At the present moment, almost every country on this hot planet has decided that their economy will be served best by a type of international trade called: “FREE TRADE.” WHAT IS “FREE TRADE”? “Free Trade” as the name implies is trade between countries with no import duties (taxes) applied. Thus, the cost of a product [...]
World Bank warns of global growth slowdown From Associated Press BEIJING – The World Bank warned Wednesday of a possible slump in global economic growth and urged developing countries to prepare for shocks that could be more severe than the 2008 crisis. The bank cut its growth forecast for developing countries this year to 5.4 [...]
IMF Seeks $500B Boost to Lending Resources By Simon Kennedy, from Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund is proposing to raise its lending capacity by $500 billion to insulate the global economy against any worsening of Europe’s debt crisis, according to a person familiar with the talks. The Washington-based lender currently has about $385 billion available [...]
China Hoarding of Gold Turns More Traders Bullish By Nicholas Larkin, from Bloomberg Gold traders are the most bullish in two months after mainland China imported the most metal ever from Hong Kong and investors bought U.S. bullion coins at the fastest pace in more than two years. Eighteen of 23 surveyed by Bloomberg expect [...]
Every major bank and investor across the world is betting against the Euro. Today, it fell below 1.29 versus the U.S. Dollar. There is talk in the foreign exchange circles that it may hit par in 2012. Why? Europe is slowly entering an economic recession. For decades the Europeans lived on borrowed money. The Europeans, [...]
Italy Retailers in Worst Christmas in 10 Years By Chiara Vasarri, from Bloomberg Italian retailers had the worst Christmas in 10 years, consumer group Codacons said, as austerity measures to combat the sovereign debt crisis prompted households to cut spending. Italians spent 48 euros ($62.75) less per person this holiday season than the average of [...]
English Butlers Wanted For Super-Rich Clients By Colm Heatley, from Bloomberg English butlers, synonymous with Reginald Jeeves in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse, are answering more calls from super-rich Chinese and Russian clients as wealth shifts between east and west. The Guild of Professional English Butlers has trained 20 percent more butlers this year than [...]
FALLING LIVING STANDARDS IN THE WEST: 16 TRILLION GONE U.S. HOUSEHOLDS LOSE 16.4 TRILLION DOLLARS IN VALUE MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE ECONOMIC RIP TIDE IS PULLING LIVING STANDARDS DOWN. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) One reason that the U.S. economy still struggles to achieve sustained growth is that Americans are a long way from recovering the trillions [...]
