Goldman Sachs Analysts Decide Bank Slowdown Isn’t Temporary

 

New bank regulations and capital requirements are “structural” changes to the industry that are more to blame for declining profits than the U.S. economic slump, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) analysts said.
“The operating environment is unlikely to change any time soon, and we see shareholders of challenged banks becoming more demanding in asking management teams to lay out a path to unlocking value in the near term,” analysts led by Richard Ramsden in New York wrote in a report published today.

Their view contrasts with Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, who said in November, “I don’t think we can conclude that the slowdown is secular rather than cyclical change.” Goldman Sachs, based in New York, is the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets.

More than half of the top 25 U.S. banks aren’t earning enough to cover their cost of capital, leading to stock prices that are “significantly lagging previous global recoveries,” according to the note. “The vast majority of the reduction relative to pre-crisis levels is attributable to structural issues like deleveraging and regulatory reform.”

An Unexpected U-Turn: Why Merkel Wants To Keep Greece in Euro Zone

Officers from Greece's police, fire brigade and coast guard stage a symbolic hanging in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens on Sept. 6. to protest against austerity policies.

Angela Merkel has made a surprising U-turn in her policy on Greece. The German chancellor now wants to stop Athens from leaving the euro zone at all costs -- even if it means massaging the figures in the upcoming troika report. For the German leader, it is essential to avoid the consequences of a Grexit before national elections next year.

Mantras are short, formulaic phrases that are repeated over and over for meditative purposes. They can be spoken, sung, whispered, recited mentally or even written down and eaten.

The German chancellor has recently opted for the spoken variety, which is the conventional form. Angela Merkel's mantra consists of a short German sentence. It translates as: "We are waiting for the troika report." She repeats it whenever the opportunity arises -- such as two weeks ago, when Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited Berlin.

 

China’s Presumptive New Leader Is Mysteriously Absent

BEIJING — Speculation intensified on Monday over the whereabouts of China’s presumptive new president, Xi Jinping, who has been missing from public view in recent days as the country prepares for a crucial leadership change.

Last week, Mr. Xi canceled meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong. On Monday, he did not show up at a meeting with the Danish prime minister. 

While Chinese leaders often do not appear in public for long periods, canceling meetings with foreign dignitaries at the last minute is unusual. Adding to the uncertainty is the absence of an official statement of any kind, with observers talking about a bad back or even a mild heart attack. 

“There’s every sort of crazy rumor about Xi’s health,” said a senior Chinese journalist, who asked not to be identified because of sensitivity surrounding the case. “But no one is saying anything.” 

Rethinking the welfare state: Asia’s next revolution

 

Countries across the continent are building welfare states—with a chance to learn from the West’s mistakes

ASIA’S economies have long wowed the world with their dynamism. Thanks to years of spectacular growth, more people have been pulled from abject poverty in modern Asia than at any other time in history. But as they become more affluent, the region’s citizens want more from their governments. Across the continent pressure is growing for public pensions, national health insurance, unemployment benefits and other hallmarks of social protection. As a result, the world’s most vibrant economies are shifting gear, away from simply building wealth towards building a welfare state.

The speed and scale of this shift are mind-boggling (see article). Last October Indonesia’s government promised to provide all its citizens with health insurance by 2014. It is building the biggest “single-payer” national health scheme—where one government outfit collects the contributions and foots the bills—in the world. In just two years China has extended pension coverage to an additional 240m rural folk, far more than the total number of people covered by Social Security, America’s public-pension system. A few years ago about 80% of people in rural China had no health insurance. Now virtually everyone does. In India some 40m households benefit from a government scheme to provide up to 100 days’ work a year at the minimum wage, and the state has extended health insurance to some 110m poor people, more than double the number of uninsured in America.

Romney Blasts Obama's Iran Policy

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney unleashed his harshest criticism yet of President Barack Obama's Iran policy on Sunday. Romney called Obama's policy his "greatest foreign policy failure" and quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that "Iran has not changed its nuclear course one iota by virtue of this president's policies." Appearing on the television show Meet the Press, Romney sought to draw a stark line between Obama and himself on the Iran issue, saying: "President Obama had a policy of engagement... I will have a very different approach... I don't think we live with a nuclear Iran. I think we make it very clear that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable to the United States of America, to civilized nations throughout the world, and that we will maintain every option that's available to us to keep that from happening." Romney made it clear that this would include a military option should it prove necessary.

In addition, Romney explicitly mentioned the alliance between Israel and the United States, and claimed that the Iran is "threatening not only to our ally Israel, but threatening to the United States of America." However, the candidate did not give specifics as to the "red lines" that might trigger a military response from the U.S., except for his vague assurance that the military option would remain on the table.

http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=75871&pageid=17&pagename=News

Iraqi Extremists Impose Islamic Dress-Code on Women

There used to be two dress codes for women in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite neighborhood of Kadhimiya. On the street, women were free to wear what they wanted in the busy market square -- a market that attracts people from all across the capital.

Only if they decided to enter the shrine complex behind the market did stricter rules apply. There they were required to wear full Islamic dress, including the shoulder to toe "abaya" gown and "hijab" head covering.
Now, things have changed. Vigilantes patrol the major avenues outside the shrine to demand that any women in the area are in full compliance. Nawf al-Falahi, a women's activist, says one of her acquaintances living in the neighborhood was recently stopped by the self-appointed morality police.

Μήνυμα Soros προς Γερμανία: "Lead or leave"

Η Γερμανία πρέπει να ηγηθεί της ευρωζώνης ή να την εγκαταλείψει, δήλωσε σε συνέντευξή του τους Financial Times ο George Soros.

Στη συνέντευξη, την οποία επικαλείται το CNBC, ο Soros τόνισε ότι η γερμανική κυβέρνηση πρέπει να ηγηθεί της ευρωζώνης και να την οδηγήσει έξω από την ύφεση, μέσω της τόνωσης της ανάπτυξης, της δημιουργίας μιας ενιαίας δημοσιονομικής αρχής και της εγγύησης κοινών ομολόγων, ή να φύγει από τη νομισματική ένωση για να σώσει το μέλλον της Ευρώπης.

Η ιαπωνική κυβέρνηση θα αγοράσει τα τρία αμφισβητούμενα νησιά της Θάλασσας της Κίνας

Η ιαπωνική κυβέρνηση αποφάσισε να αγοράσει τρία μικρά νησιά στη Θάλασσα της Κίνας, τα οποία διεκδικεί το Πεκίνο, ανακοίνωσε επισήμως σήμερα ο κυβερνητικός εκπρόσωπος στο Τόκιο.

"Κατά τη διάρκεια κυβερνητικής συνεδρίασης συμφωνήσαμε να γίνουμε ιδιοκτήτες των τριών νησιών Σενκάκου το συντομότερο δυνατόν», δήλωσε ο εκπρόσωπος Οσάμου Φουτζιμούρα, χρησιμοποιώντας την ιαπωνική ονομασία των νησιών τα οποία το Πεκίνο αποκαλεί Ντιαογιού.

RESTORING THE BALANCE

Over the past few days we have witnessed a sudden turnaround over the prospect of the Hellenic economy and a well concerted campaign for the salvation of Euro and the Euro-zone itself.

The truth is that both the current financial crisis and the political instability in the broader Mediterranean region have created new data for the retention of peace and stability in Europe and gradually upgrade the role of Hellas as a stabilizing force in it.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS AND THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (PART 2)

                     III.      The Destruction of Chemical Weapons 

One of the tasks, that the 2^nd Review Conference which took place on April 7-18, 2008, had to face was the fact that 11 years after its entry into force, many states haven’t destroyed their chemical weapons stockpiles yet. On the contrary they have requested and granted new deadlines[1].

Beyond any doubt the negotiations of the CWC underestimated some important factors regarding the destruction of chemical weapons, such as the huge financial burden, the technological complexity and politics of course. As a result, Russia and USA, which posses the 90% of the global declared stockpiles, failed to meet the deadline of 29^th April 2007. In addition, contrary to the rules of the convention which state clearly that the cost of the destruction must be borne by the possessor states, many states have asked for and received financial and technical assistance. Russia continues to be the biggest recipient of international assistance for destruction, despite the low progress, and in the case of Albania the total verification cost was covered.[2]

«Ανοιχτοί» οι Αφγανοί Ταλιμπάν σε μια εκεχειρία

Οι Ταλιμπάν είναι ανοιχτοί σε μια γενική εκεχειρία όπως και σε μια πολιτική συμφωνία που θα επέτρεπε μια αμερικανική στρατιωτική παρουσία στο Αφγανιστάν έως το 2024, αναφέρει το βρετανικό ίδρυμα γεωπολιτικών μελετών Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) σε έκθεσή του που δημοσιοποιήθηκε σήμερα.

Ωστόσο, οι εν λόγω αφγανοί αντάρτες που τελούν υπό τις εντολές του μουλά Ομάρ, δεν θέλουν να διαπραγματευτούν με τον πρόεδρο Χαμίντ Καρζάι ή με την κυβέρνησή του την οποία θεωρούν διεφθαρμένη και αδύναμη, επισημαίνει η έκθεση.

Το Κόσοβο αποκτά «πλήρη κυριαρχία»

Τεσσεράμισι χρόνια μετά την μονομερή κήρυξη της ανεξαρτησίας του από τη Σερβία, το Κόσοβο αποκτά σήμερα πλήρη εθνική κυριαρχία με τη διάλυση της Διεθνούς Ομάδας Καθοδήγησης (ISG) η οποία θα ανακοινωθεί το απόγευμα και θα ακολουθήσει μεγάλη γιορτή στην πρωτεύουσα Πρίστινα.

Η διάλυση της Διεθνούς Ομάδας Καθοδήγησης θα ανακοινωθεί αργά το απόγευμα, γεγονός που θα σημαίνει το τέλος της «διεθνούς επιτήρησης» και «την πλήρη εθνική κυριαρχία» του Κοσόβου. Η απόφαση ελήφθη στις αρχές Ιουλίου κατά τη διάρκεια συνεδρίασης στη Βιένη.

Αύξηση των ληξιπρόθεσμων οφειλών προς το Δημόσιο

Σε νέα διόγκωση των ληξιπρόθεσμων οφειλών προς το Δημόσιο, οδηγεί η αδυναμία καταβολής των φόρων από μια πολύ μεγάλη μερίδα πολιτών, καθώς -σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία του υπουργείου Οικονομικών- από τη ροή των εισπράξεων στον φόρο εισοδήματος, πολλοί φορολογούμενοι επιλέγουν να καταστήσουν τα χρέη τους ληξιπρόθεσμα, μεταθέτοντας σε βάθος χρόνου και σε πολύ περισσότερες δόσεις, την εξόφληση των υποχρεώσεών τους.

Με βάση τα συγκεκριμένα στοιχεία, στις 31 Αυγούστου, οπότε και έληξε η προθεσμία για την καταβολή της 1ης από τις 7 δόσεις του φόρου εισοδήματος, περίπου 460.000 φορολογούμενοι πλήρωσαν μόνον ένα μικρό ποσόν έναντι της δόσης και δέχθηκαν το υπόλοιπο μέρος της δόσης να καταστεί ληξιπρόθεσμο χρέος.