Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts

Protest is first of its kind against new austerity package

THESSALONIKI, Greece, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks marched at an annual fair in Greece's second-biggest city on Saturday to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts demanded by international lenders in exchange for aid to stave off bankruptcy.

The demonstration by about 15,000 trade unionists and leftists was the first major protest against a nearly 12-billion-euro austerity package being readied by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to appease EU and IMF inspectors who arrived in Athens on Friday to review Greece's reform progress.

A few protesters burned European Union flags while others threw watermelons and peaches in support of struggling farmers, but the largely peaceful protests otherwise passed off without incident as 3,500 policemen looked on.

READ MORE:   http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/08/greece-protests-idUSL6E8K81C120120908

Morici: The New Jobs Program - Convince Them They Don't Need a Job

The economy added 96,000 jobs in August, down from 141 in July and not nearly enough to keep pace with population growth.

Winston Davidian | Photodisc | Getty Images

The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent only because 581,000 workers quit looking for work and are longer counted in the official jobless tally.

In the weakest recovery since the Great Depression, the entire reduction in unemployment from its 10.0 percent peak in October 2009 has been accomplished through a significant drop in the percentage of adults participating in the labor force—either working or looking for work. 

The most effective jobs program appears to be to convince working-aged adults they don’t need a job. 

Growth slowed to 1.7 percent in the second quarter, as consumers pulled back and the trade deficit on oil and with China continued to drag on demand. The outlook for the second half of the year is not much better. Car sales are stronger than a year ago, but are not likely to improve much further, and housing prices have risen in recent months but on weak volumes.   READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/48939391http://www.cnbc.com/id/48939391

   

Recession 'taking hold' in Eurozone, OECD says

PARIS (AP) -- Europe's debt crisis is pushing the 17-country eurozone toward recession and dragging down the global economy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.

Even growth in traditional economic powerhouse Germany is slowing, and the OECD's interim assessment said that Europe's largest economy could slip into recession by the end of the year.

"The negative elements of the global economy ... stemming mostly from Europe are there and they are somewhat stronger than they used to be a few months ago," OECD Chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan told reporters.

READ MORE:  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-06-05-13-00http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-06-05-13-00

Global crisis moves East as China suffers rapid downturn

China’s industrial output is contracting at the fastest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, with knock-on effects spreading across the Far East. 

 

“It just keeps getting worse,” said Alistair Thornton and Xianfang Ren from IHS Global Insight. “The government has underestimated the pace of the slowdown and is behind the curve.”

The HSBC/Markit manufacturing index for China fell to 47.6 in August, the lowest since the onset of Great Recession in late 2008. Inventories are rising. The index for new export orders fell to the lowest since March 2009. “Beijing must step up policy easing to stabilise growth,” said Hongbin Qu from HSBC.

China’s official PMI manufacturing index – weighted to big companies – also fell through the contraction line of 50, though services are holding up better.

Evidence of a hard landing over the summer is becoming clearer. Rail volumes fell 8.2pc in July from a year before. The Japanese group Komatsu said its exports of hydraulic excavators to China – a proxy gauge for Chinese construction – fell 48pc in August from a year before.

READ MORE:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9518859/Global-crisis-moves-East-as-China-suffers-rapid-downturn.html

 

Fears Rising, Spaniards Pull Out Their Cash and Get Out of Spain

It is, Julio Vildosola concedes, a very big bet.

Christopher Groenhout | Lonely Plant Images | Getty Images

After working six years as a senior executive for a multinational payroll-processing company in Barcelona, Spain, Mr. Vildosola is cutting his professional and financial ties with his troubled homeland. He has moved his family to a village near Cambridge, England, where he will take the reins at a small software company, and he has transferred his savings from Spanish banks to British banks.

“The macro situation in Spain is getting worse and worse,” Mr. Vildosola, 38, said last week just hours before boarding a plane to London with his wife and two small children. “There is just too much risk. Spain is going to be next after Greece, and I just don’t want to end up holding devalued pesetas.”

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/48889555

Robert Shiller On Housing Bubble: "Are We Off To The Races Again?"

Even as we unwind from the biggest housing crash in history, a renowned economist is warning a new housing mortgage bubble could be dangerously brewing.

In a riveting interview on Fox Business, Robert Shiller, the famed economist who invented the Case-Shiller index, widely considered the nation's most accurate barometer of home sales, said he was alarmed by the bubble-like characteristics occurring in areas around the country.

"I think in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco we might be seeing some pretty big things developing," Shiller said.

"These things take you by surprise. Bubbles occur in the least optimal times. That's because people want to buy before the news. So, in the midst of the recession you could start a bubble."

In July, the median price for new homes sales in the San Francisco Bay hit its highest level since August of 2008. And reports indicate that private equity and hedge fund speculators have been buying up foreclosed properties in record amounts, driving prices higher.

READ MORE:  http://moneymorning.com/ob/economist-robert-shiller-on-housing-bubble-are-we-off-to-the-races-again/

Upscale Ruddertowne rebuild gets under way

Model opens for million-dollar condos in Dewey Beach

DEWEY BEACH — By next summer, the vast parking lot that fronted Ruddertowne will be replaced by a sleek five-story building, with large swaths of glass facing Del. 1, topped by million-dollar condominiums.

 

On Wednesday, the company developing the project, Dewey Beach Enterprises, released a new image of how the hotel-condominium complex will look and gave real estate brokers a sneak peek at a model condo unit, complete with iPad-controlled climate system. The model unit opens today for viewing by appointment.

Jim Baeurle, one of the project’s three owners, said the Hyatt-branded hotel and 12 upper-floor condominium units are on schedule to open Memorial Day. A second phase of construction will demolish the existing Ruddertowne complex of restaurants, bars and shops in September 2013 and replace it with a new mixed-use building set to open by summer 2014.

READ MORE:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120830/BUSINESS12/308300065/Upscale-Ruddertowne-rebuild-gets-under-way?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s&nclick_check=1