Washington Post (October 24)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its World Economic Outlook. It predicts that during the next four years, the U.S. “will be the strongest of the world’s rich economies. U.S. growth is forecast to average 3 percent, much stronger than that of Germany or France (1.2 percent) or even Canada (2.3 percent). Increasingly, the evidence suggests that the United States has come out of the financial crisis of 2008 in better shape than its peers — because of the actions of its government.”
Tags: Canada, Financial Crisis, France, Germany, Government, Growth, IMF, U.S., World Economic Outlook
The Economist (October 24)
There’s no end in sight to Europe’s “carmaking crisis.” Sales have fallen for 5 straight years in the EU. In September, year-on-year sales were down 11% across the EU, 18% in France, 26% in Italy and 37% in Spain. “Britain was the only significant market to enjoy a small rise.” With production capacity of 17 million cars a year, and current demand around 13 million units, “the overcapacity is glaring.”
Tags: Automakers, Cars, Crisis, EU, France, Italy, Overcapacity, Spain, UK
Wall Street Journal (August 28)
François Hollande, the Socialist President of France, “deserves credit” for taking a hard stance against Syria and the Bashar Assad regime. Hollande “appreciates the strategic stakes in Syria. So does Iran, which is sending hundreds of soldiers and senior Revolutionary Guards commanders to Syria to shore up the Assad regime…. The mullahs know that Syria is their bridge to Hezbollah in Lebanon and their only significant partner in the Arab world, and that their ambitions in the Middle East would be much harder to fulfill without a Damascene ally.”
Tags: Bashar Assad, France, François Hollande, Hezbollah, Iran, Lebanon, Syria
Forbes (June 27)
“The euro is going to survive despite all the crises and the growing punditry consensus that this experiment is doomed to fail. The currency will live on for political reasons—Germany and France want it to.”
“The euro is going to survive despite all the crises and the growing punditry consensus that this experiment is doomed to fail. The currency will live on for political reasons—Germany and France want it to.”
Financial Times (May 22)
“The German elite were the ones who understood what creating the euro implied. They realised that a currency union could not work without a political union. But the French elite wanted, instead, to end their humiliating dependence on the monetary policy set by Germany’s Bundesbank. Now, two decades later, Germany’s partners, including France, have learnt a painful lesson. Far from being liberated from German control, they are now far more firmly under it. In a big crisis, creditors rule.”
Tags: Bundesbank, Creditors, Currency union, France, Germany, Political union
The Independent (May 12)
“The Franco-German elite which rules the euro is still in denial about the failure of its core project,” but the “Euro’s day of reckoning looms.”
The Economist (May 12)
“Amid growing risk of a Greek exit, the euro zone has yet to face up to the task of saving the single currency itself…. The idea of a chaotic Greek departure from the euro at a time of Franco-German disunion should terrify everyone it touches…. Like some dreadful joke, the euro needs French reform, German extravagance and Italian political maturity.”
Washington Post (May 8)
“Nicolas Sarkozy is merely the latest leader felled by Europe’s economic crisis and the lassitude of its citizens. His flamboyant, hyperkinetic persona had grown jarringly dissonant with the grayness of the times and undermined his demands for belt-tightening and sacrifice by his countrymen.” France’s new president Francois Hollande will bring a change in tone. Blasé, rather than flamboyant, Hollande “has made clear that he will be less compliant than Sarkozy in the face of Germany’s demands.” Still, Hollande is more likely to bring “changes around the margins” than radical change, excepting his obvious change in demeanor.
“Nicolas Sarkozy is merely the latest leader felled by Europe’s economic crisis and the lassitude of its citizens. His flamboyant, hyperkinetic persona had grown jarringly dissonant with the grayness of the times and undermined his demands for belt-tightening and sacrifice by his countrymen.” France’s new president Francois Hollande will bring a change in tone. Blasé, rather than flamboyant, Hollande “has made clear that he will be less compliant than Sarkozy in the face of Germany’s demands.” Still, rather than radical change, Hollande is likely to bring “changes around the margins,” in addition to his more obvious changes in demeanor.
New York Times (December 6)
The latest Merkozy solution demanding Euro nations work to balance budgets or face sanctions is “the wrong fix…. The Franco-German recipe will exacerbate Europe’s fundamental problem: lack of growth.”
The Economist (December 3)
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
Tags: Credit rating, Europe, France, Moody's, OECD
