Showing posts with label profits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label profits. Show all posts

Saturday, October 11, 2014

After Berlusconi was sidelined and the boring Enrico Letta was replaced by the sympathetic and purposeful 39-year-old Matteo Renzi as the head of government, many thought that Italy was finally on the right track. But it's not...On the contrary: The land is stuck in a recession. Its levels of sovereign debt, the number of bankruptcies and the rate of unemployment are perpetually setting new records. As a result, some Italian political leaders have long sought a multi-billion euro growth stimulus program -- a call that new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is likely to heed. The magnitude and form of such a program, however, still needs to be determined so that it at least maintains the illusion of conforming with the Stability and Growth Pact. But without many other changes in Italy, including its grasp on reality, simply injecting money isn't likely to change much. "For 20 years," economic expert Daniel Gros told La Repubblica newspaper recently, Italy has been claiming that others need to "give it another year, then you will see our wonderful reforms." And even Mario Draghi -- the Italian president of the European Central Bank, which has been flooding the continent with cheap money, especially in crisis flashpoints like Italy -- bluntly admonished the country in August for failing to implement substantive structural reforms ...
But it's not that Italy is even lacking in money. The assets of Italian banks and insurance companies have risen by over €1.2 trillion since 2008. But manufacturing asset bases have, by contrast, fallen by €200 million. It's a grim distribution: the one sector doesn't seem to want to invest, while the other is unable.
Italians themselves face a similar situation. On average, every Italian has about €4,000 more in net assets than the average German, but wealth is even less evenly distributed in Italy than it is in Germany, weakening domestic demand: The rich have everything, the poor can't afford anything.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Well to be honest, Cameron, Hollande and Merkel saw, in the violence in Ukraine, an opportunity to give Mr. Putin a good kicking - and took it (in their own, limp-wristed, spineless kind of a way). They took the opportunity knowing that it would have repercussions on their own countries' economies but, hey, it wouldn't affect them personally so why not? ... Now we have a kind of a deal going on in Ukraine, one that seems to favour the pro-Russian faction, and so European manufacturers once again have had to suffer so that their political parasites' egos could be burnished....The EU/UK lackeys of the US Empire, are like naughty children playing with matches, whilst the evil governess looks on, unconcerned. It's becoming clear that the EU has been persuaded to drink the kool-aid and nirvana awaits them on the other side. It's Kafkaesque. The premiss seems to be that a bankrupt entity sanctions a rich creditor nation (although nation is too smaller word for a country encompassing 12 times zones and 40-45% of known world resources) into submission by refusing to offer them more debt. Europe will be weakened for a generation and become, increasingly, an unimportant peninsula on the Eurasian continent.  Meanwhile, Russia-China cement, extend and strengthen their already (natural) geo-political, trade and resource provider/manufacturer complementarity. The US Empire is gambling that its mighty military machine can subdue and subjugate the BRICS (through primarily Russia/China) to stop them becoming the new geo-political and trading hub, before the rest of the world catches on to the US$ reserve currency ponzi scheme. Game for for the Empire if that happens.... In conclusion : The sanctions were completely unnecessary. The EU should not always obey the US as they do. Cameron and Hollande have even less balls than Merkel, and she does not have any. Sorry if this sounds somewhat crude. But the EU leaders are pathetic wimps and cowards.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

The “troika” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central that bailed out the Greek economy are waiting for further austerity measures before the IMF disburses a further tranche of €3.5bn in loans. Athens is currently awaiting the final tranche of €1.8 billion euros from the European Financial Stability Facility. 
Greece must also put forward proposals to the troika on how it will meet a projected €2 billion budget gap in 2015. The index reshuffle was made to the S&P Dow Jones emerging markets BMI index and at the same time Qatar and the United Arab Emirates stock indices were promoted from frontier to emerging markets status with a weighting of 0.9pc and 1.0pc in the index respectively.  The reclassification by S&P Dow Jones Indices follows the move by the more widely followed MSCI and Russell Indexes last year who also downgraded Greece to emerging market status. The FTSE index has Greece on its developed market watchlist. 
The changes to the S&P Dow Jones emerging BMI index will become effective on September 22 ... The Greek government have done nothing to restructure their public sector and are now talking about tax cuts! The EU is terrified because Syriza are leading in the opinion polls and are saying that the will refuse to pay back any of their loans (until economic prosperity returns LOL) and will restore all wage and pension cuts to the public sector. They are also talking about a campaign to cause the break up of NATO should they gain power. Greece has been downgraded to an emerging market by S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a blow for the country which was badly hit during the financial crisis.  The Greek market was assigned a weighting of 0.8pc by S&P Dow Jones Indices making it a relative minnow in the emerging market index compared to China which constitutes about a quarter (24pc) of the measure and Brazil and India which make up 11.3pc and 10pc respectively 
The shift could mean that pension funds and more cautious investors will have to move out of the Athens stock index. Greek stocks opened yesterday down 0.4pc to 1,156 on the Athens stock exchange and the bond yield on Greek debt increased, meaning that investors view it as a riskier prospect.
The downgrade comes as Greek government officials held talks in Paris at the start of the month to demonstrate that its austerity measures are on track. The talks were organised ahead of a full sixth review of Greece’s austerity programme to be held by troika officials in Athens at the end of this month.
The Greek economy has to fix its finances under the terms of two bailouts worth a combined €240bn

Saturday, September 13, 2014

There is another gloomy assessment of the world's jobs market On Tuesday. The International Labour Organisation, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have produced a labour market update for the G20 employment and labour ministers' meeting in Melbourne.
It highlights "large employment gaps remain in most G20 countries", the grouping of the world's biggest developed and emerging market economies. The authors also say that "the quality of employment remains a concern" and that "the deep global financial and economic crisis and slow recovery in many G20 countries has resulted not only in higher unemployment but also in slow and fragile wage gains for G20 workers." The paper concludes: "Seven years after the onset of the global financial and economic crisis, the economic recovery may be strengthening but remains weak and fragile. The employment challenges across most G20 countries are still very sizeable both in terms of a persistently large jobs gap and low quality of many available jobs."The current growth trajectory, if unchanged, will not create enough quality jobs – giving rise to the risk that the jobs gap will remain substantial, underemployment and informal employment will rise, and sluggish growth in wages and incomes will continue to place downward pressure on consumption, living standards and global aggregate demand. Underlining these challenges is the fact that income inequality continues to widen across the G20 countries. "The G20 commitment to boost GDP by more than 2% by 2018 over and above the baseline projections is certainly a welcome step, although it will be important to ensure that this additional growth is job-rich and inclusive"....Of course the report is gloomy - and if the present way of sharing out work is to persist it can only get gloomier. Automation is creeping through every aspect of our lives, gone way beyond the industries now and the amount of work left for humans dwindles by the day.It pays businesses to get rid of people wherever they can - people are its greatest expense. They are now commodities to be plugged in then cast aside as the profit/loss account dictates. Unless someone thinks up something soon to share out what remains of human work, the whole edifice will collapse. People unemployed? No money to spend? - No one to buy the outpourings of these factories; to buy services etc. No wonder the rich are worried about the "stagnant" economy.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

China's growing engagement with Central and Eastern European countries is an essential part of its China-Europe strategy, which has focused on achieving strategic win-win outcomes, said a senior Chinese diplomat.
"China has made great efforts to enhance mutual understanding and the willingness to deepen cooperation," Xu Jian, Chinese ambassador to Poland, told China Daily recently in an exclusive interview.
"Premier Li Keqiang's visit and talks in Romania with the regions' leaders demonstrate China's consistent efforts."
Xu, who was Chinese ambassador to Romania before his current position, said Beijing has been bridging the gap and exploring the potential of deepening exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe. By comparison, China's ties with Western European countries are relatively mature.
China launched the political dialogue with the region last year when then premier Wen Jiabao visited Poland. And Premier Li carried on the momentum through his summit with European Union leaders in Beijing last week, his first since taking office in March.
Observers have begun to refer to this month as Chinese leaders' "Europe season", following the frequent exchanges between China and EU member states.
"Poland, as the biggest trading partner of China in the region, has put China on the priority list when developing foreign relations, which is very encouraging," said Xu, adding that its top leaders have frequently stressed the strategic importance of deepening ties with China.    The ambassador said the Polish government has launched a "Go to China" project, but he did not elaborate. 
Poland, like other countries in the region, is still engaged in transforming its economic development patterns, the ambassador said, and China can offer its experience, technologies, finance and investment to speed up the process. "It is very complementary in this regard," Xu said.
Poland has been China's biggest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe for eight years, Xu said, so bilateral relations have been fruitful. Trade volume reached $14.3 billion in 2012. "The two-way investment is also picking up," Xu said.
Investment and trade are expected to grow quickly within the framework of the EU-China 2020 strategy, which will double the trade volume, the ambassador said.
Poland's cultural strength and traditional friendship with China are the foundations for the future development of bilateral relations, Xu said.   Poland is the biggest country in the region regarding size and population, and it has growing influence in regional and international affairs, he added.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

The UK and US must do more to protect internet users' privacy, the inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has warned as a new survey of online freedoms is released.
Berners-Lee warned that "a growing tide of surveillance and censorship" posed a threat to the future of democracy, even as more and more people were using the internet to expose wrongdoing.
His remarks came before the second annual release of a global league table that classifies countries according to a set of freedoms. Since last year, the US has dropped from second place to fourth, while the UK has remained in third place. Sweden still tops the list, though Norway now takes second place. All of the Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Denmark and Norway – feature in the top 10.
The UK was poorly placed on privacy rights but was lifted by its high scores for availability of relevant content and the internet's political impact.
The table is compiled by comparing 81 countries, combining measures such as the extent of access to the internet, how much censorship is employed, and how "empowered" people are by its availability. The list has been expanded from the 61 countries surveyed last year.
Last year Berners-Lee introduced the inaugural index by pointing out that there was no off switch for the internet – a fact that was proving uncomfortable for a number of governments that had tried to shut down radical dissent in the previous 12 months through the Arab spring.
But this year his remarks focused more on the threat of surveillance, which has been highlighted by the Guardian's revelations about the extent of online spying and subversion of internet protocols by the US's National Security Agency and the UK's GCHQ.
The survey found that 76 of the 81 countries examined did not meet "best practice" standards for checks and balances on government interception of electronic communications.
Speaking before an event to launch the updated version of the index, the 58-year-old British computer scientist said: "One of the most encouraging findings of this year's Web Index is how the web and social media are increasingly spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world.
"But some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy.
"Bold steps are needed now to protect our fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and association online."
The survey also found that almost a third of countries surveyed block politically sensitive content.
Web innovators, experts and policymakers, including Berners-Lee and the Wikipedia chief Jimmy Wales, were gathering in London on Friday to assess the World Wide Web Foundation's independent annual measure of the web's impact.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

If you listen to German politicians or economic leaders these days, Germany is being unjustly savaged in Europe for its export surplus. These German leaders largely argue the same thing: Germany is being punished for its success! Germany's performance must be rewarded!
But now -- in a move that was foreseen for some time-- the European Commission announced on Wednesday that it will put Germany's export surplus under the microscope. While the politicians have griped, Germany's export surplus has skyrocketed to around 6 percent of gross domestic product. In September alone, German exports exceeded imports by more than €20 billion. If the commission's investigation should decide the surplus is "excessive," then, in theory at least, Germany could be facing a fine of up to 0.1 percent of its economic output, more than €2.5 billion. According to experts in Brussels, it's unlikely things will come to that. In their anger, the German whiners are forgetting one small thing: They themselves were responsible for the rules designed to keep high export surpluses under control. This provision -- along with targets for deficits, national debts or inflation -- are part of the colorful bouquet of criteria which are supposed to finally make the euro zone macro-economically stable. Of course, German officials only agreed to this condition to prevent even more stringent regulations on export control. And yet in doing so, Berlin clearly recognized the principle that high budget surpluses, just like massive deficits, can lead to economic distortions. This principle has gained new relevance in the euro crisis, because many economists consider higher domestic demand and less exports in Germany an urgent necessity for the stimulation of growth in crisis states.
The real issue here is about rules and their application. The German government has emphasized at every opportunity that the euro zone must be a community of laws. It has admonished crisis states that have complained about overly rigid limits for budget deficits because, after all, they had agreed to the rules. But when it comes to Germany, apparently different standards apply. It's similar to how the Schröder government saw the country become one of the first EU member states to violate the Maastricht criteria -- the fiscal criteria which establish whether a country is allowed to enter the euro -- in 2003, when it implemented its Agenda 2010 social reforms.
If Germany once again displays a double standard, it will lose the credibility which is a nation's most important currency in these times of crisis. It should also not be surprised that the ambassador of a southern EU state angrily declared on Tuesday that German supremacy within the EU can only exist if "the same rules apply for all." Europe can afford such discord among partners even less than overly high deficits or surpluses. All which means: It's time the Germans quit their moaning.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

The sluggishness of the global economy has been highlighted, with German exports rising by less than expected and leaders from across the Asia Pacific region warning that trade is weakening.
Exports from Europe's largest economy rose 1% in August but came in short of the expected 1.5% increase.
Despite the rise, which followed an unexpected fall in July, the data from the federal statistics office showed German exports continue to be hit by weak demand from the eurozone.
Imports rose by 0.4%, widening Germany's trade surplus to €15.6bn (£13.2bn) from €15bn in July – higher than analysts had predicted but below a surplus of €18.1bn in the same month last year.
On an annual basis, German imports were 2.2% lower than in August 2012 while exports of goods were 5.4% lower.
Meanwhile, leaders at an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting in Bali warned global growth was too weak and trade was slowing.
"Global growth is too weak, risks remain tilted to the downside, global trade is weakening, and the economic outlook suggests growth is likely to be slower and less balanced than desired," leaders said in a statement.
"We will implement prudent and responsible macroeconomic policies to ensure mutually reinforcing effect of growth and to maintain economic and financial stability in the region, and prevent negative spillover effect."
The group of 21 countries includes Japan, China, Russia, Australia and the US, although the US government shutdown meant President Barack Obama was not present at the meeting to back the statement.
Elsewhere, HSBC said British companies needed more help from the government to fulfil their export potential. Since the onset of the financial crisis, UK policymakers have repeatedly emphasised the need to rebalance the economy away from a reliance on spending and towards manufacturing and exports.
The government has an ambition to double exports to £1tr by 2020, an increase HSBC said would require "considerable work".
Britain's largest bank said UK business confidence was rising, and predicted growth in hi-tech manufacturing, but it said companies needed more practical help.
Publishing a manifesto for British exports, HSBC said businesses required assistance to make connections with other parts of the world, support with the initial costs and risks of exporting, and the confidence that came from clear information about international opportunities.
Among its recommendations was an examination of the case for export tax credits for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an improvement in SME access to export credit guarantees, and a simplification of the business visa process.
"Britain's businesses are among the most innovative and imaginative in the world. But in recent years, these talents have failed to deliver significant export growth," said Alan Keir, chief executive of HSBC Bank.
"Achieving the government's target of doubling exports to £1tn by 2020 will take considerable work by all parties, yet we know from talking to our customers that many businesses with massive export potential are still holding back from looking overseas."

Thursday, October 10, 2013

World Bank cuts China growth forecasts - America's deadlock isn't the only issue worrying the City today. The World Bank has warned that East Asia's economic growth is slowing as it cut its GDP forecasts several nations, including China.
In a new report, the Bank said weaker commodity prices means weaker growth in the region. It also urged Chinese policymakers to tackle the consequences of recent loose policy and tighten financial supervision.
Here's a flavour:Developing East Asia is expanding at a slower pace as China shifts from an export-oriented economy and focuses on domestic demand," the World Bank said in its latest East Asia Pacific Economic Update report.
"Growth in larger middle-income countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand is also softening in light of lower investment, lower global commodity prices and lower-than-expected growth of exports," it added.
It now expects the Chinese economy to expand by 7.5% this year, down from its April forecast of 8.3%. For 2014, the forecast is cut from 8% to 7.7%.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A leading member of Germany's leftwing Die Linke party has warned that a grand coalition between Angela Merkel's CDU and the Social Democrats would leave the country with a weak opposition unable to stand up to a powerful government.
Gregor Gysi, writing in the Guardian, says: "Europe will be watching how serious Germany is about democratic principles."
A powerful coalition is looking the most likely outcome of negotiations between the parties, particularly after the SPD's leadership announced on Friday that they would start exploratory discussions with the CDU next week.
Gysi says such a coalition would have 503 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag, leaving only 127 seats for Die Linke and the Greens. This would mean that they could not effectively interrogate or block legislation passed by parliament.
A former member of the East German Communist party, Gysi was a key figure in Die Linke's election campaign. The party gained 8.6% of the vote in last Sunday's general elections, making it the third largest force in the next parliament.
However, the party suffered a 3.3% decline in its share of the vote from the last election, losing 360,000 voters to the newly formed anti-euro Alternative fĂ¼r Deutschland (AfD), particularly in the east where Die Linke has traditionally been most successful.
In an interview on Friday, Die Linke's party leader, Katja Kipping, has suggested a joint member's vote among all left-of-centre parties on the country's political future. "The cleanest solution would be if all parties left of the centre would ask their base if they preferred red-red-green or a coalition with Merkel," she said.
A coalition between the SPD, the Greens and Die Linke would achieve an overall majority over Merkel's party and its Bavarian sister-party, the CSU, but any coalition with Die Linke is still considered a taboo because of some of its politicians' links to the old communist GDR regime. Both the Social Democrats and the Greens have ruled out such a union for now.
Either way, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the next German government will be formed any time soon. According to a report in SĂ¼ddeutsche Zeitung, the SPD is also considering a member's vote on the possibility of a grand coalition.
Such a vote would most likely be held before the party's conference in mid-November. Many party members are said to be against a grand coalition since the party suffered from such an arrangement in 2005 – 2009.
In spite of Merkel's triumphant win on Sunday, the onus is on her to coax a reluctant SPD into coalition talks. Tax rises, dual citizenship and the introduction of a minimum wage have been mooted as areas in which the conservatives may make concessions in order to lure the Social Democrats to the negotiation table.
According to a survey by state broadcaster ARD, a grand coalition would be the solution most favoured by German citizens. Forty-eight per cent of those asked would most like to see a coalition between the CDU and the SPD, while only 16% would prefer a red-red-green accord.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Lies and deceit ....

Besides the 26 trillion Dollars pumped by The FED in Budesbank, The ECB pumped more than €1 trillion (£840bn) of liquidity into the banks through two long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) to stabilize financial markets, in December 2011 and February 2012,  The move has come to be seen as the first step towards bringing Europe’s crisis under control and was reinforced by Mr Draghi’s promise in July last year to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. Yesterday(MOn, addressing the European Parliament, he said: “We are ready to use any instrument, including another LTRO if needed, to maintain short-term money market rates at a level which is warranted by our assessment of inflation in the medium-term.”  His fresh commitment is likely to allay any lingering concerns about the state of Europe’s banks, which face another stress test in the coming months. His comments came amid signs of improvement in the eurozone economy. Business activity in the region picked up to a 27-month high in September, the closely-watched purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed. Meanwhile, European markets edged lower as traders awaited news from Germany after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s election victory over the weekend. Traders urged her to strike a coalition deal swiftly to stop bail-out fears spreading among the eurozone’s troubled nations. Markets expect Ms Merkel’s Christian Democrats to go into partnership with the Social Democrats, the main opposition party, but observers noted that it took two months to negotiate an agreement last time the parties worked together. Given the fragile eurozone, traders called for Ms Merkel to move fast. Peter Schaffrik, head of European rates strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said: “If finding a new government takes too long, markets might get jumpy as regards the stability of the German government, particularly with key European issues – the Portuguese, Irish and Greek programmes – coming up for a negotiation." ... They will do whatever it takes to save the € up to and including - the theft of people's money in their bank accounts as per Cyprus - after all the sheep didn't protest - they just accepted their shearing without a murmur - and so will all the other sheep in the corrupt EU.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

In September 1995, a secret agreement was signed inside the Romanian government giving convicted criminal Frank Timis the rights to mine Europe's largest gold deposit, located under the ancient mountain town of Rosia Montana. Soon after, the deposits were floated on the Canadian Stock Exchange, listed under Timis' firm, Gabriel Resources, a newly created mining company registered in the tax haven of Jersey, with no previous mining experience and a bank balance of close to zero.  Now, 18 years later, a near continuous rise in the price of gold has driven the value of the deposits under Rosia Montana up by 400 percent to over $20 billion, and the constant issuing of shares from Gabriel Resources has drawn in nearly a billion dollars to the project.   Restructured and rebranded as the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), the company has launched the biggest PR campaign Romania has ever seen. It also bought up most of the town of Rosia Montana and the four surrounding mountains, all of which would have to be flattened to make way for the open-cast mine, funded multiple NGO's, museums and a high-profile documentary to support their cause.  Yet the mine remains unopened. The company is unable to get past public opposition that has mobilized tens of thousands across the country, and a legal system that deems the project unlawful on three counts -- under environmental law, international mining laws and the Aarhus convention for transparency in decision-making.   But all of this is set to be overridden. At the end of August, Prime Minister Victor Ponta signed a proposed law that would annul all of the legal barriers standing in the way of the Rosia Montana project and get the mine underway by the beginning of next year. The law, currently waiting on a parliamentary vote, would give the company extraordinary powers. The hundred or so villagers who have refused to sell their homes in Rosia Montana would be forcefully expropriated, escorted by RMGC's private security firm and compensated at a rate set by the company. The government would then be mandated to issue all necessary permits for construction and exploitation on set terms drawn up by the company, allowing the project to begin well before the new law could be challenged in the European Court of Justice. Once passed, the law would also apply to all new mining projects in the country -- which sparks fears that, given the mineral richness of the Transylvania region, extend far beyond Rosia Montana. Three days after the law was proposed, thousands of people took to the streets in opposition. In the weeks since, the protests have grown and spread, with each successive Sunday bringing activists to the streets of cities increasingly far removed from the hills of Transylvania. The demonstrations are held in cities as far flung as Budapest, Berlin, London, Washington, Singapore. This weekend, protests are set to be larger still and, the organizers believe, they will keep growing "until something gives and our demands are recognized."  The scale of the protests reflects the size of the environmental risks involved. Using outdated techniques, 13,000 tons of cyanide are to be be pumped into the mine each year. This is over 130 times the amount used in the Romanian Baie Mare gold mine at the time of the catastrophic cyanide spill in 2000, Europe's worst environmental catastrophe since Chernobyl. Nevertheless, the extent of the opposition has surprised everyone, from the protest's organizers to government officials and, crucially, Gabriel Resources' shareholders, who have been selling off in droves, causing the company's stock price to crash.  But the significance of the case extends far beyond Rosia Montana. Ramona Duminicioiu, a constant figure in the Save Rosia Montana movement for over a decade, sees it as part of a process that links movements as diverse as the Occupy protests in America to this year's uprisings across Europe, from Bulgaria to Turkey, Greece and other countries. "This is a case of our elected government putting corporate interests over public priorities and then blocking any democratic process of opposition through legal measures," she says. "It resonates far beyond Romania as this is a crisis of global capitalism and impotent governments."   The actions of the Romanian government over the last fortnight certainly suggest a political powerlessness in the face of the proceedings. After the first protests, President Traian Basescu, always an avid supporter of the mine, came out condemning it on environmental grounds, stating that it should not go ahead given that the majority of Romanians are opposed to it. Soon after, Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced an emergency procedure that would, he claimed, stop the project once and for all.   Then, as Gabriel Resources' shares plummeted, the company threatened to sue. They claim that if members of parliament vote against the project they will "commence litigation for multiple breaches of international investment treaties for up to $4 billion." Ponta's emergency procedure was soon abandoned and a new committee was created that seems to allow the law to bypass both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies and be put directly to vote in parliament. However, with the new committee apparently unburdened by regular transparency regulations and the government unavailable to comment, the situation as it stands is unclear.   Whatever happens, the Romanian government is unlikely to survive the coming months in its present form. Calls for the removal of the Ponta-led Social Liberal Union (USL) coalition, brought into power largely on the back of promises that they would stop the Rosia Montana project, are increasingly dominating the protests in Bucharest. Meanwhile, the coalition is visibly shaky, one minute declaring unity in its approach to the mine and the next publicly threatening to split over the issue.   But the stuttering rhetoric of party politics has always felt more like a comic interlude than the main plot line in the story of Rosia Montana. For over a decade and a half, the Romanian government has swung back and forth on the issue but never been able to make any final decision.   "We still don't know the exact nature of the original contract signed between the government and Gabriel (Resources)," says Duminicioiu, "but as it is clear that the vast majority of Romanians oppose the mine. If the project goes ahead, it must be stronger than democracy."  What happens then? "We keep fighting, until we have a government that can represent its people," she says.

Monday, September 9, 2013

China's National Bureau of Statistics has accused a county government in southern China of faking economic data by coercing local companies to boost industrial output figures, state media have reported. Luliang county in southern Yunnan province pressured 28 local companies to report 6.34bn Yuan (£665m) of industrial output last year, while according to "initial calculations" the true figure was less than half of that, the state newswire Xinhua reported on Thursday night. "Companies complained that if they did not fraudulently report higher data their reports would be returned by local government departments," it said, citing a National Bureau of Statistics report. "They also said that fake reports would ensure they would enjoy favorable policies such as securing bank loans."
The county government itself reported fake investment data, Xinhua added. Analysts say that phony economic data is nearly ubiquitous in China, as officials are promoted based on their ability to present favorable numbers. "You have an incentive system that encourages the falsification of data," said Fraser Howie, the co-author of Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China's Extraordinary Rise. "We known that for literally decades provincial GDP figures have never totaled the national GDP figures – you have a fundamental mismatch of those numbers." "Anybody who's working with Chinese statistics runs up against problems, inconstancies, and incomplete data," Howie added. "There are just black holes in information gathering." Howie said that while false data was a long-running national problem, Chinese authorities may launch selective crackdowns every few months to demonstrate vigilance. "It could be that this is a particularly egregious case, it could be that there's political infighting, it could be that this leaked somewhere else first," he said. He drew a parallel to President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive, which critics have dismissed both as lip service and as a political purge. "Its like the corruption thing – they're not going after nobody, but they're certainly not going after everybody," he said. "Yunnan is far away, nobody really goes there, nobody really cares. It's not like this happened right in Beijing, at the heart of things."


Sunday, August 25, 2013

I am going to ruffle a few feathers, but let me still say it – We had a dream run from 2003-2008 and now it is over. The days of 20% salary hikes and 30% stock returns are gone (at least for now) for the masses.
If you are really good at your job or in investing, you may get above average raises or returns, but that is not going to be the norm for everyone
If you entered the workforce in 80s or 90s, you may have seen tough times yourself (or maybe your family did). The reason why the current slowdown feels horrible is because our expectations are high now. Don’t get me wrong – I am equally angry with the government for running the economy to the ground.
I  faced a similar market from 2000-2003, when the market dropped by around 50% over a three year period. At the market bottom in April 2003, capital goods companies like BHEL, Blue star were selling at 5 times earnings. The current market darlings like Asian paints (15 times PE), Marico (around 5-7 times PE) and other consumption stocks were selling a very low PEs too.  At the risk of getting philosophical, I can think of the following things to do this time around.

- Assess your risk tolerance:  If you have trouble sleeping in the night after seeing your portfolio drop by 10-15% ,  you should reduce your level of equity holdings.  My thumb rule – will I be able to sleep well if my portfolio dropped by 40%+ ? 

- Clean out the trash: Now is a good time to clear up junk from the portfolio. A bear market and 40% loss on weaker ideas concentrates your mind. One should evaluate each position closely, sell the weaker ones and redeploy the cash in the better ideas.

- Have faith:  There is no data or logical argument which can make you hold on to your stocks or add money to it. You need to trust that the markets will recover in time and so will your portfolio.

It is easy for people to say that they want to think independently and stand apart from the crowd. Now that that we have a blood on the streets and no end in sight, you will know whether you can truly do that.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

In functional terms, a food blogger who writes about the opening of a new restaurant is a journalist because he or she is communicating information of interest to the section of the public that likes to eat out. Whether the blogger is formally paid by an accredited "news" organization or does it for love, the communication process is identical. All this talk of accreditation or seeking particular qualifications for the status of journalist is a way for commercial organizations to protect their market or other interested parties to seek control over the news dissemination process..."shield law" that will give reporters some protection when government and its agencies seek to bug, arrest or demand to know sources. Its embryo bill says that a journalist is someone "who has a primary interest to investigate events and procure material", informing the public through interviews and observation. He or she sets out to report the news; he or she must intend to publish that news.   But, asks one senator, is that protection for WikiLeakers? Surely we only want to help "real reporters", who draw salaries for their work, says another. The congressional equivalent of our own dear Westminster lobby system insists that the correspondents it grants passes to are full-time on some corporate payroll.  Best of luck with that, and enjoy it while it lasts....The term citizen journalism has been in the news recently because of a recent ruling against Apple Computer by an appeals court in the USA. Apple tried to get bloggers who had revealed trade secrets to hand over their sources, but the court said that bloggers were covered by the same shield law as journalists and by the First Amendment protections of the press. “We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish ‘legitimate’ from ‘illegitimate’ news,” the opinion said.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Spanish GDP falls by 0.1% - Spain's economy has now been shrinking for two full years.
Data just released by the Spanish National Statistics Institute showed that Spanish GDP fell by 0.1% between April and June. That's the eighth quarterly contraction in a row.
Encouragingly, though, the pace of decline has slowed -- following the 0.5% contraction suffered in the first three months of 2013.
And on a year-on-year basis, the Spanish economy has shrunk by 1.7%... well this is slightly better than the 1.8% economists had expected. I don't think we can call it a green shoot of recovery – but perhaps the bitter frost is easing?
In a statement on its website, Bitcoin said it had given a presentation to the Bank of Thailand about how the currency works in a bid to operate in the country. However, at the end of the meeting, "senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department advised that due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets... Bitcoin activities are illegal in Thailand".  The ruling means it is illegal to buy and sell bitcoins, buy or sell any goods or services in exchange for bitcoins, send any bitcoins to anyone outside of Thailand, or receive bitcoins from anyone outside the country. Bitcoin said it "has no choice but to suspend operations until such as time that the laws in Thailand are updated to account for the existance [sic] of Bitcoin", adding that "the Bank of Thailand has said they will further consider the issue, but did not give any specific timeline".  Launched in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis, bitcoins are "mined" using complex computer source code. The virtual currency started as a relatively niche method of payment, devised by an anonymous programmer, but can now be used for anything from online gambling to pizza delivery.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Mr Ayrault made clear the frustrations in the new socialist government over the handling of Greece by eurozone leaders, including the German chancellor, criticizing them for a “political weakness” and “a lack of vision”. I think Merkel is guilty of both of these things. She makes big, definitive statements, then undermines them a few days later. The people of Greece (and of Spain, Ireland and Portugal) deserve to know where they stand. The last Greek election was a farce because it was fought between a party that said it would simply cancel the debt with no consequences and a party that said it would renegotiate the bailout. Surely, if Merkel's "heart bleeds" for the Greeks, she's morally obliged to be straight with the Greek people. These are real people who can't make big life decisions - like whether to stay in Greece, whether to start a business, whether to start a family - because their country is in limbo. And it's in limbo because they don't know how much support they have from Germany. They don't have a clear way to stay in the EZ... they're just being strung along. Maybe it's good for her re-election chances - or her opinion poll numbers - but it's a lousy way to treat people.As things stand, we're still waiting for the Troika's official report into Greece's progress. Ayrault's comments add weight to the theory that Athens will be granted more support in the event that it has missed a significant chunk of its targets. We'll bring you reaction to Ayrault's comments as soon as possible.

Portugal is on the brink of abandoning its controversial plans to hike taxes on workers, in a victory for the huge numbers of people who protested a week ago. Pedro Passos Coelho, the Portuguese prime minister, is due to hold talks with employers and trade unions today to discuss alternative proposals. The public opposition to his plan to effectively slash workers' pay to fund lower taxes for companies appears to have forced Lisbon to change course.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A select number of the City's bankers are set to collect winnings of almost €100m (£90m), as the €25bn privatisation of Spain's national lottery – including the famous El Gordo, or The Fat One – begins in London on Tuesday. The early marketing for the offer of about 30% of the state-owned LoterĂ­as y Apuestas del Estado – which is set to be Spain's largest ever stock market listing by raising up to €9bn – is to begin with the arrival of chairman Aurelio Martinez, finance director Luis Palacios and chief operating officer Marcelo Ruiz to target City investors. The float is being led by a quartet of bulge bracket banks – UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Cazenove and Goldman Sachs, along with BBVA and Santander of Spain – to be joined by a host of rival City firms including Citi, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Barclays which also have their names on the ticket in smaller roles. Market watchers predict that the offer will result in a timely fee windfall for London's embattled investment banking sector, although observers suggested that it was not akin to winning a rollover week. LoterĂ­as is thought to be paying fees of about 1%, considerably less than the City norm due to a combination of the business being state-owned and bankers, anxious for some of the action, offering deals. One source close to the deal said: "The banks have fallen over themselves as business is lean and Spain may also be looking to sell other assets in the future." The listing has been pushed through by Madrid as part of a privatisation programme including a planned sell-off of part of the state airports authority in order to lower Spain's borrowing requirements. The country's bonds have been pummelled by investors who fear Spain may need a bailout like those given to Greece and Ireland. It is also understood the government has plans to sell off a further 19% of its lottery company in the future.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The biggest Romanian-held private bank - profit.


Banca Transilvania (TLV stock exchange symbol), the biggest Romanian-held private bank, posted a 69.7 million-RON (16.3 million-euro) net profit in the first nine months of the year, 44% higher than in the similar period of last year.
In the first nine months of the year, the bank's operating revenues amounted to 1.104 billion RON, up 17% on the similar period of last year. At the end of September, the bank had a volume of loans of 13.173 billion RON, up 8% against the beginning of the year, with the biggest share (around 60%) being held by loans granted to companies.
Non-performing loans, more than 90 days overdue, account for 6.92% of the overall loan portfolio. The bank's solvency ratio is 12.33%.
"We were very careful about the provision policy and the risk management, as well as about cost control, our focus continues to be to meet 2010 targets, although another difficult period is coming," said the bank's CEO Robert Rekkers.
For this year, the bank has budgeted a 150 million-RON profit.