Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Germany and Economic Independence

US Under Secretary of the Treasury Stuart Levey's Don Quixotic efforts test German economic and financial independence. The threats are becoming somewhat childish, Ralf Beste, Christoph Pauly and Christian Reiermann of Spiegel Online report:

German financial institutions feel the United States government has been engaging in "downright blackmail," according to one banker. Anti-terror officials from the US Treasury are constantly showing up to demand they cut their traditionally good relations with Iran. The underlying threat from the men from Washington is that they wouldn't want to support terrorism, would they?
Don Quixotic efforts do not end in the offices of the Treasury but have been taken up by the US Congress at 408 to 6. It makes one wonder what rationality and reason is guiding US Middle-East policy. It is almost embarrassing to watch all this: Changing the law to protect against its original wisdom.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Fair Disclosures on the Web

Jonathan Schwartz, the chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems Inc., explains how Sun intends to publish its FY'07 financial results on Monday, July 30. (Note his comments about the use of web for fair disclosure.)