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WASHINGTON — Bouncing back from months of retrenchment, America’s consumers stepped up their spending by a solid 2.4% in January, the sharpest increase in seven months and a sign that the economy may be poised to sustain a recovery from the pandemic recession. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department also showed that personal incomes, which provide the fuel for spending, jumped 10% last month, the biggest gain in nine months, boosted by cash payments that most Americans received from the government. The January spending increase followed two straight monthly spending drops that had raised concerns that consumers, who power most of the economy, were hunkered down, too anxious to travel, shop and spend. Last month’s sharp gain suggests that many people are growing more confident about spending, especially after receiving $600 checks that went to most adults last month in a federal economic aid package. “The economy weakened late last year as the fiscal support faded and the … [Read more...] about U.S. consumers rebound to boost spending 2.4% as income jumps

China’s economic recovery is notable, some analysts say, after suffering serious pandemic-driven setbacks for the majority of last year. By most accounts, China’s economic numbers at the start of its lunar new year in early February was more significant than those put out by governments in other developed countries. “China’s policy to control the pandemic was very strict. Also, the capillarity of the Communist Party made the implementation of these strict measures easier than in other parts of the world,” Lourdes Casanova, director of Cornell’s Emerging Markets Institute, told VOA. The situation has been different in many democratic countries that found it difficult to use harsh measures to control the spread of the disease and impose lockdown as a tool to enforce social distancing. China’s gross domestic product expanded by 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The economy grew 2.3% in 2020, according to Chinese government data. The turnaround has surprised economists because … [Read more...] about China Posts Impressive Economic Recovery, but Can Growth Continue?

The newest pledges by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions are falling far short of what’s needed to limit global warming to what the Paris climate accord seeks, a new United Nations report finds. So the U.N.’s climate chief is telling nations to go back and try harder. Most countries — especially top carbon polluters China, United States and India — missed the Dec. 31 deadline for submitting official emission-cutting targets for November’s climate negotiations in Scotland. Friday’s report provides an incomplete snapshot of the world’s efforts: The world’s pledges so far are only enough to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to less than 1% below 2010 levels by 2030. The world has to cut carbon pollution 45% below 2010 levels to achieve the more stringent official Paris goal of limiting future warming to another half a degree (0.3 degrees Celsius) from now, U.N. officials said. “We are very, very far from where we need to be,” U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa … [Read more...] about UN: Carbon-cutting pledges by countries nowhere near enough

ORLANDO, Florida — American Conservative Union (ACU) chairman Matt Schlapp told Breitbart News exclusively that his organization’s decision to move its landmark conservative gathering, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), to Florida this year may be a more permanent relocation after all. CPAC begins Friday in Orlando, Florida, and for the first time in the historic conference’s decades-long history, it will not be in Washington, DC, or the D.C. area. Presidents from Ronald Reagan through Donald Trump and conservative luminaries of all stripes from senators to governors to U.S. House members to cabinet members and more have graced the stages of CPAC over the decades many times, so the move — due to the coronavirus pandemic — is a big one. The fact that it may be permanent — a huge loss for the D.C. area revenue-wise as the conference regularly brings in tens of thousands of travelers for several days — is even bigger as just days from now, former President Donald … [Read more...] about Exclusive— CPAC Sunshine Edition: ACU Chair Matt Schlapp Says Mega Conservative Conference Considering Permanent Move to Florida