Greece Says It Will Make IMF Payment Next Week As Stalemate Continues
Greece may succeed in avoiding a default next week, but it remains at loggerheads with its creditors.
Read more...Category Archives: Europe
The Persecution and Assassination of the People of Greece as Performed by the Inmates of the Troika, Under the Direction of the Eurogroup
A new paper shreds the myths that justified the misguided application of austerity and wage-rate reduction policies in Greece and the Eurozone.
Read more...Wolf Richter: China Containerized Freight Index Plunges to Multi-Year Low, Shanghai-EU Rates Totally Collapse, US Rates Morose
Weak demand in the Eurozone; inventory build-up in the U.S., and free money meant carriers added more and more ships. How does the movie end?
Read more...Syriza Emulates Nixon Going to China in a Bad Way
It’s painful to watch the Greek ruling coalition unwittingly do the creditors’ work by wringing Greece dry of cash more aggressively than Pasok or New Democracy would have dared to.
Read more...An Assessment of the State of the World Economy
Complex forces are shaping macroeconomic evolutions around the world. In this column, IMF’s Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard describes some of these forces and provides an overview of the state of the world economy. Putting the forces together, the baseline forecasts are that advanced countries will do better this year than last, and emerging countries will slow down. Overall, the global growth will be roughly the same as last year, with the macroeconomic risks having slightly decreased.
Read more...Angela Merkel’s NSA Nightmare Just Got A Lot Worse
Angela Merkel could be in serious trouble, after revelations that Germany’s national intelligence agency, the BND, has been spying on key European assets on behalf of US intelligence.
Read more...Does It Matter To You Who Wins The British Election Next Week?
A country survey of the effects of the British election, which takes place next week, with a musical critique of the Tories.
Read more...Why Syriza Failed
Syriza has failed because it does not believe in governing along the lines of what it promised unless it is easy to do so.
Read more...John Helmer: Ukraine Readies Itself for War When No One Wants to Pay for It
The IMF is finding it hard to put enough lipstick on the pig of financing Ukraine.
Read more...Eurogroup Demands Varoufakis’ Ouster; Trajectory Toward Default Continues
In case you had any doubts that Greece is supposed to act like a good debt vassal, the Eurogroup’s hissy fit over Yanis Varoufakis at last Friday’s meeting, which stoked a raft of unflattering articles, has now led it to demand to that Greek government remove him.
Read more...Greece Talks With Eurogroup Hit “Complete Breakdown”
The Greek negotiations with the Eurogroup are exemplifying the saying, “Things look the darkest before they go completely black.”
Read more...The Gazprom Case: Good Timing or Bad Timing?
Just a week after having sent a Statement of Objections (SO) in the frame of the antitrust case against Google, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager sent yesterday an SO in the frame of the case against Gazprom. The decision to send a charge sheet against the Russian gas company came after almost three years of investigations, which have also seen EU antitrust officials raiding Gazprom offices in central and eastern European countries.
Read more...Wolf Richter: The Greek People Just Destroyed Syriza’s Strategy
Greek stocks ventured deeper into purgatory. The ASE index dove below 700 intraday on Wednesday for the first time since the crisis days of June 2012. Then word spread that the ECB had raised the cap on the Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek banks by €1.5 billion to €75.5 billion. It’s the oxygen line for Greek banks. Without it, they’re toast.
Read more...The IMF’s Big Greek Mistake
Instead of demanding repayment and further austerity, the IMF should recognize its responsibility for Greece’s predicament and forgive much of the debt.
Read more...John Helmer: The Potentate Of Prague — How the War Party in Washington is Losing Eastern Europe, Hillary Clinton Too
Why the richest man in Prague, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, is planning to sue the US government for libel.
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