Europe’s economies - Tumbling rates

Economist - AS EUROPEAN economies have weakened far more than expected, their central banks have wielded their big weapon. Thursday December 4th will go down in monetary history as the day that they made drastic cuts in interest rates to ward off a severe recession.

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Detroit’s New Bill: $34 Billion

BusinessWeek - The three U.S. car companies delivered their overhaul plans to Congress on Dec. 2, and asked for a total of $34 billion to get them through the financial crisis. That’s a big bump up from what they had asked for last month. And with the Detroit Three CEOs scheduled for another [...]

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Auto Woes Threaten to Wreck Volvo and Saab

Spiegel - Iconic Swedish brands Volvo and Saab are both US-owned, but they may not benefit from any US auto bailout. As the global car industry slumps, officials in Sweden are scrambling to save their biggest brands — without running afoul of EU law.

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The price of oil - Down it goes

Economist - A BARREL of oil could be bought for $47.36 in after-hours trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday December 1st. The price of oil is now at its lowest level in over three years and some $100 cheaper per barrel than at its peak in July. Many analysts expect [...]

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Now is the time to tackle the abuses of our welfare system

Independent - Many thousands of people will be made redundant over the coming months through no fault of their own. And they will be desperate to get back into employment. It is for such people that unemployment assistance was designed, not those who, for a variety of reasons, refuse to take jobs. The [...]

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Sunset carmakers should look to a new dawn

Financial Times, by Jeremy Rifkin - We need to shift the conversation from rescues and bail-outs of the internal combustion engine to research, development and deployment of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell plug-in vehicles powered by renewable energy. The shift in our energy regime and automotive technology is the entry point to a [...]

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Dow Plunges 680 Points on Economic Woes

BusinessWeek - The U.S. stock market “is facing a new round of selling pressure as the financial picture is still a question mark,” said Jay Collins of DT Trading in Chicago. “[The U.S. jobs report] due on Friday is the news story of the week and is expected to reinforce the bleak jobs [...]

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