Unified Patents in the EU, nearly: Unified Patent Court to be located in Paris, London and Munich for 25 EU Member States as Italy and Spain Opt Out

Owen Bowcott, the legal affairs correspondent at the Guardian, reports that a new European Union EU Unified Patent Court will be split between Paris, London and Munich as the European Council Summit OKd the new unified court

-- except for Spain and Italy, who opted out.

The agreement of the European leaders means that a single patent at some time in the future -- perhaps by 2014 when the court has been set up -- will be valid across the other 25 European Union Member States.

Advocates of States' Rights in the USA should examine the disconcerting Spanish and Italian opt out. That kind of undesired development is what happens when federalism is too weak and legal authority is watered down by local action.

Paul Krugman Calls it Europe’s Great Illusion: Are Inflation and Monetary Devaluation via Increased Spending the Only Real Solutions?

Paul Krugman's most recent piece at the New York Times is Europe’s Great Illusion, writing inter alia in the aftermath of the recent -- in our eyes "relatively successful" -- Eurozone summit meeting:

"Over the past few months I’ve read a number of optimistic assessments of the prospects for Europe. Oddly, however, none of these assessments argue that Europe’s German-dictated formula of redemption through suffering has any chance of working. Instead, the case for optimism is that failure — in particular, a breakup of the euro — would be a disaster for everyone, including the Germans, and that in the end this prospect will induce European leaders to do whatever it takes to save the situation."

We agree with Paul Krugman on much of his basic macroeconomics, but are recently somewhat more concerned about why he continues to pounce on the economy of Europe rather than on the economic situation in the United States.

We presume that the reason is because the USA and the EU are the biggest bilateral trading and investment partners in the world (with China soon overtaking) whose fortunes are inextricably entwined.

The transatlantic economy has traditionally been the world's motor, as can be seen from these figures from the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU):

"Trade in goods

• EU good exports to the US in 2010: €242.1 billion
• EU goods imports from the US in 2010: €169.5 billion

Trade in services

• EU services exports to the US 2010: €125.2 billion
• EU services imports from the US in 2010: €131.0 billion

Foreign Direct Investment

• EU investment flows to the US in 2009: €79.2 billion
• US investment flows to the EU in 2009: €97.3 billion
• Investment stocks inward in 2009: €1044 billion
• Investment stocks outward in 2009: €1134 billion

More statistics on USA"

What would be useful to see from Krugman is an analysis of the people and institutions to whom the money of the debt crisis is OWED and why (or not) they should be saved from their bad investments viz. loans and why money speculators, banks looking for absurd returns from sovereign nations -- and failing, hedge funds, and their ilk, etc. should be rewarded for what is nothing other than monetary gambling. That is a far more important question than all this theoretical economic bantering.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

EU Eurozone Bank Bailout: Understanding the Current Debt Crisis as a Financial World in Deleverage : Bill Gross, Founder and Manager of PIMCO, World's Biggest Bond Fund, Gives Us the Nuts and Bolts

William H. Gross ("Bill"), founder and manager of Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), the world's biggest bond fund, has said that Europe is in a Debt Trap, Even After the Bank Bailout.

Bill Gross is a very bright guy, be sure about that, so his opinion carries weight with this author, and it is advisable to read what he writes.

We do think that Europe is stronger than Americans can imagine and we think that the USA by contrast has serious economic, political and social problems to solve down the road, so we are not necessarily in agreement with Gross on his conclusions that America is currently a better investment than Europe. But then again, we are not managing a $250 billion fund, and Gross does.

What Gross has been writing recently at his Investment Outlook page at PIMCO is outstanding in delivering basic economic knowledge (from an investment standpoint) about a world that is "delevering".

If you really want to get a nuts and bolts view of the current world debt situation, the PIMCO writings of Bill Gross are an absolute reading must.

Below are links to some of his writings at Investment Outlook at PIMCO together with excerpts we have chosen to give an idea about the content:

The Great Escape: Delivering in a Delevering World by William H. Gross:

"[T]he Great Leveraging of the past 30 years .... was a world not of yield, but of total return, where price and yield formed the returns that exceeded the ability of global economies to consistently replicate them. Financial assets relative to real assets outperform in such a world as wealth is brought forward and stolen from future years if real growth cannot replicate historical total returns."

Wall Street Food Chain by William H. Gross:

"The whales of our current economic society swim mainly in financial market oceans. Innovators such as Jobs and Gates are as rare within the privileged 1% as giant squid are to sharks, because the 1% feed primarily off of money, not invention. They would have you believe that stocks, bonds and real estate move higher because of their wisdom, when in fact, prices float on an ocean of credit, a sea in which all fish and mammals are now increasingly at risk because of high debt and its delevering consequences. Still, as the system delevers, there are winners and losers, a Wall Street food chain in effect."

What's in A Name by William H. Gross:

"An authentic debt crisis – which the world is now experiencing – can only be ultimately cured in two ways: 1) default on it, or 2) print more money in order to inflate it away."

See links to all of the articles by Gross at Investment Outlook Overview.

Crossposted at LawPundit.

Foreign Investment in U.S. Increases Amid Financial Issues in Europe

Where is all that European money going amid the Eurozone financial troubles?
The big winner is the United States.

Neil Shah has the story at the Wall Street Journal at:

Foreigners Step Up Investment in U.S.

A good share of Europe's investment is the product of European acquisitions of American companies.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

Tourism: Germany, Europe and World - Travel Destinations of German Vacationers and Travelers

Die Welt in an article by Kira Hanser has the stats for German travelers' vacation destinations, based on data from the ADAC Reise-Monitor / Reiseanalyse 2012, as follows:
(see Die Welt at Das sind die beliebtesten Reiseziele der Deutschen):

2012: America, be happy....

14.6% of all German vacationers
plan a vacation abroad in 2012, as follows:
- 3.7% - USA
- 2.0% - Far East (e.g. China, Thailand)
- 1.7% - Caribbean
- 1.2% - Egypt
- 1.0% - North Africa (Morocco, Tunesia)
- 1.0% - Near and Middle East
- 0.8% - Canada
- 0.7% - the rest of Africa
- 0.6% - Australia, New Zealand, Pacific
- 0.5% - Central America
- 0.4% - South America
- 0.4% - Mexico

In 2011 there were 70,000,000 vacation trips by Germans
at an average expenditure of €868 per person per trip:

- 46.2% by car or recreational vehicle
- 37.2% by plane
- 8.4% by bus
- 5.5% by train
with the rest on cruises, etc.

Top 10 For 2011

German Vacation Destinations outside of Germany in 2011 (top 10)
Spain - 12.3%
Italy - 8.2%
Turkey - 7.4%
Austria - 5.2%
France 3.0%
Croatia - 2.7%
Greece - 2.6%
Poland - 2.3%
Netherlands - 2.1%
Denmark - 1.8%

German Vacation Destinations within Germany in 2011  (top 10)
Bavaria - 6.4%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - 6.1%
Schleswig-Holstein - 3.9%
Lower Saxony - 3.6%
Baden-Württemberg - 2.9%
Saxony - 1.3%
Northrine-Westphalia - 1.1%
Berlin - 1.0%
Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland - 1.0%
Thuringia - 0.9%



and, as a sign of the times
Use of Mobile Internet Access by German Travelers
- weather - 37%
- information about local goods and services - 24%
- mapping and related - 23%
- general information about the travel destination - 23%
- public transportation - 15%
- other tourist-related topics - 15%
- booking of accommodations - 6%
- booking of transportation - 3%
- general booking - 2%

European Central Bank ECB Chief Mario Draghi Lashes out at Prophecies of Doom and Deadlines to Save the Euro, Saying That is Not the Right Path: A Solution to Eurozone Problems Not Likely Until Year-End

In Draghi: Nobody can force Spain to seek bail-out,
an article by Valentina Pop at EUObserver.com Economic Affairs,
Pop reports on a press conference held by European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Mario Draghi after the ECB left its key interest rate unchanged, in spite of voices elsewhere to change it.

On the interest rate inertia Jack Ewing writes at the New York Times:

"By keeping its firepower in reserve for now, the central bank put pressure on political leaders to weave the euro zone more closely together, for example by sharing the cost of bank bailouts and giving up more control over government spending. "

ECB Chief Draghi lashed out at prophecies of doom by commentators such as George Soros and Paul Krugman. As Pop writes:

"[Draghi] said it is not "correct" to talk about a three-month deadline to save the euro, as US financier George Soros and top economist Paul Krugman projected in recent weeks.

"This is not the right way to cope with these issues," he said."

Draghi also had stern words for the criticism coming from the USA in general, as Pop writes:

""To my knowledge, the US is not a small-scale economy. Countries around the world should first focus on their own reforms before worrying about spillover effects," he said, hinting at increased criticism from Washington that eurozone leaders are dragging their feet and letting the euro-crisis bring the entire world economy down."

We might add that the Eurozone is also not a small-scale economy and should be able to handle itself financially, in spite of current problems.

Certainly Draghi is correct in saying that prophecies of doom are out of place and one must await the measures that will be taken down the road.

As Reuters reports in Spain needs results of bank audits first - De Guindos:

"Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday there were no immediate plans to request a bailout of Spain's banks, with the results of an audit of the banking sector needed before any further steps are taken."

Obviously, as Ian Wishart reports at the European Voice in Wanted: a plan to save the eurozone, the upcoming European summit at the the end of June will be an important step toward arriving at a solution, but as he writes:

"Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, who is overseeing the ‘roadmap' for fiscal integration, appeared to play down suggestions that a comprehensive plan would be ready in time for the summit.

“It is only the beginning of the work,” he said on Monday (4 June). “Hopefully we can present results of that work by the end of this year.”"

Accordingly, the wheels of European finance here are going to be moving much more slowly and carefully than the somewhat hysterical voices in mainstream media might be wishing, but they will be moving.

The idea that the Eurozone or the European Union could implode within a short period of time is just nonsense, although there is no denying some serious problems -- all foreseeable of course. Nevertheless, erroneous prophecies of doom are merely unnecessarily causing bank depositors to make unnecessary runs on their banks in places like Spain and Greece, and it achieves nothing sensible.

Massive numbers of Germans vacation in Spain and Greece each year: indeed, Germans spend more international tourist dollars per year than any other nation in the world, dollars that make up an observable share of the GDP of such countries. See e.g. the Spiegel article Greece and Egypt Try to Woo Back German Tourists and Das sind die beliebtesten Reiseziele der Deutschen. In any case, the powers that be in Germany most certainly are not going to let a country like Spain to go into default. Half of those German powers that be probably own homes on Mallorca and thus have strong interests in Spain generally. In a way, a part of Spain is almost like a part of Germany.

The key thus is to concentrate on financial and banking SOLUTIONS under the motto that one should spend 80% of one's time on solutions and only 20% of one's time on the problems to be solved.

The financial PROBLEMS are known to everyone, and they are solvable.

Structural economic changes, on the other hand, also necessary within the EU, are much more difficult and will require much more time, and, at the bottom line, must be a primary goal included in the financial solutions.

We might add with a little bit of humor that Krugman may be right on "the economics" and Soros may be right on "the money" but they are both wrong on "the politics" of solutions, which are always politically more complex than things look on paper. Many big players out there are protecting their own vested interests and the ultimate solution will then as always be a kaleidoscope of inputs, not perfect, but keeping the motors of finance and banking running.

Krugman is surely right, for example, that austerity is as at best a short-term non-sustainable solution and that growth can be the only long-term solution to the Eurozone's financial and structural problems. Successful nations such as France and Germany are going to have to pay more attention to helping Europe's periphery to become more modern in economic structure and attitudes. If not, the EU can not survive long-term with a few rich nations and the rest in financial distress.

Soros is surely right that monetary policy has to be fine-tuned to the wealth imbalance among the nations of Europe and of course the resulting debtor-creditor problems among those various European nations. In the end, inflation and expansion of the money supply are surely inevitable, but it has to be done indirectly because devaluation is not directly possible in the Eurozone or in the EU. Without indirect inflation, the Eurozone can not survive long-term.

But again, there is no need to panic and there are a multitude of opportunities for Europe to be become stronger and more stable.

Euro Crisis : George Soros Has Views Similar to Paul Krugman

Catherine Boyle at CNBC Business News quotes George Soros in

Three Months to Save the Euro: George Soros writing:

"“The authorities didn’t understand the nature of the euro crisis; they thought it was a fiscal problem, while it is more of a banking problem and a problem of competitiveness. And they applied the wrong remedy: You cannot reduce the debt burden by shrinking the economy -- only by growing your way out of it,” he said. "

Read the whole article here.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

The Laziest Workers in the EU? Not in Greece by a Longshot: Productivity and not Hours Worked is Important for Financial Success

Work hard and be rich? Wrong. Otherwise slaves would rule the world.

Derek Thompson has a tremendous "think again" article at The Atlantic in Why Does the Laziest Country in Europe Work the Most?, writing inter alia:

"UK, Germany and Spain consider Greece to be the laziest country in Europe. Greece, on the other hand, voted itself the most industrious nation in the EU.

It turns out that the Greeks are right and the rest of Europe is wrong -- in a way. Greece is the hardest-working country in the EU -- and one of the hardest-working advanced countries in the world....

The missing key is productivity. Germans -- armed with large and scaled-up firms, low corruption, state-of-the-art technologies, financing opportunities, and smart global supply chain management -- get a lot more product out of each hour worked. So does the U.S."

See the revealing graph and chart at Thompson's article and start thinking about Europe's financial problems differently -- and more accurately. Poor countries are not lacking in industriousness, they are lacking in modern thinking.

The problem in countries with low productivity is to a large part "system"-caused, because people are backward and stick to outdated ideas and methods that are holding them back from being successful in the modern world. This applies not only to political, government and economic systems, but also to the thinking of citizens in general.

Look at America itself. One reason the USA is falling farther and farther back on the world economic and manufacturing scene, for example, is because of the entrenchment of much of American society in nostalgic and totally outdated ideas that have no place in the modern era.

Crossposted at LawPundit.

Eurovision 2012 Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan Finds Sweden in Triumph with Euphoria by Loreen

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan came to a triumphant close last night, as reported by Trend.az in Sweden wins the Eurovision 2012 Song contest in Baku.

We watched this competition on TV last night, together with 120 million other viewers, not just in Europe, but around the world, and came away greatly impressed by the city of Baku, the country of Azerbaijan, and the people of Azerbaijan, whose impressive Eurovision presentation showed the "trend" of our times toward emerging nations in the East.

It is especially significant to see that a country like Azerbaijan is oriented in part toward the West, while maintaining its own more Eastern traditions.

The Eurovision Song Contest (Baku, Azerbaijan, 2012) Finalists Show an Interconnected Portrait of Europe: And our Favorite is ....

If all you know or have heard about Europe are the financial successes or problems of the European nations in the news, then that is not enough knowledge about Europe. There are many -- other -- essential components.




The world of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, in a thus far fantastic presentation, with the final on Saturday, May 26, 2012, is an amazing musical melting pot that shows the kind of cooperation that is possible between peoples of our Planet Earth, of all origins, of all nations, and of all ages (see the photo linked below of one of the surprising contestants - a group of elder ladies from the Ural Mountains). What a contrast to the above song from Cyprus, our personal favorite.

 Buranovskiye Babushki photograph is linked resized from http://www.buranovskiebabushki.ru/

Europe, especially when viewed in the broader context of related cultures, extends far beyond traditional platitudes and stereotypes.

Take a look below at the musical representatives chosen by European nations to represent them in the contest, choices which show that Europe has a much different character than envisioned by those who just watch recession news on television.

In the list below are the finalists in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

[Many links and texts below are adapted from various pages at Wikipedia, but there are also other sources at the various links.]

CYPRUS
Ivi Adamou was born to a Greek Cypriot father and Bulgarian mother and is under contract with Sony Music Greece. Ivi Adamou's "Snow White" La La Love is our Eurovision 2012 favorite and has the most YouTube hits so far of any of the Eurovision 2012 songs. Where the fans are, that's where the votes are. Twitter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pedf_OQmcmI @IviAdamou #eurovision

RUSSIA
The Russian Eurovision Song Contest entry is Buranovskiye Babushki, a world-wide unique female group from the Ural Mountains (see the photo at the top of this posting) made up of eight sprightly singing and dancing grandmothers (only 6 at a time can sing in Eurovision) who entered the contest to raise money for their Udmurt village. Their recorded songs include, according to the Wikipedia: "Yesterday", "Let It Be","Smoke on the water", "Hotel California" , "The Star Called Sun", "I Am Beautiful", "Sneg-Snezhok", "Chiborio", "Babushki-Starushki". Amazingly, the Russian grannies have a good chance to win this contest.

NORWAY
Tooji (Touraj Keshtkar (Persian: تورج کشتکار‎) was born in Shiraz, Iran, moving to Norway at age one. Tooji is bound to be a star among the ladies.

DENMARK
Soluna Samay was born in Guatemala to German and Swiss parents and attended the American Robert Muller LIFE school.

UNITED KINGDOM
Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey) is an Anglo-Indian who was born in Madras, India. Legendary singer, but now 76 years old.

UKRAINE
Gaitana is a an Afro-Ukrainian singer and songwriter of Ukrainian and Congolese descent.

FRANCE
Anggun is French-naturalised singer-songwriter of Indonesian descent -- the first singer from Indonesia to break into American and European record charts.

SWEDEN
Loreen is of Berber-Moroccan descent.

ITALY
Nina Zilli was born in Italy but moved to Ireland in childhood, later studying opera. She also spent two years in the USA in Chicago and New York.

GREECE
Eleftheria Eleftheriou is a Greek-Cypriot singer born in Cyprus.
 
TURKEY
Can Bonomo represents primarily Muslim Turkey.
He is of Sephardic Jewish descent.

SPAIN
Pastora Soler. The album Fuente de luna included her first big Spanish hit, which was also a number one hit in Turkey.

ALBANIA
Rona Nishliu is a Kosovo-Albanian singer.

LITHUANIA
Donny Montell was born in Vilnius, but highly influenced by Michael Jackson, Queen and Freddie Mercury. 

HUNGARY
The four-man group Compact Disco started to perform live in January 2010, mostly in Hungary, but also in Transylvania, Romania.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
As written at her website MayaSar "Together with the Roma Sinfonietta orchestra, Maya recorded Korake ti znam at [Adriano] Pennino’s studios in Rome. It is worth noting that the orchestra regularly collaborates with Oscar winner Ennio Morricone and singers including Quincey Jones, Roger Waters and Michael Bolton."

MALTA
Kurt Calleja is Maltese singer who earned singing experience in the United Kingdom.

SERBIA
Željko Joksimović is known in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, Austria.

ICELAND
Greta Salóme plays the violin, also for the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.

AZERBAIJAN
Sabina Babayeva from this year's host country Azerbaijan (as last year's Eurovision winning country), prior to being selected, recorded Sikhvarulis tamashi as a duet with Anri Jokhadze, who represented Georgia in the contest.

ESTONIA
Ott Lepland is from the Estonian island of Hiiumaa.  In winter, Hiiumaa can be reached from the mainland via a 26.5 km ice road (the longest in Europe) across the frozen Baltic Sea.

ROMANIA
The group Mandinga shot the video of their song Zaleilah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2012.

MACEDONIA
Kaliopi in her early career toured with Zapro Zaprov "Razvigorče" through Czechoslovakia, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia) and Austria.

IRELAND
Jedward are two identical twins inspired by Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

MOLDOVA
Pasha Parfeny has always been inspired by Stevie Wonder.

GERMANY
Roman Lob is the singer of "Standing Still", a song written by British musician Jamie Cullum.

Yes, the global world has gotten much smaller and much more interconnected, especially in Europe.

The Origin of Written Script in Europe : Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing

The Berlin publisher -- epubli -- of my recently published book,
Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing,
now has its pages up in English
for those of you who have been considering
getting a print or ebook copy of Ancient Signs.

The English-language pages are now at epubli.com
while the German-language pages are at epubli.de.

Lots of amazing stuff in there about the history of ancient Europe.

Happy reading!