Moody's // "There are two superpowers in the world today in my opinion. There's the United States and there's Moody's Bond Rating Service. The United States can destroy you by dropping bombs, and Moody's can destroy you by downgrading your bonds. And believe me, it's not clear sometimes who's more powerful." (Thomas Friedman, Feb. 13, 1996 interview with Jim Lehrer.)

curs // daca se confirma cumva si stirea de ieri cu spania, se duce euro in jos ca la balamuc.

O lectie scumpa // Ah, imi aduc aminte de cursurile de spalare pe creier... pardon... identitate europeana si studii europene si alte proslaviri ale birocratiei UE in facultate. La capitolul "criticism of the European project" in suportul de curs scriau doua randuri iar daca mai ridicam mana sa intreb cate ceva mi se taia scurt vorba ca las' sa fim noi primiti in marea adunare a sovietelor europene si dupa aia cand o sa curga lapte si miere nu ne mai lovim de chichite din astea. Unul din cele mai bune comentarii: The eurozone, as I’ve said from the start, was ill-conceived, and for a very simple reason. With few exceptions, a currency should only be as widespread as a labor force is mobile. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-drachmae/?singlepage=true Poate merita un citat mai lung intr-un comentariu separat pentru ca e incomod sa faci copy/paste in loc de click. Foarte bun mi se pare si comentariul privind mobilitatea fortei de munca chiar in interiorul unei tari precum Germania, darmite in EU. free movement of people, this in Europe is unfortunately not the case. While there is an official declaration of the free movement of people, the reality is starkly different due to layers upon layers of labour market entanglement. Take Germany for example. I currently live in Hamburg and have done so for a bit over 3 and 1/2 years. I have a British MA and speak French, German, and English fluently, but because I obtained my MA outside of Germany, I am officially classified as “unskilled labour.” Germany’s guild system serves to lock many people, both natives as well as foreigners out of the job market. As a result, Germany has structural unemployment over 10% and is in no position to provide jobs for their southern neighbours. Even if they had better employment perspectives, it just isn’t possible to transfer qualifications from one country to the other. My neighbour is a Welsh medical doctor that had to work as an English teacher. Now, she is unemployed.

Unde ni sint muncitorii? // ...if jobs disappear in California, for example, people can and will go to Texas. And that means that a single monetary policy can and will work for the entire nation. Each state’s economy and employment don’t need to rise and fall together, because millions of people maintain the balance themselves — by moving around. And Americans move around a lot, more than any other people in the world. So Texas and California can get away with having a uniform monetary policy, even when California has taxed and spent and regulated itself into looking like Greece, while the Texas economy is stronger than, say, Germany’s. Now let’s look at those same two eurozone examples: Germany and Greece. Just like Texas and California, they use a single currency and have a uniform monetary policy set for them by others. We’ll go way out on a limb here, and pretend that Greece has just taxed and spent and regulated itself into oblivion, while the German government has acted more-or-less responsibly. OK, maybe we’re not so far out on that limb. The normal course for a country in Greece’s situation would be to devalue the currency — to make Greek labor and exports and, most importantly, Greek debt, much cheaper vis-à-vis Germany’s. And Greece could slash interest rates to get the economy churning again, or boost them to attract foreign capital. But Greece can’t do any of those things, because Athens surrendered the drachma, and its monetary policy, to its new overlords at the European Central Bank. And the ECB won’t do any of those things, lest it destroy Germany’s economy — and France’s and Holland’s and Norway’s, too.

Super postare // Postare de nota 10.

Repetati cu devalorizarea ca papagalii // Grecia exporta de EUR 15BN si importa de EUR 95BN. Asta spune tot. Cu cat ar scadea "drahma", at pierde de 7 ori pe cat ar castiga.