Month: October 2012

Business Spectator

Britain’s phantom austerity

25/10/2012
To be clear, Britain is not Greece. Under enormous pressure, the Greeks actually had to cut public spending while the British so far are only talking about it. However, unlike the Greeks the British still have their own currency and central bank (and they pay some taxes, too). As long as the Bank of England continues to buy UK government bonds as if there was no tomorrow, they will be just fine.

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Uncategorised

True colours

19/10/2012
As I was watching Wellington Phoenix beat Sydney FC 2-0, I wasn’t sure which was stranger: seeing legendary Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero play football in New Zealand, or supporting a team dressed in black and yellow? I grew up supporting my local team, FC Schalke 04, the legendary “Royal Blues” from the West German mining town of Gelsenkirchen. To us Schalkers, the yellow-black colours of arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund are a worse provocation than a red rag to a bull.

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Insights

End the Dotcom sideshow

19/10/2012
No doubt Herr Dotcom has real entertainment value, and his case confounds the view that there’s nothing comical about us Germans. But New Zealand would be better off dedicating its attention to real policy issues and sending Dotcom back into cyberspace.

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Business Spectator

The EU deserved its peace prize – and more

18/10/2012
The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award this year’s peace prize to the European Union was criticised by the usual British eurosceptic suspects. The leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage said he was “baffled” and feared the Nobel prize had been brought “into total disrepute”.

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Uncategorised

Ferne Nachbarn

06/10/2012
Neuseeland und Australien, das ist eine Geschichte von zwei ungleichen Brüdern. Als ehemalige britische Kolonien in der geografischen Isolation des Südpazifik – so könnte man annehmen – müsste sie das gemeinsame Schicksal zusammengeschweisst haben. Tatsächlich jedoch sind beide Länder damit ganz unterschiedlich umgegangen. Während sich Neuseeland immer noch britisch gibt, haben sich die Australier eher an Amerika ausgerichtet. Und das sind nicht die einzigen Unterschiede.

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Business Spectator

Sweden’s secret free market success

04/10/2012
Considering Sweden’s remarkable economic performance throughout the GFC in the absence of minerals cash, there can be little doubt about which of these two Scandinavian countries pursues the better economic policies. Thinking about Australia on the other hand, it is also clear that it rather resembles big-government Norway than smart-government Sweden.

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