Topic: Eurozone Imploding?
InvictusV's photo
Wed 02/15/12 04:23 AM
Edited by InvictusV on Wed 02/15/12 04:24 AM
Greek economy spirals down as EU forces final catharsis

A Greek default and traumatic ejection from the euro moved a step closer last night after eurozone finance ministers cancelled a crucial meeting, accusing Athens of failing to flesh out austerity cuts.

The escalating brinkmanship came as fresh data showed that Greece's economy contracted by 6.8pc last year and at an accelerating 7pc rate in the last quarter, far worse than expected by the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "troika".

The country appears to be in a self-feeding downward spiral that is playing havoc with budget targets, leaving Greece with a Sisyphean task of ever deeper cuts.

Premier Lucas Papademos called his cabinet together late last night to find a further €325m (£272m) of fiscal austerity demanded by the troika, likely to be defence cuts and lower salaries.


The coalition parties failed to convince the Eurogroup that they would stick to the deal, and the mood has been poisoned by EU demands for an escrow account to seize Greek budget revenues at source.

Blackened buildings set alight by protesters on Sunday were cordoned off on streets around parliament in Syntagma Square, a vivid reminder to Greece's politicians that any misjudgment could push the country towards anarchy.

Germany and Northern allies seem willing to force Greece out of the euro unless there is total compliance, calculating that the eurozone is now strong enough to stem any contagion.

Luc Frieden, Luxembourg's foreign minister, spelled out the warning in crystal clear terms. "If the Greek people or the Greek political elite do not apply all of these conditions, I think they exclude themselves from the eurozone. The impact on other countries now will be less important than a year ago."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9082843/Greek-economy-spirals-down-as-EU-forces-final-catharsis.html/


InvictusV's photo
Wed 02/15/12 04:29 AM
The Blame Game...

Greeks direct cries of pain at Germany


Rioters burn the German flag in street protests. A demonstrator defaces the façade of the Bank of Greece, the central bank, so that it reads “Bank of Berlin”.

Most shockingly, a rightwing Greek newspaper depicts Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, in a Nazi uniform above the headline “Memorandum macht frei” – an allusion to the memorandum in which Greece’s foreign creditors demand more austerity measures and to the Auschwitz slogan.

In these anxious times anti-German sentiments are not unusual in Greece. Locked in a struggle to avoid economic ruin and exit from the eurozone, Greece is confronting the potential collapse of its self-image as a country with a secure place in Europe’s family of nations.

To blame Germany draws on deep wells of national suffering endured during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation of Greece. It is not the only response: Greek economic mismanagement, public sector corruption and dysfunctional politics inspire much self-criticism. Animosity towards Germany is not sweeping through all levels of Greek society.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/67ff90dc-5728-11e1-869b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1mS4whd2k/


Optomistic69's photo
Wed 02/15/12 04:56 AM
What a difference a time zone makeslaugh

Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras will send a letter of commitment to the terms of an EU-IMF bailout deal by the end of the day, a party source said today, only hours after euro zone finance ministers cancelled talks.

InvictusV's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:05 AM

What a difference a time zone makeslaugh

Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras will send a letter of commitment to the terms of an EU-IMF bailout deal by the end of the day, a party source said today, only hours after euro zone finance ministers cancelled talks.


I saw this on Reuters before I posted..

Saying they are going to agree and actually doing it are two different things.


metalwing's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:15 AM
I was in Europe during the original transition to the European Common Market. I wondered at that time what Europe would do when the overall market was damaged by the less responsible nations. There is a wide diversity of work ethic and sense of "entitlement".

We are not finding out.

Conrad_73's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:16 AM
Yep,that much vaunted EURO.
Must have been manufactured by FIAT in Turin!laugh

InvictusV's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:16 AM
It certainly doesn't change the outcome..

Greece is out.. Whether it is today or 2 months from now..

If you think the Germans are going to allow Greece or any of the rest of you to take them down you are sadly mistaken..

Read between the lines...

The German economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, as the euro crisis began to bite. But the contraction was less than expected, and economists expect Germany to avoid the recession plaguing many countries in the euro crisis. Leading indicators point to a resumption of growth by mid-2012.

Germany to Gain Momentum in Mid-2012

"We expect the German economy to move roughly sideways in the first half of this year, before gaining momentum from around the middle of the year, when European policymakers should have implemented the final measures to contain the sovereign debt crisis while the global economy picks up," said Aline Schuiling, an economist at ABN AMRO.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,815387,00.html/

Conrad_73's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:19 AM

It certainly doesn't change the outcome..

Greece is out.. Whether it is today or 2 months from now..

If you think the Germans are going to allow Greece or any of the rest of you to take them down you are sadly mistaken..

Read between the lines...

The German economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, as the euro crisis began to bite. But the contraction was less than expected, and economists expect Germany to avoid the recession plaguing many countries in the euro crisis. Leading indicators point to a resumption of growth by mid-2012.

Germany to Gain Momentum in Mid-2012

"We expect the German economy to move roughly sideways in the first half of this year, before gaining momentum from around the middle of the year, when European policymakers should have implemented the final measures to contain the sovereign debt crisis while the global economy picks up," said Aline Schuiling, an economist at ABN AMRO.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,815387,00.html/
Might even start printing the good old Deutsch-Mark again!

no photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:25 AM

I was in Europe during the original transition to the European Common Market. I wondered at that time what Europe would do when the overall market was damaged by the less responsible nations. There is a wide diversity of work ethic and sense of "entitlement".

We are not finding out.


Greece should never have been permitted to join the Eurozone.....false numbers.....

Too late to return to Drachma...Treaty 128...

InvictusV's photo
Wed 02/15/12 05:26 AM


It certainly doesn't change the outcome..

Greece is out.. Whether it is today or 2 months from now..

If you think the Germans are going to allow Greece or any of the rest of you to take them down you are sadly mistaken..

Read between the lines...

The German economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, as the euro crisis began to bite. But the contraction was less than expected, and economists expect Germany to avoid the recession plaguing many countries in the euro crisis. Leading indicators point to a resumption of growth by mid-2012.

Germany to Gain Momentum in Mid-2012

"We expect the German economy to move roughly sideways in the first half of this year, before gaining momentum from around the middle of the year, when European policymakers should have implemented the final measures to contain the sovereign debt crisis while the global economy picks up," said Aline Schuiling, an economist at ABN AMRO.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,815387,00.html/
Might even start printing the good old Deutsch-Mark again!


When the EU collapses I see them forming an alliance with the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries..

They will tell the rest of them to kiss their Germanic a$$es..



InvictusV's photo
Thu 02/16/12 04:17 AM
Rot Roh...


Besieged by international sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program including a planned oil embargo by Europe, Iran warned six European buyers on Wednesday that it might strike first by immediately cutting them off from Iranian oil.

"All that Western sanctions have done is drive Iran into the willing arms of China, a nation that is quite comfortable investing in the pariah nations of the world. "

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said the threat was conveyed to the ambassadors of Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal in separate meetings at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. Officials said in an earlier report by Press TV, Iran’s state-financed satellite broadcaster, that Iran had already cut supplies to the six countries was inaccurate — but not before word of the Press TV report sent a brief shudder through the global oil market, sending prices up slightly.

“Iran warns Europe it will find other customers for its oil,” the Islamic Republic News Agency said. “European people should know that if Iran changes destinations of the oil it gives to them, the responsibility will rest with the European governments themselves.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/world/europe/iran-says-it-will-cut-oil-supplies-to-6-european-nations.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1329394483-2ylEmyt3+EDg175mvBMUGw/

Optomistic69's photo
Thu 02/16/12 04:30 AM
China, a nation that is quite comfortable investing in the pariah nations of the world.??

Are you including America in That?







InvictusV's photo
Thu 02/16/12 04:42 AM

China, a nation that is quite comfortable investing in the pariah nations of the world.??

Are you including America in That?









I didn't write the article..

But if I did I would have said that the move by the EU is certainly a shift in policy in that they were more than happy to invest and acquiesce Libyan dictator Mooooohmar Gaddaffi..