Bank Austria und ASVG-Pensionen: Worum es bei dem Streit geht

27. Jänner 2016, 17:42, derstandard.at

Die Bank nutzt ein Gesetz, das für Einzelfälle gedacht war. Hans-Jörg Schelling nennt das „inakzeptabel“

Wien – Die Bank Austria will 3.300 Mitarbeiter aus der hauseigenen Sozialversicherung in die allgemeine Sozialversicherung überführen. Der Vorgang ist im Gesetz (ASVG) klar geregelt und wurde schon oft durchgeführt – allerdings nur in Einzelfällen und in der Regel für Staatsbedienstete, die in das ASVG wechselten. Daher fiel bisher nicht auf, wie vorteilhaft die Übertragung für den alten Arbeitgeber ist.

Finanzminister Hans Jörg Schelling nannte das Vorgehen am Mittwoch „inakzeptabel“. Der alte Arbeitgeber muss nur sieben Prozent des Letztgehaltes (maximal der Höchstbeitragsgrundlage) als Mitgift beisteuern. Arbeitnehmer im ASVG müssen aber 22,8 Prozent des aktuellen Bezugs (ebenfalls maximal der Höchstbeitragsgrundlage) einzahlen. Daher wird in aller Regel der Beitrag des Arbeitgebers für den wechselnden Mitarbeiter geringer ausfallen als die übliche Einzahlung gewesen wäre.

China’s Bumpy New Normal

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Joseph E. Stiglitz, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001 and the John Bates Clark Medal in 1979, is University Professor at Columbia University, Co-Chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, and Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. A former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and chair of the US president’s Council of Economic Advisers under Bill Clinton, in 2000 he founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University. His most recent book is Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy.

JAN 27, 2016,Project Syndicate

SHANGHAI – China’s shift from export-driven growth to a model based on domestic services and household consumption has been much bumpier than some anticipated, with stock-market gyrations and exchange-rate volatility inciting fears about the country’s economic stability. Yet by historical standards, China’s economy is still performing well – at near 7% annual GDP growth, some might say very well – but success on the scale that China has seen over the past three decades breeds high expectations.

There is a basic lesson: “Markets with Chinese characteristics” are as volatile and hard to control as markets with American characteristics. Markets invariably take on a life of their own; they cannot be easily ordered around. To the extent that markets can be controlled, it is through setting the rules of the game in a transparent way.

Friends and Refugees in Need

Date: 27-01-2016
Source: Thomas L. Friedman

STOCKHOLM — Now in his last year in office, President Obama is in legacy mode. He has much to be proud of. But if he doesn’t want his achievements muddied by foreign policy, he’ll spend his last year redoubling his efforts to contain the Middle East refugee crisis before it goes from a giant humanitarian problem to a giant geostrategic problem that shatters America’s most important ally: the European Union.

I know — putting “European Union” into the lead of a column published in America is like a “Do Not Read” sign. Maybe I should call it “Trump’s European Union.” That would go viral. But for the two of you still reading, this is really important.

The meltdowns of Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Mali, Chad and Yemen and our takedowns of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan — without proper follow-up on our part, NATO’s part or by local elites — has uncorked the worst refugee crisis since World War II. This tidal wave of migrants and refugees is a human tragedy, and their outflow from Syria and Libya in particular is destabilizing all the neighboring islands of decency: Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Kurdistan and Turkey. And now it is eating away at the fabric of the E.U. as well.

EIOPA-Stresstest: Betriebliche Altersversorgung in Existenznot. In Deutschland fehlen mindestens 33 Milliarden Euro.

Von: Sven Giegold <sven.giegold@europarl.europa.eu>
Datum: 26. Januar 2016 um 15:06

Link, um diese Information auf twitter/facebook zu verbreiten:
http://gruenlink.de/13cx

Heute hat die Europäische Aufsichtsbehörde für das Versicherungswesen und die betriebliche Altersversorgung (EIOPA) ihren Stresstest für die betriebliche Altersvorsorge veröffentlicht. Lobbyorganisationen und auch Deutschland hatten lange versucht, den Test abzusagen oder zumindest
abzuschwächen.
Die nun veröffentlichten Ergebnisse zeichnen ein düsteres Bild. Die betrieblichen Altersversorgungssysteme mit garantierten Pensionszusagen
leiden unter dramatischer Unterdeckung. Die Rückstellungen der Unternehmen reichen bei weitem nicht aus, um die Pensionen zu finanzieren. Besonders in Großbritannien und den Niederlanden aber auch in Deutschland und Irland müssten dann die Unternehmen einspringen.
Ganz finster wird es, wenn die Zinsen weiter niedrig bleiben.

The Varoufakis Effect?

Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.

JAN 26, 2016, Project Syndicate

ATHENS – In his end-of-2015 missive, Holger Schmieding of the Hamburg investment bank Berenberg warned his firm’s clients that what they should be worrying about now is political risk. To illustrate, he posted the diagram below, showing how business confidence collapsed in Greece during the late spring of 2015, and picked up again only after my resignation from the finance ministry. Schmieding chose to call this the “Varoufakis effect.”

There is no doubt that investors should be worried – very worried – about political risk nowadays, including the capacity of politicians and bureaucrats to do untold damage to an economy. But they must also be wary of analysts who are either incapable of, or uninterested in, distinguishing between causality and correlation, and between insolvency and illiquidity. In other words, they must be wary of analysts like Schmieding.

Business confidence in Greece did indeed plummet a few months after I became Finance Minister. And it did pick up a month after my resignation. The correlation is palpable. But is the causality?

Europe’s Third Challenge

By Marc Chandler on January 22, 2016  RGE EconoMonitor

 ECB President Draghi made clear at yesterday’s press conference that new risks have materialized and the central bank’s job to reaching its mandate is far from over. Current efforts may not suffice to achieve its legal prescribed mandate. Monetary policy will be reviews and reassessed at the next meeting in March, when new staff forecasts will also be available.

In his opening remarks, Draghi cited the “slightly expansionary” fiscal policy, “reflecting in particular measures in support of refugees.” And hence two main challenges, the economy and immigration, converge. Of course, the definition of the economy has to be broad enough to include the prices and finance. Even before the Greek crisis in last year was over, German Chancellor Merkel recognized the immigration-refugee problem was going to more intractable than negotiating with Tsipras and Varoufakis.

It seems to be increasing clear that liberal order that has erected in Europe was partly predicated on illiberal regimes in Northern Africa and the Middle East. The collapse of several strong-man regimes has flooded the Italy and Greece with asylum seekers and refugees. One of the agreements at very foundation of the liberal project of European integration lies the Schengen Agreement (1985), which does away with internal border checks.

False Alarm on China

Stephen S. Roach

Stephen S. Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm’s chief economist, is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and a senior lecturer at Yale’s School of Management. He is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China.

JAN 26, 2016, Project Syndicate

NEW HAVEN – The prospect of an economic meltdown in China has been sending tremors through global financial markets at the start of 2016. Yet such fears are overblown. While turmoil in Chinese equity and currency markets should not be taken lightly, the country continues to make encouraging headway on structural adjustments in its real economy. This mismatch between progress in economic rebalancing and setbacks in financial reforms must ultimately be resolved as China now enters a critical phase in its transition to a new growth model. But it does not spell imminent crisis.

EU-Drohung gegen Griechenland: An der äußersten Grenze

Date: 26-01-2016
Source: Spiegel

Zusammengefasst: Allein im Januar sind 30.000 Flüchtlinge auf dem Seeweg in die EU gekommen. Die EU-Innenminister haben Griechenland deshalb erneut aufgefordert, seine Seegrenze besser zu schützen. Sollte das nicht gelingen, könnten die innereuropäischen Grenzkontrollen auf zwei Jahre ausgeweitet werden und Griechenland vorübergehend aus dem Schengenraum ausgeschlossen werden. Doch Griechenland weist die Vorwürfe zurück: Die Seegrenze könne nicht geschlossen werden, das Land sei verpflichtet, Flüchtlinge in Seenot zu retten. Möglicherweise will die EU nun Frontex mit dem Schutz der Außengrenze beauftragen.

Griechenland soll seine Seegrenze schützen und weniger Flüchtlinge nach Europa lassen, fordern mehrere EU-Staaten. Die Athener Regierung kontert: Sollen wir Menschen in Seenot im Stich lassen?

Jetzt könnte das Land aus dem Schengenraum fliegen.

Investor Chill Hits Technology Sector

Date: 26-01-2016

Source: The Wall Street Journal

As investors and entrepreneurs gathered at the World Economic Forum, many are now wondering if the tech boom is finally cooling off

DAVOS, Switzerland—The chill in the air here last week wasn’t just from the altitude.

A sharp slide in public and private valuations for prominent technology firms hung like a snow cloud over the World Economic Forum’s annual event this year. As investors and entrepreneurs crammed into meetings and parties in this mountain town, many wondered if the tech boom was finally cooling off.

“Obviously there are a lot of unicorns,” said Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief technology officer of Airbnb Inc., referring to venture capital-backed startups with a valuation of more than $1 billion. “Some of those unicorns won’t survive.”