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2013-09-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

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Taking positions in different financial assets is useful to protect capital

2013-06-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

The primary objective of diversification is to protect the investment you have any problem, especially with the current market instability. It can be done through different positions jacks financial assets, such as funds from deposits, bonds or options for the future, among others, but it is also possible to create a basket of different values that allow the declining price of one of them would be unlikely consequences on the rest.

Mitigating losses

The vast majority of financial analysts stresses the importance of diversifying the portfolio in order to mitigate possible losses on investment. This means the distribution in various securities to minimize risks. The diversification of investments can be made in several ways:

    Through various financial assets.
    By investing in the stock market through a "basket" from different sectors or securities indices.

A diversified investment portfolio contains products of different types and includes stocks, mutual funds and fixed income instruments and equities, such as bonds and certificates of deposit. In this way, you can combine mutual funds, stock markets or ETF, among others, depending on the economic situation.

    As you increase the percentage of equity investment, increase the risks and benefits

A formula valid for conservative profiles would take positions in a 80% fixed income and 20% remaining equity. If you want to risk a little more, as is the case for aggressive investors, these percentages could be swapped to reach 70% in equities and 30% fixed income. As you increase the percentage in equities, will increase the risks assume the saver, but also the benefits will rise proportionately.

How to form a stock portfolio

Another variant of diversification comes from taking positions in equities through exchange, both domestic and international markets. This strategy can be carried out if it forms a portfolio that includes equity investment in securities and countries that are not related to each other. Thus, the decline in the price on one of them would have little impact on the rest of the basket. The ideal strategy would be to take positions in sectors with high speculative component and counter with the purchase of other more defensive, which offer greater security.

By diversifying the investment market, the decline in price of a security would have little impact on the rest of the basket

The dilemma arises when applying the percentage corresponding to each value. As is obvious, is determined by the degree of risk you are willing to assume the investor. A model of diversification of capital only through equity would be as follows: 30% in value of the banking sector, 30% in telecom companies, 20% in the pharmaceutical sector and the remaining 20% could be allocated to buy shares of companies from new technologies.
Putting it into practice: pros and cons

While this strategy benefits the small and medium investors in global terms, it should also assess the risks of putting it into practice.

Advantages:

    Provides greater security by not having all capital concentrated in one product or value.

    Minimizes the risk of losing the capital invested.

    Lets take advantage of each product of the banking market: future options, mutual funds, structured deposits, etc..

Disadvantages:

    Need some expert advice from financial markets to design the composition of the portfolio of each client.

    If any of the values chosen has a good performance, you can reap the benefits in all its intensity.

    Minimum capital is required than is necessary for other investment alternatives.

660 persons and 147 corporations control the world economy

2013-06-08T05:47:00.001-07:00

A study by the University of Zurich revealed that a small group of 147 large transnational corporations, mainly financial and extractive mining, in practice control the global economy. The study was the first to analyze 43,060 transnational corporations and unravel the web of ownership between them, managing to identify 147 companies that form a "super-entity
E l small group is closely interconnected through corporate boards and is a network of power that could be vulnerable to collapse and prone to "systemic risk", according to various opinions. Project Censored Sonoma State University of California declassified this story buried by the media and its former director Peter Phillips, a sociology professor at the university, former director of Project Censored and president of the Media Freedom Foundation / Project Censored, the cited in his paper "The Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class" (1%: Exhibition of Transnational Ruling Class), signed with Kimberly Soeiro and published in ProjectCensored.org.
The authors of the study are Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder and Stefano Battiston, researchers at the University of Zurich (Switzerland), who published his work on October 26, 2011, entitled "The Network of Global Corporate Control" (The Network of Global Corporate Control) in the scientific journal PlosOne. org.
In the presentation of the study published in PlosOne, the authors wrote: "The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability. So far, only small samples were studied and there was no national appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the calculation of the control held by each global player. "
"We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows lead to a small tightly knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic good, a "super-entity" that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers. "
The British conservative Daily Mail newspaper was perhaps the only one that got this news, the October 20, 2011, by Rob Waugh under the screaming headline "Is there a" super-corporation runs the global economy? The study claims that could be terribly unstable. Research found that 147 companies formed a 'super entity' within group, controlling 40 percent of the wealth. "
Waugh explains that the study of the University of Zurich "proof" that a small group of companies, mainly banks, exerts enormous power over the global economy. The work was the first to examine a total of 43,060 transnational corporations, the web of ownership between them and established a 'map' of 1,318 companies as the heart of the global economy.
"The study found that 147 companies developed inside a" super entity ", which controls 40 percent of their wealth. Everyone has some or all of one another. Most are the 20 top banks, including Barclays and Goldman Sachs. But the close relationship means that the network could be vulnerable to collapse, "wrote Waugh

The size of the circles represents revenue. The red circles are "super-connected corporations" while the yellows are "very connected corporations." The 1318 transnational corporations that form the core of the global economy, showing their partial ownership connections between each other, and the size of the circles corresponds to revenue. Through its proprietary companies control most of the "real" economy (Illustration by the authors, PlosOne, 26/10/2012).
"In effect, less than 1% of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," he told the Daily Mail James Glattfelder, complex systems theorist Swiss Federal Institute of Zurich, one of the three authors of research.
Some of the assumptions underlying the study have been criticized, as the idea that ownership equates to control. "However, Swiss researchers have no ax to grind: they simply applied to the global economy mathematical models usually used to model natural systems, using Orbis 2007, a database containing 37 million companies and investors," said Waugh .
Economists such as John Driffil, University of London, macroeconomics expert, told New Scientist that the value of the study was not in who controls the global economy, but it shows the close connections between the world's largest corporations. The financial collapse of 2008 showed that such closely knit networks can be unstable. "If a company suffers distress, it spreads," said Glattfelder.
To Rob Waugh Daily Mail and there is a "but": "It seems unlikely that the 147 corporations in the heart of the global economy could exercise real political power, they represent too many interests," said British conservative newspaper.
The world's global wealth is estimated that around 200 billion dollars, or two hundred trillion. According to Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro, the richest 1 percent of the world's population groups, approximately 40 million adults. These people are the richest segment of the first steps of the population of the more developed countries and, intermittently, in other regions.
According to David Rothkopf's book "Super-class: the Global Power Elite and the World they are Creating" the super elite cover approximately 0.0001 percent (1 millionth) of the world's population and comprise about 6,000 to 7,000 people, although others point 6.660. Among that group would have to look at the owners of the 147 corporations that cites a study by researchers at Zurich.
source
Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, and Stefano Battiston, "The Network of Global Corporate Control," Public Library of Science, October 26, 2011, http://www.plosone.org/article/info 2F10.1371%%% 3Adoi 2Fjournal.pone.0025995
Rob Waugh, "Does One 'Super Corporation' Run the Global Economy? Study Claims it Could be terrifyingly Unstable, "Daily Mail, October 20,
Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, Stefano Battiston, PlosOne Magazine, 26 octure 2011
Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro, "The Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class"
THE 1% GLOBAL: 660 INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATIONS 147 CONTROLLING THE WORLD ECONOMY
Unmasking of super transnational ruling class
Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro *
This study asks who are the 1% of the world's power elite? And how they operate in unison on the remaining 99% to increase their own private profit? We examined a sample of 1%: mining, material extracted corporations whose global common areas of the Earth and using cheap labor to accumulate wealth. The value of the material removed by these big oil companies, gas and various mining organizations, far exceeds the actual cost of extraction. We also examine the investment industry 1% Top: corporations whose primary activity is to accumulate and reinvest capital.
This sector includes central banks, the largest money management firms for investment and other corporations whose primary efforts are the concentration and the reproduction of money, such as insurance companies. Finally, we analyze how global networks of power-centralized elite 1%, their companies, and the various governments in their service-plan, manipulate and enforce policies that benefit their continued concentration of wealth and power. We demonstrate how the military-industrial empire-media USA / NATO acts in the service of transnational corporate class protection of international capital in the world.
The "Occupy Movement" developed a slogan, "the other 99%", which summarizes the great inequality of wealth and power between the richest 1% of the world and the rest of us. While 99% mantra undoubtedly serves as a motivational tool to engage more people openly, explains very little about who comprise 1% and how they maintain their power in the world. Although a good portion of academic research has dealt with the power elite in the U.S., only half of the last decade has investigated the emergence of a transnational corporate class. [1]
The most prominent among the early works on the idea of 1% interconnected within global capitalism was the book The Transnational Capitalist Class by Leslie Sklair, 2001 [2]. Sklair believed that globalization would move to transnational corporations (TNCs) to broader international roles, which lead to states of origin of the corporations to less important roles that international agreements developed through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other agencies. What emerged from these corporations was a transnational capitalist class, whose members and interest would increase their increasingly international scope, while they were still rooted in their societies. Sklair wrote:
"The transnational capitalist class can be divided analytically into four main fractions: (i) owners and controllers of TNCs and their local affiliates, (ii) bureaucrats and political globalization (iii) globalization professionals (iv) elites consumerism (merchants and media) ... Of course, it is also important to note that the transnational corporate class (CCT) and each of its fractions, not always fully connected to each problem. However, as a whole, the key persons of these groups constitute a global power elite, a ruling class or an inner circle, in the sense in which these terms have been used to characterize the dominant class structures of specific countries. " [3]
It is estimated that the total world's wealth is around $ 200 billion, with the U.S. and Europe holding approximately 63%. To be among the world's richest half, an adult needs only $ 4,000 in assets after debts subtracted. An adult requires over 72,000 thousand dollars to belong to the top 10% of global wealth owners and more than $ 588,000 to be a member of 1% top. In 2010, the top 1% of the world's richest people had hidden away from 21-32 trillion dollars in secret bank accounts tax exempt deployed worldwide [4].
Meanwhile, the poorest half of the global population together own less than 2% of global wealth. [5] The World Bank reported in 2008 that 1,290 million people living in extreme poverty, on less than $ 1.25 per day, and 1,200 million more living on less than $ 2 a day [6]. Starvation.net reported that 35,000 people, mostly children, die of hunger every day in the world [7].
The number of unnecessary deaths has exceeded 300 million over the past 40 years. The farmers around the world produce more than enough food to feed the entire world adequately. The global grain production of 2007 was 2.3 billion tons, 4% more than in the previous year, but every day one billion people go hungry. Grain.org describes the current hunger basic reasons in the article "Corporations are still making a killing from hunger": while farmers produce enough food to feed the world, commodity speculators and large those grain traders like Cargill control prices and global food distribution [8].
It is also important to examine how wealth is created and how concentrated. Historically, wealth has been captured and concentrated by conquest by various powerful groups. For a historical example a glance suffices to takeover by Spain to the wealth of the Aztec and Inca empires in the early sixteenth century. The history of the Roman and British empires also full of examples.
Once acquired, then wealth can be used to establish means of production, such as the early British cotton mills that exploit labor to produce goods whose exchange value is higher than the cost of labor, a process analyzed by Karl Marx in Capital [9].
The organized business hire workers who are paid below the value of their labor. The result is the creation of what Marx called surplus value, a value above the cost of labor. Creating goodwill allows those who own the means of production, further concentrate capital.
In addition, the concentration of capital accelerates natural resource exploitation by private entrepreneurs, but really these natural resources are the common heritage of all living things [10]. In this paper, we ask: Who are the 1% of the world's power elite? And to what extent they act in unison for their own private gain and profit at the expense of the 99%?
Examine a sample of 1%: mining and quarrying sector, whose corporations get material drawn from common fields of land and cheap labor used to accumulate wealth. It is the corporations engaged in extracting oil, gas and other companies that extract minerals. The value of the removed material far exceeds the actual cost of extraction.
We also examine the investment sector of the 1% Top: corporations whose primary activity is to amass and reinvest capital. This sector includes central banks, the largest investment management firms and other corporations as monetary insurance companies that point to the concentration and expansion of the money.
Finally, we analyze how global networks of centralized power-the elite of 1%, their companies and various governments in their service-plan, manipulate and enforce policies that benefit their continued concentration of wealth and power.
The extractive sector: The case of Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) is the world's largest extractor of copper and gold. The company controls huge deposits in Papua, Indonesia, also operates in North and South America and Africa. In 2010 sold 3.9 billion pounds of copper, 1.9 million ounces of gold and 67 million pounds of molybdenum. In 2010 reported revenues of U.S. $ 18.9 billion and net income of 4.2 billion [11].
The Grasberg mine in Papua Indonesia employs 23,000 workers with wages below $ 3 per hour. In September 2011 workers went on strike for higher wages and better working conditions. Freeport had offered a wage increase of 22% and strikers said it was not enough, demanding an international standard of 17-43 dollars per hour. The pay dispute attracted to members of a local tribe, who had their own grievances over land rights and pollution. Armed with spears and arrows, joined workers blocked the access roads to the mine. [12] During the strikers attempted to block busloads of replacement workers, the state security forces killed and wounded several strikers.
Freeport has been criticized for paying for security authorities. Since 1991, has paid nearly 13,000 million to the Indonesian government at a rate of 1.5% royalty on gold and copper extracted and, consequently, have in their pockets to regional military police and Indonesian. In October 2011, the Jakarta Globe reported that Indonesian security forces in West Papua, notably the police, receive generous direct cash payments by Freeport-McMoRan. National Police Chief Timur Pradopo admitted that officers receive about $ 10 million annually, which Pradopo described as "lunch money". Prominent Indonesian NGO Imparsial direct annual payments stood at 14 million dollars [13].
These payments recall even larger payments made by Freeport to Indonesian military forces over the years, which were revealed when prompted an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission of USA on the responsibility of Freeport under the Foreign Practices Act U.S. corrupt.
Additionally, the State Police and the army have been criticized many times by human rights violations in the remote mountainous region, where a separatist movement simmered for decades. Amnesty International has documented numerous cases where Indonesian police used unnecessary force against strikers. For example, security forces attacked a mass rally in Jayapura, capital of Papua, and striking workers at Freeport mine. At least 5 people were killed and many more injured in assaults that show a continuous pattern of public violence against peaceful dissidents. Another brutal and unwarranted attack, which occurred on October 19, 2011, against thousands of papuenses exercising their right to assembly and freedom of expression, killing at least three civilians in Papua, batter of many, detention of hundreds and 6 arrest on charges of treason trial [14].
The Jakarta Globe reported on November 7, 2011 that "the striking workers employed by Copper & Gold, a subsidiary of Freepost-McMoRan in Papua, lowered their demands minimum wage increase from 7.50 to $ 4.00 per hour, said Workers Union All-Indonesia (SPSI, for its acronym in English) "[15]. Virgo Solosa, union official, told Jakarta Globe that he considered "the best solution for all" accept a salary above the minimum of $ 1.5 per hour.
Workers at Cerro Verde copper mine, Freeport in Peru, also went on strike at the same time, highlighting the global dimension of the confrontation with Freeport. The workers demanded wage increases of 11%, while the company offered just 3%.
The Peruvian strike ended on November 28, 2011 [16] and on December 14 Freeport-McMoRan announced a settlement in Indonesian mine extended the contract with the union for two years. Freeport workers continue with low wages, which currently amount to as little as $ 2 per hour and will rise by 24% in the first year of the collective agreement and 13% in the second year. The agreement also includes improvements in benefits and a one-time bonus equivalent to three months' wages [17].
In both strikes in Freeport governments pressured strikers for a solution that involved very high national and international levels. During the strike of Freeport-McMoRan Obama administration ignored the flagrant violation of human rights and, instead, strengthened the US-Indonesia military ties. The U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who came to Indonesia in the immediate wake of the Jayapura attack, made no criticism of the assault and reaffirmed U.S. support for Indonesia's territorial integrity. Panetta also praised Indonesia's handling of the strike at Freeport-McMoRan [18].
President Barack Obama visited Indonesia in November 2011 to strengthen relations with Jakarta as part of the escalation of Washington's efforts aimed at combating Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific. Obama had just announced that the U.S. and Australia begin a rotational deployment of 2,500 U.S. Marines at a base in Darwin, a movement ostensibly to modernize the U.S. presence in the region and to allow participation in the "common practice" to the counterparty Australian military. But some speculate that the U.S. has a hidden agenda. The Thai newspaper The Nation suggested that one reason would be to offer remote security guarantees far as two-hour flight, the gold owned by the U.S. company Freeport-McMoRan'sya copper mine in West Papua [19].
The fact that workers in the copper mine of the Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, in Peru Freeport, also were on strike at the same time highlights the global dimension of the confrontation of Freeport. Peruvian workers demanded wage increases of 11%, while only 3% offered Freeport. The strike was lifted on November 28, 2011 [20]. In both strikes, lobbied governments to subdue the strikers, not only with the presence of military and police force, but also involving international high. The fact that the U.S. Defense Secretary mentioned a national strike in Indonesian shows that problems affecting 1% corporate profits are at stake internationally at the highest level of power.
Indonesian public opinion is strongly against Freeport. On August 8, 2011, Karishma Vaswani, BBC reported that "U.S. mining corporation Freeport-McMoRan has been accused of everything from polluting the environment to funding repression in its four decades of operation in the province Indonesian Papua. Street ... Ask any Papuan Freeport what you think and tell you that the corporation is a thief, said Nelels Tebay, a pastor of Papua and network coordinator Papua Peace "[21].
Freeport Strikers won the support of the U.S. Occupy Movement. Activists from Occupy Phoenix and Action Network East Timor marched to the headquarters of Freeport in Phoenix, on October 28, 2011, to protest the killings of police Indonesian Grasberg mine of Freeport-McMoRan's [22].
James R. Moffett, president of the board of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. (FCX), has more than four million shares worth close to $ 42.00 each (total $ 168 million). According to the annual report of FCX launched in June 2011, the annual compensation of Moffett in 2010 was 30.57 million dollars.
Richard C. Adkerson FCX board chairman, owns about 5.3 million shares (222.6 million dollars). His total compensation was also 30.57 million dollars in 2010. The Moffett and Adkerson incomes place them in the upper levels of the world's top 1%. The interconnection with the highest levels of power in the White House and the Pentagon is expressed in specific attention given to them by both the U.S. defense secretary and, as circumstances suggest, awareness of the U.S. president. No doubt executives and directory-MacMoran Freepot are firmly positioned in the highest levels of transnational corporate class.
Board of Freeport-McMoRan
James R. Moffett, political and corporate affiliations: co-chairman, president and chief executive (CEO, Chief Executive Officer) of McMoRan Exploration Co., PT Freeport Indonesia, Madison Minerals Inc., Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Agrico, Inc., Petro-Lewis Funds, Inc.; Bright Real Estate Services, LLC; PLC-SALW, Inc., FM Services Co.
Richard C. Adkerson, political and corporate affiliations: Arthur Anderson Company, president of the International Council on Mining and Metals, member of the board of International Copper Association, Business Council, Business Roundtable, Board of Trustees of the Kissinger Institute, Madison Minerals Inc.
Robert Allison Jr., Corporate affiliations: Anadarko Petroleum (11 billion dollars in revenue in 2010) Projection Company Amoco.
Robert A. Day, corporate affiliations: CEO of WM Keck Foundation (with assets of more than a billion dollars in 2010), lawyer of Costa Mesa, California.
Gerald J. Ford, corporate affiliations: Hilltop Holdings Inc, First Acceptance Corporation, Pacific Capital Bancorp (annual sales: 13 billion dollars), Golden State Bancorp, FSB (Federal Savings Bank which merged with Citigroup in 2002), Rio Hondo Land & Cattle Company, Diamond Ford, Dallas (sales: $ 200 million), Scientific Games Corp., SWS Group (annual sales: $ 422 million); American Residential Cmnts LLC.
H. Devon Graham Jr, corporate affiliations: RE Smith Interests (asset management company; income: $ 670,000).
Charles C. Krulak, corporate and government affiliations: University President-South Birmingham College, Marine Corps commandant, 1995-1999; MBNA Corp., Union Pacific Corporation (annual sales: 17 billion dollars), Phelps Dodge (acquired by FCX in 2007).
Bobby Lee Lackey, corporate affiliations: CEO of McManusWyatt-Hidalgo Produce Marketing Co.
Jon C. Madonna, corporate affiliations: CEO of KPMG (audit professional services, annual sales: 22.7 billion dollars), AT & T (2011 income: 122 billion dollars), Tidewater Inc. (2011 revenue: 1.4 billion dollars).
Dustan E. McCoy, corporate affiliations: CEO of Brunswick Corp. (income: 4.6 billion dollars), Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (2011 revenue: 1.7 billion dollars).
BM Rankin Jr.., Corporate affiliations: vice chairman of FCX, cofounder of McMoRan Oil and Gas in 1969.
Stephen Siéguele, corporate affiliations: Founder / CEO of Advanced Delivery and Chemical Systems Inc., Advanced Technology Solutions, Flourine on Call Ltd.
The board of Freeeport-McMoRan represents a portion of the 1% Top which not only controls the largest mining gold and copper in the world, but are also interconnected through the boards of more than a dozen of the largest corporations corporations, banks, foundations, military leaders and major groups that set policies. This twelve-member board is a tight network of individuals intertwined, influencing the policies of other relevant corporations that control approximately 200 billion dollars in annual revenue.
Freeport-McMoRan mining exemplifies how the extractor acquires common wealth of natural heritage materials, which legitimately belongs to us all, through the appropriation of the surplus labor of the people and practicing common theft in our territories. This process is protected by the governments of several countries that exploits Freeport minerals and guarded by the ultimate protector, which is the U.S. military empire and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Furthermore, Feeport-McMoRan is connected to one of the largest transnational capitalist elite of the world: more than 7% of the shares of Freeport are stored by BlackRock, Inc., one of the largest investment management corporations, with headquarters in New York.
The investment sector: The case of BlackRock, Inc.
Many firms operate internationally as primary investment organizations, managing principal and investing in other corporations. These firms often do not really do anything except money, and are coordinated to prevent interference by the rapid withdrawal of their capital if anywhere in the world are affected by taxes, regulations or government interventions.
BlackRock, based in Manhattan, is the largest corporation in the asset management world, with more than 10,000 employees and investment branches in 27 countries. Its customer base includes private and public corporations, unions, retirement systems industry, governments, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, financial foundations, charities, corporations, official institutions, capital sovereign funds, banks, professional financiers and individuals worldwide.
BlackRock purchased Barclay Global Investors in December 2009. By March 2012, managed assets amounting to 3.68 billion in equity, fixed income, cash management, alternative investment, real estate and advisory strategies [23]. Freeport-McMoRan addition, BlackRock Chevron maintains significant holdings (49 million shares, 2.5%), Goldman Sachs Group (13 million shares, 2.7%), Exxon Mobil (121 million shares, 2.5 %), Bank of America (251 million shares, 2.4%), Monsanto Company (12 million shares, 2.4%), Microsoft Corp. (185 million shares, 2.2%), and many more [24].
BlackRock manages investments of public and private funds, including the Pension System California Public Employees Retirement System and the California State Teacher of the national system of mortgage Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (known as Freddie Mac), Boy Scout of America, Boeing, Sears, Verizon, Raytheon, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG & E), Pension Systems of the City of New York, Association of Pensions of Employees of County of Los Angeles, General Electric (GE), Cisco and numerous other funds and corporations.
According to the annual report to shareholders of BlackRock April 2011, the board consists of 18 members. The board is divided into three equal groups-Class I, Class II and Class III, with a fixed term of membership in each class expiring each year by rotation. The members of each class are generally selected in the annual meetings and serve as the office for a period of three full years, or until their successors are elected and qualified. Each class consists of approximately one third of the total number of directors constituting the entire board.
BlackRock equity agreements with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary entire Bank of America Corporation, and Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiaries. Two to four members of the board come from BlackRock, a director is appointed by Merrill Lynch, two directors are elected by the PNC Bank, each in a different class; Barclays elects two directors, each different class, and the remaining directors are independent.
Class I Directors (term expires in 2012):
William S. Demchak, corporate affiliations: Senior Vice President of PNC Bank (assets: U.S. $ 271 billion), JP Morgan Chase & Co. (active 2011: 2.2 billion).
Kenneth B. Dunn, PhD, corporate and institutional affiliations: financial economics professor David A. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, former managing director of Morgan Stanley Investment (assets: 807 billion dollars).
Laurence D. Fink, corporate and institutional affiliations: President / CEO of BlackRock, manager of New York University, manager of the Boys Club of New York.
Robert S. Kapito, corporate and institutional affiliations: President of BlackRock, administrator of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.
Thomas HO'Brien, corporate affiliations: Former CEO of PNC, Verizon Communications, Inc. (2011 revenues: 110 billion dollars).
Ivan G. Seidenberg, corporate and political affiliations: President of the board of Verizon Communications former CEO of Bell Atlantic, Honeywell International Inc. (2010 revenue: 33.3 billion dollars) Pfizer Inc. (2011 revenue: 64 billion dollars) , chairman of the Business Roundtable, the National Security Advisory Committee on Telecommunications, Chairman of the Board of the Academy of Sciences of New York [25].
Class II Directors (term expires in 2013):
Abdlatif Yousef Al-Hamad, corporate and institutional affiliations: board chairman board of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (assets: $ 2.7 trillion), former Minister of Economy and Planning Minister of Kuwait, Authority Kuwait Investment, Multilateral Development Banks, International Advisory Board of Morgan Stanley Bank, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., American International Group, Inc. and National Bank of Kuwait.
Mathis Cabiallavetta, corporate affiliations: Swiss Reinsurance Company (2010 revenue: 28 billion dollars), CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (2011 revenue: 11.5 billion dollars), Union Bank of Switzerland, UBS AG ( assets 2012: 620 billion dollars), Philip Morris International Inc. (2010 revenue: 27 billion dollars).
Dennis D. Dammerman, corporate affiliations: General Electric Company (2012 revenues: 147 billion dollars), Capmark Financial Group Inc. (formerly GMAC), American International Group (AIG) (2010 revenue: 77 billion dollars), Genworth Financial (2010 assets: 100 billion dollars), Swiss Reinsurance Company (active 2012: 620 billion dollars), Discover Financial Services (2011 revenue: 3.4 billion dollars).
Robert E. Diamond Jr., Corporate and political affiliations: CEO of Barclays (2011 revenue: 32 billion), International Advisory Board of British American Business.
David H. Komansky, corporate affiliations: CEO of Merrill Lynch (division of Bank of America 2009, Management 2011: assets: 2.3 billion), Burt's Bees, Inc. (owned by Clorox), WPP Group plc (2011 revenues: 15 000 million).
James E. Rohr, corporate affiliations: CEO of PNC (2011 revenue: 14 billion dollars).
James Grosfeld, corporate affiliations: CEO of Pulte Homes, Inc. (2010 revenue: 4.5 billion dollars), Lexington Realty Trust (2011 assets: 1.2 billion dollars).
Sir Deryck Maughan, corporate and political affiliations: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (2011 assets: 8.6 billion dollars), former CEO of Salomon Brothers from 1992 to 1997, president of the US-Japan Business Council, GlaxoSmithKline plc (2011 revenues: 41 billion dollars), Thomson Reuters Corporation (2011 revenue: 13.8 billion dollars).
Thomas K. Montag, corporate affiliations: President of Global Banking & Markets for Bank of America (Income 2011: 94 billion dollars), Merrill Lynch (division of Bank of America, 2009, assets under management 2011: 2.3 billion), Goldman Sachs (2011 revenue: 28.8 billion dollars).
Class III Directors (their terms expire in 2014):
Murry S. Gerber, corporate affiliations: EQT CEO (2010 revenue: 1.3 billion dollars), Halliburton Company.
Linda Gosden Robinson, corporate affiliations: Former CEO of Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, Young & Rubicam Inc., WPP Group plc (2011 revenue: 15 billion dollars), Revlon, Inc. (2011 revenue: 1.3 billion of dollars).
● John S. Varley, corporate affiliations: CEO of Barclays (2011 revenue: 32 billion dollars), AstraZeneca PLC (2011 revenue: 33.5 billion dollars).
BlackRock is one of the most concentrated power networks 1% globally. Members of the "dieciochocena" (eightteen) board are connected with a significant part of the heart of the world financial capital. Their decisions can change empires, destroy currencies and impoverish millions. Some of the biggest financial giants of the capitalist world are connected weaving their boards in BlackRock, including Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, PNC Bank, Barclays, Swiss Reinsurance Company, American International Group (AIG), UBS AG, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley.
Research from the University of Zurich in 2011, completed by Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder and Stefano Battiston at the Swiss Federal Institute, reports that a small group of corporations, mostly banks-handle huge power over the global economy [26]. Using data from Orbis 2007, a database covering 37 million companies and investors, Swiss researchers applied the global economy mathematical models usually used as natural models.
The study was the first to observe 43,060 transnational corporations and study the web of ownership between them. The research created a 'map' of 1,318 companies in the core of the global economy. The study found that 147 corporations form a "super entity 'within this map, controlling 40% of the wealth. The "Top 25" among the 147 super-connected companies include the following corporations:
1. Barclays PLC *
Two. Capital Group Companies Inc.
Three. FMR Corporation
April. AXA
May. State Street Corporation
June. JP Morgan Chase & Co. *
July. Legal & General Group PLC
August. Vanguard Group Inc.
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. *
11. Wellington Management Co. LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc.
14. Credit Suisse Group *
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. *
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc.
20. Legg Mason Inc.
21. Morgan Stanley *
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Societe Generale
25. Bank of America Corporation *
(* Directors of BlackRock)
Notably, for our purposes, the BlackRock board members have direct connections with at least 7 of the 25 top corporations Vitali and others identify as "super international entity." BlackRock's board has direct links with 7 of the 25 interconnected societies in the world. Eighteen members of the board of BlackRock control and influence tens of billions of dollars of wealth in the world and represent the core of super-connected corporations financial sector. Below is a sample cross section of key figures and corporate assets of the "global economic super-entity" identified by Vitali and others.
Other key figures and corporate connections within the highest levels of the "global economic super-entity":
A private group capital corporation based in Los Angeles handles $ 1 trillion in assets.
FMR, one of the corporations largest mutual fund in the world, manages $ 1.5 billion in assets and serves more than twenty million individual and institutional customers, its president and CEO is Edward C. (Ned) Johnson III.
AXA manages $ 1.5 trillion in assets, serves 101 million customers, CEO Henri de Castries, also director of Nestlé (Switzerland).
State Street Corporation, operates from Boston and manages assets of $ 1.9 trillion, its directors include Joseph L. Hooley, CEO of State Street Corporation, Kennett F. Burnes, retired chairman and CEO of Cabot Corporation (2011 revenue: 3.1 billion dollars).
JP Morgan / Chase (2011 assets: $ 2.3 trillion), Board of Directors: James A. Bell, Vice President (VP) retired executive of The Boeing Company, Stephen B. Burke, CEO of NBC Universal and Comcast Corporation Executive VP (cable TV), David M. Cote, CEO of Honeywell International, Inc., Timothy P. Flynn, retired chairman of KPMG International, and Lee R. Raymond, retired CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Vanguard (assets under management in 2011: 1.6 billion), Directors: Emerson U. Fullwood, VP of Xerox company, JoAnn Heffernan Heisen, VP of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Mark Loughridge, IBM CEO Global Financing, Alfred M. Rankin Jr., CEO of NACCO Industries, Inc., National Association of Manufacturers, Goodrich Corp and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
UBS AG (active 2012: 620 billion dollars), its directors including Michel Demaré, Syngenta Council member and IMD Foundation (Lausanne), David Sidwell, former CEO of Morgan Stanley.
Merrill Lynch (Bank of America), 2011 Assets under management: $ 2.3 trillion. Directors include Brian T. Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, Rosemary T. Berkery, legal director of the Bank of America / Merrill Lynch (formerly Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.), member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange, Director of Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Mark A. Ellman, managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston, Dick J. Barrett, co-founder of Ellman Stoddard Capital Partners, MetLife, Citi Group, UBS, Carlyle Group, ImpreMedia, Verizon Communications (cable TV and communications), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Org, Fluor Corp, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs Group.
The directors of these super corporations connected represent a small portion of the Top 1%. Most people with assets over $ 588,000 are not major players in international finance. In the best of cases, companies use asset management to produce returns on their capital. Their net worth often involves non-financial assets, such as real estate and businesses.
Analysis: CCT and world power
How transnational corporate class (CCT) maintains the concentration and power of wealth in the world? The richest 1% of the world population means about 40 million adults. These people are the richest segment of the first steps of the population of the more developed countries and, intermittently, in other regions.
Most of this 1% insurance plays professional jobs or working in activities associated with establishment institutions. Approximately 10 million of these individuals have assets in excess of a million dollars and about 100,000 have financial assets greater than $ 30 million.
Immediately below 1% of the first step are those who work, usually in major corporations, governments, businesses themselves and various institutions worldwide. This first tier is about 30-40% used in the core of the major developed countries and about 30% are in the second tier of economies, while 20% of below corresponds to the peripheral economies (formerly referred to as " third world "). The second tier of global workers represents the growing army of casual labor: global factory workers, street workers and day workers employed intermittently, more with less help from government organizations and social assistance.
These workers, mostly concentrated in mega-cities, 30-40% are in the central industrialized staff and another 20% to the second tier and the peripheral economies. This leaves a third tier of global reach homeless people, whose 30% are adults in the central and secondary economies complemented with 50% of people in peripheral countries with extremely limited income opportunities, struggling to survive on a few dollars per day. It is 2.5 billion people living on less than two dollars a day, tens of thousands die every day from malnutrition and easily curable diseases, and probably have never even used a telephone. [27]
As observed in our sample extractor mining sector and investment, corporate elites are interconnected through direct links on the boards of the 70 largest multinational corporations, political organizations, media groups and other academic or non-profit.
The investment sector sample exhibits much stronger financial ties to the mining sector extractor. However, both sectors represent vast networks of resources concentrated on the boards or boards of directors of each corporation. The cut sample resources directors and 8 super-connected corporations replicates this model corporate connections on multiple boards, for example, groups or political parties, mass media and government, thus controlling extensive global resources. The gear ratios are repeated through top corporations interconnected transnational corporate class, resulting in a highly concentrated and powerful network of individuals who share a common interest in preserving its dominance of elite.
Sociological research shows that interlocking directorates have the potential to facilitate political cohesion. A collective sense of "we" emerges within these networks of power, making members think and act in unison, not only for themselves and their individual corporations, but with a greater sense of purpose "good for the order" so to speak. [28]
Our sample of 30 companies into highly connected directories influences some of the most powerful interest groups or policy-setting bodies in the world, as the British-American Council of Business, Business Council US-Japan Business Roundtable, Business Council and Kissinger Institute. Influencing ten trillion in monetary resources and control the working life of many hundreds of thousands. All in all, are elite power for themselves, acting in a world of networks of power elites in fact behave as a ruling class of the capitalist world.
Moreover, this global elite 1% dominates and controls public relations companies and global corporate media, which protect their interests serving as the super-class propaganda machine. The corporate media provide entertainment for the masses and distort the realities of inequality. Corporate news are handled by 1% to maintain the illusions of hope and exonerate the responsibility of the powerful in hard times [29].
In our sample, 4 of 30 super-corporations directors are connected directly with companies public relations (PR) and mainstream media. Thomas H. O'Brien and Ivan G. Seidenberg are on the board of Verizon Communications, where Seidenberg is chairman. Verizon reported more than 110 billion dollars in revenues in 2011 [30]. David H. Komansky and Linda Gosden Robinson are on the board of WPP Group, which describes itself as a world leader in marketing communications services with revenues greater than 65 billion dollars in 2011. WPP is a conglomerate of several major PR and marketing companies in the world, in fields including advertising, media investment management, consumer insight, branding and corporate identity, advertising, communications, and health care, driving Digital marketing promotion and relationship marketing [31].
Even in the depths of 1% of the rich elite is what David Rothkopf called super-class. Rothkopf, former managing director of Kissinger Associates and commissioned as secretary of commerce for international trade policy in 2008 published his book "Super-class: the Global Power Elite and the World they are Creating" [32]. According to Rothkopf, the superclass are about 0.0001% (1 millionth) of the world's population and comprises about 6000-7000 people, although others point 6.660. Are those attending each year the Forum in Davos, fly or sail in private jets and yachts, money capital embedded, interwoven mega-corporations, the elite policy makers of the world at the absolute top of the pyramid of world power.
94% of this super-elite is male, predominantly white, and especially North America and Europe. These are the people who set the agendas in the Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, G-8, G-20, NATO, World Bank and WTO. They come from the highest levels of financial capital, transnational corporations, government, military, academia, NGOs, religious leaders and other elites in the shade. The elites in the shade include, for example, policies deep national security organizations in connection with the international drug cartels, which annually draw 8,000 tons of opium in U.S. war zones after launderers 500 000 000 000 dollars using transnational banks, half of them located in the U.S.. [33]
Billionaires and 1% overall are similar to the colonial planters. They know they are a small minority with extensive resources and power, but still must worry constantly to prevent the exploited masses explode into rebellion. As a result of this insecurity group, the superclass work hard to protect this structure concentrated wealth. The capital protection is the first reason that now NATO countries account for 85% of the world's defense spending, with the U.S. spending more on military than the rest of the world combined [34]. The fear of rebellions by inequality and other forms of discomfort motivate the global agenda of NATO in the war on terrorism [35]. The declaration of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago says:
"As leaders of the Alliance, we are determined to ensure that NATO retain and develop the skills necessary to perform its essential core task of collective defense, crisis management and security cooperation and, thereby, play an essential role in promoting security of the world. We must address this responsibility while facing an acute financial crisis and challenges us to engage in geo. NATO allows that together we added security that if any of the Alliance could act alone.
"We confirm the importance of continued strong transatlantic link and Alliance solidarity as well as the significance of sharing responsibilities, roles and resolve risks facing together the challenges of the U.S. and European allies (...) With confidence we have set the goal for NATO forces 2020: modern, secured and equipped troops, trained, exercised and commanded so that they can act together, with partners, in any environment "[36].
NATO is fast emerging as the police force transnational corporate class. While CCT emerged more strongly in the 80s, NATO began broader operations, coinciding with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). NATO first ventured into the Balkans, where still present, and then moved to Afghanistan. NATO began a training mission in Iraq in 2005, recently conducted operations in Libya and since July 2012, considers military action in Syria.
It has become clear that the superclass NATO used for global security. This is part of a strategy to expand the U.S. military dominance around the world, while the empire military-industrial-media USA / NATO acting in the service to the transnational corporate class international capital protection anywhere in the world [37] .
Sociologists William Robinson and Jerry Harris anticipated this situation in 2000, when they described "a change of the social welfare state to state social control (police) ahíto dramatic expansion of public security forces and private mass incarceration of people excluded (disproportionately minority), new forms of social apartheid ... and anti-immigrant law "[38]. The theory of Robinson and Harris predicted exactly the agenda of today's global superclass, including:
Continuation of President Obama's police state agenda of the governments of its predecessors, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George HW Bush.
Agenda of global domination, long range, the superclass, which uses U.S. military / NATO to discourage resistance states and maintain internal policies of repression in the service of maintaining the order of the capitalist system.
And the continued consolidation of capital worldwide, without interference from governments or egalitarian social movements [39].
In addition, this agenda led to further impoverishment of the poorest half of the world's population, and an inexorable downward spiral of wages for everyone from the second tier, and even some inside the first step [40] . This is a world facing economic crises, where neoliberal solution is to spend less on human needs and security [41]. It is a world of financial institutions acting as alienated, where the answer to bankruptcy is to print more money through quantitative facilitations, with billions of new dollars producing inflation.
As Andrew says Kollin in State Power and Democracy "there is an Orwellian dimension in the government's perspective (first Bush and then Obama), who chose to disregard the law and, instead, create ordinances to legitimize illegal actions, giving yourself permission to act without any appearances to share power under the Constitution or international law "[42].
In Globalization and the Demolition of Society, Dennis Loo writes: "After all the fundamental division in our society is between those whose interests lie in the domination and plans to monopolize society and the planet's resources and among those interested in the exploitation of those resources for the benefit of all, not some "[43].
The Occupy movement used as main concept the slogan "el1% versus the 99%" on their expression disruptions and challenges to the practices of transnational corporate class, inside which the global superclass are a key to carry out the agenda of the super-elite for permanent war and total social control. Occupy is exactly what I fear most superclass global democratic movement to denounce the CBT agenda and the continuation of the theater of government elections, where the actors changed costumes can only but remain the same. While most reject Occupy cooperate with CCT agenda and mobilize more activists, it is more likely that the whole system of domination of the CCT their knees under the power popular democratic movements.
Notes:
1. For a deeper academic knowledge on this topic is required reading these texts:
-C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, New York, Oxford University Press, 1956;
-G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America, 6th edition, Boston, McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009;
-William Carroll, The Making of a Transnational Capitalist Class, Zed Books, 2010.
Two. Leslie Sklair, The Transnational Capitalist Class, Oxford, UK, Blackwell, 2001.
Three. Leslie Sklair, "The Transnational Capitalist Class And The Discourse Of Globalization", Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 2000, http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press/012sklair.htm
April. Tax Havens: Super-rich hiding at Least $ 21 trillion, BBC News, July 22, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097
May. Tyler Durgen, A Detailed Look At Global Wealth Distribution, 10/11/10, http://www.zerohedge.com/article/detailed-look-global-wealth-distribution .
June. "World Bank Sees Progress Against Extreme Poverty, But Vulnerabilities Flags", World Bank, Press Release No. 2012/297/Dec., February 29,
July. Mark Ellis, The Three Top Sins Of The Universe, http://www.starvation.net/
August. "Corporations are Still Making a Killing from Hunger", April 2009, Grain, http://www.grain.org/article/entries/716-corporations-are-still-making-a-killing-from-hunger .
9. On the extraction of surplus-value from labor, see Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 3 (New York and London: Penguin, 1991 [1894]).
10. See, eg, Paul Burkett, Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective (New York: St. Martins, 1999), Chapter 6, for additional information on the Fair Share of the Common Heritage see, http://www.fairsharecommonheritage . org / .
11. Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders, June 15, 2011, document April 28, 2001, http://www.ecocumentview.com/FCX_MTG .
12. "Freeport Indonesia Miners, Tribesmen Defend Road Blockades", Reuters Africa, November 4, 2011, http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL4E7M410020111104 .
13. "Police Admit to Receiving Freeport 'Lunch Money,'" Frank Arnaz, Jakarta Globe, October 28, 2011, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/police-admit-to-receiving-freeport-lunch-money/474747
14. "Indonesia must investigate mine strike protest killing", Amnesty International News, October 10, West Papua Report, November 2011, http://www.etan.org/issues/wpapua/2011/1111wpap.htm
15. Camelia Pasandaran, "Striking Freeport Lower Wage Employees Increase Demands", Jakarta Globe, November 7,
16. Alex Emery, "Freeport Cerro Verde, Workers Sign Three-Year Labor Accord," Bloomberg News, December 22,
17. Eric Bellman and Tess Stynes, "Freeport-McMoRan Indonesia Says Strike Ends Pact," Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203893404577098222935896112.html
18. John Pakage, "When there is no guarantee of the security of life for the people of Papau", West Papua Media Alerts, March 1, 2012, http://westpapuamedia.info/tag/freeport-McMoRan/ .
19. "Reasons to go the Darwin", The Nation (Thailand), November 30, 2011, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Reasons-to-go-to-Darwin-30170893.html
20. "Cerro Verde strike to be over by November 28 - Peru", Business News Americas, November 24, 2011, http://www.bnamericas.com/news/mining/cerro-verde-strike-to-be-over-by -november-28
21. Karishma Vaswani, "U.S. Firm Freeport Struggles to Escape Its Past In Papua", BBC News, Jakarta, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14417718
22. Phoenix Arizona, October 28, 2011, Youtube report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvJxy2GvOHE .
23. BlackRock About Us: http://www2.blackrock.com/global/home/AboutUs/index.htm .
24. Data for this section is drawn for StreetInsider.com.
25. Data for the corporations listed in this section comes from the annual report at each corporation's website. Biography information was Gained from the FAX annual report to investors and online biographies available for Individuals whine.
26. Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, and Stefano Battiston, "The Network of Global Corporate Control", PLoS ONE, October 26, 2011, http://www.plosone.org/article/info 2F10.1371%%% 3Adoi 2Fjournal.pone.0025995 .
27. William Robinson and Jerry Harris, "Towards a Global Ruling Class? Globalization and the Transnational Capitalist Class ", Science and Society 64, no. 1 (Spring 2000).
28. Val Burris, "Interlocking Directorates and Political Cohesion Among Corporate Elites," American Journal of Sociology 3, no. 1 (July 2005).
29. Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff, "Truth Emergency: Inside the Military-Industrial Media Empire" Censored 2010 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2009), 197-220.
30. Verizon Financials 2012, http://www22.verizon.com/investor/ Hoovers Verizon describe as, "the # 2 U.S. telecom services provider after AT & T overall, but it holds the top spot in wireless services ahead of rival AT & T Mobility." Hoovers Inc. http://www.hoovers.com/company/Verizon_Communications_Inc/rfrski-1.html .
31. WPP: http://www.wpp.com/wpp/about/wppataglance/
32. David Rothkopf, SuperClass: the Global Power Elite and the World They are Making (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008).
33. Peter Dale Scott, American War Machine, Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection, and the Road to Afghanistan (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010). See also Censored Story # 22, "Wachovia Bank Laundered Money for Latin American Drug Cartels", in Chapter 1.
34. David Rothkopf, Superclass, Public Address: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 9, 2008.
35. NATO: Defence Against Terrorism
36. NATO, Summit Declaration on Defence Capabilities: Toward NATO Forces 2020, May 20, 2012, http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-1CE3D0B6-393C986D/natolive/official_texts_87594.htm .
37. For an expanded analysis of the history of U.S. "global dominance", see Peter Phillips, Bridget Thornton and Celeste Vogler, "The Global Dominance Group: 9/11 Pre-Warnings & Election Irregularities in Context", May 2, 2010, http: / / www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/the-global-dominance-group/ and Peter Phillips, Bridget Thornton, and Lew Brown, "The Global Dominance Group and U.S. Corporate Media" Censored 2007 (New York: Seven Stories, 2006), 307-333.
38. William Robinson and Jerry Harris, "Towards a Global Ruling Class? Globalization and the Transnational Capitalist Class ", Science and Society 64, no. 1 (Spring 2000).
39. John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World (New York: Verso, 2003).
40. Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall, eds., The Global Economic Crisis (Montreal: Global Research Publishers, 2010).
41. Dennis Loo, Globalization and the Demolition of Society (Glendale, CA: Larkmead Press, 2011).
42. Andrew Kolin, State Power and Democracy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, c2011), 141.
43. Loo, Globalization, op cit., 357. Similar Posts: Exposing the One Percent: Freeport McMoRan Exploits Workers and the Environment The Global Dominance Group: 9/11 Pre-Warnings & Election Irregularities in Context Who are the Global One-Percent Ruling Class_on Project Censored Barack Obama Administration Continues U.S. Military Global Parent .
* Phillips is professor of sociology at Sonoma State University and president of the Media Freedom Foundation / Project Censored. Soeiro sociology student at Sonoma State University, librarian, researcher and activist. Thanks to Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, and Andy Roth, associate director, for editing and important suggestions for this in Censored 2013, Seven Stories, New York, October 2012: The Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class;

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10 Warren Buffett's financial lessons (Infographic)

2013-06-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

The following graphics display 10 financial lessons we can learn from Warren Buffett . These tips cover various topics such as personal finance (spend wisely), psychology (than your fear of risk) or stock market investment (selling loser stocks when the market goes up, you buy stock winners in the cracks).

10 financial lessons to learn from Warren Buffett

10 Warren Buffett's financial lessons

Warren Buffet Lesson No. 1: Spend wisely

Buffett still lives at home with 5 rooms he bought 55 years ago.
The money invested can get an annual return exceeding 20%.
The median household income was $ 45,800 in 2010 for. Average spending on frivolous purchases was $ 6,870 or 15%, enough to fill the tank of a Hummer 7 times a week for a year.

Warren Buffet Lesson # 2: No one cares about your money more than you

Buffett takes all decisions in their own interest, not like some brokers who make decisions in their interest to earn commissions.
More than 1 in 3 Americans has a financial advisor. The 45% have no financial plans. 5% has no objectives or strategies.

Warren Buffet Lesson # 3: Do your homework, analyzed thousands of shares

Buffett spends 18 hours a day analyzing how to invest their capital, and says investors should think like owners of part of the business.

"Never invest in a business you can not understand" (Warren Buffett)

The 40% of Americans say they understand finances.
1 in 3 can not correctly answer the following question:

$ 100 in a savings account with an annual interest rate of 2%. After 5 years, how much money you have?

a) Over $ 102 (correct answer)
b) Exactly $ 102
c) Less than $ 102

Warren Buffet Lesson 4: Overcome your fear of risk

Americans are afraid to invest cause them losses, but Buffett says stocks are more profitable than bonds, banks and even gold and are also more secure.

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing" (Warren Buffett)

The 29% of Americans are too risk averse to invest in stocks.
The 52% of those under 31 feel the same.
However, the last 90 years stocks have had an average annual return of 10%.

Warren Buffet Lesson 5: Focus on the long term

Leave out the savings / investment means that you will have to save more in less time to get the same result.

Buffett equated life snowballs; thinking the same investment:

"The important thing is finding wet snow and a hill rather long" (Warren Buffett)

Saver 1:

Start saving at age 21
Save $ 500 per month to 30 years (9 years)
Get an annual return of 7%.
Reaches $ 1 million to 65 years.

Saver 2:

Start saving with 31 years
Save $ 500 per month to 65 years (34 years)
Get an annual return of 7%.
Reaches $ 1 million to 65 years, having to spend $ 150,000 more for more years.

Warren Buffet Lesson 6: Invest in quality business

The result of doing your homework is to find valuable companies. Buffett is famous for having invested in Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo and IBM.

"An investor needs to buy shares as if he were buying the whole company on the street" (Warren Buffett)

Average lifetime of a company in the Fortune 500:

60s: 75 years
Now: 15 years

Warren Buffet Lesson 7: Looking for exceptional bargains solid companies

Buffett recommends buying shares for a crack, when even great companies trading at extremely low prices.
Analyzes performance, business mission, business processes, long-term goals and more.
Invest in a few companies can be better. Therefore, more time during further analysis rather than more companies.

Warren Buffet Lesson 8: Take investment decisions Based on how the team manages money manager

Buffett believes that austerity is indicative of a mindset profitable. Once bought a company whose owner took the time to discover that the paper roll had 500 sheets announced.

You should assess the following:

Return on equity ("return on equity" or "ROE"): The company's net profit divided by equity.
Return on capital employed ("return on equity employed" or "ROCE"): The company's EBIT divided by total assets less its liabilities.

Ideal condition: ROE and ROCE are equal.

The 40% of Americans have made financial decisions based solely on emotion. Approximately 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women.

Warren Buffet Lesson 9: Be patient, wait until everything is in your favor

When conditions are aligned, purchase an appropriate amount of shares. Buffett recommended actions between 10 and 15 companies.

In bad times, wait. A quality company should recover and do not want to regret selling prematurely.

"I think the worst decision you can make in stocks is to buy or sell Based on the headlines of the moment" (Warren Buffett)

The biggest financial regret of millionaires: Bad decisions over shares (10% regret it)
The 57% of Americans in a state of retirement has financial regrets.

Warren Buffet Lesson # 10: Sell losing stocks when the market goes up, you buy stock winners in the cracks

Sell a failed action at its worst is added to your losses and buy a great company at high prices cut your benefits.

"The beauty of the shares is sometimes sold at ludicrous prices. This is how Charlie Munger and I became rich "(Warren Buffett)

The 25% of Americans follow the ups and downs of the stock at least once a week, but 17% believe that the market is too complicated and 11% do not even know where to start.

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Difference between investment and speculation according to Benjamin Graham

2013-06-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

Investment and speculation are two concepts widely used in the world of the stock. Often used interchangeably, although they have very different connotations from the perspective of value investing .

In this article we look at the difference between investment and speculation according to Benjamin Graham , analyze the characteristics required for a financial transaction not qualifying considered speculative and end the separation between the two.

Definition of investment and speculation by Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham defines investment in his book "The Intelligent Investor" as follows:

"An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises security to principal and an adequate return"

Speculation is defined by Graham opposed to investment:

"Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative"

The 3 requirements of a non-speculative investment by Graham

Comprehensive analysis of the company

For Graham, a comprehensive analysis is:

"The study of the facts in light of the established safety criteria"

Therefore, an inversion to be made without prior analysis is speculative. The greater the depth of analysis, less investment is speculative.

Security of our investment

According Benjamin Graham, this implies:

"Protection against losses under conditions or normal variations or reasonable"

As we see, this is a rather vague concept or subjective, so this will depend on what we consider normal. Warren Buffett is much more forceful with the requirement of investment security with its historic phrase:

"Rule No.1 is never lose money. Rule # 2 is never forget rule # 1 "

Adequate performance

Graham considered adequate or satisfactory performance:

"Any type or quantity of performance, small it may be, that the investor is willing to accept as long as it acts with reasonable intelligence"

Again this is a subjective concept, because it depends on the investor's return objectives.

Is it possible to invest without speculating?

For Graham, any financial transaction that does not meet the requirements enumerated above are considered speculative. However, I consider it necessary to clarify the difference between investment and speculation of Benjamin Graham.

First, we must start from the fact that all investments are subject to some uncertainty, however small. As there is always the possibility of losing our investment, we can say that any investment involves speculation in varying degrees. There may be speculation without investment, but not without some speculation investment.

Although there is the economic concept of "risk-free rate" (rate of return without risk), this no longer an abstract concept nonexistent in practice. For many American bonds or German bonds are practical representations of this concept. However, it is possible (although unlikely) that these countries can not pay if it happens some totally unforeseen event, such as a war or a natural disaster.

What we try to do is minimize speculation to maximize the safety of our investments and, therefore, minimize the risk. We have three methods reduce speculation and, therefore, increase the security of our investments:

We invest in companies easily assessed, typically those with more predictable revenues.
Deeper analysis of companies.
Better analyze our investments, increasing our knowledge and experience.

The combination of these three methods, along with a large dose of common sense and experience, is what has made Warren Buffett the third richest man in the world and the best investor in history. Ye may not be investing in the list of world's richest by Forbes magazine, but with a little effort will succeed a good return for your savings sleeping well at night.

Learn About the Real Estate Market and Construction

2013-06-06T01:34:00.001-07:00

Property management is the process by which control not only purchasing processes, equipment, maintenance and use of buildings, but also the quality of these. The property manager is responsible for controlling and managing home equity properly, or that of another, so as to achieve maximum performance with the highest quality.

Today, and more after the boom that has suffered the sector, the task of property managers has become a profession essential, because the holder of more than one property, in many cases, is not able to control for management itself property documentation, thus preventing profit, so that appropriate professional uses a property manager.

If you are thinking about how to profit in something that is profitable in the long term. Have you considered lots of options but with the reality of the Latin American countries is not safe to put your money, today we show a new business proposition in the long run ... we suggest you invest in a real estate proposal.

The real estate market is becoming more globalized and the investments made in it are increasingly frequent multinational capital. This will have a great opportunity as their prices become more competitive.

The crises that cross most developing countries show investment at appropriate times and this is one of them. The countries currently profitably to money are several, including notably Brazil, China, Canada, among others.

When you decide to access such proposals should be aware that prices will increase as the work progresses, that is usually a percentage increase each time through a different-launch phase, construction, completion, . These increases are also subject to the number of units, promotion and other particular aspects of the construction to be made.

Investors who are currently in business often make huge profits because one or more departments reserve prior to the start of construction. At this point the investor usually be asked to make payment of a percentage ranging between 10% and 30% of the total value of the sale during the construction period. The remaining amount shall be paid upon the work culminates and will be financed through a mortgage contract to be held with a financial institution.

The advantages obtained when choosing this type of proposals can be listed below:

1. Obtaining higher profits as a result of price increases during the making of it. The increase varied between 10 and 15 percent.

Two. Benefits are achieved between about 10 and 30 percentage points above the total price, but only have made the payment of only a portion of the investment.

Three. The payment methods differ according to the work in which you enroll.

April. The length of time that usually ranges from work last year and 2 years.

May. Almost all of the investments can be resold at any time.

No doubt there are great opportunities in real estate, one of the secrets of this business is finding out the supply and demand on the street, researching and asking about possibilities of buying, selling and construction. In future articles we will expand the topic.

How to Invest in Real Estate and Land

You want to invest money to raise their capital gains safe ... but is too conservative. We present one of the most secure that there ... real estate.

Investing in property has always been one of the lower-risk, absorbing property value inflation, one of the most significant variables in countries in crisis. It is also one that pays dividends every month with security.

At the time of placing their money in real estate or land should be considered that can not be chosen either because it may implicate a big risk, such as properties with hidden damage, insecure areas with noise pollution, etc.. On the contrary, we must conduct a study of the property to be acquired to go make sure you get the best return possible and not stall your money at a problem.

Some facts to keep in mind when choosing where to invest are:

Area where it is located.
Construction material used
Neighborhood safety.
Location and level of neighborhood schools.
Nearness of public health service.
Financial state of the city in which it invests to be safe from layoffs in companies.
Housekeeping qualified to keep the place clean.
Recreational and sports facilities close to home.

All these data to assess a property and assess economic value.

There is also other related proposal which can increase their income in a phased manner and is buying land. That is, instead of buying a house or apartment, I acquire a plot.

The purchase of land to build or speculate on its increased value over time, is a safe strategy being implemented by many companies and individuals.

On the other hand, the rent of land is profitable because there is a growing demand for food, especially those that are grown. Therefore, one of the first investment is to buy land to lease for agricultural production. With this method you will earn a regular income established.

We consider here the two possibilities we offer are safe to perform and each has its advantages and disadvantages. However, both options require an initial investment and the previous evolution to be acquired.

If you choose a home should evaluate each of the items considered. And if you choose a field, you can get a regular income, the decision is in their hands and under their own analysis of the case.

Five crowdfunding platforms with which they seek funding for your project

2013-06-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

The topic of crowdfunding (or collective financing) through online platforms through which anyone can contribute their own funds to a project has been running for the past few years but lately the issue has taken special importance not only for the current situation, in which for certain projects can come better than ever as crowdfunding support, but for some specific cases in which it has raised exaggerated amounts of money and have made headlines everywhere.
I'm thinking now in the case of Double Fine , the game studio owned by Tim Schafer (one of the creators of 'The Secret of Monkey Island' , in case you helps the data) that in February this year Kickstarter opened a campaign with the goal of getting $ 400,000 to develop a new graphic adventure and eventually reached $ 3,336,371 thanks to the contributions of 87,142 people. A truly absurd figure.
It is because of cases like Double Fine when this route of financing charges a much larger role and anyone who has a project in mind you will be going through your head the possibility of doing things differently. As there are many crowdfunding platforms available to us I think are worth knowing at least the most powerful and interesting (two of them are American and three Spanish) to know where to direct us depending on the type of project you have in hand. Some do not delimit by type, others do.
Normally they all have a number of common features: one that starts a campaign puts an economic objective to be achieved in a time limit (usually around the month, month and a half) and a series of rewards for those who choose to contribute some amount. The greater the input, the reward juicier. On the other hand it is essential to know that the amount you choose to provide will only become effective if the campaign reaches the target set within the stipulated time.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform fashion. Of U.S. origin and born in 2008, has thousands of active campaigns of all types and a very large user community that make it the most interesting.
The bad news for those who live outside the United States is that in principle allows only based projects in that country (requires a bank account to receive funds there as well). What we can do is support existing campaigns, but I have to emphasize that only supports a payment method: Amazon Payments. Kickstarter keeps 5% of the target quantity in a campaign as long as it is reached. Otherwise there is no charge.
Official Site | Kickstarter

Verkami

Verkami was one of the first crowdfunding platform created in Spain. His proposal, as opposed to Kickstarter, is aimed solely at those independent creators who want to finance their projects through this channel. The created a father and his two sons in 2010 and during this short period of time have made some renown.
Make it clear that the creators of the works that are generated through the capital raised through rights Verkami keep them (CDs, books, etc..).
Verkami charges 5% of each project only if they get funding.
Official Site | Verkami

Drip

Drip is a crowdfunding platform and distributed collaboration (services, infrastructure, microtasks) for projects that promote the commons, open source and / or free knowledge. The code of the platform, as have those responsible, will be opened when it is structured properly tested. They have no place here, therefore, for-profit projects or fundraising for charity, for example.
If funding is achieved, the commission is 8%.
Official Site | Drip

Indiegogo

The Indiegogo operation is almost similar to Kickstarter, but has a remarkable difference. While all of these platforms are carried by their leaders rule 5% of the total amount achieved by a campaign funded in Indiegogo Two types of funding. In the Flexible Funding they take 4% if the target is achieved and 9% if not achieved, but the campaign creator gets the amount he had managed to run out the time limit for the campaign. This forces seeking funding to set reasonable prices and promote the campaign well.
Then there is the Fixed Funding, where Indiegoo takes 4% if the target is achieved and nothing if not achieved, but the creator also earn a single dollar. This is the system that is used more commonly in other platforms, although it is true that Indiegogo takes the lowest percentage (4% vs. 5% standard).
Official Site | Indiegogo

Lánzanos

In the above platforms we have seen the maximum time for each project is determined by the service itself and is usually around 30 to 40 days. In Lánzanos is the creator of the campaign which sets the time it expects to raise the targeted amount of funding. And there is no maximum, but once started the campaign and can not be modified.
Lánzanos makers take 5% of each successfully funded, a figure that is reduced to 1% if it is a charity project. Payments can be made via PayPal or by using the payment gateway of La Caixa.
Official Site | Lánzanos
As said earlier, the network can find many crowdfunding platforms, but these five are the most powerful, if not more. I hope you will be helpful.

Why invest in commodities? How to invest in commodities?

2013-06-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Historically, the process of building investment portfolios has focused on two asset classes: stocks and bonds, although in recent years investors have become increasingly interested in finding non-traditional assets with potential to increase performance, smooth volatility, or both if possible.
Thus the interest in raw materials, in particular, has increased as investors have found exposure to natural resource prices a "third asset class" with which optimize traditional portfolios of stocks and bonds .
The great returns generated by the asset class historically may serve as further evidence of the enormous potential of raw materials . However, the raw materials are complex assets and options that investors have access to this asset class are often complicated and difficult to understand. On the other hand there is a universe of possibilities in raw materials, with dozens of families and specific assets, many of which risk profiles / return drastically different.
Commodities are risky assets , but the understanding of the components of the prices and details of investment vehicles that offer exposure to these resources can lead investors to this asset class used efficiently and as a vehicle investment.
The classification as a commodity focuses on the concept of fungibility, which means that the products are treated as equivalent or exchangeable for end users and financial investors alike. In essence, the fungibility requires standardized identical physical properties, being similar consumables regardless of where they occur or where they are. Gold is perhaps the best example: a bar of gold in London is the same as a bar stocked in New York and Singapore. Light, sweet crude oil is light sweet crude oil, regardless of whether they reside in a tanker in the middle of the Atlantic or a pipeline in Louisiana.
The possibility of exchange is a fundamental concept in commodity markets and standardizing the market and enables investors worldwide market large volumes of goods daily.
The possibility of exchange with respect to raw materials simplifies the valuation of these assets significantly, prices of commodities are derived from the supply and demand only. Of course, predict and understand the factors of supply and demand is not easy, but the pricing equation in the raw materials is extremely simple.
Market segmentation Product: forking raw materials in soft commodities and hard commodities. Soft commodities grown in plants or trees as extracted from the soil hard. Soft Commodities are many agricultural resources such as corn, wheat, sugar, cattle and soybeans. Hard Products include industrial and precious metals such as gold, copper, nickel, silver, platinum, and zinc. Also falls under the classification "hard" petroleum products such as oil and natural gas Brent or WTI.
A more detailed commodity is to segment the market into product families that generally have similar physical properties and uses. The six major product families include:

Precious Metals: Gold, silver, platinum and palladium all fall under this category.
Industrial Metals: This category includes metals that are generally less expensive than precious metals and more used in sectors such as construction and industry
Agricultural products: This category includes natural resources that are frequently used for human consumption, including corn, wheat and soybeans.
Livestock: This category includes animals, livestock generally much beef as pork.
Energy: Raw materials related to energy production are among the most actively traded, this category includes crude oil in its two variables Brent and WTI, natural gas, and other mixtures and derivatives such as gasoline, diesel and furnace oil .
Perishable: In this category, sometimes grouped with other agricultural products include coffee, cotton, sugar, cocoa and orange juice.

Why invest in commodities?

Commodities are assets that have unique and cash flows associated with the underlying asset: a gold bar will never generate cash or make a dividend payment, and a wheat field never made a coupon payment or repayment on investment.
The appeal of raw materials is the ability of the asset class of smoothing overall portfolio volatility and protecting against certain adverse economic environments with low probability but high impact event in returns. inversely Adding assets correlated to a portfolio has the effect of smoothing the overall volatility, since it is unlikely that these components move in the same direction simultaneously. Thus mainstream appeal of the products lies in the correlation or lack thereof to traditional asset classes like stocks and bonds with the consequent potential to reduce overall risk.
Of course at the expense of reduced volatility of returns is not the desire of an investor, although there is evidence to suggest that the raw materials have historically delivered appreciation while overall lower volatility. in other words, the raw materials can provide the best of both worlds when it comes to asset allocation strategies.
The inflation coverage is a major concern for all investors, especially those living on fixed incomes, as the rise in prices erodes the purchasing power of existing wealth yields and eats all kinds of assets. On this side another attractive aspect of the raw materials is the ability of the asset class to act as a hedge against inflation due to the appreciation in value when inflation kicks in, which offset losses elsewhere (dividends, coupons, interest, rents) of the portfolio as a result of a general price increase. Inflation is an increase in prices, and as such, usually include an increase in raw material prices that are inputs into goods and manufacturing processes. In other words, inflation probably will not happen unless the prices of raw materials, including oil, metals and agricultural products become more expensive.
On the other side the raw materials can also function as a commitment to the maintenance of world economic growth, and in particular the expansion of emerging economies. Developing economies to supply rapidly urbanizing migration of rural populations to the cities, so it motivates the demand for raw materials to build infrastructure, to feed growing populations, and serve the consumer goods manufacturing. For those who believe that these demographic trends are favorable to increased demand for natural resources, investment in raw materials could be an optimal way to gain exposure to this investment thesis.

How to invest in commodities?

There are four main options for investors seeking exposure to commodities, each of which has advantages and potential disadvantages:

Physical exposure: The most basic way of achieving exposure simply involves purchasing and storage of the goods desired. This method ensures the investor exposure to changes in the spot price of raw materials. Unfortunately, physical exposure only makes sense for products that exhibit certain physical standards and involves the maintenance of a sufficient value to weight ratio to keep storage costs to a reasonable level. The storage of gold coins in a safe is one thing, but trying to get physical exposure to crude oil or livestock presents a number of logistical and cost barriers that hinder investment opportunities.
Futures Contracts: Developed in the futures markets allow investors to gain exposure to commodity prices through financial contracts with natural resources as underlying assets. While this method simplifies the investment process, it also introduces additional risk factors as the return of such assets derived not only depends on changes in spot prices, but also the slope of the futures curve and the current level of interest rates, and leverage suppose what some investors may feel uncomfortable or even limited by regulation. Futures are contracts created as a hedging tool for producers and traders of raw materials, but speculators have used as an investment vehicle at the same time.
Shares: shares in companies engaged in the production or extraction of raw materials. Because the profitability of these companies usually depends on the market price of their products, their perspectives tend to improve with increasing prices of raw materials in question and vice versa.
ETCs: Investment Vehicles listed on a stock exchange and traded like stocks that allow investors to gain exposure to commodities individually, sectoral or global. These exchange-traded commodities for benefiting from all the qualities I have outlined above, taking into account certain risks common to futures contracts, as such ETCs replicate indices whose constituents are commodity futures in question.

Below I discuss some tables with cumulative returns for different periods of time, the correlations with key benchmark stock indexes, volatility and Sharpe ratio for each of the reference materials used as ETF Securities ETCs.

Precious Metals

Industrial Metals

Agriculture

Energy

how to Invest in renewables energy

2013-06-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

In recent years, renewable energy investment has increased in popularity largely because the world is becoming increasingly aware that the current economic model is based on finite resources and this has to change. Although crude oil and other fossil fuels will last us for the foreseeable future, there will come a time when our energy consumption will have to look for alternative and renewable sources.
And here come into play renewable energy, although this sector is still relatively immature in global terms, the growth opportunities presented are huge and it is worth considering exposure to renewable energy.

How to invest in alternative energy?

Biofuels:

Biofuels are an alternative form of energy derived from carbon based organisms. There are many different options including bio-alcohols, biodiesel, green diesel, vegetable oil ... Recently, the International Energy Agency has stated that biofuels have the potential to replace 27% of transport fuels by 2050, effectively reducing emissions greenhouse gases by 2.1 million tons per year. Even some countries already have existing mandates requiring companies to blend biofuels with gasoline, giving these various fuels with high growth potential.
Some companies with which exposure to biofuels, and thereby to alternative energies are:

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) company dedicated to the production of different agricultural commodities and also has many of its operations based in the biofuels industry.
Methanex Corporation (MeOH): this is a company dedicated to the production and sale of methanol, a chemical that, among other things, is a very popular agent mixed with gasoline. Methanol is also one of the key components of biodiesel. MeOH pays a dividend yield of 2.6%.

Hydropower:

Hydroelectric power has become the most powerful energy alternative at this time, but of the least popular. Hydropower generates water currents moving and exercising more on large dams and rivers.
It is presented as one of the alternative energy sectors with greatest growth opportunity.

China Hydroelectric Corporation (CHC): This company is engaged in the acquisition, ownership and development of hydropower in China. HCC has assets of $ 77 million.
Zhaoheng Hydropower Ltd. (ZHYLF.PK): Zhaoheng generates electricity mainly in the southern and midwestern China.

Nuclear:

After the tragedy of Fukushima has questioned the safety of many nuclear plants, and that is why Germany has completely abandoned nuclear power. But with the new facilities are much safer and more efficient nuclear plants like Fukushima, so that investors take into account this energy Fuenta its considerable growth potential.
We expose ourselves to nuclear energy by investing in ETFs or companies related to these materials:

Market Vectors Uranium + Nuclear Energy ETF (NLR): This ETF provides direct exposure to nuclear energy because it has stakes in companies such as Exelon Corp, Uranium One, and Areva engaged in the manufacture of this alternative energy.
Uranium ETF (URA) ETF focuses on the mining of uranium it is considered a direct exposure to nuclear energy and impact the growth of this industry.

Solar:

The solar energy sector is the fastest growing developed in recent years, and a favorite for investors. The industry is still relatively small, but has an average growth of 39% annually over the last decade and a strong predictions for the future. For now, China dominates the solar market, and most companies base their operations in emerging markets.
To be exposed to this alternative energy we can choose companies or ETFs:

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR): This US-based company is one of the best known in the solar energy sector. Even after the death of CEO of First Solar the company's future is uncertain.
Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT): This ETF invests in companies that, on a weighted basis, get a 90% or more of their income from the solar energy sector. The main investments of the fund are in companies like First Solar, GT Solar and MEMC Electronic Materials.

Aeolian:

Wind power is one of the most established alternative energy in the world, and many countries have chosen it as an alternative to fossil fuels. Currently, wind power amounts to just over 2% of the world's energy supply, but its growth rate is increasing, and this figure is expected alcanzace 8% in 2018. Like so many other forms of renewable energy, energy companies are hard to find in equities, but this trend will change as the industry continues to grow.

Broadwind Energy, Inc. (BWEN) sector company wind energies, based in Chicago. Owns more than $ 44 million in assets.
Iberdrola SA (IBE.MC): This Spanish utility company, is part of your business based on wind energy production by Iberdrola Renovables, so it is an attractive investment option.
ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund (FAN): a fund that focuses all his interest in the wind industry. Your participation is divided into different companies, those companies which are exclusively in the wind business receive a higher weight than those with a broader business model.

What other way to invest in renewable energy you know?

Investing in gold, yes or no?

2013-06-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Is it a good idea to invest in gold? At this time I found two quite substantiated opinions about investing in gold. Both are by people who I think are experts on the subject and I do not have a secondary interest in the subject. So I find it interesting to hear.

On one side in favor of investing in gold is Marc Garrigasat, the blog author Investors Conundrum and president of the Koala Capital SICAV. According to Marc Gold is the true currency of payment of the planet universally accepted, is much older and is not affected by debt that may have taken the issuing state.

On the other side is that of John Reed, author of several books and articles on real estate investment in the United States and one about protecting the savings in bad times. He says that gold is a bad asset to hedge against inflation. Although he recognized advantages such as high density value, says that gold holds its value can lower long-term, and that in the future end up losing because value is above its historical average inflation-adjusted.

In full crisis investing in gold this who would be at the whim of rich sound, but we must also recognize that the turbulence and the high price of it are causing many mediates class people engaged in buying gold, no more than see the shops and businesses that have emerged, some of them with great success and attention given by the media. In fact it has spoken to install gold vending machines . All this without counting the movements of large investors (investment funds, banks, etc.) that are around gold.

Who is right? Should we sell everything we have and buy yellow metal or should we invest in other intangible assets? Personally I think the future imagined by each of the persons mentioned is different, and the period in which the investments contemplated. Meanwhile asks readers? Invest in gold or invest in gold?

The most profitable mutual funds 2012 , Hedge funds.

2013-06-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

I found it very interesting annual returns are able to get the big hedge funds, also known as the most profitable investment funds in the world. We understand how big hedge funds who manage more than 1,000 million dollars. In the list we have the 100 with better performance in 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12) and we can compare it with the result obtained in the previous year (2,011).
In the list we can see that most of Hedge Funds exceeds 1,000 million managed and some 5,000 million. The best-performing hedge funds have gained hover between 20% and 40%, which is not bad considering the vast amounts of capital managed.
In this post I put the list of the top 12, with photo of the manager and all data relating to the company, the name of the fund, the strategy used and the yields obtained. The full list of the 100 best in the big hedge funds you have it here .

1st. Background: Metacapital Mortgage Opportunities . Manager: Deepak Narula. Location: USA.
Company: Metacapital Management. Strategy: Mortgage-backed arbitrage
Managed capital: 1,500 million
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 37.8%
Performance in the year 2011: 23.6%

2nd. Background: Pine River Fixed Income. Manager: Steve Kuhn. Location: USA.
Company: Pine River Capital Management. Strategy: Mortgage-backed arbitrage
Managed capital: 3.600 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 32.9%
Performance in the year 2011: 4.8%

3rd. Background: CQS Directional Opportunities. manager Michael Hintze
Company: CQS. Location: UK Strategy: Multistrategy
Managed capital: 1.500 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 28.9%
Performance in the year 2011: -10.4%

4th. Background: Pine River Liquid Mortgage . Manager: Steve Kuhn. Location: USA
Company: Chen Jiayi Pine River Capital Management. Strategy: Mortgage-backed arbitrage
Managed capital: 1.100 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 28.0%
Performance in the year 2011: 7.2%

5th. Background: Omega Overseas Partners . Manager: Leon Cooperman
Company: Omega Advisors. Location: USA. Strategy: Long / short
Managed capital: 1.400 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 21.7%
Performance in the year 2011: -1.4%

6th. Fund: European Odey. manager: Crispin Odey. Location: UK
Company: Odey Asset Management. Strategy: Macro
Managed capital: 1.800 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 24.1%
Performance in the year 2011: -20.3%

7th. Background: Marathon Securitized Credit . Managers: Bruce Richards, Louis Hanover
Company: Marathon Asset Management. Location: USA. Strategy: Asset backed
Managed capital: 1.200 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 24.0%
Performance in the year 2011: - 4.2%

8th. Background: Palomino . Manager: David Tepper
Company: Appaloosa Management. Location: USA. Strategy: Multistrategy
Managed capital: 4.900 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 24.0%
Performance in the year 2011: -3.5%

9th. Background: BTG Pactual GEMM. Managers: Team managed (Andre Esteves)
Company: BTG Pactual Global Asset Management. Location: USA. Strategy: Macro
Managed capital: 3.600 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 23.1%
Performance in the year 2011: 3.4%

10 °. Fund: Third Point Ultra . Manager: Daniel Loeb
Company: Third Point. Location: USA. Strategy: Multistrategy
Managed capital: 1.300 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 22.1%
Performance in the year 2011: -2.3%

11 º. Background: Seer Capital Partners. Manager: Philip Weingord
Company: Seer Capital Management. Location: USA. Strategy: Asset backed
Managed capital: 1.200 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 21.6%
Performance in the year 2011: 2.1%

12 º. Background: Tiger Global . Managers: Feroz Dewan, Chase Coleman
Company: Tiger Global Management. Location: USA. Strategy: Long / short
Managed capital: 6.000 billion.
Performance in the year 2012 (from 01-01-12 to 31-10-12): 21.0%
Performance in the year 2011: 45.0%

The Compound Interest (part II)

2013-06-03T17:41:00.001-07:00

In the previous article we discussed that with compound interest was not very difficult to arrive at a figure of, say, € 300,000.

Well, needless to say, despite not be complicated requiring high doses of patience and discipline. Highly difficult thing when you have a considerable amount of money in hand, the temptation to eat uncontrollably or buying a luxury item, see a car, a house etc. exponentially increase.

A major plus point is the age at which you start, it is clear that the longer devote the most amount of compound interest can gather during a given period of time. So begin no later than age 30 would be ideal.

The first is to score a goal. Then decide how we figure that we will be around for a few years head.

Suppose we do not want risks and we're moving from, for example, 3-4% will give us a bank deposit and give us 5-7% by acquiring quality corporate debt. We mark a savings rate X which in monthly maturities of our investments go humble adding interest.

At the end of each year will add to the annual CPI rate of savings we had last year so we make sure we do not lose purchasing power over the years and inflation were not gaining ground.

An example. Monthly savings rate € 500, in a year together € 6,000. The next year we will have € 6,000 in an investment for example at 4.5% APR so that at the end of the second year we will have € 6,000 the first year, plus interest of € 6000 to 4.5% (213 euros after tax ( 21%)), but the 6000 euros (plus CPI should have risen to the saving rate) in the second year. A total of 12,213 euros in two years just.

Do you get the idea right? The third year we invested 12,213 euros, for example, the 4.5% that we will generate € 434 after tax, but the 6000 (plus annual CPI) for the third year, in total € 18,647.

In three years we will have € 18,647 without having updated the saving rate not to complicate the explanation. I think it's pretty clear the concept.

It is clear that more and more savings rate interest we reached the goal faster. But the same does not increase the interest savings. If you double the interest rate at which you are making your money work the result will not bend but is multiplied by 3'5. So imagine that can happen maximizing the savings rate and get a higher annual interest average. Spectacular.

It happens snowball effect, the principle is much start but once we have run for anyone.

To give more examples and see how it affects a slight increase projected interest rate over time.

Starting with 0 and with a savings rate of 610 € monthly, 3% compound interest capitalized through in 20 years we will have about 200,000 euros, in fact rather more in the calculation because we have not updated the CPI savings rate.

Just changing the 3% to 5% and we almost € 250,000. Can we imagine if we get over it?

If for whatever reason we can start from a number other than 0 that we have gained in time.

Let everyone do their calculations, charts and projections and let your imagination run wild. On the net there are plenty of calculators and compound interest tables .

Anyone is more motivated? You just have to want it.

The Compound Interest (part I)

2013-06-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Often one has talked about this on the net. In fact Einstein once said and the power it has is brutal and compared it to the most important laws that came to discover in his time.

Everyone can invest at compound interest is more, everyone should invest in this way.

The only concept that you have to hold in your mind is that the interest earned on the investment, whatever, have to be reinvested. If you get X amount take an additional 10% for your next investment will be in X amount plus 10%, and so on.

Each time you will be investing a larger amount, and over the years you might have considerable capital.

A clear example of safe investment, how deposits, can be combined with compound interest, a powerful tool to raise capital face higher.

You just need to have two things: time and patience. With the very fact continuously reinvest our capital interest is increasing and if you also add fruit saving periodic contributions and the issue is more interesting.

It is clear that the more interest you can get faster increase our capital, but since most people do not want to take greater risks, take for good the interest that we can offer a bank or, how are all the rage now, some bonds autonomous. Although there are many other options how large corporations that offer senior notes, for example, at a good interest and security of solvency.

Well, what we were going. An initial capital plus an acceptable interest and adding a regular savings result gives how, over time, a capital that many do not even have arisen in life.

In the next part of the article we will make a realistic example of how awesome it is compound interest, and never too late to start, but since one of the requirements asked of us is the time because the sooner we start better, more joys reach have.

An advance is not difficult to reach € 300,000.

Strategy for change Euros into another currency. The right way.

2013-06-03T17:26:00.003-07:00

There are quite a stir with the Spanish financial system and not for less. There are many people who come to the blog through an article I wrote about how to protect ourselves in case of financial playpen . Well, there are many readers who ask about the foreign exchange, exchange euros for dollars or Swiss francs.

A priori there is no secret but deep down is a dangerous operation to our heritage and here we will explain some concepts.

We will explain a strategy to follow if you want to change our euros for another currency, so whether there playpen, etc. back to the peseta.

Let's start from the premise that there is a strategy for all profiles and you have to be very clear concepts, which has a high risk and often not worth the want to protect with the end result.

To protect small amounts best and most practical refrain would buy U.S. stocks, get the money from the bank and save it at home or invest in a product that is not in euros and that is outside of our national borders.

Come to the point. It turns out that if we change our euros for Swiss francs Swiss francs have more euros as it changes at a rate of 1.20 francs per euro. If you always had this change of currency would not have any problem but not, it fluctuates daily and can vary significantly over time. For example, the October 12, 2007 was changed at a rate of 1.67 euro and Swiss franc on August 10 de 2011 to 1.04 francs a euro, almost parity.

What does that mean? Somebody would have changed 1000 euros into Swiss francs maximum day would have had 1670 Swiss francs and minimum day with the same 1000 euros only 1040 Swiss francs.

Example. If we change 10,000 euros to obtain CHF 12,000 CHF (Swiss Francs). (We do not have commissions to make it easier).

The change of today is 1 Euro 1.20 CHF but if in one year we have to recover the money and change is in 1.40 not recover the 10,000 euros but we have to do the following calculation: 12,000 / 1.40 = 8571 euros. With only twenty cents change coin we lost 1429 euros.

On the contrary if we do change to 1.10 Swiss francs will earn 10 cents euro the currency exchange and we bagged 900 euros obtaining a total of 10,900 euros.

So far there is no secret, pure mathematics. Doing this is very simple but do it well and minimizing risk is more complicated.

What would we do? Would open an account with a Forex broker (broker who works with currencies) and we we would have to create a hedge on our exchange.

If bought at 1.20 and increases (1.25, 1.30 ...) lose money so we will long (buy) in the EUR / CHF, ie bet that the change will continue to grow, that way currency exchange our money but lose our operation in derivatives will win, and more or less have to compensate.

We detect that the price turns and the Swiss franc starts to revalue against the euro, as long as we closed our investment in itself is no longer in losses.

If detected again as trends change can re-open a long or short hedging.

Summarizing. If the investment goes well we do nothing, if it goes wrong we opened a financial derivative currency pair opposite to our investment and investment lose but win with derivatives, to compensate. By detecting turnaround derivative will be closed and that our investment will not pro our derivative loss itself.

Surely there are people who do not understand these concepts, as I said at the start that it is a strategy for people who have some mastery of finance. But basically it's not complicated. You just have to learn to manage financial derivatives in Forex is tricky as there are lots of leverage and we can be more expensive the coverage of investment loss itself.

He opened the floor to questions

Waiting for the big-market bond rotation

2013-06-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

The OECD issued its latest revision on global economic growth prospects, in the first of his two appointments or annual reviews. The overall impression is of slow growth and downward adjustments in earlier projections.

In USA GDP will expand even more slowly, at rates of 1.9% this year and 2.8% in 2014.

In Europe much more pessimistic, expecting a contraction of 0.36% of GDP this year and moderate growth of 1.1% in 2014. The main problem remains the debt.

For Asia disparate and curious vision, the two largest economies China and Japan grow although downgrades the first, to 7.8% and the second upward to 1.6%. Curious because if China grows below 7.8% will be a warning sign of weakness and would alert the government while if Japan grows by 1.6% all happy ... not the Nikkei has left a 5.15% on the session.

U.S. bond markets nervous, considering that the expected growth without being robust, it could be enough to affect the asset purchase program by the Fed.

Furthermore bonds approaching resistance area (in profitability or price support, as you look) interesting from a technical perspective, the 10 years in 2.4%, which if exceeded invite managers to modify some strategies.

The technical aspect of fixed income USA invites caution for months, as I come through the graphic exposing long stretch following:

Bonds "high Yied" are also suffering falling sales and prices in line with the sovereign. You can read at this link an interesting article about the risks of rising rates, derived from the tendency to convexity hedging.

A reference to the debt market USA is the ETF (AGG) designed to track the performance of all U.S. debt, Total U.S. Bond Market ETF (37% Treasuries, 28% MBS and the rest in corporate and agencies) capitalization of $ 15,600 million is also falling in price and this will be five weeks straight and falling sales.

Generally, when the bonds fall weak moves financial markets assembly and intermediate trends ruptures tend to bring major changes in the outlook and portfolio adjustment, feeding additional losses in assets.

This time, before such change in the mindset presumed investor and as turbulent markets, handled all markets fall? Unison or there will be a mass migration of Fixed Income Funds Equity?.

Uncertainty about the Great Rotation is debated and concern among fund managers and selectors will depend largely on market confidence about staying "apuntaladora" Bernanke and real economic opportunities.

In view of the behavior of the Fed, it could be argued that the Great Rotation want to further enhance asset reflation and get the expected wealth effect that can finally bring down the pernicious tendency of the money multiplier.

Specific corrections in stock prices are necessary and "healthy" for the strength of trends, there should be an adjustment at any time, perhaps coinciding with breaks bearish on bonds.

After an eventual correction will attract capital bags different sources, one of them raised liquidity proceed with the settings fixed income portfolio and if the helicopter flies over satin, as the FED-BAG correlation is 85%.

True, stock valuations discounted cash flow worsen with rising interest rates and subtract bag. However, the bag can also grow through multiples expansion as we tested several times.

The music continues to play and as said the CEO of City before the debacle, must keep on dancing ... but unlike Mr. Charles Prince also closely monitoring the situation to avoid being caught in an artificial rise will end in tears, as the rest.

Redemption Mortgage or leave the money on deposit?

2013-06-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

This question always comes up in every discussion forums and in all conversations. In this blog will have generated enough comments like: 'I lack to pay 130,000 euros of mortgage and I have 40,000 in a deposit. What do I do with the savings? Amortized mortgage or leave it in the tank I might be giving interests?

The response itself is quite simple but you have to consider several factors. Not everything is to achieve maximum profitability.

If the 40,000 we have them in a tank get 4.5% APR 1422 after tax per year in interest.

If amortize mortgage until 9040 the maximum possible for us desgravamos holder a maximum of 15%, ie 1356 per year. But if the ownership of the mortgage there are two people you can deduct twice, 18.080 euros. With 15% return we will get 2712 euros hacienda.

The tariff includes fee, interest and principal. Therefore, if we pay a mortgage of 500 euros a month is 6000 a year and we should (in case of sole holder of the mortgage) repay to the maximum of 9040, ie add 3040 euros extra. Looking at it another way, we will have a deposit of 15% per year 9040.

If our mortgage fee is 850 euros per month 10,200 annual pay, therefore you should not write off anything because you spend the maximum in 1160, and in this case if you should leave the deposit at 4.5% APR and you probably have higher interest than you are paying for the mortgage.

If mortgage paid 650 euros a month (€ 7,800 per year) but we are two holders (my partner and I) we can deduct a maximum of 18,080 euros per year. That is, at the end of the fiscal year, in December, we'll add 10,280 euros to get the most and so will be like you have a deposit of 18,080 euros to 15% APR.

So much for the options to be financially profitable. But keep in mind that it is often better to pay a little more and have liquidity savings will run out sooner repay. I guess there are all kinds mentalities and before doing anything better inquire as to what may be the best option.

In case you want to ever repay mortgage amortized time and capital, since we got rid of shortening the time and lowering interest fee we will reduce some of the money to pay monthly but will also be paying interest to the bank.

Anyway people to purchase a residence from January 1, 2013 will no longer be tax deductible anything, so that 15% is canceled. In that scenario have the money saved to a good interest monetized over paid on the mortgage will be most profitable.

Difference between active and passive

2013-06-02T16:50:00.002-07:00

Of all the definitions of assets and liabilities are only have to stay with the most important, and you have to remember forever.

An asset is something, an investment that puts money in your pocket. However slightly.

A liability is something that takes away the money from his pocket. An expense.

Do not confuse these two concepts as there are many people who think that the house where he lives is an asset and a good investment and nothing is further from reality. A commonly used house is a liability because it does not receive any income from it, and will only be active if one day we decided to sell it to cash, and keep the money.

While the home where you live "cost you" money as much as your expectations make you think that in ten years you will get high returns are sitting on a pile of bricks and not on an investment.

Could encompass how active an investment in stock , bonds , a house to rent a bank deposit ...

And conversely a liability would be for example the commonly used home, second homes, a car and all that to make ends meet instead of giving money taketh away.

Spain is deeply rooted in the idea of buying a flat / house and think it's an investment, "a piggy bank" for the future in case of contingencies or just spend the feel you're going to have a possession to be worth tens of thousands euros and you feel you've "invested" or you're going to invest the money.

And you have to be very careful as always not buy is more profitable than renting . The other day I read that 80% of people who have a mortgage for 5-10 years ago is paying more than it is actually worth your floor. And that's not an investment. It is a liability how a house never better.

From the moment you decide to live financially in an efficient manner have an obligation to be creating assets and go slowly getting rid of liabilities that have made previously, and we saw what is the best way to start eliminating debt .

A monthly savings combined with any investment, simple or complicated, and applied over time with compound interest is the best way to create quality assets that slowly but gradually will be putting money in your pocket.

And you've started to build assets? We invite you to tell us what is your strategy to get more and more in his pocket.

Equities vs. fixed income

2013-06-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

We want to invest but do not know where to start. We heard that a neighbor buys shares, another has-bills ... but it sounds like Chinese. The most common among the ordinary people, not familiar with the investment world is to know the stock exchange. Equities bag not associated with on many occasions.

If we go a step further, on the other side of the sidewalk, no bonds. Four out of five people questioned in the street has never heard of the bonds, but the bonds of state and treasury bills.

There is a lack of knowledge of concepts and the association has to be clear that equity = stock exchange = buy / sell shares on an exchange.

And fixed income = letters / bonds / debentures, although in this case it is not so easy to explain as above.

I am often asked which is better, if the fixed or variable?, is an open question as it is not a duel to be the best way to invest, but every one of the options requires a plan or strategy determined and made to measure.

By email I have received a comment on why equities RECOMMEND even. I have to say that I've never done, just position myself where best suits me and I adapt to the rules of the game on the fly. Who else who ever invested less in stock, if not he will have done so indirectly through your bank in a structured deposit or a mutual fund. Of all the people who have bought shares being aware of what they did, probably 8 out of 10 will have lost money, have won something and that ten will be made in August. It's pure statistics. To earn a few most be missed.

The bag is fascinating. But never an individual investor may invest to a "higher level" because just as fascinating is equally manipulable. If I want to buy shares of Google I can do with a few mouse clicks. I can think that the company is "on fire" and that will go far. But managers may hedge funds, pension funds and large investment funds do not think the same and withdraw their positions. In that case the action begin letting down caught out if I have not heard before, either by choice or by the use of a stop loss (stop loss).

The strategy followed by these three groups of investors is quite simple in concept. They come in solid companies with good growth and the mere fact of having a reputation draws lots of people, and I do not mean people like you and me (also), but managers and smaller funds and large investors capital private. When the action is "hot" is said, the great go through the back door, by stealth, reaping the benefits and leaving others with an action that is devalued by simply taking away a part of its value . This happens every day, and is to blame for that 8 out of 10 of us lose money in stock market.

If you look at a recent case we can see if Apple / Google. The first was the world's most powerful company, shares more than 700 usd and bank account filled to the brim, to say nothing of the benefits you get. Until one day a great manager decides he has had enough and leaves, of course others are wary and follow him. There is no reason. Humans are like dogs when you shoot with a stick.

Source | Yahoo! Finance

So where has the money gone? Much of it directly to Google. In six months is up 40% to more than 900 usd per share, your business is going well or very well, but Apple is stronger and gets more benefits. And the box (cash money) is several times larger than that of the search engine block. But the funds are positioned in the search, making skyrocket while Apple already looks like 700 usd far and passes through a discrete (to be what it is) 400 usd.

Source | Yahoo! Finance

Until some lit, some other privileged information worldwide leading company, decides to abandon positions. The action will begin to lose because it is what makes the law of supply and demand. If a site is removed as there are less.

With fixed income this can not happen in this measure. Market does not work like this. As much as the bond is not fixed for the purpose of this type of investment is not the same. In this market, commonly, it comes knowing what is going to win, and although we can speculate without any problem, large funds do not use this method. In this market, which we are most knowing the outcome. Knowing that the current uncertainty is no reason for you to lose money, and if all goes well I will recover the initial capital plus interest at maturity.

Clearly positioning myself for fixed income, but that does not mean they do not use the equity (if I use it) but I move into what best suits my investment method.

I see it like a business. Imagine you are the manager of a company and you have two possible scenarios for the end of year results. Think of your choice dependent jobs. On one side of the table is the aggressive option (the reference to equities), this option is as follows: if the thing goes well the company will earn a 25% in this fiscal year. If something goes wrong the company will lose 15% and you have to make a cut of 30% of the workforce.

Across the table is the most relaxed (relating to bonds), in that you will not lose in that year but the benefits will not 8%.

Which do you prefer?

Sure you reflect on this example you have decided that the bond is better. No, not better. It's different. It is used for different things. It depends on your plan and your ambition. Not the same winning by 8% to 25%, but it is the same to win by 8% to lose 15%.

Quite some time I am in favor of adding 8 at 8, and not from adding 25 +10 -15 -8. I hope you understand. I am more than convinced that long-term earning just over fixed income than equities.

Just to give an example, a well-known blog (I will not say the name), which have a public investment portfolio. Since 2008, have achieved 16% revalue. A 16% cumulative, then dividing by the years from the start date is plus or minus 3%.

In fixed income, and without being a "master business" minimum multiply that number by two.

This is not to say it's easy and those who invest in equities fools. Not at all. Only that each tool is used to a certain way of working.

Bank deposit. You know how it works?

2013-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

When hiring a bank deposit must look at several things and although it seems to be the easiest investment there, it is not the end of the post and I will tell you that if it is, we have to fix on the characteristics of product we hired, mostly to give us for a ride and at the end we get on a good scare and anger.

Before everything. A bank deposit, fixed term or fixed-term deposit is the same. You will leave some money to the bank to do its thing and he in return gives you a interest as compensation. It has a fixed duration and fixed remuneration contract is fixed, ie before entering already know what you're going to win. They are also guaranteed by the state (FGD) 100,000 per entity and person in case of bank failure.

This strong interest is mainly governed by the Euribor (interest rate to lend money to, including, entities) but with the whole issue of the crisis the illiquidity of banks have had to forget the taxes low interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) and make aggressive campaigns to individual customers a higher interest rate.

While official interest rates are at 1% banks are paying them to liabilities with 4.6% APR and without any connection from the client.

We will explain in more understandable words what the previous sentence. THE European Central Bank fixed in 1% the interest rate at which it lends money to banks, that is, that when you decide to open a window of liquidity to banks in need come to him to refinance because only charged 1% APR, which is very little.

But as always there are windows of liquidity banks must ingéniaselas to get more money and this is where the competition starts to get money from ordinary citizens.

Clearly, there are many people who prefer not to earn a little extra to have to change banks but there are many people and with real money if you are willing to move to earn more.

Therefore, the most interest is willing to offer, in theory, is the one with more numbers to get more funding. (Although other factors influence how the country of origin of the entity, rating rating and even if you drop close to home or if you are good at managing the Internet).

Once we are clear because there are going to explain bank deposits which typically offer entities and that we'll be looking.

There are several types of deposits but of course we say that we are interested only pure and hard deposits without additional links, no credit, no insurance, or payroll or anything.

Being a low-risk investment, and suitable for every investor profiles, we can see that the investment triangle occupy a very relaxed site to be a liquid investment, low risk and therefore unprofitable.

Investing in this way we will not get rich but how low we will not lose money, and I say now lose because if you go to a lot of companies and they offer a lower interest rate to 3% and enter missing. So clear.

If you want a band inflation eats it otherwise you better grab your money and spend it how you will at least give pleasure.

We also have to look at whether the associated account where interest is exempt receive commissions or we will charge between 6 and 20 euros per year. Thing that still remains for the low profitability that we provide.

Now we are chastened and they do but you have to be careful that we do not give any kind of product then selling costs or recover the money, you can leereste article preferred to go deeper on the subject.

Remember that the bank is to serve. 's not your friend , and if not keep his promises or not treating you how you deserve there are dozens of them scattered throughout the geography.

As a final conclusion and summary say that everyone who has "some" money should try to get some performance to keep purchasing power and try to at least get something "extra". Do not be charging for anything and remember that it is you who is indebted to the bank money and not leaving you giving interests.

Finally, always read the fine print to take no surprises.

Indeed, investment is simpler than having no money at home. In contrast is the least profitable of all but ultimately is an investment at 0% APR.

I hope this clarification have no hesitation in going to the bank to make "some investment" and if you do not hesitate to contact me.

APPLE Magic: Succulent PROFITS poor TAX

2013-05-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Senate has set to work to investigate the major tax fraud occurring in their country. The genius of Apple to evade taxes has no limits, the Senate knows and wants to end it. They have made a report and the data are chilling.
Fraud is the concentration of profits in some subsidiaries that are not based tax.
The report highlights the possible agreement by Apple to Ireland for a tax rebate of 10%, from 12% to 2%.
A clear example is the holding of foreign affiliates (AOI), which in the past four years has made a profit of 30,000 million dollars even stated anywhere.
On the other hand, we have (ASI), which is responsible for billing the sales in Spain, using companies from Ireland to escape the Spanish hacienda, specifically 74,000 million in the past four years.
In 2011, for example, of the 22,000 million profit paid 10 million dollars, less than 0.05%
Apple has more than 100,000 million U.S. dollars outside. 61% of its sales are overseas records.
Large experts believe that the problem is that "the tax system is not up to the digital age"
The U.S. Senate has launched accusations against Ireland to facilitate such companies to enter its country attracting them with their "tax incentives"
with these statements, Gilmore, Irish Deputy Prime Minister, leaving the way of a U.S. Senate report which states that the technology giant created two subsidiaries in Ireland that had no employees or physical presence, and whose sole purpose was to channel thousands of million of its global profits to avoid paying U.S. taxes, saying the tax problem comes from other countries, not yours. How do you think that affects the economy? Could eradicate extreme poverty by taxing big companies? Yes, but 2 times.

The role of hedge funds: inequality and financial instability

2013-05-31T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hedge funds known as hedge funds or hedge funds, are a type of mutual funds that are not only subject to regulation, and that because of it have played a crucial role in virtually every financial crisis since the nineties . Due to its relative complexity are completely unknown to most people. A population that is, paradoxically, the main affected by the performance of these financial institutions. To prevent that remains so in this article I will try to shed enough light, of course following the usual teaching style, in the murky world of hedge funds.

The performance of mutual funds is collecting money from many sources (individuals, corporate savings or other funds) and investment thereof in any financial product (shares, for example). After a time, when there has been a benefit and money has appreciated, the fund returns to owners past the nominal (money) plus interest, keeping the bank with an important commission.
Origin
The first recognized hedge fund was established in 1949 in the U.S., but its most important expansion took place from the second half of the nineties. Hedge funds differ from other mutual funds precisely in their aggressiveness and risk exposure. On the one hand have no regulatory limitations of any kind, and on the other hand tend to maintain very high leverage positions (operations with borrowed funds, such loans). This means that any fund can perform operations with no money but with so much borrowed money as you want. In case of profit profitability is much higher, but in case of loss the problem is also serious and very contagious (defaults follow each other).
Hedge funds are also managed by professionals who largely turn their profits as investment in the same hedge funds, more intense commitment to the future of the fund. As a result of all these features hedge funds usually yield high levels of profitability.
How and where is made a hedge fund
Hedge funds are managed by professionals and have very high entry barriers for investors, in many cases reaching the million dollars, but in any case depends on the specific regulation of the territory in which it is constituted. These barriers to entry are very high also precisely because of the high risk associated with financial transactions undertaken by hedge funds. Regulators seek to protect small investors and believe the best way is by raising the barriers, while more liberal from orbit is considered to be lower these barriers to involve the largest population possible benefit of hedge funds.
Hedge funds therefore have a minimum of stakeholders: investors, managers and companies that offer services. As investors are currently most other mutual funds (including other hedge funds), transnational corporations and millionaires course.

Also, the location is usually territory other than the territory of management. Indeed, 60% of hedge funds in 2010 were located in tax havens (in fact 37% of all hedge funds are in the Cayman Islands and 27% in Delaware, ie United States). The constitution in a tax return also increases because it reduces transaction costs (interest, records, etc..). In terms of managing 80% is on American soil (ie 41% is in New York), and most of the rest is in London. Hedge funds have Anglo flavor.
But banks also have flavor. Because the managers of these funds are logically banks, plus they are also those who offer specialized services to hedge funds. And as all this is a business statistics increasingly concentrated, precisely because of the crisis.

In short, like any mutual fund, the purpose of a hedge fund is to highlight the money deposited by investors, and for that we go to all financial markets (stocks, corporate bonds, government bonds, futures, etc..) Seeking returns. The aim is to speculate, and that almost anything goes.
Hedge Fund Strategies
The strategies used by hedge funds can vary between each other, but all seek to "exploit" the opportunities of making profits in the financial markets. And all are, in a sense, gambling. They are usually complex strategies, but sometimes can be as simple as a bet that interest rates of private bonds and government bonds are converging [1]. The usual way of hedge funds bet is to alternate short positions with long positions.
Taking a short position (short) means that the bet is "to think that the price will go down." For example, a hedge fund may sell their shares today and buy tomorrow when they have fallen. As today sells more expensive than you buy tomorrow's benefit. A naked short position (naked short) is the same but in case you are selling something that does not have [2]. For example, we sell at today's prices to deliver after tomorrow and hope that tomorrow is worth much less. Bought and delivered tomorrow after tomorrow, making the profit.
A long position is betting that "the price will go up", which is what we are accustomed. If you combine both positions in different markets can increase profits. For example, the sale we did in the short position will receive money that we invest as a long position. Money Never Sleeps.
History: hedge funds, crises and speculation
The most famous case of a hedge fund is that of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), managed by a team of professionals that included two Nobel laureates in economics, and its investors had even central banks. The net returns were from 42.8% in 1995, from 40.8% in 1996 and 17'1% in 1997, and the leverage was 30-1 (Vilariño, 2000). In 1998 the risky and complex hedge fund operations clashed with the Russian debt default and the losses were very severe. Finally the action of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who pressed a set of large investors to save the bank, prevented greater evils.
But other cases are also spectacular and also reflect the sign of the times. The first thing worth pointing is that of George Soros, who used his hedge fund to speculate against sterling. First George Soros borrowed 15,000 million pounds, and stealthily changed dollars. The purpose of short-Soros was betting with pounds, ie bet that lose value. When he was all prepared and wanted to attack it managed to make it very sounded: summoned the media and announced that he was convinced that the pound would fall. Then sold off their pounds borrowed and sent the signal to the market and the pound fell really (indeed, the sell-off, coupled with the fear of the other holders of pounds, has laid). The British government responded with all its weapons of monetary policy, but after spending more than 50,000 million dollars had to surrender: speculators had expired. With the pound on the floor Soros bought 15,000 million pounds (now worth fewer dollars) and the back (it was a loan). The gains were huge, and teaching more: a speculator, one, could sink an entire country [3].
The Asian crisis of the nineties gives many more examples of this, and the recent debt crisis even more. It teaches us that a few speculators, counted on the fingers but managing huge amounts of money, can bring down countries and set economic policies themselves.
Profitability and current developments
For all, hedge funds receive higher returns in scrambled scenes, as there is nothing worse for a mutual fund that the non-existence of space to speculate. However, widespread uncertainty scenarios or collective crisis can also be its own grave. Also, as I said before, the spread can be huge losses due to the leverage situation. Therefore, depending on which sectors and financial markets suffer losses suffer much hedge funds.
And the crisis was primed with hedge funds in 2008, as many of them had participated in toxic financial assets or had investments in mutual funds that had done so. The case of the investment bank Bear Stearns is representative, since in 2008 he had to respond to losses in two hedge funds managed (offshore) and that made him finally sinking. It was sold at a bargain price to JP Morgan [4].
But bailouts hedge funds could breathe easy again. And again they make profits and continue their speculative activity. Just look at the chart I made with TheCityUK data.

The hedge fund business is back up, and that's precisely what the data show not only profitability but also the data of assets managed by it. Without reach even 2007 levels, pre-crisis levels, the hedge fund space have recovered rapidly.

And ultimately it seems that the entire financial system returns to normal gradually. Even the leverage is regaining 2007 levels. But that's the "normalcy" that led to the crisis, because although we can guess that the hedge funds are responsible for the crisis itself that it had an important role in the expansion of the bubbles and contagion from further damage. And is that as a society we do not learn.

Conclusions
But you back to this "normality" was expected. In economics there is a concept of "moral hazard" that has to do with the incentives that exist in the market and the beliefs of the agents. Today all financial actors (investors and managers especially) know the United saved from burning to entities that are in trouble and that endanger the system (and given the amount of money that move the hedge funds and banks could say that are nearly all), so this risk no actual loss. To put it another way: they know that the bill is paid by workers with adjustment plans and other measures, so they do not care not to repeat the same activities that have made them richer and richer before and after the crisis.
We can not forget that the phenomenon of hedge funds and promote financial instability and distort the market (because liberals tell me what benefits to society of naked short operations), increase inequality in several ways. On the one hand because as industry financial elites that manage these funds promote an institutional configuration such that brings in the States tax competition and prevents them from effectively control tax evasion. Following public finances are distorted and end the welfare state ends up being paid by the middle and lower classes, being the high payments outside the system. On the other hand because logically are the upper classes who benefit most from the business of collective investment funds (pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, etc..) And therefore grows exponentially the difference between those less by entering your salary and who increasingly enter their financial activities.
The fact is that we are headed to another huge financial crisis. And if not, at the same time

The 12 principles of value investing (Part 2)

2013-05-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned last week the principles are based on ideas large investment managers such as Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, Mario Gabelli, Charlie Munger, John Templeton, John Neff, Jim Rogers, Christopher H. Browne, Friedrich A. Von Hayek, Walter Schloss, Benjamin Graham and Francisco Garcia Paramés himself. These principles are contained in a book edited by Bestinver funds and summarized weekly by people.
Here we go with the following six principles:
7) Having a bad short-term behavior is inevitable: John Neff (1931) once said that "it is not always easy to invest in what is popular, but it is the way to get outstanding returns." Thus, less popular investments can generate short-term returns ill to stand in longer periods of tiempo.Por Therefore, choosing an investment manager for their results in the short term (less than 3 years) may lead to making the wrong decision, as the short-term outcome is not a good indicator of successful long. A study of Brandes on global equity funds reveals that, while the 7 best fund managers significantly beat the market over a period of 10 years, all had a worse performance than the benchmark for short periods of time.
8) It's not worth guided by economic forecasts: The co-founder of Quantum Fund Jim Rogers (1942) stated that "to be successful investing is necessary to go soon, when things are cheap, when there is panic, when everyone is demoralized ". Investors tend to follow the macroeconomic forecasts when investing, but the correlation between the stock market and the economy is much weaker than it may seem. So it's much more productive to devote every effort to the analysis of companies. It is also important to remember that economic forecasting is a very complicated task where mistakes outnumber the successes. The predictions of the analysts on the quarterly results of companies, according to a study by David Dreman, was erroneous in 75% of the time up to 10% on the quarterly results. Therefore not worth spending time and energy to the analysis of short-term variables totally uncontrollable as GDP, interest rates, the level of stock market indices or the company's quarterly results.
9) Do not invest in companies never overrated: One of the worst decisions of long-term investment is to buy shares overvalued because euphoria fashion sector or stock, as happened with Japan in the 90s, in which the country experienced the greatest speculative bubble twentieth century, when the real estate value was multiplied by 75 and the value of the stock by 100. The most dramatic case is that of the Nasdaq market that slumped 80% in less than three years, dragging millions of investors lose 99% of your investment. Many of these investors will take decades to recover your investment or just not ever recover. The most recent overvaluation has been in China's stock market, the index traded as at 40 times profit.
10) Do not let emotions guide your investment decisions: Benjamin Graham (1894-1976), economist and investor and pioneer of value investing, once said that "getting good returns is easier than people think. Get outstanding performance is much harder than people imagine. " And all because among the greatest challenges of a power inverter is staying true to its investment philosophy, never letting emotions dictate your decisions. And they usually do at the worst time, ignoring the famous board Buffet: "Be fearful when others are greedy and become greedy when everyone is afraid." In this sense, the statistics are revealing: in the last 20 years, the average profit of American funds in the stock market and 11.6%, however, the average profit Inverter U.S. equity funds is as only 4.5%. One of the most paradoxical is the famous Magellan Fund Peter Lynch, whose investors earned on average 5% annualized when performance that had the fund over 14 years was 29 % per year.
The causes of "self-destructive behavior" of the investor are many: to be guided by fear or ambition, invest in the fashion or not stay true to his philosophy. But above all highlights the general trend is the investor to try to predict the short term movement of the stock.
11) Do not try to predict the movement of the stock in the short term: According to the legendary American investor Walter Schloss (1916), "shyness generated by past failures causes most investors lost major bull markets." As described by Peter Lynch in his book "One Up on Wall Street", in late 1972, when the stock was about to suffer one of the worst crashes in history, optimism was at its highest point (85% of advisors were bullish as reported by Investor's Intelligence). At the beginning of the market rebound in 1974, 65% of advisors feared that the worst was yet to come. Again, before the fall of the stock market in 1977, 90% of advisors were bullish. At the start of big climb which took the market in 1982, more than half of the advisers predicted downs and just before the crash of 1987, 80% thought that the market would continue to rise. Lynch perfectly illustrates how difficult it is to predict the movement of stock markets.
Although long-term performance of any stock market approaches a constant 10%, yields on short-term stock market are asymmetric. A common tendency is to give investors their investment plan out of the market in the hope of re-entry when the environment is more favorable.
12) Patience is the main virtue of the successful investor: And, according to Francisco Garcia Paramés, investment director Bestinver AM, "the most fascinating of value investing is that time always works in your favor." Active Stocks are ideal for long-term get rich. Xigen But quality and less common among investors: patience. To achieve satisfactory performance in the stock market you need to have enough stamina to stay invested, sometimes even uncomfortable. Keep in mind that the U.S. stock market has provided positive returns to 5 years in 97% of cases. The market rewards the patient investor who stays true to their investment strategy, said in Bestinver. The Value Investing depends more on common sense, daily work and patience that individual sources of information or the prediction of future events. Its correct application minimizes the possibility of permanent losses in the portfolio and has produced positive results in the long run, beating the average market returns.
And this concludes the summary of the principles of value investing. This Saturday we are in 7th Rankia meeting where I am available to you all.
A greeting.

The 12 principles of value investing (Part 1)

2013-05-30T19:00:00.001-07:00

Bestinver has published a book that summarizes the 12 principles of management by value, with phrases and ideas of legendary managers who follow this philosophy, such as Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, Mario Gabelli, Charlie Munger, John Templeton, John Neff, Jim Rogers, Christopher H. Browne, Walter Schloss or Francisco Garcia Paramés own. Joining them are two prominent figures Friedrich A. Von Hayek, Nobel laureate in economics and Benjamin Graham driver of investment value.
I put a short summary has been published weekly funds people, each one of these ideas:
1) The active equity is more profitable in the long term: Peter Lynch (1944), Magellan fund manager, once said that "the great advantage of investing in stocks, for those who accept the uncertainty, is the extraordinary reward for having reason. " From 1871-1992 and in spite of all bankruptcies, recessions and crises, stocks outperformed bonds in 80% of periods of 10 years and 100% of 30-year periods. Moreover, equities has resulted thirty times more profitable than bonds. The explanation is that when you buy shares you are buying a part of a business and is therefore part of its growth and expansion. "The bond investor is only the nearest source of money and the best we can hope for is to get it back with interest," says Bestinver AM on publication.
Real estate assets also increase the purchasing power of long-term investor, but not as consistent as stocks. As for raw materials, possibly the worst real asset returns over the long term due to its high cyclicality.
2) active equity is less risky in the long term: Indeed, and although it may seem paradoxical, the target equity is less risky to invest long-term, since its evolution is linked to economic growth and corporate profits . Instead government bonds depend on economic policies governments adopt q ue corresponding, often inflationary and therefore destructive of value to those "nominal assets" that do not incorporate price inflation. As an example, draws Bestinver Argentine investors. The investor in Argentine government bonds in 2001 lost 70% of their savings and have not since recovered, while the initial equity investor lost 60% in the same year and then not only recover quickly, but multiply by nine investment in five years. Moreover, the Argentine bond is approximately the same price as marked at the outset of the crisis. And, according to the manager, history is full of examples of very damaging inflationary periods for investors in all types of bonds (Argentina in 2002 and in the 80s and 90s; Russia in the 90s, Spain in the early 70, just as the U.S., or Germany in the 20s).
3) Few managers get beat market indices in the long run: Get an average annual return of over 10% that offers long-term stock market is not easy. In fact only 9% of American managers has managed to outperform the S & P 500 over 16 years (1981-1997). The fundamental reason is Bestinver is "the lack of discipline and the continuous changes of strategy they incur most fund managers", who often succumb to fads and phobias of each moment. Be true to the investment philosophy both in good and in bad times is one of the keys to obtaining a satisfactory long-term performance. History shows that the average fund manager tends to go wrong with your investment decisions and guided heavily by short-term economic forecasts. Thus, the different minima of the bag have been coinciding with maximum liquidity positions equity funds: 1970, 1974, 1982, 1987 and 1990.
4) Investment in setting produces higher returns than the indices in the long run: "All intelligent investing is value investing: buy something for less than it's worth," said Charlie Munger once (1924), vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway . Among the different schools of management, "value investing" is the only one that brings together a group of managers who manage to beat the stock market long term and consistently. According to investment firm Ibbotson Associates, value investing has overtaken from a differential growth rate of 5% since 1932.
It is estimated that the investment value concentrates only between 5% and 10% of world capitalization by 200 managers, especially in North America and investors have achieved this common philosophy beat the market long term, although each with its own strategy.
5) The volatility and liquidity of an action are not representative of the risk: Friedrich A. Von Hayek (1899-1992), once said that "Wall Street used the CAPM model and other ways to reduce the uncertainty to a quantifiable risk. But only measure what is measurable, no matter what. " Thus, the risk that an investor takes when investing in shares is not determined by the volatility that has been in the past, but by the possibility of a permanent loss of value associated with the business of the company. Thus a volatile trading does not make a firm more risky but allows the investor to buy it at a time when the alteration between value and price is higher.
Neither the size or liquidity risk is representative, because in principle it is always easier to find major differences between value and price in small companies than in blue chips, as they are less analyzed. In fact, it has been shown that small caps are more profitable than large firms in the long run, but not necessarily more risky.
6) The stock market crises are inevitable and allow a significant value creation: As John Templeton (1912-2007), philanthropist and founder of Templeton Funds Financial, "the four most dangerous words in investment history to have been: this time is different. " Although the long-term actions are most profitable assets and secure, the history of the stock market is full of dramatic episodes. The value investor has to understand that uncertainty will always be present when investing in stocks, as strong or scilaciones are inherent to the market and investment strategy based on these oscillations is a mistake in the long term. However, staying true to the investment strategy during such episodes allows a significant value creation.
In the past 40 years the equity markets have faced several oil crises, many armed conflicts, various financial scandals, bankruptcies thousand and four major stock market crash. And despite everything, the S & P has provided an average annual rate of 9.3% since. Even from the crisis of 29, in less than four years an investor would have earned a higher return than investing in Treasury bills.
In my next article I will comment the last 6 value principles.
A greeting.

The U.S. economy grew 2.4% in the first quarter

2013-05-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Washington, May 30 (Thomson Financial). - The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.4% in the first quarter, a tenth less than originally planned, as a result of public spending cuts approved by Congress, especially on defense. However, Commerce Department data released today highlight that consumer spending rebounded in the first three months of the year at a rate of 3.4%, the highest in the past two years. The data is particularly significant in an economy like the U.S., where private consumption accounts for almost 70% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In its first estimate, the federal agency had estimated GDP growth at 2.5% for the period between January and February. In this way, the U.S. economy recorded over two years of sustained growth, despite its still palpable warmth accelerates its expansion over the last quarter of 2012, when it expanded 0.4%. The U.S. trade balance data also showed positive, with an increase in exports of goods and services by 0.8% compared with a fall of 2.8% reported for the fourth quarter of 2012, and imports which grew by only 1.9 % compared with a decrease of 4.2% in the previous period. Also, the real estate sector seems to consolidate its recovery from the 2008 crisis, and residential fixed investment grew at a rate of 12.1%. As a brake on economic growth, in contrast, behaved steep spending cuts amounting to 85,000 million approved last March to the end of the fiscal year in September 2013. Government spending fell 4.9% compared to 4.1% forecast in the first of three official estimates, with special emphasis on the defense sector which fell by 12.1%, compared with 11, estimated 5% previously. Without these cuts, the U.S. economic growth would have been 3.4% in the quarter. Meanwhile, prices remained controlled behavior, registering a growth of 1% in the annual adjusted, down from 1.6% at the end of last year, let alone the 2% threshold marked by the Federal Reserve ( Fed) U.S.. Although the data show some optimism about the U.S. economic discourse, the truth is that it is too weak to continue lowering the high unemployment rate in the country, which remains a major concern of citizens and which closed April in a 7.5%. In a parallel data released today, the figure weekly esempleo subsidy claims in the U.S. rose by 10,000 and stood at 354,000 last week. Experts valued the good performance of the economy in the context of sharp cuts in public spending, but said that is unlikely to affect the aggressive monetary stimulus policy implemented by the Fed to stimulate growth. In a recent appearance before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, stated that the policy stimulus including interest rates between 0% and 0.25% and monthly program billionaire bond buying is changed unless finding an economic expansion "continuous and sustainable." The third and final data on U.S. GDP will be released on June 26. MarketWatch

IMF cuts growth forecast for China and warns of the credit problem

2013-05-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

The Fund, which last month had placed the growth prospects for the Republic at 8% this year and 8.2% next, now estimates that the economy of this country will only increase by 7.75% this year and in 2014.
The IMF has doubts about the quality of Chinese investment by the rapid increase créditoEn a press conference in Beijing at the end of their annual mission to evaluate the progress of the Chinese economy, the Fund Deputy Managing Director David Lipton, attributed the cut in estimates of the weakness of the global economy, which has reduced the appetite for Chinese exports.
Lipton said the rapid growth of social financing, an indicator of credit available has grown very quickly, which "raises concerns about the quality of investments and their impact on the ability to repay the loans."
In particular, concerns increase while the increase represents "a rapidly growing part of the credit flows through parts unless supervised financial system."
The financial and monetary policy developed by Beijing is "appropriate" in this sense, Lipton found that one of the risks is that the loans are intended for investments "that are not sufficiently useful for the country."
In his view, control the overall growth of social finance is a "priority" will require greater oversight and accountability of investors for the decisions they make.
These policies may slow growth in the short term, he admitted, but stressed at the same time support the transition to a more sustainable model of growth.
However, Lipton insisted that financial and monetary policy developed by Beijing is "appropriate".
If this year's growth were to fall below the targets? Chinese government has set a target of 7.5 percent for this year?, The Fund recommends using a fiscal stimulus that favors income and domestic consumption.
The new Chinese government which took office in March is preparing a series of economic reforms that intends to present in October and which may include, among other things, greater openness to private investment and measures to promote the development.
Growth has become too dependent on the continued expansion of inversionesEntre detected problems are international financial institution which growth [...]