Some fear a repeat of the 2011 debt ceiling talks that cost the United States a perfect credit rating and set the stage for this year’s conflict.
In a sign that the problems facing the European Union could escalate, the central executive branch of the 27-nation bloc announced that, for the second quarter in a row, gross domestic product (GDP) has shrunk.
The stipulation, according to The New York Times, is actually an increase from the level requested by the president during previous negotiations in 2010 and 2011, which at the time only amounted to $1 trillion.
If you’re a U.S. investor with a stake in the stock market, you might want to consider hedging your wealth against a potential financial wipeout if a fiscal cliff deal collapses.
Two successive bailouts numbering in the hundreds of billions of euros, as well as an all-but-mandatory “voluntary” private debt restructuring, have strung the process along. Yet, Greece remains a nation with a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 160 percent.
As many investors know, the past several years have not been kind to the Old Continent.
Back in the old days, only a few hundred thousand of the wealthiest Americans were subject to these levies.
These incomes declined 17 percent, or from approximately $53,000 to $44,000, between 2007 and 2010.
When you start to look at the numbers, you can see that the anemic growth that has characterized the last several years is starting to erode.