Denmark first slapped a fat tax on saturated fats. Now lawmakers plan to hit sugar, and even chocolate consumption, in the second wave of its pioneering assault on the country's bulging waistlines and clogged arteries.
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Spain 'in huge crisis' as unemployment hits record levels - Telegraph - 3 views
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'Record unemployment' gives us an idea of the magnitude of the impact the euro crisis had on Spain. I could discuss the type of unemployment and what could be done to improve the situation. In this case, the type of unemployment would be cyclical, as it occurs partly as a result of the business cycle.
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Consumer spending is one of the key factors of macroeconomics. Consumer spending could have dropped partly because of the increasing unemployment rate, causing consumers to hold off spending. This means a drop in demand, thus a drop in supply, a decline in GDP, the shifting inwards on the PPF curve, the increase in government spending to pay for unemployment benefit, thus an increase in deficit, and in some cases the outset of deflation.
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Fat tax: Denmark's fat tax strikes again | GlobalPost - 1 views
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Denmark will levy an extra six Danish Kroner ($1.05) on every kilogram of chocolate. The tax would go into effect on January 1.
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From 2013, lawmakers plan a levy on the sugar-content of processed food set at as much as 24 Kroner ($4.20) per kilogram.
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"The new tax on sugar in food will first be implemented from 2013, and the details will be discussed in the coming year,"
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The rationale is to improve the health in the Danish population by giving a stronger incitement to buy more healthy food.
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It's a trend that could be mimicked all over the world
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Mike Rayner, Director of Oxford University’s Health Promotion Research Group, said that combining the fat tax with higher taxes on sugary products would prevent people substituting fatty foods with sugary treats.
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"I think the saturated fat tax by itself would not have been particularly useful, but a saturated fat tax in conjunction with a higher tax on sugary products means they are trying to tackle unhealthy foods on two fronts."
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BBC News - Australian jobs growth hits eight-year high - 0 views
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Australia's jobs growth has hit an eight-year high after the economy added 38,900 jobs in May, far more than forecast.
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The data follows better-than-forecast economic growth of 1.3% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months
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In recent years, Australia's economic boom has been powered by the growing global demand for its natural resources
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French unemployment hits 13-year high - 0 views
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The number of unemployed people in France has broken past the three million barrier for the first time since 1999, the country's leaders say. The latest total adds pressure on President Francois Hollande, whose administration is under attack four months after taking power for not doing enough to fix the economy.
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U.S. Growth Slows to 2.2%, Report Says - NYTimes.com - 1 views
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reducing unemployment is another factor which affects GDP. State and explain how employment increases GDP. When people are employed this increases consumer confidence and results in consumers to be more willing to pay for goods and services and therefore increases consumption which is a big part of GDP.
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Explain the relationship between the GDP of other countries. Such in this time period, Greece as a country was going the path of becoming bankrupt. The Euro-crisis contracted the economy of many countries. When they have a smaller economy, they have less amount of exports and therefore this could have made the difference between exports and imports significant and influenced GDP.
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Many economists pointed out that consumer spending, mostly on cars and other large items, seemed to have come at a cost. Consumer savings declined.
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series of external shocks, like a spike in gas prices (this year’s was less severe and is already subsiding) and the Ja
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where many countries are already in recession and where this week Britain announced that it had entered the dreaded “double dip.”
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Shipments of durable goods increased last month, but new orders showed the steepest drop since January 2009.
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Natural hazards such as the Earthquake and Tsunami which hit Fukushima on March 11, reduced the exports of Japanese goods to foreign countries due to the news of radiation. Because of a decrease in demand for Japanese goods, this could have reduced imports for America and a smaller difference between exports and imports of goods.
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BBC News - Japan retail sales and household spending continues in April - 2 views
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sales and household spending continues in April Japan has been trying to boost domestic demand to sustain its economic growth Continue reading the main story Related Stories Sales tax hike is a bitter pill
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t consumer sentiment was also improving
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Last year people didn't travel much after the earthquake, but this year we see people willing to spend more money on vacations
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The 86 million invisible unemployed - May. 3, 2012 - 1 views
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population growth
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labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population.
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Last year, 86 million Americans were not counted in the labor force because they didn't keep up a regular job search. Most of them were either under age 25 or over age 65.
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that doesn't include the millions of nonworking adults who aren't even looking for a job anymore.
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unemployment rate is falling
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A person is counted as part of the labor force if they have a job or have looked for one in the last four weeks.
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63.6% of Americans over the age of 16 fell into that category
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Only people looking for work are considered officially unemployed.
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The unofficially unemployed
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weren't consistently looking for one
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Older people, ages 65 and over, account for more than a third.
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Young people between 16 and 24 make up another fifth.
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unemployed
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BBC News - Spanish unemployment hits record 5.64 million - 0 views
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Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.
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The new government has announced reforms to the labour market, including cutting back on severance pay and restricting i
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The government has also introduced drastic spending cuts designed to reduce its debt levels and meet deficit targets agreed with the European Union. These cuts are contributing to Spain's economic contraction.
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S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5% this year, having previously forecast 0.3% growth.
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"We believe that the new government has been front-loading and implementing a comprehensive set of structural reforms, which should support economic growth over the longer term," S&P said. "In particular, authorities have implemented a comprehensive reform of the Spanish labour market, which we believe could significantly reduce many of the existing structural rigidities and improve the flexibility in wage setting."
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The yield on 10-year bonds rose to 5.96%, up from 5.81%, suggesting investors were becoming more wary of Spain's ability to repay its debts.
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Falling Oil Prices Are No Mystery - Businessweek - 1 views
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Global oil consumption has been declining since the end of 2011, falling to 88.5 million barrels per day at the end of April, from 90.4 million barrels per day in late December 2011
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ince two-thirds of the price of gasoline is determined by the price of oil, that should continue to lower prices at the pump. At the end of May, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $3.66, 12¢ lower than it was a year ago
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Panasonic may halve its 7,000-strong headquarters ‹ Japan Today: Japan News a... - 0 views
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aimed at speeding up decision-making
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rival Sony
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been badly hit by the appreciation of the yen,
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falling prices
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772.2 billion yen loss
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halve its 7,000-strong headquarters
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German Jobless Rate Hits Low - WSJ.com - 3 views
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The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.7%—the lowest since comparable records began in 1998—from 6.8% in April, according to data from the country's labor agency Thursday. Economists had expected the adjusted unemployment rate to remain at 6.8%.
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Earlier Thursday, Germany's statistics office reported a higher than expected rise in retail sales in April, which economists attributed in part to the robust labor market.
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However, Germany's Bundesbank warned last week that the first-quarter growth figure likely overstates the country's trend pace. Germany's powerful industrial sector will only make "a relatively small contribution" to growth given the still falling demand from the euro zone, the central bank said. However, a significant growth contribution could come both from construction and consumption, it added.
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Spain unemployment hits record high - Europe - Al Jazeera English - 0 views
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unemployment
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jobless rate of 24.4 per cent in first quarter,
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"BBB "
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The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government
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economy to shrink
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fiscal
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S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5 per cent this year, having previously forecasted growth of 0.3 per cen
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It added that Spain's commercial banks are increasingly leaning to official sources for funds as they struggle to deal with piles of bad loans, especially in real estate.