Миловидов В.А. Английский разговорный язык. Практическое пособие по развитию устной речи
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«We are stuck with this interventionist system, where any day of the week short-term measures
can be introduced, so that one day something is profitable and the next it isn't. Who can invest
or think ahead in such an unpredictable country?» said Luciano Miguens, the president of the
most traditional farming group, the Argentine Rural Society, which did not join the earlier strike.
Eduardo Buzzi, the leader of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, which protects the interests of
smaller farmers, worries that government policy is damaging competitiveness abroad. «The
government needs to ensure that national production is stable and predictable. At the moment
they are not doing the right thing to be a trust – worthy supplier of a country like Germany, for
example,» he says.
While farmers acknowledge that high international commodity prices should be a boon to
agriculture, a cornerstone of the Argentine economy, they complain that the government is
preventing them from taking advantage.
Furthermore, they say, measures such as the ban on beef exports have been ineffectual in
preventing inflation. Although the price of livestock fell by about 30 per cent following the ban,
prices in supermarkets fell by only 8 per cent. Such policies have merely resulted in a transfer of
wealth away from producers of over $260m (197m, i132m) this year, according to Mr Miguens.
«I don't know if it's just that they don't want to under-stand the issues or that they really don't
understand,» he says.
Farmers say the basic solution is to increase production, which has stagnated in recent years
despite rising demand both at home and abroad. «Ever since it was elected, this government
has completely failed to establish a plan for something as fundamental to our economy as beef
or grains,» says Mr Buzzi.
Until production increases, farmers say there will continue to be pressure on prices. As
agricultural produce has such a heavy weighting in the basket of goods used to track prices, this
complicates the government's task of controlling inflation, one of its highest priorities. Thanks to
its determined but controversial implementation of price controls this year, inflation looks set to
fall to about 10 per cent for 2006, down from 12.3 per cent in 2005.
One representative of the farming sector involved in negotiations fears that differences in the
government are complicating matters, with the economy minister, Felisa Miceli, pitted against
the powerful secretary for internal commerce, Guillermo Moreno, who is responsible for
enforcing price controls.
«Moreno is a fundamentalist. Bin Laden would be easier to negotiate with,» said the negotiator,
who preferred to remain anonymous.
«Miceli understands that if there's no investment, inflation won't go away, but Moreno doesn't –
the problem is who will win the tug of war. Moreno seems to think he can change the law of
gravity.»
By Benedict Mander in Buenos Aires
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Bush Urged to Break US Oil Dependence
The Bush administration should act decisively to break America's dependence on oil, said a
group of leading US business executives and senior military officers in a report presented on
Wednesday to the White House and Congress.
The bipartisan group, which includes the chief executives of Fedex, UPS, Dow Chemicals and
some of America's best known retired generals, urged Washington to recognise that «pure
market economics will never solve the problem» of US oil dependency.
The report poured cold water on the Bush administration's goal of reducing America's
dependence on foreign oil, rather than on oil in general. It urged Mr Bush and the new
Democrat-controlled Congress to set up a plan to halve the American economy's oil-intensity by
2030.
George W. Bush has repeatedly identified «energy independence» and immigration reform as
two of the issues most likely to attract bipartisan support following the Republican loss of control
of Capitol Hill in mid-term elections last month.
«Events affecting supply or demand anywhere will affect consumers everywhere,» said the
report, brought out by the Energy Security Leadership Council, a think tank. "Exposure to price
shocks is a function of how much oil a nation consumes and is not significantly affected by the
ratio of «domestic oil» to so-called «foreign oil.»
The report also warned Mr Bush, who is expected to announce new energy independence
measures in his annual State of the Union address to Congress next month, that America's oil
dependence makes it acutely vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
America's transport system is 97 per cent dependent on oil. More than 90 per cent of world oil
supply is controlled by foreign governments. «America must address this critical weakness,»
said P.X. Kelley, a retired Marine Corps general. «An oil supply interruption cannot be
reasonably dismissed as improbable.»
However, there is deep-seated scepticism about the willingness of the Bush administration,
which has yet to endorse the theory of global warming, to take the tough steps most energy
experts say are necessary to reduce America's dependence on oil.
Last January Mr Bush declared that America was «addicted to oil». But Mr Bush's
announcement was not followed by any significant change in energy strategy. «There is very
little reason to believe that the White House will take the tough measures necessary to make
this happen,» said a Washington-based energy lobbyist. «There is no appetite, say, to impose a
carbon tax or for putting a floor under the price of oil that would incentivise investors to put their
money into alternative energy.»
However, the US administration wants to step up cooperation with China on energy efficiency
and the use of alternative fuels. Energy and the environment will be among the topics
addressed in Friday's final session of the US – China strategic economic dialogue involving top
officials meeting in Beijing.
The dialogue is the brainchild of Hank Paulson, US Treasury Secretary, who has a strong track
record as an environmentalist and is treated with suspicion by some US conservatives as a
result. Lack of binding targets for China and other big emerging market countries such as India
to limit their greenhouse gas emissions was one of America's principal reasons for refusing to
ratify the Kyoto accord.
By Carola Hoyos in London, Edward Luce in Washington and Krishna Guha in Beijing
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UK Earnings Rise More than Expected
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell unexpectedly last month and average
earnings rose by more than forecast, an official report showed on Wednesday.
The data lend support to the majority view held within the Bank of England's monetary policy
committee that despite net immigration, the labour market remains reason – ably tight and this
could lead to burgeoning wage inflation.
The Office for National Statistics said the claimant count dropped by 5,700 in November, the
biggest fall since January 2005. The reading for October, which had originally shown a rise of
1,200, was revised to a decline of 3,600.
Average earnings including bonuses climbed by 4.1 per cent in the three months to October, up
0.2 per cent on the previous reading. Excluding bonuses, average earnings were up by 3.8 per
cent.
Unemployment in the three months to October, as calculated by the International Labour
Organisation, fell by 7,000 to 1.695m, leaving an unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent.
The number of people in employment over the same period climbed by 41,000 to 29m.
The claimant count and wage data painted the picture of a labour market in somewhat ruder
health than many analysts had expected, and sterling perked up on the news.
Richard Snook at the Centre for Economics and Business Research said: «These signs point to
a tighter UK labour market than analysts had expected; the effect of which will be to reinforce
the upward pressures on prices that has seen inflation rise to the highest level in nearly a
decade.»
By Jamie Chisholm, Economics Reporter
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Bank's Inflation Measure at Record High
The Bank of England's target measure of inflation jumped to a record high last month as the
decline in transport costs slowed and the cost of running a home rose.
The pound gained ground against other significant currencies as the City reasoned that
stronger-than-expected prices data increased the likelihood of a rise in interest rates early next
year.
The Office for National Statistics said that in the year to November, the consumer price index
climbed by 2.7 per cent, up from a 2.4 per cent rise the previous month, the fastest pace of
increase since January 1997. This is the seventh successive month that the CPI has been
above the Bank's target of 2 per cent.
Although the measure had been projected to climb higher towards the end of 2006, Paul Dales
at Capital Economics warned that, despite recent softer news on economic activity, the inflation
report could «ensure that the MPC remains in tightening mode going into the new year.»
Mervyn King, Bank governor, has made it clear that with judgments about economic prospects
difficult, greater importance will be placed on «developments in costs, pay and prices.»
The concerns that higher headline price rises could bolster consumers' inflation expectations
were also touched upon this week by Paul Tucker, the Bank's director for markets.
In a speech, Mr Tucker said he voted for an increase in interest rates at the MPC's November
meeting because he wanted to head off inflationary wage demands and send a message that
the Bank was willing to act to contain prices.
However, according to a survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG,
the professional services group, the rate of pay inflation for permanent jobs is running at the
highest level for almost six years and at a 22-month high for temporary work.
The study said competition for talent against a background of rising demand for staff was
pushing up wage bills. A series of recent high-profile private sector pay settlements, such as the
annual rises of at least 4 per cent won by thousands of workers at Ford, Rolls-Royce and
National Air Traffic Services, have suggested that annual wage demands increasingly are linked
to the increase in the retail price index.
The RPI, which includes interest payments on mortgages, climbed in the 12 months to
November by 3.9 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent in October and the highest reading since May
1998, said the ONS.
The main cause of acceleration in the CPI was the cost of transport, particularly petrol, where
prices fell more slowly than for the comparable period last year.
Upward momentum was provided by increases in utility bills, particularly gas prices, and slower
falls in the prices of electronic equipment.
Core inflation, a measure that excludes volatile items such as alcohol, tobacco, food and
energy, climbed from 1.4 per cent in October to 1.6 per cent in November.
By Jamie Chisholm and Andrew Taylor
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