Eventual US rate rises may force budget spending cuts

Subject US debt dynamics. Significance The Federal Reserve (Fed) responded to the debt bubble built up in the United States ahead of the 2008-09 crisis by lowering its main interest rate and buying bonds. The Fed succeeded in the sense that there have been no spectacular failures in recent years, unlike in Europe, where banks have failed despite passing stress tests. The aim was to support credit markets and discipline bad actors, but the policies have largely allowed the federal government to finance deficits cheaply and allowed non-financial businesses to borrow at low rates. Impacts Lower rates for even longer are raising the amount of low-rated debt being taken out with relaxed covenants; concerns could escalate. If rate tightening comes sooner and faster than expected, the government will be pressured to cut borrowing to ward off a credit downgrade. Cancelling student loans and reducing college costs will be a key topic during the 2020 election campaign.

Significance The government will appeal the rulings, which follow action by renewables firms. With constitutional battles over energy investments already unfolding, the future of Mexico’s energy framework has been thrown into turmoil. Impacts Increasing energy prices will probably push inflation above Banxico’s upper target limit of 4%. AMLO’s apparent disregard for international trade agreements will strain relations with the United States. AMLO’s pro-austerity fiscal stance could take a toll on his popularity.


Significance Erdogan adopted a relatively conciliatory tone and stopped short of declaring retaliatory measures, for fear of the economic consequences in particular, despite the fact that most Turks see Biden’s move as an insult and an attack on Turkish dignity. Impacts Ankara’s options for retaliation are limited but could include reduced military coordination with Washington in Syria and Iraq. Turkey could ask non-NATO US forces to leave, but closing the Incirlik air and Kurecik radar bases would hurt relations with NATO. The issue could be used internally to rally Turkish nationalist anger with the United States in support of the government.


1911 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Nys

During the fourteen years that he occupied the chair of history and political economy at Columbia College, in the city of New York, Francis Lieber displayed praiseworthy activity. This period of his life covered some restless years; the theatre of operations was of a size whose equal can be shown by few historical dramas. Terrorstricken, the civilized world witnessed a tremendous struggle, whence, fortunately, the cause of civilization was to issue triumphant. The learned professor did not content himself with zealously performing his university obligations; neither was he satisfied with fulfilling his civic duties; he threw himself resolutely into the conflict; he fought with his tongue and his pen; he made himself the organizer and representative of a ceaseless propaganda for the Union cause against the secessionists; by his advice and by his legal works he gave the Federal Government the most valuable assistance. For a long time he had been occupied with public law; he now enlarged the field of his researches and his studies, and he studied ardently the laws of war and important problems of international law. The serious events taking place before his eyes led him, too, to write his opinions and to draft The instructions for the government of armies of the United States in the field, which will ever be an honor to him.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 57-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry Li Xie

Purpose This paper aims to report on a study that aimed at analyzing the relationships between information security and records management (RM), both as programs/functions established in organizations. Similar studies were not found in relevant literature. Design/methodology/approach The study used the classic grounded theory methodology. Pursuing the general curiosity about the information security-RM relationship in organizations, the study selected the United States (US) Federal Government as its field of entrance and followed the process of the classic grounded theory methodology that starts from the letting of the emergence of the research question to the formulation of a substantive theory that answered the question. Findings On the emergent question that why, despite the legislative establishment of agency RM programs and the use of the term records in their work, the US Federal Government information security community considered RM a candidate for deletion (CFD), the study coded the truncated application of the encompassing definition of records as the underlying reason. By this code, along with its three properties, i.e. limitations by the seemingly more encompassing coverage of information, insufficient legislative/regulatory support and the use of the terms of evidence and preservation in the records definition, the CFD consideration and the associated phenomena of unsound legislative/regulatory conceptualization, information shadow, information ignorance and archival shadow were explained. Research limitations/implications The study results suggested the data for subsequent theoretical sampling to be the operational situations of individual agency RM programs. Practical implications The rationale presented in the study regarding the encompassing nature of records and the comprehensive scope of RM program can be used for building strong RM business cases. Originality/value The study appears to be the first of its kind, which examined the RM–information security relationship in a very detailed setting.


Subject Political outlook for Angola. Significance President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979, recently announced that he would relinquish the presidency in 2018. While Dos Santos is believed to favour a transition to one of his own children or to Vice-President Manuel Vicente, neither option will find favour in the ranks of the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) or the wider public. Impacts The military will be immune from major spending cuts given its critical role in ensuring the longevity of the regime. Rising repayment burdens on Chinese loans (estimated to total 25 billion dollars) will further undermine budgetary resources. As social protests rise, the government will respond by clamping down on critics and tightening rules governing civil society groups.


Significance On her return from the United States and Russia, President Dilma Rousseff's problems have not changed; indeed, most worsened during her absence. Brazil's economic outlook is bleaker, the governing political coalition weaker and the scope of the corruption scandal has widened. Impacts Congress will push back more strongly against spending cuts as the government's situation weakens. The PMDB as a whole is unlikely to follow Cunha's lead, at least in the short term. Lula's fate will have major longer-term implications for the future of the PT.


Subject Greece’s stagnating economy. Significance The economy failed to turn a corner in 2016, registering zero real GDP growth. The ambitious 2.7% GDP growth target, set for 2017 by the government and Greece’s lenders, now looks hard to achieve. However, the economy’s stabilisation, albeit at a level much lower than before the crisis, is evident. Impacts A swift end to the bailout review might lift uncertainty and improve the investment climate, allowing both domestic and private investment. Inclusion into the ECB’s quantitative easing programme would help inject additional liquidity into the economy, stimulating credit growth. Over the medium term, rising protectionism in the United States and Europe might restrict trade, reducing Greek goods and services exports.


Significance The government has recently taken some modest steps to rein in the budget deficit, including cuts in energy subsidies, and has promised to improve disclosure of its fiscal performance, but is preparing further measures to put the economy on a sustainable long-term footing. Impacts Subsidy cuts and the prospect of VAT could cause popular resentment because they will affect ordinary citizens more severely than the elite. These measures will widen the income gap and, in the longer run, could increase pressure for more accountable forms of government. Land and other asset sales could generate controversy if businesses associated with the royal family are receiving special treatment. Capital spending cuts will create anger among the business community if projects linked to the deputy crown prince are protected. A prolonged fiscal squeeze could stoke tensions within the royal family and damage the credibility of the deputy crown prince.


Significance The government is aligning itself with the emerging international strategy against ISG in Syria. Its push to participate in airstrikes in part reflects a wish to reassert the United Kingdom's role as an international security partner, especially to the United States and France. Impacts The government envisages airstrikes as being needed for at least 12-18 months. The United Kingdom will be important but secondary in the anti-ISG coalition, with the United States continuing to conduct most operations. In the interests of its anti-ISG strategy, the government will temper its insistence on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down. The risk of an Islamist terrorist attack in the United Kingdom will increase. If Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comes to be seen as correct in his anti-airstrikes stance, it will further envenom relations on the left.


Significance After four sluggish years, economic growth has been picking up steadily since mid-2017. However, as noted by Moody’s, medium-term prospects remain hampered by reliance on copper exports as, in the shorter term, has also been apparent in the context of the tariff war between the United States and China. Impacts According to the IMF, Chile will be the region’s fastest-growing economy this year, just ahead of Peru. The government will walk tightrope between a need for fiscal austerity and social demands. The tariff war will underscore the pressing need for diversification out of commodity exports.


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