Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Greece bailout’

U.S. Economy Was In Slowdown In Final Quarter of 2014

January 31st, 2015 Comments off

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis  has released its initial figures for the final quarter of 2014; GDP grew by 2.6 percent, a disappointing showing after the Q3 results supposedly showed 5 percent GDP growth. Several observers were skeptical of the 5 percent number for Q3, which was the basis for the Obama administration proclaiming victory and the return of economic prosperity in the United States.  Even if the Q3 number was correct,  overall GDP growth in the U.S. economy, based on official figures, was 2.4 percent for all of 2014.

While the official GDP growth figures for 2014 indicate the fastest level of economic growth in the U.S. since the global economic and financial crisis arose in 2008, it is still a very weak number after six years of a supposed recovery, and after trillions of dollars of deficit spending and vast monetary easing by the Federal Reserve in a frantic effort to stimulate the American economy. And now, Europe and even China are facing a slowdown, and in the case of the Eurozone, probable recession, likely to be exacerbated by the looming conflict with Greece over the terms of that nation’s financial bailout.

The U.S. is not immune to what is happening elsewhere in an era of interconnected economics. The lackluster growth figures for Q4 is a clear sign of that.

 

If Hillary Clinton runs for President of the United States  in 2016, see the video about the book that warned back in 2008 what a second Clinton presidency would mean for the USA:

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW VIDEO

Hillary Clinton Nude

Hillary Clinton Nude

 

Greece Needs Another Bailout…Surprise!

August 30th, 2013 Comments off

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.

If Hillary Clinton runs for President of the United States  in 2016, see the video about the book that warned back in 2008 what a second Clinton presidency would mean for the USA:

Hillary Clinton Nude

HILLARY CLINTON NUDE

Hillary Clinton Nude

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:

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.

Greek Economy Continues To Collapse

May 10th, 2012 Comments off

The recent Greek election, to no one’s surprise, severely punished the pro-austerity establishment parties, and greatly strengthened the anti-establishment political parties advocating the ripping up of the European bailout and austerity package. Currently, Greece is without a government.

As Greece slides into political disarray, its economy continues in meltdown mode. With the Greek economic  contraction accelerating, debts accumulating despite the bailout, and the unstable political situation prevailing, it is no shock that the most recent numbers show that Greece has an official unemployment rate of 22 percent. Without a doubt, Greece is in a sustained economic depression, with no clear light visible at the end of the tunnel.

 

                 

photo

Greece Will Default on its Debt: Moody’s

July 26th, 2011 Comments off

The ratings agencies, which facilitated the 2008 financial disaster by rating subprime securities as grade A investments, have not been known for being out in front on warning of looming catastrophes. Now, however, with the Greek debt crisis raging, the ratings agencies are outdoing each other in releasing their downgrades. Moody’s is back with a downgrade on Greece, lowering it three levels to CA, just slight above an actual debt default.

What Moody’s and others are saying is that they have no faith in the second massive EU and IMF bailout plan, with it being funded by borrowing by other sovereigns that are also in difficulty, and involving bizarre formulae for debt exchanges which may or may not involve the private sector. As Moody’s puts it,  “the announced EU program… implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100 percent.”

 

 

 

Second Eurozone Bailout For Greek Debt Crisis

July 22nd, 2011 Comments off

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have hashed out an agreement for a second bailout for debt-ridden Greece. They now have to convince their Eurozone partners to sign onto the agreement. An initial draft from the Eurozone summit in Brussels was vague and opaque, making no mention of numbers. But earlier reports hinted that the second bailout package would match in size the first one, which was in the range of approximately $150 billion in U.S. currency.

Already, stock markets are rising on news of this second Greek bailout package, and the wonderful clique of European politicians who boast that they finally, for certain this time, have the answer that will prevent the contagion from the Greek debt crisis from spreading.

With ambiguity surrounding the final version 2 of the Greek bailout package, there has been speculation as to whether or not private banks holding Greek sovereign debt will be asked to take a haircut. The massive exposure that German and French banks have regarding Greek debt suggests that anything involving  a loss by private investors will risk an implosion of the European banking system. However, as public taxpayers in Europe take on an ever increasing load of debt to, in effect, bailout the private banks holding Greek, Irish and Portuguese debt, that in itself risks a further spread of what is now a virulent European debt crisis.

.

Greek Debt Crisis Worsens; Prime Minister George Papandreou Admits Another €110 Billion Urgently Needed To Prevent Default

June 20th, 2011 Comments off

I was not alone in being skeptical as the first European/IMF bailout package was cobbled together last year when the Greek sovereign debt crisis first exploded. At that time, the European politicians assured their constituents that the 110 billion euro bailout for Greece would absolutely stabilize the situation for Athens, and prevent a sovereign debt contagion metastasizing throughout the rest of Europe, especially to the so-called PIIGS nations on the southern periphery  of Europe (Italy, Spain Portugal as well as Greece) and Ireland. Now, after Portugal and Ireland have joined Greece in begging for a bailout from European taxpayers and the IMF, Greece is back with its cup in hand.

After a year of crippling austerity measures that have thrown the Greek economy into recession,  Prime Minister Papandreou has told the Greek parliament that even more severe stringent cutbacks and tax increases are required. The reason; last year’s bailout was insufficient to enable Greece to continue to pay creditors for her massive (and until the crisis surfaced, largely hidden) public debt. The news from Papandreou is dire; another massive injection of European and IMF loans are needed, equaling  the already staggering previous bailout package of 110 billion euros  (approximately $150 billion in U.S. currency), or else Athens will default on its sovereign debt. It must be pointed out that the second bailout  package, as with the first, will necessitate other European nations themselves going further into debt to provide Greece with the bailout, including countries such as Spain and Italy which are considered only slightly less vulnerable to a sovereign debt implosion than  Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Anyone who though that the global economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 ended due to the “brilliant” expansion of public debt engineered by the policymakers is now getting their wakeup call. As I predicted in my book, “Global Economic Forecast 2010-2015:Recession Into Depression,” a global sovereign debt crisis will precipitate a worsening of the global economic crisis. Furthermore, solving a debt crisis with more debt, tied to fiscal policies that retard economic growth, is not a solution but rather an exhibition of economic and financial insanity.

 With policymaking of this “quality,” it bewilders the human intellect  that anyone still  thinks an economic recovery is just around the corner. There is in fact something just ahead for the global economy, but it won’t be pretty.