hahahahaha....

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s center-left government won a clear victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, according to exit polls. The result could inflame the personal rivalry between the nation’s top two officials and bring yet more political upheaval. The prime minister’s governing alliance had about 57 percent of seats in the 452-seat legislature, according to a poll published after elections on national television TVR. Coming in second was a center-right group, allied to President Traian Basescu, which polled over 18 percent. A populist party headed by a media tycoon won about 13 percent, according to the poll. First results are expected Monday. Basescu and Ponta are bitter rivals after the government tried to remove Basescu from office in an impeachment vote in July, a bid that failed as too few people voted to make the election valid. Basescu has indicated he won’t appoint the 40-year-old Ponta again, calling him a “compulsive liar” and saying he plagiarized his doctoral thesis. Ponta says Basescu is a divisive figure who overstepped his role as president by meddling in government business. As he voted, Basescu again accused the government of the former communist country of failing to devote itself to democratic reforms. He said Romania must continue its “path toward the West” and show the world it is “headed toward Brussels, not Moscow, and Washington, not Beijing.” For his part, Ponta said he remains committed to leading Romania to a better future. Many Romanians are fed up with the power struggle between the top two leaders, especially as the country remains one of the poorest and most corrupt members of the European Union. Romania is enduring deep austerity cuts in return for a €20 million ($26 million) bailout to help its foundering economy. Sunday’s vote was hampered by heavy snow and authorities asked the army and the defense ministry to help clear roads closed by blizzards. About 250 polling stations were prevented from opening on time, officials said. Turnout was more than 30 percent three hours before the polls closed.

ITALY -Never a man to let defeat – or scandal – keep him down, the disgraced former prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi has anounced he will run once again for the country's top job.
With three colourful terms behind him, Berlusconi confirmed he would try for a fourth time to become premier, saying he was doing it out of "a sense of responsibility" days after his party withdrew its support for the technocrat government of the current prime minister, Mario Monti.

The media mogul told reporters he was running to win and that "the campaign is already on".

Monti took the loss of Berlusconi's support calmly, calling the situation "manageable", despite it increasing the likelihood of fresh elections. Although Italy's economy is still struggling, Monti is credited with calming the country's financial markets and rescuing it from financial disaster.

Monti, who is a life-appointed senator, has said he will not stand in next year's vote, but is willing to step in afterwards if the result is not clear.

The British betting firm Ladbrokes gave 3/1 odds on Berlusconi becoming the prime minister in 2013.

Berlusconi stepped down last year amid a severe debt crisis. Allegations of his involvement with an underage prostitute and reports that he hosted sex-filled "bunga-bunga" parties also clouded his premiership. He has since been convicted of tax fraud and faces low favourability ratings in the polls.

The three-time prime minister got his start selling vacuum cleaners and singing on cruise ships. In 1971, Berlusconi founded a local cable firm, Telemilano, which grew into the country's largest media company, Mediaset. He has since expanded his media empire to include Italy's largest publishing house, Mondadori, and the newspaper Il Giornale. Other business interests include owning the globally popular football club, AC Milan.

Berlusconi entered politics in 1993, forming his own party and naming it after an AC Milan chant used by fans, Forza Italia, which means "go Italy". He rose to power the next year, winning the elections, and went on over the next 14 years to win twice more and lose twice, both times to Romano Prodi.

Tying disparate countries to one exchange rate simply makes no sense

When will the polititians realize that tying disparate countries to one exchange rate simply makes no sense?... How can Greece share a currency and monetary framework with Germany? A totally idiotic concept. The Euro is the PROBLEM !!! A single currency cannot provide a solution. The eurozone was dealt a fresh blow as Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the region’s rescue funds and unemployment hit a new record high. The ratings agency cut its rating on the European Stability Mechanism to AA1 from AAA and maintained a negative outlook. It also lowered the European Financial Stability Facility’s provisional rating to (P)AA1 from (P)AAA. Moody’s said its decision was driven by its recent downgrade of France, because the credit risk and ratings of the rescue funds were “closely aligned to those of its strongest supporters” ...Klaus Regling, managing director of the ESM and chief executive of EFSF, said Moody’s decision was “difficult to understand.” He added: “We disagree with the rating agency’s approach which does not sufficiently acknowledge ESM’s exceptionally strong institutional framework, political commitment and capital structure.” It came as the EU’s statistics office said eurozone unemployment rose to 11.7pc in October from 11.6pc in September.... Have idiotic and arrogant politicians worldwide not realised that ideological half ars.ed constructions like the EU and the EZ always fail ? Are we really surprised that it was Europe with its history of fascism, communism, military dictatorship and undemocratic statist and authoritarian governments which has given birth to two of the most appalling and undemocratic constructions of the 20th century, the EU and the EZ ? They will fail just like the USSR failed. "Klaus Regling, managing director of the ESM and chief executive of EFSF said:  Moody’s decision was “difficult to understand.” They should get someone with more understanding. I wonder what he gets paid for having so little of the stuff? 150,000€ a year?.... Well, I must write to the EU and tell them that my 90 year-old Gran is currently available. She used to run a market stall and so understands economics. Sadly, she is now showing signs of senile dementia, but even so, it must be worth a go compared to the current lot.

Italian centre-left Democratic Party chief Pier Luigi Bersani is set for a run-off vote next week against young pretender Matteo Renzi, after millions of supporters chose their nominee for next year's general election.With 40 percent of the votes counted from Sunday's balloting,  Bersani was in front with 44.3 percent support, followed by Florence mayor Renzi with 36.3 percent, the organising committee said. More than four million supporters took part in the vote which will now head for a second round run-off on Sunday. A general election is expected in April 2013 with the winner of the centre-left nomination one of the favourites to replace Mario Monti as Italy's next prime minister. All the most recent polls show the Democratic Party coming first in the general election. Observers were surprised by the large turnout for the primaries and many polling stations were overwhelmed, with large queues forming outside. More and more Italians are feeling the pain of a recession that began in the second half of last year and is forecast to continue into next year. The main drama is between 61-year-old Bersani, a cigar-chomping former communist with a liberal economic orientation, and rising star Renzi, who at just 37 is a new face in politics, inspired by US President Barack Obama. The primary is being held at a time of deep economic crisis and political uncertainty in Italy, with a series of corruption scandals within the main parties sparking voter apathy and disgust with traditional leaders. Both men have said they will follow the broad course of reforms set by unelected technocrat prime minister Monti, but will seek to curb some of the more unpopular austerity measures he has advocated and do more to boost growth. "We have to show the rest of the world that we don't just have Monti," Bersani, a former economic development minister, said last week. "People want to take part, they want to have a politics that is in touch with the streets, with the squares, that returns hope to the country," he said.   Monti, a former European commissioner, took over from Silvio Berlusconi a year ago as Italy struggled with the eurozone crisis. While his cuts have angered many, he is seen as having saved Italy from a Greek-style collapse.

The feeble EU will....

European banks have asked the European Commission to postpone the introduction of tougher global bank capital rules by a year to 2014 after U.S. regulators told lenders they did not expect the new regulations to take effect in 2013......The feeble EU will almost certainly cave in. Europe is SO bust that it needs the bankers, more than the bankers need the EU. This would show that the EU is no more than a grubby little exercise (or project) to allow politicians to borrow "however much it takes" to get as many European people "hooked for good" on Europe's spend, spend, spend socialist politicians as possible. And, later on, if US banks decided to play by less strict rules, then don't let them trade in Europe? The new Basel rules are not that strict anyway. They are only designed to try and make it a bit more difficult for banks to go bust when the next crash happens. It tries to raise the cover provided for banks debts turning bad from 2% to 7%. Meaning if more than 2% of the loan book goes bad now - the bank goes bust. The authorities have plucked a 7% figure out of the air as being sufficient cover for all future banking crises.

Venice floods

Hundreds evacuated in Tuscany as Venice floods --- Some 200 people were evacuated in parts of Tuscany as heavy rains over the weekend left 70 percent of the city of Venice underwater, authorities said on Sunday. Sea levels peaked at 1.5 metres above normal levels before receding slightly.     

 Floodwaters drenched most of the tourist destination of Venice and led to the evacuation of 200 people in Tuscany, as bad weather hit northern Italy at the weekend, authorities said Sunday.  In Venice itself, heavy rains and winds from the south triggered "acqua alta" (high water) and 70 percent of the city was flooded, with sea levels reaching a peak of 1.5 metres (five feet) above normal before receding slightly, they said.  In Tuscany, around 200 people were evacuated because of heavy rains which flooded homes and caused mudslides, local officials said.  The most affected region was the province of Massa and Carrara, which produces the famous Carrara marble.  In Massa di Carrara alone, some 50 people were evacuated and a car was carried away by an overflowing river, but the couple in the vehicle were saved by firefighters.  The authorities have urged the local population to avoid going into the streets and to stay in the the upper floors of their homes.  In Pisa, some streets have been without electricity following the floods. In the large Tuscan port of Livorno, civil defence forces were on alert because of the heavy rains. In Liguria, the region bordering Tuscany, 30 people had to be evacuated, the authorities said. In anticipation of the floods two days ago, the authorities issued warnings and planned security measures to avoid any casualties after 13 people died in Tuscany and Liguria a year ago.  The bad weather was heading slowly towards the centre of the country and was set to hit Rome where civil defence forces have been put on alert.

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

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

MADRID—Spain's central bank said Tuesday the Spanish economy contracted at a faster pace in the third quarter and the country may miss its budget-deficit target because of tax-revenue shortfalls.

The euro zone's fourth-largest economy contracted by 1.7% from the same period last year, compared with a 1.3% contraction in the second quarter, the central bank said.

In the first estimate of Spain's economic performance during the July-to-September quarter, the Bank of Spain said that on a quarterly basis gross domestic product likely contracted 0.4%, the same as in the second quarter. The central bank's estimates are often very close to or in line with final government estimates issued later. The government's first third-quarter GDP estimate is due Oct. 30.

The central bank also said that "it can't be ruled out" that Spain's government would miss its budget deficit target for this year, currently at 6.3% of GDP after a series of revisions, largely because of tax-revenue shortfalls. Last year, Spain's deficit stood at 9.4% of GDP, more than three percentage points above the target.

"The efforts to lower spending at the public sector have had a net contracting effect (on the economy) in the central months of the year," the Bank of Spain said. "We see drops in consumption and investment by all levels of government above those seen in previous quarters."

The fourth REICH in full action according to the Ribbentrop - Molotov Treaty ... Europe is under the German boot !!!!..

Mario Draghi has defended his Outright Monetary Transactions plan to the Bundestag in the last few minutes.

Draghi promised German MPs that the pledge to buy unlimited quantities of bonds will dispel fears over the euro's future.

The ECB president also began his two-hour appearance in Berlin by repeating his line that politicians, not central bankers, must take the decisive steps to ensure Europe's future

Here's how Draghi defended the OMT, which he insisted did not put taxpayers at risk.

We designed the OMTs exactly to...restore monetary policy transmission in two key ways.

First, it provides for ex ante unlimited interventions in government bond markets, focusing on bonds with a remaining maturity of up to three years. A lot of comments have been made about this commitment. But we have to understand how markets work. Interventions are designed to send a clear signal to investors that their fears about the euro area are baseless.

Second, as a pre-requisite for OMTs, countries must have negotiated with the other euro area governments a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme with strict and effective conditionality. This ensures that governments continue to correct economic weaknesses while the ECB is active. The involvement of the IMF, with its unparalleled track record in monitoring adjustment programmes would be an additional safeguard.

The full statement has been uploaded to the ECB website.

Draghi also warned that deflation is a bigger risk than inflation today, which may not convince German lawmakers who fear a return to the 1920s.

Brussels- The EU agreement on banking union is "no triumph". The evidence sits hidden in plain sight in the difference between the summit text before and after yesterday's negotiations...

The summit deal on banking supervision was no triumph. It was another EU exercise in decision dodging and fudge as German procrastination won the day.

Angela Merkel wanted to postpone a new European Central Bank banking supervisor because that in turn delays decision on using the euro’s bail-out fund to recapitalise banks until after German elections.

To see the tricksy, evasive, responsibility-doging fudge – a tortuous linguistic exercise that went into the early hours of today – it is necessary to contrast before and after.

Here is the original draft that the leaders began discussing yesterday: “We need to move towards an integrated financial framework, open to the extent possible to all Member States wishing to participate. In this context, the European Council invites the legislators to proceed with work on the legislative proposals on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) as a matter of priority, with the objective of completing it by the end of the year:”

Here is the agreed summit text: "We need to move towards an integrated financial framework… In this context, the European Council invites the legislators to proceed with work on the legislative proposals on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) as a matter of priority, with the objective of agreeing on the legislative framework by 1 January 2013. Work on the operational implementation will take place in the course of 2013.”

This is no triumph. The EU has gone from a deadline to “complete” from one to “agree” with the schedule slipping from December 2012 to anytime next year. This will mean that Chancellor has deferred the issue of using the ESM to directly recapitalise banks until after elections in September 2013, significantly reversing a June summit decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It looks very likely there will be mass demonstrations in Athens to mark Angela Merkel's visit next Tuesday. Our correspondent Helena Smith has spoken with the radical left-wing main opposition Syriza party, and they are confident that the German chancellor will be met with vocal protests.“She should expect demonstrations. Greek society will welcome her with mass protests,” Panos Skourletis, the party’s spokesman told me, emphasizing that Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras would not be meeting the German chancellor. “Firstly, we have no intention of meeting her,” said Skourletis. “Secondly, we will propose that trade unionists aligned to Syriza meet with other trade unions in emergency session to decide on holding a general strike on the day of the visit. Demonstrations will obviously coincide with the strike.” Protestors would be united by an over-riding demand: to abolish the brutal austerity that was pushing societies across Europe, and especially Greece, to the brink, he said.The Independent Greeks party, also vehemently anti-bailout, has said it will make war reparations a major part of its own protest when it stages a “symbolic blockage” outside the German embassy in Athens on Tuesday.

Poland under the current administration is based on “a system of clientelism”....

WARSAW–Tens of thousands of people marched through the center of the Polish capital Saturday in an anti-government rally organized by the conservative opposition hoping to unseat the country’s popular prime minister who it says has turned Poland’s democracy into a facade through his firm grip on power.   Police estimated that 50,000 people participated, while the conservative Law and Justice party said 200,000 people took part in the march, held under the slogan “Wake up, Poland.” The party’s leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said Poland doesn’t give equal opportunities to all its citizens and discriminates against Catholics. He put the blame on Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“These huge crowds mean strength,” he said at the end of the march at Warsaw’s Castle Square. “This means that Poland has awakened. The cup of evil has overflowed and we Poles, we Polish patriots, say ‘no’.”    Mr. Tusk’s administration, which took power away from Mr. Kaczynski in 2007 and is now in its second term of office, has been going through several rough patches recently. The collapse of a gold fund, Amber Gold, which the authorities said was a Ponzi scheme, highlighted possible systemic problems with enforcement of financial regulation. On Mr. Tusk’s watch, bodies of victims of a Polish government airplane crash in Russia in 2010 were mixed up and buried in incorrect graves, with the administration taking the heat this month for relying on autopsies performed in Moscow and not ordering that all coffins be opened upon arrival.   The economy is slowing more than expected, while the latest statistical data showed that Poles continue to emigrate to other European Union countries in search of better life. Poland has been growing robustly since the early 1990s, at 4.3% in 2011, much above EU and regional averages. But the EU’s largest emerging economy is expected to grow 2.5% this year amid the crisis in the euro zone, the largest recipient of Polish exports.  With economic output per capita adjusted for purchasing power about $20,000 a year, Poland remains a poor relative of the more developed nations in the European Union, which it joined in 2004 after more than a decade of transition from communist central planning.

Mr. Kaczynski said Poland under the current administration is based on “a system of clientelism” and said the mostly leftist and liberal media flatter the ruling Civic Platform party by painting a rosy picture of Poland’s economic and international situation while ignoring challenges and keeping mum on the governing camp’s shortcomings.

The "details" of a soap bubble ...

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi is expected to announce the details of a bond-buying programme to help keep down borrowing costs of crisis-hit countries later on Thursday. Leaks suggest it will involve unlimited purchases of government debt that will be "sterilised" to assuage concerns about printing money. The bond-buying scheme is rumoured to be called the "outright monetary transactions", with a shorthand title of OMT.

 

Maturity

The life of a bond, at the end of which it will be repaid in full. A bond's maturity can be as short as a year to as long as 100 years.

Seniority

This refers to how likely you are to be repaid if a bond issuer goes bankrupt. Bondholders with seniority over others will be paid back before other bondholders. There was some concern that the ECB would demand seniority over other bondholders when it undertook the bond-buying scheme, but leaks now suggest otherwise.

Unanimity

Was the ECB governing council united in backing Thursday's decision, or was there opposition? Bundesbank head Jens Weidmann has spoken out against a bond-buying programme before – is he now onside? Was the ECB split over interest rate levels, or were the decisions unanimous? Draghi's answer to these questions (which will surely come up) could be crucial.

Pari passu

A Latin phrase meaning "equal footing". In the bond markets, this means bondholders will be treated the same if a bond issuer goes bankrupt. Any purchases the ECB makes as part of its bond-buying programme are expected to be pari passu with other bondholders.

Collateral requirements

The ECB asks banks for collateral in return for taking out cheap loans. If they relax collateral requirements, they can accept a wider range of assets as collateral from banks. They have already relaxed these requirements, and can now accept everything from bundles of car loans to mortgage-backed securities.

Conditionality

This is the way the ECB would keep the Germans happy, by imposing conditions on receiving assistance from the ECB; so, if the ECB helps keep a country's borrowing costs low by buying up its bonds, that country may have to agree to some strict austerity. Without conditionality it would be easier for the ECB to unilaterally intervene.

Convertibility risk

This refers to the risk that you will buy bonds denominated in euros but could ultimately be paid back in lire or drachma (or deutschmarks) if the country taking out the debt leaves the eurozone before the end of the bond's life.

Unlimited intervention

Exactly what it says on the tin. Expectations are that the ECB will not put a limit on its bond buying. This is seen to be an improvement on the previous bond-buying programme, which was limited in size and therefore lacked credibility in the markets. If other traders do not believe the ECB has the firepower (or inclination) to buy enough bonds to bring down yields, they may continue to bet on them rising.

Sterilisation

This makes sure the money supply does not increase as a result of the bond-buying programme. When the ECB buys bonds, it is injecting liquidity into the financial system, effectively creating new money. To counteract that, the ECB has in the past followed bond purchases by subsequently draining an equal amount of liquidity from the system. It does this at the weekly deposit tender by increasing the rates it will pay commercial banks to deposit money with the ECB. The idea is that this will encourage banks to deposit more money with the ECB, thereby taking it out of the system.

Yield cap

Rumour had it that the ECB would set a yield cap on certain countries' government bonds. This would mean if the yield looked like it would break through that level, the ECB would start buying bonds to push prices higher and bring yields back down.

"EU assembly" ( in fact a bunch of retards )

Members of the "EU assembly" ( in fact a bunch of retards ) have been chastised for revealing details of a confidential briefing with ECB president, Mario Draghi. Mr Draghi was taking part in a hearing organised by the EU assembly's economic and monetary affairs committee on the future of the euro and plans to build a so-called banking union. Jean-Paul Gauzes, a French member of the panel, commented that Mr Draghi had told the committee that he was comfortable with the central bank buying bonds with maturities up to about three years. Members had their knuckles rapped over leaking their briefing, with the committee chairman Sharon Bowles saying the leaks were “a complete breach of confidence". "I think it has brought this house into disrepute,” she added.

Bloomberg reported: While it had originally been intended that Draghi’s hearing with lawmakers would be public, that plan was changed because of the convention that senior ECB officials don't comment publicly on policy in the week before an ECB Governing Council meeting, according to a parliament spokesman.

Moodys have downgraded 28 Spanish banks recently to just above junk status, also downgrading several Italian banks because of the contagion effect.The whole of Europe is utterly screwed by a debt mountain that cant ever possibly be paid off....Unless the ECB can magic up another 500 billion in a vain attempt to stop Spain and Italy going down the tube. ... We have politicians across the EU without a backbone between them, clenching their buttocks as hard as possible to not be the first to publicly shit themselves in panic. Yet the EU keeps a triple A credit rating. That sounds like a ponzi scheme to me...

'If Germany goes under then the Titanic really hits the iceberg'

The Chinese are worried that Europe is going to collapse. The Europeans are worried that China is going to Collapse. Actually both are headed for Collapse. European demand comes from the north europeans lending to south europeans to consume in the hope that because they are in Eurozone, they will get repaid. Not going to happen, all that is lent will be written off one way or another.

Chinese demand is based on construction of empty cities, empty skyscrapers, trains on which nobody rides, highways and bridges to nowhere, municipal offices that look like palaces and factories to produce this malinvestment.

There is a saying in Chinese, A day comes when the yellow river clears. Well, the Chinese have run out of money, construction has halted across china, steel is piling up, iron ore is piling up. Dealers are choking on unsold cars. Nobody is taking delivery of ships the shipbuilders are building. Don't expect the chinese to keep buying German cars, French wine , Italian leather or Swiss watches. The south europeans have run out of money, don't expect them to buy chinese toys or electronics....Money supply numbers may be just based on channel stuffing. Don't expect it to put food on your table. Inventory liquidation will start soon, then we will find out who has been swimming without clothes

Isay : Merkel desperately sucking up to the Chinese, hoping that they can take up the slack for the increasing effect of falling demand in the Eurozone, to paraphrase a pundit on RT today, 'If Germany goes under then the Titanic really hits the iceberg'

Germany and France are heading towards financial problems, but as yet these are not as serious as the problems in Italy, Spain, Portugal, not forgetting Eire, and of course Greece, along with a few others. At the behest of the EU, but mainly Merkel pretty well every country in the euro zone have been forced to apply austerity measures, shed jobs, and make things so tight that many businesses have closed down. Add to this that in almost every euro zone country personnel, and business taxes have risen dramatically, along with ever increasing fuel bills. Not surprisingly the this means that the working public, assuming people still have a job, just do not have the money to buy in some cases not even basic food, and certainly not new cars, TV’s, fridges etc., etc. When you drive most Europeans down to near poverty levels there is no way they will spend. Even the pensioners, who had money to invest, can now only get a meager return on investments, because of the very low interest rates. Against this background it is not surprising that sales of both products and services are in serious decline. For me the question is, why did we get to this state of affairs? The answer is to try and keep the euro alive. For me this is the root problem all across Europe. If you look at Europe as a whole we have many different and divergent economy bases, some based on manufacturing, and some based on tourism, with many others. To expect each and every one of these very different economy bases to be able to hold the value of the euro to within such very tight limits is just not practical. To turn their economies round, what most of Europe needs is not increased borrowing leading to unsustainable debt, but growth and increased tax revenue, and this can only comes from creating a climate of stimulating higher employment levels, and investment in business by lower taxes, on both people and business. Most of the euro zone countries need to devalue their currency to create this climate for growth, but the single currency prevents this, which leads to the inevitable conclusion that the euro is in fact a dead duck.

Perhaps Finland will be the first Country to say enough is Enough and leave.

Frau Merkel knows well - and if she has forgotten, the many irate German taxpayers posting on German newspaper websites can inform her - that if she she is going to 'protect' anything, it is to follow the oath she took on becoming Chancellor. 'To protect the German people and to avert their harm." ("das deutsche Volk zu schuetzen, und von ihm Schaden abzuwenden.") There was a reason for this oath. A previous Chancellor (can't recall who) had pursued a policy that was likely to result in the wholesale death of German citizens and the destruction of their wealth. So the post-war founding fathers of the BRD worded the oath veeery carefully. Of course, being a socialist technocrat from (communist) East Germany, and a loyal citizen of the GDR, she may not have noticed the wording of this oath of what is, after all, for her a foreign country. I'd just like to remind her. 'To protect the German people and to avert their harm." Nichts zu ungut, Frau Kanzlerin. If she carries on like this, Mrs Merkel will have created the most misery in the whole of Europe since once of her predecessors tried to unify the continent under a single government. That failed, too..... The EEC/EC/EU was designed to be run by the French and paid for by the Germans. We know this. The German population are now finding this out and are beginning to object. With a few exceptions, the rest of Europe cannot keep up economically with Germany. The Germans should realize that as each of the various EZ countries come under pressure and needs a bail-out, then they will eventually be left trying to deal with the whole cost. They could not afford it and therefor want the rest of the countries to reform their economies. What the Germans also do not realize is that as more power goes to the center "More Europe" they will have less control over their future and their finances. They would be outvoted by the "club med/Latin" countries including France and Belgium. Position reinforced with France in charge and Germany paying. Their best route forward would be to leave the Euro, and for it to be based on the Latin Bloc led by France. Would involve losses but rest of existing EZ would have a better chance to paying for the debts. If, and it is a big if, Germany and a few other countries were planning this they would hardly say this. Perhaps Finland will be the first Country to say enough is Enough and leave.

An interesting point -- Spanish 10 year debt is yielding 7.5pc, half of what it ought to yield but enough to spook markets not yet ready to face the inevitable deflation of what has long been a bond super-bubble. This bubble is particularly evident in France. The debt levels which the country has are as unsustainable as Britain’s, yet its policies are more irresponsible and its remedies more restricted. Although it is considered a core country in the eurozone, France’s economic profile now bears more resemblance to Greece’s the Germany’s. Public debt in France is at 86.1pc of GDP (146pc if ECB liabilities and bank guarantees are included). The projected budget deficit this year is 4.5pc, with France having exempted itself from the EU’s instruction to bring deficits down to 3pct by the end of the year. These numbers are not unusual in the context of eurozone economies in general. What distinguishes France is the lack of political will to address them and, as a consequence, a projected debt to GDP ratio which would place it firmly amongst the PIIGS grouping. A 2010 paper by the Bank of International Settlements – cited by economist John Mauldin in his brilliant recent dispatch on ‘hidden lions’ – sought to model the likely effects of three separate policy paths by European governments. These range in severity from governments essentially carrying on as they are, to the most extreme austerity the authors believe to be politically possible, a gradual downwards movement in government spending while age related entitlements are frozen.

Bank secrecy masks a world of crime and destructionBanks seem willing to exploit the loopholes found in tax havens and it's costing the British taxpayer dear" (source: the guardian)…If anybody has actually read any of my postings and comments, which is not at all certain since I do not read other blogs, posts and comments, they will have seen how I have been advocating the end of Tax Havens and fancy avoidance schemes for years. I have been saying we are in a world war: the 1% against the 99%. It was in my report sent to Governments in 2009: A MORAL PATH TO RECOVERY, which can still be read on my blog's archived posts,  I maintain that Wealth Management, offered by the big banks, is code word for tax evasion on a massive scale. It has grown into a major industry of the rich for the rich, by the rich actually sponsored by Governments which have allowed the privileged elite to avoid paying taxes. And we wonder why our countries are in debt and the economies stagnating. The banks have been exposed as virtually corrupt, fraudulent, criminal organizations and yet not one single banker has been brought to justice. The 13 trillion dollars hidden away as calculated by the Tax Justice Network simply must be recovered if Europe and America are to survive as democracies. The 99% just cannot support any more austerity measures, cut backs and increased taxes. That is the simple choice we face. The 1% know they cannot hold out for ever but they seem too shortsighted to understand that if the majority sinks they will go down too....Well, as long as we allow banks to hold a license to create money as debt, there will be no solution to this or any of the other corrupt activities of banks. Take away their power to do something and they will buy it back with the stroke of a pen. Banks are masters of our universe - but ONLY because we allow them to create 97% of our money supply when they extend loans. Until we restore the utility of money to a public accountable body in the national interest the bankers (in collusion with the political power they can buy so easily) will do as they please.

Debt crisis...

Debt crisis: Germany caves in over bond buying, bank aid after Italy and Spain threaten to block 'everything'. The agreements at a European Union summit in Brussels suggested Germany had yielded on its insistence on forcing tough reforms in exchange for rescue money. That was a victory for Italy and Spain, who have argued they have done a lot to clean up their economies yet are facing rising borrowing costs. European Council chairman Herman Van Rompuy said the aim was to create a supervisory mechanism involving the European Central Bank by the end of this year, and to break the "vicious circle" between banks and sovereign governments. Jose Manuel Barrose, the European Commission president, said the deal was "ambitious".My excuses but I forgot to take my 'suspension of disbelief' pill this morning. So this 'deal' comes into effect at the end of the year and after the Bundestag presumably vetoes Germany allowing any more money? And because the money is not available from a non-existent-fund that hasn't been set up yet and won't happen anyway the markets have reacted favorably? Until when will this non-solution solve the problem of Spanish and Italian debt yields, to say nothng of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus and possibly France? I shall go and celebrate immediately !!!