Röd öppning Red Opening 22 November 2023
The Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena headquarters in Siena
Italy Sold A 25% Stake in Monte Paschi
Successive governments have long tried to find a way to sell a controlling stake in Paschi. The bank was first bailed out in 2009 after it was hit by souring loans and derivatives deals that backfired.
In the following decade, it struggled to deliver consistent profit, given limited room for maneuver under terms set by the European Union.
The EU allowed Italy to nationalize Paschi, based in Siena in Tuscany, in 2017 on condition it be re-privatized with an initial deadline set for 2021. Meloni’s predecessor Mario Draghi asked the EU to extend a deadline to sell the state’s controlling stake to the middle of 2024.
The world's oldest bank, Siena-based Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA.
European leaders are expected to force Monte dei Paschi to raise €2 billion, or about $2.8 billion, or more in new capital.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could be forgiven for feeling any schadenfreude
this week while looking on at Germany’s unfolding budget debacle.
A string of fiscal wins for Rome has just coincided with a crisis rocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in Berlin after a calamitous court judgment cast doubt on the financing plans for Europe’s biggest economy.
Italians weary of German lectures on budget prudence can sense the irony, even though diplomacy is likely to prevail when Meloni pays a visit to her counterpart.
EU Prepares Plan to Give Ukraine Lasting Security Commitments
“A predictable, efficient, sustainable and long-term mechanism for the provision of military equipment to Ukraine” that mobilizes the European defense industry
Providing training to Ukrainian armed forces
Helping Ukraine with its reform agenda relating to its EU accession process, as well as boosting its ability to monitor stocks of firearms, light weapons and ammunition and counter any illegal trafficking
Sharing intelligence and satellite imagery
The paper says that support for the delivery of weapons would continue to be provided through the so-called European Peace Facility
European Peace Facility
To enhance its ability to prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security, the EU has set up a new off-budget fund: the European Peace Facility.
"War is peace, ignorance is strength" is a phrase used by George Orwell in his novel "1984".
In the novel, this phrase is one of the slogans of the Party, which believed that they could endlessly engage in a war to keep peace in the country. The author has used this slogan to show how Big Brother could reign supreme, destroy the past, and build up the future on account of the ignorance of people.
October 7.
For perhaps the first time since independence, it faced an assault which threw into question the basic premise of the Zionist dream: that a Jewish state would be the safest home for Jews.
Mark Mazower professor of history at Columbia University
Petningen av Open AI:s vd Sam Altman har sänt chockvågor genom techvärlden.
SvD reder ut vad det handlar om
.House prices have risen once again
Across the rich world, they have brushed off higher rates
Man ska komma ihåg att många hushåll redan har en hel del egna pengar i sina bostäder från tidigare affärer och även från börsuppgångar.
De har en rätt bra krockkudde från de goda åren.
Det är därför vi har en rätt lugn bostadsmarknad trots prisfall. Det finns absolut ingen panik i marknaden hittills
Generation räntas föräldrar eller morföräldrar i storstäderna var de verkliga vinnarna.
Deras generationer kunde ha turen att köpa en villa på 1970-talet eller en bostadsrätt tjugo år senare, kanske blev deras hyresrätt ombildad.
Sedan var det bara att bo ihop en förmögenhet. Varje år flera hundra tusen i värdeökning.
Med lite tur kunde och kan deras efterkommande fortsätta att kapitalisera på deras bostadslycka. Med en villa värd åtta miljoner som säkerhet är det lätt att få ett lån för att finansiera boendet för kommande barn och barnbarn.
Erik Helmerson
När vi blev höginkomsttagare var det dags för den stora skattereformen i början av 1990-talet. Den sänkte våra marginalskatter och gav oss lägre kapitalbeskattning,
När våra föräldrar började gå bort i början av 2000-talet, togs arvsbeskattningen bort. Samtidigt försvann gåvoskatten. Nu kunde vi ta emot skattefria gåvor från våra äldre släktingar och ge gratis till våra barn.
Som husägare hade vi också länge plågats av fastighetsskatten. Därför var det passande att ersätta den med en symbolisk fastighetsavgift.
Inte minst bör reavinstskatten vid bostadsförsäljning begränsas eller avskaffas för att vi ska kunna ta med oss miljonvinsterna från våra dyra villor och bostadsrätter till äldreboendet.
Lars Jonung SvD 10 September 2023
Turning 27 October
Back - Next - Book Home - Climate Change
Public debt in high-income countries has reached elevated levels
So, is public debt disaster looming? If so, will there be defaults, inflation, financial repression (forcible attempts to keep debt cheap), or some combination of all three?
If none of these is to happen, what must be done?
Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist of the IMF has reminded us of the mechanics and risks of debt in a recent blog.
Blanchard argues that “advanced economies can sustain a higher debt ratio, so long as it is not exploding”. But there is a likelihood (though no certainty) that interest rates will rise with debt levels. If so, debt dynamics will tend to become explosive.
If debt ratios are to remain stable, the rate of economic growth must equal the average rate of interest, when the primary balance is zero. The greater the excess of the interest rate over the growth rate, the larger the primary fiscal surplus must be, and vice versa.
If governments are going to avoid the risks of a debt explosion they will have to tighten what are mostly still ultra-loose fiscal policies. But will they dare to do so in ageing societies, with slowly growing economies and expanding defence burdens?
Martin Wolf FT
Kulturhuset i Stockholm får arkitekturpris
https://www.svd.se/a/2BaJ9G/kulturhuset-i-stockholm-far-arkitekturpris
Back - Next - Book Home - Climate Change
Kommentarer