Visiting a General Motors assembly plant in Michigan, Obama said the trade deal signed this week would support at least 70,000 jobs and bolster the U.S. economy.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, sporting a Detroit Tigers baseball cap, got a standing ovation from auto workers when he offered a “promise” that the accord that some labor leaders have been wary of would not harm U.S. employment.”Rather, it will create more jobs for you and your families and it is going to protect your jobs. And this is the pledge that I give you today,” he said through a translator.Before addressing the crowd on the factory floor, Obama and Lee toured the plant, which was at risk of closing before the White House’s auto industry bailout.They sat in the front seats of a new red Chevrolet Sonic, a sub-compact car made with some parts shipped to the United States from South Korea, which Obama said showed the benefits of close ties with the Asian economy as well as the U.S. car sector’s comeback from its financial crisis.In an apparent jab at Mitt Romney, a leading contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Obama credited the industry’s current strength to his own intervention.”There were a lot of politicians who said it wasn’t worth the time and it wasn’t worth the money. In fact, there are some politicians who still say that. Well, they should come and tell that to the workers here,” the Democratic president said.U.S. taxpayers extended $50 billion to GM and more than $12 billion to Chrysler in bailout and bankruptcy financing in 2009.’THE INVESTMENT PAID OFF‘“Today I can stand here and say that the investment paid off. The hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been saved made it worth it. An American auto industry that is more profitable and competitive than it has been in years made it worth it,” Obama said. “The taxpayers are being repaid.”The entire bailout included loans and working capital for manufacturers, suppliers and financing businesses that underwrite consumer auto purchases.The Treasury Department long ago conceded it would likely write off a portion of the bailout. Its latest estimates show the government will recover more than 80 percent of the money.Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who grew up in Detroit, has said that GM and Chrysler could have been saved without the injection of government funds, drawing criticism from the United Auto Workers union and others.His 2008 op-ed in the New York Times titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” has haunted him on the campaign trail but reflects a sentiment among many Republicans that Obama spent money too readily when he took office, driving up U.S. deficits and swelling the national debt.Michigan is likely to be a closely contested state in the November 2012 presidential election.
A source at the French finance ministry — which is battling to flesh out the bones of a crisis resolution plan with Germany in time for an October 23 European Union summit — said the euro zone was more pressing than anything else on the two-day agenda.”This meeting takes place in a context where the absolute priority for the success of the G20 is to find the elements for the stability of the euro zone,” the source said.With impatience growing over the crisis, and its implications for the rest of the world, finance chiefs from outside the bloc are expected to speak frankly.”This meeting is an important staging point before (a G20 summit in) Cannes and a valuable opportunity to put pressure on the euro zone,” said a non-euro zone G20 delegate.Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty set the tone late on Thursday, telling reporters before leaving Ottawa that euro zone actions were short of what is needed.Unlike in 2009 when the G20 launched a coordinated stimulus to pull the world out of economic crisis, the forum is at risk of division as the rest of the world chafes at Europe’s dithering over a debt crisis that started 18 months ago in Greece, and as Washington and Beijing spar over the yuan.Paris and Berlin are taking time to agree on how to recapitalize banks and while Germany favors a second round of losses for Greek bondholders, Paris is reticent. The two euro heavyweights also differ on the idea of joint bond issuance for the euro zone, with Germany loath to see its debt costs rise.The Franco-German crisis plan is likely to ask banks to accept big losses on their Greek debt and should lay out a system for recapitalizing troubled banks, whose shares have been pounded by fears about Greek exposure.At its core will be an agreement on how to increase the firepower of the EFSF rescue fund, and it should also set out a timeframe for ramping up economic coordination, with closer governance and explicit national laws on balancing budgets.The G20 may refer to the euro crisis in its communique and in closing news conferences on Saturday evening, but little else of substance is likely to be inked in.CHINA MAY OFFER GROWTH, NO YUAN SHIFTThis week’s talks may give the green light to regulators for new rules on banks deemed ‘too big to fail’, including capital surcharges, due to be officially approved in Cannes.Yet any concrete progress on bigger goals such as setting parameters to measure global imbalances and reining in commodity market volatility and speculative capital flows is unlikely to come before a November 3-4 summit in Cannes, where France passes the G20 baton to Mexico.The finance ministry source said that for Cannes France hoped to have two or three measures agreed for countries showing imbalances: consolidation measures for those with high deficits and stimulus measures for those with surpluses.”We are going to try to make some progress and obtain, perhaps not tomorrow or Saturday but by Cannes, a list of measures country by country which corresponds to what is needed to relaunch global economic activity,” he said. “These must be measures which will have an impact on the real economy.”A separate G20 source said after preparatory talks late on Thursday that China would commit in Paris to boost its consumption through a five-year plan, via households and companies as well as infrastructure, as the G20 seeks tough fiscal commitments from the euro zone and the United States.The G20 countries make up 85 percent of global output.An April G20 meeting placed seven large economies under review — the debt-burdened United States, export-rich China, France, Britain, Germany, Japan and India. Officials have said privately the aim was to get Beijing to discuss the yuan, and China’s cooperation is essential to the success of the process.France has dangled the prospect of the yuan entering the basket of currencies making up the IMF’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) in a bid to divert the debate away from its value and onto the criteria of free “usability” required for this.The euro zone crisis has derailed Sarkozy’s hopes of using his G20 presidency to launch a fundamental rethink of the global financial system and its reliance on the U.S. dollar.China and the United States sparred this week over a U.S. Senate bill to press Beijing to raise the yuan’s value, and the issue is likely to create a sideshow at the G20 talks, even if the euro zone crisis pushes it off center stage.”China won’t play a big role at the meeting,” said He Fan, deputy head of the Institute of World Economics & Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences government think tank.”China cannot do much over the European debt crisis. China will not buy European bonds on a large scale. There are not many choices out there. Italy is the biggest bond issuer in Europe, but I doubt China will buy its bonds. The question for China is how to safeguard its investment in Europe,” He said.He added that China could participate in a multilateral framework for rescuing European banks, such as via the IMF.A G20 official told Reuters on his way out of talks on Thursday that China and Japan were both open to lending more funds to the IMF to help with the euro zone crisis.Two other sources said several BRICS countries, notably India, China and Brazil, favored bolstering the IMF’s capital as a way to contribute to a rescue for Greece, but without altering voting rights in the lender.Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega also said this week that extra IMF support may be debated.
The production jumped to 45,686 ounces, of which 40,779
ounces were sold, the Mexico-focused miner said in a statement.Silver production rose 16 percent to 1.4 million ounces, of
which 1.1 million ounces were sold.Revenue for the quarter doubled to $112 million.The company in August offered to buy Northgate Minerals
for C$1.46 billion in a friendly deal that would nearly
double its output and expand its geographic reach.In July, AuRico raised its 2011 production forecast and
lowered cash cost outlook range.The Toronto-based company, which changed its name from
Gammon Gold in May, said it will end the quarter with cash
position of $145 million.Shares of Aurico closed at C$10.39 on Thursday on the
Toronto Stock Exchange.
The spending plan, which is part of an overall $8.2 billion proposed fiscal 2012 budget, relies on $417 million in savings and cuts including the consolidation of police services, the elimination of 776 vacant positions, 500 layoffs, stepped-up collection of money owed, changes in garbage collection, an employee wellness program and reduced public library hours.The budget also counts on $39 million in “modest” revenue growth in the new fiscal year that begins January 1, along with a hike in the hotel tax just in time for Chicago’s hosting of the G8 and NATO summits in 2012.Nonprofit groups, including private schools and some hospitals, would no longer get a break on a host of city services such as free water, under Emanuel’s budget.”To everyone who has not paid their fair share: Ladies and gentlemen — the free ride is over,” the mayor said in his budget address to the city council.Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff who took office in May, made it clear that years of spending exceeding revenue and one-time budget fixes must end.”We can’t kick the can down the road because we’ve run out of road,” he said.The mayor, speaking of Chicago’s “unsustainable” pension obligations, said he will continue to work with state lawmakers on a solution. In the meantime, his budget seeks to end the city’s payment for certain Chicago Public School employees’ pensions, which would be cut in half next year.The budget also targets commuters with higher parking fees to help fund mass transit and other projects to reduce downtown congestion. Residents would get a hike in water and sewer fees to finance a 10-year program to repair and replace aging pipes and infrastructure.The city would also save $50 million from the refinancing of up to $750 million of outstanding general obligation and sales tax revenue bonds later this month.The budget incorporates Emanuel’s plan to phase out a $4 per employee fee paid by about 2,700 businesses with more than 50 workers. The spending plan would also plow $20 million into the city’s rainy day fund.Former Mayor Richard Daley largely relied on one-time measures, like tapping reserve funds to tackle previous budget deficits. But those actions contributed to downgrades of Chicago’s debt ratings last year.Alderman Edward Burke, who chairs the city council’s finance committee, said while he expects aldermen will have input in the spending plan, he predicted it will be passed with “a clear majority.”
