Now China is slated for Spanish rescue
14 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 299 views]
The answer is: China is a currency manipulator. What’s the question? Sometimes it seems the conclusions that people like to draw are the same, regardless of what the intelligence says. And so it is, or at least this is what we reckon, that China gets hammered whatever it does. You may have heard this one [...]
Portugal breathes sigh of relief as Germany celebrates
13 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 376 views]
Phew, said Portugal yesterday. Yippee, said Germany. It don’t add up, suggests a top economist. Portugal went along and did it yesterday. It successfully sold 1.25bn euros’ worth of bonds. Markets had expected its sales push to fall flat. Well done you, Portugal. Mind you, the interest rate it is paying on these bonds is [...]
A tale of two countries: Germany and Portugal – oh, and Japan, too
12 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 301 views]
The opposite ends of the euro spectrum will come under the spotlight today. Portugal, because today may be the day she joins Ireland and Greece on the bailed out list. Germany, because today the latest set of GDP data is being released, and analysts expect it to be good. Japan, meanwhile, has her own set [...]
It’s time for Ireland to play hardball with EU and IMF
13 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 434 views]
Later this week Ireland’s parliament will be voting again. The austerity budget has already gone through; now it’s time to agree to the EU/IMF loan. It will be a tight call, but the Irish government will probably win the day. Alas, such a positive vote will be bad news for Ireland, and it may be [...]
Ireland in credit downgrade
10 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 308 views]
That was a kick in the teeth. In one week, Ireland’s government passed its austerity budget, and the credit rating agencies downgrade Ireland’s credit rating. The big fear was that Ireland’s government, which holds power by only a very small margin, would lose the vote and the budget would be rejected. And if that had [...]
Euro crisis: the lesser of two evils
9 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 507 views]
The euro’s defenders have struck. This week’s Economist devoted its lead article to explaining why a collapse in the euro would be a disaster. Across Europe, politicians have rallied to the euro’s defence. Some time ago, Angela Merkel said that if the “Euro fails, Europe fails”. And that seems to be the flavour of the [...]
The Inevitability of a Spanish Property Crash
8 Dec 2010 [3 Comments | 1,581 views]
The Inevitability of a Spanish Property Crash, article supplied by Fairhomes (Gibraltar) Limited Despite the best efforts of the European Financial Stability Facility it was evident that even before the ink had dried on the Irish bail-out agreement that the contagion could not be contained. Immediately nervous investors began looking to other Eurozone countries, such [...]
Euro bonds idea is like an ostrich that buries its head even deeper into the sand
6 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 334 views]
Imagine you are an ostrich with your head buried in the sand and a predator is inching up on you. What do you do? It seems there are two options: one is to race away like crazy. The other is to bury your head that much deeper. The latest idea from the EU would appear [...]
Ireland’s loan: the great bailout, or a great debt swindle?
29 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 594 views]
It’s a tad confusing as to why the $113bn loan to Ireland is seen as such a bold step. The Irish government has forking out 5.8 per cent interest. According to our maths, that means the average household in Ireland is having to pay around $4,300 a year in interest payments. That strikes us as quite a [...]
Is Belgium like Greece, or Germany?
28 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 603 views]
The problem in Belgium is several-fold. Not least the fact that the country has pulled off the impressive trick of simultaneously not having a government, but having massive levels of government debt. In other words, the government it does not have is in big trouble. But before you start rattling off jokes about famous people [...]
