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To: TobagoJack who wrote (83005)	11/10/2011 1:46:24 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217977

Capital flight "has affected countries that have low international reserves and which are therefore more vulnerable to foreign-exchange fluctuations as a result of outflows." reuters.com

To: TobagoJack who wrote (83005)	11/10/2011 1:59:29 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217977

Revolutions are the easy part: Arab Spring Economies Face Daunting Challenges The governments that emerge in the aftermath of the uprisings in the Middle East will face a challenge as daunting as any faced by the men who ruled for decades before them: They must urgently improve living standards for the millions who now demand change -- and they must do it in the wake of unrest that has caused already-dismal economic conditions to worsen even more. Despite the loud calls for democracy and freedom, the real engine of the Arab revolts has not been philosophical or political. Above all, the popular revolutions have been motivated by a pressing need for the kind of economic growth that makes a difference in the lives of everyday people, not just the powerful and well-connected. The task is monumental. Creating enough prosperity in a country like Egypt, for example, is no simple matter. The country's explosive population growth means that in order to keep unemployment from rising, the economy must grow an incredible 6 percent a year just to stand still. Anything below that number and the proportion of unemployed and underemployed Egyptians will continue to grow. The IMF says the economy may grow about 1-2 percent this year and next. The government says growth totaled just 1.8 percent in the year ended in June, down from 5.1 percent over the previous 12 months. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the uprisings that aimed at improving living standards have so far produced precisely the opposite effect. Political turmoil and uncertainty have proved disastrous for most economies in the Middle East. Images of protests, violence and bloodshed have persuaded foreign investors and tourists to keep their distance. Tunisia, where the uprisings started more than 10 months ago, has experienced a near collapse of the vitally important tourism sector. According to Tourism Minister Fakhry Abdel Noyr, tourism revenue plummeted almost 40 percent in the first nine months of the year. The same is true in Egypt, where the industry dropped by a similar amount. By some counts, the revolution has already cost some 600,000 Egyptians their jobs. The combination of ongoing labor unrest, capital flight, canceled travel plans and an economy that was shuttered during the occupation of Tahrir Square has added up to billions in losses. Even Lebanon, where no uprising has taken place, has suffered. Because its economy is so closely intertwined with that of neighboring Syria, the unrest across the border has taken a huge toll on the Lebanese economy. Lebanon's GDP grew 7.5 percent annually between 2007 and 2010. The IMF just lowered its 2011 forecast to 1.5 percent. Elsewhere, too, the economic damage cannot be contained within one country's borders. The civil war in Libya had a negative impact on Egypt and Tunisia, among other places. Expatriate laborers who sent their paychecks from Libya to their families back home have returned to their countries of origin, mostly Egypt and Tunisia, without jobs. At the same time, Cairo and Tunis have had to help pay for relief efforts for migrant workers and others fleeing the fighting. As for Libya, its economy completely collapsed during the just-ended fighting. The IMF says the country’s GDP in 2011 will reach barely 50 percent of what it used to be, in large part because its oil sector ground to a halt. Oil and gas make up 70 percent of the Libyan economy and 95 percent of its exports. The turmoil has cost jobs throughout much of the Middle East, already one of the most economically challenged regions of the world. According to the IMF, youth unemployment is higher than in any other region, reaching dangerous levels even in rich countries. Of course, nobody expects any economy to boom during the turmoil of transition. The question is how quickly the governments leading their countries in the coming months and years can make up the lost ground and respond to the popular demands that propelled the uprisings. That task is further complicated by the fact that the region’s shrinking economies have created a dangerous cash squeeze. Egypt, for instance, is running through its reserves at an alarming rate, and its budget deficit is exploding. Hard currency reserves have contracted by one-third, and the fiscal deficit now stands at 10 percent. While they navigate somewhat erratically towards democratic elections, the authorities in Cairo are trying to keep the economic ship from sinking. In the process, they face a public that feels much more empowered to give its opinion and even block government decisions. When the IMF offered to give Cairo a $3 billion loan, popular opposition forced the government to turn it down. Saudi Arabia reportedly offered a $4 billion loan, but Egyptians are leery of foreign cash and urged the government to finance the country's needs from within. Government economists say the borrowing requirements are so great that meeting them inside the country, even if possible, would dry up funds needed for crucial development. But the more important problem is not how to find cash to meet the government's borrowing needs. The real problem in most of the region is how to transform and energize economies that grew stagnant from decades of corruption as well as inefficient and misguided government intervention. In order to achieve that, whoever governs must make choices that will inevitably produce a sharp and, in some cases, negative reaction from the newly empowered electorate. The first country to launch into the reform process is Tunisia, the birthplace of the uprisings. The IMF says GDP growth is close to zero for 2011, but it expects almost 4 percent growth next year. The Islamic party Ennahda, winner of the recent elections, has promised to increase GDP growth to 7 percent and create almost 600,000 jobs in five years, mostly through domestic savings and borrowing through "Islamic bonds." In the meantime, the wealthy Gulf countries are eyeing their own employment problems. Countries like Saudi Arabia have used their vast resources to create jobs, often unproductive ones, on the public payroll. Now Riyadh is trying to force employers to limit the number of non-Saudi workers in private industry. The governments of the Arab Middle East have discovered that high unemployment and pervasive poverty are a genuine threat to their survival. The post-uprising leaders may discover that if they cannot produce results, their stay in power could be brief.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (83005)	11/10/2011 8:19:13 AM
From: carranza2	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217977

From zero hedge: zerohedge.com Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt Market Be Honest CNBC-You Are Biased Against Ron Paul Those of us who have supported Ron Paul since his presidential run in 2008 (and some who supported him long before that) have come to expect an astonishing array of mainstream media tricks, lies, and censorship when it comes to the “journalistic” examination of the good doctor. This doesn’t mean, however, that we have ever or will ever come to ACCEPT this consistent trend of deception and disinformation as a forgone conclusion of our political lives. We will never throw up our hands and walk away from the mess the MSM has deliberately created, because that is exactly what they would like us to do; give up, shut up, go home, vote for Romney (an establishment crony with the creepy grin of a pedophile), and watch him lose to Obama (yet another establishment crony) in 2012. With this stated up front, it was brought to my attention that CNBC was running a poll asking readers who they thought won the recent Republican Presidential Debates in Michigan. Now, as in many polls in 2008, the name “Ron Paul” has been rising to the top of the charts in 2011 despite all efforts by media lapdogs to dissuade the public from even considering such a candidate. CNBC did not fail to play its roll this time around either. Ron Paul won by a substantial margin, and of course, their response was to take the poll down! Here was the explanation given by CNBC Managing Editor and all around bottom feeder, Allen Wastler: Gamed Poll...So We Took It Down We had a poll up from our Republican Presidential Debate asking readers who they thought won. One candidate was leading by such a margin that it became obvious the polling wasn't so much a reading of our audience, but of the Internet prowess of this particular candidate's political organization. We have therefore taken the poll down. Yes, we've gone through this exercise before. cnbc.com Wastler then provides a link to a rather patronizing statement he made back in 2007 to explain why CNBC dumped polling results then as well: cnbc.com First of all, let’s be serious, folks! Regardless of what you might feel personally about Ron Paul or his political position, it has become painfully obvious to even the most oblivious subsections of the American populace that the MSM, from supposed “right wing” outlets like FOX, to supposed “left wing” outlets like CNBC, have gone WAY out of their way to ridicule, suppress, or completely ignore him. Now, you really need to ask yourself, why is that? If Ron Paul is such a “fringe” candidate with “no chance” of winning, then why all the trickery and subversion? If his political methodologies are so ridiculous or out of sync with the American people, then why not plaster his face on every TV screen in the country and let him destroy his own career? Why hide him from public view? The answer is simple; because he IS a threat. His position is one of government transparency, limited power, and financial independence. He predicted the credit crisis and the mortgage bubble implosion long before they ever occurred. The guy wants to shut down the Federal Reserve and the cartoonish brute squad otherwise known as the IRS. He wants to end the costly and fraudulent wars in the Middle East and bring the troops home (really bring them home, not make fake statements about bringing them home and then keep them on the ground for another few years). Of course the MSM, a corporately controlled monopolistic sham, is working overtime to keep Paul down! Think about it. Sit back and consider. If Ron Paul was actually allowed to stand on the same stage as Barack Obama in a fair debate, there would be no half hearted girly-slap pansy sparring going on as there would be in a match between Obama and Romney. Ron Paul would destroy Obama! It would be a massacre of historic proportions! The establishment, which represents a minority of elitists in this country and not the citizenry in any capacity, will not let this happen. Allen Wastler would call the above statement “conspiracy theory”. All I have to say to Wastler is; prove me wrong! Give Ron Paul fair coverage. Leave your own polls to represent the actual results regardless of whether you like the outcome. But first, answer me these questions, Allen: 1) If your poll was “gamed”, or in other words “hacked”, then I imagine that you and CNBC have some kind of proof of this. Please, do show it to us, so we can better understand your suppression of the poll results. I continuously hear from the MSM that Ron Paul supporters are all master hackers, and that there are only a dozen of us huddled around basement computers posing as millions (and I thought they didn’t believe in conspiracies…), but I have yet to see any concrete evidence to support this notion. Do you have any, Allen? 2) If CNBC’s poll is so easily tampered with, then why continue to run it at all? 3) If Mitt Romney had won the poll by a landslide, would CNBC have suppressed the results then? Or is it only farfetched when Ron Paul prevails in the final calculations? (This is a bit of a rhetorical question, because we all know Mr. Wastler would have danced a jig and sung the glory of Romney over Paul if the roles had been reversed). 4) Why is it that whenever Ron Paul wins a poll, MSM pundits claim the results are unscientific, or that they really don’t represent the true position of the general public? Why is it that a Romney or Cain win brings resounding words of vindication for the nature of the democratic process? 5) What margin of success does CNBC consider “realistic” for a presidential candidate? I mean, is it really necessary for you to punish Ron Paul for being a popular candidate, or to punish his supporters for being well organized and showing up for the vote? Do you not see the half-assed absurdity of your claim that Ron Paul won by “too much”? 6) Isn’t it conceivable that Ron Paul is doing well in the polls because his ideas and views are shared by many Americans? Who are you to claim this is not possible, Mr. Allen? 7) Do you really believe you and CNBC will not be held accountable for misinforming the American people and hiding information pertinent to their political knowledge? The last time I checked, CNBC’s viewership has been in pitiful decline since at least 2009. 8) When are you going to man up, Allen, and admit that you dumped the poll because you are biased against Ron Paul? It’s not as if it is a big secret. Hiding behind superficial excuses such as “hackers” and “poll gaming” is at bottom pretty cowardly. Why not embrace your blatant disapproval of Paul and the considerable movement of Americans surrounding him so that we can have a real discussion, instead of putting on a pretentiously counterfeit smile and talking down your nose at us? Wouldn’t that be more fun? Let’s bring some honesty, and perhaps finally some true competition, back to the presidential race, and say what is actually on our minds for once. This goes for the staff of CNBC! If Allen Wastler or any other MSM lackey wants to bash Ron Paul, then he should do it openly as a private citizen, not use the CNBC media apparatus as a Hearst-like yellow journalism weapon for misinforming the public, or for indirectly slandering a candidate or his supporters. This should not be a problem for him at all, unless, of course, the corporate owners of CNBC over at G&E play a much greater role in the actions of their news subsidiary than is readily admitted. Then, Allen Wastler’s apprehension in laying out the truth plainly would make a little more sense… Average: 0 Your rating: None