RTFA: http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/26/news/economy/job_c…

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

“It’s all about the consumer, and the consumer’s been hit hard,” said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. “It’s a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness.”

shitty. Apparently the hope & optimism the average American feels towards president Obama’s inauguration has not applied to big business & investors. The article also states that the recession will bottom out in the second quarter of 2009 and then we’ll see a rebound.

RTFA: http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/15/news/economy/g20_m…

Remembering Bretton Woods

With the crisis showing no signs of abating, several leaders have been trying to advance an agenda for the talks, which some observers have referred to as “Bretton Woods II” – a nod to a similar global economic summit held in July 1944 to reverse some of the painful trade and foreign exchange policies enacted in the wake of the Great Depression.

There have been calls, for example, to create a global accounting standard to replace the current mark-to-market standard, which some have blamed for the billions of dollars of losses suffered by banks.

Credit rating agencies and hedge funds have also become a target. French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who has embraced a hard-line approach toward regulation, has publicly said he is in favor of greater oversight of both industries.

And there has also been speculation that additional countries could enact economic stimulus packages of their own in the wake of the talks.

One underlying fear that President Bush attempted to address in recent days, including in an op-ed piece he wrote in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, is rising protectionism.

There is concern that some countries could levy harsh tariffs on imports to prop up their ailing economies, or that some governments could try to restrict capital flows, which spelled disaster for many emerging economies as the crisis gained momentum.

But what is expected to remain front and center is the subject of regulation and how to best modernize the global financial system for the 21st century.

One approach could involve granting greater powers to the Financial Stability Forum, which represents central bankers and regulators, or the International Monetary Fund, which has played a large role in recent weeks helping to bail out struggling countries.

From CNN, a brief introduction to the meetings today.

…a continuation of the RTFA Bretton Woods II Series.