The Euro Has Screwed Italy

Real incomes in Italy have fallen since it joined the euro. The country has become more unequal and poverty is rising. Unlike economic growth, which is once again falling. Unemployment is 10% and 2 to 3 times that if you’re young. But Italians still favour the euro.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) November 9, 2018

Italy Undermining The Euro

EURO WEAKENS ACROSS THE BOARD ON ITALIAN BUDGET CONCERNS

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaOne) October 8, 2018

Italy Rocks The Euro Boat

ITALY WOULD SOLVE MOST OF ITS PROBLEMS IF IT HAD ITS OWN CURRENCY - RULING PARTY LEAGUE ECONOMIC HEAD - RTRS

— Martin Baccardax (@mdbaccardax) October 2, 2018

Bank of England Takes a High Risk Punt on The Euro

Follow the money. The Government's real faith is in the euro - just when it's claiming that the EU is useless etc pic.twitter.com/5lkd6IxsHS

— Christina Patterson (@queenchristina_) August 12, 2018

This is very high risk, given the unquantified exposure of Europe to Turkey!

IMF and Eurozone Agree Common Stance on Greece

Reuters reports that the IMF and Eurozone have finally come to an agreement as to what they will say to Greece today.

A meeting between the lenders and Greek officials is scheduled for later today, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in The Hague.

"There is agreement to present a united front to the Greeks," the eurozone official said, adding that the outcome of Friday's meeting with the Greeks was still unclear and it was unclear if Athens would accept the proposals.

I think it fair to say that if the IMF and Eurozone really have come to a common stance, then Greece will not like it!

Greece's Oncoming Explosion

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Greece’s debts are on an “explosive” path, despite years of bailouts and half hearted economic reforms.

This oncoming explosion existentially threatens the eurozone itself.

The solution according to the IMF is debt forgiveness.

However, as noted many times before on this site, neither Germany nor the other members of the Quadriga (sans IMF) have forgiveness in their hearts.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup President repeated the mantra saying there would be no Greek debt forgiveness and dismissing the IMF assessment of Greece’s growth prospects as overly pessimistic.

This will not end well!

Short The Euro!

#Trump's potential next ambassador to EU says he would "short the euro" since it "could collapse" in next 18 months. https://t.co/uciIZLdwQK

— Maxime Sbaihi (@MxSba) January 26, 2017

Unicredit Hits The Skids

UniCredit to raise billions and cut 14,000 jobs https://t.co/jRZmEQjVHh

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 13, 2016

Greece Gets Another 2.8BN Euros

Eurozone approves 2.8B euros in bailout funds for #Greece #Luxembourg https://t.co/A0qvCSk2K5 pic.twitter.com/YHNJ4fVsC4

— Trending Greece News (@greekolizer) October 25, 2016

The taxpayers of Europe are throwing their money away, or rather are having their money thrown away for them!

Greek Economic Statistics Are Bollocks

#Greece @StatisticsGR Authority issues final 2015 deficit data; revises primary surplus from 0.7% to 0.2%.
Bailout MoU target was 0.25%. pic.twitter.com/lzHD3gJnOg

— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) October 20, 2016

Greece Needs Fourth Bailout

This has been inevitable ever since the third bailout, which was inevitable after the second, which..... https://t.co/xawcCxgcKp

— (((FrancesCoppola))) (@Frances_Coppola) October 14, 2016

Why oh why does Greece want to stay in the Eurozone?

Deutsche Bank Given Special Concession By ECB

The FT reports that Deutsche Bank was given special treatment in the summer EU stress tests that were meant to restore faith in Europe’s banks by assessing all of their finances in the same way.

Deutsche Bank, which has seen its share price fall as much as 22 per cent in recent weeks on fears that it could face a US fine of up to $14bn, has been using the results of the July stress tests as evidence of its healthy finances.

Deutsche’s result was boosted by a special concession agreed by its supervisor, the European Central Bank.

Deutsche’s results included the $4bn proceeds from selling its stake in Chinese lender Hua Xia even though the deal had not been done by the end of 2015, the official cut-off point for transactions to be included.

The ECB claims that it treats all banks equally, yet this is clear evidence that it doesn't.

The ECB knows that if Deutsche Bank goes under then so does Germany and the whole eurozone!

Deutschland Uber Alles - Deutsche Bank On Cusp of Collapse

Deutsche not the only German bank in big trouble: Commerzbank to cut 10,000 jobs, scrap dividend -- in broad restructure of business.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) September 29, 2016

The implosion of Deutsche Bank will have far reaching consequences for both Merkel and the Euro experiment.

As much as Merkel and the German government denies a rescue plan is being put together, the reality is in fact completely the opposite and it will cost Euro are taxpayers big time.

Deutschland über alles!

UK Growth To Outstrip Eurozone Growth - There's Irony For You!

OECD cuts Eurozone 2016 growth forecast by 0.1% to 1.5%, raises U.K. forecast to 1.8% from 1.7% #Brexit

— MineForNothing (@minefornothing) September 21, 2016

The Greek Guide On How Not To Negotiate

Greek PM: 1 Tears up agreement that would have delivered debt relief. 2 negotiates far worse deal with creditors 3 Demands new debt relief

— Martin Baccardax (@mdbaccardax) September 8, 2016

Greek Bailout Frozen - The Greek Farce Continues

The wheels have fallen off the Greek bailout wagon yet again.

After approving a first tranche of €10.3bn for Greece this spring, of which €7.5bn has so far been released, the 19 Euro finance ministers were due to disburse the rest this month but are to withhold payment for the rest of the year.

For why?

Greece has only implemented 2 of the 15 agreed reforms that were meant to be implemented in order for it to receive the bailout.

The farce continues!

Brexit Will Not Be a Black Swan Event

The central banks and chancelleries of the world stand ready to steady the ship in the event of a Brexit.

There is nothing to fear, the hype and scaremongering is akin to Y2K which was a damp squib.

Wheels Fall Off Greek Bailout Wagon

Unsurprisingly the wheels have fallen off the Greek bailout wagon.

Not only have the IMF refused to give another penny until it sees a concrete plan from the Europeans to substantially cut the country’s debt burden, the Greeks are now reneging on their promises to make some "technical" adjustments to legislation already passed in order to comply with the fine print of the bailout "agreement".

All of this in less than a week!

Greek Bailout Deal NOT Agreed

It transpires that despite the media and Eurogroup hype that a Greek bailout deal has been agreed, as usual the reality is completely different.

Aside from the fact that the IMF has nixed it, it is reported by ekathimerini that Greek government officials and representatives of the country’s international creditors discussed on Thursday a series of “technical details” that Greece must legislate in order to secure a sub-tranche of 7.2 billion euros in loan funding, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Houliarakis said.

Houliarakis conceded that creditors want to see “a large amount of technical improvements” to legislation that Greece passed into law last week. In its provisions relating to nonperforming bank loans, which will henceforth be subject to sale, the government did not include loans guaranteed by the state. The omission was discussed by the ministers, creditor representatives and Bank of Greece officials during a teleconference.

Quel surprise!

What's the betting that the technical details never get passed by the Greek parliament?

The Pain In Spain

*BANCO POPULAR DECLINES 26% AT MADRID OPEN

- Spain in pain again pic.twitter.com/TCpjt3TOza

— Russian Market (@russian_market) May 26, 2016