Miscellaneous news

Ron Paul winning in Iowa

RT,

19 December, 2011

With only two weeks until the Iowa caucus begins, Texas Congressman Ron Paul is still soaring in the polls, with the latest survey putting the candidate on top as Newt Gingrich’s popularity begins to buckle.

A press release from Public Policy Polling dated December 18 reveals that given the latest quizzing of would-be Republican voters in Iowa, Congressman Paul has usurped former frontrunners from the lead in the race to the GOP nomination after going neck-and-neck with Gingrich in the previous poll. According to the latest news out of Iowa, Gingrich’s pull among Republican voters has dropped down to 14 percent, while Paul has surged to nearly a quarter of the vote with 23 percent. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney trails Paul by three percentage points in second place.

For article GO HERE

Now he is a threat he can’t be simply ignored; so the conservatives are on the attack.

See THIS article as an example

Trade finance drying up amid financial crisis

Google,

GENEVA — Trade finance is drying up amid the financial crisis, threatening jobs and economic growth, trade sources warned Saturday.

Banks like Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas -- two of the 25 financial institutions most active in such financing -- have recently reduced their trade financing business, said a trade source on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization ministerial conference.

BNP Paribas is among the top three banks in financing commodities trade in Africa, said the source.

Their exit would leave a gap that other banks like HSBC may fill, but the general trend was that such financing was drying up.

With European banks prominent among the world's biggest financers, the eurozone debt crisis was particularly hurting the sector.

In the Balkans, for instance, financing for trade was harder to come by now as it was traditionally mainly Greek banks that had been offering such lending.

Trade finance is the "lifeblood" without which global trade would stall. It comes in the form of credit issued and guaranteed by banks to importers and exporters, underpinning confidence through the whole system.

More than 90 percent of commercial transactions in the world require such credit, but the current crisis is forcing banks to hold on to capital and liquidity, leading to the lending market drying up and making credit more expensive.

Greek woes drive up suicide rate to highest in Europe

Experts attribute rise to the country's economic crisis following release of statistics that show a 40% jump since last year

the Guardian,18 December, 2011

The suicide rate in Greece has reached a pan-European record high, with experts attributing the rise to the country's economic crisis.

Painful austerity measures and a seemingly endless economic drama is exacting a deadly toll on the nation. Statistics released by the Greek ministry of health show a 40% rise in those taking their own lives between January and May this year compared to the same period in 2010.

Before the financial crisis first began to bite three years ago, Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. It now has almost double that number, the highest on the continent, despite the stigma in a nation where the Orthodox church refuses funeral rights for those who take their lives. Attempted suicides have also increased.

For article GO HERE

Gandhi Bill Strains India’s Finances to Give Cheap Food to Nation’s Poor

Bloomberg,

19 December, 2011

India approved plans to grant the nation’s poor the right to buy food grains at subsidized rates, meeting a pledge by the ruling Congress party to spread the benefits of growth while putting at risk the deficit target.

The Food Security Bill was approved by the Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters in New Delhi yesterday, without elaborating. The bill will need the consent of the parliament to become law.

For article GO HERE

USA: 1 in 3 arrested by age 23

Chicago Sun Times, 

19 December, 2011

“Arrest is a pretty common experience,” says Robert Brame, a criminologist and principal author of the study.

The new data show a sharp increase from a previous study that stunned the American public when it was published 44 years ago by criminologist Ron Christensen. That study found 22 percent of youth would be arrested by age 23. The latest study finds 30.2 percent will be arrested by age 23.

The question excluded only minor traffic offenses, so youth could have included arrests for a wide variety of offenses such as truancy, vandalism, underage drinking, shoplifting, robbery, assault and murder — any encounter with police perceived as an arrest, Brame says.

Buyer's Remorse - Record Volume of Returns Before Christmas

Mish’s Global Economic Analysis

18 December, 2011

"People who rushed to snag discounts on TVs, toys and other gifts are quickly returning them for much-needed cash. The shopping season started out strong for stores, but it looks like the spending binge has given way to a holiday hangover.

Return rates spiked when the Great Recession struck and have stayed high. For every dollar stores take in this holiday season, they'll have to give back 9.9 cents in returns, up from 9.8 last year. In better economic times, it's about 7 cents."

For article GO HERE