Monday 27 February: Belgian bond auction, Italian T-bill auction. German lower house extraordinary session to vote on Greek bailout. Wednesday 29 February: Allotment of ECB three-month, three-year long-term refinancing operations. Finland due to vote on Greek bailout.
Thursday 1 March: Euro-zone finance ministers meet. Euro-zone February manufacturing PMI data. Spanish and French bond auctions.
Thursday 1 March 1 to Friday 2 March: E.U. leaders' summit.
Wednesday 7 March: German bond auction.
Thursday 8 March: ECB interest rate decision.
Monday 12 March: Euro-zone finance ministers meet. Greece aims to complete PSI by this date.
Tuesday 20 March 20: €14.4bn of Greek government bonds mature.
My humble opinion - The tragedy of Europe is that German's are continually propelled to a leadership position due to their discipline, organization and industry but have proven themselves fundamentally ill-suited for the role at every turn due to their narrow-mindedness and inflexibility. Contrast that with the ease with which Americans (although reluctantly at times) over the last century have taken on the role of global leadership. I have never been able to understand how most people simply cannot, not before and not even now, see these degenerate filthy crummy scum in Brussels for exactly what they are...They are no different to other murderers, thieves, pedophiles, child molesters, bank robbers, mafioso, gangsters or any other label you might add to criminals. They are all that, just on a bigger scale, but other than that they are absolutely unequivocally and irredeemably criminals, in every sense of the word. No other citizen in any country on the face of the planet could do what they do and have a hope in hell of getting away with anything less than life imprisonment or hanging or frying in an electric chair. Why is it that people listen the these disgusting common criminals and still let them rum amok wreaking havoc everywhere....Why is that these insane cretins are not all lined up in pine boxes waiting their turn for the furnace doors to open again. Just how many millions of lives do they have to trash before people see the reality of what they really are. Or are most people so stupid and naive to think its just an accident.And these are just nice people doing their best....I am beginning to wonder just who is more insane....the so called leaders or the sheep following
13 comments:
G-20 Defers Decisions
On Aid to Europe
Officials from the world's leading economies deferred key decisions on international aid for Europe as they awaited more euro-zone action to fight the Continent's debt crisis.
Will they or won’t they? As the G-20’s Mexico City meeting moved towards its conclusion Sunday, observers were no less clear on the big question of the weekend — whether Germany would agree to increase the size of Europe’s rescue funds next month.
Despite considerable pressure from other G-20 finance ministers to boost the firewall beyond €500 billion ($673 billion), German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (pictured) took a hard line Saturday, warning that the bloc cannot solve its debt crisis by pumping more money into rescue funds
Such ambiguity is perhaps unsurprising ahead of a crucial vote Monday in the German parliament on Greece’s second bailout package. While Mr. Schaeuble said he expects the bailout to be approved, he could be forgiven for not wanting to tempt fate.
A poll published Sunday in Bild am Sonntag newspaper found that 63% of Germans oppose the new Greek bailout, and just 33% are in favor. With popular opposition to rescue measures rising, the Bundestag may soon reach the limits of its patience
The writing appears to be on the wall for the US this weekend. In a (sadly) global world where domestic and foreign policy can no longer be regarded as separate, there are glaring signs that American will is not prevailing. What happens next could well be very ugly indeed. The Slog offers a startling analysis based on recent news developments.
The downbeat (and unnamed) announcement from Beijing yesterday may well have passed most of the MSM by, but China-watchers will recognise it as a ‘no’ to the EU beggars….and a snub to the US policy pressure applied by State over the last week. Some nameless bureaucrat popped up to say vague, equivocal stuff about China’s domestic this that and the other, and of course long-term peace-loving nature.
The tax on financial transactions:
Amost all European citizens (except those at "the City") find such tax justified. It however is a risk to do it alone or being the first.
Good to know that Mr.Sarkozy has already convinced Mrs. Merkel (but she is stopped by her liberal coalition partner).
Would be fine if 16 of "the 17", all but GB, would join Mr.Sarkozy.
The “social value-added tax”:
This is really risky. Similar as the reforms in Germany by mid of the past dacade.
The man has got courage.
To the question how we shall pay for all this, the answer is ambiguous in an attempt to mask the obvious which is: RAISING TAXES....... In other words we are talking about the traditional Marxist principle of redistribution of wealth through entitlements, using taxpayer money as the vehicle to achieve that end. A clever way to guaranty a faithful Socialist electorate and the quickest way to join Greece in her misery!
On the other hand we have the RIGHT that advocates fiscal responsibility by implementing spending cuts and creating an environment conducive to economic growth. More JOBS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR means a more vibrant economy; hence more wealth and disposable income to go back to the economy, in the process more taxes will be collected for the state. Let the rich get richer as their “greed” to make more money will encourage the expansion of their business, hiring more people in the process. In fact the government should facilitate and encourage them to invest and expand by cutting taxes and proposing lesser regulations.
Regardless of whom the party’s leaders are, their respective party platform will not change. A tax and spend SOCIALIST will adhere to that philosophy under Mr. Holland or someone else. Remember Francois Mitterrand! With Hollande we will be getting more of the same.
You should vote for the philosophy closest to your own believes without making incoherent excuses. I personally will be voting for Mr. Sarkozy whom I might add is not nearly as conservative as I would like him to be, but he is far better than the alternative(s).
sarkozy is such a clown...so he is saying that because the eu treaty changes are so complex and nuanced only big-brained political midgets like him can understand it.
I'm surprised he doesnt just topple over with that extra sized brain over body imbalance he lugs around.
oh yeah...good morning everyone...another day when the euro is held artifically high by political madmen, making the GIIPS look like the worst value holiday destinations in the world.
There is now widespread exasperation with Greece and a sense of inevitability that it will come back for more money. Meanwhile, there is increased confidence that, without Greece, the eurozone would be able to shore up the defences around the other troubled members. Accordingly, as and when Greece defaults and departs, many euro-wallahs in Frankfurt and Brussels may breathe a sigh of relief.
But this would be premature. In my view, the greatest threat to the euro is that Greece will make a success of default and devaluation. Something like it has happened several times before, notably with Argentina in 2002, when it defaulted and devalued. The country went from an appalling financial crisis to growing by 11pc in the space of 18 months.
Suppose that once the new drachma has fallen by 30pc to 50pc, Greece begins to show signs of growth. How would it then be possible to persuade the electorate of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and even Ireland, that there is no alternative to years of misery? It is all very well building firewalls to stop financial contagion, but how do you build firewalls around the voters?
Un faliment al Greciei sau inrautatirea situatiei in alte economii ale Uniunii Europene poate genera un soc in pietele financiare. Romania este cea mai vulnerabila economie din UE in acest scenariu. Afla de ce stam mai prost decat Ungaria sau Bulgaria si care ar fi consecintele unui soc major.
Until recently, any German politician who advocated a Greek exit from the euro zone risked being branded an extremist. Germany's original response to the Greek crisis was driven by the fear that not helping would unleash another global financial crisis. Ms. Merkel has often raised the specter of Lehman Brothers when pushing for more aid, suggesting that letting Greece fail would trigger a financial catastrophe
BRUSSELS - Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker and German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble have said they do not rule out the need for a third Greek bail-out.
Their words come ahead of a key vote in the German parliament, the Bundestag on Monday (27 February) to approve the just-agreed second aid programme.
Asked in a TV interview by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news agency on Saturday if he is sure Greece would not need a third package, Juncker replied: "You cannot really exclude that, although we should not have as a starting assumption that a third programme will be [needed]."
"We made it clear last Tuesday in Brussels that we are standing ready to support Greece even beyond the time period of this programme but I have good reasons to believe that we should now not engage ourselves in a debate on a 'maybe' third programme. We should now ... implement the second one," he added.
Juncker also dismissed fears that a Greek default is inevitable despite the freshly agreed €130 billion bail-out: "I do not see how Greece could go bankrupt."
Meanwhile, a meeting in Mexico City over the weekend of finance ministers from the 20 most industrialised countries in the world made little headway on whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should provide more aid to the eurozone.
Germany's Schauble said a decision on whether to increase the eurozone bail-out funds - a precondition for IMF participation in the Greek bail-out - will be taken "in the course of March."
His words suggest the stand-off between Berlin and the IMF will drag on beyond an EU summit on Thursday and Friday, where the issue was supposed to be resolved.
"Between March 1 and 31, we will again examine whether the volume of the mechanism is sufficient given recent developments," Schauble said.
EU leaders were to look at bolstering the €500bn bail-out funds for the eurozone to at least €750 billion, but Germany opposes the move.
The G20 ministers in Mexico said the eurozone must first boost its firewall before it gets more aid from abroad. "Euro area countries will reassess the strength of their support facilities in March. This will provide an essential input in our ongoing consideration to mobilize resources to the IMF," they said in a final statement after the meeting.
Even the CDU's Wolfgang Bosbach, the most high profile of the dozen or so government rebels who will vote "no" today, has told reporters that he expects the vote to pass without Merkel having to rely on opposition support. But that doesn't mean the German cabinet is fully supportive of the plans to save Greece.
As reported earlier, the interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, has become the first minister to say Greece would be better out than in the eurozone. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Friedrich is not a lone dissenter. The left-leaving daily claims both the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, and the economy minister, Philipp Rösler, are among those in the government who privately do not believe in the current strategy for keeping Greece from the brink. Neither are quoted in the front page story, which also claims the German chancellor is determined to avoid a Greek exit from the euro because of the deleterious knock-on effect it would have on the German economy and
beyond.
Post a Comment