Posts Tagged ‘EU’

German Banks Won’t Win

Monday, January 30th, 2012

The Greeks have a decision to make: get out of Euroland or forever become a wholly owned subsidiary of the IMF, the EU, and German banks.

The only leverage Athens has is to default and go back to the drachma.

There’s no possibility that Greece will be able to meet its debt obligations with an economy being bled dry by the Germans and a lack of competitiveness.

A currency devaluation of 75% will give some hope to Greek workers: see Argentina and Iceland.

Short-term (not decades long) pain will bring with it long-term gain.

And the Germans at long last will be forced to abandon from their utterly amoral, stupid and unnecessary austerity morality fetish.

Gorilla says: “In the name of Socrates, GO!”

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It’s Still Only And All About The Banks

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

German, French, or Dutch, it’s the banks that need rescuing, not the Greeks!!!

Greece would be better off leaving the eurozone, going back to the drachma, and devaluing by 80%.

Euroland would be better off if it allowed the ECB to play the role every central bank in history has played: lender of last resort.

Instead, we continue to get endless dithering, endless lying, and endless denial from Merkel and Sarkozy, the worst European leaders since WWII.

Gorilla says: “Contagion is what they bring, when resolution is what is needed!”

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Big Losses Are Necessary

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Euroland: reality is catching up with both lying politicians and the bankers they love!

The problems and their solutions are quite simple: big haircuts on existing Club Med debt (at least 75% for Greece, Portugal and Ireland, 20-40% for Italy and Spain), big bank recapitalizations (at least 2 trillions euros), declaring the ECB to be lender of last resort for all future Euroland debt, a higher inflation target (at least 4%), the end to austerity programs until economic growth returns, and a large scale stimulus (at least 1 trillion euros/year for the next 3 years).

But the willingness to admit just how disastrous EU and ECB economic policy has been is limited. The German and French leaders have consistently lied to their own citizens about both the scale of the problem and the cost of the solutions. So there are riots in the streets of Athens and downplaying in the back rooms of the Bundestag.

Gorilla says: “Mr. Market will take Mrs. Merkel to the woodshed if she doesn’t get moving in the direction of sanity!”

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Dumbing The Can Down

Monday, October 17th, 2011

No, there won’t be a big breakthrough at this week’s EU summit, what a non-surprise!

The problem, as always, is with the leaders, who’ve been lying for months about both the extent of the problem and the cost of the solution.

Here’s the five point program they should announce:

1) The ECB will be the lender of last resort and guarantee the bonds of all Eurozone members.

2) There shall be both haircuts (80%) and rescheduling of Greek, Irish, and Portuguese debt, coupled with an ECB guarantee for the newly issued bonds.

3) The ECB’s inflation target will be raised to 5% until the Eurozone wide unemployment rate drops below 7%.

4) The stabilization fund’s resources will be raised to at least $2 trillion and Tier I capital requirements raised to 20%, with the ECB providing recapitalization to all banks in the event they cannot raise enough capital in the marketplace.

5) A stimulus package of at least $1 trillion/year for the next 3 years, targeted at countries with the highest rates of unemployment.

Gorilla says: “But what they’ll offer instead is a shiny new pentagonal can to kick down the road!”

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Tobin Again

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

The Tobin tax is back in the EU, and of course the Brits are upset, since they’re a wholly owned subsidiary of the banksters…

It’s really peanuts in terms of funds raised ($57 billion/year), but it’s important that the world take a small measure of revenge (beyond the far larger haircuts that are coming) on an industry that has done its level best to destroy the world economy.

Gorilla says: “It’s a start on a bit of accountability!”

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Teach A Fleet To Fish

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

And they will fish out the ocean…

The only thing that will work is a strict limit on commercial fishing for several years.

That won’t make the fishing industry happy, but it’s long past time to get stocks up to sustainable levels.

Gorilla says: “Better an unhappy fisherman than a nonexistent fisherman!”

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Not Convinced

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

The ratings agencies, whose track record is entirely abysmal, now think that Portugal will need a second bailout

The elephants in the room remain Italy and Spain. Nobody at the European Commission or the ECB wants to talk about them, but it’s pretty clear they’ll need help within the next 12 months.

All of this contagion is due to the failure of European politicians to gain control over their banks, many of which look like going bust.

There needs to be a far more serious effort at stress testing these banks, both in Europe and the US. The European periphery needs to get serious about leaving the euro, since austerity will not provide what’s needed: competitive markets and economic growth.

Gorilla says: “The proof of the pudding is in the bleating!”

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In The Door?

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Will Scotland replace Greece as the new EU nation?

Only a referendum will tell, but the SNP’s victory last night means Scots at last will decide whether to cut the cord with the rest of the UK.

Gorilla says: “Make way for the Glasgow Kissoff!!!”

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The Correct Headline

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

It’s not about Portugal at all:

“Further Bailout Of German and Spanish Banks Agreed”

Gorilla says: “The actual story buried within the indirect story!”

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Coming Out In The Wash

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Not content with laundering money and tax havens, multinationals continue to engage in good old fashioned price fixing!!!

Gorilla says: “Guess the new slogan will be: All Fix-A-Cheer!”

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