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Budget 2010: Pain now, more pain later in austerity plan

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:24:48 +0000

George Osborne has imposed austerity measures on every family in Britain after announcing a £40bn package of emergency tax increases, welfare cuts and Whitehall spending restraint designed to slash the budget deficit by the end of the parliament.

The chancellor said the "unavoidable budget" required a VAT rise from 17.5% to 20% next January, higher capital gains tax, a levy on banks, a two-year public sector pay freeze and less generous benefits, but insisted the package was needed to prevent the financial markets from turning on Britain.

In his debut budget speech, Osborne pleased the ratings agencies and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development by intensifying the £73bn squeeze already planned by the last Labour government. But he signalled a second dose of gloom in October, when a three-year comprehensive spending review will spell out the size of the cuts for individual government departments.

Osborne warned today that ring-fencing the NHS and international development meant non-protected departments would face average real cuts of 25% but that some clemency would be shown to education and defence.

The Treasury will raise more than £12bn from the increase in VAT, but the chancellor sought to soften the blow from the toughest budget in modern times by raising personal allowances by £1,000, linking pensions to earnings and raising child credits for the next two years.

He said a four-year phased cut in corporation tax would help the private sector become the engine of growth, and the economy would have to rely more heavily on investment and exports over the coming years.

Seeking to pin the blame for the tough measures on Gordon Brown, the chancellor said: "Today we have paid the debts of a failed past. And laid the foundations for a more prosperous future. The richest paying the most and the vulnerable protected. That is our approach. Prosperity for all. That is our goal."

Oil drops below $78 after US crude supplies jump

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:08:11 +0000

MOSCOW – Oil prices fell below $78 a barrel Wednesday as downbeat economic data from Europe and a drop in U.S. crude supplies suggest a recovery in demand is likely to remain uneven.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 37 cents to $77.48 Wednesday morning in London in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 76 cents to settle at $77.85 on Tuesday.

The drop in oil prices mirrored losses in stocks. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6 percent in London after the Dow Jones industrial average closed 1.4 percent lower overnight.

The euro remained around Tuesday’s values, near $1.2280 on Wednesday morning.

Crude has hovered above $77 a barrel this week as traders ponder whether global oil demand is strong enough to justify extending a rally from $64 on May 25. U.S. oil supplies had fallen in recent weeks before last week’s gain.

Analysts noted that the weak euro and grim economic statistics are making it difficult to sustain a four-week rally in oil prices.

"Most of the data released over the last two or three weeks has not been consistent with the idea of a gathering economic recovery," Cameron Hanover said in a note.

U.K. Cabinet minister resigns over wrongful expenses claim

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:06:24 +0000

London, England (CNN) — The Cabinet minister who admitted using taxpayers’ money to rent rooms from his male partner has resigned over the allegations, a spokeswoman for his party confirmed Saturday.

David Laws, the chief secretary to the Treasury and one of five Liberal Democrat lawmakers appointed to the Conservative-dominated Cabinet, issued a statement to the British media late Friday saying he was motivated by a desire to keep his relationship with the man private and not to reveal his own sexuality.

He vowed to immediately repay the £40,000 ($57,800) the British Press Association says he claimed for rooms in two London properties owned by his partner between 2006 and 2009.

The spokeswoman for the Liberal Dems told CNN Saturday that Laws stepped down from the Treasury post because he felt he couldn’t responsibly perform his duties while facing an investigation into the allegations. He will continue in his role as a member of parliament for the party, she said.

Clinton urges China for greater access for U.S. businesses

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:24:17 +0000

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed for greater commercial access for American businesses in China on Sunday, urging Beijing for a "level playing field."

Clinton spoke to American and Chinese business executives in Shanghai, where she had finished touring the World Expo. She was headed to Beijing for two days of talks that will touch on a wide range of issues of shared interest to the United States and China.

"For trade to work in any economy, for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly," Clinton said.

"For example, transparency in rule making and standard setting, nondiscrimination, fair access to sales to private sector and government purchasers alike — and the strong enforcement of intellectual property rights — are all vitally important in the 21st-century global economy."

She added: "American companies want to compete in China. They want to sell goods made by American workers to Chinese consumers with rising incomes and increasing demand. This is a win-win for our two countries."

Obama version of health reform expected Monday

Ade — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:37:41 +0000

WASHINGTON – The White House readied its last-ditch effort to salvage health care legislation Sunday while the Senate’s Republican leader warned Democrats against the go-it-alone approach.

The White House was expected to post a version of President Barack Obama’s plan for overhauling health care on its Web site on Monday, ahead of his critical and daring summit at Blair House on Thursday. The plan, which was likely to be opposed by the GOP, was expected to require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies to help many afford the premiums.

Hewing close to a stalled Senate bill, it would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. The expected price tag is around $1 trillion over 10 years.

The conference at the White House guest residence is to be televised live on C-SPAN and perhaps on cable news networks. It represents a gamble by the administration that Obama can save his embattled overhaul through persuasion , a risky and unusual step.

It was forced on the administration by the Senate special election victory of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in January. He captured the seat long held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, who died last year. Brown’s victory reduced the Democrats’ majority in the Senate to 59 votes, one shy of the number needed to knock down Republican delaying tactics.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday he would participate, but that Obama and congressional Democrats would be wrong to push the bills they wrote in the House and Senate.

Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

Ade — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:16:24 +0000

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

Monica Almeida/The New York Times

The New York Times

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Gas prices chugging upward

Ade — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:53:03 +0000

NEW YORK — Americans are paying more for gasoline than they did last year as the holidays approached — billions of dollars that could go to books, clothes and Barbie dolls instead being spent at the pump.

Gas averaged nearly $2.70 a gallon Friday, the highest of the year — adding bad news to an already fragile economy and making it even less likely that people will spend their way out of the recession.

From last November to January, the average price was $1.86. Even if prices average $2.50 per gallon during the same period this year, Americans will pay an extra $26.6 billion for gas, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.

Teletech’s profits rise slightly

Ade — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:26:41 +0000

TeleTech Holding Co., an international call center operator, logged third-quarter profits even with 2008 despite a year-over-year revenue drop of 19 percent.

The Englewood-based company (NASDAQ: TTEC) on Wednesday reported earning $21.5 million, or 32 cents per share, on revenue of $281.5 million for the quarter that ended Sept 30. That compares to the third-quarter profit in 2008 of $21.1 million, or 29 cents per share, on $349.1 million in revenue.

TeleTech reported cutting its third-quarter expenses by $68.4 million, or 21 percent, from the year-ago period.

TeleTech employs about 500 people at its headquarters and once had more than 63,000 employees in centers across 18 countries. The company spent $815,000 on workforce reductions in the third quarter, and its total number of employees isnâ€™t clear.

Jobless Claims Up After Two Straight Declines

Ade — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:14:16 +0000

WASHINGTON–First-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose in the latest week after back-to-back declines, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The number of initial claims in the week ending Oct. 17 rose 11,000 to 531,000. It’s the highest level since the week ended Sept. 26.

Claims had fallen 34,000 in the prior two weeks. Most economists had expected an up-tick in claims. Claims in the previous week were revised to a decrease of 11,000 to 520,000 compared with the initial estimate of a decrease of 10,000 to 514,000.

The four-week average of initial claims inched lower by 750 to 532,250. This is the lowest level since mid-January. Meanwhile, the number of Americans receiving state jobless benefits fell 98,000 to 5.92 million in the week ending Oct 10.

Nokia suing Apple over the iPhone

Ade — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:51:20 +0000

Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, has said that it is suing its US rival Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology for the iPhone.

Nokia said it had not been compensated for its technology, and accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation".

The ten alleged patent infringements involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.

Apple’s shares dipped after news of the action broke.

The breaches applied to all models of the iPhone since its launch in 2007, Nokia added.