Thursday, March 24, 2011

Former White House economists call the deficit a severe threat – an oped essay by 10 former
chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors calls on Washington to take urgent action on
addressing the deficit problem. – WSJ
Portugal moves closer to bailout as PM Jose Socrates’s offer to resign left his government in
limbo on the eve of a European Union Summit to address the region’s debt crisis. – Bloomberg

Utah first state to back gold as currency – shops in Salt Lake City will soon be able to accept gold
coins as legal tender under a law recently passed by the state congress. – FT
Treasury comes out against the idea of an int’l profits repatriation tax holiday – in a blog posting
Wed morning, the Treasury’s top tax policymaker said that the dept doesn’t support the idea of giving
companies a “tax holiday” on overseas profits. The Treasury would instead rather push forward w/a
broad overhaul of the corporate tax system. – Department of the Treasury
California - Poll shows public support for Brown's budget plan is slipping; officials warn that
delaying the budget until the fall could require the states to issue IOUs again; Brown is still trying to
negotiate w/Republicans to get a tax measure on the ballot in June – LA Times
Social start-ups see money flood in – the WSJ discusses how money is flooding into social
networking companies, w/a focus not just on the big headline names like Facebook and Groupon. – WSJ
Germany – Merkel’s party heading for defeat in this weekend’s elections – recent polls indicate
Merkel’s center-right coalition is trailing its opponents w/only days to go before Mar 27 elections. A
large loss could “plunge Merkel into her biggest crisis since taking office” – WSJ
China will rely more on interest rates for conducting monetary policy - The central bank will shift
the focus of policy away from the use of quantitative tools (like bank reserve requirements) –
Bloomberg
Libya - allied forces had all but wiped out the Libyan air force and were attacking ground troops
wherever they threatened the civilian population – London Telegraph