Commuters' wasted time in traffic costs $121B

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An annual study of national driving patterns shows that Americans spent 5.5 billion additional hours sitting in traffic in 2011.

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute released a report Tuesday that found Americans are adapting to road congestion by allowing, on average, an hour to make a trip that would take 20 minutes without traffic. The Urban Mobility Report also says clogged roads cost Americans $121 billion in time and fuel in 2011.

It also determined that the 10 most congested cities are Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, New York-Newark, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The report is one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems. But the institute advises that every community has unique challenges and require different, multi-faceted approaches to solving congestion.

READ MORE:  http://news.yahoo.com/commuters-wasted-time-traffic-costs-121b-060227096.html

Mayors Still Waiting for Economic Boost as Cities, Towns Stay 'Under Severe Pressure'

The fiscal gloom hanging over U.S. cities and local governments will lift slightly in 2013 as the pace of spending cuts slows, according to an economic assessment presented on Thursday to a mayors' conference in the U.S. capital.

Real state and local government spending will decline by 0.5 percent this year, compared to a 1.3 percent drop in 2012, said James Diffley, director of regional economics for IHS Global Insight.

"In the state and local government sector the pace of budget tightening has eased slightly and revenues have begun to improve, but as you all know all too well, municipalities remain under severe pressure," he said.
In December, local governments shed 14,000 jobs, compared to state governments that gained 4,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department, showing that cities and counties continue to struggle with spending.

READ MORE:  http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/mayors-economic-boost-obama/2013/01/18/id/472031?s=al&promo_code=12106-1

Pimco’s Gross: US Economy ‘Running Out of Time'

The financial system is like a supernova star that grows until it runs out of energy, explodes and collapses, warns Bill Gross, managing director of fund giant Pimco.

Its fuel is central banks’ loose monetary policies, which are becoming increasingly ineffective at promoting real economic growth, Gross writes in his monthly investment outlook report.

Total U.S. credit outstanding is now at $56 trillion and growing, Gross writes. “It is a monster that requires perpetually increasing amounts of fuel, a supernova star that expands and expands, yet, in the process begins to consume itself.”

Expanding credit increasingly goes to creditors and market speculators and less and less to real economic growth. Instead of promoting small-business development, investment banking is dominated by leveraged speculation and Ponzi finance when additional credit is needed just to cover interest payments.

Read MORE:  http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Gross-running-out-time/2013/02/03/id/488626?s=al&promo_code=124FD-1#ixzz2KDr4Qdiy

US debt headed toward 200 percent of GDP even after 'fiscal cliff' deal

The nation's long-term fiscal outlook hasn't significantly improved following the recent agreement between Congress and the White House over tax and spending issues, according to a new analysis.

The "fiscal cliff" deal, combined with the debt-limit agreement of August 2011, only slightly delays the United States reaching debt-to-gross domestic product levels that would damage the economy and risk another fiscal crisis, according to a report from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation released on Tuesday.
 The agreement "may have prevented the immediate threats that the fiscal cliff posed to our fragile economic recovery, but we haven’t remotely fixed the nation’s debt problem," said Michael A. Peterson, president and COO of the Peterson Foundation.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/279857-report-fiscal-outlook-not-improved-by-debt-deal#ixzz2K82knYYl

Dell taken private in $24.4bn deal

Largest buyout since financial crisis

• Dell braced for $24bn buyout offer
• Lex Dell bondholders – nervous times
• Microsoft in talks to join any Dell deal
• Dell to test Silver Lake’s skills as ‘undertaker’

From GLOBAL ECONOMY 1:59pm

Hollande warns on euro strength

French president says euro ‘vulnerable’ to irrational movements

• Philip Stephens Merkel holds the cards for next UK poll
• Video Eurozone crisis: still not finished?

From WORLD 12:21pm

Businessweek: World 'Plunges Into Currency War'

Many government officials around the world are concerned that massive monetary easing in numerous nations is sparking a global currency war.

Governments from Germany, to Russia, to Brazil, to Thailand have expressed worry that the world is plunging into a currency war, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

The current focus is on Japan, where the central bank this week announced it would increase its quantitative easing and also set a target of 2 percent for inflation.

Before the Bank of Japan even revealed its policy, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann warned Japan against politicization of monetary policy that would lead to a weaker yen.

"A consequence [of government pressure to ease], whether intended or not, could lead to an increasingly politicized exchange rate. Until now, the international monetary system has come through the crisis without a race to devaluation, and I really hope that it stays that way."

READ MORE:  http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/fears-world-currency-war/2013/01/25/id/472963?s=al&promo_code=122F4-1

UK heads for triple dip as GDP contracts 0.3pc

The UK economy shrank by 0.3pc in the final three months of last year, raising the prospect of a triple dip recession, as Britain’s manufacturers suffered their worst year since the financial crisis. 

 

The official figures were the fourth quarter of negative growth in the last five and mean that the UK flatlined for last year as a whole – posting zero growth.

The economy is smaller than it was in September 2011 and still 3.3pc below its pre-crisis peak.

Making matters worse, there was scant evidence in the data that the economy is rebalancing from consumption to manufacturing. Output by Britain’s factories fell by 1.5pc in the quarter and by 1.8pc for the year as a whole – the first annual decline since 2009.

Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight, described the situation as “dire” and added: “We believe the economy is essentially flat at the moment. We suspect that GDP will not return to the level seen in the first quarter of 2008 until the first half of 2015 – a gap of seven years.”

READ MORE:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9826019/UK-heads-for-triple-dip-as-GDP-contracts-0.3pc.html