L’Agence France-Trésor, qui gère la dette de l’Etat, vient de publier son estimation des « primes d’émission » encaissées à l’occasion du placement de ses obligations pour l’année en cours. On a signalé, ici, à maintes reprises, cette anomalie qui consistait, au nom de la liquidité, à émettre à des taux très supérieurs à ceux du marché. Ainsi, en plein mois d’août,  la France a proposé différents emprunts pour un montant nominal total de 6 milliards assortis d’une durée de 8 à 35 ans avec des taux compris entre 4 et 6 ...

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Why put off something to the next day when you can do it the day after the next day, said, with humor, Mark Twain. This joke sums up perfectly the non-decision by the FED regarding interests rates in the U.S. Explanations are not convincing. China has a broad back. An interest rate increase in the U.S, regarded until the meeting as sure, would have generated a rise of the dollar, followed by the Yuan since the two currencies were linked by a fixed parity. This is why Chinese authorities, indeed at the worst time, had decided to reform ...

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Two years ago, Jean Marc Ayrault, then Prime Minister, following the conclusions of the Gallois report relative to French corporate sector competitiveness, set up substantial fiscal incentives (CICE), which were confirmed by his successor, Manuel Vals through the “Pacte de responsabilité”. The reduction of labor costs generated by these fiscal incentives, was supposed to give employers enough financial margins to invest, create jobs and allow France to come back to a growth path strong enough to reverse unemployment curve.

Nobody can ignore that, until now, these objectives have not been reached, but it could be argued that, as structural reforms ...

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