MasterFeeds: July 2013

Subscribe in a reader Add to Google Reader or Homepage

Jul 11, 2013

#China's #Trade Surplus Is Not All That It's Cracked Up To Be

From Pinetree Capital's Macrobits by Marshall Auerback:
it is questionable how many more benefits can accrue to the Chinese people by foregoing the benefits that using their own resources might bring and shipping more to the rest of the world in return for bits of paper than they are getting back in terms of real goods and services.
Reflecting this perspective, there is an interesting interview with former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in a recent Monthly Bulletin of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).  The interview was conducted by Dave Marsh (co-chairman of OMFIF) on behalf of the Handelsblatt.  Although it deals specifically with Germany, it does have implications for China as well:
Handelsblatt: I remember you saying many times, if the Germans keep the D-Mark we will make ourselves unpopular with the rest of the world; our banks and our currency would be the Number 1, all the other countries would be against us and that was why we should have the euro to embed us in a larger European undertaking. It’s all rather ironic, because people are saying that Germany has profited a great deal from the euro because the D-Mark has been kept down and this helps German exports …
Schmidt: I ask myself whether this profit really is a profit? I wonder whether running perpetual current account surpluses really amounts to a profit. In the long run it is not a profit.
Handelsblatt: Because in the long run these assets will have to be written down because people won’t pay them back …
Schmidt: Yes – it means that you sell goods and what you get back is just paper money and later on it will be devalued and you will have to write it off. So you are withholding from your own nation goods that otherwise they would like to consume.
Schmidt’s insight is key:  production of goods for export reduces the portion of output available for domestic consumption – generating incomes that raise demand but without satisfying this demand through increased supply available for consumption. Additionally, competition in export markets often leads to domestic policy to keep wages and other costs low – both to fight the domestic inflation pressures (fuelled in part by the processes just outlined) but, more importantly, to compete with other low wage developing nations.

Read the whole article here: China's Trade Surplus Is Not All That It's Cracked Up To Be - Macrobits by Marshall Auerback

Jul 8, 2013

#Egypt: #Salafist Party To Withdraw From Talks With Government - Sitrep

It was bound to happen: 

Egypt: Salafist Party To Withdraw From Talks With Government - STRATFOR

July 8, 2013 | 0949 GMT

The Salafist Nour Party announced July 8 that it will withdraw from the political process after early-morning clashes between the army and protesters reportedly killed 42 people, Ahram reported, citing a Nour Party spokesman's Facebook page. The party wanted to avoid bloodshed, but because blood has been spilled, it will end negotiations with the new authorities, the spokesman said.

Jul 2, 2013

Bail-in fears grow for big depositors in #euro periphery

Efforts to prevent damaging capital flight from banks in the eurozone periphery could backfire and lead to a renewed search for safety by depositors

Read the full article at: http://on.ft.com/1b2gU6y

Financial Times,
Bail-in fears grow for big depositors in euro periphery
--
By Christopher Thompson and Ralph Atkins
--

ShareThis


The MasterFeeds

MasterSearch

Categories

MasterFeeds News Finance china money stocks USA Commodities United States debt Gold Venezuela Dollars bonds Markets economics trading Banks FED Hedge funds Asia LatAm Oil default credit metals Mining international relations central_banks CapitalMarkets HFT russia zerohedge Euro Israel Silver democracy India Japan SEC bailout Africa Liberalism Middle East elections insider trading Agriculture Europe FX Iran Tech Trade VC bitcoin copper corruption Brazil CoronaVirus ForEx Gold Silver NYSE WeWork chavez food real estate Arabs EU Facebook France IPO Maduro SWF TARP UN canada goldman government recession revolution war Abu Dhabi Cannabis Capitalism Citigroup Democrats EIA Jobs NASDAQ PDVSA Palestinians Saudi Arabia Softbank Stats Trump Turkey Ukraine demographics ponzi socialism 13F AIG Berkshire Hathaway CBO Cargill Colombia Cryptocurrency ETF Ecuador Emerging Markets Eton Park Google Hamas Hezbollah Housing IMF LME Lebanon Mindich Mongolia NYC OPEC PIIGS Pakistan Paulson Pensions Peru Potash QE Scams Singapore Spain Syria UK Yuan blockchain companies crash cybersecurity data freedom humor islam kleptocracy nuclear propaganda social networks startups terrorism Advertising Airlines Andorra Angola Anti-Israel Apple Automobiles BAC BHP Blackstone COMEX Caracas Coal Communism Crypto DRC DSK Double-Dip EOS Egypt FT Fannie Mae Form Foxconn Freddie GM Gbagbo History ICO Iraq Italy Ivanhoe Ivory Coast JPM Juan Guaido Lava Jato Libya London M+A MasterEnergy Mc Donald's Miami Mugabe Norway Norwegian Odebrecht Oyo PA PPT Palantir Panama Politics QE2 Republicans Rio Ron Paul ShengNu Soleimani South Africa Tokens Tunisia UN Watch UNESCO UNHRC Uber VW Wyclef anti-semitism apparel bang dae-ho cash censorship chile clothing coffee cotton derivatives emplyment foreclosures frontrunning haiti infrastructure labor levi's mortgages philosophy shipping social media treasury women