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 »

There was not much talk about the euro crisis during the Christmas holidays. For a few days we almost pretended everything was well and we could relax. But now just when many have realized that January is going to be a hard month, never mind that we tried to be careful with the expenses, we have been hit with the euro sliding to below $1.27, the lowest since September 2010 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 »

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 »

Yesterday we wrote about the US federal debt and the possibility of a potentially disastrous default were the problem go on unresolved. Today it is the turn of the EU and its financially troubled nations which are on the brink of economic collapse. 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 »

George Papandreu, the Greek prime minister, said on television that due to pressure from the markets, which had not responded in a positive way to Greece austerity measures, it was now a pressing necessity to get aid. Read the rest of this entry »