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WELL SPOTTED, BRAVO!, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
As already highlighted the Spanish government is already benefitting from a de facto rescue plan under another name. To save appearances, the new austerity measures put forward for vote in parliament have not been the object of a memorandum jointly signed with those providing…
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TIME WILL TELL… AND MAYBE IT ALREADY HAS , by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
In the hope of solving the problems once and for all, Mariano Rajoy has decided to take drastic measures in Spain. Taken as a whole, he asserts that the measures that he is going to have adopted by the Cortes (the Spanish Parliament) represent…
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A CRITICAL MASS OF CONTRADICTIONS, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
Once more, the crisis has taken a turn for the worst in the days after a summit which was intended to resolve it. Barely ten days ago, two practical decisions came out of it, and neither has been implemented in practice; nothing has really…
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WHEN WE’RE NOT MOVING FORWARDS WE’RE GOING BACKWARDS…, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
The European Finance Ministers managed during the course of the night to finalize a minimal agreement, which needs, as usual, to be examined in detail due to its grey areas. They put together a set of nominations to the ECB and the ESM based…
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REFRESHER COURSE: HOW AL CAPONE FELL
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
Idea association being an excellent means of investigation… here is a reminder of this article dating from 26th March 2010.
Everybody knows the history of Al Capone, who was never caught by the American state for his racketeering activities but was brought down by an investigation…
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THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRISIS WHO ARE RARELY TALKED ABOUT
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
The question of whether a debt contract can be considered as money is central to my book L’argent mode d’emploi (2009). I expose the violence exerted by Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950), when he imposed the idea that such was the case, and I demonstrated the inanity…
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GUILTY PARTIES WANTED !, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
In accordance with the predictable script, the bond market is under pressure again. The cost of servicing Spanish and Italian debt has continued to increase as their financing plans move forward in little measured steps. The effect of all this is to place an…
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THIS SYSTEM IS ITS OWN WORST ENEMY, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
In the little game of who won and who lost, what conclusions can be drawn from the recent European council? Interpretations differ widely: some highlight the German Government’s about-turn, who themselves retort that the essence of their position has been preserved intact; others congratulate…
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THE WINDOWS MUST REMAIN CLOSED, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
By rejecting the quartet’s plan, (which has, moreover, already been watered-down) before the summit has even been held, the German deputy foreign affairs minister, Michael Link has placed himself in the avant-garde of all those opposing any attempt at a compromise. The “iron chancellor’s”…
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“KANT WAS RIGHT!”
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
A female reader of my blog asked me to give her some tips for her upcoming business school exam. This is how I replied.
It seems important to me to focus on the possibility that any measures proposed can be generalized. It was Martin Wolf who…
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STICKING TO ONE’S PRINCIPLES…, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
What was the plan being drawn up last week in Rome which Merkel refused to sign up to? The other three participants, Mario Monti, Mariano Rajoy and François Hollande advocated using the EFSF, and in the near future the ESM, directly, to bail-out the…
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RED HERRINGS, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
The magic word growth only needs to be pronounced in order for everything to become just like it was before. At least that is what the four European leaders gathered yesterday at Rome seemed to believe when they announced the figure of 120 to…
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TREASURE HUNT, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
Following the clues for the next bail-out of the Spanish banks is proving to be a veritable treasure hunt. To participate, follow the guide!
Initially, the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) is going to borrow funds on the markets, using the member states guarantees,…
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France 24, “Is François Hollande’s fiscal program likely to hurt France’s competitiveness?”, at 7:10 PM, June 21st 2012
Don’t you love the way this is phrased? Can the guy ever recover from such an even-handed (cough! cough!) way of setting the issue?
Anyway, here it is.
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SPAIN: BOND MARKET THIS THURSDAY 21St JUNE
Spain managed to borrow 2.22 billion Euros this morning. It was hoping to raise 7.7 billion. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that this was “thanks to demand seen overwhelmingly coming from domestic banks”.
The coupon obtained by lenders for 2 years was 4.706% (compared with 2.069% on the 1st March); over…