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SPAIN IN STORMY WATERS
12 juin 2012 par Paul Jorion
The 10 year rate for Spanish debt has just reached a historic high. On the 25th November of last year, the rate had beaten a record when it reached 6.72%. Yesterday early in the morning, when…
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THE GOLDEN TOUCH, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell and Bernard Bouvet
In spite of the promise of a hundred billion Euros which has been brought to the table, the markets are still not convinced, and it didn’t take them long to react. By late afternoon, Spanish borrowing rates were edging up again,…
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WHEN THE WISE MAN POINTS AT THE MOON… (I), by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
The chaotic ups and downs of the deleveraging process continue inexorably, affecting not only the debt of the member states but also a European banking system which is now in the same mess. What it had been concealing has now been revealed: it is…
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THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE SPANISH BANKING BAIL-OUT, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
Some important details are still lacking with regard to the Spanish banking bailout plan: its final amount, which is going to depend on the results of the audit commissioned by the government; its rate, which we will be coming back to; and the stabilizing…
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THE INSURERS WILL NOT BE LEFT UNSCATHED, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In the United States, bad news often arrives via the Congressional Budget office (CBO). Reputed for its analyses, this non-partisan Congressional body has just produced a forward-looking report on American debt. According to the CBO, if the tax cuts are renewed and public spending…
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WHEN FATE INTERVENES…, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In the blink of an eye, discussions have switched focus. The issue of growth which was at the forefront has rapidly surrendered its place to the elaboration of a plan for the supervision of the banks and the rescue of those in need. Improvisation…
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LE MONDE-ÉCONOMIE, Ordinary scandals, Monday 4 – Tuesday 5 June 2012
My most recent column in the French daily paper Le Monde : Les pigeons de facebook. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In the book which he dedicated to the 1929 Crash (*), John Kenneth Galbraith, made the remark that if everyone talks frequently of fraud during periods of crisis, it is not…
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APPEAL TO ALL THE PARLIAMENTARIANS WHO ENVISAGE VOTING THE “BALANCED BUDGET RULE”
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
The inept formulation of the financial stability pact, as well as the “balanced budget rule” which is derived from it, require (as I recalled in a recent column for Le Monde-Économie) a nation’s growth rate to be equal or superior to the level of the “average” coupon…
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THE TOWERING MOUNTAIN, SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
“There is a first assessment, then a second, a third, a fourth…..It’s the worst possible way of doing things because everybody ends up doing the right thing but at the highest possible cost and price”. Who was it speaking so harshly yesterday of…
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THE IRONY OF HISTORY
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
I have made the observation here that what leads us to desire change is never the projection of an idyllic image of a new future world to which we aspire, but rather the present moment in which we live become intolerable.
Irony plays a considerable role in history…
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Hellenic Securitisation S.A. – Request for Information, by Panagiotis Grigoriou
Guest post. Translated from the French by Bernard Bouvet.
This is Athens!
We are barely able to recover from Memorandum 2 (see the latest entry (Sightseeing Athens) on my blog “Greek Crisis”). The Shock Strategy, when undergone as a…patient, doesn’t give you any respite. Multi-risk, multi-faceted, a total weapon. In the…
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IT IS TIME TO RESTRUCTURE CAPITALISM
An English translation which can be read here of my post “Refonder le capitalisme”: Le moment est venu by Frankly.
It Is Time to Restructure Capitalism
Is there anything more depressing than the spectacle of the short-term remedies that are being applied at present with a view to…
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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: About “The network of global corporate control”, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston
A passionate discussion has started on my French blog about the article The network of global corporate control, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston.
I’m hoping that a parallel discussion in English starts here.
Here an excerpt of the paper to whet your appetite:
… nearly 4/10 of the control…
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FRANCE 24, The F24 Interview
With Annette Young, about the current developments of the crisis.
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“How should one define a catastrophic scenario in a situation such as this?”
Frankly has been so kind as to translate my most recent post. The original French version is here.
“How should one define a catastrophic scenario in a situation such as this?”
There is no panic yet in the American financial markets, but disquiet is spreading. The Dow Jones industrial index fell by 3.3%…