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Sarkozy Threatens To Pull France Out Of Euro

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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If you were wondering why the market is spooked by rumors that Germany may be returning to the DM, here is actual fact that French President is on the verge of reinstating the franc. And with that, the euro is nothing more than a political toy for Merkel, Sarkozy and whoever the current non-indicted head of the Italian government is, to achieve their political goals. The currency is now dead. Parity coming within a few weeks.

From The Guardian:

 
 

The markets were initially unsettled by news that the French president had threatened to pull France out of the eurozone. The startling threat was made at a Brussels summit of EU leaders last Friday, at which the deal to bail out Greece was agreed. according to a report in El País newspaper quoting Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Zapatero revealed details of the French threat at a closed-doors meeting of leaders from his Spanish socialist party on Wednesday.

Sarkozy demanded “a compromise from everyone to support Greece … or France would reconsider its position in the euro,” according to one source cited by El País.

“Sarkozy went as far as banging his fist on the table and threatening to leave the euro,” said one unnamed Socialist leader who was at the meeting with Zapatero. “That obliged Angela Merkel to bend and reach an agreement.”

A different source who was at the meeting with Zapatero told El País that “France, Italy and Spain formed a common front against German and Sarkozy threatened Merkel with a break in the traditional Franco-German axis.”

El País also quotes Sarkozy as having said, according to another of those who met Zapatero, that “if at time like this, with all that is happening, Europe is not capable of a united response, then the euro makes no sense”.

Well, an epiphany 10 years late is still better than no epiphany. And, of course as many will say, he who panics first, just may salvage something. Which for most American citizens still infatuated with their currency, may mean very bad news.

Lifestyle & Improvement

  
Economy, Education
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  • Make 2011 your best year ever (Paints With Numbers)

  • A guide to inner peace (Zen Habits)

  • What would you do if you knew you were going to die today? (James Altucher)

  • Don’t have enough time to do the things you want? 80 ways to steal back time (Open)

  • 10 tips for re-energizing your day, every day (Open)

  • Don’t forget your daily dose of aspirin (Bloomberg)

  • 32 ways to love ourselves (James Altucher)

World’s 10 Worst Economies

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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It takes a lot to kick a dying ailing man in the guts as he is already agonizing on the floor, but nobody wants to do it to poor old Uncle Sam, do they? And that’s despite the fact that the government in the US is inefficient and that economic development leaves a lot to be desired, these days. Even the World Economic Forum increased the ranking for the USA from 5th in 2013 in the world to 3rd position in 2014. Either the USA is giving some back-handed greenbacks to the committee or they really are not looking into things as well as they should be. What’s the US got to sing praises for these days in terms of economic ranking? We can only imagine that they will increase yet again in this year’s rankings once they get released if it is only for the greatest pleasure and most-intellectual masturbation of the elitist decision-makers in the country. The USA is at the top of the roost, isn’t it?

The World Economic Forum judges each country in the world according to a set of criteria that determine the productivity of a country and its ability to be competitive. Of course, the whole concept of competitiveness is a western-world set of values, isn’t it? Just like democracy, which has to be exported to all and sundry, whether they want or need it in their states, the liberal concept of economic activity has to be exported to the rest of the world. If you don’t, then you are going to be downgraded and dumped into the abysses of the rankings in the world. Who wants to come out last or get given the wooden spoon in the race towards that big dollar sign in the sky? Nobody. Not even those that don’t want liberal economies.

World Economic Forum and Competitiveness

Either you are an efficiency-driven economy according to the World Economic Forum that highlights the basic need of improving economic output and heightening efficiency of production (which basically means getting people to work more for less and at the same time produce more for the customer just as long as the latter agree to pay exorbitant sums of money); or you are a factor-driven economy, which is bad because they are the least developed and they can only afford to pay cheap labor a pittance and they sell of their natural resources (in abundance to the efficiency-driven economies). Whoever said economics was hard to understand? The third category of the World Economic Forum is those countries that are called innovation-driven economies. Those are the western-world nations that have managed to invent and innovate new ways of exploiting the previous two categories at will and in depth. Apparently, any country that is not in one of these three categories does not, will not and cannot exist according to the World Economic Forum. In its own words theWEF is “committed to improving the state of the word through public-private cooperation”.

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Forint Slide Accelerates As Hungarian Default Risk Now 14 Wider To 277bps

  
Economy, Education, Forex
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Poor, poor Europe. Every room one shines a light in, the cockroaches don’t even bother to scurry to safety any more. Yet what is glaringly obvious takes a media-reported soundbite to awake people. So is the case with Hungary today. After opening 7 tighter, Hungarian CDS are now 14 bps wider to 277bps. As the attached chart shows, the Hungarian Forint is now in freefall. Yet if investors are concerned about Hungary, they should take a look at some of its less lucky Eastern European neighbors which, just like Hungary, have been considered to be strong for so long.

Greece – About to Hit the Panic Button?

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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Well it would appear that all the talk of the European Union and the IMF standing at the ready did not calm the markets when it was being discussed over the past month. It was hoped that the markets would be calmed if they knew that Greece had support from its neighbors.

That was Plan A, now it is time for Plan B, or C, D, E…

The Greek government’s cost of borrowing has hit a new high as talks on a joint eurozone and International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue plan begin.

The interest rate on 10-year government bonds hit 8.3% – the highest since the euro was introduced.

Rates rose as it became clear that talks over the aid package may not be finished until days before a multi-billion-euro loan is due for repayment.

Investors are becoming more convinced that Greece will need to be rescued.

Greece’s finance ministry said the talks with the European Commission and the IMF would take about two weeks, with a joint text issued on about 15 May. […] (BBC)

It would appear that Greece is about to hit the button

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:27:13 PM
Greece Fin Min: Will make decision on whether or not to trigger the aid mechanism soon – Notes that the IMF will have discussions over the competitiveness of the country. No further austerity measures this year are likely.

NPA on Rise …Think about it !

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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Finance Ministry expects the gross NPA levels of PSBs to go up substantially in the current fiscal because many restructured accounts of previous years may turn into NPAs this fiscal.

Meanwhile, the gross NPA level of new private sector banks increased to Rs 13,772 crore in end March 2010 from a level of Rs 10,419 crore in end March 2008. The gross NPAs of old private sector banks stood at Rs 3,612 crore in end March 2010, higher than the level of Rs 2,557 crore in end March 2008.

The gross NPA level of PSBs stood at Rs 57,301 crore as of end March 2010, much higher than the level of Rs 39,749 crore in end March 2008.

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