Latest news clippings 2011.11.10

               

1.  Stocks: All eyes still glued to Europe 

CNN   November 6, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Europe's debt crisis and the unfolding drama in Greece have been taking stocks on a wild roller coaster for weeks, and investors better buckle up because it's far from over.

Though European leaders have agreed on a deal to bail out Greece, new questions about Greece's political future emerged. 

In the span of one week, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called for a referendum on the bailout, only to retract that call soon after. He narrowly survived a confidence vote late Friday and by Sunday, he stood ready to resign as soon as a coalition government was put in place.

The political uncertainty risks the debt ridden country's ability to secure its next bailout payment in time to avoid a default, said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at Global Forex Trading. 

On top of that are growing worries over debt problems in Italy, where bond yields climbed to record highs last week, nearing levels that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to ask for aid. 

2.  Why the West is losing out to the rest - CNN.com By Niall Ferguson , Special to CNN   CNN    2011-11-03

(CNN) -- It says it all when Europe turns to China for a bailout. That was what happened last week when the man in charge of the European Financial Stability Fund flew to Beijing to see if he could interest Chinese investors in propping up the finances of the eurozone.

How the mighty are fallen. Thirty-five years ago the average German was roughly 15 times richer than the average Chinese. Today the ratio is less than 3-to-1. Back in 1980 the Chinese economy accounted for just 2.2% of global economic output, one third the size of Germany's share. By 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund, the Chinese share will be 18%, six times larger than Germany's.

We are living through an extraordinary reversal of economic fortunes after 500 years when the big story was what historians call "the great divergence." Beginning in 1500, Europeans and European settlers in North America began to get richer than Asians (and everyone else, too). The gap between the "West and the Rest" widened at an accelerating rate until the later 1970s. But then -- on our watch -- that trend went into high-speed reverse.

3.  Study says Generation X is balanced and happy CNN    October 27, 2011

(CNN) -- A generation once labeled "slackers," detached and melancholic has grown up to find out that reality doesn't bite as much it seemed when they were younger. To the contrary, most of the 84 million Americans ages 30 to 50 are "active, balanced and happy," according to the authors of "The Generation X Report," a research report from the University of Michigan's Longitudinal Study of American Youth. According to a new report, most of the 84 million Americans ages 30 to 50 are "active, balanced and happy." The release is the first in a series of quarterly reports based on questionnaires, interviews and tests from 4,000 Gen X respondents who have participated in the study since 1987. The study defines Gen X as those born between 1961 and 1981, though others sources tag Gen X as those born starting in 1964. "We hope that this series of reports will serve to correct some of the misunderstandings and misstatements about Generation X that have appeared in the media," The Longitudinal Study of American Youth says on its website. "Some commentators have characterized Generation X as being less successful than their parents and perhaps less ambitious than their parent's generation." The study marks the latest focus on Gen X as the cultural spotlight gradually shifts away from retiring Baby Boomers. The analysis bolsters findings in a recent marketing study, "Gen X: Flirting With 40," which stated that Gen X has matured into a group of "technologically savvy, adventurous pragmatists." Recent media coverage of rants and reflections from Gen Xers in Gizmodo and The Atlantic has also generated intense discussion, fueling debate over whether a passing of the torch from Boomers is under way.

4.  Commonwealth Approves Changes to Royal Succession 

The Wall Street Journal   OCTOBER 28, 2011

PERTH, Australia—In a historic move that ushers in a new era for Britain's monarchy, rules governing succession to the throne will be changed to allow first-born females to succeed ahead of their male siblings and allow future rulers to marry a Catholic.

British Prime Minister David Cameron secured the agreement with the 16 nations that share Queen Elizabeth as their head of state during a meeting here of Commonwealth nations, a loose association of 54 countries that owes its origins largely to the British Empire.

Getty Images 

From left to right: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Queen Elizabeth II, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Commonwealth meeting in Perth. 

Mr. Cameron said the changes will overturn hundreds of years of tradition but were needed to ensure the monarchy better reflects modern society.

"Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries," the prime minister told reporters. "The idea that the younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter, simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic, this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries we have all become."