Europe

The markets are melting down again. The ASX 200 fell $33 billion, or around 3 per cent yesterday, on the back of more European scares. As you’d imagine, people like CommSec Chief Economist Craig James were rather busy yesterday. But we managed to grab him for a few quick questions.

What’s the best case scenario?
The best case scenario is that the Italian Government comes out with concrete proposals to address its budget situation. Another positive proposition would be instead of calling elections for early next year the Government or the Prime Minister simply resigns and a new government is formed. So anything that would provide a degree of confidence to the markets – at the moment we’ve got nothing.

And the worst case scenario?
It could be anything. It could be countries deciding to exit the Eurozone. It could be continued silence from the Italian officials on dealing with the situation. One of the worst case scenarios could be a country actually physically defaulting on its obligations. So there’s a whole range of negatives out there. There’s no one specific bad scenario; there are a number.

Continue reading "Punch Q&A: Should we panic over European meltdown?" »

The noises coming out of Europe are ominous.  Australians should sit up and take notice.

“If there isn’t a solution by Sunday, everything is going to collapse,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy before dashing to Frankfurt for emergency talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“If the Euro fails then Europe fails,” said Merkel. Though she added hopefully: “We will not let that happen.”

Continue reading "The Australian economy is going well. For now." »

So. A bunch of European bankers with their sharp suits and their cuckoo clocks want to take a break from their fondue parties and ski lodges made of cognac to tell us about doing it tough as a true blue Aussie.

What right they have, I don’t know. In the global economic climate, ‘Euro’ and ‘money’ make as credible a pairing as ‘Fascist Fun Run’ or ‘Relevant Bono’.

Yet when Euromoney magazine named Wayne Swan the world’s Finance Minister of the Year, it presumed to get stuck into his constituents for their despondency. “Surrounded by the consumer baubles that wealth brings, grumpy Australians don’t seem to appreciate how good they’ve had it,” said the report.

Continue reading "Australia is the unlucky country, girt by misery." »

Twenty years ago today, Muscovites awoke to tanks in their streets in a ill-fated coup against the modernising leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

It was, it turned out, the last gasp of the hardliners and within months, Soviet communism was officially over.

Along with the collapse of the Berlin Wall two years before these events were viewed somewhat triumphally as the end of history. Indeed a book of the same name was a publishing sensation in the early 90s.

Continue reading "An island of calm amid global economic meltdown" »

Over the past three decades we have seen successive Governments expand the size and scope of the Federal Budget, to the detriment of all Australians - and I must emphasise this is a bi-partisan issue.

This year’s budget with all its debt and deficit continues a disturbing trend with the centralisation and growth of the Federal Government. Treasury figures show the total dollar value of Australian Government spending has grown from $176.9 billion in 2000-2001 to $314.3 billion by 2010-11, a total increase of 78 per cent.

This equates to 5.9 per cent growth per annum over the past decade.

Continue reading "It’s time our Government trimmed the fat" »

“Okay it’s time to go now - they have started throwing stones.”

The words were calm but it was hard to miss the rising panic in the voice of my Greek host Danai as stones pummelled into the building behind us as we watched the latest episode in the demonstrations that have been rocking Athens for the past month now.

Yesterday the tension was palpable.

Continue reading "The wheels have been Greeced for too long" »

They say the best thing about travel is that it gives you a better understanding and appreciation of home.  That’s certainly the case for me.  A recent trip to Europe, to attend the annual conference of the International Labour Organization, has shown me that while life in Australia is not perfect, we are still a long way ahead of most countries.

You don’t have to look far in Europe to see that the continent is still struggling through an economic crisis.Greece has seen riots as citizens protest the austerity package the government has been forced to implement to pay back its debts.

The move to an austerity package is dragging down the Greek economy by cutting wages and jobs, limiting the country’s ability to grow its economy and pay off its debts. The victims of this are working people and their families, many of whom did not benefit in the good times.

Continue reading "It’s never been clearer, there really is no place like home" »

Is your CEO or director on “Out of Office AutoReply” this month? If so, chances are that they are far from the southern hemisphere. August is holiday season in the North and with the long standing link to Australia’s heritage, it’s a good bet that there is a European and probably London stopover on the way. 

Having just returned to Australia via the climate policy desert of the USA, the European climate change landscape couldn’t be in starker contrast. Whilst American media seems destined to miss the BP oil spill as an opportunity to get their citizens to connect the dots between fossil fuel pollution of all types and drive their own leaders to climate action, Europe is a different story.

In the European climate world, business meetings and conferences talk of how to deal with climate change and when, not if? They talk of the risks of extending pollution reduction targets even further, not of avoiding targets at all. Climate deniers are forced into backrooms and dare not raise their heads far for fear of ridicule. A career in UK climate denial is accompanied by US and Australian visa applications because jobs are thin on the ground there.

Continue reading "European climate attitudes can teach us a lot" »

Travelling in northern Europe, ‘the War’ is never far away: from the way that people feel about Germany’s performance in the World Cup, to the bullet scares on churches and town halls, the designs of cities such as Rotterdam that where flattened in air raids, to more in-depth conversations about identity and nationalism.

As an Australian who has not spent much time in this part of Europe until recently, this is quite surprising. Like most Australians, World War II feels to me in the distant past and rarely thought about, whereas here, its memory is alive and present.

A friend of mine highlighted an example of just how nearby the War is for many Europeans even of more recent generations.

Continue reading "How to learn from history while letting go of the past" »

Walking through the streets of Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most vibrant capitals, it is easy to get caught up in the cosmopolitan nature of the city. Being World Cup time, the city is not only awash in Dutch flags, but an array of other nationalities hang their national banners alongside the recognisable orange of the Dutch team.

The backpackers, tour groups, sightseers and locals politely wrestle for space in the crowded streets and bars, while cars with engines smaller than 50cc and motor scooters share bike lanes. On the bikes, no one wears a helmet, people smoke, talk on their phones and sometimes can be spotted drinking beer. Here, everyone rides: from the men and women in expensive suits, to girls dressed in glamorous outfits on their way out to club, as well as families of four on various sized bikes, and young Muslim women wearing hijabs.

I sit in a café (as distinct from the famous Amsterdam ‘coffee shops’) and speak to various politically active young people. Telling them that I am slowly falling in love with their city and pointing to Geert Mak’s fascinating historical account of Amsterdam, we turn to the political landscape of the Netherlands and the rest Europe.

Continue reading "Fear, change, and the rise of the right as the world shrinks" »

There’s quite a menagerie in the stock market petting zoo. You’ve got your bulls, your bears and the occasional stag. Until now, though, you’ve never had PIGS.

In the past week, the PIGS have run rampant, trampling markets and joining CDO and CDS as acronyms guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of investors. Like collateralised debt obligations and credit default swaps – those complex financial instruments that fuelled the GFC – anyone with shares needs to keep an eye on the PIGS.

Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain – collectively, and unkindly, derided as the PIGS – are in a fair degree of financial pain. All of them have budget deficits of more than 10 per cent of GDP, which experts reckon they will struggle to finance on wary international bond markets.

Continue reading "PIGS - the acronym that might fry your portfolio" »

In Rhodes it was one power plug between 30 tourists vying for a place to charge their phone and camera batteries. The stench of toilets made me dry retch, as did the bird poo splattered windows that flung open, letting cold air into my room every night.

Cold showers, no elevator and the useless guy at reception reckoned he’s done his back, so no help there.

For 10 Euros a night, what do I expect?

Continue reading "Enough with dodgy hostels, we need a system people" »

It was the incident that gave flaming sambuca a whole new meaning, turned a young Greek woman into a national heroine and shone an embarrassing spotlight on Britain’s yob culture.

Stuart Feltham, a 20-year-old from outside London, had his genitals set on fire after allegedly dropping his trousers during a boozy night out at a bar in Crete.

Marina Fanouraki, a 26-year-old Greek tourist, admits having soaked Feltham with sambuca in retaliation for having her legs and breasts “forcefully fondled” by him, but denies that she purposely set him alight.

Continue reading "Eurotrashed Aussies almost as bad as plastered Poms" »

TWO years ago, Veronica Lario did something extraordinary.

After marrying the now Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 1990, the former actress had maintained a low profile; rarely seen in public and avoiding the sort of official functions wives of national leaders do.

But on January 31, 2007 that changed when she bizarrely wrote a letter to the editor calling on her husband to apologise.

Continue reading "Rootgate: Berlusconi’s bordello antics captivate Italy" »