weigh on the U.S. currency.
The 13-nation euro rose to $1.4130 before settling back slightly to $1.4124 in morning European trading. That compared with a previous peak of $1.4119 Friday, and with the $1.4083 it bought in New York late that day.
The euro surged through the $1.40 mark for the first time since its debut in 1999, and then kept climbing, after the Fed last week cut its key interest rate by a larger-than-expected half percentage point to 4.75 percent.
The central bank was responding to market turbulence in the U.S. and elsewhere in the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, and many analysts expect more cuts to follow.
Given a lack of major economic data due Monday, "traders may now be happy to consolidate around these levels before looking for further gains as the week progresses," said James Hughes, a market analyst at CMC Markets.
Comments scheduled Wednesday by ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet "will be closely watched and assuming the theme here remains bullish, scope for further euro gains cannot be overlooked, and the next big target of $1.4200 is already well within sight," he said.
Lower interest rates, used to jump-start the economy, can weaken a currency by giving investors less return on investments denominated in the currency.
In other trading Monday, the British pound rose to $2.0272 from $2.02. The dollar also slid against the yen to ¥114.85 from ¥115.39.
Declining dollar: Who wins, who loses
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The euro rose to another new record against the dollar Monday, hitting $1.4130 as last week's Federal Reserve interest rate cut continued to weigh on the U.S. currency.
The 13-nation euro rose to $1.4130 before settling back slightly to $1.4124 in morning European trading. That compared with a previous peak of $1.4119 Friday, and with the $1.4083 it bought in New York late that day.
The euro surged through the $1.40 mark for the first time since its debut in 1999, and then kept climbing, after the Fed last week cut its key interest rate by a larger-than-expected half percentage point to 4.75 percent.
The central bank was responding to market turbulence in the U.S. and elsewhere in the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, and many analysts expect more cuts to follow.
Given a lack of major economic data due Monday, "traders may now be happy to consolidate around these levels before looking for further gains as the week progresses," said James Hughes, a market analyst at CMC Markets.
Comments scheduled Wednesday by ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet "will be closely watched and assuming the theme here remains bullish, scope for further euro gains cannot be overlooked, and the next big target of $1.4200 is already well within sight," he said.
Lower interest rates, used to jump-start the economy, can weaken a currency by giving investors less return on investments denominated in the currency.
In other trading Monday, the British pound rose to $2.0272 from $2.02. The dollar also slid against the yen to ¥114.85 from ¥115.39.
Declining dollar: Who wins, who loses
Greenspan: US economy has 'less than 50-50' odds of recession
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard.
"We're heading for a slowdown," he said on NBC in the latest television appearance to publicize his new memoirs, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."
"My own guess is the odds are less than 50-50 that we're heading to a recession, but there is no question we've got significant pressure on home prices, which I expect to move down quite considerably lower," he said.
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"We're heading for a slowdown," he said on NBC in the latest television appearance to publicize his new memoirs, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."
"My own guess is the odds are less than 50-50 that we're heading to a recession, but there is no question we've got significant pressure on home prices, which I expect to move down quite considerably lower," he said.
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Dollar Trades Near Record Low Versus Euro Before Housing Data
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded within a cent of its record low against the euro before U.S. reports forecast by economists to show falling home sales and consumer confidence.
New evidence of slowing growth may encourage the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at least once more this year, reducing the attraction of U.S. assets. The dollar sank yesterday to the lowest since September 1992 against a basket of six of its major peers.
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New evidence of slowing growth may encourage the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at least once more this year, reducing the attraction of U.S. assets. The dollar sank yesterday to the lowest since September 1992 against a basket of six of its major peers.
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Explore the lost worlds in the Globalist Flat World
Explore the lost worlds in the Globalist Free-Trader Flat World of Thomas Friedman from the New York Times and the duo of the Clintons and the Bush Family at http://tapsearch.com/flatworld or mobile user friendly summary of articles url at http://tapsmobileworld.filetap.com
Editor and Artist Ray Tapajna from Tapart News and Art that Talks challenges the concepts of Thomas Friedman who is an evangelist for Globalization and Free Trade. What he concludes is bad enough but what is worst is all the data he leaves out of his book The World is Flat.
Ray Tapajna calls his book a "corker" which the dictionary defines as a remarkable person, an arguement that appears to be conclusive or a preposterous lie. It seems The World is Flat contains all three.
Explore the lost worlds starting in 1956 when the U.S. Federal Government itself sponspored the moving of factories outside the USA.It was supposed to be a temporary program but it never ended. It evolved into the Maquiladora factories in Mexico and later so called Free Trade.See the site for much more.Related sites include the following:Tapart News and Art that Talks at
http://tapsearch.com/tapartnews or mobile user friendly summary of articles url at http://tapsearchnewsmobile.filetap.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ray_Tapajna
http://ezinearticles.com/members/rss/RayTapajna.xml
http://tapsearch.com/globalization
http://tapsearch.com/clinton/
http://tapsearch.com/realtaxreform
http://arklineart.fotopages.com
http://www.experiencedesignernetwork.com/archives/000636.html
Editor and Artist Ray Tapajna from Tapart News and Art that Talks challenges the concepts of Thomas Friedman who is an evangelist for Globalization and Free Trade. What he concludes is bad enough but what is worst is all the data he leaves out of his book The World is Flat.
Ray Tapajna calls his book a "corker" which the dictionary defines as a remarkable person, an arguement that appears to be conclusive or a preposterous lie. It seems The World is Flat contains all three.
Explore the lost worlds starting in 1956 when the U.S. Federal Government itself sponspored the moving of factories outside the USA.It was supposed to be a temporary program but it never ended. It evolved into the Maquiladora factories in Mexico and later so called Free Trade.See the site for much more.Related sites include the following:Tapart News and Art that Talks at
http://tapsearch.com/tapartnews or mobile user friendly summary of articles url at http://tapsearchnewsmobile.filetap.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ray_Tapajna
http://ezinearticles.com/members/rss/RayTapajna.xml
http://tapsearch.com/globalization
http://tapsearch.com/clinton/
http://tapsearch.com/realtaxreform
http://arklineart.fotopages.com
http://www.experiencedesignernetwork.com/archives/000636.html
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Relentless Slide of the American Economy
The U.S. economy continues its slow death before our eyes, but economists, policymakers and most of the public are blind to the tottering fabled land of opportunity.
In August, jobs in goods-producing industries declined by 64,000. The U.S. economy lost 4,000 jobs overall. The private sector created a mere 24,000 jobs, all of which could be attributed to the 24,100 new jobs for waitresses and bartenders, and the government sector lost 28,000 jobs.
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In August, jobs in goods-producing industries declined by 64,000. The U.S. economy lost 4,000 jobs overall. The private sector created a mere 24,000 jobs, all of which could be attributed to the 24,100 new jobs for waitresses and bartenders, and the government sector lost 28,000 jobs.
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Canadian dollar heading for US$1.05, Mersch says
Fundamentally this country is head and shoulders above the United States on an economic basis."After Frank Mersch left Altamira and became a co-owner of hedge fund firm Front Street Capital, his public appearances and statements to the media became relatively rare. On Tuesday night, Mersch gave an hour-long off-the-cuff talk at Toronto's Granite Club at a dinner sponsored by DOT Integrated Financial.
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Recession Too Mild a Word
The same group of people who lied to the world about the war in Iraq are doing the same about the state of the global economy, and again the public is sleepwalking as it listens to their lullabies. We could be witnessing the collapse of the capitalist model of society as we know it. According to President Bush, however, we are seeing a “thriving” U.S. economy.
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Treasury expects to hit debt ceiling on Oct. 1
Secretary Paulson urges Congress to vote to raise the limit, so the federal government can continue to borrow money.WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Wednesday that the federal government will hit the current debt ceiling on Oct. 1.
He urged quick action to increase the limit, saying it was essential to protect the "full faith and credit" of the country, especially at a time of financial market turmoil.
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He urged quick action to increase the limit, saying it was essential to protect the "full faith and credit" of the country, especially at a time of financial market turmoil.
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Saturday, September 22, 2007
Economists reasoning for Recession based on Past Ex.
THE employment statistics and the bond market are combining to send out a warning that has been heard only rarely in the past two decades: A recession is coming in the United States.The two charts show the double warning. Both charts warned of an economic downturn before the 1990 and 2001 recessions, and they are doing so again.
Read Complete Story from NY Times
Read Complete Story from NY Times
Clearing Economic Delusion
The United States might be a superpower, but it is not a country that controls its own fate. Delusion does. Much of the U.S. public is deluded about the state of the U.S. economy.
Americans are deceived into believing that they benefit economically from outsourcing, offshore production and an unprecedented trade deficit.
The deceivers emphasize the lower prices, not the lost incomes and destroyed careers, that result when American workers are replaced by cheaper foreign labor. The deceivers allege that the trade deficit means that we get to consume more of the world's goods than we produce, with the added benefit that foreigners pay for our excess consumption by investing in America.
The truth of the matter is that "foreign investment" in the United States today consists of Asian central banks, mainly Japan and China, using surplus earnings from massive trade surpluses to prop up the U.S. dollar by purchasing U.S. government bonds.
By propping up the dollar, Asia keeps its goods and services cheap, thus worsening the U.S. trade deficit. Washington goes along because Asian countries use their export surpluses to finance the U.S. budget deficit.
Propping up the dollar undermines investment in factories or businesses that produce jobs for Americans. Stephen Roach, chief economist for Morgan Stanley, reports that in 2003 net investment in the U.S. business sector was 60 percent below the level in 2000.
The United States has become the world's largest debtor, in hock to foreigners for one-fourth of our Gross Domestic Product. The ratio of U.S. external debt (what we owe to foreigners) and U.S. exports is approaching the crisis ratios of banana republics. It is inevitable: America's mounting debts will produce a crisis. The dollar's value will plummet, and U.S. living standards will drop. Everything will become more expensive for Americans.
What helps to keep the overvalued dollar up is the fact that it is the currency in which the Middle East bills its oil. Every country has to purchase dollars in order to pay for its oil, and these purchases keep the dollar afloat. Just prior to the U.S. invasion, sanctions on Iraqi oil had run their course and were about to be removed. Saddam Hussein intended to bill Iraqi oil in Euros, which could have started the abandonment of the dollar by the oil-producing countries.
In the meantime, America continues to lose high-paying jobs and entire occupations to foreigners, because U.S. corporations outsource jobs and produce offshore. University of California professor Norm Matloff warns that outsourcing and H1-B visas, which bring foreign workers into U.S. firms, are destroying the U.S. software engineering profession. (Matloff's writings are available online and are worth more attention than this column provides.)
The shrinking computer science enrollments in American universities have finally caught the attention of the academic establishment. Computer science departments, which should have been speaking out long ago, have been muzzled, because they are heavily dependent on research and faculty funds from the very firms whose outsourcing practices are destroying the occupation in America.
Falling enrollments mean fewer faculty positions and graduate students. Despite their funding being threatened by fewer enrollments, most computer science professors are unwilling to contradict their corporate benefactors' false claim that "outsourcing is good for America." Another year of biting the tongue, another grant received.
Instead, the professors acknowledge that programming is a lost occupation for Americans and claim that there is still a future for American students in designing computer systems -- "computer software systems architecture." Nonsense, says Matloff, a computer science professor himself. He notes that it is impossible to design computer systems without having years of programming experience. If you lose programming, you lose the base for the occupation, and all the rest goes offshore as well.
Some economists claim that lost occupations will return to the United States once wages rise in India and China. Matloff's answer: "Did manufacturing work return to the U.S. over time as wages rose in developing countries? Of course not." America is carelessly forfeiting its manufacturing and high-tech occupations.
Other economists allege that new high-tech professions will rise to take the place of the lost computer engineering profession. Matloff punctures that delusion: Venture capitalists routinely demand that the new companies they finance outsource to the hilt.
U.S. universities have educated enough Indians and Chinese to fill every high-tech job American firms have to offer. The false claim that only drudgery jobs are outsourced is laughable.
Americans are deceived into believing that they benefit economically from outsourcing, offshore production and an unprecedented trade deficit.
The deceivers emphasize the lower prices, not the lost incomes and destroyed careers, that result when American workers are replaced by cheaper foreign labor. The deceivers allege that the trade deficit means that we get to consume more of the world's goods than we produce, with the added benefit that foreigners pay for our excess consumption by investing in America.
The truth of the matter is that "foreign investment" in the United States today consists of Asian central banks, mainly Japan and China, using surplus earnings from massive trade surpluses to prop up the U.S. dollar by purchasing U.S. government bonds.
By propping up the dollar, Asia keeps its goods and services cheap, thus worsening the U.S. trade deficit. Washington goes along because Asian countries use their export surpluses to finance the U.S. budget deficit.
Propping up the dollar undermines investment in factories or businesses that produce jobs for Americans. Stephen Roach, chief economist for Morgan Stanley, reports that in 2003 net investment in the U.S. business sector was 60 percent below the level in 2000.
The United States has become the world's largest debtor, in hock to foreigners for one-fourth of our Gross Domestic Product. The ratio of U.S. external debt (what we owe to foreigners) and U.S. exports is approaching the crisis ratios of banana republics. It is inevitable: America's mounting debts will produce a crisis. The dollar's value will plummet, and U.S. living standards will drop. Everything will become more expensive for Americans.
What helps to keep the overvalued dollar up is the fact that it is the currency in which the Middle East bills its oil. Every country has to purchase dollars in order to pay for its oil, and these purchases keep the dollar afloat. Just prior to the U.S. invasion, sanctions on Iraqi oil had run their course and were about to be removed. Saddam Hussein intended to bill Iraqi oil in Euros, which could have started the abandonment of the dollar by the oil-producing countries.
In the meantime, America continues to lose high-paying jobs and entire occupations to foreigners, because U.S. corporations outsource jobs and produce offshore. University of California professor Norm Matloff warns that outsourcing and H1-B visas, which bring foreign workers into U.S. firms, are destroying the U.S. software engineering profession. (Matloff's writings are available online and are worth more attention than this column provides.)
The shrinking computer science enrollments in American universities have finally caught the attention of the academic establishment. Computer science departments, which should have been speaking out long ago, have been muzzled, because they are heavily dependent on research and faculty funds from the very firms whose outsourcing practices are destroying the occupation in America.
Falling enrollments mean fewer faculty positions and graduate students. Despite their funding being threatened by fewer enrollments, most computer science professors are unwilling to contradict their corporate benefactors' false claim that "outsourcing is good for America." Another year of biting the tongue, another grant received.
Instead, the professors acknowledge that programming is a lost occupation for Americans and claim that there is still a future for American students in designing computer systems -- "computer software systems architecture." Nonsense, says Matloff, a computer science professor himself. He notes that it is impossible to design computer systems without having years of programming experience. If you lose programming, you lose the base for the occupation, and all the rest goes offshore as well.
Some economists claim that lost occupations will return to the United States once wages rise in India and China. Matloff's answer: "Did manufacturing work return to the U.S. over time as wages rose in developing countries? Of course not." America is carelessly forfeiting its manufacturing and high-tech occupations.
Other economists allege that new high-tech professions will rise to take the place of the lost computer engineering profession. Matloff punctures that delusion: Venture capitalists routinely demand that the new companies they finance outsource to the hilt.
U.S. universities have educated enough Indians and Chinese to fill every high-tech job American firms have to offer. The false claim that only drudgery jobs are outsourced is laughable.
Friday, September 21, 2007
KKR, Goldman pull out of $8B Harman buy
Private equity groups say a 'material' change in the audio equipment company's business has occurred and they are not obligated to complete the merger.WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two private equity firms have backed out of their $8 billion buyout of upscale audio-equipment maker Harman International Industries Inc., making it the latest in a string of such deals to run into trouble amid tightening global credit conditions.
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1 million Chinese-made cribs recalled
Simplicity brand cribs made in China are recalled following reports of three infant deaths and entrapment; suffocation concerns.Failures in the crib's drop side are due to a combination of hardware and design flaws that allow consumers to unintentionally install the drop side upside down.
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Read Complete Story
Declining dollar: Who wins, who loses
Concern about greenback weakness is building and experts see the trend continuing. Economists ponder the impact.The dollar fell sharply against the euro after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates at its policy meeting on Tuesday, extending its decline over the past few years.
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Recession in USA Latest Update.
HCL Tech Expects Negligible Impact Of Possible US Slowdown (Nasdaq)
MUMBAI -(Dow Jones)- Indian software company HCL Technologies Ltd. (532281.BY) is unlikely to be seriously affected by a possible slowdown in the U.S. economy as its business is spread across various operations and countries, the company's president said Thursday.
More...RP vulnerable to US slowdown despite recent growth - EIU (ABS-CBNNEWS.com)
The Philippines remains vulnerable to a slowdown in the U.S. economy despite posting strong growth in the first half, the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its global forecast.
More...(AFX UK Focus) 2007-09-21 06:14 GMT: Philippine shares close lower on fresh worries about US economy - UPDATE (Interactive Investor)
MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Philippine shares closed lower Friday as investors cashed in recent gains while fresh concerns about the health of the US economy and surging oil prices weighed on sentiment.
More...China’s top firms face increased risks on US growth fears: S&P (Gulf Times)
HONG KONG: China’s top companies will likely see a slowdown in breakneck growth over the next 18 months, under pressure from the US economy and concerns over the “Made in China” tag, Standard & Poor’s said on Tuesday.
More...Investors fear US slowdown could hit Indian IT firms (The Hindu)
Mumbai, Sept 17 With concerns of a slowdown in the US economy resurfacing, Indian IT firms lost significant ground on the bourses in the last one week.
More...Is China preparing for war with America? Is China Already At War With Us?
Understanding History
China counts its history in millennia. It has seen enemies come and go, yet one thing remains constant – China continues. Why should the Chinese expect America to be different from their enemies of yore?
Chinese politicians and military officers study history. They know the writings of Sun Tzu, a legendary warrior-philosopher whose 6th century BC military treatise “The Art of War” is mandatory reading for military officers worldwide. Sun Tzu has dozens of notable quotes, but the greatest may be, “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
The Chinese may have already begun a campaign to subdue the United States following Sun Tzu’s model.
Reflecting Sun Tzu’s philosophy, many recent Chinese writings have focused on asymmetric warfare as a means of defeating a militarily superior enemy. Asymmetric warfare uses political, economic, informational and military power. Military power is the least emphasized.
The Situation Today
Today, the United States finds itself in an untenable position with China. American industry’s compulsion for outsourcing manufacturing to cheap overseas labor markets has resulted in American stores being glutted with shoddy Chinese products while the American manufacturing base that was once the envy of the world is vanishing. The situation has become so serious that a number of congressmen are formulating a political plank based upon revamping the U.S. manufacturing base.
The Chinese, in turn, have enacted tariffs against many American goods. The U.S. government has accused China of manipulating the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, in international currency markets to give Chinese exports an unfair advantage in U.S. markets. The Chinese have tied the yuan’s value to the U.S. dollar at a fixed rate. China regulates its import market and the exchange of foreign currency with an iron fist in order to keep the yuan strong against the dollar. In the process of supporting the yuan, China has purchased more than $1 trillion in U.S. debt through international markets.
Conflict looms in the Taiwan straits
The Pentagon has been warning about a Chinese military buildup for years. In November 2005 the Christian Science Monitor reported on this buildup. The Monitor stated that about 15 percent of the PLA’s 2 million-man force has been converted into a modern, highly mobile force designed to conduct rapid operations against smaller foes.
What is the ultimate purpose of this buildup? Taiwan of course!
With the U.S. bogged down in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the time is quickly approaching when the Chinese will be able to deal a strategic death blow against Taiwan with impunity. This could be the death knell for U.S. superpower status. Already alienated from many of its traditional allies as a result of the war in Iraq, a Chinese attack on Taiwan would reveal the extent of the United States’ military’s weakened state and the inability of the U.S. government to stand by its alliances and obligations.
Food for thought
Not worried about China? Then here’s some food for thought: A series of recent China-related events, all potentially tied to asymmetric warfare against the United States, warrant close observation. These include toxic gluten in pet food, antifreeze in toothpaste, lead paint on toys, toxic levels of formaldehyde on pajamas, the recall of hundreds of thousands Chinese-manufactured tires in the United States for safety concerns … and the list goes on.
Potential problems with imported Chinese-produced foodstuff are particularly worrisome, as are the joint Russian-Chinese military exercises that recently took place for the first time in history. Coincidence? Maybe. Unrelated? Maybe. Worth watching? Certainly.
As Sun Tzu said, “All war is deception.”
Is China already at war with America?
*The above article has been excerpted from Zachary Hubbard’s article “Is China preparing for war with U.S.? featured in The Tribune-Democrat.
China counts its history in millennia. It has seen enemies come and go, yet one thing remains constant – China continues. Why should the Chinese expect America to be different from their enemies of yore?
Chinese politicians and military officers study history. They know the writings of Sun Tzu, a legendary warrior-philosopher whose 6th century BC military treatise “The Art of War” is mandatory reading for military officers worldwide. Sun Tzu has dozens of notable quotes, but the greatest may be, “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
The Chinese may have already begun a campaign to subdue the United States following Sun Tzu’s model.
Reflecting Sun Tzu’s philosophy, many recent Chinese writings have focused on asymmetric warfare as a means of defeating a militarily superior enemy. Asymmetric warfare uses political, economic, informational and military power. Military power is the least emphasized.
The Situation Today
Today, the United States finds itself in an untenable position with China. American industry’s compulsion for outsourcing manufacturing to cheap overseas labor markets has resulted in American stores being glutted with shoddy Chinese products while the American manufacturing base that was once the envy of the world is vanishing. The situation has become so serious that a number of congressmen are formulating a political plank based upon revamping the U.S. manufacturing base.
The Chinese, in turn, have enacted tariffs against many American goods. The U.S. government has accused China of manipulating the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, in international currency markets to give Chinese exports an unfair advantage in U.S. markets. The Chinese have tied the yuan’s value to the U.S. dollar at a fixed rate. China regulates its import market and the exchange of foreign currency with an iron fist in order to keep the yuan strong against the dollar. In the process of supporting the yuan, China has purchased more than $1 trillion in U.S. debt through international markets.
Conflict looms in the Taiwan straits
The Pentagon has been warning about a Chinese military buildup for years. In November 2005 the Christian Science Monitor reported on this buildup. The Monitor stated that about 15 percent of the PLA’s 2 million-man force has been converted into a modern, highly mobile force designed to conduct rapid operations against smaller foes.
What is the ultimate purpose of this buildup? Taiwan of course!
With the U.S. bogged down in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the time is quickly approaching when the Chinese will be able to deal a strategic death blow against Taiwan with impunity. This could be the death knell for U.S. superpower status. Already alienated from many of its traditional allies as a result of the war in Iraq, a Chinese attack on Taiwan would reveal the extent of the United States’ military’s weakened state and the inability of the U.S. government to stand by its alliances and obligations.
Food for thought
Not worried about China? Then here’s some food for thought: A series of recent China-related events, all potentially tied to asymmetric warfare against the United States, warrant close observation. These include toxic gluten in pet food, antifreeze in toothpaste, lead paint on toys, toxic levels of formaldehyde on pajamas, the recall of hundreds of thousands Chinese-manufactured tires in the United States for safety concerns … and the list goes on.
Potential problems with imported Chinese-produced foodstuff are particularly worrisome, as are the joint Russian-Chinese military exercises that recently took place for the first time in history. Coincidence? Maybe. Unrelated? Maybe. Worth watching? Certainly.
As Sun Tzu said, “All war is deception.”
Is China already at war with America?
*The above article has been excerpted from Zachary Hubbard’s article “Is China preparing for war with U.S.? featured in The Tribune-Democrat.
Japan’s Economy May Soon Pass U.S.
Contrasting the American economy with Japans clearly shows that there is much room for improvement in our economic system. Unless policy makers make major changes quickly, Japan’s economy will soon surpass America’s. To put this in perspective, this is how America compares with a country as small as Japan:
Land: Japan is a country with only 4% of our land mass (smaller than California) and is 90% mountainous and infertile.
Resources: Japan has minimal natural resources - no oil, no coal, and no iron ore, no timber, just fish!
Manufacturing: To manufacture a product, Japan must import all of its required resources. Even after this expense, they have an $88 billion per year balance of trade surplus with America alone (their exports versus imports with America) (2006, US Census Bureau) and also accumulate one-third of the world's savings (US News & World Report, March 19, 2001).
Wages: Few Americans realize that Japanese hourly compensation costs in US dollars were nearly identical to that of US hourly compensation in 2005 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Savings and Debt: The average Japanese family has a savings equivalent to $117,000 US Dollars (US News & World Report, March 19, 2001). American families in 2006 had a negative savings rate (we spent more than we earned).
Income Through Trade: Japan had the world’s second highest current account surplus (net trade plus interest and other income) next to China in 2006 of $170 billion while the US current account deficit including goods, services, income, transfers was a staggering $857 billion loss, the world’s largest, according to the US Department of Commerce and the International Monetary Fund.
Investment Income: Japan earned $118 billion on its foreign investments in 2006 and the US actually lost $7 billion according to the International Monetary Fund.
Japan must be doing something right! Better planning, direction, and a more responsive government are keys to their success. They have learned much from us and have improved on it. Perhaps it would be wise for us to study their improvements for our own benefit.
Interest Expense: The US public debt is almost 50% financed by other countries whereas Japan’s public debt is nearly 100% financed by its own citizens. Japan’s government borrows money at rates as low as 0.6% percent (sixth tenths of one percent) whereas the US government short-term rate is almost 8 times higher.
To put this in perspective, the US government paid out over $405 billion to pay interest alone in 2006 on the nearly $9 trillion of government debt; that equals more than $1.1 billion per day in interest charges alone.
Foreign Reserves: Japan has foreign currency reserves (redeemable for foreign assets, corporations, resources, etc. on demand) of $909 billion. These are economic bullets poised to take out any American company, most of which are for sale on the open stock market. The US has foreign currency reserves of merely $66 billion.
America is a large country (2 1/2 times Japan's population and 2.3 times the labor force, plus much land and natural resources), but we are producing less, importing more, and borrowing more than ever before as well as selling our irreplaceable assets to pay for imports and debt. We have sold over 14,000 of our best companies to foreign interests since 1978.
Production: For example, Japan was the largest producer of steel in 2005 behind only China. Japan outproduced the US by 22 million tons. Furthermore, at least 20% of the domestic US steel industry is foreign owned according to the IRS and we import nearly 30% of the steel that we consume. Nearly none of Japan’s key industries are foreign owned.
Unemployment: Japan also had the lowest unemployment rate of all countries surveyed in 2006 by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
America's wealth was accumulated by previous generations, as we had world-beating manufacturing capabilities. America is presently relinquishing much of its manufacturing to outsourcing (giving away our technology and jobs to foreign companies and have them produce for us in their country thus totally dismantling our industrial base) and insourcing (subsidizing foreign companies to manufacturer in America to produce for their benefit and their profit, which quickly displaces many American-owned factories and entire industries).
We are becoming vulnerably dependant on foreign companies for jobs, products and loans.
American owned manufacturing is becoming obsolete and second rate. We are no longer competitive with Japan, China and others. We can’t compete with China’s wage rates, and Japan’s technology in manufacturing, we have become unquestionably second rate (auto industry is a prime example). Ask yourself in what areas does the U.S. lead the world?
America is the only major industrialized country which depends on foreign suppliers for large amounts of steel. It also depends on foreigners for critical inputs needed by strategic industries.
When you compare our strengths and weaknesses with Japan it’s so easy to see (but many do not want to believe it) that the U.S. is developing an economic profile of a 3rd world country masquerading as a superpower. How can we now afford to fight three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror) when we can’t even support ourselves?
Our present leaders are not coping with our problems or properly managing for our future. Where are we headed? Can't America do better?
Land: Japan is a country with only 4% of our land mass (smaller than California) and is 90% mountainous and infertile.
Resources: Japan has minimal natural resources - no oil, no coal, and no iron ore, no timber, just fish!
Manufacturing: To manufacture a product, Japan must import all of its required resources. Even after this expense, they have an $88 billion per year balance of trade surplus with America alone (their exports versus imports with America) (2006, US Census Bureau) and also accumulate one-third of the world's savings (US News & World Report, March 19, 2001).
Wages: Few Americans realize that Japanese hourly compensation costs in US dollars were nearly identical to that of US hourly compensation in 2005 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Savings and Debt: The average Japanese family has a savings equivalent to $117,000 US Dollars (US News & World Report, March 19, 2001). American families in 2006 had a negative savings rate (we spent more than we earned).
Income Through Trade: Japan had the world’s second highest current account surplus (net trade plus interest and other income) next to China in 2006 of $170 billion while the US current account deficit including goods, services, income, transfers was a staggering $857 billion loss, the world’s largest, according to the US Department of Commerce and the International Monetary Fund.
Investment Income: Japan earned $118 billion on its foreign investments in 2006 and the US actually lost $7 billion according to the International Monetary Fund.
Japan must be doing something right! Better planning, direction, and a more responsive government are keys to their success. They have learned much from us and have improved on it. Perhaps it would be wise for us to study their improvements for our own benefit.
Interest Expense: The US public debt is almost 50% financed by other countries whereas Japan’s public debt is nearly 100% financed by its own citizens. Japan’s government borrows money at rates as low as 0.6% percent (sixth tenths of one percent) whereas the US government short-term rate is almost 8 times higher.
To put this in perspective, the US government paid out over $405 billion to pay interest alone in 2006 on the nearly $9 trillion of government debt; that equals more than $1.1 billion per day in interest charges alone.
Foreign Reserves: Japan has foreign currency reserves (redeemable for foreign assets, corporations, resources, etc. on demand) of $909 billion. These are economic bullets poised to take out any American company, most of which are for sale on the open stock market. The US has foreign currency reserves of merely $66 billion.
America is a large country (2 1/2 times Japan's population and 2.3 times the labor force, plus much land and natural resources), but we are producing less, importing more, and borrowing more than ever before as well as selling our irreplaceable assets to pay for imports and debt. We have sold over 14,000 of our best companies to foreign interests since 1978.
Production: For example, Japan was the largest producer of steel in 2005 behind only China. Japan outproduced the US by 22 million tons. Furthermore, at least 20% of the domestic US steel industry is foreign owned according to the IRS and we import nearly 30% of the steel that we consume. Nearly none of Japan’s key industries are foreign owned.
Unemployment: Japan also had the lowest unemployment rate of all countries surveyed in 2006 by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
America's wealth was accumulated by previous generations, as we had world-beating manufacturing capabilities. America is presently relinquishing much of its manufacturing to outsourcing (giving away our technology and jobs to foreign companies and have them produce for us in their country thus totally dismantling our industrial base) and insourcing (subsidizing foreign companies to manufacturer in America to produce for their benefit and their profit, which quickly displaces many American-owned factories and entire industries).
We are becoming vulnerably dependant on foreign companies for jobs, products and loans.
American owned manufacturing is becoming obsolete and second rate. We are no longer competitive with Japan, China and others. We can’t compete with China’s wage rates, and Japan’s technology in manufacturing, we have become unquestionably second rate (auto industry is a prime example). Ask yourself in what areas does the U.S. lead the world?
America is the only major industrialized country which depends on foreign suppliers for large amounts of steel. It also depends on foreigners for critical inputs needed by strategic industries.
When you compare our strengths and weaknesses with Japan it’s so easy to see (but many do not want to believe it) that the U.S. is developing an economic profile of a 3rd world country masquerading as a superpower. How can we now afford to fight three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror) when we can’t even support ourselves?
Our present leaders are not coping with our problems or properly managing for our future. Where are we headed? Can't America do better?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Research group says economy will lose steam
The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators drops 0.6 percent, slightly higher than expected, reflecting the overall impact of credit crisis.NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. economic growth should lose steam in coming months, a research group said Thursday, indicating a clampdown on credit markets will continue to take its toll on the broader economy.
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Congress is warned: Go easy on lending fix
Treasury boss Paulson and Fed chief Bernanke tell House panel what they are doing on mortgage crisis and express concern over some proposals.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Call your mortgage lender. Make more money available for mortgages to ease the credit crunch. Give borrowers greater protection from predatory lenders.
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Home design made easy on the Web
Floorplanner.com combines simple drag-and-drop tools with an online community for swapping ideas.(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- When Jeroen Bekkers's parents wanted to move into a new home in the Netherlands eight years ago, they enlarged their blueprints and made paper cutouts to help visualize how all their tables and chairs would fit. But that ended up being too complicated. If only they could have waited for their son's site, Floorplanner.com, to launch.
Read Complete Story
Read Complete Story
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Read the Fed statement
Central bank policy-makers cut rates by half of a percentage point to 4.75%.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 4.75 percent.
Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year, but the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally. Today's action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.
Read Complete Story
Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year, but the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally. Today's action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.
Read Complete Story
Tough road ahead for dollar after Fed cut
Rate cut by central bank and possibility of more rate cuts will weigh on dollar through remainder of year.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With Tuesday's rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the prevailing thought among currency traders is that there is more weakness for the dollar in the months ahead.
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Read complete story
Interest rates slashed to help economy
Fed's dramatic action lowers target on key short-term rate for the first time in 4 years - to 4.75% - and signals more cuts could be coming.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve cut the target on a key short-term interest rate by half of a percentage point Tuesday to 4.75% in a bold acknowledgement that the central bank is concerned the mortgage meltdown plaguing Wall Street and Main Street could hurt the economy.
Read Complete Story
Read Complete Story
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Investors fear US slowdown could hit Indian IT firms (The Hindu)
Mumbai, Sept 17 With concerns of a slowdown in the US economy resurfacing, Indian IT firms lost significant ground on the bourses in the last one week.
More...Metals - Copper, metals rise as Fed rate cut eases fears over US economy UPDATE (Sharewatch)
(Updating with full report) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Copper rose, leading gains across the base metals, as the complex rallied in the wake of the US Fed's decision to cut interest rates last night, which allayed fears a faltering US economy could cut demand for the metals.
More...S&P warns of slowdown in China (Taipei Times)
China's top companies will see a slowdown in breakneck growth over the next 18 months, under pressure from the US economy and concerns over the "made in China" tag, Standard & Poor's said yesterday.
More...Will Fed rate cuts boost US economy? (BBC News)
US interest rate-setters have decided to cut rates for the first time since mid-2006. How will the move affect you?
More...Market booms on US rate cut (Sydney Morning Herald)
Local shares rocketed as much as 2.4 percent this morning after a hefty interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve eased worries about a slowdown in the world's biggest economy.
More...Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Federal Reserve concerned about recession in US (Taipei Times)
A serious bout of financial market instability has dramatically changed the debate at the US Federal Reserve from worries about inflation to concerns about the possibility of a recession.
More...Risk of US recession up: Greenspan (AAP via Yahoo!7 Finance)
Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, Alan Greenspan says.
More...Greenspan says US recession risk up (Budapest Business Journal)
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday there is an increased risk of a US recession. US stocks fell Monday after Greenspan said some bleak words on the economy.
More...US recession risk up, but prices a worry: Greenspan (Gulf Times)
WASHINGTON: Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy because global forces that have kept inflation in check are receding, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday.
More...US recession risk jumps: Greenspan (Perth Now)
RISKS of a US recession have increased and a plunge in house prices, but the US Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said overnight.
More...Recession in USA Latest Update.
Risk of US recession up: Greenspan (AAP via Yahoo!7 Finance)
Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, Alan Greenspan says.
More...Greenspan says US recession risk up (Budapest Business Journal)
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday there is an increased risk of a US recession. US stocks fell Monday after Greenspan said some bleak words on the economy.
More...US recession risk up, but prices a worry: Greenspan (Gulf Times)
WASHINGTON: Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy because global forces that have kept inflation in check are receding, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday.
More...US recession risk jumps: Greenspan (Adelaide Now)
RISKS of a US recession have increased and a plunge in house prices, but the US Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said overnight.
More...Risk of US recession up: Greenspan (Nyngan Observer)
Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy because global forces that have kept inflation in check are receding, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said.
More...Monday, September 17, 2007
US Finance Industry would cut IT eXpenses
US financial services companies, including banks and mortgage finance companies, are learnt to be cutting back on IT spends predominantly due to increasing defaults in the sub-prime market, according to industry experts.
The outlook for the US economy has also added to worries about the ability of US companies to continue with their IT spends at current levels. Analysts have cut the GDP forecast for US for the current year, as talks were gaining ground of the possibility of the economy getting into a recession next year.
Read Complete Story here...
The outlook for the US economy has also added to worries about the ability of US companies to continue with their IT spends at current levels. Analysts have cut the GDP forecast for US for the current year, as talks were gaining ground of the possibility of the economy getting into a recession next year.
Read Complete Story here...
Recession in USA Latest Update.
Investors fear US slowdown could hit Indian IT firms (The Hindu)
Mumbai, Sept 17 With concerns of a slowdown in the US economy resurfacing, Indian IT firms lost significant ground on the bourses in the last one week.
More...Officials warn of threat to growth of Singapore economy (Taipei Times)
Singapore's exposure to US subprime mortgage markets is small and contained, officials said yesterday, but warned that a resulting slowdown in major economies will affect the city-state's growth.
More...US recession unlikely but Asian economies can weather meltdown - ADB (The Forex Market)
MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Despite the expected slowdown in the US because of rising mortgage defaults and tighter credit markets, the world's largest economy is not likely to slip into recession, the chief economist for the Asian Development Bank said on Monday.
More...US sub-prime crisis to hit India, China (New Kerala)
New Delhi, Sept 16 : The slackening of US economy due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis will significantly impact the Indian and Chinese economies, which will find difficult to insulate themselves from the global slowdown, a survey said.
More...Credit squeeze hits US buy-back schemes (Financial Times)
US companies are cutting back on share buy-backs, a sign of their fear that a prolonged credit squeeze and a sharp economic slowdown could take a severe toll on their operations.
More...Recession in USA Latest Update.
Investors fear US slowdown could hit Indian IT firms (The Hindu)
Mumbai, Sept 17 With concerns of a slowdown in the US economy resurfacing, Indian IT firms lost significant ground on the bourses in the last one week.
More...US recession unlikely but Asian economies can weather meltdown - ADB (The Forex Market)
MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Despite the expected slowdown in the US because of rising mortgage defaults and tighter credit markets, the world's largest economy is not likely to slip into recession, the chief economist for the Asian Development Bank said on Monday.
More...USD/CAD: Zoning in on Parity (Daily FX via Yahoo! Finance)
The Canadian dollar has been on a tear. In the past six months, the currency has made new 30 year highs after appreciating over 12 percent against the US dollar, putting parity within reach.
More...US sub-prime crisis to hit India, China (New Kerala)
New Delhi, Sept 16 : The slackening of US economy due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis will significantly impact the Indian and Chinese economies, which will find difficult to insulate themselves from the global slowdown, a survey said.
More...Credit squeeze hits US buy-back schemes (Financial Times)
US companies are cutting back on share buy-backs, a sign of their fear that a prolonged credit squeeze and a sharp economic slowdown could take a severe toll on their operations.
More...Recession in USA Latest Update.
US recession risk jumps: Greenspan (Adelaide Now)
RISKS of a US recession have increased and a plunge in house prices, but the US Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said overnight.
More...Risk of US recession up: Greenspan (AAP via Yahoo!Xtra News)
Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy, Alan Greenspan says.
More...US recession risk up: Greenspan (News Interactive)
RISKS of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy because global forces that have kept inflation in check are receding, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said overnight.
More...Risk of US recession up: Greenspan (The West Australian)
Risks of a US recession have increased, but the Federal Reserve must be cautious in supporting the economy because global forces that have kept inflation in check are receding, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said.
More...Greenspan ups US recession odds (TVNZ)
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the probability of a US recession was now slightly more than a third, after he earlier in the year put the chances at one-third, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Monday.
More...Recession Probability in USA!!
THE employment statistics and the bond market are combining to send out a warning that has been heard only rarely in the past two decades: A recession is coming in the United States.The two charts show the double warning. Both charts warned of an economic downturn before the 1990 and 2001 recessions, and they are doing so again.Read Complete Story from NY Times
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