Category: Economic Crisis

Generate new models of economic progress, Pope urges business leaders

pope_francis_centesimus_annus_pro_pontifice_foundation_may_13_2016_credit_lor_cnaVatican City, May 14, 2016 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Economic worldviews based only on material well-being cannot contribute to dignified labor and new models of economic progress are needed, Pope Francis told a gathering of business experts on Friday.

“An economic vision geared to profit and material well-being alone is – as experience is daily showing us – incapable of contributing in a positive way to a globalization that favours the integral development of the world’s peoples, a just distribution of the earth’s resources, the guarantee of dignified labour and the encouragement of private initiative and local enterprise,” Pope Francis said May 13 to the members of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation.  Source

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President Obama: The TPP would let America, not China, lead the way on global trade

obama_jazz-0e0d8Barack Obama is president of the United States.

Over the past six years, America’s businesses have created more than 14 million new jobs. To keep this progress going, we need to pursue every avenue of economic growth. Today, some of our greatest economic opportunities abroad are in the Asia-Pacific region, which is on its way to becoming the most populous and lucrative market on the planet. Increasing trade in this area of the world would be a boon to American businesses and American workers, and it would give us a leg up on our economic competitors, including one we hear a lot about on the campaign trail these days: China.

Of course, China’s greatest economic opportunities also lie in its own neighborhood, which is why China is not wasting any time. As we speak, China is negotiating a trade deal that would carve up some of the fastest-growing markets in the world at our expense, putting American jobs, businesses and goods at risk.  Source

Video:  Obama on TPP: ‘Other countries should play by rules set by US & partners, not the other way round’

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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: Puerto Rico crisis is ‘immediate and real’

la-1462314014-snap-photoTreasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew strived to light a fire under congressional leaders Tuesday by calling the fiscal crisis confronting Puerto Rico “immediate and real,” with dire consequences for the island commonwealth’s 3.5 million citizens as well as investment markets nationwide.

Puerto Rico defaulted Monday on most of a debt payment of roughly $400 million; another $1.3 billion in bond payments are due July 1, and the island’s administration has made clear that it can’t meet the obligation. The island has been shut out of the debt markets, while creditors await action on legislation that would restructure its debt under the supervision of an independent oversight board.

Hospitals continue to lay off workers, ration medication, reduce services and close floors. … Despite the intensifying threat from the Zika virus, financial constraints have made it extremely difficult to counteract.

— Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew warns congressional leaders about the situation in Puerto Rico

Source

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