Quote from Alexandre:
speculators, speculators, speculators
politicians are always looking for scapegoats in order to hide their failure.
This is ridiculous. No wonder why hedge funds are moving to Asia or the US.
Europe, the land where politicians put their hand in the sand and debt is swept under the carpet.
The biggest problems with Europe is politicians want to protect the little world they have created and free markets are a threat to this construction.
According to Lagarde, Greece has problems because of speculators. She believes no amount of speculation should be allowed against sovereign states, and default should be inconceivable. She doens't seem to understand you cannot force someone to buy debt whose yield does not properly reflect the risk of default. For her, the solution is to ban CDS. She doesn't even know the way CDS are used.
The Euro going down because of speculators? I don't think so. Check out what you pay for similar goods on amazon.com and amazon.fr and tell me if the euro is not overvalued? How much does it cost to fill your tank in Europe? Europe is way overpriced on a relative basis but a strong euro is essential as Europe's imports are incompressible and priced in dollars: energy!!! Imagine oil back at $100 and the Euro trading at parity with dollar... chaos in europe.
The solution: trying to curb the markets.
Hedge funds and regulation: they hate hedge funds in Europe because they are not regulated and cannot be controlled. It is also synonym of offshore money and therefore presumably reflecting tax avoidance. I can tell you, Sarkozy, Lagarde, Merkel,... they hate hedge funds and the billions they run. They want to put their hands on the hedge funds and curb them, get the offshore cash back onshore, so it can be invested into their failed economies and fund their debt that bears no risk of default.
This is Europe, a rationalist constructivist creation from clueless politicians, an abomination to freedom, a place where everything should be controlled, reported and regulated.
The outcome of such policies will be a retreat from international investors. Why invest in a place that is rigged? There are much better alternatives. Europe is digging its grave.
