US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone Monday to discuss the need for action on the eurozone crisis and the Middle East, the White House said.
The leaders had the latest of their frequent conversations before Obama headed to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, likely to be dominated by a Palestinian bid for statehood recognition.
" The two leaders agreed that concerted action would be needed in the months ahead to address the current economic challenges and to assure global economic recovery," said a White House statement.
" They also discussed Middle East peace, and the President thanked the Chancellor for her commitment to the peace process and her personal engagement with the parties to facilitate a return to direct talks."
In a White House statement on a previous call between Merkel and Obama in late August, officials also said the two leaders called for " concerted action" to spur job creation and recovery in the global economy.
Earlier Monday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the United States had a huge stake in helping Europe find a " more effective strategy" to tackle its financial crisis.
Geithner, just back from a trip to Poland in which he reportedly expressed concern of a " catastrophic risk" to markets from the Greek debt crisis, said at the White House that Europe had the will to combat its challenges.
" We have a huge stake as a country in helping them deal with those challenges. We have a huge economic stake, financial stake.
" So we are working very closely with them and being very supportive and as they try to craft a more effective strategy.
" Is there political will there? I believe there is."
Geithner warned last week in a closed address to bankers meeting in Poland that deepening divisions in the eurozone over the Greek debt crisis posed a " catastrophic risk," Dow Jones Newswires reported.
" What's very damaging is not just seeing the divisiveness in the debate over strategy in Europe but the ongoing conflict between countries and the central bank," he said, warning that " governments and central banks need to take out the catastrophic risk to markets."
Over the weekend, hundreds of angry protesters gathered at Liberty Plaza in New York. It is there they set up their home base for a demonstration intended to “interrupt the flow of Wall Street.”
One protester who happened to have about $5,000 worth of Japanese koi tattooed on his arms said he was tired of working for peanuts while the rich continue to get richer, insisting that Wall Street redistributes what he called “stolen wealth.”
Now, I certainly won't argue that there is a select group of folks that's directly responsible for much of the economic burdens we bear today. (I could write volumes on the banks.) What we've seen unfold over the past few years has been despicable.
And I would have no problem pilfering the mansions of the scum who profited off the backs of honest, hard-working taxpayers, most of whom can be found spending their days on Capitol Hill...
That being said, you can't blame a bunch of bureaucratic bums and Wall Street suits for everything.
Truth is, no one forced consumers to buy homes they knew they couldn't afford, and there has never been a law that requires Americans to bury themselves in debt while saving nothing.
Look, the world ain't perfect.
And yes, there are snakes and cockroaches lingering around every corner.
That's life.
But here's something you'll never hear a self-made millionaire say...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=20vVnU9mmfY10 min - 7 Jan 2010 - Uploaded by MHSalmanKhan FREE Windows 8 download by sk. ...Download Free Windows 8 Transformation Packby kevincosty42023 views · Thumbnail 8:36. Add to ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX9tDp9zDnI3 min - 22 Aug 2011 - Uploaded by CelebritieIlluminati http://bit.ly/Windows8Download Download Windows 8 Full Version Free. This is not virus, see the scan results. Download link: ...
I refer to the article “Rogue trader at UBS racks up S$2.48b loss” (Sept 16).
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) became the largest shareholder in UBS last year when it converted notes it bought in the bank into ordinary shares at a conversion price of 47.7 Swiss francs (S$67.6) a share.
UBS shares closed at 9.75 Swiss francs the day the loss was announced. Given GIC’s original 11-billion Swiss franc investment in 2008 and the 2 billion Swiss francs it received in interest in the first two years, its paper loss was about 6 billion to 7 billion Swiss francs at Thursday’s price.
GIC is one of three key institutions managing reserves and investments for Singapore.
The other two, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Temasek Holdings, adopt a high level of disclosure, including the value of their portfolios.
The same cannot be said of GIC, which has relied on the argument that disclosure of its numbers would weaken Singapore’s ability to fend off speculators.
However, in view of the erosion of the value of Singapore’s investments in Western banks such as UBS, it will be increasingly challenging to expect Singaporeans to accept GIC’s position of non-disclosure.
After all, Singaporeans are generally prudent with money and have, in the two recent elections, rejected candidates with campaign promises of more spending. It is only fair that they are kept updated on the value of GIC’s holdings, the last piece of the reserves puzzle.
GIC should not underestimate the negative fallout that eroded investments might have on its reputation and, ultimately, on the Government, which has pledged more engagement and openness with the people.
No doubt, there are conflicting interests and needs, so I am keen to also hear from our newly-elected President on this matter.
Time is running out for one of the most ambitious political adventures of the last 100 years — the European Single Currency.
Yesterday the big beasts of the euro zone, France and Germany, were in a state of total paralysis as the currency they hoped would guarantee peace on the continent forever stared into the abyss.
I actually witnessed the birth of the euro 12 years ago.
As a news reporter in London, I was dispatched to the German city of Frankfurt to cover the opening of the European Central Bank (ECB).
But I would be fibbing if I said that I thought the complex and diverging economies of Europe would live together happily ever after.
Even then the union looked doomed to fail.
But this is not a time for an
“I told you so”.
It brings me no joy to witness its demise, because such catastrophe presents only serious ramifications for the rest of the world.
At the weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her Parliament that “if the euro fails, then Europe too will fail”.
The EU is facing its worst crisis in 60 years.
The current financial crisis, which began in Greece, now threatens to spread to other southern euro zone states, like Portugal, Spain and Italy. With this looming disaster comes the threat of the kind of riots and disorder we saw in Athens as the public rose up against austerity measures.
The big problem is debt — billions of euros of debt incurred by these countries when times were good.
The danger now is that they will soon default on their sovereign obligations and effectively go bust.
Such a crisis is now a distinct possibility and the outcome for the EU too terrible to consider.
According to administration officials, the proposal will be called the “Buffett Rule”, in a reference to Mr Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages.
— A new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than US$1 million (S$1.24 million) a year — to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers — will be the centrepiece of United States President Barack Obama’s measures to reduce the country’s deficit, which he will unveil today.
On Friday, U.S. Treasury Sectretary Timothy Geithner warned Europe of " catastrophic risks" to the financial markets if the debt crisis is not handled quickly. He urged his Europeans counterparts to increase their rescue fund, European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). However, his advice was not taken positively, especially by the German Finance Minister and ECB Chief Jea-Cloude Juncker.
" We are not discussing the increase or the expansion of the EFSF with a non-member of the euro area," Juncker said.
The European finance chiefs said that there is no room for tax cuts or extra spending to prop up the economy.
Can BRIC save the day? The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations are meeting in Washington this week to discuss on how to help the European Union deal with its debt crisis. Initially, the markets took the news positively as Brazilian Official said that they may put forward an aid proposal. However, Chinese Premier told reporters later that the Europeans have to first “put their own houses in order" and should not rely in China. The Russians also expressed that the EU has to provide more clarity on their actions before Russia could make a decision.
Macro announcements this week Tue 20 Sep: US Building Permits (Aug), US Housing Starts (Aug) Wed 21 Sep: PRC HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI (Sep), US Existing Home Sales (Aug), US FOMC Rates Decision Thu 22 Sep: US Initial Jobless Claims, US Leading Indicators (Aug) Fri 23 Sep: PRC MNI Flash Business Sentiment (Sep), SG CPI (Aug)
¨Genting Malaysia has unveiled a master plan for its US$3bn Resorts World Miami (RWM) which boasts a series of four hotels with a total 5,200 rooms and two residential towers featuring 1,000 units, encompassing approximately 10m sq ft of space.
A casino will be included if Florida's legislature and governor approve destination resort legislation.
Wildlife Reserves CEO apologises for Halloween Horrors closure
SINGAPORE: Wildlife Reserves Singapore CEO Isabella Loh has in a posting on the organisation’s Facebook page, said that the decision to cancel Halloween Horrors was sudden, and that she was very sorry for the upset it has caused.
Ms Loh said she would also like to clarify that she did not intend to link President Tony Tan’s comment made at the Singapore Zoo’s Mid Autumn Festival " Moon Night" celebrations to the decision to close Halloween Horrors.
She added that the decision was made in consultation and agreed by the management of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
Some 1,000 tickets were sold online for the month—long event, " Halloween Horrors" at the Night Safari. It had been due to make its return for the sixth year on September 30.
Ticket holders will be refunded.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore had explained that it is refocusing its energy on other events with an Asian focus, like a Deepavali festival in October.
A HDB flat being sold at S$1 million, COE for cars at S$70,000 and bungalows being marketed at S$100 million.
Singapore is now one of the world’s most expensive cities to live in. For many, change has come fast and furiously.
Makin g an in formed decisi on
According to the URA Property Price Index, a property of the same size and age priced at S$1 million five years ago will cost S$1.69 million at a similar location today. However, with the cost of purchasing — such as stamp duties — increasing significantly, it could represent an additional S$158,700 in cash being required for the downpayment alone.
Considering that the average income per capita in Singapore last year was just under S$60,000 per year and has only grown 14 per cent in the last five yearsa considerable amount of money., this constitutes
So why do we still see strong interest in buying property?
I sense a level of “panic buying”, driven by fear that the property market would be unreachable for a buyer in the near future. Furthermore, property continues to be the preferred choice when it comes to long-term investments as alternate options are viewed as higher risk.
If there is an immediate need to purchase a property, it is critical that individuals assess their current financial position thoroughly before taking the plunge, in order to not over leverage themselves.
If property is being purchased for investment, investors should evaluate the cost of holding property against the potential returns which would include rental and capital.
Currently, any rental yield upwards of 3 per cent would be considered a good return considering that the cost of borrowing could hover under 1 per cent.
However, in the event of a major correction in the market, a forced sale may not be enough to cover any outstanding loans and potentially any past returns could be wiped out.
When it comes to evaluating the affordability of a property, financial advisors would be best able to help individuals determine this with their expertise.
Take a prudent approach
With continued concerns that interest rates will rise and new regulations will be introduced for the property market, it would be imprudent to presume that the good times will continue to roll.
Although unemployment rates are low, it must be recognised that most households today are dual income. This could mask real affordability, as any decline or loss of income of either partner could cause a significant impact to a family servicing a home loan.
The reality is, with the rising costs of financing a home, one must be prepared to work longer into his golden years to complete financing a home, extending his retirement age. But it is not all doom and gloom. With good preparation and financial planning, one can take charge of preparing for that instance.
That starts now.
Alvin Lee is the head of secured lending (Singapore and South-east Asia) at Standard Chartered Bank.
Q2 2011 data shows that more than half of private property sales were “mass market” homes sold below S$1,200 per sq ft — what would have been a hefty price tag a few years ago. At the other end of the spectrum, Good Class Bungalows are now close to three times the value they were five years ago.
As the economy continues to grow, buying is still prevalent even after three rounds of regulatory changes. Furthermore, as Singapore continues to strengthen its reputation as a safe haven for investments, overseas investors will be drawn to invest in the local property market. The strong Singapore dollar, low interest rates and easy access to loans are undoubtedly strong reasons driving this.
Senior Assistant Director, Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of National Development
WE THANK Mr Conrad Raj for his comments in “The inexplicable rise in development charges” (Sept 12).
He asked why the Government had revised the development charge (DC) upward if it wants to maximise land usage and make residential property more affordable.
The DC is a tax levied only when the developer submits a development application that enhances the land value, such as through a change in zoning to a higher value use or an increase in gross plot ratio.
Seventy per cent of the estimated value enhancement goes to the Government to help upgrade the infrastructure, such as road works and utilities, to support the new development.
The developer retains 30 per cent or more of the value enhancement, as the DC rates typically lag the market value of the land.
We support more intensive land use, where feasible, but the Government cannot be expected to bear the full cost of land intensification while the developer derives all the benefits.
At present, the DC is not payable for most new housing developments here, including the large pipeline supply of private housing that is made available via the Government Land Sales Programme. As such, it does not slow down residential developments or have a significant impact on property prices.
It is arguable whether lower DC rates would have moderated [Or INFLATED] property prices or simply allowed developers to achieve better margins.
We thank Mr Raj for the opportunity to explain the purpose of the DC.
Khaw: S’pore should prohibit trans fat products CHEERS
Khaw Boon Wan
SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said Singapore should " prohibit trans fat" and questioned whether there are healthier alternatives available.
In a blog post published on Friday, Mr Khaw said these are issues he had already taken up when he was the Health Minister.
Mr Khaw said his Ministry will follow up on the trans fat issue with the Ministry of Health.
He said his ministry is responsible for food security and safety, which comes under the Agri—Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).
Mr Khaw said globalisation and increase in the world population has made food safety even more important.
And with Singapore importing over 90 per cent of its food, Mr Khaw said AVA conducts daily inspections and it tests food for food—borne hazards such as pesticide residues and other harmful organisations.
Besides food safety, Mr Khaw also highlighted the importance of having healthy food.
He also expressed disgust on a recent incident in Zhejiang province, China, where a syndicate collected used oil from sewers and recycled it as cooking oil and sold it in 14 provinces.
" The extent of human greed and lack of scruple at the expense of consumers’ well—being was incredible. Who knows we may be victims who had eaten in the affected province in China?" Mr Khaw wrote in his blog.
Trans fat, also known as trans fatty acids, is synthetically produced.
It is commonly found in vegetable oils, margarines and fast—food products and is known to raise the risk of coronary heart disease.
Even as half a billion of your hard-earned dollars were being donated to this company, your president knew it would fail.
In January of this year, the Office of Budget and Management told the White House: “The optics of a Solyndra default will be bad... The timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up.”
But the White House knew long before January that this solar pet project would fail...
Biden made a live announcement about the loan in September 2009. Obama personally visited the plant to tout its success in May 2010.
Before any of that, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers warned that Solyndra had financial troubles severe enough to “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a growing concern.”
A 2009 report by the Department of Energy's inspector general warned the DoE “lacked the necessary quality control for the loan guarantee program.”
The Government Accountability Office said the DoE “had bypassed required steps for funding awards” related to the loan.
White House official Greg Nelson, who planned Obama's visit to the company, dismissed the criticism as “B.S." .
And Solyndra itself emailed the White House to say “things are going well” and that it had “good market momentum, the factory is ramping up and our plan puts at cash positive later this year. Hopefully, we'll have a great story to tell toward the end of the year.”
(And what a great story it turned out to be!)
The White House replied: " Fantastic to hear that business is doing well — keep up the good work! We're cheering for you."
And yet the Obama administration maintains it did not influence the Solyndra loan, and that it was made on a “merit-based process.”
The Lesson
The lesson here is that government is corrupt.
And not white-lie corrupt systematic-presentation-of-misleading-information-to-the-public-and-engineering-of-stories-to-benefit-their-inner-circle corrupt.
Both sides corrupt.
This loan was started by Bush, which I haven't told you yet and which hardly anyone knows.
Lookout for yourself. No one else is. It's not right versus left. It's wolves versus sheep.
Billionaire George Kaiser, among the top 100 richest people in the world, owned 36.7% of Solyndra through his Family Foundation.
Advertisement
Jobless Claims Jump — But Not Here
They're sitting on 175 billion barrels of recoverable oil, with a full-blown energy war waging around them, and early investors will walk away with millions...
But there's only a few days left until U.S. legislation catapults this Canadian oil stock to the top of Wall Street's list.
These guys — call them the “ruling elite” — will try to enrich themselves at all costs.
They can pick and choose technology winners by issuing half-a-billion-dollar loans with your tax dollars. Don't think for a second they can't choose losers just the same.
It spans industries — from automotive to oil to banking to construction.
But in this age of information, it's getting harder and harder to hide. The foundation of their house of cards is easier to topple.
Whether it's GE's tax record (or lack thereof)... the paper trail connecting the bailout of failed banks that issued shoddy loans to Wall Street insiders with connections to both sides of the aisle... or the constant pocket-lining by energy companies of all stripes to get policy and awards in their favor...
The ruse is almost over. The veil is thinning.
And technologies that should win — without interference from corruption and bribery and lies — are starting to win.
x 0
x 0
