| Sound Money Institute

Spain jobless rate over 20 pct, adding to woes

April 30, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

Spain‘s jobless rate has risen over 20 percent for the first time since 1997, the government said Friday — more dismal news for a recession-plagued economy that is being dragged into Europe’s debt crisis.

The National Statistics Institute said the rate rose 1.22 percentage points in the first quarter to 20.05 percent.

While other major economies in Europe and elsewhere have posted at least tepid growth as they crawl out of recession, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy is still contracting after the collapse of a construction boom that had fueled years of expansion.

The agency said at the end of March, there were over 4.6 million people out of work in the country. The jobless rate is the highest since the last quarter of 1997, when it stood at 20.11 percent.

Since Spain slipped into recession in 2008, the rate has roughly doubled, a dramatic development for a country that had been one of Europe’s top job-creators.

Read More: -By Daniel Woolls, the Associated Press

Filed Under: News Tagged With: economies, Europe, Europe's debt crisis, Jobless rate, Recession, Spain, the National Statistics Office

‘99ers’ dread future without jobless benefits

April 30, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

Karl Schafer says he has tried for hundreds of jobs since he was laid off from a truck factory more than two years ago. Still waiting to get hired, the 52-year-old Ohio man has suffered the indignity of applying for food stamps and asking his elderly mother for help.

Weary of her own job search, former customer service representative Wagma Omar, 40, of Mission Viejo is thinking about applying for a dangerous civilian job in Afghanistan.

And in California’s wine country, Kay Stephens, 56, is frantically looking to cut her living expenses so her unemployment doesn’t become a burden to her 30-year-old daughter.

Schafer, Omar and Stephens are among the increasing number of unemployed Americans whose burdens just got heavier: They’ve exhausted their 99 weeks of jobless benefits and must now figure out how to get by on ever more meager resources.

In California, state officials estimate there are nearly 100,000 people who are still looking for work but can no longer draw an unemployment check. Federal labor officials could not provide a number nationally, but private-sector experts say it could easily top 1 million.

Read More: – By Alana Semuels, the Los Angeles Times

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 99 weeks, California, federal labor officials, jobless benefits, state officials

Consumer Sentiment Falls in April on Sluggish Recovery

April 30, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

U.S. consumer sentiment fell in April from the month before, but beat expectations, as consumers viewed the economic recovery as well under way but painfully slow.

At 72.2, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers’ final April reading on the overall index on consumer sentiments also was above the preliminary reading of 69.5 for the month, which was the lowest in five months.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a sentiment reading of 71 for April. The reading was 73.6 in March.

“Confidence in the economic policies and legislation promoted by the Obama administration remained at low levels, although confidence did record a small rebound in late April,” Richard Curtin, director of the surveys, said in a statement.

Consumer sentiment is seen as a proxy for consumer spending that fuels 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

The surveys’ gauge of current economic conditions slipped to 81.0 at the end of April from 82.4 in March. That reading was below 82.0 forecast by analysts, but above 80.7 recorded in early April.

Family’s Recently Purchased Home Emptied By Property Removal Service

April 30, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

The Rought family has been waiting for over a year for their furniture to be returned. They would like their lawn ornaments back, too.

The Michigan family has finally turned to the Federal courts, filing a complaint this week against Deutsche Bank National Trust after the home they purchased last year was allegedly cleaned out several times by a property removal service.

“It is really the Wild West of the foreclosure industry right now. It’s almost like they are vultures when they think a property is foreclosed upon,” said Joseph deMello, the lawyer for Ricky and Sherry Rought.

The Roughts paid $14,000 in cash for the home in Brohman, Mich., on Jan. 27, 2009, which they were planning on fixing up for their 22-year-old daughter, who was attending Ferris State College. They began making repairs, moving in furniture, installing light fixtures, and decorating the lawn.

Read More: – By Brennan McCord, ABCNews

Filed Under: News Tagged With: furniture, lawyer, Michigan, the Federal courts, the foreclosure industry, the Rought family

Greece’s fiscal woes threaten the U.S.

April 29, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

A widening financial crisis in Europe is threatening to put a damper on the economic recovery here and abroad just as the American economy is gathering steam.

A credit contagion that began in heavily indebted Greece spread Wednesday to Spain, whose economy is much larger than Greece’s, as Standard & Poor’s cut the Madrid government’s credit rating, just one day after slashing Athens’ bonds to “junk” status and downgrading Portugal’s debt as well.

European officials pledged Wednesday to act swiftly on a hefty package of loans for Greece, but skepticism remained that Germany, the continent’s strongest economic power, would ultimately agree to the plan.

Even under the rosiest scenario in which a rescue package comes through and the problem is contained, analysts say, European economic growth will slow as more countries feel pressure to raise taxes and take other tough measures to get their fiscal affairs in order.

Read More: – By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Europe, financial crisis, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Standard & Poor's, the United States

BP welcomes military help for larger Gulf oil leak

April 29, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is even worse than believed and as the government grows concerned that the rig’s operator is ill-equipped to contain it, officials are offering a military response to try to avert a massive environmental disaster along the ecologically fragile U.S. coastline.

Speaking Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, an executive for BP ( BP – news – people ) PLC, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, said the company would welcome help from the U.S. military.

“We’ll take help from anyone,” BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.

But time may be running out. Not only was a third leak discovered – which government officials said is spewing five times as much oil into the water than originally estimated – but it might be closer to shore than previously known, and could have oil washing up on shore by Friday.

Read More: – By Cain Burdeau, the Associated Press

Filed Under: News Tagged With: British Petroleum, the Gulf of Mexico, the NBC's "Today" show

Weekly Claims Slip But Jobs Picture Remains Shaky

April 29, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell slightly less than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, implying only a gradual labor market improvement.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 448,000 in the week ended April 24, the Labor Department said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected claims to fall to 445,000 from the previously reported 456,000, which was modestly revised up to 459,000 in Thursday’s report.

“Claims are still hovering at that tipping point around 450,000, which we think is the junction between corporate hiring and continuing a wait-and-see process,” said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Ridgeworth Investments in Richmond, Va. “The report is moving in the right direction but is inconclusive.”

Roubini: Euro Zone May Collapse Within Days

April 29, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

New York University economist Nouriel Roubini says the euro zone’s days may be numbered, and he’s not talking about some day far off in the future.

“In a few days, there might not be a euro zone for us to discuss,” he said at a Los Angeles conference sponsored by the Milken Institute, Reuters reports.

European policy makers may have to fork over 600 billion euros ($794 billion) in aid or buy government bonds to erase the debt crisis, economists tell Bloomberg.

Roubini says Greece can’t come up with the 10 percent spending reduction necessary to prevent its debt from exploding out of control.

And even if it could, its economy would get ruined in the process, he maintains.

Roubini compares Greece to Argentina in 2001, shortly before it defaulted on its debt.

Tech Sector Slashed Jobs in 2009

April 28, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

For the first time in half a decade, the U.S. tech industry in 2009 slashed large numbers of skilled workers from its payrolls. The findings, disclosed in a technology trade group’s annual analysis of employment and wage trends in the industry, could slow an overall improvement in the U.S. economy, the group concluded.

Technology companies eliminated 245,600 jobs in 2009, or 4% of the industry’s 5.9 million U.S. workers, according to the latest Cyberstates report released Apr. 28 by TechAmerica, a industry group representing 1,500 companies in electronics, software, and telecommunications. It was the first time the technology industry eliminated jobs since 2004.

Technology manufacturing companies shed the most jobs—112,600—in 2009. Engineering and tech services and the communications field each shed a net 59,000 jobs. Software services firms eliminated 20,700 jobs.

Read More: – By Cliff Edwards, Businessweek

Filed Under: News Tagged With: slashed jobs, TechAmerica, the U.S. economy, the U.S. tech industry, the U.S. workers

Strategist: Portugal May Spark Global Market Crisis

April 28, 2010 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

Greece was pushed to the brink of a financial abyss and started dragging another euro zone country — Portugal — down with it Tuesday, fueling fears of a continent-wide debt meltdown.

Stocks around the world tanked when ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greek bonds to junk status and downgraded Portuguese bonds two notches, showing investors that Greece’s financial contagion is spreading.

Major European exchanges fell more than 2.5 percent, and on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down more than 200 points. The euro slid more than 1 percent to nearly an eight-month low.

“We have the makings of a market crisis here,” said Neil Mackinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Greece is struggling with massive debt, and with prospects for economic growth weak it could end up in default. Its 15 euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund have tried to calm the markets with a 45 billion euro ($59.51 billion) rescue package, but it hasn’t worked.

Spain jobless rate over 20 pct, adding to woes

‘99ers’ dread future without jobless benefits

Consumer Sentiment Falls in April on Sluggish Recovery

Family’s Recently Purchased Home Emptied By Property Removal Service

Greece’s fiscal woes threaten the U.S.

BP welcomes military help for larger Gulf oil leak

Weekly Claims Slip But Jobs Picture Remains Shaky

Roubini: Euro Zone May Collapse Within Days

Tech Sector Slashed Jobs in 2009

Strategist: Portugal May Spark Global Market Crisis

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