US

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What Obama didn’t say in his State of the Union speech

NEW YORK | In his fourth speech in front of the nation, president Barack Obama addressed the financial crisis and pledged to fight for economic fairness. In the middle of the race to the November election, the president couldn’t find a better moment to speak about inequality. Earlier on Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney –Obama’s most likely opponent, according to some experts– disclosed that he paid an effective income…




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Unveiling the actual US unemployment data

Recovery problem: job rate’s pulse is weak, statistics are misleading, and the construction sector –that in 2004 created 14% of the jobs but last year didn’t reach 3%,– looks gloomy. WASHINGTON | According to provisional statistics, the US created 200,000 jobs in December and 1.64 million around 2011, being 2011 the best since 2006 in terms of job creation. The employment forecast for 2012 is 2.1 million –unemployment rate ended the…




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Weekend link fest

A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. The euro debt drama explained in 100 words It’s not the banker’s pay system, populace! EC’s Tajani: don’t worry Cameron will U-turn Former Santander banker, now Lloyds boss says no to bonus Manufacturing jobs rise…


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BBVA blames 4Q ’11 losses on US poor economic performance

According to a statement made to the Spanish regulator CMNV, BBVA will proceed to make an extraordinary adjustment to the value of its goodwill in the U.S. which will have a negative impact in the amount of €1bn (net after tax). BBVA justifies this decision on the poor long term prospects in the country, in contrast with the positive performance of the division. Banco Sabadell analysts explain that this adjustment…


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Barclays: “US vulnerable to markets’ attacks like the EU”

A note from Barclays Spain: “The Fed’s double mandate (inflation and employment) has probably contributed to the present crisis. Greenspan, faced with the necessity to improve the anemic growth, but probably to a greater extent faced with the pressure exerted by Congress and American society to create employment, (which still has not picked up despite the GDP’s increase) maintained interest rates low for too long, promoting together with other factors…