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It's football season again. This round we have EURO 2012 Championship which will kick off on 8th June 2012. Are you ready? Before that, let us look at the championship from financial perspective. Don't care who will win the championship, Poland already emerged as the winner financially. Why? The UEFA European Football Championship has taken place every 4 years since 1960. For the first time in history, Poland and Ukraine have scored the chance to co-host the Euro 2012 Football Championship. Despite high set-up costs for the two emerging economies, both countries are likely to experience long-term economic benefits. The Statistic and Requirements: Estimated 670,000 football fans will pack into the new stadiums Around 1.5million spectators at fan zones  only Minimum requirement capacity of 30,000 to 50,000 spectators for infrastructure and modern stadiums Sufficient parking possibilities, hospitality facilities, luxury hotels and training facilities was needed Required transpor...

A state known for its "progressive" politics rejected union bullying yesterday and, by re-electing Governor Scott Walker, cast a vote for fiscal sanity.  Even in Wisconsin, government finances are still in serious peril.  What Walker has done so far represents only a baby step toward getting Wisconsin's state financial house in order.  They still have massive unfunded pension liabilities, both at the state level and at the local level.  The size of these unfunded liabilities are several orders of magnitude worse than the $ 3.6 billion budget gap that Walker has closed in the last two years.  But, still.  It is a beginning and brings a glimmer of sunshine to a state that was careening off into disaster until Walker came along. As in Europe, the situation in the various states in America is simply a question of numbers.  This is not about politics.  There is no political solution for Europe or for the American states.  There is no set of circum...

In the recently concluded 1Q2012 reporting season, a similar  number of companies under our coverage underperformed, at 31% versus 32% in 4Q2011 and  34% in 3Q2011. The percentage of companies that outperformed fell to 14%  from 17% in the  previous quarter (see Fig 1) and 15% in 3Q2011. Surprisingly, there were more earnings  letdowns among the big caps , with 27% missing estimates versus 17% in the preceding quarter  while among the small caps, more companies trumped estimates - at 20% - compared with 12%  in 4Q2011. The notable positive surprises among the big caps were Maybank and JCY while the  negatives were from MAS, the Genting Group and MISC. Steel, plantations and oil & gas disappointed. The steel, plantations and oil & gas sectors were  dogged  by industry-specific issues and the macro-economic environment. Most steel  companies that we cover continued to be mired in losses due to weaker selling prices and high...

So says Angela Merkel.  The idea is that if only Europe will "centralize" fiscal decision making and commercial bank regulation," then Germany may be willing to participate in a Europeanization of member country debt.  There are only two problems with this solution: 1) centralizing fiscal decision making makes no difference at all; 2) commercial bank regulation has never been known to prevent financial crises and bank failures.  All this shows is that Merkel doesn't understand what the problem is.  No politician seems to get it. The problem is simple: the welfare state has undermined the fiscal health of the Eurozone.  There are two reasons, both stemming the from the same principle:  when you promise people that they can receive income and services without paying for them, then two things happen: 1) people quit working and saving to provide for themselves; 2) you have to borrow unlimited amounts of money to fund the promises that you have made to people si...

Mohammed El-Erian of PIMCO joined his voice to the chorus today by saying that "leaders should get their act together."  Geez Mohammed.  Haven't they done enough?  They've imposed a welfare state, borrowed trillions of dollars that can't be paid, imposed regulations and laws that make business formation and expansion next to impossible, enacted labor laws that make it unattractive to expand or maintain employment.  What more can they do, Mohammed? At some point, folks like El-Erian need to recognize that employers make hiring decisions and that, absent a reason to hire anyone, they won't hire anyone.  Employers have been give a host of good reasons not to hire anyone and they are acting accordingly, both in Europe and in the US.  Hopefully, the "leaders will not get their act together."  Maybe, we should give all political leader 364 days of paid vacation annually.  They can meet ceremoniously one day every four years.  Then much less damage ...

My stay in Paris comes to an end tomorrow morning -- all in all, nine days. So what's doing in modern France? How's the welfare state going? It's going great for rich people and entrenched bureaucrats -- they never had it so good. The rich and politically connected in France have the life style reminiscent of Louis the IVth. Their so-called "socialism" is essentially a giant cage for everyone else to live in. Their are no jobs for young college educated, unless their parents are members of the elite. Opportunity is so bad for young people here that is not uncommon for youth to live with their parents until almost middle age. There are no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or any of that. The best entrepreneurs here are street hustlers and con artists. The government doesn't seem to restrict their activity like they restrict the activities of ordinary legal businesses. The newly elected President thinks you can create growth by raising marginal tax rates to 75 p...

The jobs release this morning confirms that the US economy has no real pep. This is bad news for anyone looking for a job or hoping to keep the job they have. I guess waging political war on capitalism isn't such a great economic policy after all. Where are the economists? Why are they pretending that current economic policy makes any sense? Obama spends a lot of time thinking about Europe these days. Schadenfreude I presume. Surprise, surprise, Spain is beginning to be the next big story. Just wait. Italy and France will have their time in the sun. If you want jobs, then you have to make it attractive for business to hire people. Why is that so tough to see? If you wanted more apples would you put a $ 5 tax on every apple produced?  I'm beginning to think the world might be better off without economists. Economists come up with tortured explanations to support things like minimum wages, health care mandates, higher taxes, and oppressive regulation. Do they really thi...