"US-EU talks set on free trade; Meal starter kits get a fresh twist" by Don Melvin | Associated Press, February 14, 2013
BRUSSELS — The European Union and the United States said Wednesday that they have agreed to pursue talks aimed at achieving an overarching trans-Atlantic free trade deal.
The 27-country European Union said such an agreement, first announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Obama, would be the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated.
Any deal could boost the European Union’s economic output by 0.5 percent and the United States’ by 0.7 percent, according to some estimates. That would be highly desirable; the European Union and the United States are struggling with slow growth, high unemployment, and high debt.
‘‘Both of us need growth,’’ said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. ‘‘And both of us have budgetary problems.’’
In a joint statement, Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, and Barroso said they were ‘‘committed to making this relationship an even stronger driver of our prosperity.’’
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EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the trade deal would stimulate growth because if tariffs are removed and red tape reduced, products would be cheaper. This in turn would increase demand — and more jobs because the manufacturer would need to hire more people to fill the orders.
We have been hearing the same shit for decades now and it has failed. All it has done is enrich the same global elite and interests that are benefiting from the very policies they themselves have devised.
In addition, he said, consumers would benefit from lower, more uniform prices.
De Gucht said initial talks should start by summer. They will cover a huge array of commercial and agricultural areas. Officials hope to complete them within two years.
‘‘For these negotiations to succeed, we need above all political will,’’ Barroso said....
Agriculture will prove to be difficult to negotiate. For instance, the United States plans to push the EU to relax its ban on genetically modified crops.
Yeah, no one wants those poisons.
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"US-EU free-trade pact gains favor; A deal’s scale could rival that of NAFTA" by Jack Ewing | New York Times, November 26, 2012
How did NAFTA work out for you, Americans?
FRANKFURT — A free-trade agreement between the United States and Europe, elusive for more than a decade but with a potentially huge economic effect, is gaining momentum and may finally be attainable, business and political leaders say.
Arduous negotiations still lie ahead, but if technical hurdles can be overcome, supporters of a pact argue, it could rival the North American Free Trade Agreement in scale and be a cheap way to encourage growth between the European Union and the United States, which are already each other’s biggest overseas trading partners....
Corporations and business groups on both sides of the Atlantic are also pushing hard for a pact....
That gives you all the reasons to be against it.
While China has dominated the political debate in the United States, US trade with Europe is much larger....
How do you like being diverted by demonization of China during the political campaign, American?
Karan Bhatia, a former deputy US trade representative who is now vice president for global government affairs at General Electric Co. in Washington, said a free-trade agreement would not cost taxpayers any money....
No, it will just cost them their jobs.
Supporters of an agreement hope that Obama will visit Europe early in 2013 and that he would agree while he is there on a framework for negotiations that could lead to a detailed agreement within several years.
I don't know, he has to go to Israel first.
They argue that a pact would offer Obama an opportunity to improve his relations with the business community.
Why are they so unhappy?
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I think I know how Europeans will react:
"Austerity protests snarl many cities across Europe" by Raf Casert | Associated Press, November 15, 2012
BRUSSELS — Hundreds of thousands of Europe’s beleaguered citizens went on strike or snarled the streets of several capitals Wednesday, at times clashing with riot police, as they demanded that governments stop cutting benefits and create more jobs.
Workers with jobs and without spoke of a ‘‘social emergency’’ crippling the world’s largest economic bloc, a union of 27 nations and half a billion people.
The protests were met with tear gas in Italy and Spain but were largely limited to the countries hardest hit by the austerity measures designed to bring government spending into line with revenues. Wealthier nations like Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark saw only small, sedate demonstrations.
Gotta love those free governments of the West as they toss tax money at banksters.
Governments backing the line of stringent austerity were not impressed by the show of force....
So what nation did the protesters invade? Man, am I ever sick of the AmeriKan war press and its slop-shit and insulting style. Aren't those protesters participating in democracy? I guess if they were in Iran, or Russia, or Syria they would be brave souls all.
The zone of the 17 countries that use the euro currency is expected to fall into recession when official figures are released Thursday. Unemployment across those countries has reached a record 11.6 percent, with Spain and Greece seeing levels above 25 percent.
With no end in sight to Europe’s economic hardship, workers were trying to take a stand Wednesday.
From what I hear the euro has about two months left max before it implodes, maybe as little as two weeks. The house-of-cards Ponzi scheme of private central banking is collapsing, and all the Fed's bankers and all the printing press dollars can't put it back together again.
‘‘There is a social emergency in the south,’’ said Bernadette Segol, secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation. ‘‘All recognize that the policies carried out now are unfair and not working.’’
We all see that, yeah.
Spain’s General Workers’ Union said the nationwide strike — the second this year — was being observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding, and construction industries.
That's a whole lot of the people.
Why hasn't my Boston Globe reported on that Spanish scandal (or have I just missed it? I'll have to check).
The nation, reeling from austerity measures designed to prevent it from asking for a full-blown international bailout, is mired in recession, with 50 percent unemployment among under-25s.
In Italy, protests turned violent, as well, with some of the tens of thousands of students and workers clashing with riot police in several cities. Dozens of demonstrators were detained and a handful of police were injured.
In bailed-out Portugal, where the government intends to intensify austerity measures next year, the second general strike in eight months left commuters stranded as trains ground to a virtual halt, and the Lisbon subway shut down. Some 200 flights to and from Portugal — about half the daily average — were canceled. Hospitals provided only minimum services, and municipal trash was left uncollected.
Airports across Europe were forced to cancel flights to and from striking nations.
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