Free Republic

Video 5:27

Iceland just elected the parties which plunged them into crisis only five years ago. Is it casino capitalism all over again, or just a slap in the face of the EU? In terms of redemptive electoral stories, the return of the Independence Party in Iceland is quite significant, albeit that they will come back to government with only a few percentage points more votes than they polled at their nadir in the depths of the Icelandic crisis in 2009. However the biggest winner was Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, the leader of the Progressive Party, who propelled his party to hold 19 seats...

Europe will take longer to recover from its economic crisis as it tackles a worse-than-expected recession in the eurozone and unemployment at record levels, the European Union warned Friday. In its spring economic forecast, the EU said that gross domestic product in the 17 member countries that use the euro will shrink by 0.4 percent this year; better than the 0.6 percent contraction in 2012, but 0.1 percentage points worse than the EU had forecast back in February. The report also had bad news for the wider 27-country EU: it now expects the region’s economy to shrink by 0.1 percent...

Wealthy households would face new taxes on property and other assets under German plans to prop up the struggling eurozone. Senior advisers to Chancellor Angela Merkel are pushing for better-off households to pay towards the cost of any future bail-outs for the weaker members of the single currency. The proposals, from members of Germany’s council of economic experts, raise the prospect of taxes being imposed on property in a country like Spain if its government was forced to seek a bail-out. The council, known as the “Five Wise Men”, is often used to test new policies that are later adopted...

However, of more immediate concern is how will the government now plug a hole of up to €1.3 billion in its €5.3 billion 2013 budget. A solution has, luckily, presented itself: bypass the unconstitutional provisions by paying government workers not in cash, but in government bills! From the WSJ: The Portuguese government is considering a plan to pay public workers and pensioners one month of their salary in treasury bills rather than cash after a high court ruled out wage cuts, a person familiar with the situation said Sunday. "This is one of the ideas being considered," the person said....

Commentary: U.S. uninsured depositors can and do take losse True, it was news that Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem was making that acknowledgment. The European finance ministers had been stressing as recently as last week that the opposite was the case, that Cyprus was a special situation. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem is president of the Eurogroup council. The market genuinely was shocked.

Michel Sapin made the gaffe in a radio interview, which left French President Francois Hollande battling to undo the potential reputational damage. “There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state,” Mr Sapin said. “That is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place, and nothing should make us turn away from that objective.” The comments came as President Hollande attempts to improve the image of the French economy after pledging to reduce the country’s deficit by cutting spending by €60bn (£51.5bn) over the next five years and increasing taxes by €20bn.

Forget about that dead parrot of a question – should we join the eurozone? The eurozone has officially joined us in a newly emerging international organisation: we are all now members of the Permanent No-growth Club. And the United States has just re-elected a president who seems determined to sign up too. No government in what used to be called “the free world” seems prepared to take the steps that can stop this inexorable decline. They are all busily telling their electorates that austerity is for other people (France), or that the piddling attempts they have made at it will...

(Reuters) - The euro zone debt crisis dragged the bloc into its second recession since 2009 in the third quarter despite modest growth in Germany and France, data showed on Thursday. The French and German economies both managed 0.2 percent growth in the July-to-September period but their resilience could not save the 17-nation bloc from contraction as the likes of The Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Austria shrank. Economic output in the euro zone fell 0.1 percent in the quarter, following a 0.2 percent drop in the second quarter. Those two quarters of contraction put the euro zone's 9.4 trillion euro...

When Greece's government pushed through a law last week aimed at slashing public wages and raising taxes, its biggest threat was not the firebrand opposition or the 100,000 protesters thronged at the gates of parliament. It was the assembly's workers themselves, a well-connected group that has long evoked disdain for enjoying the kind of lavish pay and benefits that have become emblematic of the public sector excess at the heart of Greece's debt crisis. The staff dispute that image. But, having discovered that a 500-odd page draft law of cost cuts and tax hikes included a last minute amendment giving...

The Swiss Army is preparing contingency plans for violent unrest across Europe. A nation mostly famous for its banks, watches and chocolate fears it may face a massive influx of European refugees in the near future. One of the world’s richest nations openly expressed concerns over the possible outcome of Europe’s continuing financial troubles, and is currently conducting army exercises against the possibility of riots along its borders. In September, the Swiss military conducted exercises dubbed ‘Stabilo Due,’ with scenarios involving violent instability across the EU.Switzerland has maintained an avowedly neutral stance for decades, and refused to join the eurozone...

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signalled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue programme that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds. "The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said. Three other euro zone senior euro zone sources confirmed the shift...

In a letter addressed to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, his fellow coalition leaders -- PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis -- Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, six judges and prosecutors associations have claimed that the proposed cuts in their salaries and pensions devised by the government are unconstitutional. Judges and magistrates have been staging a series of rolling work stoppages in recent weeks, while administrative judges have said they will extend their industrial action until October 5.

Greek police protesting against austerity cuts blocked the entrance to the riot police headquarters on Thursday, preventing buses carrying riot police from leaving for the site of major demonstrations this weekend. The government plans to slash police pay in a new round of spending cuts worth nearly 12 billion euros over the next two years. The savings plan is expected to provoke new street protests in the coming weeks by austerity-weary Greeks fed up with repeated wage and pension cuts.

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

Spain has issued a veiled warning that it will not accept a full bail-out from Europe if the terms are too harsh, a move that would paralyse the European Central Bank and call the euro’s survival into question. In an escalating game of brinkmanship, Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos said his country is not yet willing to sign a Memorandum giving up fiscal sovereignty to EU inspectors. “First of all, one must clarify the conditions,” he told German newspaper Handelsblatt. Mr de Guindos said the crisis engulfing the region is larger than any one country and warned north Europe...

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

Italy's public debt hit an all-time high in June of almost €2 trillion and the annual budget deficit was also bigger than a year before, due largely to Italy's share of bailouts for other eurozone states, the central bank announced. Public debt at the end of June rose €6.6 billion to €1.973 trillion, the Bank of Italy said yesterday (13 August), as the Treasury's cash reserves increased by €10.3 billion. Italy's benchmark bond yields remain close to 6% despite tough austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister Mario Monti's government. With the country mired in a deep recession, markets are skeptical...

What does Greece have to do with the next US president? Or the current debate about a "political and fiscal union" in Europe? Readers tempted to shrug shoulders and say "not much" would be ill-advised. The main topic in the US campaign ahead of the 6 November presidential elections is the economy. And Europe has become the bogeyman for the Republican camp. "I see our President making us more and more like Europe. I don't want to be like Europe, I want to be like America," Republican candidate Mitt Romney said on Sunday (12 August) during a campaign event in...

Greece should start paying half of its pensions and state salaries in drachmas as part of a gradual exit from the eurozone, a leading German conservative was quoted on Monday as saying. Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has long argued that Greece would be better off outside the eurozone. "With Greece we have reached the end of the road. There must not be any further aid. A country which does not have the will to fulfil the conditions, or is not able to do...

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Tuesday he expected the governor of Sicily to resign following a growing financial crisis that has pushed the autonomous region close to default. Monti said in a statement there were "grave concerns" that the island could default and he said he had written to the governor Raffaele Lombardo seeking confirmation that he would resign by the end of the month.

How bad is Europe’s economic climate? Switzerland, Germany and Denmark have negative 2 year sovereign yields. This means that investors are paying the governments to store their funds! Switzerland has been in negative territory for a while. Note the red line that is off the chart! Germany, the European “Big Dog,” has recently joined the negative yield club. And the Netherlands, where they serve mayonnaise on their french fries (I tried it), has also recently joined the negative yield club. And these are NOMINAL yields. Even the U.S. where the 2 year sovereign rate is 0.258% and the inflation rate...

Addressing the European Parliament yesterday (3 July) in Strasbourg, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso slammed British euroskeptics for their divisive behavior and taking pleasure in the eurozone's troubles. "Let me tell you that it is puzzling that you seem to delight in the difficulties of the euro area," Barroso told the British Tories, adding that this was in stark contrast with the position taken by Prime Minister David Cameron. Barroso was taking aim especially at Conservative MEP Martin Callanan, who has repeatedly criticized bank bailouts as wasting taxpayers' money and talked in favor of eurozone exits for some countries....

India will pledge an additional $ 10 billion to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) firewall against a eurozone financial conflagration. This was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his opening speech at the Group of 20 summit in Mexico. The money will be part of an estimated $63-billion contribution by the BRICS countries, the emerging group og economies currently chaired by India, to the IMF’s $430-billion emergency fund. The BRICS countries, comprising Brazil Russia India China and South Africa, had earlier agreed that their contributions would be conditional on the IMF enhancing their voting rights and “that this recourse...

The eurozone crisis can be traced more to political than economic and financial causes, Emma Bonino, vice president of the Italian Senate and a former European Commissioner told EurActiv Italia. She says it is mostly a problem of governance. The EU Summit this week (28-29 June) is not a meeting as many others: “It’s a key date for the EU, almost a point of no return,” she said, reasserting the need for a United States of Europe. She spoke on the margin of a conference organized by European Movement Italy, ahead of the Rome mini-summit on 22 June. Bonino shares...

In a not-so-subtle rebuke of President Obama’s tendency to offer unsolicited recommendations on how Europeans should handle their debt crises on Sunday evening, Germany’s finance minister suggested that perhaps His Munificence should focus on his own problems before trying to fix everybody else’s. Wolfgang Schaeuble told public broadcaster ZDF in an interview late Sunday that “people are always very quick at giving others advice.�He says: “Mr. Obama should first of all take care of reducing the American deficit, which is higher than in the eurozone.� An unfortunate and embarrassing truth — the EU’s debt-to-GDP ratio is well over eighty percent,...

The Greek boss learns a few lessons about economics as he makes his rounds, on the very eve of the election… As a minor mob boss in the south, Greco had had some serious setbacks. His operation was crumbling around him, and he didn’t know what to do. Deep in hock to the big Mob Bosses in Brussels, Greco had gone back to the well for renegotiations again and again, and neither his bosses nor his grubber list seemed to understand his situation at all. No compassion, no understanding. What was the world coming to? But it was Saturday, and...

Ireland wants to renegotiate its rescue plan to benefit from the same treatment as Spain, which looks set to win a bailout for its banks without any broader economic reforms in return, European sources said on Saturday. "Ireland raised two issues: one is the need to ensure parity of the deal with Spain retroactively on its bailout from EFSF," one European government source told AFP, referring to the temporary rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. Another European government source confirmed the information. Ireland secured an 85-billion-euro ($112 billion) rescue deal from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund...

Eurozone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to €100 billion ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks, and Madrid said it would specify precisely how much it needs once independent audits report in just over a week. After a 2½-hour conference call of the 17 finance ministers, which several sources described as heated, the Eurogroup and Madrid said the amount of the bailout would be sufficiently large to banish any doubts. "The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, estimated as summing up to €100 billion in total," a Eurogroup statement...

Thursday may be the final test for the euro zone, Vincent Cignarella argues on Markets Hub. The simmering euro-zone crisis may reach full boil when Spain goes to the market to borrow bonds just one day after the ECB met.

Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has called for the eurozone to have “centralized control” over the budgets of all the countries using the euro. Rajoy has become the latest European politician to call for countries to, in effect, abandon their sovereignty in a last-ditch attempt to save the beleaguered currency. Rajoy said a new central authority would go a long way to alleviating Spain’s economic crisis as it would send a clear signal to investors that the single currency is an irreversible project. He said: “The European Union needs to reinforce its architecture. This entails moving towards more integration,...

It’s not just the US, which is a point that Barack Obama will likely seize in the same manner a drowning man clings (bitterly?) to a life preserver in a storm-tossed ocean. The EuroZone hit a 17-year high unemployment rate this spring at 11%, and the rate in the larger European Union rose to 10.3%: The jobless rate in the 17-nation euro zone reached 11 percent in March and April, the highest since the start of the data in 1995, Eurostat, the European statistical agency said in Luxembourg. The previous record had been 10.9 percent in February, Eurostat said, after...

The latest example is the prison in Corinth where after the supply stoppage from the nearby military camp, the prisoners are at the mercy of God because, as reported by prison staff, not even one grain of rice has been left in their warehouses. When a few days earlier the commander of the camp announced to the prison management the transportation stoppage, citing lack of food supplies even for the soldiers, he shut down the last source of supply for 84 prisoners. The response of some Corinth citizens was immediate as they took it upon themselves to support the prisoners,...

The damage caused by the global financial crisis requires additional federal intervention, according to the Obama Administration, which is launching a new program to “foster growth and stability at a time of increasing economic turmoil.” This particular endeavor, however, will focus its efforts on improving conditions in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and the “newly independent states,” or NIS, of the former Soviet Union. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is designing this Europe & Eurasia (E&E) regional project in order to “promote trade, investment and regulatory integration; enhance regional competitiveness, and support financial sector stability.” The agency did...

Greece handed 18 billion euros ($22.6 billion) to its four biggest banks on Monday, an official said, allowing the stricken lenders to regain access to European Central Bank funding. The long-awaited injection—via bonds from the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund—will boost the nearly depleted capital base of National Bank, Alpha , Eurobank and Piraeus Bank.

Dismissing the propaganda-like vision of growth and jobs that is now at the forefront of any and every word from the status-quo seekers that are the European Elite, England's Nigel Farage notes the hypocrisy of the forthcoming summit's agenda. The Euro itself was supposed to create growth and jobs and yet it is actively destroying both of those things - more of the same - as the medicine is killing the patient. He attacks the idea that the world will end if Greece were to exit the Euro - "European leaders say if Greece leaves the sky will fall in...

We were lamenting just the other day, yesterday in fact, that California’s 11.0 percent unemployment rate was identical to Ghana’s, that sub-Saharan economic stalwart. Today we awoke to the good news. California’s unemployment rate has plunged to (drum roll please) 10.9 percent! That’s as good as the unemployment rate in the euro zone, where people out of work also account for 10.9 percent of the working population, a new high for those folks...

Tomorrow brings the opening of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, the 65th anniversary. But signs of economic reality are everywhere. Even though Tuesday before Cannes is quiet, today was more than unusually not busy. The best indicators are in hotel lobbies and out front of the main palaces like the Majestic and Carlton. At the latter, the entryway is cleverly adorned completely in ads for “The Dictator.” But there’s very little else going on so far. The hotel has only one large billboard affixed to its facade–for an upcoming Tom Cruise movie. Otherwise, the hub-bub was at minimum today. The...

The French economy did not grow at all in first three months of 2012 and the previous quarter's growth was cut, in a blow to new president Francois Hollande. Official figures released on Tuesday showed that French GDP growth was 0pc in the three months through March . Growth in the last quarter of 2011 was revised to 0.1pc from 0.2pc. Official statistics agency INSEE said the economy grew by 1.7pc overall in 2011. Inflation rose 0.1pc on a monthly basis after a jump of 0.8pc in March. Year-on-year inflation dipped to 2.1pc, back to the level seen in mid-2011....

Athens has the highest rate of empty office space in Europe, according to data for the year’s first quarter presented by BNP Paribas Real Estate. Its report on the course of the European office market showed that the availability rate in the Greek capital soared to 20 percent in the January-March period from 15.5 percent in the same period last year.

Over the years, our friends at the Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund have gone from jeered to cheered. To wit from March 30: "Remember this from September 2010? "Norway, which has amassed the world’s second-biggest sovereign wealth fund, says Greece won’t default on its debts. “The point is, do you expect these guys to default?” said Harvinder Sian, senior fixed-income strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, in an interview. “Norway has taken the view that they will not. The Greek holdings are particularly interesting because the consensus in the market is that they will at some point restructure...

SENIOR Eurocrats are secretly plotting to create a super-powerful EU president to realise their dream of abolishing ­Britain and other nation states, the Daily Express can reveal. A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters, is set to get sweeping control over the entire EU and force member countries into ever-greater political and economic union.

Public confidence in scientific “consensus” regarding the theory of manmade climate change is threatening the believing scientists’ confidence. While polls show that taking action to fight climate change is off the radar of most Americans, the behavior of the theory’s advocates is even more telling. They are behaving like "cornered rats"—taking extreme actions to protect their turf.

According to Bloomberg, The Netherlands is experiencing backlash against austerity, France is seeing Sarkozy possibly losing to a Socialist and Merkel’s austerity policies are coming under increased attack. This, of course, is no surprise. No one wants to pay for the massive entitlement and government spending programs. So, the answer is … print more money. Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen said today that there will be no monetary tightening after Operation Twist expires. On it’s own, expiring Twist will in the 10 year rising about 25 basis points. Notice that the U.S. Treasury 10 year yield dropped this morning while...

The eurozone is not equipped to bail out Spain, the country's prime minister Mariano Rajoy has admitted, as global traders continued to punish the nation's stocks and bonds. Mr Rajoy said it was "not possible to rescue Spain" but insisted his country did not need a Greek-style international bail-out anyway. "To talk about a bail-out for Spain at the moment makes no sense," he told reporters. "Spain is not going to be rescued; it's not possible to rescue Spain, there's no intention to, it's not necessary and therefore it's not going to be rescued." Despite his comments, the Madrid bourse...

"If they don't get the Drachma back, you will be responsible for something truly truly horrible!".

This is a google translate translation: Ministers participating in the "great train robbery" First registration: Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 16:28 The legal use Katsios was perfectly clear, speaking Tuesday at noon in Makis Triantafyllopoulos and zougla Radio . In the circuit of corrupt government officials, tax collectors, managers and auditors of SDOE various institutions involved and politicians. The new element, however, that makes the difference is that between those policies, are ministers. The scam is repeated over time and after the introduction of Value Added Tax in 1987, namely how the circuits set up the "Great Theft of the Nation"...

No, I’m not suggesting she buy more Greek debt, I’m talking about buying the country of Greece. Buy it lock, stock and barrel, just like the Americans bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867. Russia was hurting financially from the Crimean war and Czar Nicolas needed to replenish his coffers. Alaska was a drag. Russian hunters had pretty well wiped out the fur seals and nothing would grow in the far north soils because of smelly black stuff that oozed out it. So he dumped it for $7.2 million on those gullible Americans. What would Germany and Greece get out...

ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Talks between Greece and its private sector creditors over a debt writedown plan appeared to stall Saturday as the banks' top negotiator left Athens amid signs of fresh disagreements over how much Greece would pay its bondholders in the future. Officials close to the talks said they may not conclude before a meeting Monday of euro-zone finance ministers where a second bailout which will keep Greece from defaulting is supposed to be discussed. Without a deal on the write-down of the debt held in private hands, the loan can't be released. Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara,...

In a paper entitled “Greek debt: The endgame scenarios”, Buchheit, one of the most prominent lawyers globally in debt restructuring cases, said that that “the restructuring could be facilitated in some way by a change to Greek law”. If English law is applied to the new bonds issued under the complex PSI, the Greek side would have to face the following consequences: Property confiscation: According to international law as well as many national legal systems, when a property is located within the jurisdiction of the legislating state, the latter has the power (de facto or by law) to nationalise or...