American billionaire Warren Buffett wants his share of sacrifice to help America reduce its budget deficit. In an article published in The New York Times, the head of Berkshire Hathaway investment fund called on parliamentarians to raise taxes on Americans with annual incomes exceed a million dollars, and even more taxing those who earn more than ten million dollars per year.

He said it does not hurt to use or for investment, while helping to clean up the country's finances. "Our leaders have called for shared sacrifice, he writes. But when they did ask, they spared me. I checked with my friends to see which mégariches sacrifices they expected.Them either were not affected. "Warren Buffett has led his small survey: last year's tax rate accounted for 17.4% of its taxable income, while that of 20 workers in his office was between 33% and 41%.

"While the poor and middle class fighting for us in Afghanistan, and while many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, we, the mégariches, continue to benefit from special tax exemptions," says the American billionaire.

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A cold shower! Well than expected by economists, the announcement of a French no growth in the second quarter 2011 is a very bad surprise. The surge of 0.9% of GDP in the first quarter is no longer a distant memory, the stagnation of activity between March and June changed all that in full preparation of the budget in 2012. Because the government now sees its growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012 seriously undermined.

The cold snap of the second quarter mainly due to a decline of 0.7% of household consumption. "This is the highest in fifteen years and the third largest drop in consumption in fifty years," notes Laurence Boone, chief economist for Europe Bofa Merrill Lynch. The end of the scrapping weighed heavily on automobile purchases.But the damage is deeper: "Households have reduced their spending in all positions in industrial goods," notes Catherine Stephan, at BNP Paribas.

Now, with an asset growth of 1.4% since early 2011, observers doubt the capacity of France to meet its objectives over the next two years. Jennifer McKeown at Capital Economics, expects no more than 1.5% in 2011, far from the 2% of the government. BNP Paribas, it is hardly more optimistic, showing 1.7%. "To achieve a growth of 1.8% throughout the year, it takes a minium that GDP grew by 0.5% in the third and fourth quarters," said Philippe Waechter, Natixis AM. This is exactly what INSEE predicted in June, before the market crisis.But "given the surveys suggesting a slowdown in July, balances that are a priori not unique and shock the financial markets, an increase of 0.5% in the third quarter was the highest of the range, "he says.

Tax loopholes

Under these conditions, the forecast of 2.25% of GDP growth for 2012, on which the budget was to be built next year, is totally obsolete. "This year we will be online," however, assured Baroin RTL on Friday, saying that "this second quarter, disappointing that the first course, which was far ahead was anticipated."For the Minister of Economy, therefore, "it does not change the matrix on which we are working on the budget."

This position should change Aug. 24, at the meeting at the Elysee, presided over by Nicolas Sarkozy, to wedge the new budgetary decisions. At that time, many expect a downward revision of growth forecasts that will involve … an upward revision of cost savings! "We will no matter what the objective of reducing the public deficit to 5.7% of GDP in 2011 and 4.6% in 2012 to reach the 3% in 2013," insists there be tireless in the entourage the budget minister, Valérie Pécresse. The equation is simple. "A lower growth of 0.25 points in 2011 will not prevent Bercy to meet its objectives for the year. However, at current rates, the deficit is moving more towards 4% of GDP in 2013, "calculates Laurence Boone."To return to the 3% target should be achieving 20 billion in additional savings over two years."

So far, the government planned to cut 3 billion in tax loopholes. He will have to change gear. Philippe Marini, rapporteur of the budget in the Senate, calls for 6 to 10 billion in additional savings. If the final figure is not stalled, the method is refined: there will be a general plane of the tax loopholes, coupled with the removal of some of them, for the sake of "tax justice" according to Bercy. Niches affecting corporate tax for large companies are in the sights and the tax on real estate gains could be reviewed upwards. No question, however, to one year of presidential, touching the 5.5% VAT in catering. A niche that cost 3 billion each year and the economic effects, however, uncertain.

After the storm that plunged all the stock markets yesterday, the markets should be less nervous on Thursday. The Asian markets have returned to the green or show moderate declines. European shares are expected to follow the same tendency to appeasement and are expected to open up. In Paris the CAC 40 is expected to gain 1.4% in early trade, the Dax in Frankfurt 1.6% and the FTSE 100 in London 1.3%.

Wednesday, the markets were shaken by rumors of a deterioration in the rating of France, immediately denied by the rating agencies and the French government, and concerns about the health of the bank Societe Generale. And the CAC 40 plunged 5.45%, narrowly escaping the psychological threshold of 3000 points to 3002.99 points. Other European markets have suffered the same drop Frankfurt dropped 5.13%, 3.05% London. Madrid and Milan 5.49% 6.65%.In New York, the Dow fell 4.62% and 4.09% for the Nasdaq.

Bank stocks follow

Gold continues, meanwhile, fly from record to record. The precious metal has crossed the threshold of 1800 dollars. It is this Thursday morning in 1790 dollars, after hitting a new record of 1815.50 dollars. However, oil resumed its decline in Asia. Yet he had resisted the panic the day before with the announcement of a dramatic and unexpected decline in crude inventories in the United States. In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" lost 79 cents to 82.10 dollars and that of Brent North Sea fell by 1.10 dollars to 105.58 dollars.

Among the values ​​to be followed, the bank that have been heavily tested yesterday.In particular Société Générale, after unscrewing of 14.74% on Wednesday asked the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to investigate the origin of the rumors that have depressed its course. The CEO of the bank, Frédéric Oudéa, denounced, in an interview with Le Figaro, "the series of attacks" against the French banking sector "sounds completely fantastic, I struggle with the utmost force, it is taken at Societe Generale, "he lamented. "We have no fear on our lending: we achieved 93% of our long-term funding program year, he added.Short-term side, we have 105 billion euros of underlying assets with central banks and keep full access to the interbank market. "

BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole also fell Wednesday by 9.5% and 11.8%.

In addition, EADS, the parent company of Airbus, said Wednesday it will not achieve its objectives in the United States in 2020 without new acquisitions.

Saint-Gobain has announced the acquisition of Solar Gard, a subsidiary of Belgian group dedicated to Bekaert Specialty Films, as part of its strategy to accelerate its growth through acquisitions.

The oil company Maurel & Prom has reported a surge of 123% of its revenue thanks to increased revenues in Gabon and Nigeria.

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Wall Street closed on a nice increase on Tuesday. Finally the green, while the day was very hard: the Nasdaq fell 6.90%. On Tuesday, at the opening, the rebound was in order. And even if it was shaken by the Fed, which held a speech rather worrying to 20 hours (Paris time), the trend is finally returned to positive. At the close, the Dow actually increased from 3.98% to 11,240 points, with a surge in the last few minutes, and recross the threshold of 11,000 points, lost yesterday.The Standard & Poor's 500 and 100 Nadsad, very volatile, too, have finally rebounded 4.75% respectively) in 1173 and 5.29% points to 2483 points.

A sustained increase in contrast to the cold reception that investors gave the Fed about tonight: the Central Bank of the United States announced Tuesday it would keep its key interest rate near zero "in least until mid-2013 "and that it was considering new stimulus package to help the economy. These ads have been justified by growth 'considerably slower' than expected and risks "have increased". And investors did not like the Fed is so accommodating, a sign that the economy is really bad.But ultimately, they are relieved that the monetary authorities are behind them.

Also very anxious before the meeting with the Fed, the European and Asian market, have they finally closed in the green after a yoyo session. In Paris the CAC 40 fell below 3,000 points for the first time since July 2009. But the trend seems to have subsided, the indices being pressed into the green in the afternoon.

Global oil demand to decrease

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Tuesday lowered its forecast for growth in global demand for crude in 2011, citing deteriorating macroeconomic outlook in most advanced economies paydayloans. In its monthly report, OPEC reduced its forecast of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) now and plans for this year growth in global demand of 1.21 million bpd of crude.In financial markets, oil prices ended Tuesday to its lowest level since September 29, 2010, yielding about 2.5%. On the Nymex, the contract on September U.S. crude (WTI) ended on a loss of 2.01 dollars, or 2.47% to 79.30 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent advanced yielded 1.74%, or 1.81 dollar to 101.93 dollars.

Earlier this afternoon, investors are aware of a new better than expected, but still not glorifying to the future of U.S. growth. Productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, fell at an annual rate of 0.3% over the period April to June after falling 0.6% the previous quarter (revised from 1.8%). The market expected it folds down from 0.8% in the second quarter.

Face communication at high risk of the Fed tonight, "it is clear that the average productivity of U.S. companies in the second quarter is very far from the concerns of the market and will go unnoticed" analysts suggest Aurel BGC. Especially since the figure is clearly negative, the victim of an increasingly weakened growth.

The market capitalization of U.S. computer maker Apple (5.89% to 374.01 dollars) briefly exceeded that of the oil giant ExxonMobbil (2.39% to 71.87 dollars) Tuesday, becoming the company's most expensive the world, said a specialist told AFP. The market capitalization of both groups were around 340 billion dollars in the afternoon in New York, told AFP Volokhine Gregory, head of markets for the company portfolio management Meeschaert New York.That of Apple rose temporarily above that of ExxonMobil to 7:20 p.m..

Friday night, two days after intervening in Parliament without presenting concrete and after two weeks of falling markets, Silvio Berlusconi announced a drastic revision of budget targets. He was accompanied by his Minister of Economy, Giulio Tremonti: both showed a facade of unity after publicly bickered on the eve of the ECB's role in the crisis, which had a bad effect.

The new roadmap is binding. Parliament will be asked to register immediately the "golden rule" which prohibits any deficit in the Constitution. The balance of public accounts will advance to 2013 instead of 2014, deadline too far in the eyes of the markets. This means emerge from 7-8000000000 new resources in the form of budget cuts and reductions in structural costs.In this context, the Minister of Administration, Renato Brunetta, estimates that the deficit target to 1.5% of GDP next year and 0.2% at end 2013 is achievable. The government is also considering a new Labour Code introduced more flexibility in wage bargaining, tax reform, growth-oriented and cuts in government spending. It remains to translate these intentions into decrees by the Cabinet, so that Parliament can approve the final quarter of 2011.

Historically high rates

The pressure has paid off. Brussels and the ECB have joined forces this weekend to make the government realize that the time for procrastination was over. Rates have exceeded 400 basis points with the German Bunds, a historically high level. Italy has urged the ECB to acquire Italian government securities on the secondary market.Frankfurt on Sunday night welcomed the efforts of the country. The German Government considers that it is first in Italy to prove the seriousness of his reforms.

A crucial week therefore expects the peninsula. The social partners will be informed of the contents of the measures of fiscal austerity plan Wednesday. On Thursday, the budget committees and Constitutional Affairs will shorten their vacation to hear Giulio Tremonti.

While European stock markets, starting with Paris, still closed on Friday decreases, Baroin called to remain calm. The Minister of Economy, which had cut short his vacation to "take stock with his teams," according to the Elysée, stressed the need to "keep a cool head and not make a tracing paper of the excitement that can be observed on a given market. "

Invited to France Info, just after the close of the Paris Bourse, which for the first time ever signed a tenth meeting of consecutive decline, including the minister explained that "the questions posed from a double question mark: the character of the strong global economic growth and the important issue in Europe and worldwide of this problem of public debt. "

On this last point, Baroin said that "the determination of the 17 heads of state of the euro area should not doubt the investors." And remember, in reference to the plan of aid to Greece reached July 21, that "in Europe, there was an agreement by the Heads of State very important because it offered answers payday loans in one hour. These responses must be heard by the markets. "

Latency

The Minister of Economy, however, admitted that there was "a latency reduction" between the announcement of the plan, which is "a good plan," and its practical implementation. It must indeed be ratified by national parliaments. In this regard, Baroin was keen to dispel doubts about the possibility of rejection by the German parliamentarians. "The plan will be voted on July 21. There is no other way to protect our currency which is the common good of the countries in the region, "said he.But "time is not the Democratic one click of a market operator," he said.

In order to "restore investor confidence," Baroin also ensures that "we must strengthen the governance of the euro area to make it optimal."

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Half of the historic buildings owned by private individuals. Listed or registered, these buildings are part of the national heritage and the 1913 law on historic monuments, heritage built into the Code, provides the financial support of private actors to help their conservation.

Owners who wish to make a historic monument restoration work can get state funds through the Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) and regional and general councils. The granting of funds by the first condition for most of the time the agreement of local authorities.

Restoring an identical

The first step is to validate the work projects by the DRAC. An architect of the buildings in France will check that it is a restoration project at the same rather than maintenance and repair ordinary.The architect must also approve the selection of the contractor responsible for carrying out the work. It must have certification awarded by Qualibat every five years.

Permission to work obtained it takes on average within six months – the owner can take the steps to apply for funding from the regional conservation of historical monuments, decentralized service of the Ministry of Culture responsible for allocating the funds allocated each year by the state. The need to restore or the urgency of intervention, will be crucial in the decision. The DRAC Ile-de-France added that the progress of the project is also examined.Hence the importance of presenting a solid case together with plans, photos, specifications, implementation schedule work …

The association La Demeure Historique, one of the two organizations accredited by the state, began to identify in a report the amount of financing obtained by the private owners of historic buildings through co-financing public (state and region). The latest figures available are for 2008 and set the total amount of funding allocated by the DRAC to 20.5 million euros, 15 million for listed buildings and 5.5 million for the monument included in the supplementary inventory.An amount up slightly from 2007 but well behind the 30 million allocated in 2000.

Isabelle de Charnace, following the request for public subsidies for La Demeure Historique association, said the 1913 law provides for the payment of a grant of up to 40% of the total work to a listed building and 15 % for a monument inscribed payday loan. "In practice, it is far from reaching these numbers consistently, but it is important to get not even one euro of subsidy," said she. The downstream of the DRAC has a twofold consequence. The first is tax because it qualifies for the tax deduction of 100% of the work. Without subsidies, the owner has the right to deduct only half.The second is that it generally serves as a passport to get help from the regions and departments.

Regions and departments

Figures published in the report of La Demeure Historique reveal a variety of situations from one region to another. In 2008, 11 of the 21 regions surveyed (the data on Corsica and overseas territories are not included), have paid any subsidy. In 2010, the number rose to 14. According to the association, this disengagement is due to the fact that the regions consider that they must give priority to financing the public patrimony. They also prefer to intervene to save the monuments unclassified through the Heritage Foundation.According to the latest figures only 55 operations have been financed by the regional councils in 2008, against 197 in 2005.

The total amount of aid allocated, however, is virtually unchanged: 3.310 million euros in 2005 and 3.206 million euros in 2008. The award criteria are also very different from one region to another, some requiring the opening scene to the public, participation in events, or the mere possibility of admiring the monument from the public way. In 2008, the regions with the most generous private monuments were Auvergne (2 million for 28 projects), Britain (547,000 euros for 19 projects) and Haute-Normandie (340 000 euros for a project).

As for general tips, 28 of the 87 who responded to questionnaires (out of 91 respondents) did not grant any subsidy to private monuments.Four departments have even enacted regulations removing the ability to finance operations of tells. They are still more generous than the regions participating in the total funding of 475 operations for 6.734 million euros. An amount in free fall over the year 2003, when county councils were given more than ten million.

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It is not far from the "loss of face." The misfortunes of the new high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai are doing good laugh from all over China, while the press is unleashed and the authorities are trying to limit the damage. It must be said that it was promoted as a symbol of the Chinese railway resounding success, ready to go to conquer the world. But the beginnings are disastrous.

Last week, the train fell down several times. Internet forums and newspapers are full of stories telling outraged passengers have found in open country, stranded in trains closed and sweating profusely in the searing heat of summer. The Ministry of Railways had promised Friday that these problems would be "resolved" expeditiously. His spokesman, Wang Yongping, presented "excuses".And recognized that the line had seen "dozens of power outages" and a host of other "problems". The summer storms are largely responsible.

This iconic TGV line was opened with great fanfare on June 30, very proudly with "a year ahead" and, just as symbolically, the day before the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party. It was presented as the flagship of the newly high-tech controlled by China, and one of his arms out to conquer the world. Premier Wen Jiabao, said the line "operational" in Beijing before boarding for the first trip to the South. This train will link the two major Chinese cities 1300 km apart in less than five hours. The construction of the line has cost 23 billion euros.In March, the audit office of the state showed that 187 million yuan (20 million) had been diverted from the site by individuals or companies.

Massive rail projects

Chinese railway projects are enormous. In 2009, it was announced that 42 high-speed lines were planned for 2012, for an investment of 210 billion euros. China has the network of its kind in the world's largest, with more than 8000 km of track, and she wants to extend it to 25,000 kilometers by 2015 and 50,000 km in 2020. This year, like last year, Beijing is expected to invest 70 billion euros. Since the end of 2009, the "fastest train in the world" flows 350 km / h between Guangzhou and Wuhan. And last December, China announced proudly beating the world speed record with an oar unchanged at 486.1 km / h.But many voices cast doubt on the economic viability of some lines, less strategic than between Beijing and Shanghai. In February, the authorities decided to reduce the speed of TGV Chinese, for purposes of economy and to improve their safety. And the dramatic dismissal for corruption of the Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun, also in February, has revived speculation about a slowdown in rail projects.

Meanwhile, it is the airlines are rubbing their hands. They were sentenced say – almost – on the route from Beijing to Shanghai. The price of a one-way train range from 410 yuan (44 euros) and 1,750 yuan (190 euros), according to three classes, against about 1,300 yuan (140 euros) for a plane ticket in economy class.The airlines had already begun to lower their prices, with discounts up to 65% in response to the competition ground. They should slow down the movement …

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Philip Carli, who arrived in October 2010 within the Amaury group, wants to make Paris Aujourd'hui en France "a reference to the national daily press and local cross-media in France."

LE FIGARO. – What is the content of the proposed stimulus package you presented yesterday to the employees of "Parisien in France today?"

Philippe CARLI. – We have decided to invest 30 million euros to develop and diversify our offer. This choice results from the observation that 80% of our revenues come from sales to the number. We must therefore meet the expectations of our readers. The objective is to increase our revenues of 100 million euros on the brand Le Parisien in France today. To retain and expand our audience, we plan to invest ten million euros, with, among others, the creation of a weekly magazine offers.Coupled with the daily on weekends, it will include in the second half of 2012, a news and lifestyle magazine picture of a hundred pages. In a second step could be added a weekly edition of our monthly enriched La Parisienne.

And for everyday?

Besides the fact that the model will be upgraded with a passage of 64 full color pages, we wish to reaffirm our commitment to strengthening our close nine departmental editions (eight departments of the Ile-de-France and the Oise), representing 49% of our sales. We plan to increase their editorial pagination of 50% and increase local resources, including rich media. Finally, to be closer to the cities and communities, we want to enter into agreements with associations, clubs and municipalities.A manager of the communities would be created for each edition.

You also mentioned before the diversification of employees …

Indeed we expect to invest 20 million euros in acquisitions of companies specializing in electronic transactions, including trade between individuals, group purchasing, or even the classifieds. We are also interested in human services.

The envelope of 30 million euros, also includes capital expenditure?

The journal's editorial changes will be accompanied by a modernization of two of our printing presses Saint-Ouen, where we have modernized our mailroom at a cost of 3 million euros. In addition, we invest in our management tools related to our subscribers, our readers and clients.30 to 35 million French people each month are in contact with one of the hallmarks of our group (Le Parisien in France today, the team, Amaury Sport Organisation). It's time to capitalize on these contacts by imagining new offers for our subscribers. I am convinced that this is a very strong leverage income.

Where are you in the digital convergence of your editors?

If there is one place where it is well advanced, it is in our county editions, where journalists play the game But there is still room for improvement, including better integration of information flow and anticipate events . In terms of organization of the group Le Parisien, five major areas should be established, bringing together existing services around cross-cutting issues – news, entertainment and sports – and two that would be created – investigation and image.The realization of any newspaper should be linked to art direction and a cross-media desk would also be created to handle all information and redirect them to different media.

This major reorganization will she downsizing?

It should actually result in the removal of items from 40 to 50 of the 600 employees that has Le Parisien. But I said that my desire is to avoid forced departures. We want to set up a voluntary redundancy plan the details of which will be discussed with the social partners in September.

What functions are involved?

Mainly managerial functions, simplifying the hierarchical organization, and positions related to the achievement of the newspaper.The creation of new centers, in particular survey and image, is expected to provide opportunities in writing to some of those involved. Scribblers writing should not, however, be affected.

On the branch Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), what are your plans?

We will continue its internationalization. Several opportunities are being explored. We will support the development of ASO in South America, including Brazil, where we opened a subsidiary in late 2010. But also in Spain, where we took a significant stake in the Vuelta, the Tour of Spain. We also plan to organize events around the bike in Qatar and Oman. Discussions are also underway for events in China.

AntiSec movement, for "anti-security", would he struck again? The hackers who target sites of multinational corporations and state agencies are threatening this time the giant apple. In a tweet issued Sunday, the Anonymous group of hackers published a link to a document containing 26 IDs and passwords. According to the pirates, this is the contents of an Apple server to collect online surveys.

"It is not too strong, but still" hackers announce his tweet before providing a link to the document hacked. "# Apple could also be a target. But do not worry, we're busy elsewhere. # AntiSec "More than the document itself, which contains little information, so it's a threat contained in the forward message Anonymous.

The tweet group of hackers claiming AnonymousIRC attack. DR