Category: Eurozone Debt Crisis
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Greece Prepares To Leave Euro-zone / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Speculation and expert comments are thrown around once more – or still – like candy on Halloween. Let me therefore retrace what I’ve said before. Because I think it’s really awfully simple, once you got the underlying factors in place.
But first, if one thing has become obvious after Syriza was elected to form a Greek government on January 25, it’s that the party is not ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’. Those monikers can now be swept off all editorial desks across the world, and whoever keeps using them risks looking like an awful fool.
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Monday, March 23, 2015
Greece and EU Running Out of Time as Bank Runs Intensify / Stock-Markets / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: GoldCore
- EU and Greece running out of time as talks end “in disarray” – again
- Greece warns Merkel of ‘impossible’ debt
- Concerns Greece out of money by end of April
- Friday’s “agreement” in Brussels falls apart hours later as protagonists fail to agree on specifics
- Greece now insolvent – will run out of liquidity by end of April
- Greek banks on verge of collapse as runs continue – €1.5 billion emptied out of banks last week alone
- ‘Grexit’ could propel gold to over $2,000/oz
- Cyprus style bail-ins look increasingly possible
Friday, March 20, 2015
Janet Yellen Needs a Lesson in Culture / Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: The interesting news coming out of Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s Q&A yesterday was her response to a question about bad bank “culture.”
Apparently, it’s not the Fed’s concern.
Yellen said, “While changing the culture of organizations is not something that we can achieve through supervision, we will make sure that the banks that we supervise have appropriate compliance regimes in place.”
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Euro Crisis - It’s Time for Angela Merkel to Stand Up / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I need to start of off the bat with an update to this piece, which I started writing yesterday, since I now know that Angela Merkel actually did invite Alexis Tsipras on Monday. It only took her two months…. But that doesn’t take away anything from my point that Merkel has been sorely lacking and missing, it just goes to prove that point.
Monday, March 16, 2015
The Greek Debt Tragedy Continues / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Andy_Sutton
A few years ago, Poland made the first such move to ‘nationalize’ a portion of its pension system. Nationalize probably isn’t the right word though: steal is more appropriate. Given the fact that most Americans probably can’t even point out Poland on a map, the news was given little attention. If something doesn’t happen right in our own backyard, it might as well happen on Mars.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
The ECB’s Noose Around Greece: How Central Banks Harness Governments / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: GoldCore
Remember when the infamous Goldman Sachs delivered a thinly-veiled threat to the Greek Parliament in December, warning them to elect a pro-austerity prime minister or risk having central bank liquidity cut off to their banks? (See January 6th post here.) It seems the European Central Bank (headed by Mario Draghi, former managing director of Goldman Sachs International) has now made good on the threat.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Eurozone Crisis - There Is No Better Way Than to Pay for Greece / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Investment_U
Martin Stephan writes: The Oxford Club’s deep international roots are invaluable... A few weeks back, we published a piece titled “How Germany Can Save Greece and the EU.” Since then, the German parliament voted to extend financial aid to Greece by four months - a mere Band-Aid (and a small one at that). In order to right the EU economy, a permanent solution must be found. For an insider perspective on this situation, we asked our colleague Martin Stephan from The Oxford Club’s German office to give his thoughts. We hope you enjoy his unique viewpoint.
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Five Steps to Fixing Greece’s Debt Problem / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Frank_Hollenbeck
The ECB decision to limit liquidity to Greek banks was another nail in the euro-coffin, and rumors of a “Grexit” caused bank withdrawals to accelerate. Over 25 billion euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks since the end of November 2014. But there’s a problem. Fractional-reserve Greek banks do not have the funds to cover all the withdrawals if trends continue. Current non-performing bank loans in Greece are close to 40 percent and banks hold large amounts of high risk Greek government debt.
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Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Greece Debt Crisis Born From Socialism / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Browne
Like many of the important discussions in the economic world today, the negotiations between Greece and its European creditors has become increasingly absurd (see "A Patient Fed Considers Losing Patience" in our latest newsletter). Late on Friday, February 20, in a tense meeting between the new Greek Finance Minister and a host of ministers from 19 Eurozone countries, Germany apparently 'authorized' negotiators to accept a four-month extension of the $272 billion bailout so long as the Greeks promised to make a series of difficult fiscal steps needed to stay solvent over that time frame. Given that they desperately need the money, it should be no great surprise that the Greeks complied.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Great Big Fat Greek Expectations / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
From what I read in the press every day, as well as from private communication, a pretty wide divide seems to appear between what many people think the Syriza government in Athens should do, and what they actually can do at this point in time. It should be useful to clarify what this divide consists of, and how it can be breached, if that is at all possible.
In particular, many are of the opinion that Greece cannot escape its suffocating debt issues without leaving the eurozone and going its own way, reintroducing the drachma and defaulting on much of its €240 billion debt. Those who think so may well be right. But right now that is mostly irrelevant. Because Alexis Tsipras and his men and women simply don’t have their voters’ mandate to go down that road. They may at some time in the future, but they don’t today. The expectations are too great, and certainly too immediate.
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Sunday, March 01, 2015
Varoufakis vs. the Troika - Showdown in Athens / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Whitney
“Will the United States, Germany, the rest of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund – collectively constituting the International Mafia – allow the new Greek leaders of the Syriza party to dictate the conditions of Greece’s rescue and salvation? The answer at the moment is a decided “No”. — William Blum, The Greek Tragedy, CounterPunch
“The Greek economy is finished…. There is no power, no force within the Greek economy, within Greek society that can avert – it’s like – imagine if we were in Ohio in 1931 and we were to ask: What can Ohio politicians do to get Ohio out of the Great Depression? The answer is nothing.”— Yanis Varoufakis, Greek Finance Minister
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Thursday, February 26, 2015
EU Warns Ireland and Euro Zone of Debt Dangers / Stock-Markets / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: GoldCore
- High “structural” unemployment, high levels of public and private debt and a still vulnerable banking sector are weighing on the Irish economy
- Report further casts doubt on the “recovery” narrative being touted by governments, banks and vested interests across the world
- Levels of spin and denial not seen since before the crash of 2008
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Thursday, February 26, 2015
Greece, Europe Briefing For A Descent Into Hell / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Oh well, some are more equal than others. One day after Eurogroup head Dijsselbloem says France won’t get any more lenience …
France Must Respect EU Budget Rules
Read full article... Read full article...France must meet EU budget targets or risk damaging the bloc’s entire framework for policing countries’ spending plans, the head of the Eurogroup said on Tuesday. “I don’t think small or larger countries should be treated differently … It is crucial for the credibility of the whole fiscal framework that also France commits to it, both in fiscal terms and in reform terms,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chair meetings of eurozone finance ministers, told the European Parliament. “I think that the Commission has allowed itself and France more time to scrutinise the figures but also to take more measures and prepare more proposals. The Commission will assess them first and then report to us at the beginning of March.”
Monday, February 23, 2015
Greece Crisis - Throw Your Grandma Under The Bus / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Before we get news in a few hours on the new proposals Greece is required to hand to its slavemasters today, Monday Feb 23, it seems relevant to point out one more time that what is happening to Greece is the result of political, not economic, decisions and points of view. One could argue that Greece is being thrown under the bus because it’s not – yet – deeply enough entangled and enmeshed in the global financial matrix. Just think back to a point Gordon Kerr of Cobden Partners made a few days ago on Bloomberg:
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Greece Surrenders to Troika / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Stephen_Lendman
Instead of renouncing its odious debt and walking away, Athens agreed to pay bankers first, maintain austerity, and let long-suffering Greeks continue taking the hindmost.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
50 Shades of Greece / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
When it comes to the ongoing Greek question, I see a lot of people eagerly jump to conclusions, after the ‘debt deal’, that I don’t think are justified; certainly not yet. The overall conviction in the press seems to be that Syriza has given in on just about all fronts, and Germany and Dijsselbloem are the big winners.
But since that may well be the exact position Syriza wants ‘the other side’ to be in, where they think they have prevailed, one will have to try and think a few steps ahead before judging the situation. There’s far more grey area here than many pundits seem to assume, easily 50 shades of it.
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Saturday, February 21, 2015
Greece Is Fixed! Oh, Wait... / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Rubino
Minutes ago, eurozone finance ministers announced that they've agreed to give Greece four months of breathing room in which to get its financial house in order. In that time, Greece will either work out a debt restructuring with its creditors or create a fully-functioning economy capable of managing the developed world's second highest ratio of government debt-to-GDP.
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Varoufakis’s Revolutionary Plan for Europe - Don't Tell Anyone in Berlin / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Whitney
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Friday, February 20, 2015
How Germany Can Save Greece and the EU / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Investment_U
Ryan Fitzwater writes: The European debt crisis has been chugging along for six years. But until recently, the financial media was more concerned with volatility in the U.S. markets.
Now our focus has finally turned back to our neighbors across the Atlantic. Specifically, the debt crisis in Greece.
Here’s what’s going on.
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Greece Crisis - Germany Rejects Greek Trojan Horse Bridge Financing Loan Con / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Germany has rejected Greece's request for a 6 month bridging loan to finance Greek public sector expenditure into the end of August 2015, which Germany labeled as a trojan horse as it would have been without any of the existing conditions for economic reform which would allow Syrizia-Greece to implement its marxist anti-austerity programme at huge euro-zone tax payers expense.