August 2012 archive

Aug 29

The ECB’s role against spread

Beyond the debate over the pros and cons of direct ECB’s actions to sustain the price of European bonds under attack, Andrew Bosomworth, managing director of the German office of Pimco, the world’s largest investor in government bonds, fears that the new program will mainly attract speculators rather than long-term lenders. “If interest rates for …

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Aug 29

Peak cheap oil

Although Barclays Capital expects the crude market tightens by 2.4m barrels a day (bpd) this quarter, with little extra supply in sight, and  Goldman Sachs said the industry is chronically incapable of meeting global needs – “It is only a matter of time before inventories and OPEC spare capacity become effectively exhausted, requiring higher oil …

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Aug 28

Italy for sale #3

Bad news or a helping hand for those at work on the big sale of Italian assets? Martti Hetemäki, Vice-Minister of Finance and Kare Halonen, Secretary of the State Council of Finland are today in Rome for confidential meetings with members of the Italian government, to provide the Finnish recipe to drop the debt cake: …

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Aug 27

Fire

Italy is burning (+104% hectares destroyed by fire in 2012, fraudulent in 90% of cases), but the offenders usually stay free and risk very light penalties (288 people accused until 10 August are gently called ‘pyromaniacs’ by media and Authorities), and the Municipal land registers of burnt areas have never been activated (they are necessary …

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Aug 23

Earth Overshoot Day

Yesterday,   August 23, was Earth Overshoot Day: in 8 Months, humanity exhausted earth’s budget for the year, Global Footprint Network calculated.

Aug 23

Taking conflict out of consumer gadget

Enough Project, a non-profit sponsored by Center for American Progress issued its 2012 report on Company rankings on conflict minerals, where the top companies engaged at eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chain are in evidence.

Aug 23

They see a light

The most influential members of the Italian government have been the leading actors of the annual convention of Comunione e Liberazione, the powerful catholic sect with a strong bias for business and many leaders convicted or prosecuted for bribing. Probably due to the mystic atmosphere in the “Meeting” and against any evidence and data (see …

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