Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
But for a simple twist of fate, Benedict XVI, the first German pope for 1,000 years, would be pulling on a different white outfit every day.
Before he even arrived in the US, Pope Benedict XVI apologized for the pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church there for the last four years. But German commentators say that more needs to be done.
[Europress] [Russopress]
Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's 'Mr Euro', has given the clearest warning to date that the world authorities may take action to halt the collapse of the dollar and undercut commodity speculation by hedge funds.
Momentum traders have blithely ignored last week's accord by the G7 powers, which described "sharp fluctuations in major currencies" as a threat to economic and financial stability. Juncker warned that matters could get out of hand unless America took steps to halt the slide in the dollar.
European industry has managed to live with the high euro so far, but the damage of major currency shifts can take years to surface. "The moment will come where the exchange rate level will start to cause serious harm to the European economy," said Juncker.
The currency chief at Barclays Capital said the Europeans and Americans are talking past each other. Whatever the G7 wording, Washington is happy to watch the dollar slide.
The ECB revealed in its monthly report that foreign direct investment into the euro zone has contracted by €269bn over the last 2 years. Foreigners are gradually winding down operations. This will have powerful long-term effects.
George Soros said yesterday that the euro could never anchor of the global system. "I don't think the euro can replace the dollar as the main world currency. The euro is not a truly attractive alternative."
Otmar Issing, the ECB's former 'High Priest', said the single currency had started well but could face a "disastrous outcome" if the eurozone failed to embrace a flexible market system. "The 'single-size' monetary policy would simply not fit at all. In such a scenario, the single currency would risk straining cohesion," he warned in a new book, 'The Euro'. This is already occurring.
A key reason for the 30% rise in the euro agasint the dollar over the last 2 years has been the move by Asia central banks and Mid-East wealth funds to parking huge sums of newly acquired wealth in European bonds as an alternative to the dollar. The question is whether China, Saudi Arabia, and others, have now reached euro saturation.
Comments by China that it intends to move away from its reliance on the dollar triggered a sharp drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and heightened worldwide fears about the US currency's stability.
China's Central Bank Vice Director said that his country is planning to shift much of its $1.4 trillion national currency reserve from dollars to more stable currencies, such as the euro or Canadian dollar.
After these comments, the dollar fell to record lows relative to other currencies -- the euro, the lowest in a generation against the British pound, and the lowest in 57 years against the Canadian dollar.
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Today in Scripture
"Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry..." (Mat 21:18-33 / Mark 11:12--19)
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