Free Republic

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...

Thursday’s meeting of the governing body of the European Central Bank (ECB) will happen as calls for the central bank to take further action to solve the euro zone debt crisis by acting as lender of last resort for troubled countries increase. The committee is expected to keep interest rates on hold at the historic low of 1 percent, and hold back on further action, despite growing calls for the bank to resort to quantitative easing – buying government bonds in primary markets, like the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve. “(Mario) Draghi (the head of the ECB) can’t...

Reuters reports (via ForexLive) that Italian PM Mario Monti is flying to Brussels unexpectedly, and his office is giving no details about who he's going to meet or what he will while in the European capitol. News of his sudden trip coincided with a momentary drop in the value of the euro versus the dollar below $1.28, a value it hasn't hit since September 2010, according to CNBC. The euro has been falling steadily since Tuesday