One of the candidates to replace Merkel proposed fiscally incentivising investment in stocks, as a complement to the public pension. The idea got little support in a country with a savings rate of 10% but an enormous aversion to risk, where variable income seems reserved for the highest income.
Luis Martí | It is probable that Trump will just wait until 1 March to review the progress from his conversation with the President of China. Many things can happen in three months. If they deserve it, this journal will take them into account.
The “eternal return” to a proposal to leave the euro seems to be an irresistable force for some people. A current case in point is Italy, but there are a couple of interesting precedents in the files, like Greece and Ireland.
Suprising as it may be, 18 of the 19 members of the Eurozone saw an increase in GDP in Q1’17 with respect to Q4’16. Spain’s GDP improved by 0.6%; Italy managed to grow (0.2%); Germany and France clocked up a 0.4% rise. Only Greece remained in the red. The unemployment rate in the region has officially fallen to 9.6%…there is growth.
Mexico is an automotive powerhouse in its own right: it is fourth in the rankings of automobile exporters, coming immediately after the top three players, Germany, Japan and the US. And there are important indirect public advantages which an automotive manufacturere can benefit from if it decides to set up operations there.
The IMF’s last report on Mexican Economy praises the quality of the general framework of its economic policy and its execution, encourages maintaining the principles of fiscal consolidation with the aim of keeping debt under control – the federal budget normally closes in the red – and reiterates the importance of transforming PEMEX into a profitable organisation.
“What is clear is that Greece cannot pay its debt and will never pay it. There needs to be an acquittance. And European legislation does not allow for waivering of debt. What they are going to do now, and it should have been done seven years ago, is to modify the conditions in such a way that the debt will be practically waivered,” says Spanish economist Fernando Eguidazu, as he leaves his Foreign Office post of Secretary of State for the European Union.
Germany’s enormous trade surplus is causing resentment throughout the rest of Europe, which accounts for a little over half of the annual surplus of more than €263.1 billion. Brussels and the IMF believe there is room to raise salaries and, above all, for a substantial increase in public investment.
Within the German government and amongst the (serious) media there is a fair amount of comprehension towards the PP government. This is in part, I suppose, because some party members have taken advantage of official contacts to explain the reforms undertaken (particularly the labour reform) and how they identify with the demands of a tough adjustment programme. Furthermore, they have no doubt offered support for German proposals within the EU or the Eurogroup
Milton Friedman once wrote (1969) something like a short story about money creation. A helicopter drops banknotes amongst the population: a few lines in an article on how ‘to create’ inflation when the economic policy measures are thought to be exhausted.