Just like when we have bad housing data or jobs numbers over here and it’s always called ‘worse than expected’, we have the same situation with the PIGS – well at least the PIG – across the pond, according to Forbes.
The European Union says the debt loads of Greece, Ireland and Portugal will be much bigger than previously forecast, adding to fears that international bailouts are failing to solve the region’s crisis.
Note the wording used. It’s as though the bailouts were supposed to solve the crisis without Greece having to do anything other than take the money. As an aside, it strikes me the same as so many liberal causes over here – public schools, Head Start, etc. – where reform is unheard of even as more and more money is demanded.
It sounds like it’s time for another round of promised austerity announcements, followed by riots and fire-bombings, followed by more good money flushed down the the toilet after bad, followed by more ‘surprisingly bad’ news, ….
A European Central Bank official said Greece hasn’t done enough to meet the terms of its bailout agreement, a warning of as European leaders consider whether to give the stricken country more help.
The gist of the rest of the story is that Greece made some small moves, but hasn’t really bit the bullet like it needs to. Of course that won’t stop them from demanding even more handouts from Germany et al.
Neil Stevens
Moe Lane
Caleb Howe
Erick Erickson
Dan McLaughlin
Dan Spencer
Greece is too much in debt, no way they can pay it all
cordpt Friday, May 13th at 10:52AM EDT (link)This isn’t really about Greece.
It’s about German politicians using the money from German taxpayers to help German banks to survive (to a smaller extent, replace German with French, Dutch, etc).
A default/haircut is inevitable. No country has ever been able to pay a public debt above 100% of the GDP (like the ones Greece/Ireland/Portugal face) without a restructuring / haircut / default. Central/northern countries politicians are just buying their bankers and special interest groups some time.
Btw, here’s a great article authored by the leader of the True Finn Party:
When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the bailouts of euro-zone member states. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. Unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body.
To understand the real nature and purpose of the bailouts, we first have to understand who really benefits from them.
At the risk of being accused of populism, we’ll begin with the obvious: It is not the little guy who benefits. He is being milked and lied to in order to keep the insolvent system running. He is paid less and taxed more to provide the money needed to keep this Ponzi scheme going. Meanwhile, a symbiosis has developed between politicians and banks: Our political leaders borrow ever more money to pay off the banks, which return the favor by lending ever more money back to our governments.
In a true market economy, bad choices get penalized. Instead of accepting losses on unsound investments—which would have led to the probable collapse of some banks—it was decided to transfer the losses to taxpayers via loans, guarantees and opaque constructs such as the European Financial Stability Fund.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576310851503980120.html?mod=WSJEurope_hpp_LEFTTopStories