Thieves covering for thives ...

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund has expressed confidence in its managing director, Christine Lagarde, after receiving a briefing on a French corruption investigation.

In a brief statement, the 24-member board said it continued to have “confidence in the managing director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties”. Lagarde called the investigation “without basis” after answering questions before magistrates in Paris on Wednesday. She and her former chief of staff are facing questions about their role in an arbitration ruling that handed 400m euros ($531m) to the French businessman Bernard Tapie.

Tapie had sued the French bank Credit Lyonnais for its handling of the sale of his majority stake in the sportswear company Adidas in the mid-1990s. In its statement, the IMF board said, “It would not be appropriate to comment on a case that has been and is currently before the French judiciary.”

In her statement on Wednesday, Lagarde said that after three years of proceedings and dozens of hours of questioning, the court had found no evidence that she had done anything wrong and that the only remaining allegation “is that I was not sufficiently vigilant”.

She said she was returning to Washington and her work at the IMF.

Under French law, the action to put Lagarde under official investigation is equivalent to a preliminary charge, which means there is reason to suspect an infraction. Investigating judges can later decide to drop the case or issue a formal charge and send the matter to trial.

This whole mes was a creation of the EU's imperialist ambitions , they financed the opposition to the democratically elected President with at least a billion Euros , succeeded in overthrowing him and in putting their placemen in power and then sat back. However as the West has discovered in Iraq, Afganistan ,Libya, and Syria it is extremely easy to interfere in the affairs of another country but very difficult to control events thereafter . However even the most stupid western politician should have understood Russia would not just stand by. Unfortunately our leaders have shown they are totally stupid as far as intervention in foreign countries is concerned.
Putin is in the right to defend what he cosnsiders to be his sphere of influence. As this mess continues the economic consequences for everyone but particularly the average EU citizen goes from bad to worse...

If I understand it correctly the latest false Kiev claim goes like this:

1. A mighty Russian force attacked Ukraine through the border.
2. A heroic Ukrainian army destroyed at least 50% of this menacing force.
3. The Russians put their tail between their legs and retreated before the mighty Ukrainian army could wipe out the rest of them.
4. Apparently the terrified Russians had the good sense in them to take back to Russia all their destroyed equipment for reasons of protecting the Ukrainian environment.

In all of this excitement, no soldier or journalist was able to use their iphone and capture some evidence. No aerial satellite photography either. Other than these minor details (of no evidence existing anywhere) this is a decisive victory for Kiev's unstoppable forces... Lies, upon lies, upon lies. Such is the natural environment for the beast called EUSSR. It has to feed on lies otherwise it dies. And since it refuses to die it has to constantly fabricate new lies just to keep up with its corrosive self-indulgence.

The current global economic slowdown cannot be blamed solely on the EU, but the mechanisms and strictures now in play for countries whose traditional strategy when in a crisis was to devalue and rebuild simply do not make sense. It is both unconstitutional and simply applying the most superficial of sticking plaster to imagine that you can put off the inevitable by offering a few well-meant but ultimately short-term guarantees - which are ultimately going to be unacceptable - if continued (which is inevitable) to the various Constitutional Courts in Member States, not to mention against the Lisbon Treaty.

The Eurozone crisis has a lot to do with a bureaucratic, technocratic machinery running aground when the proactive market participants start addressing the various - and major disparities in the economies under the same trading bloc. Rather than create a sensible way out for countries with huge youth unemployment issues, suffering under severe austerity, they are forcing Europeans to carry on unabated.  There is no central tax revenue collection or coherence in this vastly diversified trading area, and sovereign authority is, at best, paid lip service to when countries have to make tough decisions. There is scope for an entrepreneurial and proactive trading bloc, but not on these terms. As countries struggle under the weight of market pressures, the last thing they need is fewer options. Which is exactly what the EU is giving them. Just ask Iceland - now pushing out healthy GDP growth figures after their own economic crisis of a few years ago. The EU is simply not responsive enough to market demands to be a credible single currency zone. And its southern Member states are paying a heavy price for its inflexibility and blindness to proactive. With an ex-Communist in charge - is anyone truly surprised? I still think the EU can be made to work, but fear with the current incumbents that it is too late to wind back the clock and get the trading area to function effectively.

Data from Barclaycard says sales in the run-up to Christmas have risen just 0.7pc compared to last year.

Although there was an overall rise, there were falls in food and drink sales, clothing, and department stores. Sales slowed through the month as customers appeared to wait as late as possible for deals. The data paints a concerning picture for the high street, with online sales rising 11.1pc compared to last year, significantly ahead of overall sales growth. Online sales now account for more than a fifth of spending in the UK for the first time.

Barclaycard has compiled comprehensive spending data for the first time this Christmas using transactions from its 11m customers in the UK. It covers the period from November 1 to December 14, showing a spike in online sales in late November and early December as consumers snapped up products. There then followed a lull in spending. On December 14, sales were down 2.8pc compared to the same time last year....Widespread price promotions are being offered to last-minute Christmas shoppers by retailers hoping to ring up record sales this weekend. Three-quarters of shops have sales or advertising promotions in their windows, but discounts are not as big as in 2011, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Shoppers are being offered discounts averaging 44%, compared with 48% this time last year. Visa expects to process 31.9m transactions on Saturday , or £15,000 every second, as consumers take advantage of late-night and early-morning shopping to purchase presents. Retailers including John Lewis and HMV will keep some branches open until 10pm on what is expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year.

"Despite a cautious start to consumer spending in the build-up to Christmas, we are now expecting the high street to see its busiest day of the year on Saturday as shoppers hunt for last-minute gifts for family and friends," said Steve Perry, commercial director at Visa Europe.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned on Friday after a year of battling the debt crisis with austerity and reforms and selling his nation to the germans as lawmakers gave final approval to a budget bill that will pave the way for early elections. Monti said earlier he would step down once the vote was approved, kicking off a campaign that will likely see Italy go to the polls on February 24, with former premier Silvio Berlusconi and centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani already in the running. After Christmas mass in the prime minister's residence, Monti joked about the end-of-world Mayan prophecy saying: "A year ago this government was only just beginning. Now we will have to wrap up and it's not the fault of the Mayas." He then addressed Italy's ambassadors abroad saying his speech would be his "last act" before handing in his resignation. "Thank you for these difficult but fascinating 13 months," he said. Monti could also join the campaign and is under strong domestic and international pressure to do so. He is expected to reveal his future political ambitions at an end of year press conference scheduled for Sunday. Sources close to the technocrat premier insist he has not yet decided whether to enter the fray, despite appearing to launch a bid for a weighty role in the campaign with a rousing speech at a Fiat factory on Thursday. Some political observers have said Monti could campaign as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition that has been likened to the Christian-Democrats who dominated Italy for decades. Monti's name cannot officially be on the ballot as he is already a senator for life, but he can still be appointed to a post in government including prime minister or finance minister after elections. The centrist agenda will include "historic reforms" and "far deeper liberalization than we have witnessed so far", sources quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily. Monti, 69, defended on Thursday the "bitter medicine" of budget discipline he has implemented as well as his selling his people to the "Fourth Reich" and warned against any attempt to turn back the clock. Another words, he wants a German governor and a nation of enslaved Italians!!!

A political and economic system in which underachievers forcibly redistribute their mediocrity to the rest of society

E.U = Socialism: A political and economic system in which underachievers forcibly redistribute their mediocrity to the rest of society...or is it ???....Liberal bloggers always point to socialist Europe as a shining example of how wonderful life can be? Oliver Stone is coming out with a documentary about how Hitler and Stalin were just misunderstood. I read daily about how Europe is in economic free fall and see the same in the tea leaves for America. So death and destruction are goals to admire now??? God help us! Oh yeah, god is dead according to these nihilist lunatics. Oh yeah, I can't say lunatic anymore now that Congress has voted to ban that word. I'll stick with God help us.

Life is actually much better for European working class than in the US. US workers are more and more like obedient little slaves, working two jobs just to earn enough for living. 10-12 hour days and maybe two weeks holiday per year. Then they eat shit food which basically poisons them over the decades slowly but surely, causing high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and all sorts of other sicknesses. When they got sick, their health insurance is a form of financial torture, designed to find ways to not to pay. Public education is quite crappy and social safety nets are mostly missing.

The creation of the EU and the common currency was never anything more than a thinly veiled campaign to force European nations into a monolithic Socialist union and help the new Soviet Union (EEC) acquire the production and energetic capacities of Europe, while Germany gets to "administer" the EU states. Economists around the globe warned of the consequences and kept on warning over the last 15 -20 years. The voters in Europe ignored the harsh facts and instead chose bread and circus... and now they reap the benefits of their stupidity and greed. The Forth Reich is ruling Europe since the "independent union nations" budgets have to be approved by the Bundestag before being implemented !!! Deucland uber ales !!!

In a dramatic about-turn, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble ditched his earlier objections that had led him to clash openly with his French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici, last week over the ECB's role in banking supervision.
With time running out to meet a year-end deadline, both sides managed to settle their differences and Germany won concessions to temper the authority of the ECB's Governing Council over the new supervisor.
Agreement on bank surveillance is a crucial first step towards a broader "banking union," or common euro zone approach to dealing with failing banks that in recent years dragged down countries such as Ireland and Spain.
The next pillar of a banking union would be the creation of a central system to close troubled banks.
The decision also sends a strong signal to investors that the euro zone's 17 members, from powerful Germany to stricken Greece, can pull together to tackle the bloc's problems. 

The German (Fourth Reich's ) Governor of Greece - Horst Reichenbach made no comments !!!!!

No final decision on next tranche of Greek bailout expected today, despite "broadly positive" Troika report ( Governor's Horst Reichenbach report in fact).

The German finance ministry has declared that there is no chance of a deal today on Greece's bailout programme, despite Athens approving its 2013 budget last night.

Ministry spokeswoman Marianne Kothe told reporters in Berlin that it wasn't realistic to expect a decision at tonight's Eurogroup meeting (of euro finance ministers), particularly as German MPs must have their say first.

Kothe said: Everyone is working under a lot of pressure to resolve questions which are still open...I think it's rather unrealistic to expect a final decision today as in Germany the Bundestag has to agree to it in advance.

There are also reports this morning that Jean-Claude Juncker, chair of the eurogroup, has also ruled out a decision this evening.

The precise whereabouts of the Troika report on Greece is another issue ... Germany's Kothe said today that she didn't think the final version was complete yet...in fact The German (Fourth Reich's ) Governor of Greece - Horst Reichenbach made no comments !!!!!

WSJ - about the election day ...

WSJ - We begin with the three words everyone writing about the election must say: Nobody knows anything. Everyone’s guessing. I spent Sunday morning in Washington with journalists and political hands, one of whom said she feels it’s Obama, the rest of whom said they don’t know. I think it’s Romney. I think he’s stealing in “like a thief with good tools,” in Walker Percy’s old words. While everyone is looking at the polls and the storm, Romney’s slipping into the presidency. He’s quietly rising, and he’s been rising for a while.

Obama and the storm, it was like a wave that lifted him and then moved on, leaving him where he’d been. Parts of Jersey and New York are a cold Katrina. The exact dimensions of the disaster will become clearer when the election is over. One word: infrastructure. Officials knew the storm was coming and everyone knew it would be bad, but the people of the tristate area were not aware, until now, just how vulnerable to deep damage their physical system was. The people in charge of that system are the politicians. Mayor Bloomberg wanted to have the Marathon, to show New York’s spirit. In Staten Island last week they were bitterly calling it “the race through the ruins.” There is a disconnect.

But to the election. Who knows what to make of the weighting of the polls and the assumptions as to who will vote? Who knows the depth and breadth of each party’s turnout efforts? Among the wisest words spoken this cycle were by John Dickerson of CBS News and Slate, who said, in a conversation the night before the last presidential debate, that he thought maybe the American people were quietly cooking something up, something we don’t know about.

I think they are and I think it’s this: a Romney win.

Romney’s crowds are building—28,000 in Morrisville, Pa., last night; 30,000 in West Chester, Ohio, Friday It isn’t only a triumph of advance planning: People came, they got through security and waited for hours in the cold. His rallies look like rallies now, not enactments. In some new way he’s caught his stride. He looks happy and grateful. His closing speech has been positive, future-looking, sweetly patriotic. His closing ads are sharp—the one about what’s going on at the rallies is moving.

All the vibrations are right. A person who is helping him who is not a longtime Romneyite told me, yesterday: “I joined because I was anti Obama—I’m a patriot, I’ll join up But now I am pro-Romney.” Why? “I’ve spent time with him and I care about him and admire him. He’s a genuinely good man.” Looking at the crowds on TV, hearing them chant “Three more days” and “Two more days”—it feels like a lot of Republicans have gone from anti-Obama to pro-Romney.

Comments on EURO-JOBLESS rise: I believe that the politicians have let us down, are continuing to do so and will carry on doing it. Where I digress is that I believe they do not tell us the whole truth. And here i am thinking about Balls and Milliband junior who try to seduce us with easy solutions when there are none. This is a long haul and we have to cut Govt spending. to say otherwise is either cloud cuckoo land or lies.Although the unemployment figures are still dreadful I am assuming that the slight reduction in Portugal’s rates would have to do with seasonal work related to tourism which always influences partial figures for Q2 and Q3. Probably not really a trend, unfortunately.

And I wonder, as with Greece, if reality isn’t a bit worse in Portugal as I read a lot of reports of companies that don’t pay their employees. So, they are neither unemployed nor in meaningful employment. A bookshop chain where I regularly buy most of my literature apparently only pays their employees one wage every 3 months. Portuguese law only allows for a contract to be cancelled by an employee with a justifiable reason for non-payments if these are not paid for 3 months.  In this case this means that the employees cannot have access to the Portuguese equivalent of JSA or ESA but can’t also cancel their contract with justifiable reason, which would allow them to eventually claim those benefits. If they were to cancel their contracts at this stage they would actually need to pay probably pay some money back to the company as severance but would also lose all rights to claim for their missed wages for previous months....There is an alternative. A very good one. Watch. A bank charges interest to a firm which means it earns interest and can pay its staff. The staff then spend their money at the firm and get stuff the firm produces for them. The firm now has the income which it can use to pay the bank interest. Monetary result is zero (the bank interest charged paid for itself), but real goods and services were produced and transferred to bank staff. Money and goods are not the same thing. They operate in different circuits and respond in different ways. Why have a bank issuing money out of thin air?, that is still a Monetary based system. Why not have a Resource based system?. An economy based upon meeting peoples needs (and desires) while accepting there are finite resources in the world to be shared amongst the population. Any system based upon interest is fundamentally flawed and damages us and the environment in the long run.

At least the Greeks, the Spanish and the Portugese are starting to fight against the rape of their countries by the EU and the IMF.
Unlike the spineless Brits who just bend over and take it, from Cameron and his Atlantic Bridge coterie.
The fire-sale is under way, and the taxpayer will be paying for the largesse enjoyed by the shareholders and parasites of the multinationals.

It isn't going to be a two-speed Europe; it is going to be Greater Germany and the rest. And sooner or later, if Angie is still in office, she is going to be kowtowing to a (German) president of Europe. Only vassal states need apply. And they have. It's just that one or two are choking on the small print....Anthee Carassava is on the ground in Athens and she writes:

Thursday's protests are part of a 24-hour nationwide strike the country's two biggest labour unions have organised as European leaders meet in Brussels to decide the fate of the single currency. It is the second job walk out millions of Greeks have taken to in three weeks; the 20th since the financial crisis here erupted nearly three years ago.

“Just once,” said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union, “the government should reject [international] lenders’ absurd demands. “Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair and the consequences as well as the protests will be indefinite.”

From taxi drivers to doctors and diplomats, the strike is expected to paralyze an already suffocating economy. Ships remained docked, hospitals were operating on skeleton staff, and dozens of domestic and international flights face cancellations leaving travelers stranded as air traffic controllers joined the protest, keeping aircraft grounded and the country isolated from the rest of the world for three hours.

At least 4000 police have been deployed in the city centre alone. At least 12 buses of riot police and three water canons were propped outside parliament, shielding the building -- a favourite target of protests -- from militant demonstrators.

The World Trade Organisation warning

The World Trade Organisation has warned the outlook for global trade is deteriorating, citing the eurozone crisis as the main drag on growth.  The WTO slashed its forecast for global trade growth this year from 3.7% to 2.5% onprevious 20-year average. The WTO director general, Pascal Lamy, said there was more risk of things getting worse than better.

The news came as Brazil's finance minister lambasted the US and Japan for their latest rounds of quantitative easing, which will devalue their currencies and, he said, trigger a global currency war.

Next year the WTO expects trade to grow by 4.5%, compared with previous forecasts of 5.6% growth. That forecast is, however, based on the assumption that current policy measures will be enough to avoid a breakup of the euro and that US politicians will reach an agreement to stabilise public finances and avoid the "fiscal cliff". The WTO is targeting 1.5% growth in exports from developed economies, down from its previous forecast of 2% growth. The situation has deteriorated even more for developing countries, where the WTO cut its forecast from 5.6% growth to 3.5%.

 

The Chineese?..Just wait till they ask for their money back...

This is what happens when there is structural imbalance for far too many economies. Unfortunately there are no good economists and consequently nobody knows how to get the world's economies back into equilibrium. One thing is for sure though, those with more than their fair share of manufacturing production and employment, like Germany and China, will need to come to terms with supporting the other economies. Only then will a softer landing be able to be negotiated for everyone.... "Unfortunately there are no good economists and consequently nobody knows how to get the world's economies back into equilibrium" But the West has gobbled all the Nobel Prizes in Economic year after year. They can land a hand, can't they? Btw, Paul Klugman is giving advice free on New York Times daily. Me as an 'economist' without proper training suggest to the westerners, to start, spending less and save more. The equilibrium will come, someday and somehow....Well...It would be interesting to see what the USA would do if the Chinese decided to buy massive amounts of Gold on comex options and decide they want physical delivery at the end of the contract period rather than the profit/loss in yet more dollars. The Fed would not be happy at all that the physical gold gets shipped off to China....They have in the past made it illegal to own physical gold. I say :...Well...China's growth bubble is slowing down very quickly.  They naturally want to protect their own industries and investments and are wary of risk now. They have bought over 2 trillion of European and US debt to prop up those economies and to encourage world trade supporting Chinese exports worldwide for years. Now the party may be over....or is it ???..Just wait till they ask for their money back...

AFP - A Greek exit from the eurozone would be "manageable" even if it would be expensive and result in higher unemployment, a top member of the European Central Bank was quoted as saying on Monday. In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Joerg Asmussen, a German member of the ECB's Executive Board, was asked about the possibility of debt-wracked Greece being forced out of the eurozone. "First: My preference is clear. Greece should stay in the eurozone. Second: It is in Greece's hands to achieve that. Third: A Greek exit would be manageable. Fourth: An exit would not be as orderly as some imagine," he said. Such an exit would spark a slump in growth, job losses and would be "very expensive. In Greece, in Europe and in Germany," said Asmussen. Asmussen's comments came at the start of a crucial week for Greece as it bids to persuade its European partners to release a further slice of aid to keep its economy on life support and enable it to stay in the 17-nation bloc. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras holds talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday and with French President Francois Hollande the day after. Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos was in Berlin Monday for a meeting with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle to prepare the talks. All eyes are on a key report from Greece's international creditors, known as the Troika, expected in September. The report will assess Greece's reform progress demanded to unlock some 31.5 billion euros ($38.9 billion) desperately needed to keep the country afloat. On his foreign tour, Samaras is expected to discuss the possibility of having two more years to achieve the required cuts. Berlin has until now insisted that Athens must stick to the timeline and reforms agreed in return for its aid package. But mass circulation Bild reported on Monday that some concessions could be made to Greece within the agreed timeframe. Steffen Kampeter, a top finance official, told German radio the decision would be based not on requests from Athens but on the report of the troika, which comprises the European Commission, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund. "There will not be any bilateral decisions on Friday," he said, referring to the meeting between Merkel and Samaras, "but decisions taken in an ordered, fair and transparent manner at the European level." In other comments, Asmussen reiterated the ECB's position that it might buy the bonds of countries with soaring borrowing costs if they first apply for aid from the EU bailout fund and submit to tough conditions. He said such a strategy would be "better conceived" than an earlier, disputed, program known as the Securities Markets Program (SMP), during which the ECB bought 211.5 billion euros of bonds, a move that held down borrowing costs. The introduction of the program sparked the resignation of two German members of the ECB, Juergen Stark and Axel Weber, in protest at what they saw as an overstepping of the bank's mandate to keep a lid on inflation.

What the incompetent idiot stated :Rehn added that the euro was "irreversible"....hahaha!

Spanish banks borrowed a record €402bn (£316bn) from the European Central Bank in July, leaving them as far as ever from returning to capital markets, and heaping further pressure on Madrid as it tries to avert a full sovereign bailout. The banks borrowed 10% more than the €365bn they tapped in June, Tuesday's data from the Bank of Spain showed. Spiralling debt costs and balance sheets ravaged by a domestic property bubble that collapsed in 2008 have shut most domestic banks out of the bond markets. The banks' use of the ECB facility has increased sharply this year, rising from €161bn in January, and the sector was propped up in July with the promise of a European rescue package – which it has yet to tap – worth up to €100bn. The pattern is similar if less acute in Italy – like Spain at the sharp end of the eurozone debt crisis – where banks held €283bn in ECB funds in July compared with €281bn in June, Bank of Italy data showed last week. In Spain, only heavyweights with big operations abroad such as Santander and BBVA continue to have few problems raising funding from the market. One likely factor in the July increase was the higher charges that some clearing houses were levying on the use of Spanish bonds – which many domestic banks have invested heavily in – as collateral for raising funds, one analyst said. The eurozone has avoided entering a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, because growth was flat over the first three months of 2012. Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight predicted that GDP will fall again during the current quarter. Archer said the eurozone was "struggling against tight fiscal policy in many countries, high and rising unemployment, muted global economic activity and ongoing serious sovereign debt tensions that weigh down on confidence and limit investment. Stock markets, however, were cheered by the news as the contraction was smaller than expected and share prices rose across Europe. The FTSE 100 finished 32 points higher at 5864, while the DAX closed 0.8% higher. The European commission vice-president, Olli Rehn, told CNBC that the EU and the European Central Bank would take action "once certain conditions are met". Rehn added that the euro was "irreversible".

Europe's biggest concerns center on Italy and Spain, which had already published GDP data showing sharp contractions. Italy's GDP fell at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the second quarter, while Spain's shrank an annualized 1.7%. In both countries, economic activity remains well below its level before the 2008 financial crisis. Their renewed recessions since late 2011 are making it harder for those countries to curb rising national debts and win back investors who are fleeing their government bonds and banking systems. Many Italian companies are trying to reduce their exposure to the slumping domestic economy. Tuscany-based knitwear maker Filpucci SpA is shifting more manufacturing to China to cut labor costs, while trying to boost sales to U.S. retailers such as Gap Inc. "There is no longer a market here" in Italy, said the company's vice president, Federico Gualtieri. At family-owned textile maker Marini & Cecconi SRL, orders from Italian retailers and clothing brands have dropped as much as 15% for this winter's collections, compared with last year, said Francesco Marini, who helps run the company. Mr. Marini said the company is increasingly selective about who it supplies in Italy amid concerns that smaller, financially strained retailers won't be able to pay.

I bet even the IMF has no idea how much the game is going to change.

President Mario Draghi admitted his eurozone rescue plan was a work in progress. ... First there was light at the end of the tunnel - now there is just work in progress meaning that they are thinking of trying to locate where they are in the tunnel but they haven't got a clue what to do. Euro is just a shamble the biggest political failure of all times, the biggest wealth destroyer the humanity has ever known. Congratulations to the europhiles for making the world a poorer place. You're in a big hole and you're still digging.... There is a need for the europhiles for an apology for all the misery they piled onto the people and start urgent negotiations on how to get rid of the euro. We will forget all your sins. It is up to you to put your hands up and say sorry. wELL :The elephant in the room is losing it's grip on the ceiling light flex? Stand by for the mass stampede through doors and windows and walls. The IMF is as informed as manuel as to the whole picture, the truth is nobody can know the extent of the desolation bankers and financial whizzkids have visited upon us and anyone who can be convinced otherwise has little appreciation of the shortcomings of human nature. It's likely that from top to bottom they were all behaving with the mindset of the shoplifters during the riots, driven mad in their bonus rush, many also under the influence of cocaine?
Over four years some of the known truth has been drip fed out, it's rumsfeldt's unknown unknowns (as it were) that will lock in the longest depression yet, as we especially seem stuck with the present establishment using the austerity argument totally dishonestly for dogmatic gains and repression.... I SAY : The economic shock from the eurozone crisis has not yet hit said the IMF- AND That's because it ISN'T a "eurozone crisis", it's a crisis of western consumer 'growth' capitalism, mainly caused by a bubble stoked by profligate bank lending activities, reckless and stupid corporate borrowing and a disastrous corporate 'globalisation' process which saw the biggest transfer of wealth across the globe in human history - oh, and diminishing conventional oil reserves.

Top bankers messed up, top business leaders gave away the wealth of the west for short term profit and dumb politicians didn't understand what was going on. Those that did, were easily 'persuaded'.  They're all sliding down the mountain side, using ice picks for brakes but kicking the Eurozone ahead of themselves, so that they have someone to blame....it called for a "policy game changer"

I bet even the IMF has no idea how much the game is going to change.

Germany gets to show its eurosceptic side

The preamble of the constitution makes Europe into a major premise of our constitution," says Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the head of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) group in the European Parliament. "Today's judges treat it like an annoying postscript. That's alarming."

Yes, and the actual central clauses of the constitution state that that all power derives from the people.

The european parliamentarians are particularly noisy about the court daring to interfere, at this time. They're probably still sore about the fact that the Court ruled that the European Parliament didn't meet "international democratic standards", and so wasn't a suitable receptacle for future transfer of sovereignty.

From memory, the international democratic standard they saw the european parliament failing had to do with one MEP representing 300,000 germans, and 50,000 maltese....Ah well. Germany gets to show its eurosceptic side, for a change.

I think that the ECB deserves a pat on the back for smoothing the path for Greece. Once this Greek blip is out of the way things will settle down. The Euro of course strengthened which was on the cards months ago (unless you were a trader or economist ) and now we may see a weakening US Dollar as America attempts to recover some ground. It has a long way to go as further banking problems for the US may be on the cards. The United States of Europe remains solid and further announcements will further strengthen the Euro. We can discount any talk of so called ‘recession’ in Germany. It is not really true. Just a tool to move focus as said earlier. Germany along with several other of the states of Europe have juggled numbers in order to satisfy some underhand deals that were done on the markets. It was very unethical and it has cost the markets dear but it serves them right and I have no sympathy. Angela Merkel's spokesman said Greece must move swiftly to return to a sustainable and viable path. Steffen Seibert, speaking on behalf of the German chancellor said: "This is not a question one can take a lot of time to tackle, it is important that the negotiations now come to an end." Typical Fench hypocrisy. CDS viewed as rogue transactions and part of the horrid Anglo-Saxon casino efforts to subvert the good French stats, centrist, clientelist, protectionist, foist on everybody else through the € economic model, get taxed at 0.01% rather than 0.1% for shares. Investors shrugging off a slump in German exports and French forecasts of zero growth for the first quarter. Do they know fascist politicians will spend taxes, collected from those with the least, propping up share values? More fascist EU imposed co2 emissions rules on vehicles forcing companies to purchase much more expensive 2 year old models to comply with their global warming money making scam. All the unnecessary costs will filter down to end prices. Rising prices will see more and more companies go to the wall as consumer are hit hard in their pockets with the added burden of fascist governments raising taxes NIC and VAT to fund their wastefulness, greed and more non job vote bribing. The council rip-off tax stays the same or keeps rising to save the fascist public sector fat cat workers any pain. We are being severely forked over by these political fascist scum.

What a bunch of "fools" ...!!!!

Analysts at Citigroup said allowing eurozone banks to use outstanding loans as collateral to borrow money from the ECB would increase the pool of available collateral by €11.7 trillion. "While the details are to be decided, one principle would appear to be clear: central banks will create as much liquidity as needed to back stop the European banking system. Banks will not run out of cash or collateral," said Citigroup. The ECB has been discussing easing its collateral requirement and the final rules are still not clear, with a further meeting of its council expected to discuss the matter on January 26. The opening last month by the ECB of a new three-year funding program for banks helped calm market fears over the eurozone banking system. The Bank of England was criticized earlier this week by UBS for its refusal to contemplate new measures to support British banks.

I would love to know what the Germans think about this idea. It monetizes all the debt from everywhere and has more than enough capacity to make the Euro completely worthless.

Wow, the ECB seem to be able to see into THE PAST.

The ECB said the "risks to euro area financial stability increased considerably in the second half of 2011". It said "positive market responses" to European summit agreements had been "short-lived – indeed, a bumpy ratification process appears to have contributed to additional market uncertainties."" Wow, the ECB seem to be able to see into THE PAST. I'm in awe of their genius. I mean, absolutely NOTHING like this was remotely on the radar of a at least a few billion people. Speaking for myself I thought Europe was working fine and had things thought through until that bombshell. I was so impressed I stopped reading on the assumption that brainpower like that would naturally fill the rest of such a report with totally rational steps to a brighter future. A little bird tells me though that that isn't actually the case and that the ECB see the solution as implementing more of the same policies which THEY THEMSELVES report have already failed - and this despite their unique hindsight genius??? I notice also that the E in ECB stands for Europe, much like the E in 'Euro' stands for Euroland. But then someone else pointed out to me that the E in 'Euro' is not the same as the E in EU, although it is the same as the E in ECB, but only on a waning moon when the morning of the next solstice coincides with the witching hour according to CET, although the E in that is not the same as the E in EU nor is it the same as the E in 'Euro' nor is it the same as the E in ECB nor the E in, well, 'Europe' for that matter. I'm confused frankly. I may well be thick but might this mean that Europe is actually being run by complete "arseholes"?