Eurozone will collapse...

[ntluser]

Ironic really that Angela Merkel wants to keep the Euro intact but does not want to bail out all Eurozone members in the process.

Unfortunately, if she is not prepared to do that various Eurozone members may end up leaving the Euro and reverting back to their original currencies but in doing so there will be a lot of unpleasant consequences for their economies and their people.

I don't envy Greece if they leave the Eurozone but it will be really bad if Spain, Italy and other EU countries leave too.

[Osem]

No this hasn't gone away while we've all be distracted by Olympic security problems:

Spain's financial woes have deepened despite eurozone finance ministers approving a deal to lend up to 100bn euros (£78bn) to bolster its banks.

The heavily-indebted Valencia region requested an undisclosed loan from a new rescue fund set up last Friday.

And the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds shot up a quarter percentage point to 7.28%, a rate regarded by analysts as unsustainable in the long run.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18921663

It's worth the effort to seek out the stuff Ambrose Evans-Pritchard puts up on the Telegraph site, usually once or twice a week. Sometimes it's in the blogs section, sometimes it's in the finance news section. Wherever it is, it's always interesting and illuminating. The crisis certainly hasn't gone away. His contention is that the policies the Eurozone has followed have fatally damaged the project already. Like the Titanic, the damage is below the waterline and severe enough that the bosses in the first class lounge, still loudly insisting that it's unsinkable, are inevitably going to be proved wrong.

If Spain goes under, then that will be a disaster for the Euro. However the still larger danger is in Italy simply walking away from the single currency - which it could afford to do, in terms of both its economy and the rapid growth of public sympathy for such an idea. Silver Berlusconi hasn't gone very far away.

[27monksbury]

A friend of mine has just come back from Spain, he told me 1 in 4 people are unemployed. Nobody can sell a house. People in Greece are ending up on the streets, and getting their food from bins. Ill people cannot get vital life saving drugs. What a tragedy it makes me weep. This debacle must be sorted out. When Germany suffered terribly during the wars, national socialism was the result. 50 million people were killed during the subsequent war. This may be a harbinger for a terrible war. As the Euro stands, it is reducing us to penury. The politicians are a disgrace, they are lying to the people, they conspire to keep the status quo, to feather their own nests. Arab spring? Do not think it could not happen here.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by 27monksbury

A friend of mine has just come back from Spain, he told me 1 in 4 people are unemployed. Nobody can sell a house. People in Greece are ending up on the streets, and getting their food from bins. Ill people cannot get vital life saving drugs. What a tragedy it makes me weep. This debacle must be sorted out. When Germany suffered terribly during the wars, national socialism was the result. 50 million people were killed during the subsequent war. This may be a harbinger for a terrible war. As the Euro stands, it is reducing us to penury. The politicians are a disgrace, they are lying to the people, they conspire to keep the status quo, to feather their own nests. Arab spring? Do not think it could not happen here.

Yes i do and i know WHO i would blame for it.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by 27monksbury

A friend of mine has just come back from Spain, he told me 1 in 4 people are unemployed. Nobody can sell a house. People in Greece are ending up on the streets, and getting their food from bins. Ill people cannot get vital life saving drugs. What a tragedy it makes me weep. This debacle must be sorted out. When Germany suffered terribly during the wars, national socialism was the result. 50 million people were killed during the subsequent war. This may be a harbinger for a terrible war. As the Euro stands, it is reducing us to penury. The politicians are a disgrace, they are lying to the people, they conspire to keep the status quo, to feather their own nests. Arab spring? Do not think it could not happen here.

I've always thought that one of the biggest dangers we face is the refusal of many people (powerful, political and otherwise) to accept that's what's been happening in Europe could lead to serious social unrest, the uncontrolled break up of the 'union' and, worse still, even war.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been told "it won't happen, it can't happen" or words to that effect. Well IMHO it very definitely can happen and the longer this crisis is allowed to simmer away with the really difficult decisions being dodged, the more danger there is.

I too think the EU has already failed and that some form of break up and financial meltdown is inevitable. Worryingly, far too many of the Eurocrats still appear to be in denial* about this and as they have yet more meetings about meetings, the dominoes are starting to topple and we edge closer to the precipice.

* unless there's a more sinister reason of course...

Unfortunately the strength of their denial state is very much due to the fact that they are utterly convinced that the EU and its single currency is the only thing stopping another European war, rather than the possible cause of one.

[sniper007]

Euro over the last year:

Originally Posted by sniper007

Euro over the last year:

Actually that graph shows the strength of the Pound, not the Euro.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Chris

Actually that graph shows the strength of the Pound, not the Euro.

They can try to dress up the Euro all they want but its just a poisoned chalice that will bring Europe to its knees

[sniper007]

Originally Posted by Chris

Actually that graph shows the strength of the Pound, not the Euro.

Sure, thats what I wated to show. Risen quite well over th last coupke of months.

[Osem]

Fears that other Spanish regions may follow Valencia in seeking a bailout from Madrid have rattled markets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18950896

Asian stock markets also fell on Monday amid fears that the ongoing debt problems in eurozone will hurt the region's growth.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.9%, South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.8% and Australia's ASX 200 index shed 1.7%.

The eurozone is a key market for Asian exports and there are concerns that demand from the region may decline in the near term.

Is the perfect storm brewing?

[mertle]

To me this now showing this deliberate act of sabotage by those with money.

Even experts said these stimulas should elevaited fears.

Does anybody think there may be some sort organised structure to this.

We seen the money men witholding 3rd worlds purse strings.

The banks sure was deliberate act which they new the governments would bail giving them prime position to take on governments. By heck one by one they taking them down bigtime.

Can we stop this act of terrorism on our economies.

Wow - from hypothesis to assumption as fact in six sentences.

Originally Posted by mertle

To me this now showing this deliberate act of sabotage by those with money.

Even experts said these stimulas should elevaited fears.

Does anybody think there may be some sort organised structure to this.

We seen the money men witholding 3rd worlds purse strings.

The banks sure was deliberate act which they new the governments would bail giving them prime position to take on governments. By heck one by one they taking them down bigtime.

Can we stop this act of terrorism on our economies.

Why exactly should institutions whose job it is to lend money in order to earn interest, lend money in places where they have a reasonable suspicion they won't get it back? Excessively risky lending is what got us into this mess in 2008 - money men not withholding when they really should have. Or is your memory really so short?

Spain's cost of borrowing reflects the level of risk the market attaches to the transaction, and that assessment is made with good reason. The Euro is fundamentally flawed by design. It worked fine only as long as conditions were benign but it has failed miserably in the face of its first serious challenge. The floundering economies of Europe cannot be salvaged as long as they remain within the Eurozone. As long as they remain in the EZ, the cash injections required to keep them afloat are inherently risky, and therefore subject to punitive rates of interest.