All Posts Tagged With: "European Union"

Europe is begging for money but claiming it has plenty. Meanwhile, ordinary Europeans are voting with their feet and taking their money out of banks and up north, while they still can. An economic system based on command and coercion is collapsing. And meanwhile, stock markets and investors trundle along in an information-soaked stupor.

Here’s our old friend Frank Giustra, writing in the Vancouver Sun about the savings destruction of US and Europe

“Hooray” for democracy.

From out of the blue, Greek president George Papandreou has called a referendum on the Greek debt situation and whether Greece should accept the terms of the financial and political surrender imposed on it by the “Troika” of interventionists from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU), and the European Central Bank (ECB).

Any real recovery would be accompanied by interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. Instead, the Fed stuck to its guns and butter interest rate. Dan Denning is another step closer to his free beer bet coming off.

The bigger story is that Greece hasn’t been abandoned by the rest of Europe…yet. Europe could probably leave Greece behind and preserve the integrity (such as it is) of the euro as a sound currency. But 50 years of harping on about social justice and economic harmony and humane capitalism is going to make it hard for policymakers to leave Greece to its own devices.

Yesterday’s market action was a big fat nothing burger. There was at least one item of black humour. Today’s Age reports, that, “Debt recovery specialist Collection House was at its best share price levels since 2007 after managing director Tony Aveling produced unaudited profit guidance figures suggesting its after-tax performance will be about 55 per cent better.”

First, as you know, this is a depression. It will probably be long. And deep. You wouldn’t know it from looking at the stock market or reading the news. The Dow went up another 114 points yesterday. Oil rose to $71. And the dollar – anticipating inflation – fell to $1.44 per euro.