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.

Herman Van Rompuy is obviously scared of a referendum in Britain as this is what Cameron will do.  EU is well known for repeating a referendum until they get the answer they want which will not happen here.  Rompuy is actually saying : Britain's moves could make EU fall apart.  To which I will say about time as they are again stocking up future problems as the democratic legitimacy of the various parliaments in budget plans. But it's not just David Cameron, is it? During the recent by elections Ed Milliband spent a considerable ammount of time trying to steal UKIP's clothes and even went as far as "joining in the debate on immigration". I think you'll find that both Cameron and Milliband will find a narrative on Europe that will be popular with the electorate and only the Lib Dems will have a pro European message; alas nobody give's a toss about what they have to say these days. The truth is much harsher than any politician will tell you..... whether we stay or leave we're in a serious long term decline and there's very little we can do about it. Traditionally in times such as these it's the extreme political parties that come to power.... I just hope that history won't repeat itself this time, but............. in some parts of the EU it already is.  Agreed that we need a proper debate about Europe to help us make a decision based on facts, not on xenophobic tabloid articles and stereotypes, or on the other hand, fear of upsetting other member countries. I am more pro-EU than I am anti-EU, but I certainly don't appreciate being lectured and threatened by people like Mr Van Rompuy, a man with no democratic mandate who is part of a project to force a USE on the people of Europe. If he and others like him were actually accountable to the people they purport to represent, they would have had to spend their time trying to accommodate the different levels of enthusiasm for ever greater integration, and explain the benefits of integration to the people of Europe instead of simply grabbing their sovereignty through hidden treaty signings and farcical multiple referendums.

Instead we have a situation where a majority of UK voters strongly resent the EU without knowing very much about it at all. ,,,

It's rather silly to say that if we left the EU we couldn't trade with them, or couldn't do so on good terms.

 Mexico is not part of the EU, does not contribute to it, does not have to apply and enforce EU law, and yet has a bilateral free trade agreement with the EU (and is at the same time part of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement). China does not apply EU law and is actiely hostile to some of it (airline emissions, for example) yet has no difficulty trading with the EU. Not being a member doesn't mean you have to apply the rules but have no say - as an independent state, you can choose to apply or not apply whatever rules you see fit. Given the the UK is more important in trade terms to the EU than the EU is to the UK, it is unlikely that Brussels would have much clout in this respect were Britain to leave. In fact, it is being in the EU that restricts our trading ability. Britain, under EU law, is like any other member state forbidden from entering into trade agreements with anyone on its own - it can only do so through the EU. Leave the EU, and we can make as many agreements as we want with anyone who wants to sign up.

That said, the usual spineless collection of people afraid of being "out of step" that comprise our political class will doubtless find a way of ensuring Britain gets the worst of all worlds.

The European Union's Autumn economic forecasts said gross domestic product (GDP) across the 17-nation currency area would shrink 0.4pc in 2012 and that it would take until 2014 to recover, with expected growth then of 1.4pc.

"Europe is going through a difficult process of macro-economic rebalancing, which will still last for some time," EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement, pointing to a gradual pick-up "from early next year."

The Commission expected the United States to far outstrip Europe, with steadily-increasing growth above the two-percent mark going forward.

However, Rehn said there is still a risk that record and mounting unemployment - put at nearly 12pc next year across the debt and austerity ravaged eurozone - could undo progress on financial markets where the pressures on government borrowing rates have eased in the past few months.

With inflation at next year forecast to "fall below two percent," the core target underpinning eurozone-wide economic planning, Rehn said that decisions taken at some two dozen crisis summits had "laid the foundations for strengthening confidence."
A German government spokesman told reporters that parts of the troika report on Greece would be ready by Monday, although they added that Germany’s lower house of parliament would need to approve the tranche before any cash could be disbursed.

Draghi's expanding battery of weapons for combating the euro crisis is to be strengthened immensely on Wednesday when the European Commission unveils new draft legislation putting the ECB in charge of supervising the eurozone's 6,000 banks, with the power to grant and withdraw licences. Within a month of taking office last November, Draghi delivered a coup, launching a trillion-euro programme of cheap loans for Europe's banks. Last Thursday he went much further, announcing a new policy of limitless purchasing of eurozone government bonds known as OMT — outright monetary transactions. The markets went quiet, Spain, Italy, and Ireland rejoiced, as Draghi emphasised for the third time in six weeks that the euro is irreversible. He framed his bold intervention as solidly within his remit to defend the embattled currency. But German monetary purists erupted in howls of protest, although it was the German on the ECB's six-strong executive, Jörg Asmussen, who played a key role in drafting the new policy. "Only a currency whose existence is out of the question can be stable," Asmussen told the Guardian in an interview. "What for us is clearly within our mandate is to guarantee the stability of the euro." Extreme times generate extreme moves. There is no doubt that the eurozone's exhausted political leaders are quietly relieved that Draghi is taking some of the heat out of the crisis. While Merkel, the central actor in the euro drama, could never say so publicly, her aides have been known to concede that Draghi is the only person who can rescue the euro – so let him get on with it. And since the stakes could hardly be higher, for Asmussen the end would appear to justify the means.

Well....as far as Spain goes :

Option 1 :
a country like Spain asks for a bailout and has its budget (and therefore its entire legislative programme) subject to the oversight of the ECB. Death of democracy.
Option 2 :
a country like Spain asks for a bailout but refuses the oversight of the ECB on its legislature ; spurned by the ECB and the markets it crashes out of the Eurozone. Death of the Euro.

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.

Short item ...

Romania's top court has ruled that a referendum on the impeachment of President Traian Basescu was invalid, because turnout failed to reach 50%.  The decision thwarts efforts by Prime Minister Victor Ponta to oust Mr Basescu, a bitter rival. It means Mr Basescu, who was suspended from his post pending the referendum, can now return to the presidency. In the 29 July referendum, more than 87% voted for impeachment - but only 46% of registered voters took part.  The rivalry between the Mr Ponta and Mr Basescu reached a stand-off after the former accused the president of obstructing government policies and starting a witch hunt against politicians from rival political parties.  But, ahead of the Constitutional Court's verdict on Tuesday, Mr Ponta said: "If six (judges) decide to declare the referendum invalid... then Basescu returns to his post."  The chief judge of the court, Augustin Zegrean, confirmed that the ruling against the referendum was passed "with a legal majority of 6-3". Romania's acting president and co-leader of Mr Ponta's ruling alliance, Crin Antonescu, promised to abide by the court ruling.  "I took note of the court decision and as previously announced, we will obey the decision," he said. A former oil tanker captain and undercover securitate officer, Mr Basescu, who has been president since 2004, has accused the centre-left coalition led by Mr Ponta of trying to take over control of independent institutions in Romania.  The centre-right president's popularity has fallen since he introduced a programme of wage cuts and tax increases as part of two deals with the International Monetary Fund in 2009 and 2011.

Germany's main opposition, the Social Democrats, have upped the ante, saying that Chancellor Angela Merkel must assume greater risks to avert a breakup of the single currency.

Bloomberg has a report on an interview the SPD floor leader, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, gave to the Rheinische Post newspaper.

He raised the pressure on Mrs Merkel to agree to more burden-sharing to stem the euro crisis, claiming that Mrs Merkel, while rejecting euro-region bond sales, fails to say that Germany is already exposed to losses from the debt crisis through the European Central Bank’s bond purchases:

The government should finally be honest about it to the people. If we want to prevent the breakup of the euro zone, it won’t be without risks for Germany.....I have been following the EU. crisis for the last three years and the Muppets in Brussels still have no idea what to do. It gives me no confidence at all in our leaders in Brussels. The numpties in Westminster are not too bright but they beat the nutters in Brussels and Strasbourg hands down.

From debt crisis to food crisis. The UN's food agency has warned today that the world could face a food crisis like that of 2007/08 if countries restruct exports on concerns about a drought-fuelled grain price rally. In its latest update, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said its food price index climbed 6pc last month, after three months of decline, driven by a surge in grain and sugar prices.

Anxieties over extreme hot and dry weather in the US Midwest sent corn and soybean prices to record highs last month, driving overall food prices higher.  Grain markets have also been boosted recently by speculation that Black Sea grain producers, particularly Russia, might impose export restrictions after a drought there hit crops.

The FAO's senior economist and grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian told Reuters:  There is an expectation that this time around we will not pursue bad policies and intervene in the market by restrictions, and if that doesn't happen we will not see such a serious situation as 2007/08. But if those policies get repeated, anything is possible.

The proposed creation of a single euro-zone bank supervisor is shaping up to be a test of the willingness of countries to give up national powers for the sake of the euro. Though still in its infancy, the effort—which envisions a key role for the European Central Bank in supervising the bloc's largest and most internationally active banks—faces hurdles as officials try to streamline a patchwork of regulators and supervisors numbering in the dozens. German central bank officials are reluctant to add another responsibility to the ECB that might weaken its anti-inflation vigilance. French bank executives worry that a Europe-wide supervisor wouldn't take into account the unique ownership structure of some banks. Behind a painted fence, the new European Central Bank building rises in Frankfurt. A banking supervision plan sees a key role for the ECB. "It will be a test case, so they'd better pass the test, otherwise it would put euro area in danger," says Daniel Gros, head of the Center for European Policy Studies, a think tank in Brussels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made the creation of a new euro-zone banking supervisor under the aegis of the ECB a precondition for agreeing to let Europe's bailout fund re capitalize banks directly, rather than indirectly via loans to national governments. Such a European financial backstop for banks would alleviate pressure on countries with banking crises, such as Spain and Ireland, and would correct one of the omissions in the design of the euro that economists say has made the currency union unstable. Creating a single supervisor would require countries to give up some of their sovereignty over how their banks are regulated.

...fulcrum of Merkels German Dream - to rule Europe without a shot being fired

The reason that the Euro will NOT be put to the sword is that it is the (well they can't can they because they are not allowed guns anymore). Merkel is a typical Prussian - NEVER WRONG - and that will soon lead to the impoverishment of most of the less powerful in Europe, which in turn will lead to massive civil unrest. And who will "take charge", or "come to the rescue"?...Why the very person who caused it - Angela Merkel.

Ring any bells Greek people?".... Meanwhile, The Greek coalition seeks two extra years to NOT meet bailout deficit targets!""The general target is for there to be no further reductions in wages or pensions and no more taxes"  A good target for a country with budget in red for years and still in red and it seems has no intention getting out of red and asking basically EU taxpayers to cover its unbalanced budget for next two years or more probably forever . "They ask extra two years' grace to meet the tough deficit targets laid down in the bailout deal, and was hoping to reverse cuts in the minimum wage and cancel planned civil service layoffs."....So,minimum wages upwards, regardless of the fact that even now with all the "cuts" their minimum wage is higher than in Spain. Promised excess state administration lay-offs to be cancelled,actually they have not even started with the cuts, and is still only a promise to IMF, EU of 150,000 out of 1 milion public sector workers. ... And, aaa, taxes, not to be forgotten, Please, no more taxes!!!....Is it only me, or it just doesnt really makes sense? I mean how do they plan to run their country like this? Who do they think should foot the difference between their overspending and taxes they (dont) collect??? To whom they think they can go and make this "case" with straight face??? To EU taxpayers??? I somehow dont think their "argument" will work.

Well done Greeks - you have voted for your continued slavery...to the 4th. Rich

BRUSSELS--- Europe, facing a momentous Greek election after a week of mounting financial stresses, is preparing for what some financial analysts are calling its "Lehman moment": the prospect that Greece could leave the euro currency union following Sunday's vote.

Mean Street host Francesco Guerrera calls on WSJ's Charles Forelle to discuss why the European crisis is so important to the U.S. economy.

With Greece poised to vote on austerity measures, the Euro zone is on the verge of a painful rupture that could be its dissolution. If Greece chooses to exit the Euro, the resulting chain of events may be hard to contain.  Yet, European officials say that even an election that results in a Greek embrace of the euro and an acceptance of the terms of Europe's March bailout of the country may only temporarily ease pressure on the euro zone, whose crisis-management strategy many analysts say lies in shreds.

Borrowing costs in Spain and Italy rose sharply higher in recent days despite efforts to insulate Spain, the euro zone's fourth-largest economy, from the effects of Greek uncertainty by lining up a bailout request last weekend for as much as €100 billion to boost the capital of Spanish banks.

"We are back in the danger zone," said Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank.....After his side beat Russia to advance in Euro 2012, Greek national football manager Fernando Santos was asked how much modern European civilisation has strayed away from its ancient Greek roots.
He replied: "We are inspired by Greek history, not Merkel." I say : ...BUT, WHATEVER Horst Rechenbach The Governor of GREECE decides is the LAW ...!!!! Greeks have done it to themselvs !!!! 
PARIS -- The quiet elections - -French voters have been taking part in a second round of parliamentary elections seen as crucial for President Francois Hollande's reform agenda. The socialist leader, who was elected last month, is seeking a solid left-wing majority in the lower house.   He has promised to hire more public workers and to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to "growth"......Socialists and their left-wing allies won 46% in last Sunday's first round, against 34% for the centre-right UMP.  Nationwide, the turnout was a modest 57%. France's 46 million eligible voters are picking representatives for 577 seats in the National Assembly.  After the first round, 36 seats out of 577 were declared in constituencies where the winner got more than 50% of the vote. Socialists and their allies won 25 of those seats.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Greece has already started printing Drachmas in secret and that Germany had been printing DMs

The Pew Global Attitudes Project polled 8,000 people in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, Britain and the Czech Republic from mid-March to mid-April and identified unprecedented levels of discontent with the EU. "The European project, which began with the creation of a small common market in 1957, grew to a larger single market in 1992 and then created the single currency in 2002, is a major casualty of the sovereign debt crisis," the report concluded. "Majorities or near majorities in most nations now believe that the economic integration of Europe has actually weakened their economies." At a time when the EU is pushing closer to an economic and fiscal union for the eurozone, popular opinion is pulling the other way. That contradiction has led to electoral upsets across Europe, from Greece to the Netherlands and France in the past three months alone. Majorities in most countries now blame EU integration for damaging their economies, but the figures hit 70% in Greece, 63% in France and 61pc in Italy, all countries once regarded as staunchly pro-European. Just one third of the people – 34% – believe that economic integration, a central plank of the EU's raison d'etre, is a benefit.
De La Rue, the money printer, failed to dampen speculation that it has been secretly awarded a contract to start printing drachmas the moment Greece is forced out of the euro. The company said that its order book had increased by 14pc, to £248m, but its policy was to never reveal which specific contracts it was working on. The chief executive Tim Cobbold said: “We have people in every region in the world. We are very close to all geopolitical conditions that develop.”

He said, however, that in most circumstances it took six months between an initial order being placed by a central bank or government, and the notes being delivered. This was the time it took when South Sudan introduced the South Sudanese pound after it gained independence last year.

To print a new currency in the space of a couple of weeks “would be impossible”.

Sergey Shvestov, the vice president of Russia’s Central Bank, said that Greece already has a plan to introduce its own currency, in parallel to to the euro. He said it with high certainty.

Making contingency plans for different options is the right thing to do for anyone, but saying it about Greece and with such a degree of certainty is new.

Shvestov didn’t want to share more details, but said that leaving the euro-zone is a necessity for Greece. He said it would be a “good example” for other countries.

The Russian Center for Strategic Studies in Moscow said that a Grexit will ignite a global crisis affecting the price of oil. They see a a chance of more than 50% that Greece will leave the euro-zone and that it will cause other countries will leave as well. El Economista brings this report. Rumors about fresh polls show that anti-bailout SYRIZA is in the lead, with 30% support. The situation in Greece is so bad that the country may leave the zone even if pro-bailout parties win.

EUR/USD is struggling between 1.25 and 1.26. Is another fall coming?

Well, it seems almost every analyst accepts that Greece right now is truly "on the edge" and that anything could happen, as it has before. Many people in Greece appear to be concerned about SYRIZA because it isn't actually one democratic political party but rather a coalition of SYN, AKOA, DEA, KEDA, "Active Citizens", and a number of other assorted independent left-wing groups and activists. Most of these groups have had no political experience and a history of squabbling amongst each other and voters in Greece are concerned that if SYRIZA is given power it will then enter into extremely treacherous and difficult times as the leading force in the government and it may not have the strength and unity required to simply stay together. In other words, if any party is likely to fall apart under the pressure and stress it's SYRIZA. For all the bold things that Tsipras did and said last week, he also demonstrated some political naivety. I also note that quite a lot of ordinary people in Greece are now saying that it's time to stop punishing ND & PASOK, that they've been given a good shock, but that it's now time to put together a government that actually has some experience of successful business and government. Personally, I would like to think that SYRIZA will win the election and will successfully guide Greece through the turbulence, saying "No!" to all of the transnationals that have previously been allowed to plunder the country and addict the Greek people to excessive consumerism. But like most Greeks all I can have is hope. I see that the other parties are now fighting very hard to win on June 17. Samaras made me snort yesterday when he declared, trying to take the ground from under SYRIZA, rather like an angry schoolboy, that he was the first person to object to the memorandum. And Venizelos has been doing a lot of angry shouting of late. The other possibility of course is that if Greeks in Greece keep draining the banks of cash as they have been, then the banks may run dry well before June 17. It's May 18 today and a month is a long time in Greece these days. If the money does run out at the banks, some people will survive on the money they have stashed under the mattress, but a lot of others simply won't have any money at all and that could spell trouble on the streets. And the tanks COULD roll in. It's an extraordinary situation. 80% of Greeks want to stay in the Eurozone but between 30 and 40% currently support the party that has said it could quite easily tell Brussels that the bailout agreements are "null and void"....I think the most dangerous outcome of all this is in fact Greece NOT leaving. Although departure will be hard for Greece, the massive over-valuation of the economy does in one way or another have to happen. If Greece is bankrolled to stay in, the danger is that countries like Spain and Italy will then believe that they too can be bailed out. The problem is that the EU (i.e. Germany) can afford to bail out Greece but it cannot afford to do this for either Spain or Italy. Also, the price of Greek exit is manageable, perhaps more so than the price of a full bailout.  If Greece is forced out and restructures, this should hopefully focus minds in Madrid and Rome. They will realise that they MUST take serious and painful steps to correct their own failures and mispricing.... It of course comes down to Germany, and really Angela Merkel's electoral calculation. Germany can save the Euro, but only by cutting Greece loose. If it insists on bailing Greece out, the Euro is doomed to failure and with it, probably, the EU as we know it.

Why do we even write about the EU and its politicians any more?---The truth has been laid bare so many times already. The political class in Europe are not worthy of electoral support, and have decided they don't need a popular mandate to rule. The Eu politicos are interested only in themselves and will destroy nations to maintain their troughing habits. The Euro was a financial concept designed by EU politicians to control their own national governments. It has worked so well, there are now ungovernable nation states in Europe just waiting for Brussels to step into the political vacuum so created. This was always going to be the outcome, the fear recently injected into the "Project" is that it will destroy not only European nations who have already lost their sovereignty but the knock on effect will be so severe around the world that even non Euro nations are getting involved in the debate. The Bilderbergers and New World Order prime movers, didn't predict the latest financial rupture in their megalomaniacal plans. Why don't these "world leader" just read and learn from history?...Did the world leaders really expect to carry forever their Ponzi scheme of paying the debt with more debt, and borrowing more every time, using the borrowed money to pay interest? Why is everyone surprised that this scheme is finally collapsing? When will the politicians and the economists understand that development of a nation is not measured by how many shirts they can change a day, or how many hairdressers are there, or how many holidays people have, but by the nation's capacity for innovation and technological progress? Germans understand this perfectly; engineers are regarded as Gods there. The PIGS (I for Italy, not Ireland) don't, nor does the GB - there civil servants have the God-like salaries and pensions, for not very much and not very professional work that many of them are doing (I shall avoid sweeping generalizations here, as no doubt there are professional hard-working civil servants somewhere, but they are hard to see for some reason)....It looks like politicians and financiers are still looking for quick fixes to prolong the Ponzi scheme for a little longer. If only ECB could lend more. If only Germans shared their wealth. The markets could indeed be persuaded - again - that all is well - but no Ponzi is sustainable in the long term. Merkel is insisting on structural reforms - why no-one has ever argued this point, asking her what structural reforms Germany would be willing to finance? Maybe offer engineering expertise? Pure annonymous GDP figures is all that commentators are fixated on these days.
I do not understand how smart people expect to boil down complex socio-economic issues down to a single financial aspect... I seem to remember that "They" called Mario Monti a 'gentleman' and I begged to differ. His position and that of his ministers is that of puppets in the hands of the real powers in Italy: the delinquent misterial burocracy. 100 billion euros are owed in terms of unpaid invoices (70%) and tax reimbursements (30%) to small and medium sized companies, by the Italian government. Giving rise to countless banruptcies and suicides primarily caused by tax demands in some cases illegal. Yet, italians are painted as inveterate tax evaders, where tax evasion is in fact justified in terms of shear survival, your family's welfare comes before anything and anyone else, the reality is that the italian treasury collects exactly the same amount of money as the german treasury. For every 100 euros of net wages 120 euros are paid in taxes and contributions. In order to qualify for Euro entry Mr Ciampi fiddled the sale of italy's gold reserves which in fact were never sold to balance Italy's books, with the full knowledge of the German embassy in Rome and Mr Kohl. The italian end of this fraud were Mr Ciampi, Mr Romano Prodi, Mr Giuliano Amato who actually raided millions of bank accounts to collect 60 billion old liras (30 billion euros) once again to fiddle the balance sheet for euro entry. Italy's Financial and Political establishment which of course includes the likes of Mr Mario Draghi, Mr Tremonti and Mario Monti are well versed cynical experts of managing Italy's debt and euro entry was always comceived as a permanent expedient to off load the debt to the Germans.Seems that the expedient won't be that permanent, indeed it will turn out to be very temporary. These people I have mentioned should be standing in a dock with their Greek and German counterparts, yet the italians at least enjoy incomes of thousands of euros per month paid with the toil and I am sad to say the blood of good honest and brilliant italian working citizens.

We're well and truly in uncharted territory now. Policy makers, economists and the commentariate are in complete disarray, headless chickens are running around all over Europe as a multitude of unstoppable objects are about to collide head on into immovable objects. Europe is braced for a crucial 48 hours of high-stakes summitry likely to decide whether Germany and France can strike a grand bargain aimed at dispelling growing pessimism over the chances of the single currency surviving in its current form. While eurozone finance ministers are to meet on Monday in Brussels, apparently at a loss over how to respond to political paralysis in Greece and a worsening crisis in Spain, all eyes are on François Hollande, the new French leader, who is to go to Berlin for his first face-to-face meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, as soon as he is sworn in as president on Tuesday.

Hollande, Europe's new champion of growth policies, lines up against Merkel, the dominant cheerleader of austerity as the solution to the crisis. The German leader, increasingly isolated if inherently strong in the European contest, suffered a big setback on Sunday night, with her Christian Democrats slumping to a crushing defeat in an election in the big German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, according to German TV exit polls. The truth is the crisis is now so complex and the competing pressures of political and economic strains so great that no one has a fucking idea whats going to happen and what ways this is going to turn let alone how to get out of it. Whats really clear though, as with all situations where unstoppable objects impact immovable ones, there's going to be one hell of an explosion.  Nothing will happen other than a slightly less austere austerity.  The Euro was formed for France and Germany, perhaps the Netherlands and the northern European states - the southern states who rely as much on tourism as anything else for hard currency were always going to be a problem. Tax the banker trades, tax the rich more, re-distribute wealth, shut down tax havens and lessen austerity - that would instantly see growth return to northern Europe. The majority austerity to pay for minority greed-istas of Cameron, Clegg, Osborne are the hopeless ones, stuck in a world where minority greed rules, the rich get tax cuts and increase their wealth at the expense of the majority losing jobs and having their pay frozen.

REUTERS - Standard & Poor’s raised Greece’s credit rating out of default territory on Wednesday, as expected after Athens slashed its debt by about a third by completing the biggest sovereign debt restructuring in financial history. But the firm kept Greece firmly in the junk category with a CCC rating and warned that a deep recession, unpredictable elections on May 6 and popular anger against austerity could threaten Athens’ efforts to put its finances back on track. “While the exchange has, in our view, alleviated near-term funding pressures, Greece’s sovereign debt burden remains high,” S&P said in a statement, adding that it expected the debt to stay as high as 160-170 percent of GDP in the next three years. S&P assigned Greece’s rating a stable outlook, indicating it was not planning to change the rating again soon, but it warned that risks remained. “The ratings could be lowered if we believe that there is a likelihood of a distressed exchange on Greece’s remaining stock of commercial debt,” it said. The three major rating firms have repeatedly slashed Greece’s rating throughout the debt crisis, cutting it to default over the debt deal in which private bondholders lost most of their investments in the country’s government bonds. S&P had flagged as early as February that it was likely to raise Greece’s rating to the CCC category after the debt swap was completed. Fitch assigned Greece a slightly higher B-rating in mid-March, becoming the first major rating agency to upgrade Athens’ rating after the swap cut its debt by about 100 billion euros. Moody’s is the only one of the three major rating agencies to have kept its Greek rating unchanged at the lowest level. It has said it would revise the rating “in due course” and that any upgrade would likely be small.

It could be worse than we can imagine. So there's no room for complacency.

Europe's hopes of "ring fencing" the embattled single currency through a €1 trillion-plus leveraged bailout fund are sinking due to spiraling bond yields, investor flight from euro zone debt, and failure to entice cash-rich governments in the far east to commit to the plan. Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is expected to tell euro zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday evening that the scheme to quintuple the firepower of the fund by underwriting initial losses on euro zone bond-buying by China and sovereign wealth funds in the far and Middle East has failed to attract enough interest. The blow to euro zone efforts to save the currency came amid increasingly apocalyptic predictions of a euro collapse........ The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris forecast a "deep depression" across Europe and a tidal wave of bankruptcies if any of the 17 countries was forced to quit the euro. The Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, urged Germany to save the EU from "a crisis of apocalyptic proportions". Stock markets rebound sharply after days of heavy losses as investors ignore IMF denial of aid for Italy and an OECD warning of euro zone recession and risk that US could follow suit...for investors read central banks....The stock market is rigged. Same with the bonds, it is only a matter of time when we get a eurobond. Currencies are rigged by the G 20 who are running an un-official world exchange rate mechanism. Why do journalists keep talking as though there is a free market ?... We will see the FTSE now heading for 6500 and the Dow to 12500, then we will head down back to 5000 and 11000. The dealers in the stock market and bond market brokers are making an absolute fortune, you can read the central banks like an open book.....Meanwhile - Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, throws her weight behind the unnamed denials - she says neither Italy nor Spain has made a funding request to the IMF. She was speaking from Lima, Peru today as part of a tour of South America. The story that the IMF was drawing up a £517m rescue package for Italy and Spain, sparked by Italian newspaper reports over the weekend, was denied by an unnamed IMF spokesman earlier today. However Ms Lagarde's denial that there has been a request for funding still leaves open the possibility that the fund is thrashing out possible ways to help the eurozone without waiting to be asked... Sir Mervyn King - he's been asked again to defend the rate of inflation being so far above the bank's target of 2 %. The overshoot in inflation is not because we've had a very buoyant economy growing fast - it's not that we overestimated the amount of capacity around. It's not domestically generated inlfation, it's caused by external factors. The nature of the crisis, changes to the banking system - this has made life extremely hard. What we failed to understand was how long it would take for conditions in the banking markets to get back to normal. We thought that by now funding conditions would be better but in fact they are worse. That's one of the things that has made assessing the economy very difficult. Sir Mervyn King has been speaking to the Treasury Select Committee about the latest Inflation Report. He warned the dangers from Europe are so unpredictable that no accurate predictions can really be made.

Moody's, the ratings agency, issued a warning to France last night that it could face the loss of its coveted status as one of the world's most creditworthy nations after saying the euro debt crisis and slowing world economy left the country's AAA rating under pressure. It said that while the French economy remained able to absorb normal shocks, "the government's financial strength has weakened, as it has for other euro area sovereigns, because the global financial and economic crisis." The warning will come as a shock to many in France and is likely to unnerve markets already anxious at the prospect of the euro debt crisis spreading to the US and Asia. Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, added to the uncertainty earlier in the day when he said detailed talks to solve the crisis were likely to go beyond a self-imposed deadline set for this weekend. He also hinted that a rescue deal will fall short of the "big bazooka" that markets believe is needed to prevent the currency club breaking up. Schäuble said a final package would not be in place until the G20 world leaders' summit in Cannes next month. His comments dismayed investors concerned that Berlin and Paris have failed to grasp the magnitude of the eurozone's debt crisis. Stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt fell, while in New York the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 247 points by the close of trading. A two-month flight of cash from European banks accelerated, according to analysts, while fears grew earlier that ratings agencies were poised to downgrade French sovereign bonds, increasing the difference between France's borrowing costs and those of Germany to the highest level since 1995. Oil prices, which had steadied after recent falls, turned downwards again and the euro fell against the dollar as investors sought safe havens. David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "German officials clearly decided that a degree of expectation management was needed, and a statement was made warning that if anyone expected a package to be in place by next Monday then they were setting themselves up for disappointment." Markets were at fever pitch after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said at the weekend that they would reveal a rescue plan this Sunday at a crucial European council meeting. The US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, warned at the weekend it was crucial to agree a package of measures that would reassure markets and end 18 months of wrangling over how to deal with Greek debts. EU policymakers are due to meet this weekend in Brussels ahead of the G20 conference in Cannes on 4 November hosted by Sarkozy. The chancellor, George Osborne, said the Cannes meeting would be crucial in determining whether the global economy could maintain growth. "The biggest boost to growth across the world – and for Britain – would be a resolution to the crisis in the eurozone. Maintaining the momentum towards that will be the focus of my discussion with my international counterparts." Britain has ruled out participating directly in funding any scheme, though it is likely to become involved in a broader backstop plan put forward by the International Monetary Fund.

The EU will this week launch plans to invest €50bn (£44bn) in modernising digital, energy and transport networks, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years. The European commission scheme envisages the use of bonds backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fill funding gaps left by cash-strapped governments and leverage up private investment. The plans, due to be revealed on Wednesday, are designed to pay back taxpayers for the aid and guarantees of €4.6tn given to the financial sector in the past three years. Despite this taxpayer funded support, venture capital investments in Europe slumped last year to just €3bn. EIB president Philippe Maystadt said: "Infrastructure finance in Europe has suffered since the financial crisis and banks face new constraints on long term lending. Project bonds could be a way to attract capital from other investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and be a useful addition to traditional financing options." The EC says developing smart infrastructure could require up to €1.5-2tn for trans-European transport networks, the energy sector and information and communication technologies. That equates to the putative size of the eurozone bailout fund discussed by G20 finance ministers at the weekend. The bulk of the funds to be announced this week (around €32bn) would go to transport infrastructure projects, with €9bn each earmarked for energy, including smart grids, and for broadband infrastructure and digital public services. Kroes said the money would be largely in the form of equity, debt or guarantees provided by the EU and EIB, thus improving the credit rating of projects. These would be proposed not only by telecoms operators but water and electricity utilities, co-ops or construction firms.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, Mr Barroso called for EU leaders to back his plan that would bring forward the introduction of a permanent rescue mechanism for states from mid-2012 to mid-2013 and would see more rigourous capital standards for banks. "For confidence to return we need to fix the sovereign debt problem, which can only be done through a coherent package and we must therefore urgently strengthen the banks, because, in fact, those two issues are now, whether we like it or not, linked. "This must be co-ordinated through the member states, the European Banking Authority, the ECB and the Commission," Mr Barroso said. Mr Barroso hopes that EU leaders will back the plan when they meet at a summit in Brussels on October 23. Officials say that the Commission, the EU's executive, sees this as the final opportunity to get a grip on the debt crisis, which has already forced three states into multi-billion euro bailouts and now threatens to push the world economy into a second recession.