*MERKEL SAYS EURO IS THE `ELIXIR OF LIFE' FOR GERMANS
Friday, October 07, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
First steps...
...to re-establishing the empire.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.
Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which from next year will remove all barriers to trade, capital and labor movement between the three countries.
"We are not going to stop there and are setting an ambitious goal -- to achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union," Putin wrote in an article which will be published in Izvestia newspaper on October 4.
Putin said last month he would run in the March 2012 presidential election and his current public approval ratings show that he is set to win.
Putin's initiative comes as Russia nears the end of its 18-year-old negotiations to join the World Trade Organization. In the article Putin made no secret of his skepticism about the global trade watchdog.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.
Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which from next year will remove all barriers to trade, capital and labor movement between the three countries.
"We are not going to stop there and are setting an ambitious goal -- to achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union," Putin wrote in an article which will be published in Izvestia newspaper on October 4.
Putin said last month he would run in the March 2012 presidential election and his current public approval ratings show that he is set to win.
Putin's initiative comes as Russia nears the end of its 18-year-old negotiations to join the World Trade Organization. In the article Putin made no secret of his skepticism about the global trade watchdog.
Monday, October 03, 2011
51.6...
...on the ISM Manufacturing Index is greater than the 50.6 from last month. Modest improvement that will hopefully succour this market.
There has been so much in the popular press detailing the "End of Days" and various similar scenarios...always a good time to consider the other way.
There has been so much in the popular press detailing the "End of Days" and various similar scenarios...always a good time to consider the other way.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
The Euroskeptic...
...bringing out the big rhetorical guns. Readers here will note the same issues with a more pragmatic outlook, but whatever.
The self-correction mechanism is jammed. China holds down the yuan
against the dollar through a dirty peg. Germany and its satellites
hold down the D-mark against Club Med covertly through the mechanism
of EMU.
This outcome in Europe is not deliberate (I hope); it is not a German
plot; it is the unintended effect of a currency union created by
ideologues against Bundesbank advice, and which has calamitous
implications for German foreign policy and for Latin social stability.
My sympathies go to the hard-working citizens of Germany, Spain,
Italy, Portugal, and Ireland for being led into this impasse by
foolish elites.
A global system biased towards export dumping has had unhappy effects
on the US, UK, and Club Med. These countries have faced a Morton’s
Folk over recent years: an implicit choice between job losses at home,
or accepting credit bubbles to mask the pain.
They chose bubbles. That was a mistake. This strategy of buying time
cannot safely be repeated because fiscal woes are already near
"boiling point", in the words of the BIS. “Drastic improvements will
be necessary to prevent debt ratios from exploding," it said.
The self-correction mechanism is jammed. China holds down the yuan
against the dollar through a dirty peg. Germany and its satellites
hold down the D-mark against Club Med covertly through the mechanism
of EMU.
This outcome in Europe is not deliberate (I hope); it is not a German
plot; it is the unintended effect of a currency union created by
ideologues against Bundesbank advice, and which has calamitous
implications for German foreign policy and for Latin social stability.
My sympathies go to the hard-working citizens of Germany, Spain,
Italy, Portugal, and Ireland for being led into this impasse by
foolish elites.
A global system biased towards export dumping has had unhappy effects
on the US, UK, and Club Med. These countries have faced a Morton’s
Folk over recent years: an implicit choice between job losses at home,
or accepting credit bubbles to mask the pain.
They chose bubbles. That was a mistake. This strategy of buying time
cannot safely be repeated because fiscal woes are already near
"boiling point", in the words of the BIS. “Drastic improvements will
be necessary to prevent debt ratios from exploding," it said.
Half-Measures...
...are not working. One of the disadvantages of democracy is crisis management; Politicians and Representatives simply lack the concerted overwhelming power necessary to control situations that quickly unravel. More on this phenomenon in the context of global power transfers later.
Greece will miss deficit targets set just months ago in a massive
bailout package, sources said citing a budget draft being adopted by
the cabinet, in a setback in Europe's efforts to stave off the
country's bankruptcy.
The dire forecasts come while inspectors from the International
Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, are
in Athens scouring the country's books to decide whether to approve a
loan tranche, without which Greece could run out of cash this month.
Greece will miss deficit targets set just months ago in a massive
bailout package, sources said citing a budget draft being adopted by
the cabinet, in a setback in Europe's efforts to stave off the
country's bankruptcy.
The dire forecasts come while inspectors from the International
Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, are
in Athens scouring the country's books to decide whether to approve a
loan tranche, without which Greece could run out of cash this month.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
EU reality
This article written by one of my former professors details much of the problems occurring in the EU area. As I have maintained since the beginning of this blog, all options save dissolution are suboptimal
The article draws comparison to the TARP program instituted by the Treasury during the last financial crisis...a good point and it is instructive to think of the present situation as a card game where no one wishes to show their hands, all of which are bad. Germany has the chips, but may be more inclined to walkaway from the table.
The article draws comparison to the TARP program instituted by the Treasury during the last financial crisis...a good point and it is instructive to think of the present situation as a card game where no one wishes to show their hands, all of which are bad. Germany has the chips, but may be more inclined to walkaway from the table.
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