EconomicCrisis.US

Today at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope focused his attention on the monk Ambrose Autpert. Drawing on the monk’s teachings, the Pope pointed to greed as the root of the global economic crisis.

Continuing his series of teachings on the great writers of the Eastern and Western Churches in the middle ages, the Holy Father explained that Ambrose Autpert “is a little-known author of the eighth century.

Born to a high-ranking family in Provence, France, Autpert was tutor to the future emperor Charlemagne before traveling to Italy to enter a Benedictine monastery. He was ordained a priest in 761 and was elected abbot 16 years later. He died on January 30, 784.
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In a lengthy report on the world economic crisis and its impact on US agriculture, a cadre of USDA economists suggests that the trade-oriented farmer become more aware of the growth of foreign economies and foreign exchange rates, which would indicate his potential profitability. Cornbelt prosperity turned when the falling dollar became the rising dollar.

For much of the current decade world GDP grew at a 3% rate and in the past two years, US exports climbed to record high levels, contributing to a 43% growth in farm income from 2001 to 2007. Agricultural goods comprised 27% of US exports in 2007, but during that year interest rate hikes and Central Bank action to improve market liquidity was the pre-cursor to the financial crisis say the USDA economists in an Economic Outlook. They say the world economic crisis was caused by a combination of world macroeconomic imbalances and severe weakness in the financial system of western economies. Such imbalances include negative trade balances, supported by foreign governments buying US treasury notes, and that kept their currencies artificially low, along with US interest rates. The economists also lay part of the blame at financial market practices of the past 20 years, which reduced transparency and increased risk.
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U.S. unemployment could surpass 10 percent by year’s end, Richard W. Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said Wednesday before the Japan Center for Economic Research in Tokyo, Japan.

Fisher said there are 13.2 million people without jobs, and the nation is grappling with an 8.5 percent unemployment rate.

While the housing market has compounded the problem, he attributes declines in employment to a crisis in confidence that is driving business leaders to cut heavily.

“The men and women who operate our businesses and create and sustain employment have assumed a defensive crouch,” he told the audience. “Confronted by dyspeptic financial markets, they are doing the best they can to preserve their margins by cutting costs (most significantly, the cost of labor), and running tight inventories, rationalizing supply lines, deferring all but the most necessary capital expenditures and, in general, avoiding risk. The result is an American economy in stasis. Nothing is being ventured, and nothing is being gained.”
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bizjournals.com

The following is a rush transcript of the April 5, 2009, edition of “FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace.” This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: Before the North Korean missile launch, we spoke with the president’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who’s also traveling with Mr. Obama.

WALLACE: Mr. Axelrod, President Obama wants new limits on nuclear weapons with the long-term goal of eliminating all nukes. But on the other hand, mutual assured destruction, the fact that several nations have arsenals, has kept the peace for the last 60 years.
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