Headwinds Hamper Job Recovery
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Faced with higher payroll taxes and healthcare costs, employers are waiting to see a stronger economic recovery before adding new workers, according to Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America. He talks with Kelsey Hubbard about the health of the labor market and where we'll add jobs in 2011.

Interest Rates Set to Rise as Economy Recovers
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Interest rates will start to rise sooner than expected after official figures showed the economy growing at its fastest rate for a decade, economists have said.

Growth over the past six months reached 2 per cent, the fastest pace of expansion over two consecutive quarters since 2000, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The economy received a further significant boost when Standard & Poor's, the ratings agency, revised its outlook on Britain from negative to stable and confirmed the country's AAA credit rating[.] >>> Andrew Porter and Philip Aldrick | Tuesday, October 26, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Greece reignites Europe debt woes: Europe's debt woes have returned to the fore after Greek premier George Papandreou threw open the door to fresh elections and vowed to liberate the nation from "slavery and surveillance". >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Tuesday, October 26, 2010

We have remarkable recessions and depressions these days. They used to last for years. Now, if we listen to the so-called specialists, they last for a mere few months! It seems like only yesterday that the UK economy was in danger of losing its AAA credit-rating. Now, its superb credit-rating is not in any doubt. Hmm! What is going on here? Surely Osborne's economic remedies cannot have kicked in yet. They have barely been announced. Methinks the people are being manipulated; methinks they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Hype it up, why don't you? – © Mark

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UK Austerity Drive Threatens to Snuff Out Recovery, IMF Warns
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain's fledgling recovery may be nipped in the bud by the savage cuts planned to grapple with the mountain of public debt, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Official figures on Thursay provided the first clear evidence of positive momentum in the economy, but forecasters warned of "headwinds" from planned tax rises and spending cuts to shrink Britain's £155bn budget deficit, and the IMF on Thursday slashed its growth forecasts for the UK.

Manufacturing posted its fastest annual growth in more than 15 years, according to the Office for National Statistics, while economic output in the three months to June was the strongest it has been since the recession struck, the latest monthly estimates from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) showed.

However, NIESR warned of "headwinds [as] fiscal consolidation both in the UK and the euro area restrict growth". "There is clearly a risk that this rate of growth will not be maintained through the rest of this year," the economic forecaster said. >>> Philip Aldrick and Angela Monaghan | Friday, July 09, 2010