Recession Replaces Debt as Top EU Worry Amid Joblessness
The EU is realizing that collapsing economies can’t pay what is owed.
European leaders are loosening the economic shackles once demanded by Germany as the recession and mounting unemployment in southern Europe shove aside the debt crisis as the euro area’s biggest headache.
A two-day Brussels summit starting today will endorse plans for “structural” assessments of national budgets, according to a draft statement, using code for granting countries such asFrance, Spain and [...]
European leaders are loosening the economic shackles once demanded by Germany as the recession and mounting unemployment in southern Europe shove aside the debt crisis as the euro area’s biggest headache.
A two-day Brussels summit starting today will endorse plans for “structural” assessments of national budgets, according to a draft statement, using code for granting countries such asFrance, Spain and Portugal extra time to bring down deficits.
“We have to restore sound and sustainable public finances, via continued differentiated fiscal [...]
Germany has stated its exorbitant price for keeping Greece in the euro and agreeing to mass bond purchases by the European Central Bank.
There must be an EU “currency commissioner” with sweeping powers to strike down national budgets; a “large step towards fiscal union”; and yet another EU treaty.
Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dropped his bombshell in talks with German journalists on a flight from Asia, and apparently had the blessing of [...]
Germany’s Finance Minister Is Pushing Ahead With A Radical Plan To Reform The Eurozone
The stereotype about the Germans in this crisis is that they’ve been reluctant to embrace a fiscal union for Europe.
Actually it’s kind of the opposite. They’ve been pretty consistent in their willingness for more shared fiscal goals or “More Europe” (as Angela Merkel has put it) so long as those steps come with measures that prevent freeloading, [...]
NY Times: CATALONIA may be the catalyst for a renewed wave of separatism in the European Union, with Scotland and Flanders not far behind. The great paradox of the European Union, which is built on the concept of shared sovereignty, is that it lowers the stakes for regions to push for independence.
While a post-national European Union may be emerging out of the euro zone crisis, with a drive for more fiscal [...]
Ramanan rounded up some pretty incredible Nicholas Kaldor quotes on Europe from the early 70?s. It’s really remarkable commentary given the time it was written. Given its pre-Euro timeframe, one could even argue that this is more prescient than the Wynne Godley comments in the early 90?s that predicted why the Euro would not work. Kaldor passed away in 1986 but he likely would have had a similar view [...]
Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com
Markets soared in Asia, Europe, the US, everywhere. Let the good times roll. The euro jumped to the highest level in a couple of weeks. Yields on Spanish bonds plunged to the lowest level since, well, Monday. A miracle had happened. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had blinked. Um, a little bit.
All eyes were on her at the EU summit in Brussels, the one summit that would once and for all save [...]
Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com
During the two-day EU summit on June 28 and 29, all eyes will be breathlessly riveted on German Chancellor Angela Merkel—with one question on all lips: will she blink? Because nothing less than the future of the Eurozone and the euro is at stake. And by extension, the world economy. Only she can save it. And she’d have only 48 hours!
There is even the Grand Plan, issued by European Council [...]
European authorities have unveiled their vision for the future, which gives them much greater powers.
It includes the creation of a European treasury, which would have powers over national budgets.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was “a defining moment for European integration”.
Described as a 10-year plan, it is designed to strengthen the eurozone and prevent future crises, as countries grapple with current debt problems.
This week, some markets fell [...]
Germany famously austere and harsh Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is the subject of a Der Spiegel interview in which he defends the Euro and Germany’s motives in acting the way it has.
There are some funny, eye-rolly parts, such as…
SPIEGEL:You want nothing less than a United States of Europe.
Schäuble: Even though the term is used repeatedly, it doesn’t make it any better. No, the Europe of the future will not be a federal state [...]
Doubling down on austerity, Brussels will be given the power to rewrite national budgets for eurozone countries that breach debt and deficit rules, according to a draft report for Thursday’s summit (seen by the FT). The proposals are part of a broader effort to form a closer fiscal union and also include steps towards at least the study of issuing common debt.
From FT:
The European Union would gain far-reaching powers to [...]
–2-Yr Extension For Greece Would Cost E16-18 Billion
–Cost Of Extending Greece Target Timeline Could Rise
–Greece Fiscal Consolidation “Completely Derailed”
By Angelika Papamiltiadou
ATHENS (MNI) – A one-year extension of the timeframe for Greece to
meet its fiscal targets would add an additional E10 billion to the cost
of its bailout program, and extending it by two years would add another
E6 to E8 billion on top of that, a senior EU official told MNI.
He said [...]
via WSJ:
BERLIN—Germany is sending strong signals that it would eventually be willing to back ideas such as joint European bonds or a banking union if European leaders are willing to give up more sovereignty and transfer significant powers over national budgets to Europe, a step that, if embraced, would redesign monetary union and be one of the boldest steps taken by the bloc since the euro was launched.
Europe has been [...]
Following the downgrade of 16 Spanish banks by Moody’s, the focus in the euro crisis is back on the banking sector. Greeks are withdrawing hundreds of millions from their accounts, with reports that the same is happening in Spain. Experts are calling on the European Central Bank to step in and prevent full-scale bank runs.
The final wake-up call came from Moody’s. On Thursday evening, the US rating agency downgraded 16 Spanish banks [...]
By Matt Taibbi
April 12, 2011 9:55 AM ET
America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we’re broke and in [...]
by ZH
Three years ago, Congress balked at the mere thought of giving Hank Paulson’s (so lovingly portrayed in Andrew Ross Sorkin’s straight to HBO Too Big To Fail) proposed TARP, which came in an “exhaustive” 3 page term sheet with limited bailout powers however with virtually unlimited waivers and supervision, and voted it down leading to one of the biggest market collapses in history. Curiously, a more careful look through Europe’s €500 billion (oddly enough [...]
by ZH
Three years ago, Congress balked at the mere thought of giving Hank Paulson’s (so lovingly portrayed in Andrew Ross Sorkin’s straight to HBO Too Big To Fail) proposed TARP, which came in an “exhaustive” 3 page term sheet with limited bailout powers however with virtually unlimited waivers and supervision, and voted it down leading to one of the biggest market collapses in history. Curiously, a more careful look through Europe’s €500 billion (oddly enough [...]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — As European leaders unveil their latest plan to solve the debt crisis, economists and market experts aren’t convinced they’ll actually be successful.
At least one group says there are one too many obstacles and chances are, the currency union will break up, triggering an end of the euro as we know it.
“Three years after the first ‘once in a generation’ financial crisis, we may now be entering [...]
The Swiss government is preparing for a collapse of the euro, according to Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.
She told parliament that a work group was studying the imposition of capital controls and negative interest rates to protect Switzerland from the capital flight that a euro collapse would engender (Handelsblatt).
A tidal wave of euros would drive up the Swiss franc, devastate Switzerland’s export economy, and devalue its vast wealth invested in [...]
By Wolf Richter Www.Testosteronepit.Com
The Swiss government is preparing for a collapse of the euro, according to Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. She told parliament that a work group was studying the imposition of capital controls and negative interest rates to protect Switzerland from the capital flight that a euro collapse would engender (Handelsblatt). A tidal wave of euros would drive up the Swiss franc, devastate Switzerland’s export economy, and devalue its [...]
Merkel and Sarkozy push forwards fiscal union. But some German economists are concerned about the possibility of hyperinflation as happened in 1920s Germany if quantitative easing continues and expands:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Europe is working towards setting up a “fiscal union”, in a bid to resolve the eurozone’s debt crisis.
She told the Bundestag that a new EU treaty was needed to set up such a union and [...]
From Zero Hedge:
We have often discussed the temporary and tenuous nature of any and all government-suggested solutions so far to the European crisis on the basis that the ‘model’ is broken. Following the decision to go for PSI, and the possibility of a sovereign leaving the Euro-zone (Greek referendum ultimatum), money is no longer fungible in and across European banks (deposits) and sovereigns as it seeks the stability of a [...]
The European Union demanded Wednesday sweeping powers to override national budgets and proposed issuing joint eurozone bonds to help resolve and prevent a repeat of the debt crisis.
“Without stronger governance, it will be difficult if not impossible to sustain the common currency,” EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said of his latest legislative proposals.
The head of the executive EU arm, Barroso presented radical plans that would allow him and Economy [...]
Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?
America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a [...]
|
It only takes a few moments to share an article, but the person on the other end that reads it might have their life changed forever
Contact Information:
Submit: articles [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
Advertising: ads [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
General: admin [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
|
A remarkable quote from the 1970s perfectly anticipated the Euro crisis
Ramanan rounded up some pretty incredible Nicholas Kaldor quotes on Europe from the early 70?s. It’s really remarkable commentary given the time it was written. Given its pre-Euro timeframe, one could even argue that this is more prescient than the Wynne Godley comments in the early 90?s that predicted why the Euro would not work. Kaldor passed away in 1986 but he likely would have had a similar view [...]