Global Economic Crisis

According to the EU commissioner  from Germany, Gunther Oettinger , Greece will need another financial bailout form the Eurozone-which really means primarily German taxpayers. Not surpassingly, Greek politicians are denying the need for another bailout. This is an old game; the politicos  in the Eurozone, especially from the fiscally vulnerable PIIGS nations, always maintain they do not need a bailout just before they beg for one.

While the official word from Athens and the Eurozone is that things are getting better for the Greek economy and its fiscal balance, the truth is that the unemployment rate is at about 25 percent; the majority of the youth are unemployed, and  Greece still depends on massive loans to survive, rhetoric to the contrary not withstanding.

According to Oettinger, Greece will need in 2014 a bailout of at least 13 billion dollars. Bear in mind that Greece has already received two separate bailouts that exceed $200 billion, along with a write-off of more than $100 billion of its external debt, which is in fact another bailout. Chances are that the figure of $13 billion needed in extra support is a lowball figure. Despite the disappearance of the Eurozone crisis from the headlines in recent months, it remains an acute and dangerous reality, while Greece continues to be ground zero for the European debt crisis.

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WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Streetgo in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

Just when everyone thought the Cypriote banking disaster could not get any worse-how can it get worse when the government is desperate enough to steal bank depositors’ money-it has suddenly become much worse. The President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, is back on his hands and knees, begging the European Union for more help.

It turns out that the original estimate for the cost of bailing out Cyprus and its banks of 17.5 billion euros was way under the mark. In only a couple of weeks, the latest figure on the bailout requirement is now 23 billion euros, or about thirty billion U.S. dollars, a sum exceeding the entire GDP of Cyprus. Having already announced plans to seize a significant portion of bank deposits in excess of 100,000 euros, the desperate Cypriote government is frantically scrambling for resources to pay its share of the ever-growing cost of bailing out the insolvent banks of Cyprus, including selling off the nation’s gold reserves.

Let us recall that the root cause of the banking calamity on Cyprus was the decision by the Eurozone and IMF to force creditors holding Greek sovereign debt to take a haircut- a move that inflicted devastating losses on Cypriote banks. And with the unemployment rate in Greece now exceeding 27 percent, don’t expect the “prescription” emanating from Brussels to be any more benign for the already crippled economy of Cyprus.

In summation, the economic unraveling being imposed on Cyprus is a microcosm for the European monetary union’s disastrous continuity of policy prescriptions that are a train wreck of failures. In response to the Greek debt crisis, the technocrats and politicians in the Eurozone imposed austerity measures on Greece that sent that nation’s economy into a severe depression, while exporting a banking crisis to Cyprus. And now, in response to the banking calamity in Cyprus, the Eurozone policymakers are set to repeat the same formula on that embattled Island.

In the past two years in which the Eurozone has been afflicted with a profound economic and debt crisis, the monetary union’s policymakers have had nothing else to offer except for their own unique version of a circular firing squad, which continues to spread the contagion of economic contraction as a misbegotten cure for all that afflicts the Eurozone. Cyprus is only the latest victim of such ill-conceived  decision making in Brussels, and will certainly not be the last.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Streetgo in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

As the Dow Jones surpasses previous records, in nominal terms, the striking contrast between fantasies on Wall Street, subsidized  by the Federal Reserve, and what is transpiring in the real global economy is best demonstrated by the latest data emerging from Europe. The unemployment disaster in the Eurozone, a by-product of the Eurozone fiscal and debt crisis and austerity-driven policy prescriptions, continues to worsen. The official unemployment rate in the European monetary union countries has now reached 12 percent, a record level.

While discordant and asymmetrical records are being recorded on Wall Street and in Europe, the very fabric of European society is fraying. The 12 percent unemployment figure is, of course, uneven. It is much worse in countries that are most afflicted by the sovereign debt crisis, especially Spain and Greece. But the countries in the core of the Eurozone, in particular Germany, with more robust economies, cannot forever see their job markets immune. They are export dependent, and many of those exports are to countries in the Eurozone with legion of unemployed. Inevitably, export-driven economies in the Eurozone such as Germany will see a day of reckoning within their own job markets, as the economic, fiscal and debt crisis continues to ravage the Eurozone with reckless abandon, most recently witnessed with the banking catastrophe in Cyprus.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Streetgo in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

For those who thought that the Eurozone debt crisis had
simply gone away, they received a rude reminder that this destructive fiscal
disaster is not only still with us, but that its contagion continues to metastasize.
The private banks in Cyprus were among many privately-owned financial institutions
in the Eurozone that lost heavily on their investments in Greek debt-both
public and private. Proportionate to the size of its assets and the GDP of
Cyprus, the banks in that Island nation
were especially exposed to the ravaging collateral affects of the Greek sovereign
debt crisis.

As with other Eurozone economies whose private banks faced
insolvency, the Eurozone rescue specialists in Brussels offered a bailout
package to save the banks, with strings attached. In the specific case of
Cyprus, the terms were especially onerous. The price of a rescue package by the
Eurozone for Cypriote banks was the requirement that the individual depositors in
those banks bear most of the cost of the bailout. All savers with deposits of up
o 100,000 euros would pay a levy of 6.75 percent of the amount they had deposited with the
financial institution-a deposit of over
100,000 euros would be required to sustain a staggering levy of 9.9 percent.

Was it hubris, or simply rank stupidity (or perhaps a
combination of both) that led the politicians in Brussels and Nicosia to
believe that the Cypriote public that was about to be legally robbed, after
being lied to by their own government with sublime assurances that their deposits
were safe, would simply take such an outrageous policy prescription lying down?
When the understandably angry people of Cyprus engaged in mass protests, the
spin that came out of both Brussels and Nicosia simply defied all logic. The political
decision-makers claimed that they thought since half of the depositors of Cypriote
banks are Russian citizens living offshore, they could never imagine the
remaining Cypriote citizens who were about to be fleeced to pay for bad investment
decisions they had nothing to do with would feel so upset.

Now that reality has intervened in the bizarre punitive
bailout scheme hatched by the politicians, there is frantic back-peddling in
Nicosia. When the bank levy came before the Cypriote parliament, not a single
legislator voted in favor of it, for to do so would clearly be political
suicide. The policymakers are now scrambling for a “plan B,” but meanwhile
the damage has been done. The legalized theft of depositors’ assets that politicians in the Eurozone attempted
to enact is a precedent. Despite assurances
from Brussels that this was a one-time scenario only designed for Cyprus, every
citizen residing in the Eurozone, and in other advanced economies afflicted by
the sovereign debt crisis, now knows that a desperate government can, at any
time, seize their life savings, and employ them to bail out private investors
and bond holders. Again we see robust application of the economic maxim of our
age:”privatize all profits, but socialize all losses -with a
vengeance.”

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Streetgo in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

Official statistics reveal that in November 2012 Eurozone unemployment levels reached  11.8 percent, compared with 10.6 percent in November 2011. This record level of joblessness in the 17 nation monetary union clearly shows that the massive, repetitive efforts at solving the Eurozone’s intractable sovereign debt crisis has worsened economic vitality, contributing directly to a worsening employment picture within the monetary union.

The unemployment rate revealed in official figures obfuscates the very uneven economic performance within the Eurozone, especially with respect to employment statistics. In Austria is found the lowest level of unemployment within the Eurozone, at 4.5 percent. In contrast, Spain now has the highest level of unemployment in the Eurozone, a staggering  26.6 percent, surpassing even insolvent Greece, which  had an unemployment rate of 26 percent.

It appears clear that the Eurozone is not a unified monolith, but a tale of two economic orders. There is the debt ridden, increasingly jobless periphery, and the still relatively prosperous core countries, such as Germany. The question is, how long can the core of the Eurozone remain immune to the depression-level economics within the PIIGS nations? My guess; if the insolvent Eurozone countries remain mired with high unemployment by mid-year, it is hard to see how jobless rates will not start to rise dramatically in the core of the Eurozone.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

According to the latest data, business confidence in Germany, the Eurozone’s strongest economy, declined for the 5th straight month. The German  IFO index slipped from  102.3 in August to 101.4 in September. The erosion of German business confidence is occurring amidst the two-year old Eurozone debt crisis.

The wave of economic recessions that have afflicted the most debt prone economies in the Eurozone are the driver eroding business confidence in Germany. The Eurozone crisis threatens to retard Germany’s massive export trade to the Eurozone bloc, which ultimately will affect GDP growth prospects in Germany.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

Chatter about the inevitability of Greece exiting from the European Monetary Union-the euro-continues to gather momentum. A recent Financial Times poll indicated that a majority of Germans expect Greece to abandon the euro, and prefer such an outcome in lieu of continued bailouts of Athens that are largely funded by German taxpayers.

In the United States, major companies are preparing for the impact of a Greek exit from the euro, as reported in The New York Times.  In fact, major corporations globally are assessing the likelihood that Greece will exit-or be “kicked out” of the euro. It is also said that “the market” has priced in the impact of a Greek exit.

The problem with planning for a Greek euro exit or the market supposedly pricing in such a monetary development is that such a move will be unprecedented, and cannot be properly analyzed or accounted for in advance. For one thing, a Greek euro exit is only the first domino, and may open he way for the other PIIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain) to sequentially exit the euro after Athens departs from the monetary union. In short, we are sailing into unchartered territory, as the global economic crisis and Eurozone debt crisis enters a new, and potentially far more dangerous state.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

Note that Wen Jiabao’s assessment is that the Eurozone debt crisis continues to get worse. Obviously, the world’s second largest economy has no confidence in the numerous measures and bailouts enacted to date by the Eurozone’s coterie of inept politicians. That Beijing has arrived at such a conclusion regarding economic and fiscal policymaking in Europe is as clear a sign as any that the political class in the European monetary union has failed abjectly in restoring market confidence amongst those actors most critical for Europe, namely China’s ruling elites.

Wen Jiabao goes on to say, “The main worries are two-fold; first is whether Greece will leave the Eurozone. The second is whether Italy and Spain will take comprehensive rescue measures. Resolving these two problems rests with whether Greece, Spain, Italy and other countries have the determination for reform.”

Reading between the lines, it would appear that China’s ruling circles are terrified at what is unfolding in Europe, and are as uncertain as everybody else regarding their future trajectory. They have good reasons for worrying. The Eurozone is a critical trade destination for China’s exports. At a time when artificially stimulated growth is beginning to wane in China, a sharp drop in exports to Europe would have disastrous consequences, economically and politically, for Beijing. It would appear that China’s leadership is hoping, perhaps even praying, that the core economies in the Eurozone, especially Germany, will undertake far more radical measures than implemented to date, in the hope that the entire monetary union will not unwind.

What must be going through the collective minds of China’s ruling Communist Party is that if the Eurozone comes apart, resulting in the spread of financial and economic chaos across the globe, the chickens will come home to roost on China’s shores, leading to political instability and unrest that threatens the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on political power. Indeed, Premier Wen Jiabao has a great deal to worry about, and so do his colleagues in China’s ruling Politburo.

 

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

 

 

The ifo index of 7000m German businesses and their perception of business trends registered a decline from 103.2 in July to 102.6 in August. The contraction in business confidence was more than analysts had forecast, and is a sign of growing worry among business decision-makers in Germany as many large markets within the Eurozone for German goods face a profound economic crisis related to the ongoing debt crisis.

While Germany remains the largest economy within the Eurozone, the ifo index for Augusts shows that Berlin is not immune to the impact of the worsening Eurozone debt crisis. There are many reasons for worry in Germany. Not only is the European sovereign debt crisis inflicting economic damage; Germany is paying a high fiscal price for being the lender of last result within the Eurozone. German taxpayers are being asked to pick up a major portion of the cost of bailouts for Eurozone economies mired in the debt crisis. A combination of diminished exports to Eurozone members and fiscal damage to Germany’s balance  sheet does not bode well for future prospects for Germany’s economy.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

Eurozone economic & debt crisis: latest data shows Eurozone GDP overall contracted by 0.2 percent, with deep recession in periphery. In Greece, Spain, Portugal and other weak links in the Eurozone chain, a deep economic recession in underway.

Even the stronger economies in the Eurozone, in particular Germany, registered GDP growth that was so anemic, it is virtually at stall speed. This demonstrates that a negative feedback loop is at work in the Eurozone; those nations most afflicted by the Eurozone debt crisis have now damaged the economies at the core of the monetary union. Clearly, a deep economic crisis is underway in the Eurozone, with global implications.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.