How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think-.A.H.

An astonishing outburst from Silvio Berlusconi, the embattled Italian prime minister, being reported on Bloomberg. Here's a taste of the flashes we are seeing:

• The euro 'hasn't convinced anyone'.
• The euro is a strange currency.
• Italy is the 'most solide' EU country after Germany
• Austerity measures won't work without growth
• Financial markets 'don't forgive' Italy for its large public debt

In the mean time
• Markets slip as euphoria over EU summit deal fades - it's all a fraud, the deal is fake!
• Italian bond yields close to danger levels despite crisis plan (the plan is a fake)
• German court suspends bail-out fund decision committee
• Eurozone bail-out fund chief warns, no quick China deal

Euro was invented to facilitate the taking over of the European energetic capacities as well economic resources in general by Russia. It was hard to do so having 27 different currencies! Now, Germany is taking over the administration of governments just as it happened before WW 2. Long live the 4th. Reich !

Capitalism is like a pure glass of water. Then govt drips the sewage of socialism into the pure water until it becomes toxic, and then they blame the capitalism for the toxic outcome. Hours after an all-night summit of euro governments ended, flaws began to emerge in a package that was billed as a “grand and comprehensive” solution to the European debt crisis. The concerns were led by Germany’s powerful central bank, which expressed fears that a plan to leverage a €440 billion eurozone rescue fund to amass a “fire power” of €1 trillion, or £880 billion, resembled the risky finance methods that triggered the crisis in 2008. EU leaders are expected to sanction the establishment of a so-called special purpose investment vehicle, or SPIV, to be set up in the coming weeks. It is aimed at attracting investment from countries such as China and Brazil. Jens Weidmann, the president of the Bundesbank and a member of the European Central Bank, sounded the alarm over the plan to “leverage” the fund by a factor of four to five times without putting any new money into the pot. He warned that the scheme could be hit by market turbulence with taxpayers left holding the bill for risky investments in Italian and Spanish bonds. The important thing to remember is that we get what we deserve, we wanted our houses to increase in value, we wanted to make out we were middle class, we were fed lies so others could gain, like little children we were taken advantage of, but do you know that 90% of you wont want to see that, with heads in sand you will lie to yourselves till the end, you are lambs to the slaughter. The problem is the same one you have suffered from for 1000's of years, usury(interest) many times though history you have been told, but like the thick monkeys you are you cant work it out, look it is easy 1+1 = 2 and not 1+1 = 2.2, now until you can work that one out I suggest you give up money and go back to bartering. “Their priority is that we pay back our loans.”" WOW! Who' "da thunk"? Novel concept. Why is it the Left thinks the world owes them a living? Why is it even when the bondholders are willing to take a haircut at 50%, the Socialists still whine? It sucks when socialists run out of other peoples money. Socialism will bankrupt a country in time. You can only rob Peter to pay Paul so many times until Peter is broke too. The underlying cause of our global economic mess is government socialism interfering in the markets like when the US Congress, via social(ist) engineering, forced banks to make loans to people who should have never gotten the loans in the first place & government buying votes through excessive spending for everyone with a handout.

Resque - Europe's leaders are claiming a victory in the eurozone crisis after agreeing new deals that halve Greek debt and increase the firepower of the main bailout fund to around €1trn. Athens will be handed a new €100bn bailout early in the new year. The accord was reached in the early hours of Thursday after hours of fractious debate. At one stage talks broke down with holders of Greek debt but they ended up accepting a loss or "haircut" of 50% in converting their existing bonds into new loans. Investors are likely to welcome the breakthrough. Sharp gains are predicted for European markets on opening, with the FTSE 100 being called up 75 points and similar rises expected on the German and French stock markets. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, helped broker the deal in talks with the bankers that also included the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde. Merkel said the swap would take place in January. Sarkozy said private sector investors would refinance Greek's remaining debt at preferential rates while governments would find €30bn to go alongside €100bn from the private sectors. The French president and German chancellor both insisted that the €440bn bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), could find its firepower increased by four to five times. Since the fund has about €250bn left this could amount to €1trn – or US$1.4trn in Sarkozy's words. "We have reached an agreement which I believe lets us give a credible and ambitious and overall response to the Greek crisis," Sarkozy told reporters as the meeting broke on Thursday morning. "Because of the complexity of the issues at stake it took us a full night. But the results will be a source of huge relief worldwide."

France wants the euro region's European Central Bank (ECB) to be a backstop for an expanded EFSF, currently guaranteed by eurozone governments. Germany, the eurozone's economic powerhouse, and the central bank itself are unwilling, seeing such as move as outside its role. "We think that clearly the best solution is that the fund has a banking licence with the central bank," Francois Baroin, the French finance minister, said on Wednesday. "Everyone knows about the reticence of the central bank. Everyone also knows about the Germans' reticence." Throughout the two-year debt crisis, Berlin has argued for solutions in which the private sector debt holders are more exposed to losses. "In Germany, the coalition is divided on this issue. It is not just Angela Merkel who we need to convince," Mr Sarkozy was reported to have told colleagues on Wednesday. A senior EU source said the negotiations were proving "very difficult", with the size of the haircut to be given on Greek debt held by private investors also an issue. The depth of the tension emerged even as markets were boosted by a report on Tuesday night that France and Germany had agreed, through an alternative plan, to expand the rescue fund's firepower to €2 trillion. Under this proposal, the rescue fund would guarantee the first 20pc or so of any losses of distressed governments' debt, meaning its stretch would be up to five times greater. Investors shrugged off the news that Spain's credit rating had once again been downgraded, with Moody's, one of the triumvirate of top rating agencies, cutting it by two notches to A1. The FTSE 100 closed up 40.14 points of 0.7pc at 5,450.49.

The news from Brussels is that the European Financial Stability Facility is likely to be increased through means of a guarantee system. Eurozone officials are briefing that the EFSF will promise investors who buy Spanish, Italian or other debt that it will cover a portion of losses, potentially allowing it to guarantee a lot more debt than the fund is worth - €440bn. The guarantee idea is not new, but suggestions that it is the most likely solution is interesting. "This idea is the main contender," an unspecified eurozone official told Reuters. Some more poor statistics, this time from Germany. The ZEW Institute's monthly survey of German analyst and investor sentiment shows confidence falling to its lowest level in nearly three years. ZEW economist Michael Schroeder said he thought the country may already be in recession. he September figure should represent a peak in the rate of inflation, with petrol price rises and January's VAT hike falling out of the year-on-year comparisons in the fourth quarter and the new year respectively. Commodity prices, which tend to lead consumer prices, have fallen just over 10% from the peak seen in February, which also suggests we should see some further downward pressure on inflation.

Can somebody tell me what's great about this plan, and why the market and euro rallied?

RECAP-Bloomberg: "Merkel's office: “dreams that are taking hold again now that with this package everything will be solved and everything will be over on Monday won’t be able to be fulfilled,” The search for an end to the crisis “surely extends well into next year.”" UK Telegraph: "Diplomats say Mr Geithner’s plan to use the ECB as a guarantor of eurozone sovereign bonds was dismissed out of hand, while the EU failed to offer clear assurances that bank recapitalisation would be carried out with sufficient speed and scale to halt an incipent run on the system." "German foreign minister Westerwelle politely told the US to mind its own business. “I cannot understand some of the comments of our American friends. You can’t solve a debt crisis with more debt,”" "RBS said any attempt to solve the eurozone crisis without the ECB playing a key role in shoring up the system is doomed to failure." "Trichet, ...said late last week that the bank has done “all it could” ... has now exhausted its role of “lender of last resort”." "Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, said plans to leverage the EFSF may be illegal. “We cannot allow a rescue fund of this magnitude. The (constitutional) court would’t permit, and nor would the people,” he said." Germany wants private investors to increase haircut to 50%. Financial Times: Investors say no. 21% was agreed, and they're sticking with that. (Search for: "Investor threat to second Greek bail-out") If banks take bigger haircut, they will incur bigger losses and will be downgraded again. If EU forces this, then it's involuntary and triggers CDS payouts on default. If EFSF is leveraged, then it will be downgraded from AAA, which means it can't borrow anymore.EU wants to re capitalize banks. DB said no. Germany and France have higher Debt to GDP ratios than Spain, and Spain is one of the PIIGS. Is this the poor helping the poor? When do their AAA ratings get downgraded? Spain was downgraded last Friday. If Germany or France get downgraded, how will the EFSF be able to sell bonds to raise the 440b euros?There are obstacles to almost every part of the plan. Can somebody tell me what's great about this plan, and why the market and euro rallied?

The leaders of France and Germany have announced that they are ready to recapitalise Europe's troubled banks and have reached agreement on a "long-lasting, complete package" to counter the bloc's debt crisis. But the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, refused to go into detail about the plans, saying they had to think of the markets and iron out "technical issues" before consulting the other 25 leaders in the European Union. The announcement came hours after the governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg said they had approved a plan for the future of the embattled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia. "We are determined to do whatever necessary to secure the recapitalisation of our banks," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Sarkozy at the chancellery in Berlin on Sunday evening. "A sound credit supply is the basis of sound economic development," she added. Both leaders were tight-lipped on whether they had decided that the €440bn (£380bn) bailout fund, the European financial stability facility (EFSF), could be used to recapitalise banks – a position known to be favoured by the French – or whether it could only be used as a last-ditch resort if a member state could not cope with shoring up its banks' capital on its own. The latter is known to be Merkel's preference, but on Sunday the chancellor would only say: "Germany and France want the same criteria to be applied, and criteria that are accepted by all sides." Merkel added: "We are not going into details today," adding that the duo would present a "complete package" for stabilising the eurozone at the end of the month in time for the G20 summit in Cannes on 3-4 November. "This summit has to be a success for the sake of the global economy," she stressed.

Euro fear as Spain and Italy's debt ratings are downgradedBritish banks and building societies lose rating while pressure mounts on EU to restore faith in single currencyThe eurozone crisis intensified on Friday when Spain and Italy were downgraded by the ratings agency Fitch, heightening fears over the health of Europe's banks. Fitch's move came at the end of a day which had already seen 12 UK banks and building societies downgraded by the rival agency Moody's and amid speculation about co-ordinated European action to bolster the finances of the continent's banks by next weekend. The euro fell against most major currencies, piling fresh pressure on European politicians to restore confidence in the single currency. Germany's Angela Merkel said Europe needed to find a solution for its banks by 17 October. Analysts from Capital Economics estimate the total financial package may top €200bn (£172bn). Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy of France are due to meet in Berlin on Sunday to discuss the crisis, with bank recapitalisation expected to be at the heart of their negotiations.

The International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest Global Economic Outlook that Europe and the US could slip back into recession next year unless they quickly tackle economic problems that could infect the rest of the world.The apparent 'boom' in living standards, property prices, pensions, benefits and consumer goods wasn't real, it was created on the back of massive personal and government borrowing. I would have thought that much at least was obvious to anyone.
The problem is not really lack of short-term growth, it's the expectation that we should have constantly have growth and that we should be 'better off'' in every way year after year. We can't return to the false boom and so we will have a period of contraction and shrinking of living standards back to just what they should have been without the debt-filled illusion of quick growth. Those shrunken living standards in the developed economy still look pretty good compared to the average African, non-oil Arab or South American state.And so living standards will have to fall, state expenditure will have to be reduced, debt payed down and we will all have to return to the real world
It isn't complicated, after all what is general 'poverty' in the Western world? Leaving aside the very real cases of the homeless and destitute. No new personal computer, no new mobile and no Sky subscription. No free gastric band operations, waiting a bit longer for a new hip or knee. No new car or telly or foreign holidays. Working longer because you're living longer and staying healthier and not expecting 50% of your best salary when you retire. Sometimes you don't need a complicated solution because the problem is simple. We were conned by politicians that all this was affordable and sustainable.. and it wasn't.

Investors have pulled more money from U.S. equity funds since the end of April than in the five months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., adding to the $2.1 trillion rout in American stocks. About $75 billion was withdrawn from funds that focus on shares during the past four months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the Investment Company Institute, a Washington-based trade group, and EPFR Global, a research firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Outflows totaled $72.8 billion from October 2008 through February 2009, following Lehman’s bankruptcy, the data show. $177.7 billion has been removed during the past 30 months from mutual and exchange-traded funds that invest in U.S. shares as the benchmark gauge for American equity rallied as much as 102 percent, before falling 17.9 percent through Aug. 8. Investors pumped in $18.7 billion during the first four months of 2011, before removing about four times that amount since, according to the average of data from EPFR and ICI, the money managers’ trade group. The August estimate doesn’t include ETF data from ICI. Bond funds added $42.3 billion from the end of April through July and started posting weekly outflows last month, according to ICI. Since the bull market began, fixed-income managers have received a net $666.4 billion.

A select number of the City's bankers are set to collect winnings of almost €100m (£90m), as the €25bn privatisation of Spain's national lottery – including the famous El Gordo, or The Fat One – begins in London on Tuesday. The early marketing for the offer of about 30% of the state-owned Loterías y Apuestas del Estado – which is set to be Spain's largest ever stock market listing by raising up to €9bn – is to begin with the arrival of chairman Aurelio Martinez, finance director Luis Palacios and chief operating officer Marcelo Ruiz to target City investors. The float is being led by a quartet of bulge bracket banks – UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Cazenove and Goldman Sachs, along with BBVA and Santander of Spain – to be joined by a host of rival City firms including Citi, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Barclays which also have their names on the ticket in smaller roles. Market watchers predict that the offer will result in a timely fee windfall for London's embattled investment banking sector, although observers suggested that it was not akin to winning a rollover week. Loterías is thought to be paying fees of about 1%, considerably less than the City norm due to a combination of the business being state-owned and bankers, anxious for some of the action, offering deals. One source close to the deal said: "The banks have fallen over themselves as business is lean and Spain may also be looking to sell other assets in the future." The listing has been pushed through by Madrid as part of a privatisation programme including a planned sell-off of part of the state airports authority in order to lower Spain's borrowing requirements. The country's bonds have been pummelled by investors who fear Spain may need a bailout like those given to Greece and Ireland. It is also understood the government has plans to sell off a further 19% of its lottery company in the future.

The International Accounting Standards Board has said European banks may have inflated their balance sheets and profit and loss accounts by not taking full writedowns on distressed Greek debt ---In a highly unusual intervention, the IASB on Tuesday published a letter from chairman Hans Hoogervorst to the European Securities and Markets Authority saying that some banks were using models to mark down the value of Greek assets, where market valuations existed. When accounting for trading assets, banks are required under International Accounting Standard 39 to use arm's-length values taken from actual transaction prices to value the assets on their books. Where trading is very illiquid and market valuations cannot be obtained, they can then use valuation models using internal estimates of value. "There have been indications in the market that some European companies are applying the accounting requirements for fair value measurement and impairment losses in a way that seems to differ from the objective of [accounting standards]. This is evident particularly in their accounting for distressed sovereign debt, including Greek government bonds. Those indications have now been confirmed by recently published financial reports, which show inconsistent application across Europe. This is a matter of great concern to us," Hoogervorst said in the letter. The letter does not name the banks concerned, but the Financial Times said it related to the accounting of BNP Paribas and CNP Assurances. Both took 21% writedowns on Greek debt, much smaller than the hits suffered by other banks, including RBS, which took a 51% writedown. "It appears that some companies are not following IAS 39 when determining whether the Greek government bonds are impaired. They are using the assessed impact on the present value of future cash flows arising from the proposed restructure of those bonds, rather than using the amount reflected by current market prices as required," the IASB letter said.

The German Banner Economy is a lie / allways has been ! Germany could not survive whithout the US and England !

German business confidence made its steepest drop this month since the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in late 2008, raising fresh doubts about the broader European economy as it grapples with a crippling debt crisis. The Munich-based Ifo thinktank said on Wednesday its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, fell to 108.7 in August from 112.9 in July, well below a consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 42 economists for a 111.0 reading. The last time the index fell so sharply was in November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers when the German economy was in its deepest postwar recession. It was the lowest reading for the index since June of last year. Ifo economist Klaus Abberger told Reuters that the slowdown of the US economy and twin debt problems in the US and Europe were the main reasons for the worsening outlook. "The German economy has been infected," Abberger said. "I wouldn't speak of a recession at this moment. The companies still have a cushion of orders. And not every cooling results in a recession, but the recovery is slowing very significantly." The German economy has been a pillar of strength since the debt crisis in the eurozone first broke out in Greece at the end of 2009. But data last week showed gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a meagre 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, pushed down by weakening private consumption and declines in the construction sector.

US Federal Regulators (FTC) - are stepping up their scrutiny of the US arms of Europe's largest banks, amid mounting concerns that the eurozone debt crisis could spill into the American banking system. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which oversees the US operations of many large European banks, has been asking for more information about their ability to fund themselves, the Wall Street Journal reported. It wants to know whether they have reliable access to the funds needed to operate on a day-to-day basis in the US, and is pushing them to turn their US businesses into self-financed organisations that are better insulated from potential problems with their parent companies. Officials at the New York Fed are "very concerned" about European banks facing funding difficulties in the US, a senior executive at a major European bank who has attended talks with officials told the Journal. The New York Fed has also been co-ordinating with New York's superintendent of financial services, Benjamin M Lawsky, to monitor European banks' funding positions, amid fears that those in trouble could siphon money out of their US arms. According to Federal Reserve data, foreign banks, many of which have big trading operations in the US, have seen their funding positions there fluctuate wildly in recent months.

Renewed worries about the Eurozone's finances and the state of its banks - particularly the French ones - have sent shares sharply lower again, all but wiping out Tuesday's Bernanke bounce on Wall Street. The US market, which invoked a rule to help prevent turbulence at the open, is down more than 242 points, having started down 75 points and fallen by more than 300 points at its worst so far. Last night the US market mounted a more than 400 rise after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke vowed to keep interest rates low until 2013, but it seems investors are now nervous about what that means for the state of the US economy, and how bad it could get. But attention also moved back to Europe, with news that President Sarkozy was locked in emergency talks with his ministers seeking ways to cut the country's deficit. That prompted rumours that the country was likely to be next to lose its Triple A rating, and also talk that one of its banks could be in trouble in the current financial turmoil, leading to hefty double digit share price falls at the likes of Societe Generale and BNP Paribas. In a note on the rating this week Citigroup said: We expect that France, with its high public debt and deficit, and popular resistance to cutbacks in its even by euro area standards extremely large welfare state is now likely to be the G7 country at the highest risk of losing its AAA rating. The markets appear to share this sentiment with French 10-year spreads over German Bunds reaching 16-years highs on Friday.

LONDON—Europe's financial markets plunged after a volatile, nervy open Tuesday, following another wave of stock selling in Asia, with investors focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the global day. To say that the market will be watching closely "would go down as a great under-statement," said analysts at Rabobank, especially given Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's belief that the effectiveness of past quantitative easing can be seen in the buoyancy of stock prices. By 0830 GMT, London's FTSE 100 index was down 4.8%, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 3.8% and the DAX in Frankfurt had lost 7%; all had risen soon after the open. Despite a torrid Asia session Tuesday, which saw the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo end down 1.7%, there was some relief, especially in the Australian market. There, stocks made a dramatic recovery from over 5% down to close 1.2% higher, while the Australian dollar climbed off a four-month low of $0.9927 to $1.0167 at 0810 GMT. Traders said that some profit taking on short positions in Asia, in currencies such as the Australian dollar, had led to some buying of risk currencies in Europe. The euro was at $1.4233 at 0810 GMT, well above the Asian low of $1.4152. Elsewhere, yields on Italian and Spanish sovereign bonds fell further early Tuesday after the European Central Bank bought the bonds of both countries for the first time Monday and then did so again Tuesday. Spanish 10-year yields dropped to 4.995%, according to Tradeweb, 0.21 percentage point tighter versus safe-haven German bunds. Italian 10-year bonds tightened 0.20 percentage point versus bunds to yield 5.14%. The ECB was widely expected to maintain its presence in the market to stop Italian and Spanish yields drifting higher again.

The European Central Bank has moved to halt Europe's runaway debt crisis by pledging to buy government bonds from Italy and Spain. The move to prop up Europe's struggling nations came after a day of frantic discussions between the finance ministers of the world's leading economies. Markets open for the first time since Standard & Poor's decision to cut the US's credit rating from AAA late on Friday. In a statement, the ECB said it welcomed announcements by Spain and Italy of "new measures and reforms" aimed at the financial problems and urged both governments to roll them out swiftly. The agreement of the bank's policy-making governing council is a watershed moment for the ECB. The central bank has so far insisted that the main responsibility for acting lies with national governments. But last week a more modest bond buying effort failed to halt the European slide. The ECB said it had taken note of a statement by France and Germany released on Sunday stressing their commitment to European financial reforms. Silvio Berlusconi's government cobbled together an emergency austerity package for Italy late on Friday to placate the bond markets. Italy's borrowing costs shot up last week amid fears that its debts have become unsustainable. The Tokyo Stock Exchange opened down 1.4% after the announcement, the first test of the move ahead of the opening of European and US markets. US markets also looked set to open down with futures traders betting the markets would open below Friday's closing prices.

Romanian tax authority ANAF will refund in January value added tax to companies worth 1.36 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2621), the highest sum returned so far in a single month, the authority said Wednesday.

Romania To Pay VAT Refunds Worth RON1.36B In January

Of the total refunds, ANAF has already paid Monday RON557 million, and will pay the rest of the sum by the end of the month. Some RON1.21 billion of the total refunds represents compensations.

Germany sees no alternative to the Euro

(Reuters) - Germany sees no alternative to the euro and Angela Merkel's government believes the best way to strengthen the currency which has helped make the German economy so competitive is closer policy convergence across Europe.
But with German public support in the balance for rescuing euro partners Greece, Ireland and possibly others, it is a tough message for the domestic audience. This explains the apparently mixed messages emerging from Berlin. Germany voices strong objections to some of the proposed solutions to the euro crisis, such as joint euro zone bonds, and Merkel's insistence on a crisis mechanism from 2013 involving private investors has upset markets.
"But in the end Germany has a vital interest in the survival of the currency union," Dekabank economist Andreas Scheuerle said. While mass-selling daily Bild runs headlines like "How Long Will the Euro Hold Out?" and some pundits suggest a north-south euro divide, the crisis seems to have hardened the German establishment's view that there is no alternative to the single currency. The government, including the sometimes fractious members of Merkel's centre-right coalition, plus the business world and the serious media are at pains to nix any talk of Germany losing its enthusiasm for the euro or returning to the deutschemark. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle, from the Free Democrats, Merkel's often uneasy coalition partners, said on Thursday reinstating national currencies in the euro area was "not realistic". Merkel repeats that Europe's fate is inextricably tied to the currency shared by 16 countries and her comments on private investors needing to share in sovereign risk from 2013 reflect a belief that the euro will still be around. Currently enjoying a much stronger economic recovery than its partners, Germany may return to pre-crisis growth levels as early as next year, largely thanks to exports. So grumbles about the euro are slapped down with the argument that a revived deutschemark would quickly render German exports too expensive."The mark would be so overvalued against other currencies that our exports would be in trouble," said Andre Schwarz of the exporters' association BGA. "The solution is not to let the euro break up."Agerpres, Mediafax, Romanian Vancouver Sun,Global News, Financial Times,Le Monde,Tribune, ,Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today

The Irish government stood on the brink of collapse Monday

DUBLIN (Nov. 22) -- The Irish government stood on the brink of collapse Monday, a day after being forced to accept a massive bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would call an election for early next year, once Ireland passes an emergency budget and finalizes the bailout.The admission represented a huge political blow to Cowen, who only days ago was denying even the need for a bailout to solve the problems brought on by Irish banks' reckless speculation in overpriced real estate.
Ireland's six banks, five of which are already nationalized or part-owned by the state, would be pruned, merged and possibly sold off."Because of the huge risks they (Irish banks) took earlier this decade, they became a huge risk not only to this state but to the eurozone as a whole," he said.Irish banks invested aggressively in runaway property markets at home and abroad. After the 2008 credit crunch sent property prices into freefall, the government tried to save the banks from bankruptcy by insuring all of their borrowings against default. That unprecedented promise - made to retain investor confidence in the country - cannot be kept without a bailout, the government has finally been forced to concede.Unions warned that overhauling the banks would mean thousands more lost jobs in Ireland, where unemployment has already reached 13.6 percent, the second-highest rate in Europe after Spain.Banca Mondiala,FMI, Guvern,agenda de business, bugetul de stat, economie, revistapresei,romania,antena3.ro,realitatea.net,mediafax,bucuresti,camera de comert