Word: grim
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...This grim outlook presents some particularly tricky challenges to those in charge. In previous downturns, such as the early 1990s slump, governments typically ramped up state spending in order to offset the drop in business activity. But this time, the gigantic cost of bank bailouts will leave national treasuries with little room for maneuver. Indeed, the bailout plans - under which stricken banks will receive direct injections of taxpayer money to strengthen their capital base, while governments provide guarantees aimed at getting banks to lend to one another again - may well throw government finances seriously out of kilter...
Meanwhile, the outlook for the entire industry remains grim. Show rooms across the country are empty. Furthermore, in spite of Monday's huge upturn on Wall Street, GMAC, the finance company owned jointly by GM and Cerberus, did not loosen its strictures on credit, announcing it would not underwrite loans for any customer who did not have a credit score of at least 700, effectively shutting out the majority of buyers. Said GMAC spokeswoman Sue Mallino: "The company currently expects these actions to remain in place until the credit markets stabilize and accessibility improves...
...cannot recognize letters and read words, according to an annual survey by Pratham, a Mumbai-based NGO that tracks children's literacy across India in order to assess the efficiency of rural and government school education. Though Pratham's 2007 figures show an improvement, the figures are still grim - and don't bode well for a nation, half of whose one billion inhabitants are under...
...spoke, the future for British banking was looking grim. Behemoths such as HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland group had seen their shares fall by 39% and 42% respectively on Tuesday, continuing a trend set at the beginning of the week as the FTSE 100 racked up its biggest fall in 21 years. Last month the government was forced to nationalize the mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley, and earlier this year it took over another debt-ridden bank, Northern Rock, guaranteeing the deposits of retail customers. Britain's protection scheme for private-sector banks guarantees deposits only...
...McCain will arrive on the campus of Belmont University facing a grim reality. He is behind in the polls nationally and in almost every state whose electoral votes will determine the outcome of his contest with Democratic nominee Barack Obama. The roller-coaster ride that has been McCain's presidential campaign has come to rest in a very bad place, with a candidate who has been angry and sarcastic on the trail, a running mate who is best known for being late-night comedy fodder, a dearth of momentum and, worst of all, an economic crisis that has pulverized Republican...