Showing posts with label Mediafax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mediafax. Show all posts

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Useless, useless, useless - Germans have "Dachau and such" ready !!!!

Blowing hot air = UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of a comprehensive approach; Viktor Orban, the normally fiery Hungarian leader told me everyone had to co-operate and Angela Merkel insisted, "What we cannot say is Europe cannot deal with this. I say it again and again, we WILL do this!"
EU leaders do actually agree on a number of key issues:
 
 
  • Cracking down on people smuggling rings
  • Getting asylum claims processed faster, so failed claimants can be deported more rapidly
  • The need to secure Europe's external borders
  • Boosting aid to the sprawling, squalid refugee camps around Syria, so fewer people feel tempted to come to Europe
  • Stepping up attempts to try to end the war in Syria
But common resolve is one thing. Effective, immediate action is quite another. And some of the leaders' goals are more realistic than others. At a press conference after the summit, the German chancellor spoke of the need to talk to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad as part of a new European push for peace in his country. The conflict has now reached Europe, and Germany in particular. It is the European country of choice for Syrian refugees. In the past, Germany has joined other Western leaders in calling for President Assad to step aside. So these talks would be delicate and controversial, they will not happen overnight and their chances of success are limited, to say the least. Then there's the question of building what is often dubbed Fortress Europe - or what Donald Tusk described last night as "closing Europe's doors and windows".

Monday, September 21, 2015

“The real pr0blem Despite the incessant jawboning to the contrary by Fed and central bank mouthpieces - who under an honest system would be charged with currency manipulation - there is zero possibility of a rate rise. You can't taper a Ponzi scheme, and central bankers are not about to give up their most effective tools for asset-stripping the 99% and transferring their wealth to the .1% in the financial sector. The City of London and Wall Street must keep luring in new suckers and new money, and since the supply of Greater Fools is running out and the retail investor herd is starting to get spooked, the Fed has no option but to maintain ZIRP. Moreover, it will need to print new trillions in QE4/helicopter money and shower them on its TBTF banker cohorts to keep the Ponzi levitated long enough to lure in the last of the retail bag-holders before the pump & dump. So on Thursday Yellen will announce continued ZIRP and foreshadow a new round of "stimulus." No other outcome is possible. The con game is becoming more brazen even as people are finally waking up and rejecting the crony capitalist status quo, as seen by the meteoric rise of anti-establishment political contenders in the US and UK. problem isn’t what the Fed may do, but the ultimately unavoidable consequences of what the Fed has already done. The cost of reckless Fed-induced yield seeking will likely be felt first in the financial markets as  previous paper gains evaporate, while defaults on excessive low-quality covenant-lite credit will emerge over the course of the economic cycle, and the  impact of investment will be to limit productivity and economic growth over the longer run. This is all rather inevitable except in the eyes of those who haven’t watched and memorized a dozen adaptations of the same movie…my view is that activist Fed policy is both ineffective and reckless (and the historical data bears this out), and that the Federal Reserve has pushed the financial markets to a precipice from which no gentle retreat is ultimately likely. Similar precipices, such as 1929 and 2000, and even lesser precipices like 1906, 1937, 1973 and 2007 have always had unfortunate endings... A quarter-point hike will not cause anything. The causes are already baked in the cake. A rate hike may
be a trigger with respect to timing, but that’s all. History suggests we should place our attention on valuations and market internals in any event.”

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Global shadow banking assets rose to a record $75 trillion (£46.5 trillion) last year, new analysis shows.  The value of risky investment products, mortgage-backed securities and other non-bank entities increased by $5 trillion to $75 trillion in 2013, according to the Financial Stability Board (FSB).   Shadow banking, which is not constrained by bank regulation, now represents about 25pc of total financial assets - or roughly half of the global banking system. It is also equivalent to 120pc of global gross domestic product (GDP).   The FSB, which monitors and makes recommendations on financial stability issues, said that while non-bank lending complemented traditional channels by expanding access to credit, data inconsistencies together with the size of the system meant closer monitoring was warranted.   "Intermediating credit through non-bank channels can have important advantages and contributes to the financing of the real economy; but such channels can also become a source of systemic risk, especially when they are structured to perform bank-like functions and when their interconnectedness with the regular banking system is strong," the FSB said in its annual shadow banking report. 
Ultimately some of this money leaks into physical assets and we will see tremendous inflation and asset bubbles. The money creation is all being retained in the banking system whilst M2 money supply is crashing to record lows. All the economic meters are going into the red except GDP growth because that is funded by debt funded by money printing which is fueling the distortion in our financial system. Even the IMF is ringing the fire alarm.
Economically this is a fascinating experiment with FIAT money which has not been around that long compared to its predecessor (asset backed currency) invented by Sir Isaac Newton as Master of the Royal Mint. This shadow is 120% of Global GDP haha and `no systemic risk`. They just type figures into a computer and call it money.  No one understands this and no one can explain what it means... It`s like trying to regulate the Sun while flying like Icarus...Granular data from 23 countries which stripped out assets not related to credit intermediation - or taking money from savers and lending it to borrowers - showed the size of the shadow banking system stood at $34.9 trillion in 2013, compared with $34 trillion in 2012.  Under this measure, growth of shadow banking in China was even larger than under the headline measure, rising by 40pc in 2013 to $2.7 trillion.  The FSB data follows a report by the International Monetary Fund this month which urged regulators to do more to police activity in the non-bank sector.  The FSB and IMF said more data were needed to conduct in-depth healthchecks of the sector.

 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The French are sending Russia advanced helicopter carriers. Germans built it a high-tech military training facility. Italians have been shipping armored vehicles. Deep into a crisis in which Russia’s military deployed on Ukrainian soil, European nations are struggling to balance economic considerations with political ones. Now France is poised this month to invite 400 Russian sailors to train on a massive new ship that a Russian admiral once said would have enabled his nation to beat neighboring Georgia in its 2008 war in “40 minutes instead of 26 hours.”  French leaders have refused to cancel the $1.7 billion sale of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers — capable of transporting 16 attack helicopters, dozens of tanks and 700 soldiers — despite Russia’s recent aggression, including its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March. The plans have drawn condemnation from allies including the United States and NATO, which say that supplying military equipment to Russia with one hand while condemning its military actions with the other is clearly contradictory.  The Mistral deal and other arms shipments lay bare the difficulty of applying pressure on Russia, even at a time when tensions between the West and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War.  European leaders have sought to protect their defense industries even as they have sanctioned Russian officials over the Crimea annexation. “We are executing the contract in full legal compliance because we’ re not at that level of sanctions,” French President François  Hollande told reporters this month. If sanctions escalate, he said, France may hold back on sending the ships.

Monday, June 16, 2014

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog on Thursday - all Italians - in the latest move to break with an old guard associated with a murky past under his predecessor. The Vatican said the pope named four experts from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Holy See's internal regulatory office. The new board includes a woman for the first time. All five outgoing members were Italians who had been expected to serve five-year terms ending in 2016 and were laymen associated with the Vatican's discredited financial old guard. Reformers inside the Vatican had been pushing for the pope, who already has taken a series of steps to clean up Vatican finances, to appoint professionals with an international background to work with Rene Bruelhart, a Swiss lawyer who heads the AIF and who has been pushing for change. Vatican sources said Bruelhart, Liechtenstein's former top anti-money laundering expert, was chafing under the old board and wanted Francis to appoint global professionals like him.
"Bruelhart wanted a board he could work with and it seems the pope has come down on his side and sent the old boy network packing," said a Vatican source familiar with the situation.
The new board of the AIF includes Marc Odendall, who administers and advises philanthropic organisations in Switzerland, and Juan C. Zarate, a Harvard law professor and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington D.C. The other two board members are Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, former managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and senior advisor to that country's president, and Maria Bianca Farina, the head of two Italian insurance companies.
Francis, who was elected in March 2013 after the resignation of former Pope Benedict, in February set up a new Secretariat for the Economy reporting directly to him and appointed an outsider, Australian Cardinal George Pell, to head it.
In January he removed Cardinal Attilio Nicora, a prelate who played a senior role in Vatican finances for more than a decade, as president of the AIF and replaced him with an archbishop with a track record of reform within the Vatican bureaucracy.
He also replaced four of the five cardinals in the commission that supervises the Vatican's troubled bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).
Since the arrival of Bruelhart in 2012, the AIF has been spearheading reforms to bring the Vatican in line with international standards on financial transparency and money laundering. But Vatican sources say he has encountered resistance from an old, entrenched guard.
A report last December by Moneyval, a monitoring committee of the Council of Europe, said the Vatican had enacted significant reforms but must still exercise more oversight over its bank.
Francis, who has said Vatican finances must be transparent in order for the Church to have credibility, decided against closing the IOR on condition that reforms, including closing accounts by people not entitled to have them, continued.
Only Vatican employees, religious institutions, orders of priests and nuns and Catholic charities are allowed to have accounts at the bank. But investigators have found that a number were being used by outsiders or that legitimate account holders were handling money for third parties.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a former senior Vatican accountant who had close ties to the IOR, is currently on trial accused of plotting to smuggle millions of dollars into Italy from Switzerland in a scheme to help rich friends avoid taxes.
Scarano has also been indicted on separate charges of laundering millions of euros through the IOR. Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli, the IOR's director and deputy director, who resigned last July after Scarano's arrest, have been ordered to stand trial on charges of violating anti-money laundering norms.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Over one million people in Spain - the eurozone's fourth largest economy - haven't had a job since 2010, according to a report by Spain's National Statistics Institute. Although this number continues to rise, the government says it's witnessing recovery.
The numbers, published on May 23, show that “very long-term unemployment” in the country has risen by more than 500 percent since 2007. That year, about 250,000 Spaniards were unemployed after losing their job at least three years prior. That number drastically rose to 1.27 million in 2013 - 234,000 more than in 2012.
Generally, long-term unemployment includes jobless workers who have not been employed for more than 27 weeks. The recent study shows that this category in Spain has transformed to very long-term unemployment, with hundreds of thousands people without a job for at least three years, and is now represented by over 23 percent of the total jobless population in Spain.
The number is much higher than in other countries in the region at the same economic level, with another recent study showing that 26 percent of the country's population is on government benefits in Spain - the second highest total in the EU after Greece. Older jobless Spaniards are in a worse position than younger ones, who are more flexible and can emigrate and try to find work in other countries. But those with families and financial commitments are in danger of never finding work again. Edward Hugh, a British economist based in Spain, told the Spain Report that the situation is disastrous: "Many of these people are now 'structurally unemployed,' and many of those over 50 may never work again. It’s a national disaster,” he said.
Spain's new, smaller parties earned a relatively high number of votes in the recent EU elections. One of the newcomers, the Podemos (We Can) party, received almost eight percent of the votes, enough for five seats in the European Parliament. One of the political movement's MPs told The Spain Report that "a howl of protest against the unfairness, crushed dreams and hopeless futures caused by the existing economic system” is at the heart of the new party's support base.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

IQUIQUE, Chile (AP) — A powerful 7.6-magnitude aftershock hit Chile's far-northern coast late Wednesday night, shaking the same area where a magnitude-8.2 earthquake hit just a day before causing some damage and six deaths.   Chile's Emergency Office and navy issued a tsunami alert and ordered a precautionary evacuation of low-lying areas on the northern coast, meaning many people could be spending another sleepless night away from their homes.   The aftershock caused buildings to shake and people to run out into the streets in the port of Iquique, which was one of the cities that saw some damage from Tuesday night's big quake. But there were no immediate reports of new damage or injuries from the latest tremor, which was one of dozens that have followed the 8.2 quake.   "I was evacuated like all citizens. One can see that the people are prepared," tweeted President Michelle Bachelet, who was in the nearby city of Arica to assess the damage.   The aftershock was centered 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Iquique at a depth of 25 miles (40 kilometers), the U.S Geological Survey said. The USGS initially reported the tremor's magnitude at 7.8, but downgraded it to 7.6.  It was felt across the border in southern Peru, where people in the cities of Tacna and Arequipa reportedly fled buildings in fear.   On Tuesday, authorities reported just six deaths from the initial quake, but said it was possible others could have been killed in older structures made of adobe in remote communities that weren't immediately accessible.   About 2,500 homes were damaged in Alto Hospicio, a poor neighborhood in the hills above Iquique, a city of nearly 200,000 people whose coastal residents joined a mandatory evacuation ahead of a tsunami that rose to only 8 feet (2.5 meters). Iquique's fishermen poked through the aftermath: sunken and damaged boats that could cost millions of dollars to repair and replace. Still, as President Michelle Bachelet deployed hundreds of anti-riot police and soldiers to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners, it was clear that the loss of life and property could have been much worse. The mandatory evacuation lasted for 10 hours in Iquique and Arica, the cities closest to the epicenter, and kept 900,000 people out of their homes along Chile's 2,500-mile (4,000 kilometer) coastline. The order to leave was spread through cellphone text messages and Twitter, and reinforced by blaring sirens in neighborhoods where people regularly practice earthquake drills.   But the system has its shortcomings: the government has yet to install tsunami warning sirens in parts of Arica, leaving authorities to shout orders by megaphone. And fewer than 15 percent of Chileans have downloaded the smartphone application that can alert them to evacuation orders.  Chile is one of the world's most seismic countries and is particularly prone to tsunamis, because of the way the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera ever higher.


Sunday, March 9, 2014

Businesses in the eurozone had their fastest growth for more than two and a half years, the Markit composite purchasing managers index showed. The growth was led by the region’s services sector, which expanded quicker than originally thought.
Here’s Reuters’ early story:Euro zone private businesses enjoyed their fastest growth rate in over 2-1/2 years last month as the region’s service industry expanded quicker than initially thought, surveys showed on Wednesday. The upturn in the 18-member bloc’s fortunes was again led by Germany, but the gulf between growth in Europe’s biggest economy and the decline in France has only been wider once in the 16-year history of the surveys.  Markit’s final Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which gauges business activity across thousands of companies and is seen as a good guide to economic health, was revised up to 53.3 from an initial flash reading of 52.7.  That was the eighth month the index has been above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction and beat January’s 52.9.  The surveys suggest the region’s economy was on course to grow 0.4-0.5 percent in the first quarter, Markit said, more than the 0.3 percent growth predicted in a Reuters poll last month and would be the fastest expansion in three years.  “The final PMI indicates that the euro zone economy grew at the fastest rate since June 2011, contrasting with the slowdown signalled by the flash reading,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at survey compiler Markit. “However, regional divergences remain a concern,” he added. Germany’s composite PMI soared to a 33-month high but France’s fell further below the break-even mark where it has languished for most of the past two years. Italy and Spain, the third and fourth biggest economies in the bloc, both had robust growth.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Capitalism covers a very wide range of systems, and is not the direct culprit for our problems. However, the way capitalism is implemented today is a big problem, it is undermining democracy and radicalizing large portions of the population. It will not end well, if this trend is allowed to persist.
Probably the single most harmful detail is the stock exchange. There are many other issues also, but shareholders in particular have been given the rights of owners, which is illogical, as they are in fact speculators. The owners should be the long term caretakers of corporations, with managers more interested in short term benefits. All shareholders care about is the short to mid term value of the stock, not the long term viability of the enterprise. To get the managers to play this game, they have given managers salaries that approach investor profits in scale. As a result, capitalism has gone bananas, not caring for long term viability, the communities they function in, the environment, the law, not even the customers .... share value is all that counts these days and no cost is too great to achieve it.
Democratic Capitalism need not be like this, it is just the default mode of operation it will slip into if left unattended. And this mode is bent on self-destruction, with a tendency to degenerate into Fascism or Communism ... if left to play out its natural course. If this is not to happen, the democratic part of Democratic Capitalism needs to be more pronounced...point / counterpoint...Capitalism works because entrepreneurs and managers figure out how customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and people with the money all can cooperate to benefit....No it doesn't.
  • Capitalism works by creating profit. Where there is profit there is deficit.
  • Capitalism works by making profit out of the exploitation of those who create that profit in the first place. This is why workers are not paid the actual value of what they produce, because the capitalist or entrepreneur cant make any profit out of that.
  • Capitalism may not be perfect, yet it is the greatest system of social co-operation ever created thus far.
No it isn't, the greatest system of social co-operation is where everyone is equal and treated equally, that is true co-operation. Capitalism is exploitation of the masses for the benefit of the minority.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Polymer five pound note
Concept design for new polymer £5 note featuring former British leader Winston Churchill. Photograph: AP
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has formally announced that Britain will switch to using plastic banknotes in 2016, ending 320 years of paper money.
After a public consultation in which 87% of the 13,000 respondents backed the new-style currency, the Bank said it would introduce "polymer" notes, as it prefers to call them, in two years' time, starting with the new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill in 2016 and the Jane Austen £10 a year later.
Speaking at a press conference in the Bank's Threadneedle Street headquarters, Carney said: "Our polymer notes will combine the best of progress and tradition. They will be more secure from counterfeiting and more resistant to damage while celebrating the history and tradition that is important both to the Bank and the nation as a whole."
The move follows Carney's native Canada, where plastic notes are being rolled out, and Australia, where they have been in circulation for more than two decades.
Carney launched a public consultation on polymer banknotes, seen as cleaner and more durable, shortly after arriving at the Bank this summer. However, the Bank's notes division has been considering plastic money for several years.
Bank officials have been touring shopping centres and business groups around the country with prototype notes to canvas public opinion.  The Bank has promoted its polymer notes, featuring a see-through window and other new security features, as less threadbare and tougher to counterfeit. It has sought to quell concerns about the environmental impact of printing on plastic by suggesting they can last up to two-and-a-half times longer than the cotton-paper notes in circulation at the moment. The durability will also compensate for the higher production costs and save an estimated £100m, the Bank claims. Its laboratory tests showed polymer banknotes only begin to shrink and melt at 120C, so they would fare better in washing machines but could be damaged by a hot iron.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Agreement among the WTO’s 159 member economies

Ministers meeting in Bali sealed agreement among the WTO’s 159 member economies for the pact, which eases barriers to trade by simplifying customs procedures, limiting agricultural subsidies, and promoting trade with least-developed nations. 
The deal could boost global trade by $1 trillion and create 20 million new jobs, keeps alive the WTO’s broader 12-year marathon Doha Round of trade negotiations designed to reduce international tariff barriers, well ...I've just found out that governments from the United States to Australia and from Canada to the EU are secretly negotiating trade deals that will give global corporations the right to sue our governments and overturn our laws.
Details have leaked out on what is called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) that will massively expand the power of corporations to sue our governments.
Thousands of corporate lobbyists are helping to write these secret pacts -- but we're not allowed to see them. Governments know that we won't like these corporate power grabs, so they're hoping to keep them under the radar until it's too late to stop them. But if we can raise our voices now, we can expose these corporate charters and kill the deals forever.
Two secret new global pacts- the TTIP and TPP -could massively increase the power of corporations to sue our governments when they pass laws to protect our environment or our health. Unsurprised, its just four companies talking to each other - 8 largest U.S. financial companies (JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Morgan Stanley) are 100% controlled by 10 shareholders and we have 4 companies always present i...n all decisions: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity - who control the Federal Reserve. The same “big four” control the vast majority of European companies counted on the stock exchange. These same people run the IMF, the European Central Bank & the World Bank. The 10 largest US financial institutions hold 54% of US total financial assets. 90% of US media is owned by 6 corporations. We will tell you what the news is - the news is what we say it is - it turns out it is not illegal to falsify the news. 37 banks have merged to become just four since 1990. We are speaking of 6, 8 or maybe 12 families who truly dominate the world (perhaps Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Loebs Kuh and Lehmans in New York, the Rothschilds of Paris and London, the Warburgs of Hamburg, Paris and Lazards Israel Moses Seifs Rome). With Google accounting for over 65% of all web searches in the US and over 70% market share in most other countries, the top 10 owners of Google’s stock are Fidelity, BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard Group, Capital Research, T. Rowe Price, Capital World, Alliancebernstein, Marsico Capital. This is the world we live in.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Huge storm do to hit England on monday

Forecasters warned on Thursday that the most powerful storm in several years would batter the south coast on Monday, but have now expanded the alert as far north as the east and West Midlands.
Winds are expected to reach up to 80mph in mainland areas, while in Cornwall and along the south coast they could at times be even stronger.
The Met Office have issued this prediction for the storm (MET OFFICE)
Forecasters have claimed the storm, which is still forming over the Atlantic, could be of similar strength to the great storm of 1987 and the Burns Day Storm in 1990. Met Office senior forecaster Helen Chivers warned that winds could get up to 90mph and said the storm could be exceptional: "This is not a storm you see every winter. 
"The storm of 1987 is one, and the Burns day storm in January 1990 is another."
Some gusts are likely to top 12 on the Beaufort Scale, a level of force which is equivalent to a hurricane, but winds will not stay consistently at this speed as they would in a real tropical storm.
The "amber alert" issued by the Met Office says the weather system is expected to arrive in the early hours of Monday and last until up to 9pm, with heavy rain also expected in western and central areas.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

THE "ISLANDERS" - The Prime Minister was warned by Jose Manuel Barroso that his attempts to negotiate a new relationship with the EU would be vetoed by other member states.
As a war of words raged, Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister will go ahead with his plans to get a better deal.
A Number 10 spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister made clear in January, he will negotiate a new deal in the EU and then put the choice of staying in or leaving the EU to the British people in a referendum by the end of 2017.”
Mr Barroso, an unelected Portuguese politician who comes to the end of his presidency next year, had dismissed claims by Mr Cameron that there is wider European support for his agenda to “repatriate” powers on social, employment and environmental legislation back to Westminster....
He said in an interview “there will be others, many, who oppose” Mr Cameron’s call for treaty changes which must be agreed unanimously by all 28 member states.
He said: “Britain wants to again consider the option of opting out. Fine, let’s discuss it. What is difficult, or even impossible, is if we go for the exercise of repatriation of competences because that means revising the treaties and revision means unanimity. I don’t believe it will work.”
He added: “I am for a stronger EU not a weaker EU.”
The row will add to calls for Britain to quit the EU, as championed by the Daily Express.
Last night Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “Barroso describes Cameron’s plans as ‘doomed to failure’. So they are. It is about time the pro- European establishment of this country was honest with us. There will be no change in our relationship with the EU before, during or after Cameron’s futile renegotiations.
“The EU knows this, Cameron knows this and the people of this country need to know this, too. This country needs a choice now.”

Friday, October 18, 2013

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are meeting the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) for a second round of preliminary talks on Monday afternoon and plan to decide by the end of the week whether to start formal coalition talks with them or the Greens.  A grand coalition between the conservatives and the SPD -- Merkel's preferred option because it would give her comfortable majorities in both houses of parliament -- is looking increasingly likely.  So far at least, progress has been easier than anticipated. The two parties are finding scope for compromises on a range of domestic policy issues including the introduction of a minimum wage, tax policy and the energy revolution.  The allocation of cabinet posts could, however, prove contentious. The SPD wants the post of finance minister, a key position in tackling the euro crisis which is currently occupied by veteran Wolfgang Schäuble of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), but Merkel doesn't want to hand it over. The SPD also wants the labor portfolio, which would require Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen to find another post. Rumor has it that she would like to be foreign minister, but sources have told SPIEGEL that Merkel may offer her the Health Ministry instead, a less attractive position.  There is speculation that Schäuble could become Foreign Minister and that SPD member Jörg Asmussen, currently on the European Central Bank's executive board, could replace him as finance minister.   Another difficult issue is likely to be dual citizenship. Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), oppose it and the current law requires people born in Germany to foreign parents to choose by the age of 23 whether they want to be German or foreign citizens. The SPD wants to amend the law and allow permanent dual citizenship.  Merkel said last week she wants to know which party she will be entering formal coalition talks with by Oct. 22, when the newly elected Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, assembles for its first session.  That doesn't mean a new government will be in place by that date, though. It means she wants to be sure who her likely coalition partner is going to be. 'New Government by Mid-November'  Schäuble told reporters that a new government could be formed quite quickly. "I think we'll have a new government by around the middle of November," he said Saturday on the sidelines of international financial talks in Washington. Merkel, who led her conservatives to their best general election result since the heady days of reunification in 1990, is just five seats short of an absolute majority.  Some observers said in the immediate aftermath of the election that the coalition talks could drag on to the end of the year or even into January. Germany may have a government a lot sooner than that.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Officials in the European Commission are for the first time discussing the possibility of creating a contingency fund for banks and financial institutions outside the eurozone.
Under Brussels’ current rescue mechanisms, which include bail-out funds with €700bn of firepower, banks in non-eurozone countries are not protected. Officials are discussing the possibility of extending an existing fund that is currently used as a backstop to help any member state that has a balance of payments crisis.
Simon O’Connor, a spokesman for the European Commission, said that the ideas being discussed were about “providing a credible public backstop at the European level, capable of reassuring supervisors and market participants that financial stability will be assured”.
According to the Commission, the idea would be to take the existing Balance of Payment Facility and “within it create an instrument for the financial sector”. Details are hazy but under the current rules Britain would be liable for 14pc of the fund - or €7bn. Britain could also be on the hook for any liabilities for failed banks.
France, Spain and Italy are more likely to support the plan, arguing that the EU must show investors it is able to deal with any problems that emerge after bank reviews taking place next year.
"Details are hazy but under the current rules Britain would be liable for 14pc of the fund". And which rules would those be? I hope it wasn't written in the "tidying up treaty" that was Lisbon?
If it wasn't Lisbon I would love to know what rule it falls under and how the British population were informed of the risks of signing up to these rules.... or is that too much to ask for in a "democracy". "... Brussels’ current rescue mechanisms, which include bail-out funds with €700bn of firepower"
What they actually have is nothing.  They plan to take some of the €700bn from Eurozone members (as no Eurozone member is in credit, the EZ member governments would all have to borrow it from the markets, at market rates).  The chumps at the EC plan to use this cash as a basis on which to borrow a whole load more money from the markets, at market rates.  They would then lend this money at preferential rates to EZ members who need to bail out their banks.
Now substitute "banks" for "markets" and it becomes apparent that the grand plan is to borrow a shed load of money from the banks and use that money to bail out the banks.  What could possibly go wrong?
Added to all of this is the dodgy oversight of those who run the scheme, the lack of oversight/control over how they distribute the €700bn and that they can choose their own mates to be their auditors.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Merkel does put German interest above European interest. But that's not the whole story. She also puts German corporate interest above German public interest. And most of all, her own interest above anything else.
I understand people in Germany being upset about everyone in Europe wanting their tax money. But that's only half the truth. The other half is, Germany profits from investors taking back their money from other European countries, and now investing it in the much safer and quite profitable Germany. Our interest rates in Germany have reached an all-time low in the crisis, so German economy profits from this crisis. And we still live from exports, and so from the EU. German economic interest is: try to keep up the status quo as long as possible, and that is what Merkel does.
Problem is, in my opinion, that will be disastrous for Europe. Polemics aside, the south europeans have a point. There's need for reforms, there's need for savings, but there also needs to be a perspective. You can't just close schools, hospitals, stop investments in infrastructure and deny people their healthcare for nothing in return but a lack of perspective. Just fire everyone from public service and don't offer any alternative for them. You can't just sacrifice the future of countries and societies for nothing but the need to save money.
It almost seems like Britain was right in its Euro-scepticicm. And everyone who was afraid of a too strong Germany after its reunion. That doesn't mean we should split up. In present and future, we simply have no choice but to work together in Europe. We're all in the same boat. If Britain wasn't in the European boat, few would care about it anymore. UKIP is wrong, British interest has to be in a strong Europe, not in a lone Britain.

Our unpopular former chancellor Gerhard Schröder made the reforms that led to present German economic strength. He risked his chancellorship, against his own party, to put through inevitable reforms. He turned the inert giant into an economic powerhouse. Merkel hardly does anything, the economic success she rests on was caused by her predecessor who took great risks. Risks that Merkel would never take. She's not the risky type. Schröder made reforms that were in parts flawed, but his own party, the SPD, is willing to work with and against the flaws today. Merkel is nothing like that. Her own influence is everything, and everything else plays second role, be it Germany, be it Europe.
Chancellor Schröder would have forced similar reforms on those countries, but he would have tried to convince them. Something like "it's going to be hard, but we're in the same boat, and we need to work together to get out of the crisis with greater strength". Even if it would damage his reputation in Germany. Merkel doesn't care about that. She simply says: "it's inevitable, deal with it. German savings are secure, I don't care a lot about the rest of Europe". She only cares about her position. And her position doesn't depend on Greece, Italy, Spain, or Britain. It only depends on Germans wanting to keep their money, and German economy, which is, again, profiting from the Euro crisis.
I am convinced that will destroy Europe, and I will vote for her adversary this month, but I have very little hope in a regime change. My hope is for a large coalition in which the SPD will have a little bit of influence on her Europe policy. A Europe policy, that is, contrary to her claims, careless and heartless.I find the idea that a German chancellor is responsible for solving the European economic crisis quite ridiculous. It is not in her powers to do so as she is no monarch but the democratically elected head of the German government. To all those moaning about her putting Germany's interest first - well that's actually her job description. That means, that she will, quite free of any ideological leaning decide hand in hand with the German industry what should be pursued for Eurozone. Be the next chancellor Steinbrueck or Merkel, nothing will change that.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

GREECE - During the first seven months of 2013, the surplus reached €1.1bn (£921m), he said, adding this would enable the country to negotiate with its creditors, the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Greece has received massive rescue funding, tied to tough conditions, from the EU and the IMF to help it overcome a debt crisis which threatened the eurozone.
However, the a resulting structural reforms, including an overhaul of its public sector and its tax system, have proved unpopular.
On Saturday Samaras promised no further austerity measures would be introduced, saying the economy "cannot take" them any more.
"Debt levels will be manageable, Greece has respected its commitments... now, the creditors must also respect what was agreed," he added.
Protests in Thessaloniki, the country's second largest city, were organised by the private and public sector trade unions, GSEE and Adedy, who called for "fighting austerity and poverty".
Police said about 4,500 extra officers had been sent to the city to avert rioting during the four-hour demonstration.
The EU and the IMF recently praised the Greek government's progress in turning the economy around, but bemoaned delays to a programme of privatisation and reform, and the fact that the country will likely need further aid in 2014 and 2015 amounting to around €10bn.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The head of the European Central Bank has ruled out handing Greece a debt relief lifeline, hours after the head of the eurozone finance ministers admitted that Athens will need additional aid next year.
ECB president Mario Draghi was adamant that the ECB would not participate in any debt restructuring, despite growing speculation that Greece will be unable to fully return to the financial markets when its current bailout ends in 2014.
"It is pretty clear that we cannot do monetary financing," Draghi told reporters in Frankfurt on Thursday, insisting that the ECB's own treaty made it impossible. Asked directly if the ECB would take part in any Greek debt relief, he said: "No", adding that any future assistance for Greece must also come with strings attached, or "conditionality". Greece faces a funding gap of up to €11bn in the second half of 2014, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. Rumours that a third bailout will be needed have swirled through the financial markets in recent weeks.
Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who also chairs the eurogroup of finance ministers, left MEPs in little doubt that euro governments will have to consider some extra help for Greece soon. Appearing at the European parliament, Dijsselbloem said it was "realistic to assume that additional support will be needed" when the existing bailout concludes at the end of next year.
"As far as the potential need for a third programme for Greece is concerned, it's clear that despite recent progress, Greece's troubles will not have been completely resolved by 2014," said Dijsselbloem, who warned that Greece would probably not be able to return to borrowing from the financial markets when its bailout ends. Dijsselbloem said the Eurogroup "stood ready" to help Greece, while rejecting suggestions that a full-blown third bailout package would be needed. He argued that officials would not be able to assess Greece's progress until next April. But according to Reuters, Euro officials may need to take a decision this November.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

When a politician is planning a campaign lie, he has to be able to rely on one thing: No one in his own party must come out with the truth prematurely. The Social Democrats adhered to this rule in the 1976 election, when then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt promised higher pensions and then announced sharp cuts after the election. And the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) also closed ranks in 1990, the year of German reunification, when then Chancellor Helmut Kohl appeared on market squares throughout the country to announce that taxes would not be raised. It was a promise that, as we now know, was followed by the strongest postwar increase in taxes and other charges. Current Chancellor Angela Merkel was still an up-and-coming member of the eastern German CDU and Kohl's eager pupil, so it came as no surprise that she urged her party's executive committee to stay the course on Greece at all costs last week. "There is too much talk in Europe about debt haircuts," the chancellor told her party's executive committee at a meeting last Monday.  But after SPIEGEL had reported two weeks ago that the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, had new doubts about Greece's bailout program, the debate over additional aid packages or debt forgiveness was reignited. This would be extremely dangerous, the chancellor told CDU MPs, as it would create "uncertainty in the markets." In other words, she was saying, it was critical to maintain discipline in the debate.
Less than 24 hours later, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble appeared on a campaign stage in Ahrensburg, a town in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, and said: "There will have to be another (bailout) program in Greece."...So there it was.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Spanish fishermen have sailed into disputed waters off Gibraltar to protest about a reef put there by the British territory's government. The fishermen say the reef restricts their right to fish but Gibraltar says it will encourage sea-life to flourish.
The Royal Gibraltar Police said the protest, which appeared to pass off without incident, had ended.  The row over the artificial reef has led to tensions between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain in recent weeks. 'Not theirs' Spanish fishing boats sailed from the "Campo de Gibraltar" - the area in southern Spain just over the border from the British territory - to protest near the spot where Gibraltar recently dropped 70 concrete blocks into the sea to create the artificial reef.  The BBCs Tom Burridge, at the scene, said it was "chaotic and tense" as Spanish and Gibraltarian police boats and Spanish fishermen weaved among each other.
At the close of the demonstration, Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo tweeted: "Big thank you also to Royal Navy, Gib Defence Police, HM Customs and Port Authority for their deployment too. Cool, professional and calm!"
Meanwhile, GBC News, Gibraltar's public service broadcaster, posted: "Spanish fishermen's demo in #Gibraltar waters seems to have passed without incident. Most fishing boats returning to La Atunara now."