Política e economia internacional

[Orion]

Se isto se torna uma tendência...

Polícia chinesa vai patrulhar Paris:

Chinese police will be patrolling the streets of Paris this summer alongside their French counterparts to help combat a surge in attacks against high-spending Chinese tourists.

The French authorities are determined to improve security for more than a million Chinese tourists who visit the capital for shopping and sightseeing each year.

Their habit of carrying large amounts of cash has made them a “prime target for muggers and pickpockets”, a police source said.

...

Business Insider

 

[Orion]

Bom, sendo advogado do anti-império americano enfatizo aqui um artigo de 1992:

In a broad new policy statement that is in its final drafting stage, the Defense Department asserts that America's political and military mission in the post-cold-war era will be to insure that no rival superpower is allowed to emerge in Western Europe, Asia or the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Ou seja, façam todos vénia aos ianques. E não refilem.

A 46-page document that has been circulating at the highest levels of the Pentagon for weeks, and which Defense Secretary Dick Cheney expects to release later this month, states that part of the American mission will be "convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests."

Interesses nacionais só os dos americanos. Os outros que se... (cada um que complete como lhe aprouver).

In its opening paragraph, the policy document heralds the "less visible" victory at the end of the cold war, which it defines as "the integration of Germany and Japan into a U.S.-led system of collective security and the creation of a democratic 'zone of peace.' "

The continuation of this strategic goal explains the strong emphasis elsewhere in the document and in other Pentagon planning on using military force, if necessary, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in such countries as North Korea, Iraq, some of the successor republics to the Soviet Union and in Europe.

Nuclear só a americanada. Os outros só podem levar com as bombas.

What is most important, it says, is "the sense that the world order is ultimately backed by the U.S." and "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated" or in a crisis that demands quick response.

Os aliados se não nos quiserem ajudar que se.... vamos na mesma.

In contrast, the new draft sketches a world in which there is one dominant military power whose leaders "must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role." Sent to Administrators

Novamente, o lugar dos outros é levar com as bombas. Nada de bombardear a americanada.

In Europe, the Pentagon paper asserts that "a substantial American presence in Europe and continued cohesion within the Western alliance remain vital," but to avoid a competitive relationship from developing, "we must seek to prevent the emergence of European-only security arrangements which would undermine NATO."

Como já escrevi, a NATO é o exército fachada dos EUA.

Por fim:

In East Asia, the report says, the United States can draw down its forces further, but "we must maintain our status as a military power of the first magnitude in the area.

"This well enable the United States to continue to contribute to regional security and stability by acting as a balancing force and prevent the emergence of a vacuum or a regional hegemon." In addition, the draft warns that any precipitous withdrawal of United States military forces could provoke an unwanted response from Japan, and the document states, "we must also remain sensitive to the potentially destabilizing effects that enhanced roles on the part of our allies, particularly Japan but also possibly Korea, might produce."

É assim tão difícil perceber a demonização da China? Mandar no mundo é só a americanada. Eles é que podem bombardear os outros com armas de todos os tipos.

Artigo completo:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/w...ng-no-rivals-develop.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1

 

[Orion]

Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen was ousted as Social Democratic leader yesterday as her party turned to a trade union leader advocating more stimulus to promote growth in the northernmost euro member.

(...)

“Social democrats in Finland and in Europe must again target full employment,” Rinne, 51, said in a speech today. “Economic policies must target strengthening nascent growth and creating confidence in the future. The key are investments that create the foundations for rapid growth in the future.”

Voters have grown dissatisfied with austerity policies that have collided with a broader decline in Finnish business, as Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) shrinks and the paper industry struggles. Finland’s economy has contracted in three of the past five years, pushing unemployment to 9.5 percent in March. Industrial production shrank for the 17th consecutive month in March.

“The trade-union side of the party feels that their voice hasn’t been heard,” Ville Pitkaenen, researcher at the University of Turku, said by phone this week.

...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...r-ousted-as-party-head-over-austerity-2-.html

A austeridade a fazer vítimas nos "países ricos".

Já na terra do tio Sam:

- 20 mil milhões para construir helicópteros para o Obama e pessoal:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ts-private-chopper-fleet-wont-ready-2022.html

E por fim, a mais engraçada:

The Treasury Department has admitted for the first time that the government is technically capable of prioritizing payments if Congress triggers a default crisis by failing to raise the country's borrowing authority.

In a letter to Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a senior aide to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the New York Federal Reserve, which pays the principal and interest on government debt, would be "technically capable" of continuing to make those payments while Treasury halted other payments if the United States was unable to borrow more money. The official stressed, however, that such a system is untested.

Lew and other Treasury officials insisted during last October's debt limit crisis, when the U.S. came close to defaulting on some government obligations, that "prioritization" - a contingency strategy where bond payments are made while other outlays such as Social Security payments are halted - was not feasible.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/09/us-usa-treasury-debt-idUSBREA480R520140509

Muito se fala num possível calote.

 

[Orion]

 

[David sf]

Uma imagem vale mais que mil palavras. Uma bela metáfora que explica porque há países mais prósperos que outros.

 

[Orion]

A produção de petróleo em Angola só vai conseguir quebrar a barreira dos 2 milhões de barris por dia em 2017, escreve a prestigiada revista The Banker, num relatório de 13 páginas dedicado à terceira maior economia africana.

"Os analistas geralmente pensam que a previsão de Sonangol, de que as exportações vão chegar aos 2 milhões de barris por dia em 2015 são irrealistas, e mesmo que as petrolíferas estejam optimistas relativamente aos blocos terrestres e ultraprofundos [pré-sal], quaisquer descobertas daí provenientes vão demorar alguns anos até ficarem operacionais", lê-se no artigo na edição deste mês da revista The Banker, do grupo Financial Times.

(...)

Para a revista, Angola vai produzir 1,79 milhões de barris este ano, acelerando para 1,85 e 1,90 em 2015 e 2016, só quebrando a barreira dos 2 milhões no ano seguinte.

(...)

"Depois de uma queda significativa em 2009 e 2010, causada por um 'crash' nos preços do crude, as autoridades angolana esperavam que a economia recuperasse rapidamente a sua força, mas a produção de petróleo tem estado estagnada desde 2009, quando desceu para os 1,8 milhões de barris por dia devido a problemas técnicos".

...

http://sol.sapo.pt/inicio/Internacional/Interior.aspx?content_id=105308

Mais um país onde o petróleo já não é o que era.

 

[Orion]

A dívida do Japão:

Japan’s national debt totaled a record-high ¥1.02 quadrillion as of the end of March, up ¥33.36 trillion from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said.

The central government debt, which increased ¥7.01 trillion from the end of December last year, kept rising mainly due to ballooning social security costs in line with the aging of the population.

The balance of government bonds, financing bills and other borrowing crossed the ¥1 quadrillion line for the first time ever at the end of June 2013.

The national debt stood at ¥8.06 million per capita, based on an estimated population of 127.14 million as of April 1.

Finance Minister Taro Aso said the situation has become “very severe” because of slow progress in fiscal reforms.

Of the debt, general government bonds increased ¥38.86 trillion from a year earlier to ¥743.87 trillion. Financing bills, used to procure funds for currency market intervention, totaled ¥115.69 trillion, up ¥420.8 billion.

But fiscal investment and loan program bonds, used to raise funds for loans to government affiliates, decreased ¥5.05 trillion to ¥104.21 trillion.

Long-term debt, excluding fiscal investment and loan bonds, financing bills and others, totaled ¥770.4 trillion.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001269505

1 Quatrilião, ou seja, 1000 biliões de yen, ou seja: 1 000 000 000 000 000 yen. Está-se mesmo a ver que isso vai acabar bem.

No google essa quantia fica em mais de 8,5 Biliões de euros, ou seja, +8 500 000 000 000 euros. Sim, é muito zero.

 

[Orion]

Para terminar:

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney this week faces the growing challenge of explaining why the central bank is signalling it is in no rush to raise record low interest rates, even as Britain's recovery picks up speed.

The Bank is due to give new inflation and growth forecasts and hold a news conference on Wednesday against a backdrop of soaring house prices in many parts of the country and a faster growth rate than any other big rich nation.

(...)

Central to the argument is the Bank's belief that companies can squeeze more out of their workers and machines as demand grows, avoiding a surge in wages that could fuel inflation. Helping them has been a fall in price growth to a four-year low.

...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/11/uk-britain-economy-boe-idUKKBN0DR09N20140511

Depois fica tudo chocado porque há tanto desemprego e os salários não aumentam.

Mas a melhor do dia é...

Jean-Claude Juncker said on Sunday he had won assurances from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he would become the next European Commission president if their centre-right bloc wins the European parliamentary elections on May 22-25.

Juncker's comments, made in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper, contrasted with Merkel's own suggestion on Saturday that the real choice might be made - as in the past - only after prolonged horse-trading between national governments.

Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg, said he expected leaders of the 28 European Union governments to respect the will of the voters after the election.

...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/11/uk-eu-election-candidates-idUKKBN0DR0DB20140511

A União Europeia, aquele símbolo intenso de democracia, liberdade e igualdade, é tão corrupta como aqueles que critica. Vai-se votar mas já se sabe quem será o vencedor. Não é giro? Não esquecer que o Juncker é aquele que diz "Tem que se mentir quando é preciso".

 

[Orion]

E para reforçar a ideia de que nenhum país sairá do euro (pelo menos através de expulsão):

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso spoke to Antonis Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos in private in November 2011 and encouraged them to block George Papandreou’s proposal for a referendum on Greece’s euro membership, a Financial Times report claimed on Monday.

The article, written by Brussels-based journalist Peter Spiegel, describes how the eurozone crisis came to a head in late 2011 after Papandreou, then Greece’s prime minister, proposed a referendum on whether Greeks were prepared to accept their bailout terms.

Spiegel describes how Papandreou came under pressure from then French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to abandon the idea or to at least make euro membership the subject of the referendum.

...

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_12/05/2014_539632

 

[Orion]

As dívidas incobráveis das empresas europeias estão a aumentar e são consideradas o principal "cancro" da atividade económica. No ano passado, as empresas europeias ficaram com um "buraco" de 360 mil milhões de euros nas suas contas, resultado de faturas não cobradas e de atrasos nos pagamentos.

Cerca de 55% dos empresários e gestores que lideram as 10 mil empresas inquiridas pelo estudo European Payment Index 2014 (elaborado pelo grupo Intrum Justitia, especializado na gestão de crédito) consideram que estão a sofrer devido aos não pagamentos. E 36% dizem mesmo que a sobrevivência das suas companhias pode estar em causa se os seus clientes não pagarem o que lhes é devido em tempo útil.

A dívida incobrável - aquela que resulta do atraso ou do não pagamento - cresceu 3% em 2013. Valia 3% do total das receitas das empresas em 2013 (ou seja, 261 mil milhões de euros) e, este ano, aumentou para os 3,1% (360 mil milhões). O crescimento das dívidas não pagas tem aumentado sistematicamente desde 2006.

Segundo Lars Wollung, presidente do grupo Intrum Justitia, "as consequências nos atrasos dos pagamentos assume-se como uma ameaça real à competitividade e ao bem-estar na Europa". Em declarações ao "Financial Times", o especialista afirma: "Os mais afetados por este problema são as pequenas e médias empresas".

São mais de 40% os empresários e gestores europeus que afirmam que os pagamentos em atraso estão a impedir o crescimento económico das suas empresas e a contratação de colaboradores - numa altura em que a taxa de desemprego na União Europeia subiu para 10,5% (dados do Eurostat) no primeiro trimestre de 2014. Uma em cada quatro empresas inquiridas, avança mesmo que já teve de recorrer a despedimentos devido à falta de liquidez.

35% das empresas alemãs padecem do mesmo problema

De acordo com o estudo, o valor total da dívida incobrável das empresas europeias equivale ao custo de oito milhões de postos de trabalho. Até mesmo a Alemanha, a maior economia europeia, grande parte das empresas queixam-se da asfixia financeira. Quase 35% dos empresários e gestores alemães afirmam que já tiveram de avançar para a suspensão de contratos de trabalho devido aos atrasos nos pagamentos.

O estudo, lançado a líderes empresariais em 31 países europeus (incluindo a Rússia), dá também que 72% destes inquiridos consideram que não tem sentido qualquer impacto positivo fruto da recuperação económica. Aliás, a grande maioria menciona mesmo que ainda não sentiu qualquer mudança no clima económico.

Quarenta e seis por cento dos inquiridos acreditam que o problema das faturas incobráveis não terá uma evolução positiva nos próximos anos. Isto apesar dos esforços da Europa comunitária para resolver o problema.

Para combater a cultura dos atrasos nos pagamentos, foi retificada em 2011 (onze anos depois de ter sido criada) uma diretiva comunitária que estipula os prazos dentro dos quais os sectores público e privado devem proceder aos pagamentos aos seus fornecedores (30 e 60 dias, respetivamente).

A mesma diretiva institucionaliza um conjunto de medidas que ajuda a combater os atrasos nos pagamentos e permite, até, às empresas cobrarem juros às entidades devedoras.

Já 27 dos 28 países da União Europeia adotaram esta diretiva, mas os efeitos ainda não são visíveis.

Expresso

 

[Orion]

Taxes will have to rise unless officials are given new powers to raid people's bank accounts, David Cameron has said.

The Treasury select committee warned that allowing HM Revenue and Customs to remove cash from bank accounts without court orders is "very concerning" because of its history of mistakes.

The committee said that taxpayers could suffer “serious detriment” if officials are able, either by mistake or through an “abuse” of power, to take money from people who have done no wrong.

Mr Cameron yesterday claimed that the alternative was to "put up taxes". He told Sky News: "We have a choice here. If we don't collect taxes properly and make sure people pay their taxes properly we look at the problems of having to raise tax rates. I don't want to do that, so I support the changes the Chancellor set out in the Budget which is to really say that not paying your taxes is not acceptable.

"It is very clear that they can only do this if there is a debt of over £1,000, they can only do it if there's £5,000 or more in the account after this has been completed. The general principle – do we want to pursue every avenue of making people pay their taxes they are meant to pay before we put up taxes, because that's the alternative – absolutely, yes we do."

The Telegraph

Mais um embuste. Quem sofrerá com isto serão os cidadãos. As multinacionais, entre outros, continuarão a não pagar os impostos porque elas são apoiadas, de uma forma ou de outra, pelos governos. Como é um executivo cobrará impostos às mesmas empresas a quem são dados benefícios fiscais e subsídios?

 

[Orion]

Cuba gradualmente adota o capitalismo... saudável:

Cuba's slow, cautious reforms to revive its state-run economy suddenly burst into life at businesses like Karabali, a Havana nightclub owned by a 21-member cooperative.

The communist government began leasing Karabali to its employees just six months ago and now the once sleepy club is regularly packed with more than 100 customers from midnight until dawn despite competition from dozens of private and state-run night spots in the city.

Out on bustling 23rd Street in the Vedado district, bright multicolored lights beckon a young, almost entirely Cuban crowd into Karabali to see live music on weekends.

Even on Wednesdays, when only recorded music plays, the place is jumping as hip-swiveling patrons dance on stage to rumba.

A feeling of ownership has replaced the apathy that afflicts many state enterprises, and the cooperative's members are optimistic. There is a buzz about the place, their salaries have been tripled, and they get a cut of the profits.

"We have more of a sense that this belongs to us," said Heydell Alom, who has spent 11 of his 38 years tending bar at the club. "Here no one steals. This place belongs to everyone. We earn depending on what we can accomplish without any problems from the government."

Cuban authorities are turning more and more state businesses into cooperatives and providing incentives for small private companies to do the same. Some 450 have been created over the past year, and there are plans for thousands more.

The initiative is one of the market-oriented reforms ordered by President Raul Castro since he took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008.

While Raul Castro says his reforms are about strengthening Cuban socialism, they have led to the emergence of thousands of private businesses since 2010, ranging from restaurants to electronics repair shops to mom and pop retail outlets.

Less well known and less common are the cooperatives but they are part of a political balancing act for the government, which needs to move hundreds of thousands of workers off the state payroll but also wants to slow the rise of capitalism.

In many ways it prefers cooperatives, where each worker has a stake in the business, to private businesses where owners make profits based on the work of their employees.

As is typical with Cuban reforms, the push to establish more cooperatives has started as an experiment that will be expanded if it is deemed to be successful.

Its supporters see it as a way of allowing free enterprise, like other communist governments have done, while limiting an inevitable surge of income disparities.

"The model is different from China and Vietnam," said a Cuban economist who specializes in cooperatives. "We have the advantage of learning from their experience."

No other county has tried to convert state companies into cooperatives on such a large scale, said the economist, who requested anonymity due to a ban on speaking to journalists without permission.

The cooperatives include restaurants, cafes, wholesale and retail produce markets, construction firms, manufacturers of clothing and furniture, bus companies and car washes, recycling operations, body shops, computing and accounting services, beauty salons, night clubs and even dealers of exotic birds.

They operate independently of state entities and businesses and set prices according to the market in most cases.

Some have thrived. Others have yet to grasp what it means to compete in the marketplace.

...

Reuters

 

[Orion]

O filho do Vice-Presidente Americano, Joe Biden, é o novo diretor de um dos maiores produtores de gás da Ucrânia:

Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, has expand edits Board of Directors by bringing on Mr. R Hunter Biden as a new director.

http://burisma.com/hunter-biden-joins-the-team-of-burisma-holdings/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden

 

[Orion]

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi repeated accusations on Wednesday that he had been forced out of office at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2011 as the result of a plot by European Union officials.

Berlusconi's comments followed the publication of a book by former U.S. treasury secretary Timothy Geithner which suggested that the U.S. government had been asked to help force Berlusconi to resign as the crisis escalated in late 2011.

"At one point that fall, a few European officials approached us with a scheme to try to force Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi out of power; they wanted us to refuse to support IMF loans to Italy until he was gone," Geithner wrote in his book, "Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises", extracts from which appeared in the Italian press this week.

"We told the President about this surprising invitation, but as helpful as it would have been to have better leadership in Europe, we couldn't get involved in a scheme like that," he wrote. "'We can't have his blood on our hands,' I said."

Berlusconi resigned in November 2011 after months of tension on financial markets led to fears that investors could refuse to buy Italian bonds, sending the euro zone's third-largest economy into default and breaking the single currency apart.

The 77-year-old media tycoon, currently serving a community service sentence after being convicted of tax fraud last year, said the book showed there had been a "clear violation of democratic rules and an attack on the sovereignty of our country".

"The plot is an extremely serious piece of news which confirms what I've been saying for some time," he told Rai state television in an interview.

Berlusconi, the leader of Italy's main center-right party, has frequently accused European authorities and Italy's head of state, President Giorgio Napolitano, of mounting a "coup" to remove him from office in 2011.

He made similar accusations earlier this year following the publication of a book based on interviews with his successor Mario Monti and others, which said Monti had been sounded out as a potential replacement premier months before Berlusconi's government fell.

...

Reuters

 

[Orion]

Espanha tinha no final de 2013 cerca de 110 desempregados por cada vaga de emprego, seis vezes mais do que no verão de 2007, antes da crise, quando havia 17,5 desempregados por vaga, segundo um estudo hoje divulgado.


O estudo, das consultoras Asempleo e Afi, confirma, porém, que o número de desempregados por vaga era, no final do ano passado, 17,5% menor do que no final de 2012, algo que sugere "uma incipiente recuperação do mercado de trabalho" espanhol.

Segundo o estudo, a redução no último ano deve-se tanto à descida de 1,4% no número de desempregados como ao aumento de 18,8% nas vagas.

Independentemente das melhorias, refere o estudo, o mercado laboral espanhol continua a ser um dos menos eficientes da União Europeia, com Espanha apenas atrás de Chipre, que tem o maior número de desempregados por vaga e muito longe da média europeia de 12,3 pessoas.

Os dados de Espanha ou de Chipre (147 desempregados por vaga) contrastam com os da Alemanha ou Reino Unido, onde o rácio varia entre dois e quatro trabalhadores por emprego anunciado.

Notícias ao Minuto