Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: MF S...

Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: MF S...: "The International Monetary Fund said Spain must step up efforts to overhaul its economy as Europe ’s sovereign-debt crisis threatens to da..."

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: MF Says Spain Must Step Up Reform Efforts as Euro Region’s Crisis Worsens

The International Monetary Fund said Spain must step up efforts to overhaul its economy as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis threatens to damp growth.

“The repair of the economy is incomplete and risks are considerable,” the Washington-based IMF said in its annual appraisal of Spain yesterday. There must be “no let-up in the reform momentum” to bolster the recovery and reduce a 21 percent unemployment rate that is “unacceptably high,” the fund said.

Spain’s Socialist government is carrying out the deepest budget cuts in at least three decades while raising the retirement age and reducing firing costs. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero overhauled wage-bargaining rules on June 10 in the latest step aimed at reining in borrowing costs that surged to the highest in a decade last week on mounting expectations of a Greek default.

“Financial conditions could deteriorate further, reflecting rising concerns about sovereign risks in the euro area,” the IMF said. “This could put additional pressure on sovereign and bank funding costs for Spain, which in turn could feed back to the real economy.”

The IMF called on the government, which has passed two labor overhauls in the past year, to make deeper changes to reduce the highest unemployment rate in Europe.

‘Underlying Problems’

“Some of the underlying problems of the Spanish economy, especially weak productivity growth and the dysfunctional labor market, remain to be fully addressed,” the IMF said. It called for “further enhancing the credibility of fiscal consolidation, completing financial-sector reform” and “boldly strengthening the reforms of the labor market.”

Finance Minister Elena Salgado said the IMF report is “extraordinarily positive.” The fund said that authorities “undertook a series of measures targeting the main economic problems facing the country.”

“I don’t see here that they are telling us that we have to make changes,” Salgado said in a telephone interview yesterday in Madrid. “The core of the labor reforms is in place already.”

Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Supr...

Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Supr...: "The fight over global warming and whether to limit carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants must be resolved by the Environmental Prote..."

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Supreme Court kills global warming suit

The fight over global warming and whether to limit carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants must be resolved by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court said, killing a suit in federal court brought against the nation’s five largest electric power companies.

The 8-0 decision Monday was a setback — but not a surprise — for environmentalists. The outcome puts more pressure on the Obama administration and the EPA to follow through with promises to propose new regulations in the fall that will restrict carbon pollution from power plants.
The EPA under President Obama has already adopted stricter emissions standards for cars and trucks. However, more ambitious moves contemplated by the administration could be difficult to implement because the Republican-led House has voiced opposition to new regulations that would affect energy producers.
Eight states had filed suit against Midwest and Southern power producers based on the old doctrine that a state or a private party could file a “public nuisance” suit against another party for polluting its air or water.

Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Gold...

Atlantic International Partnership World News and: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Gold...: "Gold closed at a record high Tuesday, surpassing its previous high set in May, as some investors ran back to the classic haven amid global f..."

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Gold hits record high on debt fears and chance of more Fed stimulus

Gold closed at a record high Tuesday, surpassing its previous high set in May, as some investors ran back to the classic haven amid global financial markets’ latest turmoil.
The metal also got a boost as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed some policymakers were willing to push for a new monetary stimulus program if the economy failed to show significant job growth.
That could mean a resumption of the Fed’s bond-buying program, which critics say has helped fuel inflation, particularly in commodities. Fears of higher inflation often drive more investors to gold as a hedge.
The Fed is “thinking about more free money,” said Frank Lesh, a commodities analyst at FuturePath Trading in Chicago. “The first place it goes is into the markets.”