Today’s compendium of things economic, political, and environmental begins in the U.S. with a weighty entry from Pacific Standard:
Grand Obese Party?
Researchers have found a statistically significant correlation between support for Mitt Romney and a pudgy populace.
Seems Republicans really are the party of fat cats.
Writing in the journal Preventative Medicine, a pair of University of California-Los Angeles researchers examined county-level obesity rates and voting patterns. After controlling for various factors known to influence weight, such as poverty and educational attainment, they found a small but statistically significant correlation between support for 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney and a pudgy populace. Specifically, a one percent increase in county-level support for Romney corresponds to a 0.02 percent increase in age-adjusted obesity rates.
The researchers argue this reflects poorly on the Republican party’s emphasis on “personal responsibility” for reducing obesity risk. Successful fat-fighting strategies “will necessarily involve government intervention,” they argue, “because they involve workplace, school, marketing and agricultural policies.”
Bigger government or bigger waistlines: The choice is yours.
From the Los Angeles Times blowback cosmetics:
Tech industry in San Francisco addresses backlash
Tech industry leaders launch a goodwill campaign in San Francisco, promising to create more jobs and affordable housing.
Their first stab at reconciliation: addressing complaints about the 18-foot-tall shuttles that clog narrow streets and block city bus stops. The shuttles frequently cause delays for city buses, making some residents fume that they have to cool their heels in old dingy vehicles while those who work for some of the world’s wealthiest companies get plush seats, tinted windows, air conditioning and Wi-Fi.
The standoff came to a head this week when San Franciscans turned out for a noisy public hearing to assail a pilot program to charge the shuttles a small fee for using city bus stops. They demanded that the city address the growing economic inequality.
The hearing came just hours after dozens of protesters blocked a bus bound for Google and another bound for Facebook for about 45 minutes, hanging a sign on one that read “Gentrification & Eviction Technologies.”
More from Salon:
When companies break the law and people pay: The scary lesson of the Google Bus
All over America, big corporations flout laws or even make their own, while ordinary people face harsh penalties
Ever since Rebecca Solnit took to the London Review of Books to ruminate on the meaning of the private chartered buses that transport tech industry workers around the San Francisco Bay Area (she called them, among other things, “the spaceships on which our alien overlords have landed to rule us,”) the Google Bus has become the go-to symbol for discord in Silicon Valley.
From the Los Angeles Times, a new Bay Area bankster for the University of California:
UC’s new investment chief’s compensation could top $1 million
The hiring of Canadian investment fund exec Jagdeep S. Bachher and his pay package trigger little discussion, but two regents oppose paying new Berkeley provost $450,000 a year.
The UC regents on Thursday hired an executive of a Canadian investment fund to be the chief manager of the university system’s $82 billion in endowment and pension investments and will pay him more than $1 million a year if he achieves good returns.
Although that pay package triggered little public discussion, the salary for another new executive hire attracted more opposition at the regents meeting here. Some regents opposed the $450,000-a-year salary for Claude Steele, who is becoming UC Berkeley’s provost and second-in-command. They complained that the pay is higher than that of some chancellors.
For the new investments chief, Jagdeep S. Bachher, the regents approved a $615,000 base salary and set a maximum total payout of $1.01 million if UC investments perform well. That would be slightly less than the $1.2 million that Marie N. Berggren was paid in 2012, her last year before she retired in July. The compensation comes mainly from investment returns, not tuition or tax revenues, officials said.
But the real bucks go elsewhere, says BBC News:
JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon pay rises to $20m in 2013
The chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, will be paid $20m (£12.1m) for the past year’s work.
Mr Dimon’s pay was cut to $11.5m in 2012 following huge trading losses. This was half the $23m he received in 2011.
JP Morgan’s profits fell 16% last year, after costs resulting from legal issues dented the bank’s figures.
Mr Dimon was paid $1.5m as a basic salary, and an additional $18.5m in shares, the company said.
And more good news for banksters from Al Jazeera America:
Holder: US will adjust banking rules for marijuana
News comes as Texas Gov. Rick Perry announces he will support policies that favor marijuana decriminalization
Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the Obama administration plans to roll out regulations soon that would allow banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers.
During an appearance at the University of Virginia, Holder said it is important from a law enforcement perspective to give legal marijuana dispensaries access to the banking system so they don’t have large amounts of cash lying around.
Currently, processing money from marijuana sales puts federally-insured banks at risk of drug racketeering charges. Because of the threat of criminal prosecution, financial institutions often refuse to let marijuana-related businesses open accounts.
Mixed news for workers from CNBC:
US manufacturing growth slows in January: Markit
U.S. manufacturing growth slowed in January for the first time in three months, hobbled by new orders, though a recent trend of stronger growth appeared to be intact, an industry report showed on Thursday.
Financial data firm Markit said its preliminary U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index dipped to 53.7 from December’s reading of 55.0. Economists polled by Reuters expected no change.
Slower rates of output and new order growth were the main factors behind the fall, the survey showed. Output slipped to 53.4 from 57.5 while new orders fell to 54.1 from 56.1.
And the company run by America’s richest family runs into rough waters, via Quartz:
Chinese state TV has accused Wal-Mart of skirting inspections to sell even cheaper goods in China
China Central Television claims to know the secret behind Wal-Mart’s low prices at its stores in China. The state-owned TV network, better known as CCTV, said on Jan. 23 that the US retailer has been allowing products from unlicensed suppliers on to its shelves, and thus bypassing quality and safety checks.
Wal-Mart’s response (paywall), the Wall Street Journal reports, is that the company only fast-tracks items from suppliers with which it has already been doing business, and then only in certain limited cases. (Wal-Mart hasn’t responded to questions from Quartz.)
The four-minute CCTV report, titled “Wal-Mart’s ‘special channels’ secret,” features shots of what CCTV says are company documents that show managers signed off on over 600 products that lacked licenses for distribution. The program says the store passes off sub-standard goods as belonging to well-known brands.
Reuters has more bad news for Wal-Mart workers:
Wal-Mart’s cuts 2,300 jobs at Sam’s Club
Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it had cut 2,300 jobs, or roughly 2 percent of the total workforce at its Sam’s Club retail warehouse chain, its biggest round of layoffs since 2010.
The action follows a lackluster U.S. holiday season and layoffs announced earlier this month from U.S. retailers Macy’s Inc, J.C. Penney Co Inc and Target Corp.
Wal-Mart company spokesman Bill Durling said in a telephone interview that the cuts will include hourly workers and assistant manager positions.
Bumpy waters from Bloomberg:
S&P 500 Slides Most Since June on Emerging Market Turmoil
U.S. stocks sank the most since June, capping the worst week for benchmark indexes since 2012, as a selloff in developing-nation currencies spurred concern global markets will become more volatile.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) retreated 2.1 percent to 1,790.31 at 4 p.m. in New York to close at the lowest level since Dec. 17. The benchmark index declined 2.6 percent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) slid 318.24 points, or 2 percent, to 15,879.11 today. The 30-stock gauge lost 3.5 percent this week. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 52 percent above the 30-day average at this time of day.
Background from Nikkei Asian Review:
Emerging-nation currencies fall in chain reaction
Behind this development are concerns that investors will pull their money out of emerging markets because the U.S. has started to taper its quantitative monetary easing this month.
Argentina’s peso plunged 12% on Thursday. Earlier that day, a senior Argentine government official told reporters that the nation’s central bank did not buy or sell dollars on Wednesday. A view that the bank is allowing the peso to slide spurred further selling of the currency.
The peso’s drop triggered a rush to exchange funds in emerging-nation currencies to dollars and yen. The Turkish lira weakened to around 2.3 to the dollar on Friday, a record low. The currency has declined about 7% so far this year. Local media reported that the Turkish central bank intervened Thursday but to no avail. Meanwhile, the yen strengthened to the 102 range against the greenback.
The South African rand dropped to the lowest level in five years against the dollar. A strike by workers at a key platinum mine led to concerns that a slowing of resource exports would hamper the country’s ability to acquire foreign exchange reserves, fueling sales of the rand.
From Reuters, a graphic look at the Argentine currency’s collapse:
The Financial Express frets:
World Economic Forum: Fear of China ‘hard landing’, Japan row, stalks Davos
The risk of a hard landing for the economy in China as well as the threat of military conflict with Japan stoked fears at the World Economic Forum in Davos today.
Days after the world’s second-largest economy registered its worst rate of growth for more than a decade, top politicians and economists at the annual gathering of the global elite said the near-term outlook was bleak.
Li Daokui, a leading Chinese economist and former central bank official, said: “This year and next year, there will be a struggle, a struggle to maintain a growth rate of 7-7.5 per cent, which is the minimum to create the 7.5 million jobs every year China needs.”
And The Guardian counts seats:
The 85 richest people in the world: men still in the driving seat
Women need only seven seats, mostly on the bottom deck, on the £1tn double-decker bus revealed by Oxfam this week
The list of 85 shows that if this group – whose wealth tops £1tn – can squeeze on a double decker bus, then Mexico’s telecoms magnate Carlos Slim swaps driving responsibilities with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and the tiny group of wealthy women need only seven seats, mostly on the bottom deck. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
At its snowy retreat in the Swiss Alps, the World Economic Forum is debating how much inequality is too much. The aid charity Oxfam pointed out that a glance through the richest 100 people in the world shows that the pendulum has already swung heavily in favour of an elite group: the top 85 in the Forbes rich list control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together.
A look down the list of 85 shows that if this group – whose wealth tops £1tn – can squeeze on a double decker bus, then Mexico’s telecoms magnate Carlos Slim swaps driving responsibilities with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and the tiny group of wealthy women need only seven seats, mostly on the bottom deck.
Another global story from New Europe:
IEA: Main Oil and Gas Flows To Move To Asian Region
A working visit to Astana, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven presented the World Energy Outlook 2013, saying that in the nearest future the main trade flows of oil and gas will move to the Asian regions, which will change the geopolitics of oil.
“Northern America’s need for import of crude oil will practically disappear by 2035, and that region will become a key exporter of petroleum products. At the same time, Asia will become a center of the world’s crude oil market: large volumes of crude will be delivered to this region through a few strategically important transport routes” van der Hoeven said.
According to her, crude oil will be supplied to Asia not only from the Middle East, but also from Russia, the Caspian region, Kazakhstan, Africa, Latin America, and Canada.
The Global Times brings the focus to Europe:
Euro zone recovery fragile, fiscal consolidation should continue, says ECB president
The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said in Davos on Friday that the recovery of the euro zone economy is fragile and fiscal consolidation should continue.
Addressing the 44th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Draghi said, “the bottom line of this is that we have seen the beginning of a recovery which is still weak, which is still fragile and it’s still uneven.”
According to Draghi, improvements have been witnessed on the financial markets and the “very accommodative” monetary policy was being passed through to the real economy.
A bankster rules struggle from New Europe:
EU finance ministers, MEPs set for clash over bank resolution rules
European finance ministers will hold talks Tuesday on the resolution mechanism for failing Eurozone banks agreed in late December. Greek presidency sources confirmed that the new ECOFIN president, Ioannis Stournaras, will inform his counterparts on the positions of the European Parliament on the current agreement, as presented in a recent letter addressed to the presidency. In their letter, the MEPs make it clear that they will block SRF’s intergovernmental part.
Back in December the 28 EU finance ministers agreed to a general approach on the rules to close failing banks, which included the creation of an initial 55 billion-euro resolution fund over the next 10 years using bank levies. The formation and the functioning of the fund would be set up in a separate agreement among nations, excluding EU’s lawmakers.
The European Parliament also asks the simplification of the functioning of the single resolution board, so as the decision on the closure of a failing bank to be taken by the European Commission and not by the Member States.
More rule-wrangling from EUobserver:
EU audit reform reduced to ‘paper tiger’
The EU is close to overhauling rules for financial auditors, but critics say the reform will be a paper tiger unable to break up the dominant position of the world’s four biggest audit firms.
The legal affairs committee of the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 January) approved a draft agreement struck late last year with member states and the European Commission on the so-called audit reform package.
A jaundiced eye cast by the London Telegraph:
EU bank bonus rules will be ‘avoided’, says Fitch
The European Union bonus cap will prove ineffective in reducing banking industry pay, according to Fitch
Banking industry pay will not fall as a result of the incoming European Union cap on bonuses, according to Fitch.
The ratings agency warned that an “inconsistent” approach in the enforcement of the cap, as well as banks using loopholes in the new law to “avoid” paying lower bonuses, would mean overall compensation levels are unlikely to decrease.
In a report, Fitch pointed to a survey by the German financial regulator of the implementation of the cap among domestic banks that showed many lenders continuing with their old pay practices.
Corporate Europe Observatory looks at the bigger picture:
A union for big banks
Far from being a solution to avoid future public bailouts and austerity, Europe’s new banking union rules look like a victory for the financial sector to continue business as usual.
With the financial crisis, member states took over massive debts originated in the financial sector to save banks. Four and a half trillion euros had been risked for bailouts – and the final bill was 1,7 trillion euro. Not only did this send national economies spiralling downwards and set off a public debt crisis, it also led to a regime of harsh austerity policies, imposed by the EU institutions and the IMF as conditions for loans.
With that in mind, the banking union sounds heaven sent. It is claimed to make the banking sector safe, and should there be problems, a new system would ensure failed banks are wound down in an orderly manner with expenses paid by the banks themselves, with only a minimal cost to the public purse. An end not only to financial instability, but to austerity loan programmes as well.
If all this sounds unreal, it’s because it is. The banking union has been oversold as a fix to the banking sector. It may sound appealing that in the wake of the financial crisis, the potential power of EU institutions should be employed to address the dangers of financial markets. But in practise, the model adopted has deep flaws and carries so many risks, that one might ask if the point is to protect the public or serve the big banks.
On to Britain and hints of a failed divorce from EUbusiness:
Britain’s EU referendum suffers big setback
Britain’s planned 2017 referendum on whether to stay in the European Union was close to collapse Friday after Prime Minister David Cameron’s party suffered a major setback.
A vote in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament, means that a bill proposing the in/out referendum looks likely to run out of time to become law. Members of the Lords voted to change the wording of the question that British voters would be asked on the subject of Britain’s membership of the 28-nation bloc.
The original wording of the question as included in the bill was: “Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?”
Following fierce debate, members of the Lords voted by a majority of 87 to amend it after determining that question was misleading. They did not introduce an alternative, though one peer proposed: “Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?”
Sky News warns:
Nestlé Chair Warns Over UK Exit From Europe
Food giant boss Peter Brabeck-Letmathe tells Sky News that withdrawal from the trading bloc could put UK investment at risk.
The consumer goods giant Nestle would be forced to re-evaluate the extent of its presence in the UK if Britain decided to leave the European Union, its chairman has told Sky News.
In an interview during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe said the company was committed to its business in the UK but that he could not envisage a separation from its biggest trading partner being in the country’s interest.
Nestle, which makes Nespresso coffee capsules and Kit-Kat chocolate bars, employs approximately 8,000 people in the UK and accounts for exports worth roughly £400m. Its other brands include Nescafe, Smarties and Yorkie.
From The Independent, A UC-like salary in the U.K.:
Fury at £105,000 pay rise for Sheffield University boss Sir Keith Burnett after he refused to raise employees’ salaries to the living wage
The decision to award the increase to Sir Keith Burnett, vice-chancellor of Sheffield University – one of the elite Russell Group – has infuriated staff at the institution, who have been told their rises must be limited to just 1 per cent. They have joined national strike action over the award which included a two-hour walkout of lessons and lectures earlier this week.
The package awarded to Sir Keith includes £27,000 in lieu of pension payments after he withdrew from the pension scheme. However, according to accounts, that still leaves him with a 29 per cent rise, or £78,000, the largest in the sector in 2012/13.
The pay rise was awarded at a time when the institution rejected demands for all staff at the university to be paid according to the living wage of £7.65 an hour. Pablo Stern, of the University and College Union at Sheffield, told the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine that Sir Keith’s pay package was “astonishing”. He added: “This university used to pride itself on being a civic institution with a strong community feel. That has disappeared.”
Cooking the books with The Independent:
Treasury accused of resorting to ‘dodgy statistics’ to claim raise in living standards
Treasury ministers came under fire from economists today after they insisted that living standards were finally beginning to rise for the vast majority of workers.
The claim signalled the Conservatives’ determination to combat Labour’s repeated accusations that the country faces a “cost of living” crisis because wages are falling in value in real terms.
However, according to the Treasury analysis, increases in take-home pay were higher than inflation last year for all but the top ten per cent of earners. It coincided with an assertion by David Cameron that Britain was starting to see signs of a “recovery for all”.
The department’s statistics only took income tax cuts into account and excluded reductions to in-work tax credits and other benefit changes, prompting Labour accusations that ministers were resorting to “dodgy statistics” to claim people “have never had it so good”.
On to Ireland and a virtual regulatory plea from TheJournal.ie:
Virtual insanity? Call for Central Bank to regulate BitCoin
The Irish Bitcoin Association says that recognising the currency would make it safer for consumers.
Vincent O’Donoghue of the Irish Bitcoin Association today told RTÉ News that the currency should be recognised, so that it would be safer to use.
“We’re calling on the Central Bank to have a close look at it. It’s something for the future.
“IT developing the way it, it would be disingenuous to ignore it.”
Off to Norway with the New York Times:
Amid Debate on Migrants, Norway Party Comes to Fore
In a nation that has long prided itself on its liberal sensibilities, the intensifying debate about immigration and its effects on national identity and the country’s social welfare system has been jarring — and has been focused on the anti-immigration Progress Party, which is part of the new Conservative-led government.
The Progress Party came under intense scrutiny in 2011, when a former member, a Norwegian named Anders Behring Breivik, bombed government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people. He then killed 69 more people, mostly teenagers, in a mass shooting at a Labor Party summer camp on the island of Utoya. Mr. Breivik, who was convicted of mass murder and terrorism, had been a member of the Progress Party, attracted by its anti-Islamic slant, from 1999 until he was removed from the rolls in 2006 for not paying dues, having quit the party because it was not radical enough.
Still, the performance of the Progress Party in the first general elections since the Utoya massacre and its success in winning a place in government have raised some eyebrows; quite unfairly, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, minister of transportation and communication and a deputy leader of the party, said in an interview.
TheLocal.no feels aggrieved:
‘Obama must apologise for envoy gaffe’
Norway’s Progress Party has demanded a personal apology from US President Barack Obama after his nomination for Norway’s new ambassador described its members as “fringe elements” who “spew out their hatred” (PLUS VIDEO).
“I think this is unacceptable and a provocation,” Jan Arild Ellingsen, the party’s justice spokesman, told Norway’s TV2 television channel. “I expect the US president to apologize to both Norway and the Progress Party”.
George Tsunis, a Greek-American property millionaire who was one of Obama’s biggest individual campaign donors, displayed only the scantiest knowledge of Norway at a senate hearing this week ahead of his appointment, describing the Progress Party, which has seven ministers in the government, as if it were a fringe far-right group.
He then referred to the country’s “president”, apparently under the impression that the country is a republic rather than a constitutional monarchy.
USA TODAY voices confidence:
Obama ‘confident’ with ambassador pick despite blunders
President Obama still has confidence in his pick to be the next ambassador to Norway, even after demonstrating that he might need to bone up on Norwegian politics before heading to Oslo.
George Tsunis, managing director of Chartwell Hotels and a major fundraiser for Obama’s 2012 campaign, has been pilloried by Norway’s press after he stumbled over a question about Norway’s Progress Party during his confirmation hearing last week.
Under questioning from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Tsunis seemed to be unaware that Norway’s Progress Party —which has taken a hard line on immigration policy — was part of the government coalition.
The Wire takes the Casablanca route:
Norway Is Shocked That Our Ambassador Nominee Is Clueless About Norway
And an immigrant story with a poignant twist from TheLocal.no:
Locals pay for loved beggar’s Romania burial
A beggar became so popular in the four years he spent on the streets of Tromsø, northern Norway, that when he died locals raised 100,000 kroner ($16,000) to ship his body back home to Romania for burial.
When Ioan Bandac died of lung cancer just before Christmas, he left a note outlining his one final wish – that he be buried in his home city of Bacau, Romania.
And on Thursday, his body was finally laid to rest in one the city’s churchyard, after a Romanian orthodox service. “It’s fantastic to be here,” Bandac’s Norwegian girlfriend Helena told state broadcaster NRK. “I did not get that long with Ioan — just three and a half years.”
On to France with another hard times intolerance headline, via TheLocal.fr:
French MP avoids prison over Hitler Gypsies rant
A French lawmaker avoided being sent to jail this week over a rant about travellers in which he was caught on camera saying “Hitler did not kill enough”. The MP and town mayor has also managed to keep hold of both of his elected roles.
A French lawmaker was convicted of glorifying crimes against humanity for saying Hitler “did not kill enough” gypsies, but avoided prison at his sentencing on Thursday.
MP Gilles Bourdouleix uttered the remarks in July 2013 as he confronted members of a travelling community who had illegally set up camp in the western town of Cholet, where he is also mayor.
His remarks left anti-racism campaign groups outraged, as well as most of France and its politicians.
An economic booster shot from France 24:
Helmet Hollande wore for Gayet tryst flies off shelves
A French motorcycle helmet manufacturer has publicly thanked President François Hollande for being photographed wearing their helmet on his way to an alleged secret tryst with actress Julie Gayet.
Hollande, 59, was pictured by paparazzi working for Closer magazine arriving at a Paris address to allegedly meet the famous French actress, while riding pillion on a scooter and wearing a “Dexter” helmet made by French company Motoblouz.
Motoblouz CEO Thomas Thumerelle, who employs 45 people at his plant at Carvin in the northern Pas-de-Calais region, was so delighted he took out a quarter page ad in national daily Liberation (see below) on Wednesday, titled “Thank you Mr President – for having used our helmet for your personal protection”.
On to Spain and another downturn from El País:
Economy shed jobs for sixth year in a row in 2013
Unemployment as a percentage of the population rises as thousands exit the labor market
The Spanish economy shed jobs for the sixth year in a row in 2013, official statistics show.
While the job destruction was less intense than in previous years, the loss of 198,900 positions, added to other years’ job cuts, yields an accumulated figure of 3.75 million since the crisis began in 2008.
The figures were released on Thursday as the Bank of Spain confirmed government estimates that the economy grew 0.3 percent in the fourth quarte
More from TheLocal.es:
Spain’s unemployment: Seven shocking facts
Spain’s unemployment rate hit 26 percent again this week. Here The Local gives you seven stats that will help you understand just how serious the situation is.
New unemployment figures from Spain’s National Statistic Institute (INE) show that recent macroeconomic improvements in Spain are yet to create new jobs.
While Spain has now clocked up two consecutive quarters of fragile growth, the INE data — based on a quarterly survey of 65,000 homes nationwide known as the EPA — shows the country’s unemployment climbed back up to 26.03 percent at the end of 2013, up from 25.98 percent three months earlier.
Here The Local provides seven statistics that highlight the extent of Spain’s unemployment problem.
Spain has now seen six straight years of job destruction. Some 198.900 jobs disappeared in Spain last year, and 3.5 million have vanished since the country’s crisis began in 2008.
There are 1.832.300 households in Spain where nobody has a job. That is 1.36 percent more than a year earlier.
Some 686.600 households in Spain have now income at all — not even social security. That is twice the figure seen in 2007, or before the crisis struck.
thinkSPAIN electrifies:
Spain’s electricity hikes between 2008 and 2012 were second-highest in the EU after Lithuania
ELECTRICITY bills in Spain went up between 2008 and the end of 2012 more than in any other European Union member State except Lithuania, figures show.
During this four-year period, the cost of power to households and businesses rose by 46 per cent in Spain, and 47 per cent in Lithuania says the European Commission.
Brussels puts this down to rising distribution costs, increases in IVA, or VAT, in EU countries, and ‘eco-taxes’ relating to renewable energy.
And a boost for the arts from El País:
Government announces plans to slash sales tax on works of art
Cut in VAT rate to 10 percent could be followed by similar measures to promote culture
Bowing to intense pressure, the Spanish government on Friday announced it was going to lower the value-added tax (VAT) rate charged on transactions involving works of art to 10 percent from 21 percent.
Speaking at a press conference following the weekly Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said the move was to bring Spain in line with other countries in Europe, such as Italy and Germany, where the VAT rate on works of art is 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
The government controversially increased the VAT rate on all cultural items in 2012, from 8 percent to 21 percent. Asked if the VAT rate on other cultural items would also be cut, Sáenz de Santamaría said the reduction for works of art was a “first step.” “We have to introduce measures to promote Spanish culture and we have brought forward one of them,” she said. Culture Ministry sources said the government was also “studying new measures” for the film industry.
On to Lisbon and an uptick from the Portugal News:
Unemployment levels fall
The number of people registered as being unemployed in Portugal has dropped, while the government has announced plans to encourage business and entrepreneurs within the country in a bid to further boost employment levels.
Unemployment levels fall
The number of unemployed persons registered with the employment office in Portugal dropped by 2.8 percent year on year in December, making the total number of unemployed people 690 535 and marking a fall by 0.2 percent in the month of December.
Monthly data published by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training ( IEFP ) highlighted that at the end of December there were 20,117 fewer unemployed persons registered with the employment office than a year earlier.
And a presidential boost from the Portugal News:
President upbeat about economic future
Portuguese president Cavaco Silva has said that he is hopeful about the economic future of the country despite a less than positive forecast given by the credit ratings agency Standard and Poor.
Portugal’s president has said that he is convinced that the country will success-fully conclude its bailout this May, adding that he appreciated the heavy sacrifices that continue to be asked of the Portuguese people.
Cavaco Silva said that while Portugal was still a few months away from its Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme object-ives, that he felt there was no reason why the country should not reach these targets successfully. In his speech he also gave a brief summary of 2013, noting that although it had not been “an easy year for Portugal”, the economy had registered some encouraging signs that allowed 2014 to look more “hopeful”.
Italy next with ANSAmed and more privatizations of the commons:
Chunks of Italy’s post office, air agency up for sale
Italian cabinet approvals sale of parts of companies
The Italian cabinet has approved decrees to sell large chunks of the post office and its air traffic agency, sources said Friday.
The government has said it wanted to sell off a 40% share of the national postal service, Poste Italiane Spa, for at least four billion euros by the end of the year as part of efforts to raise much-needed capital to offset Italy’s huge debt.
A similar-sized share will be offered in Enav, the Italian air traffic control company.
Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni has said that a larger share of the postal service might be sold later.
Bunga Bunga cutbacks from TheLocal.it:
Berlusconi budget cuts hit models and dancers
Silvio Berlusconi has cut off monthly payments of €2,500 to a host of young women who attended his parties as part of cost-cutting measures by the ageing playboy, Italian media reported on Friday.
The decision could also have something to do with his coming under investigation for witness tampering opened by prosecutors in connection with his conviction for having sex with an underage 17-year-old prostitute.
“He helped us out, me and the other girls,” said Aris Espinosa, 24, one of the models and dancers known as “Olgettine” after the street in Milan, Via Olgettina, where they lived in apartments paid for by Berlusconi.
At one point, a total of 14 young women were living in the apartments and they were heard calling Berlusconi and his accountant in multiple police wiretaps to ask for more cash – referred to as “flowers” or “fuel”.
After the jump, the ongoing debacle in Greece, Ukrainian divisions and hints of compromise, munificence to Mexico, Venezuelan currency woes, Argentine inflation, Indo-Japanese nuke-enomics, Thai and Burmese troubles, Korean elder woes, Japanese promises, environmental woes, and the latest Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
Keep Talking Greece gives us our first Greek headline, a tragic farce:
Troika-slaves: Greeks below 24 years old to work without salary and migrate abroad
There must have been a massive chemtrails attack recently otherwise I have no logical explanation for this “crazy idea” – to say it politely. According to a proposal tabled by the Center of Economic Research Planning (KEPE), an official advisory body to Greek Labor Ministry, minimum wage and unemployment allowances for Greek labor forces up to 24 years old should be abolished, the unemployed young Greeks should work for one year without salary and then migrate abroad.
In this idiocy-infused proposal, it is also recommended that after the work year, the unemployed youth should be exported to other countries. Possibly, incentives to Greek companies operating abroad should be offered in order to hire these Greeks, because “companies in Greece do not have the potential to recruit neither now nor in the near future,” according to the reasoning of the Center.
The proposal came from Ioannis Cholezas, economist and director KEPE which is the advisory body of the Greek government on issues related to economic development and labor market.
Youth unemployment is currently at 57.9 percent.
Capital.gr waits:
IMF will return to Greece after all pending issues are solved
The International Monetary Fund still does not expect to see any new talks on debt relief for Greece, and will not send a new negotiating
mission to Athens until the sides have clarified differences on a number of issues, an IMF spokesman said yesterday.
“I don’t have a specific mission date at this time,” IMF Deputy Spokesman William Murray said at a briefing, MNI reported. “The mission is going to return once we have clarified a number of technical issues. We expect this to happen soon.”
Murray said the sides have “differences on a number of issues – fiscal, structural and in the financial sector – that will need to be bridged before a staff level agreement can be reached, but there has been some progress at the technical level.”
Kathimerini English prepares:
Greece to make competition proposals to troika
Greece is expected on Saturday to send its proposals for dismantling barriers to competition, which the troika this week insisted were key to the current review of the Greek adjustment program being completed and the next bailout tranche being released.
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras discussed the matter with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos during a meeting on Friday evening. He emerged to tell reporters that Greece would be responding to the troika on Saturday. “We are discussing alternatives,” he said. “We will send on Saturday the proposals that remain.”
Earlier this week, the troika sent an e-mail informing the government that it would have to adopt dozens of recommendations made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for removing regulations that distort competition before the review can be wrapped up.
ANA-MPA pleads:
Greece asks EU for measures to reduce energy costs?
The Greek government has asked the European Commission to approve measures to help reduce energy costs for Greek enterprises resulting from the operation of an CO2 emissions rights’ exchange.
Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Yiannis Maniatis, in a report submitted to the European Commission, stressed that the cost from the implementation of an EU anti-emission policy in Greece totaled 2.7 billion euros, leading to a loss of 40,000 job positions in the country.
The Greek report recommended that the EU should adopt special care for countries suffering from protracted economic recession and for countries whose geographical position left them vulnerable to competition from countries not included in the emissions rights’ mechanism.
From Reuters, a loan arranger:
Euro zone to assure IMF it will keep funding Greece: EU official
The euro zone will assure the International Monetary Fund in coming months that it will continue to bankroll Greece, enabling the IMF to disburse its share of international aid to Athens, a senior European Union official said on Friday.
Progress in Greek reforms, undertaken by Athens in return for international financial aid, will be among the topics for talks among euro zone finance ministers, called the Eurogroup, at a meeting on Monday.
Under IMF rules, the Fund cannot disburse its part of the loans to Greece unless it is financed 12 months ahead. But according to the IMF, Athens is 4.4 billion euros short in 2014 and 6.5 billion short in 2015.
Another decline from MacroPolis:
Narrowing of trade deficit slows in November as exports fall 22.5 pct
Greece’s trade deficit narrowed 2.4 percent to 1.54 billion euros in November, while the respective 11-month figure fell 12 percent to 17.86 billion, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
The change to November shows a continued deceleration since the drop in the trade deficit peaked with a 20.5 percent decline at the end of April. This reversal is down to exports decreasing at a higher rate than imports.
To Vima stalls:
Property transactions grind to a halt over surplus value tax
Public notaries refuse to continue until the Ministry of Finances provides the necessary clarifications
The Ministry of Finances’ controversial 15% surplus value tax on property has prompted public notaries of freezing all real estate transaction due to their inability to implement the tax without the proper clarifications and details from the Ministry.
The public notaries have complaining about the provision that they must withhold the tax from transactions and submit it to public funds and reported that the Ministry has neglected to provide critical information on a number of essential matters related to the controversial surplus value tax.
Another privatization, en masse, via New Europe:
Bloomberg reported that Corp. America is bidding for 21 Greek airports
Argentine firm interested in buying many Greek airports
Bloomberg reported that argentine firm Corporacion America is interested in buying the majority of the Greek airports, taking advantage of the current low prices.
The owner of the holding company is Argentine billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian and his nephew Edwardo, head of the company’s airport operating unit told journalists on January 22th. “We’re going to be very aggressive on all fronts…A lot of opportunities have opened up after the crisis.” The Argentine firm, already acquired a 23 per cent stake in the Italian airport of Pisa.
Corp. America is active in the business of cargo, fueling terminals, agribusiness, energy, retail and infrastructure sectors. According to Bloomberg, the company operates 51 airports worldwide with the majority in Argentina.
Getting draconian with Keep Talking Greece:
Greek absurdity: exorbitant tax fines can punish a €4-debt with a €43K-fine
Dozens of accountants and tax advisers took to the streets of downtown Athens on Friday to protest the tax law that imposes exhaustive fines for errors and omissions in tax declarations, delays in Value Added Tax payments and other mistakes that could occur due to ‘human errors’.
Some 300 protesters marched in Athens and demanded that the finance ministry withdraws the law.
“They kill the small- and medium businesses,” and “they will close down every business with such exhaustive fines” the protesters said.
Kathimerini English investigates:
Minister orders judicial probe into immigrant drownings
Faced with mounting criticism over the migrant boat tragedy that left two people dead and 10 missing in the eastern Aegean on Monday, Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis on Friday ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
During an official visit to Athens on Friday, European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom described the drownings off the coast of Farmakonisi as “a terrible loss of life” and said she was keen to see the results of an independent inquiry.
Her comments came on the back of strong-worded statements by the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, Amnesty International, the Council of Europe and political parties. An inquiry was also requested by junior coalition partner PASOK.
Another approach from EnetEnglish.gr:
Public order minister links ‘illegal immigration’ to terrorism
Nikos Dendias makes claims only days after Farmakoniki drowning disaster
In the same week that nine children and three women drown during a controversial coastguard operation, Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias claims ‘terrorism is likely to exploit the issue of phenomenon of illegal immigration’
Days after the drowning of twelve migrants, including nine children, in the eastern Aegean during a controversial coastguard operation, a government minister has sought to link the issue of “illegal immigration” with terrorism.
“Terrorism is likely to exploit the issue of phenomenon of illegal immigration,” Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias said at a press conference following the conclusion of an informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Athens.
Dendias said that raised the issues of combating international terrorism, border management, immigration and illegal immigration at the meeting.
Neos Kosmos stands guard:
Police boost security after terror threats
Amid rising fears of a possible terrorist attack on a high-level target, Greek Police are enforcing security measures akin to those used for the Athens Olympics in 2004, Kathimerini has learned.
Police patrols have been intensified around central landmarks and around hotels where foreign officials visiting Athens as part of the country’s presidency of the European Union are staying. One official revealed that bomb disposal experts have been instructed to search individuals and vehicles that appear suspicious near venues hosting foreign envoys.
The force is also reviewing security for the 320 top potential targets for terrorist hits in Athens, according to sources.
Kathimerini English divides:
Venizelos falls out with DIMAR over approach to European socialists
Relations between PASOK and Democratic Left (DIMAR), coalition partners until just over six months ago, reached a new low on Friday when PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos attacked the fellow center-left party over its attempt to join the Party of European Socialists (PES).
Venizelos slammed DIMAR after its leader, Fotis Kouvelis, met with Austrian MP Hannes Swoboda, who heads the socialist grouping in the European Parliament. The deputy prime minister suggested that the only Greek party that could belong to PES is PASOK. “Some people have the impression that they can behave like parasites against PASOK and, thereby, at the expense of the Party of European Socialists,” he said.
ANA-MPA articulates:
Austerity has brought Europe to an impasse, SYRIZA leader says
Austerity has led Europe to a dead end, main opposition SYRIZA party leader Alexis Tsipras told the German news agency DPA in an interview on Friday.
Tsipras asked for an end to austerity, for the renegotiation of Greece’s bailout deal and restructuring of the country’s debt “so that it becomes sustainable and opens the way for Greece’s return to growth.”
He clarified, though, he did not plan any unilateral actions regarding the country’s debt and pointed out “we will act unilaterally only if we have to – we believe we can find a solution, which would be viable and constructive for all sides.”
And a lockup with Kathimerini English:
Former Golden Dawn candidate remanded in custody
Themis Skordeli, a former parliamentary candidate with the neofascist Golden Dawn party, was remanded in pretrial custody on Friday following her testimony on charges of belonging to a criminal organization. Skordeli, 50, denied the accusations and being a member of the party.
In a related development, Parliament on Friday took disciplinary action against Golden Dawn deputy Eleni Zaroulia for calling Justice Minister Haralamabos Athanasiou a “lout” following his response to a question about furloughs to prison inmates.
Zaroulia, who is the wife of jailed party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, was ordered to pay a 1,426 euro fine, a quarter of her monthly salary.
Eastern Europe next, with Quartz:
Why the EU admitted a country that may need a bailout—and is preparing to do it again
Croatia joined the European Union last July, more than 10 years after first applying for membership. Some dubbed its accession “lucky” because, frankly, the economy is a mess. Should the EU have brought another recessionary, tourism-dependent country in southern Europe into the fold?
Today that question is surely being asked again. Standard & Poor’s has cut the country’s credit rating by another notch, dropping it deeper into “junk” territory. S&P reckons that Croatia’s economy will shrink for a sixth consecutive year in 2014; Greece is the only EU member whose GDP has fallen further over the last five years than Croatia’s.
On to the Ukraine and a hint of compromise from EUbusiness:
Ukraine leader loses control in west, offers concessions
President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday pledged to reshuffle his government and amend controversial anti-protest laws to ease Ukraine’s crisis, after losing control of local administrations across the west of the country.
With the ex-Soviet state in shock after five days of deadly clashes, Yanukovych vowed to press on with talks with the opposition but warned he would use “all legal methods” if no solution was found.
The protesters occupying the city centre of the capital Kiev showed no sign of yielding and extended their barricades close to the presidential administration although an uneasy truce was still holding.
More from EurActiv:
Political impasse in Kyiv as Füle comes to mediate
Ukrainian anti-government protesters erected more street barricades in the capital Kyiv early today (24 January) after opposition leaders emerged empty-handed from talks with President Viktor Yanukovich that were aimed at defusing two months of unrest. EU Commissioner Štefan Füle is expected in Kyiv today in an attempt to help dialogue and calm tensions.
Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko said that Yanukovich had yielded nothing in a second round of talks with the opposition on Thursday evening, and he voiced fears that the impasse could now lead to further bloodshed.
Still more from RT:
Ukrainian president ready for govt reshuffle and review of anti-protest laws
The Ukrainian president has promised a government reshuffle and amendments to the anti-protest laws that triggered violent clashes in Kiev.
“We will make a decision at this session [on January 28]. I will sign a decree and we will reshuffle the government in order to find the best possible professional government team,” Viktor Yanukovich said Friday as quoted by his press service.
The president has also pledged to amend the anti-protest laws signed on January 16 which sparked violent confrontations between protesters and riot police on Grushevskogo Street.
Off to Latin America, starting with a Swiss twist from Reuters:
Mexico draws over $7 billion in foreign investment at Davos
Pepsico, Nestle and Cisco on Friday announced major investments that together totaled more than $7 billion in Mexico, where the government has pushed through a series of economic reforms that aim to boost foreign investment and growth.
Mexico has embraced free trade policies in recent decades, and has drawn growing investment interest after President Enrique Pena Nieto made a landmark reform drive in his first year in office, pushing major telecommunications, energy, banking and tax legislation through a divided Congress.
“It is very encouraging to see the enthusiasm that has been awoken by our country due to the structural changes that are happening,” Pena Nieto said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Caracas next, with BBC News:
Venezuela announces changes to foreign currency system
Venezuela has announced measures to address its foreign currency crisis and boost the economy.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez says Venezuelans travelling abroad will no