NEWS,14.11.2012

Anti-austerity strikes sweep Europe

Police and protesters clashed in Spain and Italy today as millions of workers went on strike in organised labour's biggest Europe-wide challenge to austerity policies.Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools were shut, factories were at a standstill and trains barely ran in Spain and Portugal where unions held their first joint general strike. Stoppages in Belgium interrupted international rail services.Workers also protested in Greece and France against austerity policies that have taken a heavy economic toll and aggravated mass unemployment. But the demonstrations organised by the European Trade Union Confederation seemed unlikely to force hard-pressed governments to change their cost-cutting strategies.In Spain, 110 people were arrested  including two allegedly with material to make explosives after confrontations at picket lines and damage to storefronts. Riot police fired rubber bullets at protesters in central Madrid in one brief clash.Even non-union workers jointed protests and marches. "This isn't about politics or unions. This is social and economic.If we have to shut down the country we'll shut it down," said 24-year-old Mariluz Gordillo, a non-unionised phone operator at El Corte Ingles department store.In Rome scuffles broke out between police in riot gear and demonstrators who threw stones, bottles and fireworks at police. About 60 demonstrators were detained. Protesters occupied Pisa's mediaeval leaning tower for an hour, hanging a banner reading "Rise up. We are not paying for your crisis".In Portugal and Greece both rescued with European funds and under strict austerity programmes  the economic downturn sharpened in the third quarter, data showed today.Portuguese unemployment jumped to a record 15.8% while in neighbouring Spain, one in four of the workforce is jobless. Greece's economic output shrank 7.2% on an annual basis in the third quarter as the debt-laden country staggers towards its sixth year of depression.Close to 26 million people are unemployed in the European Union while governments take aim at spending on treasured universal health care and public schools."Things have to change... Money has ended up with all the power and people none. How could this happen?" said Esteban Quesada, 58, a hardware store owner in Barcelona who closed his shop to join the protests in Spain's second city.Throughout southern Europe governments are trying to put public finances back on track after years of overspending.Portugal and Greece have cut pensions and, with Spain, have slashed public sector wages as well as spending on hospitals and schools. Italy and France are also under pressure to control their budget deficits.EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn praised Spain today for making progress in trimming its budget but acknowledged many Spaniards are struggling.In Spain, most of the savings have been gobbled up by higher interest payments on the national debt, swollen by the cost of rescuing banks after a real estate bubble burst in 2008.Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said in a report today that the euro zone debt crisis is still the number one risk to German banks and insurers, and the situation had not improved from last year.Promises from the European Central Bank to support sovereign bond prices for countries that seek aid have brought some relief to Spain and Italy in the capital markets. On today, Italy sold 3-year bonds at the lowest borrowing cost in two years.While several southern European countries have seen bursts of violence, a coordinated and effective regional protest against austerity has yet to force a significant policy shift.Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters today the government would stay the course with spending cuts to meet ambitious deficit cutting targets, despite the strike."We're on strike to stop these suicidal policies," said Candido Mendez, head of Spain's second-biggest labour federation, the General Workers' Union, or UGT.Union leaders in Spain said more than 9 million workers joined the strike the second this year. The government said participation was much lower and played down the impact, saying many services were functioning normally.Stores opened normally in many parts of the country, though some had protesters outside.About 5 million people, or 22% of the workforce, are union members in Spain. In Portugal about a quarter of the 5.5 million strong workforce is unionised.Passions were inflamed when a Spanish woman jumped to her death last week as bailiffs tried to evict her from her home. Spaniards are furious at banks being rescued with public money while ordinary people suffer.In Portugal, which took an EU bailout last year, public and political opposition to austerity is growing, threatening to derail measures sought by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.Passos Coelho's policies were held up this week as a model by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is despised in much of southern Europe for taking a hard line on the conditions attached to EU aid.Inspectors from the "troika" of the International Monetary Fund, ECB and European Commission who monitor implementation of the conditions also drew the protesters' anger.In Lisbon, thousands filled a square in front of the Portuguese parliament shouting "This debt is not ours" and "Out IMF, out troika". Police were guarding the building."I'm on strike because those who work are basically being blackmailed into sacrificing more and more in the name of debt reduction, which is a big lie," said Daniel Santos de Jesus, 43, who teaches architecture at the Lisbon Technical University.Major demonstrations were planned for the evening in Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona and other cities.

Wall St slips on angst about 'fiscal cliff' and Europe

US stocks fell today, erasing earlier gains, as strong earnings from technology bellwether Cisco were not enough to offset investor anxiety over US budget negotiations and Europe's economic troubles.Wall Street had opened higher after Dow component Cisco Systems reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations, driving its shares up 5.8% to $17.83. But the positive momentum was short-lived."Again today, the market started off hoping for an optimistic tone out of Washington on the 'fiscal cliff' issue, which spurred a move higher. But then, we got nothing and gains basically fizzled out. We are probably going to have many more days like this," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab's Center for Financial Research."It's been very hard recently to be optimistic about anything and to have a real buying interest."The S&P 500 has fallen 3.8% over the past five trading days. The index closed below its 200-day moving average for a fourth day in a row on Tuesday, a technical indicator that suggests recent declines could gain momentum.The Dow Jones industrial average was down 83.26 points, or 0.65%, at 12,672.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 7.61 points, or 0.55%, at 1,366.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 10.90 points, or 0.38%, at 2,872.99."Under this scenario, there is near-term downside risk to 1,330-1,350 (on the S&P 500), the index's lower trend channel extended from its June low," said Ari Wald, an analyst at PrinceRidge Group, in New York.Despite Cisco's gains, the broader technology sector has been weak lately, dropping almost 10% over the past two months on earnings disappointments from Google and others. It was the worst-performing sector on Tuesday.In earnings news, Abercrombie & Fitch Co soared 27.8% to $39.85 after reporting a steep rise in its quarterly profit and a full-year forecast that beat analysts' estimates. Staples rose 1.8% to $11.46 after posting earnings that beat expectations.Abercrombie, Cisco and Staples ranked as the S&P 500's top three percentage gainers.But broader trading will likely be partially dictated by macroeconomic issues as investors grapple with the impact of Europe's debt crisis and the US "fiscal cliff" a series of mandated tax hikes and spending cuts that start to take effect next year.Analysts say serious fiscal negotiations are still weeks away, but Congress' failure to reach a deal could tip the world's largest economy into recession.Retail sales fell 0.3% in October, hurt by the impact of Superstorm Sandy in the US Northeast.The drop was slightly more than expected, but stocks barely reacted to the data. The overall USProducer Price Index fell 0.2% in October, contrary to economists' consensus forecast for a gain of 0.2%.A separate piece of data showed US business inventories rose more than expected in September but stocks excluding automobiles were flat for a second month, which could prompt economists to lower their estimates for third-quarter growth.The FTSEurofirst-300 index of European shares lost 1% as Greece's unresolved crisis raised questions about the region's potential for economic growth.

Who will be on Obama's new dream team?

A week after winning re-election President Barack Obama has yet to reveal his new White House dream team amid fierce jostling for coveted posts key to shaping America's foreign and defence policy.Speculation is heating up in Washington corridors about who will be crowned the new secretaries of state and defence, with veteran Senator John Kerry, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon the odds-on favourites to be among the new cabinet faces.White House spokesperson Jay Carney said on Tuesday that Obama "has not made a decision on personnel matters", refusing to discuss any of the rumours.On Wednesday, Obama will give his first press conference since winning a second term. But his closely-guarded calculations may have been thrown askew by Friday's shock resignation of CIA director David Petraeus, which opened up another job to fillKerry, the longtime chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with foreign policy stamped into his DNA, is a well-known, respected figure in international circles and has long dreamed of becoming secretary of state.But the outspoken, feisty Rice is part of Obama's inner circle and has been a loyal champion of US foreign policy at the UN. US dailies reported her nomination to replace Hillary Clinton may almost be in the bag.Kerry might instead be tapped for the Pentagon to take over from Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, both The New York Times and The Washington Post said, quoting White House officials.Among his qualifications for the job is his service in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, for which he was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V and three Purple Hearts.Both nominations could be problematic though.Rice has come under fire from Republicans who have alleged there was a bid to cover up the circumstances surrounding September's attack on the US mission in Benghazi.Too many questions remained unanswered and "Susan Rice would have an incredibly difficult time getting through the Senate", veteran Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday."It depends whether the president wants her bad enough in that position to go... fight" for her, Barry Pavel, director of the Brent Scowcroft Centre on International Security at the Atlantic Council, said.Kerry's appointment to a cabinet post would also force an election for his Massachusetts seat in the US Senate, which could see popular Republican Scott Brown defeated on 6 November make another bid for Congress.However, analysts said the Democrats had done better than expected in last week's elections by winning a 55-seat majority in the Senate, including two Independents expected to vote with them.During Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, some Vietnam veterans launched a controversial smear campaign, alleging false claims about his war record.But he is widely seen as a safe pair of hands to be entrusted with America's wide-ranging and powerful foreign policy."There's a combination of prudence, and knowledge," said Christopher Preble, vice president for defence and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.The veteran senator would bring sober reflection on US intervention in world crises to the table born from the "lessons taken away from the war in Iraq in particular, but also Afghanistan", Preble said.And there were voices of support for his nomination  to either post as US lawmakers returned to work. Kerry would be "an excellent choice for either of those positions", said Republican Senator Dick Lugar.Kerry was deflecting all speculation"Senator Kerry's only focus right now is his job as senior senator from Massachusetts and chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee," his spokesperson Jodi Seth said in a statement.Donilon, who has been Obama's trusted national security adviser since 2010, is said to want the State Department post, but some say he lacks the political stature of either Rice or Kerry."The White House would have a sense of tighter control if it were" either Rice or Donilon, Pavel said in a nod to Obama's efforts to keep a tight rein on foreign policy.And Pavel did not see Rice's famed outspokenness as mitigating against her hopes for top US diplomat.Obama, however, may also have a surprise in store as in 2008 when he picked Clinton, his fierce foe in the Democratic primary race, and kept defence secretary Robert Gates in his post as a holdover from former president George W Bush's administration.epublican names circulating include former secretary of state Colin Powell, Chinese speaker Jon Huntsman who was appointed US envoy to Beijing by Obama and former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel."It's the kind of thing a pragmatic President Obama might do," Pavel said.Preble, however, argued that picking a Republican in this partisan climate may not buy Obama much goodwill.Showing a willingness "to co-operate with the Democrats and particularly the Democratic president" effectively undermines your credibility among your party", he said.

NEWS,02.11.2012

How many presidential campaign ads is too many?

It's 6:10pm on a Thursday in October, just days before the US elections. Before the clock hits 6.29pm, 11 political ads will have aired on the local NBC channel in Columbus, Ohio.One tells voters that Democratic President Barack Obama has not proposed a legitimate economic plan for the country.Another suggests that policies of Republican candidate Mitt Romney would undermine the future for America's children.Yet another says Romney would effectively deny many women crucial cancer screenings by proposing cuts to Planned Parenthood.The very next ad calls Obama an extremist on abortion who supports leaving babies "out to die."Ohio is being inundated with such dueling ads in the final days before the November 6 presidential election, as Obama and Romney both look to the state's 18 electoral votes as a crucial step toward the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.The presidential race is now a fight in eight or so politically divided "swing" states, but nowhere more so than Ohio.Amid the chaos of the campaign's closing days, the state has become an arena for credibility-stretching banter, and a testing center for the growing science of political advertising.New research predicts that total spending in this election could reach $US6 billion , making it the most expensive in US history.The campaigns and free-spending independent groups have poured close to $US1 billion into political ads - many of those ads directed at Ohio - and have given analysts a high-profile chance to examine some simmering questions about such ads.Among them: How many ads is too many, before viewers tune them out? And what do campaign ads lead voters to do, exactly?Election-year political ads are a meticulously studied subject, and increasingly are used to target specific groups and encourage specific outcomes.Some research, for example, suggests that pro-Democrat ads are particularly effective at swaying voters' opinions, while pro-Republican ads typically are more effective at getting party supporters to show up at the polls.For all the analysis that has been done on campaign ads, academic and commercial research has yielded few answers on the precise impact that ads have in determining who wins an election.That is especially true, analysts said, in the type of advertising free-for-all that Ohio residents are seeing on their televisions now - wave after wave of ads with overlapping and similarly dark, daunting messages.Campaign ads became tiresome long ago for many Ohio residents, but some viewers figure that the ads must be working, or the campaigns wouldn't keep running them."I think poorly of those ads and don't think they work, but there are so many of them I think it must be not so," said JoAnne Harvey, a Columbus small business owner who, as an undecided female voter, is much coveted by both campaigns.In a reflection of how so many ads can essentially nullify one another, Harvey and another dozen Ohioans interviewed generally could not recall the details of a single campaign ad that stood above the others.Those who could acknowledged that they weren't sure which side the ad was meant to benefit.Political advertising has become a multibillion-dollar market that some television station sales managers predict soon could be a year-round category of advertising.It has become increasingly sophisticated in "micro-targeting," the art of going after specific groups of viewers.For example, Democrats have been found to be more frequent television watchers than Republicans, and Democrats candidates in 2008 ran more than twice as many ads as Republicans during science-fiction shows, reality dating programs and telenovelas, according to research by Washington State University professor Travis Ridout and others.Those programs as well as talk shows and court shows tended to skew Democratic in viewership while crime and sports programs skewed Republican, Ridout's study found.But does the science of political advertising work?One study completed last month found Obama's ads moving voters away from Romney, while Romney's ads were much more likely to encourage Republicans to vote, rather than shift preferences among voters.The findings were based on a survey of more than 2,300 registered voters who said they were independents or not deeply committed to one party.They were shown one or several of the campaigns' ads by the research software company Qualtrics and the research firm Evolving Strategies."Romney doesn't seem to have a lot of ability to have people moving in and out of the independent pool, but he has a lot of room to change the equation in determining who turns out to vote," said Adam Schaeffer of Evolving Strategies.If the targets of this year's ads are any guide, the presidential election will be decided by middle-aged and older white women, according to a survey of more than 1,000 buying agencies done by STRATA, a software firm whose systems help air some $US50 billion worth of ads a year.The question is whether the barrage of ads - the vast majority of them attacking a candidate, rather than promoting one will become so overwhelming that they provoke a backlash.Such ads "did work on me at first, and then I became a lot more cynical and realized that a lot of it is political warfare," said Harvey, who added that she voted for Obama in 2008 but was leaning toward Romney now."It seems almost epidemic; they can't stop now that they've started."A rule of thumb in advertising is that an ad needs to be viewed at least three times and up to 10 to be effective, said STRATA Chief Executive John Shelton."There's no question that once you start to go over (10), you start to, well, at least bore people," he said. "Then they might tune out. Then they might actually get ticked off."Barbara Berry, a healthcare professional and Obama supporter from Columbus, said she pre-records TV programs and skips ads."I don't pay attention anymore," she said.Since late August, more than 915,000 presidential campaign ads have aired on broadcast and national cable TV, according to the Wesleyan Media Project. In Columbus during October, ads by the campaigns and outside groups aired more than 7,000 times."Some of them just disappear in the noise," said Dan Bradley, general manager at the Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH-TV.Each presidential campaign has been producing about a dozen new ads a week, basing them on daily news events a practice that ensures that most of the ads have a short shelf life.Romney in particular tends to place and replace ads at the spur of the moment, often in response to the news of the day.Obama's campaign runs two ad tracks: one that changes every one or two days, the other every couple of weeks.Ads this year "just seem to be rushed," said John Geer, a political ad researcher at Vanderbilt University.It's "almost like they've fallen prey to the fact that the campaigns have so much money, and the ability to make all these ads."

New York fuel 'panic' grows even as ports open

A third day of "panic buying" of gasoline among Sandy-struck New York area motorists on Friday has prompted action from authorities.The US government waived the Jones Act barring foreign-flagged vessels from carrying fuel between US ports in a bid to boost supplies from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would temporarily lift tax and registration requirements on tankers docking in the New York Harbor, which had just reopened to oil vessels.While the waivers sent benchmark New York gasoline futures 2% lower, they will do little to address the biggest obstacle to getting fuel to consumers: the power outages that have shut nearly two-thirds of the service stations in the New Jersey and New York City area and are still hindering service at major oil terminals and refineries along the harbour.Faced with the prospect of another day of hunting for fuel or losing out on business, New York City cab driver Mohammad Sultan parked his yellow taxi at a Hess station on Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn at midnight on Thursday so he could be first in line when a rumoured fuel shipment arrived at 6 am.At 9 am with 180 vehicles behind him, the pumps were still empty. Officials said the number of cabs on the road by Friday morning was down 24% from last week."Because of the gas problem, there are thousands of yellow cabs sitting around wasting time and money," Sultan said.There were some signs that the complex New York Harbor network of storage tanks and pipelines was finally returning to service after Sandy dealt it a direct hit, crippling the ability to fuel the nation's most dense consumer population.The region's biggest pipeline, Colonial, restarted much of its northern line, and an oil tanker carrying 2 million gallons of gasoline docked overnight in Newburgh, New York, 60 miles north of New York city. Other ships were finally offloading cargoes in the harbor after being stuck at anchor for the past week.But those measures were cold comfort for residents stuck in hours-long queues, often with no guarantee that supplies would be available when they got to the front of the line or that enough power would be restored to get more stations open.The situation is wearing on New Yorkers. Juliana Smith, a full-time student, spent 2-1/2 hours in line to fill two five-gallon containers on Friday, an hour more than on Thursday."It's psychotic," she said. "People are angry. We have no power. No heat. We need gas for the generator and our Ford Explorer, which is a monster."Prices at the pump have remained steady despite the shortages, motorist group AAA said, averaging just below $4 a gallon in New York City, 2 cents lower than last week.However, on Long Island, where only a third of all stations were working, average gasoline prices jumped 5 cents from a day earlier.But online, Craigslist users started offering gasoline at as much as $15 a gallon to motorists and homeowners not wishing to brave the lines.There were signs the situation could improve in the coming days as wholesale markets begin to work again.Colonial Pipeline, a 5,500-mile (8,900-km) network that runs from the Gulf Coast refining center up the eastern seaboard, said late on Thursday it had resumed fuel deliveries at its Linden facility in New Jersey, the terminus of the line.It expects to pump around 700,000 barrels a day into the area, which is a normal volume, spokesman Steve Baker said.Fuel barge shipments into New York Harbor will be allowed on Friday, the Coast Guard said, if they have a place to offload.Environmental Protection Agency waivers for clean diesel and gasoline specifications, granted earlier this week, should make it easier for suppliers to meet demand in the days ahead.News of the Jones Act waiver sent NYMEX gasoline prices sharply lower. The December RBOB contract fell 6 cents, or 2.3%, to close at $2.5736 a gallon, just below where it was trading last week prior to Sandy's arrival.Rates to charter fuel tankers to the Northeast nearly doubled as traders scrambled to sell to the region, where supplies were constricted by the closure of two New Jersey refineries that make up one-third of the region's capacity.The Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in New Jersey, known as "the gasoline machine" by oil traders, may be shut for weeks due to flood damage, although the company has said internally it is "optimistic of restarting soon," a source familiar with operations said. The company has said that a decision on when to reopen will be made "once all assessments are complete."Phillips' Linden fuel terminal was supplying only emergency response vehicles as of Friday afternoon.

Obama, Romney return to attack

President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney went back on the attack on Thursday, breaking a storm-induced campaign truce to hit the road and pound home their closing messages in the final stretch of a tight battle for the White House.With five days left until Tuesday's election, Obama received an endorsement from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, resurrected his 2008 "change" slogan and said he was the only candidate who had actually fought for it.Romney criticised Obama as a lover of big government who would expand the federal bureaucracy.National polls show the race deadlocked, and Obama and Romney will spend the final days in eight swing states that will decide who wins the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House.Obama made Wisconsin the first stop on a four-state swing on Thursday that also took him to rallies in Nevada and Colorado before going to Ohio for the night. Romney had a full day of campaigning across Virginia."You may be frustrated at the pace of change, but you know what I believe, you know where I stand," Obama told a crowd of 2 600 people on an airport tarmac in Wisconsin, a state that is a vital piece of his electoral strategy. "I know what change looks like because I've fought for it."At a rally in Doswell, Virginia, Romney criticised Obama's comment that he would like to consolidate government agencies that deal with business issues in a new department under a secretary of business."I don't think adding a new chair to his Cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street," Romney said.Jobs will again be the focus of fierce debate on Friday when the government releases the unemployment figures for October. Any big change from the 7.8% number in September could potentially sway voters.Obama and Romney had put campaigning on hold for several days as the historic storm Sandy pounded the eastern seaboard, leaving a trail of destruction and forcing Obama to turn his attention to storm relief.That pause produced some unexpected political benefits for Obama, who won warm praise from Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Romney supporter, and he spent days directing federal relief efforts in a show of presidential leadership that largely sidelined Romney.New York's Bloomberg a Republican-turned-independent who did not back a candidate in 2008 endorsed Obama and cited the Democrat's record on climate change, an issue that has gained more attention since the storm.Bloomberg said Obama had taken significant steps to reduce carbon consumption, while Romney had backtracked on earlier positions he took as governor of Massachusetts to battle climate change. Obama said he was "honoured" by the backing of Bloomberg, who flirted with White House runs in the past.On their first day back on the trail, both Obama and Romney returned to political attacks but struck a slightly more positive tone than usual in trying to woo undecided voters and push their own supporters to vote.In Doswell, Romney proclaimed his faith in the future and said, "The American people have what it takes to come out of these tough times."In Wisconsin, Obama drew distinctions with Romney but dropped his usual reference to "Romnesia" the term he uses to describe what he calls Romney's tendency to shift positions.Obama has a somewhat easier path to 270 electoral votes than Romney, fueled primarily by a small but steady lead in the vital battleground of Ohio a crucial piece of any winning scenario for either candidate - and slight leads in Wisconsin, Iowa and Nevada.Barring any surprises elsewhere, Obama can win a second term by capturing the Midwestern bastions of Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa, and his schedule was aimed at shoring up his safety net there.Obama plans to visit Ohio on each of the last four days of the campaign, and plans two more trips to Wisconsin and Iowa. He will conclude his campaign on Monday night with rock singer Bruce Springsteen in Iowa, where a 2008 caucus win launched his run to the presidency.So far, Obama has planned just one visit each in the final days to Florida and Virginia, where most polls give Romney a slight lead. Romney will hit Wisconsin and Ohio on Friday, and New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado on Saturday.Romney plans to finish up his campaign on Monday night in New Hampshire, the state where he launched his bid last year.Romney's campaign has aired ads in recent days in the Democratic-leaning states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, hoping to put them in play after polls showed the races tightening but Obama still ahead.The campaign said Romney would visit Pennsylvania on Sunday, marking his first campaign visit since the nominating convention to one of his new target states. A win in Pennsylvania would be a crippling blow to Obama, but most public polls still show Obama leading there.Romney aides said the moves into those three new states were a sign of their growing momentum, although Obama aides described them as a desperate ploy to find new paths to 270 electoral votes.A  online poll on Thursday showed the race remained effectively deadlocked, with Obama at 47% to Romney's 46%. Most national polls showed roughly similar results.Most swing-state polls have found Obama clinging to slender leads in five of the eight most heavily contested states - Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire. In most polls, Romney has a slight lead in Florida, while Virginia and Colorado were effectively tied.Online poll on Thursday showed Obama with a 5-point lead in Virginia, and 2-point leads among likely voters in both Ohio and Florida. Romney led by 1 point in Colorado in the polls.

NEWS,21.10.2012

Britain set to officially exit recession

Britain was this week set to confirm its official exit from a deep recession, although a return to growth would fail to signal a rosy future for the country's fragile economy, according to analysts.Economists' consensus forecast is for Britain, which is not part of the eurozone, to have returned to growth in the third quarter, or July-September period, after falling into a double-dip recession in late 2011.Positive retail sales data published last week added to market belief that British gross domestic product (GDP) had turned positive heading into 2013.All will be revealed on Thursday, when the Office for National Statistics publishes its first estimate of third-quarter GDP."The release of the preliminary GDP data for the third quarter should see the UK officially exit recession after three quarters of contraction," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight research group.But he warned: "The UK still has a very tough job in developing significant sustainable growth given tighter fiscal policy, ongoing serious problems in the eurozone and generally soft global growth."In addition, there are still significant pressures facing consumers that are likely to limit the upside for their spending for some time to come," Archer added, citing rising inflation on higher energy and food prices and an uncertain jobs outlook despite recent positive employment figures as some of the reasons.British annual inflation slowed to almost a three-year low at 2.2% in September, recent official data showed, but analysts warned that recent domestic energy price hikes would reverse the decline over the coming months.With inflation falling for now, the Bank of England has left the door open for more stimulus in the form of quantitative easing (QE).The bank's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has underpinned the British economy with a total of £375bn in new money since March 2009."With any recovery currently looking feeble and fragile, we lean towards the view that a majority of MPC members will decide to give the economy a further helping hand in November through more quantitative easing," said Archer.Under QE, the central bank creates new cash which is used to purchase assets such as government and corporate bonds to increase lending by retail banks and boost economic activity.Double-dip recessionBritain escaped a deep downturn in late 2009 but fell back into recession at the end of 2011. The recent London Olympics and celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee on the British throne failed to deliver a major boost to growth."The economy is likely to continue to underperform in coming quarters, with roughly zero real GDP growth over 2012-13 combined," said Citi analyst Michael Saunders.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government blames Britain's economic ills on the debt crisis in main trading partner the eurozone and on the high level of debt inherited from the previous Labour administration.But the main opposition Labour party claims that Britain's downturn is mainly a result of rapid and hefty cuts to state spending by the coalition that have resulted in thousands of job losses across the civil service.British GDP contracted by 0.4% in the second quarter after shrinking by 0.3% in the first - and by 0.4% in the final quarter of 2011."The UK data week ahead may well prove to be noteworthy with UK third-quarter GDP figures... set to have a plus sign in front of them for the first time since the third quarter of 2011," said Victoria Clarke, an analyst at Investec financial group."Indeed, we expect that the forthcoming release... to show UK GDP having risen by 0.6% on the quarter, its strongest showing since the third quarter of 2010."

Troubles grow in Spain banking rescue

Spain seems condemned to pay for its own banking rescue after Germany flatly refused to let the eurozone's future bank supervisor do so, analysts say.That is bad news for Spain's soaring public debt.But it is only one of a series of concerns now emerging from a eurozone bailout of Spain's banks, which have been bogged down with bad loans since a 2008 property crash, diplomatic sources and analysts say.Madrid had battled for a eurozone banking supervisor to be allowed to pump capital directly into its weak banks as part of a planned banking union for the 17-member single currency bloc.That would have relieved Spain of the need to pay back an estimated €40bn it plans to use from a €100bn eurozone credit line.But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces general elections next year, left no room for doubt about her position on direct recapitalisation for banks that have already been bailed out."There will not be a retroactive direct recapitalisation," she said on Friday after a European Union summit, which agreed to work on setting up a eurozone banking union with supervisory powers during 2013.A French government source said the question of direct aid for Spain's banks was not settled.But after the EU summit, a European diplomat was clear: "Spanish banks won't be recapitalised before the end of 2013, probably in 2014."That would leave Spain holding the bill for the rescue loan, which was agreed with the eurozone in June and signed in July."Spain is going to ask for about €40bn from the liquidity line," said Daniel Pingarron, analyst at Spanish brokerage IG Markets. "That means the Spanish public debt grows automatically."In fact, Spain's 2013 budget already takes into account a payment of €30bn for the banking fix, pushing the level of public debt to 90.5% of gross domestic product from an expected 85.3% this year.But the banking rescue is also running into other serious problems, analysts say.Another European diplomatic source said Madrid was balking at the eurozone's insistence that investors in stricken banks' subordinated debt and preference shares take losses before any bailout.'There's a stalemate'This is particularly sensitive in Spain where the banks sold billions of euros in preference shares to ordinary customers, many of whom believed the complex instruments were a form of savings."There is a stalemate here," said Edward Hugh, an economist based in Barcelona.Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government and the eurozone authorities were at odds over the preference shares because of Madrid's reluctance to force the bank clients to lose their savings, he said.At the same time, the two sides seemed to be struggling over the implementation of a "bad bank", created to mop up the bad assets held by commercial banks and then to sell them to investors, he said.Latest data show more than one in 10 Spanish bank loans has gone bad, a new record.The Spanish bad bank is set to launch on November 19 under the name of SAREB with a formal ceiling of €90bn in so-called toxic assets, an economy ministry official said.But the key unresolved question is how to value the bad assets.The lower the price, the easier it is to attract investors. But a low price also could push up bank losses and force the Spanish government to pump in yet more money.With the cost of the bailout being added to Spanish debt under the existing accords, Madrid is trying to handle the bailout "on a shoestring," Hugh said."Europe is pressing them obviously for a lower price and is pressing them to do the preference shares but Spain seems to telling them to go and walk," the analyst said.In any case, Hugh said, the final cost of the banking bailout is likely to rise."At some stage there is obviously going to be more," he said.Indeed, Moody's Investors Service estimated this month that the Spanish banks would require between €70bn and €105bn.If the cost of the banking bailout was €40bn, or four percent of Spanish GDP, then Spain may be able to handle it, Hugh said. But more capital eventually will be needed, he warned."The story has not ended yet."

Wealthy Presidential Campaign Donors Driving The Election

 

Individual donors to U.S. presidential candidates can contribute up to $2,500 for the state-by-state party nominating contests and another $2,500 for the general election. But independent groups called Super PACs have no limits on what they can raise from individuals, corporations or labor unions.

Here is a look at wealthy individuals who have contributed at least $1 million to the major "super" political action committees as disclosed to the Federal Election Commission.


RESTORE OUR FUTURE

Total raised as of Sept. 30: $110.5 million

(Supports Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney)

* Bob Perry - Houston builder who was a major donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that helped undermine 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry by attacking his Vietnam War record. Total donations: $10 million

* Sheldon Adelson - billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate who built the Venetian hotel and casino. Donation: $5 million

* Miriam Adelson - Sheldon's wife. Donation: $5 million

* Bill Koch - brother of conservative financiers David and Charles Koch. He runs Oxbow Carbon, a Florida-based firm that is also a donor and shares its address with another contributor, Huron Carbon. Total donations, including through firms: $4 million

* Steven Lund - runs Nu Skin, a Utah skin care and cosmetics company whose former executives have been linked to two other firms that share an address in Provo, Utah, and donated to the Super PAC: F8 LLC and Eli Publishing. Lund's wife Kalleen is also a donor. Total donations from the Lunds and firms: $3 million

* Julian Robertson - hedge fund industry legend at Tiger Management. Total donations: $1.3 million

* Crow Holdings - Dallas-based investment firm managing the wealth of the family of the late Dallas real estate mogul Trammell Crow, whose sons Harlan and Trammell S. Crow are also donors. Total Crow Holdings and Crow donations: $1.3 million

* Harold Simmons - billionaire Dallas banker and CEO of Contran Corp who has contributed to PACs supporting Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. Donations: $1.3 million

* Frank VanderSloot - Idaho businessman who runs the nutritional and cosmetics company Melaleuca. The firm and its subsidiaries have also donated. Total donations: $1.1 million

* The Villages of Lake Sumter - a community in Florida run by billionaire Gary Morse, who is also a donor alongside his wife Renee and their several children. Along with the Morse family, thirteen companies controlled wholly or partially by Morse that share an address in The Villages have also contributed. Total donations of all: $1.7 million.

* Kenneth Griffin - Chicago-based hedge fund manager and CEO of Citadel LLC. Total donations: $1.1 million

* Bob Parsons - billionaire founder of web hosting giant Go Daddy. Donation: $1 million

* Jim Davis - chairman of New Balance Athletic Shoes Inc. Donations: $1 million

* Stanley Herzog - CEO of Missouri-based Herzon Contracting Corp. Donation: $1 million

* Bruce Kovner - billonaire hedge fund manager at Caxton Alternative Management. Donation: $1 million

* Rocco Ortenzio - Pennsylvania healthcare executive and founder of Select Medical Corp. Total donations: $1 million

* John Childs - founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates LP in Florida. Donation: $1 million

* Edward Conard - a New York investor and former executive at Bain Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Romney. Donation: $1 million

* John Kleinheinz - Texas hedge fund manager for Kleinheinz Capital Partners Inc. Donation: $1 million

* J.W. Marriott Jr. - chairman and CEO of Marriott International, brother of Richard. Total donations: $1 million

* Richard Marriott - chairman of Host Marriott International. Total donations: $1 million

* Robert McNair - owner of the Houston Texans football team. Donation: $1 million.

* Robert Mercer - New York hedge fund manager at Renaissance Technologies. Donation: $1 million

* John Paulson - a prominent New York hedge fund manager at Paulson and Co. Donation: $1 million

* Rooney Holdings Inc - private investment firm formed in 1980s to acquire the Manhattan Construction Co. and has since expanded into many areas. Total donations: $1 million

* Paul Singer - hedge fund manager who helped fund efforts to legalize gay marriage in New York. Donation: $1 million

* Paul and Sandra Edgerly - Paul Edgerly of Brookline, Massachusetts, is an executive at Bain. The Edgerlys each have given $500,000. Total donations: $1 million

* Steven Webster - private equity executive at Avista Capital in Houston. Total donations: $1 million

* Robert Brockman - executive at Reynolds and Reynolds, a Dayton, Ohio-based car dealership support company that shares a P.O. Box with CRC Information Systems Inc, Fairbanks Properties LLC and Waterbury Properties LLC, which split the donation three ways. Total donations: $1 million

* Miguel Fernandez - chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm. MBF Family Investments also donated to the Super PAC. Total donations: $1 million

* Renco Group Inc. - owned by New York billionaire Ira Rennert, another frequent contributor to Republicans this year. Donation: $1 million

* OdysseyRe Holdings Corp - reinsurance underwriting company in Stamford, Connecticut that is a U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial. Donation: $1 million


PRIORITIES USA ACTION

Total raised as of Sept. 30: $50.1 million

(Supports Democratic President Barack Obama)

* James Simons - billionaire hedge fund manager, founder of Renaissance Technologies Corp. Donation: $3.5 million

* Fred Eychaner - founder of Newsweb Corp. Donation: $3.5 million

* Jeff Katzenberg - chief executive of DreamWorks Animation. Donation: $3 million

* Steve Mostyn - Houston attorney. Donation: $2 million

* Irwin Mark Jacobs - former CEO of Qualcomm Inc. Donation: $2 million

* Jon Stryker - billionaire activist and heir to the medical supply company fortune of his grandfather. Donation: $2 million

* Anne Cox Chambers - billionaire daughter of James M. Cox, founder of Cox Enterprises. Total donations: $1.5 million

* National Air Traffic Controllers Association - union representing more than 16,000 workers. Donation: $1.3 million

* S. Daniel Abraham - billionaire creator of Slim-Fast brand, chairman of S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Donation: $1.2 million

* Barbara Stiefel - retiree in Coral Gables, Florida. Donation: $1.1 million

* United Auto Workers - Donations through various funds: $1.1 million

* Kareem Ahmed - chief executive at Landmark Medical Management in California. Donation: $1 million

* David Boies, Jr - New York lawyer. Donation: $1 million

* Morgan Freeman - Hollywood actor. Donation: $1 million

* Amy Goldman - writer and heiress to the New York real estate fortune of Sol Goldman. Donation: $1 million

* Franklin Haney - owner and CEO of FLH Company, a Washington-based real estate company. Donation: $1 million

* Bill Maher - stand-up comedian. Donation: $1 million

* Mel Heifetz - real estate developer and gay activist. Donation: $1 million

* Michael Snow - Minnesota lawyer. Donation: $1 million.

* Steven Spielberg - film director. Donation: $1 million.

* Ann Wyckoff - Seattle philanthropist. $1 million.

* Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education - union representing more than 2 million workers. Donation: $1 million.

* United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry - union representing some 340,000 workers. Total donations: $1 million


AMERICAN CROSSROADS

Total raised as of Sept. 30: $68 million

(Supports Republican candidates for federal offices)

* Harold Simmons - Total donations together with Contran Corp: $15.5 million

* Bob Perry - Total donations: $6.5 million

* Robert Rowling - an Irving, Texas, businessman and a conservative and active Republican donor. His company, TRT Holdings Inc, which runs Omni Hotel and Gold's Gym chains, is also a donor. Total donations: $4 million

* Joe Craft - billionaire coal executive from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and CEO of Alliance Holdings, which is also a donor. Total donations: $2.1 million

* Jerry Perenchio Living Trust - a trust of billionaire television tycoon A. Jerrold Perenchio, who is a former chairman of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. Donation: $2 million

* Crow Holdings - Dallas-based real estate investment firm. Total donations: $1.5 million

* Weaver Holdings and Weaver Popcorn - Indiana-based company specializing in popcorn. Total contributions: $1.9 million

* Stephens Inc - a Little Rock, Arkansas, broker dealer. Total donations: $1.3 million

* Armstrong Group - telecommunications conglomerate in Pennsylvania. Donation: $1.3 million

* JWC III Revocable Trust - Donatoin: $1.3 million

* Robert Brockman - executive at Ohio-based Reynolds and Reynolds. Similarly to Restore Our Future, three firms sharing a P.O. Box - CRC Information Systems Inc, Fairbanks Properties LLC and Waterbury Properties LLC - split the donation three ways. Total donations: $1 million

* Whiteco Industries - Indiana-based company involved in advertising, construction, entertainment and hotels. Donation: $1 million

* The Mercury Trust - entity linked to California private equity firm of Saul Fox. Donation: $1 million

* Clayton Williams Energy Inc - Midland, Texas-based drilling company. Donation: $1 million

* Jay Bergman - of PETCO Petroleum Corporation. Donation: $1 million

* Kenneth Griffin - Citadel Investment Group chief executive. Total donations: $1 million

* Wayne Hughes - Founder of Public Storage. Total donations: $1 million

* John Childs - Chairman and CEO of Boston-based JW Childs Associates. Total donations: $1 million

* Philip Geier - New York executive. Total donations: $1 million

* Irving Moskowitz - a Florida bingo magnate who runs a charity in California and is known for his support of Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Donation: $1 million

* Robert Mercer - co-CEO of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. Donation: $1 million (Reporting by Patrick Temple-West, Alexander Cohen and Alina Selyukh; editing by Todd Eastham)

NEWS,13.10.2012

Why Europe Is Failing to Prevent the Spread of the Euro Crisis

Europe's economic crisis is like a runaway freight train and its politicians have yet to find a way to stop it before it breaks ground and completely derails. All the while, the crisis continues to escalate unabated. In Greece, for instance, efforts to tame the country's monstrous debt (expected to reach 180% of GDP in 2013 much more than previously projected) with several rounds of fierce budget cuts and three years of severe austerity have probably done more harm than good for its beleaguered economy, which is expected to shrink by 7% this year. In the absence of a realistic timetable or successful plan of action to solve the crisis, Europe's politicians seem stuck. They have failed to contain the prolongation and the spread of the crisis despite numerous Eurozone summits and other high-level talks about how to save Europe's single currency. It seems as though it has become easier to turn this crisis into a moral and ethical crisis that uses Greece as a target.They have lost sight of the real problem the structural problems stemming from high administrative burdens and the unpredictability of tax systems (France and Greece, for instance, have changed their rate of taxations multiple times) that ultimately result in too-high production costs, which in turn stifle creation and restrain innovation. This is exactly what is keeping European economies from growing.Now that we have identified the problem, it's time to find a solution by changing the conversation in Europe. The conversation about the need to compete with emerging markets like China and India is mute. Europe does not need to compete with these countries. Europe needs to compete with Europe in order to move to the next level, become efficient and spur innovation and herald a new wave of development and growth.To do this, Europe needs to start looking ahead and focus on the so-called Blue Ocean Strategy as regards its economic development. Europe also needs to create new market space getting a bigger Bottom Line to render the competition irrelevant. But even though innovation is the undeniable key to success, Europe seems to be stuck on a Red Ocean strategy (a market-share battle) a conventional approach to business of beating the competition in an existing confined market space. This is one reason the European Union one of world's largest trading blocs is a long way away from becoming the world's most competitive. Europe is also bogged down by too much bureaucracy, too many regulations and a relatively unstable tax regime in many of the EU member states. In France (the second largest economy in Europe), for example, tax laws have been amended eight times over the past two years. Greece has made some 16 revisions. It's this combination of excessive bureaucracy and over-regulation that is ultimately keeping Europe from becoming an attractive incubator of innovation and entrepreneurship. Today's European economic model stumbles on the very high costs associated with processes and transactions. This is largely due to vested interests and the burdensome bureaucracy that unavoidably hides the creation of more reforms. This is why sweeping simplifications are necessary. Economists' incessant pleas for more flexibility have largely gone unheard. It's been more than 20 years since economists started urging EU policymakers to reform labor markets and ease rigidities in the markets. Only Germany has listened, mainly after the pressure created with the unification of East Germany. By doing so, Germany has achieved the highest level of labor reforms in the entire 27-member bloc. The other economies have yet to follow suit. What lies ahead?Europe is at crossroads. It's either going to remain stuck in an old school productive model based on heavy industry, manufacturing and services and no real innovation or it's going to create an economic ecosystem for the next generation. Since it is counterproductive to try to out-perform the competition because it reduces prices, Europe should be creating new markets (or blue oceans) by investing in new technology and new ideas. The creation of new sectors, however, is not going to be easy. Europe needs to start by making some deep changes in its economic pattern of behavior and pass structural reforms aimed at simplifying procedures and encouraging innovation.It's not too late for Europe to turn things around and start pioneering a new generation of groundbreaking industries in an uncontested market space. The list of possible industries is endless and includes everything from high-tech applications of traditional sectors (tourism and agriculture) to green investing and impact investing.Europe should re-power its Silicon Valley-like engines to promote entrepreneurship. It's currently losing its high-tech talent to countries like the United States where the infrastructure is already in place and investment capital is easier to access. An infusion of venture capital funds and expertise can help Europe's engineering and technology universities create a new generation of entrepreneurs.Europe can start by forming new markets that combine technology with traditional industry and services. If policymakers do not embrace creativity and innovation, Europe will end up becoming a very well-experienced butler to China and Asia in general. It's just as John Maynard Keynes, the 20th century's most influential economist, had said about the British economy that it would become the butler of the United States if it stubbornly refuses to adjust to modernization.Time is of the essence Europe needs to start rebuilding its rickety foundation of productivity because financial markets are merciless and move at a much faster pace than any bureaucratic policy decisions in Brussels. The crisis, which started in Greece, sounded all types of alarm bells but they were not heard. The current productivity model fuels informality, especially in the periphery of the European Union. The informal economy has grown from the need to circumvent the overregulation under-regulation and inflexible procedures and the unpredictability of extralegal procedures, rules and regulations.The findings of the World Bank's 2012 Doing Business Survey speak volumes. Debt-stricken Greece ranks 135 out of 183 countries as regards the ease of setting up a business. Spain ranks 133 and Austria 134. Even Germany, the European Union's powerhouse, holds the 98th spot -- nowhere near New Zealand, Australia and Canada (the top three countries). The United States ranks 13.A poor showing on the World Bank's survey denotes the intractability of bureaucracy all the messy overregulation, under-regulation and the super-regulation that is difficult (at times impossible) to bypass.There is only one solution. It's three-fold and involves simplification, deregulation of the market and standardization of procedures. All three can lead to low costs and wider bottom lines (profits).

 

Mitt Romney Ad Spending: Candidate And Allies Greatly Outpace Obama As Election Closes

Mitt Romney's campaign and its Republican allies are set to outspend the president's campaign and allied Democratic groups by more than $18 million on the airwaves just this week, according to data provided by a Democratic source.The disparity, with Republicans spending $41.7 million and Democrats spending $23.5 million, illustrates a strategic gamble on behalf of the GOP presidential nominee to bury President Barack Obama and burn past him during the closing weeks of the campaign."Patience is a virtue," one Republican source said of the decision to hold resources until the last weeks of the campaign. The Republican source, who like all others would only discuss ad buying strategy and details on condition of anonymity, put the ad disparity at somewhat smaller than $18 million. The source offered the following data for the money being spent on both national cable and swing state television ads between Oct. 8 and Oct. 14.

1. Romney campaign: $17.7 million
2. Obama campaign: $16.5 million
3. The Karl Rove-started American Crossroads: $7 million
4. The Romney supporting super-PAC Restore Our Future: $6 million
5. The Obama supporting super-PAC Priorities USA: $4.2 million
6. The National Rifle Association: $1.3 million
7. The conservative American Future Fund: $400k

The reason that the Democratic breakdown of ad spending numbers is different than the Republican breakdown is owed to the fact that they included radio ad expenditures as well as additional advertisers. For instance, Planned Parenthood is set to spend $1 million on ads this week, while the Republican Jewish Coalition is set to spend $1.2 million. The disparity could grow larger going forward. On Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that Restore our Future was upping the ante even further, booking $14 million of ads in nine battleground states for the last week of October. A request for comment from Priorities USA was not immediately returned. Combined with Romney's strong debate performance, the money being spent on the airwaves seems likely to have elevated the Republican candidate's standing nationally and in the battleground states. But not all money spent on television ads is equal. Outside groups and super PACs, for instance, can not qualify for the lowest unit rate for ad slots, which can mean that they end up spending up to three times as much for the same amount of air time. In addition, the Romney campaign has pursued an ad-hoc ad buying strategy -- booking spots week-by-week as opposed to in month-long chunks -- that gives it more flexibility but costs more money. So while the Romney campaign and its allies may be spending more on television ads this week, it's difficult to ascertain how much (if any) advantage they have with respect to the number of ads actually aired. That said, a recent Washington Post article indicated that Romney was making up ground on that front as well.Still, the ad wars raise an interesting question for the Obama campaign. If all that's needed in the race to 270 Electoral College votes is a victory in Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin (provided the president holds on to Michigan and Pennsylvania), why not take resources from one of the more difficult-to-win swing states and send them there? "Absolutely not," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said, when asked whether the campaign is considering this, during a conference call Thursday morning. "Look, we understand that we need as many pathways to 270 electoral votes. That’s been the theory of this campaign since April of 2011. We think we have a path to victory in all our battleground states and we are going to go prosecute those paths. And because of our outpouring of supports from our grassroots donors we have the ability financially to compete everywhere we want to compete. And that’s what we are going to do."

Obama Defends Auto Bailout: 'We Bet On American Workers'

President Barack Obama sought on Saturday to sustain momentum from Vice President Joe Biden's strong debate showing by touting the benefits of one of his signature actions, the rescue of the U.S. auto industry, as he prepared for his next debate with Republican Mitt Romney."We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "We bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way."The president will drop from view for several days to prepare for his second debate with Romney on Tuesday. By focusing on the health of the auto industry, currently benefiting from strong sales, Obama is reminding voters he came to the industry's rescue. Romney had opposed government help for automakers.Obama is hoping to build on Biden's confident performance at the vice presidential debate on Thursday after his own listless debate performance last week gave Romney a sharp boost in opinion polls. He meets the Massachusetts governor for the second of three debates on Tuesday evening in a town-hall format.In his address, Obama highlighted trade agreements that helped promote sales of U.S. autos abroad. Romney has called the Obama administration's record on trade weak and promised to wage much more aggressive campaigns to open markets abroad to U.S. goods and services."I want to see more cars on the road in places like South Korea imported from Detroit and Toledo and Chicago," Obama added.Obama also said that "after 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, cars and light trucks will average almost 55 miles per gallon - nearly double what they get today."