Dave Hole

Biography by Sandra Brennan & Al Campbell

Australian slide guitarist Dave Hole is noted for his energetic, high-volume rock & roll/blues music and unusual playing style. Though left-handed, Hole plays guitar right-handed and developed a technique to compensate for a finger injury in which he places his fingers over the top of the neck. He also uses a pick for a slide and utilizes fingerpicking when playing normally.

Read More : AllMusic

There is room for fiscal stimulus in the budget - Livemint - India

[Source:livemint.com]

Talking to select mediapersons on the sidelines of a lecture on “Lessons from the Financial Market Crisis: Priorities for the World and the IMF”, organized by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier), Kahn is concerned that the US downturn could cut emerging economy growth by close to 1%. Edited excerpts :

On advocating fiscal contraction before and fiscal stimulus now.

The main tool for the IMF has not been its lending capacity but what Keynes called “ruthless truth telling”. The US sub-prime crisis has indeed been a failure of supervision and regulation and they have to correct it. The IMF cannot work to change the US economy or the world economy, but will hopefully carry out some work of importance. We have an even-handed approach. If the US economy goes through pain, the world goes through some pain. A downturn in the US economy would have a lot of consequences, even with a lag.

Is IMF austerity only for the poor?-Swaminomics-Swaminathan A Aiyar-Columnists-Opinion-The Times of India

[Source:The Times of India]

"I raised this issue of double standards when Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, gave a talk in New Delhi last week. If austerity was good for imprudent Asians in 1997, i asked, isn’t it also good for the imprudent US right now? Should you not welcome a recession as a form of adjustment? Should you not burst asset bubbles in the US rather than reflate them?

Strauss-Kahn waffled and refused to give a straight answer. Instead, he talked of the need to reform the IMF, by giving a bigger say to developing countries. However, his double standards suggest that the reform has to go deeper"

17 Feb 2008, 0019 hrs IST,Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
Ten years ago, the Asian financial crisis ravaged south-east Asia. The IMF prescribed severe austerity and economic shrinkage. You chaps have been living beyond your means for years, it said, and have severe structural problems that cannot be reflated away. So, you need bitter monetary medicine (sky-high interest rates) and fiscal medicine (slashing government spending and fiscal deficits). Yes, the shrinkage of GDP will be painful, but will cure your structural ailments and improve your long-term health.

Ten years later we have another financial crisis, originating this time in the US. But the IMF, which prescribed austerity for Asia in 1997, is prescribing fiscal and monetary stimulation in the US, to save it from the consequences of its own follies. This is not only bad economics but also outrageous politics. It looks like a double standard that discriminates against the poor.

The US has for a decade indulged in chronic overspending, reflected in gargantuan trade deficits, financed by borrowing overseas. This has eerie similarities with south-east Asia’s over-borrowing in the 1990s. The Asian financial crisis began with the bursting of a housing bubble in Thailand, caused by imprudent lending. The current crisis has begun with the bursting of a housing bubble in the US, also caused by imprudent lending (sub-prime mortgages).

Conditions in the US are in most ways better but in some ways worse than in Asia in 1997. The US is immensely creditworthy, and can borrow trillions with minimal effects on the dollar. By contrast, south-east Asian economies in 1997 had low forex reserves and eroding credibility, leading to a panicky flight of investors. The US has huge foreign assets to offset its rising debt, so its net debt is modest. The quality of US institutions, financial markets, corporate governance and accounting standards is infinitely higher than in Asia in 1997. So, we don’t see any panicky exit of investors from the US.

Yet, in some ways the US is structurally worse off than Asia in 1997. Asian economies always had high savings rates. But US households have for years had a negative savings rate — that is, they spend more than their disposable income, taking advantage of cheap, easy credit. The US trade deficit of around $700 billion per year is mind-boggling, far higher than the combined deficits of the Asian countries that sank in 1997. A country as rich as the US can afford to overspend on this scale for years. But not even the US can do this forever.

The US has a deep structural problem — grossly inadequate savings. Its politicians are as spendthrift as households. They have committed themselves to high welfare spending on social security (for retirees), Medicare (for the aged) and Medicaid (for the poor). Some projections suggest that such spending could triple from 7% of GDP today to 20% by 2030.

So, both US households and the government are on an unsustainable spending spree. This cries out for structural adjustment. Huge US imbalances, in its balance of payments as well as savings, have to be pruned. This painful structural adjustment is not urgent, given US riches. But it is inescapable in the long run, and remedial action is overdue.

The adjustment can take place either through a huge depression, as in the 1930s, or through a series of slowdowns-cum-mild recessions. Many economists — including me — would regard a string of mild recessions as less damaging for the US and world economy than another Great Depression.

Seen in this light, a US recession is a solution to its structural imbalances, not a problem. A recession will reduce the US trade deficit, and drive home to US households the need to save more and borrow less. It will entail some pain. But, as the IMF is fond of saying, no pain means no gain.

Global imbalances are evident in huge Chinese and OPEC surpluses, no less than in US deficits. All three require adjustment. But the US is currently in crisis, and needs adjustment foremost.

You might think that the IMF today would be urging austerity and structural adjustment on the US, as it did on Asia in 1997. In fact, it is doing the very opposite. It has applauded the fiscal stimulus legislation and slashing of interest rates there. The IMF can argue, rightly, that the two situations are different. Yet, there are enough similarities to warrant complaints that it has one rule for the rich and another for the poor.

I raised this issue of double standards when Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, gave a talk in New Delhi last week. If austerity was good for imprudent Asians in 1997, i asked, isn’t it also good for the imprudent US right now? Should you not welcome a recession as a form of adjustment? Should you not burst asset bubbles in the US rather than reflate them?

Strauss-Kahn waffled and refused to give a straight answer. Instead, he talked of the need to reform the IMF, by giving a bigger say to developing countries. However, his double standards suggest that the reform has to go deeper

Bond Insurer Seeks to Split Itself, Roiling Some Banks - WSJ.com

[Source:WSJ.com]

On Friday, FGIC Corp., holding company for the nation's third-largest bond insurer, told the New York State Insurance Department that in effect it wants to split up the business. The idea would be to create a new company to insure safe municipal bonds and for the existing one to keep responsibility for riskier debt securities already insured, such as those tied to the housing market.

The move may help regulators protect investors who have municipal bonds insured by the firm. But it could also force banks who are large holders of the other securities to take significant losses. Some banks that have been talking with FGIC in recent weeks to bolster the firm were taken aback by the announcement and could yet try to block it, say Wall Street executives.

Arcane credit market faces big test as economy slows - International Herald Tribune

[Source:International Herald Tribune]

"This is just a giant insurance industry that is under-regulated and not very well reserved for and does not have very good standards as a result," said Michael Farrell, chief executive of Annaly Capital Management in New York. "I think unregulated markets that overshadow, in terms of size, the regulated ones are a real question mark."

or

"It would be as if homeowners, facing losses after a hurricane, could not identify the insurance companies to pay on their claims. Or, if they could, they discovered that their insurer had transferred the policy to another company that could not cover the claim."

Loi sur l’initiative économique

[Source:LaPresse]

Loi sur l’initiative économique Consécration de la liberté d’entreprendre Par Anis SOUADI Désormais, et avec l'instauration effective de la zone de libre-échange, l'économie tunisienne est appelée à opérer dans un contexte exigeant et hautement concurrentiel. Une nouvelle phase qui place notre économie face à une obligation de compétitivité totale. Certes, la Tunisie a eu le mérite, depuis quelques années déjà, de bien se préparer à de telles échéances en s’entourant d’un ensemble d’arguments assez solides, ce qui lui permet d’entamer cette étape avec assurance et optimisme. Toutefois, souci de pérennité oblige, l’économie tunisienne doit absolument renforcer encore plus ces atouts de compétitivité et multiplier les approches prospectives à même d’anticiper à temps les nouvelles tendances. La promulgation de la loi sur l’initiative économique traduit clairement une nette volonté de créer une réelle dynamique économique à travers la promotion de l’esprit du compter-sur-soi et surtout l’enracinement d’une véritable culture entrepreneuriale, qu’on ne cesse justement de qualifier de priorité nationale. D’ailleurs, le premier article stipule que « l’initiative économique constitue une priorité nationale à la consécration de laquelle œuvrent tous les acteurs économiques et sociaux dans le cadre de la garantie du principe de l’égalité des chances ». Ce qui est vraiment significatif, c’est que cette nouvelle loi cherche à mettre en place un cadre réglementaire et législatif fiable qui touche l’environnement de l’entreprise dans sa globalité. Cette loi ambitionne en fait d’améliorer significativement l’environnement de l’investissement, du financement, de la gestion, de la production et de la commercialisation. Autrement dit, c’est une loi-cadre qui cherche à élargir davantage la marge d’action des nouveaux promoteurs et à matérialiser surtout les nouvelles idées en les traduisant en projets porteurs. De ce fait, les principales dispositions ont misé sur l’assouplissement des procédures administratives à travers surtout la limitation des autorisations et leur remplacement par des cahiers des charges pour en faire ainsi de simples exceptions. Cette disposition, faut-il encore le rappeler, s’inscrit totalement dans le cadre du programme présidentiel pour la Tunisie de demain qui s’est fixé comme objectif de remplacer 90% des autorisations par des cahiers des charges d’ici 2009. Actuellement, on est à 80%. La nouvelle loi a tenu d’un autre côté à améliorer le niveau de financement de l’initiative économique. Ainsi, les dispositions retenues à cet effet autorisent le promoteur à transformer son compte d’épargne en compte d’épargne d’investissement sans qu’il soit tenu de rendre les avantages accordés au titre du premier compte. En parallèle, et pour améliorer davantage les services bancaires destinés aux promoteurs, la nouvelle loi recommande aux banques de créer une cellule chargée exclusivement de la création des petites et moyennes entreprises. Une cellule qui soit l’interlocuteur direct et le point de connexion entre les différents intervenants. Une meilleure gestion comptable Toujours au niveau du système bancaire, les dispositions de la nouvelle loi traduisent une nette volonté d’assurer la qualité totale de l’information au niveau de la centrale des risques de la BCT à travers la transmission de données fiables et précises. En d’autres termes, la nouvelle loi recommande de permettre à la BCT d’obtenir toutes les informations concernant les crédits non seulement des institutions bancaires et financières mais également des institutions de recouvrement des dettes. Une telle disposition est d’autant plus importante qu’elle est en mesure d’améliorer le classement de la Tunisie dans les rapports internationaux relatifs à l’environnement des affaires. D’un autre côté, la loi relative à l’initiative économique a accordé un intérêt tout particulier à la promotion des petites entreprises. En effet, selon les dispositions de la nouvelle loi, les promoteurs des petites entreprises ou encore des petits métiers dans l’industrie, l’artisanat et les services peuvent bénéficier de dotations remboursables, d’une prime d’investissement, de l’exonération de la contribution au fonds de promotion des logements pour les salariés pendant les trois premières années à partir de la date d’entrée en activité effective. Ils peuvent également bénéficier de l’exonération de la taxe de formation professionnelle pendant les trois premières années à partir aussi de l’entrée en activité effective. Mieux encore, la nouvelle loi a tenu à garantir une meilleure qualité aussi bien au niveau de la gestion de la comptabilité des petites entreprises qu’au niveau du dépôt des déclarations fiscales en permettant aux unités qui font appel aux centres de gestion intégrés de bénéficier, tout au long des cinq premières années, d’une réduction de 20% sur le montant d’impôt. En plus de toutes ces questions, la nouvelle loi a cherché, à la fois, à multiplier et à moderniser encore plus les espaces économiques. On relève ainsi que les investissements au titre du lancement des pépinières d’entreprises ou encore des cyberparcs ouvrent droit au bénéfice d’une prime d’investissement dans la limite de 20% du coût du projet et de l’acquisition de terrains au dinar symbolique. Ces avantages sont accordés aux projets réalisés durant la période allant de la date d’entrée en vigueur de cette loi au 31 décembre 2011 sous conditions bien entendu de la réalisation du projet, de son exploitation dans un délai maximum de deux années, à compter de la date d’obtention du terrain et de son exploitation, conformément à son objet. Sans parler des avantages accordés aux investissements au titre de la réalisation de zones industrielles (voir La Presse du 14 janvier 2008). Il est clair que cette nouvelle loi illustre clairement une nette volonté de valoriser les compétences et le savoir à travers l’aménagement d’un environnement totalement favorable à la création. Mais ce qui est réellement significatif, c’est que les avantages et les incitations accordés par cette loi ne se sont pas limités aux nouvelles créations mais ils ont touché également les entreprises déjà existantes, d’où les multiples avantages accordés aux opérations de transmission ou encore de reprise. A.S.

Texte Integrale de la loi courtesie de investir-en-tunisie.net

Tunisia set for £5bn development

[Source:Holidaylettings.co.uk]

A £5 billion ($10 billion) development, partly aimed at attracting more visitors, is set to be built in Tunisia, it has emerged.

The Bled El Ward project will cover an area of 5,000 hectares and take the form of "a modern city", complete with tourist amenities.

It is also expected to include sports facilities along with shopping and entertainment districts, Al-Arab reports.

Water channels will provide the city with 50 kilometres of beach fronts, the news provider added.

According to Al-Arab, Ahmad Al Sayegh, the chairman of construction company Al Maabar International Investments, expects the project to be completed in five years, with building spread over several phases.

Tunisian president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali has praised the "high standard of the project's design", the website concluded.

Tunisia already features a wealth of attractions for visitors, including Roman remains and locations used in some of the Star Wars films.

This article was brought to you by holidaylettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 holiday home website.
16 February 2008