S&P downgrades Spain. Obama is said to be concerned about the European situation and the media are trumpeting how ‘we’ have already made a profit on our bail out of the banks. These things are related. Spain is downgraded. Why? Spain has less debt than Greece and more earning power than Portugal. But it has …
I know Greece is the main story today. But for that reason it is being covered by all the main outlets. What can I add? I don’t have their contacts or man power. So I think I can best help by looking ahead a little. While Greece and Germany are locked together in an unhappy …
So Greek sovereign debt is now junk. Which means they not only can’t borrow on the markets, but also can’t now borrow from the ECB. EBC won’t accept junk bonds. So with the Greek National bank unable to borrow, Greece’s banking and financial sector is also unable to borrow. Which is at least part of …
Despite all the assurances from the IMF and the EU that ‘Everything is fine, Greece is going to be bailed-out, reprimanded, forced to make cuts that would make your gonads shrivel and made to write out 64 Billion times, ‘I shall not lie about my debt”, despite all that, today the yield (the interest rate …
Sometimes its good to think back to the way we were. Just to see how far we’ve come. Let’s go back to March 08. Seems like another era – because it was. Back then Trichet, head of the ECB said, the ECB did not approve of the FED’s policy of accepting rather dubious mortgage backed …
So far the Greek melodrama is playing out almost exactly to script. And all the players are playing their stereotypes to a tee. The latest this morning is that there is no deal until Greece spells out details of its austerity cuts not only for this year but next as well. Why spell it out? …
Here’s a question for you. How do toxic assets keep making money? Another way of asking the same thing is why do banks want to keep some toxic assets on their books rather than get rid of them? Now first-off, some assets are so toxic the banks have written them off (though sadly very few) …
So now we wait of the dust to settle as the IMF inquisitors prepare their salvation and the EU prepares to learn how its done. One thing to bear in mind. The banks that would loose many tens of billions if Greece defaulted on its debts are French (€75B), German (€45B) and Swiss banks. Germany …
France and Germany are forced to help. But help who? Read More »
Researchers in Japan have recently revealed something unpleasant. Something the previous Japanese government had kept purposefully hidden. Something our western governments might also wish had stayed secret. What the previous government knew but never published, is that Japan’s POVERTY rate has DOUBLED since the nation’s real estate and stock markets collapsed in the early 1990s. …
I GOT THIS ONE (Could Greece have stepped on a trip wire today. Titlos again.) WRONG! The down grade on that day was, I now realise, to National Bank of Greece’s debt, the country’s biggest private bank and most of its other big banks as well. I’m afraid I read National Bank of Greece and …
A correction to an earlier post I got wrong. Very Sorry!! Read More »
