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This article talks about the scarcity of jobs for citizens living in Greece. Greek citizens are not having much luck finding any occupations, even simple ones such as working as a waiter in a restaurant or working in a supermarket. This is mostly a dilemma for the Greek youth, furthermore, data shows that more than half of the citizens under the age of 25 are out of work. The greatest challenge for employers is not a lack of cheap labor but a shortage of demand for their products, therefore, due to the fact that their products aren't selling they can't hire people because their company will be going into debt.

The country was forced to take 67.5bn euros (£57.4bn) after its biggest banks almost collapsed in November 2010. A further 16.5bn euros (£14bn) was drawn out of the state's National Pensions Reserve Fund. The country is now in foreign debt.

This is a very small article, but it summarizes how the Italian budget deficit will be decreased as the EU will help the government. In fact, the EU will work with the Italian government to repay the debts, therefore decreasing the national debts and help the government reach a balanced budget.

When you're in a situation like Ukraine's, the last thing you want to worry about is stabilising your countries financial situation. Many western consumers have invested in Ukraine and, with the recent turmoil, some might worry that their investment will be worth nothing, soon. However, Ukraine's Finance Minister has stated that there is a plan to "restructure" the Ukrainian economy without defaulting on all the bonds sold to foreign investors. This might give those anxious investors a bit of comfort, but it's still hard to say whether the minister will be able to keep his word...

"The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in September as imports rose to their highest level in almost a year. The Commerce Department said the trade gap increased 8.0 percent to $41.8 billion, the largest since May. August's shortfall on the trade balance was revised slightly to $38.7 billion from the previously reported $38.8 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the trade deficit to widen a bit to $39.0 billion in September. When adjusted for inflation, the trade gap widened to $50.4 billion, the largest since May, from $47.4 billion the prior month. This measure goes into the calculation of gross domestic product. The increase in the so-called real trade deficit in September suggested the government will probably lower its initial third-quarter GDP estimate." This does not surprise me at all with their trade balance widening because of the debt they are in. Their debt are in the trillions and there isn't a lot the US are doing. Yes, their economy might be improving slightly but a lot of people are without jobs creating a sort of dilemma.

The U.S. is working on fixing it's fiscal policy. Congress is workig for "a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running for the last six months of this fiscal year". The U.S. is cutting it's spending and creating a budget to lower the gap in the debt that the U.S. is in. In the month of February, the spending was down by 3% from the year before as well. The government also had a temporary tax cut that brought in more revenue for them as well.

Everybody has an opinion and I for one understand this debt crisis very little. It's not that I don't think it's important, it's that I'm very vague on who exactly we owe money to, what the current plan is to pay it off, and why everyone else is up in arms about this. The econ modules in the textbook section this week said that, sometimes, the government *wants* the budget to be at a deficit. I still don't understand why but, my guess is, the US's current situation is not a good demonstration.

04/15/2013| 02:55am US/Eastern Recommend: Press release 15 April 2013 Ministry of Finance The global financial and debt crisis is now in its fifth year. The Government is continuing to counter the weak economic situation with a responsible fiscal policy for jobs and stability.

The article talks about the increasing investment in African countries due to falling interest rates and lackuster growth. Investing in African bonds gives off a high profit.

The article talks about the reasons why countries keep foreign currencies. The main reason why the keep the reserves are to meet the international payment obligations in the long term and in the short term. Furthermore countries keep foreign currencies in order to pay imports or for commercial debts.