Tag: "Banking"
Be Prepared: The Game Has Changed8th April 2013
Spring is in the air, and my daffodil bank has been having a terrific year, indeed the best for some time. Bulbs are clever things, storing their energy to create an annual flush of pleasure, before quietly regrouping, replenishing their reserves in preparation for the next, even stronger, annual flush. But away from nature, mankind has been playing, and carefree economics is causing casualties, as we forget to replenish our reserves. Spring carried a bitter economic twist for Cypriots. For
Surprised by Cyprus? You shouldn’t be25th March 2013
If we are ever to understand opportunity and risk, we need to think for ourselves, and think well outside of the box. Or perhaps in Cyprus' case the holiday suitcase. The mainstream does none of this, stuck in silo thinking all of its own making, so no wonder they get surprised by events. If one can ever take satisfaction from a disaster, I was quietly pleased to have blogged on 20th February "the next default ... Cyprus ... a bail-in of bank depositors ... queues forming outside the doors
The Europe of Broken Dreams, Part 3: Baffling Borrowings4th February 2013
The news from Europe continues to escalate. Funny how things were so quiet just a few weeks ago, but such is the calm before the storm. Over the last week we have more news from Spain. Their parliament is seeking to peel back regional business rules, under which the country’s 17 autonomous regions all have their own business regulations and permits. Want to start a business? You have to wait for all the permits! Want to become an interior designer? That’s a regulated
The Europe of Broken Dreams, Part 2: Leveraged Banking, it takes Three to Tango28th January 2013
Well Europe is quickly back in the headlines with speeches and opinions galore. In last week’s blog we took a foray to Spain, one of the largest and most troubled European economies, to introduce our FYI blog series on Europe. We also briefly looked at how banks create money, as this is a crucial starting point to understanding the economic situation.[1] So why choose Spain, when Greece has been leading the European troubles? Well, a Financial Times article by Victor Mallet piqued my
The Europe of Broken Dreams, Part 1: An introduction to the Modern Monetary System21st January 2013
Gazing across the Channel, Europe’s finances seem to have gone reasonably quiet. Too quiet. Over the past week the Germans announced that they want all their gold bars returned safely from Paris; the IMF announced that Greek funding gaps may be wider than ever; the Spanish Prime Minister made a speech, and David Cameron cancelled a speech. But this counts for quiet in an era when we have lost count of the number of crisis meetings that each tackle the immediate symptom, but not the