Banks say no deal on Greek debt. Ack! They Are Actually Going To Let Greece Default! I wish that I had an "aha moment" to share with you today, but instead all I have is an "ack moment" to share. As I was analyzing all of the info coming out of Europe in recent days, I came to the following realization: "Ack! They are actually going to let Greece default! " The only question is whether it is going to be an orderly default or a disorderly default. Of course the EU (led by Germany) could save Greece financially if it wanted to. But Germany has decided against that course of action. Many prominent voices in the financial world that have been watching all of this play out are now openly declaring the Greece is about to default.
You might want to go back and read that again. One of the top officials at one of the top credit rating agencies in the world publicly declared on television that "Greece will default very shortly. " That should chill you to your bones. Confidence in the bonds of those countries would disintegrate and bond yields would go through the roof. ***Epilogue*** Greek PM says creditors may be forced to take losses: report. Greek Default Imminent probably March 20,2012/LTRO next auction 1 trillion euros. Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold and silver had stellar days with gold rising by $24.80 to $1655.20 and silver finishing the day up by 36 cents to $30.11.
There is still no doubt that the bankers are controlling the paper silver/gold market. Let's proceed over to the comex and assess trading there today with respect to open interest, inventory movements and amounts of precious metals standing for delivery. The total comex open interest rose by a huge 6572 open interest contracts today with a closing reading of 425,244. Remember that this is actually the official closing open interest for Friday as we are always 24 hours back with respect to OI readings.
The front options expiry month of January rose from 35 to 71 contracts despite 13 delivery notices on Friday. We thus gained 49 contracts of additional gold standing and lost nothing to cash settlements. The total silver comex OI fell by 1052 contracts in total contrast to gold. Again we had no gold deposited to the dealer. 1. End. Angela Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown | World news. Angela Merkel has cast doubt for the first time on Europe's chances of saving Greece from financial meltdown and sovereign default, conceding that Europe's first ever multibillion euro bailout coupled with savage austerity was not working after a two-year crisis that has brought the single currency to the brink of unravelling.
In an interview with the Guardian and five other leading European newspapers, the German chancellor also insisted – against widespread resistance elsewhere in the eurozone and in the UK – that the European court of justice (ECJ) be empowered to police public spending and budget policies of the 17 countries in the euro. She also called for the eventual creation of a European political union, with many more national powers ceded to a central government, a strengthened bicameral European parliament, and the ECJ assuming the role of Europe's supreme court. "We haven't overcome the crisis yet. Opponents say the pact will do little to stem the immediate crisis. News from The Associated Press. BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union's Parliament on Tuesday completed the biggest overhaul of the bloc's financial system since the introduction of the euro currency, passing laws to minimize the risk and cost posed by failing banks. Lawmakers signed off on the creation of a European authority with the power to unwind or restructure failing banks, as well as a system that will see banks' creditors - not governments - take losses first when lenders fail.
The approval came after months of tough negotiations between national governments and the parliament. The new rules "put an end to the era of massive bailouts and ensure taxpayers will no longer foot the bill when banks face difficulties," said Michel Barnier, the EU Commissioner in charge of financial market reform. Parliament also passed legislation that protects all deposits of up to 100,000 euros ($138,000) in case of bank failures across the 28-nation bloc. JOHN MAULDIN: Staring Into The Abyss. Look Out Below – The Nightmarish Decline Of The Euro Has Begun. The euro is a dying currency. On Thursday, the EUR/USD fell below 1.28 for the first time since September 2010. In fact, as I write this the EUR/USD is sitting at 1.2791. Back in July, the EUR/USD was over 1.45. But this is just the beginning. The euro is going to go a lot lower. At this point, there are several major European nations that are on the verge of default, the European financial system is overflowing with debt and toxic assets, and most major European banks are leveraged about as badly as Lehman Brothers was when it collapsed.
Most Americans simply do not grasp the gravity of what is happening. So how far are we going to see the euro decline? Julian Jessop of Capital Economics expects the euro to fall much further.... The relative strength of the recent economic data from the US is supporting the dollar more generally, and we expect this divergence to persist as the euro-zone slides into a deep and prolonged recession. Others are even more pessimistic.
Can you imagine that? Greece's Growing, Overqualified Agricultural Sector - Global. Pawnbrokers Prosper as Greece Struggles With Hard Times. But the stores — pawnshops and gold dealers — are thriving as Greeks who are short of cash give up jewelry and other valuables to make ends meet and pay new taxes. The authorities reported a veritable explosion in the sector, with 90 percent of the nation’s 224 officially registered pawnshops having opened in the past year. While these entrepreneurs insist that their services are legitimate, the Greek authorities contend that many of the shops are concealing a rapidly expanding illicit trade in gold, and that much of it is being smuggled out of the debt-racked country, confounding efforts to curb rampant tax evasion.
Similar trends have been reported in other countries that were hit by recession. In the United States and Britain, weakening economies and turmoil in credit markets have helped gold dealers thrive. A decade ago, the same happened in Argentina, after its economic meltdown. In , new outlets are springing up on streets where bankrupt stores have been boarded up. Fleeing Greeks bank on new Australian gold rush | World news. For several months a stream of mostly young men and women, fresh off the plane from Greece, has been knocking at the doors of a large building on Lonsdale Street in the heart of Melbourne.
The 1940s block houses the headquarters of Australia's biggest Greek community. In scenes reminiscent of the great gold rush at the turn of the 20th century, the men and women have travelled to the other side of the world in search of a better life. Unlike Greeks of old, however, these new émigrés are noticeably accomplished, with hard-earned degrees won in some of the toughest fields. "They're all university graduates, engineers, architects, mechanics, teachers, bankers who will do anything for work," says Bill Papastergiades, the community's lawyer president. The exodus is just one part of the human drama being played out in Greece where Europe's debt crisis began. "Often people say they just don't want their children to grow up there," said Papastergiades.
Greece to 'sell bonds backed by state property'. Greek Crisis Has Pharmacists Pleading for Aspirin. For patients and pharmacists in financially stricken Greece, even finding aspirin has turned into a headache. Mina Mavrou, who runs a pharmacy in a middle-class Athens suburb, spends hours each day pleading with drugmakers, wholesalers and colleagues to hunt down medicines for clients. Life-saving drugs such as Sanofi (SAN)’s blood-thinner Clexane and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)’s asthma inhaler Flixotide often appear as lines of crimson data on pharmacists’ computer screens, meaning the products aren’t in stock or that pharmacists can’t order as many units as they need. “When we see red, we want to cry,” Mavrou said. “The situation is worsening day by day.” The 12,000 pharmacies that dot almost every street corner in Greek cities are the damaged capillaries of a complex system for getting treatment to patients.
The Panhellenic Association of Pharmacists reports shortages of almost half the country’s 500 most-used medicines. ‘Many Difficulties’ The reasons for the shortages are complex. Children 'dumped in streets by Greek parents who can't afford them' Youngsters abandoned as parents struggle4-year-old found clutching note: 'I can't afford her'Country also running out of medicineAspirin stocks low as austerity measures bite By Lee Moran Updated: 16:08 GMT, 16 January 2012 Children are being abandoned on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who cannot afford to look after them any more. Youngsters are being dumped by their parents who are struggling to make ends meet in what is fast becoming the most tragic human consequence of the Euro crisis.
It comes as pharmacists revealed the country had almost run out of aspirin, as multi-billion euro austerity measures filter their way through society. Abandoned: Children are being dumped on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who cannot afford to look after them any more (file picture) Athens' Ark of the World youth centre said four children, including a newborn baby, had been left on its doorstep in recent months. - Fr Antonios Papanikolaou. Greeks must avert economic collapse, euro exit: leader. In Greece, fears that austerity is killing the economy. Greece has been forced to cut spending and raise taxes in the middle of a severe downturn, slashing pensions as well as state salaries, jobs and services. As public confidence has evaporated, consumer spending — the biggest driver of the economy — has plunged, generating cascading losses at private firms.
The result is a dizzying economic plummet and social crisis that is bringing the cradle of Western civilization to its knees. “Conditions have deteriorated so dramatically that doctors in this country now believe that the Greek crisis is no longer just a financial crisis but a humanitarian crisis,” said Dimitris Varnavas, the president of the Federation of Greek Hospital Doctors’ Unions. The economic pain here is intensifying the debate over how to fix Europe’s fiscal woes, potentially influencing U.S. policymakers as they chart their own course to cut the deficit. Greece, proponents of austerity say, has no one to blame but itself. Athens’s ‘new poor’ Health care takes hit.