Summary: The dream of the latest Euro-rescue plan lasted for one week. Already painful reality emerges to confront the bold but baseless claims of Europe’s leaders. Only with exceptional skill and determination can they make this work.
Contents
- Greece introduces democracy into the rescue process
- Red lights on the dashboard
- The BRIC rescuers sound wary about their assigned role
- Market-based solutions fail if investors refuse to play
- Deductions and guesses
(1) “Papandreou saya new Greek plan must be put to referendum”. The creditor nations of Europe have put severe stress on Their debtor neighbors. So far the people have accepted these measures with remarkably little fuss. For example, Spain has an unemployment rate of 20%+ and rising.
But there are limits to what external pressure can accomplish, and the recent strikes and riots suggest that limit may be near. Asking the people for their consent is a logical and bold step. They may approve — large majorities favor staying with the Euro. They might not (Iceland’s voters rejected assuming their bankers’ debts). It introduces yet another uncertain element to a process in which time is the scarcest element.
(2) What is best market-price indicator of stress in the euro-zone?
Italian government bonds. The crisis entered a new phrase in August when their benchmark ten-year bond yield exceeded 6%. After the announcement of the Plan — it’s 6.17%. Continued increases would put the solvency of Italy at risk.
(3) Brazil, China and Japan make cautious indications of disinterest in the special vehicle bonds of the EFSF.
(4) A weak reception of the new EFSF bond auction: EFSF scales back Irish bailout bond”, from yesterday’s Financial Times:
The eurozone rescue fund has scaled back a planned bond issue designed to finance the bail-out of Ireland amid uncertainty over the level of demand. … The bond from the {EFSF} will only target €3bn, instead of €5bn, and will be in 10-year bonds rather than a 15-year maturity because of worries over demand. … The bond is expected to price at yields of about 3.30%, and about 130 basis points over Germany, the European market benchmark. This is a big mark-up since the middle of September, when existing 10-year EFSF bonds were trading around 2.60% and only 70bp over Germany.
(5) Deductions and guesses
These are not random isolated events, but steps in a larger process. Here are my guesses.
- The rescue plan will be seen as a failure. The ring fence around Greece was imaginary, the bank recapitalization a farce, the writedown of Greek debt insufficient, the EFSF plan a dream.
- The hopes the Plan aroused might slowly fade. Or they might pop, like an bubble or illusion.
- Europe’s leaders burned both time and credibility in this failed effort, just like the previous ones during the past 21 months.
- Now Europe’s problem will be seen as regional, not just Greece.
- As a result of these things the next rescue plan probably becomes 10x more difficult.
For More Information
- The post-WWII geopolitical regime is dying. Chapter One , 21 November 2007 — Why the current geopolitical order is unstable, describing the policy choices that brought us here.
- Can the European Monetary Union survive the next recession?, 11 July 2008
- The periphery of Europe – a flashpoint to the global economy, 8 February 2010
- A great speech by the PM of Greece. How soon until an American President says similar words?, 3 March 2010
- Governments cannot go bankrupt, 2 April 2010
- Our government’s finances are broken. How do we compare with our peers?, 8 April 2010
- The EU does Kabuki for Greece. Is it the next domino to fall?, 14 April 2010
- About the Euro crisis: the experts are wrong; the German people are right., 7 May 2010
- Former Central Bank Head Karl Otto Pöhl says bailout plan is all about ‘rescuing banks and rich Greeks’, 20 May 2010
- The Fate of Europe, nearing the point of decision, 13 September 2011
- Europe drifts towards the brink of a cataclysm, 26 September 2011
- Delusions about easy fixes for Europe, dreaming during the calm before the storm, 30 September 2011
- Every day the new world emerges, yet we see it not. Like today, as Europe begs China for loans, 15 September 2011
- Is Europe primed for chaos, as it was in July 1914?, 7 October 2011
- We see the outlines of the next cure for Europe. Will it work?, 14 October 2011
- Today Europe’s leaders took another step towards the edge of the cliff
What a thing to wake up to in the morning! I’d be really upset if it hadn’t been so blindingly self-evident that something like this was going to happen eventually.
Kudos to the Greek PM for putting this choice to his people before the fact of how truly screwed they are sinks in completely. This gives a slightly better chance that Greece will bite the bullet one more time for the rest of Europe.
The cries of outrage from the European bankers about this seem particularly silly to me. The Greek government appeared to me to be about one more austerity plan (about 3 more months if things go according to schedule) away from a no-confidence vote they couldn’t win so what did the bankers expect?
@Pluto: The danger of being an elite is succumbing to your own propaganda and once you believe the fictions you sell to everybody else you’re trapped and are furthermore unable to see the cage you’ve built. I think it’s a consequence of decades of relative stability; one forgets that long periods of stability are an anomaly in the long picture and starts to believe that this time it’s different!
Gentlemen: Greek culture is such that the mere act of making change during a routine purchase is a major event, to be closely scrutinized by all parties and to be avoided if possible. When you go to a restaurant and read its menu, it does not tell you what items are offered an at what price, rather it tells you what sort of items are offered and at about what price ( change must be avoided!). When you read a bus schedule, that does not tell you where you can go and when, rather it suggests the sort of places you probably can go to and at about what time.
But these are not frivolous people. Rather they have a deep sense of continuum more than a sense of discrete items. And read Zorba as well as accounts of the Battle of Crete and its subsequent resistance.
There’s also a political problem with all this. If you don’t have a consistent strategy, every new deal risks destroying old deals. The proposal of writing down 50% of Greek bonds, is already causing some severe resentment in Ireland for example, who accepted a crippling debt burden to bail out 100% of bond holders.
Well looks like stocks are tanking again on the news after their rise last week. Wonder what happens if these bailouts dont work as many news stories on this are hinting at?
I mean how long will we stand for the undermining of the basic tenets of Capitalism and Democracy?
How long before we demand these Demagogues and their Financial Minions eat the crap they have foisted on the entire World?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45129450
The “referendum” in Greece whether it happens or not has exposed the basic lies (And pretense at Inception) of a Euro Union for all to see.
The game was over way back when, we are now just seeing more of the great Unraveling.
The Time is coming ……………………
Greg