Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Clive Crook: American dream needs repair
Sooner or later the US will find itself grappling with an immense fiscal problem, writes Crook. The recession and stimulus have combined to produce record-breaking deficits, and economic recovery will not come close to restoring balance. US voters have big questions to answer about the entitlements they demand and the taxes they are willing to pay. This dismal outlook might not seem the ideal setting for a call to new ambition in US social policy. But that is exactly what Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins, scholars at the Brookings Institution, issue in their new book, Creating an Opportunity Society.
John Gapper: Murdoch will relish a battle over online pay walls
As usual this week, Rupert Murdoch infuriated a lot of people by thinking out loud, Gapper writes. He accused Google and Microsoft of “stealing” stories from News Corporation’s papers such as the Wall Street Journal and The Times and threatened to withdraw them from Google’s search engine.
Lex on commercial property
Ever since the financial crisis hit, the US authorities have been playing whack-a-mole, smacking down problems as fast as possible. Many critters have retreated into their holes, at least partially, but other talpids are proving tougher foes. In particular, looming problems in commercial real estate, with more than $2,000bn of debt maturing by 2013, need a stronger beating.
News analysis: Caution needed in IPO queue
Last Thursday night in a members’ bar in Mayfair, two bankers from the same firm recognised each other, writes the FT’s Lina Saigol. “I work in leveraged finance,” one told the other, “How about you?” “I’m trying to float your dross,” the corporate broker replied. And that sums up what going to happen over the next few months as private equity groups dump as many highly leveraged companies as they can on the stock market.
Analysis: Under a cloud
Rows of traders sit staring at their banks of computers, hand on mouse, eyes restlessly scanning the numbers that stutter across the screens. From time to time, one will stand and bark out an obscure question — “I’m talking EUA 09 contracts anyone?”. They may not look it, but these men and women are on the front line in the battle against climate change. Carbon trading, carried out at desks like this in brokerages and investment banks across the world, has grown from nothing five years ago to a $125bn (£75bn, €84bn) business last year, even with the recession and a low carbon price damping growth.
FTfm blog: Can Irish pensioners behave responsibly?
The Irish National Pensions Reserve Fund is getting a rough ride at the moment. Having been forced to pick up the tab for the recapitalisation of the Irish banks (some €7bn worth of preference shares in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks), it is about to lose its chief executive, John Corrigan, who moves upstairs to replace his boss, head of the National Treasury Management Agency, the NPRF’s parent body. This will not be a pleasant job, but nor will running the NPRF.
Money Supply: Ordóñez, the gradualist
During the global economic crisis, Miguel Fernández Ordóñez, Spain’s central bank governor, has kept a low profile, at least beyond Madrid, writes the FT’s Ralph Atkins. As such, he is largely an unknown among European Central Bank watchers. When I met him in Spain’s capital last week, for an interview which appears in today’s newspaper, he fitted the description of a typical continental European central banker - cautious and not eager to grab the headlines. His views seemed to have extra resonance as a result.
Wolfgang Münchau: A Franco-German marriage of convenience
It would be easy for a cynical reporter to belittle the ostentatious display of the Franco-German friendship, writes Münchau. We all know the bilateral relationship has been poisonous for the last two and a half years, so why should we be impressed? I believe the symbolism matters a great deal.
