Obama: Odd Man Out in Economic Summit!

How Canada made the G20 happen
P aul Martin sat in Lawrence Summers' spacious office in the Greek-columned U.S. Treasury building in Washington, searching in vain for a piece of paper. With none in sight, the two men grabbed a Brown Manila envelope, put it on the table between them, and began sketching the framework of a New World Order. It was April 27, 1999. For the past five years, the Global Economy had shuddered under a string of massive Debt defaults – first in Mexico, and then in Southeast Asia and Russia. In...

Deficit worries trump fears of new recession at G20 summit (McClatchy Newspapers)
Toronto - Still concerned about slipping back into Recession, world leaders signaled Sunday they have a new fear — that the Deficit spending they used to stimulate growth could produce a crippling Debt crisis that also could stagger the world Economy . They pledged Sunday to cut Deficits in half within three years, their fear of Debt outweighing warnings from President Barack Obama that cutting back too quickly risks starving The Economy just as its starting to recover. The leaders...

G20 Wrap-up: What happened? Part 1: The Money
Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife So now that the G20 is over, the lasting images will no doubt be of the violence and Vandalism in downtown Toronto, and most likely little of what the summit accomplished. The intended sound bite that leaders hoped would be heard through the din of the self-styled Anarchists and reciprocal police crackdown, was that the G20 nations had committed to cut their national Deficits in half by 2013 and stabilize overall Debt by 2016. Canadian Prime...

President Alfred E. Obama:Our worry-free chief exec
Observing President Obama's relentlessly reckless approach to our nation's fiscal integrity is reminiscent of the signature phrase of Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, "What, me worry?" Obama struck again last week at the G-20 conference in Toronto, urging other nations to follow his Pied Piper lead into Deficit-spending hell. Unlike recent U.S. presidents who recognized and touted this nation as the world's exemplar for Economic Growth and prosperity, Obama is turning us into a poster nation...

Keynes: The End of a Bad Idea
The dream of spending our way out of Recession got a step closer to death at the Toronto Summit of G8 and G20 leaders. Things just aren't what they were. Every bad idea seems to have its Wordsworthian moment: Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive But to be young was very heaven. The early enthusiasm for Keynesian Economics certainly qualifies. The dawn of Keynes was very heaven, if you were young back then. But now we are at the moment when a new generation asks: What was all the fuss...

G20 Plans One Foot On The Brake, The Other On The Gas Pedal. Will They Blow Up The Global Economy?
You really can't blame them for not listening . After all, the U.S. is caught up in Deficit fever, too - a cyclical illness that occurs only when we have a Democratic president or Democratic control of the House. The only thing that worries the Villagers is when the Government spends money on the people who gave it to them: Toronto -- President Obama warned Sunday that the world Economic Recovery remains "fragile" and urged continued Spending to support growth, an expansionist call at the end...

Why Obama is Sabotaging U.S. Economic Growth
They do not want the United States of America to drive Global Growth anymore. If the Financial Reform Bill passes, the bad Wall Street will win, the good Wall Street will not. And investors and American

Why Obama is Sabotaging U.S. Economic Growth
They do not want the United States of America to drive Global Growth anymore. If the Financial Reform Bill passes, the bad Wall Street will win, the good Wall Street will not. And investors and American

RBS tells clients to prepare for 'monster' money-printing by the Federal Reserve
As recovery starts to stall in the US and Europe with echoes of mid-1931, bond experts are once again dusting off a Speech by Ben Bernanke given eight years ago as a freshman Governor at the Federal Reserve. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Utter nonsense, deflation is another imaginary government bogyman, it's nothing more than an excuse for the government to print Money. Watch this video by Jorg Guido Hulsman: The Economics of Deflation Entitled " Deflation: Making Sure It Doesn't Happen Here ",...

BP denies Hayward to resign
AFP BP has denied that its embattled chief executive Tony Hayward was set to resign over the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, after revealing that the crisis has so far cost $US2.65 Billion ($A3 Billion). Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, preparing to meet Hayward on Monday, said the British boss was to resign and present a successor, Russian news agencies reported. However, a BP company spokeswoman insisted Hayward was not stepping down. "Tony Hayward remains chief executive and is not...

Asia shares slip and debt puts euro on defensive
Singapore (Reuters) - Asian stocks were on course on Tuesday for their worst quarterly performance since the end of 2008, as the tepid nature of rich world's recovery from global Recession keeps investors on the defensive. The Euro was under pressure and dangerously close to a key support level, as funding concerns about the Euro zone drove investors to the safe-haven of the Swiss franc and Market players looked anxiously toward European Debt sales this week. "Aside from buying on dips, it's...

Economics: The shaky science
"The ideas of Economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. . . . Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct Economist." -- English Economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) Almost everyone wants the world's governments to do more to revive ailing economies. No one wants a "Double Dip" Recession. The...

Kudos in order as PM shepherds G20 to surprising consensus
W hile much of the chatter around the G20 Summit has focused on fake lakes, Billion-dollar budgets and burning police cars, the greater reality is that Stephen Harper guided the leaders of the world's largest and most influential economies to an accord – call it the Toronto Consensus – that surprised even the leaders themselves. “Honestly, this is more than I expected,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged. The major economies have agreed to act in concert to cut...

Sticking the public with the bill for the bankersapos; crisis
Last week, The Globe and Mail published a fascinating article about the origins of the G20 . It turns out the entire concept was conceived in a meeting back in 1999 between then Finance Minister Paul Martin and his U.S. counterpart Lawrence Summers (itself interesting since Mr. Summers was at that time playing a central role in creating the conditions for this Financial Crisis allowing a wave of bank consolidation and refusing to regulate Derivatives). The two men wanted to expand the...

Small rise in consumer spending could fuel big debate over government's role in recovery
In the photo taken June 21, 2010, a Safeway worker, left, bags items for a customer in San Ramon, Calif. Consumer Spending rose slightly in May, a sign that Americans are nervous about The Economy's health. (AP) Washington — A tepid gain in Consumer Spending last month could fuel a debate over whether the United States and other Governments should further stimulate their economies to sustain the recovery. A report that Americans spent cautiously in May came after world leaders meeting...

G-20: Only Stimulus is Security Tab
Good Evening: With global market participants continuing to pay more attention to sporting events like the World Cup and Wimbledon than to political events like the G-20, U.S. stocks were fairly quiet for a second straight day today. Some investors had hopes the G-meetings (G-8 & G-20) over the weekend in Toronto would bring forth fresh policy guidance from World leaders, but the squawking, er, Debates about the need for Economic Stimulus yielded little. The Obama Administration would...

Japan's factory output down as export demand moderates, unemployment climbs to 5.2 percent
Tokyo — Japan's Economic Recovery faltered in May as moderating export demand dented factory output, household spending fell and the jobless rate unexpectedly rose for a third straight month. Industrial production dropped 0.1 percent from the previous month — the first decline in three months, the government said Tuesday. Shipments overseas fell 1.7 percent. Lower output from automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. dragged the index south, reflecting softening...

2ND LD: Japan's jobless rate edges up in May, worsening 3rd straight month+
month+ (AP) - Tokyo, June 29 (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATING) Japan's jobless rate in May inched up to 5.2 percent, worsening for the third straight month, reflecting companies' cautious stance about adding Payrolls due to uncertain Economic prospects amid Europe's Sovereign Debt woes, government data showed Tuesday. But preliminary readings by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry also indicated that the number of Job Cuts stemming from corporate restructuring and business...

How do other nations balance their trade? Try Germany
As America continues to contemplate its Trade mess, the question naturally arises how other developed nations manage to Trade with the world without Deficits and without turning high-wage industries into low-wage industries to compete. Although some other developed nations, like Britain and Spain, have Trade situations almost as bad as ours in recent years, some have been quite the opposite. Germany is perhaps the best case in point, as this Montana-sized country of 82 million people was the...

Bemusing the Deficit
I've been struck by the wave of Austerity capturing not only American politics but politics across the globe. Not only has the Senate failed to pass an extension of Unemployment Benefits and aid to states, the post-mortem G8/G20 headlines were that the world's leaders would primarily be focused on Deficit/Debt reduction as opposed to additional large overtures to stimulate The Economy. Deficit hawks or Austerians seem to be winning the day! Don't get me wrong, Deficits and the Debt...

Cautious consumers may fuel debate over deficits
Washington (AP) - A tepid gain in Consumer Spending last month could fuel a debate over whether the United States and other Governments should further stimulate their economies to sustain the recovery. A report that Americans spent cautiously in May came after world leaders meeting in Toronto over the weekend pledged to reduce Government Deficits by cutting Spending and raising taxes. They did so despite warnings from President Barack Obama that scaling back Spending too fast could derail the...

Mauldin: A Closer Look at the 2nd Leg Down in Housing
Quickly, I will be on Larry Kudlow’s show tonight (Tuesday, June 28), which is at 7 pm Eastern. Larry has promised that we will spend some quality time on some of the current issues facing us. See you there! And now, let’s jump in to this week’s Outside the Box. Last January 2009, the Outside the Box featured FusionIQ’s quant models that blend both fundamental and technical metrics to determine the strength of 8,000 equities as well as the overall markets ( Trading...

Dutch stand in way of Brazil juggernaut
Brazil swept into a World Cup quarter-final showdown with the Netherlands after a clinical and uncompromising 3-0 victory over Chile at Ellis Park on Monday. Bert van Marwijk's Dutch side saw off Slovakia 2-1 earlier in the day, with star winger Arjen Robben marking his first start of the tournament with the opening goal. The sides will meet in Port Elizabeth on Friday, in a repeat of their 1998 semi-final encounter in France, which Brazil won on penalties. The Selecao went on to lose to the...

How Did the New Deal Work Out?
Since the Administration is in the process of trying to "jump-start" The Economy with Deficit Spending, it is useful to review how the policies of FDR actually worked out in terms of economic performance in the 1930s.  The New Deal was not specifically a "Keynesian" program, in part because Keynes' magnum opus, The General Theory , was not published until 1936. However, the New Deal is regarded by Keynesians as the ur-program of Government Stimulus of The Economy. This...

New York Fed probes Wall Street exposure to BP say sources
New York (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been probing major Financial firms' exposure to BP Plc to ensure that if the Oil giant buckles under the costs of the Gulf Oil Spill, it won't put Wall Street or the global Financial System at risk, according to two sources familiar with the matter. After pouring over documents and asking banks about their exposure to BP over the past two weeks, the Fed found no systemic risk, and hasn't asked firms to alter their Credit...