And we’re going to invite Joseph in to f**k up our situation, excuse my choice of terminology
If we want to be like Spain, we know exactly who to vote for. And it’s not the one wearing the tinfoil.
The BBC reports today:
SPAIN UNEMPLOYMENT HITS NEW HIGH
Some 5.7 million Spaniards, equivalent to almost one in four, are now seeking work, according to official figures.
The country’s unemployment rate rose to 24.6% during the April to June quarter, up from 24.4% during the previous quarter.
That’s the highest level since 1976, soon after the death of the right-wing dictator Francisco Franco, and before the country returned to democracy.
Separately, Spain’s third largest bank reported an 80% fall in net profits.
CaixaBank said net profits fell to 166m euros ($203m; £129m) during the January to June period.
CaixaBank also set aside 2.7bn euros against its property assets, in accordance with reform requirements stipulated by the government in May.
On Thursday, Spain’s biggest bank, Santander, reported that its profits halved during the period.
“Things are only going to get worse,” said Capital Economics’ Ben May.
“With the economy unlikely to expand any time soon, and the dire position the economy is in, Spain is probably more likely to fall deeper into recession.”
Earlier in the week, Spain’s borrowing costs jumped above 7% on worries that the debt problems being faced by several of the country’s regional governments would push Spain towards seeking a full bailout. Bond costs above 7% are generally considered to be unsustainable in the long run.
However, on Thursday, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said the bank would do “whatever it takes” to preserve the single currency.
Spanish bond yields fell back to 6.85% following Mr Draghi’s comments, amidst expectations that the ECB might soon intervene in the market, for instance by buying bonds.
Later on Friday, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss ways to quickly implement a plan to shore up the euro, agreed at the European Union Summit last month, a French source told Reuters.
A report in the French newspaper Le Monde also said that eurozone governments and the ECB were preparing to take action to cut borrowing costs for Spain and Italy.
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There’s too big a gap between the politicians and the economists.
Unless the EU stops chasing fairy-tale ideologies and sticks to purely economic rules, it will end up like the Soviet Union.
Nice tin-foil advert there. Looks like she is ready for the oven: Michelle al cartoccio.
At the risk of sounding like Conspiracy Kev, but this crisis is all a big con act.
The Euro crisis could be resolved over a lunch-break if there was true volition to do so. Germany is artificially prolonging this crisis to its advantage. And who wouldn’t if:
1. You could borrow money for free (investors subscribing to German bonds actually lose money, or to rephrase it:- Germany charges its creditors a premium for the privilege of borrowing money from them!)
2. That same money is lent at 7-14% interest rate per annum
So, it’s in Germany’s interest to preserve the status quo and keep milking the cow dry.
The Euro is doomed, Jack, an ‘experiment’ that has gone badly wrong. Fiscal union? Impossible.
No sovereign state will relinquish its taxation policy and independence to Brussels.
Of course, the Germans are in an advantageous position and will milk it. Who wouldn’t?
However, they know that the inevitable return to the Deutschmark will greatly appreciate their new (old) currency and are preparing for it as I type.
Greece will be the first to exit. (Grexit) Then the fun begins.
Actually I have a plan to resolve the crisis in four minutes flat.
Kev, I guess the chickens have come home to roost.
Then it must be a cunning plan. Please, do tell.
On your mark, ‘t set, go!
00:00 – The ECB issues a press statement saying: ‘We will maintain a 0% reference rate at least until 2016, in order to save (what remains of) Spanish and Greek civilisation. This decision is irreversible.”
00:01 to 00:59 – Weakening of the euro, and immediate lowering of PIGS’s long term interest rates. A simple move which costs nothing but which reverses the stupid “never pre-commit” doctrine of the ECB, and puts it in line with modern economic thought.
01:00 – The ECB issues a press statement hinting at the possibility of negative interest rates on deposits or adjustment of interest rates to further weaken the euro.
01:01 to 01:59 – All markets takes stock of this, knowing that the ECB has its finger on the PRINT button, which they don’t.
02:00 – The ECB issues a press statement saying: “We will buy 2000 billion euros’ worth of public and private debt securities in the next 12 months, and we will start again if necessary every six months until spreads reach normal levels and until monetary aggregates get back to normal.
02:01 to 02:59 – Banks react, the financial equations for the PIGS and their consorts start looking normal again, and investors start to buy eurozone assets. The monetary part of the crisis is solved. We are left with the structural part.
03:00 – Mario Draghi calls a press conference in which he announces the nominal GDP as a new target for the ECB’s M3 reference rate.
03:01 – 04:00 – Everyone gets the message and the deflationary cycle is halted.
04:01 – Our finances are now in order, and we can start tackling all the stuff that’s been forgotten these four years: demographics, ecology, the human environment, science and health and all the rest of it.
Banks in Malta make millions in profit and each stock issue (and this week shares) are oversubscribed.
And the fools want a change and risk (not a probability but an assurance) losing everything by electing Hamburger Joe with his Tinfoil Consort.
Spanja l-qaghad jisplodi u f’Malta kollha krizijiet ir-rata tibqa’ fl-istess livell ta’ kwazi 7%.
U minfuq, tal-lejber permezz ta’ Anglu ta’ l-Iljunfant, biex jaghtu stampa qarrieqa tas-sitwazzjoni, qed jghoddu l-postijiet godda ta’ xoghol mahluqa mil-PN u minnhom inaqqsu n-numru ta’ impiegi li ntilfu.
Bhalli kieku l-impieg gdid ta’ dawk li tilfu l-impieg li kellhom waqa’ mis-smewwiet! U mbaghad nitkazaw li ma Joseph ma jafx x’inhu hedge fund meta lanqas biss jafu jaghmlu somom semplici fl-artimetika?
One must not forget that Zappatero was hailed by Muscat as a beacon of modern progressive leadership.
He does have a knack at following the wrong reference points!
That was right before he upheld Iceland as a model for economic development. Some people never back the right horse.
The ‘man’ with two years experience Crystal Finance” cannot suggest anything to our friends the Spaniards?