Word: evener
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Also reshuffling consumers' debt priorities is the fact that loan-modification programs are making it more likely that consumers will be able to keep their home, even after they have missed some payments. Many banks, too, have cut back on credit-card lending, lowering limits and canceling cards of borrowers who are behind on their payments. Consumers, though, have come to rely on credit cards, especially in the bad economy, to help them make everyday expenditures. So the need to protect those cards has leapfrogged ahead of the desire to stay in a house...
...credit-card regulations, widely known as the CARD Act, could tilt the priorities of borrowers even more toward credit cards. Lenders used to be able to cancel a customer's credit card if they defaulted on their mortgage. Now, under the act, lenders are not allowed to raise the rate or revoke a card unless the cardholder is late in paying that card...
...fated Lisbon agenda, which was adopted with fanfare by E.U. leaders a decade ago with the aim of transforming Europe into "the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy" by 2010. But the bloc fell far short of its goal of overtaking the U.S. and Japan, and even failed to meet its self-imposed economic targets. For example, that plan also called for E.U. research and development spending to increase to 3% of GDP, but only Sweden and Finland currently meet that threshold. (See the top 10 financial collapses...
Washington struggled to persuade the European members of NATO to pull their military weight even in the years when the alliance's purpose was to protect them from a Soviet invasion. Now that NATO is fighting a real war against assorted insurgents far from home in Afghanistan, getting the Europeans to pony up resources is proving to be an even tougher sell - and threatening NATO's very survival. (See pictures of the U.S. Army Reserve...
...Even as NATO nations have won plaudits for sending more troops to Afghanistan, cracks are beginning to show in the alliance's commitment and long-term health. "Right now, the alliance faces very serious, long-term, systemic problems," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week. Budget shortfalls - only five of the 28 members are meeting the alliance's goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense - are hurting the war effort. The resulting dearth of helicopters, cargo planes and spy aircraft is "directly impacting operations in Afghanistan," Gates said...