| TFN NEWS BRIEFING: Macroeconomics highlights to 10:10 GMT
2008-01-04 06:59:21 Swiss Dec CPI up 2 pct yr-on-yr, exceeds forecasts ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - Swiss consumer prices were up 2.0 pct year-on-year in December and rose 0.2 pct from the previous month, the Swiss Federal Statistics Office said. 2008-01-04 03:22:26 Goldman Sachs raises 2008 growth forecast for SKorean economy to 5.1 pct SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Friday raised its economic growth forecast for South Korea this year to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent previously on expectation investments will pick up under the leadership of President-elect Lee Myung-Bak. 2008-01-04 03:19:29 Japanese companies see slowdown in economy - surveys TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Almost half of major Japanese companies believe the economy is showing signs of slowing down amid concerns about global oil prices and the US economy, according to newspaper surveys released on Friday.
Our one-way trip to disaster
A second bus is standing by, and you gratefully scramble aboard. The engine starts up, but then the bus lurches dangerously onto the road, going too fast. Only then do you see that this new bus has the same driver, and he has learned nothing. Welcome to the United States of America. And welcome to the annual State of the Union address. Every year, the nation looks up from the wreckage, only to see that the same unskilled and careless driver is still at the wheel, bombing along. Each January, he explains himself. You already know what he will say. His one admirable quality is that, over the years, he has always said exactly what to expect. A review of the Bush speeches has an "I told you so" quality, going back to the start. That raises the question, Why have you repeatedly been surprised? It was, after all, in his 2002 State of the Union address that President Bush defined the purpose to which he has been dedicated ever since.
Frustrated GOP Supporter Hedges His Bets
James Esshaki pilots his black Mercedes down the main strip of what's left of the high-end shopping district here, coming to one of the 11 buildings he owns. "Esshaki Properties for Lease" posters hang in the windows where mannequins modeling the latest fashions should be. For three months, it has been like this. No major stores, it seems, want to take a chance on Maple Avenue anymore.
"When you make a cold call to a national retailer and you mention you're in Michigan, they shut down," he said, turning the corner and eyeing a plot where he'd like to build, if the economy ever picks up.
As is the case for many businessmen in Michigan, a place that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney says is going through a "one-state recession," prospects are not good for Esshaki.
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