Word: stimulus
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...There is an irony to how the ostensibly free-market U.S. has just signed off on a $787 billion stimulus package - equivalent to about 5.5% of total GDP (2.0% for 2009) - while the supposedly interventionist E.U. has struggled to scratch together programs worth 0.9% of its total GDP. The E.U.'s reticence is partly due to fears that piling up debts and deficits to fight the collapse in output and jobs could destabilize the euro zone. It also reflects Europe's confidence that its economies are more resilient to the banking and housing collapses that have hit the U.S., while...
...billion public-works-led program is equivalent to 8.1% of GDP, while the Bank of England has just begun a $100 billion bank-note print run. Others, such as the Czech Republic and Estonia, are holding back because they don't believe in jump-starting their economies with stimulus packages - or because, like Italy, their ragged budgets cannot stretch to offer more than...
...Germany has been especially reluctant to countenance any Europe-wide stimulus plan - let alone global action - despite unveiling two domestic spending packages totaling $97 billion. Berlin insists that every country's case is unique; its own preference is for guarantees and investments rather than outright bailouts, while being careful to dampen price surges (the country is still haunted by memories of hyperinflation in the 1920s). (See pictures of the dangers of printing money in Germany...
...ministers are irritated by suggestions that the E.U. is dragging its feet, pointing out that most of the calculations on stimulus packages forget the so-called automatic stabilizers: Europe's generous welfare payments that kick in when unemployment rises. "The U.S. government should better familiarize itself with economic-stimulus measures in Europe that have already been started or are about to get started," German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück said at a meeting of E.U. economic and finance ministers on March 9. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in February that she wants the G-20 summit to focus...
...Chao encouraged students to look more closely at public sector positions, predicting that the federal government would likely undergo a massive retirement wave in the next five to 10 years, leading to a higher demand for skilled professionals in that area. “Especially now with the recent stimulus package, there will be a period of tremendous governmental spending,” she said. “And they are going to need more people to watch over new programs to be established,” Chao added. Retirement and health-care packages for public sector jobs were...