27 de abril de 2009

"Windows XP Virtual dentro del Futuro Windows 7"


Microsoft acaba de desvelar su última sorpresa para Windows 7: un modo de compatibilidad con Windows XP que, por su funcionamiento, le permitirá ejecutar prácticamente el 100% de los programas desarrollados o compatibles con XP. ¿Cómo? Muy sencillo, añadiendo una máquina virtual de Windows XP ejecutándose encima del sistema operativo. En cristiano, un Windows dentro de otro Windows.



Esta funcionalidad no vendrá por defecto, sino que se ofrecerá como una descarga opcional (como los Live Essentials) sin coste añadido para las versiones profesionales de Windows 7: Professional, Enterprise y Ultimate. En la descarga se incluye el propio programa basado en Virtual PC, una copia de Windows XP SP3 con su licencia, sin incrementar el precio de Windows 7. Vamos, un dos por uno.



En las versiones para usuarios domésticos, Home Premium, Home Basic y Starter todavía no se sabe si será posible tener esta funcionalidad pervio pago, o si, lo más probable, no será posible de ninguna manera. Es lógico en el sentido de que las empresas son las más propensas a tener software antiguo, pero por el otro lado eso implica que las versiones más básicas tendrán una cartera de aplicaciones compatibles mucho más reducida.



"Swine Flu & U.S. Pork Industry"


The U.S. pork industry shifted into rapid-response mode following the news of an outbreak of swine flu in humans, trying to quell disease fears and protect an already weak pork market. Although there appears to be no evidence yet tying the flu to human contact with pigs, Russia banned meat imports from Mexico, several U.S. states and nine Latin American nations.



In a news release Sunday, the National Pork Producers Council said, "Pork is safe to eat." The producers council, citing the Centers for Disease Control, said "preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs." The association also said people generally don't contract swine flu through eating pork or pork products, especially if the meat is "properly handled and cooked." But the council urged producers to tighten their protocols to protect pigs from the virus, including restricting public access to barns.



The flu threatens to pose a challenge for an industry that has already seen exports decline as the recession has hurt global meat demand. In February, pork exports were down about 13% versus February 2008, said the U.S. Agriculture Department.



High feed costs also are hurting the industry, with many pork producers barely profitable. Smithfield Foods Inc., one of the world's largest pork producers, Smithfield, Va., reported a $103.1 million net loss in its most recent quarter.



The industry has been "looking for any signs of strength," said Joseph Kerns, purchasing director at pork producer Iowa Select Farms, Iowa Falls, Iowa. The flu "is potentially another dagger in the back," he said, but "it's not time to push the panic button yet."



The World Health Organization said Sunday there is no evidence swine flu is spread by exposure to pork or pigs. A preliminary investigation by the CDC did not show that any of the 11 people in the U.S. who contracted the virus had been in contact with pigs.



"Based on the CDC's analysis, there does not seem to be any reason to restrict pork imports or consumption, but this situation is so new that it undoubtedly will take a few days for the correct information to reach all parties," Jim Herlihy, vice president of information services for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, an industry group.



According to the group's Web site, in 2008 Russia was this nation's fourth-largest international customer for pork and pork variety meats, with 217,767 metric tons worth $476 million. For January and February 2009, exports to Russia were down 49% from year ago, at 13,721 tons valued at $24.8 million.



"Private Student Loans: the Way to Cover the Total Cost of your Education"


Students are offered financial assistance and support from colleges and universities with an intention to enable them complete their studies without any hassles. These student loans or grants are also offered by federal government agencies and private organizations. Financial aid offered by colleges and universities are specific to students who pursue their education in that particular college or university.



But, the cost of education continues to increase. After you first take advantage of Federal student loans, you may discover you still have significant unmet expenses you need to cover to pay for your education.



So, if your scholarships, grants, and federal student loans don’t cover the total cost of your education, you can still get the money you need for school. Remember, there a lot of private companies that can offer you a private student loan to complete your studies.



Private student loans
are available to undergrads and graduate students for tuition and fees, room and board, and other education-related expenses like supplies, books, etc.



But don’t forget that factors such as interest rate, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), length of repayment, loan minimum and maximum as well as fees should be carefully considered when researching and choosing a private loan.



You must to know that a private student loan is often an attractive and affordable option to help pay your education expenses. Just remember, borrow only what you need and compare your options before you borrow. That is the wise way.



" Recover your Gambling Tax"


Canadians who gamble in the United States may find that 30% of their winnings are withheld to cover U.S. non-resident's tax. Under certain circumstances, this gambling tax can be recovered by filing a “US tax recovery”. Never forget that the IRS requires casinos and other gambling establishments to withhold 30% of the gambling winnings of Canadian visitors to the U.S.



However, if you also have U.S. gambling losses during the year, it is possible to file a return, deduct those losses from your winnings, and receive a refund of the tax withheld. You must have received 1042-S forms (or W-2G forms) from the gambling establishments showing income and tax withheld, and you must be a U.S. non-resident, for this procedure to work.



Nevertheless, people from countries like Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom; do not have to establish gambling losses in order to claim full gambling tax refunds.


So if you want to get your “casino tax refund”, you can use professional help, or you can deal with IRS by yourself. But remember, we are living in an economic crisis, and every dollar counts!



"Domiciliar la Nómina en el Banco Sabadell ¿Oportunismo o Masoquismo Financiero?"


Todos sabemos perfectamente que vivimos en una época en la que los bancos están viviendo un auténtico tsunami financiero, que ya ha hecho caer a muchos en Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Bélgica, Francia; e incluso, en el denominado “sistema financiero más sólido del mundo” (Zapatero dixit), esa gran entidad llamada Caja Castilla la Mancha (gobernada durante los últimos 30 años por el PSOE) ha tenido que ser rescatada, fruto de una “talantosa gestión” que la ha dejado al borde de la quiebra.



En este peculiar escenario de necesidad imperiosa de liquidez, muchos bancos han empezado a lanzar múltiples ofertas, promociones, y ampliaciones de servicios a coste cero, con tal de que los ciudadanos les lleven sus ahorros, sus nóminas, sus pensiones, o que contraten con ellos sus fondos de pensión. En este post sponsorizado analizaré la oferta de uno de ellos: el Banco Sabadell.



Esta entidad bancaria catalana ofrece:


- La devolución del 3% en los recibos domiciliados de luz, agua, teléfono, internet y móvil.


- Cero comisiones por mantenimiento, administración, ingresar cheques y transferencias nacionales hasta 50.000 euros.


- Tarjetas de crédito y débito gratis.


- Servicio de alertas gratuitas vía SMS o por correo electrónico.



La verdad es que al leer esto me he sentido extremadamente sorprendido, especialmente al ver que no cobran comisiones por administración y mantenimiento, ya que hace unos pocos años, cuando la economía iba viento en popa, la filosofía que mantenía el Banco Sabadell al respecto era la de cargar a sus clientes con un aluvión de comisiones excesivas y poco justificables, que en teoría pretendían remunerar unos servicios, escasa o nulamente prestados por esta entidad.



Ya saben, cosillas como cobrar 28,56 euros anuales por el mantenimiento de una cuenta en la que no se habían hecho movimientos en años, y en la que se había solicitado los informes vía email (para que así no tuvieran que mandar esas molestas cartas en las que te ofrecen la misma información, o directamente publicidad, una y otra vez; y por descontado, a cargo del cliente).






No obstante, y a pesar del cambio de política producido, dado que yo considero que lo más adecuado a la hora de contratar un servicio financiero es examinar la trayectoria completa de un banco, y no el dejarse llevar por la promoción del momento, a título personal puedo afirmar que bajo ningún concepto voy a domiciliar mi nómica en el Banco Sabadell,
ni a contratar una cuenta nómina, una hipoteca o cualquier otro servicio que puedan ofrecerme.



Y es que yo valoro la relación de confianza que pueda entablar con mi banco: ya saben, el saber que en cuanto vuelvan a cambiar las circunstancias económicas, no me cobrarán una comisión por estornudar en una de sus sucursales.



No obstante, los señores lectores son libres para contratar el producto financiero que deseen… Al fin y al cabo, vivimos en un país libre, y el “masoquismo financiero” no deja de ser más que otra "opción personal".




24 de abril de 2009

"FIAT Wants to Buy Opel, the General Motors´s division in Europe"



Aiming to benefit from Detroit’s problems and vault itself into the top tier of the car industry, the Italian automaker Fiat is eyeing a major stake in General Motors’ Opel division in Europe, even as it simultaneously nears a deal to save Chrysler. Fiat’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, already in Washington for talks on the Chrysler deal, has raised the possibility of also acquiring Opel in talks with United States officials, a top government negotiator said Thursday.



Executives said Fiat had discussed Opel with G.M., as well as officials of the German government, which would play a key role in financing any merger between Opel and Fiat. Such a deal, while far from certain, could turn Mr. Marchionne, a lawyer by training, into one of the most prominent auto executives in the world. It would also transform the landscape of an industry now beset by pessimism and doubt.


Fiat is seeking 20 percent of Chrysler, rather than a majority, but almost any arrangement would give it effective control. If Fiat, Chrysler and Opel were all under one roof, the combined company would rank among the top three automakers in the world, behind Toyota Motor and G.M. Today, Chrysler, Fiat and Opel churn out nearly seven million cars annually, though any combination would probably lead to consolidation and the elimination of at least a few factories.



Magna International, a diversified Canadian auto parts company, is also considering a deal for Opel, a German official said. “There are, in contrast to earlier assertions, interested private investors, and a number of them at that,” said Roland Koch, the premier of the German state of Hesse, where Opel has its headquarters. “It is a good thing for the future of Opel that there is competition for the company. Magna and Fiat are two of the possible partners. But it is clear that there are no decisions yet.”



The competition for the automaker represents an abrupt change from just a few weeks ago, when it appeared that there were no parties interested in G.M.’s European operations and that the German government might have to take it over itself or give it away. “It’s a tall order to combine three companies at the same time, but if anyone can do it, Marchionne can,” said David Arnold of Credit Suisse. But underscoring the weakness of the industry, Credit Suisse reiterated its “sell” rating on Fiat shares Thursday.



“We still have concerns ahead of any final confirmation of a deal,” he said. “Along with the grandiose plans, Fiat has 6.6 billion euros in net debt.” That debt is the equivalent of $8.6 billion. A merger with Opel would substantially improve Fiat’s sales mix in Europe. While Opel is strong in Germany and Britain, Fiat is concentrated in Southern Europe, Philippe Houchois of UBS in London noted.



During a conference call with analysts Thursday afternoon, Mr. Marchionne said he had not had direct talks with Opel, adding, “Chrysler is my first and foremost objective.” Mr. Marchionne has long argued that number of auto companies needs to shrink, and that without addressing the overcapacity in the industry, consistent profits will be difficult to achieve for most carmakers. He has said that a car company needs to make at least five million vehicles a year, with one million units on each car platform, to succeed.



“We need to go back to making cars and making money making cars,” Mr. Marchionne said Thursday. “This is an incredibly poor industry, and we have not earned our cost of capital. We have caused enormous damage by the moves we made.” An edge of anger creeping into his voice, he said he was not aiming to create a new industrial empire, as some analysts have suggested, but rather create a profitable template for the industry. “The obligation is on all of us not to do stupid things,” he said.



But many analysts doubt that Mr. Marchionne can pull off such a three-way deal, despite his success at reviving Fiat’s fortunes since he took over there five years ago. Michael Tyndall, an auto specialist at Nomura International in London, said that while the industrial logic for such a combination was strong, Fiat faced huge political obstacles in Germany. “Closing factories requires firing people,” Mr. Tyndall said. “I can’t see the German government, particularly in an election year, financing a deal that would require jobs to be cut.”



Mr. Tyndall said it was possible that Mr. Marchionne, who has not been shy about negotiating through the press, was simply engaging in brinksmanship with Chrysler stakeholders. “Fiat’s hand in the negotiations is clearly strengthened if it has a ‘Plan B,’ ” he said. Opel union leaders and some German government officials oppose any deal with Fiat, because they fear that an alliance would result in more job losses than would a takeover by Magna. “We reject Fiat taking a stake in Opel,” Armin Schild, a union leader and member of the Opel board, told Reuters. “Labor will not make any contributions should an agreement with Fiat be reached.”



Nelson Silveira, a spokesman in Zurich for G.M. Europe, said that “General Motors has reached out to several investors for Opel” but that “we will not comment on any speculation about who is being engaged.” He said that G.M. was open to selling either a minority or majority stake, but that G.M. would retain an interest in the company.



Separately on Thursday, G.M. said it would idle 13 assembly plants in North America to reduce production by 190,000 vehicles from May through July. The White House has set an April 30 deadline for labor leaders, lenders, Chrysler executives and Fiat to reach an agreement on concessions, if Chrysler is to receive an additional $6 billion in loans to prevent it from going into bankruptcy.


If Fiat were able to engineer a deal with Opel, it would make it the second-largest automaker in Europe, behind Volkswagen, up from its current sixth-place status. Max Warburton, an analyst with Bernstein Research in London, estimated that merging with Opel could save Fiat 1.5 billion euros from shared product development, even before other steps like plant closures or layoffs.



But in a sign that even Fiat is suffering from the overall industry’s problem’s, the company reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2009 of 411 million euros, compared with a profit of 427 million euros a year earlier. Revenue fell 25 percent, to 11.3 billion euros, with volume “declining across all businesses.”




Magna International, based in Aurora, Canada, owns Magna Steyr, based in Graz, Austria. A spokeswoman for the company in Troy, Mich., Tracy Fuerst, said it was the company’s policy “not to comment on speculation.”



"Oracle compra Sun Microsystems: el Control de la Tecnología Java, Solaris y MySQL"


El grupo estadounidense de software Oracle ha alcanzado un acuerdo para comprar Sun Microsystems por un montante estimado de 5.600 millones de dólares (4.320 millones de euros) en efectivo, que alcaza los 7.400 millones de dólares (5.710 millones de euros) al sumarle la deuda de Sun, según han anunciado hoy ambas empresas. El precio por acción ha sido de 9,50 dólares, un 42% más que el cierre de la cotización de Sun el 17 de abril.



El consejero delegado de Oracle, Larry Ellison, ha mostrado su satisfacción con el acuerdo alcanzado y ha afirmado que "la compra de Sun transforma la industria de tecnologías de la información", mientras que el presidente de Sun, Scott McNealy, ha calificado la fusión como la "evolución natural de la relación entre las dos empresas" y ha afirmado que el evento supone un "hito" en la historia del sector.



De este modo, Oracle se hace con Sun Microsystems, una compañía sobre la que en las últimas semanas habían abundado los rumores, que, principalmente, señalaban el interés de IBM (gran rival de Oracle en el sector del software) en adquirir la empresa, cuya oferta pasó de 9,55 dólares iniciales a 9,40 dólares, aunque finalmente desistió de su interés el pasado 6 de abril.



Históricamente, el negocio de bases de datos de Oracle se ha realizado en conjunción con el de los servidores de Sun. En los últimos años, sin embargo, Oracle había optado por acercarse a dos de los grandes rivales de la ahora adquirida, HP y Dell. Oracle sigue así el modelo de negocio de IBM, que fabrica sus propias máquinas para vender sus programas informáticos.



La compra proporcionará a Oracle la tecnología Java de Sun (uno de los más utilizados hoy en día y versátiles gracias a su enfoque multiplataforma, disponible incluso en dispositivos móviles gracias a su Micro Edition) y el sistema operativo Solaris.



Además, Oracle se hace con el control de la base de datos de código abierto MySQL, una rival directa de la propia base de datos de Oracle. Actualmente es la más utilizada en servicios de hosting y proyectos libres, pero la principal duda se cierne sobre su futuro. ¿Buscará Oracle su “muerte” para potenciar sus propios productos? ¿La destripará y utilizará sus tecnologías en sus propias bases de datos? ¿O tal vez la mantendrá tal y como está ahora?



Si por algo es conocida Oracle, es por sus bases de datos. No obstante, su catálogo se extiende más allá, con soluciones corporativas que abarcan CRM's, ERP's y, en general, cualquier producto para la gestión y administración de la gran empresa. Porque hay que tener muy en cuenta que este es el terreno natural de Oracle Corporation, no la pequeña y mediana empresa ni el usuario final, sino las grandes compañías con centenares o miles de usuarios por administrar y necesidades de bases de datos y programas que manejen con soltura miles o incluso millones de datos.



La pregunta que debe plantearse ahora es si se sabrá rentabilizar la absorción de toda la compañía, o se empezará a soltar lastre (la parte de hardware de Sun) y se centrarán en aquellos sectores en los que hay verdaderas sinergias.



23 de abril de 2009

"Gold Coins: the Ultimate Asset to Ensure Your Retirement"


Millions of Americans are worried about the economic crisis, and especially about their retirement. They know that the primary assets used in retirement planning, like stocks, bonds, annuities and savings accounts are not longer as safe as they use to be.



Stocks provided the opportunity for growth; bonds produced income, and precious metals protected against inflation and financial chaos. But, as the stock market climbed onward and upward, caution was thrown to the wind. Stocks came to dominate most portfolios, pushing bonds to the back burner and precious metals out of the picture.



Now appears to be a prudent time to return to a portfolio weighed heavily toward gold.
Because there is a classic solution to ensure your retirement: gold coins. Making physical precious metals part of your IRA is a great way to diversify and protect your retirement portfolio. Precious metals are recession-proof investments that are historically proven hedges against negative economic conditions like inflation, war, housing bubbles and taxation.



You know that if you buy gold coins, your money will be safe. If you buy gold bullion your Money also will be safe, but could you say the same if you put your money in NASDAQ? In uncertain times, no other investment is as reliable a safe haven as precious metals bullion. A stake in gold or silver bullion today will reduce the volatility of your holdings and make your retirement a brighter place



Protect your portfolio and your future with the enduring value of precious metals. Remember, your gold IRA is the key of your future golden retirement.



19 de abril de 2009

"Bancos Suizos, Secreto Bancario y Fraude Fiscal"


Los líderes del G-20 ahora han declarado que "la era del secreto bancario terminó", y han amenazado con emprender acciones contra las "jurisdicciones no-cooperativas, inclusive los paraísos fiscales". Nadie debería incluir a Suiza entre ellos, porque el gobierno suizo ya ofreció mejorar la cooperación internacional adoptando el estándar de la OCDE sobre asistencia administrativa internacional en cuestiones impositivas.



Para apreciar las implicancias de esto, es importante conocer el contexto. Los bancos suizos están obligados por ley a extender un grado muy alto de confidencialidad banco-cliente a todos sus clientes, tanto suizos como extranjeros. Cualquier banquero que revele detalles sobre los asuntos de sus clientes a un tercero no autorizado está cometiendo un delito penal en Suiza.



Pero esta confidencialidad banco-cliente nunca ha sido 100% absoluta, y la legislación suiza deja perfectamente en claro qué es lo que protege y lo que no. Por ejemplo, no plantea obstáculos de ningún tipo a la investigación criminal. Una característica de la ley suiza es que hace una distinción entre la evasión impositiva y el fraude impositivo. Presentar una declaración de impuestos incompleta, por caso, sería evasión fiscal y se la trata mediante medidas administrativas, inclusive multas severas si fuera necesario.



De modo que, a pesar de algunos informes de los medios extranjeros, la evasión impositiva no es legal en Suiza; simplemente no es un delito penal. Todo aquel a quien se descubra evadiendo ilegalmente sus obligaciones fiscales en Suiza enfrenta duras sanciones financieras. El fraude impositivo, en cambio, implica falsificar documentos y, por ende, mucha más penalidad. El fraude impositivo sí es un delito penal en Suiza.



La implicancia internacional es que Suiza tradicionalmente ha ofrecido asistencia internacional en casos impositivos penales que tienen elementos de fraude, pero no de evasión. Al acordar la adopción del estándar sobre el intercambio de información estipulado en el Artículo 26 de la Convención Impositiva Modelo de la OCDE, Suiza ahora brindará asistencia administrativa para cubrir todos los delitos impositivos, entre ellos la evasión.



Los estados que implementaron el Artículo 26 concuerdan en intercambiar información bajo pedido, pero no en la divulgación automática de información. Esto significa que el país que busca información debe realizar un pedido justificado, nombrando a la persona gravable y al banco específico en cuestión o describiéndolos con suficiente detalle. Las llamadas "expediciones de pesca" -una búsqueda indiscriminada con red de arrastre por las cuentas bancarias- siguen estando fuera de los límites.



La privacidad de los clientes que no están bajo sospecha, en consecuencia, seguirá protegida por la confidencialidad banco-cliente que impera en Suiza. Los ciudadanos en una democracia nunca permitirían que su gobierno tuviera un derecho automático de entrada forzada a sus hogares por si acaso fuera a encontrar artículos robados. ¿Por qué, entonces, el estado debería tener un derecho automático de entrada forzada a las cuentas bancarias por si acaso fuera a encontrar unos pocos evasores o criminales impositivos?



Una vez que Suiza asume el compromiso de hacer algo, lo hace minuciosamente, de manera eficiente y a tiempo. La implementación del acuerdo con la Unión Europea sobre la tributación de los ahorros es un buen ejemplo de ello. Confío en que la misma confiabilidad quedará demostrada en el compromiso por parte de Suiza de asumir el estándar de la OCDE, que se incorporará en futuros convenios bilaterales de doble imposición. Tras este compromiso, toda crítica inapropiada de Suiza y su sistema legal, y también las varias amenazas de poner a Suiza en una llamada "lista negra", deberían terminar.



Pero no he terminado del todo con la OCDE. La OCDE es una agrupación multinacional de 30 países establecida hace casi medio siglo, de la que Suiza es miembro. No es una organización internacional, y no tiene ninguna autoridad legal para hablar por el mundo o establecer reglas, normas o estándares para ningún estado excepto sus propios miembros -que China no sea un miembro demuestra a las claras las limitaciones de su alcance-. La convención instituyente de la OCDE la insta a favorecer la sólida expansión económica y contribuir al crecimiento del comercio mundial sobre una base multilateral y no discriminatoria.



Sin embargo, el trato que recibió Suiza recientemente por parte de la OCDE ha sido escandaloso. La redacción secreta de una lista negra a espaldas de un miembro es inaceptable y, en mi opinión, perjudica seriamente la credibilidad de la OCDE. Dicho sea de paso, pienso que sería mucho más productivo confeccionar una lista de aquellos estados que han destruido o dañado la relación de confianza con sus ciudadanos a punto tal que sólo pueden asegurar sus ingresos tributarios penalizando la evasión impositiva y pisoteando la privacidad.



Las acusaciones de que Suiza es un paraíso fiscal normalmente provienen de países que tienen un bajo nivel de honestidad tributaria. El estado suizo, por el contrario, tiene una excelente relación con sus contribuyentes, y existe un nivel correspondientemente alto de honestidad por parte de los tributantes. El pueblo suizo vota sus propios impuestos, tiene un alto nivel de control sobre la manera en que se gasta la recaudación tributaria y cree que su sistema impositivo es justo, transparente y comprensible.



Los críticos deberían estudiar el modelo suizo con la idea de mejorar las cosas en sus propios países. La propia OCDE destacó el Código de Conducta para Autoridades Impositivas, Contribuyentes y Asesores Tributarios de Suiza como un ejemplo de cómo promover lo que llama una "relación mejorada entre los contribuyentes y los organismos de recaudación".



De los evasores impositivos del mundo, el 99,99% no tiene una cuenta bancaria en Suiza, pero Suiza es un blanco fácil. No hay ninguna implicancia de riesgo político; los suizos no tienen un lobby poderoso en Estados Unidos o en la UE que puedan movilizar; como lugar de nacimiento de la banca privada, Suiza tiene un enorme valor simbólico; como líder mundial de la banca privada, provoca celos.



En estos tiempos económicos difíciles, Suiza viene a ser un chivo expiatorio asequible, lo que le permite a los estados en problemas financieros descargar sus frustraciones y desviar la atención de sus ciudadanos de las anomalías de sus propios sistemas tributarios complicados e ineficientes. Los ataques a Suiza deberían ser vistos y analizados desde esta perspectiva.


El artículo es de Pierre G. Mirabaud, presidente de la Asociación de Banqueros Suizos. Aunque dice unas cuantas verdades, me ha hecho mucha gracia ver cómo arrima el ascua a su sardina de una forma tan descarada, ¿verdad?



"Unpopularity: the DownFall of Sarkozy"


By most measures, Nicolas Sarkozy ought to be having a good recession. Long before the crash came, the French president had called for an end to capitalist excess, appeals that were mocked at the time but now seem prescient. Tighter bank regulation and a more interventionist state à la française are both back in vogue. The government has not (yet) had to rescue any big French bank. French people are not personally much in debt. True, France’s economy has been battered, but less so than most of its neighbours’. The Paris-based OECD expects GDP to shrink by 3.3% this year, compared with 3.7% in Britain and 5.3% in Germany. Yet French voters are in a volatile mood and Mr Sarkozy is surprisingly unpopular at home.



Indeed, the president’s ratings slipped by another two points to 36% in April, according to TNS-Sofres’s monthly poll. He got only a small boost after the G20 summit in London, even though the French press interpreted it as a Franco-German success. His numbers are hovering at a level far below the heights of popularity that he enjoyed during his first six months in office in 2007. In one recent poll, more respondents expressed confidence in the ability of the trade unions than of Mr Sarkozy to soften the impact of the recession. More crushing still, a poll this week that showed Mr Sarkozy shedding six further points placed at the top of its popularity list none other than Mr Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac.


How to explain this? One reason is absolute economic performance. With the evening news every day reporting job losses and factory closures, it is little consolation for the French to learn that their economy is not shrinking as fast as Germany’s. People may not have hefty mortgages or huge unpaid credit-card bills. But the impact of the global downturn is still being keenly felt. Unemployment is once again the voters’ biggest concern; the jobless rate reached 8.6% in February, well above the European Union average. There is outrage that ordinary workers are paying with their jobs even as France has its own fat-cat pay scandals, such as the 180% salary rise, to an annual €1.3m, enjoyed by Jean-François Cirelli, a former government adviser who is now vice-president of GDF-Suez, an energy giant.


Voters gave Mr Sarkozy some credit for his initial handling of the financial crisis. But as recession has taken hold, disappointment has set in. They have trouble reconciling the image of their action-man president with his apparent impotence in the face of a global crisis. It is not for his want of trying. The president vowed to save a Caterpillar machinery factory in Grenoble and a Continental tyre plant in Picardy; the government wants to keep Heuliez, a car-parts maker employing 1,000 workers, in business. Yet voters have grown wary of promises, partly because Mr Sarkozy makes more than he can keep. Last year, when Arcelor-Mittal announced the closure of part of a steel factory in Gandrange, in eastern France, he rushed to the scene and promised to keep it open—only for the company to close it anyway, with the loss of 575 jobs at the site.



Another explanation is that Mr Sarkozy no longer dominates international diplomacy in the way he did when France held the European Union presidency in the second half of 2008. The French liked the way their hyperactive president was constantly in the thick of diplomatic action, strutting from Georgia to the Middle East and making France count again in the world. Even now, polls show that voters approve of the way Mr Sarkozy defends French interests abroad, though most remain doubtful that he can do much to save jobs at home.



A further factor is a generally tense mood around the country. The voters do not blame this entirely on Mr Sarkozy, but it does not help to inspire confidence in him. That the French like taking to the streets, often being transported to their capital in coaches hired by unions, is hardly new. There have been two days of massive street protests and strikes this year, one drawing as many as 3m people across the country. For the first time on May 1st, Labour Day, all the main trade unions have called for a joint day of action.



The numbers can be impressive. But the government treats most organised, orderly protests as a normal, even useful, way to vent frustration. It is the hardening of more sporadic protests that has prompted greater concern. Examples include an outbreak of kidnapping—or “bossnapping”—of company bosses, held by workers in their offices overnight. Student protests have closed some universities, with lectures cancelled, for weeks on end. Fishermen this week blockaded the ports of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk with boats and barricades of burning tyres. None of these incidents is related. But they all seem legitimate in voters’ eyes: 64% of respondents to one poll say that the perpetrators, including bossnappers, should not be punished.



Above all, there is a worry that the slightest provocation could turn things much nastier. Henri Guaino, one of Mr Sarkozy’s aides in the Elysée, said on television recently that “the political risk is very high, the risk of violence, of revolt, is very great”. With a nod to the Jacquerie uprising of 1358, Nicolas Baverez, an economic commentator, calls this the exception française. France responds badly to economic shocks, he argues, partly because of a lack of civic institutions below the state. That helps to explain why direct action is so popular, and why protests become radical more quickly than in other countries.



The government is bracing itself for a difficult spring, the traditional season of French discontent. One consolation for Mr Sarkozy is that voters find the main opposition no more credible. The Socialists are as divided as ever, even under their new leader, Martine Aubry. Ségolène Royal, the party’s defeated presidential candidate in 2007, continues to prance about as if on the campaign trail. If any opposition party does well in the European elections in June, it will be François Bayrou’s centrists or Olivier Besancenot’s anti-capitalist hard-left group, not the Socialists.



There is perhaps one other crumb of comfort for the president. Mr Sarkozy may not be popular but he is still far above the depths plumbed by Mr Chirac. In 2006, as student protests spread around the country, Mr Chirac’s poll rating collapsed to a pitiful 16%. Mr Sarkozy has quite a way to go before he sinks that low.



15 de abril de 2009

"Skype Will Go Back to the Stock Market"


Having failed in its attempt to sell Skype, eBay is now poised to carve off the business via an initial public offering. That could be a gamble.



Market conditions allowing, the online-auction titan will float Skype next year, eBay chief executive John Donohoe said late on Tuesday. This suggests that eBay's apparent sale talks with Skype's Scandinavian founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, and three private equity groups, have broken down. The bidders had reportedly been offering eBay around $2.0 billion for the business, $600.0 million less than what the founders had sold it to eBay for in 2005.



Donohoe's announcement could be a veiled attempt to find another bidder for the Skype; eBay has, of course, denied this. Trouble is the Internet telephony service is a tough sale. Skype might be a a popular communication tool, accounting for around 8.0% of the world's international calling according to Telegeography, but translating "eyeballs" into "revenue" has proved challenging.



Skype's customers only spend an average 11.3 cents a month on its service, compared with the typical spend of around $50 a month for a cellphone. Analysts have also doubted eBay's goal to double Skype's $551.0 million in revenue last year, to $1.0 billion. Taking Skype to the next level would require considerable capital investment, says Atlantic Equities analyst James Caldwell, and that could deter a buyer.



As if the cloudy revenue model weren't enough, Joltid, a firm which owns the intellectual property rights to the peer-to-peer technology that Skype uses, has been attempting to end its licensing deal with the firm. (Joltid is owned by none other than Zennstrom and Friis.) EBay has fought back in a London court, but the prospect of appeals and counter-appeals on an issue so core to Skype's success could be enough to put off investors already hesitant to open their purse strings.



With eBay struggling to find buyers in the technology and private equity spheres, the obvious question is whether ordinary investors will be convinced to buy shares. There are are plenty of tech IPO horror stories to put them off: back in 2000, 3Com's floatation of the hand-held computer maker Palm was so oversubscribed it sent the price soaring--and the stock has lost 98.0% of its value since.




12 de abril de 2009

"The Rise of Chinese Foreign Exchange Reserves"


China's central bank said Saturday that its foreign exchange reserves rose 16% from a year earlier to $1.9537 trillion by the end of March. China's reserves, already the world's largest, increased by $7.7 billion in the first quarter -- $146.2 billion less than the same period last year, the People's Bank of China said in a notice on its Web site.



That rise was substantially less than the fourth quarter increase of almost $45 billion, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency, showing the impact of slowing exports due to the financial crisis. In March, the reserves increased by $41.7 billion, it said, $6.7 billion more than the same period last year. Analysts believe China holds up to 70% of its foreign reserves in U.S. dollar-denominated assets, including Treasury securities.



China's reserves have ballooned as the central bank buys up dollars generated from its huge trade and influx of foreign investment. While China's economy has slowed due to a plunge in trade and a slump in the domestic real estate industry, recent data show the drop eased in March.



Beijing has taken steps to hold down the price of exports by cutting taxes on exporters and stopping the rise of China's tightly controlled currency, the yuan, against the U.S. dollar. Economists say both steps could strain relations with trading partners if China is seen to be competing unfairly. Western leaders including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are pressing for China to contribute to a global bailout fund from its reserves.



Exports fell 17% in March from a year earlier, the fifth straight monthly decline but less severe than February's 25.7% plunge, the sharpest in a decade, the customs agency reported Friday. It said trade "showed clear signs of improvement." Imports fell by 25.7%, widening the Chinese trade surplus to $18.6 billion from February's $4.8 billion gap.



Fuente: WSJ



"Ice Lost & Clima Change"


Evidence of ice loss from both poles this week has sparked fresh fears that global warming is progressing faster than scientists had predicted. Arctic ice has thinned dramatically, as well as shrinking in area, according to US research. Thin seasonal ice, which melts and refreezes each year, now makes up about 70 per cent of the Arctic winter ice, up from about 40 to 50 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s, leaving far less of the older, thicker ice that is harder to melt.



In the Antarctic, an ice bridge connecting an island to the Wilkins ice shelf – a sheet of ice about the size of Northern Ireland – shattered as scientists monitored it through satellite observations. “What we’re seeing is very dramatic,” said Andrew Fleming, remote sensing manager at the British Antarctic Survey. “It’s very worrying.”



Scientists believed the effects were linked to the “very strong warming” at the poles, he said. The Antarctic peninsula has warmed by more than 3ºC in the past 50 years. “That’s a staggering rate of warming, and it’s still going up,” said Mr Fleming. Ice shelves take centuries to form, but when they start to break up it can be sudden. The bridge at the Wilkins ice shelf was a 40km strand of ice, at its narrowest point a few hundred metres wide, connecting the shelf to Charcot and Latady islands.



Last year, scientists from the BAS landed on it in an aircraft to examine the ice. They had known for some time it was under strain, but it remained intact until at the end of last week satellite images showed new cracks appearing. The next day, the ice sheet had “exploded from the centre outwards”, said Mr Fleming, who was monitoring the break-up through satellite images from the European Space Agency. “It was very fast, very dramatic,” he said. “It’s now completely shattered.”



The break-up of the ice bridge alarms scientists because it could accelerate the break-up of the rest of the Wilkins shelf. This was at least the 10th shelf to start disintegrating quickly in recent years, said Mr Fleming, and several more were in danger.



Rapid melting of polar sea ice is of particular concern for two reasons: disappearing ice leaves areas of open sea that are dark, and – unlike the reflective ice – absorb the sun’s heat, accelerating the warming process; the break-up of ice shelves exposes glaciers that then begin to move faster to the sea.



The Arctic and some of the Antarctic float on the sea. Ice takes up more space than water, and when this floating ice melts, it does not directly raise sea levels, in the same way that the melting of ice cubes in a full glass of water would not cause the glass to overflow.



However, the glaciers of the Antarctic peninsula are on land, so when they tumble into the sea, they contribute directly to rising sea levels. In the north, the Greenland ice sheet is also on land, and its glaciers are flowing faster to the sea.



If Greenland’s ice sheet melted, it would raise sea levels by seven metres, and if both the east and west Antarctic ice sheets went, the figure would be 10 times higher. That would take hundreds of years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.



Long before the land ice disappeared, however, sea levels would rise significantly – a 1 per cent loss of the Antarctic land ice would probably raise levels by 65cm, estimates the Norwegian Polar Institute. Two conferences this week were addressing the problems of the poles and climate change. At a joint meeting of the Antarctic Treaty and the Arctic Council in the US, Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, said the news of the Wilkins ice shelf showed “global warming has already had enormous effects on our planet, and we have no time to lose in tackling this crisis”.



In Bonn, governments met for the first meeting to thrash out the details of a successor to the Kyoto protocol on climate change. One factor that could help to slow the melting of the Arctic, but which has not yet received serious consideration internationally, would be to cut the amount of “black carbon” – soot – that we spew into the air. Black carbon darkens ice when it falls, causing it to absorb more heat, and may be responsible for half of the warming effect in the Arctic, according to research. Cutting soot would not only remove large amounts of air pollution, but, say some scientists, could be quicker and easier than cutting carbon dioxide emissions.


Fuente: FT

8 de abril de 2009

"Obama’s Green Energy Policy & Oil Gigants"


The Obama administration wants to reduce oil consumption, increase renewable energy supplies and cut carbon dioxide emissions in the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation. But the world’s oil giants are not convinced that it will work. Even as Washington goes into a frenzy over energy, many of the oil companies are staying on the sidelines, balking at investing in new technologies favored by the president, or even straying from commitments they had already made.



Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it would freeze its research and investments in wind, solar and Justificar a ambos ladoshydrogen power, and focus its alternative energy efforts on biofuels. The company had already sold much of its solar business and pulled out of a project last year to build the largest offshore wind farm, near London.



BP, a company that has spent nine years saying it was moving “beyond petroleum,” has been getting back to petroleum since 2007, paring back its renewable program. And American oil companies, which all along have been more skeptical of alternative energy than their European counterparts, are studiously ignoring the new messages coming from Washington.



“In my view, nothing has really changed,” Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said after the election of President Obama. “We don’t oppose alternative energy sources and the development of those. But to hang the future of the country’s energy on those alternatives alone belies reality of their size and scale.”



The administration wants to spend $150 billion over the next decade to create what it calls “a clean energy future.” Its plan would aim to diversify the nation’s energy sources by encouraging more renewables, and it would reduce oil consumption and cut carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The oil companies have frequently run advertisements expressing their interest in new forms of energy, but their actual investments have belied the marketing claims. The great bulk of their investments goes to traditional petroleum resources, including carbon-intensive energy sources like tar sands and natural gas from shale, while alternative investments account for a tiny fraction of their spending. So far, that has changed little under the Obama administration.



“The scale of their alternative investments is so mind-numbingly small that it’s hard to find them,” said Nathanael Greene, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “These companies don’t feel they have to be on the leading edge of this stuff.” Perhaps not surprisingly, most investments in alternative sources of energy are coming from pockets other than those of the oil companies.



In the last 15 years, the top five oil companies have spent around $5 billion to develop sources of renewable energy, according to Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy, an industry trade group. This represents only 10 percent of the roughly $50 billion funneled into the clean-energy sector by venture capital funds and corporate investors during that period, he said.


“Big Oil does not consider renewable energy to be a mainstream business,” Mr. Eckhart said. “It’s a side business for them.” Shell, for example, said it spent $1.7 billion since 2004 on alternative projects. That amount is dwarfed by the $87 billion it spent over the same period on its oil and gas projects around the world. This year, the company’s overall capital spending is set at $31 billion, most of it for the development of fossil fuels.



Industry executives contend that comparing investments in oil and gas projects with their research efforts in the renewable field is misleading. They say that while renewable fuels are needed, they are still at an early stage of development, and petroleum will remain the dominant source of energy for decades.



In its long-term forecast, Exxon says that by 2050, hydrocarbons — including oil, gas, and coal — will account for 80 percent of the world’s energy supplies, about the same as today. “Renewable energy is very real,” David J. O’Reilly, the chief executive of Chevron, said in a speech in New York last November. “We need it. It will be an essential part of the future I envision. But it’s not realistic to suppose we can replace conventional energy in a timeframe that some suggest.”


Chevron has spent about $3.2 billion since 2002 on “renewable and alternative energy and energy efficiency services,” according to Alexander Yelland, a spokesman. It plans to spend $2.7 billion in the three years through 2011 on a variety of projects, including a business that helps improve energy efficiency for companies and government agencies, he said.



Despite Washington’s newfound green enthusiasm, industry executives argue that replacing any significant part of the fossil fuel business will take decades, at best. Just to keep up with growth in demand for conventional sources of energy, producers will need to invest more than $1 trillion each year from now to 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. “Many of these companies see the world is changing,” said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and a historian of the industry. “But the challenge for a very large company is to get critical scale. People tend to forget the scale of the energy business.”


The world consumes about 85 million barrels of oil a day. The United States alone would require six times its arable land — and 75 percent of the world’s cultivated land — to supply its needs with ethanol made from corn, according to calculations by Vaclav Smil, an energy expert at the University of Manitoba. More realistic, and modest, targets are proving tough to reach. Congress’s ethanol mandate, which requires oil companies to use 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2020, cannot be achieved, experts say, without major technological advances that are still years away.



To increase supplies, most companies are looking to tar sands in Canada or converting coal or natural gas into liquid fuels, technologies that emit far more carbon dioxide than conventional oil does. Shell, a major investor in Alberta in Canada, says that traditional oil supplies will not be enough to meet the growth in the world’s energy needs over the next half-century. In 2007, BP invested in Canadian tar sands, prompting criticism that it was “recarbonizing” itself.



John M. Deutch, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former director of central intelligence, said there was little point in criticizing oil companies without first establishing federal rules that set a price on carbon dioxide emissions. Once that happens, he said, companies will adapt their strategies. “What role will oil companies play in the future in alternatives to conventional hydrocarbon? The correct answer is nobody knows,” Mr. Deutch said. “The important thing is for the government to establish a carbon policy. You can be absolutely confident that oil companies will pursue that, as will any other companies.”



One area where companies are increasingly focused is the development of liquid fuels from plants. BP said it would soon build a demonstration plant in Florida for a type of ethanol made from plant material; Shell has worked with several firms since 2002 to develop ethanol from nonfood crops. Last year, it signed agreements with six companies, including one in Brazil, and decided to drop its other renewable efforts to focus solely on biofuels. “Biofuels feels closest to our core business,” said Darci Sinclair, a company spokeswoman.



Other areas also hold significant promise for the industry, like technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground, and energy-efficiency programs, especially in the transportation sector. Exxon, long the most skeptical of the oil companies toward alternative energy investments, is working on long-term programs to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions.



In the end, many analysts say they believe that oil companies are waiting for a winning technology to emerge. Alan Shaw, the chief executive of Codexis, a biotechnology company in Silicon Valley that works with Shell, said oil companies were not blind to the new political reality but they were also in the business of making a profit. “Don’t lose heart with Big Oil,” Mr. Shaw said. “They aren’t at a point where they are ready to invest yet, but they are getting there. I think in the next 10 years, they will invest hundreds of times more than they have in the past 10 years.”


Fuente: IHT/NYT


"Credit Card Rating: Tips to Use your Credit Card Wisely"


Credit scores and credit card rating (or the APR, annual percentage rate, as we know it) are two financially related categories which can determine whether or not financial institutions will lend money to borrowers.


Before an individual can acquire funds from a bank, credit union or other type of lending institution, the lender will check the credit ratings and credit scores of the applicant in their determination of whether or not to lend money to that particular person.



You have to be fully-aware of the pros and cons of appropriately using credit card because if not, you may end up with a huge credit card debt that can make you have a bad credit rating.



A good credit rating will prepare for a happy future too. Choosing a credit card is sometimes a really difficult decision. The credit cards features such as the APR (annual percentage rate), annual fees, repayment requirements are important things to consider. But maybe it is more important to know about how to use properly a credit card. Perhaps you need some specific advice about that, subsequently I hope these tips can help you:



1 - Don’t recklessly and unnecessarily apply for Credit Cards: every time you apply for a new credit card, an inquiry is made on your credit report. The more inquiries which are made, the less likely it is that lenders will provide you with credit.



2- Keep Overall Spending on Credit Cards to a Minimum: this will keep the credit card debt on each individual card to a reasonable amount and it will make it more likely that you can pay off your credit cards in a timely manner.


3- Try to Decrease Credit Card Debt to 10% or below: doing so will show other lenders that you have a good enough credit card rating to be given a higher credit card limit yet you choose to keep your balance low by paying off current debt on a continual basis.


4- Don’t Close Unused Cards: try to resist the urge to spend any money using that particular credit card yet keep it open. Thus, the cardholder is establishing a credit and helping to increase their credit card rating in a favourable way.



Remember, we are living in a time of global economic crisis; so use wisely your credit card and ensure the good and safe future you deserve.




2 de abril de 2009

"Hungary & International Crisis"


Days before the leaders of the Group of 20 gathered to make decisions — or avoid them — that would directly affect Hungary, Sandor Csanyi, chairman of OTP, the country’s largest bank, could not conceal the stress, despite putting on a brave face.



Mr. Csanyi’s puffy red eyes showed the toll of the last seven months: the near default of Hungary on its foreign debt, the 90 percent plunge in his bank’s stock price as short sellers took aim at OTP, and, most recently, the surprise resignation of Hungary’s prime minister, which has raised questions about the government’s ability to carry out crucial economic reforms.



“Hungary is not Iceland,” he said, drinking a glass of red wine as the Danube rolled by a riverside restaurant here. “And OTP is not Citibank or RBS.” But OTP may be more similar to its western peers than Mr. Csanyi cares to admit. Short-sellers have laid siege to the bank, calculating that it has more sour loans on its books than it is willing to admit and that its cash cushion may prove insufficient.



Like Hungary itself, which thought it could borrow its way to prosperity in a post-cold war economy that seemed boundless, OTP relied on cheaply obtained foreign capital to finance its growth — a practice followed by many of its peers in Eastern Europe. But when the nation’s currency, the forint, collapsed last year, the foreign-denominated loans soared in value, making it extremely hard for domestic borrowers to repay their loans as the economy shrank.



This week, the bank received a $1.8 billion government loan backed by the International Monetary Fund in return for a commitment to increase domestic lending. As for Hungary, the $25 billion agreement it signed with the monetary fund last year has put it in an awful policy vise. Mandated to squeeze its budget deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product, the government is in no position to stimulate an economy estimated to sink by as much as 6 percent this year.



“Hungary has an uphill struggle, but we know that,” Gordon Bajnai, the economy minister, said in an interview in late March. “We need a reform-minded government.” On Monday, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, the former Communist who has led the country since 2004, appointed Mr. Bajnai, a 41-year-old former businessman, to lead that effort as his successor. But furious opposition from Hungary’s right wing — which has called for elections — may limit the scope of his ambitions.



Lajos Bokros, a former finance minister, says that the alternative to not meeting the monetary fund’s conditions is bankruptcy. He worries that the forint will fall even further amid the political uncertainty — a concern underscored by downgrades of Hungary’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s this week. “Hungary is falling behind Europe,” he said. “This does not create much room for optimism.” It is popular here to explain the acrimonious state of Hungarian politics as a consequence of an immature democracy still torn by a long dispute between former Communists and their bitter enemies on the right.



But Peter Muller, a well-known playwright, said the problem was societal in post-Communist Hungary. “We had daydreams of capitalism during communism,” he said. “But then becoming rich became a religion.” Mr. Csanyi, 58, is certainly rich but he wears his wealth in a rough-hewn manner and is happiest when hunting wild boar in the countryside. Born poor in a small village southeast of Budapest, he spent years working in Hungary’s finance ministry before taking over OTP in 1992 when the bank was privatized.



Since then, he has overseen an ambitious expansion in central Europe, buying banks in Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine. When foreigners withdrew their capital in a rush last year, OTP’s stock collapsed, as short-sellers saw it as a proxy for central Europe’s financial maelstrom. Among the most persistent was George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier. His fund was fined $2 million by Hungarian regulators last week for having manipulated OTP’s stock price.



Mr. Csanyi’s response has been unconventional to say the least: OTP has spent $350 million buying back its stock in a bid to raise confidence in the bank. “I think now they are afraid,” he said, referring to short-sellers. Mr. Soros — who once tried to buy OTP — has apologized, but it is by no means clear that others who have shorted OTP in the past will turn tail now that the bank has become a buyer. Instead, with the bank’s loan book under pressure, Mr. Csanyi’s decision to deploy precious capital in such a way has raised as many questions as it has answered.



Two days after Mr. Gyurcsany’s resignation, Mr. Csanyi stood behind his desk in his office, his eyes fixed on a computer screen. OTP’s stock had had a strong opening for a change, despite the political news. With a grunt of satisfaction, he said, “1,800 forints — that is O.K.” But it was still a far cry from its high of 10,900. “Our loan portfolio is good,” he added. “There is no reason the stock price is so low.”



All the same, many investors have doubts. Morgan Stanley, in a recent research note, forecast that OTP’s nonperforming loans would reach 15 percent in the next two years and put a big dent in profits. OTP executives accept that nonperforming loans are on the rise, but they insist that the bank’s 15 percent capital cushion and an International Monetary Fund reserve fund provide a sufficient safety net.



OTP is also negotiating a subordinated loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a multilateral institution with a mandate to aid eastern Europe. That process has been delayed by concerns that the deepening recession in Hungary would increase OTP’s burden of nonperforming loans.



But the cash is likely to come through. As the country’s largest bank and one of the most active in central Europe, OTP — like Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland, and indeed Hungary itself — is just too big to fail. Unfortunately, there may be no such reprieve for its customers.



In a small walk-up apartment on the outskirts of Budapest, George Ivanyi, a founder of the Association of Bank Loan Victims, does his best to cope with an unceasing flow of Hungarians who have come to seek advice because they can no longer pay their mortgages after the forint’s collapse. Volunteer law students sip Red Bull while they counsel couples, and amid the buzz of activity a perpetually ringing phone goes unanswered. "I feel the desperation of the people,” Mr. Ivanyi said. “The banks are responsible — but so is the government. They should not have approved these loans.”



One woman, he recounts, was so overwhelmed when the monthly mortgage bill on her Japanese yen-denominated loan from OTP suddenly soared 50 percent that she ingested a dose of rat poison and narrowly escaped death. OTP executives say they are doing all they can to help customers repay their debts, and the association says OTP has been cooperative in working to devise solutions.



With volunteers too busy to answer the phone, many of those looking for help come in person — like Istvan Rakitovszky, 46, a construction worker who was laid off last fall and can no longer pay his Swiss franc-denominated loan from Raiffeisen Bank, a large Austrian-based bank.



He and his wife bought a small apartment two years ago, but they can no longer keep up the payments. Last week they received a letter from a collection agency saying their house would be repossessed. “I am afraid,” said Mr. Rakitovszky, his face gaunt, his clothes shabby, his eyes far away. “We have two kids. Where will we live?”


Fuente: IHT/NYT

"Credit Repair: the Way to Get Financial Stability "


There are millions of Americans that have probably been turned down for a home loan, car loan, a credit card, a home mortgage, insurance, or even a job etc. What is the CAUSE? They have Bad Credit. But sometimes the scenario is worse: some of those credit reports have a lot of mistakes and other inaccurate information.



So, first at all, remember: mistakes and other inaccurate information on your credit report aren't your fault! And in a perfect world, wouldn't affect you, but our world is not perfect, however, and while you may not be responsible for some or all of the questionable items on your credit report, you are probably being held accountable for them.



Stop being blamed for things that aren't your fault. Check your credit report, and make note of any misleading, inaccurate or outdated information. There are two acts, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debts Collections Practices Act, that were set up to protect your credit rights. Use them to fix credit!



The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. That is a useful tool to repair credit. Remember the whole key to the credit repair procedure is that if the credit bureaus cannot verify information on your credit report they must remove it. For instance, if a credit bureau cannot contact a collection agency which is reporting a collection on your report, they cannot verify the information, and the credit bureau must delete the entry.



Some people have no idea about how to deal with all this legal stuff, so they decide to hire a company to investigate on their behalf. That is a great option, because professional financial advice always is welcomed. A professional can help you to dispute these items and ultimately get them removed from your report.



So what are you waiting for? Get your credit repair right now!




Ideas Libérrimas - 2008 -