World economy

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The war on taxes

“I don’t mean to get all class-warfare on you… But unless we find a way to spread the burden upward and cut the middle class some slack, it isn’t Greece we will soon be resembling”, writes Ellis Henican for Fox News, “it’s those old Caribbean islands Jimmy likes to sing about. Where a few super-rich families own just about everything. Where the vast majority of others have hardly anything at all.”



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IMF sharply reduces US growth forecasts

From Bankia, a Wednesday alert on global economic developments: the International Monetary Fund warns that the global economy is entering yet another new dangerous phase: “activity is weakening across the board, the agents’ confidence has plummeted, regional disparities persist and there are increasing risks of downturns in all different scenarios. “The IMF has revised its general forecasts pointing out a significant downturn: global growth would stand at 4% for both…


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The Fed’s twist in the words of JP Morgan

JP Morgan expects that US Federal Reserve will announce that it is to auction between $300bn and $400bn in Treasuries with one to three years to reach maturity, and that it will concentrate 70% of its purchases on seven to 12 year-maturity securities while the other 30% will be on longer maturities. The bank believes that the Fed will carry out these acquisitions within the next 6 months. “The benefit…


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The Fed's twist in the words of JP Morgan

JP Morgan expects that US Federal Reserve will announce that it is to auction between $300bn and $400bn in Treasuries with one to three years to reach maturity, and that it will concentrate 70% of its purchases on seven to 12 year-maturity securities while the other 30% will be on longer maturities. The bank believes that the Fed will carry out these acquisitions within the next 6 months. “The benefit…


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Foreign investors buy 50mn hectares of African land in six years

By Donato Ndongo, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | According to a paper by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, between 2004 and 2010, foreign investors have bought at least 50 million hectares in twenty African countries at ridiculously low prices: Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Mali, Uganda, Kenya … and in the tiny Equatorial Guinea. Actively engaged in this business are…


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OECD figures put EMU's unemployment at 10%, US's at 9%

Link analyst note | “The unemployment rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) remained stable in July compared to June, at 8.2%, a level maintained for the fifth consecutive month. The OECD notes that the largest increase in that month was recorded in Luxembourg (three tenths, up to 4.6%), while the largest fall was in Mexico (five tenths, down to 5.3%). Spain, where…


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OECD figures put EMU’s unemployment at 10%, US’s at 9%

Link analyst note | “The unemployment rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) remained stable in July compared to June, at 8.2%, a level maintained for the fifth consecutive month. The OECD notes that the largest increase in that month was recorded in Luxembourg (three tenths, up to 4.6%), while the largest fall was in Mexico (five tenths, down to 5.3%). Spain, where…


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Facing up responsibilities

NEW YORK- After months of protracted negotiations over the national debt ceiling that brought the US to the brink of default and given the fact that the economy is weakening, Americans are running out of patience with political leaders, according to a Bloomberg National Poll released on Wednesday. 72 per cent say the country is on the wrong track. A majority says it will take at least six more years…