I intended to send this out last night.
All I can say is I am surprised.
At about ten this morning New Democracy
Formed a coalition and a government.
The world will stagger on a few more weeks.
We do live in interesting times in the Chinese sense. Our Republican party seems to be determined to win or die.
I will be surprised if New Democracy Forms a government.
SYRIZA will force a Greek exit from the Euro in about ten days.
It is a question which will be the next to escape. My guess is Germany.
They really will have no choice.
Once the system breaks the defaulted debts of Europe will become theirs.
In the bankers world a loan is carried as an asset.
It is a condition that implies interest income. A performing loan pays the bank.
A nonperforming loan pays no interest. It is a simple loss.
To try to prevent the collapse of the German banks the sovereign bonds of Europe must be seized and sold "at market". The "Fire Sale"will not raise enough. Germany will have to heal its banks with New Marks. The rest of European finance will be in ruins.
Zero interest rates will prevent inflation in Germany.
The economy will have to rebuild from agriculture and heating fuel.
If Germany does not lead the parade out of the Euro there will be no assets to seize.
Alternatively Germany could quietly grant the Greeks three hundred billion Euros.
Cheap compared to a war but a terrible precedent.
The Spanish and the Italians will want the same.
Postwar Britain did the austerity program.
It is a reasonable facsimile of the Marshall Plan.
I notice that the US markets went flat with the London and German markets.
Money coming from the south and east? Scandinavia may not have the word.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/overview/
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I have been watching Krugman Videos on Youtube. (PBS mostly.)
He really is a bad public speaker. He thinks as he speaks.
He needs to proofread and edit to make it flow.
He is a mathematician rather than a poet.
When he tries he can fake it as a poet. His exposition is getting better.
http://robertreich.org/post/25381274270
Why Republicans Worry About Hurting Corporate Feelings
"Monday, June 18, 2012
Perhaps you’d expect no more from the Republican leader of the Senate who proclaimed three years ago that the GOP’s first priority was to get Obama out of the White House. But Senator Mitch McConnell’s speech Friday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington is simply bonkers.
The only reason I bring it up is because it offers an inside look at how the Republican goal of getting rid of Obama is inextricably linked to the Republican Supreme Court’s decision equating corporations with people under the First Amendment, and to the Republican’s current determination to keep Americans in the dark about which corporations contribute what.
In the upside-down world of regressive Republicanism, McConnell thinks proposed legislation requiring companies to disclose their campaign spending would stifle their free speech.
He describes the current push to disclose the sources behind campaign contributions as a “political weapon,” used by the Democrats, “to expose its critics to harassment and intimidation.”
Harassment and intimidation? It used to be called accountability to shareholders and consumers.
Five members of the Supreme Court think corporations are people. Mitt Romney agrees. And now the minority leader of the Senate – the highest-ranking Republican official in America – takes this logic to its absurd conclusion: If corporations are people, they must be capable of feeling harassed and intimidated if their shareholders or consumers don’t approve of their political expenditures.
Hell, they might even throw a tantrum. Or cry. Corporations have feelings.
This isn’t just whacko. It also defies law and logic. What are corporations anyway, separate and apart from their shareholders and consumers? Legal fictions, pieces of paper.
And whom do corporations exist for if not the people who legally own them and those who purchase the products and services they sell?
Clearly, McConnell doesn’t want corporations to be forced to disclose their political contributions because he and other Republicans worry that some shareholders and consumers would react badly if they knew – and thereby constrain such giving.
And the reason McConnell and other Republicans don’t want any constraint on corporate political giving is most CEOs are Republicans who want to use their firms – and the money their shareholders legally own – as secret slush funds for the Republican Party, funneled through front groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Crossroads GPS.
Such nonprofits have spent significantly more than Super PACs on elections since 2010, according to the Center for Public Integrity and Center for Responsive Politics. Nonprofits have spent $95 million on elections since 2010, while Super PACs, which are required to disclose their donors, have spent $65 million, the Centers found.Crossroads GPS has disclosed on its tax returns that 23 donors to it have each given $1 million or more to finance its campaign activities so far this year. But Crossroads claims status as a nonprofit under IRS rules – a “social welfare” organization” that doesn’t have to disclose its donors – even though anyone with half a brain knows its overriding purpose is to influence elections.
McConnell and other Republicans conveniently forget secret campaign money was at the heart of the Watergate scandals forty years ago. And that even the Supreme Court in its heinous “Citizens United” decision upheld the constitutionality of disclosure requirements on corporations and other outside groups.
Mitch McConnell wants to give some cover to his Republican colleagues who will be voting later this month or early next month on the bill to force full disclosure of corporate political expenses. But his speech at the American Enterprise Institute doesn’t provide cover. It cloaks the whole Republican enterprise in hypocrisy."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-leaders-tired-of-criticism-at-the-g-20-summit-a-839724.html
Angela Merkel is seen internationally as a key figure for overcoming the euro crisis. As such, it seems appropriate that the chancellor was the first government leader to speak at the G-20 Summit in Mexico on Monday afternoon following host Felipe Calderon's speech. The gathering is taking place in San Jose de los Cabos.
What she had to say likely came as no surprise to the gathered statesmen. She counted off what the Europeans have done in the past year to make the common European currency crisis proof: the fiscal pact, the euro rescue fund, bank capitalization, the growth pact and the upcoming additional steps toward a political union. With this list Merkel countered the argument that the Europeans, with their half-hearted crisis management, are endangering the world economy. We are indeed doing something, was her message from the resort town.
It still, however, seems to be insufficient. The euro crisis has regularly dominated headlines for two years and there's no end in sight. Just in time for the G-20 Summit, the cover of "Newsweek" magazine showed a broken one-euro coin surrounded by the words "Kaput? Fini? Finito? The End?" The shaky victory of the conservative New Democracy party in Sunday's Greek election, despite providing a measure of stability to the political landscape in Athens, serves as yet another reminder of just how fragile the currency union is.
'Constructive Pressure'
For the Europeans, lodged in an all-inclusive hotel complex in the Mexican desert featuring palm trees, pools and golf courses, there was no escaping the renewed pressure. The euro crisis is no longer a European affair, OECD General Secretary Angel Gurria said. It's about the world economy. British Prime Minister David Cameron said one has to exert "constructive pressure" on the euro zone.
Other evidence from the Mexican meeting that the euro crisis is now an international one came from International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who said the most important developing countries are chipping in billions to shore up the International Monetary Fund's efforts to fight the global financial crisis.
China said it will contribute $43 billion and India and Russia will each give $10 billion. The three countries are members of the so-called BRICS nations, which also include Brazil and South Africa. The contributions will not be made in cash but in credit offered by the countries' central banks to the IMF for use when and if a $400 billion emergency fund is used up.
While euro-zone members are well aware that the crisis affects the entire world, they are becoming increasingly allergic to advice from abroad. On Monday morning EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso lost it when a Canadian reporter in shorts wanted to know why the North Americans should be responsible for the problems of rich Europeans. "We are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy," Barroso fumed. "By the way, this crisis was not originated in Europe. This crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices from some sectors of the financial market."
The mood was supposed to be better this time around. No one wanted a repeat of the G-20 summit in Cannes last November when the Europeans found themselves bickering with the rest of the world about what needed to be done about the euro crisis. This time it was supposed to be harmonious. But the differences of opinion remained just beneath the surface.
Haggling in the Coming Months
Even before the summit, Barack Obama and Merkel met for a bilateral talk to smooth over their differences. The US president is among Merkel's loudest critics due to the degree to which the euro crisis affects the US economy -- and with it, his chances of being re-elected. This time Obama was more reserved. The president was "encouraged" by the talk, a spokesman said. The Germans have shown a change of heart and are more open to the kind of economic growth measures championed by the Obama administration.
This interpretation of the meeting was promptly rejected by the German side. But a certain amount of movement is detectable nonetheless. At the EU summit at the end of this month, not only will European leaders come to an agreement on a growth pact, but there will also be movement toward the establishment of a European banking union. The G-20 draft statement hints as much: The participants welcome the euro-zone plan and a centralization of bank supervision, re-capitalization of banks and deposit insurance.
There will be much haggling in coming months over just how the bank union should look. But the G-20 document approval would mark the first time the plan has made it into writing. The final declaration is also supposed to contain an "Action Plan for Growth." This includes only vague commitments to improving domestic demand and to confirming previous EU decisions. The EU states will be called upon to "take all necessary actions" toward finding a solution to the crisis. The worry over Greece is less acute following the victory of the conservatives on Sunday. All participants expressed the hope that the election winner Antonis Samaras will be able to form a stable government and continue the austerity plan.
Yet the gathered leaders are well aware that the crisis will flare up again following the next progress report of the Troika, made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. The Greek government halted reforms during the election campaign. A delay in reaching the austerity targets set out be the EU seems inevitable."
It still, however, seems to be insufficient. The euro crisis has regularly dominated headlines for two years and there's no end in sight. Just in time for the G-20 Summit, the cover of "Newsweek" magazine showed a broken one-euro coin surrounded by the words "Kaput? Fini? Finito? The End?" The shaky victory of the conservative New Democracy party in Sunday's Greek election, despite providing a measure of stability to the political landscape in Athens, serves as yet another reminder of just how fragile the currency union is.
'Constructive Pressure'
For the Europeans, lodged in an all-inclusive hotel complex in the Mexican desert featuring palm trees, pools and golf courses, there was no escaping the renewed pressure. The euro crisis is no longer a European affair, OECD General Secretary Angel Gurria said. It's about the world economy. British Prime Minister David Cameron said one has to exert "constructive pressure" on the euro zone.
Other evidence from the Mexican meeting that the euro crisis is now an international one came from International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who said the most important developing countries are chipping in billions to shore up the International Monetary Fund's efforts to fight the global financial crisis.
China said it will contribute $43 billion and India and Russia will each give $10 billion. The three countries are members of the so-called BRICS nations, which also include Brazil and South Africa. The contributions will not be made in cash but in credit offered by the countries' central banks to the IMF for use when and if a $400 billion emergency fund is used up.
While euro-zone members are well aware that the crisis affects the entire world, they are becoming increasingly allergic to advice from abroad. On Monday morning EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso lost it when a Canadian reporter in shorts wanted to know why the North Americans should be responsible for the problems of rich Europeans. "We are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy," Barroso fumed. "By the way, this crisis was not originated in Europe. This crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices from some sectors of the financial market."
The mood was supposed to be better this time around. No one wanted a repeat of the G-20 summit in Cannes last November when the Europeans found themselves bickering with the rest of the world about what needed to be done about the euro crisis. This time it was supposed to be harmonious. But the differences of opinion remained just beneath the surface.
Haggling in the Coming Months
Even before the summit, Barack Obama and Merkel met for a bilateral talk to smooth over their differences. The US president is among Merkel's loudest critics due to the degree to which the euro crisis affects the US economy -- and with it, his chances of being re-elected. This time Obama was more reserved. The president was "encouraged" by the talk, a spokesman said. The Germans have shown a change of heart and are more open to the kind of economic growth measures championed by the Obama administration.
This interpretation of the meeting was promptly rejected by the German side. But a certain amount of movement is detectable nonetheless. At the EU summit at the end of this month, not only will European leaders come to an agreement on a growth pact, but there will also be movement toward the establishment of a European banking union. The G-20 draft statement hints as much: The participants welcome the euro-zone plan and a centralization of bank supervision, re-capitalization of banks and deposit insurance.
Yet the gathered leaders are well aware that the crisis will flare up again following the next progress report of the Troika, made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. The Greek government halted reforms during the election campaign. A delay in reaching the austerity targets set out be the EU seems inevitable."
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