Word: baumohl
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...next week with an empty briefcase. That's why he cut a deal with his political opponents Friday over stalled banking reform legislation -- a deadlock that had exasperated Washington. "This appears to be an important step, but they still have a major chasm to cross," says TIME reporter Bernard Baumohl. "At least now Obuchi has some news for President Clinton. It would have been terribly embarrassing for him to come to Washington with no plan to reform his country's banking sector, which many see as a crucial step to overcoming the Asian crisis...
...banks fail have been met by making assistance to the stricken Long Term Credit Bank -- one of the country's largest -- conditional on effectively declaring it bankrupt. "Compromise between Obuchi and the opposition is the first good sign that they're moving toward resolving the banking crisis," says Baumohl. "But with Japan's banks holding as much as $1 trillion in bad loans, there's a lot more to be done...
...Commerce Department reported Tuesday that retail sales rose a minuscule 0.2 percent in August -- a sign that consumer spending, the main underpinning of the U.S. economy's continued strength amid a world of troubles, is slowing down. "The increase barely kept up with inflation," says TIME business reporter Bernard Baumohl. "Clearly, consumers are beginning to pare back their spending...
...reason, as usual, is fear. "Because of the markets, people have felt very wealthy the past several years," Baumohl says. "Now they're getting worried." And the funny thing about consumers is that when they start to fear a recession -- after, say, watching their stock portfolios grow sickly since July -- they end up creating one. "If people do indeed cut sharply back on spending, it could accelerate any downturn the U.S. has, in both speed and severity," says Baumohl. "Consumer spending accounts for two thirds of all U.S. economic activity." So be warned: If the recession comes, you'll have...
...kick-start stalled growth abroad, and warned that U.S. prosperity was threatened by Congress's decision to reject new IMF funding. Unfortunately, economic intervention requires a political will that may be lacking among the major players. "The crisis demands a response on the scale of the Marshall Plan," says Baumohl. "But Japan is paralyzed, Europe is cautious and Clinton's presidency is weakened. They're unlikely to muster the political support for the spending required by such a plan." With the effects of the global downturn looming just over the U.S. horizon, Clinton's '92 campaign mantra sounds more current...