We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has said that the US will “always be a triple-A country despite what rating agencies say”.
The president has made his first public comments since the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s lowered the US government’s credit rating on Friday.
The agency said it wasn’t happy with the plan Congress came up with earlier in the week to reduce the country’s debt.
Obama said:
We didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that the gridlock in Washington over the last several months has not been constructive.
He said that the government knows what to do to solve the country’s economic problems, and he renewed a plea to Congress to take action in September to help create jobs and cushion Americans from a still weak economy.
Obama called the action by Standard and Poor’s a “warning” and called for an extension to payroll tax cuts as soon as possible “so that workers have money in their paychecks next year”.
As the president was speaking the Dow Jones was falling. It was down 394 when he started speaking, and went as low as 500 points down. At the time of writing was down 446.
Earlier US stock markets were in virtual freefall in the wake of the downgrade, while demand for bonds surged as investors moved to dump shares.
The ECB’s decision to buy Spanish and Italian bonds did bring some stability to the bond markets, however the FTSE closed down 3.4 per cent, its lowest closed since July 2010, according to the BBC. Frankfurt was down more than 5 per cent and Paris closed down 4.4 per cent.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Totally peeded of with putting it forward and back. Why can’t we just leave it forward so we still have brighter evenings where I can get things done in daylight after finishing work. Can’t do nothing in the darkness!!
@Brian Kelly: be dark at nearly 10 in the morning if they are left.
@Brian Kelly: what time do you finish work that it would still be bright?
@Brian Kelly: because the sunrise would be close to 10 am in mid winter with no advantage a night time.
Just means the kids will have us up at 5am instead of 6am
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: those were the days, now we have to wake them up
@Tom kenny: its a lot better!
@Derek Moran: jaysus, it’s mighty
I’ve 4 waines under 6yrs that will remind me
We will be going back an hour a day when Sinn Feinn in power .
Yawn !
And the last 100 years of FG/FF ?
@Karl: yep you will be tired of going back to been the poor of Europe with these gombeens
Yep because it’s all been rosey under the administrations in power… SF might not be the cure and I don’t think protest votes help anyone but the threat of them should get FF/FG to get their $h!t together.
I see the former housing minister is creaming €450 a day as an election observer wonder how he got that job?
@Dave Byrne: do you know how hard these guys work? Wait a minute, politicians, not those guys.
@Dave Byrne: as bad as FF and FG are Sinn Feinn are the bottom of the barrel everyone knows that .
Obviously not David, because they topped the red sea poll this week, just maybe (just maybe) you are slightly prejudice and need to vent a little
You will lose an hour of your life listening to people reminding you to put them back..
Excellent . Totally forgot. As I tuck into he for work in the morning . What a lil surprise.
@slfc21: bed*
I’m alright Jack. Have me fux capacitor fired up and ready to go.
This is 2021 – a smartphone never forgets! :-)
If you work nights do you gain or lose an hours pay??
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say