Debunking the Causes of the Eurozone Crisis
The orthodox German view of the Eurozone crisis gets shellacked at an important INET panel.
Read more...The orthodox German view of the Eurozone crisis gets shellacked at an important INET panel.
Read more...Greece has decided to up the ante in its negotiations with the Troika. The open question is whether the latest move, the press leak via Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph that Greece will miss its April 9 payment to the IMF so that it can continue to make pension payments, and has started to make plans to issue the drachma, are game-changers that Greece hopes they will be.
Read more...One of the things we’ve stressed is that the Greek government’s repeated claims that it is submitting an anti-austerity reform package is untrue. The Greek government committed to achieving a fiscal surplus of 1.0 to 1.5% and has separately said it will always run a fiscal surplus. We have stressed that running a fiscal surplus is an economic dampener, and is even more damaging in a severely depressed economy like Greece.
So what has Greece done? It has submitted a reform package that it says will meet an even higher fiscal surplus target.
Read more...The Greek government continues to climb down substantively on its promises of resistance to the dictates of its creditors as time pressure intensifies.
Read more...Why Greece’s bank run, and the risk of a banking system collapse, gives the ECB the whip hand over Greece.
Read more...As Greece continues to scramble to raise funds to avert default and keep paying pensioners and government officials, the end game is becoming clearer.
Read more...It’s hard to fathom Greece’s approach to its dealings with its oppressors, um, creditors.
Read more...Varoufakis addresses the need for Greeks and Germans to stop the blame game and work together.
Read more...Things are not looking good for Greece.
Read more...What are some of the more granular costs and risks of a Eurozone exit? This post looks at France as a test case.
Read more...Yves here. Unlike many other comments on the state of Greece’s finances, this post takes a stab at Greece’s ongoing budget needs as well as its various debt due dates. Note that one uncertainty flagged here has been resolved in Greece’s favor. The Greek government will receive €550 million this month from the Hellenic Financial Stability Facility.
Read more...As Greece staggers under the weight of a depression exceeding that of the 1930s in the US, it appears difficult to see a way forward from what is becoming increasingly a Ponzi financed, extend and pretend, “bailout” scheme. In fact, there are much more creative and effective ways to solve some of the macrofinancial dilemmas that Greece is facing, and without Greece having to exit the euro. But these solutions challenge many existing economic paradigms, including the concept of “money” itself.
Read more...The Troika and Eurogroup look to be working towards the Greek government to start having similar thoughts. However, given the high level of popular support for Syriza, and press reports that Greek citizens fully expect that the new government to at best only be able to deliver on a small portion of its campaign promises, the end game for Greece is looking more and more likely to be a failed state rather than a more neoliberal-friendly government.
Read more...I’m at risk of getting whiplash from watching the speed at which Greece is changing its position on key issues. And while I’d be delighted to be proven wrong, there are reasons to think this pattern does not bode well for the government’s ongoing negotiations.
Read more...We warned readers who are still keen to take the Syriza “Hope is coming” slogan as something more promising that a subconscious echo of the Obama 2008 “Hope and change” campaign, that the memo that Greece signed with the Eurogroup last week did not represent a victory or a lessening of austerity. The comments by the ECB and the IMF on the reform list from Greece submitted Monday confirmed our earlier readings, that austerity is still very much on in Greece.
Read more...