décembre 2010
104 billets
3 tags
novembre 2010
184 billets
3 tags
3 tags
1 tag
Rarely has a profession been in more urgent need... →
Isn’t any accountancy firm that declares itself perfectly content to deceive investors by pretending that fraudulent and/or insolvent companies are ethical and solvent companies, doing us all a massive disservice?
The worst that beancounters can currently expect for false accounting, deception, even theft and fraud seems to be a token slap on the wrist, a miniscule fine and, if they’re unlucky,...
3 tags
European sovereign debt is not really sovereign →
When the euro was launched a decade ago, critics of the single currency said that it would prove impossible to run a single currency without also establishing a fiscal union. The reason generally given was that the countries inside EMU would face a free rider problem, under which those governments with a history of fiscal profligacy would choose to run much higher fiscal deficits, secure in the...
3 tags
Why European debt defaults are necessary →
Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs is now going around saying that the eurozone needs “solidarity,” and that Germany in particular needs to get with the all-for-one-and-one-for-all program, after getting itself into this mess by encouraging far too many countries to join the euro in the first place. At the same time, the survival of the euro, he says, “requires Germany to be not so noisy and aggressive...
3 tags
2 tags
2 tags
Jason Kenney: Harper’s secret weapon →
“One of the things that always perplexed me,” he told Maclean’s, “is that the Mulroney government ran the most, quote, ‘progressive’ immigration policy in Canadian history.” Over his nine years in office, Mulroney tripled immigration levels from 85,000 in 1983 to more than 260,000. “He brought in the Multiculturalism Act. He brought in more generous family reunification policies, which are the...
2 tags
PEI’s Sunday shopping debate turns personal – and... →
abcsoupdot:
From The Globe and Mail:
God may have injured a leading Prince Edward Island politician because of her push to relax Sunday shopping laws, the government’s most outspoken minister suggested as the divisive debate turned personal.
[…]
Amid a series of government questions about the substance of the bill, Transportation Minister Ron MacKinley brought up a recent fall suffered by...
2 tags
Wikileaks: CSIS director on Canada's "Alice in... →
Counselor of the Department of State Eliot Cohen and CSIS Director Jim Judd in Ottawa on July 2 discussed threats posed by violent Islamist groups in Canada, and recent developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (CSIS is Canada’s lead agency for national security intelligence.) Director Judd ascribed an “Alice in Wonderland” worldview to Canadians and their courts, whose judges...
3 tags
Krugman: Freeze Frame →
Yep, that’s exactly what we needed: a transparently cynical policy gesture, trivial in scale but misguided in direction, and in effect conceding that your bitter political opponents have the right idea.
3 tags
3 tags
Barcelona vs Madrid →
YESTERDAY conservatives swept to power in elections in Spain’s eastern region of Catalonia, ousting a left-wing coalition led by the local branch of Spain’s ruling Socialists. Today Spain is digesting the result. The victory of Convergence and Union (CiU), a conservative Catalan nationalist coalition, and a rise in votes for the right-wing People’s Party (PP), the main national...
2 tags
When Open Market Operations Were New →
For most of its first decade, the Fed relied on two mechanisms to manage the quantity of money in circulation: it bought and sold gold, according to the ebb and flow of foreign trade; and it raised and lowered its “discount rate,” the interest rate at which it lent to member banks.
As early as 1914, it contemplated the use of a further tool – the power to buy and sell short-term government...
3 tags
Cantor Fitzgerald Uses Algorithms to Make Sports... →
The M Resort is a new casino 8 miles south of the glittering Vegas Strip. Its wood-accented sports book (gambling lingo for the casino within the casino where you can wager on sporting events) resembles a cross between an upscale sports bar and a midtier accounting firm. Some gamblers hunch over workstations identical to the one Jimmy sits at, feverishly entering fresh bets. Others wander around...
3 tags
The Eurozone Endgame: Four Scenarios →
While the details of this “burden sharing” approach remain to be hammered out (after Sunday’s announcements), there is no way for German or other politicians to backtrack on the broad strategic principles. But once this arrangement is in place, say in 2013 or thereabouts, all eurozone countries will (a) be able to sustain less debt than has recently been regarded as the norm, and (b) become...
2 tags
Not Waving But Drowning →
“Ireland really can’t afford to pay these debts.”
“Here’s a credit line!”
“No, really, we just can’t afford to pay.”
“Here’s a credit line!”
It really is like watching a car wreck.
1 tag
3 tags
La résignation →
La seule pensée que la candidate libérale dans Kamouraska-Témiscouata puisse dormir tranquille ce soir, confiante, sinon de l’emporter, du moins de faire bonne figure lundi, peut paraître surréaliste. Car si on entend les commentateurs et les éditorialistes, si on lit les sondages, si on constate le succès de la pétition réclamant la démission du premier ministre, on se dit qu’il faut...
3 tags
Merkel's Reputation on the Decline in Europe →
Merkel’s eventual legacy seems to be more unclear than ever. Ever since the sovereign debt crisis began shaking the euro zone, Germany has been the target of criticism more frequently than it has in a long time. And the image of the chancellor has been badly blemished. European papers these days are full Merkel, looking tight-lipped and severe.
In the middle of Europe’s crisis, the...
4 tags
Can the EU survive? →
Just for once, this is not a question best left to the Poli Sci. Because the main forces will be money/macro.
For nearly two years now, I’ve been worried that one or more of the Eurozone countries might do an Argentina. I’ve been asking whether the Eurozone could survive. I think it’s time to change the question. Can the EU survive?
I don’t know the answer. But I think...
2 tags
Dead Certain: The Presidential memoirs of George... →
The steady drip of these elisions and falsifications suggests a deeper necessity than the ordinary touch-ups of personal history. Bush has no tolerance for ambiguity; he can’t revere his father and, on occasion, want to defy him, or lose charge of his White House for a minute, or allow himself to wonder if Iraq might ultimately fail. The structure of “Decision Points,” with each chapter centered...
2 tags
The Instability of Moderation →
When monetarism failed – fighting words, but you know, it really did — it was replaced by the cult of the independent central bank. Put a bunch of bankerly men in charge of the monetary base, insulate them from political pressure, and let them deal with the business cycle; meanwhile, everything else can be conducted on free-market principles.
And this worked for a while – roughly speaking from...
1 tag
Behind Gold's New Glister: Miners' Big Bet on a... →
Chris Thompson, the group’s chairman, figured the council needed to expand the pool of gold buyers, particularly in the U.S. The idea of trading gold on an exchange had been floating around for years, but various hurdles had prevented it from taking off in America.
What the council eventually managed to create in those dark days surpassed its wildest dreams: SPDR Gold Shares, the...
2 tags
4 tags
Interview Paul Desmarais →
Vous vous situez où politiquement au Canada ?
Je suis conservateur.
Alors il doit y avoir de sérieuses discussions avec le beau-père de votre fils André, Jean Chrétien, ancien Premier ministre libéral du Canada ?
C’est un très bon ami et puis nous sommes fédéralistes tous les deux. Pour le reste, les déjeuners en famille sont animés. Mais je reconnais qu’il a très bien géré le pays...
3 tags
Escouade Marteau: pas de gros noms dans les... →
Du point de vue du ministère de Sam Hamad, on pressent que les acteurs dans le génie-conseil et la construction se positionnent déjà pour le projet de l’échangeur Turcot - un pactole de 3 milliards qui défoncera vraisemblablement les budgets.
Déjà on sait que les entrepreneurs et les concepteurs s’entendent facilement quand vient le temps de convaincre les responsables de chantiers du...
2 tags
What to Do When the FBI Raids Your Hedge Fund →
We already can guess the first question that must have leaped to the mind of every self-respecting wealth maximizer: “How can I use this information to make enough money to buy myself a jet?” The answer, of course, is that it pays to be on the inside.
This raises an even more intriguing existential question. Is it possible for a hedge fund to profit off its own imminent collapse? A little...
2 tags
Eating the Irish →
What we need now is another Jonathan Swift.
Most people know Swift as the author of “Gulliver’s Travels.” But recent events have me thinking of his 1729 essay “A Modest Proposal,” in which he observed the dire poverty of the Irish, and offered a solution: sell the children as food. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear,” he admitted, but this would make it “very proper for landlords, who, as...
3 tags
"No risk of euro zone breakup in Irish crisis": EU →
Oh oh…
4 tags
Le sujet de discussion le plus incongru de la... →
Le premier ministre de l’Alberta, Ed Stelmach, profitera du match de la Coupe Grey dimanche à Edmonton pour convaincre le premier ministre de la Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, du bienfondé de créer une commission des valeurs mobilières de l’Ouest. Commission qui se spécialiserait, de facto, dans les entreprises oeuvrant dans l’énergie, l’agriculture et les ressources naturelles.
C’est ce que révèle le...
4 tags
Plastic and Glass →
Some countries, like Ireland, do not print money. The sovereign debt of Ireland is debt. It is a promise to pay that will be broken if a big enough shock hits. It is glass debt.
Other countries, like Canada, do print money. The sovereign debt of Canada is not really debt. It is more like equity. The promise to pay that debt can always be fullfilled. In the absolutely worst case scenario by...
3 tags
Chinese inflation and European defaults →
Several countries, most notably Spain, will be forced to choose between giving up sovereignty to Germany, suffering extremely high rates of unemployment for several years, or giving up the euro. They will almost certainly choose the third option. There are still a lot of people who say giving up the euro is “unimaginable”, but that just shows a weak imagination. I especially remember in 2000...
2 tags
2 tags
Motion de censure - Il n'a pas compris →
En l’entendant répondre hier matin à la motion de censure déposée par le Parti québécois, on a presque cru que le premier ministre Jean Charest était vraiment résolu à parler aux Québécois. Mais son obsession des attaques partisanes a été plus forte que le souci d’assainir le climat actuel. Et les citoyens ne sont pas plus avancés qu’avant.
3 tags
Shadow banks, shadow sovereigns →
Which should perhaps focus minds on the consequences of not carrying through an orderly sovereign restructuring in Ireland or Greece — or any other distressed sovereign hiding out there, actually. There’s an emerging consensus that this must be prepared for. See the latest German whizz on when restructuring provisions should be inserted into that two-tiered eurozone government bond market, for...
3 tags
Sarah Palin's Presidential Strategy and the... →
robertreich:
According to the right-wing narrative, the calamity that’s befallen the white working class is due to the global and intellectual elites who run the mainstream media, direct the government, dispense benefits to the undeserving, and dominate popular culture. (The story and targets are not substantially different from those that have fueled right-wing and fascist movements during...
2 tags
Spain & LATAM Contagion →
All eyes were on Spanish bond yields AGAIN on Wednesday. Especially as news emerged that the country was freezing, due to market volatility, the start of its €13.5bn issue programme set to sell state-guaranteed power revenue bonds.
But as BNP Paribas points out in an earlier note in the day, investors who are paying close attention here should probably be equally mindful of LATAM spreads.
Mexico...
2 tags
EU scolds Harper government for StatsCan... →
abcsoupdot:
From the Montreal Gazette:
The European Union’s statistical gurus have taken the Canadian government to task for denting the professional independence of Statistics Canada through the census debate.
In the newly released report, the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board decries the government’s decision to replace the mandatory long-form census with a voluntary survey,...
2 tags
3 tags
Harper to wrap himself in flag of fiscal austerity →
In any event, maintaining an expensive Conservative-friendly island in a sea of Quebec hostility has become a self-defeating exercise for the government. It is a major distraction from the bigger game the Prime Minister is after.
In the federal capital, Rob Ford’s Toronto mayoral victory — combined with the ascent of the Ontario Tories in the polls — is seen as a harbinger of greater popular...
2 tags
2 tags
La zone euro va-t-elle survivre? →
L’euro agit comme un corset. La monnaie commune, qui se voulait un stabilisateur de l’Europe, retire aujourd’hui un outil économique majeur pour les pays en difficulté. Contrairement aux États-Unis, qui adoptent des politiques qui font chuter sa monnaie, la Grèce, l’Irlande et le Portugal ne peuvent pas se servir de leur monnaie pour tenter de stimuler ses exportations. Ces...
3 tags
A bono fide attack on Spain & Italy →
Speculative attacks are now targeting Spanish and Italian bonds, which could hardly be defended given the ECB’s timid bond purchases. With buy-side demand likely drying up, dealers are capitulating on their Bonos and BTPs-packed books, which could trigger a new liquidity squeeze in EA govvies. We recommend hedging the risk of an escalating EA debt crisis via EUR/USD 3m5y conditional tighteners via...
2 tags
Ireland: The Rise & the Crash →
Until the crash, Ireland was an economy to be admired rather than examined, to be emulated rather than avoided. It took a long time for the truth to come out. In February 2008—shortly before Scotland’s own banks went belly up—the leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, was promising that an independent Scotland would create “a Celtic Lion economy to rival the Celtic Tiger across the...
3 tags
L’Irlande en faillite : des leçons pour le Québec →
Pendant des années, François Legault et ses amis de la « gauche efficace » ont justifié leurs propositions de réduction d’impôts pour les entreprises en invoquant l’expérience irlandaise. L’Irlande était présentée comme le phare de la « nouvelle social-démocratie ». Nous voyons à quel désastre aurait conduit l’application d’un tel modèle au Québec.
Mais l’expérience irlandaise...
2 tags
Crise de l'euro - Chacun pour soi! →
Alors que la crise irlandaise bat son plein, le président du CE a fait entorse à sa discrétion légendaire pour mieux affirmer publiquement ceci: «Nous devons travailler ensemble à sauver l’euro, parce que, si nous n’y parvenons pas, l’Union européenne ne lui survivra pas.» Rien de moins. De prime abord, on pourrait croire que le calme Van Rompuy a péché par pessimisme,...
1 tag
Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor →
For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.
But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could...
3 tags
Fed Adopts Political Tactics on Critics →
Faced with unusually sharp ideological attacks after its latest bid to stimulate the economy, the Federal Reserve now faces a challenge far removed from the conduct of monetary policy: how to defend itself in a hyperpartisan environment without becoming overtly political.
(…)
The attacks, coupled with criticism from foreign officials, have introduced enough uncertainty into global...
