Perspectives on the global economic meltdown- (Nov 28 2010)

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 04 Nov 2011 12:23

Rapid economic growth only solution for recovery: BRICS

Well a rapid economic recovery was tried the last time round. It only resulted in Banks strengthening their balance sheets. What is required is generation of real economic jobs which generate real value for the economy. Only then will a recover take place.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 04 Nov 2011 13:01

Singha wrote:what is the current outlook on american ageing? is the working age population scheduled to grow to keep pace with the increasing number of retired on social security?

or will people be forced to work till their dying day by raising the retirement age on most jobs?

From what i understand, social security ponzi scheme began back in the 30s when the number of workers to retireees was 35 or 40 to 1. It has since shrunk massively to 4 : 1 or some such number. Within a few years it will be 2:1 and then 1:1. Beyond that i think the curve will invert !

Its already paying out more than its taking in. So the govt is using bogus inflation numbers to keep the payouts for future retirees smaller in real terms. This means people who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s.. who have paid in will be getting nothing or next to nothing in real terms.

Two interesting clips on the issue (listen to both) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBr-CV4O-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkQPbd64-pI

People need to save for their own retirement and the money needs to have intrinsic value instead of being robbed from savers via the printing press.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 04 Nov 2011 15:27

Euro crisis can be fixed with a two-currency system

Sri · Post by **Sri** » 04 Nov 2011 16:36

The Greek crisis is not a currency crisis. It's a crisis where the borrower borrowed more than it should and lender lent more than it should. It becomes a crisis because Lenders have political pull. Banks make profit privately and losses publicly. The system is broken because it's neither Capitalist Nor Socialist.

If one wants to solve the problem in capitalist way, all that they have to do is to let Franco German banks fail. French and german economies are robust, there are BRIC banks who can fill the temporary void. Problem is, west doesn't want this to happen. Not to mention various sovereign funds.

MMS is right to oppose the so called Robin Hood tax. In essence we will be paying for TBTF bail outs of west into the future.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 05 Nov 2011 08:47

Mike Bloomberg's Marie Antoinette Moment

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Nov 2011 09:05

Greel govt survives the vote of confidence by narrow margin.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 05 Nov 2011 11:49

seems if US cannot reduce its deficit by $1.2 tr soon, a law that imposes automatic $500b reduction in defence will kick in.

predictably , pork barrel congressmen and their MILind friends are up in arms to "save and protect the country" and drafting legislation to bypass this.

I will say it again, within a decade we might see the US downsize its navy by half to 5 CVN and 9 SSBN with associated steep cuts in the bloated DDG fleet (close to 60 now) and massive cuts in MEU assets. uber expensive programs like the LCS could simply be shelved in favour of buying cheaper patrol ships from south korea.

this inflection point will be when India and China will step up and battle for control of the vacated geo political space and high ground.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 05 Nov 2011 15:01

Robert Prechter (not sure if i agree with his views but here he is anyways) :

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 05 Nov 2011 19:23

Something huge in world markets is going to happen coming week. Please put your stop-losses judiciously. Be very very alert.
I have a very bad feeling about this.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 05 Nov 2011 20:44

^^^Chillax Altair, I've been having those hunches for so long, its beyond boring now. Nothing will happen, I'm telling you. Some things,m like western prosperity and first right to world resources aren't meant to die, ever. Something like this...

How do you kill something like that, eh? So, basically, Relax...

Meanwhile... our harvardi boy Niall fumes froth desperately trying to stave off the inevitable contraction in military spend and relative advantage that the lack of funds will force upon even sooper-dooper powers. Apparently.
Niall Ferguson: We're Playing Russian Roulette With Our Debt And Deficits
Gosh, this hyperventilator should reeeally learn to take it easy...relax....

Meanwhile, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, where extreme poverty is defined as the lack of access to a color TV or a telephone...
Increase In Extreme Poverty Leaves Millions of Americans Stranded
These loudmouths have no clue what 'extreme poverty' means. Should check out how the R3 and R4 SECs live in some backward rural areas in Des....

Anyway, the more things change the more they remain the same....like I keep saying...relax...

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 05 Nov 2011 20:59

Is Rupee backed by gold?

Is there some kind of currency baskets where currencies with gold backing are mixed( and given the same legitimacy) with those currencies without gold backing?

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 05 Nov 2011 21:35

Folks, I have very very specific information. I cannot say anything more.

gakakkad · Post by **gakakkad** » 05 Nov 2011 22:03

Altair wrote:Folks, I have very very specific information. I cannot say anything more.

you mean.......something to do with ...well you know what i mean.....anyway say in in behind the boorkha ,... that way you can be sure that not more 150 people will be able to read it...

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 06 Nov 2011 04:40

Nomi's interviewer appears to be intentionally uncrossing and crossing her legs, as the camera panned up from legs. Seriously

. No doubt, TV personalities need to be attractive or extra-ordinarily good at what they do; but in maasa the females on the business/finance channels seemed to be picked for their extra-ordinary attractiveness

. It is like how they parade gorgeous ladies selling automobiles. Same-same here. Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Fox Business.....all have good looking women. The audience for these channels are pretty niche and narrow. Yet. Oh well, it is business with pleasure onlee.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 06 Nov 2011 12:57

for those of you who missed it the first time round :

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 06 Nov 2011 23:34

The Denials That Trapped Greece

It is a tendency on certain american publishers to write a scathing articles on eminent personalities after they have demitted their offices entirely. Some of the most notary examples of publications following this philosophy are USA Today and in case of our country, India Today. For example, India today wrote an article about Dev Gowda, one of our short lived prime ministers of the disastrous third front experiments, just after he stepped down, which basically called him vindictive and accused him of sleeping through important meetings. The publication, i.e. India Today, would have had more credibility to have written this article when Dev Gowda was the PM. This article from new york times is such a similar article, this time the target is the recently retired ECB head Jean-Claude Trichet.

But if we simply omit this then this article has some very fine nuggets

Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece disclosed that, under the previous government, his nation had essentially lied about the size of its deficit. The gap, it turned out, amounted to an unsustainable 12 percent of the country’s annual economic output, not 6 percent, as the government had maintained.

Just great, Mr Raju of Satyam Computers fame lies about a billion dollars and he ends up in jail. While some burecrat and elected official lie they get away with it. It does not matter if the officials concerned just might bring the whole world's economy down with them, nah that is not a crime. Telling a lie about a company's balance sheet is a punishable offence.

Again continuing from the same article

Timothy F. Geithner, the United States Treasury secretary, urged his European counterparts to “think big.” He called on them to produce a plan that might rival in size the $700 billion bank rescue that Washington devised in 2008. At one point early in the talks, the team from Washington, headed by Mr. Geithner and Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was told that the initial European proposal was for a bailout fund of about 60 billion euros.

The team was stunned.
....
....
Athens’ failure to make good on its economic promises, meanwhile, including a 50 billion euro privatization program, turned attention to the deteriorating political situation in Greece.

I see a lack of purpose on both the sides over here. The Big Euro-Zone economies and the Greeks. The Greeks expected to be bailed out. While the Big Euro-Zone countries actually appeared to wish that by simply talking they could make the entire thing just disappear. Makes one question the will of the Euro-Zone countries.

And Finally

While a new deal reached in late October will force bondholders to accept deep losses, Europe, Greece and Mr. Dallara continue to insist that the transaction will be voluntary. As a result, there will be no need to trigger Greek credit defaults swaps, which would add to the complexity and cost.

Boss which planet are these characters residing in? Are they smoking something potent or have they just lost their marbles. Yes CDS were the cause of the Financial storm that happened after Lehman collapsed. I certainly hope that they are not expecting that this restructuring, will not be seen as a default.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 07 Nov 2011 00:00

$4 million bonus after yet another round of billions in losses.

I laugh when I hear Goldman Sachs and other company say they look around for "talent" when hiring. One wonders "talent" at what? The only talent needed in the useless middleman industry is being a con artist.

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Outgoing Freddie CEO Gets $4 Million Bonus To Receive $21 Billion In Bailouts After Massive Q3 Loss

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/final-tal ... er-massive

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 07 Nov 2011 12:01

More from zerohedge.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/jim-gr ... d-standard

Slightly more difficult to call him a commie. Oh well, but nobody has.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 07 Nov 2011 12:58

Greek tragedy averted, but there’s no end to euro crisis

shyam · Post by **shyam** » 07 Nov 2011 13:13

Max Keiser with Satyajit Das. The way Satyajit Das talks shows that he has spent enough time to understand what is happening.

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 07 Nov 2011 13:36

Before cutting SS / HC, how about cutting tax exemptions?
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-ar ... 11-11?op=1

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 07 Nov 2011 15:45

Europe debt crisis: The biggest challenge for eurozone now is Italy, says Adrian Foster

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 07 Nov 2011 20:56

satyajit das has written some huge work in derivatives and such products...probably understands the game a lot better than most of the tv experts.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 08 Nov 2011 07:29

what is SS other than a ponzi scheme ?

New "formula" would reduce Social Security increases

http://news.yahoo.com/formula-reduce-so ... 18202.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as 55 million Social Security recipients are about to get their first benefit increase in three years, Congress is looking at reducing future raises by adopting a new measure of inflation that also would increase taxes for most families — the biggest impact falling on those with low incomes.

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Meanwhile young people being forced into more poverty to support the old who are already way better off.

US wealth gap between young and old is widest ever

http://news.yahoo.com/us-wealth-gap-bet ... 59922.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.

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Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 08 Nov 2011 08:24

Mama-Mia ! A direct consequence of annulling CDS contracts on Greek debt. Suddenly creditors all over europe realise their CDS and insurance on default are worthless with governments shifting the goal post. They are exposed to the full risk of debt default and the insurance they thought they had is worthless. The useless middleman industry strikes again - a harbinger perhaps of the worthless paper currency they've been peddling which will eventually have its value truncated too.

How long before Uncle Ben fires up ye olde printing press and buys him some of them EYE-talian stallion bonds.

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Italy’s bonds dragged into danger zone

Italian 10-year bond yields rose to euro-era highs of 6.68 per cent at one point, well into territory considered unsustainable by the markets. Traders warned that without ECB intervention, the Italian bond markets would have seen leaps in yields that forced Ireland and Portugal to accept emergency bail-outs.

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10 Year BTP = 6.66%; Italian Treasury Cancels November 10 Bill Auction

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/10-year-b ... ll-auction

Stick a fork in it.
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Is 6% The Point Of No Return?

With Italian 10 year bonds crossing the 6% yield threshold, it is worth seeing how other bonds behaved.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/6-point-no-return

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 08 Nov 2011 08:36

this will be interesting to watch.

a country loaded with gold pleading poverty with debt collectors when they come knocking.

we'll soon be putting to the test Dr. Ben Shalom Bernanke's theory that "Gold Isn't Money" when we see the gold (not) flowing out of Italy to pay its debts.

Lets see if they are willing to fly hundreds of tons of their gold out of the country as collateral against paper money loans as India had to do in 1990.

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The Question(s) Of Italy's 2451.8 Tons Of Gold

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/questions ... -tons-gold

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 08 Nov 2011 09:12

Its becoming increasingly clear the euro monetary union benefits nobody other than German banks.

Eventually the peripheral countries will realise it and hit the eject button with the legendary phrase....

"SO LONG SUCKERS!!!....."

..as they fly out the back with their parachutes on leaving Germans with the tab.

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Deutsche Bank: "we could be in full crisis mode by the end of this week"
BusinessInsider

Its not inconceivable that we could be in full crisis mode by the end of this week. The situation with Italy feels increasingly like one that has little chance of materially improving until some extreme pressure is put on someone to act. It may not come to a head this week but the signs are not good that we can avoid an extreme situation emerging soon.

For us there is no obvious near-term solution other than a stress event which prompts action. Maybe the EU authorities will use the experience learnt from the Greece situation last week that a hard-line response is the only way to force countries to act in the way they want. It is a big risk but at the moment the weaker countries seem to still want the Euro enough that the ECB and Germans could play hard ball and get what they want if they are prepared to take the risk. Indeed ECB Governing Council member Yves Mersch fired a warning over the weekend saying that the ECB often discusses the possibility of ending the purchase of Italian government bonds and could if it concludes Italy is not adopting promised reforms. Such talk will not encourage private capital into Italy meaning that the ECB may need to intervene more to have the required impact.

For more on the matter, see Nomura on what to expect in the next 24 hours.

http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche ... ek-2011-11

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 08 Nov 2011 09:49

As baby boomers retire, the times will be a-changin'

OP-ED
As baby boomers retire, the times will be a-changin'
The birth of this generation launched new directions in society. That is surely to continue as baby boomers age amid the loss of wealth from the recession, though the effects are hard to predict.

By Nicole Gelinas
November 6, 2011
Aging members of America's middle class worry about retirement, and for good reason. When the TV talking heads aren't reminding us about plummeting house prices, they're speculating about not whether but by how much politicians will cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. And the financial and economic crises of the last several years have left the country 10% poorer, obliterating $6.1 trillion in wealth, a healthy chunk of which was in retirement savings.

The country's financial crisis came at a particularly bad time. This year, the oldest of the 78 million people born from 1946 to 1964 are turning 65 and becoming senior citizens. Because of the immense size of this baby boom generation, the number of senior citizens will more than double between now and 2050, from 40 million to 89 million. And older folks will make up an ever-larger share of the population, increasing from 13% now to 20% in 2050.

ALSO

Boomers vs. Gen Xers: Who's had it better?

As the boomers turn

Baby boomers to their children: You'll inherit the wind

Thanks to Botox and treadmills, the boomers are aging well. But their finances aren't. Baby boomers, like most Americans, have seen no wage gains for two decades. In 2007, families headed by younger boomers — those 45 to 54 — earned a median income of $64,200, almost exactly the same, in inflation-adjusted dollars, as families in the same age group earned in 1989. (All numbers in this article are adjusted for inflation.)

For years, boomers made up for their stagnant wages by borrowing, which helped expand the credit bubble. Two decades ago, the average American family headed by someone in his late 40s or early 50s owed $38,100, in 2007 dollars; by the time the global debt mania peaked in 2007, such families had more than doubled their indebtedness, to an average of $95,900. (This figure doesn't include the 13% of such families that had no debt at all, a number that has remained fairly stable for 20 years.) Older boomers, too, dramatically increased their debt relative to earlier generations, from $15,400 in 1989 to $60,300 in 2007 — and the percentage that didn't owe money fell from 29% to 18%.

Until the real estate bubble burst, middle-aged Americans told themselves that their homes were their nest eggs, investments that would more than enable them to pay back what they owed. They had reason to believe this: Over the two decades leading up to 2007, the values of homes owned by people age 45 to 54 exploded, rising 68% after inflation to an average of $230,000. Boomers also diligently socked away money in retirement accounts, and they watched their savings grow. By 2007, the two-thirds of younger boomers who had such accounts held $63,000 in them, on average; older boomers held $100,000.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Nov 2011 10:02

[excerpt from a news ticker]
The markets are viewing Italy's ability to repay its debt as increasingly doubtful.

The spread between Italian and German 10-year government bond yields widened to 488 basis points in early trading, its widest level since 1995.

The yield on Italian one-year bonds also jumped to 6.3% from 5.5% on Friday, though it later fell back to 6.1%.

By comparison, the yield on German one-year bonds is 0.26%.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 08 Nov 2011 12:13

6.65% as of now.

vina · Post by **vina** » 08 Nov 2011 12:35

Well, it reached 6.66 .. Now 666 is the number of the beast ! So there it is ,Satan out the grab the fair land of Italy and drive all the religion conspiracy mongers in to overdrive.

But then Unix too has , 666, in the file settings, that too is surely the Devil's spawn.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 08 Nov 2011 16:10

http://www.firstpost.com/world/five-reasons-why-italys-2-5-tn-debt-is-scaring-the-world-125952.html

After Greece, Italy is next on the hook with global investors. On Monday, the cost of borrowing for the Italian government hit a new record as fears mounted over political turmoil in Rome.

The yield on 10-year government bonds hit 6.71 percent – the highest since the country joined the eurozone in 2001 and perilously close to the bond yield levels at which Portugal and Ireland needed financial bailouts.

So what’s going on?

Here are five things you need to know about the country right now.

Fact 1: Italy has always had high levels of public debt. Its public debt-to GDP ratio has been above 100 since the 1990s. But unlike Greece, it is actually financially sensible. The government actually spends less on providing services and benefits to its people than it earns in taxes, and has been doing so every year since 1992, except for the recession year of 2009, according to the BBC.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. AFP

The only reason why Italy borrows is to meet its principal and interest payments on existing debts. Nevertheless, the country’s absolute level of debt is staggeringly high – more than $2.5 trillion and estimated to touch 120 percent of GDP this year.

Fact 2: Bond yields have surged because investors are worried that a persistently weak economy – it has seen zero-to-low growth in the past two decades – will not be able to support high interest payments in the future.

Bond yields, a measure of what a government requires to rollover its debt, tell us how investors view the health of an economy. During good times, when money is expected to be paid back, yields tend to remain low. But during difficult times, they can soar because creditors demand a “risk premium” (an extra rate over what is normally charged for economically stable borrowers) to compensate for the higher risk that the money might not be repaid.

Surging yields already imply an extra 7.6 billion euros in debt payments for Italy, according to one expert in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

Meanwhile, Italy’s growth in the past decade has averaged 0.8 percent a year, which means that government revenues are not even in a state to cover interest payments, noted a seekingalpha.com report.

Fact 3: Italy is the third-largest economy in the eurozone. A bailout will severely stretch the resources of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. The eurozone’s bailout fund — the European Financial and Stability Facility — was enlarged to one trillion euros to support countries like Italy and it feels increasingly like it will, indeed, become the next victim of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. This could be the one to bring the eurozone crashing down.

Fact 4: Its bonds are widely held by foreign investors, which means that if the country defaults, there’s a much larger knock-on effect in financial markets. Europe’s 20 biggest banks hold 186 billion euros of Italian sovereign debt, led by Intesa SanPaolo, Unicredit, BNP Paribas, Dexia, Commerzbank and Credit Agricole, according to a report in the Telegraph.

Even a whiff of default could trigger a collapse of confidence in financial markets about other indebted governments and lead to an exodus of capital.

Fact 5: The biggest factor weighing down markets about Italy is, in fact, not economics but politics. The awash-in-scandals government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is fuelling doubts about whether the country has the political will to push through tough austerity measures to cut back government spending and increase taxes. At the moment, there are doubts whether his government will even survive the near term. If Berlusconi resigns and a new unity government is ushered in, chances are confidence could return to the markets.

Financially, Spain is in a much worse position, according to some commentators. At least Italy is not running a particularly large budget deficit (currently 4 percent of GDP) compared with Spain, which had a more than 9 percent deficit at one point, said Franco Pavoncello, a political scientist at Rome’s John Cabot University in Time magazine. “What drives the cost of Italian bonds is simply a question of politics. Markets go where they see weakness. And today they see weakness in Italy.”

[1 euro=1.37 USD]

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 08 Nov 2011 16:13

Forget Greece. It’s now Italy’s turn to spook global markets

Hmmm....

The chorus is getting louder

Germany will have to junk the Euro zone and divide the former euro zone amongst Russia and it self. The French are optionally welcome in that alliance. That ought to shake the foundation of the western order.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 08 Nov 2011 17:38

It it comes to pass, it will certainly be very interesting.

The next Global MF-type collapse could be Sachs, Morgan Stanley: Roubini

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Nov 2011 19:20

mashallah sooner the better these dragons be slayed!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 08 Nov 2011 22:13

Italy now on the brink. Berlusconi being asked to quit.

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Nightwatch reports: 7 Nov 2011

Italy: Fifteen year high yields on ten-year government bonds indicate Italy is the next European domino under threat. Spain and France might follow. Italy is too big to fail and too big to fix, according to one news analyst.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 09 Nov 2011 01:39

Berlusconi to quit after trust vote. Part of vote bargain.
Looks like two heads of government: Greece and Italy had to go due to the EU crisis. Wonder if this is their Arab Spring!

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 09 Nov 2011 02:07

Japanese Woes Killing Japan’s Blue Chips
Posted: November 8, 2011 at 1:29 pm

The realm of global geopolitics is going beyond nerve-racking in many instances. It is not just the U.S. that is being held hostage by Europe as Japan has a pricey Yen against the Dollar and the Euro that makes exporting goods expensive and unprofitable for Japan. Then throw in a massive accounting fraud scandal from Olympus Corporation (OCPNY) as well.

The admission of the camera and medical equipment maker Olympus admitting large payouts around expensive mergers and hiding losses is just one more fly in the ointment after admitting that it was hiding investment losses. The move is apparently close to $700 million in payments for financial advice and expensive acquisitions of companies not related to its core operations. The news is almost certain to open its directors and accountants to criminal and civil suits. A prior CEO was even fired for attempting to investigate a series of acquisitions made before his tenure.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) said that profit was down almost 20% and it has missed its earnings estimates and withdrawn guidance after Thailand flooding has stopped work at three plants. Toyota ADRs hit a 52-week low in New York of $63,53 and shares are currently down 2.3% at $63.95. These ADRs for Toyota are now close to challenging the $60 or so low of early 2009 during the panic. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) is down 1.8% at $29.97, but it is still about 6% above its 52-week low of $28.04.

We are looking at electronics and equipment exporters out of Japan as well. Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) and Hitachi Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) are both lower. Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) hit a new 52-week low of $17.26 and its ADR is close to challenging the lows of the panic of early 2009. Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC) is down almost 3% at $9.02 also at a new 52-week low; but its shares are now lower than they were during the early 2009 panic selling.

Nomura Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NMR) is also following the slide as the accounting shenanigans are likely to ensnare Japanese securities companies due to widespread corporate governance and oversight issues in Japan. The Japanese pound their securities firms when they worry about widespread corruption or widespread fraud as well. Nomura ADRs are down about 9.5% at $3.32 in New York trading after hitting a 52-week low of $3.16 today and the ADR is lower than during the panic selling of early 2009.

The world is full of challenges as is, but when corporate officers are hellbent on mischief it just adds in yet one more pause for concern for the little investors.

Read more: Japanese Woes Killing Japan’s Blue Chips (OCPNY, TM, HMC, CAJ, HIT, SNE, PC, NMR) - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/11/08/japanes ... z1d9FybaB2

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 10 Nov 2011 00:36

Now Italy

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 10 Nov 2011 01:08

Aditya,

Was Italy your black swan.

-------------------------------

To be honest this seems like a organized run on the market, not dissimilar to the currency speculation that made Soros and some many others Billionaires. They are picking of the countries one after the other. Is Spain next?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/busin ... brink.html

Italian bond rates crossed a crucial level of 7 percent, prompting questions about whether Italy could soon need an international bailout just as the financially strapped nations of Greece, Ireland and Portugal did before it.

The difference this time is that Italy, the third largest economy in the euro zone, is on a different scale than those other, much smaller European nations. That means any bailout would have to be proportionately far larger, and some analysts question whether the European Union or the International Monetary Fund have enough resources to pay for it at all.