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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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THE RETURN OF THE LENDERS OF LAST RESORT, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
Here is a summary of the situation. Newly named Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras is continuing to put together a government which was voted in on the basis that it would renegotiate a bail-out plan which is falling apart anyway. In supporting him without sending…
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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…
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THE SPANISH RISK PREMIUM
There were two bond issues today, one in Spain, the other in Denmark, which allow us to carry out an interesting little calculation of the risk premium required of Spain when it borrows on the capital markets.
A short while ago the Spanish…
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Le Vif/L’Express, « There is ALWAYS an alternative », June 22, 2012
This is an exclusive preview – in English! – of my column which will be published in the Belgian weekly Le Vif/L’Express this coming Thursday
The phenomenon is the way in which things manifest themselves to us, and this can be real – either with things appearing as they really are; or it can be…
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FRANCE AND THE FUTURE OF EUROPE
France and the future of Europe
The fact that Spain seems to have lost all access to the capital markets for the foreseeable future, seeming thus, at first glance, to condemn the entire existence of the Eurozone, was headline news on Paul Jorion’s blog yesterday. Firstly, as discussed in the article ironically entitled “
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THE LOSS OF CONFIDENCE IN SPANISH DEBT: LIVE
In my article this morning ‘The Greeks have made the right choice’ I indicated that:
…the 10 year rate for Spanish bonds was 6.82% at opening time this morning and now stands at 7.13%. (10.25 AM).
The dramatic progression has continued: it is 2.40 PM and the rate is now at 7.22%
The correct…
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“THE GREEKS HAVE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE!”
“The Greeks have made the right choice!”
Oh blast, the markets see it differently: the 10 year Spanish rate was at 6.82% at opening this morning and now it’s at 7.25% (3:30 PM). Unheard of, one has to say. Damned markets!
Voting for the Troïka method – it was pretty obvious – was voting…
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AND NOW?
14 juin 2012 par Paul Jorion
And now? What are we going to do? Now that Spain has lost access to capital markets for its debt?
True, the downgrading yesterday evening of Spain’s rating by three notches by Moody’s, from an A3 to Baa3 has not helped…
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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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HOW CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS WILL HAVE DESTROYED THE EURO
How credit default swaps will have destroyed the Euro
12 juin 2012 par Paul Jorion
And what of the CDS (credit-default swap) speculators who don’t pay taxes? Why don’t we hear anything about them? We hear a lot about the Greeks not paying their taxes, and at…
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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 DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET IS PROGRAMMED
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In our capitalist system, the « advances » which are consented to by some, the holders of capital or « capitalists », in order to render a production process possible or to allow a consumer to consume are remunerated by interest payments. In my book Le prix (2010),…
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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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QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (VI) PREDICAMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of the post “QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (VI) DILEMMES DE LA PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE”.
Private property, as we saw previously, allows you or I to selfishly take advantage of our planet’s generosity towards us and claim ownership of what she bears within her or what she produces spontaneously thanks…
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QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (V) HOW IS THE AMOUNT OF SURPLUS VALUE DETERMINED
March 7th, 2012 by Paul Jorion |
An English translation by Jean-Loup Komarower of the post QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (V) COMMENT SE DÉTERMINE LE SURPLUS
A set of inputs contribute…
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QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (III) “WORLD EBULLITION” AND PRIVATE PROPERTY
An English translation by Jean-Loup Komarower of the post « ÉBULLITION DU MONDE » ET PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE
Two questions have to be resolved initially: is new wealth created in the production of goods and services and if it is, how can its amount and value be…
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QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (II) PROFIT, THE SOURCE OF ALL OUR ILLS
An English translation by Jean-Loup Komarower of the post QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (II) LE PROFIT, SOURCE DE TOUS NOS MAUX
Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a Welsh social reformer, one of the founders of the cooperative movement. As a very early socialist who was blamed for being strictly speaking a “communist”, he considered profit as the…