NewsRack: newstrust/US-Economy/Recession

David Cameron calls for world trade boost before G8 talks - The Guardian -- World Latest

Patrick Wintour, Haroon Siddique — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Prime minister to meet new French president before two days of informal talks with world leaders at Camp David David Cameron has flown to Washington for critical talks with world leaders, urging them to act urgently to boost world trade and describing trade deals as "the one big stimulus" that would make a real difference in lifting the world from recession. He is due to join the leaders of the G8 at Camp David for two days of informal talks. It will be the first world summit outing for the new French president, François Hollande, who has spoken of the need to stimulate demand. Cameron's remarks suggest the focus should be on launching EU trade deals next year with the US, Canada and Japan. He accepts that the idea of a world trade deal is dead in the water. The prime minister is due to hold separate bilateral talks with Hollande at the British ambassador's residence in Washington before flying to Camp David. They will focus on the euro and on Hollande's commitment to remove all ...

Moody's downgrades 16 Spanish banks - SFGate: Business & Technology

The Associated Press — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Moody's downgrades 16 Spanish banks

TV review: The Great Euro Crash with Robert Peston; Tales of Television Centre - The Guardian -- World Latest

John Crace — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Whatever happens, Europe is ruined – but Robert Peston couldn't look happier The recession has been very good to Robert Peston. While the rest of us have been rapidly getting greyer, grumpier and more broke, the BBC's business editor has been on a very different journey. When he first became a semi-permanent feature of the news bulletins in 2007 with the collapse of Northern Rock, Peston cut a rather awkward figure; someone not entirely comfortable in social situations. Or in daylight, for that matter. He would appear on screen wearing suits that didn't quite fit, talking a strange language that viewers struggled to understand every bit as much he struggled to speak. Five years on and Peston 2.0 is barely recognisable as the same man in The Great Euro Crash with Robert Peston (BBC2). His eyes are brighter, his teeth whiter, his hair and suits both darker and more sharply cut, his coat flashes a "VIP lounge" purple lining and his speech has morphed into something approaching English. Let's ...

Britain and the eurozone: at sea, like everyone else | Editorial - Guardian: Comment is Free

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

It is economic events beyond David Cameron's control that will shape the domestic political consequences of the crisis Economic events beyond his control will do more to shape the domestic political consequences of the eurozone crisis than anything that David Cameron ever says about them. Those events could come in many guises – the election of an anti-austerity Greek government, the collapse of a big Spanish bank, a new sovereign debt crisis toppling banks and governments like dominos, or radical fiscal unification at the heart of the eurozone. All things are becoming possible in this developing crisis. In the meantime, though, the prime minister has a party and a government to steady and a disenchanted public to reassure. Mr Cameron started that task. He made a speech which tried to reframe the debate about the economy. The speech came at the end of several weeks in which – thanks to George Osborne's budget – the coalition has lost control of that argument. More recently, with the election ...

Barack Obama tells EU: boost growth now or face a global crisis - The Guardian -- Front Page

Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor, Nicholas Watt, Ewen MacAskill — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Germany to be urged to ease austerity during G8 talks as fears of global recession grow Barack Obama is to put pressure on Germany to ease the pain of austerity with policies to boost growth, as he uses two days of talks with the G8 industrial nations to warn Europe it needs to act swiftly to spare the world economy from a second deep recession in four years. Ahead of the G8 summit, at Camp David this weekend, a warning from the ratings agency Fitch that Greece's days in the single currency could be numbered heightened fears in Washington that the worsening crisis in the eurozone poses a threat to America's fragile recovery and President Obama's re-election chances. Obama will welcome the new French president, François Hollande, as a potential ally in his push for Europe to follow the US in giving a higher priority to expansionary policies, and as a counterweight to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Obama can expect support from David Cameron, who told Merkel and Hollande on ...

Spain denies Bankia customers are rushing to withdraw funds - The Guardian -- World Latest

Giles Tremlett — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Shares in Spain's fourth largest lender tumble but government says there is not a 'flight of deposits' Anxiety that Spain will be the next domino to fall if Greece leaves the euro mounted on Thursday as the country was forced to deny there was a run on its fourth-biggest lender, Bankia. Shares in Bankia fell almost 30% at one point after reports – later denied – that depositors were withdrawing their funds. It was bailed out only last week when the government converted loans into a 45% stake. Although Bankia later recovered half of its lost value on the Madrid stock exchange, the dramatic fall in its share price came as Spain's government made ever louder calls for European action to halt the increasing instability. After the markets had closed, the credit ratings of four Spanish regions were downgraded and there were rumours that the country's banks were facing imminent downgrades, too. The European commission warned last week that high debts in the regions, which account for half ...

Austerity will send Greece to hell, warns Alexis Tsipras - The Guardian -- Front Page

Helena Smith — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Syriza leader's claims countered by Antonis Samaras, who says Greek government must not abandon reforms or quit euro The two main figures in what promises to be Greece's most electric election in living memory were on a collision course on Thursday, with one predicting "hell" if Athens adheres to EU-mandated austerity and the other forecasting a "nightmare" if the nation abandons reforms and gives up the euro. Emboldened by yet another poll showing his party's wide appeal, the leftwing Syriza leader, Alexis Tsipras, said the international accord that Greece had signed up to in return for rescue loans was catastrophic for the country. Instead of a rescue, the debt-stricken nation has been thrown into its worst recession since the second world war. "With this policy [bailout agreement] we are going directly to hell," he told CNN. "To save Europe we need to change direction," insisted the politician who has pledged to "tear up" the €130bn (£104bn) "memorandum of understanding" that Athens ...

Obama's home-turf summits will test his leverage - Boston Globe: Latest

Ben Feller, AP White House Correspondent — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Obama's home-turf summits will test his leverage

Germany, U.S. head to G-8 summit with starkly different economic policies - Washington Post World

Michael Birnbaum — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

BERLIN – There are 4,169 miles between Berlin and Washington. But on economic policy, the two capitals sometimes appear to be on different planets. Germany has taken a tough-love, austerity-driven approach to solving Europe’s recession, pushing struggling countries to sharply cut public spending and chop their debt even as their economies slump. The United States confronted its own crisis with an $862 billion stimulus package in 2009, which brought debt levels to heights not seen since shortly after World War II but may have dulled the worst blow of its own downturn. ...

Can global leaders help Europe contain crisis? - AP Business

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and DAVID McHUGH — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When leaders from eight of the world's biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, the focus will be on how to prevent Europe's debt crisis from spiraling out of control....

THE RACE: US presidential politics is lurking just offstage as Obama hosts 2 world summits - Star Tribune: Politics

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Gauge of US economy dipped 0.1 percent in April - SFGate: Business & Technology

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Gauge of US economy dipped 0.1 percent in April

FACT CHECK: Romney oversimplifies debt 'prairie fire' - Post-Bulletin: Local Politics

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney decried the "prairie fire" of U.S. debt Tuesday, he ignored some of the sparks that set it ablaze.

One was the Great Recession that took

David Cameron urges eurozone to follow UK model for recovery - The Guardian -- World Latest

Haroon Siddique, Dan Milmo — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Cameron says eurozone is at a crossroads and urges it to adopt its own pro-business, pro-growth agenda David Cameron has called on the eurozone to take a leaf out of the UK's book in order to overcome its current crisis, insisting that the British economy was "moving in the right direction". The government's austerity measures have been blamed by Labour for the UK suffering a double-dip recession, but the prime minister said the UK had achieved a balance between deficit reduction and growth that was lacking in the eurozone. "Just as in Britain we need to deal with the deficit and restore competitiveness, so the same is true of Europe," he said. "This is a debt crisis. And the deficits that caused those debts have to be dealt with. But growth in much of the eurozone has evaporated completely. Indeed without the recent German growth figures, it would be in recession." Polls show support for the government's economic policy receding in the face of criticism that not enough is being done ...

Eliminating the ‘99%’ Can Lead to a Better Message for Social Justice - The Moderate Voice

WALTER BRASCH, PH.D. — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

by WALTER BRASCH It’s time to retire the 99 percent. Not the people, but the slogan that identifies the Occupy Movement. “We’re the 99 percent” slogan focused upon two completely different groups of people. The 99 percent are the masses, the impoverished, the disenfranchised, the middle class; the 1 percent refers to the concentration of [...]

Bill Clinton, Boehner, And Some Other Rich White Guys Had A "Summit" And Agreed: It's Your Fault - AlterNet

RJ Eskow, Blog for Our Future — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Any questions? Let's hope not, because they're all busy men and it's great golfing weather this week in DC.

US economy picks up after early spring slump - San Jose Mercury News: Breaking News

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Maybe the U.S. economy's strength this winter wasn't just weather-related after all.

Spaniards Go Underground to Fight Slump - NY Times: World

By RAPHAEL MINDER — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

As the recession deepens, more workers are getting by on the black market economy that amounts to as much as a fifth of the country's gross domestic product

Cost of Greek exit from euro put at $1tn - The Guardian -- Front Page

Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor, Patrick Wintour — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

UK government making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency The British government is making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency, after the governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, warned that Europe was "tearing itself apart". Reports from Athens that massive sums of money were being spirited out of the country intensified concern in Whitehall about the impact of a splintering of the eurozone on a UK economy that is stuck in double-dip recession. One estimate put the cost to the eurozone of Greece making a disorderly exit from the currency at $1tn, 5% of output. In a speech in Manchester before flying to the United States, David Cameron will say the eurozone "either has to make up or it is looking at a potential breakup", adding that the choice for Europe's leaders cannot be long delayed. "Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an ...

Greece in crisis: this is not a quarrel in a faraway land | Analysis - The Guardian -- World Latest

Heather Stewart — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Britain's huge banking sector will find itself on the frontline if Greek voters reject austerity, says Heather Stewart In September 1938, Neville Chamberlain described the growing conflict between Germany and Czechoslovakia as "a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing". It would be easy to think much the same about the crisis in Greece, but, be assured, that would be as mistaken as Chamberlain was then. The centre of this crisis – Athens – may be 1,500 miles from Britain, but the shockwaves would arrive in the UK pretty swiftly. Britain's huge banking sector will find itself on the frontline if Greek voters reject austerity and the country dives out of the single currency. Many banks have shrewdly slashed their direct exposure to Athens over the past 12 months; but the impact of a "Grexit" would be much broader than a drop in the value of Greek bonds. It could hit lending, force up the rates banks charge for finance and make life far more difficult for the ...

Homebuilding, factory output gains show economy may be strengthening after early spring slump - Star Tribune: Business

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Barclays upgrades Cisco after recent stock decline - Boston Globe: Technology

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Barclays upgrades Cisco after recent stock decline

Surprise Senate Candidate Deb Fischer: Destroy The Constitution Or I’ll Destroy The Economy - Think Progres

Ian Millhiser — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Yesterday, Nebraska GOP primary voters nominated dark horse candidate and state Sen. Deb Fischer as their candidate for an open U.S. Senate race this November. In choosing Fischer the Nebraska GOP aligns itself with a candidate who recently called for a very high stakes game of chicken — flirting with economic catastrophe in order to [...]

Coming This Summer: For $24.95, George W. Bush Will Share His ‘Strategies For Economic Growth’ - Think Progres

Pat Garofalo — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Former President George W. Bush jumped back into presidential politics this week, endorsing presumptive 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. He also, according to the New York Times, plans to release a book in two months that will lay out his advice on boosting economic growth: Gingerly, the 43rd president is beginning to add his voice [...]

Sundance Film Festival rebounding from recession doldrums - Salt Lake Tribune

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

By paul beebe The Salt Lake Tribune Published May 16, 2012 07:42AM MDT The Sundance Film Festival is clearly leaving the recession behind, but it hasn’t fully recovered from the steep economic downturn that kept some moviegoers from attending the independent film celebration centered in Park City. The 2012 festival produced an economic boost for Utah that totaled $80.3 million, not including nearly $7 million in state and local taxes, through a mix of spending by nearly 47,000 people and the creation of 1,731 temporary jobs, according to a study conducted for the S... ...