For Europe’s Economy, a Lost Decade Looms

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Friday, August 17, 2012

For Europe’s Economy, a Lost Decade Looms

By JACK EWING

FRANKFURT — The euro zone is hurtling back into recession, economists declared after official figures this week portrayed a shrinking economy. But by some measures the downturn has been under way for years.

With the exception of Germany, none of Europe’s biggest economies have returned to the level of economic output they had at the beginning of 2008, before the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States spread across the Atlantic, according to calculations by two U.S. economists, Peter Rupert and Thomas F. Cooley.

The figures suggest that Europe is already well into what could become a lost decade — a period of pernicious stagnation and wasted potential that could have lasting effects on ordinary citizens.

Economic growth not realized represents investments in education that were never made, research that was never financed, businesses that failed and careers that ended too early or never got off the ground.

“There are larger implications that people don’t think about,” said Mr. Rupert, a professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “There is a huge decline in human capital.”

Just what marks the beginning and end of a recession is not always easy to define. One common definition is two consecutive quarters of falling output. By that standard, the euro zone is technically not yet in a recession.

Most economists agree, though, that a recession is also defined by other indicators like unemployment, industrial production and investment. The closest thing Europe has to an arbiter on the question is a committee of prominent economists convened by the Center for Economic Policy Research, a research organization in London.

By the committee’s reckoning, the euro zone’s last recession ended after the second quarter of 2009, the point at which the region hit bottom and began to grow again. The economists’ panel, known as the Euro Area Business Cycle Dating Committee, has not yet begun to consider whether the euro zone is in recession again. But few people would argue that Europe, stricken by a self-inflicted debt crisis that began in 2010, has basked in prosperity recently.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Hallmark Cards announces voluntary job cuts - KansasCity.com

Hallmark Cards on Tuesday announced a voluntary job cut program which is expected to eliminate 300 to 400 positions.

The employee buyouts, prompted by disappointing financial results during the recession and slow recovery, are being offered to employees who are least 50 years old and have at least 15 years of vested service with the company.

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Hallmark Cards announces voluntary job cuts - KansasCity.com

Energy Spurs Recovery in Houston

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Energy Spurs a Recovery in Houston Real Estate 

By KRISTINA SHEVORY

HOUSTON — In most cities, companies are holding tight, mothballing office expansions and delaying new hires. But not in Houston.

Powered by a rise in oil prices and a shale exploration boom, Houston is the first major metropolitan region to regain all the jobs it lost in the recession. The region added about 76,000 jobs last year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, and is on pace to pick up tens of thousands more this year.

Oil and gas companies, from the biggest names like Exxon Mobil to the smallest independents, are dusting off plans to expand, relocate or put up new buildings. Last year, 1.8 million square feet of commercial space was vacuumed up, and real estate brokers expect the same or greater this year. “No question, it’s energy,” said Jim Arket, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis in Houston. “That’s been the plus multiplier of Houston.”

The resurgence can be partly tied to the lifting in fall 2010 of the government moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill. The bulk of the gulf’s drilling and profits comes from those offshore waters. Shale drilling has also bolstered balance sheets.

Nexen, a Canadian company, is moving its American headquarters from Plano, Tex., to Houston after it received permits to restart deepwater drilling in the gulf. “Houston is quite clearly the place to be for a deepwater operator,” said Grant Dreger, the vice president for finance and administration at Nexen Petroleum U.S.A. “You have loads of deepwater talent, and it’s home to the majority of our joint venture partners.”