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Where 140 characters (@michaeljung) are not enough
and a blog post (michaeljung.wordpress.com) would be a waste.

http://www.michaeljung.co.uk

It is not that they do not care. China does worry.

  1. capital inflows
  2. construction bubble
  3. inflation, due to monetary policy (bailout syndrome) in the developed world - no controle over outflows and where it flows. See 1. And where new bubbles form.
  4. monetisation of debt by central banks done by the west. See 3. To lessen the hardship of austerity.

Watch video from Google Zeitgeist 2010 with Wang Shuo (Editor, Caixin Media) and others. 

Real Market Control for Bubbly Real Estate

Speculation, unrealistic attitudes and easy credit are reasons why China’s property market bubble might pop – and action is needed

China’s Foul Assets, Fouler Yet

Within the government’s ambit is a series of policies that could address the momentum of the status quo, so why have they been foundering so far?

China’s FDI Up 25% in April

China continued to lure more foreign direct investment at a double-digit pace

(Beijing) - China attracted US$ 734.6 million worth of foreign direct investment in April, up 24.7 percent from the same period of 2009, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce.

This was the ninth straight increase in foreign direct investment since August 2009.

In the January-April period, foreign direct investment in China rose 11.28 percent to US$ 30.7 billion. 

China was selected as one of top three destinations for investment by 77 percent of respondents surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in China. However, many foreign businesses cited inconsistent regulations as the top obstacle to doing business in China.


yet another debt-trap-decoupling-unintended-consequences-chart (via)

yet another debt-trap-decoupling-unintended-consequences-chart (via)


Last weekend and before that, we traded Greece (PIIGS) bond spread for Euro weakness. When not dealing with the debt overhang + no growth, there is no chance of stabilising the situation anytime soon 



Europe contagion madness. Who owes how much whom infographic. (via zh)

Europe contagion madness. Who owes how much whom infographic. (via zh)


  • PIIGS speculation could continue. 
  • Bailout does not prevent contagion. 
  • Other PIIGS need to hurry up to get fiscal consolidation and implement budget cuts. 

via Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING Belgium SA, talks with Bloomberg

Point made, it takes off the market pressure from Greece. But not other Eurozone peripheral countries. Bond vigilantes are on the move. 

“The bond vigilantes are walking out on Greece, Spain, Portugal, the UK and Iceland,” said Roubini, a former adviser to the US. “The thing I worry about is the build-up of sovereign debt. Greece is just the tip of the iceberg, or the canary in the coal mine, for a much broader range of fiscal problems.” (via Nouriel Roubini, Guardian)

See here the same hypothesis put differently (video)

  • bailout and ECB waiver of collateral establishes dangerous precedent
  • bailout is short-term pluck
  • Spain is massive, banks highly leveraged due do construction boom they had and high unemployment (+20%). Under in the segment of under 25y its over 40%.

Another opinion (video);

  • bailout is short-term pluck, bailout works against history.
  • bailout inspired very little confidence in markets, bailout does not solve Greeks problems, austerity measures hard to implement, default inevitable.
  • Germany will not put up another billion dollar package for Greece or any other package for another country
  • Greece will either remove itself from the EMU or Germany will demand that Greece is being removed from the EMU within the next 12 or 24 months
  • Politicians look helpless in their action
  • Future events (increased severity, solvency problem long-term) [VIDEO] will force officials of the EMU to implement monetary and fiscal reform and new regulation - but currently it is not a reality.
  • Until it is settled, we will have problems.

Here another one (video);

  • Banks will take haircut on PIIGS bonds
  • Policy of fiscal aid (bailout) bought Greece some time, bailout is a step forward in the short-term, but 2 steps back in the long term (1-2 years forward)
  • Outlook not rosy for bond market, bond market becomes politicised. 
  • Danger looms in the long-term, drives investment decision over the coming months.

European leadership lacks vision and leadership (video). Leader ship has to take very strong action (bold) to reinstate the confidence and credibility in the Euro (video) and its monetary union. It is not just Greece or Spain and other peripheral countries. It is the structure of independent fiscal policy and same monetary policy for all EMU member states. It didn’t work really well in the past and markets see that it does not work now and in the future.


    Gordon Brown talking about Conservative implementing budget cuts within 50-days after the election in case they win.

    I just want to remind everyone. Budget cuts within the next 9 months will be inevitable, whether you vote Labour, Conservative or Lib Dems. The markets will force it upon this nation.

    As we have learned during this brief time of financial upheaval, things usually get worse till they get better.

    What Brown said is lie. He is misleading the public. He still is Prime Minister, and saying such things is pure manipulative of the public, misleading, a lie.

    Bond fund managers have called for steep cuts in welfare spending by highly indebted European countries to avoid a repeat of the Greek crisis. Spain, Portugal and Ireland have already been targeted by speculators. Some economists have included Britain and Italy in the European “circle of doom” countries that ring the more financially secure nations of France and Germany.

    Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said Britain was unlikely to come under the same pressure as Greece, Spain and Portugal because it was able to devalue its currency and trade its way out of recession. Britain remains the world’s sixth-largest exporter in the world. Sterling has fallen from $2 before the crisis to $1.70 early this year to $1.50 last week, giving exporters a boost as prices of their goods fall. (via Guardian May 3rd 2010)

    And giving consumer a hard time on the till, especially petrol (oil), gas, travel tickets. As a world deeply intertwined, the weakness of the pound will push up the CPI and RPI. Inflation will remain at alleviated levels above 2 if not over 3% year over year.

    Which implies with the current overall world outlook, the perspective shifts towards double-dip, all things considered.


    First we have governments bailing out banks (and auto companies and mortgage providers), homeowner debtors, and now we have governments bailing out governments.

    
The resulting deficits now and projected into the future are ushering in a new era of rising sovereign risk. A rising but country-specific risk premium will increasingly be built into bond, currency and equity markets as a result. Additionally, the expiration, and in some cases the rapid forced withdrawal, of stimulus will pose risks to many markets as the year progresses. Special risks are also present given that many countries have very little flexibility to enlarge stimulus should growth begin to falter or another economic shock is experienced.

Think about starting a new company? Starting out in one of the G20 countries? Why not do it in Brazil, Chile, China? Countries with lots of potential, offering you a head start because of lower living costs, cash burnrate, and lower taxes now and in the future.

    The resulting deficits now and projected into the future are ushering in a new era of rising sovereign risk. A rising but country-specific risk premium will increasingly be built into bond, currency and equity markets as a result. Additionally, the expiration, and in some cases the rapid forced withdrawal, of stimulus will pose risks to many markets as the year progresses. Special risks are also present given that many countries have very little flexibility to enlarge stimulus should growth begin to falter or another economic shock is experienced.

    Think about starting a new company? Starting out in one of the G20 countries? Why not do it in Brazil, Chile, China? Countries with lots of potential, offering you a head start because of lower living costs, cash burnrate, and lower taxes now and in the future.


    spytap:

mikehudack:

southpol:

Open Left


We can’t make cuts there, that’s UnAmerican.™
(When was it that Eisenhower warned the American people to beware the Military Industrial Complex? 1961? I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.)

Had the same in mind. Video is on YouTube.

    spytap:

    mikehudack:

    southpol:

    Open Left

    We can’t make cuts there, that’s UnAmerican.™

    (When was it that Eisenhower warned the American people to beware the Military Industrial Complex? 1961? I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.)

    Had the same in mind. Video is on YouTube.