May 2012
8 posts
A simple enough chart to summarise the reason...
The gap between the Anglophone and Francophone press about the current Quebec Student protests is simply astounding. The neoliberal bias of most anglo Op-Eds reveals how indoctrinated most journos have become to an economic rationalism they probably don’t understand themselves - because if they did they certainly would not want to subject themselves and their offspring to it. A classic is...
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2012 G8 Summit Outcome
Nothing more to report from the G8 summit.
Big 4 Australian Banks (ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac)...
If you are over the media commentaries but still want more on that Budget, a radical pill could be to read what “the Big Banks” think of it… ANZ-Australian_Federal_Budget-Report-2012.pdf Download this file CBA_Australian_Federal_Budget-Report-2012.pdf Download this file NAB-Australian_Federal_Budget-Report-2012.pdf Download this file ...
analysis of Francois Hollande's post-election...
An interesting analysis of Francois Hollande’s post-election prospects by Credit Agricole Cheuvreux Research to appreciate how the Finance sector views his election. (Flagged by blogger @Dr_Tad) This note is to be read amid alarmist predictions by the prophets of gloom that France would immediately be under attack from the Markets: in other words that the French Govt Bonds (The Debt) would...
Overcrowded Bastille celebrates the fall of...
Impossible for your correspondent to access the place de la Bastille. People rejoice to the end of the Sarkozian era more than anything else. See the full gallery on Posterous
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Today's polls give Hollande a 53% Win
In order to protect the fairness of the vote, publishing polls is forbidden in France until 8pm (French time) and the closure of the voting centres. This Law does not apply to Australia, so here are the latest polls dated today : Harris Interactive: 53% Hollande - 47% Sarkozy Sofres: 53% Hollande - 47% Sarkozy Opinion Way: 52,5% Hollande - 47,5 % Sarkozy With an usual error...
Happy ending from Bastille
Pics sent overnight by co-blogger from Bastille square. Happy Ending reported from the Left march.Sent from my phone Begin forwarded message: From: Subject: Happy end See the full gallery on Posterous
Occupy Denfert
VIDEO0023.3gp Watch on Posterous Occupy Denfert
April 2012
1 post
Historical Materialism (2008) Marxists, Muslims...
A confronting paper for the French ‘progressives’, which I recommend you read if you ut yourself in that category. Heard thru Richard Seymour. (twitter: @leninology - blog: Lenin’s Tomb) Abstract: The article addresses the divergent responses of the radical Left in Britain and France to the emergence of Muslims as a political subject in the advanced capitalist countries. It...
March 2012
2 posts
Is this some capitalist creative destruction? Now... →
How would you feel if your insurance changed the rules to not pay you? This is what ISDA did to Greek CDS holders. And here is how…
The self regulatory body of the Derivatives market, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), ruled on March 1st that the recent restructuring of the Greek debt, which includes a 47% cut in bonds value for private investors, is not significant...
Why the Market really wanted the Greek package... →
Ο καπιταλισμός είναι ζωντανός και καλά, και εσείς ? … the first part of our title is an attempt for a Greek version of a stencil spotted on the Parisian pavement: “Capitalism is alive and kicking, what about you?“. Our Greek fellows will appreciate the question. They will also appreciate one of the reasons Capitalism finds a second wind every time one of those rescue packages are signed...
February 2012
1 post
The real Thatcher, by JOHN HOWARD (Australian Financial Review 3/3/2012)
John Howard has a few things to say about the “Iron Lady”…
Prime Minister John Howard with Baroness Thatcher, London, 1997. Office of the Honourable John Howard
To adopt Shakespeare, Meryl Streep came to bury Margaret Thatcher, not to praise her. This was attempted – in the filmThe Iron Lady – by the simple, but telling,...
December 2011
3 posts
Inside Job. The documentary. Online. For free. →
November 2011
12 posts
Habermas, the Last European - A Philosopher's... →
FROM DER SPIEGEL
WatchUrban Skiing
Canadian freestyle skier JP Auclair takes his awesome stunts to the streets of Trail, Rossland, and Nelson, BC, for some urban skiing. This edit is part of a ski movie ‘All.I.Can‘.
You remember that trader on BBC? “The Collapse is...
You remember that fellow trader Alessio Rastani, whose interview on the BBC went viral because he was claiming that “The Collapse is Coming and Goldman Sachs Rules The World”?
And before that, you remember the origin of the financial crisis? The call for public money to save the private financial institutions? The privatisation of profits and socialisation of debts?
Well, it has not damaged...
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September 2011
1 post
UBS on Euro: “no modern monetary unions have... →
August 2011
3 posts
The Battle of the Bonds →
Everyone knows that Greece will default on its external debt. The only question concerns the best way to arrange it so that no one really understands that Greece is actually defaulting.
On this…
The simpliest explanation you’ll find: The chart... →
AA+? Has Standard and Poor’s shot the US a bullet... →
June 2011
1 post
Osborne needs a Plan C →
George Osborne expected to inherit a booming economy. In September 2007-the month Northern Rock collapsed – he promised to match Labour’s spending plans for his first three years as Chancellor. He…
May 2011
4 posts
BRICS:2 USA:0 After challenging the dollar, India... →
Sarkozy. Now at the movies. Not in The West Wing,... →
Book review: ‘Arrival City’. And why refugees are... →
April 2011
3 posts
Robert Skidelsky at HowTheLightGetsIn: the... →
Event 1 - Limits to Liberty (Saturday 4th June, 12pm)
Frank Furedi, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Robert Skidelsky. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.
From tabloid complaints about ‘political…
Democracy or Finance →
LONDON – “Shorting” is a tactic well known among the financial cognoscenti. It means betting against an asset with borrowed money in the expectation of making a profit when its value goes down.
A speculator can “short” a government by borrowing its debt at its current price, in the hope of selling it later at a lower price and pocketing the difference. For example: on January 1, 2010, I think to...
The Nuclear Industry is Too Big To Fail too →
March 2011
10 posts
William Cronon and the American Thought Police →
The Austerity Delusion →
The Osborne Ultimatum →
The ideas of two dead economists, David Ricardo and J M Keynes, are shaping the cuts debate. The coalition is in thrall to the former’s small-government agenda and says there is no alternative –…
The Forgotten Millions →
Imperialism Reclaimed →
LONDON – History has no final verdicts. Major shifts in events and power bring about new subjects for discussion and new interpretations.
Fifty years ago, as de-colonization accelerated, no one…
Another Inside Job →
Degrees and Dollars →
How to Kill a Recovery →
February 2011
7 posts
Texas, Budget Cuts and Children →