Roubini: “In A Few Days Time, There Might Not Be A Eurozone For Us To Discuss”

Via Business Insider – Reuters blogger – Felix Salmon writes up a Nouriel Roubini panel on “The Eurozone: Still One for All and All for One?” Nouriel, of course, takes that kind of thinking to its logical conclusion, and kicked off the panel by announcing that it was just in time: “in a few days,” he said, “there might not be a eurozone for us to discuss.” There’s no way that Greece can implement the 10% spending cut it needs …

Read more…

Greece hammered by the markets

Constantin Gurdgiev interprets the 2 year Greek bond yields – This is it, folks. No where else to run. Greek interest on public debt would swallow over 19 percent of their GDP annually! Ouch! FWIW, that is almost half what a normal country would take in tax revenues, being used to meet unproductive interest payments.. In The Telegraph Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues that the ECB will have to intervene soon and begin purchasing sovereign government debt. The European Central Bank may …

Read more…

Galbraith and Schiff go head to head

Interesting head-to-head, reprising John Maynard Keynes and Fredrick Hayek, between James Galbraith and Peter Schiff on CNBC – Galbraith and Schiff seem to regard the straight-jack of the Euro as equivalent to the old gold standard, typically Galbraith views this as something akin to Keynes’ barbourous relic. Greece’s inability to print money is a problem, while Schiff sees this as essentially a good thing that forces countries and citizens to live within their means. What’s most interesting however, is that …

Read more…

German anger at paying for luxury Greek pensions

Bild on the Greek bailout – It is only a matter of days until Germany starts handing out billions in aid to the Greeks, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. But for some experts, Greece is just a bottomless pit. And now anger is increasing in Germany, with many asking why they should pay for things like the luxury Greek pension system. They highlight superior Greek pensions, that German workers will now be paying for – The fact is that in …

Read more…

Ireland 1 – Formerly mighty Blighty 0

Hot on the heals of a Henry McDonald article proclaiming the south to be a country on the edge of bankruptcy and a people seething with anger over the greed and profligacy of the nation’s political and financial elite. Marc Coleman dons the cudgels for Ireland and counters that Ireland is on a path to real recovery, while the timing of the British election has meant that the UK economy has become a fools paradise with hard decisions delayed. Whether …

Read more…

Then and now – Ireland & The Argentine Economic Crisis

Argentina entered recession in 1999 and defaulted on it’s public debt in 2001. According to Wikipedia In the meantime, government spending continued to be high and corruption was rampant. Argentina’s public debt grew enormously during the 1990s, and the country showed no true signs of being able to pay it . Enormously eh? It hit the heady heights of.. Ratio of debt to GDP grows to 41% in 1998, then 47% in 1999. Ratio of debt to GDP grows to …

Read more…

Greece activates EU-IMF bailout

The Greeks have called in the IMF. RTE report that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has asked for the activation of an aid package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund aimed at pulling the eurozone member out of a debt crisis.

Irish 2009 budget deficit goes upwards to 14.3% (past Greece)!

Ireland surges past Greece into first place for 2009 European fiscal deficits. Per the Eurostat report In 2009 the largest government deficits in percentage of GDP were recorded by Ireland (-14.3%), Greece (-13.6%) the United Kingdom (-11.5%), Spain (-11.2%), Portugal (-9.4%), Latvia (-9.0%), Lithuania (-8.9%), Romania (-8.3%), France (-7.5%) and Poland (-7.1%). No Member State registered a government surplus in 2009. The lowest deficits were recorded by Sweden (-0.5%), Luxembourg (-0.7%) and Estonia (-1.7%). In all, 25 Member States recorded …

Read more…

What’s wrong with this picture?

Sky News – General Election Polling. Shamelessly, borrowed from politics.ie Update: Check out today’s press MackNo bio, some books worth reading – The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves – Matt Ridley . Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance -Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Mihm

Recessions – good for your health?

A couple of weeks back, writing in the Sindo, Gene Kerrigan made the not unreasonable assertion that severe recessions cause unnecessary deaths. We saw all this before. During the Eighties, savage cuts inflicted lasting pain and cost lives — someone had to pay for the crisis. Meanwhile, known to the establishment — who were up to their necks in it — the fortunes of the elite were safeguarded using massive tax frauds. An article in yesterdays Guardian refutes this – …

Read more…

Roubini sceptical on Eurozone debt

Known as Doctor Doom because he correctly identified the imbalances that led to the credit crunch, Nouriel Roubini appears to be unimpressed with attempts to solve the emerging sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. Over at RGE monitor he warns – A Modern Greek Tragedy May Soon Turn Into a Broader PIIGS Disaster These issues within the eurozone stem primarily from a loss of competiveness, high wage growth and labor costs which outstripped productivity, undisciplined fiscal policies and, crucially, the …

Read more…

IMF propose new bankers tax

In a new report to the G20, the IMF recommend that two new special taxes should be levied on banks and bankers to meet the cost of any future financial crises. The two taxes target bankers pay and bank profits. Per the Times report The first tax, a Financial Stability Contribution, would be a levy to fund any future government support. The second would be a Financial Activities Tax on the sum of the profits and remuneration of financial institutions. …

Read more…

Down south – They want an election too!

Heyday – 24th of April call for a general election by making noise. Update: Vote for Cahal’s video on Reddit & Digg Heyday The project was organised by Cathal Furey, someone with experience of taking on the ruling classes having previously headbutted Prince William (accidentally while playing water polo!). A family fun protest is planned for 24th of April in Merrion Square, there’ll be a festival or family fun atmosphere on the day. No loud-hailers, no speeches, no placards and …

Read more…

Soros – Institute for New Economic Thinking

Some good content online at George Soros’ Institute for New Economic Thinking, including a decent talk from Joseph Stiglitz (reprising some of the topics covered in Freefall) – beneath the fold (as the Flash player incorporates a vast amount of White Space). There are other videos available here and different materials are available on the speaker’s own pages. Hat tip – Stephen Kinsella MackNo bio, some books worth reading – The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves – Matt Ridley . …

Read more…

Euro breakup – the warning signs

As a group of German University Professors prepare to challenge EU’s Greek bail out in Germany’s notoriously tough constituitional court, Morgan Stanley analyst Joachim Fels warns that Eurozone countries with a preference for price stability, led by Germany, may break away. He posits three signs indicative of a Eurozone break up What are the signposts that would indicate our break-up scenario is in fact unfolding? First, watch fiscal developments in other euro area countries closely: Our suspicion is that the …

Read more…

Irish Techies & Entreprenuers – Dublin Startup Weekend

The Dublin Startup Weekend is a marathon 54 hour networking, brainstorming and development session that seeks to bring together entreprenuers, techies, designers, managers etc. with a goal to kick starting local tech startups. From the blurb – Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects. Friday, May 7th: (Pitch ideas, Form Teams) 5:30pm: Doors open, meet and greet, …

Read more…

The relative scale of the Irish crises

In an excellent blog Ronan Lyons takes Fintan O’Toole to task over his ultra-negative “Bailout has turned us from citizens into serfs” article in the Irish Times. In it, O’Toole reaches new heights of frankly ridiculous hyperbole, with his equation of Irish citizens now to our ancestors who starved to death in their hundreds of thousands in the mid-nineteenth century. Such is the poor standard of opinion writing now that the imagination is limited to attempting to out-do all previous …

Read more…

Sunshine after the rain

The Economic and Social Research Institute have released their quarterly review of the Irish economy for Spring 2010. Some highlights – The contraction in GNP will stop this year with 0% growth overall, although they are predicting a fall in GDP of 0.5% (this contrasts with a rise in GDP of 0.3% in Q3 2009, while GNP fell). In 2011 growth will return to the Irish economy with 2.75% increase in GNP and 2.25% in GDP Ireland emerges from deflation …

Read more…

Irish newspapers to charge for online content

In article entitled End of a free press, the Sunday Business Post report that Ireland’s (south) three main newspaper groups intend to charge for their web content (The Irish Times, Independent Newspapers and Thomas Crosbie Holdings). All three have concerns about RTE, as highlighted in detail in another article – Newspapers set to clash with RTE over web news The issue is to be raised at government level, with newspaper owners saying that RTE should not be allowed to use …

Read more…

Lessons from Ireland

Writing in The Telegraph Liam Halligan argues Ireland offers a road map for UK recovery Ireland’s mature, responsible approach to fiscal consolidation means its bonds are now flavour of the month. That’s an extremely significant prize because, with its sovereign creditors on side, Irish investment and employment will now be more buoyant, growth will recover quicker and Ireland will return to prosperity much sooner than it otherwise would have done. The UK’s weak-willed response to its fiscal crisis means, in …

Read more…