Year: 2012

By better synchronising important sports events with the publication of relevant market data or new policy announcements, it seems many a stock market meltdown could be averted.

After last week’s decisive EU summit (the 20th of its kind), and after the German parliament’s support for the latest bailout plans, the euro is saved! Again. The usual sigh of relief was heard at bourses across the continent, and once more politicians congratulated themselves on their historic achievements.

It is odd that foreigners buying shares in energy companies excites kiwis so much. How many countries have a similarly emotional relationship with their utilities?

For a committed market liberal it was a strange experience. There I was hoping for an election victory of the radical Syriza party in Greece’s general election. Yes, the very party that rejects austerity and claims that unreformed socialism provides the answer to the country’s problems.

Far, far from the troubles at the home front, Prime Minister John Key was visibly enjoying the military honours and his joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Berlin last week. A better use of his time would have been studying the effects of delaying superannuation reforms.

Continuing the Target 2 madness prevents the long overdue adjustment of intra-European trade and payment balances. It locks both PIIGS and GNFL countries into a monetary system that works for neither. If Europeans only understood half the severity of this problem, there would be a revolution tomorrow morning. For the time being, however, the European soccer cup provides a most welcome distraction.

Aristotle was right. A great city does not need a big population. It can even be as small as Dunedin’s. But every great city needs a population that is passionate about itself, ambitious for its future, and optimistic about its outlook.

If newspaper reports last weekend are to be believed, Germany is pressuring Spain to accept a European bailout. The story is all the more credible as the Spanish government has strongly denied any such bullying. Veteran Euro crisis observers remember that Ireland’s bailout began in precisely the same way.