Open.

More dangerous nonsense from Presseurop: The EU, a socialist mummy (Rzeczpospolita, 18 July 2012)

Globally, the EU is becoming less and less economically competitive. Member states have no money to finance officialdom and public spending so they endlessly indebt themselves either internally (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, France) or externally (Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece).

The EU never reduces its own budget and also demands more funds for its army of eurocrats. The existing mechanisms of the EU's functioning have degenerated, meaning that the union is no longer a promoter of economic growth. The proposed reforms in the shape of closer political integration and debt-sharing and a policy of stimulating growth at the cost of even greater deficit will only increase the army of officials and result in a thousand new regulations that will hinder business even more.

No one wants to remember recent history, when market liberalisation in Poland in 1989 resulted in an unprecedented economic boom. What Europe wants today is socialism, state monopoly over everything, artificial full employment, especially in administration and the public sector, and finally, the rationing of everything.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

We've finally had the roof fixed after two weeks of going up into the loft to check that the bucket wasn't filling up any further.

Some concrete around the chimney had cracked and a nice 3 cm round hole appeared which, when the wind was in the right direction, allowed the rain to come through in alarming quantities.

As the washing machine died a couple of weeks back, my mum is worried about what the final problem will be (trouble always comes in 3s)

keep to the Fen Causeway

Gotta love this.  The fracking industry in North America and Europe may face serious shortfalls in drilling suppliers because the monsoon in Rajastan is failing this year.

NYTimes:In Tiny Bean, India's Dirt-Poor Farmers Strike Gas-Drilling Gold

"Without guar, you cannot have fracturing fluids," said Michael J. Economides, a professor of engineering at the University of Houston who is a fracking expert. "And what everybody is worried about is that there is virtually no guar out there now."

India produces about 85 percent of the world's guar. As worries rose about the prospects for this year's monsoon, which is vital for an adequate crop, speculation over guar production built to a frenzy. Trading in guar futures was even suspended, and with the monsoon still behind schedule, it remains postponed. Ramesh Abhishek, India's chief commodities market regulator, said guar trading would resume when supplies proved adequate.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

http://arcticready.com

bloody hell, a terrorist attack on Israelis in Bulgaria. few details yet

keep to the Fen Causeway

Can anyone explain what the German car environmental sticker is please ? I'm planning on a driving visit around Germany and may well cross into the zones and I'm not sure what version I should buy, if any.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Hello!  I trust everyone is fine.

The Olympics will be quite the fiasco, I am afraid.

Marshall Auerback: Geithner Lets the Cat Out of the Bag (July 18, 2012)

Michael Kinsley once defined a gaffe as "when a politician tells the truth - some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say."  On that basis, the recent headline that just popped up might well represent a major gaffe of the Kinsley variety by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner:

GEITHNER SAYS EUROPE CAN'T BE LEFT HANGING ON THE EDGE OF ABYSS

Speaking on CNBC's "Delivering Alpha" conference, the Treasury Secretary argued:

What is very important is that [Eurozone officials] not leave the Continent hanging on the edge of the abyss as a device for getting more leverage for reform, because that leaves the rest of the world much more exposed to financial pressure and slower growth from Europe.

In essence, Geithner is letting the cat out of the bag. He is implying that Europe is hanging on the edge of the abyss. Only Germany can prevent it from falling in, and at the same time it appears that Berlin has now moved into a position where they cannot or will not prevent that disasterous scenario, either for economic or legal reasons.  The decision by Germany's constitutional court to delay its approval of the German Parliament's ratification of the ESM and fiscal compact may be a warning. The court could have moved to approve quickly. Instead, it will not rule on emergency appeals for an interim injunction against the parliamentary approvals until the end of this month. If the court rules in favor of an interim injunction, the final decision on the ESM and fiscal compact may not be made for several months.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

Reuters: Cash-strapped Berlin stalked by 540-year-old debt

A certificate of debt, found in a regional archive, attests that Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders on May 28 1562, to be repaid with six percent interest per year.

According to Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros ($136.79 million).

Adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the total debt now lies in the trillions, by RBB's estimates.

...

"This case shows that debts always catch up with you, no matter how old they are," Nussbaum told the Berliner Zeitung paper.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

The portal of Spain's official language schools: El Gobierno estudia traspasar a los institutos de Secundaria al profesorado de las Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (17 de julio 2012)

Desde hace algún tiempo este asunto había sido planteado por las "autoridades" de la Comunidad de Madrid, que han presionado al Ministerio de Educación para emprender esta reforma. Su idea es que las administraciones atiendan o financien solamente a las enseñanzas básicas, de manera que las restantes, como las de idiomas, se verían privadas de financiación y expuestas al mercado. Así, de paso, además del ahorro y adelgazamiento del Estado (en su sentido amplio), se abre o amplía un nuevo campo de negocio que seguramente alguno de ellos lo estará preparando.

El objetivo de la Comunidad de Madrid parece claro: desviar el profesorado de las EOI a los institutos y a continuación hacer desaparecer o adelgazar hasta el máximo las actuales Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas. El Ministerio de Educación parece estar de acuerdo con esa pretensión. De esta manera quien quiera estudiar idiomas deberá pagárselo de su bolsillo, lo que servirá, además, para llenar los bolsillos de otros. Y el que no pueda pagar tendrá que hacer lo que dijo recientemente la diputada Fabra.

En definitiva, se trata de limitar el derecho a la enseñanza de los idiomas extranjeros a aquellos que puedan pagárselo.

The government is studying the transfer of teachers from Official Language Schools to Secondary schools (17 july 2012)

For some time this issue had been broached by the "authorities" of the Madrid regional government, who have pressured the Ministry of Education to undertake this reform. Their idea is that public administration caters for basic education, so that the rest, such as languages, would be deprived from funding and exposed to the market. So, incidentally, in addition to the savings and the slimming of the state (in a broad sense), a new field of business that probably some of them have been getting ready for, is opened or expanded.

The goal of the Madrid government seems clear; to shunt the teaching staff form the Official Language Schools to Secondary schools, and then to slim or make disappear the current Official Language Schools. The Ministry of Education seems to agree with this goal. In this way, those wanting to study languages will have to pay it out of pocket, which will serve, in addition, to line the pockets of others. And those who can't pay will have to do what the Parlamentarian Fabra said recently [fuck themselves!].

In sum, it's about limiting the right to the teaching of foreign languages to those who can afford it.

The Official Language Schools provide, among other things, the service of teaching almost every official language of an EU state. The private sector is not going to deliver that.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa