With the growth of the Brazilian economy and wider availability of credit and government cash transfer programmes, 35 million people have in recent years joined an expanded middle class.

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And my point, as you know, I know, is that the -- raising the ceiling, the debt ceiling, is so important because it involves the faith and credit of the United States government as the most powerful economy in the world -- the economy to which the whole world looks for stability.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The government deserved credit for the strength of the economy, investment in public services and introducing new rights at work, said the TUC general secretary in his message.

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But investment has fallen in the rich world too: the rivers of capital have flowed not directly into businesses but into markets for consumer and government credit, where they are presumably doing little to increase the recipient economy's ability to repay the loans in the future.

ECONOMIST: Don’t blame the savers | The

The government has announced it will introduce legislation banning excessive debit and credit card charges across the economy.

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They maintain that when consumers can no longer consume and corporations are locked out of the credit markets, the government is the only actor in the economy that can save us all from financial Armageddon.

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Italy's banks had survived the credit crisis almost unscathed, and many voters still believed the government's claim that the economy as a whole had fared better than any in Europe.

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