The entire world seemed to be itching for a second global crisis last week as financial pundits said now that the US is on stronger terra firma, euro and Europe must go bust. Greece may sail through but there are Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy to contend with. The problem is that while consumers on both sides of the Atlantic are painfully trying to balance income and expenditure by cutting spending on such essentials as food, clothing and shelter, governments insist that champagne must keep flowing.

Fears of the euro collapsing may be exaggerated but popular sentiment in major EU countries like Germany seems to be in favor of putting Europe’s integration on the backburner. A German professor has even threatened to sue the govt if it decides to bail out Greece! Considering Germany’s foreign minister has publicly opposed the growing use of English, The question is whether it is only EU or the eurozone that is heading for disintegration, or is the process of globalization itself in jeopardy.

The scene is confusing. Goldman Sachs is being accused of having helped Greece hide the magnitude of its deficits. Citi says 24 eurozone banks (two third of the industry) will need to raise nearly a trillion dollars over the next three years. Analysts (and Greece) say a weaker euro is actually helping Germany boost its exports. WSJ says Spain, with 19% unemployment and an economy far bigger than Greece, will be the real problem.

Per WTO, world trade contracted by about 12% in 2009, though part of it must have been due to lower oil prices.

RBS has reported losses of $5.5 bn for 2009 while Lloyds, with a loans to deposit ratio of 169%, suffered bad loans of $37 bn last year. Some reports of some financial turbulence in Turkey came in last week.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lost $26 bn and 60 bn, respectively, last year, and say a large wave of foreclosures is yet to come. One report says US sales of alcohol rose last year because of high unemployment but industry revenue remained flat because people bought cheaper drinks. Japan’s public debt is expected to rise to over 225% of GDP in 2010.

Asia is apparently fine, and determined to achieve what US-EU achieved last decade – greater financial innovation, lower savings and higher consumer spending. China’s household deposits, however, rose 19.3% to $3.9 tn last year also. Australia and China have resumed their free trade talks, perhaps because Australia has finally recognized that China is going to remain the biggest buyer of its natural resources.

US is considering auction of airwaves currently held by TV stations, to help overcome the spectrum crunch and meet demand for mobile Internet services.

Toyota chairman admitted before the US Congress that growth had taken priority over safety at his company. Three Japanese auto parts firms are being investigated by US anti-trust authorities.

Oil field services industry is getting consolidated in a big way; Schlumberger is to buy Smith International for $11.34 bn in stock while Baker Hughes is close to completing its $6 bn takeover of BJ Services.

Wal-Mart says it will expand organically, as well as through acquisitions in LatAm and may become more aggressive in China and India also, Macy’s same-store sales grew marginally last quarter, and Kmart former CEO has been fined $10 mn for misleading investors in 2002, when the company filed for bankruptcy. Coke is buying its bottler in North America for $15 bn to exploit synergy; Pepsi had done that last year.

Apple sold the 10 billionth song on iTunes last week. It says it will retain its growing cash hoard ($25 bn last year) and has banned pictures of bikini clad women on iPhones. China has made it compulsory for individuals to verify identities before setting up personal websites. India’s Bharti Airtel has arranged loans of $9 bn for buying African assets of Zain. While Google executives in Italy have been convicted for violation of privacy laws and probably face prison, its executives in China are being aggressively poached by MNCs like Microsoft and Chinese IT companies alike.

China’s Tengzhong has pulled out of race for Hummer unit and GM has started exploring alternate buyers, while BYD expects to match Toyota and GM in vehicle output in about 15 years.

Allianz has started investing aggressively in areas such as parking meters operators and wind energy, Blackstone has announced plans to invest $732 mn in Shanghai, GE is to sell its stake in Garanti Bank of Turkey, estimated to be worth $3.3 bn, and TCW (L.A. investment company) saw investors pulling out $25 bn after it fired its star bond fund manager.

Five top US airlines say they are open to consolidation by mergers and acquisitions, while Airbus is trying to salvage its A400M military plane project stalled because of disagreements among buyers. Lufthansa’s striking pilots were publicly offered jobs of chauffeurs by a car rental last week.

Bayer sales slipped last year to a little over $40 bn. MGM studio, bought for $5 bn by PE Partners in 2005 is up for sale again but offers haven’t exceeded $2 bn so far. Businesses owned by Berkshire of Warren Buffett shed 24,000 jobs in 2009.

US plans to fence its 2,000 miles border are coming to nought because of malfunctioning of radar sensors and other technical glitches. The US Air Force is, however, training more pilots for operating unmanned aircraft (drones) than fighter jets; drones in Afghanistan are operated from bases in the US.

Britain has apologized for having shipped 150,000 poor children abroad between 1920 and 1960 under its child migrant programme. Following Korean Air, All Nippon too has decided to have separate toilets for women passengers. A single rough diamond (507 carat) was sold for $35 mn last week.

You have attended classes for learning golf, music, language and dance. Now look for lessons in managing personal financial risk.

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