Γιάννης Αναστασίου, ο «ελληνάρας» προπονητής

Ο Γιάννης ο Αναστασίου είναι ο ορισμός αυτού που λέμε «ελληνάρας», τουλάχιστον όσον αναφορά την προπονητική πτυχή της καριέρας του, ή πιο εξειδικευμένα τη συμπεριφορά του σχετικά με την ομάδα που εργάζεται τώρα, τον Παναθηναϊκό.

Κατ αρχήν, όταν ο Γιάννης ο Αλαφούζος έψαχνε τον αντικαταστάτη του Βονόρτα, ο Αναστασίου έκανε την πρώτη ελληναράδικη του κίνηση. Αυτοπροτάθηκε. Με περίσσιο θράσος έθεσε μόνος του τον εαυτό του υποψήφιο ρισκάροντας την αντίδραση που θα είχε κάθε πρόεδρος που έχει έστω και τη παραμικρή ιδέα από μπάλα, δηλαδή να του πει «άσε μας κουκλίτσα μου να ξέρουμε εμείς τα κριτήρια με τα οποία θα επιλέξουμε προπονητή, μόνο μικρές ομάδες προσλαμβάνουν προσωπικό που «αυτοπροτείνεται»».

Ξεπερνώντας αυτό το ρεζιλίκι της κατάμουτρης απόρριψης καθώς ο Αλαφούζος από μπάλα δε σκαμπάζει μια, αποφασίζει ο πρόεδρος να υπογράψουν ένα προσύμφωνο, όχι γιατί ήξερε τι είναι, αλλά γιατί έτσι δουλεύουν οι άλλοι, μη τον πάρουν στο ψιλό.

Και τότε έρχεται η δεύτερη ελληναράδικη κίνηση του Αναστασίου, αφότου έχει υπογράψει μόνο ένα προσύμφωνο, του οποίου η αξία δεν είναι μεγαλύτερη ενός κόκκου ρυζιού στη Κίνα, βγαίνει σε όλα τα μέσα ενημέρωσης και διατυμπανίζει ότι προσλήφθηκε. Για να το κάνει αυτό σημαίνει ότι έχει τεράστια ανασφάλεια μέσα του και λογικά ξέρει ότι η πρόσληψή του θα είναι το αποκορύφωμα όλης της καριέρας του, οπότε θεώρησε καλό να κάνει τη πρόσληψή του κορνίζα και να τη περιφέρει καμαρώνοντας σα το γύφτικο σκεπάρνι.

Και αφού γλίτωσε, ένας Θεός ξέρει πως, το απόλυτο άδειασμα από τον Αλαφούζο, οποίος και αποπεράτωσε τη πρόσληψη, όταν μπήκε στη πρώτη προπόνηση ο Αναστασίου έκανε τη τρίτη ελληναράδικη κίνησή του, δήλωσε στον κόσμο «θα χτίσουμε τον ΠΑΟ σε ευρωπαϊκά πρότυπα», λες και ο κόσμος που τον ακούει είναι χαζός και μόλις ακούει τη λέξη «ευρωπαϊκά» αυτομάτως θεωρεί ότι όποιος το λέει είναι γνώστης, ή ο κόσμος δε βαρέθηκε απ τη πληθώρα δήθεν προπονητών τύπου Τεν Κάτε που θέλησαν να «χτίσουν τον ΠΑΟ σε ευρωπαϊκά πρότυπα» και έφυγαν νύχτα …

Θεωρώ πως ο κόσμος τον έχει πάρει χαμπάρι ήδη πόσο ασόβαρος και ανασφαλής είναι και είναι θέμα χρόνου μέχρι να έρθουν τα κακά αποτελέσματα, οπότε και θα λανσάρει το κύκνειο άσμα του «ελληναράδικου» ρεπερτορίου του, και βλέποντας φαντάσματα και συνομωσίες παντού θα αποδώσει τις ήττες σε «κακές διαιτησίες», «παράγκες», «δυνάμεις που δε θέλουν τον Παναθηναϊκό να προοδέψει», «παρασκήνια» και οτιδήποτε πέρα από τη λογική, μόνο και μόνο για να βρει άλλοθι για την αναπόφευκτη αποτυχία του.

Πρέπει όσο είναι καιρός να απαλλάξουμε το ποδόσφαιρό μας από τέτοιου τρόπου σκέψης προπονητές, να το γεμίσουμε με εργατικούς και φιλόδοξους τύπου Τσιώλη και Χριστόπουλου και έτσι θα ανεβούμε με μαθηματική ακρίβεια τα σκαλιά της φήμης στις ευρωπαϊκές λίγκες.

The Global Debt [Infographic]

Obama's first successful term analyzed

According to WSJ, they are the numbers of Obama's first four years as economic president.

Apart from the clear turn he wanted to make, and successfully made in cutting down government employers and opening jobs in the private industry, he managed a whole lot of side successes by not lowering average wage in this transition phase of the economy and lowering the oil prices. He succeded in making the last with both orthodox and ambiguous methods. This change owes its existence partly in the death of Osama bin Laden, partly in the invasions in some oil-producing countries, some of which were not achieved (remember the Kony 2012 campaign) and some of it in moves by his government that actually saved money for his people.

All in all, EconMan believes that he surely deserves another run and this blog fully backs him to bring further success for America and everyone whose interest collaborate with its.

Why not working now will work out for my generation's benefit

Today we're gonna review youth unemployment, especially the one referring to the univeristy graduates. Many univerisities have established a mandatory practice as part of student's academic degree. Under this scheme, during an eight-semester spand of studies, they usually dedicate their last-eighth semester working for a company or public sector or doing some reasearch, depending on the students' grades and wish, so that the transition phase of the student between university life and real life become smoother and easier. This help the student as they get experience and enhance his CV and also helps the company/public or the hosting institution as it gets a freshman full of knowledge and excitement for almost nothing, or at least less than what are they obligated to pay by law for any other worker. Taking this into details, the student is much more benefitted than the host institution that he will do his practice, because just by studying and getting good grades in any way he can get them, he benefits from the affiliations of his university by going into an institution that would not be able to go underother circumnstances. And as if this benefit was not enough, he gets paid for itby state money, primarily given by the european union. At the end of the line, we see that the european tax payers are paying for the first job that the student will begin and the whole europe obligatorily fonds the start of the career of the student, probably without even knowing.

As crisis showed its worst face from 2009 onwards and until those lines are being written, european union cut the benefits to Greece as any rational loan-giver  would do. And did well. One of the first guidelines that should be given were to stop those amount allocated for this particular reason. But it was not, not until
now. This was the first semester that there were no state money available for students to do their practice. And even though I was one of the students that "suffered" from this cut, I am fully behind this logic as I think it will benefit my long-term future rather than damage me, and I will explain why.

As I was searching to do my practice in the last semester, I got informed about the ways I can do it and the preferred choices of other students doing it before me. I could either find one compyn by myself, show them them my CV and if I was good enough they could "hire" me for 6 months and do my payment as non-taxed
gift to my uni, where it would give the money to me, or wait until state money come and then choose from the affiliated institutions list and go work there.

Money never came, so I never got to use them. I failed to find a solution myself using the other way, but this is a personal failure that I tottaly blame myself and we won't discuss in this post.

What matter is that I got excluded from money and experience I could take but I  thank God for that, as this exclusion ofter the first anger brought me to realise that this is how life is gonna be and that I should fight for everything in my life and nothing is going to come easy. This exclusion helped me to realise that I have to improve my CV myself taking personal initiatives and not wait from either the state or European Union to do me any favours that I don't merit at all. By depriving me from some old "benefits", my country actually entitles me to deprive it from some of the "benefits" that I could possibly give them, or the students before me was taking the benefits would give them back.

For example, giving me this kind of job, the practice one, would give it an argument against me in a future conversation about how good it's doing its job. So, if goverment would harass some money and I would see it, I would b esupposed to downvote it in the next elections. But if it has given me a job, a practise
one or a real one in my later future, I wouldn't say a word, as I would have kind of co-harassed the money by taking a job I don't actually deserve.

Concluding, the whole point of this post is that by cutting the money for jobs, either practise for students or real jobs for grown adults, government cuts the customer relations in has with the people, so in extension in cannot shut people up with money, so it cannot destract them from watching all its faults, so government is obligated to be much more precise and efficient in its choices.

And by becoming more efficient and better would lead us getting out of crisis and jobs will open again and prosperity will come. The current greek government has understood this and it didn't give me work now, in fact put me to think and search more, and if things go according to plan, I will have a better work in the
future than what would I have if I were working right now.

Books for 2013

EconMan salutes the world from the last day of the worst year for europe ! And mine, bearing in mind the latter half of it. As we are shifting towards 2013, and everyone making their resolutions, we are here to dot the i. We are here for the detail ! And what is the detail ? Reading books !! Books will help us, almost as much as the next video (doing the introduction instead of me) will:

So I assume that you have the same reading pace and interest as me, which is quite low, and I will recommend 4 books:

Book number 1:

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World

Life sometimes seems illogical. Individuals do strange things: take drugs, have unprotected sex, mug each other. Love seems irrational, and so does divorce. On a larger scale, life seems no fairer or easier to fathom: Why do some neighborhoods thrive and others become ghettos? Why is racism so persistent? Why is your idiot boss paid a fortune for sitting behind a mahogany altar? Thorny questions–and you might be surprised to hear the answers coming from an economist. 

But Tim Harford, award-winning journalist and author of the bestseller The Undercover Economist, likes to spring surprises. In this deftly reasoned book, Harford argues that life is logical after all. Under the surface of everyday insanity, hidden incentives are at work, and Harford shows these incentives emerging in the most unlikely places. 

Using tools ranging from animal experiments to supercomputer simulations, an ambitious new breed of economist is trying to unlock the secrets of society. The Logic of Life is the first book to map out the astonishing insights and frustrating blind spots of this new economics in a way that anyone can enjoy. 

The Logic of Life presents an X-ray image of human life, stripping away the surface to show us a picture that is revealing, enthralling, and sometimes disturbing. The stories that emerge are not about data or equations but about people: the athlete who survived a shocking murder attempt, the computer geek who beat the hard-bitten poker pros, the economist who defied Henry Kissinger and faked an invasion of Berlin, the king who tried to buy off a revolution.
Once you’ve read this quotable and addictive book, life will never look the same again.

Book number 2:

The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas

Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world--which they do everywhere, all the time.Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons.The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles.

Book number 3:

Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist

In Discover Your Inner Economist one of America’s most respected economists presents a quirky, incisive romp through everyday life that reveals how you can turn economic reasoning to your advantage—often when you least expect it to be relevant. 

Like no other economist, Tyler Cowen shows how economic notions--such as incentives, signals, and markets--apply far more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business. What does economic theory say about ordering from a menu? Or attracting the right mate? Or controlling people who talk too much in meetings? Or dealing with your dentist? With a wryly amusing voice, in chapters such as "How to Control the World, The Basics" and "How to Control the World, Knowing When to Stop" Cowen reveals the hidden economic patterns behind everyday situations so you can get more of what you really want. 

Readers will also gain less selfish insights into how to be a good partner, neighbor and even citizen of the world. For instance, what is the best way to give to charity? The chapter title "How to Save the World—More Christmas Presents Won’t Help" makes a point that is every bit as personal as it is global. 

Incentives are at the core of an economic approach to the world, but they don’t just come in cash. In fact, money can be a disincentive. Cowen shows why, for example, it doesn’t work to pay your kids to do the dishes. Other kinds of incentives--like making sure family members know they will be admired if they respect you--can work. Another non- monetary incentive? Try having everyone stand up in your next meeting if you don’t want anyone to drone on. Deeply felt incentives like pride in one’s work or a passing smile from a loved one, can be the most powerful of all, even while they operate alongside more mundane rewards such as money and free food. 

Discover Your Inner Economist is an introduction to the science of economics that shows it to be built on notions that are already within all of us. While the implications of those ideas lead to Cowen’s often counterintuitive advice, their wisdom is presented in ordinary examples taken from home life, work life, and even vacation life… How do you get a good guide in a Moroccan bazaar?

Book number 4 (just for economists):

A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation

Why do markets keep crashing and why are financial crises greater than ever before? As the risk manager to some of the leading firms on Wall Street–from Morgan Stanley to Salomon and Citigroup–and a member of some of the world’s largest hedge funds, from Moore Capital to Ziff Brothers and FrontPoint Partners, Rick Bookstaber has seen the ghost inside the machine and vividly shows us a world that is even riskier than we think. The very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design tells the story of man’s attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and highly leveraged hedge funds.

Happy new 2013

EconMan on Hollande's 75% tax

Government proposal to tax those earning more than €1m at 75% has divided public opinion and led some to leave France

The French constitutional council has rejected a government proposal to levy a 75% tax on high earners.

The tax on incomes over €1m has divided opinion in France and encouraged some to set up homes outside France.

The actor Gérard Depardieu bought a house in Belgium, prompting the French prime minister, Jean Marc Ayrault, to say: "It's pathetic really. Paying taxes is an act of patriotism and we're asking the rich to make a special effort here for the country." In response Depardieu offered to give up his passport.

The government will redraft the tax proposal and resubmit it, Ayrault's office said on Saturday. The council's ruling would not obstruct the government's determination to reduce the public deficit, it added.

The high tax rate was the centre piece of President François Hollande's election campaign earlier this year but it has infuriated France's high earners, many of who have already moved to cities such as London.

The constitutional council is a politically independent body that rules on whether laws, elections and referendums are constitutional. It is made up of nine judges and three former presidents, and is concerned the tax would hit a married couple where one partner earned above €1m but it would not affect a couple where each earned just under €1m.

Ayrault's comments to Depardieu prompted him to write an open letter to the prime minister: "I am leaving because you consider success, creativity and talent grounds for sanction," he wrote.

Depardieu said he had paid more than €170m in taxes over the last four decades. He said he no longer recognised his country and offered to surrender his passport if he was, indeed, so pathetic.

Earlier this month, Edouard Leclerc, the founder of one of France's biggest supermarkets, said that the government's attitude to the rich recalled the rhetoric of the French Revolution.

"Whether you like Depardieu or not is not the point," he said. "It's this government's fiscal campaign against those who make money in this country. Maybe it's not 1789, but there will be plenty of rich leaving France. And there is a frightening populism on the rise."

EconMan says that Hollande made this move knowing it's gonna fail. He proposed such a tax so that he could have an argument in a future conversation. This means that if some time someone accuses him of not doing enough to save france, he will be able to say "I wanted to tax the rich but I was not let" and as intention matters more than results in most people's eyes and he should now focus more on eliminating France's chances of becoming the next target of speculators by helping his own banks.
THE I HAVE BEEN DOTTED AND ECONMAN DID HIS DUTY. TA LEME.

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/29/france-constitutional-court-rejects-tax-rate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJFLh7aVd7c

Merry Christmas to all Christians and may the rest have a nice day

This is the first post of the new blog, I hope it is the first of a long string of prosperous and meaningfull posts that will contribute in explaining what is going on around us, mention the details that decide the champion and lose itself in the pointlessness of dotting the ice.