TEL AVIV, March 7 – The Israeli government’s revenue from taxes totalled 14.55 billion shekels in February, up a real 4.2 percent from February 2009, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday. In the first two months of 2010 tax revenue jumped 10.6 per Israel tax revenue up 4.2 percent in February

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Israel tax revenue up 4.2 percent in February

      Here’s the latest story on the economic truth from behind the Great Wall. As you might expect, it tends to be at odds with the official party line. From Bloomberg entitled: China’s Hidden Debt Risks 2012 Crisis, Northwestern’s Shih Says “China’s hidden borrowing may push government debt to 96 percent of gross domestic product next year, increasing the risk of a financial crisis in the world’s third-biggest economy, Professor Victor Shih said. “The worst case is a pretty large-scale financial crisis around 2012,” said Shih, a political economist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who spent months researching borrowing transactions by about 8,000 local-government entities. “The slowdown would last at least two years and maybe longer,” the author of the book “Factions and Finance in China” said in a phone interview March 1. Surging borrowing by local-government entities, uncounted in official estimates of China’s debt-to-GDP ratio, is the key reason for Shih’s concern. Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff said Feb. 23 that a debt-fueled bubble in China may trigger a regional recession within a decade, while hedge-fund manager James Chanos has predicted a Chinese slump after excessive property investment. By Shih’s count, China’s debt may reach 39.838 trillion yuan ($5.8 trillion) next year. His forecast for debt-to-GDP compares with an International Monetary Fund estimate for China of 22 percent this year, which excludes local-government liabilities. The IMF sees Spain at 69.6 percent, the U.S. at 94 percent, Greece at 115 percent and Japan at 227 percent. Chinese officials allowed lending to explode from late 2008 to fight off the effects of the global financial crisis. In 2009, new loans rose to a record 9.59 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion). In the fourth quarter of 2009, the Chinese economy grew 10.7 percent from a year earlier. The economy faces “a slow grinding down of all this debt and there’s no easy way out,” Beijing-based Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University, said in a Feb. 24 interview.” Is is just me or does it seem like everything is going to slam into the fan in 2012? Related Articles: The China Bubble Debate Chanos: The “cracking of state and local municipalities is coming” Welcome to Capitalism, Comrades Chanos on China To learn more about Wealth Daily click here Advertisement We’ll Give You 6 Months Risk-Free of This First-of-Its-Kind Service… We’ve never offered a trading service like this before. In fact we’re not sure anyone has. This is our first ever “beginners” options advisory. And the great part is – you earn while you learn! Industry superstar Ian Cooper will guide you every step of the way as you learn to trade these “everything-proof” investments – but he’ll also send you

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China’s 2012 Crisis

FTI Consulting Inc.’s ( FCN ) fourth quarter operating earnings of 71 cents per share fell marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 73 cents, but were significantly higher than the 56 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Net income increased 21.3% year-over-year to $36.6 million. Non-GAAP EBITDA was $80.8 million or 23.6% of revenues, compared to $70.6 million or 21.9% of revenues in the prior-year quarter. Results benefited primarily from a disciplined expense management and strong restructuring activities coupled by improvement in the litigation driven activities that drove M&A transactions. However, declining revenues from Technology and Strategic Communication segments hampered growth. FTI Consulting’s total revenue increased 6.2% year-over-year to $342.9 million. Quarterly revenue by business segments are as follows: Corporate Finance/Restructuring revenues increased 16.5% to $124.9 million from $107.3 million in the prior-year quarter on robust demand that drove higher chargeable hours and billing rates. The segment continued to be active in restructuring assignments in a broad range of industries being impacted by the global recession, including financial services, automotive, utility/energy, media and telecommunications. Strong contributions from its global expansion into non-U.S. markets such as the Canada and Latin America also enhanced growth. Forensic and Litigation Consulting revenues increased 5.5% to $61.8 million, compared to $58.6 million in the prior-year period. While intellectual property and domain expertise industry practices were strong due to several large financial fraud investigations, the levels of more routine commercial litigation and investigations remained soft on …

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FTI Consulting Misses Estimate – Analyst Blog

Filed under: Newsletters , Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) , Stocks to Buy “It’s time for income investors to come back to what’s historically been a mainstay of diversified portfolios: big pharmaceutical companies. We’re adding one of the sector’s most durable members to the Income Portfolio, Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ),” says Roger Conrad . In Personal Finance newsletter, he explains, “The stock has been a lackluster performer since the 1990s, when it was last a Portfolio recommendation. The company’s underlying business, however, has become ever-more valuable. Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Time to Buy Pharma Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Time to Buy Pharma originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Time to Buy Pharma

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) — Greece replaced its debt management chief with a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker, as declines in the country’s bonds roil European markets. Petros Christodoulou took over from Spyros Papanicolaou as head of the Athens-based Public Debt Management Agency, the Finance Ministry said yesterday in an e-mail. Christodoulou held positions in

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Greece Hires Former Goldman Banker as Debt Chief

BERLIN, Feb 20 – The countries using the € currency will together provide aid worth between 20 billion and 25 billion euros for Greece, according to Germany’s Finance Ministry, a magazine reported on Saturday. Citing ‘initial considerations’ by th Up to 25 bln euros in aid mooted for Greece-report

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Up to 25 bln euros in aid mooted for Greece-report

Filed under: Good news , Products and Services , Industry , Consumer Experience , Economic Data , Personal Finance , Headline News , Housing , Federal Reserve The numbers are looking good for January: both US home construction and industrial production rose. Here are the stats: The Commerce Department reported that housing starts climbed 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted 591,000 annual rate. Housing starts and apartment construction were both up in January. Apartment construction rose 9.2% to 107,000 Continue reading Housing Starts and Industrial Production Up In January Housing Starts and Industrial Production Up In January originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

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Housing Starts and Industrial Production Up In January

Greece’s Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou wants other eurozone nations to release a detailed plan of how they will bail-out his country.Mr Papaconstantinou said such a move was necessary to ease market fears that Greece could default on its Greece calls for aid plan details

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Greece calls for aid plan details

European offshore centres are seeking ways to ward off relentless foreign pressure on bank secrecy that is threatening their role as financial hubs, but appeared after talks in Luxembourg to lack a concrete strategy. Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rud Offshore centres mull bank secrecy

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Offshore centres mull bank secrecy

MANAMA, Feb 14 – Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House posted on Sunday a $607 million fourth-quarter loss as the bank cleaned the legacy of a regional real estate crash from its books as expected. The Islamic investment house posted a full-year net loss Bahrains GFH posts $607 mln loss in Q4

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Bahrains GFH posts $607 mln loss in Q4

MANAMA, Feb 14 – Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House recorded a $728 million net loss in 2009, compared to a $292 million net profit in the previous year, a company statement said on Sunday. The Islamic investment house said operating loss amounted t Bahrains Gulf Finance House 09 loss $728 mln

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Bahrains Gulf Finance House 09 loss $728 mln

TOKYO, Feb 14 – The Japanese government will start discussing an overhaul of the tax system, including the consumption tax, in March, Finance Minister Naoto Kan said on Sunday. ‘After the budget passes , I want the government’s tax panel to start Japans Kan Want consumption tax debate from March

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Japans Kan Want consumption tax debate from March