FX - EuroTrash

[zdo 20]

Can Germany afford to have their strong currency back?

 

That’s really not much of an issue anymore. Germ, Inc. has long since joined the ‘race to the bottom’

The U.S. banking system is leveraged 13 to 1.

…

The German banking system is leveraged 32 to 1.

from

The Financial Crisis Of 2008 Was Just A Warm Up Act For The Economic Horror Show That Is Coming - BlackListedNews.com

[zdo 20]

A Few Quick Reminders Why NOTHING Has Been Fixed In Europe (And Why LTRO 3 Is Not Coming) | ZeroHedge

[zdo 20]

HammerSlammer version of post #1

 

European Crisis Explanation... For Dummies From Greeks | ZeroHedge

[zdo 20]

All is well...

 

Germany: The Final Frontier... Whose True Debt/GDP Is Now 140% | ZeroHedge

[zdo 20]

…Thank the Lord nothing like this is happening here or in the ‘far east’

 

As The ECB Crosses The Inflationary Rubicon Has Mario Draghi Lost All Control? | ZeroHedge

[Obsidian 10]

Pensioner's Death Sparks Clashes in Athens

 

Violent protests have erupted in Athens following the public suicide of a 77-year-old retired man. A note he left behind accused the Greek government of impoverishing him with its debt crisis austerity measures, a message that resonated with demonstrators. Many are blaming the state for his death.

 

The public suicide of an indebted pensioner in Athens on Wednesday has touched a nerve in the Greek capital, sparking violent clashes with police.

 

The 77-year-old retired pharmacist shot himself in the head during the morning rush-hour near the central Syntagma Square, police said on Wednesday. In a note found in his clothing, the man reportedly blamed the debt crisis and austerity measures for his suicide. After paying into his pension for 35 years, the government had rendered it too small to survive, he said in the message, published by local media. "I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food," it read.

 

The square where the incident occurred, just opposite the parliament building, has already been the site of frequent protests during Greece's debt crisis, and people gathered once again on Wednesday to mourn the unnamed pensioner's death. The death is the latest in a growing number of suicides in Greece, a country grappling with dramatic financial troubles that have led to high unemployment, lower wages and shrinking pension payments.

 

Some people posted notes to the tree under which he died, with messages like, "It was a murder, not a suicide," and "Austerity kills." Meanwhile, hundreds of others marched toward parliament chanting similar slogans.

 

'Difficult Hours'

 

"This suicide is political in nature and heavy in symbolism," Vassilis Papadopoulos, protest organizer and spokesman for the "I won't pay" group told the Associated Press. "It's not like a suicide at home."

 

The man's suicide quickly became a political issue in the country, with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos issuing a statement as protesters gathered. "It is tragic for one of our fellow citizens to end his life," he said. "In these difficult hours for our society we must all -- the state and the citizens -- support the people among us who are desperate."

 

An estimated 1,500 people attended the anti-austerity protests, and by nightfall they turned violent. Young people reportedly threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at riot police, who fired tear gas and flash grenades in response. No injuries were reported.

 

No relief is in sight for Greece, despite international financial aid. By the end of 2012, the country's economy is expected to contract by 4.5 percent and remain in a recession until the following year, according to the Bank of Greece's annual report, released last month. The country's economy already took a 7 percent hit in 2011.

[zdo 20]

After paying into his pension for 35 years, the government had rendered it too small to survive ,

 

Again, thank the gods it’s only happening there

Union Pension Underfunding Time-Bomb Soars By 75% In One Year, Nears $400 Billion | ZeroHedge

 

…

 

 

Revisited: Three Data Points That Prove Europe Cannot Be Saved | ZeroHedge

 

…One more time, thank the gods it’s only happening there

 

charles hugh smith-Ten Minutes After the <I>Titanic</I> Struck the Iceberg

 

 

 

 

EURJPY

you go girl !!!

[zdo 20]

I can't find the Japan Is Going to be Next thread. What happened to it ???

 

so…re: the aforementioned EURJPY ... and one for the ‘who cares?’ file…

...what a great currency (it used to be)

Fukushima Daiichi Site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl Accident » Akio Matsumura

[zdo 20]

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. “

 

-Voltaire

 

:helloooo:

 

Mark Grant: "I Do Not Believe, Any Longer, That The Catastrophe Can Be Avoided" | ZeroHedge

 

Double posted in Earth is Going to be Next thread - not... BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

[zdo 20]

This –

The Day Austerity Died | ZeroHedge

 

and

 

This –

Merkel

 

both written by someone who doesn’t quite understand

 

This -

charles hugh smith-What Happens When All the Money Vanishes Into Thin Air?

 

 

Makes you wonder how much is written by those who don't quite understand

 

This -

charles hugh smith-What Happens When All the Money Vanishes Into Thin Air?

[Obsidian 10]

Greek Parties Have Little Chance of Forming Government

 

There seems to be little chance of Greece's political parties being able to form a viable coalition government after voters punished the two main parties in Sunday's election. It's a worst case scenario for the country's European partners, whose whole approach to fighting the Greek debt crisis is now in question.

 

Now the worst case scenario has arrived: Greece threatens to become ungovernable. The situation after Sunday's election in Greece looks hopeless. No matter which coalition of parties one calculates, whether big or small, left or right wing, it is impossible to come up with a viable majority government.

 

The Greeks have once again defied their international partners. They have not been cowed by threats, advice or even the prospect of their own bankruptcy. It's unclear where this new twist in the endless Greek drama will take the country. For Greek voters, the priority was to punish those people who, in the eyes of most Greeks, are mainly to blame for the country's misery: the politicians.

 

They are supposedly responsible for the steadily shrinking economy and the ever-increasing unemployment. They are blamed for declining salaries, pension cuts and the rapidly deteriorating standard of living. They are to blame for the fact that proud Greece is no longer viewed as an enviably beautiful island nation, but as a symbol of the European debt crisis. But it is highly debatable whether the rage that has now been vented will have a liberating effect in the long term.

 

Devastating Result

 

The first lesson that Greek voters wanted to teach the political establishment was that pride comes before a fall. For the two major traditional parties, the conservative New Democracy (ND) and the socialist PASOK, that fall has been very steep. The Socialists saw their vote collapse by about 30 percentage points compared to the last elections in 2009. Rarely has a European party seen such a drop in support.

 

But there was plenty of hubris on the European level too. Athens received warnings and threats from all sides. But nobody really expected voters to deliver a result that is so devastating for the EU's approach to fighting the Greek crisis.

 

Just four weeks ago, a high-level envoy from the European Commission was still "firmly convinced" that one party would get an absolute majority or that there could be a coalition between the two main parties which signed the credit agreements with the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But now, the Socialists and New Democracy could not form a coalition even if they wanted to -- they only have 149 seats between them, out of 300 in the Greek parliament.

 

And so the vicious circle of the Greek crisis has been set in motion once again.

 

Warnings and Threats

 

The IMF is already threatening not to pay out the next tranche of aid, which is due in late May. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already said, via her spokesman, that the current austerity-based approach is the only solution and has to be maintained. And the European Commission has already warned that solidarity is based on reciprocity and emphasized that agreements which have already been made cannot be terminated now. Will it go on like this forever, with the donors issuing warnings and threats and the Greeks being defiant?

 

The current situation is simple. There is no longer any support for the existing EU-IMF strategy -- not among the population and now, clearly, no longer among the political parties either. The only two small parties that could have been junior partners in a pro-austerity coalition failed to get any seats in parliament, having fallen short of the 3 percent threshold. The other party leaders are all rejecting overtures from the Socialists and New Democracy -- whether left or right, they are all against the terms of the country's bailout.

 

Panos Kammenos, head of the Independent Greeks party and a former New Democracy minister, said he would not even form a coalition with the conservatives if he was dead. Kammenos' recently founded party won 33 seats. Fotis Kouvelis, head of the moderate Democratic Left, also rejects a coalition, saying: "We will not follow a policy which leads to the impoverishment of our people and our society." His party came from nowhere to win 19 seats.

 

Antonis Samaras, who as head of the largest parliamentary group was tasked with building a coalition, gave up trying to form a government on Monday, less than 24 hours after the election. His appeals for parties to form a "government of national unity" went unheeded.

 

Unlikely Feat

 

Now it's the turn of the election's big winner, Alexis Tsipras, the head of Syriza, the "Coalition of the Radical Left," to try to form a government. If he manages the unlikely feat of building a coalition, then the representatives of the troika of the IMF, European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) may as well pack up and leave Athens. Alternatively, the creditors may agree to renegotiate the loan agreement, and both sides would try to find a sustainable solution that would work under the new political constellation. But that seems unlikely, given the two sides' track record of threats and protests.

 

A new government needs to be formed by May 17. The troika has already announced a visit scheduled for May 19 to inspect the progress of the reforms it has demanded.

 

But a third date could prove more significant: June 17. That is when new elections will be held, if the parties fail to form a government.

[Mysticforex 13]

€430M of bonds are due to be refinanced on May 15th.

 

Also, in Ireland where betting is legal, A surge in bets has forced bookmaker Ladbrokes to suspend betting after repeatedly slashing the odds on Greece dropping out of the euro zone by year end."

[Mysticforex 13]

The general consensus in the market is that Greece will default this year. The only question now is whether or not it will be an orderly default, or if the shit will hit the fan and send the markets into a tailspin increasing the risk of contagion to Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

 

A man is falling off a cliff and fast approaching jagged rocks 500 feet below. During his fall, in essence he is a dead man. However, technically, he is still alive.

[Obsidian 10]

...A man is falling off a cliff and fast approaching jagged rocks 500 feet below. During his fall, in essence he is a dead man. However, technically, he is still alive.

 

hmm would I lend more money to someone because he is technically alive? have to think about it

[SIUYA 10]

hmm would I lend more money to someone because he is technically alive? have to think about it

 

Just kick the can you have been kicking down the road off the cliff after him.

[Mysticforex 13]

hmm would I lend more money to someone because he is technically alive? have to think about it

 

 

Well, it looked good on paper.

[Obsidian 10]

Just kick the can you have been kicking down the road off the cliff after him.

 

sounds fine, just a can after all

 

Well, it looked good on paper.

 

guess that is creditors' problem.

 

they say if you owe $50000 to a bank, you have a big problem...if you owe $5000000 to a bank, then that bank has a big problem :rofl:

[zdo 20]

...

 

This is the Kobayashi Maru scenario on a national scale, and there is no exit if you stay within the rules of the game: euro or drachma, etc.

 

Here's my "crazy idea that's so crazy it might just work": Greece should switch to the U.S. dollar as its currency while renouncing all debt denominated in euros. I don't mean a "haircut," I mean billiard-ball bald: 100% of all debt denominated in euros would be renounced. Not one euro will be repaid.

 

...

 

[as] The world's favorite black market currency is of course the U.S. dollar.

 

 

 

charles hugh smith-A Crazy Idea That Might Just Work: Greece's New Currency, the U.S. Dollar

[SIUYA 10]

not being a trekky and not knowing the Kobayashi Maru problem i had to look it up.

 

Kirk says that the exercise is a true "no-win scenario," because there is no correct resolution; it is a test of character.

 

Isn't it already called Wall street and lobbyists v customers.

[Obsidian 10]

If I remember correct Kirk was able to beat that simulation (by cheating)

was it wrath of khan?

 

in Greece case, Germany allowed them to cheat on balance sheets once (to enter the EU)...I don't think they can't cheat 2nd time :rofl:

[Mysticforex 13]

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[zdo 20]

Everything You Need To Know About Europe's Dilemma In 4 Minutes | ZeroHedge

 

Actually the ‘’political’ aspects of this “dilemma” exist and will manifest more and more all over the world...

 

MoGuvmnt

VerSus

(what could be called )’Peak’Guvmnt - > LessGuvmnt

 

see charles hugh smith-We Have Reached Peak Government

 

 

What does MoGuvmnt ultimately look like to you?

Have we really swung anywhere near its extremes yet?

[zdo 20]

it does say "Forum dedicated to fundamental outlook, intermarket analysis, and marco & micro analysis."

 

but... where does this end and not just another release begin ?

 

 

20 Global Implications Of French Presidential Election | Daniel Amerman | Safehaven.com

 

...

[Mysticforex 13]

 

What does MoGuvmnt ultimately look like to you?

 

 

A Gubmnt that feels it has to protect me from myself.

[Obsidian 10]

this week's theme is "buy eur...it could have been worse...and dont worry Germany can bail everyone out!" :rofl: