"We will attain our goals by any means possible," finance minister George Papaconstantinou told a news conference on Thursday (14 January), with the measures set to be presented to the European Commission on Friday. Under the plan, the newly elected socialist government aims to cut the deficit to 8.7 percent of GDP this year, 5.6 percent next year and below 3 percent by 2012.
"We will attain our goals by any means possible," finance minister George Papaconstantinou told a news conference on Thursday (14 January), with the measures set to be presented to the European Commission on Friday.
Under the plan, the newly elected socialist government aims to cut the deficit to 8.7 percent of GDP this year, 5.6 percent next year and below 3 percent by 2012.
Barack Obama channelled popular anger against Wall Street bonuses yesterday as he announced a $117bn (£72bn) tax on the finance industry. The levy will hit about 50 institutions and be spread out over at least the next 10 years, with bigger and riskier institutions forced to pay the most, something that the President said would help to change behaviour and prevent a repeat of the credit crisis."My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," Mr Obama declared. "And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people."Ratcheting up the rhetoric against Wall Street, the President said that executives opposed to the tax were using "twisted logic" and he demanded that banks dip into their bonus pools for employees to pay the levy instead of "sticking it" to shareholders and customers.
Barack Obama channelled popular anger against Wall Street bonuses yesterday as he announced a $117bn (£72bn) tax on the finance industry.
The levy will hit about 50 institutions and be spread out over at least the next 10 years, with bigger and riskier institutions forced to pay the most, something that the President said would help to change behaviour and prevent a repeat of the credit crisis.
"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," Mr Obama declared. "And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people."
Ratcheting up the rhetoric against Wall Street, the President said that executives opposed to the tax were using "twisted logic" and he demanded that banks dip into their bonus pools for employees to pay the levy instead of "sticking it" to shareholders and customers.
you are the media you consume.
I have to disagree with... well, with just about everything you just wrote, plus the mindset that exists to create those sentences, plus the underlying assumptions they're based on and, probably, I also disagree in ways that I haven't even contemplated yet. My mind is literally boggling at all the ways, and the depth to which, I disagree.
In fact, I'm having trouble formulating a response, never mind one that conforms to ET's standards of civility. Plus, it's hellish late/early here (as you're well aware)... I'll need to sleep on this, but... really? I mean.. REALLY?!?!?
Sorry, I'll have to revert to 'wow' again... Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes
Question: Are you in Sacramento CA? In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
apparently most of the unpaid money is from GM and other businesses who haven't turned a profit from their bailout $.
hard to know what to believe.
there is a feeling of watching him slamming the barn door after the horse has bolted though.
has he calculated he can win 2012 without the big corporations backing him, or will he keep enough onside, while throwing a minimum few under the bus to look good? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The losses are on bad assets that the Fed, Freddie and Fanny have either guaranteed or assumed. The $130 billion that is being discussed is for AIG and the automakers. The true losses could be half a trillion or more, so far.
The banks would do well to scream in agony, give every appearance of fighting Obama's bank tax to the death, while carefully making certain that it passes. If that is the worst that happens, they will have gotten off cheap and can keep keeping on, while the rest of us get ZIP. Kabuki theater for public consumption. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
all for us, zip for you! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
JPMorgan bows to pressure over pay JPMorgan Chase on Friday bowed to the public pressure to rein in bankers' pay, cutting the portion of revenues earmarked for compensation in an effort to defuse political outrage and spread the pain of the UK bonus tax among employees. (...) A day after President Barack Obama slammed the "obscene" bonuses , JPMorgan said it had set aside 33 per cent of its investment banking revenues for compensation, almost half the 2008 figure and below its 44 per cent historical average. Executives said the lower compensation figures were a direct result of the barrage of criticism over bankers' pay and the need to spread the cost of the UK bonus tax among its global staff. "In this environment, if you don't show discipline on pay, someone is going to do it for you," an insider said.
JPMorgan Chase on Friday bowed to the public pressure to rein in bankers' pay, cutting the portion of revenues earmarked for compensation in an effort to defuse political outrage and spread the pain of the UK bonus tax among employees.
(...)
A day after President Barack Obama slammed the "obscene" bonuses , JPMorgan said it had set aside 33 per cent of its investment banking revenues for compensation, almost half the 2008 figure and below its 44 per cent historical average.
Executives said the lower compensation figures were a direct result of the barrage of criticism over bankers' pay and the need to spread the cost of the UK bonus tax among its global staff.
"In this environment, if you don't show discipline on pay, someone is going to do it for you," an insider said.
So bankers are a little bit scared of politicians. Time to ante up the pressure. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
ITALY: Alstom's AGV demonstrator high speed trainset will begin a test programme in Italy on January 14, validating the Italian signalling and safety equipment required by launch customer NTV. The prototype AGV trainset is expected to cover more than 60 000 km by July, running initially on the Roma - Firenze conventional line, then on part of the Roma - Napoli high speed line and finally on the Roma - Firenze direttissima....Alstom Transport expects to complete the first of the 25 production trainsets for NTV this autumn. Certification will be obtained by mid-2011, with entry into service that year.
ITALY: Alstom's AGV demonstrator high speed trainset will begin a test programme in Italy on January 14, validating the Italian signalling and safety equipment required by launch customer NTV.
The prototype AGV trainset is expected to cover more than 60 000 km by July, running initially on the Roma - Firenze conventional line, then on part of the Roma - Napoli high speed line and finally on the Roma - Firenze direttissima.
...Alstom Transport expects to complete the first of the 25 production trainsets for NTV this autumn. Certification will be obtained by mid-2011, with entry into service that year.
NTV will be the first "truly" private high-speed operator making use of the EU's new open access rules. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
"The Hobbs Act defines extortion as the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right. 18 U.S.C. S 1951." Interesting story in which Citi and J.P. Morgan among second lien holders are demanding cash payments "off the books" from homeowners in order to allow a short sale to proceed in lieu of a foreclosure, a total loss and a black mark on their credit record. Was my characterization of the big Wall Street banks as 'sociopathic' a bit harsh as a reader asked? No, more likely understated. Remember, this is not some small local lender facing a loss and trying to get something out of it for their trouble. These are the TARP-sucking, discount window-feeding, bonus paying, fraudulent flim-flam 29.9% interest-charging pigmen who are demanding a pound of flesh from the down and out and the dispossessed as a consequence of their own reckless lending practices. Change you can believe in.
Interesting story in which Citi and J.P. Morgan among second lien holders are demanding cash payments "off the books" from homeowners in order to allow a short sale to proceed in lieu of a foreclosure, a total loss and a black mark on their credit record.
Was my characterization of the big Wall Street banks as 'sociopathic' a bit harsh as a reader asked?
No, more likely understated. Remember, this is not some small local lender facing a loss and trying to get something out of it for their trouble. These are the TARP-sucking, discount window-feeding, bonus paying, fraudulent flim-flam 29.9% interest-charging pigmen who are demanding a pound of flesh from the down and out and the dispossessed as a consequence of their own reckless lending practices.
Change you can believe in.
Without any doubt, the real person of the year is none other than the Italian public debt. It has grown more than the economy, inflation or the people's salaries. In October it climbed to more than 1,800 billion Euro and then took a break in November, settling at around 1.783 billion just before the Christmas holidays. It is ready to take off again and surprise everyone in 2010. No one knows what heights it could achieve. Those who have dared to make forecasts have always been beaten by the reality. 2009 will close with a public debt that is forecast to be about 140 billion higher than that at the end of 2008, which ended with a public debt of 1,664 billion. Every Italian is personally liable for 30,000 Euro, a debt accrued on his/her behalf by the Government. Therefore, a family of four has a cumulative liability of 120,000 Euro. Each of us would have to take out a twenty-year loan to repay this debt. In 2009, Tremorti indebted us to the tune of almost one billion Euro more every two days. On what has he spent this monumental amount of money? What we want to know is where has all that money gone? No one knows for certain. As at the end of November, the Treasury's account balance between income and expenditure stood at less than 74 billion. Expenditure increased by 44.8 billion compared to the same period in 2008. Tax income dropped by 3.4% in a single year while expenditure rose by 11.1%. A crazy economic policy that no family man in his right mind would dream of applying to his family budget. Our public debt is amongst the highest in the world and has to be addressed, but no politician is willing to talk about it. So our debt is growing and our GDP is falling? No problem, our debt becomes part of our GDP. Italy is one of the biggest producers of debt and exports it everywhere. Tremorti placed a not insignificant amount of it on his last trip to China. Any party that holds another party's debt can control the debtor and, if the debt is large enough, he becomes the debtor's master. It works the same way when one is talking about Countries, but who is the holder of our debt? Who is our master and is thus able to influence, for example, our foreign policy or economic policy? The final debtor, namely the man in the street, has no answer to this question. The fact is that we simply don't know. Prior to the coming of the Euro, monetary inflation was the tool used to balance the Country's books. Purchasing power would decrease and we all became poorer. Now that this tactic is no longer possible, the debt increases to the point of default. That's because not even a debt as sound as that of Italy can continue to increase indefinitely. However, today our debt is the world's latest "Made in Italy" product, if you think about it, it's absolutely fantastic, productivity along the lines of the olden-day Brianza. Italy is producing half a billion Euro a day of export quality public debt. The public debt is the Country's top industry and can only grow! Heading for catastrophe with optimism.
It is not only David Cameron's glossy, tie-less election poster that has been airbrushed. The ugly spots and oily patches in the Tory leader's policies have also been successfully pixellated out of the public mind - by a Prime Minister with the communications skills of a malfunctioning speak-your-weight machine, by a Labour Party engaged in self-strangulation, and by a malfunctioning media pitched at the intellectual level of the Mr Men books. So nobody sees Cameron's policies; nobody knows. Most of us will only discover them after he has won, when we will wonder why nobody told us this was coming. For example, a perfect laboratory experiment in Cameronomics has been taking place just next door, in Ireland - but who knows about it? One of the remaining real differences between Labour and the Conservatives is over how governments should behave in a recession. At first glance, David Cameron's proposal sounds like common sense. When times are bad, you - as an individual, or a family - figure out how to cut your spending and pay down your debts. No more fancy nights out. Holiday at home. Put the stuff you don't want on eBay. Cameron says government should do the same: it should slash its debts, even if that means dramatically slashing spending. This was the view of economics that prevailed until the Great Depression - and it has only just made a comeback.
It is not only David Cameron's glossy, tie-less election poster that has been airbrushed. The ugly spots and oily patches in the Tory leader's policies have also been successfully pixellated out of the public mind - by a Prime Minister with the communications skills of a malfunctioning speak-your-weight machine, by a Labour Party engaged in self-strangulation, and by a malfunctioning media pitched at the intellectual level of the Mr Men books. So nobody sees Cameron's policies; nobody knows. Most of us will only discover them after he has won, when we will wonder why nobody told us this was coming.
For example, a perfect laboratory experiment in Cameronomics has been taking place just next door, in Ireland - but who knows about it? One of the remaining real differences between Labour and the Conservatives is over how governments should behave in a recession. At first glance, David Cameron's proposal sounds like common sense. When times are bad, you - as an individual, or a family - figure out how to cut your spending and pay down your debts. No more fancy nights out. Holiday at home. Put the stuff you don't want on eBay.
Cameron says government should do the same: it should slash its debts, even if that means dramatically slashing spending. This was the view of economics that prevailed until the Great Depression - and it has only just made a comeback.
