Friday 13 means in many countries bad luck. France, Austria and seven other countries in Europe are probably agreeing with that now as yesterday, January the 13, the US based ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut France and Austria triple -A rating by one notch to AA+, and downgraded the other seven countries -Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and Slovenia two notches. Read the rest of this entry »

Located in the French Riviera, Keyboard Politics is in a “privileged” position to witness all the incredible happenings taking place in Cannes for the G-20 summit. From Menton, in the border with Italy, to Cannes, the area is controlled by a large display of police. Many people had the new experience of having their cars checked in the border what was something rarely taking place since the elimination of border posts among the EU countries. Read the rest of this entry »

With national elections looming in just over half a year, France held indirect elections last Sunday to choose the senators. The results were not very good for Sarkozy’s party: the left wrested the Senate from the right. Read the rest of this entry »

It was not necessary to be an economist to know that this financial debacle was about to happen. In both sides of the Atlantic politicians have left the banks rule and have been too timorous to face them. In the process, we have had the housing bubble -the US and Spain are two good examples of it-, unemployment at levels that are intolerable and an always growing difference between the haves and the have-nots. Read the rest of this entry »

Being so involved on both sides of the Atlantic with the economic woes, some of the many and violent political problems, some of which have been there for years and others surprising the world some months ago, seem almost to be ignored. And yet, they are still there, unresolved. Read the rest of this entry »

Not everybody is going to be happy with the appointment of the current French Finance and Economics Minister Christine Lagarde as the next leader of the International Monetary Fund. An appointment that it is perceived by some as a loss to the developing world where it was expected the top position at the IMF would not go again to an European as up to now it has always been. Read the rest of this entry »

No that it was not expected but for some there was still some hope that President Obama will not sign the four-year extension of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, it was not to be and after Congress passed the bill and, with the usual theatricals that the White House seems to love, Obama signed it using an auto-pen machine as he was in France at the time. Read the rest of this entry »