IMF

Greece: 20% Cut in Minimum Wage and 15,000 Public Sector Jobs Lost? Ouch..

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Prime Minister Papademos, Finance Minister Venizelos, and Greek Bank Governor Provopoulos are expected to sign a draft agreement to secure a $172 billion dollar rescue plan desperately needed by the insolvent country.  However a couple of stipulations in the document are sure to create backlash, specifically the large cut to the minimum wage and the loss of 15,000 public sector jobs. From Businessweek: Greece will pledge permanent spending cuts, including lower pension payments and a 20 percent reduction in the minimum wage, as the economy contracts this year at a faster pace than originally estimated, according to the draft of … Read more

With Iran Offline, Oil Could Jump 30%

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Despite our massive emergency oil reserves (see here), the IMF estimates a halt in Iran crude could produce a rather dramatic effect in the price of oil: “If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources it would likely trigger an “initial” oil price jump of 20 to 30 percent, or about $20 to $30 a barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.” “Financial sanctions against Tehran may be ‘tantamount to an oil embargo’ and would imply supply declines of about 1.5 million barrels per day from the world’s … Read more

Strauss-Kahn meets with IMF

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Strauss-Kahn meets with IMF Chief and staff members The Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Monday that its former boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn paid a visit to the Global lender and met with its Chief and staff members. He visited IMF headquarters Monday afternoon, and current IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde met him prior to his meeting with Fund staff, an IMF spokesman said in a short statement. “These were private meetings, arranged at his request. We have no further comment to offer,” the statement said. IMF spokesman David Hawley said on August 25 at an IMF press conference that Mr. … Read more

George Soros: China will be the NEW world currency

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJVZ8sf6uBI&feature=player_embedded&w=450&h=350] The US Dollar has been the king of currencies for some time now. According to Soros, there was a flight from all currencies, which is why the price of commodities, especially gold and oil, were generally rising. He also stated that an orderly decline of the dollar was desirable and that the entire system needed to be reconstituted towards a global currency. When commodities, notably oil, is bought and sold in the futures markets it is done in U.S. Dollar denominations. This is why we see such a strong negative correlation between the price of crude oil and the … Read more