Airbus , the huge aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, a suburb of Toulouse has made a huge step these last days .

Eventhough it`s market share is huge ( about 50% , shared with Boeing ) , it will soon increase rapidly . Why ? Because Japan Airlines , a major civil aviation company has ordered 31 A350  Airbus et 25 optional additional. The bill is big = about 11 billion dollars .

But what is even more impressive is that Japan Airlines used to be a great Boeing customer ( 80% of Japan airplane market ) but due to the delay of Boeing to provide its 787 Dreamliner , Japan Airlines decided to trust Airbus .

This draws a general painting of the market : in order to keep your leadership and customers ,you have to fullfill their expectations because you will always have someone else ready to catch the opportunity .

Here Boeing thought that they could rely on their leadership position in the market , to maybe concentrate on other customers or seize new opportunities , but it lost a very valuable partnership .

Sources :

http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2013/10/07/002-airbus-commande-japan-airlines.shtml

http://www.airbus.com/tools/airbusfor/analysts/

The Tobin Tax is a tax named after its inventor , James Tobin ( a Nobel Laureat ) in 1972 .

The main idea was at first to tax every currency transactions in order to counter short run speculations around currencies , that usually lead to unfair competition .

However , in our days , the tax idea was modified . It is not the currency fluctuations that would be taxed but financial transactions (stocks, derivatives (including the famous’ credit default swaps “, CDS) and high frequency . The percentage of this tax is only about 0,1% , but when we know the huge amount of capital circulating , it does represent a lot .

The Tobin Tax would , for the countries part of the project , be the same . The small percentage collected would then be handed to the IMF . Knowing the importance of the IMF in the world economy , especially its help to poorer countries , it could be of a great use . It would therefore assist development in those countries , without the direct intervention of the government .

The Tobin Tax has faced many critics , and this is why it still hasn`t been officially operating , eventhough some countries did sign ( 11 countries in Europe ).

Sources :

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-tobin-tax-is-bad-idea-sweedens.html#Zqu38XTGuaTWplmI.99

http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2013/01/22/20002-20130122ARTFIG00537-une-taxe-tobin-dans-onze-pays-europeens.php

The Madoff Scandal is probably the most `important` financial scandal of all time .

Bernard Madoff is American. He started his life as a life-guard and finished as the former non-executive Chairman of the NASDAQ stock market . He aloo founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 , a top market maker in Wall Street.

Not the profile of a criminal . However , it is this man that organized a massive robbery .

Madoff was a charismatic , popular and apparently `ethical` individual . To start his swindle , Madoff joined several country clubs , looking for very rich investors , eager to have more money.

He offered a simple alternative . He received through his company the different funds , promising that he would turn those funds to good account . He used the capital to invest in different hedge funds . Madoff knew that these investors were not `worried` about their money , they won`t ask for it until a long time .

But in reality , he used a simple pyramidal scheme, known as the System of Ponzi : he used the money gave by the next investors to fake a very interesting profit ( say you put 100 , you got 115 because he used a part of the investor after you ).

But with the economic crisis , investors asked for the withdrawal of their investments . Of course Madoff couldn`t since he kept for him a huge part of those investments .

On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

Sources :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nYNE9DYYQ ( short explanation of the Madoff Scandal )

http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2008/12/19/comprendre-l-affaire-madoff_1133354_3234.html