The Obama administration said Tuesday its new plan for rescuing America's crippled banking and financial sectors could top $1 trillion in a complex formula of cash infusions from government and the private sector.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner revealed the massive rescue effort just hours after President Barack Obama said at his first White House news conference that Congress risked turning ``a crisis into a catastrophe'' if it fails to approve a separate $800-plus billion economic stimulus program. The plan has faced stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers.
The new financial bailout plan brought forward by Geithner grows out of a $700 billion rescue program put in place in October, under the Bush administration, as the depth of the country's critical financial sector troubles surfaced with a collapse of the housing market.
``Right now critical parts of our financial system are damaged,'' Geithner said in unveiling the new plan. ``Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery and that's the dangerous dynamic we need to change.''
Half of the bailout money was allocated by former President George W. Bush's administration, but that spending has come under heavy criticism for a lack of transparency and the failure of banks to put the money into the frozen credit market.
The second half of the $700 billion is now in the hands of the Obama administration, which plans to greatly expand the effort to unclog credit markets that provide loans to consumers and businesses. Funding for this effort would see a huge increase from $20 billion up to $100 billion, according to administration officials.
If a total of $100 billion from the bailout fund was used, it would be enough to support an additional $1 trillion in lending support through a Federal Reserve program that was announced in November but has yet to begin operations.
The administration also announced that the program would be expanded beyond consumer and small business loans to provide aid to the troubled commercial real estate sector.
The administration also announced a program to create a partnership between the government and the private sector to get private investors to buy bad assets that are currently weighing down the balance sheets of banks. Congressional aides who were briefed on this plan said that Treasury officials said it could involve between $250 billion and $500 billion in government support.
As Geithner put forward the new bailout package, the Senate, despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition, was expected to approve a $838 billion stimulus bill later Tuesday. Senate approval would set the stage for possibly contentious negotiations with the House on a final compromise on legislation. Congressional leaders hope to get the bill to Obama's desk in a few days.
Obama defended the stimulus plan in his press conference Monday night, saying the federal government ``is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.''
``The plan is not perfect,'' the president said. ``No plan is. I can't tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis as well as the pain felt by millions of Americans.''
Obama goes to Fort Myers, Florida, a metropolitan area among the hardest-hit by mortgage foreclosures, for another town-hall meeting Tuesday like the one he held Monday in Elkhart, Indiana, to promote his economic plan.
Just three weeks after his inauguration was celebrated jubilantly around the world, Obama has run into the jarring difficulties of governing. He failed to win over the Republicans he courted for his economic plan. Some of his supporters have wondered if he has yielded too much ground in the pursuit of bipartisanship.
Yet Obama's approval ratings remain high — 67 per cent according to a Gallup Organization poll released Monday. He is trying to tap into that popularity to win public and congressional support for his economic recovery plan as the country faces its worst economic crisis in 80 years.
``This is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession,'' Obama said in his address Monday night, issuing a dire warning of the consequences if Congress fails to agree on a stimulus package. He cited Japan's failure to take bold actions in time to reverse a recession that turned the 1990s into a ``lost decade'' with no economic growth.
Despite painting a dire picture of the American economy, Obama said the US could well be in better shape by next year, as measured by increased hiring, lending, home values and other factors.
``If we get things right, then, starting next year, we can start seeing significant improvement,'' Obama said.
Agencies
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
One in four US companies plan salary freeze
About a quarter of businesses in America have frozen workers' salaries for 2009 in the wake of a pessimistic economic outlook, according to a new survey.
Outsourcing and consulting firm Mercer in a survey released Monday said 25 percent of organizations surveyed said they have already decided not to raise their employees' pay, and another 20 percent are considering a salary freeze this year.
A year ago, just 5 percent of companies planned to suspend raises for their staff. Mercer predicted that one in three companies will have frozen wages at 2008 levels by the end of 2009.
"It's not an easy message to communicate to employees, but we think managers will be aided by the unprecedented context of these difficult decisions - including low inflation and high unemployment," said Steve Gross of Mercer.
Those companies that plan on offering raises to their employees will give smaller-than-expected pay increases, Mercer said. The average expected salary bump at those businesses was just 3.2 percent, down from a planned 3.6 percent according to an October study.
The news comes as many employers are opting to slash jobs rather than reduce or freeze pay. Announced layoffs so far this year have already topped 300,000, and the Labour Department reported Friday that employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January - the single highest monthly job-loss total since December 1974.
Mercer also reported that executives are far less likely to get a salary increase than other employees in 2009. According to the survey, just 61 percent of companies are planning to raise their executives' pay, and 77 percent of respondents plan to decrease the level of executive compensation from their October projections.
Only 69 percent of employers plan to raise salaries for employees in managerial positions.
"Given lacklustre corporate performance and recent pressure from regulators, shareholders and the president (Barack Obama), it's not surprising to see that over the past few months, more than one-third of participants who reported executive salary data went from a 2009 planned base-salary increase for their executives to a freeze," said Gross.
Agencies
Outsourcing and consulting firm Mercer in a survey released Monday said 25 percent of organizations surveyed said they have already decided not to raise their employees' pay, and another 20 percent are considering a salary freeze this year.
A year ago, just 5 percent of companies planned to suspend raises for their staff. Mercer predicted that one in three companies will have frozen wages at 2008 levels by the end of 2009.
"It's not an easy message to communicate to employees, but we think managers will be aided by the unprecedented context of these difficult decisions - including low inflation and high unemployment," said Steve Gross of Mercer.
Those companies that plan on offering raises to their employees will give smaller-than-expected pay increases, Mercer said. The average expected salary bump at those businesses was just 3.2 percent, down from a planned 3.6 percent according to an October study.
The news comes as many employers are opting to slash jobs rather than reduce or freeze pay. Announced layoffs so far this year have already topped 300,000, and the Labour Department reported Friday that employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January - the single highest monthly job-loss total since December 1974.
Mercer also reported that executives are far less likely to get a salary increase than other employees in 2009. According to the survey, just 61 percent of companies are planning to raise their executives' pay, and 77 percent of respondents plan to decrease the level of executive compensation from their October projections.
Only 69 percent of employers plan to raise salaries for employees in managerial positions.
"Given lacklustre corporate performance and recent pressure from regulators, shareholders and the president (Barack Obama), it's not surprising to see that over the past few months, more than one-third of participants who reported executive salary data went from a 2009 planned base-salary increase for their executives to a freeze," said Gross.
Agencies
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
FIEO estimates 10 million layoffs in export units
Ten million people in the export sector will be out of job by March this year, as Indian goods find fewer buyers in the international Coming to terms with layoffs market which is battling the worst crisis since 1929.
"There will be 10 million job losses by March," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel told reporters here on Tuesday.
Indian exports, which account for just about 20 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, are a highly labour-intensive activity, employing 150 million people.
The country's exports, which posted a robust 30.9 per cent growth rate in the first half of fiscal, contracted by 12.1 per cent in October, for the first time in the last five years. The negative trend continued in November, when exports fell to $11.5 billion from $12.7 billion. The data for December are yet to be released.
"I can safely say that negative growth trends will continue in December and in the next couple of months... I hope we will end the fiscal with exports of about $175-180 billion," Sakthivel said.
FIEO yesterday said there was no "serious consideration" for exporters in the measures announced by the government last week.
The target for the current fiscal is $200 billion while exports totalled about $160 billion in 2007-08.
Europe and North America, which account for 37 per cent of India's merchandise exports, are reeling under recession and slowdown.
The FIEO chief said he did not see positive trends before the fourth quarter of the calendar 2009, "though a complete U-turn may take a little longer", he said.
Agencies
"There will be 10 million job losses by March," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel told reporters here on Tuesday.
Indian exports, which account for just about 20 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, are a highly labour-intensive activity, employing 150 million people.
The country's exports, which posted a robust 30.9 per cent growth rate in the first half of fiscal, contracted by 12.1 per cent in October, for the first time in the last five years. The negative trend continued in November, when exports fell to $11.5 billion from $12.7 billion. The data for December are yet to be released.
"I can safely say that negative growth trends will continue in December and in the next couple of months... I hope we will end the fiscal with exports of about $175-180 billion," Sakthivel said.
FIEO yesterday said there was no "serious consideration" for exporters in the measures announced by the government last week.
The target for the current fiscal is $200 billion while exports totalled about $160 billion in 2007-08.
Europe and North America, which account for 37 per cent of India's merchandise exports, are reeling under recession and slowdown.
The FIEO chief said he did not see positive trends before the fourth quarter of the calendar 2009, "though a complete U-turn may take a little longer", he said.
Agencies
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Have 30,000 lost jobs over the past one week?
News of the US officially slipping into recession seems to have spurred another round of massive retrenchment, as the first week of December alone saw a stunning 30,000 layoffs, with more than half happening in the world’s largest economy.
The whopping numbers are just a continuation of a strained labour market as employers in America slashed 5,33,000 jobs in the month of November, the maximum downsizing in 34 years. Right from telecom giant AT&T to battered banking major Credit Suisse to steel maker ArcelorMittal, the layoffs are spread across the sectors, amid the worst financial turmoil since the great depression of 1930s.
Moreover, since the start of recession in December last year, as concluded by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1.9 million people lost their jobs and two-thirds of the losses happened in the last three months. Leaving a gloomy November, this month’s layoffs are led by AT&T which would slash 12,000 jobs or about four per cent of its total workforce.
JP Morgan is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by 21%. The move is expected to result in 4,000 employees being given the pink slip by January at Washington Mutual.
Source: Agencies
The whopping numbers are just a continuation of a strained labour market as employers in America slashed 5,33,000 jobs in the month of November, the maximum downsizing in 34 years. Right from telecom giant AT&T to battered banking major Credit Suisse to steel maker ArcelorMittal, the layoffs are spread across the sectors, amid the worst financial turmoil since the great depression of 1930s.
Moreover, since the start of recession in December last year, as concluded by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1.9 million people lost their jobs and two-thirds of the losses happened in the last three months. Leaving a gloomy November, this month’s layoffs are led by AT&T which would slash 12,000 jobs or about four per cent of its total workforce.
JP Morgan is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by 21%. The move is expected to result in 4,000 employees being given the pink slip by January at Washington Mutual.
Source: Agencies
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Is the worldwide bailouts 10 times bigger than Indian economy?
In their efforts to tackle the global economic crisis, the rescue packages announced by the governments across the world has crossed 10 trillion-dollar mark (about Rs 50,00,000 crore) -- an amount equivalent to nearly 10 times the total size of Indian economy.
The amount is believed to grow even bigger with the turmoil still being in expansion mode.
A lion's share of about three-fourth of the worldwide bailout package of about 10.1 trillion dollar has come from the world's biggest economy, the US, whose total national debt has also incidentally crossed the 10 trillion-dollar mark.
The size of the entire Indian economy, where the impact of global crisis has been relatively less disastrous, pales at about one trillion dollar.
These bailouts, which have been prevalent in both developed and developing worlds due to the financial turmoil that turned severe after the fall of Lehman Brothers, have come in various forms of financial stimulus by the governments across the world -- be it putting in fresh money into a crisis-ridden institution, bringing them under the government's fold or other fiscal measures.
America set the ball rolling for such packages, with the world's largest economy announcing 700 billion-dollar plan primarily to shore up the fortunes of the country's battered financial institutions. Taking into account other rescue acts by the US, its total bailout plan runs into more than seven trillion dollars.
Various European nations together have come up with about 1.3 trillion dollar in financial assistance apart from the European Commission urging the constituent countries to pledge nearly 254 billion dollar.
Further, Germany has thrown lifelines to the tune of 60 billion dollar to save the country's leading financial firms -- Dexia Bank and Hypo Real Estate -- both of which were battered by the worsening economic turmoil.
While Hypo Real Estate received 50 billion dollar, Dexia Bank got a lifeline worth about 10 billion dollar.
Among the developing nations, China has announced a massive 586 billion-dollar plan to boost its economy and the funds would be mainly utilised for infrastructure projects.
Other major bailouts in recent times include 572 billion dollar pumped by Ireland administration to strengthen the country's banks, 150 billion dollar pledged by Russia and 30 billion dollar put in by the Poland government.
Meanwhile, the whopping seven trillion-dollar injected into the economy by the US, includes billions of dollars of term funding facilities, currency swap arrangement with various foreign governments and rescue of Wall Street giants.
With the economic turmoil continuing unabated, the Bush administration recently came up with another mega 800 billion- dollar plan, which would help in buying toxic mortgage assets, among others.
Further, the Federal government threw a lifeline of more than 300 billion dollar to banking behemoth Citigroup. The rescue includes fresh capital injection to the tune of 40 billion dollar and guaranteeing assets worth 306 billion dollar.
In the United Kingdom, the administration has announced injection of more than 100 billion dollar, with funds primarily utilised to rescue its banks.
Bradford & Bingley, which was on the verge of collapse received nearly 33 billion dollar from the administration.
Source: Agencies
The amount is believed to grow even bigger with the turmoil still being in expansion mode.
A lion's share of about three-fourth of the worldwide bailout package of about 10.1 trillion dollar has come from the world's biggest economy, the US, whose total national debt has also incidentally crossed the 10 trillion-dollar mark.
The size of the entire Indian economy, where the impact of global crisis has been relatively less disastrous, pales at about one trillion dollar.
These bailouts, which have been prevalent in both developed and developing worlds due to the financial turmoil that turned severe after the fall of Lehman Brothers, have come in various forms of financial stimulus by the governments across the world -- be it putting in fresh money into a crisis-ridden institution, bringing them under the government's fold or other fiscal measures.
America set the ball rolling for such packages, with the world's largest economy announcing 700 billion-dollar plan primarily to shore up the fortunes of the country's battered financial institutions. Taking into account other rescue acts by the US, its total bailout plan runs into more than seven trillion dollars.
Various European nations together have come up with about 1.3 trillion dollar in financial assistance apart from the European Commission urging the constituent countries to pledge nearly 254 billion dollar.
Further, Germany has thrown lifelines to the tune of 60 billion dollar to save the country's leading financial firms -- Dexia Bank and Hypo Real Estate -- both of which were battered by the worsening economic turmoil.
While Hypo Real Estate received 50 billion dollar, Dexia Bank got a lifeline worth about 10 billion dollar.
Among the developing nations, China has announced a massive 586 billion-dollar plan to boost its economy and the funds would be mainly utilised for infrastructure projects.
Other major bailouts in recent times include 572 billion dollar pumped by Ireland administration to strengthen the country's banks, 150 billion dollar pledged by Russia and 30 billion dollar put in by the Poland government.
Meanwhile, the whopping seven trillion-dollar injected into the economy by the US, includes billions of dollars of term funding facilities, currency swap arrangement with various foreign governments and rescue of Wall Street giants.
With the economic turmoil continuing unabated, the Bush administration recently came up with another mega 800 billion- dollar plan, which would help in buying toxic mortgage assets, among others.
Further, the Federal government threw a lifeline of more than 300 billion dollar to banking behemoth Citigroup. The rescue includes fresh capital injection to the tune of 40 billion dollar and guaranteeing assets worth 306 billion dollar.
In the United Kingdom, the administration has announced injection of more than 100 billion dollar, with funds primarily utilised to rescue its banks.
Bradford & Bingley, which was on the verge of collapse received nearly 33 billion dollar from the administration.
Source: Agencies
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