Headlines for today

Asia stocks plunge to join in global rout

Marketwatch

As expected, the Asian markets have reacted to the U.S. market meltdown with an enormous sell off. The loss of confidence in an economic recovery, combined with clear signals that the United States is heading downward toward another recession, has been commonly shared across the globe. Since this news story broke, virtually every stock index across the globe has felt the effects over the last 24 hours, except Egypt, Malaysia and New Zealand

-Jonathan Barnes, Supervising Editor, Collapse Net

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Asian stock markets were pounded Friday as a severe sell-off on Wall Street and escalating fears over the global economic outlook took a heavy toll on investor confidence, prompting a flight to safety.

The stampede out of equities spared few sectors or individual stocks as losing stocks overwhelmed gainers across Asia, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization across the region.

For article GO HERE

World Poorly Placed to Meet New Economic Crisis

Reuters

Wednesday, 3 Aug 2011 | 10:55 PM ET

With financial markets in turmoil and economic growth slowing, policymakers around the world may once again be forced to cooperate to try to head off a crisis, as they did successfully in 2008-2009. But this time, they have fewer good options.  

  

Central banks have less room to ease monetary policy than they did three years ago; cash-strapped governments cannot afford to boost spending as much; and political disarray in some countries may make concerted global policymaking harder.  

For article GO HERE

Italy pledges reform for ECB support, 

stems market rout

Reuters

Fri Aug 5, 2011 3:58pm EDT

Italy has buckled to world pressure in a bid to halt a market rout endangering the global economy, pledging to speed up austerity measures and social reforms in return for European Central Bank help with funding.

About $2.5 trillion has been wiped off world stocks this week on worries the euro zone debt crisis was spreading and the U.S. was slipping into recession. Better than expected U.S. jobs growth in July helped support Wall Street on Friday.

After a frantic round of telephone diplomacy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said his government would accelerate cuts to aim for a balanced budget in 2013, a year ahead of schedule, and press ahead with welfare and labor market reforms.

For article GO HERE

Food stamp use rises to record 45.8 million

Ironic how the markets can react positively to “improved” job statistics while there is a record number of people collecting unemployment benefits.

Since the Great Depression, the U.S. has had a record number of people collecting unemployment benefits, a record number of people out of work for more than six months, a record number of home foreclosures, a record number of bank failures, and now a record number of people using food stamps. In this CNN article, there is a video discussing how to eat for $1 / day. When CNN is subtly acclimating Americans to the idea of living so meagerly, that should be cause for some alarm. 

-- Jonathan Barnes, Supervising Editor, Collapse Net

CNN

August 4, 2011: 5:03 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- more commonly referred to as food stamps -- shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported. That's up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago.

For article GO HERE

The ECB throws Italy and Spain to the wolves

The European Central Bank has abandoned Italy and Spain to their tortured fate.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

the Telegraph

Its refusal to act in the face of an existential threat to monetary union has set off violent tremors across the global financial system, raising the risk that the crisis will spiral out of control.

Bank shares crashed in Madrid and Milan, with Intesa Sanpaolo down 10pc and Italy's MIB index reduced to its knees with a one-day fall of 5.2pc. Share trading was suspended at a string of bourses across Europe.

Yields on 10-day US debt fell to zero in a replay of panic flight to safety seen during the onset of the Lehman-AIG crisis three years ago.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB's president, said the bank had purchased eurozone bonds for the first time since March but this token gesture was confined to Ireland and Portugal, countries that have already been rescued.

For article GO HERE