Title:
Public Debt, Protests Made Economic News in 2011
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Today we look back at some of the top stories of
twenty-eleven. In Europe, the debt crisis that
started in two thousand ten in Greece and Ireland
spread to other countries. Portugal needed a
financial rescue, and Italy needed a new prime
minister. Silvio Berlusconi lost his job over
Italy's debt problems. Former European Union
official Mario Monti replaced him in
November.Pressures on Europe's financial system
called into question the future of the euro.
European finance officials called for greater
cooperation and new rules. World Bank President
Robert Zoellick said Europe would have to find its
own answers to its debt problems. "Europe has to
rescue Europe, OK? And it's very important. If
there's any message when I'm asked, "Well, what can
the U.S. do and what can China do?" The best thing
they can do is clean up their act at home, be a
source of growth at home."Mr. Zoellick also said it
was important for other big economies to deal with
their own budget imbalances. "The downgrade of
America from triple A didn't affect the finances
today, but it may be one of those events people look
back on ten years from now and say, 'Did they get
the warning?'" In August, a credit rating agency cut
the United States' credit rating from the highest
level, triple A, to double A-plus. Also in August,
Steve Jobs stepped down as chief at Apple because of
his failing health. He died of cancer in October at
the age of fifty-six. He brought the world the iPod,
iPhone and iPad, and helped make Apple into one of
the world's most valuable companies. Twenty-eleven
will be remembered as a year of protests.
Revolutions for political freedom swept North Africa
and the Middle East in the Arab Spring. But protests
over budget cuts and jobs were heard around the
world. In the United States, activists in hundreds
of cities protested economic inequality and
joblessness. Protesters were angry that banks got
rescued with taxpayers' money during the financial
crisis nearly four years ago. But many Americans
continue to face hardship. Anger over government
budget cuts led to protests in Greece, Britain and
elsewhere. And in southeastern China, villagers in
Wukan rebelled against local officials they accused
of illegally taking land. For VOA Special English,
I'm Alex Villarreal. If your New Year's resolution
is to learn English, we can help. Find out more at
voaspecialenglish.com and on Facebook, Twitter and
iTunes at VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
