Free Republic

More than 70 people were injured in clashes in Madrid on Wednesday as Spanish police used rubber bullets and batons to disperse anti-austerity protesters, witnesses and emergency workers said. Protesters, including a group of miners who have marched on the capital, are demonstrating against Spain's government and the cuts it is imposing as it seeks to curb the country's debt crisis. Hundreds of people quickly moved out of the area as police moved in, with witnesses reporting the use of rubber bullets and batons by officers. Madrid's ambulance service said 76 people were injured in clashes at or near the...

Greece conceded on Thursday it had slipped "in some respects" in implementing the cuts and reforms demanded by lenders in exchange for saving Athens from bankruptcy, and tried to persuade them to cut the country some slack. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras made the admission after meeting senior officials from Greece's "troika" of lenders from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, whose inspectors have begun picking through the country's books after weeks of political paralysis.

Here’s some good news from across the pond that a lot of Americans will like. Ireland is once again preparing to return international debt markets for the first time since 2010. For the Irish government, the timing is good; as the FT notes, Ireland could use the money:

The image of the night in Warsaw on Thursday wasn’t Mario Balotelli ripping off his shirt and, despite his best efforts, failing to keep an ice-cool straight face after he scored the goal of the tournament to take Italy into the final of Euro 2012. It was following the referee’s final whistle. And it involved Balotelli again — of course — as he buried himself deep into the hug of his adoptive mother, Silvia, her face creased in emotion as he whispered that the two goals to defeat Germany were dedicated to her.

Leaders of the 17-nation eurozone announced on Friday a plan to rescue their failing banks with cash normally reserved for fledgling governments. When the “recapitalization” (i.e. bailout) plan was unveiled, markets responded very, very well. However, despite the positive market reaction, at least one veteran businessman thinks the deal is a big mistake. In fact, he thinks it’s only making things worse. According to Quantum Fund co-founder, free market advocate, author, and regular lecturer of finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business Jim Rogers, the EU’s decision to recapitalize its banks won’t do anything to fight off the...

Italy took advantage of some woeful German defending to book a date with Spain in the final of Euro 2012, winning 2-1 in Warsaw Thursday. The Italians went into the game as the underdogs but Mario Balotelli’s clinical finishing in a stunning first half was enough to secure Italy a place in Sunday’s final. Only ineptitude by Italy’s attackers in the second half stopped the game from being a total rout as Germany’s defenders put in a horrible performance. Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Sports/Football/2012/Jun-29/178663-super-mario-downs-inept-germany-sends-italy-to-final.ashx#ixzz1z99bh7hi (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

The Whole World Will Revolve Around The Tiny Island Of Cyprus Wolf Richter, Testosterone Pit Jun. 28, 2012, 8:41 AM Finland doesn’t get the white-hot attention Germany does, but it should because it could be the driving force behind a breakup of the Eurozone. And it fired another shot: it demanded collateral for its share of the billions of euros that Cyprus would receive from the bailout Troika. Cyprus is the fifth of 17 Eurozone countries to ask for a bailout. It’s panic time. The first tranche, €1.8 billion, is needed by June 30 to prop up its second largest...

Europe's leaders convening in Brussels on Thursday for an European Union summit are under intense pressure to come up with a new plan to save the euro, but they seem as divided as ever. Chancellor Angela Merkel used uncommonly stark language on Tuesday when she rejected the idea for common euro bonds by saying Europe would not share total debt liability "as long as I live." But German media commentators have drawn some comfort from a blueprint for a radical revamp of the eurozone's architecture presented this week by the "gang of four" European presidents: European Council President Herman Van...

To go by the pronouncements coming out of Germany over the last couple of weeks, you might naturally conclude that the euro is toast. Speaking before Parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel broadly rejected “counterproductive” proposals to pool Europe’s resources to help floundering Mediterranean nations. Germany’s “strength is not infinite,” she stressed.

Egan-Jones Ratings Co. downgraded Germany's rating one notch Tuesday to single-A-plus. Regardless of whether Greece or other members of the 17-nation common currency bloc leave the euro zone, Germany will be left with "massive, additional, uncollectible receivables," Egan-Jones said in downgrading the country. The ratings company estimates that Germany is owed EUR700 billion, of which only about 50% is collectable. That figure doesn't include the exposure of Germany's banks to troubled countries in the euro zone. Egan-Jones's rating of Germany is four notches lower than the big three ratings firms', Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, view...

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...

Germany's finance minister is rejecting U.S. President Barack Obama's calls on Europe to move faster in fighting its debt crisis, telling him to get the American deficit under control instead. 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."

Commentary: Low-grade wrangling could stretch for yearsLONDON (MarketWatch) — Somehow, for Germany, the fun has gone out of monetary union. Even after the crushing 4-2 soccer victory over Greece, it looks likely to stay that way. The rhetoric has changed altogether. It used to be a trial of strength and a fight for virtue. Now it’s simply a trial and a fight. Angela Merkel used to say she’ll do what it takes to rescue the euro. Now she rolls her eyes and says foreigners shouldn’t overestimate Germany’s financial capacity. Wolfgang Schäuble, her finance minister, called in the German banks two...

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday that the euro will only survive if Germany underwrites the debts of the eurozone's financially struggling members. He told BBC television that safeguarding the euro would need Berlin to "treat the debts of one as the debts of all," and debt-wracked nations to carry out reforms which would help restore Europe to competitiveness. "The only thing that will save the single currency now is in a sense a sort of grand plan in which Germany is prepared to commit its economy fully to the single currency," said Blair, who...

As Spanish protesters continue to rally outside the headquarters of financial institution Bankia in Madrid, a proactive group within the movement have taken their point further and filed an official criminal complaint against the former management of the bank [1]. Like many other nations around the world the Spanish people face crippling austerity due to the bailing out of the corrupt global financial system, which collectively crashed the world’s economy due to reckless lending and fraudulent investments. Bankia, which was bailed out and partially nationalised like Britain’s RBS, was a causative factor in Spain’s spiraling debt crisis, and in order...

The European Central Bank is discussing a medium-term plan to scrap rating rules on euro zone sovereign bonds and instead set their value when used as collateral in lending operations on its own internal assessment, central bank sources said. With the ECB not yet ready to take over the technical but highly political responsibility for rating sovereigns, the bank's policymakers will also discuss more immediate ways to help Spain and its banks at their meeting on Thursday, such as further widening the types of collateral Spanish banks can use. The discussion come as Spain braces for a downgrade from small...

We spent most of yesterday on a beach in Devon — the family and me, that is. The sun was shining, the sand golden; gentle surf washed the shore against a backdrop of soft woods and green fields rising from the shore. I mention these holiday scenic details only to make the point that our world yesterday — and yours, too, I expect — looked pretty much the way it did the day before and, for that matter, in years gone by. Because this is so, because no bombs are dropping, nor Viking hordes sacking villages nor dinosaurs roaming city...

Europe's leaders have vowed to mobilise all possible means to counter the region's escalating crisis after Spain's borrowing costs threatened to spiral out of control. Yields on 10-year Spanish bonds surged to a record high of almost 7.3pc as investors ignored the victory of pro-bailout parties in Greece's elections. The closely-watched two-year yield rocketed by 65 basis points in a matter of hours, signalling a near-total collapse of confidence in Spain's €100bn (£80.3bn) rescue from the EU last week to shore up its banking system. Cristobal Montoro, the economy minister, warned that Spain is now in a "critical" condition and...

NEW YORK--U.S. stock futures fell Monday, erasing earlier gains, as initial relief over the pro-austerity party's narrow victory in Greece's elections gave way to increasing worries about Spain. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 52 points, or 0.4%, to 12658, erasing earlier gains of as much as 92 points. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index futures lost 5 points, or 0.4%, to 1332 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2561. Changes in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell. On the economic calendar, the housing market index for June is due out...

The exact circumstances and timing of Greece’s ejection from monetary union no longer have any systemic importance for global finance. The damage has already been done. The precedent of EMU break-up is by now priced into the credit markets. Formalising it changes little. Central banks across the world are standing ready to shower markets with emergency liquidity. A dust-up in Athens is the excuse they need to launch a fresh blitz of stimulus as the global economy flirts with recession once again. Fed chair Ben Bernanke requires a crisis somewhere to outflank his own hawks and slip another round of...