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 [...]
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 [...]
Portugal and Ireland – debts, wages and house prices: how do they really stand?
28 Nov 2010 [4 Comments | 1,044 views]
The problem with the bailout of Ireland is that the EU and the IMF are effectively saying to the markets – You are wrong. The markets have concluded that Ireland is a risky bet, and will only lend to the government at rates that would make the cost of servicing debt unbearable. So the EU [...]
Merkel irritates markets with some home truths
25 Nov 2010 [1 Comment | 2,009 views]
She only went along and did it again. Yesterday, and not for the first time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested bondholders should be willing to do their bit and contribute to the great EU bailout by cutting their losses. And yields on bonds, or at least yields on bonds pertaining to certain countries, soared. For [...]
The Eurozone’s three Ds: default, default, and default
25 Nov 2010 [1 Comment | 595 views]
We have three observations to make on the latest shenanigans to hit the Eurozone. Firstly, default of some sort seems inevitable. Secondly, it seems that in a funny kind of way, Angela Merkel and arch-Keynesian Paul Krugman agree. Both seem to think that markets need to be encouraged to throw their money at business, and [...]
Ireland’s rescue: what is the cost?
22 Nov 2010 [7 Comments | 1,171 views]
At first glance some will rail at the fact that non-euro country, the UK, is contributing to the Irish bailout. But actually, the deal between Ireland and the various bodies that are due to lend it money, seems to consist of a far more worrying condition: the imposition of a property tax. First things first: [...]
Germany talks tough, Ireland teeters – Is the Euro the problem?
16 Nov 2010 [2 Comments | 679 views]
Normally if you hear the words “How would you like your hair today, Sir?”, or “What can we do for your hair today, Madam?”, you wouldn’t feel that concerned. There are two exceptions: exception number one would be if your barber was called Sweeney Todd, and also mentioned something about not having eaten a meat [...]
Banks, mortgage holders, and countries all stuck in Limbo
12 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 582 views]
The night of the living dead starts in Ireland Zombies are in the news again. That’s zombie banks, zombie households, and now maybe zombie countries. “Liquidate labour, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system,” or so said Andrew Mellon, US Secretary of Treasury, just as [...]
West needs to save more: emerging world needs to spend more, says OECD
4 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 294 views]
Must try harder. Did you ever get that comment in a report when you were at school? The author didn’t. His reports typically said: what a delightful pupil. But yesterday, praise was in short supply, red ink was everywhere, and there were lots of “see me” comments. The OECD was looking at efforts in the [...]
Row breaks out at European Central Bank
18 Oct 2010 [0 Comments | 306 views]
On one hand you have the kingpin among German central bankers, and on the other you seem to have the rest. Normally when central bankers disagree, they dress up their divergence of opinion in jargon and sentences that can be hard to decipher. Not so at the European Central Bank, where a blazing row is [...]
