Ireland – a microcosm of the Great Deleveraging
It's been a bad week (again) for Ireland on the economic front. Statistics showed that Ireland is officially the first country to show signs of a "double dip" recession with the economy shrinking 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. To coincide with this news, the Taoiseach Brian Cowen, was seen doing the rounds at the National Ploughing Championships (seriously) - which is presumably a better place to be than doing early morning, hungover, radio interviews.
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Context is all…
This week the UK's Trades Union Congress (TUC) has been meeting in Manchester. And they are an angry group. The coalition government's austerity measures are expected to lead to 600,000 public sector job losses, as well as pay freezes and pension reforms over the next five years. The TUC warned of a "darker, more brutish" society and called the Government the "demolition Coalition".
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Better to be lucky than good…
This week Barclays announced the unsurprising succession of Bob Diamond to CEO, following the expected departure of John Varley next year. Barclays' Chairman, the fantastically Romanesque sounding Marcus Agius, was the chief appointer. In making that decision he was clearly following the Napoleanic dictum: "I don't want a good General, I want a lucky one."
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