The new Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, until recently a professor of economics at the University of Athens, hasn’t learned yet the art of extortion that is required to accomplish anything at all during bailout negotiations. And so, at the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers earlier this week, he accomplished absolutely nothing. He wasn’t even able, unlike his predecessors, to get himself into the media with some wild threat about a “disorderly default” or destroying the entire Eurozone.
HumanERROR: By FRYING DUTCHMAN
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on HumanERROR: By FRYING DUTCHMAN
An awesome, powerful, lyrical appeal (with superb English subtitles) by the Japanese band FRYING DUTCHMAN (a play on the Japanese habit of interchanging Ls and Rs) to the people of Japan to open their eyes and minds: It slams the nuclear industry, the mainstream media, government bureaucrats, and politicians of all stripes. For my…
Fastest Drive Through San Francisco Ever
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fastest Drive Through San Francisco Ever
Two Down-Under Comedians Explain QE
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Two Down-Under Comedians Explain QE
Clark & Dawe: The European Debt Crisis
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Clark & Dawe: The European Debt Crisis
Will the Euro Survive This Year?
by Wolf Richter • • 4 Comments
The European Stability Mechanism and the fiscal union pact are the two ploys that were supposed to fix the Eurozone debt crisis and save the euro. They were put together in all haste after hectic summits with dog and pony shows designed to soothe edgy markets. Negotiations involved mud-wrestling and extortion. It’s been one heck of a ride. But now they’re in the hands of the German Constitutional Court – and there are no good options.
The German Constitutional Court Rules Against Euro Hysteria
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The German Constitutional Court Rules Against Euro Hysteria
Chancellor Angela Merkel did the right thing. She left Germany. And Germany is in turmoil. The bailout policies she and her government had pushed through and that parliament had passed just after the EU summit ran into discord, accusations, and threats. Everybody was applying pressure. And the Federal Constitutional Court will now have to decide—and it already made its first decision.
France, Germany, And The Reintroduction of the D-Mark
by Wolf Richter • • 5 Comments
Germany and France exist in two different universes, apparently: France, safely ensconced in a Eurozone without bailouts and with nary a debt crisis on the horizon, debates its economic and social model. Germany sees a Eurozone ravaged by a debt crisis with mind-boggling bailout costs and risks that stir up a furor on all sides, and everything is getting questioned, even the euro itself.
The Fine Wine Bubble Blows Up
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Fine Wine Bubble Blows Up
I love wine, but I’m leaning towards Californian wines; they’re awesome and grow in my extended neighborhood. More precisely, I love drinking wine, not keeping it locked up in a refrigerated vault, and certainly not investing in it. Hence, I have little sympathy for those who were buying high-dollar French wines for the purpose of investing in them, instead of drinking them, and I certainly don’t feel sorry for them in their plight. But a plight it is.
The Euro Crash Refuses To Go On Vacation
by Wolf Richter • • 1 Comment
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen set the scene for the long European summer break when she declared that Finland was a dedicated member of the Eurozone, eager to solve the crisis, but “not at any price”; it wouldn’t agree to take on “collective responsibility for debts and risks of other countries” via a banking union. And if push came to shove: “We are prepared for all scenarios, including abandoning the Euro.”