Between the lines

The grandstanding, show boating and vain-glorious pointlessness of the current USA politic system has been revealed by Obama’s party attempting to introduce a law that has no chance of becoming law. The people who’d make the decisions and take the vote, the multi millionaires up on Capitol Hill, (on both sides) aren’t turkeys, they won’t […]

House prices have continued falling across the USA despite the wider economy improving according to a closely watched survey published on Tuesday. For the second consecutive month home prices fell in 19 out of 20 cities measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller index, leaving average prices at levels not seen since the mid-2003. This was the third

U.S. consumer spending collapsed in December, signaling slower consumption early in 2012. The figure was the weakest reading on spending since June 2011, the Commerce Department released on Monday, following two weak gains in October and November. Spending (adjusted for inflation) dipped 0.1 percent last month after edging up 0.1 percent in November. The fear must now

The French government looks set to revise downwards its estimate for 2012 economic growth in an upcoming revision to its budget bill. Sources told reporters following a televised interview with President Nicolas Sarkozy that the government envisages cuts to spending, an austerity drive, as opposed to further tax rises, in order to make up for

As the Dow index reached a level in the afternoon/evening session not seen since post 2008 a less optimistic economic figure and barometer was reached. The USA government ‘process’ agreed to raise its debt ceiling. The U.S. Senate failed to reject a bid to stop the debt ceiling hike on Thursday evening. The US now

Angela Merkel has finally ‘opened up’ by voicing doubts on Europe’s chances of saving Greece from financial meltdown and a disorderly sovereign default. She has confessed to at times conceding that Europe’s first multi-billion euro bailout, combined with the savage austerity measures witnessed in the PIIGS, is actually not ‘working’. This after a two-year crisis

Standard & Poor’s are likely to downgrade Greece’s ratings to “selective default” once the country has finalized its debt restructuring, however, that will not necessarily irreparably damage the credibility of the European Union officials with the ratings agency said on Tuesday. “It’s not a given that Greece’s default would have a domino effect in the euro zone,”

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, has urged European leaders to commit greater resources to protecting the eurozone. Lagarde said that the European Stability Mechanism should be enlarged beyond its current €500bn limit, giving more firepower to protect Italy and Spain. Lagarde also proposed that the new fiscal compact should include provisions for

Bondholders are apparently at the limits of what losses they could accept in a Greek debt swap. Athens needs a deal on the plan, meant to cut 100 billion euros from its debt of over 350 billion, in order to stem a potential default with the major debt redemption looming in March. Greece and its