Author: The Freedom Watch Staff

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Firings Highest Since 2010 as Ford to Dow Face Slump

"Ford Motor Co. (F) and Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) joined a growing number of companies firing thousands of workers as sluggish U.S. growth and Europe’s deepening recession lead to a persisting slump in sales. North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The reductions coincide with a majority of U.S. companies missing analysts’ third-quarter revenue estimates and a focus on jobs in the final weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFirings Highest Since 2010 as Ford to Dow Face Slump

Get Ready: Everything Is Going to Cost More Next Year

"Consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets next year to pay for costlier health care, more expensive grocery bills and higher taxes, an extra drag on the country's already slow-moving economy. The additional outlays look set to test the resilience of consumers, whose spending accounts for around two-thirds of the U.S. economy. The strength of consumer spending has surprised some economists, given unemployment near 8 percent and anemic wage growth. Consumer spending has cushioned the blow to the United States from slower foreign demand for its goods." Continue reading →

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Soros Ex-Wife Lists Apartment for $50 Million

"Susan Weber Soros, the former wife of the billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros, has listed her elegantly appointed 10-room apartment at the Majestic, the soaring dual-towered Art Deco co-op at 115 Central Park West, for $50 million. It is being offered fully furnished — Ms. Soros is downsizing and making a clean break — and the price includes a separate one-bedroom one-bath unit for staff. Ms. Soros bought the apartment for $25 million in an under-the-radar transaction in 2006, a year after her two-decade marriage to Mr. Soros ended in divorce." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSoros Ex-Wife Lists Apartment for $50 Million

Spanish unemployment tops 25 percent

"Spain announced Friday that its unemployment rate broke the 25-percent barrier for the first time as austerity cuts squeezed the recession-struck economy. Tens of thousands of jobs were destroyed in the third quarter, even as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government raised taxes, cut spending and pondered whether to snatch a eurozone rescue line. Among workers aged 16-24 the jobless rate towered at 52.34 percent in the third quarter, only slightly down from 53.27 percent in the previous quarter, the institute said. After more than a year of recession, the soaring jobless figures and biting cuts have prompted growing street protests." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpanish unemployment tops 25 percent

Turkish gold trade booms to Iran, via Dubai

"The sums involved are enormous. Official Turkish trade data suggests nearly $2 billion worth of gold was sent to Dubai on behalf of Iranian buyers in August. The shipments help Tehran manage its finances in the face of Western financial sanctions. The sanctions, imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear program, have largely frozen it out of the global banking system, making it hard for it to conduct international money transfers. By using physical gold, Iran can continue to move its wealth across borders. Turkish trade data confirms the gold is being transported to Dubai by air." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTurkish gold trade booms to Iran, via Dubai

Asian economies turn to yuan

"A 'renminbi bloc' has been formed in East Asia, as nations in the region abandon the US dollar and peg their currency to the Chinese yuan — a major signal of China's successful bid to internationalize its currency, a research report has said. Now seven out of 10 economies in the region — including South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — track the renminbi more closely than they do the US dollar. Only three economies in the group — Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Mongolia — still have currencies following the dollar more closely than the renminbi, said the report." Continue reading →

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Nigel Farage: We Are Headed To A ‘One World Government’

“We’ve reached a point in this where, despite the massive economic the massive economic, political, and social problems that exist within the eurozone, and indeed an argument that the North and the South of Europe are diverging by the day, despite all of that, the political class have got so much the upper hand in Brussels, that, actually, they are moving to more and more extreme tactics. (This is being done) to lock countries in to a new form of government which is so far removed from any concept of liberal democracy that I think it’s quite frightening." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNigel Farage: We Are Headed To A ‘One World Government’

Arizona to vote on taking control of Grand Canyon

"Arizonans will vote next month on a ballot proposal to give the state control over the Grand Canyon – the latest move in the so-called 'sagebrush revolt' in which western states are trying to reclaim federal land. The issue was put on the ballot after the proposal passed the Republican-controlled legislature. It would amend the state constitution to give Arizona sovereignty and jurisdiction over not just the Grand Canyon but all the 'air, water, public lands, minerals, wildlife and other natural resources' within its boundaries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArizona to vote on taking control of Grand Canyon