Arcane Market Is Next to Face Big Credit Test

Beginning with the housing crisis, the United States economy has been heading into a recession, with the employment situation turning gloomier than ever over the last month. The United States being the global engine, the IMF has lowered its forecast of global growth this year from 4.9 per cent to 4.1per cent.

This inevitably raises the question of how India will fare through such a widespread slowdown.

The optimistic line comes from the ‘decoupling' school, which points out that, unlike the European economies, which are completely interlocked with the US, India is capable of decoupling itself. This is countered by the ‘recouplers', who argue that, since India's links with the US are no longer through a thin line of trade alone, but through massive interactions in the services sector and large financial flows, India should brace itself for a sharp comedown from the 9 per cent annual growth that it got used to in recent years. read more

Top Australian CEOs snub Government wage freeze plan

The Poverty Business) Raised in Detroit and now living in Atlanta, he never got past high school. He started work in the early 1960s at Ford Motor Co.'s hulking Rouge plant outside Detroit for a little over $2 an hour. Later he did construction, rarely earning more than $25,000 a year while supporting five children from two marriages. A masonry business he financed on credit cards collapsed. None of his children have attended college, and all hold what he calls dead-end jobs. Whether some lives are hard life is not the point. Whether they are unnecessarily expensive is very much the point. We don't expect that. Most of us don't even know it. Vince always worked hard and was never jobless, but it’s expensive raising five kids on $25 grand and somehow they all missed out on college, reinforcing the cycle of poverty. read more

Ottawa doles out $60-billion in tax relief

SOARING home loan costs following 11 successive interest rate rises has turned the screw on struggling homeowners, many of whom are now finding it impossible to cope.

According to Veda, the credit agency, there has been a 35 per cent increase in the number of people defaulting on credit agreements in the past year.

For many, the situation is chronic, while for others it might be a temporary blip. But, with experts reporting that lenders are instigating repossession proceedings more quickly than ever, borrowers need to act fast.

Unfortunately, borrowers under such pressure often make the mistake of sticking their heads in the sand, hoping their problems will simply disappear.

So, to make it easier, here are some of the most frequently asked questions. read more