http://www.leap2020.eu/ 2010-03-20T23:20:28+01:00 Webzine Maker 48.8351898 2.3866701 2010-03-20T23:20:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Regulators-shut-7-banks-in-5-states;-37-in-2010_b1956061.html 2010-03-19T23:19:00+01:00 USA Today Regulators have shut down seven banks in five states, bringing to 37 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over the banks: First Lowndes Bank, in Fort Deposit, Ala.; Appalachian Community Bank in Ellijay, Ga.; Bank of Hiawassee, in Hiawassee, Ga.; and State Bank of Aurora, in Aurora, Minn...

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]]> 2010-03-20T23:19:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Greenspan-Bernanke-still-don-t-get-it_b1956058.html 2010-03-19T23:19:00+01:00 CNN Money Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke have a message for everyone who thinks the Federal Reserve isn't to blame for the housing bubble and Great Recession: It wasn't our fault.

In a 48-page paper that Greenspan presented at the Brookings Institution Friday called "The Crisis," the former Fed chairman wrote that it was low long-term rates, not the Fed's easy money policy from 2002-2004, that caused the spike in home prices...

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]]> 2010-03-20T11:58:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/India-raises-key-rate-to-help-fight-inflation_b1955282.html 2010-03-19T11:57:00+01:00 Financial Times India’s central bank on Friday announced a surprise 25-basis point increase in its key policy rates – the first rise in nearly two years – in a bid to head off inflation that is poised to cross into double digits.

In an unscheduled move, the Reserve Bank of India increased the “reverse repo rate”, the rate at which it absorbs money from the system, by 25 basis points to 3.5 per cent and the “repo rate”, the rate at which it lends to banks, by the same margin to 5 per cent...

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]]> 2010-03-20T11:57:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Britain-A-heap-of-difference_b1955278.html 2010-03-19T11:56:00+01:00 Financial Times It was a postwar nadir. Ambulance drivers and lorry drivers on strike, along with railway workers, rubbish collectors and even gravediggers. The events of 1978 and 1979 – the “winter of discontent” – brought much of the UK to a halt and have gripped the nation’s psyche ever since. Britons shudder at the thought of its return.

“Apparently the British, never very keen on hard work, have decided on permanent inactivity,” wrote Bernard Donoughue, adviser to James Callaghan, then Labour prime minister, in his diary. “The Anglo-Saxons are normally very sensible, but when they go mad they go completely barmy.”...

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]]> 2010-03-19T11:38:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Dutch-state-short-29-billion-euros_b1953259.html 2010-03-19T11:26:00+01:00 NRC Handelsblad According to new government figures, the next cabinet will have to undertake massive cutbacks. But not as massive as first feared.

An analysis by a Dutch government agency has shown that the next Dutch cabinet will need to cut 29 billion euros in spending over its four year term. This is six billion euros less than the sitting cabinet had predicted...

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]]> 2010-03-19T11:38:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Merkel-wants-option-of-excluding-members-from-euro-zone_b1952295.html 2010-03-18T23:14:00+01:00 France 24 The 16-nation euro zone must be able to remove members who persistently break fiscal rules, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday. She added that the Greek debt crisis, which has rattled the euro, should be dealt with at its "roots"...

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]]> 2010-03-19T16:59:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/China-s-one-child-policy-little-enforced-and-set-to-end_b1954135.html 2010-03-18T16:58:00+01:00 Market Watch Over three decades after China officially introduced its one-child policy, the population-control program no longer applies to most Chinese and looks set to be permanently abolished.

While government statistics aren't publicly available, a widely cited figure from state-media reports shows less than 36% of the country's population was subject to the one-child policy, as of 2007...

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]]> 2010-03-18T12:47:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Retrouvez-le-charme-de-l-or_b1950687.html 2010-03-18T12:12:00+01:00 Money Week Nouvelle faillite d’un Etat souverain, krach obligataire, krach boursier, inflation : quelle calamité se produira d’abord ? Quoi qu’il arrive, l’or est une couverture contre chacun de ces événements qui nous menacent.

Une fois dissipées les fumerolles des plans de relance, il ne reste que le volcan de la dette publique, prêt à cracher la lave de l’inflation. Dans ce brouillard, les concurrents s’affrontent sur le marché de la dette...

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]]> 2010-03-19T11:37:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Brussels-press-corps-shaken-by-declining-numbers_b1953275.html 2010-03-18T11:30:00+01:00 EUObserver Shaken by a sharp drop in the size of the Brussels press corps in the last few months after years of steady attrition, the European capital's foreign press association is anxious that action be taken to stem the decline.

From a high point of 1,031 journalists in 2005, making it the biggest foreign press corps in the world, the number of reporters has steadily dropped down to between 860 and 935 today...

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]]> 2010-03-19T11:37:00+01:00 http://www.leap2020.eu/notes/Nouvel-la-tour-Signal-a-La-Defense-se-fera-quand-la-crise-se-dissipera_b1953272.html 2010-03-18T11:28:00+01:00 Libération L’architecte Jean Nouvel a déclaré jeudi qu’il n’avait pas renoncé à construire la tour Signal à La Défense (Hauts-de-Seine) mais qu’elle «se réalisera quand la crise se dissipera».

Peu de temps auparavant, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, présidente de l’établissement public responsable de l’aménagement de ce quartier (Epad), avait annoncé avoir reçu un courrier des Ateliers Nouvel l’informant «qu’ils renonçaient à la tour Signal, faute d’investisseurs»...

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