From sea turtles to light bulbs, World Bank’s crisis response may have run off course - (www.washingtonpost.com) A review of the bank’s crisis-driven lending spree in 2009 and 2010 shows why Kim may be concerned — and why development experts worry that an institution with billions at its fingertips is in danger of becoming an inconsequential footnote rather than a catalyst to help the world’s poor. Bank lending more than doubled in 2009 and 2010, topping $100 billion, as officials approved an unprecedented 700 projects in more than 100 countries. But the organization — which touts itself as the world’s premier development agency — has struggled to deliver results. As much as a third of the money from those two years remains unspent as the bank copes with project delays, cost overruns and criticism that its crisis response focused on countries that needed it least.
Unaffordable
Care Act for some - (www.sfgate.com) Many
middle class and affluent families are finding the new health plan will send
their premiums soaring. Saunders. As a candidate for president, Barack Obama
sold his signature universal health care plan with the promise that it would
"cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500
a year." Now that the Affordable Care Act exchanges are open for
business, voters are finding that the biggest problem with Obamacare isn't that
some Web sites crashed last week but that the Obama promise of big savings for
the average family was too good to be true. Now that the exchanges are
open for business, people who already have individual coverage have something
new to not like: sticker shock. The Affordable Care Act isn't affordable
after all. Last week, I began hearing from readers whose individual policy
premiums are going up, not down. A local architect sent me a notice he received
from Kaiser informing him that his individual coverage will increase by $199.95
per month, or 78.9 percent. When he added his two sons, the percentage increase
was even greater.
Batista
Creditors Said to Weigh Seizures as Default Looms - (www.bloomberg.com) OSX Brasil SA (OSXB3) bank creditors are considering taking
possession of two vessels used as collateral on loans to Eike Batista’s shipbuilding company, according to six
people with direct knowledge of the matter. Banks are talking to advisers and
OSX officials to evaluate whether they should execute guarantees if the
oil-producing sister company goes into default, which would trigger
cross-default clauses on OSX debt, said the people, asking not to be named as
discussions are private. OSX borrowed $1.27 billion from 12 banks including
Banco Santander SA and DVBGroup Merchant Bank (Asia) Ltd. and is still negotiating to avoid filing
for bankruptcy protection, one of the people said. OSX already hired
Credit Suisse Group AG to help sell the OSX-1 and OSX-2 platforms that
guarantee the loans, the people said. Creditors would enter that process as
they seek to avert losses after OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA missed
a $45 million Oct. 1 bond payment that puts Batista on the brink of Latin
America’s biggest corporate default after oil deposits he valued at $1 trillion turned out to be
commercial failures.
Alcatel-Lucent
to Reduce 10,000 Jobs as Losses Mount - (www.bloomberg.com) Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU) will eliminate 10,000 jobs as Chief
Executive Officer Michel
Combes
accelerates a 1 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) cost-cut plan to revive the
unprofitable French network-equipment maker. The cuts, due by 2015, represent
about 14 percent of the workforce worldwide, based on the 72,000 employees the
Paris-based company had as of December. About 4,100 jobs will be reduced in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 3,800 in Asia and 2,100 in the Americas, Alcatel-Lucent
said today. Sites in the French cities of Toulouse and Rennes will be
shuttered. Alcatel-Lucent is speeding up a turnaround bid after thousands of
earlier job cuts, restructuring and asset sales failed to stem losses.
Worsening
Debt Crisis Threatens Puerto Rico - (www.nytimes.com) Puerto
Rico has been effectively shut out of the bond market and is now financing its
operations with bank credit and other short-term measures that are
unsustainable in the long run. The biggest concern is that the territory, which
has bonds that are widely held by mutual funds,
will need some sort of federal lifeline, an action for which there is no
precedent. In a meeting with bond analysts in New York on Monday, the president
of the Puerto Rican Senate, Eduardo Bhatia, said officials in the United States
Treasury and White House had been analyzing the situation carefully, “wondering
how they can help Puerto Rico send a very strong signal of stability right
now.” “We are waiting for some sort of an announcement from the Treasury and
the White House,” he said without clarification. He also complained that
analysts and investors did not appreciate the tough austerity measures that
Puerto Rico pushed through in recent months. Puerto Rico, with 3.7 million
residents, has about $87 billion of debt, counting pensions, or $23,000 for
every man woman and child. That compares with about $18 billion of debt for
Detroit, with a little more than 700,000 people, or about $25,000 for every
person in the city. Detroit and Puerto Rico have been rapidly losing
population, leaving a smaller, and poorer, group behind to shoulder the burden.
Global
trade weakening, economy to slow: APEC statement - (www.reuters.com)
[Pesek] Asia’s Crisis of Leadership - (www.bloomberg.com)
[Pesek] Asia’s Crisis of Leadership - (www.bloomberg.com)
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