https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussions/tagged/economics/p8/feed.rss Fri, 03 May 24 23:45:17 +0000 Tagged with economics - Personal View Talks en-CA https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1755/top-banks Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:31:54 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1755@/talks/discussions

Via: zerohedge.com

One of the important warnings for China is to never make any financial agreements with western banks owned countries (1991 and present are very similar).
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1752/kindle-fire-sales Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:17:05 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1752@/talks/discussions According to the company, Kindle products have moved at a rate of "more than one million per week" for the past three weeks. That number includes the currently available members of the e-reading family, including the fourth generation Kindle, the Kindle Touch (both the WiFi and 3G versions) and the Fire. According to Amazon, the latter is "the most successful product we've ever launched," having topped the company's sales charts for 11 weeks. Press info after the jump.

Btw, Kindle Fire is really solid small thing. Like it.
Just wish Amazon to start offering sales in other countries. :-)]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1673/eu-may-be-not-so-slow Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:55:13 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1673@/talks/discussions As if there isn’t already enough eurozone doom and gloom floating around these days.

A note from UBS economist Larry Hatheway on Wednesday spells out why he and his colleagues at the bank believe a eurozone collapse would result in an “end of the world” scenario. It makes for some grim reading.

Back in September, Mr. Hatheway and colleagues Paul Donovan and Stephane Deo released a report that predicted a disastrous outcome if even one nation left the eurozone. The economists envisioned a 20% loss in gross domestic product for creditor countries (e.g. Germany) in a break up, and a 40% loss for debtor countries (e.g. Greece).

But Mr. Hatheway now says it could be much worse.


“On reflection this author, at least, feels the estimates are probably conservative — the true costs could well be higher,” he said. “That’s because once Europe (and the world economy) finds itself in depression, policy probably couldn’t arrest the decline. Broken financial systems and ruined economies are the stuff of prolonged deflation or worse.”

Mr. Hatheway goes on to say that the eurozone was “flawed from the start.” But in his view, the pain that would result from a collapse in the monetary union far outweighs the current volatility that stems from trying to save it.

“The preferred outcome is to fix what is broken,” he said.

And for those wondering why the eurozone doesn’t just kick out Greece and be done with it, Mr. Hatheway argues against that type of solution.

“Once one country leaves the eurozone, residents in other at-risk member countries would plausibly conclude their country might be next to go,” he explains. “Logic dictates they would send their wealth abroad, resulting in a run on their domestic banks, precipitating a collapse of their financial sectors and economies”

Mr. Hatheway gives some insight into how bad he thinks the global macro situation could become if the world is faced with a eurozone collapse. He says when people ask him how they should prepare for a eurozone collapse, he gives the following reply:

“I suppose there might be some assets worthy of consideration—precious metals, for example,” Mr. Hatheway said. “But other metals would make wise investments, too. Among them tinned goods and small calibre weapons.”


Via: http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/07/ubs-advice-for-a-euro-collapse-tinned-goods-small-calibre-weapons/]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1658/stabilization Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:06:59 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1658@/talks/discussions
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1648/olympus-and-big-sharks Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:51:30 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1648@/talks/discussions Woodford said he did not believe new investors such as Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, which snapped up a near 7 percent stake in November, were trying to turn a quick profit on the company's misfortunes.

"I've spoken to people whom Goldman has bought the stock for," he said.

"I don't foresee Olympus being sold or anything like that happening. Those interested in taking a stake see a company that will have a renaissance -- and support a new strong management with me and others."

Market experts say more than 50 percent of Olympus's stock is now likely to be held outside Japan -- although Tokyo-based hedge fund Tower Investment Management has bought a chunky 5.95 percent Olympus stake, according to a regulatory filing.

"I think it's a very dynamic situation," Woodford said. "But I think overwhelmingly those outside Japan support me."


Operation made by UK and US banks seems to be working :-)
As for mr. Woodford. I hope someone from "japanese crime syndicates" will find him before he'll have chance to run Olympus into disaster.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1588/compact-cameras-still-live-well Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:21:32 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1588@/talks/discussions Taiwan-based makers will ship a total of 60.604 million digital cameras in 2012, increasing 3.66% from 2011 and accounting for 49.5% of global shipments, according to Digitimes Research.

Ability Enterprise will account for 42.2% of Taiwan's shipments in 2012, followed by Altek with 33.2%, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) with 19.5% and Asia Optical with 5.1%.

Nikon will be the largest client accounting for 20.5% of the 2012 shipments, followed by Fujifilm with 16.3%, Sony with 13.9%, Eastman Kodak with 12.4%, Olympus with 9.8%, Samsung Electronics with 7.1% and Casio with 6.1%.

A total of 45% of the digital cameras will be 16-megapixel CCD models, 30% for 14-megapixel CCD, 15% for 16-megapixel CMOS, and 10% for 12-megapixel CCD or CMOS

As we can see, Fujifilm and Kodak are making and selling quite a number of cheap small cameras.
Despite professionals(tm) claims.

Via: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20111129VL200.html]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1552/eu-ready-for-launch Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:55:23 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1552@/talks/discussions

Spain


France


Belgium (2y,5y,10y):






5 year CDS on Italy, Spain, France, Germany:





]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1511/the-entire-system-has-been-utterly-destroyed- Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:10:12 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1511@/talks/discussions It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.

The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.

Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.

Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.



Via: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/entire-system-has-been-utterly-destroyed-mf-global-collapse-presenting-first-mf-global-casualty]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1452/scapegoating-others-no-answer-to-u.s.-economic-woes Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:20:56 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1452@/talks/discussions
"There has been slight improvement over the last year but it hasn't been enough," he commented on the exchange rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar at a news conference after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic leaders' meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

But he failed to mention the fact that the yuan has already appreciated by about 30 percent against the greenback in the past six years.

In international trade, every country is supposed to exert its competitive edge. China does have an advantage in labor costs when it comes to the trade with the United States. But it's puzzling that when Washington keeps complaining about its trade deficit with China, it refuses to sell hi-tech products to China, in which America has an edge.

To many, the U.S. obsession in the issue of yuan exchange rate is just another puzzle. Based on the facts over recent years, it's evident that forcing the yuan to appreciate will only result in massive bankruptcy of Chinese small- and medium-sized companies, and still leave the problem of U.S. trade deficit unsolved.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told Obama on Sunday that appreciation of the yuan won't help Washington solve its problems such as trade deficits and unemployment. In fact, China's exchange policy is responsible, said Hu.

Since the onset of U.S. subprime crisis in 2007, it was the country's domestic economic problems that triggered a disastrous financial crisis that swept the world.

Excessive spending for many years has added up debts. Meanwhile, traditional strong industries such as finance and auto were devastated by the crisis, pushing up unemployment.

In face of such serious domestic problems which probably could trigger a new global economic tsunami, many U.S. politicians seemed only to care about how many votes they could get, without having a single thought about what kind of the global responsibilities the country should take.

Via: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-11/14/c_131246493.htm


]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1125/uk-good-times-ahead Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:06:57 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1125@/talks/discussions
"this is the most serious financial crisis we’ve seen, at least since the 1930s, if not ever"

Via: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/10/07/mervyn-king-warns-financial-crisis-is-worst-slump-ever-115875-23471981/#ixzz1a63vh6xi

Of course, this motherfucker said this after pumping extra £75 billion pounds into banks (I do not know why they always say "economy :-) )


]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1348/hdd-things-can-be-even-worse Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:00:42 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1348@/talks/discussions Western Digital and Samsung will not supply hard drives to Taiwan channels in November

As floods in Thailand have seriously impacted the hard drive supply chain, Western Digital recently notified its distributors in Taiwan that the company will not distribute any hard drive supplies to Taiwan in November. Samsung Electronics is also not supplying any hard drives to Taiwan in November and will shift shipments for the use of its own-brand PC products, according to sources from channel retailers.

Currently, channel supplies can only last until mid-November, the sources noted.

With expectations of a supply shortage, PC brand vendors and channel retailers are already competing to fill their hard drive inventories. Meanwhile, hard drive makers have also set up a strategy to reduce their supply to retail channels, preventing their brand clients from purchasing hard drives from retail channels, while also increasing their bargaining power over brand vendors over the next two quarters.

The increase in hard drive prices has also impacted consumer demand in the PC DIY market with sales of motherboards and processors being affected.


Via: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20111102PD223.html

I see real panic in local computer systems suppliers.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1374/greece-deal.-may-be. Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:05:31 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1374@/talks/discussions Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras agreed on Sunday on a new coalition government to approve a euro zone bailout deal before calling elections, the office of the president said.

Papandreou will not lead the new administration, the office said in a statement issued after the European Union gave Greece 24 hours to explain how it will form a unity government to enact its 130 billion euro emergency funding deal.

The two men sealed the deal after talks led by President Karolos Papoulias, but it remained sketchy as they have yet to agree even on who will be the new prime minister to lead Greece through its economic, political and social crisis.

"Tomorrow there will be new communication between the prime minister and the opposition leader on who will be the leader of the new government," the statement said.

The statement also made no mention of how long the interim government would last before it calls early elections.

It is very hard to understand anything. It looks like even guys who made this deal do not know a fucking thing.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1326/greece-how-they-could-offer-to-ask-people Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:09:21 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1326@/talks/discussions Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faced calls from within his own party to step down on Tuesday after he threw the nation's euro zone membership into jeopardy by calling a referendum on a bailout package agreed only last week.

A leading lawmaker from Papandreou's socialist party quit while two others said Greece needed a government of national unity followed by snap elections, which the opposition also demanded.

The leaders of France and Germany scrambled to limit the damage to the wider euro zone, and European politicians expressed incredulity at an announcement that caught everyone by surprise -- including Papandreou's own finance minister.

It seems like democracy must be now interpreted as oligarchy with majoritary voting system decoration.
And "hard work" is now defined as bunch of idiots adding numberts in electronic database records and calling this "improving stability".]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1346/new-export-orders-indexes- Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:53:26 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1346@/talks/discussions



Look not very good.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1336/us-problems-ahead Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:49:37 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1336@/talks/discussions
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt

As we can see few remaining supporters are UK, Japan and Carib offshores.

Miller indicated another potential source of uncertainty not too far in the future. She said the Treasury likely will notify Congress "around the end of the year or ... early next year" that it is within $100 billion of hitting the debt ceiling once again. As of Monday, it was $245 billion below the $15.194 trillion limit.

Via: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/02/usa-debt-refunding-idUSN1E7A109P20111102
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1222/thailand-managment-and-the-flood Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:02:48 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1222@/talks/discussions


Nikon Corp.’s Thailand plant produces low- to mid-range single-lens reflex cameras, which account for 90 percent of the company’s SLR camera production. Including D3100, D5100, D7000, D300s, 18-55mm DX, 18-105mm DX, 18-200mm DX, 70-300mm, 24-120mm and 28-300mm.



Sony Corp. manufactures all of its digital SLR cameras in the industrial area of Ayutthaya A65, A77, and NEX-7 production stopped.



So. Someone told something about bad Olympus managment recently.
But damage done by making prior decisions by Nikon and Sony managment is hard to calculate today, but it won't be small.

Panasonic and Olympus never had so good chance as this year.
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1314/china-this-is-a-bit-of-a-surprise Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:20:25 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1314@/talks/discussions
China has made its first supercomputer based on Chinese microprocessor chips, an advance that surprised high-performance computing specialists in the United States.
The Sunway system, which can perform about 1,000 trillion calculations per second — a petaflop — will probably rank among the 20 fastest computers in the world. More significantly, it is composed of 8,700 ShenWei SW1600 microprocessors, designed at a Chinese computer institute and manufactured in Shanghai.
“This is a bit of a surprise,” said Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee and a leader of the Top500 project, a list of the world’s fastest computers.
Last fall, another Chinese-based supercomputer, the Tianhe-1A, created an international sensation when it was briefly ranked as the world’s fastest, before it was displaced in the spring by a rival Japanese machine, the K Computer, designed by Fujitsu. But the Tianhe was built from processor chips made by American companies, Intel and Nvidia, though its internal switching system was designed by Chinese engineers. Similarly, the K computer was based on Sparc chips, originally designed at Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley.
The ShenWei microprocessor appears to be based on some of the same design principles that are favored by Intel’s most advanced microprocessors, according to several supercomputer experts in the United States.
But there is disagreement over whether the machine’s cooling technology is appropriate for designs that will be required by the exaflop-class supercomputers of the future.
Photos of the new Sunway supercomputer reveal an elaborate water-cooling system that may be a significant advance in the design of the very fastest machines. “Getting this cooling technology correct is very, very difficult,” said Steven Wallach, chief scientist at Convey Computer, a Richardson, Tex., supercomputer firm. “This tells me that this is a serious design. This cooling technology could scale to exaflop. They are in the hunt to win.”


Via: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/world/asia/china-unveils-supercomputer-based-on-its-own-microprocessor-chips.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1313/sg-we-are-all-greeks Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:00:44 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1313@/talks/discussions

---

]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1306/us-foreigners-sell-treasures-at-unprecedented-rate Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:19:58 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1306@/talks/discussions total amount of securities held in the custodial account for foreign official and international accounts just plunged by $20 billion, of which $19 billion was attributable solely to Treasurys: the second largest weekly dumb ever. In the last 8 weeks foreigners have sold a unprecedented $93 billion.

Via: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/foreigners-sell-second-largest-amount-us-bonds-ever-past-week-record-93bn-us-paper-sale-past-2-]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1273/vatican-new-world-order Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:36:33 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1273@/talks/discussions Those politicians who think the Dodd-Frank law went too far in attempting to reform Wall Street will likely need smelling salts after taking a look at a proposal for reforming the global financial system that was released by the Vatican on Monday. The proposal’s centerpiece is a call for the formation of a global political authority that would, among other things, possess broad powers to regulate financial markets. The reality of globalization, says the document, necessitates a “gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world authority and to regional authorities.” The Vatican envisions this global authority playing a role not just in overseeing financial markets, but also disarmament and arms control, food security and peace efforts.

The 41-page document, “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority,” (it’s no wordier than some of the signs at the protests) can be seen as a practical extension of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. In that document, Benedict argued that there is “an urgent need of a true world political authority” to address problems of economic inequality both within and between countries.

Joined the Dark Side pope has. Lies, deceit, creating mistrust are his ways now.
Hiding evil plans under name of god.

]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1255/us-enjoy-it-while-it-lasts Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:32:32 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1255@/talks/discussions We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks—another debt downgrade and fiscal tightening—hit the economy. The “not-so-super” Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan.
The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the whole point of the Committee is to put taxes and entitlements on the table.
However, all the Republican members have signed the Norquist “no taxes” pledge and with taxes off the table it is hard to imagine the liberal Democrats on the Committee agreeing to significant entitlement cuts.
The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan. Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super Committee crashes.

Via: http://www.businessinsider.com/huge-prediction-from-bofa-another-us-debt-downgrade-is-coming-in-just-a-few-weeks-2011-10]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1246/us-why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:15:05 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1246@/talks/discussions
Over 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees (over 8,000 of them have doctoral or professional degrees), along with over 80,000 bartenders, and over 18,000 parking lot attendants. All told, some 17,000,000 Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that the BLS says require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor’s degree.

---

Charles Murray’s has thesis that an increasing number of people attending college do not have the cognitive abilities or other attributes usually necessary for success at higher levels of learning. As more and more try to attend colleges, either college degrees will be watered down (something already happening ) or drop-out rates will rise.

The relentless claims of the Obama administration and others that having more college graduates is necessary for continued economic leadership is incompatible with this view. Putting issues of student abilities aside, the growing disconnect between labor market realities and the propaganda of higher-education apologists is causing more and more people to graduate and take menial jobs or no job at all. This is even true at the doctoral and professional level—there are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with Ph.D.’s, other doctorates, or professional degrees.

This week an extraordinarily interesting new study was posted on the Web site of America’s most prestigious economic-research organization, the National Bureau of Economic Research. Three highly regarded economists (one of whom has won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science) have produced “Estimating Marginal Returns to Education,” Working Paper 16474 of the NBER. After very sophisticated and elaborate analysis, the authors conclude “In general, marginal and average returns to college are not the same.” (p. 28)

In other words, even if on average, an investment in higher education yields a good, say 10 percent, rate of return, it does not follow that adding to existing investments will yield that return, partly for reasons outlined above. The authors (Pedro Carneiro, James Heckman, and Edward Vytlacil) make that point explicitly, stating “Some marginal expansions of schooling produce gains that are well below average returns, in general agreement with the analysis of Charles Murray.” (p.29)

Via: http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college/27634:
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1245/us-wage-statistics-for-2010 Sat, 22 Oct 2011 06:27:35 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1245@/talks/discussions Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported Thursday.

There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down — except for the nation's wealthiest. The number of people making $1 million or more soared by over 18 percent from 2009, the Social Security Administration said, citing payroll data based on W-2 forms submitted by employers to the Internal Revenue Service.

Despite population growth, the number of Americans with jobs fell again last year, with total employment of just under 150.4 million — down from 150.9 million in 2009 and 155.4 million in 2008. In all, there were 5.2 million fewer jobs than in 2007, when the deep recession began, according to the IRS data.


The figures are just one more indication of the toll that the worst downturn since the Great Depression has taken on the U.S. economy. They were published as demonstrations rage on Wall Street and in cities across the nation protesting a widening income gulf between average wage earners and the nation's wealthiest.

The unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.1 percent, with more than 14 million out of work and 11 million other discouraged people who have stopped looking for work or are stuck in part-time jobs. Since 1980, roughly 5 percent of annual national income has shifted from the middle class to the nation's richest households, according to the Census Bureau.

While the average U.S income last year was $39,959, the mean income — the figure where half earn more and half earn less — was much lower, $26,364. This disparity reflects the fact that "the distribution of workers by wage level is highly skewed," according to Social Security.

Median compensation last year was just 66 percent of the average income, compared with nearly 72 percent in 1980.

Link to report: http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2010
]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1247/the-shroud-of-the-dark-side-has-fallen.-begun-the-trade-war-has. Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:03:17 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1247@/talks/discussions
In January, five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China published reports accusing Apple's supply chain partners in China of creating massive pollution in the country. This was followed up at the end of August, when the NGOs published a pollution map of China, mapping the upstream supply firms and linking them to claims of huge environmental pollution issues in the surrounding regions. The writers of the reports cited Apple's own 2011 supply partner responsibility report to highlight the firm control Apple maintains over its supply chain, in ordered to emphasize that Apple must take ultimate responsibility for any excess pollution caused by its upstream partners.

On October 15, China Central Television (CCTV), a government-backed media outlet, broadcast a documentary titled "Another Side of Apple" (title translated from Chinese), which citied environmental organizations linking 27 of Apple's upstream suppliers including Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), Compeq and Unimicron with environmental pollution.

After the TV program was broadcast, other media outlets in China jumped on the topic leading to widespread coverage of the issues and allegations.

It is believed the controversy following the documentary's broadcast directly triggered the third event to hit Apple's supply chain, as on October 17, just days after the original air-date, Apple's upstream chassis supplier Catcher Technology was ordered by the Suzhou local government to halt production at its facilities in the district due to complaints by local residents that the pants were releasing noxious gasses into the surrounding area. The incident has generated massive speculation across the IT market in China, with some news organizations even speculating that other upstream suppliers, including Foxconn, TPK and Wintek, may also be forced to suspend operations in other parts of China.

The incident involving Catcher (which has been dubbed "The Poison Apple") has significantly affected the stock prices of Apple's other upstream suppliers including Largan Precision, Genius Electronic Optical and TPK, to the extent that Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, Shih Yen-Shiang, has needed to publicly downplay Catcher's troubles as an isolated incident.

Speculation in the industry has linked the Catcher incident with the recent trade war between the US and China, rousing suspicions that the orders to disrupt Catcher's business came from the central government and were motived out of retaliation against the US government. Taiwan's ODMs are pawns caught in the cross-fire between the two economic giants.

It is alleged that the China government has also had a hand in the disruption US-based Wal-Mart has been facing to its operations in China.


Via: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20111020PD211.html]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1237/greece-you-need-to-save.-because-our-banks-want-new-golf-court. Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:54:04 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1237@/talks/discussions
All additional payments for goverment workers will be cut.
Average salary will decrease in 20% (in addition to 18% of previous cuts).
Non taxable yearly income will be cut form 8.000 EUR to 5.000 EUR.
30.000 goverment workers will be thrown out.

All pension payments exceeding 1000 EUR will be cut 20%, and if you are younger then 55, will be cut by 40%.
Additonal pension payments will be also cutted.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1226/germany-failed-bonds-auction Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:19:39 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1226@/talks/discussions
More details: http://www.bundesbank.de/download/presse/pressenotizen/2011/20111019.tenderergebnis.en.pdf]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1216/blackstone-gets-44-leica-shares Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:48:38 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1216@/talks/discussions Has $150 billions of money.

US funds and other investors use newly printed money to buy various real assets around the world.]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1177/mister-roubini Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:47:57 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1177@/talks/discussions
Even before the Great Depression, Europe’s enlightened “bourgeois” classes recognized that, to avoid revolution, workers’ rights needed to be protected, wage and labor conditions improved, and a welfare state created to redistribute wealth and finance public goods – education, health care, and a social safety net. The push towards a modern welfare state accelerated after the Great Depression, when the state took on the responsibility for macroeconomic stabilization – a role that required the maintenance of a large middle class by widening the provision of public goods through progressive taxation of incomes and wealth and fostering economic opportunity for all.

Thus, the rise of the social-welfare state was a response (often of market-oriented liberal democracies) to the threat of popular revolutions, socialism, and communism as the frequency and severity of economic and financial crises increased. Three decades of relative social and economic stability then ensued, from the late 1940’s until the mid-1970’s, a period when inequality fell sharply and median incomes grew rapidly.

Some of the lessons about the need for prudential regulation of the financial system were lost in the Reagan-Thatcher era, when the appetite for massive deregulation was created in part by the flaws in Europe’s social-welfare model. Those flaws were reflected in yawning fiscal deficits, regulatory overkill, and a lack of economic dynamism that led to sclerotic growth then and the eurozone’s sovereign-debt crisis now.

But the laissez-faire Anglo-Saxon model has also now failed miserably. To stabilize market-oriented economies requires a return to the right balance between markets and provision of public goods. That means moving away from both the Anglo-Saxon model of unregulated markets and the continental European model of deficit-driven welfare states. Even an alternative “Asian” growth model – if there really is one – has not prevented a rise in inequality in China, India, and elsewhere.

Any economic model that does not properly address inequality will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy. Unless the relative economic roles of the market and the state are rebalanced, the protests of 2011 will become more severe, with social and political instability eventually harming long-term economic growth and welfare.


Via: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/roubini43/English]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1184/eu-considering-massive-cuts-to-food-aid-for-poor Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:52:38 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1184@/talks/discussions
The cuts, set to take effect after New Year's, would come at a time of rising unemployment and consumer food prices in many parts of Europe, as well as overall economic turmoil on the continent. The looming cuts already have raised fears among people who rely heavily on the program.


Via: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/14/ap/europe/main20120485.shtml

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. (c)]]> https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1187/us-imports-and-cargo Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:17:33 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 1187@/talks/discussions
“We’re concerned, because usually at this time, you see this peak,” said Richard D. Steinke, the executive director of the Port of Long Beach in California. “We haven’t seen it.”

In fact, the five busiest container ports in the United States said that imports in August 2011 were lower than or even with 2010 volumes.

In Long Beach, the second-busiest container port by volume, August imports fell by 14.2 percent from August 2010. While the port has not yet released September volumes, a spokesman, Art Wong, said it expected about a 15 percent drop from September 2010.

Via: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/business/at-us-ports-flow-of-imports-suggests-soft-holiday-shopping-season.html?_r=1]]>