Lissen up, David: Click here! And listen especially hard when Kenny Rogers has this to say: And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.Said, “If you’re gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold ’em,
Continue readingTag: European Union
CuriosityCat: David ‘Two-Speed’ Cameron and the EuroCop
Chancellor Merkel’s glacial crawl towards the creation of an all-powerful EuroCop with powers to veto the budgets of Eurozone nations is beginning to make Prime Minister Cameron a bit nervous. Cameron is on the outside, looking in, but is itching to give advice to the 17 European Union members of
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Will Germany pay more for helping save the Euro than it paid for losing the War?
The figures seem to show it would, according to Landon Thomas in The New York Times: This Lady ain’t for stampeding … Bernard Connolly, a longtime critic of European policies, estimates that it would cost Germany, as the main surplus country in the euro zone, about 7 percent of its
Continue readingCuriosityCat: EU should stress test the Rating Agencies, not just the Banks
Finally, someone is paying attention to one of the main problems of the 2008 financial meltdown: the rating agencies. Asleep at the switch, these agencies were caught napping when a whole industry – the US subprime industry – imploded under its own rickety structure, dragging down the world’s banking system.
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bypassing tactic on its way to success
David Cameron wants a pound of flesh in return for the UK agreeing to changes to the EU Treaty to bring on closer fiscal union in the Eurozone. Pushed by the Euroskeptics in his party, he has to pander to them by trying to change the deal and repatriate more
Continue readingCuriosityCat: It’s High Noon and a lone Merkel faces off against a horde of armed investors
The Financial Times has a very good article, which states Chancellor Merkel’s position on the ‘eurozone crisis’ very clearly: It needs a better disciplined, closer fiscal union with penalities for those who step over agreed lines, and not a quick fix of having Germany carry the burden of the bad
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Angela Merkel tosses Cameron a bone and presses on with Little EU amendments
David Cameron rubbed his hands in glee a few weeks ago when Angela Merkel insisted that the European Union treaty be amended as part of her agreement to save weaker countries from bankruptcy. Because amendments require 100% approval by all members, Cameron thought that he could bargain with the Iron
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Democratic Greeks fight the German and French Bullies
Gavin Hewitt, the Europe Editor of the BBC News, has written an incisive article today about what is at stake with the Greek Prime Minister’s call for a referendum on the EU austerity proposal.He draws a sharp distinction between the PM’s call that dem…
Continue readingThree Thoughts on the Greek Debt Crisis
1. Just wondering. If the Greek people are being asked to make extraordinary sacrifices to resolve a crisis largely not of their own making (see here, for example, on the mythology surrounding the Greek debt crisis, which — dare I say it — has a lot of vaguely racist shite about lazy southern . . . → Read More: Three Thoughts on the Greek Debt Crisis
Continue readingCuriosityCat: A Prime Minister challenges a Chancellor: Could this be the end of the EU?
An epic struggle for the future of the EU was started this morning when a Greek politician threw down the gauntlet, challenging both those within his country who opposed his leadership as prime minister, and the latest ‘solution’ of the EU financial cr…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Merkel kicks Sarkozy who kicks a cat named Greece
We’ve just seen a case of trickle down kicking taking place in the EU. Sarkozy wanted to use the European Central Bank to bail out the banks, but Merkel quickly ruled out, saying it wasn’t up for discussion. So other methods were debated and agre…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Godfather Merkel’s Offer the Banks could not refuse
Anyone wanting to know how to deal with the banks should not look to President Obama but to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. Deep Throat in BrusselsDeep Throat has it on good authority that Merkel is a fan of the famous Godfather movies of Francis …
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Chancellor Brinkmanship: Angela Merkel’s Teutonic discipline for the EU Latin Fringe
To some, the Eurozone crisis has all the hallmarks of a train crash. These onlookers are only partly right.The Eurozone crisis is a slow motion train wreck, with the speed being checked as and when she wants to, by Chancellor Merkel of Germany.The Stam…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Harper Tory hypocrisy in full view re EU crisis
Harper’s new Tories finance minister todaywent on record to spur on steps to combat the sovereign debt crisis. Consider his words:Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Sunday repeated his calls for European leaders to deal with an ongoing financial cr…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Amidst the torrent of words, a creeping towards more EU integration
Gavin HewittWith the Eurozone being walloped yet again with rating agencies downrating EU bank debt, with politicians all over the map, and the UK’s David Cameron trying desperately not to even be on the map (the EU is a massive wedge issue in the Tory…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Lobby Planet report shows Brussels spinning with corporate influence
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THE maxim of the lobbyist is generally to be heard but not seen, although a new report on the concentration of lobbying in Brussels suggests you'd be hard pressed to go any…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Greek PM frames it as a battle for the future
Here’s one politician who – rather belatedly – has managed to frame the issue in a way which will make it difficult for Germany to say No. He has shifted the focus to the future, to the reforms that Greece is determined to implement:Greek Prime Min…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The similarities between debt crises and currency crises
During the nineties, the predominant form of economic crisis that could hit a nation was the currency crisis whereby the value of a countries currency drops precipitously. Most infamously was the Asian financial crisis, whose effects rolled around the…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Chancellor versus Breugel: The Cat thinks Merkel is right about the Eurobond
The European Union is a loose confederation of widely divergent nation states, with the weaker ones suffering from the consequences of a worldwide recession, living beyond their needs, and financial markets that are wary of investing in the sovereign d…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Greece: Bigger Than Lehman Brothers
What a frigging disaster. Back in 2008, the US Federal Reserve let the Lehman Brothers investment bank – which held more than a bellyful of toxic debt, go to the wall. It was meant to bring “calm” to increasingly panicked financial markets. That will p…
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