Michael Mann, The climate scientist who the deniers have in their sights

He didn't court controversy, but is happy to make use of it

The Independent

By Steve Connor

(From the blog: This article introduces a view on the controversy surrounding climate change. It revolves around a central figure of the debate, prof. M. Man. After introducing his famous “hockey stick” type reproduction of climate evolution during the past few centuries, he has been the target of a heated criticism. The criticism involves data used, models, assumed intentions which shifts the issue into politics. We are not climatologists. We know for sure that polar icecaps are melting. Therefore we could summarize the ongoing debate into two fundamental questions. First, are the observed changes long-term trends? And second: Can we quantify the human related contribution to global climate?)

46 Days to Avoid Greek Default

The Wall Street Journal

JANUARY 16, 2012, 5:22 AM

… news from Athens that the debt-restructuring talks there have been suspended should really be of bigger concern…

… Greece has a €14.4 billion bond maturing on March 20 that it can’t afford to pay in full,…

… We’ll go through those steps one by one…

… It first has to come to an agreement with its private-sector creditors…

… For the deal to be consummated, Greece’s not-too-happy euro-zone peers have to sign off on sending some €60 billion its way…

… it will need €30 billion to recapitalize its own banks… and another €30 billion to give to the wounded bondholders as an upfront cash sweetener…

Gross: Greece to Default Following Downgrades

Bloomberg

By Wes Goodman - Jan 16, 2012 5:34 AM GMT+0200

… though the two sides haven’t been able to agree…

… efforts to address Europe’s financial problems are falling short…

… The bulk of sovereign-bond holdings should be in the U.S….

Αναζητώντας τον χαμένο πολιτικό διάλογο

Κυριακή, 15 Ιανουάριος 2012 13:13

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

Το πρόβλημα της ελλειμματικής και αδιάφορης για τα προβλήματα του τόπου πολιτικής μοιάζει να είναι βαθύτερο από την κυριαρχία των ΜΜΕ.

(Σημ. του blog. Παρουσιάζει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον η προσέγγιση της Ελληνικής πολιτικής πραγματικότητας από τρεις μη Έλληνες, δύο Αμερικάνους και έναν Βρετανό, οι οποίοι με την καθαρότητα που μπορεί να έχει το βλέμμα ενός τρίτου, περιγράφουν την απουσία της σχέσης ανάμεσα στην κοινωνία και την πολιτική τάξη, όπως την αντιλαμβάνονται με τη δική τους πολιτική παιδεία…)

Η ουγγρική εμπειρία

Σάββατο, 14 Ιανουάριος 2012 16:05

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

… Κάποτε ο Βίκτωρ Ορμπάν ήταν εικόνισμα για το αριστεροδεξιό συνονθύλευμα που θέλει να αποκαλείται «αντιμνημονιακό μέτωπο»…

… έδιωξε το διεθνές Νομισματικό Ταμείο από τη χώρα του... Ελάχιστα όμως γράφτηκαν για την μετέπειτα πορεία της ουγγρικής οικονομίας...

… Φτιάχνονται μύθοι που εξυπηρετούν τον «αγώνα»…

… έφτασε τον περασμένο μήνα στα πρόθυρα της χρεοκοπίας…

… ενδιάμεσο άλλαξε το Σύνταγμα προς το απολυταρχικότερο…

… Η Ουγγαρία έγινε πιο φτωχή, πιο αντιδημοκρατική και λιγότερο διαφανή…

France Loses AAA Status as S&P Wields Ratings Ax

Bloomberg

… The first gauge of the report’s impact will come in two days when France sells as much as 8.7 billion euros…

… U.S. Treasuries rose, pushing yields to the lowest levels this year…

… Perhaps this will now concentrate the minds of EU policy makers making them realize that no country is immune to being pulled down by the euro crisis…

… Greece’s creditors yesterday suspended talks…

… The French and Austrian downgrades risk sapping the potency of the region’s current rescue program…

Η χαμένη ανταγωνιστικότητα

Παρασκευή, 13 Ιανουάριος 2012 09:11

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

Το στοίχημα είναι πώς θα αφαιρέσουμε εμπόδια από την επιχειρηματικότητα ώστε να προκόψουν οι επιχειρήσεις και μαζί τους να προκόψει ο τόπος. Αλλιώς το μόνο ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα που θα έχουμε θα είναι οι μισθοί…

… Ένας επιχειρηματίας δεν νοιάζεται πόσα δίνει, αλλά πόσα του μένουν στο τέλος….

… Η Ελλάδα, έχοντας θεσμικό πλαίσιο, γραφειοκρατία, διαφθορά κ. λπ. τύπου Μπανγκλαντές, αναγκαστικά κάποια στιγμή θα ανταγωνίζεται με μισθούς Μπανγκλαντές…

Yields fall sharply at Spanish, Italian debt sales

… a back-door bailout by the European Central Bank…

… Italy also fared well, paying less than half what it did a month ago…

… Spanish local media attributed the auction's success to tough cost-cutting measures…

Greece Euro Exit Less Risky Now, Two Merkel Lawmakers Say

Bloomberg

By Brian Parkin and Patrick Donahue - Jan 12, 2012 6:37 PM GMT+0200

… The whole reason why we jumped into action wasn’t necessarily out of sympathy with Greece…

… For Greece, “the problem is not whether they are capable of paying their loans -- they will not, not at all, never”…

… The comments by Merkel allies break a taboo…

… a Greek exit from the single currency is a matter of arithmetic…

Europe's Leaders May Need History Lesson

The Wall Street Journal

…, the leaders' muddling-through isn't yet doomed to failure…

… a debt crisis that started in one small country didn't have to bring it down…

… the gravest fault was committed not in 2011 but in 2010: baking in private sector involvement…

…, it may just be that …adequate short-term fixes cannot be found, let alone long-term solutions…

… World War I,…was unthinkable between the Great Powers because their economic self-interest clearly lay in keeping the peace…

Investors Pay to Lend Germany Money

Der Spiegel

… Investors in Europe are so … that they decided to forego an interest rate, and even paid a premium…

… The average rate amounted to minus 0.01 percent…

… Banks are parking funds with the ECB…

Greek Bailout in Peril

France, Germany Press Athens, Bondholders to Reduce Debt

The Wall Street Journal

… Greece's bailout loans from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund are on hold until a deal is reached…

… concerns in financial markets that Greece's bailout program is in danger of unraveling…

… France and Germany have also failed so far to offer a convincing path back to economic growth…

… European Central Bank's overnight deposit facility reached a high on Friday…

… The chancellor also backed the French president's call for a financial-transaction tax…

Merkel, Sarkozy Meet on Euro Rescue Plan Bloomgerg

By Patrick Donahue - Jan 9, 2012 1:32 PM GMT+0200

… Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy… seek to craft a master plan for rescuing the euro over the next three months….

… they also plan to discuss a financial-transaction tax…

… draw up new fiscal guidelines…

… debt reduction for Greece “could have to be larger”…

… Germany favors a Europe-wide tax…

Greece’s Least Bad Option Looks to Be Internal Devaluation: View

Bloomberg editorial view

… because the immediate costs of an exit would be enormous…

… resurrecting national currencies and regaining control of monetary policy would create as many problems as they solved….

… chronic trade deficits, which must be financed through continued borrowing…

… leaving the euro would be an even bigger economic disaster…

… the new drachma would instantly depreciate…

… A combination of increased value-added tax and lower payroll tax (Greece could easily do both) mimics a currency devaluation…

… They must hold growth in wages to the euro area’s rate of inflation plus any increase in national productivity…

Ιστορίες για χρεοκοπίες.

Από http://e-dragoumanos.gr/?p=14076

Του Δημήτρη Α. Ιωάννου-ΣΠ Α΄

Ένα μακροσκελέστατο άρθρο για την πραγματικότητα της Ελλάδας.  Το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα ανεξαρτήτως του εάν συμφωνείτε ή διαφωνείται με τις απόψεις που εκφράζει.

… στην χώρα μας τα διαχρονικά συλλογικά συμπλέγματα οδηγούν σε έναν αυτοκαταστροφικό αυτισμό…

… όποιος έκρουε τον κώδωνα του κινδύνου αντιμετωπιζόταν ως αφελής, γραφικός ή ύποπτος,…

… κανείς, μα κανείς, δεν πιστεύει ότι θα ήταν ποτέ δυνατόν να αποπληρωθεί στο σύνολό του, πολλώ μάλλον που πρόκειται για ένα χρέος σε «ξένο» νόμισμα…

… στην διάρκεια της παρανοϊκής δεκαετίας διαμορφώθηκε στην χώρα μία οικονομική δομή που δεν ήταν μακροπρόθεσμα βιώσιμη…

… το δημόσιο χρέος το 2003 ήταν 168 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ (97% του ΑΕΠ). Το 2010 είχε φθάσει τα 326 δισεκατομμύρια (143% του ΑΕΠ),…

… Μία υπεύθυνη πολιτική ηγεσία θα έπρεπε έγκαιρα και από μόνη της να θέσει την εικόνα της πραγματικότητας υπ’ όψιν του ελληνικού λαού…

…η πάνδημη αντίθεση στο Μνημόνιο, (και ειδικότερα στις ρυθμίσεις του για το συνταξιοδοτικό), υποβάλλει θλιβερές σκέψεις, όχι μόνο για την οπισθοδρομικότητα της ελληνικής κοινωνίας αλλά και για την πλήρη έλλειψη αισθημάτων μέριμνας και αλληλεγγύης…

… κορυφογραμμή της μικρόνοιας και της παράνοιας,…,όσα συμβαίνουν είναι απλά μία σκηνοθεσία των Γερμανών και των συμμάχων τους (των γερμανοσιωνιστών!) για να υφαρπάξουν με πενταροδεκάρες το υπερπολύτιμο παραγωγικό δυναμικό της χώρας (τον ΟΣΕ!)…

Deeper Cuts Needed to Save Greece: Papademos

By Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks - Jan 5, 2012 11:51 AM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

… cuts in income are the only way to stay in the euro and get more financing…

… investors would take a 50 percent hit on the nominal value of 206 billion euros of privately owned debt…

… Greece has not much room for maneuver…

… Greece’s debt is forecast to balloon to almost double the size of its shrinking economy…

Hard times, lean firms

How much longer can America keep increasing productivity?

Dec 31st 2011 | NEW YORK

The Economist

… it was a productivity boost that has continued in defiance of expert predictions that workers can only be squeezed so hard for a short while…

…. Unless the economy picks up, he predicts that productivity growth will slow in 2012…

… workers are terrified of losing their jobs…

… tough times are forcing firms to strain every brain cell to become more efficient…

… there are signs that leading industrial firms are starting to increase their capital spending…

… all such advantages are temporary…

New Hurdles Loom in Euro Crisis

Italy Bond Sales, France Vote Are Among Signal Events for Europe's Economy—and the World's

By BRIAN BLACKSTONE

The Wall Street Journal

… The coming year will be a make-or-break one for the euro zone…

… There's just an almost unending list of things that might go wrong…

… Euro-zone governments will compete for new capital with the region's banks…

… One-seventh of U.S. goods exports is destined for the euro bloc….

… The Chinese economy's expansion is expected to slow to around 8% in 2012 from more than 9% in 2011…

Deepening Crisis Over Euro Pits Leader Against Leader

By MARCUS WALKER in Berlin, CHARLES FORELLE in Brussels and STACY MEICHTRY in Rome

The Wall Street Journal

… Europe's leaders have an unwritten rule not to intervene in one another's domestic politics…

… Italy, with nearly €2 trillion, or about $2.6 trillion, in national debt, was simply too big to save…

… Europe's leaders were reluctantly realizing that living with a common currency meant surrendering more of their national independence than they had bargained for…

…The euro zone, which accounts for nearly 20% of global economic activity, is sliding into recession.…

…Mr. Tremonti would later privately tell a group of European finance ministers that his government had received two threatening letters in August…"The one from the ECB was worse,"…

… While the orchestra played Rossini and Mozart, a clique of Europe's most powerful leaders huddled in a side room…

… Her unspoken threat: Banks might get nothing if they spurned it…

…"The real question" for the referendum, Ms. Merkel told Mr. Papandreou there, "is 'Do you want to be in the euro, or not?'"…

Where Greece Is Right and Germany Is Wrong

…It’s the profligate Greeks, whose screw-ups helped drag Europe into its deepest crisis since World War II, who are mostly right in this argument—and the disciplined, hard-working Germans who are mostly wrong…

… The very human tendency to mix up economics and morality is what makes the Keynesian case for expansionary government policy hard for politicians to defend…

… Austerity got a fair shot in Europe in 2011, and it’s failing…

… But it’s impossible for every country to run a trade surplus, just as it’s impossible for every person to be a better-than-average driver…

… only dramatic action will prevent a breakup of the common currency…

Bloomberg Buisinessweek, By Peter Coy