Posted on 01/26/2015 5:24:20 AM PST by alexmark1917
5 years into the euro zone crisis the ECB announces a €1.1 trillion quantitative easing programme to boost economy. Bolder than expected.
Draghi Commits ECB to Trillion-Euro Asset-Purchase Plan to Fight Deflation
Mario Draghi led the European Central Bank into a new era, committing to a quantitative easing program worth at least 1.1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to counter the threat of a deflationary spiral.
The ECB president shrugged off determined opposition led by German officials with a pledge to buy 60 billion euros every month through September next year in a once-and-for-all push to put more cash into circulation and revive inflation. To assuage critics, the region’s 19 national central banks will make 80 percent of the purchases and take on any risk they carry.
A near-stagnant economy and outright declines in consumer prices forced Draghi’s hand six years after the Federal Reserve took a similar step -- and three months after the U.S. central bank ended its purchases. The 67-year-old Italian’s gamble is that the benefits of QE -- should it work -- outweigh the threat of a backlash in Germany.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-22/draghi-commits-ecb-to-trillion-euro-qe-plan-in-deflation-fight.html
Ex Bundesbank Chief says Europe has made no reforms and is slipping back into crisis as the ECB remains helpless
Axel Weber says it is "hard to say" whether Europe would be in better shape today if the euro had never been launched, a tactful evasion understood as nostalgia for the stability of the D-Mark
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/11360878/EU-has-sqandered-last-chance-to-make-euro-workable-warns-Ex-Bundesbank-chief.html
Greece's snap elections have revived fears of a euro crisis. Is there cause for concern? http://t.co/hXHw31fg4f pic.twitter.com/uUEpHjLApC
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 22, 2015
Banking crisis coming to Poland Polish Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek is prodding banks to abide by a pain-sharing agreement to help borrowers with $35 billion in Swiss-franc home loans or face pressure for more sweeping measures that may inflict losses. Banks should maintain the balance or “symmetry” in loan contracts, in which they bear interest-rate risks, while the client is exposed to currency swings. That includes “isolated” cases of borrowers who should now be paying negative interest on their loans after the Swiss National Bank last week lowered its Libor target rate to minus 0.75 percent, he said. “I strongly encourage banks at this stage not to break this symmetry,” Szczurek said in an interview Thursday in Davos, Switzerland. “Otherwise, the political pressure, the social pressure to change the model toward Serb, Croat or Hungarian solutions will be greater.” http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-22/polish-banks-warned-of-backlash-by-szczurek-if-franc-plan-defied BANKING ON CRISIS (ft Jean-Claude Trichet, ex European Central Bank President) World Debt Has Reached a Staggering $158.8 Trillion! The Sovereign Debt Crisis is brewing. Global debt has reach a staggering $158.8 trillion, calculated both public and private. Those who keep touting the collapse of the dollar because of the US debt level being about $17 trillion, do not pay attention to the global debt levels. This is a serious mistake. http://armstrongeconomics.com/2014/10...
Record global debt risks new crisis – Geneva report http://t.co/QWkSBh0HGz pic.twitter.com/QnrZ2Bzkqm — RT (@RT_com) October 1, 2014 Global downsides: 1 high debt; 2 Lack of growth and deflation; 3 Fragile EM; 4 Technology displacing job: 5. Rising inequality; 6 G0 world
— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) January 21, 2015
---
Euro crisis, banking crisis, debt crisis - 5 yrs rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic ... Still not nuff lifeboats, but the band plays on — Silvia Wadhwa (@EuroWadhwa) January 22, 2015
So the list of financial collapse epicenters grows.
Cyprus, Greece, Italy, the Swiss - now the whole Eurozone, do I read that right?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.