Tag: Political Economy

Beverly faces nearly $4 million budget shortfall this spring

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BEVERLY — The city is facing a nearly $4 million shortfall in funding the fiscal 2027 operating budget.

That number — $3,921,385, to be exact — was in a report by Beverly’s Financial Forecasting Committee released this month.

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By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer

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December 24, 2025
Report: Mass. cities, towns face ‘historic’ fiscal crisis

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BOSTON — Massachusetts cities and towns are facing a “historic fiscal crisis” amid rising operating costs, lackluster state aid and restraints on property tax increases, according to a new report.

The “Perfect Storm” report, released by the Massachusetts Municipal Association, found that while state government spending has increased by an average of 2.8% per year since 2010 to meet its needs, restraints on local revenue sources – including Proposition 2 1⁄2 – have held city and town spending to just 0.6% per year.

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By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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October 13, 2025
Report: Slips in employer optimism tied to Trump tariffs

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BOSTON — The state’s economy may be on solid footing but employers are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on their bottom lines, according to a new report.

The latest Business Confidence Index, which is compiled by the pro-business group Associated Industries of Massachusetts, shows overall enthusiasm among employers “grew darker” after slipping 1.4 points to 47.5 on a 100-point scale in September.

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By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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October 6, 2025
UN chief backs reform of Security Council, global financial system

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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres backed the reform of the U.N. Security Council and the international financial system to align them with the “realities of today’s world.”

Both the U.N. body and the financial architecture reflect the power relations of 1945 and need to be updated, Guterres told a press conference Sunday on the margins of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, according to Reuters.

“The global financial architecture is outdated, dysfunctional and unfair,” Guterres said. “In the face of the economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has failed to fulfill its core function as a global safety net.”

Guterres made the same point on Saturday, writing in a tweet that it was “time to think seriously about the reform” of the international financial architecture.

The U.N. Security Council came under fire in April when Russia assumed the rotating presidency of the 15-member body despite the fact that 141 countries condemned its aggression on Ukraine. Experts have claimed that Russia’s veto in the Security Council undermines the U.N.’s effectiveness on the international stage.

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Gregorio Sorgi

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May 17, 2023
China’s Xi tightens grip on power, gets unprecedented third term

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday secured an unprecedented third term as general secretary of China’s Communist Party, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The appointment comes after a week-long party congress during which the 69-year-old leader tightened his grip over the country, making him possibly the world’s most powerful individual, according to some analysts. And it paves the way for him to get another five-year term as the country’s president at the annual legislative session in March and to continue his confrontational line with the West.

Beijing has grown increasingly aggressive on both the military and economic fronts while cozying up to a warmongering Russia.

At 69, Xi has has surpassed the informal retirement age of 68 and could be in a position for life-long rule. In 2018, Xi scrapped the presidential two-term limit, allowing him to rule indefinitely.

In a dramatic scene on Saturday during the highly choreographed meeting, former Chinese President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of the Communist party congress, in what was seen by some as a sign of Hu deterring health and by others as a symbolic scene of Xi’s strengthened powers.

Xi also retained his title as head of the military.

He appointed to the party’s Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top governing body, officials who analysts say are his proteges and allies. Among them they mention for example Wang Huning, described as the ideologue who has shaped Xi’s nationalist views; Cai Qi, whose ties with Xi go back over two decades; and Ding Xuexiang, a close Xi aide who often travels with the president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Xi on his third term, the Kremlin said. Putin told the Chinese president that he looked forward to further developing the “comprehensive relationship and strategic alliance between our two states.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning a trip to China next month and is set to be the first Western leader to greet Xi as the newly re-appointed leader. EU leaders at a meeting on Friday discussed the bloc’s line over China.

While Scholz insisted that the EU must remain a beacon of global trade, even with China, others such as outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that many leaders during the discussion stressed that “we must not repeat the fact that we have been indifferent, indulgent, superficial in our relations with Russia.”

And they also stressed that “those that look like business ties … are part of an overall direction of the Chinese system, so they must be treated as such,” Draghi added.

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Jacopo Barigazzi

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October 23, 2022