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China's Widening Trade Surplus Adds to Yuan Pressure

bloomberg.com — China’s trade surplus reached an 18- month high as exports rose to a record and import gains slowed, adding pressure on officials to allow faster appreciation of the yuan and signaling a diminished contribution to global growth.

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China’s Trade Surplus Climbs to $28.7 Billion

nytimes.com — China’s trade surplus surged last month to its highest level in a year and a half, while real estate prices leveled off, according to government data released Tuesday that pointed to possible trade frictions with the United States and slightly slower economic growth in China.

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Fed Leaders Meet as U.S. Economic Recovery Loses Steam

washingtonpost.com — As Federal Reserve policymakers meet Tuesday, they will face the challenge of a faltering economic recovery without a clear consensus on what, if anything the central bank should do about it.

Fed leaders still think that the recovery is on track, though the pace of growth has slowed and the risks of a dip back into recession have risen since their last policymaking meeting in late June.

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Fed Will Meet With Concerns on Deflation Rising

nytimes.com — The Federal Reserve will meet on Tuesday faced with a pivotal decision about whether to abandon its presumption that the economy is gradually picking up steam and begin to consider new steps to keep the recovery from sputtering out.

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States Test Whether Public Pension Benefits Given Can Be Taken Away

stateline.org — Lawmakers in Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota voted earlier this year to limit cost-of-living increases they previously had promised to thousands of current and future retirees, who courts historically have protected from benefit reductions. Not surprisingly, retirees in each state have filed lawsuits asking judges to restore their annual benefit increases to what they were previously.

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Gov. Daniels Criticizes State Aid Package He Pushed Back In February

huffingtonpost.com — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.) joined a chorus of Republicans on Sunday when he argued that the Medicaid and teacher funding set to pass in Congress this week is excessive and does not stimulate the economy.

"It amounts at this point in time to asking the citizens of responsible states like ours to subsidize those places who have been more reckless," he told "Fox News Sunday". "It's probably not going to help the economy."

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U.S. House Set to Pass State Aid as Lawmakers Return From Break

bloomberg.com — U.S. House members are returning to Washington from summer recess to act on a $26 billion plan to aid cash-strapped state governments amid concerns the economy is stalling as November’s congressional elections approach.

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House Expected to Approve $26 Billion in Aid to States

mcclatchydc.com — The House of Representatives plans Tuesday to approve funding that would save an estimated 161,000 teachers' jobs nationwide and pump billions of dollars into depleted state treasuries to help pay health benefits for the poor. The Senate approved the measure last week, so House approval would clear the measure for President Barack Obama to sign into law.

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AIG Faces Fed Scrutiny as Buffett's Bets Spared by Dodd Law

bloomberg.com — American International Group Inc. said controls on Wall Street signed into law by President Barack Obama may force the insurer to raise capital, undergo stress tests and limit bets on private equity and hedge funds.

The Dodd-Frank Act could “materially and adversely affect AIG’s businesses” and hurt cash flows and credit ratings, the New York-based firm said Aug. 6 in a filing. The Federal Reserve may be the bailed-out insurer’s regulator if a new risk watchdog determines that an AIG failure could threaten U.S. economic stability, the firm said.

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Crash of 2015 Won't Wait for Regulators to Rein in Wall Street

bloomberg.com — The financial system experiences a crisis “every five to seven years,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January. By that measure, the next crash could come by 2015 -- years before new banking reforms are in place.

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