http://www.eucommerz.com/blog en eu_editor@eucommerz.com Boston Hannah Copyright 2010 2010-12-13T02:04:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/human_rights_part_2 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/human_rights_part_2/#When:02:04:01Z Looking into the waste of money that is the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), it’s totally amazing the amount of money it costs to be a member. Not only has the UK lost three quarters of all cases, but it’s costing over £2 billion a year to comply with judgements.  The UK needs to get out and get out now, far better to have a British Bill of Human Rights. 2010-12-13T02:04:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/human_rights http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/human_rights/#When:01:54:01Z The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) forces legislation on voters that the public and politicians do not want. So why do we remain a member when on top of its disastrous left wing decisions it costs the UK billons each year. One of its many stupid decisions was saying that prisoners should be allowed to vote. Why on earth is this of any business to anyone else, least of all a human rights organisation. 2010-12-10T01:54:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/half_baked http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/half_baked/#When:02:27:01Z The IMF have now come down on the EU, saying that their response so far has been piecemeal and not adequate. You only have to look at the value of the Euro to know that. But will anything change? Not much if you believe the words coming out of Germany, who are firmly against doing anything that will cost their tax payers anything. It makes you wonder why they wanted the Euro in the beginning. 2010-12-08T02:27:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_euro_answer http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_euro_answer/#When:02:00:00Z For all the trouble that the Euro is in, there is a solution at hand that would benefit all of the Euro countries. Currently, it’s up to each individual country to raise their capital requirements from bonds themselves, so the interest rate is liable to massive adjustments and changes country by country, it’s also in most cases very high. But the European Union could raise this money directly, centrally, up to the EU limits on debt levels, at a vastly lower rate, secured by all EU countries. Countries that have to go over and raise more above EU debt limits could still do this but at a higher rate.  The ECB could even charge a small fee for providing the service to each country. The savings in most cases would be huge. 2010-12-03T02:00:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/thatcher_the_great http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/thatcher_the_great/#When:04:46:01Z History will show Margaret Thatcher as the greatest Prime Minister of the 20th century. With the mess that the Euro is in iIt’s almost laughable that the reason she had to resign was because she opposed the Euro. Geoffrey Howe, appearing on TV saying that the UK government did not oppose the Euro, was the start of her downfall. But history has yet again shown her to be correct; people should not forget that if it was not for her, the UK would be well and truly in the middle of the Euro mess. It’s 20 years since she left office next week and in my mind even at her current age she would run rings around every current politician.  2010-12-02T04:46:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/dirty_fifa_tricks http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/dirty_fifa_tricks/#When:01:54:02Z Tomorrow everyone will know who has won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. It’s between England, Russia, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium. UK TV show Panorama has been running programmes exposing corruption within FIFA, alleging that FIFA officials have been taken bribes. Out of all of the countries bidding, one country sticks out as a totally corrupt place to do business. So, if on Thursday Russia come out as the winners, expect the stories to really start about FIFA corruption. 2010-12-01T01:54:02-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/138_trillion_and_rising http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/138_trillion_and_rising/#When:02:34:00Z That’s the amount of debt that the US currently has, and rather than work on reducing this, it’s actually working on spending more. Of course, the printing presses that are running so that it can do its QE2 is not helping this figure but it’s not helped by many other areas either. Yet the cost of insuring US government debt is also at the lowest level, saying that investors have no fear that it cannot afford its debt. But for how long can the US continue increasing its debt? Not for long, if it’s also going to have to deal with municipal debt as well. 2010-11-30T02:34:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/is_portugal_next_or_california http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/is_portugal_next_or_california/#When:04:16:00Z While everyone expects that Portugal will be the next in line for a bail-out, some people are saying that this prize may go to California. California is finding it harder to finance its budget deficit, raising the yields it is giving out on bonds quite a lot. But the US government does have a solution. Rumours are circulating that the Federal government may extend its bond purchases to cover municipal debt. A nice short-term solution to the problem which the US have always been good at, just keep the printing presses working. 2010-11-29T04:16:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/back_to_school http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/back_to_school/#When:03:32:01Z The demonstrations in London against the increased cost of going to University went off without a major riot. But only just. All thanks to the police using kettling as a device to control the crowd. It may not be pretty and it was certainly cold for quite a few demonstrators but it was effective. I am not sure exactly what the potential rioters expected but from what I can see I think they misunderstand things, and seem to believe that the right to demonstrate was in fact the right to riot. Back to school for them. 2010-11-25T03:32:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_pig_of_a_solution http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_pig_of_a_solution/#When:01:55:00Z I have the solution to all of the problems that Ireland, Greece and Portugal are facing. Get out of the Euro and form another joint currency, just the three of them, and call it the PIG. No one will want it, the currency will devalue, the tourists will flock to the counties and the exporters will be rolling in PIG s**t. The money would roll in, the banks will be overjoyed paying major bonuses because of the easy fortune they have received. OK, so it will cause a few problems down the road, but hey, who worries about that when you are talking international finance? 2010-11-23T01:55:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/we_serve_neither_king_nor_kaiser_but_ireland http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/we_serve_neither_king_nor_kaiser_but_ireland/#When:01:47:00Z Now that the package of support for Ireland has been put – or should I say forced – on Ireland by Europe, we can now look forward to the backlash. Living in a free Irish state has always been important in Ireland, especially when part of the country is still under British rule. Fianna Fáil will pay when the election comes around and will pay dearly. So much so it may wipe the party from the map. Irish politicians have been pro Europe and the Euro for a long time, something the people are now totally against. It’s something they had best consider very carefully. In the failed 1916 uprising, a banner was hung from Dublin’s Liberty hall, that said ‘We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland’. The politicians should take note that a wrong move now could see an adaptation of that reappearing.  2010-11-22T01:47:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_pig_of_a_time_for_the_euro http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_pig_of_a_time_for_the_euro/#When:01:36:01Z The slow death of the Euro continues, now that it looks like the Ireland bail-out is being sorted. Portugal will be next to confirm that they need a bail-out as well. Three small European countries, that all rely on tourism to exist, and all now having the luxury to weaken their currency are getting less and less people visiting. The only sensible thing for each of them is to take the money and get out of the Euro. Making it a PIG of a time for the Euro but not a killing blow, that will come if Spain or Italy come cap in hand. 2010-11-19T01:36:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/and_the_next_is http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/and_the_next_is/#When:01:48:01Z So first it was Greece and the Euro panic and now it’s Ireland’s turn. In a day or two there will be the great compromise and Ireland will accept money for its banks (rather than for the country). The markets will rejoice and the Euro will be talked up (again). But make no mistake, another one will follow, Portugal seems the next easiest target, then Spain. Until the whole Euro is redesigned to take in a smaller number of countries, it’s just going to keep coming. 2010-11-17T01:48:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/go_for_it_duncan http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/go_for_it_duncan/#When:01:29:01Z News that the works and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith wants to have the unemployed doing ‘work activity’ has certainly got people talking. It’s clear with five million people getting jobless benefits something has to be done and this is a good start. I think that people that are against this are really missing the point. What better way is there to get people back on their feet than have them contribute back for what they receive. The people that are genuinely unemployed and want to get back to work will welcome this, the ones that have no intention of working will not. Go for it Duncan, let’s get it done.  2010-11-11T01:29:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_answer_is_no http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_answer_is_no/#When:01:49:00Z The statistics on loans to small businesses still make depressing reading, with companies still struggling to get loans. In fact, they are paying back billions, far more than they are taking out. It’s the fifth month that loans to small companies have contracted. Does it matter? The answer is a simple yes, the future growth in the UK will come from these companies and without funding this will not happen. This is borne out by the fact that more businesses have failed in the UK than in any other downturn. 2010-11-10T01:49:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/banking_on_more_problems http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/banking_on_more_problems/#When:01:46:01Z US regulators have closed down another four regional banks. This brings the total for 2010 up to a massive 143. The way they are going, there will be no regional banks left soon. That’s not to say that the large US banks are in any better shape. The recent mortgage fiasco has seen to that, certainly the two largest, Bank of America and Citibank, have a host of major issues to deal with. They both received and paid back large amounts to the US government, and I am guessing that currently they are wishing they had not. 2010-11-09T01:46:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_magic_million http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_magic_million/#When:02:52:00Z The US has a population close to 300 million people, a massive powerhouse of creating money and wealth, and in the past, jobs. So what’s changed? Why is it so hard to create jobs fast enough coming out of the recession to bring the unemployment figures down and people back into work? Quite simple, President Obama has done everything he can to hurt the magic million. The million or so people that are capable of creating the wealth and the jobs that can drive the economy forward. Until he realises this and does something about it, not much is going to change. 2010-11-05T02:52:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_warning_shot http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_warning_shot/#When:02:48:00Z It could have been a lot worse for President Obama and the Democrats. He really should take this as a final warning shot. If he wants to get re-elected, he is going to have to change a hell of a lot of things, but more than that he has to change his viewpoints. He has surrounded himself with career bureaucrats and out of work professors – that just does not do it. They have no clue about what really makes a difference and how you create jobs. He has to rethink that idea that recreating the US system to make it like broken Europe is a good idea. He has to start reducing pension and health costs, not increasing them and he has got to deal with the deficit. 2010-11-04T02:48:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_devastating_night_for_the_democrats http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_devastating_night_for_the_democrats/#When:08:51:00Z Voters gave President Obama a big thumbs down at the polls yesterday. They made it clear that the US needs more than words and rhetoric to progress economically. The only answer that the Democrats seem to have to bolster the economy is to print more money. But that is just not the answer. After two years in power the things that have to be done to help the economy still are not. Reduce the deficit, and empower companies so they can grow and employ more people rather than hinder them.  2010-11-03T08:51:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/whats_so_difficult http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/whats_so_difficult/#When:10:37:00Z The banks would have us believe that their business is highly complicated – it’s not. The only thing that’s complicated about banking is the bankers. They just cannot stop trying to find easy ways to make money. Yet the banks that are succeeding the most are the ones that are keeping it simple. After all, surely banking is the simplest business of all – borrow money at 3% and lend out at 6%. Perfect – 100% profit as long as you check the credit worthiness. There are plenty of people that will give you money for 3% and there’s plenty that will be happy to borrow at 6%. If anyone can find a more simple business please let me know.  2010-11-01T10:37:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/short_term_pain http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/short_term_pain/#When:01:00:01Z It’s clear that following the spending cuts in the UK, recovering from the recession will be harder. With so many cuts in public sector jobs, it’s going to be up to the private sector to step up and help fill the void. That is not going to be easy; there is a big downside coming for larger companies that trade with the public sector, ones that have also had it easy for years. Smaller companies that lose public sector work may not survive. This all puts more pressure on a weak jobs market that will have lots of ex-public sector workers on it. But, for all this, someone had to deal with the mess that Labour left and longer term the UK will be fitter and stronger. 2010-10-28T01:00:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/unemployable http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/unemployable/#When:00:49:00Z 600,000 million public sector workers will find themselves out of a job over the next few years. That is a large number of people that are surplus to requirements. But will companies employ them? Some of course will get jobs but transferring from the easy life as a public sector worker to the private sector will not be easy for many. It’s a big change moving from pushing paper around to doing meaningful jobs that produce a commercial product that has to be sold at a profit. But for some maybe they will rise to the challenge and enjoy being employed in a company that pays taxes and contributes rather than a dead end job in the civil service. 2010-10-27T00:49:00-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_left_wing_conspiracy http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/a_left_wing_conspiracy/#When:00:51:02Z President Sarkozy runs for re-election in 2012. When he was elected in 2007, he promised that he would drag the French economy out of the doldrums. He has been doing quite a good job at doing that, the most uncompetitive country in Europe slowly has become more competitive or at least not less so. But the left wingers and the great unwashed have another plan, they do not want France competitive, they just want its money for doing nothing. Money that is harder and harder to come by, when you have just left a recession and tax revenue is low. Let’s not forget that the French government is not saying you cannot retire at 60, it’s just saying they will not start paying out until they are 62. 2010-10-26T00:51:02-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/two_faced2 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/two_faced2/#When:00:57:01Z It really surprises me the patience that the Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas and his people have. They want a simple thing, a land they can call their own, yet they have to deal with a country that is just not to be trusted in almost everything it does. On one side the Israelis say let’s talk, and on the other they start building again on the West Bank settlements, making quite clear that talking is all they intend to do. But the whole credibility of Mahmoud Abbas is now at stake, he said he would walk away if more settlements were started and that is what he needs to do. There just is no point in talking for the sake of talking and that, I am afraid, is all he will be doing. 2010-10-25T00:57:01-06:00 http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_worst_advert_ever http://www.eucommerz.com/blog/the_worst_advert_ever/#When:04:31:00Z I have just looked at an advert for Hyatt and I am going to present it with the worst advert ever award. Its heading is: ‘Achievement very rarely happens while doing yoga on a hilltop’. It goes on to say that if you use them to host your next meeting, they guarantee you will achieve something. Congratulations Hyatt, in one easy go you have stopped anyone that practices Yoga from ever visiting one of your hotels. 2010-10-20T04:31:00-06:00