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HARRISBURG -- With a section of a Pittsburgh bridge dropping 8 inches and an Interstate 95 support pillar cracking in Philadelphia, Gov. Ed Rendell is turning up the heat under the Legislature to provide infrastructure repair funds more quickly. Mr. Rendell sent a letter to all 253 legislators yesterday urging quick passage of a $240 million "supplemental debt authorization." His program of borrowing would enable state officials to fast-track repairs on some of the state's 6,000 bridges classified as structurally deficient, along with fixing ailing highways, repairing "state-owned, high-hazard dams" and beginning flood mitigation projects. Also yesterday, Mr. Rendell called...

MOSCOW, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Russian banks could be saddled with millions of dollars in bad loans if a drop in oil prices hits the incomes of middle class Russians who have been gorging on a glut of consumer credit. The spot price of Urals , Russia's export blend, has fallen from a peak of $73.65 per barrel in July to $55.12 on Wednesday, and analysts predict a sizable fallout for Russia. "My two major concerns about the Russian economy are the 2008 election and bad loans," said Tim Ash, analyst at Bear Stearns, referring to the vote to elect...

TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 9 - As one of more than two million Americans who rushed to a courthouse this year to file for bankruptcy before a tough new law took effect, Laura Fogle is glad for her chance at a fresh start. A nurse and single mother of two, she blames her use of credit cards after cancer surgery for falling into deep debt. Ms. Fogle is broke, and may not seem to be the kind of person to whom banks would want to offer credit cards. But she said she had no sooner filed for bankruptcy, and sworn off...

(10/07) A High-Risk Market ...... Even before the twin hurricanes the consumer savings rate had turned negative, household debt was at record highs and home owners were using soaring home prices as huge ATM machines yielding hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. With housing prices starting to soften, energy prices still high and real wages under pressure, consumers’ ability to spend seems severely restricted in the period ahead. These trends have been further exacerbated by the two hurricanes that have created negative domino effects throughout the economy. So far consumers have felt the impact of higher gasoline prices, but...

FOR those who are too young to remember, Divorce, Italian Style was a 1962 movie in which Marcello Mastroianni plays a Sicilian nobleman married to an ugly, bullying and financially ruinous harridan, from whom he wants desperately to disengage. Unfortunately, he has no legal way to do this since the Italian legal system made no provisions for divorce. His only recourse, therefore, is to kill his wife. This film is, of course, a perfect allegory for the Italian and European economies 40 years later. Italy today is under the thumb of an ugly, oppressive and financially ruinous harridan called the...

BIS warns on domestic and international debt By Chris Giles in London Published: June 27 2005 20:26 | Last updated: June 27 2005 20:26 Growing domestic and international debt has created the conditions for global economic and financial crises, the Bank for International Settlements warned on Monday. The Basel-based organisation's annual report said no one could predict if and when such international economic imbalances would unravel but “time might well be running out”. The warning by the world's oldest international financial institution the central bankers' bank was designed to puncture the complacency prevalent among economic policymakers after 2004's global growth,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearings on U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's nomination to be Deputy Secretary of State could be a milestone discussion of America's strategy in the war on terrorism. This opportunity will be lost, however, if Committee members don't start thinking seriously about the real relationships between economics and national security – supposedly Zoellick's specialty but in fact an emerging American diplomatic fiasco. Superficially, Zoellick does, as widely observed, boast impressive qualifications to serve as the nation's second-ranking diplomat. Thanks to a series of senior positions he has...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

WASHINGTON - The government's deficit ballooned to $326.6 billion in the first nine months of the 2004 budget year, according to a snapshot of U.S. balance sheets released Tuesday. That's more than 20 percent larger than the $269.7 billion shortfall for the corresponding period last year. For the current budget year which began Oct. 1, this spending has totaled $1.73 trillion, 6.4 percent more than the same period a year ago. Revenues came to $1.40 trillion, 3.5 percent more than the previous year. So far this year, the biggest spending categories are programs from the Health and Human Services Department,...

Beijing, 5 February: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue reiterated that China has decided to forgive debts from Iraq here Thursday [5 February] at the regular press conference. The size of the debts to be forgiven is now being calculated and studied, Zhang added. As a developing country, China fully understands difficulties of the reconstruction and the humanitarian situation in Iraq, she explained, expressing her hope that the Iraqi people can quickly step on the road of stable and peaceful development. She stressed China attaches importance to the reconstruction in Iraq and expected the international community to strengthen cooperation in...

<p>PARIS (December 15, 3:50 p.m. AST) - France said Monday it will work with other nations to cancel billions of dollars in Iraqi debt and that Saddam Hussein's capture will open the way toward mending relations with Washington. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin of France, one of the most persuasive and persistent critics of the U.S. decision to wage war in Iraq, said he hopes the capture will allow the international community to "regain its unity."</p>

Iraq's Overall Financial Obligations Kuwait $97 billion Russia $64 billion Jordan $16.295 billion Saudi Arabia $14 billion Britain $8 billion Germany $6 billion Japan $5 billion France $4 billion S. Korea $1.2684 billion ...... Total $384.4684 billion Note: The figures here includes foreign debts, Gulf War compensation claims, and pending contracts. Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies(U.S.) and The Ministry of Construction and Traffic(S. Korea)

MOSCOW -- Baghdad's ambassador to Moscow said Friday that Iraq would pay off its massive Soviet-era debt if the United Nations lifts the crippling sanctions on his country. "We are the only country which is leading negotiations on paying off (Soviet-era) debts," Ambassador Abbas Khalaf told Echo Moscow radio. "But of course under current conditions of sanctions against Iraq, paying off the debts is impossible," he said. Iraq was a Soviet benefactor that incurred nearly eight billion dollars in debts, and still sees Moscow as a key ally amid threats from Washington of a possible military assault aimed at unseating...