As fears around Italy (the world’s third largest debt market) drive down the euro and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic, China’s export growth slows further, General Motors (still joint-second-biggest car maker in the world) considers shutting more plants in Europe, Cisco Systems is pleasantly surprised by accelerating order growth, and Jefferson County (Alabama) …
Continue reading “Our top priority — remembering who we are”
Financial System is still getting worse, not better: As Italian bond yields surge, and the IMF warns of a “lost decade” unless a way is quickly found to return the global economy to growth, the solutions already found to the Greek crisis are now seen as increasing the risk to banks of future exposure to crises in other …
Continue reading “Financial situation worsening; US and China economies stumble;”
Chris Luebkeman, Director of Global Innovation and Foresight at Arup, talks about some of the key drivers of change in our world: Key drivers of change that he mentions, to varying levels of detail, include: Congestion Genetic screening Sea level rise Affluence Ageing populations Single person households Connectivity Clickizens Trans-generational exchange Authenticity Accountability for externalities …
This article in the FT describes how Mr Papandreou has been trying to crack down on Greece’s tax evaders, and how he revealed a fuel smuggling operation that is costing his country €3bn a year. Meanwhile the country’s oligarchs are: denigrating him in the media outlets that they own exporting cash (for example into the …
Continue reading “Greece’s oligarchs prepare to make a pretty penny”
A eurozone recession “looks almost inevitable before the end of the year, even if the debt crisis does not intensify further”. A Treasury select committee is calling for a “radical overhaul” of the accountability and governance of the Bank of England, through the establishment of a supervisory board that would reduce the power of the governor …
Republicans (and two Democrats) in the US Senate last week managed to block a $60bn bill to renew some of the country’s fading infrastructure (including roads, dams, bridges, energy and water systems). The reason? Funding was to have come from an additional 0.7 per cent tax on earnings over $1m.
Trends in today’s news. Financial Reform: A group of Singaporean investors have won the right to sue Morgan Stanley in the USA, claiming they were sold investment products that were designed to fail. Morgan Stanley had asked for the case to be dismissed. The investors claim that the instrument they were sold was “specifically designed …
The US Federal Reserve has cut its growth forecast for 2012 from 3.5% to 2.7%, and is still predicting low inflation, but has not reduced interest rates. People who bet that market volatility would reduce after the eurozone agreement have been caught out by Greece’s announcement of a referendum. Now that the referendum has been …
It is a measure of the volatility of the current financial situation that not only the regulators but also a private company like the FTSE (a joint venture between the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange) is considering beefing up its rules. This follows alarm at the increasing number of overseas companies seeking listings on …
Just when everything seemed to be going back to (near) normal, the Greek Prime Minister and his cabinet have decided to put his country’s agreement to resolve its sovereign debt crisis to a referendum. This is in the interests of national unity at home — and may even be in the premier’s own political self …