Greek Ouzo and the CDS Puppetmaster

February 9th, 2010 by stacyherbert

Stacy Summary:   Two different takes on the Greek crisis at the moment.

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118 responses so far ↓

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:08 am

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/35309122

    “A problem in Greece should not be causing a problem in Spain … the notion of contagion illustrates a weakness in standard economic models,” he said.

    Stiglitz’s views on Greek crisis:

    “But Stiglitz urged governments to intervene in markets to “teach speculators a lesson.”
    “The speculators will always look for the weakest link. What they’re doing now is a version of the Hong Kong double play in 1997 /1998,” Stiglitz said.
    “What Hong Kong did in response was to raise interest rates and intervene in the stock market. They burnt the speculators and Europe needs to do the same thing.”
    And it’s not just the EU that has markets on tenterhooks. In recent months the ratings of both the U.S. and the UK have been questioned. But Stiglitz said he believes they deserve to keep their AAA rating, dismissing the notion of a default as absurd.
    “The likelihood of a default is so small, particularly in the U.S., because all we do is print money to pay it back,” he said.”

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:09 am

    Are the ratings agencies criminal fronts for speculatory vultures? Who benefits?

  • California Doctor
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:12 am

    1st!

    Down goes the “G”?

    Who’s next?

  • California Doctor
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:14 am

    2nd
    Ratings agencies = ratings by bribe

  • California Doctor
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:16 am

    3rd
    “Teach speculators a lesson”

    What’s the difference between a “speculator” and an “investor”?

    Are we to judge the difference based upon “rating agency” label?

    Or, are we to judge based upon fixed rate or variable rate notes?

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:19 am

    http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/greece-ratings-downgrade-markets-bonds-moodys.html

    “Greece currently has the worst set of credit ratings in the 15-nation euro zone. While five countries have perfect, triple-A ratings from all three ratings agencies–Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Finland–Greece currently has an A- rating from S&P and Fitch with negative outlooks, along with the A2 rating from Moody’s. The second worst ranked nation in the euro zone is Slovakia.”

    France!!! Something’s wrong here….

    “Moody’s re-rating of Greece’s sovereign debt marks the first time in weeks that Greece has been painted in a positive light. It’s the third ratings agency after Fitch and Standard & Poor’s to lower the country’s credit rating, but the least harsh of the three.”

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:22 am

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWEA823220100209

    “LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday it is critical that the Greek government delivers and is seen to be delivering on its fiscal austerity measures.

    “It must also stand ready to enact further measures and set out in more detail its plans for 2011 and beyond if it is to secure confidence in the long run,” the ratings agency’s analyst Chris Pryce told a teleconference.”

    Fitch is a Rothschild’s firm, no? Reuters is a Rothschild’s interest?

  • SG
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:28 am

    @Youri
    ‘I expect a normal answer’

    quote:
    “I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can’t be helped.”
    Hope ya like tha tune!!!

    Neil Young – Walk On
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oQ_0Jxfe_E

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:41 am

    Forbes has an interesting graph in the linked article: It’s the Total Debt Stupid:

    http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0208/debt-recession-worldwide-finances-global-debt-bomb.html

  • stacyherbert
    Feb 9, 2010 at 9:48 am

    @frances – the thing that is missing from that chart is how much of that sovereign debt to GDP is financed by internal savings; Japan, for example, finances almost the entirety of its debt due to domestic savings (though this is about to come to a sudden end soon due to aging population and an exhaustion in savings); the US, which looks ‘safer’ on that chart has to finance more than half of its debt externally due to very low domestic savings; so the domestic savings has to be factored in when say comparing France, which has a high savings rate, to the UK which has a very low one.

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 10:06 am

    @Stacey:
    How can the country with the onus of being reserve currency have any savings?

    The total debt should be considered: GDP is fallacious.

    The deficits won’t matter anyway after the sdr-reweight/international clearing union. The standards for ratings will become completely subjective concerning factors which are decided upon by the men who pay Stiglitz.

    The problematic now is the use of corrupt rating agencies to further neoliberal policies in countries whose people are colonized by corrupt politicos working for corrupt ‘international institutions’.

    The men who own the playing board change the rules and the pieces to suit themselves whenever they like. The politicians know about the coming change to GDP and debt ratings: why don’t the people?

    Krugman and Stiglitz insist we ‘need’ more stimulus. Even now! Yet they both derive their sustenance at the tables of those who are using the debt to enslave the people.

    The rhetoric does not belie these mens’ actions. Their actions are apparent with minimal research.

    France is favored: Greece is not. It has nothing to do with the French having money in the bank.

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 10:10 am

    Human behavior is easily persuaded by central bank policy and regulatory action. Humans suffer at the hands of the criminal central bankers: not just the Fed Reserve Bank.

    The monkey grinding the music likes the sound and the peanuts: he doesn’t realize he’s playing his own requiem.

  • Will
    Feb 9, 2010 at 11:13 am

    Sorry if this is a duplicate ~ Der Spiegel: Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country’s already bloated deficit…

  • frances snoot
    Feb 9, 2010 at 11:26 am

    DerSpiegel: that’s a disinterested source!

    “In Greek there is no direct translation for the verb ‘save’ in a monetary sense. And that’s exactly how the Greeks live.”

    Greece is forced to bow to German export market pressure and live within their domestic market. Then they are called ‘piigs’ by the Germans who are favored by the EU for exports. The basel mandates are killing the Greek domestic market: just like China:

    ““We have an opportunity now to make changes in global banking that make sure we keep all the good bits and eradicate the bad. For example, there is nothing wrong with young people borrowing money against their expected future income if they have genuinely good prospects, but we need to prevent the sort of irresponsible lending to people with poor credit ratings that led to the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
    “What we mustn’t do is throw the baby out with the bathwater. The global banking system has helped increase living standards at a faster rate than at any point in history, and we are about to see the emergence of two-thirds of the world’s population into the developed world.””

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/3155122/Global-financial-crisis-does-the-world-need-a-new-banking-policeman.html

    Well, just term the ‘baby’ a ‘piig’ and you can drown it! Forget about the bathwater: basel bankers own the tub!

  • John Galt
    Feb 9, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Where can i get a quick summary of how the Greece government spends? Is there a link to a statical breakdown? I am curious why they are broke as a joke.

  • Bill Stewart
    Feb 9, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    The Greeks may have pioneered the Gyro / Euro / … but its the Kiwis that have pioneered the Meat Spaghetti:

    Meat spaghetti – the new food fad?
    – http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/1985924

    An invention that could trick fussy children into eating meat while revolutionising the pasta market was accidentally created by an AgResearch scientist in Hamilton.

    The country’s foremost pastoral research and development company has found a way to make meat spaghetti.
    – http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_business_story_skin/1985924

    Picky children may soon be tricked into eating meat, thanks to an accidental discovery by Agresearch scientist Dr Mustafa Farouk.

    He was investigating the binding strength of meat proteins when he found mutton or beef can be formed into long, colourful spaghetti-like strings.

    “It tastes like meat and it can look like meat but we can actually change the composition of the product quite a lot so we can mask the meaty flavour,” Agresearch spokesman Mike North said.
    – http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/569363

    And, the Global Finance Crisis has lead to job losses in the Mass Media in the Carribean:

    http://www.cbc.bb/index.pl/article?id=5997743

    A total of 40 media workers were laid off from the Caribbean Media Corporation and the Nation Corporation between December 2008 and March 2009.

    And the Barbados Association of Journalists has welcomed the opening of two new media outlets.

    President of the BAJ Amanda Lynch-Foster says a new radio station and digital newspaper are good sources of competition, which are needed in a modern media environment.

    She says in light of the lay-offs, they have provided media workers with more career opportunities.

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