Title:
Recession Easing, but Many Americans Still Afraid to
Spend
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Stock prices took a roller-coaster ride in August --
down one day, up the next. Experts say the situation
is likely to continue until investors feel more sure
about signs of economic recovery.
Some investors worry that Americans are not doing
enough to lift the world's largest economy out of
recession. This is back-to-school season. But the
National Retail Federation says school-related sales
are down from last year. Consumer spending is
seventy percent of the economic activity in the
United States.
But consumer confidence a measure of trust in the
economy -- fell unexpectedly in August. A lot of
people feel uneasy about spending after the longest
recession since World War Two. Many people are
afraid that they could lose their jobs at any time.
Jobs have continued to disappear, though at slower
rates. Record numbers of Americans are in danger of
losing their homes.
And the days of easy credit are gone. The Treasury
Department says lending fell for a fifth month at
banks that received government aid.
Still, some economists say other signs in the
economy show that the recession is over, or will be
soon. Then the question is: how fast or how slow
will the recovery be?
The recession may also be ending in Japan. Japan has
the world's second largest economy. Officials
reported in August that the gross domestic product
grew nine-tenths of one percent between April and
June. It was the first growth in Japan's economy in
fifteen months.
But there are concerns that Japan and the United
States could face a "double-dip" recession. That is
a period of growth followed by another downturn.
Japan held national elections on August thirtieth.
In Europe, reports in August showed a year of
recession easing in Germany, its largest economy,
and in France. Both countries had growth of
three-tenths of one percent between April and June.
That news raised hopes for an early recovery among
the sixteen countries that use the euro.
Still, the chief economist of the International
Monetary Fund says the effects of the world economic
crisis will hurt both supply and demand for years to
come. Olivier Blanchard says even after recovery,
the global economy may not produce as much as it did
before.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
For the latest news, and for transcripts and
podcasts of our reports, go to
voaspecialenglish.com.
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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.
