The team at theMarketSoul have not been busy enough putting blog article out during January 2012; however, it has given us the opportunity to reflect on the goings on in the various regions around the globe.
The themes of this article are:
- Taxation
- Collaboration
The USA
The only great point of interest was the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama. Again as a liberal statist the theme of taxation and MORE taxation to come down the road for the ‘more’ well-off in society raised its ugly [spectre] head again.
Oh dear! Let us think very hard about something positive to reflect on this month during the kick-off to 2012…
Enough said. Unfortunately the Eurozone crises (yes, several on different fronts) are still dragging on.
We see yet again how difficult it is to undo a few decades worth of the nation state experiments in Europe and bring everyone together under the guide of collaboration, but with no formal overall governance framework in place. The Eurozone crisis, as well as being one of sovereign over indulgence, is also one of a twisted underground power struggle between the European traditional heavy weights.
But, alas, it is all politics in the end and with Standard and Poor and Fitch getting on the downgrade bandwagon during the month, angering politically challenged politicians like Monsieur Sarkozy (French presidential elections coming up in April and May 2012 [two rounds scheduled, if necessary]).
The Middle East
One matter of interest raised during a panel discussion on the BBC programme DateLine London on 28/01/2012 regarding the tension in the Straits of Hormuz, by Adbel Bari Atwan, is the fact that the entire Iranian issue around nuclear armament is a ‘manufactured’ threat by the USA and Europe. True, with Pakistan, India, Israel, China and Russia being nuclear enabled nations in the region, what difference will one more nation make to this perilous equation? Perception seems to be everything, both in the discourse and actions taken in reshaping the Geo-political order of the post ‘Arabian spring’ Middle East.
Please, just keep collaborating in OPEC; pumping the Black Gold and thus keeping prices lower and stable, for the sake of a stable Global Economy!
theMarketSoul ©2012
Related articles
- Fitch downgrades Italy and Spain (bbc.co.uk)
- Brussels takes control of taxation and spending in eurozone countries (telegraph.co.uk)
- Roundup: Obama’s address focuses on the economy (globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com)
- Middle East Presidential Advisor To Four Presidents Bruce Riedel: Iran Is Not an Existential Threat to Israel or the United States! (politicalvelcraft.org)
- What Eurozone Crisis? (ritholtz.com)
- Report: US to Send “Mothership” to Middle East – Voice of America (blog) (blogs.voanews.com)
- Eurozone crisis: ratings agency downgrades nine countries (newstatesman.com)
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