Super writting by Helena Smith - The Guardian

Up close Angela Merkel is very static. She stands immoveable, her eyes flashing this way and that. In Athens, as she stood behind a lectern following talks with the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, the German chancellor was so restrained she hardly moved at all. The Greek capital resembled Fort Knox – with riot police guarding her every move, helicopters roaring overhead and sharp shooters installed on the rooftops of buildings great and small – but Europe's most powerful woman was having none of it. The angry chants and hoarse slogans of the thousands of protesters who had also come out to greet her, eliciting one of the biggest security operations ever put on by near-bankrupt Greece, belonged to another world. As did the copious amounts of acrid teargas that wafted through the Athens air.

In the hushed marble interior of the mansion that is the prime minister's office, Merkel had a message and on this, her first visit to Greece since the eruption of Europe's debt drama, it was a message she was determined to convey.

"I have not come as a task-master," she said, her eyes elevated towards the room's ornate sunlit ceiling as if focusing on some indefinable spot. "And nor have I come as a teacher to give grades," she added, now focusing intently on the marble floor. "I have come as a friend to listen and be informed." Three years into the crisis that began in Athens, Merkel also wanted to say that she understood "a lot" was being demanded of Greece. She was not the austerity warmonger that critics had painted her to be. "I come in full and firm awareness of what the people of Greece are going through," she insisted. But, she continued, Europe's weakest link was badly in need of change – and, if reforms were not made now, they would come back "in a much more dramatic way".

"I come from East Germany and I know how long it takes to build reform," she said, almost by way of reassurance. "The road for the people of Greece is very tough, very difficult, but they have put a good bit of the path behind them. I want to say you are making progress!"... But even as the leader attempted not to sound like the matriarch in charge of the family till, there is no denying that that is exactly what she is.

"Saying that she is not here to preach is bullshit," said one of the small retinue of Berlin-based journalists who follow her every move. "She is here to tell them exactly what to do."  For the vast majority of Greeks, no person is more identified than Merkel with the punitive measures that have ensnared the country in unprecedented recession and record levels of poverty and unemployment.

As up to 300,000 took to the streets in a massive display of fury over the savage cuts and tax increases that have brought growing numbers to the brink of penury, it was the woman who is widely seen as the "architect of austerity" that was firmly in their sights.   "If I met her I would say if you had read Greek history you would have been more aware," said Takis Stavropoulos, a bearded leftist who had converged with thousands of other protesters on Syntagma square. "If she had done that she would have known we would resist."   No government has been in as difficult a place as the ruling coalition that Samaras has lead since June. Although Merkel's surprise visit was seen as a major coup, with officials hailing it as further proof of Berlin's new-found willingness to keep Greece in the 17-member eurozone, there was also an acceptance that the chancellor's six-hour presence in Athens, while rich in symbolism, did not yield much in the way of substance.   Merkel's Calvinist approach to dealing with Europe's crisis-hit southern periphery may have softened, as the leader looks to re-election next year, but as tiny Greece stares into the abyss with enough funds to survive only until the end of next month, the message was clear: apply more draconian measures and the rescue funds will keep pouring in. Echoing the complaint of German commentators, Greek analysts agreed that the visit was long-overdue.

"It is hard not to see that this visit had a more important message for Germany ahead of [next September's] general elections than it did for Greece," opined the prominent commentator Yiannis Pretenderis.  The sad reality remained. After the biggest debt write-down in the history of world finance and two EU-IMF-sponsored bailouts worth a mammoth €240bn, Greece was still far from being saved and, even worse, was slipping inexorably into social meltdown with its political arena becoming ever more radicalised.

The draconian €13.5bn package of spending cuts that is the price of further aid could, many fear, push Greece further to the edge.  Back at the heart of the government, untouched by the discord of everyday life, the awkwardness of Greece's disharmonious relationship with its big brother Germany was on full display in the awkwardness of the body language of its prime minister.   As Merkel, the pastor's daughter, spoke, Samaras, whose background is privileged elite, Harvard and moneyed, looked on and winced.

"Greeks are a proud people," he said. "And our enemy is recession. But we are not asking for favours. In my discussion with the German chancellor I pointed out, however, that the Greek people are bleeding."  As he spoke, Merkel remained absolutely static before pursing her lips and looking away.  Police fired teargas and stun grenades to hold back crowds chanting anti-austerity slogans and waving Nazi flags while Merkel's host, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, welcomed her as a "friend" of Greece.  On her first visit to Greece since the euro zone crisis erupted three years ago, Merkel struck a conciliatory tone.  She reaffirmed Berlin's commitment to keep the debt-crippled Greek state inside Europe's single currency but offered Samaras no concrete relief ahead of a new report on Greece's reform progress due by next month.  "I have come here today in full knowledge that the period Greece is living through right now is an extremely difficult one for the Greeks and many people are suffering," Merkel said at a news conference with Samaras just a few hundred yards from the mayhem on Syntagma Square, outside parliament.

"Precisely for that reason I want to say that much of the path is already behind us," she added. (source guardian.uk)

France -- tax rises for the wealthy ???!!!

"In France, prime minister Hollande is presenting the details of the 2013 budget to his cabinet this morning. The budget is expected to include tough spending freezes and tax rises for the wealthy as Paris struggles to rein in its deficit."

Just a second: tax rises for the wealthy is not typically classed as "austerity".

There are two sides to fixing the finances of the state:

a) cutting expenditure, i.e. welfare, public sector jobs, wages and pensions, all of which certainly hit the unemployed and low paid. One can also cut procurement of things like weapons but often the interests of the "defence" industry are well protected.

b) increasing income via taxation. Here, there are options. One can increase indirect taxation and hit the poor or introduce higher marginal taxes for the wealthy, capital gain tax, corporation taxes etc. Some of the latter of course have become risqué economic policies because highly mobile globalised capital can blackmail governments with disinvestment.
However, I would certainly not classify tax rises for the wealthy as "tough austerity" in the classic definition of austerity.   Some "austerity for the rich" is long overdue. Inequality has kept increasing in the context of the worst crisis and impoverishment of the populations of Europe.

Waiting to see what Hollande is proposing anyway ... I doubt that it will be a vicious attack on the rich.

The EU is dead in the water....

The EU is dead in the water already, the Euro and Eurozone even more so. Or perhaps you think the whole mad caboodle is a roaring success, and on an ever-upwards curve? Who cares when it finally unravels - it will, by its nature, never be a success in the future, because its structure and aims are stuck in the past in a fast-changing world. UKIP were top in the EU elections, and have gained significant success in the polls ever since the last General Election, so much so that they are challenging the Limp Dicks for third place. Most Conservatives agree privately with UKIP, and significant numbers have deserted to UKIP, so much so that the Conservatives cannot possibly win the next General Election without UKIP aid or without adopting UKIP policies in a significant fashion. There's a message for you there, chum. There is a great irony here that the steps taken in order to prevent a deflationary collapse could mean there is an even greater "danger" if we do start to recover. Put simply, the debt burden of the major economies are so large that they cannot afford to pay higher rates. The central banks, have massive rate risk through the bonds they are holding. What we are trying to do is create via financial alchemy a solution to the problem that the debtors cannot pay the creditors, but a restructuring is politically impossible as well as a mortal threat to undercapitalized banks. Therefore, we hope that we can somehow flood the world with liquidity, to inflate only specific assets (property, equities) but not others (food and energy). Because this is "unnatural" we see efforts made to manipulate markets (officially sanctioned fudges of housing data, outright equity market intervention, and rumors of oil releases) so the markets just get weirder every day. The question is, whether we are happy to live in a world of extreme central planning, which seems to benefit the ultra wealthy the most or would be prefer to stop the charade, allow the markets to clear, accept the reality that we are not as rich as we thought, but move on.

Difficulties in the markets for Spain, a slippery slope towards a bailout, austerity, protests and social unrest, we have seen this movie before. Here is my a guide for how to deal with the situation.

An ancient Greek guide for Spanish and other PIIGS who wish to deal effectively with the crisis

1. Dealing in private with the pain and anxiety caused by the market turmoil and/or frequent visits of the Troika and their impossible demands (for how to deal in public see other points below): Draw from Stoicism. Stoics strived to be free of suffering and through exercise of reason achieve peace of mind - meant in the ancient sense of having "clear judgment" – as well as maintain equanimity in the face of life's highs and lows.

2. Dealing with “nice” comments about your morality: Use Aristotelian or Chryssipian logic. Convince yourself with sound deductive syllogisms that the rubbish posted around the world about your country & culture is the result of incorrect induction and reckless stereotyping (one pig does this, two pigs do this, therefore all pigs do this).

3. Dealing with the unethical behaviour of political and economic elites in your country and the abroad: Adopt Socratic dialectic and ethics in public life. Socrates was renowned for his relentless questioning of authorities and public figures, which was aimed not to humiliate individuals (yeah sure – never swallowed this at school) but to discover truth with a view to achieving the “good life” for everyone.

4. Dealing with seemingly endless half-baked attempts to re-establish financial stability: Recall Zenon’s paradoxes especially the one of Achilles and the Tortoise. If the Tortoise is given advantage in the race, Achilles will never reach her because by the time he has reached the last position, the Tortoise will always have moved a bit further.

5. Dealing with debt slavery: Recall σεισάχθεια (seisachtheia), Prior to Solon (5th cent BC) Athenians practiced debt enslavement: a citizen incapable of paying his debts became "enslaved" to the creditor. This issue primarily concerned peasants working leased land belonging to rich landowners and unable to pay their rents. In theory, those enslaved would be liberated when their original debts were repaid. Solon put an end to it with the σεισάχθεια / seisachtheia, liberation of debts, which prevented all claim to the person by the debtor.

6. Finally, if you fail to bring about the much desired relief or political change with the above measures why not go for a Roman style “Spartacus slave revolt” and then establish “Epicurean philosophical communes” all over the Med. They survived for hundreds of years in antiquity and provided peace and happiness to millions.

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.

The East provides a mirror

Since Brussels is quite happy to ignore referendum results it doesn't like, it's hardly n a good position to lecture others about democracy.

People in Eastern Europe have a healthy attachement to actual results. That's why they get impatient with the endless process-driven talk and de facto status quo and paralysis in most of the West (perfectly represented by EU institutions themselves). So it is more likely to get radical ideas and non-standard politicians in the East than in the West. East embraced nationalism, clericalism, fascism, socialism, communism, capitalism, whatever came along as long as the perception by people was that things might get better.

People in the east go for the jugular, game the systems, and in general act in self-serving ways. This can be annoying, but is is also more honest and authentic. Capitalism in the east very quickly disintagrated into plutocracy, abuse of labor rights, tunneling of companies, and a general kleptocracy - things that took a lot longer in the West, although it is clearly happening in the West right now.

People in the West need to understand that abstract "systems" that don't deliver results are just that: empty verbiage surrounding well-hidden and self-serving power. The East provides a mirror: there can be no truly free media that is owned by private interests, there can be no general prosperity in dog-eats-dog capitalism, there is no such thing as "meritocracy" any more in the West than there is one in the East, and maybe there is no such thing as "liberal democracy", only better and worse ways to run a society.

The ugly truth is that without self-restraint by the powerful, without growing wealth, and without external unifying threats, all these pathologies from th East are appearing the West. The political threat of communism made the prosperity and balanced societies the West possible (maybe inevitable). That's gone, how are we going to do the right thing without this external threat?

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.

Matters are worse in the banking sector. Each country's banking system is backed by its own government; if the government's ability to support the banks erodes, so will confidence in the banks. Even well-managed banking systems would face problems in an economic downturn of Greek and Spanish magnitude; with the collapse of Spain's real-estate bubble, its banks are even more at risk. In their enthusiasm for creating a "single market", European leaders did not recognise that governments provide an implicit subsidy to their banking systems. It is confidence that if trouble arises the government will support the banks that gives confidence in the banks; and, when some governments are in a much stronger position than others, the implicit subsidy is larger for those countries.

In the absence of a level playing field, why shouldn't money flee the weaker countries, going to the financial institutions in the stronger? Indeed, it is remarkable that there has not been more capital flight. Europe's leaders did not recognise this rising danger, which could easily be averted by a common guarantee, which would simultaneously correct the market distortion arising from the differential implicit subsidy.  The euro was flawed from the outset, but it was clear that the consequences would become apparent only in a crisis. Politically and economically, it came with the best intentions. The single-market principle was supposed to promote the efficient allocation of capital and labor. But details matter. Tax competition means that capital may go not to where its social return is highest, but to where it can find the best deal. The implicit subsidy to banks means that German banks have an advantage over those of other countries. Workers may leave Ireland or Greece not because their productivity there is lower, but because, by leaving, they can escape the debt burden incurred by their parents. The European Central Bank's mandate is to ensure price stability, but inflation is far from Europe's most important macroeconomic problem today.
AP - The European Parliament has overwhelmingly defeated the international ACTA anti-piracy agreement, after fears that it would limit Internet freedom mobilized broad opposition across Europe.
The vote Wednesday was 39 in favor, 478 against, with 165 abstentions.
The defeat means that, as far as the EU is concerned, the treaty is dead - at least for the moment - though other countries may participate.
A spokesman for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it may try again after it obtains a court ruling on whether the agreement violates fundamental EU rights.
Supporters said ACTA - the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - was needed to standardize international laws that protect the intellectual property rights.
Opponents feared it would lead to censorship and a loss of privacy on the Internet

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) vs. The Euro

I'm getting a great deal of "de ja vue" with what's happening these days, The ERM....I remember everybody desperately trying to keep it going long after the game was up, then finally when the bang came, it came big time. I think the same will happen to the Euro.  One mighty loud bang about to come, and when it does come, it will happen very very quickly......After all, was the ERM not the farther of the Euro?.....The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) is based on the concept of fixed currency exchange rate margins, but with exchange rates variable within those margins. This is also known as a semi-pegged system. Before the introduction of the euro, exchange rates were based on the European Currency Unit (ECU), the European unit of account, whose value was determined as a weighted average of the participating currencies....A grid (known as the Parity Grid) of bilateral rates was calculated on the basis of these central rates expressed in ECUs, and currency fluctuations had to be contained within a margin of 2.25% on either side of the bilateral rates (with the exception of the Italian lira, which was allowed a margin of 6%). Determined intervention and loan arrangements protected the participating currencies from greater exchange rates fluctuations.

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) was a system introduced by the European Community in March 1979, as part of the European Monetary System (EMS), to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe, in preparation for Economic and Monetary Union and the introduction of a single currency, the euro, which took place on 1 January 1999. After the adoption of the euro, policy changed to linking currencies of countries outside the Eurozone to the euro (having the common currency as a central point). The goal was to improve stability of those currencies, as well as to gain an evaluation mechanism for potential Eurozone members. This mechanism is known as ERM2.

European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi says that eurozone leaders must decide what they want the bloc to look like in the future, because the current set-up is "unsustainable". He said that the ECB could not "fill the vacuum" left by governments on creating growth or structural reforms. EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn said more austerity was needed if the eurozone was to avoid disintegration. New figures showed eurozone inflation slowed more than expected this month. Inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro eased to 2.4% in May from 2.6% in April. The figure is still above the ECB's target to keep inflation below 2%, but the lower-than-expected number could fuel calls for an interest rate cut next week.

Worries over the eurozone debt crisis - and in particular Spain's banking sector - have been hitting markets all week. However, the markets were enjoying a respite on Thursday. The euro - which had fallen to near two-year lows against the dollar at $1.2358 - recovered slightly to $1.2410. European stock markets were mostly positive, with London's FTSE 100 share index up 0.8%, and the Frankfurt and Paris indexes registering similar gains. The pressure on bond yields also eased slightly, with Spain's 10-year bond yield - the rate of return demanded by investors - falling back to 6.61%, having reached 6.79% on Wednesday. In other figures released on Thursday, Germany's unemployment rate fell below 7% as Europe's biggest economy continued to perform strongly. The jobless rate dropped to 6.7% in May, from 7% in April, as the number of people unemployed fell by 108,000 to 2.86 million. However, there was more bad news from Greece as figures showed that Greek retail sales volumes fell by 16.2% in March compared with a year earlier. This followed February's decline of 12.9%.

Angela Merkel says Europe should be ready to consider all options to stop the debt crisis - but wouldn't comment on a banking union in the eurozone. She said member states should be ready to hand over more powers to the EC: There are integration steps which will require treaty changes. We are not at that stage today but nevertheless there are no taboos. I have always said we need more Europe and that means eventually giving more competences to the European Commission. We have to think about how we move forward over the next five to ten-year horizon. And if we are constantly coming up with new taboos, it won't work. An odd move here from Bankia. In an attempt to hang on to deposits it's offering a free Spiderman towel to young savers if they can put away €300 by the end of the month. There were reports of a bank run earlier in the month after the state takeover of the lender was announced.
WELL....The simple truth is that European Nations face solvency issues thanks to structural deficits, which means the ECB is broke. The EFSF has never been adequately funded, nor can the IMF come up with enough money to bail out every bank in Europe, therefore, eventually, the currency will be abandoned. The Euro exists currently only because of US Currency backstops. By the same token, here in the US, sooner or later bond clamping will fail, and cuts will be occurring here as well. The only thing that remains up in the air is the timing, not the eventuality....BBC is reporting that the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, declared the Eurozone is "... unsustainable..." and that the ECB cannot ..."fill the vacuum..." left by the failure of Eurozone to take necessary action on austerity and structural reforms.

The eurozone is confronted with the prospect of "financial disintegration"

José Manuel Barroso began his press conference to outline today's report on the European economy (see 12.03pm onwards) by expressing sympathy to the victims of yesterday's earthquake in Italy. Moving to economic issues, Barroso argued that Europe is moving in the right direction on public finances, and also moving towards "greater integration in the euro area". Barroso stuck to broad-brush issues (I think Olli Rehn will do the detail shortly), insisting that the euro had delivered benefits, and wasn't the cause of this crisis – on the grounds that countries who aren't in the euro have also been caught up in the financial turmoil. The key message within the 1,000 pages of reports issued by the European Commission is that the eurozone risks imploding unless it uses the tools at its disposal to calm the crisis.

From Brussels, reports: The eurozone is confronted with the prospect of "financial disintegration" and should use its new bailout fund to overcapitalize distressed banks directly while embarking on a transnational banking union, the European commission said today. Delivering more than 1,000 pages of diagnosis and policy prescriptions on the dire condition of the European economy and how to try to end almost three years of euro crisis, the commission also talked up the merits of eurobonds or pooling of eurozone debt, a proposal gaining in traction but strongly resisted for now by the biggest economy, Germany.

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?

The European Union has abrogated the Rule of Law

Poor Angela - Her early years as an organizer in the East German socialist party must have left her deeply disappointed with the end of the Soviet Union and reunification. Now, her dream of creating an EUSSR seems doomed to end in failure too !!!!..... "The new EU bank plan states clearly and without remorse that the decisions for any bank insolvency will be made by Regulators. This would be people appointed by European politicians, this would be bureaucrats, this would be employees of the State as Europe returns to the governance of the old Soviet Union where the Rule of Law was subordinated to the designs of the nation.....The only question is "do we have to go down with RMS Titanic, or are there enough lifeboats available?" To mangle the metaphor, just as the last thing the Titanic needed was more ice, the last thing the economies need is more debt.

"The European Union has abrogated the Rule of Law for the good of the State. This is the second such abrogation with the first being the exemption of certain European institutions and the IMF from the Private Sector Involvement of Greece. Greece may be a one-off exemption as they claim but we now have a second instance where jurisprudence has been overturned for the good of the nations of Europe. This is not Socialism or Capitalism but rather some sort of Fascist governance which I publicly decry as the echo of the jackboots sounds across the Continent once again."...As this eurozone meltdown deepens, a chronic lack of "periphery" bank capital raises the risk of acute liquidity crises. Spain's fourth largest bank has just asked for a €19bn bail-out. Catalonia, the country's wealthiest region, says it is bust and central government must pay its bills. According to some people in Spain this is Anglo Saxon propaganda, here is a piece from El Pais, the DT is top billing. On its website, Britain’s Daily Telegraph interpreted Mas’ comments as a call for a bailout, prompting the Catalan government, known as the Generalitat, to issue a statement complaining that the some media has misinterpreted the premier’s remarks and had taken them out of context....Shocking stuff - is this for real? I suspect it is.

There has been very little democracy about EU ...

The European Commission is run by 32 people, all of whom are now billionaires (Vivian Reding was the last one into the billionaires club). ...Not a single one is competent in any way....Note that none of them come from a major country - it's all rats and mice stuff - making it easier for France at first and Germany now to tell them what to do.

Democracy? The EU spends a fortune keeping democracy or democratic expression in check. We have allowed the EU to become a machine that serves itself and many thousands of well paid staff - keeping themselves occupied by standardizing everything right across the region via endless regulations. There has been very little democracy about this - save for occasionally carefully calculated rubber stamp exercises - usually by those desperate to get their snouts in the trough. Politicians at the national level have, without the authorisation of the People, serially signed away more and more of the sovereignty of their countries. Snatching back currency sovereignty would be a reversal of this process. You can expect the machinery of the EU to move Heaven and Earth (and every allegedly fixed goalpost the EU has) to avoid it happening. The EU is designed as a one way street. Democracy is greatly feared by these politically elite puppets - Democracy spells the end of their Princely style and worse, Democracy would challenge the source of their wealth and why the Commission found it necessary to protect themselves and their ill-gained personal assets with a Law which prohibits any examination or investigation of them. They are immune to prosecution for any and ALL crimes and misdemeanors.  The last Commission was ignominiously forced to resign en masse - because - they stole £1.4 Billion - yes billion.   Not a penny was recovered.  Not a prosecution was enforced.  They got away with grand theft Scot free....Most of them still work within the EU Commission.
"The European Union has abrogated the Rule of Law for the good of the State. This is the second such abrogation with the first being the exemption of certain European institutions and the IMF from the Private Sector Involvement of Greece. Greece may be a one-off exemption as they claim but we now have a second instance where jurisprudence has been overturned for the good of the nations of Europe. This is not Socialism or Capitalism but rather some sort of Fascist governance which I publically decry as the echo of the jackboots sounds across the Continent once again."

The average European (Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Irish, Italian, even British and German) before paying one more coin to the government in taxes, need to ask for a full, popular and independent audit of all expenditures decisions which bring us to the present disaster. States lost their credibility. ... We need a big TRIAL, Nuremberg style. To find responsibilities for the present mess. All those rendered guilty for corruption and robbery expeditiously judged and jailed. Traitors, who plotted the enslavement of its own people by opaque schemes and treaties, irresponsible debts and high regulation and taxes, associated with foreigners powers and multinational interests, judged and publicly executed. All debts related with the submission of the nation canceled and remaining sound debts paid for the society even with utmost sacrifice. Otherwise people will not be cooperative with the current state of affaires. We need a new era of clean people, clean policy and clean money before we move to the next step. Let´s sort out who is who first. I think it would be a good idea to let the people get what they asked for. They want a socialist government and now it is time to reap the rewards. In a few weeks they will be broke and unable to borrow more money. Instead of cuts they will have nothing. It sucks but sometimes people can only learn the hard way....It is easy to blame the Greek man in the street for th e failures of his government to collecttaxes and t toleraate forms of corruption> votes or no votes he man in the street has little control over his governemt. So let us put the blame where it ddoes lie.
1. The greek government of the day who lied their way into the Eurozone in the first place.
2. Goldman sachs who created the fiddles whicj allowed thenm to lie their way into th eeurozone
3. The euro zone experts who should have been fully aware of the potential greek difficulties and did nothing.

I say....

I've been scriblling about the super amounts of money that European taxpayers have been paying out every year in interest payments to the banking sector - €5.6 trillion since 1995. This has to be one of the longest running extortion rackets in history. Remember that the banks lend money to governments that they don't actually have - they use the magic conjuring trick of fractional reserve banking to create the "money" out of thin air. They then charge taxpayers interest despite the fact that lending to governments must surely be one of the safest bets around....The figures for long-term interest rates in the European Union can all be found on the ECB's website. If you click here, you can see the figures for the last year or so. But I've just discovered that you can easily generate graphs showing the interest rates for all EU countries since as long ago as 1993. First, here is the official ECB graph showing interest rate variations for the 17 Eurozone countries.
Intringuingly, there was a moment back in 2007-2008 when all the countries were paying the same rate of roughly 4% - it was a good time to be in the Eurozone. But since then, the rates have gone all over the place with Greece, Portutal and Ireland being forced to pay extortionate rates - so high that they might as well pay using a credit card. Some countries, such as Germany have done very well since their rates are now down below 2%. This gives them a fantastic competitive advantage. Could that explain why they are so keen on maintaining the status quo?

Poor manufacturing data from Italy, Spain, France and Germany erodes early gains on European markets, while eurozone unemployment hits a record high of 10.9pc.....Unemployment in the eurozone reached a record high again in March as spending cuts continued to hit the working population. For all 17 nations in the eurozone, the jobless rate rose again to 10.9%, the highest since the euro was formed in 1999, Eurostat said. For the eurozone, 17.4 million are now looking for work and more than 3 million of those are under 25. Italy's unemployment rate reached a 12-year high, up to 9.8%. And in a surprise move, the jobless rate in Germany rose to 6.8% in March, official figures showed, having been expected to stay at the previous month's 6.7% after six months of declines. The number of Germans out of work is now at 2.87 million.For the whole of the European Union, including countries such as the UK and Denmark, the jobless rate is 10.2%.

Austerity or growth ... Last week, Spain said that the number of job seekers rose for the eighth month in a row in March to hit 5.6 million, a record rate of 24.4%. Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union and it is expected to rise further this year. Spain and Italy are both in recession and have seen borrowing costs rise, raising the prospect that they may need help or even bailouts. A debate is raging in Europe about whether politicians have prioritized austerity at the expense of economic growth, making recovery even harder for themselves.

Britain will grow by 0.8pc this year, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook, drawing its prediction into line with the Treasury’s Office for Budget Responsibility. The Bretton Woods institution’s forecast for the UK is now better than in January, when it was slashed to 0.6pc, but worse than September’s estimate of 1.6pc. Its 2013 forecast was unchanged at 2pc. The UK’s improved prospects reflected a sunnier outlook for the global economy as a whole. The IMF said there had been a “reacceleration of activity” and that “high frequency indicators point to stronger growth”. It added: “Growth in the UK, where the financial sector was hit hard by the global crisis, will be weak in early 2012, before recovering.” I wonder what the report would have been if Osbourne had said NO to the IMF? They've had another £10 billion, I'd like to know where the money's coming from? Yet, in today's Times, there is an article on Food Banks, where the unemployed and some working people, who are lacking basic things have free food. In this nation, where we keep lending to others, give £29 billion per year in foreign aid, yet we have our own who don't have enough money to feed themselves. Its a national disgrace. And if anyone accepts it then they too are a disgrace. We will see things get much worse when the new benefits set in and the rest of the cuts take place. We may even see soup kitchens appear on our streets. Who can we blame? Well I don't blame the unemployed who may have worked until this crisis, I don't blame the sick and the disabled who have been targeted by this government. I don't even blame the rich who have had tax cuts, if they are offered anyone would take them, that's human nature. However, I do blame this government and past ones who have brought this country down to this level through their policies and actions. The political elite, who have no idea what they have done to people in this country and don't even care in many cases. So, what can we now do while we are in this mess?I wonder what the report would have been if Osbourne had said NO to the IMF? They've had another £10 billion, I'd like to know where the money's coming from? Yet, in today's Times, there is an article on Food Banks, where the unemployed and some working people, who are lacking basic things have free food. In this nation, where we keep lending to others, give £29 billion per year in foreign aid, yet we have our own who don't have enough money to feed themselves. Its a national disgrace.

IMF ....explained ...

IMF in context (explained) : As of mid 2008, the IMF had around $1,6 billion in the bank. Compared to the sums involved in the designed financial collapse, this represents a grain of sand on Peblle Beach. There was a story about the IMF selling off 400 tons of gold. We don't know if this was real gold, tungsten coated bars, or pure make believe gold?? There were stories floating around that India would pay hard cash for this imaginary gold, but then all went quiet.....Whatever reserves the IMF has acquired since the designed financial collapse, they are digitally created Monopoly Money reserves. The IMF is a global extortion racket...they force cuts, force payments to bust banks, in exchange for Monopoly Money created out of thin air, that states will pay back with REAL money, plus interest....nice business !!!...The US is already broke. Britain is broke and Canada wants to stay solvent. Why would anyone in their right mind impose more sacrifices on their own people to prop up an insane political project like the Euro?The argument that it is in their own self-interests doesn't wash as there will inevitably be a day of reckoning for this mess and delaying it will make the pain worse all around, not better; so its time for Europe to bite the bullet rather than taking everyone else down with them.....And... the news item : Global politics and economic theory don’t lend themselves easily to punch lines. But in January this year, Christine Lagarde managed to inject a little light relief into proceedings at the World Economic Forum. Holding up her Louis Vuitton handbag, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) turned to her fellow power brokers in one session and said: “I am here, with my little bag, to collect a bit of money.” The joke broke the ice and the room rippled with laughter. But, beneath the disarming charm, Lagarde was deadly serious. For months now, the IMF has been trying to coerce its 187 members into committing as much as $600bn (£378bn) more to the fund to build what she described at the Brookings Institute in Washington last week as a “global firewall” to defeat once and for all the European sovereign debt crisis.

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.