The year 2008 marked the advent of a financial crisis that began with a subprime scandal and mistakes made by credit rating agencies followed by the excesses of a financial capitalism that got seriously off track. This included the dissimulation of risks, unverified and highly complicated financial instruments, legal loopholes and the persistence of tax havens attracting a share of world savings that would be more justly used to finance investments and growth.In 2008, IMF had reported that these terrible lapses will cost the international banking system about a trillion dollars in the long-term.
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The Eurozone’s Austerity Obsession
A small focus on what Austerity is about and how Portugal is facing hard times after Greece and Ireland. Different economists have different analysis to make but traditional theories remain intact and this world meltdown seem to be questioning some theoretical approaches towards a more practical world.
The ‘EDGE’ of Fiscal Cliff
The Budget Control Act was a poison-pill deal designed to force them to find a less austere compromise, but political power struggle meant no deal was done, and the deadline arrived. A combination of expiring tax cuts and across-the-board government spending cuts scheduled to become effective December 31, 2012 defines ‘fiscal cliff’.
The Base-ics of Basel
According to the BIS, “The choice of Switzerland for the seat of the BIS was a compromise by those countries that established the BIS: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. When consensus could not be reached on locating the Bank in London, Brussels or Amsterdam, the choice fell on Switzerland. An independent, neutral country, Switzerland offered the BIS less exposure to undue influence from any of the major powers. Within Switzerland, Basel was chosen largely because of its location, with excellent railway connections in all directions, especially important at a time when most international travel was by train.”