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alan wright
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Does IMF Stand for Impressive Macroeconomic Flexibility?
So the IMF is holding a meeting on rethinking macroeconomic policy (I was invited but couldn’t make the timing work.) And the Fund’s chief economist has already made it clear that he’s open to some serious revision of the prevailing paradigm.parking
The markets were up. The news was generally bad.Romney has sold himself to New Hampshire.The more I look The less I find.The telegraph:Financial crisis latest news
Siemens and Philips sound alarm over forecasts
Siemens and Philips, two of Europe's heavyweight companies, have warned of the difficulties ahead for the region's major corporates in the face of the debt crisis.
10 Jan 2012| CommentDebt crisis: as it happened, January 10
Stock markets rise as ratings agency Fitch says it does not plan to remove France's AAA credit rating unless there are "important shocks" while it hints at a downgrade for Italy.
10 Jan 2012| 567 CommentsMafia is Italy's biggest business
It was once confined to the sun-baked, sleepy south of Italy but the mafia is now the country's biggest business enterprise, with an annual turnover of €140bn (£116bn), according to an authoritative report.
10 Jan 2012| 62 CommentsFitch assurance on France cheers markets
European markets were cheered on Tuesday by an absence of terrible news and an assurance by Fitch that France's AAA credit rating was unlikely to be downgraded in 2012.
10 Jan 2012| 16 CommentsUBS: Banks being made riskier and Brits poorer
The Bank of England’s refusal to contemplate new liquidity support programmes for Britain’s major banks has left them with “few or no backstops” if the eurozone debt crisis spreads to the UK, according to UBS.
10 Jan 2012| 66 CommentsGreek bond deadline looms
Top stories: M&S, Debenhams, Greece and RBS bonuses
10 Jan 2012| 2 CommentsWith heat on at home, Grierson prefers Monaco
Disgraced lawyer Chris Grierson appeared in the dock yesterday.
10 Jan 2012| CommentMargin Call premieres in London
Jeremy Irons and Paul Bettany turned out for the UK premiere of the new thriller about the eve of the 2008 financial crash.
10 Jan 2012| CommentUK economy likely to shrink amid euro crisis
The Government must act now to repair the blow to business confidence dealt by the eurozone debt crisis, or risk an even greater setback for Britain's ailing economy, the British Chambers of Commerce warned.
10 Jan 2012| 33 CommentsGermany's stance on financial transaction tax risks French rift
Angela Merkel has warned that German support for the financial transaction tax (FTT) is not guaranteed, in a move that could open up a rift with France just days before the next European summit.
09 Jan 2012| 262 CommentsCan the euro survive another year?
The eurozone debt crisis has started the new year as it no doubt means to go on – with an inconclusive summit, an irrelevant commitment to a financial transactions tax (or Tobin tax), and another bizarrely anomalous event in money markets.
09 Jan 2012| 263 CommentsDebt crisis: as it happened, January 9, 2011
Cameron warns Germany may have to accept a big transfer of wealth to weaker southern European nations to address a fundamental lack of competitiveness as Merkel and Sarkozy push for transaction tax.
09 Jan 2012| 585 CommentsThe Slog:http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/"The last few days have been relatively silent on the subject of the Emperor Euro’s fate. Christine Lagarde previously declared him an immortal Deity, a supercurrency destined one day to rule the Fourth constellation of the Milky Thing marginally to the left of the Drongo Andromeda; but those who lack faith are denying Him thrice to the power of thrice, so what are we to think? As these feckless detractors include most of the markets and a growing minority of those in power in Berlin, it could be – only an outside chance, mind – that he is a false god."
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/links-11012.html
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Links 1/10/12
Rhinos’ feet tested to see how they support heavy loads BBC
There Are 5,000 Janitors in the U.S. with PhDs Gawker (hat tip Lambert). My uncle the lobsterman has a PhD. But that doesn’t count since he got it when he was 74, and then in lobstering (marine biology, and his dissertation was on lobsters).
The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods Atlantic (hat tip Lambert). Monsanto is the most evil company, despite the intense competition.
Law Blog Fireside: The Personal Injury Lawyer in the Mountain Dew Mouse Case Wall StreetJournal 
The history of cancer Tehelka (hat tip reader May S)
Slow Growth In Health Spending And Utilization Continues Health Affairs (hat tip Lambert). Quelle surprise! Broke people can’t spend much on medical care.
German Yields South of Zero Wall Street Journal
UniCredit’s Weak Share Offering Is Poor Omen in Europe New YorkTimes
Picasso painting stolen in Greece during art heist Christian Science Monitor. Were they really stolen, or liberated to protect them from being hocked like the Parthenon?
Poll: Readers believe the latest deal in Europe will not solve the debt crisis Ed Harrison
Afghanistan: ‘Slave-like’ conditions at Swedish army base revealed World Star (hat tip reader May S)
Iran sentences American to death in spy case CNN
Geithner Seeks China’s Support on Iran Bloomberg. WTF? This would traditionally be a State Department issue. And it’s not as if the US and China have much common ground on this issue.
Nigeria’s oil disasters are met by silence Michael Keating, Guardian (hat tip reader May S)
China Import Growth Slumps, Deepens Global Risks Bloomberg
Emerging markets’ golden age is at an end Peter Tasker, Financial Times
Blow to Obama after chief of staff quits Financial Times. And before you get too excited at Jamie Dimon’s loss, remember: Jack Lew: Obama’s OMB Pick Oversaw Citigroup Unit That Shorted Housing Market Huffington Post.
US consumer borrowing jumps in November Financial Times
Wall Street Weighs Pay Limits for Junior Bankers Bloomberg. The way you’ll know a real sea change is underway is when townhouses that were reassembled from multi unit rentals are broken up again into apartments.
Promises that proved ultimately empty John Gapper, Financial Times
Bank of America building facing foreclosure MSNMoney (hat tip Max Gardner)
More Firms Enjoy Tax-Free Status Wall Street Journal
The Fed on Mortgage Servicing Adam Levitin. On the speech by Sarah Bloom Raksin, which while encouraging, looks like an outlier at the Fed.
Occupy is the 2011 word of the year American Dialect Society (hat tip Lambert)
Antidote du jour:
- guardian.co.uk,
- Article history
Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler, at the Detroit motor show where he sounded a warning for eurozone politicians Photograph: Paul Sancya/APEurope is "playing with fire" and its future is in doubt if it doesn't "get serious," the boss of the Italian car giant Fiat has warned, as ratings agency Fitch put Italy on notice of a credit downgrade. Sergio Marchionne, chief of Fiat and Chrysler, said the European debt crisis was likely to flatten his business for the next two years. Speaking at the Detroit motor show, Marchionne said he was looking at adding a new partner to his car alliance as Europe's debt woes drag down Fiat's business. Marchionne said: "We are playing with fire. One of the things we need to realise is that the world is fundamentally interconnected. We have ended up being accountable to a lot of people who financed our public debt. "Europe is being called to task to solve a number of issues. If we don't acquire the confidence of the financial markets, the future of Europe is doubtful." His strongly worded warning to Europe's politicians came as Fitch said Italy could see its A+ rating cut by the end of the month, despite new prime minister Mario Monti's insistence that his latest austerity measures would bring the country's finances under control. David Riley, Fitch's head of global sovereign ratings, speaking in London, said Italy was on the "frontline" of the mounting eurozone debt crisis. "The future of the euro will be decided at the gates of Rome," he said. Italy has seen its borrowing costs rise to eye-watering levels as confidence in the future of the single currency has been rocked. Yields on 10-year Italian bonds, which determine the interest rate Rome has to pay to borrow, stood at 7.14%. A rate of 7% is widely viewed as unsustainable and was the point at which Portugal, Greece and the Irish Republic were forced to seek a bailout. Fitch's warning came as Europe's leaders began a punishing schedule of meetings in the run-up to a crucial summit at the end of this month. After Greece's warning last week that it will be forced to drop out of the single currency unless it receives the €130bn second bailout it was promised in October, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, held talks in Berlin. Lagarde will be in Paris on Wednesday to meet French president Nicolas Sarkozy, amid reports that the IMF is losing patience with Athens. The Greek government is being urged to crack down on tax avoidance, sell off state assets and implement a series of economic reforms before it can receive the new rescue loan. Also on the agenda for eurozone leaders is the new "fiscal compact", to tighten the rules on tax and spending for euro members, and how to boost the euro bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. Fresh evidence of the scale of the continuing crisis in Greece also emerged, with news that bank deposits in the recession-hit state declined by 2% in November alone. During the first eleven months of 2011, nervous Greek consumers and businesses withdrew €36.7bn from the country's shaky banking sector, 17.5% of the total cash on account. The IMF is also due to pronounce on Ireland's progress on tackling its deficit. Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, expressed confidence that the "troika" of the European Central Bank, the European commission and the IMF would give the republic a positive report after their officials' 10-day fact-finding mission to Dublin. The taoiseach and the Irish government played down comments from Citigroup's chief economist, Willem Buiter, that Ireland might need another international bailout by the end of the year. The European commission said that talk of a second round of international aid to Ireland was "not helpful". Responding to Buiter's remarks, Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for Olli Rehn, the EU economic commissioner, said that Ireland had made strong progress in export growth, banking sector reform, structural reform and in its general fiscal position. "It is not particularly useful to open a public debate on a successor programme when the first programme is delivering," he said. The talks in Berlin and Paris were lent fresh urgency by news that struggling banks deposited a record €481.9bn in the European Central Bank's overnight facility on Monday. These deposits receive a rock bottom interest rate of 0.25%, so the sharp rise suggests banks are increasingly anxious about lending among themselves, and instead are parking their cash in Frankfurt. Meanwhile Britain's status as a relatively safe haven amid the turmoil on the continent was underlined as investors snapped up £700m-worth of inflation-linked government bonds, driving the real yield below zero for only the second time. Back in Detroit, where American carmakers are banking on a revival in the world's largest economy, Marchionne predicted that Fiat could lose 500,000 vehicle sales annually as a result of the European debt crisis. "We need to get serious, really serious," he said. Fiat is planning to merge with Chrysler by 2014. Under Marchionne the US car firm has bounced back from bankruptcy. Chrysler sales soared 26.2% last year and were up 37.1% in December. The US firm expects to report a profit of about $600m for 2011 and Marchionne has forecast Chrysler will make $3bn in operating profit in 2012. The company recently announced it would add 1,100 jobs to the Detroit plant that makes the Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango."
- Eurozone Crisis: Markets shrug off threat of Italy downgrade
The huge amounts being stashed with the central bank overnight at low rates shows the lack of confidence in the market
- Eurozone debt crisis live: Merkel and Lagarde meet
- Euro countries to learn ratings fate this month
- Merkel warns Greece: no bondholder deal, no bailout
- Italy decrees attack on vested interests
- ECB takes record €464bn in overnight deposits
- Eurozone crisis: calendar of key events in January
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Anthony D'Agostino
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Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power
The solar developer BrightSource Energy has canceled one solar-energy project in the Mojave Desert, above, but is proceeding with several others.Fossil carbon interests will oppose these efforts at independence any way they can. I like deserts. I also like electric power.
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Parking With a View
I like the idea. There are more practical approaches. Cars really do not belong in the living space.
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Noah
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Health Care Reform, at Last
The process was wrenching, and tainted to the 11th hour by narrow political obstructionism, but the year-long struggle over health care reform came to an end on Sunday night with a triumph for countless Americans who have been victimized or neglec...There is no resolution on the reform act. Arguments have been made. The justices have not spoken.
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Brooklyn's Rube Goldberg
Life is like that.
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