vineri, 12 aprilie 2013

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Celebrity vs Paparazzi

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:50 AM PDT

Funny celebrity encounters with the paparazzi. Masters of disguise.

Alex Rodriguez


Beebs Perp


Beth Frankel


Brian Austin Green


Beckham's kid


Clooney


Colin


Dustin


Gwen's Kid


Isla Fisher


Jessica Alba


Jude Law


Kate Walsh


Katy


Kelly Clarkson


Kim K.


Kristen Stewart


Lindsay Lohan


LeAnn Rimes


Lily Allen


Lindsay


LL


Mary Kate


Megan


R. Bilson




Reese


Robert Pattinson


Rumer Willis


Russell Brand


Ryan Gosling


Salma's kid


Shia Labeouf


Shiloh


Suri



How to Make a Photo Like This?

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:21 AM PDT

With a little help from your friends.





Aintree Grand National 2013 Ladies Day

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:51 AM PDT

Girls wear their best outfits and party hard on Aintree Grand National 2013 Ladies Day.


































































Via Metro

How Safe Is Your PIN? [Infographic]

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:26 AM PDT

Shows the most used PINs and their variations out of 10,000 possible combinations.

Click on Image to Enlarge.
How Safe Is Your PIN?
Via backgroundcheck

How Important Are Customer Reviews [Infographic]

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:57 PM PDT

See how customer reviews influence purchasing decisions and find out ways you can encourage more customers to leave reviews. This infographic explains why customer reviews are more important than you think.

Click on Image to Enlarge.
Via: MyReviewsNow

Lamborghini Miura SV catches fire in central London

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:43 PM PDT



While its owner looked on, a $1.7 million 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV burst in to flames and burned until … it was gone.

In its day, the Miura was the fastest production car in the world.

One classically optimistic classic car specialist told the U.K. Mirror a Miura SV is "never beyond repair."

Add your business to Entireweb Directory

This is a SubmitStart Sponsor Update. Unsubscribe from this list.



List your business and improve your rankings.

Get high quality backlinks and improve your search engine rankings by listing your site in the Entireweb Directory.



Add your business now »





High Quality Backlinks
Your website listed on a highly popular (PR6) website.

 

Social Media Promotion
Promotion of your Facebook and Twitter links.

Improve Your Rankings
Improved Search Engine Optimization.

 

Customer Reviews
Earned trust by getting reviews from customers.


Sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.comwhy did I get this?

unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

SubmitStart · Trade Center · Kristian IV:s väg 3 · Halmstad 302 50

Remove Unnecessary Steps & Win More Links, Shares, and Conversions - Whiteboard Friday

Remove Unnecessary Steps & Win More Links, Shares, and Conversions - Whiteboard Friday


Remove Unnecessary Steps & Win More Links, Shares, and Conversions - Whiteboard Friday

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 06:29 PM PDT

Posted by randfish

When creating a product, website, or communication, including a simple user experience is key to success. The easier you make the A to Z process for a user, the more likely they'll be to accomplish the plan you spent time and resources putting together piece by piece. 

In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Rand walks us through user experience and the actions that we can remove from our processes in order to drive more conversions, earn more links, get more social shares. Simplicity, FTW!


This week, we've added a still image of the whiteboard for easier viewing. Do you find this addition helpful? Let us know in the comments! 

Video Transcription

"Howdy, SEOmoz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week I want to talk a little bit about user experience and the actions that we can remove from our processes in order to drive more conversions, earn more links, get more social shares. Let me show you what I'm talking about.

In this first example, embed codes, a lot of websites use embed codes all over the place. SlideShare is a good example. When you get to SlideShare, you find a particular presentation, and then you can copy and embed that onto your page.

Bitly is another good example. When you go to Bitly, they've got a little copy and paste sector. You paste in a link. It turns into the short Bitly link. You grab that out.

All sorts of things do this. YouTube does it. Vimeo does it. Any type of infographic that's embeddable, they all have these embed codes.

Embed codes are a phenomenal way to drive links, especially to content that people are likely to put on their own sites. The problem becomes when you make that a multi-step process. In fact, we've seen research and data from several sources now, saying that if you can make this a single click on here, and it says "copy to clipboard"' automatically, as opposed to popping something up like Bitly has started to do, or having to grab the entire embed code, Ctrl A, Ctrl C. I have to copy it myself, that actually will drive more embeds, meaning more links to the places you want with the anchor text that you want.

We remove an unnecessary step, that secondary piece, and make it so one click right in here with you cursor gets you copied to clipboard, a transitional message or a temporal message that pops up that says, "Copy to clipboard," or says below here, "Copy to clipboard." Now, all I have to do is paste, and I'm done. Very, very simple. Very easy.

Number two:  Shorter, more action-oriented emails. We send a lot of emails. We send emails for outreach. We send emails that are in newsletter format that are trying to drive actions back to our websites. We send emails to try and get shares from our friends or our network, those kinds of things. All of these can be made more concise and more actionable. I see a lot of challenges when we sort of go, "Oh, I'm going to start with some nice fluffy introduction. Here's who I am. Here's more about my company. Oh, and now here, here is the final action. This is what I was actually trying to get you to do. I felt like for some reason I had to do all of this."

Email is a medium where heavy communication is great between people you already know, where there are lots of things to say, and you need to have that more complex dialogue. When it's between new people, between strangers, between someone you're reaching out to, I find that the most effective emails I ever get from an outreach perspective are, "Hey, Rand. Love what you're doing over there at Moz. Would you send this over to someone on your product team or someone on your marketing team?" Or, "Hey, we have this app that we think would be great for your events folks. Could you make an intro?" That is something I'm likely to do very, very quickly. Or, "Just check out this new app. It does this." Great. Really quick.

All the press release ones I get are like, "Such and such is a this type of company, and here's all of this. Here's their latest press release. They raised this round of funding. Would you be interested in writing about them or talking to their CEO on the phone?" Dude, all you have to do is have that CEO email me and be like, "Hey, man. I want to connect." I'll be like, "Hey, let's chat. Sounds good. Sounds interesting,"' if it actually does sound interesting. Shorter, more action-oriented emails.

Number three:  Simpler sign-up forms. Oh, my goodness. You do not need to collect all of this data all at once. I need name. I need first name and last name. I've got to get this person's address, or at least the city and state they're in, because of this. You can collect so much of this data in the application later, as they're using it, if they're actually using it. You can collect some of that from IP address, location sensitive IPs, those type of things. You can tell the type of device they're on.

The thing is, as people browse the web more and more with mobile devices, this guy right here, when I'm on here, I absolutely hate filling out forms. The most I can ever do is an email and password field. A confirm password field really gets me going. It's just infuriating because it's a pain to type those extra letters, especially on something that doesn't have a full keyboard. If you can remove those and ask for that later, remember even if they get their password wrong and they forget it, you have still emailed them. You've got their email address, and you've sent them an email. It says, "Hey, click here to confirm." If they log back in, oh now the password is wrong or they forgot, great, you can fix that later, but you've gotten that initial essential sign-up. That's what you're looking for.

Number four:  I know HTTP is a common protocol. So is GTTP, or at least I'd like to make it one. Get to the point with your content. Get to the point. A lot of the time, I see this stuff tweeted and shared on social networks, put on Inbound.org or Hacker News, where it says, "Hey, conversion rate testing shows that this performs better than that." Cool. Then, I have to scroll and scroll. Where is that? Oh, there's the test. There's that test they were talking about. It's way down deep in the content. I'm not exactly sure why, but a lot of times with blog content, with even infographics, with videos, with stuff that we should be sharing on the web and is good content, we're trying to say, "Here's what I want to tell you, and I'm prioritizing that for some reason above what you actually care about."

What you actually care about should be the primary and potentially only thing on that page. If you really have stuff that you want to tell me, I will go investigate. I'll check out your About page. I'll check out your product pages. I want to see what your company does because it sounds interesting. You've got a cool brand, and you've got a great blog post and that kind of thing. If you really must, you can put it down here below the stuff that I actually care about. I came to your site to watch a video I was told was awesome, to check out an infographic, to see, to learn something about a test, to figure out something, solve some problem. Deliver that to me upfront, please. That will not only make me more likely to come back to your site in the future. I'll have a positive brand association. I'll be more likely to share that content. Just a beautiful thing.

Number five:  You actually see this a lot, and I see tremendous effectiveness when this is done, which is socially sharing links directly to what matters on the page or on an individual site. A lot of times, there will be a product tour section. Then, there's a video, a really interesting video or a demo. I'll see the social shares that are most effective are the ones that point directly. Sometimes, they have a JavaScript field in the URL that has a hash in it or a hash bang system or whatever it is. Those people who share direct do better than the ones who share the broad page. They've gotten into the process and dug around enough to share directly that piece that I care about. You can do this too.

In fact, I have recently seen a test where I essentially had been tweeting a link to something like where we were competing against another company for which company is better at this particular thing. I had been tweeting links to the page. Then you had to scroll down the page quite a ways, and then there was a little voting widget. Then I saw from the voting widget itself, there was actually some hash URL that would link directly to the voting widget on that page. When I tweeted that, it drove way more actions. In fact, like four or five times as many actions. I think something over 100 votes, whereas previously I had shared it a couple times and gotten like 15 or 20 votes from it. That is definitely a way to show that tweeting directly to the thing you want people to do, great way to socially share and to make those shares go further.

Last one, maintaining logged in state. Zappos, Amazon, all do this brilliantly well. Google actually does a pretty solid job of it as well. They maintain a logged in experience for as long as possible. Do you remember back in the day with Twitter? You used to get logged out all the time. They just weren't maintaining cookies and session variables and all that kind of stuff. You were losing your log in. You'd have to log into Twitter, even though you clicked that Remember Me button, you'd have to log in many, many times, every time you came back.

If you have this "Please log in" system here, and it does it even though you clicked "Yes. Please, remember me" down here, remember, please remember. Check. You're killing your conversions. I don't just mean conversions in terms of someone who makes a purchase. I mean someone who might have left a comment, someone who might have participated in your community, someone who might have shared something, someone who might have reached content they otherwise wouldn't have, someone who might have been a lead for you.

Moz actually did this. We have this as a conversion killer, and we can show the data. It was about 18 months ago, I think, that Casey and the inbound engineering team did a bunch of work to make sure, that most of the time, you're logged into your account. You wouldn't be logged out as quickly. I still find some challenges with it, but it's way better than it used to be. The data shows. You can see more comments per post view. You can see more people checking out and filling out their accounts. All that type of activity, that UGC that's driving long tail traffic, just a beautiful thing by maintaining this logged in state.

All of these are specific examples. The big takeaway message here is you don't need unnecessary steps. You don't need to be taking actions and requiring things of your visitors that they don't need to do, especially with the rise in mobile browsing and with the advantages that we've seen from web page speed increasing. We know, as web users and as people who build for the web, that visitors care tremendously about accomplishing tasks quickly. They're getting more and more used to it on their phones, on their desktops, on their laptops, on their tablets. We need to deliver that in order to be successful at marketing as well.

All right, everyone. Hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard Friday. We'll see you again next week. Take care."

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Don't Miss This

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Friday, April 12, 2013
 

Don't Miss This

In January, President Obama proposed a series of executive actions to help keep our kids and communities safe -- and put forward a set of commonsense proposals for Congress to consider that can make a real difference in protecting our citizens from gun violence.

As Washington debates this issue, let's make sure the voices of the American people are impossible to ignore.

Make your voice heard by joining the White House call for action on social media.

Now Is The Time to do Something About Gun Violence

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:

West Wing Week: 04/12/13 or “We Choose Love”
This week, the President, Vice President and First Lady continued to call for action to reduce gun violence, while the President announced the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget, conferred the medal of honor, met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and held an Easter Prayer breakfast.

President Obama Tells Newtown Families He Will Keep Fighting for the Votes They Deserve
President Obama calls family members of the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School after the Senate voted to move a step closer toward considering legislation that will help reduce gun violence.

President Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Father Emil Kapaun
President Obama bestowed the nation's highest honor on a remarkable man who gave his life serving God and country in the Korean War. Read the story of his incredible bravery.

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

11:15 AM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

12:00 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney WhiteHouse.gov/live

2:00 PM: The Vice President visits the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency

2:05 PM: The President presents the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the United States Naval Academy football team WhiteHouse.gov/live

WhiteHouse.gov/live Indicates that the event will be live-streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live

Get Updates

Sign up for the Daily Snapshot

Stay Connected

 

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Sign Up for Updates from the White House
Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

 

Seth's Blog : 100 days later

 

100 days later

I've been around literally thousands of book publishing projects, and in one respect, they're mostly the same.

They're the same in that the focus is on the launch, on the first week, or two weeks, or maybe a month.

How do we get shelf space and reviews and hoopla? How do we pile up the pre-sales and endorsements and wonderful recommendations? You even hear of authors tweaking the number of words per page or publicists trading people off against one another just to guarantee an early pop.

While this makes sense for the movies, where week 1 determines how many screens you get for week 2, it makes a lot less sense in the land of infinite shelf space that is the online bookstore. Movies get kicked out of first run theater release (and then end up in all-you-can-eatville, Netflix), but a book (and the project you're about to launch, as well) have a halflife measured in years or decades, not days.

The problem with a great launch strategy is it just might sabotage your real goal, which is a project that lasts. The risk of changing your product or service so that it launches well is that you may end up changing it into something that doesn't hold up.

Let's be clear--the product is more than ever the marketing. The danger kicks in when the marketing focus is so weighted toward the launch that we end up changing the product to serve that goal.

Not just books, of course. Google launched slow. So did just about every successful web service. And universities. And political movements...

Every day, I get letters from people who found The Icarus Deception at just the right moment in their careers. It has opened doors for people or given them the confidence to keep going in the face of external (and internal resistance). It's a book for the long haul. I didn't put a brand new secret inside, holding back for the sensational launch. Instead, I tried to create a foundation for people willing to do a better (and scarier) sort of work. 

It doesn't happen on launch day... it happens after people hear an interview or read your book or try your product. One day. Eventually. When you plan for 100 days instead of one, that graceful spread is more likely to happen.


More Recent Articles

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.




Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498

 

joi, 11 aprilie 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Spotlight on Slovenia as Debt Pressures Mount

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:03 PM PDT

Inquiring minds are watching economic activity in Slovenia following an official denial regarding bailout possibilities. For denial details, please see Slovenia Rules Out Bailout; Translation: "Slovenia Bailout Coming Right Up"

Slovenia Unemployment and Youth Unemployment

Slovenia Unemployment Rate Chart

Debt Pressures Mount

Bloomberg reports Slovenia Set to Test Debt Appetite as Financing Pressure Mounts.
Slovenia's government failed to raise 100 million euros ($131 million) at a debt sale this week. Now it's shooting for five times that amount next week.

With bond yields approaching levels that prompted bailouts of other euro nations, the government will offer 500 million euros of 18-month Treasury bills on April 17. The International Monetary Fund estimates Slovenia will need to borrow about 3 billion euros this year to repay maturing debt, aid banks and finance the budget.

The debt sale will test the willingness of investors abroad to finance Slovenia's economy as a banking crisis strains the budget, government bonds plunge and soaring default risk threatens to make the country the euro region's sixth bailout recipient after Cyprus last month. The largest local lenders are state owned and are struggling with rising bad debt.

"Unless we see strong non-resident participation, this will be an orchestrated Pyrrhic victory, increasing pressure on Slovenia and thereby raising its chances to lose the international market access," Andraz Grahek, a partner at Capital Genetics in Ljubljana, said by phone yesterday. "This would expedite an application for some kind of support."

Slovenia, whose 35 billion-euro economy is the fourth smallest in the euro area, fell into the crossfire after European creditors and the IMF forced losses on bank depositors in a 10 billion-euro aid package for Cyprus.

The cost of protecting Slovenian debt against non-payment using credit-default swaps rose to a six-month high of 370 points yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The yield on Slovenia's dollar-denominated benchmark bond maturing in 2022 is hovering close to record levels after the Finance Ministry missed its target in this week's auction of Treasury bills by almost half as borrowing costs rose. The 2022 bond's yield stood at 6.17 percent yesterday, approaching the record 6.38 percent reached on March 27.

While Slovenia is less reliant on banking than the Cypriot economy, default risk jumped after the Alpine country missed its target at the April 9 debt offering, reigniting concern it may follow Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus in seeking an international bailout.

The situation is "serious" and it's up to the government to "give very clear signals" to avoid a bailout, Banka Slovenije Governor Marko Kranjec, who's also a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, said yesterday in Dublin, according to Market News International.
As I said, a bailout is on the way. Only the timing and details are in question.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Chicago Natural Resources Expo April 26

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 12:53 PM PDT

Those in the greater Chicago area should plan on attending the Chicago Natural Resources Expo on April 26 for a discussion about gold, silver, hard assets, inflation, currencies (or whatever else is on your mind). You also have the opportunity to meet with various natural resource company executives.

Venue change: Previously this was a Friday evening-Saturday Afternoon event. This year, the event is Noon-11:00 PM Friday only. 

Once again, I am pleased to announce the magic words: "It's free".
Originally known as the Chicago Natural Resource Conference and Exhibition, this is one of the oldest natural resource conferences in the United States. The conference is a semi-annual event and offers opportunities to learn about new and undervalued companies in the natural resource industry.

The event is directed by Rich Radez, who started the conference back in 1977. Rich, and his son Eric, created the unique format which focuses on resource companies and provides maximum exposure to both investors and sponsors.

There is no cost for those who pre-register to attend the conference. The Expo is held at the Rolling Meadows Holiday Inn and Convention Center in Rolling Meadows, IL. The Holiday Inn is located at 3405 Algonquin Road, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008. The hotel can be contacted at 847-259-5000.
I will be on a panel Friday evening taking questions taken from the audience on gold, silver, Europe, inflation, or any aspect of the global economy that is on your mind..

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Eurozone Math; One Size Fits Germany; Door Number Two

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT

Reader "JB" thinks I am blaming Germany for what is happening. That's not exactly correct, but let's take a look at what "JB" has to say via email.
Hi Mish,

I read your blog daily. We are generally on the same page. We even agree that in all probability the eurozone will break up. However, You cannot blame the Germany, the German government, or the German people for doing the right thing. Germans can accept austerity. The phrase "tightening the belt" is an axiom in the German language. ....
JB
Hello JB, I think you misunderstand my message. I am not biased against Germany, and I am in favor of "austerity".

By "austerity" I mean shrinkage of public sector jobs and pensions, and liberalization of work rules.

I am against tax hikes, especially those imposed on Spain, Greece, and Portugal by the nannycrats in Brussels. What the nannycrats call "austerity" is nothing more than devastating tax hikes coupled with minimal, if any work rule reforms.

My message is primarily a function of math.

Eurozone Math

  • Germany was the primary beneficiary of the ECB's "one size fits Germany" interest rate policy.
  • It is mathematically impossible for every country to be an exporter like Germany
  • It is mathematically impossible for one interest rate to work when there is a multitude of fiscal policies
  • It is mathematically impossible for the euro to survive without a transfer mechanism of some sort from Germany to peripheral Europe, and Germany will not allow any transfer mechanisms
  • It is mathematically impossible within the realm of the euro for Spain to be more like Germany, unless Germany is less like Germany
  • Germany has ruled out everything that could possibly make the eurozone work.

Euro Architects and Politicians to Blame

I do not blame Germany. I blame all the architects of the euro. I also blame all the politicians making matters worse by trying to force their will on the markets. In that sense, I do blame Merkel, but I also blame Hollande, Sarkozy, Trichet, Draghi, and everyone else involved in this mess, past or present.

One Size Fits Germany (Until it Doesn't)

The math of the matter is Germany benefited from the Euro and from the ECB's "one size fits Germany" interest rate policy more than any other country.

As a direct result of the unstable eurozone treaty, sovereign interest rate imbalances, Target II imbalance, and trade imbalances are out of control. Germany and the other European creditor countries are owed money that cannot be paid back.

Door Number Two

The eurozone cannot work as is, and Germany is going to pay the price in one of two ways.

  1. Germany Forgives Loans to European Debtor Nations
  2. The debtor nations exit the eurozone and default

German taxpayers do not want to bail out the rest of Europe. And if I was a German taxpayer I would have the same stance. Without assigning blame to Germany, the math is what it is: unsustainable.

Pick your poison. Is it door number one or door number two? Odds overwhelmingly favor door number two.

Even diehard supporters of the eurozone now see it cannot work. For example, please see Eurointelligence Founder Wolfgang Münchau, Once a Staunch Euro Supporter, Now Welcomes the Anti-Euro Party "Alternative for Germany".

Soros On Board

George Soros is still a eurozone supporter, but he understands it cannot work without eurobonds. I do not believe the eurozone can work with eurobonds as I expect tensions will be high. Soros' second-best alternative is for Germany to exit the eurozone.

That has been my #1 idea for a long time. I explained it recently in Illusions of Stabilization.
Failed Experiment

The Eurozone is a failed experiment. Structural flaws were too great initially, and they have increased over the years. No currency union in history has ever survived unless there was also a fiscal union. Current politics says it cannot happen, on meaningful terms.

Breakup Inevitable, But How?

A breakup is inevitable, just as it has been from the beginning. The key is to manage a breakup in the least destructive manner.

Breakup Options

Option 1: If Germany (and the northern states) left the eurozone, the Deutschmark (and respective currencies) would immediately be credible. The downside to Germany (and the northern states) is debts to German banks would not be paid back in Deutschmarks but rather deflated (but not worthless) Euros.

Option 2: The second option is a piecemeal, destructive breakup. Should Greece and Spain leave first, those countries might experience a complete loss of faith in currency resulting in hyperinflation. The Northern states would be paid back in worthless notes, if they were paid back at all.

Germany Suffers Regardless

Note that Germany and the Northern creditor nations suffer regardless. Either they keep ponying up bailout money, there is a managed breakup, or a piecemeal destructive breakup. It would be best for all involved if Germany left the eurozone and went back to the Deutschmark.

There are no other options, and no other choices. Meanwhile, imbalances grow and German taxpayers keep funneling tax dollars to the Southern states to keep them afloat.
Merkel Not a Savior

Many Germans view Merkel as a hero for her tough stance on Cyprus.

However, Merkel is neither a savior nor a hero. Her stance is always one of political necessity. Every step of the crisis she has made politically expedient decisions such as caving in to Sarkozy and providing funds for Greece but not for Cyprus.

Sentiment in Germany in favor of holding the eurozone together is strong provided German taxpayers do not have to pony up another dime. The irony is Germany was the main beneficiary of the ECB's "one size fits Germany" interest rate policy that destroyed Spain and peripheral Europe.

Sentiment Does Not Change the Math

Sentiment does not change the eurozone math, but it does impact the way the eurozone breaks apart.

Expect a piecemeal, destructive breakup.

Some will blame Germany. I blame a mathematically unworkable treaty that was flawed from the beginning. I also blame all the politicians who supported the idea even though it was fatally flawed.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Eurointelligence Founder Wolfgang Münchau, Once a Staunch Euro Supporter, Now Welcomes the Anti-Euro Party "Alternative for Germany"

Posted: 10 Apr 2013 11:45 PM PDT

Things have gone full circle. Wolfgang Münchau, a staunch euro supporter now realizes the political hopelessness of it all. In an article in Der Spiegel, Münchau shows he is ready to throw in the towel.

Via Mish-modified Google Translation ...
In her final year as prime minister, Margaret Thatcher concluded that a too close interaction with the newly reunited Germany was out of the question.

Thatcher's Industry Minister Nicholas Ridley said in 1990 in a careless interview in "Spectator" that the planned monetary union was a German conspiracy with the aim of seizing power in Europe. Ridley had reason to resign. Thatcher was deposed shortly thereafter.

I was working as a journalist for the "Times" in London and still remember my outrage at Ridley's anti-German comments. In retrospect, I must admit, however: It's been exactly as predicted by Ridley. Germany has become the central power in Europe.

Thatcher and Ridley concluded that from a purely power-political perspective, a junior partner in such an asymmetric monetary union would  not be happy. That is how the Italians, Spanish and French feel today.

On Tuesday, George Soros recommended to SPIEGEL ONLINE that either Germany should accept the Euro-bonds or exit from the euro. Soros says that it would be better for Germany to leaving the euro than Spain or Italy. If the Southern states leave the euro, then there will be chaos.

One can certainly make the necessary adjustment within the monetary union, but that requires an almost total centralization of all economic policies. Eurobonds would be only the beginning. This is not a realistic political opportunity. If we reject this path, you should also be honest and say: this is an end to the monetary union.

I welcome the establishment of the anti-euro party "alternative for Germany". I do not share their position. But the position of AfD is coherent. In contrast, the position of the CDU and FDP, pro-euro but against eurobonds is inherently contradictory.

Margaret Thatcher was also consistent with respect to Europe. She had a sure instinct for both the economic and political power for the future development in the euro zone. For that I pay tribute with respect.

Soros: "If someone leaves the euro, it should be Germany"

Münchau referred to the Spiegel article (translated) Soros: "If someone leaves the euro, it should be Germany". It's an interesting read.

I disagree with  Münchau and Soros that the euro is worth saving. However, I agree with Münchau and Soros that a breakup of the eurozone is best accomplished by Germany leaving the eurozone than by a piecemeal breakup. I said the same thing long ago.

I appreciate the fact that Münchau now recognizes the political hopelessness of it all. This was apparent long ago, but it is far easier on me. I did not have to switch sides.

Unfortunately, a piecemeal breakup now appears to be destiny. Every head of state in  Europe desperately wants to keep this act together, especially chancellor Angela Merkel. Nonetheless, the politics are also such that eurobonds and transfer mechanisms are out of the question. 

It's Just Impossible

  1. The Bundesbank said there should be no banking union until there is a fiscal union. 
  2. Angela Merkel said that there should be no fiscal union until there is political union. 
  3. François Hollande said that there should be no political union until there is a banking union 

  4. Merkel has explicitly ruled out eurobonds on many occasions.
     
So here we are.

And as I have stated on  many occasions ...

Eventually, there will come a time when a populist office-seeker will stand before the voters, hold up a copy of the EU treaty and (correctly) declare all the "bail out" debt foisted on their country to be null and void. That person will be elected.

One more major crisis is about all it will take.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com