Fiscal cliff would drive the U.S. economy back into recession.

Fiscal cliff would drive the U.S. economy back into recession before end of 2013, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office said. Congressional Budget Office released a report showing that the most harmful consequences of the fiscal cliff, a fully armed and operational fiscal cliff would cost us 3.4 million jobs. Obama Fiscal Cliff Deal Risks Brush With Recession

HOPELESS: Suicide Rates Rise as Economy Falls

Suicide rates in the U.S. tend to rise during recessions and fall amid economic booms, according to study from..

Source: www.bloomberg.com

Millionaires go on a Buget...

Even the very wealthy, people with excess of $100 million, are now going on a 'budget', due to the recession....

Fight Looming on Tax Break to Buy Houses

When Congress passed an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers last winter, it was intended as a dose of shock therapy during a crisis...

U.S. Banks lose over $3.7 billion in 3 months..

Banks in the U.S. have lost more than $3.7 billion, all within the last 3 months of business...

A movement called "Storm the Banks" is circulating on the Internet indicating that anti-capitalist protesters are planning to focus their attention...

The British police are preparing to deal with violent protests as anarchists threaten to bring chaos to the Group of 20 summit meeting in London…

Read more ’storm the banks’ day....

Source: www.iht.com

Action Needed: Obama, Geithner urge strong action by US allies to combat global recession

The administration said decisive action is needed by all countries to complement what is being done in the United States....

Read more global action needed...

Source: www.startribune.com

Thomas L. Friedman: The Great Disruption

"We created a way of raising standards of living that we can't possibly pass on to our children,"

We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China....

Read more The Great Disruption

Source: www.ith.com

The $10 Million Men of Merrill Lynch

As bad as 2008 was for Merrill Lynch & Co., it was very good for Andrea Orcel, the firm's top investment banker. Although Merrill's net loss ballooned to $27.6 billion last year, Mr. Orcel, 45 years old, was paid $33.8 million in cash and stock, just shy of his pay in 2007…

Read more The $10 Million Men

Source: breitbart.com

The monetary fund that could save the world...

When the leaders of the Group of 20 nations gather in April, they will have one policy instrument available to address the financial crisis co-operatively, concretely and credibly.

They should make a commitment to an immediate, one-time allocation of $250bn in special drawing rights by the International Monetary Fund to its 185 member countries...

Read more fund that could save the world..

Source: www.ft.com

U.S. Economy Takes Another Big Hit

The US economy shrank by 6.2% in the last three months of 2008, official figures have shown, a far sharper fall than had previously been reported...

Read more u.s. economy hits a hard wall..

Source: bbc news

Obama puts his credibility on big economy fix

The pledge of a return to fiscal discipline, expected to be made this week with the publication of his first budget, will be presented as an olive branch to Republican opponents, as the president tries to put his strategy of bipartisanship back on the rails.

But Mr Obama is also likely to reaffirm his commitment to letting George Bush’s controversial tax cuts for the wealthy expire...

Read more Obama puts his credibility on the line..

Source:

State Employee: "I Do No Work And I Get $93,000"

He spends much of his workday at the State Insurance Fund donning headphones, listening to rock 'n' roll, blues or classical tunes and his superiors are cool with that...

Read more "I get $93,803 for no work..."

Source: timesunion

How companies are cutting costs

Nearly half of companies working to reduce costs attempt to avoid permanent layoffs, according to recent survey results, opting instead to freeze salaries and cut travel expenses…

Read more companies cutting costs

Source: new york times

Obama: Crisis calls for unprecedented action

Some of these actions will require legislation, while others should be achievable through regulations adopted by several federal agencies…
See the video
Crisis calls for unprecedented action

Source: msnbc

U.K. economy contracted sharply in 4th quarter; stocks decline

The British economy officially entered a recession during the fourth quarter, data showed Friday, while other reports from Europe demonstrated the still feeble state of activity in across region, which contributed to a decline in the major stock indexes…

Read more U.K. economy contracted..

Source: international herald tribune

Over 1,600 UK retailers to go bust in 2009

"The boost in numbers was driven by massive unprecedented discounting all at the expense of retailer margins."

Some retailers have not survived, with sweets-to-DVDs chain Woolworths and furniture group MFI falling into administration, a form of creditor protection, in the run-up to Christmas and several smaller companies following suit in recent days……

Read more 1,600 UK retailers to go bust


Source: economic times/india

UK dire warning over 2009 job cuts

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says even those who escape redundancy face pay freezes.

It says that while total unemployment will not hit three million, the time between New Year and Easter will be the worst for job losses since 1991....

Read more warning over 2009 job cuts


Source: bbc news

Mortgage activity surges at US banks

Applications for home loans more than doubled in the two weeks after the Federal Reserve said it would buy mortgage bonds to help stabilise the market, prompting mortgage rates to fall by more than three-quarters of a percentage point….

Read more Mortgage activity surges


Source: ft.com

The crisis spreads to East Asia

The global credit crunch set off by Wall Street’s collapse is spilling over into domestic banking systems and squeezing capital resources for corporate investment…..

Read more The crisis spreads to East Asia

Source: manila times