Med tanke på den grekiska ekonomin och de skenande räntorna, rykten om omstrukturering, kommer här det senaste patetiska skylla ifrån sig uttalandet från Grekland. Skulle ekonomins ruttna tillstånd “avslöjats” av en trader från London, är allt annat än seriöst.

“Greece is considering ways to restructure its debt – such as by extending the life of its loans – two national newspapers claimed on Friday, joining a flurry of recent reports on the prospect that Athens might be forced to default.

Greek and EU officials have steadfastly denied a debt restructuring is planned in the face of mounting evidence that markets are factoring one in.

Detectives from Interpol are expected to interview Citigroup trader Paul Moss on Friday about an email he sent on Wednesday about a rumoured restructuring which Greek officials claim sparked a share sell-off in Athens.” (Guardian)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/22/greek-reported-to-be-restructuring-debt

Tyvärr verkar MITs Billion Prices Project “modifierats”, och de förut så intressanta landsindexen har bytts ut mot ett inte sägande världsindex. MITs motivering nedan;

The world inflation index will replace the country-level indexes we have been computing for the past 6 months. Although we understand that the country-specific inflation indicators have become quite successful in the financial sector, we are overwhelmed by the amount of time and resources involved in updating them within the context of this academic initiative. We must focus on our research, but we will soon be partnering with another institution that can take over the job of updating these series on a regular basis. If you want to be notified of any news, please sign up to our email list (see the sidebar).

Vi kan tyvärr konstatera att en av de bättre realtidsuppdateringarna gällande inflationen “begravts”. Skälen bakom låter lite väl naiva, dvs att MIT inte skulle ha kapacitieten att genomföra dessa intressanta uppdateringar. Kanske ströps anslagen plötsligt?

Förutom inflationen borde Obama kolla hur Usd gått den senaste tiden. Kanske är det lättare att hänga ut en syndabock och skylla de skenande råvarupriserna på denne, medan Bernanke printar nya dolares.

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday the U.S. attorney general was assembling a team to root out any fraud and manipulation in the oil markets that might be contributing to higher U.S. gasoline prices.

“The truth is, there’s no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away,” Obama said in prepared remarks for his opening statement at a townhall-style meeting in Nevada.

“The Attorney General’s putting together a team whose job it will be to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices – and that includes the role of traders and speculators. We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain,” Obama said.

Oroligheterna i Syrien fortsätter. Efter fredagens bön bröt nya skottlossningar. Kommer det oljeavsaknade Syrien ändå få Usa till att reagera?

“Syria’s regime faces a dilemma. Al Assad cannot let up on the security crackdown and allow protests when the demonstrations have begun to take on such an anti-regime tone. However, if he decides to harden the crackdowns, all the concessions he has made thus far will be nullified in the eyes of the protesters, who will likely consider disingenuous any future pledges of reform from the regime. Al Assad has maintained the loyalty of all pillars of support within the Syrian state thus far, and the demonstrations themselves have yet to become large enough to pose an immediate threat to his position, but the Alawite-Sunni power relationship in the country could explode if the situation were to escalate. If that were to happen, the writ of the state would likely weaken considerably inside Syria’s borders, which would have a destabilizing effect beyond them as well.”

Read more: Protests Spread in Syria | STRATFOR

http://www1.stratfor.com/images/interactive/Syrian_protests.html

Var det politik, försök till att återvinna förtroende eller andra faktorer bakom S&Ps nedgradering av Usa?

The most important question in my mind is why—and why now—did you make this decision?
On the why, we’ve been talking for quite some time about the progressive deterioration in U.S. public finances, which is not new and it’s not because of the recession. It’s a process that has been unfolding for much of the past decade. And then of course, on top of that, the cyclical downturn because of the severe recession has made it worse. If the Administration and Congress don’t get around to addressing those trends, they will go on deteriorating because of the aging of the population—things like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_18/b4226050994254.htm