June 23, 2010 in Economy | Comments (15)
World leaders gather for G8 and G20 summit meetings
• LEADERS of the G8 group of rich countries gather in Muskoka, a Canadian holiday resort, for a two-day summit starting on Friday June 25th. The meeting overlaps with the two-day G20 summit that begins the next day in Toronto. Both get-togethers will give the opportunity to world leaders to discuss global financial regulation, reforming international financial institutions and responses to the crisis in the euro zone. The Canadian hosts have been criticised at home for the vast cost of the summit, in particular on the creation of a huge artificial lake for the media centre in a country with more real lakes than anywhere else in the world.
• ANXIETY in Britain is likely to be high as George Osborne, the country’s new chancellor (finance minister), unveils details of a tough emergency budget on Tuesday June 22nd. The new budget will set out the overall trajectory of spending, which is likely to be sharply downward. Mr Osborne’s colleagues have been making scary speeches about the parlous state of public finances. And gloomy independent forecasts for growth and the public finances from the new Office for Budgetary Responsibility suggest that hefty spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable. …
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in Economy | Comments (8)
A guide to the growth of the beautiful game's global festival, and to the economics of footballing prowess
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June 21, 2010 in Economy | Comments (0)
Tags: hawaii, Jobs, UHERO
Project Economy: UHERO
Duration : 0:3:23
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in Economy | Comments (3)
Tags: al, aljazeera, asia-pacificnews, asianews, debt, divya, Economy, English, gopalan, japan, jazeera, minister, prime
Japan, the world’s second biggest economy, has racked up debt totalling $9.4t while its gross domestic product (GDP) is only $5t, making its debt to GDP ratio 181 per cent – the highest among rich countries.
Too much debt could render a country’s bond worthless and impact economic growth.
A recent example of a country that has faced a troubled economy due to its massive accumulation of debt is Greece.
But Tomohiko Taniguchi, a professor at Keio University in Japan’s capital Tokyo, told Al Jazeera the difference between Japan’s economic situation and Greece’s is that “Japan’s government debt has been almost exclusively purchased by domestic investors. Unlike Greece, the Japanese are indebted not significantly to the outside world”.
“It is more sustainable than the case of Greece, but you have to boost demand, you have to grow. The Japanese government has to make not baby steps but a significant leap,” he said.
“And most importantly, the Japanese government has to convince the Japanese domestic investors as well as the international market about the long term projection of the economy, the long term blueprint as to what the government will do to tackle both the lack of demand and ballooning budget deficit.”
Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister, has suggested an increase in sales taxes to combat the economic problem.
But Taniguchi said: “I think it’s more important that the Japanese administration proposes to reduce corporate tax first rather than increase the general sales tax because corporate tax in Japan is among the highest among other developed nations.
“In order to boost Japanese domestic demand and corporate investment, the corporate tax rate has to be reduced first.”
Al Jazeera’s Divya Gopalan reports from Tokyo.
[June 21, 2010]
Duration : 0:3:0
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in Economy | Comments (17)
World leaders gather for G8 and G20 summit meetings
• LEADERS of the G8 group of rich countries gather in Muskoka, a Canadian holiday resort, for a two-day summit starting on Friday June 25th. The meeting overlaps with the two-day G20 summit that begins the next day in Toronto. Both get-togethers will give the opportunity to world leaders to discuss global financial regulation, reforming international financial institutions and responses to the crisis in the euro zone. The Canadian hosts have been criticised at home for the vast cost of the summit, in particular on the creation of a huge artificial lake for the media centre in a country with more real lakes than anywhere else in the world.
• ANXIETY in Britain is likely to be high as George Osborne, the country’s new chancellor (finance minister), unveils details of a tough emergency budget on Tuesday June 22nd. The new budget will set out the overall trajectory of spending, which is likely to be sharply downward. Mr Osborne’s colleagues have been making scary speeches about the parlous state of public finances. And gloomy independent forecasts for growth and the public finances from the new Office for Budgetary Responsibility suggest that hefty spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable. …
(more…)
in Economy | Comments (2)
A retrospective look at the career of football photographer Peter Robinson, which spans ten World Cups and hundreds of games
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June 19, 2010 in Economy | Comments (5)
Just how much oil has spilled from Deepwater Horizon?
DESPITE dominating the headlines for more than a month, there is little agreement about the size of the Deepwater Horizon spill. One of the teams in the government taskforce has put the latest estimate at between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels a day, up from an earlier range of 12,000 to 19,000. Discounting the 149,000 barrels captured by BP’s cap, even at the low end of the new range, the leak would be one of the largest accidental spills ever (the various wells uncorked by the first Gulf War were far bigger). Barack Obama will increase pressure on BP on Tuesday when he speaks about the clean-up from the Oval Office. BP, for its part, is searching for a truce with the American government that will involve it paying billions of dollars in compensation.
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in Economy | Comments (1)
Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project, explains why we've created a society ill at ease with our biology
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June 18, 2010 in Economy | Comments (2)
Tags: WBAL
The race between Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich has turned into a race about who can bring the state back into the black.
Duration : 0:2:32
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