http://www.neurope.eu Notebook - New Europe News: The European News Source. en-us Copyright The Media Company S.A. info@neurope.eu (New Europe) kgougakis@neurope.eu (Kostas Gougakis) Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:44:00 +0200 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:44:00 +0200 New Europe New Europe 5 http://www.neurope.eu/images/logo.jpg http://www.neurope.eu 100 35 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99647.php Financial developments on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean during the past two years were a severe test of how the western world could go on producing the goods and services needed to maintain the level of welfare its peoples were accustomed to. When the credit crisis broke out first... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99647.php Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:48:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99489.php Ollie Rehn European Commissioner for the Economy and Finance came to Athens last week and had an exhaustive day meeting the entire government. The next day George Papandreou the Greek Prime Minister addressed his countryrsquo;s people and told them that they had to endure a large cut off their welfare... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99489.php Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:04:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99333.php Greecersquo;s economic woes have upset not only the European Union and of course the Eurozone but the entire world. Stock exchanges from New York to Frankfurt and Tokyo fornbsp; days up went up and down whenever the Greek interest rate spread changed spread is the difference between the state bond... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99333.php Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:14:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99179.php Banks can create money. This time-cherished truth opened the way to the last credit crisis which still threatens the world with the worst economic recession since the great crash of 1929. The ability of the banks to create new money is built in their traditional role as money safe depositors... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/99179.php Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:57:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98971.php In the aftermath of the worst credit crisis of the last 70 years and the subsequent real economy in deep recession one can now clearly see what are the main forces which drive the western economies. With still-fresh memories from the streets where ordinary people were shouting slogans against bankers... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98971.php Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:14:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98823.php New dangers are appearing over the global economic scenery with capital markets having second thought about the indebtedness of western economies and China starting to restrain its home economy because of fears it will overheat. More precisely almost all the Western governments are up to their necks in debt. The... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98823.php Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:54:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98663.php Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero whose country now holds the European Unionrsquo;s rotating presidency said last week that his fellow Socialist Greek counterpart George Papandreou is doing a good job curbing the infamous state deficits of Southeast Europersquo;s most indebted Eurozone country. ldquo;We must trust the new Greek... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98663.php Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:54:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98513.php The expected spectacular rise in corporate profits in the United States during the last quarter of 2009 becomes more real every day since one after the other the major public companies in Wall Street havenbsp; started announcing their profitability for the October ndash; December period of last year. According to... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98513.php Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:54:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98363.php Ben Bernanke the chief of the American central bank the Fed speaking in an interview last week on the causes of the ldquo;gravest credit crisis in history rdquo; said the responsibility for it was the lack of controls over the credit and banking systems. He further explained that low interest... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98363.php Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:37:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98215.php French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have lately made the issue of taxing bankers bonuses at a level of 50% a global affair and even asked the International Monetary Fund to introduce a special tax on the world financial industry. The answer however came sooner than... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98215.php Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:24:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97951.php The Dubai ldquo;effectrdquo; has threatened to send the world many months back in time toward the end of 2008 at the apex of the still-ongoing credit crisis. At that time one after the other of the major western banks desperately sought backing and found it at the warm breasts of... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97951.php Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:01:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97803.php Jean Claude-Trichet the governor of the European Central Bank said last week that the major commercial and investment banks of the Eurozone must understandnbsp; that their duty is to serve the economy and not vice versa. This is a very strong statement going all the way to the basics of... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97803.php Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97662.php Despite strong reassurances by the American government that Washington will do what it takes to support the parity of the dollar a number of emerging economies which have accumulated large dollar reserves such as China India Russia and Brazil insist that the International Monetary Fund come up with a proposal... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97662.php Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:40:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97519.php On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - a simple fence but of paramount geopolitical impact - the old but not at all tired European continent can flatter itself and say to the rest of the world that with its decisiveness its ability its mental powers... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97519.php Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:29:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97369.php Last amongst the three but not at all least after Germany and France the US economy was reported recently to have left recession behind and manage to have grown by 3.5% during the third quarter of the year the Commerce Department in Washington said almost bringing the Atlantic economic volume... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97369.php Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:16:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97237.php International news agencies like Reuters report that western governments are now asking central banks not to retreat from the money and capital markets. As most everybody knows nbsp; all the western central banking institutions primarily in the US and Britain and to a lesser degree the European Central Bank follow... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97237.php Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:50:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97093.php Deafening news comes from New York and London on bonuses that the management of the major investment banks is about to receive for this year. Goldman Sachs the biggest of them is expected to create a bonus pool of $21 billion more than half million for each one of its... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97093.php Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:48:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97038.php Convincing signs appeared last week in the international monetary arena heralding new scenery in western money markets. American central bank officials for the first time after the credit crisis broke out in 2008 started talking about interest rate increases but the Fed bosses appear divided on this. In any case... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/97038.php Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:05:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96868.php THE last G7 meeting failed to give any direction to international markets concerning monetary parities and especially the relation between the euro and dollar. After that money markets devalued further the US currencynbsp; vis-a-vis the euro bringing it closer to the area of 1.50 after the parity had oscillated above... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96868.php Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:31:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96685.php The agreement reached in Pittsburgh by the leaders of the G20 member states toward the end of September providing for new controls on bank managersrsquo; bonuses will remain an empty shell if the governments do not act vigorously and rapidly to translate it into legislation in all 20 member states.... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96685.php Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:27:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96511.php The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD nbsp; last week made a strong intervention in world markets with two very detailed reports. The first revealed the organizationrsquo;s expectation that the resumption of economic activities in the eurozone would begin earlier than previously predicted while the second drew attention to... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96511.php Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:50:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96328.php In the face of it the 27 leaders of the European Union who gathered in Brussels last week in an informal meeting unanimously agreed on a common position to be presented at the G20 Pittsburgh gathering in relation to bankersrsquo; bonuses. The issue has a strong political content because citizens... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96328.php Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:49:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96145.php The economy ministers of the G20 club who gathered in London last weekend produced a unanimous resolution. They couldnrsquo;t do differently because world markets especially in the financial sector would have collapsed had the group split. The document the ministers issued contained two main conclusions. The first was a strong... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/96145.php Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:51:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95973.php The statistical service of the European Union Eurostat nbsp; has published its first estimate for inflation in August predicting it would come in at -0.2 percent compared to -0.7 percent in July. This is very positive news given that it establishes statistically the arrest of the fall of the general... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95973.php Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:38:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95794.php The two main central bankers Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank and his American counterpart Ben Bernanke at the US Fed have managed the credit crisis using roughly the same means the last couple of years. That is abundant and cheap money. On this side of the Atlantic Ocean... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95794.php Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:54:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95613.php All the respected economists and financiers reassure us that the worst is over on all fronts that is the financial crisis and the recession in the real economy. And this is not because the stock exchanges on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean are now gaining a round 50 percent... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95613.php Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:54:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95547.php It is always fun to read a well-educated analysis about the psychology of the markets. For example the late June-early July downturn and subsequent misery in bourses on both shores of the Atlantic was attributed to psychological reasons. Of course we do not underestimate the herd mentality among investors but... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95547.php Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:18:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95390.php The United States and Russia finally signed the new arms control and non-proliferation agreement last week during the first official visit of US President Barack Obama to Moscow. The very substance of this agreement is not of strategic importance save the fact that by this step the US accept Russia... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95390.php Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:27:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95340.php Over the past few weeks stock and other markets seemed to have lost their appetite for risks. Shares lost a large part of the profits they accumulated after March 9 and investors have returned to the less risky placements like state bonds. So the less optimistic comments by the governor... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95340.php Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:40:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95160.php Despite the good performance of the stock markets in Europe and the US the real economy is giving contradicting signs of recovery. It is obvious that the stock markets and the major financial institutions spearheaded by major banks around the world are placing a huge bet that real growth will... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95160.php Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:05:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94966.php The 27 leaders of the EU during their summit in Brussels last week agreed to create a new framework to overlook and control the Unionrsquo;s financial system. It is a fortunate coincidence that the American President Barack Obama also announced at the same time a similar plan for the US... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94966.php Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:38:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94755.php While the European Union is presently seriously engaged in an effort to introduce new and binding rules and controls in the financial and the banking sectors with the European Commission ready to ask the forthcoming June Summit of the 27 leaders to underwrite its proposals the US is happy just... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94755.php Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:19:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94612.php Most everybody agrees that the world after this crisis will not be same and certainly it will not be a brave new one. In the foreseeable future for example consumers will not be buying whatever worthless gadget is on sale and there will be fewer investments and purchases and theyrsquo;ll... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94612.php Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:48:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94549.php European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said last week that the EU does not need to take more measures against the recession the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. Then he added that the policies financed so far to support job creation are enough so that unemployment levels wonrsquo;t... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94549.php Sun, 31 May 2009 23:59:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94242.php The heads of the major central banks and the ministers of economics in leading countries after declaring some three weeks ago the end of the crisis was nearing and proclaiming prospects for growth even within this year are now becoming more cautious about the economic conjuncture. Their worries are now... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94242.php Mon, 25 May 2009 09:59:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94180.php The first tangible signs appeared last week that confidence to the world economy is improving. An opinion pool by the Bloomberg news agency covering 1300 users of its services reported a strong comeback in confidence in the world economy the highest in 19 months. The relevant Bloomberg index rose to... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94180.php Mon, 18 May 2009 13:29:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94142.php The very few of us who insisted that capitalism would survive this or the next crisis - not because the Soviet Union collapsed but because it is the most flexible economic system - must now take a step backward and acknowledge that capitalism functions only for the profit of banks. Every... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94142.php Mon, 11 May 2009 11:30:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94089.php As the present international economic conjuncture evolves the story of the butterfly in the Amazon forests - which flew to the rogue tree and triggered a domino effect that brought down the major capital markets - becomes very pertinent despite the fact that now it is not a butterfly but... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/94089.php Sun, 03 May 2009 22:34:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93980.php Toward the end of last month we had being wondering in this column on what the nature of the March stock exchange rally was. Most analysts and some very prominent among them such as George Soros said that this is certainly a bear market rally. This appeared to be a... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93980.php Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:09:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93960.php In three days from April 2 at Londonrsquo;s G20 gathering until the April 4 EU-American Summit in Prague Europe and United States rewrote the Atlantic map not on paper but in substance. In one meeting after the other the leaders of the two sides of North Atlantic showed the rest... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93960.php Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:39:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93913.php It seems that the Franco-German threat to walk out of the G20 summit paid big dividends for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A statement issued after the meeting said that there will be concrete and tough measures to regulate financial institutions and international markets including sanctions... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93913.php Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:41:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93729.php Only some days ahead of the G20 meeting in London and the first bullets were being fired in the turbulent skies of international monetary and credit markets. First it was Europe guided by Germany which said that the EU will not spend not a dime more of what it has... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93729.php Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:43:00 +0300 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93561.php Given that no economic crisis lasts forever it is more than certain that the same will happen with the present one too. No matter when and at what cost the current economic crisis will give its place to a new era of growth and prosperity. Actually the heads of the... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93561.php Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:25:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93511.php The gathering of the G20 economic Ministers council in a London high-class suburb was initially planned just to prepare the Summit of the 20 most powerful heads of states and governments of the world who are to meet on the day after Aprilsrsquo; Fools Day. As it turned out however... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93511.php Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:34:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93188.php When the credit crisis first broke out in late August and early September of 2007 this newspaper wrote that the avalanche of the sub-prime loans was to be confronted with state and central bank money in a way which would lead to a real economy recession. We were saying also... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93188.php Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:11:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93147.php Germany and France last week dismissed the idea of a Eurobond issue to save those Eurozone countries which may face insurmountable difficulties to finance their state debts during the coming months. Instead Axel Weber the Governor of Bundesbank the central bank of Germany said that he insisted on a direct... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93147.php Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:28:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92960.php The governor of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet appeared in an interview last week prepared for every eventual prospect in the context of the ongoing credit crunch within the Eurozone. Presumably the next step in the line of efforts to keep the real economy going may be the acquisition... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92960.php Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:45:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92617.php A number of international writers and economists mainly in English language media insist that some Eurozone member states such as Portugal Italy Greece Spain PIGS and probably Ireland may choose to abandon the Eurozone with its stiff rules or even be kicked out of it because they represent the weak... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92617.php Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:22:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92228.php This current credit crisis which unfortunately does not seem to have an end was triggered by the confessed greed of some Golden Boys in New York and elsewhere who started and profited from an unprecedented spinning of money that now threatens to send the entire world into its deepest post-World... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92228.php Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:30:00 +0200 http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92569.php The common Eurozone currency does not present a shield only for the weak economies of the 16- member club but for the strong as well. It is questionable if the German Mark could sustain alone the pressures of the current credit crisis. Deutsche Bank announced that it made losses during... info@neurope.eu (New Europe) Notebook http://www.neurope.eu/articles/92569.php Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:44:00 +0200