I get it – people are angry. Very, very angry. I’m angry too. And Wall Street sure makes a great scapegoat, hence the Occupy Wall Street protest. Wall Street is a symbol of the “greed and corruption” that took over America and caused this whole mess.
Freakonomics » Dear Occupy Wall Street: Are You Sure You’re in the Right Place?:
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Know What You’re Protesting - Economic View -Greg Mankiw
“HOW do you feel about the walkout?”
I have been asked that question repeatedly over the last several weeks, and I think that I should answer it.
First, a bit of background.
Know What You’re Protesting - Economic View - NYTimes.com:
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I have been asked that question repeatedly over the last several weeks, and I think that I should answer it.
First, a bit of background.
Know What You’re Protesting - Economic View - NYTimes.com:
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Papunësia,“profesioni” kryesor i shqiptarëve në Maqedoni – Editorial.mk
Artikulli i shkruar nga Elmedina Demiri dhe Teuta Alili e Publikuar gjithashtu nga Editorial.mk
Papunësia,“profesioni” kryesor i shqiptarëve në Maqedoni – Editorial.mk:
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Papunësia,“profesioni” kryesor i shqiptarëve në Maqedoni – Editorial.mk:
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
2011 Predictions - Science - Thomson Reuters
Prediction on NOBEL Prize in Economics Winners
2011 Predictions - Science - Thomson Reuters:
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2011 Predictions - Science - Thomson Reuters:
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The Weekend Interview with Robert Lucas: Chicago Economics on Trial - WSJ.com
Nobel-winning economist Robert Lucas on the high cost of the welfare state, why he voted for Barack Obama, and how Milton Friedman changed his life.
The Weekend Interview with Robert Lucas: Chicago Economics on Trial - WSJ.com:
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The Weekend Interview with Robert Lucas: Chicago Economics on Trial - WSJ.com:
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Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
That Used to Be Us — By Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum — Book Review - NYTimes.com
A book review of one of the best modern authors, Thomas L. Friedman, on topics like crisis and future.
That Used to Be Us — By Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum — Book Review - NYTimes.com:
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That Used to Be Us — By Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum — Book Review - NYTimes.com:
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Fair Taxes? Depends What You Mean by ‘Fair’ - New York Times
DO the rich pay their fair share in taxes? This is likely to become a defining question during the presidential campaign.
Fair Taxes? Depends What You Mean by ‘Fair’ - New York Times:
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Fair Taxes? Depends What You Mean by ‘Fair’ - New York Times:
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011
U.S. Unlikely to Regain AAA Soon, Dollar to Keep Reserve Status, S&P Says - Bloomberg
The U.S. is unlikely to regain its top long-term credit rating quickly even as the dollar remains the world’s main reserve currency, said Standard & Poor’s analysts David Beers and John Chambers in a conference call.
U.S. Unlikely to Regain AAA Soon, Dollar to Keep Reserve Status, S&P Says - Bloomberg:
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U.S. Unlikely to Regain AAA Soon, Dollar to Keep Reserve Status, S&P Says - Bloomberg:
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Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The 31 Wildest Conspiracy Theories - Photo Gallery - LIFE
watch videos and dazzle
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The 31 Wildest Conspiracy Theories - Photo Gallery - LIFE:
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Sunday, September 4, 2011
The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com
You rarely read better articles on NY Times
The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com: "TOP MOVERSU.S.AMERICASEUROPEASIABONDS
Newmont Mining Corp
+3.2%$2.00
SUPERVALU Inc
+1.2%$0.09
H and R Block Inc
–11.7%$1.77
Netflix Inc
–8.6%$20.16
"
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The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com: "TOP MOVERSU.S.AMERICASEUROPEASIABONDS
Newmont Mining Corp
+3.2%$2.00
SUPERVALU Inc
+1.2%$0.09
H and R Block Inc
–11.7%$1.77
Netflix Inc
–8.6%$20.16
"
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The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com
You rarely read better articles on NY Times
The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com: "TOP MOVERSU.S.AMERICASEUROPEASIABONDS
Newmont Mining Corp
+3.2%$2.00
SUPERVALU Inc
+1.2%$0.09
H and R Block Inc
–11.7%$1.77
Netflix Inc
–8.6%$20.16
"
'via Blog this'
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The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald - NYTimes.com: "TOP MOVERSU.S.AMERICASEUROPEASIABONDS
Newmont Mining Corp
+3.2%$2.00
SUPERVALU Inc
+1.2%$0.09
H and R Block Inc
–11.7%$1.77
Netflix Inc
–8.6%$20.16
"
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Thursday, September 1, 2011
25 Signs That The Financial World Is About To Hit The Big Red Panic Button
One of the best blogs about crisis and poverty, read this, stay on this and blog it yourself.
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25 Signs That The Financial World Is About To Hit The Big Red Panic Button:
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
MBA admissions tips from the pros - The Washington Post
MBA applicants must successfully navigate five major hurdles
to gain admission into the school of their choice: application essays,
letters of recommendation, academic credentials, work experience and and an entrance interview.
Here are tips that admissions officers from five top-ranked MBA programs shared on each of these
application components at a recent admissions panel sponsored by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. (Kaplan is owned by The Washington Post Co., publisher of The Washington Post.)
MBA admissions tips from the pros - The Washington Post
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to gain admission into the school of their choice: application essays,
letters of recommendation, academic credentials, work experience and and an entrance interview.
Here are tips that admissions officers from five top-ranked MBA programs shared on each of these
application components at a recent admissions panel sponsored by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. (Kaplan is owned by The Washington Post Co., publisher of The Washington Post.)
MBA admissions tips from the pros - The Washington Post
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
A Few More Charts That Should Accompany All Debt Ceiling Discussions by MEGAN MCARDLE
This chart from the White House, which purports to prove, with the scientific magic of math, that basically everything bad that has happened to the budget is the fault of one George W. Bush, has been making the rounds. My colleague approvingly calls it "Another chart that should accompany all debt ceiling discussions".
I'm a little less enamored, considering that this graph attributes decisions made by Obama and an all-Democratic Congress--like doubling down in Afghanistan--to Bush, while taking responsibility for basically nothing except the stimulus. When Obama extends the Bush tax cuts for the rich under pressure from Congressional Republicans, that disappears from his side of the ledger, because after all, he didn't want to do it. When Bush enacts Medicare Part D under pressure from Congressional Democrats, the full cost is charged against his presidency. The list of such silliness goes on. Our president seems set to coin another presidential motto: "The duck starts here."
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I'm a little less enamored, considering that this graph attributes decisions made by Obama and an all-Democratic Congress--like doubling down in Afghanistan--to Bush, while taking responsibility for basically nothing except the stimulus. When Obama extends the Bush tax cuts for the rich under pressure from Congressional Republicans, that disappears from his side of the ledger, because after all, he didn't want to do it. When Bush enacts Medicare Part D under pressure from Congressional Democrats, the full cost is charged against his presidency. The list of such silliness goes on. Our president seems set to coin another presidential motto: "The duck starts here."
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Friday, July 29, 2011
The US Debt Ceiling: Is America in danger of default?
By Sean O'Grady, Economics Editor
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
What is a debt ceiling?
As the name suggests, it's an absolute limit on national debt. The UK doesn't have one, though Budgets have to be approved by Parliament, but the US has had one since 1940, when it was set at a modest $49bn.
Related articles
IMF demands end to partisan bickering over debt ceiling as America's deadline day looms
Stephen Foley: Raising the debt ceiling may not be enough to prevent financial disaster
Search the news archive for more stories
How high is the ceiling?
High, by any standards. The current limit is $14.294 trillion, ie $14,294,000,000,000 – fourteen million million dollars. Even set against the largest economy in the world, it is still pretty impressive; approaching 100 per cent, the highest in America's peacetime history.
When will America run out of money?
The US Treasury say that they will run out of money to pay their debts on 2 August. That is the date when book-keeping dodges run out and the train hits the buffers. An emergency, short-term fix could avert disaster, but for now the wrangling between the President and Congress continues.
Why can't they agree?
President Obama is reluctant to cut social and health programmes. His Republican opponents in Congress, especially the "Tea Party" faction ("nutters" according to our own Vince Cable) refuse to countenance tax rises, because they would hurt the recovery. Most economists say both will be needed to fix the deficit in the short or long term.
What if the ceiling is hit?
First, the federal government's spending will be limited to its cash flow – no more borrowing. Given that the tax revenues only provide for 60 per cent of government spending it implies a 40 per cent plus cut in government spending immediately - rather more draconian than even the British austerity programme. The US Treasury would have to decide which government employees get paid and which have to do without pay. The decision point would be $23bn in Social Security payments due on 3 August, not covered by tax revenues. Bad as that is, there is a second unpleasant consequence; that the US would have to tell those investors cashing in their bonds that it cannot honour them. Such a default would send shockwaves around financial markets.
What happens then?
No one knows, as, with the UK and a few others, the US has never run away on a debt (not counting inflation).
Any good news?
The international body that represents the credit ratings agencies say that it might not treat the default as a default. The financial panic might not then happen.
Can the US pay its bills?
Yes. The American "default", unlike the recent one in Greece, say, is entirely technical. The US is in the fortunate position that it can virtually print as much money as it wants, so willing is the world still to accept US Treasury bills and bonds as "safe" assets. There are limits to that – hence the popularity of gold and the Swiss Franc – and long term the US will have to live within its means. But, for now, the Chinese, Gulf states and others are happy to hold their paper.
Long-term damage?
Potentially great. Missing bond interest payments or redemptions would mean that the credit rating agencies would downgrade the US. That would mean Americans would have to pay more interest on their mortgages and other borrowings than otherwise; it would cost them real money every month. Any sustained drastic reduction in US government spending would
German Retail Sales Surge by Most on Record
German retail sales surged the most on record in June as falling unemployment boosted household purchasing power.
Sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, rose 6.3 percent from May, when they fell 2.5 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. That’s the strongest increase since 1991, when data for a reunified Germany were first available. Economists had forecast a gain of 1.7 percent, the median of 22 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Sales dropped 1 percent in the year.
The German economy, Europe’s largest, is weathering the region’s sovereign-debt crisis as companies step up hiring to meet export orders, fueling consumer spending. The Bundesbank last month raised its 2011 growth forecast to 3.1 percent from 2.5 percent, citing stronger domestic demand.
“German consumers are finally waking up,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Groep in Brussels. “Of course, the rather discouraging track record of German retail sales is reason enough not to get overly excited. However, German consumers offer some glimmer of hope that at least the German economy is heading towards a soft, not hard, landing.”
The statistics office said this month it exchanged about 8,100 companies representing 33 percent of the sample it uses to calculate the monthly retail sales statistics. It will swap another 17 percent of reporting firms next year.
‘Significant Weaknesses’
The Bundesbank said on July 18 that the retail sales statistical series has “significant weaknesses” and last month’s decline is “without validity.”
Unemployment dropped for a 25th straight month in July, keeping the jobless rate at 7 percent, the lowest since reunification.
Metro AG, Germany’s biggest retailer, on July 26 confirmed its earnings forecast for 2011, saying it expects profit before extraordinary items to rise about 10 percent. Still, the company’s Media-Saturn household electronics unit posted its first operating loss in at least 20 years in the second quarter as sales dropped in Germany.
The threat of higher energy prices will contribute to a decline in consumer confidence in August, market research company GfK said this week. Oil prices rose 2.2 percent this month and inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent from 2.4 percent in June.
“The employment situation in Germany is excellent and provides the foundation for an increase in real disposable income,” said Jens Kramer, an economist at NordLB in Hanover. “That should support private consumption. It won’t become the main growth pillar, but it will support growth driven by demand from abroad.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jana Randow in Frankfurt at jrandow@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net
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Sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, rose 6.3 percent from May, when they fell 2.5 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. That’s the strongest increase since 1991, when data for a reunified Germany were first available. Economists had forecast a gain of 1.7 percent, the median of 22 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Sales dropped 1 percent in the year.
The German economy, Europe’s largest, is weathering the region’s sovereign-debt crisis as companies step up hiring to meet export orders, fueling consumer spending. The Bundesbank last month raised its 2011 growth forecast to 3.1 percent from 2.5 percent, citing stronger domestic demand.
“German consumers are finally waking up,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Groep in Brussels. “Of course, the rather discouraging track record of German retail sales is reason enough not to get overly excited. However, German consumers offer some glimmer of hope that at least the German economy is heading towards a soft, not hard, landing.”
The statistics office said this month it exchanged about 8,100 companies representing 33 percent of the sample it uses to calculate the monthly retail sales statistics. It will swap another 17 percent of reporting firms next year.
‘Significant Weaknesses’
The Bundesbank said on July 18 that the retail sales statistical series has “significant weaknesses” and last month’s decline is “without validity.”
Unemployment dropped for a 25th straight month in July, keeping the jobless rate at 7 percent, the lowest since reunification.
Metro AG, Germany’s biggest retailer, on July 26 confirmed its earnings forecast for 2011, saying it expects profit before extraordinary items to rise about 10 percent. Still, the company’s Media-Saturn household electronics unit posted its first operating loss in at least 20 years in the second quarter as sales dropped in Germany.
The threat of higher energy prices will contribute to a decline in consumer confidence in August, market research company GfK said this week. Oil prices rose 2.2 percent this month and inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent from 2.4 percent in June.
“The employment situation in Germany is excellent and provides the foundation for an increase in real disposable income,” said Jens Kramer, an economist at NordLB in Hanover. “That should support private consumption. It won’t become the main growth pillar, but it will support growth driven by demand from abroad.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jana Randow in Frankfurt at jrandow@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net
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Golden Era of Rock Star Traders Concludes
Money can be dull. There are only so many denominations, and only so many ways to make it. What’s interesting are the people who risk it, and over the past four decades no one has made more of a spectacle of risk than George Soros, whose Quantum fund famously bet $10 billion that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue the pound. Soros earned $1 billion on that trade and incalculable legend points.
Now, Soros is going to stop risking other people’s money. By the end of this year, his Soros Fund Management LLC will have no outside customers for the first time in 42 years. The shift concludes a process that began in 2000, when Soros stopped accepting new investments, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Aug. 1 issue.
Four years later he turned management of the company over to his sons Robert and Jonathan. On July 26, after months of debate, the three men decided to return the less than $1 billion of outsiders’ money Quantum still oversees and convert the firm into a family office to manage almost $25 billion for George, his family, and foundations.
There’s a two-word explanation for closing what was once one of the world’s biggest hedge funds and consistently one of the best-performing --- with returns of about 30 percent annually in its first 30 years: Dodd-Frank. The law requires hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provide information about customers, employees and assets. By returning outsiders’ money, Soros Fund Management escapes that rule and the loss of privacy that goes with it.
‘Unfortunate Consequence’
“An unfortunate consequence of these new circumstances is that we will no longer be able to manage assets for anyone other than a family client as defined under the regulations,” the brothers wrote in a letter to investors.
The move completes the 80-year-old Soros’s transformation from speculator to philanthropist statesman, a role he has said he first imagined for himself as a Hungarian émigré studying at the London School of Economics & Political Science after World War II. In the past 30 years, Soros said he’s given away more than $8 billion to promote democracy, foster free speech, improve education, and fight poverty around the world.
Soros’s retreat from the stage is a marker of just how much the industry has changed --- and how much he’s changed the industry --- since he opened his first fund in 1969 with $4 million from investors and his own savings. Back then, hedge funds catered mainly to wealthy individuals and managers stayed out of the limelight. No one even bothered to track the number of hedge funds, which differ from mutual funds because they bet on falling as well as rising prices of stocks and other securities and can concentrate their money in a handful of positions.
Economic Trends
Soros -- a “macro” investor who profits from broad economic trends rather than focusing on individual stocks or bonds --- was among the first managers to give the industry visibility. The world was his casino, and after his 1992 bet against the pound, investors and governments were forced to pay attention. Whenever a currency plunged, there were rumors Soros had been betting against it. Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, called him a moron for profiting from the ringgit’s decline in 1997, even though Soros was buying the currency at the time.
In January 1998, Soros went to South Korea and met with President-elect Kim Dae-Jung. His conclusion after the meeting was that the country needed a reorganization of its entire economy. If South Korea made such changes as strengthening its banks and letting foreigners buy controlling stakes in its companies, he said Quantum would invest up to $1 billion in the country. South Korean stocks jumped 7 percent over the next three days.
Russian Government
Later that year, Soros published an essay in the Financial Times advising the Russian government to devalue the ruble by 15 percent to 25 percent. Investors took that as a sign he was shorting the currency, and they reckoned they should bet on its decline, too. Ruble-denominated bond prices plunged, and four days later the government defaulted on its debt. Soros lost more than $1 billion. He had owned Russian stocks and bonds--he wasn’t shorting them. His investment in Russia had a higher purpose. “He felt that if he was a beacon of investment in Russia, others would follow, and the capital inflows would transform the society,” Robert Johnson, a former Soros managing director, told author Sebastian Mallaby for his book “More Money than God.” “There’s a philanthropic side of George that started to interfere with the speculative one.”
Swaggering Exploits
Thanks in part to Soros’s swaggering exploits and returns, by 2000 hedge funds were hot. Managers such as Julian Robertson, Louis Bacon, and Paul Jones posted huge returns betting on Japanese stocks, U.S. bonds, and European currencies. Some graced the covers of national magazines and money poured into the industry from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and other institutions. Hedge fund assets climbed to about $1.9 trillion as of mid-2008.
After Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) went bankrupt in September 2008, hedge funds saw more than a quarter of their assets disappear as markets cratered and clients pulled their money out. While 1,471 funds went out of business, the slump didn’t last long: Less than three years later, industry assets have rebounded to $2 trillion, surpassing the 2008 peak.
What hasn’t bounced back is blind trust in the wisdom of rock star managers. With the federal government demanding they answer questionnaires as long as 80 pages as part of the registration process, managers are getting much more scrutiny.
‘Paternalistic Trend’
“It’s a growing paternalistic trend,” said Don Putnam, managing director of Grail Partners, “made worse by overregulation and the controversy good investors like Soros attract in the market.”
Investors are paying more attention, too. As recently as 2007, managers might write a quarterly letter to discuss investment themes and report performance. Now funds including John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. provide weekly performance updates; clients want to know what’s going on. Even star managers complain that prospective customers can spend a year asking questions and doing research before handing over any cash.
Other managers have decided to go private, too, thus sidestepping SEC scrutiny. Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked for Soros for 12 years as his chief investment strategist, kicked investors out of his Duquesne Capital Management LLC last year.
In March, Carl Icahn, 75, gave back $1.76 billion, telling investors in a letter that “given the rapid market run-up over the past two years and our ongoing concerns about economic outlook, and recent political tensions in the Middle East, I do not wish to be responsible to limited partners through another possible market crisis.”
Taking Risks
Soros didn’t begin taking risks by investing other people’s money. Part of his appeal is that his biography is full of them. He was born in Budapest in 1930. When the Nazis invaded the city in 1944, Soros’s father arranged for false papers for his family and friends that identified them as non-Jews. Most of the people his father helped survived the war, Soros wrote in an essay published in the New York Review of Books in late June.
“Instead of submitting to our fate we resisted an evil force that was much stronger than we were --- yet we prevailed,” he wrote. “Not only did we survive, but we managed to help others.”
He added that the experience gave him an appetite for risk. “This left a lasting mark on me, turning a disaster of unthinkable proportions into an exhilarating adventure,” Soros wrote.
Philosophical Studies
Arriving in New York at age 26, Soros landed a job as a trader with Wall Street brokerage F.M. Mayer. He planned to work for five years -- enough time, he reckoned, to save $500,000 and return to England, where he would pursue his philosophical studies. Instead he stayed, eventually moving to Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Advisers, where he set up the predecessor to the Quantum fund in 1969. He started his own firm in 1973.
In late 1988, after 19 years of 30-plus percent returns, Soros hired Druckenmiller from mutual fund company Dreyfus to oversee day-to-day trading so he could focus on philanthropy. While Druckenmiller was the architect of the $10 billion British pound trade, which forced the currency out of the European exchange-rate mechanism, Soros served as his coach, encouraging him to plow more money into the bet. Druckenmiller told Bloomberg News last year that Soros taught him an important lesson: When you’re sure you’re right, no trade is too big.
Technology Bubble
After losing money when the technology bubble burst in 2000, Soros involved more people within the firm in making investment decisions and turned over some money to outside managers. Druckenmiller left, together with another star manager, Nicholas Roditi. Soros said he would settle for a 15 percent annualized return, about half what the fund had posted since its start. Four years later, he made his sons deputy chairmen.
Soros hardly walked away. It was his money and, according to people who asked not to be identified because the fund is private, he has no tolerance for losses. His flagship fund has posted only one down year in its 42-year history. Soros isn’t a yeller, yet his brusqueness could prove to be even more disconcerting than a tirade, say former employees.
After an early argument with Druckenmiller over strategy, Soros gave in, saying he’d move to London and stop meddling. His parting words, according to Druckenmiller: “Now we’ll find out whether I’ve just been in your hair too much or whether you really are inept.”
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
In 2007, when his son Robert was the chief investment officer and the subprime mortgage crisis was spreading, Soros took over the management of the then $17 billion fund. Quantum returned 32 percent that year, with much of the gains coming from a rise in Chinese and Indian equities. The next year the fund gained 8 percent, when hedge funds on average dropped about 19 percent. Between 1973, when Soros started his own firm, and the end of 2010, Quantum made $35 billion in profit, net of fees, according to an estimate from LCH Investments.
Soros has been outspoken about the causes of the financial crisis. In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2008, he blamed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan for “keeping interest rates too low too long” and “ignoring dangers in the housing market.”
In an interview with Bloomberg News later that year, he traced the crisis to 1980, when President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher came to power. During that time, borrowing ballooned and regulation of banks and financial markets became less stringent, he said.
Performance Has Suffered
More recently, Soros weighed in on his fund’s management again, according to two people familiar with the firm. This time it was to tell his sons that Keith Anderson, the chief investment officer, should go.
Anderson is the third trader, including Soros’s son, to leave that job since 2000. While Anderson was popular with employees, the fund’s performance has suffered in the past 18 months. In the first half of this year, Quantum lost about 6 percent, after gaining 2.5 percent in 2010. Other macro funds have returned 5.6 percent over the past 18 months, according to Hedge Fund Research, a firm that compiles industry data.
For almost as long as he’s been making money, Soros has been giving it away. He opened his first foundation, the Open Society Fund, in 1979, when he was managing about $100 million and his personal wealth had climbed to about $25 million. His initial focus was on funding scholarships for black university students in South Africa and providing stipends for Eastern European dissidents to study in the West.
Dissident Literature
Soros now funds a network of foundations that operate in 70 countries around the globe, everywhere from the U.S. to Montenegro to South Africa and Haiti. His money has paid for Xerox machines that helped spread dissident literature in Soviet-era Hungary, for training Burmese journalists reporting on the military dictatorship’s 2007 crackdown, and for drug treatment and early parole programs in Baltimore.
“Soros has been tremendously generous, and he’s been a courageous risk-taker in his philanthropy,” said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in Washington. Caroline Preston, a writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said Soros “has built a reputation as someone who tackles complex social issues and funds projects even if they have a low chance of success.”
Initially, Soros didn’t want his philanthropic foundations to survive him.
“The fate of other institutions has taught me that they tend to stray very far from the founders’ intentions,” he wrote in the New York Review essay. He changed his mind, though, deciding that closing the foundations “would be an act of excessive selfishness.”
Giving up philanthropy seems to be harder than backing away from managing other people’s money.
“My success in the financial markets has given me a greater degree of independence than most other people,” Soros wrote. “This obliges me to take stands on controversial issues when others cannot, and taking such positions has itself been a source of satisfaction.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net; Roben Farzad in New York at rfarzad@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
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Now, Soros is going to stop risking other people’s money. By the end of this year, his Soros Fund Management LLC will have no outside customers for the first time in 42 years. The shift concludes a process that began in 2000, when Soros stopped accepting new investments, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Aug. 1 issue.
Four years later he turned management of the company over to his sons Robert and Jonathan. On July 26, after months of debate, the three men decided to return the less than $1 billion of outsiders’ money Quantum still oversees and convert the firm into a family office to manage almost $25 billion for George, his family, and foundations.
There’s a two-word explanation for closing what was once one of the world’s biggest hedge funds and consistently one of the best-performing --- with returns of about 30 percent annually in its first 30 years: Dodd-Frank. The law requires hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provide information about customers, employees and assets. By returning outsiders’ money, Soros Fund Management escapes that rule and the loss of privacy that goes with it.
‘Unfortunate Consequence’
“An unfortunate consequence of these new circumstances is that we will no longer be able to manage assets for anyone other than a family client as defined under the regulations,” the brothers wrote in a letter to investors.
The move completes the 80-year-old Soros’s transformation from speculator to philanthropist statesman, a role he has said he first imagined for himself as a Hungarian émigré studying at the London School of Economics & Political Science after World War II. In the past 30 years, Soros said he’s given away more than $8 billion to promote democracy, foster free speech, improve education, and fight poverty around the world.
Soros’s retreat from the stage is a marker of just how much the industry has changed --- and how much he’s changed the industry --- since he opened his first fund in 1969 with $4 million from investors and his own savings. Back then, hedge funds catered mainly to wealthy individuals and managers stayed out of the limelight. No one even bothered to track the number of hedge funds, which differ from mutual funds because they bet on falling as well as rising prices of stocks and other securities and can concentrate their money in a handful of positions.
Economic Trends
Soros -- a “macro” investor who profits from broad economic trends rather than focusing on individual stocks or bonds --- was among the first managers to give the industry visibility. The world was his casino, and after his 1992 bet against the pound, investors and governments were forced to pay attention. Whenever a currency plunged, there were rumors Soros had been betting against it. Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, called him a moron for profiting from the ringgit’s decline in 1997, even though Soros was buying the currency at the time.
In January 1998, Soros went to South Korea and met with President-elect Kim Dae-Jung. His conclusion after the meeting was that the country needed a reorganization of its entire economy. If South Korea made such changes as strengthening its banks and letting foreigners buy controlling stakes in its companies, he said Quantum would invest up to $1 billion in the country. South Korean stocks jumped 7 percent over the next three days.
Russian Government
Later that year, Soros published an essay in the Financial Times advising the Russian government to devalue the ruble by 15 percent to 25 percent. Investors took that as a sign he was shorting the currency, and they reckoned they should bet on its decline, too. Ruble-denominated bond prices plunged, and four days later the government defaulted on its debt. Soros lost more than $1 billion. He had owned Russian stocks and bonds--he wasn’t shorting them. His investment in Russia had a higher purpose. “He felt that if he was a beacon of investment in Russia, others would follow, and the capital inflows would transform the society,” Robert Johnson, a former Soros managing director, told author Sebastian Mallaby for his book “More Money than God.” “There’s a philanthropic side of George that started to interfere with the speculative one.”
Swaggering Exploits
Thanks in part to Soros’s swaggering exploits and returns, by 2000 hedge funds were hot. Managers such as Julian Robertson, Louis Bacon, and Paul Jones posted huge returns betting on Japanese stocks, U.S. bonds, and European currencies. Some graced the covers of national magazines and money poured into the industry from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and other institutions. Hedge fund assets climbed to about $1.9 trillion as of mid-2008.
After Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) went bankrupt in September 2008, hedge funds saw more than a quarter of their assets disappear as markets cratered and clients pulled their money out. While 1,471 funds went out of business, the slump didn’t last long: Less than three years later, industry assets have rebounded to $2 trillion, surpassing the 2008 peak.
What hasn’t bounced back is blind trust in the wisdom of rock star managers. With the federal government demanding they answer questionnaires as long as 80 pages as part of the registration process, managers are getting much more scrutiny.
‘Paternalistic Trend’
“It’s a growing paternalistic trend,” said Don Putnam, managing director of Grail Partners, “made worse by overregulation and the controversy good investors like Soros attract in the market.”
Investors are paying more attention, too. As recently as 2007, managers might write a quarterly letter to discuss investment themes and report performance. Now funds including John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. provide weekly performance updates; clients want to know what’s going on. Even star managers complain that prospective customers can spend a year asking questions and doing research before handing over any cash.
Other managers have decided to go private, too, thus sidestepping SEC scrutiny. Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked for Soros for 12 years as his chief investment strategist, kicked investors out of his Duquesne Capital Management LLC last year.
In March, Carl Icahn, 75, gave back $1.76 billion, telling investors in a letter that “given the rapid market run-up over the past two years and our ongoing concerns about economic outlook, and recent political tensions in the Middle East, I do not wish to be responsible to limited partners through another possible market crisis.”
Taking Risks
Soros didn’t begin taking risks by investing other people’s money. Part of his appeal is that his biography is full of them. He was born in Budapest in 1930. When the Nazis invaded the city in 1944, Soros’s father arranged for false papers for his family and friends that identified them as non-Jews. Most of the people his father helped survived the war, Soros wrote in an essay published in the New York Review of Books in late June.
“Instead of submitting to our fate we resisted an evil force that was much stronger than we were --- yet we prevailed,” he wrote. “Not only did we survive, but we managed to help others.”
He added that the experience gave him an appetite for risk. “This left a lasting mark on me, turning a disaster of unthinkable proportions into an exhilarating adventure,” Soros wrote.
Philosophical Studies
Arriving in New York at age 26, Soros landed a job as a trader with Wall Street brokerage F.M. Mayer. He planned to work for five years -- enough time, he reckoned, to save $500,000 and return to England, where he would pursue his philosophical studies. Instead he stayed, eventually moving to Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Advisers, where he set up the predecessor to the Quantum fund in 1969. He started his own firm in 1973.
In late 1988, after 19 years of 30-plus percent returns, Soros hired Druckenmiller from mutual fund company Dreyfus to oversee day-to-day trading so he could focus on philanthropy. While Druckenmiller was the architect of the $10 billion British pound trade, which forced the currency out of the European exchange-rate mechanism, Soros served as his coach, encouraging him to plow more money into the bet. Druckenmiller told Bloomberg News last year that Soros taught him an important lesson: When you’re sure you’re right, no trade is too big.
Technology Bubble
After losing money when the technology bubble burst in 2000, Soros involved more people within the firm in making investment decisions and turned over some money to outside managers. Druckenmiller left, together with another star manager, Nicholas Roditi. Soros said he would settle for a 15 percent annualized return, about half what the fund had posted since its start. Four years later, he made his sons deputy chairmen.
Soros hardly walked away. It was his money and, according to people who asked not to be identified because the fund is private, he has no tolerance for losses. His flagship fund has posted only one down year in its 42-year history. Soros isn’t a yeller, yet his brusqueness could prove to be even more disconcerting than a tirade, say former employees.
After an early argument with Druckenmiller over strategy, Soros gave in, saying he’d move to London and stop meddling. His parting words, according to Druckenmiller: “Now we’ll find out whether I’ve just been in your hair too much or whether you really are inept.”
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
In 2007, when his son Robert was the chief investment officer and the subprime mortgage crisis was spreading, Soros took over the management of the then $17 billion fund. Quantum returned 32 percent that year, with much of the gains coming from a rise in Chinese and Indian equities. The next year the fund gained 8 percent, when hedge funds on average dropped about 19 percent. Between 1973, when Soros started his own firm, and the end of 2010, Quantum made $35 billion in profit, net of fees, according to an estimate from LCH Investments.
Soros has been outspoken about the causes of the financial crisis. In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2008, he blamed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan for “keeping interest rates too low too long” and “ignoring dangers in the housing market.”
In an interview with Bloomberg News later that year, he traced the crisis to 1980, when President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher came to power. During that time, borrowing ballooned and regulation of banks and financial markets became less stringent, he said.
Performance Has Suffered
More recently, Soros weighed in on his fund’s management again, according to two people familiar with the firm. This time it was to tell his sons that Keith Anderson, the chief investment officer, should go.
Anderson is the third trader, including Soros’s son, to leave that job since 2000. While Anderson was popular with employees, the fund’s performance has suffered in the past 18 months. In the first half of this year, Quantum lost about 6 percent, after gaining 2.5 percent in 2010. Other macro funds have returned 5.6 percent over the past 18 months, according to Hedge Fund Research, a firm that compiles industry data.
For almost as long as he’s been making money, Soros has been giving it away. He opened his first foundation, the Open Society Fund, in 1979, when he was managing about $100 million and his personal wealth had climbed to about $25 million. His initial focus was on funding scholarships for black university students in South Africa and providing stipends for Eastern European dissidents to study in the West.
Dissident Literature
Soros now funds a network of foundations that operate in 70 countries around the globe, everywhere from the U.S. to Montenegro to South Africa and Haiti. His money has paid for Xerox machines that helped spread dissident literature in Soviet-era Hungary, for training Burmese journalists reporting on the military dictatorship’s 2007 crackdown, and for drug treatment and early parole programs in Baltimore.
“Soros has been tremendously generous, and he’s been a courageous risk-taker in his philanthropy,” said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in Washington. Caroline Preston, a writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said Soros “has built a reputation as someone who tackles complex social issues and funds projects even if they have a low chance of success.”
Initially, Soros didn’t want his philanthropic foundations to survive him.
“The fate of other institutions has taught me that they tend to stray very far from the founders’ intentions,” he wrote in the New York Review essay. He changed his mind, though, deciding that closing the foundations “would be an act of excessive selfishness.”
Giving up philanthropy seems to be harder than backing away from managing other people’s money.
“My success in the financial markets has given me a greater degree of independence than most other people,” Soros wrote. “This obliges me to take stands on controversial issues when others cannot, and taking such positions has itself been a source of satisfaction.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net; Roben Farzad in New York at rfarzad@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
UtilitaSEEU
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Are Rising Prices a Sign of Health in an Industry?
Or do they signify desperation? This is the question that arose earlier this month in Congress, when the House Judiciary Committee again took up the question of creating copyright protection for fashion designs.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Need a Light Bulb? Uncle Sam Gets to Choose: Virginia Postrel
If you want to know why so many Americans feel alienated from their government, you need only go to Target and check out the light bulb aisle. Instead of the cheap commodities of yesteryear, you’ll find what looks like evidence of a flourishing, technology-driven economy.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Sunday, July 24, 2011
A Stack of Bills Reaching to the Moon: How to Quantify Our National Debt
Now that the U.S. national debt is in the headlines, the media is awash in astronomical numbers such as $14.3 trillion (the current debt). Everyone realizes that this number is incomprehensible. Even back in 1981, when the national debt was only about $1 trillion, the debt was still incomprehensible. Thus, speechwriters for Ronald Reagan created, or at least popularized, a widely used attempt to give it meaning
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Male Organ and Economic Growth: Does Size Matter? Tatu Westling University of Helsinki
Enter Link
https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/27239/maleorga.pdf?sequence=4
This article was also posted on Greg Mankiw's Blog and you can see that what Balkan people lack in money the compensate it in other ways. A very scientific approach, a bit raw but very true.
UtilitaSEEU
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Too Much Debt Means the Economy Can’t Grow: Reinhart and Rogoff
As public debt in advanced countries reaches levels not seen since the end of World War II, there is considerable debate about the urgency of taming deficits with the aim of stabilizing and ultimately reducing debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
European Bank Stress Test; Only Eight? Europe Is In Peril!
One does not have to dig too deep to discover the exposure level of the banks from the “big” European nations, France, Germany and the UK. Liability risk to the nations that have already been bailed out i.e. Greece, Ireland and Portugal sums to €500Bn
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Is There a Social-Network Bubble? Posner
I want to consider what an investment bubble is, why it arises, whether it’s irrational, and whether the current valuations of social network enterprises such as LinkedIn and Facebook are a bubble phenomenon.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Another Tech Bubble in the Offing? Becker
The dotcom boom at the end of the 1990s was a classical and magnificent bubble. Venture capitalists and other investors were throwing tens, and often hundreds, of millions of dollars at Internet startups and fledgling biotech companies that usually were not making profits, and frequently did not have any sales. The bubble burst in 2000, and the huge valuations placed on these companies disappeared, along with many of the companies.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
U T I L I T A SEEU Party
Utilita SEEU, the new published magazine for economy and business of the South Eastern European University invites you to the party at LIbrary Club Tetovo on Friday at 21 00 Time. Good company,good music and many other great things ENJOY
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Saturday, May 21, 2011
NEW NEW NEW !!
UtilitaSEEU -
In a few days we will have the 1-st our original Newspaper !
Name of the Newspaper is UTILITA !!
Stay Tuned , and check our Blog everyday to see our new EDITION !!
UTILITA STAFF
In a few days we will have the 1-st our original Newspaper !
Name of the Newspaper is UTILITA !!
Stay Tuned , and check our Blog everyday to see our new EDITION !!
UTILITA STAFF
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Unemployed Mother’s Day (Nancy Folbre)
“Work first!” was the rallying cry behind sweeping changes to public-assistance programs for single parents enacted 15 years ago, with the establishment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF (pronounced TAN-if). So what happens when paying jobs aren’t available?
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
The Role of Economics in an Imperfect World (EDWARD L. GLAESER)
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Friedrich A. Hayek, Big-Government Skeptic
The publication of the definitive edition of Friedrich A. Hayek’s “Constitution of Liberty” coincides with the unexpected best-seller status of his earlier book “The Road to Serfdom” as a result of its promotion by the conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck. In an age when many on the right are worried that the Obama administration’s reform of health care is leading us toward socialism, Hayek’s warnings from the mid-20th century about society’s slide toward despotism, and his principled defense of a minimal state, have found strong political resonance.
Francis Fukuyama
UtilitaSEEU
Francis Fukuyama
UtilitaSEEU
If You Have the Answers, Tell Me
AFTER more than a quarter-century as a professional economist, I have a confession to make: There is a lot I don’t know about the economy. Indeed, the area of economics where I have devoted most of my energy and attention — the ups and downs of the business cycle — is where I find myself most often confronting important questions without obvious answers.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Friday, April 29, 2011
Did the Sale of Pyrex Hurt the Crack-Cocaine Industry? (enter link)
Great column by John Marlowe of Freakonomics
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur (enter link)
If you Google “entrepreneur” you get a lot of mindless cliches like “Think Big!” For me, being an “entrepreneur” doesn’t mean starting the next Facebook, or even starting any business at all. It means finding the challenges you have in your life, and determining creative ways to overcome those challenges. However, in this post I focus mostly on the issues that come up when you first start your company. These rules also apply if you are taking an entrepreneurial stance within a much larger company (which all employees should do).
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
The race to the bottom
Most trending: Why do business students spend comparatively little time studying and preparing for class?
IN MY day people who wanted an easy time at university studied geography or land management. Now, in the United States at least, the soft-option of choice is business studies.
UtilitaSEEU
IN MY day people who wanted an easy time at university studied geography or land management. Now, in the United States at least, the soft-option of choice is business studies.
UtilitaSEEU
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
More Than 1 Billion People Are Hungry in the World
A great article by MIT's Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.
UtilitaSEEU
UtilitaSEEU
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Freakonomics ndalon se ekzistuari ne New York Times
UtilitaSEEU
Blogu i famshem ne suaza boterore i themeluar nga dy ekonomistet Steven D. Levit dhe Stephen Dubner do te ndaloje publikimin ne prestigjozen e perditshme amerikne The new York Times. Lajmin e beri te ditur vete grupi themelues dhe thane se pas nje suksesi te madh si dy libra bestseller, film dhe radio Freakonomists, ato vendosen qe te shperngulen ne nje blog te tyrin, me shume gjasa ai te jete Freakonomics.com, e jo si Blog ne rubriken Opinion te NYT.
Dy themeluesit i dhane kahje ndryshe ekonomise, duke futur prova empirike dhe fakte sociale ne shkencen e ekonomise duke e shenderuar ate me pak ne shkence e me shume ne jete shoqerore. Ato provuan fakte se edhe Droga ishte e rendesishme ne ekonomi, prostitutat e vendit apo ato te importuara dhe shume konkluzione te tjera qe i dhane ekonomisteve te rinj nje kendveshtrim krejt ndryshe nga ai qe kishin.
Leutrim Mehmedi
Blogu i famshem ne suaza boterore i themeluar nga dy ekonomistet Steven D. Levit dhe Stephen Dubner do te ndaloje publikimin ne prestigjozen e perditshme amerikne The new York Times. Lajmin e beri te ditur vete grupi themelues dhe thane se pas nje suksesi te madh si dy libra bestseller, film dhe radio Freakonomists, ato vendosen qe te shperngulen ne nje blog te tyrin, me shume gjasa ai te jete Freakonomics.com, e jo si Blog ne rubriken Opinion te NYT.
Dy themeluesit i dhane kahje ndryshe ekonomise, duke futur prova empirike dhe fakte sociale ne shkencen e ekonomise duke e shenderuar ate me pak ne shkence e me shume ne jete shoqerore. Ato provuan fakte se edhe Droga ishte e rendesishme ne ekonomi, prostitutat e vendit apo ato te importuara dhe shume konkluzione te tjera qe i dhane ekonomisteve te rinj nje kendveshtrim krejt ndryshe nga ai qe kishin.
Leutrim Mehmedi
Friday, February 25, 2011
Facebook’s Death Problem And The Start-Up That Seized It
UtilitaSEEU
Chances are if you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you have been invited to reconnect with the dead— a friend or acquaintance who recently passed, but lives on in that ever-ubiquitous social algorithm, nudging you to write on their wall or add them to your professional network. (Nicole Perloth- Forbes.com)
(Enter the Link for further reading)
Chances are if you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you have been invited to reconnect with the dead— a friend or acquaintance who recently passed, but lives on in that ever-ubiquitous social algorithm, nudging you to write on their wall or add them to your professional network. (Nicole Perloth- Forbes.com)
(Enter the Link for further reading)
Rising Oil Prices Pose New Threat to U.S. Economy
UtilitaSEEU
New York Times
By MOTOKO RICH, CATHERINE RAMPELL and DAVID STREITFELD
Published: February 24, 2011
New York Times
By MOTOKO RICH, CATHERINE RAMPELL and DAVID STREITFELD
Published: February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Maqedonia para kolapsit ekonomik
UtilitaSEEU
Para kolapsit ekonomik
Në Maqedoni ka gjashtë miliardë euro të cilat qëndrojnë si letra me vlerë të vdekura – shënime, bono ose depozita nëpër banka, kurse mundet që në mënyrë direkte të ndikojnë në prodhimtarinë e ushqimit, në shfrytëzimin e të gjithë tokës punuese dhe të punësohen shumë njerëz të rinj dhe të mos ketë uri dhe varfëri
Shpenzimet e jetesës të cilat në muajin janar u rritën për 3,4 për qind, që nga fillimi i vitit treguan se inflacioni deri në fund të vitit 2011 do të jetë shumë më e lartë nga projeksioni i shtetit për 3 për qind. Sipas statistikës, muajin e kaluar më së shumti janë shtrenjtuar ushqimet, komunalet dhe benzina, kurse sipas lëvizjeve të bursave shtetërore nuk pritet që të ulen çmimet e importeve dhe produkteve ushqimore, por aq më pak që të lirohet edhe çmimi i naftës dhe i energjisë elektrike, e cila sjell si përfundim se inflacioni do të rritet edhe më shumë. Ekonomistët përsëri pajtohen se pragu i rekomanduar për të cilin inflacioni mund të shkakton zhvillim është deri në dy për qind e pastaj e tërheq ekonominë poshtë.
“Bursat e produkteve ushqimore me të cilat furnizohemi nga shtetet e jashtme të cilat janë: gruri, misri, sheqeri, kakaoja, vaji për gatim çmimi i të cilave do të rritet edhe më shumë, e ajo në mënyrë të pashmangshme do të sjellë edhe shtrenjtim të bukës, miellit dhe të vajit për gatim, të cilat janë produktet bazë në ushqim. Mielli, sheqeri dhe vaji për gatim të cilat hynë si shpenzime mbi prodhimtarinë e artikujve ushqimor mund që vetëm ti shtrenjtojnë produktet vendase dhe këtu inflacioni nuk ka fund. Nëse shtrenjtohen lëndët e para dhe lëndët e papërpunuara do të shtrenjtohen edhe produktet e cila do të sjellin rënie të shitjes dhe rënie të fitimit. Ekonomia nuk do të investojë për zhvillim por do të shikon që vetëm të mbijeton. Kurse edhe qytetarët do të blejnë vetëm nëse kanë para edhe atë do të blejnë vetëm atë çka u është më e nevojshme”, thotë Hristo Kartallov, profesor universitar. “Zgjidhja e vetme është që shteti ti kundërvihet inflacionit dhe ta përmirësojë jetën e qytetarëve dhe t’i angazhojë resurset të veta në fuqinë e punës, të hollat dhe pronën bujqësore të pa shfrytëzuar”, theksoi profesori Kartallov.
Sipas tij, në vendin tonë ka gjashtë miliardë euro të cilat qëndrojnë si letra me vlerë të vdekura – shënime, bono ose depozita nëpër banka, kurse mundet që në mënyrë direkte të ndikojnë në prodhimtarinë e ushqimit, në shfrytëzimin e të gjithë tokës punuese dhe të punësohen shumë njerëz të rinj dhe të mos ketë uri dhe varfëri.
Kartallov thotë se Maqedonia ka mundësi të jetë e njohur nëpër botë për produktet e veta siç janë ushqimi i konservuar, frutat e ngrira dhe perimet. Inflacioni e ul rritjen ekonomike dhe i përkeqëson kushtet për punë edhe të ekonomistëve. Nëse edhe atje nuk ndërmerret asgjë për zvogëlimin e çmimeve, ekonomia mundet që si përfundim ti zvogëlon pagat e punëtorëve dhe ti largon nga puna.
“Me rritjen e çmimeve të lëndëve të para dhe të lëndëve të papërpunuara me të cilat kryesisht furnizohemi nga importi si edhe me rritjen e çmimeve të energjetikës, në njërën anë shtrenjtohen produktet tona, nga ana tjetër bie fuqia blerëse e popullsisë dhe e vetmja gjë në të cilën mund të shpresojmë është që të zvogëlohet shitja dhe të punojmë më pak. Fitim më i ulët apo humbje, do të thotë, paga më të ulëta apo dorëheqje nga puna. Vetëm me vendosjen e teknologjive të reja që do të thotë materiale më të lira dhe shfrytëzim normal i energjisë elektrike do të zvogëlohen çmimet e produkteve shtëpiake. Po paratë nga do ti gjejmë? Nuk ka investitorë, ngelen për çdo ditë më pak para kurse kreditë janë të shtrenjta”, thotë Mile Boshkov, drejtor i Konfederatës të punëdhënësve.
Organizata e konsumuesve e ndjek me vigjilencë rritjen e çmimeve dhe ka propozimet e veta, që pa dhimbje të mbijeton në këtë kohë krize. Edhe ato që janë të punësuar, rëndë që do të mund ti blejnë të gjitha produktet ushqimore që u janë të nevojshme, e ku më të ndajnë ndonjë para për shpenzime të tjera për shkak se faturat e energjisë elektrike, ujit, nxehjes qendrore dhe telefonit ngelin pa paguar për muaj të tërë. Sipas Vellkova-s shpenzimet janë shumë më të mëdha nga ajo që e parashikon Enti shtetëror për statistikë edhe në qoftë se blihet ushqim nga tregjet më të lira. Punonjësit e statistikës konsiderojnë se për ushqim dhe pije për një familje prej katër anëtarësh nevojiten rreth 12.000 denarë.
Shitore për njerëzit e varfër
Që nga fillimi i krizës ekonomike propozuam që të hapen SOS shitore për njerëzit e varfër por shteti nuk na dëgjoi menjëherë për propozimin tonë. Ato asnjëherë nuk kanë mbijetuar por vetëm nëpër shitore të caktuara “Tineks” kishte zbritje të çmimeve për disa produkte të caktuara nga 10 deri në 20 për qind edhe atë vetëm për rastet sociale. Propozimi jonë është që të ketë shitore speciale që të jenë vetëm për qëllim të njerëzve të varfër dhe në to të ketë produkte me kualitet të njëjtë si nëpër shitoret tjera dhe të ketë gjithçka që të jetë e nevojshme që nga qumështi dhe gjithçka tjetër që ato qytetarë të mos ndjehen të lënduar. Shteti duhet ti subvencionoj shitoret që do të ekzistojnë me produkte të veta në shitoret e SOS”, thotë Marija Velkova-Llonçar, drejtoreshë e Organizatës së konsumatorëve.
Para kolapsit ekonomik
Në Maqedoni ka gjashtë miliardë euro të cilat qëndrojnë si letra me vlerë të vdekura – shënime, bono ose depozita nëpër banka, kurse mundet që në mënyrë direkte të ndikojnë në prodhimtarinë e ushqimit, në shfrytëzimin e të gjithë tokës punuese dhe të punësohen shumë njerëz të rinj dhe të mos ketë uri dhe varfëri
Shpenzimet e jetesës të cilat në muajin janar u rritën për 3,4 për qind, që nga fillimi i vitit treguan se inflacioni deri në fund të vitit 2011 do të jetë shumë më e lartë nga projeksioni i shtetit për 3 për qind. Sipas statistikës, muajin e kaluar më së shumti janë shtrenjtuar ushqimet, komunalet dhe benzina, kurse sipas lëvizjeve të bursave shtetërore nuk pritet që të ulen çmimet e importeve dhe produkteve ushqimore, por aq më pak që të lirohet edhe çmimi i naftës dhe i energjisë elektrike, e cila sjell si përfundim se inflacioni do të rritet edhe më shumë. Ekonomistët përsëri pajtohen se pragu i rekomanduar për të cilin inflacioni mund të shkakton zhvillim është deri në dy për qind e pastaj e tërheq ekonominë poshtë.
“Bursat e produkteve ushqimore me të cilat furnizohemi nga shtetet e jashtme të cilat janë: gruri, misri, sheqeri, kakaoja, vaji për gatim çmimi i të cilave do të rritet edhe më shumë, e ajo në mënyrë të pashmangshme do të sjellë edhe shtrenjtim të bukës, miellit dhe të vajit për gatim, të cilat janë produktet bazë në ushqim. Mielli, sheqeri dhe vaji për gatim të cilat hynë si shpenzime mbi prodhimtarinë e artikujve ushqimor mund që vetëm ti shtrenjtojnë produktet vendase dhe këtu inflacioni nuk ka fund. Nëse shtrenjtohen lëndët e para dhe lëndët e papërpunuara do të shtrenjtohen edhe produktet e cila do të sjellin rënie të shitjes dhe rënie të fitimit. Ekonomia nuk do të investojë për zhvillim por do të shikon që vetëm të mbijeton. Kurse edhe qytetarët do të blejnë vetëm nëse kanë para edhe atë do të blejnë vetëm atë çka u është më e nevojshme”, thotë Hristo Kartallov, profesor universitar. “Zgjidhja e vetme është që shteti ti kundërvihet inflacionit dhe ta përmirësojë jetën e qytetarëve dhe t’i angazhojë resurset të veta në fuqinë e punës, të hollat dhe pronën bujqësore të pa shfrytëzuar”, theksoi profesori Kartallov.
Sipas tij, në vendin tonë ka gjashtë miliardë euro të cilat qëndrojnë si letra me vlerë të vdekura – shënime, bono ose depozita nëpër banka, kurse mundet që në mënyrë direkte të ndikojnë në prodhimtarinë e ushqimit, në shfrytëzimin e të gjithë tokës punuese dhe të punësohen shumë njerëz të rinj dhe të mos ketë uri dhe varfëri.
Kartallov thotë se Maqedonia ka mundësi të jetë e njohur nëpër botë për produktet e veta siç janë ushqimi i konservuar, frutat e ngrira dhe perimet. Inflacioni e ul rritjen ekonomike dhe i përkeqëson kushtet për punë edhe të ekonomistëve. Nëse edhe atje nuk ndërmerret asgjë për zvogëlimin e çmimeve, ekonomia mundet që si përfundim ti zvogëlon pagat e punëtorëve dhe ti largon nga puna.
“Me rritjen e çmimeve të lëndëve të para dhe të lëndëve të papërpunuara me të cilat kryesisht furnizohemi nga importi si edhe me rritjen e çmimeve të energjetikës, në njërën anë shtrenjtohen produktet tona, nga ana tjetër bie fuqia blerëse e popullsisë dhe e vetmja gjë në të cilën mund të shpresojmë është që të zvogëlohet shitja dhe të punojmë më pak. Fitim më i ulët apo humbje, do të thotë, paga më të ulëta apo dorëheqje nga puna. Vetëm me vendosjen e teknologjive të reja që do të thotë materiale më të lira dhe shfrytëzim normal i energjisë elektrike do të zvogëlohen çmimet e produkteve shtëpiake. Po paratë nga do ti gjejmë? Nuk ka investitorë, ngelen për çdo ditë më pak para kurse kreditë janë të shtrenjta”, thotë Mile Boshkov, drejtor i Konfederatës të punëdhënësve.
Organizata e konsumuesve e ndjek me vigjilencë rritjen e çmimeve dhe ka propozimet e veta, që pa dhimbje të mbijeton në këtë kohë krize. Edhe ato që janë të punësuar, rëndë që do të mund ti blejnë të gjitha produktet ushqimore që u janë të nevojshme, e ku më të ndajnë ndonjë para për shpenzime të tjera për shkak se faturat e energjisë elektrike, ujit, nxehjes qendrore dhe telefonit ngelin pa paguar për muaj të tërë. Sipas Vellkova-s shpenzimet janë shumë më të mëdha nga ajo që e parashikon Enti shtetëror për statistikë edhe në qoftë se blihet ushqim nga tregjet më të lira. Punonjësit e statistikës konsiderojnë se për ushqim dhe pije për një familje prej katër anëtarësh nevojiten rreth 12.000 denarë.
Shitore për njerëzit e varfër
Që nga fillimi i krizës ekonomike propozuam që të hapen SOS shitore për njerëzit e varfër por shteti nuk na dëgjoi menjëherë për propozimin tonë. Ato asnjëherë nuk kanë mbijetuar por vetëm nëpër shitore të caktuara “Tineks” kishte zbritje të çmimeve për disa produkte të caktuara nga 10 deri në 20 për qind edhe atë vetëm për rastet sociale. Propozimi jonë është që të ketë shitore speciale që të jenë vetëm për qëllim të njerëzve të varfër dhe në to të ketë produkte me kualitet të njëjtë si nëpër shitoret tjera dhe të ketë gjithçka që të jetë e nevojshme që nga qumështi dhe gjithçka tjetër që ato qytetarë të mos ndjehen të lënduar. Shteti duhet ti subvencionoj shitoret që do të ekzistojnë me produkte të veta në shitoret e SOS”, thotë Marija Velkova-Llonçar, drejtoreshë e Organizatës së konsumatorëve.
Çmimet e varfërisë së skajshme
UtilitaSEEU
Çmimet e varfërisë së skajshme
Rritja e madhe e çmimeve të ushqimeve në muajt e kaluar ka zhytur sipas të dhënave të Bankës Botërore (BB) rreth 44 milionë vetë në varfëri të skajshme.
Në të njëjtën kohë shtrenjtimi i ushqimeve mund të rrezikojë procesin e reformave në Egjipt, Tunizi dhe vende të tjera paralajmëroi presidenti i Bankës Botërore Robert Zoellick, dje në Uashington. Sipas të dhënave të tij çmimet e ushqimeve u rritën vetëm midis tetorit 2010 dhe janarit 2011 me 15 për qind. Krahasuar me një vit më parë rritja ishte 29 për qind. Sipas Zoellickut çmimet janë vetëm tre për qind më të ulëta sesa në 2008-ën, kur shpërthimi i çmimeve shkaktoi revolta të përgjakshme.
Njerëzit që duhet të jetojnë me më pak se 1,2 dollarë në ditë detyrohen të hanë më pak si pasojë e rritjes së çmimeve ose të shmangen drejt ushqimeve me vlerë të pakët, shtoi drejtori i BB-së. Sipas përllogaritjeve të BB-së brenda shtatë muajve çmimi i grurit është dyfishuar. Edhe misri, sheqeri dhe vaji janë shtrenjtuar dukshëm. Sipas BB-së shtrenjtimi i ushqimeve në muajt e kaluar nuk ka shtyrë edhe më shumë njerëz në varfëri absolute vetëm për arsye se në disa rajone të Afrikës të korrat kanë qenë të mira.
Në Maqedoni, shtrenjtimi i energjisë elektrike e kombinuar me rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve dhe të burimeve tjera të tregjeve botërore, paralajmëron rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve. Shtrenjtimet e vazhdueshme të derivateve të naftës vlerësohet të jenë edhe një goditje për kuletën e qytetarëve. Euro – super nga 95 oktan tani më shitet nga 76 denarë për një litër ose një denar më shtrenjtë. Po aq është edhe shtrenjtimi i Eurosuper-it 98, me çka çmimi i ri është 77,5 denarë. Shtrenjtë është të vozitësh edhe me naftë, e cila me shtrenjtimin e ri nga 0,5 denarë ka arritur çmimin prej 64 denarë për një litër. Shtrenjtimi i energjisë elektrike e kombinuar me rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve dhe të burimeve tjera të tregjeve botërore, paralajmëron rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve. Tregtarët dhe blerësit thonë se produktet gati për çdo dy javë janë me çmime të reja.
Çmimet e varfërisë së skajshme
Rritja e madhe e çmimeve të ushqimeve në muajt e kaluar ka zhytur sipas të dhënave të Bankës Botërore (BB) rreth 44 milionë vetë në varfëri të skajshme.
Në të njëjtën kohë shtrenjtimi i ushqimeve mund të rrezikojë procesin e reformave në Egjipt, Tunizi dhe vende të tjera paralajmëroi presidenti i Bankës Botërore Robert Zoellick, dje në Uashington. Sipas të dhënave të tij çmimet e ushqimeve u rritën vetëm midis tetorit 2010 dhe janarit 2011 me 15 për qind. Krahasuar me një vit më parë rritja ishte 29 për qind. Sipas Zoellickut çmimet janë vetëm tre për qind më të ulëta sesa në 2008-ën, kur shpërthimi i çmimeve shkaktoi revolta të përgjakshme.
Njerëzit që duhet të jetojnë me më pak se 1,2 dollarë në ditë detyrohen të hanë më pak si pasojë e rritjes së çmimeve ose të shmangen drejt ushqimeve me vlerë të pakët, shtoi drejtori i BB-së. Sipas përllogaritjeve të BB-së brenda shtatë muajve çmimi i grurit është dyfishuar. Edhe misri, sheqeri dhe vaji janë shtrenjtuar dukshëm. Sipas BB-së shtrenjtimi i ushqimeve në muajt e kaluar nuk ka shtyrë edhe më shumë njerëz në varfëri absolute vetëm për arsye se në disa rajone të Afrikës të korrat kanë qenë të mira.
Në Maqedoni, shtrenjtimi i energjisë elektrike e kombinuar me rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve dhe të burimeve tjera të tregjeve botërore, paralajmëron rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve. Shtrenjtimet e vazhdueshme të derivateve të naftës vlerësohet të jenë edhe një goditje për kuletën e qytetarëve. Euro – super nga 95 oktan tani më shitet nga 76 denarë për një litër ose një denar më shtrenjtë. Po aq është edhe shtrenjtimi i Eurosuper-it 98, me çka çmimi i ri është 77,5 denarë. Shtrenjtë është të vozitësh edhe me naftë, e cila me shtrenjtimin e ri nga 0,5 denarë ka arritur çmimin prej 64 denarë për një litër. Shtrenjtimi i energjisë elektrike e kombinuar me rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve dhe të burimeve tjera të tregjeve botërore, paralajmëron rritjen e vazhdueshme të çmimeve. Tregtarët dhe blerësit thonë se produktet gati për çdo dy javë janë me çmime të reja.
Don't mess with Donald Trump!
MEN and women. Democrats and Republicans. Doctors, lawyers, merchants and moguls. A remarkable, if relatively small, cross-section of New Yorkers legally own handguns, according to public records obtained by The New York Times.
Among the more than 37,000 people licensed to have a handgun in the city are dozens of boldface names and public figures: prominent business leaders, elected officials, celebrities, journalists, judges and lawyers.
Some expressed pride in their gun ownership, like the renowned divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, who readily posed with his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson. Others, including David Breitbart, Yetta Kurland and Walter Mack, all well-known lawyers, were irked to learn they would be included in an article based on the public records. And there were a few conflicted souls, like Alexis Stewart, co-host of “Whatever With Alexis and Jennifer” on SiriusXM radio and the Hallmark Channel.
“I don’t believe people should be allowed to have guns in America,” Ms. Stewart, daughter of Martha, said in an interview, explaining that she bought a .357 Magnum after 9/11 — but would be happy to give it up if handguns were banned. “Having a swimming pool is way more dangerous than having a gun,” she added.
Getting a handgun legally in New York is a two-step process. First, applicants must obtain a license, which costs $340, takes about 12 weeks to process, is good for three years and requires a background check by the New York Police Department. In addition, fingerprinting costs about $100.
Those who pass that hurdle then must get a purchase authorization from the police for the particular weapon they intend to buy. One handgun license may list up to 25 weapons (so far, no one has tried to register more than that, officials said), but buyers must wait 90 days between purchases.
The 41,164 handguns registered with the Police Department as of Jan. 14 include those owned by more than 2,400 people who live outside the city but have permission to bring their weapons here — people like Roger E. Ailes, the president of Fox News, whose license lists an address in New Jersey; John J. Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, who lives in Westchester County; and Sean Hannity, the conservative talk-show host, who lives on Long Island.
There are eight kinds of handgun licenses in New York, one of which is for dealers. The most common restricts the weapon to the owner’s home, but others allow license holders, including security guards, gun custodians and people who demonstrate a need for protection, to carry weapons with them.
Nearly 4,000 license holders — those who have a “carry business,” “limited carry” or “special carry” license — can legally conceal their weapons. The Times obtained the database of handgun owners from the Police Department after filing a Public Records Act request and a lawsuit; the police released ZIP codes but omitted street addresses. The database also did not include the 14,602 retired police officers who are licensed to have weapons.
The Police Department issues a separate license for long guns: about 52,000 shotguns and rifles are registered, but the owners’ names and addresses are not public records.
There are no comprehensive statistics available on gun ownership nationally because most states do not require licenses or permits. But an annual survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that about one-third of the nation’s homes have a gun. In comparison, at most, about 1 percent of New York City’s households have a licensed gun.
(It’s impossible to know how many illegal guns are circulating in the city, but in 2010, the Police Department seized 5,318, including 2,984 pistols, 1,402 revolvers, 403 rifles and 349 shotguns.)
At Westside Pistol and Rifle Range, in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, the owner, Darren Leung, said that there was a surge of new members after 9/11, but that the number had since fallen slightly, to 1,500. About 20 or 30 members a day come by to take classes or to practice with paper targets in one of 16 enclosed 50-foot stalls. On the sidewalk outside on West 20th Street, the sound of gunshots from the basement range is not audible.
“In a weird way, it’s a kind of stress reliever,” said William Rosado, an illustrator who regularly visits the range to fire his 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson. “It’s something completely different than what I do for a living.”
Most gun owners interviewed said they had never drawn their weapons in self-defense. But John A. Catsimatidis, the owner of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes supermarket chain, recalled a chilling episode from the mid-1980s, when he intercepted a robber fleeing one of his stores in the Bronx.
“The first guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, goes right by me and says, ‘Be cool, man,’ ” said Mr. Catsimatidis, who has owned a gun for at least 35 years. “The second guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, goes by me and says, ‘Be cool, man.’ The third guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, and I intertwine my arm into his arm, and I put my gun to his head, and I say, ‘Drop your gun, or I’ll blow your head off.’ ”
When the police arrived, they arrested the man, and examined Mr. Catsimatidis’s weapon — a Walther PPK/S 9-millimeter pistol.
“The sergeant says to me, ‘You couldn’t have shot the guy anyway: your safety is still on,’ ” Mr. Catsimatidis recalled. “The sweat started dripping off my head.
“I’m not going to do anything stupid like that again.”
Among the more than 37,000 people licensed to have a handgun in the city are dozens of boldface names and public figures: prominent business leaders, elected officials, celebrities, journalists, judges and lawyers.
Some expressed pride in their gun ownership, like the renowned divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, who readily posed with his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson. Others, including David Breitbart, Yetta Kurland and Walter Mack, all well-known lawyers, were irked to learn they would be included in an article based on the public records. And there were a few conflicted souls, like Alexis Stewart, co-host of “Whatever With Alexis and Jennifer” on SiriusXM radio and the Hallmark Channel.
“I don’t believe people should be allowed to have guns in America,” Ms. Stewart, daughter of Martha, said in an interview, explaining that she bought a .357 Magnum after 9/11 — but would be happy to give it up if handguns were banned. “Having a swimming pool is way more dangerous than having a gun,” she added.
Getting a handgun legally in New York is a two-step process. First, applicants must obtain a license, which costs $340, takes about 12 weeks to process, is good for three years and requires a background check by the New York Police Department. In addition, fingerprinting costs about $100.
Those who pass that hurdle then must get a purchase authorization from the police for the particular weapon they intend to buy. One handgun license may list up to 25 weapons (so far, no one has tried to register more than that, officials said), but buyers must wait 90 days between purchases.
The 41,164 handguns registered with the Police Department as of Jan. 14 include those owned by more than 2,400 people who live outside the city but have permission to bring their weapons here — people like Roger E. Ailes, the president of Fox News, whose license lists an address in New Jersey; John J. Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, who lives in Westchester County; and Sean Hannity, the conservative talk-show host, who lives on Long Island.
There are eight kinds of handgun licenses in New York, one of which is for dealers. The most common restricts the weapon to the owner’s home, but others allow license holders, including security guards, gun custodians and people who demonstrate a need for protection, to carry weapons with them.
Nearly 4,000 license holders — those who have a “carry business,” “limited carry” or “special carry” license — can legally conceal their weapons. The Times obtained the database of handgun owners from the Police Department after filing a Public Records Act request and a lawsuit; the police released ZIP codes but omitted street addresses. The database also did not include the 14,602 retired police officers who are licensed to have weapons.
The Police Department issues a separate license for long guns: about 52,000 shotguns and rifles are registered, but the owners’ names and addresses are not public records.
There are no comprehensive statistics available on gun ownership nationally because most states do not require licenses or permits. But an annual survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that about one-third of the nation’s homes have a gun. In comparison, at most, about 1 percent of New York City’s households have a licensed gun.
(It’s impossible to know how many illegal guns are circulating in the city, but in 2010, the Police Department seized 5,318, including 2,984 pistols, 1,402 revolvers, 403 rifles and 349 shotguns.)
At Westside Pistol and Rifle Range, in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, the owner, Darren Leung, said that there was a surge of new members after 9/11, but that the number had since fallen slightly, to 1,500. About 20 or 30 members a day come by to take classes or to practice with paper targets in one of 16 enclosed 50-foot stalls. On the sidewalk outside on West 20th Street, the sound of gunshots from the basement range is not audible.
“In a weird way, it’s a kind of stress reliever,” said William Rosado, an illustrator who regularly visits the range to fire his 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson. “It’s something completely different than what I do for a living.”
Most gun owners interviewed said they had never drawn their weapons in self-defense. But John A. Catsimatidis, the owner of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes supermarket chain, recalled a chilling episode from the mid-1980s, when he intercepted a robber fleeing one of his stores in the Bronx.
“The first guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, goes right by me and says, ‘Be cool, man,’ ” said Mr. Catsimatidis, who has owned a gun for at least 35 years. “The second guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, goes by me and says, ‘Be cool, man.’ The third guy comes out with a sawed-off shotgun, and I intertwine my arm into his arm, and I put my gun to his head, and I say, ‘Drop your gun, or I’ll blow your head off.’ ”
When the police arrived, they arrested the man, and examined Mr. Catsimatidis’s weapon — a Walther PPK/S 9-millimeter pistol.
“The sergeant says to me, ‘You couldn’t have shot the guy anyway: your safety is still on,’ ” Mr. Catsimatidis recalled. “The sweat started dripping off my head.
“I’m not going to do anything stupid like that again.”
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Masat për të luftuar krizën në Maqedoni dhe efektet e tyre - a janë ato të mjaftueshme? - Abdylmenaf Bexheti
UtilitaSEEU
Edhe një publikim ndërkombëtar i Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexhetit në revistën e Universitetit Bamberg-Gjermani
Ky hulumtim ka për qëllim studimin e rrethanave, cikleve ekonomike dhe potencialit ekonomik të Republikës së Maqedonisë, gjithnjë duke ngërthyer në vete edhe aspektet krahasimtare me vendet tjera në rajon dhe me gjerë, me një qasje metodologjike nga e përgjithshmja kah e veçanta dhe me një optimalizim të modelit vendimbërës në politikat fiskale, duke iu referuar nivelit të potencialit ekonomik në RM.
Edhe një publikim ndërkombëtar i Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexhetit në revistën e Universitetit Bamberg-Gjermani
"Masat për të luftuar krizën në Maqedoni dhe efektet e tyre - a janë ato të mjaftueshme?" (“Anti-Crisis Measures in Republic of Macedonia and their effects - Are they Sufficient?”), është publikimi shkencor më i fundit i prorektorit të UEJL, Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexheti, botuar në revistën ndërkombëtare të Universitetit Bamberg, Gjermani (BERG Working Paper Series on Government and Growth of University Bamberg-Germany. Working Paper No.70, March 2010).
Ky hulumtim ka për qëllim studimin e rrethanave, cikleve ekonomike dhe potencialit ekonomik të Republikës së Maqedonisë, gjithnjë duke ngërthyer në vete edhe aspektet krahasimtare me vendet tjera në rajon dhe me gjerë, me një qasje metodologjike nga e përgjithshmja kah e veçanta dhe me një optimalizim të modelit vendimbërës në politikat fiskale, duke iu referuar nivelit të potencialit ekonomik në RM.
Publikimi i prof. Bexhetit është i një rëndësie te veçantë edhe për impaktin e hulumtimeve në vendimbërjen e qeverisë në prag të pakove antikrizë - të katërtat me radhë. Duke iu referuar efekteve te arritura, respektivisht dështimeve të masave paraprake antikrizë, përmes një analize empirike dhe teoriko-shkencore u sugjerohet institucioneve vendimbërëse që në politikat e tyre ekonomike të radhës, vendimet e ardhshme, doemos të bazohen në hulumtime dhe analiza shkencore dhe jo në pritje joracionale e spontane. Ky, zaten edhe është roli dhe funksioni bazik i kërkimeve shkencore në këto fusha për çka edhe UEJL ka impaktin e vet konkret në shoqëri.
Edhe një publikim ndërkombëtar i Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexhetit në revistën e Universitetit Bamberg-Gjermani
Ky hulumtim ka për qëllim studimin e rrethanave, cikleve ekonomike dhe potencialit ekonomik të Republikës së Maqedonisë, gjithnjë duke ngërthyer në vete edhe aspektet krahasimtare me vendet tjera në rajon dhe me gjerë, me një qasje metodologjike nga e përgjithshmja kah e veçanta dhe me një optimalizim të modelit vendimbërës në politikat fiskale, duke iu referuar nivelit të potencialit ekonomik në RM.
Edhe një publikim ndërkombëtar i Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexhetit në revistën e Universitetit Bamberg-Gjermani
"Masat për të luftuar krizën në Maqedoni dhe efektet e tyre - a janë ato të mjaftueshme?" (“Anti-Crisis Measures in Republic of Macedonia and their effects - Are they Sufficient?”), është publikimi shkencor më i fundit i prorektorit të UEJL, Prof. dr. Abdylmenaf Bexheti, botuar në revistën ndërkombëtare të Universitetit Bamberg, Gjermani (BERG Working Paper Series on Government and Growth of University Bamberg-Germany. Working Paper No.70, March 2010).
Ky hulumtim ka për qëllim studimin e rrethanave, cikleve ekonomike dhe potencialit ekonomik të Republikës së Maqedonisë, gjithnjë duke ngërthyer në vete edhe aspektet krahasimtare me vendet tjera në rajon dhe me gjerë, me një qasje metodologjike nga e përgjithshmja kah e veçanta dhe me një optimalizim të modelit vendimbërës në politikat fiskale, duke iu referuar nivelit të potencialit ekonomik në RM.
Publikimi i prof. Bexhetit është i një rëndësie te veçantë edhe për impaktin e hulumtimeve në vendimbërjen e qeverisë në prag të pakove antikrizë - të katërtat me radhë. Duke iu referuar efekteve te arritura, respektivisht dështimeve të masave paraprake antikrizë, përmes një analize empirike dhe teoriko-shkencore u sugjerohet institucioneve vendimbërëse që në politikat e tyre ekonomike të radhës, vendimet e ardhshme, doemos të bazohen në hulumtime dhe analiza shkencore dhe jo në pritje joracionale e spontane. Ky, zaten edhe është roli dhe funksioni bazik i kërkimeve shkencore në këto fusha për çka edhe UEJL ka impaktin e vet konkret në shoqëri.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Turbulence ahead- Joseph Stiglitz
UtilitaSEEU
Turbulence Ahead
Another year of malaise along the Atlantic.
Corbis
By the numbers, the great recession’s long gone. The World Bank forecasts that developing countries—chugging along at an average growth rate of 6 percent—will expand the global economy by more than 3 percent this year. In the last six months, London’s FTSE 100 is up more than 15 percent, and Wall Street’s Dow Jones index is up nearly as much. It’s just about enough to say the good times are back.
All this good news, however, provides little comfort to workers in the U.S. and Europe. Because even in the rosiest scenarios, job prospects there will continue to be few and far between. And more broadly, on jobs, austerity, and currencies, both sides of the Atlantic may spend the year caught in an ill-informed policymaking spiral that means, though it’s frustrating to say it, more malaise.
No recovery can be called real without bringing down unemployment. As in the euro zone, the haunting number in the U.S. hovers around 10 percent. (In Spain, it’s twice that.) And there is a wide consensus among economists that something like the pre-crisis unemployment level of 5 percent remains years away, at least.
Kenneth D. Lyons
Life on the Edge of a Double-dip Recession
Life on the Economic Edge
But rather than putting people back to work, economic leaders have embarked on a misguided austerity mission. Stimulus cash in Europe and America is now fading away, with no real robust recovery to take its place. And we’ve been here before. From President Hoover in the Great Depression, to global responses to the East Asia crisis in the late 1990s, it’s clear that government cuts weaken economies rather than alleviating malaise. Slashing spending hobbles economic growth; we already see the effects in Ireland, Greece, and other countries on the vanguard. And after the cuts, the cycle takes hold: those out of work for extended periods see their savings accounts eroded and their skills attenuate. Less spending means a slower economy. Anemic growth further hobbles state fiscal positions, sparking more cutbacks.
But the seeming contradictions of this “recovery” go further. Big banks may be booming back (JPMorgan just posted a $4.8 billion quarterly profit; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are comfortably in the black, too), but the financial sector remains dysfunctional. Pre-crisis, high finance failed its societal functions of allocating capital efficiently and managing risk—it did neither. After the crash, some indulged a momentary fantasy that regulations would curb excessive risk taking, do something about too-big-to-fail banks, and otherwise incentivize banks to return to the essential business of providing capital to small and medium-size enterprises. Instead, today we have a less competitive banking system with hundreds of firms still in deep trouble.
Disarray in currency markets, too, will boost uncertainty in 2011. Europe’s sovereign-debt problems are far from over. But if another small European country collapses and a big one needs a bailout, will leaders across the continent be inclined to save the euro? In Washington, the Fed’s struggle to remain relevant by using quantitative easing—trying to push down long-term interest rates, since short-term rates can’t be pushed lower—is already leading to a fragmentation of global capital markets. At best, quantitative easing is unlikely to help the U.S. much; at worst, it could lead to asset bubbles and high commodity prices that could bring the dreaded stagflation back to America.To be fair, there are a few potential upsides. Off-the-charts growth in Asia is fueling Latin America and Africa. Much of the developing world is now strong enough to grow even in the face of a weak Europe and America. Unfortunately, however, they just do not make up for the inadequacies in global economic demand; they can’t compensate for the deficiencies in policies in the U.S. and Europe. On a different note, Washington’s payroll-tax cut will help the states along—but the legislation covers just a year, and that’s too short a time to make a lasting impact.
All hope is not lost, however. Large enterprises, with all their money, might see the glass as a quarter full rather than three quarters empty. Political leaders will give speeches trying to instill confidence, touting their resolve to fix the deficit and correct the political and economic ills of the past. A wave of optimism could sweep over the business community, inducing it to invest the cash in its coffers. Investment could recover, and so would the economy. Sure, anything is possible. But I would bet on a very bumpy ride.
Stiglitz, a winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, recently wrote Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.
Turbulence Ahead
Another year of malaise along the Atlantic.
Corbis
By the numbers, the great recession’s long gone. The World Bank forecasts that developing countries—chugging along at an average growth rate of 6 percent—will expand the global economy by more than 3 percent this year. In the last six months, London’s FTSE 100 is up more than 15 percent, and Wall Street’s Dow Jones index is up nearly as much. It’s just about enough to say the good times are back.
All this good news, however, provides little comfort to workers in the U.S. and Europe. Because even in the rosiest scenarios, job prospects there will continue to be few and far between. And more broadly, on jobs, austerity, and currencies, both sides of the Atlantic may spend the year caught in an ill-informed policymaking spiral that means, though it’s frustrating to say it, more malaise.
No recovery can be called real without bringing down unemployment. As in the euro zone, the haunting number in the U.S. hovers around 10 percent. (In Spain, it’s twice that.) And there is a wide consensus among economists that something like the pre-crisis unemployment level of 5 percent remains years away, at least.
Kenneth D. Lyons
Life on the Edge of a Double-dip Recession
Life on the Economic Edge
But rather than putting people back to work, economic leaders have embarked on a misguided austerity mission. Stimulus cash in Europe and America is now fading away, with no real robust recovery to take its place. And we’ve been here before. From President Hoover in the Great Depression, to global responses to the East Asia crisis in the late 1990s, it’s clear that government cuts weaken economies rather than alleviating malaise. Slashing spending hobbles economic growth; we already see the effects in Ireland, Greece, and other countries on the vanguard. And after the cuts, the cycle takes hold: those out of work for extended periods see their savings accounts eroded and their skills attenuate. Less spending means a slower economy. Anemic growth further hobbles state fiscal positions, sparking more cutbacks.
But the seeming contradictions of this “recovery” go further. Big banks may be booming back (JPMorgan just posted a $4.8 billion quarterly profit; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are comfortably in the black, too), but the financial sector remains dysfunctional. Pre-crisis, high finance failed its societal functions of allocating capital efficiently and managing risk—it did neither. After the crash, some indulged a momentary fantasy that regulations would curb excessive risk taking, do something about too-big-to-fail banks, and otherwise incentivize banks to return to the essential business of providing capital to small and medium-size enterprises. Instead, today we have a less competitive banking system with hundreds of firms still in deep trouble.
Disarray in currency markets, too, will boost uncertainty in 2011. Europe’s sovereign-debt problems are far from over. But if another small European country collapses and a big one needs a bailout, will leaders across the continent be inclined to save the euro? In Washington, the Fed’s struggle to remain relevant by using quantitative easing—trying to push down long-term interest rates, since short-term rates can’t be pushed lower—is already leading to a fragmentation of global capital markets. At best, quantitative easing is unlikely to help the U.S. much; at worst, it could lead to asset bubbles and high commodity prices that could bring the dreaded stagflation back to America.To be fair, there are a few potential upsides. Off-the-charts growth in Asia is fueling Latin America and Africa. Much of the developing world is now strong enough to grow even in the face of a weak Europe and America. Unfortunately, however, they just do not make up for the inadequacies in global economic demand; they can’t compensate for the deficiencies in policies in the U.S. and Europe. On a different note, Washington’s payroll-tax cut will help the states along—but the legislation covers just a year, and that’s too short a time to make a lasting impact.
All hope is not lost, however. Large enterprises, with all their money, might see the glass as a quarter full rather than three quarters empty. Political leaders will give speeches trying to instill confidence, touting their resolve to fix the deficit and correct the political and economic ills of the past. A wave of optimism could sweep over the business community, inducing it to invest the cash in its coffers. Investment could recover, and so would the economy. Sure, anything is possible. But I would bet on a very bumpy ride.
Stiglitz, a winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, recently wrote Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Resolutions for Another New Year
UtilitaSEEU
Resolutions for Another New Year
Here is a piece I wrote almost exactly a year ago. It holds up pretty well.
Repeat After Me
By N. Gregory Mankiw
The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Now is a time when most of us sit back and reflect on the past year and on how to do better in the year ahead. Since I know, however, that economic policy makers inside the Beltway are often too busy for such introspection, my gift to them is a list of seven New Year's resolutions. Any senator, congressman or presidential wannabe is free to adopt them as his or her own. Just repeat after me:
• #1: This year I will be straight about the budget mess. I know that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. I know that when the baby-boom generation retires and becomes eligible for Social Security and Medicare, all hell is going to break loose. I know that the choices aren't pretty -- either large cuts in promised benefits or taxes vastly higher than anything ever experienced in U.S. history. I am going to admit these facts to the American people, and I am going to say which choice I favor.
• #2: This year I will be unequivocal in my support of free trade. I am going to stop bashing the Chinese for offering bargains to American consumers. I am going to ask the Bush administration to revoke the textile quotas so Americans will find it easier to clothe their families. I am going to vote to repeal the antidumping laws, which only protect powerful domestic industries from foreign competition. I am going to admit that unilateral disarmament in the trade wars would make the U.S. a richer nation.
• #3: This year I will ask farmers to accept the free market. While I believe the government should provide a safety net for the truly needy, taxpayers shouldn't have to finance handouts to farmers, many of whom are wealthy. Farmers should meet the market test as much as anyone else. I will vote to repeal all federal subsidies to growers of corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans and rice. I will vote to allow unrestricted import of sugar. (See resolution no. 2.) I will tell Americans that eliminating our farm subsidies should not be a "concession" made in trade negotiations but a policy change that we affirmatively embrace.
• #4: This year I will admit that there are some good taxes. Everyone hates taxes, but the government needs to fund its operations, and some taxes can actually do some good in the process. I will tell the American people that a higher tax on gasoline is better at encouraging conservation than are heavy-handed CAFE regulations. It would not only encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient cars, but it would encourage them to drive less, such as by living closer to where they work. I will tell people that tolls are a good way to reduce traffic congestion -- and with new technologies they are getting easier to collect. I will advocate a carbon tax as the best way to control global warming. Because we may well need to raise more revenue (see resolution no. 1), I'll always be on the lookout for these good taxes.
• #5: This year I will not be tempted to bash the Fed. Ben Bernanke, soon to be the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, will not inherit Alan Greenspan's halo, and so may be a tempting target. But I will resist temptation. I know that the U.S. has an independent central bank for good reason. I know that sometimes the Fed needs to raise interest rates to fight inflation, even if it risks slowing growth in incomes and employment. I will let Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues do their job. Difficult as it is, I will hold my tongue.
• #6: This year I will vote to eliminate the penny. The purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, but I have to acknowledge that the penny no longer serves that purpose. When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful. I know that some people will be upset when their favorite aphorisms become anachronistic, but a nickel saved is also a nickel earned.
• #7: This year I will be modest about what government can do. I know that economic prosperity comes not from government programs but from entrepreneurial inspiration. Adam Smith was right when he said, "Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice." As a government official, I am not going to promise more than I can deliver. I am going to focus my attention on these three goals -- peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice -- and I am going to trust the creativity of the American people to do the rest.
Resolutions for Another New Year
Here is a piece I wrote almost exactly a year ago. It holds up pretty well.
Repeat After Me
By N. Gregory Mankiw
The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Now is a time when most of us sit back and reflect on the past year and on how to do better in the year ahead. Since I know, however, that economic policy makers inside the Beltway are often too busy for such introspection, my gift to them is a list of seven New Year's resolutions. Any senator, congressman or presidential wannabe is free to adopt them as his or her own. Just repeat after me:
• #1: This year I will be straight about the budget mess. I know that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. I know that when the baby-boom generation retires and becomes eligible for Social Security and Medicare, all hell is going to break loose. I know that the choices aren't pretty -- either large cuts in promised benefits or taxes vastly higher than anything ever experienced in U.S. history. I am going to admit these facts to the American people, and I am going to say which choice I favor.
• #2: This year I will be unequivocal in my support of free trade. I am going to stop bashing the Chinese for offering bargains to American consumers. I am going to ask the Bush administration to revoke the textile quotas so Americans will find it easier to clothe their families. I am going to vote to repeal the antidumping laws, which only protect powerful domestic industries from foreign competition. I am going to admit that unilateral disarmament in the trade wars would make the U.S. a richer nation.
• #3: This year I will ask farmers to accept the free market. While I believe the government should provide a safety net for the truly needy, taxpayers shouldn't have to finance handouts to farmers, many of whom are wealthy. Farmers should meet the market test as much as anyone else. I will vote to repeal all federal subsidies to growers of corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans and rice. I will vote to allow unrestricted import of sugar. (See resolution no. 2.) I will tell Americans that eliminating our farm subsidies should not be a "concession" made in trade negotiations but a policy change that we affirmatively embrace.
• #4: This year I will admit that there are some good taxes. Everyone hates taxes, but the government needs to fund its operations, and some taxes can actually do some good in the process. I will tell the American people that a higher tax on gasoline is better at encouraging conservation than are heavy-handed CAFE regulations. It would not only encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient cars, but it would encourage them to drive less, such as by living closer to where they work. I will tell people that tolls are a good way to reduce traffic congestion -- and with new technologies they are getting easier to collect. I will advocate a carbon tax as the best way to control global warming. Because we may well need to raise more revenue (see resolution no. 1), I'll always be on the lookout for these good taxes.
• #5: This year I will not be tempted to bash the Fed. Ben Bernanke, soon to be the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, will not inherit Alan Greenspan's halo, and so may be a tempting target. But I will resist temptation. I know that the U.S. has an independent central bank for good reason. I know that sometimes the Fed needs to raise interest rates to fight inflation, even if it risks slowing growth in incomes and employment. I will let Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues do their job. Difficult as it is, I will hold my tongue.
• #6: This year I will vote to eliminate the penny. The purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, but I have to acknowledge that the penny no longer serves that purpose. When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful. I know that some people will be upset when their favorite aphorisms become anachronistic, but a nickel saved is also a nickel earned.
• #7: This year I will be modest about what government can do. I know that economic prosperity comes not from government programs but from entrepreneurial inspiration. Adam Smith was right when he said, "Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice." As a government official, I am not going to promise more than I can deliver. I am going to focus my attention on these three goals -- peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice -- and I am going to trust the creativity of the American people to do the rest.
Good at Econ, Bad at Math
UtilitaSEEU
THURSDAY, JUNE 01, 2006
Love Econ, Bad at Math
A student emails me seeking advice. To paraphrase a long letter, he asks:
I love economics and my economics courses, but I struggle with my math courses and am not doing particularly well in them. What graduate school and career path would be right for me?
I have met Harvard students with similar questions. This spring I talked with a Harvard senior who, because of a weak math background, was rejected by every econ PhD program to which he applied. At the same time, he had a strong academic record overall and was accepted by several of the very best law schools.
There are two possible paths for such a person.
1. Make extra effort to get a stronger foundation before applying to a PhD program in economics. One possibility is to spend a year or two at a master's program, such as the one at the LSE. Although one can go directly from an undergrad degree to a PhD program (such as Harvard's), some students get a master's degree first, and that background gives them a leg up when they start a PhD.
2. Stay involved in economics but through a different channel than graduate school in economics. Many people involved in economic policy are trained as lawyers rather than economists. Two examples that come to mind are Gene Sperling and Brink Lindsey. I don't know anything about their math backgrounds, but I imagine that a person could follow their admirable career paths without having studied all the math you need for an econ PhD. There are many areas of law that are filled with economic analysis, such as tax and antitrust. A person who loves economics can find many courses that would interest him in law school. (The same could be said about schools of business and public policy).
To decide which of these two paths is right for you, you have to look hard at your own tastes and aptitudes to figure out your comparative advantage.
I spent 1 1/2 years in the early 1980s as a student at Harvard Law School, and I think I could have forged a happy career with a law degree instead of a PhD. In the end, I decided that my comparative advantage was in economics rather than law, so I suspended my law studies. But I can always go back and finish the law degree if this economics thing doesn't work out for me.
THURSDAY, JUNE 01, 2006
Love Econ, Bad at Math
A student emails me seeking advice. To paraphrase a long letter, he asks:
I love economics and my economics courses, but I struggle with my math courses and am not doing particularly well in them. What graduate school and career path would be right for me?
I have met Harvard students with similar questions. This spring I talked with a Harvard senior who, because of a weak math background, was rejected by every econ PhD program to which he applied. At the same time, he had a strong academic record overall and was accepted by several of the very best law schools.
There are two possible paths for such a person.
1. Make extra effort to get a stronger foundation before applying to a PhD program in economics. One possibility is to spend a year or two at a master's program, such as the one at the LSE. Although one can go directly from an undergrad degree to a PhD program (such as Harvard's), some students get a master's degree first, and that background gives them a leg up when they start a PhD.
2. Stay involved in economics but through a different channel than graduate school in economics. Many people involved in economic policy are trained as lawyers rather than economists. Two examples that come to mind are Gene Sperling and Brink Lindsey. I don't know anything about their math backgrounds, but I imagine that a person could follow their admirable career paths without having studied all the math you need for an econ PhD. There are many areas of law that are filled with economic analysis, such as tax and antitrust. A person who loves economics can find many courses that would interest him in law school. (The same could be said about schools of business and public policy).
To decide which of these two paths is right for you, you have to look hard at your own tastes and aptitudes to figure out your comparative advantage.
I spent 1 1/2 years in the early 1980s as a student at Harvard Law School, and I think I could have forged a happy career with a law degree instead of a PhD. In the end, I decided that my comparative advantage was in economics rather than law, so I suspended my law studies. But I can always go back and finish the law degree if this economics thing doesn't work out for me.
Friday, January 28, 2011
UtilitaSEEU, Hello World
This Blogger is about Economics and universities, an enhancement and adaptation of what students of economic sciences and business administration should worry about. This is a result of a brainchild of some close friends from SEEU university in Tetova- Macedonia. They are Leutrim Mehmedi, Besnik Ademi, Gent Qamili, Almir Avzija and many others
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