BARRY O'HALLORANlooks back at the week in business
Hard currency
You might question his motivation, but George Soros, the investor who single-handedly forced Britain to devalue sterling in 1992, believes that the euro is going to survive.
Talking to journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos (where else?), Soros said that while the single currency could “potentially fall apart”, he was convinced that this was not going to happen.
But he added that the euro is having the opposite effect to what was intended by “creating divergence” instead of convergence, and he warned that it will ultimately lead to a two-tier Europe that will be politically difficult to manage.
Commodity watch
With Brent crude nudging dangerously close to $100 a barrel, analysts are already puzzling over where the tipping point for the global economic recovery might be. Bank of America Merrill Lynch believes it is $115 (a barrel), but it makes a special case for a number of countries, including Ireland, which it singles out and warns would experience a “severe strain” if oil heads above $115. Other European nations with sovereign debt problems and a general issue making ends meet are likely to be in the same boat.
Oddly enough, it suggests that the US is better-placed than many European and Asian economies to deal with oil price increases as it is benefiting from low natural gas prices and plentiful coal resources.
However, the banks analysts believe that an increase to $115 a barrel is unlikely. Presumably, the incoming government hopes they are right.
439
The number of Avensis and Lexus models that Toyota is recalling in Ireland because of a potentially faulty fuel pump. The manufacturer is recalling 1.7 million cars worldwide.
"Did I hear that another measure was excluded, namely, the Government's introduction of a maximum salary for public servants? ...I had a bit of paper on this measure somewhere"
Noel Ahern, the sharp-eyed TD, spots another gap in the Finance Bill
STATUS UPDATE
Greenhouse gas:Delays in reinstating the EU's carbon emissions trading system after a €32 million fraud is costing companies €60 million.
Payback time: It might never come, according to Fine Gael's Michael Noonan, who told the Financial Timesthat we might not be able to repay the EU's €35 billion bailout.
Divvying up:Ranjit Boparan, the man who has trumped Greencore's bid for Northern Foods, and his wife, paid themselves a £12 million dividend from their 2 Sisters food processing business in 2009.
THE QUESTION:
Just what is the point of Davos?
The annual gathering of the good, the great and Bono is fast turning into a parody of itself. The World Economic Forum has more co-chairmen than your average communist party and its agenda seems even more pointless, than well, being co-chairman of a communist party.
This year, as well as addressing “new realities” and “defining new norms”, the forum is discussing such pressing issues as dealing with social network addiction (simple: switch off your laptop).
It’s all about, in the forum’s own self-important words, “improving the state of the world”.
But one meeting on Saturday gives a clue to the real purpose: the No Jerks Rule, a presentation by Stanford University management professor, Robert I Sutton, who says jerks are people who demean co-workers, focus their aggression on the less powerful, poison the office and cause good people to leave.
That’s the point of the forum: it gives the rest of us a week off, while the jerks head to Davos.
