According to The Wall Street Journal Moody’s Analytics said its near-term outlook for the U.S. economy has fallen significantly in the past month wake of the debate over the U.S. debt ceiling and the downgrade of the nation’s credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s .
President Barack Obama has promised a "very specific" plan next month to improve the flagging US economy. He was in Iowa on day one of a rural Midwest bus tour. By the way, those two armored and tricked out buses cost us 2 million dollars. Anyway he said he would put forward the blueprint when Congress returned in September.
Meanwhile Europe continues to slide toward a fiscal meltdown. This is from Bloomberg:
Swiss Ponder Battle Over Runaway Franc
Switzerland, the nation that hasn’t gone to war with a foreign power since Napoleon, is reluctantly debating a generational taboo: ceding monetary independence to win a battle over its runaway currency. Swiss National Bank Vice President Thomas Jordan said the central bank is assessing “a whole range of options” to prevent the franc, which reached a record against the euro this month, from making Swiss goods prohibitively expensive.
EUROPE ‘ON COURSE TO BECOME ONE COUNTRY’
DAVID Cameron was under mounting pressure last night to hold a referendum on EU membership amid claims that the Coalition is paving the way for full eurozone financial integration.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/265048/Europe-on-course-to-become-one-country-
Merkel, Sarkozy take on debt crisis amid slowdown
A slowdown in European economic growth is overshadowing a meeting Tuesday between the leaders of Germany and France aimed at getting the eurozone's 17 countries to work closer together to dig Europe out of its debt crisis.
http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-sarkozy-debt-crisis-amid-slowdown-095419635.html
Eurozone bank buys record €22bn in bonds to contain euro crisis
The European Central Bank last week spent a record €22bn buying euro-zone government bonds in a bid to prevent the eurozone debt crisis spreading, a move that is likely to fuel debate on the creation of eurobonds. The buying spree represented the most the central bank has spent since it first began bond-buying in May last year in response to the Greek debt crisis.
http://euobserver.com/19/113325
Perils abound, but answers are elusive. I think "very specific" plan next month are too late and too little.
In the words of my grandpaw:
Never kick a fresh cow patty on a hot day.
//rb
