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Post by jack on Sept 24, 2011 14:35:08 GMT -5
Just like I thought, another bandaid and back up to 1200 we go next week!!! Then, that bandaid will fizzel out and back down to 1100 we'll go. I wish it wer a bandaid! I don't know WHAT kind of adhesive they have in those things now but place one on a concrete sidewalk and it will be there...for a year! (I live up the block from a K-5.)
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Post by rex on Sept 24, 2011 19:04:27 GMT -5
If all the countries in the world get together(got together this weekend...hehe..) and all of them come up with a way to bail each other out, problem solved...sort of like lets all forgive one anothers debts! They might be able to sell that to world wide investors such that the world would be fixed and all stock markets can go up endlessly so our Baby Boomers are taken care of.
There is some concoction of "buy us time before world markets crash" mentality going on there this weekend....take it to the (defaulted) bank!
December 21, 2012 is looking much more ominous if they come out of this weekend with anything that makes world markets go up. The BS bandaids are going to end the world if they don't stop it and let "everything reset" the way it should. JMHO
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Post by Rich on Sept 24, 2011 19:06:33 GMT -5
reset my mortgage baby!
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 25, 2011 10:44:09 GMT -5
(Reuters) - The European Central Bank has not decided how long its unconventional interventions in the secondary market for European government debt will go on, Executive Board Member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said in an interview on Sunday.
The debt purchases were approved by an overwhelming majority at the ECB's board and were not influenced by governments, Paramo said in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC.
"We will decide what future the program has, but we did not start this program as an answer to political demands at all, we are the most fiercely independent institution in the world," Paramo told ABC.
The ECB reactivated its bond-buying program in August month ago to help hold down surging borrowing costs in Italy and Spain, which had been inflated by financial turbulence and speculation on government debt.
Paramo defended the central bank's record on controlling inflation against critics who suggest it should be focusing more on price stability than buying government debt on secondary markets.
"No central bank has been more scrupulous with price stability than the ECB ... sometimes central banks develop their monetary policy by buying and selling public assets to maintain price stability."
Europe's leaders need reminding of the commitments they made on July 21 to create a new form of EU governance and accelerate reforms, for which strong leaders are required, the ECB board member said.
"The road map is clear; what is needed is to speed up the journey and for that you need very strong leadership."
Turning to Spain's problems of high unemployment Paramo said fiscal discipline and market reform are key to creating jobs in Spain, which has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the euro zone.
"The path is still fiscal discipline and generating confidence in markets and pushing through reforms ... This is the key to creating jobs during an economic slowdown.
Spain's government has overhauled its banking system, forcing weak savings banks to seek private capital or face nationalization, and has also pushed through measures to cut its public debt, and to a lesser extent, reformed its labor market.
"In the labor market they have made reforms like someone cutting salami, although experience tells us that it is better to do them at the same time and once and for all," Paramo said.
Paramo also said Spain's energy market, which he described as too expensive, and its commercial distribution market were sectors ripe for reform.
The ECB board member accepted that banks bear much responsibility for the economic crisis in Spain and elsewhere with cheap mortgages and other lending but said that punishing them could lead to huge unemployment, lower living standards, and a lending squeeze.
"If one just follows the principle that the ones who did wrong should pay (for their mistakes) then the results can be unacceptable," he said.
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Post by davetherave on Sept 26, 2011 7:42:15 GMT -5
Interesting article from Market Watch....(especially for history buffs) www.marketwatch.com/story/in-euro-crisis-merkel-is-replaying-1931-2011-09-26?dist=beforebell LONDON (MarketWatch) — Eighty years ago, Britain left the gold standard. It reminds you of some of the things going on today. Read the front page of the Financial Times of Sept. 21, 1931, for instance, a day after the move. “The step now taken is due solely to heavy withdrawals of sterling by foreigners. Their exaggerated fears have brought about the new situation.” Well that’s all right then. Elsewhere, one reads: “Temporary step only….There is in no sense a crisis. Internally the affairs of the country will proceed along normal lines.” In fact, Britain’s relinquishment of the gold peg, while giving much-needed stimulus to the domestic economy, piled up pressure on the main gold-adhering countries of the Continent, Germany and France, to follow suit. Nowadays we’d call it “contagion risk”. Germany stood firm. France didn’t, eventually departing the gold standard in 1936 in a hotly contested move by the Popular Front government of Léon Blum. The rest is, mainly unpleasant, history. Scroll forward to the present, and you see some dark similarities in today’s dilemmas for European governments. Shortly before economic and monetary union (EMU) started in 1999, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said the single currency was a question of war and peace. He was right to set the euro in the context of an epochal struggle between binary forces perennially tearing at the German soul: instability and stability, East and West, Poland and France, America and Russia, capitalism and communism. Yet even Kohl did not foresee that EMU, the proudest yet most vulnerable of Europe’s accomplishments, would degenerate into an issue of political life or death for his successor at the helm of the conservative Christian Democrat party, Chancellor Angela Merkel. In a currency system riven by fractiousness between debtors and creditors, Merkel is the one European political figure who can determine the fate of the 17-member euro EURUSD -0.10% . Intriguingly, her one-time economic adviser and now the new Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, also puts EMU in a binary framework. In recent days, he has said publicly it has to go in one of two directions. Either it takes the path of a fiscal union in which member countries fuse together their economic and financial systems into a much more robust framework that will protect them from internal dislocation. Weidmann says, coolly, this is somewhat unlikely. Or EMU remains a looser grouping of countries that will face the discipline of the financial markets if they fail to produce economic convergence. This could lead to harsh consequences in cases where states fall out of kilter with stronger-performing economies. The logical extension of Weidmann’s thoughts is that countries that do not make the grade might default on their debts or leave the euro. The warnings are underlined by the downward spiral of the Greek economy as it reels under ever-toughening and ultimately self-destructive austerity decreed by the lending “troika,” the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As everyone knows, the deflation malaise makes it impossible for Athens to meet debt repayments. Merkel, who has presided over successive coalition governments since 2005, reasons that the costs of a Greek debt restructuring, especially in view of a possible extension of attrition to Spain and Italy, would far outweigh the gains. The difficulty is that she is beset by constraints that could sweep away her hold on power. Her pivotal position is prone to extraordinary fissures. On the one hand, she has been strengthened by the near-demise of her present junior coalition partner, the liberal Free Democratic Party. On the other hand, Merkel is hemmed in by the Bundesbank’s continued drumbeat of opposition to ECB support purchases of errant countries’ bonds — and nagging doubts that the support may be illegal. MORE IN THE LINK
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 27, 2011 16:34:08 GMT -5
FT Report That Greek Bailout Package On The Verge Of Collapse After Surge In Greek Funding Needs Sends Stocks, Euro Plunging From Highs Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/27/2011 15:27 -0400
Bond Creditors European Central Bank Eurozone France Germany Greece Netherlands Trichet
Wondering what just caused the market to slump? Take a wild guess. That's right - Greece. Minutes after Greece passed a vote in which it promised to promise to promise to consider collecting 1998-1999 taxes (even as all of its tax collectors are about to go on permanent strike), the FT was breaking news that while the Troika was "bailing out" Greece in the past years, the country was spending itself into an even greater oblivion. As a result, the terms of the July 21 Second Greek Bailout will most certainly need to be renegotiated, with banks having to take even greater write downs on the bond exchange, and with far more capital having to be injected into the country. The result is the France and the ECB are panicking because as we all know, any additional write downs will expose just how undercapitalized French banks already are (no need to even mention the world's most toxic hedge fund: Trichet et Cie). Should this story pick up traction, look for Europe to open limit down again tomorrow.
From the FT:
A split has opened in the eurozone over the terms of Greece’s second €109bn bail-out with as many as seven of the bloc’s 17 members arguing for private creditors to swallow a bigger writedown on their Greek bond holdings, according to senior European officials. The divisions have emerged amid mounting concerns that Athens’ funding needs are much bigger than estimated just two months ago. They threaten to unpick a painfully negotiated deal reached with private sector bond holders in July. While hardliners in Germany and the Netherlands are leading the calls for more losses to be imposed on the private sector, France and the European Central Bank are fiercely resisting any such move. They fear re-opening the bond deal could spark renewed selling of shares in European banks, which have significant holdings of Greek and other peripheral eurozone debt. Because of the recent economic downturn and Greece’s slow implementation of austerity measures, officials estimate Athens’ funding needs over the next three years have grown beyond the €172bn forecast this summer. The scale of the shortfall will be determined by international lenders over the next few weeks. So let's get this straight: the funding hole was €109 billion two months ago, and it is €172 billion, an incremental diferential of €63 billion in two months, or €360 billion annualized.
...Pardon us, while we...
HA HA HA HA HA HA
We apologize but...
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 27, 2011 18:52:49 GMT -5
The European Commission approved in principle the tax proposal on Tuesday, and the head of the EU executive Jose Manuel Barroso may outline the plan on Wednesday in a "state of the union" address to the European parliament in Strasbourg.
On the commission's drawing-board for more than a year, the idea was given fresh impetus last month when given the nod by Europe's power couple, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"The idea is to force a contribution from the financial sector, which enjoys fiscal privileges thanks to a sales tax exemption, meaning it saves 18 billion euros a year in Europe," an EU source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
If adopted -- not before 2014 -- the tax could ring in between 30 billion and 50 billion euros a year -- possibly half for the European Union budget, the remainder for national governments.
The rate suggested would be minimal with member states free to hike the tax.
The financial transactions tax is slated to target a wide field, with the latest known proposals aiming to slap 0.1 percent on shares and bonds and 0.01 percent on derivatives.
While Merkel and Sarkozy offered no details on the tax in August, their support helped send shares into an immediate tailspin with financial sector players warning the measure would push business away from Europe.
Britain, at the heart of the financial industry, reiterated demands for any such tax to be applied globally. "Otherwise the transaction covered would simply relocate," a Treasury spokesperson said.
But a source close to experts drafting the proposals said the research on the issue was "reassuring", with negative impact deemed "negligeable" when compared with Europe's overall attraction to financial transactions.
The tax, the source added, would include a principle of territorial location to avoid relocation.
"A non-European bank registered in Europe for certain transactions could be considered to be established in Europe. The tax would not be based on where transactions take place but on the parties involved."
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Post by erxtrader on Sept 27, 2011 22:14:24 GMT -5
It seems S&P 1000 is inevitable ...
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 28, 2011 21:21:18 GMT -5
Via The Associated Press: Greek Official: Ability to pay new taxes exhausted
Greece has "exhausted" its ability to pay more taxes to cover budget gaps, the deputy prime minister declared Wednesday, saying he himself can't pay a new emergency tax without selling property. Theodoros Pangalos spoke as the debt-shackled nation faced fresh strikes and braced for another inspection by international creditors, starting Thursday, to decide whether to continue the vital bailout loan payouts. Parliament approved a new emergency property tax Tuesday to be added to electricity bills later this year, as Greece remains under strong international pressure to abide by its painful deficit-cutting targets. Greece will go bankrupt by mid-October if it does not get an expected euro8 billion ($11 billion) loan. "I believe that the tax limits of Greek society have been exhausted. I would say they have been exhausted for some time," Pangalos told private Mega television. Pangalos, a 73-year-old Sorbonne-trained economist, is listed as owner or part-owner of eight properties and farmland in greater Athens and several other parts of Greece. "The property I own was purely obtained through inheritance. Personally, I have never bought anything ... I will be obliged to sell some of these properties. There is nothing else I can do," Pangalos said. Greeks have been outraged by the announcement of new austerity measures, including pension cuts and the new property tax, coming after more than a year of spending cuts and tax hikes. In Athens, another 24-hour public transport strike Wednesday left commuters struggling to reach work, as unions lashed out against the austerity measures that the Socialist government hopes will get it access to crucial loans. The strike left Athens without buses, subway services, taxis and trams. Customs and tax office workers were also on strike, while about 350 retirees demonstrated outside the Finance Ministry against the latest pension cuts and tax increases. The heads of Greece's international debt inspectors are due back in Athens on Thursday to complete a review of the government's cost-cutting program. International creditors have urged Greece's Socialist government to make deeper cuts in public payroll costs instead of repeatedly raising taxes. Late Wednesday, more than 1,000 protesters from a Communist-backed labor union demonstrated outside the Finance Ministry, urging Greeks not to pay emergency property tax bills being sent to households this fall. Protesters burned copies of the tax notices during the peaceful rally. "We're against workers paying even one euro for this situation," Iota Tavoulari from the union of pharmaceutical workers told The Associated Press. "We know very well that none of the money from all the (loan) installments, received after really slaughtering the rights of workers, is going to support the workers. Not one euro to salaries, not one euro to pensions, and not one euro to social welfare," she said. "It is being paid to those who caused this crisis."
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 28, 2011 21:27:29 GMT -5
Add The Ukraine To List Of Countries On Verge Of Technical Default Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/28/2011 - 14:58 CDS default Google Hyperinflation Ukraine Update: the correct translation is that as of 5pm the debt has not been paid.
In this messed up post-Keynesian world which is so insolvent, it is virtually impossible to keep track of who is about to default, either technically, selectively, or really, who is already bankrupt, who is hyperinflating, and so forth. And while we all know that Europe and the US can at best hope to kick the can for a month at a time until finally they all have to face the truth, we are happy to bring to your attention the latest entrant to the technical default club: Ukraine, which will shortly join its former USSR satellite Belarus in the hyperinflation club. The fact is that the Ukraine is slowly imploding - the government had stopped Treasury payments for all budget expenses in an attempt to accumulate the cash needed to make a coupon payment on debt and which apparently investors are unwilling to roll. In all fairness, the news update indicates that the country just barely made the 5.3 billion hryvnia payment, but that may be it for now. What about the next one? Time to add some Ukraine CDS to that bankrupt sovereign basket, no matter how overflowing it may be at this point.
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Post by tajmahal9898 on Sept 28, 2011 22:18:47 GMT -5
What time is Greek's Auditor Verdict is going to be announced ?
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Post by jack on Sept 28, 2011 22:36:18 GMT -5
What time is Greek's Auditor Verdict is going to be announced ? Just remember to keep your sense of humor Taj...and dance like Zorba:
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 28, 2011 22:49:35 GMT -5
Euro kicking ass tonight....of course the markets are closed.
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Post by Clinton SPX on Sept 29, 2011 0:28:28 GMT -5
The Wall Street Journal reports Germans Reconsider Ties to Europe
When German lawmakers vote Thursday on whether to put more money into Europe's bailout fund—a step many investors see as essential to prevent a market panic—several conservative deputies, including Wolfgang Bosbach, a prominent champion of European integration, are expected to vote "no." Mr. Bosbach, a high-ranking conservative in Ms. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, has recently become an outspoken critic of the bailout strategy.
"The first medicine didn't work, and now we are simply doubling the dose," said the lanky Mr. Bosbach of the Greek debt crisis. "My fear is that when the big bang happens, it won't just be us who will have to pay but generations hereafter."
The lawmaker rebellion underscores a broader shift among Germans about their nation's role in Europe since the crisis erupted nearly two years ago. While the Thursday vote is expected to pass, and a vast majority of Germans continue to feel a strong, historical commitment to Europe, with a common currency as its anchor, many have grown doubtful of whether it's worth the ever-growing cost of saving the euro.
A poll for national German broadcaster ZDF earlier this month shows three-quarters of Germans are against the expanded European rescue fund that's subject to Thursday's vote.
The measures before German parliament today would nearly double the main euro-zone's bailout fund's lending capacity to €440 billion ($595 billion) and allow the fund to buy sovereign bonds in the open market.
Germany's contribution to the new, expanded rescue loan package is €211 billion, still less than half the €500 billion it pledged to bail out its banks in 2008. But many see the European Central Bank's moves to buy billions of euros in low-grade government bonds of southern European countries as another sign that European institutions are slipping away from them.
Even more unpalatable is the prospect of making the euro zone collectively liable for its members' debts, as a growing chorus of European officials have recently urged. Many argue so-called euro bonds, which Ms. Merkel has steadfastly opposed, are the bulwark to relieve financial pressure on debt-ridden members and underpin the euro zone's full fiscal union.
But to Germans, it would mean relinquishing their hard-won low borrowing rates to pay for the largess of more free-wheeling members.
"Ultimately the euro-bond issue will come to a head, and Ms. Merkel will have an impossible dilemma," says one senior German coalition lawmaker. "If she goes back to the German people with [euro bonds], she is out. If she doesn't, she will be a very lonely person in Europe."
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 9:03:23 GMT -5
(Reuters) - Slovakia's ruling coalition will have to reallocate cabinet posts or face a snap election unless it can find its own majority in parliament for a crucial vote on the euro zone's rescue fund, the main opposition party Smer said on Sunday.
The euro zone's second poorest country of 5 million people has become a major risk to the bloc's July deal to give the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) more power to tackle the crisis threatening its weaker debtor economies.
The center-right coalition of Iveta Radicova is struggling to win enough support in parliament for the EFSF vote, which is due by October 14, because junior partner Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) has so far refused to support the measure.
"Either this government approves the EFSF and the coalition will do so by itself, or the ruling coalition will not be able to make such a decision and it will have to make it with the help of the opposition, but with consequences for the functioning of this ruling coalition," Robert Fico, leader of Smer, said in a debate on Slovak Television on Sunday.
Smer, leading all opinion polls by a wide margin with public support close to 40 percent, supports the EFSF but refused to help out the coalition, which Fico said must change the allocation of cabinet posts or call a snap election if it fails to unite.
"We are ready to support the EFSF, but if we do so, it means there is no ruling coalition in Slovakia," said Fico, Radicova's predecessor as prime minister.
Radicova, in power since July last year, said on Friday she would meet with SaS leader Richard Sulik this weekend, before Tuesday's meeting of all coalition leaders.
No meeting took place on Saturday and SaS said no meeting with Sulik and Radicova was planned for Sunday.
Slovakia is one of the three remaining euro members which need to approve a wider mandate for the 440 billion euro ($590 billion) EFSF so it can make emergency loans, rescue banks and help governments whose bonds come under market attack.
Pressure on Slovaks rose on Friday when Slovakia's European Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, rapped Radicova's government for delaying the latest efforts to resolve a crisis economists fear could trigger a new global downturn.
Bela Bugar, head of junior coalition party Most-Hid, accused
SaS of seeking to boost its popularity rather than trying to compromise with partners and unlock the ratification process.
"No ruling coalition can function if one partner says 'not me' and we go on. We can't go on," Bugar said.
Radicova made a proposal to SaS earlier this week that SaS said created room for compromise, but an embargo is in place until the party delivers its reaction.
"We are not seeking to change EFSF rules," Bugar said. "The compromise solution will allow Slovakia to vote on every (EFSF) loan, every use of (EFSF) funds."
Bugar, however, declined to elaborate on details of the mechanism and how Slovakia might secure such a concession.
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 9:08:52 GMT -5
100% Debt Discharge Decision In Greece Sets Troubling Precedent For Local Banks Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/02/2011 04:00 -0400 A very disturbing precedent, for the already frayed domestic financial system, was set in Greece over the past few days, where as the linked story from On-News.gr explains, an unemployed Greek woman who owed a little over 26,000 euros to two banks, Eurobank and National, received a full debt discharge on her outstanding loans. As the blog logical concludes, this decision will probably be adhered to in thousands of similar cases. Furthermore, it should be noted the woman had a perfect payment record for 18 years, and only fell behind when she lost her job. Imagine the sheer panic that would ensue if a comparable legal decision vis-a-vis ordinary consumer debt were to occur in the US - that would be a supreme court resolution for the ages. In the meantime in Greece, a one-two punch arrives: deposits being drained and moved overseas, and bad loans being outright erased from the balance sheet by court order. At least both sides of the balance sheet are declining so there will be no way for banks to fudge their capitalization and make it seem that loan writedowns are actually a beneficial thing for book equity. From On-News, google translated: Bartzokas George, Attorney-President of the Citizens' Movement - Borrowers, told newsbomb.gr said: "This is a historic decision, as it is the first court decision that removes 100% of the borrower's debt . handled flawlessly Article 8 paragraph 5 of N.3869, whereby the court clears the debt because the borrower is a long-term unemployed and has not even cover the minimum, both for itself and for dependents. Surely others will follow such decisions. " The Court rejected the claims of the banks that loan, is not determined by "who" finds the amount for the cost of living and that of her family, although included in the notice of application data permanently prevented payment and the necessary documents. "This decision of the district court Larissa is a victory of borrowers against banks, which, let's not forget, give consumer loans without guarantees. Act 3869 will ultimately vindicate the indebted households and especially those who are truly economically impossible debt repayment, as the unemployed and the economically disadvantaged, "says the newsbomb.gr o President George IKNA Lechouritou. It should be noted that decisions issued by local courts for citizens who seek legal assistance following the failure of-court settlement increase exponentially. It is, in the overwhelmingly positive and achieves remission in 50-60%. For the first time, but a court decision provides the total debt cancellation. h/t Dimitrios www.zerohedge.com/news/100-debt-discharge-decision-greece-sets-troubling-precedent-greek-banks?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 9:20:04 GMT -5
(Reuters) - Greece was expected to unveil its plan on Sunday to begin laying off state workers, the most contentious part of a reform package demanded by the EU and IMF to free up loans and stave off bankruptcy.
Without the release of an 8 billion euro ($10.7 billion)tranche of an EU bailout, massively indebted Greece could run out of money to pay state wage bills within weeks.
European officials are scrambling to avert a Greek debt default, which could wreck the balance sheets of European banks, damage the prospects of the euro single currency and possibly plunge the world into a new global financial crisis.
A senior member of the ruling coalition in Germany, Europe's paymaster, said it may be necessary for Greece to abandon the euro, a prospect European governments officially reject as beyond consideration.
Negotiators from the International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank, known as the troika, have returned to Athens after walking out of talks a month ago, and have met Greek officials for the past four days.
To persuade the troika to release the loans, the government has promised to introduce new taxes, cut state wages by an average of 20 percent and reduce the number of public sector workers by a fifth by 2015.
The austerity measures are deeply unpopular, and public sector unions hope that strikes and demonstrations can wreck the Socialist government's resolve to enact them.
No part of the package is more contentious than the plan to lay off state workers -- who make up a fifth of the Greek workforce and are guaranteed jobs for life under a constitution that bans firing government employees in virtually all circumstances.
The cabinet was due to meet on Sunday evening to discuss a plan to begin layoffs by setting up a "labor reserve." Under the plan, 30,000 workers would be put in the reserve by the end of this year and paid 60 percent of their salaries for a year, after which they would be dismissed.
The government has yet to announce how the programme would work, including details such as whether it would be used to push out younger workers or only to accelerate the retirement of workers already reaching pension age.
Greek officials said late on Saturday a solution was close.
"We are close to a deal on the labor reserve," one senior official said after several hours of difficult talks on the issue. "We want to conclude negotiations with the troika on the labor reserve by tomorrow and also approve it in a cabinet meeting tomorrow."
The troika inspectors want assurances that the plan will be implemented swiftly and will not only include civil servants close to retirement, the official said.
POOR, MIDDLE CLASS HURT
Greeks hostile to the austerity measures say the harsh cuts will deepen the impact of a three-year recession and disproportionately hurt the poor and middle class.
Labor unions hope to step up political pressure with a campaign of strikes and protests in coming weeks. The government has a majority of just four seats in parliament and could be forced into elections if a handful of lawmakers balk.
Hundreds of black-shirted anarchists marched through the capital's central Syntagma Square on Saturday, chanting slogans and carrying black and red flags. A few women among the crowd pushed children in strollers. Police hope to prevent a repeat of street battles in June when more than 100 people were hurt.
Striking civil servants have tried to block the troika talks. At one point on Friday, transport ministry workers prevented their minister from meeting the negotiators.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told the pro-government newspaper To Vima that the loan tranche was "assured" because "we are taking such difficult decisions and the Greek people are shouldering such great sacrifices."
But there has clearly been a shift in the views of European leaders in recent weeks, with many increasingly suggesting that bailouts may not be enough to save Greece.
The deputy leader of the Christian Social Union, one of three parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition, said on Sunday Greece may be better off leaving the euro zone if it cannot restore its fiscal health.
Alexander Dobrindt told Deutschlandfunk radio that a Greek exit from the euro would be a last resort measure and Greece would find it easier to recover outside the currency bloc.
"I believe it is a solution, if one wants to bring Greece back into a economically stable competitive condition, that this would be done outside the euro zone," he said.
The finance minister of Slovakia said on Saturday that policymakers need to be ready for the impact of a Greek bankruptcy if the troika concludes that default is inevitable.
"We are now waiting for results of the IMF and EU inspectors. This should be the basis for a clear assessment whether Greece's position is sustainable, or whether bankruptcy and a write-off of part of the debt are inevitable," Ivan Miklos told Czech daily Lidove Noviny.
"In case we draw a conclusion that the situation in Athens is not sustainable, we must say how we are prepared for a coordinated bankruptcy and how we will prevent further contagion."
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 10:11:29 GMT -5
MID OCTOBER??? O BOY! Slovakia's parliament may vote on the expansion of the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), as soon as mid October, but a Greek default is still possible, Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova told CNBC in an interview in Bratislava.
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Post by jack on Oct 2, 2011 10:29:09 GMT -5
MID OCTOBER??? O BOY! Slovakia's parliament may vote on the expansion of the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), as soon as mid October, but a Greek default is still possible, Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova told CNBC in an interview in Bratislava. Bratislava: is that where bratwurst comes from?
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Post by tarzan on Oct 2, 2011 11:24:57 GMT -5
Greece as a destination country, with their own currency to devalue - whoopee, more forex games. Maybe we'll have the Far Eastern manufacturers set up deals with individual countries, based more on need than strictly by currency value and they will get a variety of returns from the various countries they export to. Isn't A Greek default inevitable?? How far down the road is the question - or how long or how far can the can get kicked down the road - how far do they "want" to kick it? But there has clearly been a shift in the views of European leaders in recent weeks, with many increasingly suggesting that bailouts may not be enough to save Greece. The deputy leader of the Christian Social Union, one of three parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition, said on Sunday Greece may be better off leaving the euro zone if it cannot restore its fiscal health. Alexander Dobrindt told Deutschlandfunk radio that a Greek exit from the euro would be a last resort measure and Greece would find it easier to recover outside the currency bloc. "I believe it is a solution, if one wants to bring Greece back into a economically stable competitive condition, that this would be done outside the euro zone," he said. The finance minister of Slovakia said on Saturday that policymakers need to be ready for the impact of a Greek bankruptcy if the troika concludes that default is inevitable. "We are now waiting for results of the IMF and EU inspectors. This should be the basis for a clear assessment whether Greece's position is sustainable, or whether bankruptcy and a write-off of part of the debt are inevitable," Ivan Miklos told Czech daily Lidove Noviny. "In case we draw a conclusion that the situation in Athens is not sustainable, we must say how we are prepared for a coordinated bankruptcy and how we will prevent further contagion." Read more: fastopia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=exchange&action=display&thread=27976&page=3#ixzz1ZdqzNGJF
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:24:33 GMT -5
MID OCTOBER??? O BOY! Slovakia's parliament may vote on the expansion of the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), as soon as mid October, but a Greek default is still possible, Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova told CNBC in an interview in Bratislava. Bratislava: is that where bratwurst comes from? And the SLOVAKS enter the foray!
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:27:43 GMT -5
Did I ever mention the slovaks were part of Hitler's axis in WWII?
I don't think they had much of a choice, but still...
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 13:37:55 GMT -5
Go Team Slovak
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:38:34 GMT -5
tippin the scales, baby!
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:40:35 GMT -5
since when did the steelers get so bad?
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 13:42:15 GMT -5
Sine I started rooting for them. Curse of Youngstown.
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:43:47 GMT -5
hehe. I have Rothlesburger on my fantasy team (autodraft, I forgot all about it)
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Post by Rich on Oct 2, 2011 13:51:04 GMT -5
Roth moves like a gazelle
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 15:37:32 GMT -5
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece won't meet 2011-2012 deficit targets imposed by international lenders as part of the country's bailout, the Finance Ministry said Sunday.
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Post by Clinton SPX on Oct 2, 2011 15:38:43 GMT -5
Euro Gap Down Confirmed In Premarket Trade
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