
Showing posts with label Mondiala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mondiala. Show all posts
Sunday, September 9, 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

According to French-language daily Le Soir, a crack of between 15 and 20 millimetres (0.6 and 0.8 inches) was discovered during a test in June. There has been no denial of this report. According to the agency, repairs are "practically impossible" and are "not an option" for fear of creating new tensions "which we must avoid at all costs." Installing a replacement meanwhile has never been attempted anywhere because of the problem of high radiation levels.
The AFCN revealed on Wednesday that the Doel 3 reactor, located 25 kilometres (20 miles) north of Antwerp, would remain closed at least until August 31 after the discovery of possible cracks in the protective vessel surrounding the core during routine June testing. The agency is also mulling the permanent closure "in the worst case" of a second reactor in the country's south near Liege.
The tests showed "faults in the steel base material" on which the reactor vessel is mounted, the AFCN said. The Dutch firm, Rotterdam Drydocks, that made the vessels is out of business, which has amplified concerns about others it delivered in Europe and in the Americas.
Spain has indicated it has two reactors in the same bracket, Switzerland and Sweden one each. The firm supplied one to the Netherlands, but had not manufactured it. The government in The Hague said it has still to decide whether to test its nuclear facilities. The German government said reactors supplied by the defunct company were no longer in service.
Representatives of nuclear safety bodies from all the countries involved will meet in Brussels on August 16 to "exchange information," the AFCN said.
Monday, August 13, 2012
"Indignados" in Spain

They might have been more specific and instead chanted: "All the old people must go!" This phrase would apply because, in many ways, the euro crisis is also a conflict between generations -- the flush baby boomers in their fifties and sixties are today living prosperously at the expense of young people.
Intergenerational equity -- measured among other things by levels of direct and hidden debts and pension entitlements -- is particularly low in Southern Europe. In a 2011 study of intergenerational equity in 31 countries by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Greece came in last place. Italy, Portugal and Spain didn't do much better, landing in 28th, 24th and 22nd place respectively. Currently, the unequal distribution of income and opportunities is particularly distinct:
The employment market collapse has hit young Europeans much harder than older generations. In Greece and Spain more than half of those under age 25 are unemployed -- twice the rate of older workers. Things are even worse in parts of southern Italy, where youth unemployment has risen above 50 percent. One reason for this situation is unequal employment circumstances. Older Spaniards and Italians, for example, profit from worker protection laws preventing them from getting fired that are quite strong by international comparison. But almost half of young Italians and 60 percent of young Spaniards are on temporary employment contracts and can easily lose their jobs. The burdens and risks of the euro bailouts are also mainly borne by young people. Ultimately, growing national debts and bailout funds worth billions will be financed through bonds that won't be due for many years to come.
Monday, July 2, 2012
I am with the faux Angela Merkel (Queen of Europe ) on this - using a fund that doesn't exist - and if not the ESM then who is picking up Spain's share of the ESFS?

• We urge the rapid conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding
attached to the financial support to Spain for overcapitalization of its banking
sector. We reaffirm that the financial assistance will be provided by the EFSF
until the ESM becomes available, and that it will then be transferred to the
ESM, without gaining seniority status.
• We affirm our strong commitment to
do what is necessary to ensure the financial stability of the euro area, in
particular by using the existing EFSF/ESM instruments in a flexible and
efficient manner in order to stabilize markets for Member States respecting
their Country Specific Recommendations and their other commitments including
their respective timelines, under the European Semester, the Stability and
Growth Pact and the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. These conditions should
be reflected in a Memorandum of Understanding. We welcome that the ECB has
agreed to serve as an agent to EFSF/ESM in conducting market operations in an
effective and efficient manner.
• We task the Eurogroup to implement these
decisions by 9 July 2012.
I am with the faux Angela Merkel (Queen of Europe ) on this - using a fund that doesn't exist - and if not the ESM then who is picking up Spain's share of the ESFS?
Italy borrowing at 6% to lend to Spain via the ESFS at 3% sounds like a great plan. Or maybe it isn't.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
EU leaders are due to discuss measures for closer integration

There is a consensus in the corridors of power that if any eurozone member defaults or leaves, contagion and collapse are assured. This is a fairy tale designed to frighten voters into submission to bizarre government policies. It also ignores two historical lessons. ---GERMANS could vote in a referendum to decide whether to stay in the European Union, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated last night. Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, said a poll may be needed to get agreement on moves towards closer economic and political union in response to the euro crisis. He suggested it could be held sooner than anyone expected – despite the fact that Germany largely outlawed referendums after Hitler’s misuse of them to manipulate public opinion in the 1930s. Mr Schaeuble’s outburst in a German newspaper, ahead of this week’s crucial summit of EU leaders in Brussels, has led to widespread surprise in Germany. They also sparked renewed calls at home for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Mr Schaeuble said: “Those who want a strong Europe also have to be willing to surrender decisions to Brussels.” He admitted this could strain Germany’s constitutional law and said such a change would require the German people to decide. Asked directly if the country could soon hold an EU referendum, he replied: “I assume that it’ll happen sooner than I would have thought a few months ago. I would have said, ‘In five years? Never!’ But now I'm not so sure.” Tory MP Douglas Carswell said last night: “If Germany can have a referendum despite tough rules limiting such votes, then why the heck can't we?” Paul Nuttall, a Euro-MP and deputy leader of the UK Independence Party, said: “Taking lessons on democracy from the Germans – isn't that a bit shaming, Mr Cameron?” EU leaders are due to discuss measures for closer integration for the 17 eurozone countries this Thursday, including a “banking union” and more centralized economic planning.
Reuters has now got hold of the document prepared for this week's eurozone summit. The report was compiled by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured below with Draghi). According to the newswire, it suggests the eurozone could create a treasury for the single currency and issue eurobonds in the medium term as the final stage of a fiscal union. ---- Here are some other snatches from the report: In a medium-term perspective, the issuance of common debt could be explored as an element of such a fiscal union and subject to progress on fiscal integration. Steps towards the introduction of joint and several sovereign liabilities could be considered, as long as a robust framework for budgetary discipline and competitiveness is in place to avoid moral hazard and foster responsibility and compliance . The process towards the issuance of common debt should be criteria-based and phased, whereby progress in the pooling of decisions on budgets would be accompanied with commensurate steps towards the pooling of risks . Several options for partial common debt issuance have been proposed, such as the pooling of some short-term funding instruments on a limited and conditional basis, or the gradual roll-over into a redemption fund. Question is : Who is going to buy these fake bonds ????
I would just love to hear a banker explaining why it's better to get commercial banks to create money to lend the the US government, who then ends up paying $8.5 trillion in interest charges since 1988 (i.e more than half the entire US government debt), rather than just allowing the treasury to print its own money debt free like Abraham Lincoln and the Colonists.
Friday, June 22, 2012
June - the fifth consecutive month in wich activity across the 17-nation bloc has declining

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Furthermore, tax breaks are set to expire at the end of this year when automatic spending cuts kick in, a combination dubbed as a fiscal cliff that could send the country into recession next year even if Congress acts now to prevent it. "Worse, the risk of a double-dip recession next year is rising: even if what looks like a looming U.S. fiscal cliff turns out to be only a smaller source of drag, the likely increase in some taxes and reduction of some transfer payments will reduce growth in disposable income and consumption," Roubini says.
"Moreover, political gridlock over fiscal adjustment is likely to persist, regardless of whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney wins November’s presidential election. Thus, new fights on the debt ceiling, risks of a government shutdown, and rating downgrades could further depress consumer and business confidence, reducing spending and accelerating a flight to safety that would exacerbate the fall in stock markets." The U.S. economy grew 1.9 percent in the first quarter of this year, down from an original estimate of 2.2 percent. Economists worry the country might not be growing fast enough to achieve escape velocity and break free from the pull of a fresh slowdown. Like a plane that moves too slowly, the economy may hit stall speed and tank, and that doesn't bode well for President Barack Obama, experts say. "Historically, presidents don't usually get re-elected when the economy is performing as sluggishly as it is now," says Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, according to Reuters. "Many people out there, if you asked them in surveys, they'd say they still view the economy as being in recession."
Thursday, June 14, 2012
So far, almost the only thing that happened due to the memorandum was Greece getting lots of money to pay its debtors

Quite a few reports in the German media the last couple of days on Monti's inability to truly reform his country and becoming increasingly unpopular.....Monti is another Goldman Sachs operative. He is working for the International banking cartel for sure. He's not interested in the Italian people or their standard of living. Interesting too is news (haven't seen it in the MSM) that an Italian investigative magistrate has filed papers against Standard and Poor after a thorough investigation into their downgrade of Italian banks. At least someone is fighting back against this totally corrupt system. The Italian banks need another 100 billion to get by. Like Spain, we are told by the so called specialists (bank spokespeople) and then we are told after less than 24 hours ( in the case of Spain) it hasn't worked. Are these people taking the piss out of us ? We are basically giving the banks money directly so as they can pocket it all and keep asking for more. And this morning the BBC described our current crisis as the worst for over 100 hundred years. Sorry but don't think the thousands queuing at soup kitchens and dying of poor health conditions etc in the 1930's would agree with the current policies ---- This is a man made crisis of greed. A brief report in Spiegel online that Greece, since getting that second bailout or "memorandum", has hardly done anything regarding implementing the obligations of the memorandum.... Considering this information and the fact that the memorandum is just 3 months old I wonder how comes so many people are confidently telling us that the memorandum did not help Greece, made matters only worse, is not working at all (they're right there, but not in the way they think), is another fiendish plot against the people of Greece and needs to be stopped (again of course only regarding Greece's obligations, not the payments it receives).... So far, almost the only thing that happened due to the memorandum was Greece getting lots of money to pay its debtors - as the reforms demanded in the memorandum are allegedly not yet implemented any ongoing deteriorating of the Greek economy can hardly be blamed on the memorandum, and calls for its abrogation because it would be "too harsh" seem disingenuous to say the least....Officials in Berlin say privately that Chancellor Angela Merkel is willing to drop her vehement opposition to plans for a “European Redemption Pact”, a “sinking fund” that would pay down excess sovereign debt in the eurozone. “It is conceivable so long as there is proper supervision of tax revenues,” said a source in the Chancellor’s office. The official warned that there would be no “master plan” or major break-through at the EU summit later this month. Mr Merkel rejected the Redemption Pact last November as “totally impossible”, even though it was drafted by Germany’s Council of Economic Experts or Five Wise Men and is widely-viewed as the only viable route out of the current impasse. Fast-moving events may have forced her hand. She is under immense pressure from the US, China, Britain, and Latin Europe to change course as the crisis engulfs Spain and Italy, threatening a global cataclysm.The debt would be covered by joint bonds, paid for from a designated tax. Each country would be responsible for its own share of debt in the fund -- Italy €960bn, Germany €580bn, France €500bn, and so forth -- but would issue bonds jointly.".... How can this work exactly? And what price would the debt be issued at?... Surely the market would price it at a rate closer to that Italy and Spain have to pay now, rather than the German 10-yr bond rate, because Italy's debt would not have fallen, and essentially Germany's would increase....And, how useful is it for Italy to put up just 20% collateral?....And how will it fix the chronic uncompetitiveness of Southern Europe compared to Germany? Isn't it just another last massive kick of the can down the road?
004.0724.58.1078PROXEMIS - Managementul Riscurilor
Monday, June 11, 2012
SPAIN ...Merkel wins , the german boot upon the spanish neck...

The trouble is that the orthodoxy of the last 50 years means that the IMF,
World Bank, European Bank and almost every university economics department are
run by Economists brought up on a paradigm that has failed
spectacularly....Monetarism, Thatcherism, Hayek, Friedman, the Chicago School
and the Austrian School ... all bollocks. We need a new paradigm and young
economists with new ideas. Otherwise we really are screwed.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Yep, Stiglitz and Krugman have been shouting from the rooftops ... but they are on the outside of the System ... they are effectively economic dissidents.

European leaders hope a bailout will prevent a wider deterioration of the eurozone's fourth largest economy, which is paying punishing interest rates on borrowed money and is key to the survival of the single currency.
"The Spanish government states its intention to request European financing for the recapitalisation of banks that need it," the country's finance minister, Luis de Guindos, said after an emergency video conference with fellow eurozone ministers. It remained unclear, however, exactly how much of the €100bn Spain would need, with De Guindos saying it preferred to wait for two independent reports on its banking system before making a formal request. These reports would be ready within weeks or days, according to De Guindos, who implied that the final sum would be lower than €100bn. "The €100bn sum is a maximum figure," he stressed. "It includes a considerable margin of security."
Eurozone policymakers had been eager to shore up Spain's position before 17 June elections in Greece that could push Athens closer to a eurozone exit and unleash contagion. Various estimates have put the outside capital needed by Spanish banks at between €40bn and €100bn. "The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin," the eurozone ministers said. (source : the guardian)
WELL ---the Spanish (and worldwide) Property Bubble. The gift that keeps on giving. If the Spanish banks own all these properties (I presume they own them), wouldn't it make more sense to sell them off at some ridiculously low price simply to not be carrying these negative assets on their books? The banks are never, ever going to get the ridiculously over-inflated prices that were so common during the heyday of the global property bubble; far better off for the banks to sell these properties for €1,000 or so and clear them off the books. I would imagine if that you could purchase, let's say, a 3 room apartment on the Mediterranean Coast for €4,000 don't think for one minute they wouldn't have buyers. Property prices aren't coming back, at least not in our lifetimes...THAT'S FOR SURE...
Saturday, June 9, 2012

The draft requirements would apply to all 7,307 U.S. banks, according to a
proposal circulated by the Fed. Many bankers had expected regulators to exempt
some small lenders from the new rules, which are aimed at shoring up the biggest
global banks whose troubles fueled the financial crisis.
While the core Basel III rules will apply to all banks, other aspects of the
new regime single out the biggest, most complex institutions and transactions.
BRUXELLES - Considering that the ESM currently has no money yet, and that many of the
largest proposed contributors are actually those countries most likely to seek
bail out, it appears to be a concept failed before its inception.
The only thing currently keeping the Euro afloat is bluff and bluster
floating on a cycle of summits. News of the size of the Spanish bail out is
being managed and uncovered in tantalising steps like a magician's trick
"JP Morgan is expecting the final package for Spain to rise above €350bn,
while RBS says the rescue will "morph" into a full-blown rescue of €370bn to
€450bn over time - by far the largest in world history." All this as Italian banks are on life support. "Italian banks tapped the European Central Bank for 272.7 billion euros
($343.1 billion) In May, a 0.6% rise from the previous month, said the Bank of
Italy Thursday." All of this is held upright by IOU's whose credibility will come under
serious scrutiny if Greece defaults.
Saturday, May 19, 2012

Elswhere in Europe - More than 400 people have been arrested today while participating in an
anti-capitalist protest outside the European Central Bank offices in Frankfurt,
Germany. "Blockupy Frankfurt" protesters have been in the city since Wednesday,
and have called for four days of protest against austerity measures in Europe.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Lies and lies again ...The poisen = is the euro ...it should go and Germany should be on trial again for the distruction of europe !!!

Just last night, chancellor George Osborne warned that the eurozone crisis was affecting the wider economy, saying in Brussels that:
The euro zone crisis is having a real impact on growth across the European continent, including Britain....The British recovery has been damaged over the last two years not by Britain getting a grip on its public finances but by uncertainty in the euro zone.
So it's somewhat embarrassing to now find that the Eurozone managed to avoid contracting in the last three months, while the UK shrank by 0.2% (although, in the spirit of balance, many business leaders reckon that reading was too negative). Ed Balls, Labour's shadow chancellor, has already argued that today's GDP data shows the UK's double-dip was caused by domestic policy.
BS no. 2 ---- A strong performance by the powerhouse German economy, which grew by 0.5pc, helped haul the 17-members over the line and prevented the eurozone recording a second quarter of contraction in a row, according to the latest figures from Eurostat. In the fourth quarter of 2011, eurozone GDP shrank by 0.3pc.
Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight, said: “While it is welcome news that the eurozone avoided recession, its performance is hardly something to celebrate as GDP was only flat year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012. Furthermore, generally weaker latest data and, particularly, survey evidence suggests that renewed GDP contraction is very much on the menu for the second quarter.”
The debt crisis took its toll on the other core economies. French GDP failed to grow at all in the first three months of the year; Austria and Belgium showed modest growth; the recession in the Netherlands continued as its economy contracted 0.2pc quarter-on-quarter.
Thursday, May 3, 2012

Austerity or growth
... Last week, Spain said that the number of job seekers rose for
the eighth month in a row in March to hit 5.6 million, a record rate of 24.4%.
Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union and it is expected
to rise further this year. Spain and Italy are both in recession and have seen
borrowing costs rise, raising the prospect that they may need help or even
bailouts. A debate is raging in Europe about whether politicians have
prioritized austerity at the expense of economic growth, making recovery even
harder for themselves.
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