Big Island bans genetically modified taro

Big Island bans genetically modified taro

Leaders of Hawaii's largest island have made it illegal to grow genetically modified taro and coffee. The county council on the island of Hawaii, commonly called the Big Island, Friday unanimously voted in favor of the ban in support of organic farmers who said they fear pollen from genetically modified crops could contaminate organic crops and destroy their livelihoods.

It is the state's first such ban, The Honolulu Advertiser reported Saturday. "With the passing of this bill, you stand up and protect the people," said Lauren Riley-Payne, 16, whose family runs an organic farm in Kapoho. Organic growers cited examples of organic papaya farms contaminated by pollen from papaya genetically modified to make it resistant to ringspot virus, the Advertiser reported.

Opponents of the ban, who said the virus would have destroyed the papaya industry, said the taro industry could face a similar threat, in which case, only genetically modified taro could save farmers.

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Farmers need our support

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Dennis Shanahan | November 21, 2008
Article from: The Australian

WHEN Kevin Rudd made Tony Burke - a trained lawyer, former NSW MP and union organiser for the shoppies - his first Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, there were some raised eyebrows. Was Burke, who played a key role in Rudd's elevation to the leadership of the Labor Party, being shunted to the sidelines for having offended the new Prime Minister? What did he know about farming? And, given the Government's promises on climate change, did this mean Burke had been designated to take flak from unhappy farmers?

When the federal Opposition decided to expose Burke's paucity of experience in country matters and asked the minister in parliament what he knew, he responded: "Not much."

There was no point in denying the obvious or pretending a Christmas holiday agricultural boning-up would suffice. Besides, Burke turned his apparent weakness into a strength and declared his intention to spend as much time as possible in rural Australia, listening to farmers. Since then he has indeed travelled extensively and received positive notices for his handling of the fallout from the equine flu outbreak. One thing Burke has been doing more quietly and just as deliberately is developing the other end of the global warming equation: food security and sustainable agriculture. Within the past few days, disparate and slow-moving issues have started to coalesce and expose conflicts created by competing policies, legislation and regulations aimed at fighting global warming.

Despite the focus on the effects of the proposed emissions trading scheme on energy-intensive industries and domestic electricity users, farmers are already experiencing real and long-term effects. Bungled laws on tax deductions for Pitt Street and Collins Street farmers to use forest plantations for carbon emissions offsets are alienating prime agricultural land; buying back water rights is encouraging farmers to stop production; and not encouraging water savings as well as superstitious opposition to genetically modified crops and food are holding back productivity.

Part of the reason these problems are getting less attention is that they come perilously close to giving the impression that they are against the prevailing orthodoxy. Also, they do not involve lofty rhetoric. Instead, these problems are being addressed by a rainbow alliance of Labor, Liberal, National and Greens MPs who, for a variety of reasons, are willing to defend dirt-grubbing, water-guzzling farmers who grow cabbages and carrots. It is much easier for industry, city dwellers and visionaries to grab attention over job losses, drinking water or appeals to our higher nature than it is for the dispersed victims of creeping change.

Yesterday, Environment Minister Peter Garrett set out the ethical imperatives he saw for a carbon pollution reduction scheme to help fight global warming. "Climate change is in so many respects the ultimate environmental issue, directly illustrating the precautionary principle, asking us to come to terms with intergenerational equity and genuine sustainability," Garrett said, talking about the ethical dimension. Burke's work has had more to do with Garrett's secondary point: genuine sustainability. Just as energy security - the ability to guarantee resources and energy supplies to allow economic growth - is the other side of limiting greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, food security is the other side of environmental regulations limiting land and water use.

Right now, food security - the ability to be able to supply food not only for ourselves but also for countries that can't produce enough - is a bigger ethical issue than addressing greenhouse gas emissions because of its immediacy. Ironically, famine is listed as one of the side effects of climate change. And, unlike the impact of an emissions trading scheme on energy-intensive industries, which won't be felt until 2010, there is legislation, regulations and government policies that are having a direct and immediate effect on food production in Australia. Popular opposition to genetically modified crops and food, tax breaks for forests as carbon sinks and billions being spent on buying back farmers' water rights are threatening Australia's agricultural output. Throw in animal rights' groups campaigns against a slew of animal husbandry practices - from sheep mulesing and live exports to battery pigs and hens - and Australia's farmers, beaten into the dust by drought and environmental demands, can be excused for feeling desperate and despairing.

In Rome for a Food and Agriculture Organisation meeting, Burke has started to go to bat for genetically modified food and crops. Arguing that direct assistance is essential to stave off hunger and famine, Burke also says it has limits and "a longer-term solution means that we must also invest in capacity-building to provide countries with the means to lift themselves out of poverty and to come closer to feeding their own populations".

"Climate change presents a significant risk to the sustainability of our agricultural production, and this has implications for national and international food supplies," Burke says. "We have improved technology, better farming practices, plant breeding and food distribution systems. But we are constrained by limited available agricultural land and shrinking water resources."

He repudiates what he calls superstitious opposition to GM foods, which have enormous potential: "Food safety should remain of paramount importance, but we should look at this emerging science on a case-by-case basis and open our minds to the possibility that GMOs (genetically modified organisms) can be a piece of the jigsaw puzzle as we face climate change and food security."

On Monday the Senate will reconsider rules, first proposed by the Howard government, that give tax breaks for forests to be used as carbon sinks, but that have led to investors buying land used for food to plant trees that absorb greenhouse gases. Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, who coincidentally called for the greater use of GM crops on his visit to the Ord River scheme this week, is faced with the choice of helping investors in forest schemes create carbon sinks or fighting - with the Greens, Nationals and some Liberals - on behalf of farmers who see the gobbling up of productive land. Water Minister Penny Wong is also under pressure to ensure the federal Government's water plan does not over-emphasise buying back water entitlements at the expense of helping farmers stay on the land and produce food more efficiently by saving water.

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November 22, 2008
Unable to Sell Homes, Elderly Forgo Move to Assisted Living
By JACK HEALY

The housing crisis has kept thousands of older Americans who need support and care from moving into retirement communities or assisted-living centers, effectively stranding them in their own homes.

Without selling their houses or condominiums, many cannot buy into retirement homes that require a payment of $100,000 to $500,000 just to move in. So they are scratching themselves off waiting lists, canceling plans with packing services and staying put, in houses that fit well 30 years ago, but over the years have become lonely, too large or too treacherous to navigate.

“It is part of the hidden problem of the recession,” said Larry Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. “Every neighborhood, every family’s got them.”

Facilities that have watched their waiting lists wither and their occupancy rates fall in the last year are now scrambling to bring people through their doors. Some assisted-living centers have called in real estate agents to teach prospective residents about online advertising and how to clean and preen their homes for showings. Others have set up programs with banks to provide bridge loans to homeowners, or are discounting apartments and offering low-interest loans.

The Cedar Community, which provides a range of housing for the elderly in West Bend, Wis., has seen independent-living occupancy rates drop by 4 percent this year. There were so many people waiting for their homes to sell that the facility decided, in some cases, to let new residents pay month-to-month until they could unload their houses and use the proceeds on the facility’s entry deposit.

“We’ve never done that before,” said Tracey MacGregor, a spokeswoman at Cedar Community.

But for people like Ruth Scher, 85, selling their home is a critical first step before moving on, or moving anywhere. Ms. Scher put her two-bedroom condominium in Delray Beach, Fla., on the market last year, but no one has made an offer.

In the 34 years since she moved to South Florida, Ms. Scher’s husband has died, the siblings who moved south from New York to join her have died, and her friends have moved away. She is recovering from a fall that broke her clavicle and suffers from arthritis in one shoulder, and she says it is time to move back.

“It’s lonesome,” Ms. Scher said. “So many other people have passed away or moved away. It’s very lonely. The children would love me to come up and I would love to, but I just can’t sell.”

Ms. Scher hoped to move to a retirement community in Cornwall, N.Y., where she has friends. But in the year her home sat on the market, she could not even find a broker willing to sell the property, she said. She finally de-listed her condominium.

“They tell you, ‘We’re sorry, we can’t get any people to come and look,’ ” Ms. Scher said. “If I can’t sell here, I can’t go nowhere.”

There is no way to say how many older Americans are in similar straits, as no statistics track how many of America’s 4.27 million unsold homes are owned by people 65 or older. But industry groups and administrators at retirement homes call the problem a growing one, which worsened as the financial crisis spread from real estate to lending markets. It has been felt worst in regions hit hardest by the housing bust.

“It remains to be seen whether we have a short-term stress, or whether we’re facing a crisis,” said Mr. Minnix, of the Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. “We’re into brand new territory here. It is deeper and potentially broader.”

Across the country, occupancy rates for independent and assisted-living facilities have fallen slightly in the last year, by about 2 percent through the middle of 2008, according to the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry.

But the problem is playing out acutely in hard-hit areas like Florida, where the vacancy rate at some facilities is up 20 percent to 30 percent over last year, said Paul Williams, director of government relations for the Assisted Living Federation of America. At Luther Manor, a retiree community in Milwaukee, the number of residents moving into independent living has dropped 20 percent this year. In southern Ohio, 65 percent of the people who visited the Bristol Village retirement community this year said they could not buy a unit because their homes were still hanging around their necks.

For these businesses, each occupied room generates thousands of dollars each year. Retirement condos charge monthly fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to $5,000, while the average price for private-pay care in assisted living is $3,013 per month, or $36,156 per year, according to a MetLife study.

At the Crosby Commons assisted-living center in Shelton, Conn., where waiting lists that once ran two years or more have shrunk to six months, some residents who moved before selling their homes are spending through their savings as they wait, said Lois Poultney, the center’s director. One resident had to move from Crosby’s free-market homes to its subsidized rent-controlled apartments, Ms. Poultney said.

“I’m hearing it over and over again: ‘Mom needs to sell her house before she can afford to move in,’ ” she said.

There are signs some families and retirees are turning to adult day care services as a stopgap. Providers say their business has spiked as people look for an alternative to continuing care or home aides to provide food, companionship and therapeutic services. But Mr. Williams of the Assisted Living Federation said that people who need more day-to-day care, those who have trouble getting up stairs or who need someone to check on them, were taking a risk by staying at home.

“When they’re coming in at 85, they’re coming in very frail and needing services,” he said. “They can’t wait this out. They need the care when they need the care. That’s the scary part. You have people putting it off when they need care right now.”

For Katherine Styberg, 84, that moment of realization came when she slipped on a patch of ice in February and fractured a vertebra. She has to use a cane when she walks now, and she says she has been thinking about how she lives alone, and if she fell in her two-bedroom condominium in Milwaukee, no one could catch her or help her up.

The real estate broker calls Ms. Styberg a day before bringing potential buyers to see her apartment, and a few have come to look around, but no one has made an offer yet.

As parents linger in their homes, they say their children start to worry. Some adult children are even facing financial hardships if they cannot sell their parents’ homes.

In April, Ruth Swessel, 84, of Milwaukee, had a stroke that aggravated the effects of her aging, leaving her unable to follow “Meet the Press” or read the political magazines she once loved. Her daughter, Laura Westling, had to put her into skilled care, and the family began the process of selling Ms. Swessel’s house to pay for the facility’s $60,000 annual cost.

The house has been sitting on the market since the summer, and Ms. Swessel’s family has lowered the price twice, to $174,500 from $189,900, but they have not been able to close a deal. Her children are spending her investments to pay for her care, but Ms. Westling said they did not know what they would do once that money ran out.

“It’s not easy,” she said.

As stock markets have slid in the last year, homes have become a more critical source of wealth for retirees who have watched their mutual funds and 401(k) accounts hollow out. Next to accrued Social Security benefits, housing is the single greatest asset for people 60 to 70 years old, making up 22 percent of their total wealth and outweighing investments and pensions, according to the Center for Retirement Research. For retirees like Herman McHan, who watched the value of his mutual funds fall to $35,000, from $70,000, or Sylvia Merlin, whose portfolio has lost nearly $200,000 of value, owning an interminably on-the-market home compounds the worries of their dwindling investments.

For Ms. Merlin, it is a disconcerting place to be at age 93. She said she and her late husband, Al, had lived modestly to raise their four children, taking one vacation a year, to the Jersey Shore. She is on oxygen now, and finds it harder to get around her fifth-floor apartment outside of Philadelphia. The doorman’s wife takes her to the hairdresser on Fridays, but Ms. Merlin said she wanted more consistent care.

“I’m going to be 94, and I need help,” she said. “Making the bed is difficult. I need a little help taking a shower. Those things are difficult. I was a great cook, but I really don’t cook anymore. I bought the TV dinners, and they’re pretty lousy.”

No one has made an offer on her condominium, and Ms. Merlin said the retirement home had refunded the $1,000 deposit on the $130,000 unit she hoped to buy. Now, instead of moving, she said she had decided to stay.

“I just couldn’t go anywhere until I sold my apartment,” she said. “I and a lot of other oldsters are stuck.”

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Singapore's Temasek to cut pay

AFP

Singapore's Temasek Holdings, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, says it will cut staff salaries in the face of a global economic slowdown.

"We anticipate a global recession in 2009 and possibly beyond. Therefore, Temasek will institute a firm-wide wage cut, led by senior management who volunteered 15 to 25 percent," the firm's managing director of human resources, Robert Chong, said in a statement issued late Friday.

"In total, nearly 90 percent of the wage saving will be borne by our key managers."

Temasek's executive director and chief executive officer is Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"As a long-term investor, we believe this current crisis will throw up tremendous opportunities. Yet, we also recognise the short-term challenges and will adjust our actions appropriately," Robert Chong said.

Temasek revealed its pay cuts on the same day the government further downgraded its growth forecast for 2008, pledged 1.5 billion US dollars in credit support for businesses, and said the economy -- already in recession -- could contract next year.

Since December, Temasek has invested billions of dollars in the US bank Merrill Lynch, a victim of the meltdown in the United States subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage sector which precipitated a global credit squeeze and economic slowdown.

Bank of America announced in September that it was buying Merrill Lynch.

While announcing the pay cut, Chong said Temasek also plans to increase staffing by about 15 percent over the next two years. The company currently employs 350 people, according to its website.

Temasek controls some of Asia's best-known firms and in October reported a record profit of 18.2 billion dollars (11.9 billion US) in the year to March.

It said its portfolio rose in value to 185 billion Singapore dollars, and Citigroup Global Markets last October listed Temasek as among the largest sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the world.

SWFs are a form of government-created investment vehicle which has emerged as a potent force on global financial markets, prompting concerns the funds are too opaque and could pose threats to national security.

Temasek has claimed a record of transparency.

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国籍法の改正について（ごまめの歯ぎしり）
河野太郎2008/11/17
国籍法の改正について、お問い合わせをいただいております。いろいろなご意見、ご質問、ありがとうございました。しかし残念ながら国籍法の改正に関して、事実と全く違うことに基づいた誹謗中傷や、看過できない人種差別的、外国人蔑視的なご意見などが寄せられています。
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国籍法の改正について（ごまめの歯ぎしり） |
ごまめの歯ぎしりメールマガジン版
衆議院外務委員長河野太郎の国会日記　０８年１１月１４日号

　国籍法の改正について、お問い合わせをいただいております。

Ｑ．なぜ、河野さんは、この国籍法の改正案を国会に提出したのですか。

Ａ．なぜかインターネット上でそう言われているようですが、この国籍法の改正案は、議員が提出した法案ではありません。法務省が作成し、政府が閣議決定した内閣提出の法案です。私が提出したわけではありません。

　今年６月５日、最高裁判所大法廷で、国籍法第三条一項が違憲とされました。違憲判決の翌日から１０月９日までに９３件の国籍取得届が出されていますが、法務省はこれを全て留保している状況です。法務省は、この届けを受理するためには最高裁判決に沿った法改正が必要だと修正案を作成し、閣議決定を経て、内閣提出の国籍法改正案としてこの臨時国会に提出されています。

Ｑ．この法案の国会審議の見込みはどうなっていますか。

Ａ．この改正案は、衆議院では自民、公明、民主等各党が賛成し、来週にも衆議院を通過する見込みです。

Ｑ．最高裁が違憲だといっても、国籍法を改正する必要はないのではないですか。

Ａ．最高裁の違憲判決が出て、国籍法の第三条が違憲であるということが確定した時点で、認知届けが受理された子供の国籍取得届を却下することはできなくなります。

　そのため、法改正をして国籍届けを受理する必要があります。もしも、何らかの理由で法改正ができない場合は、そのまま届けを受理せざるをえなくなるかもしれず、法律的に安定しません。政府としては、そういう状況を避けなければなりません。

Ｑ．この改正案が成立すると日本国籍を取るために偽装認知しやすくなりませんか。外国人女性がホームレスにお金を渡して認知届を出させるだけで、子供が日本国籍を取ることができるようになったりしませんか。

Ａ．ホームレスにお金を渡して届けを出させればといえば、改正前のルールでも、お金を渡して認知届けと婚姻届を出させれば国籍が取れてしまうということになってしまいます。現実には、事情を聞いて認知届けを受け付けるかどうか審査をしていますので、単に誰かに頼んで届を出させただけではそれは認められません。

　この改正案が成立しても、認知届けを出せば簡単に日本国籍がとれるわけではありません。認知届けが真正なものかどうか、父親と母親を別々に呼んでの審査等がありますので、実態がない認知届けによる国籍取得が簡単にできるわけではありません。

Ｑ．偽装認知により国籍を得た後で、認知が偽装だということがわかったらその国籍はどうなりますか。

Ａ．認知が無効であれば、それに伴う国籍取得も無効になります。認知が偽装であったことがわかれば、国籍取得も無効になりますから、国籍はそもそも最初から与えられなかったことになります。

Ｑ．偽装認知による国籍取得の罰則が一年以下の懲役または二十万円以下の罰金というのは軽くないですか。

Ａ．偽装認知により国籍を不正に取得することに対する罰則は、まず認知届を市町村に出すことによって公正証書原本不実記載罪、法務局に国籍取得届を出すことによりこの改正で新設される罰則、子の戸籍を編成するために市町村に国籍取得届を出すことにより、公正証書原本不実記載罪に再び問われ、併合して七年六ヶ月以下の懲役または百二十万円以下の罰金になります。

Ｑ．審査があるといっても完璧ではないので、外国籍の女性の子供を認知する際にはＤＮＡ鑑定を必要とするべきではないですか。

Ａ．偽装認知を防ぐためには、ＤＮＡ鑑定も一つの方法だと思います。私が自民党の国籍プロジェクトチームに出した私案では、外国籍の女性の子供を認知するときはＤＮＡ鑑定を条件とすることを提案しています。

　ただし、ＤＮＡ鑑定を必須とすることには、自民党内でもいろいろな懸念も出されていますので、これからの検討課題です。

Ｑ．この国籍法の改正で、日本も二重国籍を認めることになるのですか。

Ａ．今回の国籍法の改正は、二重国籍とは全く関係ありません。

Ｑ．「二重国籍に関する座長私案」とはなんですか。

Ａ．現在の国籍法では、両親の国際結婚などで重国籍を持つ者が二十二歳になったときにどちらかの国籍を選択しなければならないという国籍法の規定があります。しかし、この規定が有名無実化しているという問題があります。現時点でおそらく六十万人以上の重国籍者が二十二歳での国籍選択をしていないという状況にあります。

　国籍選択を厳密に実施するか、重国籍を認めるのかという議論をこの一年続けてきましたが、重国籍を認めるとしたらどう認めるべきかという議論のたたき台を「座長私案」という形で出すことになりました。これをもとに今後、じっくりと重国籍に関する議論を進めていくことになります。

　いろいろなご意見、ご質問、ありがとうございました。

　これからも様々なご意見をお待ちしておりますが、残念ながらこの国籍法の改正に関して、事実と全く違うことに基づいた誹謗中傷や看過できない人種差別的、外国人蔑視的なコメントが数多く寄せられたこともあり、ブログのコメント欄を一時閉鎖しております。

　しばらくの間、ご意見は、http://www.taro.org/contact/　からお寄せ下さい。

メルマガバックナンバーはこちら（ブログ版）↓
http://www.taro.org/blog/
コメント歓迎します！

----------------------------
「偽装認知の危険あり」　国籍法改正案に反対の議連結成
2008.11.17 22:14
このニュースのトピックス：国籍法

　未婚の日本人の父と外国人の母の間に生まれ、出生後に認知された子が日本国籍を取得する際、その要件から「婚姻」を外すことを柱とした国籍法改正案に反対する有志議員が１７日、「国籍法改正案を検証する会合に賛同する議員の会」（発起人代表・平沼赳夫元経済産業相）を結成した。この改正案は偽装認知による国籍売買を招く恐れがあるとして、１８日の衆院法務委員会での採決の延期を求めることを決議した。

　現行国籍法で、出生後の認知のための要件となっている「父母の婚姻」は、６月に最高裁判決で違憲とされた。このため、政府は改正案を今月４日に閣議決定。自民、民主両党の合意により、１８日の衆院本会議で可決される見通しだ。

　会合には議員本人１４人を含む３８人が出席。平沼氏が「男性が証拠もなく認知をすると日本国籍が獲得できる、むちゃくちゃな歯止めのない法律だ」と指摘した。出席者からＤＮＡ鑑定義務化や偽装認知の罰則強化を求める声が相次いだ。

　だが、自民党の村田吉隆国対筆頭副委員長は１７日の記者会見で「自民党として党内手続きで了承している。（反対論は）トゥー・レイト（遅すぎる）だ」と応じない考えを示した。

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公明が一貫してリード　婚外子の差別規定撤廃を歓迎

国籍法改正


　「児童は出生の時から（中略）国籍を取得する権利を有する」との「子どもの権利条約」第７条の規定を待つまでもなく、出生による子どもの差別は、いかなる理由があれ、許されない。一日も早く法改正を実現し、人権立国への確かな一歩を刻まなければならない。

　婚姻関係のない日本人の父親と外国人の母親の間に生まれた、いわゆる婚外子の国籍取得を可能にする国籍法改正案が国会に提出された。改正論議を一貫してリードしてきた公明党の要請を受け、スピード感を持って法案化を進めた政府の姿勢を、まずは率直に評価したい。

　現行法は、父親が日本人で母親が外国人の場合、父親が出生時に胎児認知すれば、両親に婚姻関係がなくても子どもは日本国籍を取得できるとしている。しかし、出生後認知の場合には父母が結婚しない限り、日本国籍の取得を認めていない。このため、当該の子どもは実質的に日本人として暮らしていても、法律的には“外国人”としての生活を余儀なくされている。

　こうした中、最高裁判所は今年６月、婚姻関係の有無で国籍取得を差別するのは、憲法第１４条の「法の下の平等」に反すると判断。婚外子の区別を定めた現行法第３条１項を「合理的な理由のない差別」規定として、国に法改正を求めた。

　最高裁のこの違憲判決に素早く対応したのが公明党だった。判決翌日には早くも、浜四津敏子代表代行らが鳩山邦夫法相（当時）に会い、速やかな法改正を要望。併せて、党内にプロジェクトチームも発足させ、専門家らとの議論を重ねながら改正の中身も詰めてきた。

　こうした公明党の力強い取り組みでまとまった今回の改正案では、“違憲規定”である第３条１項の結婚要件が削除されているほか、偽装認知など不正な国籍取得行為に対する罰則も新設。経過措置として、これまで国籍取得が認められてこなかった人たちの国籍取得にも道を開いている。いずれも公明党の提案で盛り込まれたものだ。


子どもの権利を守れ！


　他党を圧倒する形で、公明党が国籍法改正に全力を注いできた理由はただ一つ、「子どもの人権の尊重が第一義」（浜四津代表代行）との考えからだ。父母の結婚の有無という、いわば「親の都合」で子どもが不利益を受けるような社会を放置しておいてなるものか――。党を挙げてのそんな思いと行動が、ここまで短期間での法案化を勝ち取ったと自負している。

　もとより、公明党が掲げる「チャイルドファースト（子ども優先）社会」の旗印は、単に児童手当や出産育児一時金など福祉分野だけに限ったものではない。「人権、教育から医療、文化まで、あらゆる場面で子どもを守り育む社会の実現」（太田昭宏代表）という骨太の構想だ。

　改正案が国会に提出された今、公明党はこの点を改めて確認し、衆参両院での議論も力強くリードしていく決意である。

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Campbell Beats Bear Market as Consumers Seek Out Soup (Update2)

By Chris Burritt
Enlarge Image/Details

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Judging by Dayna Neumann’s pantry, Campbell Soup Co. may turn the U.S. recession into rising sales, just as it did in the last two contractions.

Neumann’s family in Louisville, Kentucky, is bracing “for a rough road ahead,” the 32-year-old working mother said. After her 30-year-old husband, Nick, substituted $1.75 Campbell Chunky soup for restaurant lunches in September, she started buying as many as 15 cans at a time.

The recession will make 2009 “the year of condensed soup, driven by the backdrop of severe economic pressure on the consumer,” Mitchell Pinheiro, a Philadelphia-based analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, wrote in a note yesterday.

The appeal of a cheap meal is turning the world’s largest soupmaker, which says it sells to 85 percent of U.S. households, into an outperformer in hard times. The shares led the 12- company Standard & Poor’s Packaged Foods Index over the past three months before today, and their 1.5 percent gain this year beat the S&P 500 by 44 percentage points.

Camden, New Jersey-based Campbell is “acknowledged as a way to weather a recession,” said Edgar Roesch, a Soleil Securities Corp. analyst in New York who rates the shares a buy.

Campbell may outdistance General Mills Inc., maker of Progresso soup, in shipments in 2009, according to Terry Bivens, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst in New York.

Buy Recommendations

Bivens, the top-ranked analyst in a Bloomberg survey for his returns on Campbell recommendations, raised the 12-month target price on Nov. 17 to $44.50, 23 percent higher than today’s $36.27 close in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Second-ranked analyst Pinheiro yesterday recommended buying the shares, citing condensed soup as the company’s “most profitable business.”

The food producer has survived 28 recessions, two world wars and the Great Depression over its 139-year existence. “Historically, Campbell’s soup sales have done well during tough economic times as consumers look for value,” said spokesman Anthony Sanzio.

Campbell’s U.S. soup sales accelerated by 6 percent in the fiscal 12 months ended July 2001, a period that included part of a recession running from March through November of that year, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Soup sales rose 7 percent in the year ended July 1990 and 5 percent in the next 12 months, overlapping the contraction from July 1990 through March 1991.

‘No Recession in Eating’

As the economy has slowed in 2008, the company’s soup sales in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have climbed 12 percent to 14 percent since late August, according to Alton Stump, an analyst at Longbow Research in Independence, Ohio, who polled managers at 50 locations. He has a “neutral<”/a> rating on Campbell.

“There will not be a recession in eating,” said Harry Balzer, who has studied U.S. eating habits for more than 30 years for NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. “There will only be winners and losers.”

Rising home foreclosures and unemployment that pushed consumer confidence to its lowest level in October triggered “a shift to value,” Balzer said.

Fifty-seven percent of households are serving leftovers for dinner, according to Balzer, versus an historic mean of 55 percent. U.S. workers took an average of 42 homemade meals to work in the 12 months through February, the most since 1995, he said.

The current recession will give an advantage to suppliers who help consumers “moderate food costs without cooking more,” Balzer said.

2 for $1

Campbell controls about 70 percent of the $5 billion-a-year U.S. soup market and is offering two-cans-for-$1 deals recently to maintain the lead.

Sales of the iconic red-and-white cans of condensed soup, which must be mixed with water, advanced 6 percent in the quarter ended Aug. 3, the company said. Ready-to-serve varieties increased 5 percent as Americans ate at home more, it said.

Campbell plans to report quarterly earnings Nov. 24. Profit of 77 cents a share, versus 70 cents a year earlier, is projected by 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Measured by shipments to retailers, Campbell’s volume will increase an estimated 3.5 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2009, said JPMorgan’s Bivens. He projects decelerating shipments for General Mills, cereal maker Kellogg Co. and Sara Lee Corp., which sells Jimmy Dean sausages and frozen desserts.

Losing Ground

Campbell lost ground to Progresso over the past five years in sales of soup that’s ready to eat from the can. The market share slipped to 48 percent in the year through Sept. 7, down from 58 percent in 2003, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market researcher. Over that period, Progresso’s share has grown 7 percentage points to 35 percent.

“Progresso has been gaining share pretty dramatically in ready-to-serve soup,” said Thomas Forsythe, a General Mills spokesman. He wouldn’t comment on Campbell.

Douglas Conant, 57, chief executive officer since 2001, spent $115 million on research and development in the last fiscal year, up 12 percent from the previous two. His increased investment has led to the introduction of pop-top lids, microwavable soups and, more recently, varieties with less salt and fewer chemical additives. He declined to comment.

“They’ve gone on the offensive in the ready-to-serve segment,” said Roesch, the Soleil Securities analyst referring to recent newspaper ads that say Progresso chicken noodle contains flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate while Campbell’s Select Harvest doesn’t.

“They’ve been waiting until they had a product that in some ways is superior,” Roesch said.

Tuna Casserole Time

Jo-Lynne Shane in Philadelphia stopped making chicken Marsala and other costly dishes after her husband, Paul, 39, urged her to spend less on groceries. The 36-year-old homemaker, who contributes to the Silicon Valley Moms blog that offers how- to-spend-less advice, serves Campbell’s Chicken & Stars soup to her three children and makes casseroles with Cream of Mushroom.

“My husband was bugging me to cut back,” Shane said. “He said he could even stand tuna casserole once a month.”

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年賀状離れに「待った」　ネットで通販・作成サービス

2008年11月24日16時27分

　お年玉つき年賀はがきの新しいサービスが相次いで登場している。日本郵政グループのウェブサイトでは、インターネット通販を開始。市販ソフト顔負けのはがき作成機能も加えた。６０回目の発行を迎えて、若年層を取り込み、利用者の減少に歯止めをかけるねらいがある。

　郵便事業会社のサイト「郵便年賀．ｊｐ」（http://www.yubin-nenga.jp/index.html）は１０月末から、インターネットを使ってはがきを購入できるようにした。送料は無料で５枚から注文を受け付ける。これまでに約８０万枚を販売した。

　このサイトには今年から、あて名管理や写真加工、似顔絵作成ツール機能が追加された。干支（えと）や「謹賀新年」などの定型表現、絵柄も昨年より倍増、年賀はがきの素材リストは千種類に上る。

　携帯電話を操作して、はがきのデザイン作成、注文や投函（とうかん）できるサービスも拡充した。対応できる機種を昨年のＫＤＤＩから、今年はＮＴＴドコモ、ソフトバンクモバイルまで広げ、約５０万通の利用を見込む。

　携帯電話やパソコンを使ったメールの利用が増える一方で、年賀はがきの発行枚数は減っている。ピークは０４年用の４５億枚で、０９年用は４０億枚程度の見通し。担当者は「若い世代が使いやすいサービスを増やし、年賀離れを防ぎたい」としている。（橋田正城）

----------------------------
金融危機で外資系高級ホテルが大苦戦　値下げも検討へ
2008.11.24 20:34

　金融危機や世界経済の後退を受けて、都心の外資系高級ホテルが苦戦を強いられている。１泊最低６万～７万円という高級路線を打ち出してきたが、それを支える外国人の集客が落ち込んでいるからだ。景気回復のメドがたたないなか、各ホテルは値下げなど戦略見直しを迫られている。

　米国発の金融危機が表面化した９月、外国人訪日客は前年同月比６・９％減の６４万１５００人と大幅に減った。宿泊の過半を外国人客に頼る外資系ホテルからは、「影響は避けられない状況」（コンラッド東京＝汐留）との声が上がる。証券・金融街にほど近く、外国人が宿泊客全体の６割を占めるマンダリンオリエンタル東京（日本橋室町）も「外資系の法人利用が減ってきている」と語る。

　各外資系ホテルとも客室稼働率は明らかにしていないが、ホテル投資アドバイザー、ジョーンズラングラサールの沢柳知彦マネージングディレクターは「足下の外資系ホテルの稼働率は前年比で１０ポイント以上減っている」と指摘する。

　ここ数年開業ラッシュに沸いた外資系ホテルだが、米国の低所得者向け高金利型住宅ローン（サブプライムローン）問題で低迷。日本ホテル協会によると今年上期（１～６月）の京浜地区のホテル全体の客室稼働率は前年同期比２・１ポイント減の７３・３％だった。

　そこに今回の金融危機が追い打ちをかけ、今後も悪化が見込まれる。このため、外資系のなかにも「価格を下げたプランも検討している」（ザ・ペニンシュラ東京＝有楽町）と高価格戦略の修正の動きも出始めている。

----------------------------
ＥＵ：電子図書館に１３００万件殺到　開館１日でパンク

　【ブリュッセル福島良典】欧州連合（ＥＵ、加盟２７カ国）が２０日開設した電子図書館に人気が集まり、コンピューターの処理能力を超える数の利用者が殺到したため、開館１日で「一時休館」となった。担当者は「人々に関心を持ってもらった証拠。１２月半ばまでにはサービスを再開したい」と話している。

　加盟国にある１０００カ所以上の美術館、博物館、図書館などが収蔵するデジタル化された絵画や写真、映画、書籍など２００万点以上の情報をインターネット上の一つのサイトに集め、利用者が検索しやすい仕組みを作った。欧州市民に自分たちの文化遺産を身近に感じ、より知ってもらおうという試みだ。

　電子図書館事務局（オランダ・ハーグ）は、１時間あたり最大５００万件の利用を想定していたが、２０日午後には１３００万件を突破し、コンピューターが機能不全の状態に陥った。ＥＵの行政府・欧州委員会の報道官は「多数の人が同時にモナリザの絵や、カフカ、セルバンテス、ジェイムズ・ジョイスの本を探したため」と説明している。

　電子図書館事務局では今後、コンピューターの処理能力を上げて、利用者増に対応できる態勢を整える。欧州委員会は「２０１０年までに１０００万点の文化財が電子図書館で検索できるようにしたい」との目標を立てている。

　電子図書館（ＥＵの２３の公用語）はｈｔｔｐ：／／ｗｗｗ．ｅｕｒｏｐｅａｎａ．ｅｕだが、現在は利用できない。サービス再開まではｈｔｔｐ：／／ｄｅｖ．ｅｕｒｏｐｅａｎａ．ｅｕで図書館案内（英語）を見ることができる。

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UAE moves to shore up Dubai banks

By Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Published: November 24 2008 12:14 | Last updated: November 24 2008 12:32

The United Arab Emirates government moved on Monday to shore up Dubai’s real estate and banking sectors by merging a pair of mortgage companies into two federally owned banks.

The intervention came as senior Dubai officials indicated that further consolidation and federal backing could be necessary as Dubai works to overcome the impact of the financial crisis on its globalised economy.

Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, a leading developer, dismissed speculation that Dubai was considering selling assets to the Abu Dhabi government, which bankrolls the federal government. But Mr Alabbar, who also heads of a policy committee specially-formed to confront the credit crisis, conceded that ”all the signs” are that federal authorities could help in funding Dubai companies through the credit crunch.

The first signs of federal assistance came over the weekend as the UAE government moved in to support Dubai’s two largest mortgage companies, Amlak and Tamweel. The companies are merging with Real Estate Bank and Emirates Industrial Bank, two banks owned by the UAE’s ministry of finance.

The UAE central bank has already moved to support the banking sector directly, by injecting Dh50bn ($13.6bn) into banks as part of a Dh120bn liquidity package for institutions based in the seven emirates, which have been hit by the seizure in credit markets.

In a much anticipated speech on Monday aiming to restore confidence as Dubai’s real estate and equity markets plunge, Mr Alabbar also reassured investors that Dubai would meet all obligations in repaying the emirate’s $80bn of debt, which has helped build the economy’s infrastructure over the past few years.

Dubai has $10bn of sovereign debt while companies affiliated with the state have another $70bn. Offsetting these obligations are the emirate’s $90bn in sovereign assets and $260bn among affiliates.

”The government will step in to assist, if needed,” Mr Alabbar told delegates at the Dubai International Financial Centre Week conference.

Mr Alabbar made clear that federal funding would be forthcoming for the merged bank, as Nasser Al Shaikh, director general of the department of finance and chairman of Deyaar, another developer, said support for companies could come from federal as well as domestic government sources.

”It will be a collective effort. In some cases the [federal] government may help directly,” said Mr Shaikh, who is another member of the policy committee.

The committee, which reports directly to the ruler and includes the top decision makers in Dubai, is also looking to manage the real estate market as it tips into decline after a six-year bull run.

Other members of the committee include Sultan bin Sulayem, the chairman of Dubai World (which includes offshore developer Nakheel), and Mohammed Gergawi, who chairs Dubai Holding, a conglomerate owned by the ruler which includes Dubai Properties and Sama Dubai.

Together, the committee oversees 70 per cent of Dubai’s real estate market.

”We are pulling back on supply,” said Mr Alabbar. ”Now we are all in a room together and while we used to compete now we are co-operating to manage the market.”

Mr Alabbar said it would do the Dubai economy good to ”take a breather” after 18 years of breakneck growth.

----------------------------
Iceland thaws over clash with UK

By David Ibison in Stockholm

Published: November 23 2008 22:51 | Last updated: November 23 2008 22:51

Secret talks between the UK and Iceland governments may strengthen London’s case in the dispute over its use of anti-terror legislation to freeze Icelandic assets, according to the chairman of the board of governors of the central bank in Reykjavik.

“Not all conversations concerning this matter have been made public . . . When the matter is investigated, other conversations will have to be made public. I am aware of what they are about and I am aware of what in fact determined the position of the UK authorities,” said David Oddsson, former prime minister and one of Iceland’s most influential power brokers.

It is the first time a leading member of the island’s close-knit financial community has indicated Iceland may be to blame for the UK’s controversial move. Mr Oddsson is closely affiliated to Geir Haarde, the prime minister, who was previously his finance minister. Together they oversaw the implementation of free market reform in Iceland.

The comments by Mr Oddsson came in an extraordinary speech he gave, in a personal capacity, to the Icelandic chamber of commerce. If the conversations to which he referred were made public and if his description of the contents was accurate – it is not known who took part in the talks – it could undermine planned legal action by Reykjavik against the UK government over its use of anti-terror legislation.

Relations between the two deteriorated seriously after the UK used the legislation to freeze Icelandic assets in the UK to try to protect UK savers in Iceland’s banks.

Reykjavik claims this may have been illegal and has hired Lovells, a law firm, to investigate. The Icelandic government and central bank declined to comment.

Mr Oddsson has been blamed by many countrymen for the collapse of banks in Iceland and demonstrators have demanded his resignation. Thousands protested in Reykjavik on Saturday, calling for Mr Oddsson and Mr Haarde to resign, the latest in a series of protests in the capital since the financial meltdown.

But Mr Oddsson claims he warned the authorities repeatedly that the banks were in trouble 18 months before the crisis, but was ignored. In the chamber of commerce speech he warned the government’s pledge to investigate the banks’ collapse was a whitewash

“The investigation . . . is in all respects unsuitable and insufficient. It is almost laughable to see the posturing in the entire organised propaganda campaign which has been carried out by those who bear the prime responsibility,” he said.

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China to fund just 20% of quake rebuild

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: November 21 2008 17:50 | Last updated: November 21 2008 17:50

The Chinese government will fund just a fifth of the estimated Rmb3,000bn cost of reconstruction and development in earthquake-affected Sichuan, leaving businesses and state-owned banks to pay for the rest, provincial officials said on Friday.

Even as economic officials issue warnings that China’s economy is cooling much faster than expected as a result of the global crisis, Sichuan officials said they were optimistic that state-owned companies and the private sector would invest in the disaster zone.

“The government’s investment will encourage all kinds of investment from society to help us rebuild Sichuan after the quake,” said Wei Hong, executive vice-governor of Sichuan Province, at a press conference.

“We will seek loans from domestic banks, financing from capital markets and donations from the public to make up the rest of the needed investment.”

The government appears to be ordering state-owned banks to shoulder much of the burden of a giant fiscal stimulus package announced last week at a time when they face slowing profits and rising bad loans.

China’s benchmark stock index has fallen by nearly 70 per cent from the peak it reached last October and regulators have effectively suspended approvals for new listings.

Mr Wei said Sichuan needed around Rmb3,000bn ($439bn, €350bn, £297bn) of investment by the end of 2010 to rebuild and meet economic growth targets, but the government would provide only about 20 per cent of that amount.

The comments came in a week in which thousands of disgruntled citizens rioted in neighbouring Gansu Province in an area badly hit by the May 12 earthquake.

On Monday and Tuesday a protest over forced relocations in Longnan City descended into a full-blown riot, with protesters attacking Communist party offices and fighting police with iron bars stones and axes, according to government reports on the incident.

More than 60 police officers and citizens were badly injured in the riot, which led to 30 arrests, according to Chinese state media.

Official government reports on the incident linked it with the earthquake in nearby Sichuan, saying post-earthquake reconstruction work in Longnan was “very onerous” and a number of key projects were only just beginning.

Asked whether the Sichuan government had made any preparations for protests or riots over the slow pace of reconstruction or unpaid government compensation, Mr Wei said people in the disaster area were fully satisfied by government efforts to restore homes and living conditions.

“Our cadres at various levels have the confidence and capacity to help the general public resolve their problems and difficulties,” he said.

With winter fast approaching Sichuan officials acknowledged quake-afflicted areas were reporting shortages of basic necessities, including clothing, bedding and even food as well as adequate shelter for some of the 5.16m households whose homes were destroyed or damaged.

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Gates vows to keep increasing donations

By Andrew Jack in London

Published: November 24 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 24 2008 02:00

Bill Gates has pledged to continue increasing his donations to education, health and economic development despite a sharp fall in the value of his endowment, caused by the recent collapse in global financial markets.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Gates stressed that he would continue to expand annual disbursements by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will total about $3bn (€2.4bn, £2bn) this year, unless "the world completely devalued".

"The foundation isn't really changed by the fact that there is a two-to-four-year recession," he said, stressing that its commitments required 15-20 years' activity. "You only get the benefit if you really stay the course. We'll just be spending a higher percentage of assets than we would have been otherwise."

His comments strike a positive tone at a time of growing concern that other foundations are cutting back on new spending as their endowments and contributions fall, even as many of the causes they fund are in need of rising support.

They were made before an open letter published on the website of the foundation at the weekend by Jeff Raikes, the new chief executive, saying that disbursements next year would increase by 10 per cent - though that was lower than planned.

Mr Raikes also stressed that he was asking employees to reduce their budgets "wherever possible" and would work to "try to encourage other funders, such as governments, businesses and other foundations to do their part" during the downturn.

The Gates Foundation's latest disclosed valuations showed that its endowment had fallen from $39bn at the end of last year to $35bn by October 1. It has since fallen further in line with the continued drop in the markets.

The Foundation's investments have been less badly hit than some others because it maintains a relatively conservative investment portfolio, with substantial sums in bonds and liquid assets to allow it to provide large and growing payouts.

Its 2007 tax filings, which were also posted last week, show that by the end of last year about a quarter of its $18bn in equity investments were held in Berkshire Hathaway, the result of donations since 2006 by its chairman Warren Buffett, the world's richest man and a long-standing friend of Mr Gates.

The stake, valued at $4.6bn, shows a growing dependence on investments in a single company, which contrasts with the foundation's decision to rapidly sell all of Mr Gates' donated Microsoft shares in order to create a diversified portfolio.

Berkshire Hathaway's shares have generally outperformed the market, falling over the past year by 33 per cent at their close last Friday, compared with a decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 38 per cent. Over five years, they were up 8 per cent, while the Dow was down 17 per cent.

The growth in Foundation disbursements at a time its endowment has shrunk means it will have no problems in meeting its obligation to pay out 5 per cent of assets each year in order to maintain its tax exemptions as a foundation under US law. although it has traditionally paid out a slightly higher proportion.

It has set an objective of spending its entire endowment within 50 years of the death of the last of its three trustees, Mr Gates, his wife Melinda and Mr Buffett.

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Darling to unveil 45p tax on rich to fund recession package
• VAT cut forms main plank of fiscal stimulus
• Chancellor also warns banks to start lending
Comments (…)

* Larry Elliott, Patrick Wintour, David Hencke and Andrew Sparrow
* guardian.co.uk, Monday November 24 2008 13.37 GMT

Prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling arrive at the Treasury as final preparations are made to deliver the pre-budget report

Prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling arrive at the Treasury as final preparations are made to deliver the pre-budget report. Photograph: Jeremy Selwyn/Evening Standard/PA

Alistair Darling will announce today that income tax for those earning more than £150,000 a year will rise to 45p in the pound during the next parliament to help pay for Labour's £15bn anti-recession emergency package.

Faced with the challenge of reducing state borrowing from an expected £120bn next year, the chancellor will use today's pre-budget report to break New Labour's 15-year taboo on raising income tax on the wealthy. Darling will also unveil a one-year cut in standard-rate VAT from 17.5% to 15%, in the hope consumers bring forward spending and shorten the recession.

The government hopes that, by targeting the rich, people on low and middle incomes will be reassured that they are not to be the victims of an aggressive spend-now-tax-later strategy. It is expected the measure will raise £2bn.

Robert Chote, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK's leading tax thinktank, said the change would affect only 400,000 high earners. "You are not going to raise an enormous amount of revenue from this," he said. The current top rate of tax – 40p in the pound – hits earnings of more than £39,825 a year, affecting about 4 million people.

Today Darling told the cabinet "that the central objective of the PBR is to support firms and businesses now in difficult times when people need help the most, while ensuring that we remain on course for economic stability and sustainable public finances in the medium term," according to the prime minister's spokesman.

"He emphasised the importance of acting now in order to prevent lasting damage to the economy," the spokesman said. "And he noted that there was widespread support for this type of fiscal stimulus to the economy around the world."

Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, echoed Chote in saying that the measure would raise "negligible" amounts of revenue.

Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said that the proposed top-rate tax increase "won't even begin to touch the sides" when it came to filling the hole left in the government's finances by borrowing.

"We would prefer there not to be tax increases. Clearly if the government is going to announce the package of additional borrowing there will have to be large tax rises after the election and of course people on higher incomes will have to pay their share of that," Hammond told the BBC.

Geoffrey Robinson, the former Treasury minister and a key Brown ally, admitted on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the amount of money raised by a new 45p band was "not significant" in relation to the overall amount of money the government would need to find. But he said it was still a "big change" that would make an important statement about fairness.

"After all, those earning over £100,000 over the last 10 years have seen their earnings after tax increase at more than double the rate of those below. They have done extremely well," he said.

Robinson said it was important for the chancellor to "take on the Tory charge that there was going to be some great tax bombshell" in the future. He also said he was confident that Darling would do this when he delivered his statement this afternoon.

"I'm quite clear it is going to be the case that Alistair Darling is going to take [this] head on and answer specifically how we are going to fund what we are borrowing now," he said.

Treasury sources declined to comment on reports of the tax rise.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, and Gordon Brown both spoke at the CBI conference this morning within an hour of each other. Brown refused to confirm what would be in the pre-budget report, and Cameron declined to comment on specific proposals, but they clashed sharply on overall economic policy.

In a reference to the Tories, Brown said: "Simply letting the recession run its course, to say there is no alternative, is not an option … To fail to act now would be not only a failure of economic policy but a failure of leadership."

But Cameron told the audience that the idea that the Conservatives were advocating inaction was "complete rubbish". And he said that, for all the newspaper stories about tax giveaways, "the real story of this PBR will be our enormous deficit and out-of-control public finances".

Darling's statement represents a watershed for Labour, which has ruled out raising either the standard or the top rate of income tax in successive election manifestos since that of 1997; putting into effect the change is therefore contingent on winning a further election.

Many on the left have despaired of seeing a Labour government starting to reintroduce progressive taxation, but the Treasury has been forced into a U-turn by the deterioration in public finances caused by the recession and the cost of today's pre-budget report package.

Labour leftwinger John McDonnell said that 45% was "hardly a revolution"; he would rather see a 50% tax rate for those earning more than £100,000. But he said: "There is a change in the public's mood, who have seen what has been happening to bankers and their huge salaries."

Darling believes the VAT holiday will boost spending, but he will also threaten legislation today to stop banks withdrawing cheap mortgages and credit from hard-pressed customers overnight, help for small businesses, and plans to make homes more energy efficient.

In a pre-budget report designed to draw battle lines for the next general election, the chancellor will insist that his plans will ease the financial pressure on consumers and companies, and will produce economic recovery in 2010.

Darling will underline the government's frustration at the way banks are intensifying the impact of the credit crunch by summarily withdrawing mortgages. Unless they agree to toughen their code of practice, the government will consult on legislation requiring banks to give customers fair notice of any changes to products. "All the risk is falling on the consumer," a Whitehall source said. "It is much easier for the banks to manage that risk."

Brown said the government had to "persuade and cajole" banks into lending at appropriate prices and resume mortgage lending. "You will see in the pre-budget report, and subsequently, measures that will actually make that happen more quickly," he said.

Small businesses would also be helped by deferring the increase in corporation tax from 21% to 22%. HM Revenue and Customs will be instructed to give small firms more time to pay tax bills. Government sources said the report was likely to inject some £15bn into the economy, about 1% of GDP. The VAT change will cost the exchequer £12.5bn in lost revenue.

Fearful that the markets will be alarmed at a plan to borrow 8% of GDP in 2009-10, Darling will explain how he intends to repair the hole in the public finances.

On BBC1's The Daily Politics show, Brown said: "If you say at the moment there is nothing government can do by spending more or investing more at the moment, that is a gospel of despair in the future ... I believe people will say action now is better than no action and more problems later."

Cameron attacked what he called a borrowing binge: "I have a real concern about a government ... borrowing binge that even they admit is going to lead to much higher taxes."