Central Perk

luni, 7 mai 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Top Tweet in Spain "Do as Iceland Did"
Spain to Spend €7bn-€10bn (It Doesn't Have), Bailing Out Bankia, the Nation's 3rd Largest Bank; Liar, Liar Pants on Fire
No Deal: SYRIZA and Greece's Democratic Left Party Refuse to Join Bailout Alliance; Icing on the Cake: PASOK Will Not Join a Slim Majority; Solidarity is One-Way Street

Posted: 07 May 2012 11:11 PM PDT

In response to Spain to Spend €7bn-€10bn (It Doesn't Have), Bailing Out Bankia, the Nation's 3rd Largest Bank reader "Bran" who lives in Spain has an interesting set of comments:

Hello Mish

"#hagamoscomoislandia" became a hot trending topic in Spain on twitter.

The Tweet means 'Do as Iceland Did'.

I see comments calling for demonstrations 12th May for 'real democracy'.

Some offer bets that the first bank in flames will be Bankia.

Others point out that the budget for health and education this year is 5 billion euros, but the "bailout" of Bankia may be double that.

All the best, Bran.

Twitter Search

A Twitter search for "#hagamoscomoislandia" turns up a hit with titles in English but comments in Spanish.

Google Translation says the page is already in English. However, I cut some of the comments and translated them. Here are the results.

Not one euro for banks, prosecute the perpetrators of the crisis and a constitution written by the citizens!
Education + health budget in 2012: 5,397 million euros. Rescue Bankia: 7,000 million euros
Greece, under the control of the Troika, in bankruptcy. Iceland, after a revolution, Out of Crisis.
7,000 million euros for Bankia? To begin, No. # # HagamosComoIslandia RescatemosPersonas
Trial of bankers and politicians, reappropriation of wealth plundered, new constitution and social justice

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Spain to Spend €7bn-€10bn (It Doesn't Have), Bailing Out Bankia, the Nation's 3rd Largest Bank; Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Posted: 07 May 2012 03:54 PM PDT

After insisting no bailouts would be needed, Spain to spend billions on bank rescue

Spain is planning a state bail-out of Bankia, the country's third biggest bank by assets, in a move likely to involve the injection of billions of euros of public money into the troubled lender.

In an abrupt reversal of policy, the Spanish government, which had previously insisted that no additional state money would be needed to clean up the country's banking sector, confirmed that an intervention was being prepared.

Some bankers and analysts have argued that BFA, Bankia's parent company which controls the listed entity and houses the combined group's worst quality assets, needs significantly more capital.

BFA said last week it had renegotiated €9.9bn of assets last year to avoid them being classified as bad loans, equivalent to 5 per cent of the bank's €188bn loan book.

One adviser to Spanish banks and government agencies said that if the amount Madrid injected into Bankia was not sufficient, and did not involve a much improved management of its bad assets, then the plan risked achieving little.

"Just injecting capital would be the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," the person said. "I think Spain has not admitted to itself just how weak some of its banks actually are and how serious the situation is."

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

No one in their right mind believed Bankia did not need a bailout.
No one in their right mind now believes Bankia only needs €7bn-€10bn now
No one in their right mind believes the Spanish banking system is solvent

The only way Spain will not need a bailout is if it tells the Troika to go to hell, defaults on foreign-held bond, then exits the eurozone. Moreover, that is exactly what Spain should do, right now.

Spain will eventually exit the eurozone anyway, so the sooner the better. Sadly, the Spanish government is highly likely to rape its citizens with higher VAT taxes and bank bailouts in foolish attempts to prevent the inevitable, just as Greece has done.

Wasting €7bn-€10bn of taxpayer money, followed by double or triple that when the bailout proves to be insufficient is just plain stupid. Unfortunately, stupidity is rampant.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

No Deal: SYRIZA and Greece's Democratic Left Party Refuse to Join Bailout Alliance; Icing on the Cake: PASOK Will Not Join a Slim Majority; Solidarity is One-Way Street

Posted: 07 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT

Odds of a lasting coalition are slim given the massive vote against the austerity coalition. Fotis Kouvelis, SYRIZA party leader and second place finisher in the elections repeated his position that cooperation with New Democracy and PASOK was not in his intentions.

Moreover, Greece's Democratic Left party refuses to join any pro-bailout coalition.

The moderate leftist party, which picked up 6.1 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, had been seen as the two traditional ruling parties' best hope for a coalition partner among the five anti-bailout parties that entered parliament.

"We rule out participating in a PASOK-New Democracy government," Kouvelis told Reuters after a party meeting to decide the group's strategy.

"We would participate in a coalition government with other progressive forces," he said, referring to other leftist parties which together do not have enough parliamentary seats to obtain a majority.

PASOK and New Democracy suffered a thrashing at the hands of voters on Sunday and have a combined 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, their share of the vote having been halved compared with the last election in 2009.

The Democratic Left hold 19 seats.

Icing on the No Deal Cake

The icing on the No-Deal Cake cake is PASOK party leader Evangelos Venizelos has also said he does not want to join a government that would have only a narrow majority.

The Financial Times discusses the splintered Greek in Merkel urges Athens to stick to reforms

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, warned Athens to stick to the reform plans and budget targets agreed under its international bailout plan as financial markets and EU policy makers grappled with the prospect of further instability in Greece and a new socialist president in France.

Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece's centre-right New Democracy party, set about trying to form a national unity government with two priorities: making sure Greece stays in the euro, while tweaking the bailout deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund to promote a faster return to growth.

The European Commission, one of the so-called "troika" of authorities managing Greece's bailout, made clear it was not willing to reopen the €174bn programme and called on any new Greek government to meet the commitments already made to international lenders.

Mr Samaras has three days to try to form a government with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) of Evangelos Venizelos, and possibly persuade some of his former lawmakers who set up Independent Greeks, a rightwing splinter group, to come back on board.

But his chances of pulling off a deal are slim. Mr Venizelos has said he does not want to join a government that would have only a narrow majority. And Panos Kammenos, the Independent Greeks' leader, is opposed to the EU-IMF reform programme that the new government would have to pursue.

If Mr Samaras fails, it will be the turn of Alexis Tsipras, the firebrand leftist who leads Syriza. The party shocked Greece's political class by beating Pasok into third place in Sunday's election.

Solidarity is One-Way Street

Check out the arrogance of EU SpokesClown Amadeu Altafaj-Tardio who said "We think Greece must remain a member of the euro ... but everybody must carry their responsibility here. Solidarity is a two-way street."

That is one hell of a statement given the Troika installed puppet government just went up in flames, and give the fact this is not in Greece's best interest at all, but rather in the interest of French and German banks.

In case you missed it, please note the arrogance of TroikaClown Evangelos Venizelos who said "We Embittered the People to Protect the Future of the Nation".

One thing is clear: The Best thing For Greece is Tell the Troika "Go to Hell", and the election proves most Greek voters know it, even though they have been brainwashed into wanting to stay in the euro.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Light Hearted Kites

Posted: 07 May 2012 03:10 PM PDT

A six sail kite, video capture with an iPhone 4s in Toronto's beaches. The Kite is made by and flown by Steve Polansky, the sails are hand painted by his wife. Stunning sails and beautiful to see in action. The kites anchored and floating in the background are his as well, stunning kite display for the love of kite flying.

Duck Fashion Show In Australia

Posted: 07 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT

During Easter, parades happen all around the globe, but in Australia a very different type of parade happen, ducks in different dresses walk among the people. The fashionable flock, known as the Pied Piper Ducks, marched up and down the streets of Sydney at the city's Royal Easter Show. 60-year-old Brian Harrington run this show for some 25 years and dresses his ducks according to the latest fashion trends for each event.

The costumes are covered in brilliiant detail, color and fabrics made from best materials and by best designer dressmakers. According to Brian Harrington these feathered models are just as talented as their human counterparts.

Via: Telegraph, Flickr

Social Media Shoes

Posted: 07 May 2012 11:31 AM PDT

Inspired by the colors of popular social media websites, Venezuelan graphic designer Lumen Bigott created a unique line of Social Media shoes. The collection includes Facebook, Twitter, flickr, Google, dribbble and Wikipedia sneakers.

Avengers, Assemble [Infographic]

Posted: 07 May 2012 11:16 AM PDT

In honor of the release of the "first big blockbuster of the summer," The Avengers, we asked Twitter to rank the six avengers across five different superhero categories. According to the comic book experts, here are the results.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via: lemonly

Shoeboxed.com Review – Receipt Scanning & Business Card Scanning Software Graywolf's SEO Blog

Shoeboxed.com Review – Receipt Scanning & Business Card Scanning Software

Posted: 05 May 2012 08:09 AM PDT

The following is a review of Shoeboxed.com, a receipt scanning and business card scanning service.

receipt scanning service and business card scanning service … organized online … and it’s completely painless …

To be honest keeping receipts, accounting, or any book keeping work is pretty much something I hate. I can’t tell you how many times I’d be talking with the accountant, she’d ask for some receipt I wouldn’t have, and I’d have to go digging for it. I was talking with my friend Merrick at PRLeap earlier this year, and he mentioned a service he was using to scan receipts and then organize the receipts online. I gave it a try and liked the service and eventually got around to writing up this review.

Here’s the way Shoeboxed works: they send you two envelopes in the mail, you put your receipts in the envelopes, and you send them to Shoeboxed. About a week or so later you get an email. Your scanned receipts are now organized and available online. They are organized/broken down by store, purchase category, and credit card. Need a copy of a receipt? No problem. Just log in, search by the amount, and you can print out a copy on the spot.

One of the best things about about Shoeboxed is that it’s painless to use. I just put my receipts in the envelope every day and mail it in at the end of the month. I also have a rule in my inbox that forwards incoming receipts to a secret email address and it goes right into my account. I can also use my iphone to take a picture of a bill and email it in … in a few seconds, my receipts are organized online.

They have a few different plan options. If you are only going to use an iphone, it’s free. If you want to mail in receipts, it starts at $9.95 and goes up to 49.95 a month. The more receipts you need to send the higher the cost. If you want the physical copies back you’ll need to be at the “classic level” or $19.95 a month (that’s what I use).

Two of the other services that they offer are business card scanning and document scanning. Include important documents and business cards in your envelope and they are scanned and in your account. It’s all pretty painless.

While this is a great service there are some questions you should be asking yourself. I contacted Shoeboxed and spoke with Sonny Byrd who was actually happy to answer these questions:

I’m sending you a lot of confidential information such as complete name, address, social security number, credit card numbers and so on. What sort of precautions are you taking to make sure my information isn’t used inappropriately, or that I don’t become a victim of of identity theft.

This is not actually quite accurate. Receipts by law cannot contain credit card numbers (other than the last four digits which is not a confidentiality threat) or social security numbers. Receipts do not contain addresses other than that of the vendor. Bills, invoices, and statements may have more detailed personal information, and fortunately we are completely equipped to protect our users from data loss or theft. We use the exact same SSL encryption practices as online banks and medical information providers. We are also a TrustE certified site. We protect your physical hard copy documents very intensely when they are in our possession. Our state-of-the-art operations facility is tightly held under lock and key including 24/7 video surveillance and secure key card access. All of our employees are rigorously trained and vetted including undergoing full criminal background checks. We are proud to have a long track record of keeping our users’ data secure and will continue to do so.

What are some tips you can give people to make sure they are getting the most out your service?

Be sure that you keep up with your usage! It’s easy to send in an envelope or two, or use Shoeboxed Mobile for a couple of business trips, then let your paper clutter go back into disarray. Just be diligent with your usage, and be sure to keep the submissions coming into your Shoeboxed account. That way you’ll always be safe and sound for your taxes, bookkeeping, and in case of IRS audit.

Every company has customers who find uses for their products they never would have thought of. Have you had that happen yet, and can you share it with us.

Sure! While Shoeboxed is known for processing receipts and business cards, you can actually send virtually any paper document in to us for processing to your account. This opens us up to receiving a lot of very unusual things. We have had users sending photographs to us, mathematical papers, and have even received the occasional sock!

Thanks Sonny.

I’ve been a Shoeboxed customer since March and love the service. For $20 a month I get receipt scanning, receipt organizing, business card scanning and document scanning, with almost zero extra effort. I can 100% recommend them as a service I use. You can give them a try with a free introduction. I think you’ll find it’s an extremely helpful service that lets you get on with the more important tasks in your life.
photo credit: Carly & Art

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