#financial-austerity

#financial-austerity

The Bank of Japan's loose monetary policy has turned the yen into the world's cheapest and most reliable funding currency, creating a publicly subsidised funding pipeline for bankers.

Credit cards can be very dangerous from a financial well-being perspective, if used irresponsibly. The temptation to use one to fund a big holiday or a new sofa that you can't afford can be seriously tempting.

The Government is likely to cut excise duty by up to one-quarter at forecourt pumps next week, which could result in a reduction of nearly 33c per litre - but only for a month.

"The historical evidence reveals a striking pattern: government bonds have repeatedly generated substantial real losses during these extreme episodes. They have even underperformed equities and real estates which are traditionally regarded as risky assets."

The country is almost certain to enter the next shock more indebted than we have ever been before, which may significantly hamper our ability to marshal an appropriate response. The U.S. has never experienced an economic shock as indebted as we are today. This situation leaves the U.S. immensely vulnerable.

Services experienced the highest annual increase at 3.4%, followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco at 2.5%. Non-energy industrial goods saw a more modest increase of 0.7%. Meanwhile, energy prices fell by 3.1% over the month, which helped to temper overall inflation pressures.

I have not touched a paper note for months. I don't even have money to pay for a taxi. Now we walk a lot, for long distances. Palestinians in Gaza use the Israeli currency, the shekel, in their daily transactions, and depend on Israel to supply banks with new banknotes and coins.

Setting aside a designated day to switch utility providers will pay dividends in the long run

The apartment where the Austrian composer Franz Schubert died, the residence of Blue Danube writer Johann Strauss, as well as the house where Joseph Haydn lived are to be closed temporarily owing to cost-saving measures, the director of Vienna's museums announced on Wednesday. The closures are part of broader austerity measures that will also see the price of public transport in the Austrian capital rise by almost 30% for some tickets. We all have to economise, said Matti Bunzl, the head of public body the Wien Museum that oversees several historical sites in the Austrian capital.

He managed to get a bill on social security spending approved by year end, but lawmakers have failed to reach a compromise on state expenses. Lécornu's office said late on Thursday that it would be "impossible to adopt a budget by a vote" and that it would be looking at two alternative options. One is to use a constitutional power under Article 49.3 to push the legislation through parliament without a vote, as for previous budgets.

Do you remember a time in your city in Spain when bar and restaurant terraces were not packed with locals having fun (except for during the Covid-19 lockdown, of course)? No matter how tight finances are, Spaniards always seem to have the money for eating and drinking out. Some would say this carpe diem attitude is to be admired rather than sniffed at. After all, it goes hand in hand with the much-admired Spanish lifestyle - outdoors, in the company of others, enjoying the moment.

The Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, was given little chance of survival, let alone finding a budget deal, when he was appointed for a second time in October. He deserves some credit for backing the heavy truck of the French political system out of a cul-de-sac (English for voie sans issue). Otherwise, what have we learned? That France still refuses to face up to a deficit crisis a half-century in the making;

"France finally has a budget,"

While many economists believe it will return to stronger growth in 2026, hopes of a quick recovery are fading amid doubts over Berlin's planned investment spree under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Before Christmas, Germany's Bundesbank lowered its growth forecast for 2026 to 0.6%, down from its previous June forecast of 0.7%. However, the central bank raised the forecast for 2027 to 1.3%, predicting that the pace of economic activity would pick up from the second quarter of 2026.

As tensions simmer between the European Union and the U.S. over the Trump administration's trade policies and its play for Greenland, we've been hearing about the EU's economic "bazooka." What is it? AILSA CHANG, HOST: Things are quite tense right now between the U.S. and the European Union. Sources of that tension include the Trump administration's trade policies and its play for Greenland, which, in turn, has led to talk about the EU's anticoercion mechanism, also known as its economic bazooka.

The far right's success in last month's regional elections in Extremadura, Spain, was inevitable. After a series of corruption and sexual harassment allegations surrounding Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's socialist government since the summer, everyone in Spain knew he would never pull off a victory. Although the southwestern region has historically been a stronghold of Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), it has been in the hands of the conservative People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party since 2023.

My reforms changed the welfare system to make work pay and brought workless households to an all-time low. But because of the post-Covid collapse in vetting and rise of health-related welfare claims, millions of workers could take home more from welfare than wages after tax. This is an outrageous state of affairs. The system must stop writing off thousands every day and incentives to work need to be restored to end this ruinous waste of human potential.

Slight losses for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc of Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union(CDU/CSU), and slight gains for their coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). These are the key findings of the ARD-Deutschlandtrend opinion poll conducted by the infratest-dimap institute, which surveyed around 1,300 representative voters between February 2 and 4. The majority of respondents deplore inequality in German society; they also see the gap between rich and poor widening.