The European Commission has today adopted a Communication that takes stock of the changed circumstances for economic governance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and relaunches the public debate on the review of the EU's economic governance framework. The Communication follows President von der Leyen's commitment in the State of the Union address to build a consensus on the future of the EU's economic governance framework. The Commission had previously suspended this public debate, which was first launched in February 2020,...

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The FTC has been warning consumers for years about impersonation scams – calls that falsely claim to come from the IRS, the Social Security Administration, or other offices or businesses. The messages try to coerce people into making immediate payments or turning over sensitive personal information. The FTC’s latest Data Spotlight focuses on the rampant rise of Amazon impersonation scams that have already bilked consumers out of millions of dollars. From July 2020 through June 2021, about one in three people who reported a...

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While most economic indicators deteriorated last year, house prices largely shrugged off the effects of the pandemic. Of the over 60 countries that enter into the IMF’s Global House Price Index, three-quarters saw increases in house prices during 2020, and this trend has largely continued in countries with more recent data. IMF research indicates that low interest rates contributed to the boom in house prices, as did policy support provided by governments and workers’ greater need to be able to work from home....

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Speech by EVP Margrethe Vestager at the Information Technology Industry Council | Good morning. Thank you, for the invitation to speak today and to Mr Oxman for the kind presentation. If we go by the polls, the Western World is experiencing what we could call a ‘One Third’ political crisis. Just the other day, a survey here in Belgium revealed that One Third of people no longer believe they are living in a democracy. One Third believe society would be better run...

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