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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tekboy who wrote (50803)	10/10/2002 11:18:13 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Global slowdown persists, says UN - The global economy is going to stay in the doldrums until mid-2003, the United Nations has warned. Until now, the UN believed that the world should have pulled itself round from the slowdown which began in 2000 by the end of this year, with 1.8% growth in 2002 and 3.2% expansion in 2003. But now the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Undesa) says 1.7% and 2.9% is a closer estimate, as low investment and slumping stock markets offset consumer enthusiasm and attempts by governments to spend their way out of the downturn. Last year, global growth was at its slowest for a decade at 1.3%. Speed bumps The UN said that part of the problem is that international trade - an engine for expansion in the 1990s - is likely to grow by a lethargic 1.6% this year, rising to 5.7% in 2003. Despite that, the US trade deficit is rising too fast, although the world's biggest economy should escape a second recession in three years. Persistent problems in Latin America, whose economy overall is expected to shrink 0.9% this year, contribute much of the trouble. Argentina is forecast to have contracted 12% by the end of 2002, following its decision to default on international debt last year and the refusal of the International Monetary Fund to bail it out. Africa's growth is also falling short of what is needed to sustain development, with expansion of just 2.7% this year and 4% next year. Strictures A key problem identified by the UN is that the usual tools available to policy makers for reviving an economy do not seem to be working. Low interest rates have been widespread since the start of 2001, but aside from keeping consumer spending bubbling the effect going forward may be limited. European Union countries cannot increase spending or cut rates further, thanks to the strictures of the way the single currency system is designed. And with Middle East tension rising and oil prices increasing, more trouble could be on the way. news.bbc.co.uk

To: tekboy who wrote (50803)	10/10/2002 11:19:28 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

why isn't it obvious that sensible pro-Israel folk should drive home that message to Israel every chance they get? I think Israel realizes that it would be silly to do anything until we get our "Big Frog" set up on its lily pad in the ME.

To: tekboy who wrote (50803)	10/10/2002 11:22:32 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

And if it is, and stuff like settlement expansion serves no purposes except to enrage one's opponents, confuse the issue, and placate a kooky domestic consitutency which will ultimately have to be reined in, why isn't it obvious that sensible pro-Israel folk should drive home that message to Israel every chance they get? Well, withdrawing settlements in the face of a terrorist campaign seems a bad idea even to most Israelis who want to give up the settlements. As a matter of fact, they are destroying some illegal outposts right now, but that's it. And notice that you too are working on the underlying assumption that whatever eventually becomes Palestine must be totally settlement-free, Jew-free in fact. Why is that?