Showing posts with label Time Warner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Warner. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
World Bank Warns of Global Slowdown
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012
(BEIJING) — The World Bank warned Wednesday of a possible slump in global economic growth and urged developing countries to prepare for shocks that could be more severe than the 2008 crisis.
The bank cut its growth forecast for developing countries this year to 5.4 percent from 6.2 percent and for developed countries to 1.4 percent from 2.7 percent. For the 17 countries that use the euro currency, it forecast a contraction, cutting their growth outlook to -0.3 percent from 1.8 percent.
Global growth could be hurt by a recession in Europe and a slowdown in India, Brazil and other developing countries, the Washington-based bank said. It said conditions might worsen if more European countries are unable to raise money in financial markets.
"The global economy is entering into a new phase of uncertainty and danger," said the bank's chief economist, Justin Yifu Lin. "The risks of a global freezing up of capital markets as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real."
Developing countries that have enjoyed relatively strong growth while the United States and Europe struggled might be hit hard, Lin said. He said they should line up financing in advance to cover budget deficits, review the health of their banks and emphasize spending on social safety nets.
Many governments are in a weaker position than they were to respond to the 2008 global crisis because their debts and budget deficits are bigger, Lin said at a news conference.
In the event of a major crisis, "no country will be spared," Lin said. "The downturn is likely to be longer and deeper than the last one."
The bank's outlook in its "Global Economic Prospects" report issued twice a year adds to mounting gloom amid Europe's debt crisis and high U.S. unemployment.
"It is very likely that most European countries, including Germany, entered recession in the fourth quarter of last year," said Hans Timmer, the World Bank's director of development projects.
Investors have cut investments in developing countries by 45 percent in the second half of last year, compared with the same period in 2010, Timmer said.
The report follows similar warnings about the global economy by its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, and private sector forecasters.
For the United States, the bank cut this year's growth forecast to 2.2 percent from 2.9 percent and for 2013 to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent. As reasons, it cited the anticipated global slowdown and the on-going fight in Washington over spending and taxes.
Global growth might suffer from the interaction of Europe's troubles and efforts by China, India, South Africa, Russia and Turkey to cool rapid growth and inflation with interest rate hikes and other measures, the bank said.
China's expansion slowed to a 2 1/2-year low of 8.9 percent in the three months ending in December from the previous quarter's 9.1 percent.
As Europe weakens, developing countries could find "their slowdown might be larger than is necessary to cope with inflation pressures," Lin said.
A global downturn would hurt developing countries by driving down prices for metals, farm goods and other commodities and demand for other exoprts, the World Bank said.
Slower growth is already visible in weakening trade and commodity prices, the World Bank said.
Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011, barely half the previous year's 12.4 percent rate, the bank said. It said the growth rate is expected to fall to 4.7 percent this year.
Prices of energy, metals and farm products are down 10 to 25 percent from their peaks in early 2011, Timmer said.
The United States is already feeling some pain from Europe's crisis. Exports to Europe fell 6 percent in November, the Commerce Department said last week.
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington contributed.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104675,00.html#ixzz1jpMpkEl6
The bank cut its growth forecast for developing countries this year to 5.4 percent from 6.2 percent and for developed countries to 1.4 percent from 2.7 percent. For the 17 countries that use the euro currency, it forecast a contraction, cutting their growth outlook to -0.3 percent from 1.8 percent.
Global growth could be hurt by a recession in Europe and a slowdown in India, Brazil and other developing countries, the Washington-based bank said. It said conditions might worsen if more European countries are unable to raise money in financial markets.
"The global economy is entering into a new phase of uncertainty and danger," said the bank's chief economist, Justin Yifu Lin. "The risks of a global freezing up of capital markets as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real."
Developing countries that have enjoyed relatively strong growth while the United States and Europe struggled might be hit hard, Lin said. He said they should line up financing in advance to cover budget deficits, review the health of their banks and emphasize spending on social safety nets.
Many governments are in a weaker position than they were to respond to the 2008 global crisis because their debts and budget deficits are bigger, Lin said at a news conference.
In the event of a major crisis, "no country will be spared," Lin said. "The downturn is likely to be longer and deeper than the last one."
The bank's outlook in its "Global Economic Prospects" report issued twice a year adds to mounting gloom amid Europe's debt crisis and high U.S. unemployment.
"It is very likely that most European countries, including Germany, entered recession in the fourth quarter of last year," said Hans Timmer, the World Bank's director of development projects.
Investors have cut investments in developing countries by 45 percent in the second half of last year, compared with the same period in 2010, Timmer said.
The report follows similar warnings about the global economy by its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, and private sector forecasters.
For the United States, the bank cut this year's growth forecast to 2.2 percent from 2.9 percent and for 2013 to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent. As reasons, it cited the anticipated global slowdown and the on-going fight in Washington over spending and taxes.
Global growth might suffer from the interaction of Europe's troubles and efforts by China, India, South Africa, Russia and Turkey to cool rapid growth and inflation with interest rate hikes and other measures, the bank said.
China's expansion slowed to a 2 1/2-year low of 8.9 percent in the three months ending in December from the previous quarter's 9.1 percent.
As Europe weakens, developing countries could find "their slowdown might be larger than is necessary to cope with inflation pressures," Lin said.
A global downturn would hurt developing countries by driving down prices for metals, farm goods and other commodities and demand for other exoprts, the World Bank said.
Slower growth is already visible in weakening trade and commodity prices, the World Bank said.
Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011, barely half the previous year's 12.4 percent rate, the bank said. It said the growth rate is expected to fall to 4.7 percent this year.
Prices of energy, metals and farm products are down 10 to 25 percent from their peaks in early 2011, Timmer said.
The United States is already feeling some pain from Europe's crisis. Exports to Europe fell 6 percent in November, the Commerce Department said last week.
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington contributed.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104675,00.html#ixzz1jpMpkEl6
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Monday, November 14, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Vatican’s Radical Ideas on Financial Reform
By Amy Sullivan @sullivanamy October 24, 2011
(L-R) Tapestries showing Bonifacia Rodriguez De Castro of Spain, Guido Maria Conforti of Italy and Luigi Guanella of Italy hang from Saint Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI leads a mass for their beatification in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican October 23, 2011. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito
Those politicians who think the Dodd-Frank law went too far in attempting to reform Wall Street will likely need smelling salts after taking a look at a proposal for reforming the global financial system that was released by the Vatican on Monday. The proposal’s centerpiece is a call for the formation of a global political authority that would, among other things, possess broad powers to regulate financial markets. The reality of globalization, says the document, necessitates a “gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world authority and to regional authorities.” The Vatican envisions this global authority playing a role not just in overseeing financial markets, but also disarmament and arms control, food security and peace efforts.
Calling into question the entire foundation of neo-liberal economics and proposing one world financial order? You never know what those radicals over at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will come up with next.
The 41-page document, “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority,” (it’s no wordier than some of the signs at the protests) can be seen as a practical extension of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. In that document, Benedict argued that there is “an urgent need of a true world political authority” to address problems of economic inequality both within and between countries. Writing in the wake of the financial meltdown, Benedict identified the roots of the crisis as economic, financial, and also moral. It is not possible, he suggested, to pursue the common good while also glorifying the values of utilitarianism and individualism.
The writers of this new Vatican proposal also hammered the values of the financial world, writing that “the crisis has revealed behaviors like selfishness, collective greed and the hoarding of goods on a great scale.” At fault, they say, is “an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls.” It’s a fierce denunciation of the free-market theology embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike, and likely to put more than a few Catholic politicians in the uncomfortable position of either ignoring or downplaying the Vatican’s position on financial reform. I’ve put in calls to Speaker Boehner and Paul Ryan’s offices, and will update if and when they respond with comment.
Concern about the consequences of unfettered capitalism is not new for the Vatican, nor is the institution’s belief in the need for global authorities. (The document cites the teachings of popes over the past 40 years on the need for global institutions that can look beyond national interests.) But this proposal has a very specific context. This past June, the Vatican hosted a summit on “Ethics for the Business World” that examined possible options for ethical oversight in the post-crisis financial world, and which included leaders from banking, manufacturing and financial sectors.
Officials at the Vatican timed the document’s release to precede the G-20 Summit in France that will happen the first week of November. Of course, the document’s release also comes amid the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. I would dearly love to hear a question about the proposal posed in an upcoming debate. The language of a “world global authority” to which nations transfer part of their powers seems almost drawn from a list of Phrases That Freak Out The Tea Party. But if Republicans can spend two hours talking about 9-9-9 on national television, surely they can spare a few minutes for the Vatican’s proposed financial reforms.
Source: http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/24/the-vaticans-radical-ideas-on-financial-reform/#ixzz1bpYyisJb
(L-R) Tapestries showing Bonifacia Rodriguez De Castro of Spain, Guido Maria Conforti of Italy and Luigi Guanella of Italy hang from Saint Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI leads a mass for their beatification in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican October 23, 2011. REUTERS/Giampiero SpositoThose politicians who think the Dodd-Frank law went too far in attempting to reform Wall Street will likely need smelling salts after taking a look at a proposal for reforming the global financial system that was released by the Vatican on Monday. The proposal’s centerpiece is a call for the formation of a global political authority that would, among other things, possess broad powers to regulate financial markets. The reality of globalization, says the document, necessitates a “gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world authority and to regional authorities.” The Vatican envisions this global authority playing a role not just in overseeing financial markets, but also disarmament and arms control, food security and peace efforts.
Calling into question the entire foundation of neo-liberal economics and proposing one world financial order? You never know what those radicals over at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will come up with next.
The 41-page document, “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority,” (it’s no wordier than some of the signs at the protests) can be seen as a practical extension of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. In that document, Benedict argued that there is “an urgent need of a true world political authority” to address problems of economic inequality both within and between countries. Writing in the wake of the financial meltdown, Benedict identified the roots of the crisis as economic, financial, and also moral. It is not possible, he suggested, to pursue the common good while also glorifying the values of utilitarianism and individualism.
The writers of this new Vatican proposal also hammered the values of the financial world, writing that “the crisis has revealed behaviors like selfishness, collective greed and the hoarding of goods on a great scale.” At fault, they say, is “an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls.” It’s a fierce denunciation of the free-market theology embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike, and likely to put more than a few Catholic politicians in the uncomfortable position of either ignoring or downplaying the Vatican’s position on financial reform. I’ve put in calls to Speaker Boehner and Paul Ryan’s offices, and will update if and when they respond with comment.
Concern about the consequences of unfettered capitalism is not new for the Vatican, nor is the institution’s belief in the need for global authorities. (The document cites the teachings of popes over the past 40 years on the need for global institutions that can look beyond national interests.) But this proposal has a very specific context. This past June, the Vatican hosted a summit on “Ethics for the Business World” that examined possible options for ethical oversight in the post-crisis financial world, and which included leaders from banking, manufacturing and financial sectors.
Officials at the Vatican timed the document’s release to precede the G-20 Summit in France that will happen the first week of November. Of course, the document’s release also comes amid the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. I would dearly love to hear a question about the proposal posed in an upcoming debate. The language of a “world global authority” to which nations transfer part of their powers seems almost drawn from a list of Phrases That Freak Out The Tea Party. But if Republicans can spend two hours talking about 9-9-9 on national television, surely they can spare a few minutes for the Vatican’s proposed financial reforms.
Source: http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/24/the-vaticans-radical-ideas-on-financial-reform/#ixzz1bpYyisJb
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Tim Armstrong’s Hail Mary Pass
February 7, 2011
AOL’s purchase of the Huffington Post is the equivalent of a fourth-quarter Hail Mary pass. The game clock was ticking down on C.E.O. Tim Armstrong’s pledge to demonstrate by the second half of this year that AOL could mount a comeback from the near dead. AOL suffered a dismal last quarter of 2010, with revenues and traffic and subscribers continuing to fall. Quarterback Armstrong was not scoring with pledges to transform AOL into a content company. He boldly threw about a hundred and twenty million dollars per year at Patch, an attempt to create hyper-local online news sites, which I describe in my piece on Armstrong that ran in the magazine last month. He hired more journalists last year than any news organization. He dared make acquisitions of quality sites, like TechCrunch. Because Armstrong is a charismatic C.E.O., and came to AOL with an aura of success from Google, he was embraced as an inspirational team leader.
But as Ben Roethlisberger reminded us in the Super Bowl yesterday, quarterbacks can go from hero to bum if they fail to get in the end zone. Armstrong needed to call an audible, to do something different to score. When Armstrong claims, as he did, that the synergies to be achieved by combining the two companies was the equivalent of one plus one equals eleven, I’m reminded of when AOL and Time Warner made similar claims for their 2000 merger. Beware. But by placing AOL’s content efforts under the Huffington Post umbrella, Armstrong demonstrates that he understands that AOL can’t win by gaining a few yards at a time. He had to scramble and throw a long pass, and he has.
Illustration by John Cuneo.
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Posted by Ken Auletta
AOL’s purchase of the Huffington Post is the equivalent of a fourth-quarter Hail Mary pass. The game clock was ticking down on C.E.O. Tim Armstrong’s pledge to demonstrate by the second half of this year that AOL could mount a comeback from the near dead. AOL suffered a dismal last quarter of 2010, with revenues and traffic and subscribers continuing to fall. Quarterback Armstrong was not scoring with pledges to transform AOL into a content company. He boldly threw about a hundred and twenty million dollars per year at Patch, an attempt to create hyper-local online news sites, which I describe in my piece on Armstrong that ran in the magazine last month. He hired more journalists last year than any news organization. He dared make acquisitions of quality sites, like TechCrunch. Because Armstrong is a charismatic C.E.O., and came to AOL with an aura of success from Google, he was embraced as an inspirational team leader.
But as Ben Roethlisberger reminded us in the Super Bowl yesterday, quarterbacks can go from hero to bum if they fail to get in the end zone. Armstrong needed to call an audible, to do something different to score. When Armstrong claims, as he did, that the synergies to be achieved by combining the two companies was the equivalent of one plus one equals eleven, I’m reminded of when AOL and Time Warner made similar claims for their 2000 merger. Beware. But by placing AOL’s content efforts under the Huffington Post umbrella, Armstrong demonstrates that he understands that AOL can’t win by gaining a few yards at a time. He had to scramble and throw a long pass, and he has.
Illustration by John Cuneo.
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