Apple-Samsung war is far from over. Steve Job’s company got what it wanted from the jury -more than $1 billion- but it’s still fighting to get a ban on eight models of the South Korean company’s smartphones, including its Galaxy S devices. This is how the two giants, which once played as friendly competitors, have reacted: Apple: “The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went…
Asked about what would make them more likely to make capital investments in the next 12 months, 70 percent of U.S. small-business owners point out to three circumstances: a better sales outlook, more certainty about their operating environment, and lower federal taxes. According to the Wells Fargo-Gallup Small Business Index released by Gallup, that has surveyed small-business owners on current and future perceptions of their business financial situations, some of…
NOTE: The following article is based on a paper by Economic Adviser at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Stephen G. Cecchetti and his colleague Enisse Kharroubi. The full publication is available at BIS website. You can also download it here. One of the principal conclusions of modern economics is that finance is good for growth. But recent experience has led many people to question whether this conclusion is definitive….
By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | Economic slowdown is difficult to stabilise within a context of rising uncertainty that hampers aggregate demand. Economic activity slowed down in the first quarter of the year with negative growth of 0.1% year-on-year, as shown by the detailed figures for gross domestic product in the first quarter. Private consumption continues to adjust, shrinking by 0.6% year-on-year. Gross fixed capital formation has also decreased…
Remember when a higher education used to be a guarantee of success in the market? With the crisis, the picture has turned 180 degrees: too many graduates in Europe and the U.S are waiting tables, going back to their parents and coping with frustration. New grads are also facing competition from older, laid-off job seekers. In the case of American youngsters, they also need to repay their loans (see our…
Mark Twain said once that The White House was the “best Congress money can buy.” In this battered economy, while millions of Americans are tightnening their belts, this presidential election is expected to be the priciest in U.S. history. Make a guess: how much do you think it will cost? The predictions by the Center of Response Politics (CRS), a nonpartisan research group tracking money in politics, are of almost…
Two thirds of Americans feel suspicious or skeptical about their country’s economic situation. According to a Gallup poll, only 23 percent said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the United States, down from a 28 percent satisfaction rate last month. Three months before the presidential elections, figures and sondages are multiplying. We’ll certainly see numbers shift, popularity indexes soar and fall before the D-day, and both…
Interested in the world’s economy? There’s somebody you should meet. He doesn’t have an outstanding experience in the private sector but is determined to drastically cut U.S. government spending, boost market flexibility and avoid the “clouds” that are coming from Europe. If Republicans make it to the White House in november, Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president, will have a bigger say than the president. If not,…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | In this excellent analysis, Tim Duy forecasts a moderate but continued 2 percent GDP growth rate for the US unless global risks drag it down. But the debate over there seems to turn around what else could have been done to fill the gap the breaks open in 2008, as it clearly appears in the chart, between actual and potential real GDP. The dilemma,…
If you take a map of the US, you’ll see that almost two thirds are under severe drought warning this summer. Thirty-three states are colored red, longing for rain. Some farmers in Missouri haven’t seen clouds in the sky for more than three months. Ranchers fear that soon they might have to sell their cattle. Crop producers are desperate since many do not have insurance. Yet the situation is not…