The Spanish Conservative government, in a race to deficit reduction, adopted Friday a plan to save the very sensitive areas of health and education, hoping thereby generating 10 billion euros in savings per year. Measurement flagship health reform, which aims to save $ 7 billion and probably promised the greatest unpopularity: retirees will now pay for their medications. An ad against the tide of the election campaign of the government leader Mariano Rajoy, who promised this fall despite the crisis to maintain the purchasing power of retirees. But "this is an effort to seek" the people, "because there is no money to pay utilities," acknowledged Mr. Rajoy Thursday. And "Spain is the second largest consumer of drugs," explained the Minister of Health Ana Mato.

Last year, 3,700 tons of medicines, expired or unused, have been destroyed. Traditionally, Spaniards do not pay to go to the doctor and pay out a portion of the cost of drugs, except for retirees who do not pay them anything. Now the latter, which represent three quarters of the national pharmaceutical spending (11 billion euros, 1.1% of GDP), will pay 10% of the invoice in pharmacies, to a maximum of 8 to 18 euro months depending on their income. Assets, which previously paid 40% of drugs, settle up to 60%, depending on their financial situation.

Unpopular reforms

In education, the government hopes to recover 3 billion euros: it will allow regions to drive up the cost of university tuition by 50%, increasing from 1000 to 1500 euros on average, and increase 20% the number of students per class. The 17 Spanish autonomous communities are in fact the first concerned by this savings plan: they engulf 50% of public spending in Spain. Three-quarters of their budgets spent on health, education and aid to dependent persons. In recent months, many of them have struggled to pay their suppliers, causing discontent among pharmacists and cuts heating and electricity in schools and colleges.  

But in touching on sensitive sectors, the government has come under fire, including the Socialist Party, which has expressed its "rejection front" of this new austerity plan. In health this represents "a paradigm shift in the national system, to gradually deteriorate and seek to dismantle the public health system," said Trinidad Jimenez, responsible for health PSOE. "The government sets the stage for a healthy wealthy and another for the poor," added the consumer association Facua. As for measures for education, "no country has ever overcome an economic crisis by reducing the equal opportunities of his youth" in this area, responded the secretary general of the PSOE, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.

Both reforms are intended to enable regions to save 10 billion euros per year from 2013. According to a government source, "it also helps to share costs between the state and political areas." For the latter, which have already launched austerity measures in recent months, have all faced large popular demonstrations. Scrutinized by the government, they must submit by May remediation plans to reduce their budget deficit of 2.94% of GDP in 2011 to 1.5% in 2012. Those who do not comply will have their path set budget handled by the central state. The country as a whole twelve months to reduce by more than three points the deficit of 8.51% to 5.3% of GDP, and has already announced a budget, the most austere in its history, to recover 27.3 billion.

Volumes were thin due to the closure of many markets around the world for the Easter holiday and investors were cautious while awaiting the monthly U.S. unemployment figures.

The Nikkei lost 79.16 points to 9688.45 points. The Topix broader, yielded 6.86 points (0.82%) to 825.71 points.

"The very optimistic view of the U.S. economy has already been considered by the markets. We can not expect further monetary easing by the Fed, "said Ryota Sakagami for Nikko Securities SMBC

." On the other hand, we see the uncertainty on the front of the European crisis of debt, and general elections in Greece and the presidential election in France will only fuel the uncertainty. "

Ryota Sakagama said he expected that the Nikkei is maintained above 9,000 points, but that its correction will continue until the end of the month or until mid-May, when Japanese companies unveil their profit forecasts for the current year

…… At values ​​…, Toyota Motor lost 2.02% on profit taking. The action is up over 30% since the beginning of the year.

The stronger yen against the euro also weighed on exporters. Canon sold 1.03%, Panasonic and Sony 1.79% 2.04%.

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 0.54%, or 71.52 points, to 13,126.21. The S & P-500, wider, lost 6.98 points, or 0.49%, to 1405.54. The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 15.39 points (-0.49%) to 3,104.96.

The lower growth than expected durable goods orders in the U.S. in February (2.2% against 3.0% expected) has renewed concerns surrounding the recovery in the U.S. .

In addition, analysts said, the traditional quarter-end purchases seem to subside, which removes a source of support on Wall Street.

The S & P 500, and undergoes its worst session in three weeks, however, shows an increase of 11.4% since the beginning of the year, the benchmark fund managers are well on track to sign its best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2009.

Cleaning portfolios to "the end of the quarter had probably carried the stock market these days. This factor plays up because if you buy less value today, it will not be settled before Monday so it will not appear in the first quarter figures, "noted Robbert Van Batenburg, head of equity research at Louis Capital

. The S & P grouping the values ​​linked to commodities fell ; of 1.52% and the energy sector has yielded 1.23%

. action number a global mining equipment Caterpillar fell 3.52% to 104.26 dollars, thus showing the biggest drop in the Dow Jones

….. The heavy oil …. ExxonMobil and Chevron also weighed, with declines of respectively 0.88% to 85.86 dollars and 1.07% to 105.89 dollars ..

……. Despite the decline of day, that the S & P 500 is not dropped below the 1.400 points suggests that the fundamental cycle bull bringing Wall Street six months ago are still in place, said Jim Paulsen, Investment Officer at Wells Capital Management.

Oil prices were down nearly 2%, under the double blow of surging crude inventories in the U.S. and the prospect of more countries use their re reservations policy to curb the sharp rise in gasoline prices.

Gold and copper also fell after data on durable goods orders, that interrupt a series of statistics considered positive for the U.S. economy.

During the meeting, Apple has hit a new record of 621.45 dollars. The action ended at 617.62 (0.51%)

A CSA decision was expected imminently as part of a call for applications for the granting of new frequencies in high definition on TNT for which thirty candidates were ; auditioned from March 5 to 14.

"Due to circumstances at this time of tragedy that all families and our country, the CSA is associated with this sentence and defer its decision regarding the selection of DTT channels", Reuters said a spokesman.

Employees' bonuses on Wall Street fell by around 25% in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to an estimate released Monday by an independent agency in New York.

"We believe that the benefits of Wall Street totaled $ 10.5 billion in 2011, a level well below that of recent years, and that bonuses for the year fell 25%," says a news agency audit of the City of New York.

If compensation practices had changed since the 2008 crisis, with all or most bonus blocked for several years and their payment spread over time, generous bonuses had continued to be paid up to date on New York. Bank executives' bonuses on Wall Street in 2010 had even begun to rise.

The CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein saw his pay triple for example in 2010 to two million. The other four main executives of the bank had also received the same salary increase while the performance of Goldman Sachs had been poor in 2010 (including net income had declined 37% and the turnover was eroded).

Moreover, Wall Street is expected to lose many jobs in 2012, according to the agency. "We believe that Wall Street will eliminate 4,300 jobs this year and wages, including bonuses, decrease by 7.5%," added the independent organization funded by public funds. The paper explains these predictions by "the changing environment in the financial sector", the economic slowdown caused by "problems in the euro area" and "rising oil prices caused by tensions in the Middle East."

For these reasons, the Agency Audit of New York lowered its forecasts for job creation in all sectors: it table more than 22,000 jobs created in New York in 2012, against 38,800 estimated in December and 44,400 in 2013 (against 50,000).

Price rises, tax revenues, reform of the status of tobacconists, banning smoking on beaches … UMP deputy Yves Bur presented Thursday at the Health Minister Xavier Bertrand is a report that smoking and the tobacco industry in all directions. "We start with an observation rather terrible" and "only a comprehensive approach can address," explains Yves Bur. Its proposals aim to halve the number of smokers, for less than 15% of the population smoked in 2025 against 30% today. "At that time, a motion will be hired and may be considered an output of tobacco," said the member, invested long in the fight against smoking.

The first report recommends the establishment of "an inter-ministerial structure specific to the fight against tobacco," "a single contact", appointed by the Prime Minister, along the lines of what has been done for road safety . The High Council of Public Health has made the same proposal last week. Having seen that "the tobacco industry is the only one not to pay for the damage it generates," Yves Bur proposes to introduce a tax on sales by manufacturers. The tobacco tax revenues are about 11 billion euros a year, he said, while the cost of tobacco-related diseases reached 18 billion, a co-pay 7 billion euros, " the equivalent of social security deficit for 2012 ".  

Regarding tobacconists, MP recommends reviewing their status to "not to tie their compensation to the volume of tobacco sales."

Tobacconists angry

The report explores Bur all fields can influence tobacco consumption downward. He recommends "fiscal policy review of tobacco products" and "set targets for increases effective price", a lever often cited by organizations that fight against tobacco. It calls for manufacturers to impose a "neutral standard package", unattractive, and introduce the "sale under the counter", that is to say not to display cigarette packets in newsagents. MP wants to strengthen the means to enforce existing prohibitions, including banning sales to minors, with operations "testing" and penalties "dissuasive" up to and including license revocation. "Banning smoking in front of children has become a rule," said MP: drive to the beach … To help smokers quit, the report recommends a free pick for people in ALD (long-term illness), pregnant women and CMU beneficiaries. Yves Bur also called for "banning links of interest" between the tobacco industry and state officials.

As we approach the presidential election, the member pointed out that the program he proposes "is part of the two five-year period". "It would really be in the spotlight of the presidential candidates to make clear that it will make the fight against tobacco presidential site in terms of health," he said.

"Very angry," the president of the National Confederation of tobacconists, Pascal Montredon, blasted "proposals cloth", seeing the opposite of "work more to earn more". For their part, cigarette makers have described the proposals Bur of "extreme measures", but not really new. They "are an excessive and unrealistic approach," ruled Imperial Tobacco.

And you?

Do you think the measures recommended by Yves Bur are justified? Are they sufficient or excessive?

How far should we go to roll back the number of smokers?

French consumer confidence has improved slightly in February. The indicator that measures it wins a point from January to climb to 82, a continued low level, INSEE announced Friday.

This is the second consecutive month of rise of this index, which had declined in December to its lowest level since December 2008, 80 points (against a long-term average of 100).

The French are less pessimistic because of a slight improvement in their moral outlook on their personal finances (2 points) and the overall standard of living in France (4 points).  

Households are also slightly less pessimistic about the evolution of unemployment (down one point in the index, 64) even though they "are almost as many as in January to anticipate an increase", said INSEE in a statement.

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Rating agencies are again talking about them. After the decision by Moody's to consider placing the French note on negative watch, the issue of their decision-making arises. Back to agencies in four points.

How Does it take decisions?

This is the work of two people in the agency, "managing director" and the analyst in the country studied. They bring together a panel of several analysts (5 to 12 people), and a majority vote following a debate on the prospects of the country. The evaluation criteria focus on four principles. First results with the economic analysis of per capita GDP.Then they evaluate the level of indebtedness of the country with the analysis of public debt relative to national wealth. Third criterion, political strength of a country, a test that was particularly important when Standard and Poor's downgraded the United States in battle between Democrats and Republicans. Finally the agency is studying the history of default of the country. "Their decision is not from a macroeconomic model as is the case for the projections of the ministries or central banks. This is more of a qualitative opinion.Countries are alerted to the decision a few hours before it was released, "said Bertrand du Marais of the University of Nanterre on Slate.

Read: Why France must not lose its triple A

France, she deserves to be degraded?

Moody's decision to consider the placement of the note falls under supervision of course, not abuse. The situation of public accounts in France is worrying. With debt levels at 1.692 trillion euros (86.2% of GDP), Paris is – the 17 countries rated AAA by Moody's – one of the states with the most fragile public finances. The United States, degraded this summer by Standard and Poor's are worse (100%) but investors remain attracted by the U.S. debt. Furthermore, the primary deficit of France off the debt burden reached 3% of GDP, far more than its neighbors triple A rated, the Netherlands (1.6%) and Austria (0.5%).It is these figures that the agency emphasized. Moody's said the financial strength has "weakened (…) because the economic and financial crisis worldwide has led to a deterioration in its debt ratios that are among the most vulnerable countries rated AAA." That said, nothing to panic about the likely reduction of the note according to Alexandre Delaigue, an economics professor at Saint-Cyr and co-author of the blog econoclaste. "Overall, the consequences (a degradation) would be minimal because in fact the creditors have already as if France had already lost its best."

Also read: What I really want the rating agencies

And also: Credit rating agencies for Dummies

Why do we critique always agencies?

For several reasons. First, because they have made many mistakes in the past.After controversy over the rating of companies, including Enron, they were accused of having had a major responsibility in the crisis of suprime, giving the maximum for certain financial products that eventually led to the financial crisis. Moreover, they were criticized for their lack of transparency about the products noted. A former employee of Moody's recently revealed that some banks had withheld information to be rated by these agencies.

Today's critics include on Moody's. The agency would degrade too quickly some states. "Moody's has totally missed the Greek crisis and the subprime crisis. We realize that with Italy and Spain it is trying to change this image agency late. But it is clear that it is too brutal "said Norbert Gaillard, author of" rating agencies ".

How to reform?

Europe has raised the idea of ​​creating a European rating agency. The goal is to break the virtual monopoly of the three agencies, Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch. But it would not address the accusations of bias, is Gunther Capelle-Blancard, professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Deputy Director of CEPII. "The doubts about its independence would be very strong. The proof now European leaders are trying to put pressure on agencies that do not have the figures for Greece in such a negative." Norbert Gaillart advocates for its intervention by the European Central Bank. "The ECB should be the sovereign rating. It would do this based on his notes to her and this would allow it to be more independent rating agencies."

Read also: The European rating agency, such a good idea?

Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday at noon will receive the Executive Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde to talk about it with "the preparation of the Cannes summit of the G20 and the situation in the euro area," the Elysee Palace said Friday.

The head of the French state will fly the next day to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel poour attempt to speed up the rescue plan of the single currency.

Leaders from the eurozone continue intensive negotiations for a recapitalization of banks in the EU to address the risks of contagion from the debt crisis.

Germany has given the green light last week in the expansion of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), which is waiting for the ratification of Slovakia.