Europe

‘Troika’ offers Cyprus bailout in exchange for tax hikes

"Cyprus needs up to 17 billion euros - almost as much as its annual gross domestic product - in emergency loans, mostly to recapitalise its oversized banking sector, hit by a Greek debt restructuring, but also to service debt and government expenses. The capital gains tax could be introduced only temporarily, for three years, and provide the government with an extra revenue of 200-300 million euros. The nominal corporate tax, which now stands at 10 percent, could be raised to 12.5 percent. The introduction of the financial transaction tax would be set at 0.01 percent of the value of trades for derivatives and 0.1 percent for stocks and bonds." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Troika’ offers Cyprus bailout in exchange for tax hikes

Bank of England Says Government Should Split Up RBS, Accept Loss

"Bank of England Governor Mervyn King urged the government to split up Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) and speed up the return of Britain’s biggest publicly owned lender to private ownership following its bailout in 2008. 'We’re four and half years on and there’s no sign of it going back to the private sector,' King told the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards at a hearing in London today. 'That indicates we’ve not been sufficiently decisive in recapitalizing or restructuring it.' RBS has been criticized by lawmakers for failing to boost lending to the economy, even though the taxpayer owns more than 80 percent of the lender." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBank of England Says Government Should Split Up RBS, Accept Loss

Some Breathing Room for Iran

"A recent letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators to the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank has shed light on the Iranian use of the European Central Bank’s Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System—also known as Target 2. This allows Iran to convert Iranian rials into euros. With euros in hand, Iran has far more latitude to conduct foreign transactions than it otherwise could with their increasingly worthless currency. The Senators urged the European Central Bank to immediately block Iranian access to Target 2." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSome Breathing Room for Iran

Some Breathing Room for Iran

"A recent letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators to the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank has shed light on the Iranian use of the European Central Bank’s Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System—also known as Target 2. This allows Iran to convert Iranian rials into euros. With euros in hand, Iran has far more latitude to conduct foreign transactions than it otherwise could with their increasingly worthless currency. The Senators urged the European Central Bank to immediately block Iranian access to Target 2." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSome Breathing Room for Iran

Uh Oh: “US is Deeply Concerned About Developments in the Ukraine”

"The US can't seem to stay out of anyone's business, including countries right on the border with Russia. Here's a statement issued by the US State Department: 'The United States is deeply concerned by recent steps taken in Ukraine to remove Members of Parliament from the Rada. We note with particular concern efforts to deprive Serhiy Vlasenko, a Member of Parliament and defense counsel for former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, of his seat in Parliament, his corresponding immunity from prosecution, and his right to travel outside Ukraine. These actions appear to be politically motivated due to his connection with Mrs. Tymoshenko.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUh Oh: “US is Deeply Concerned About Developments in the Ukraine”

Italian Elections: Europe’s Lost Generation Finds Its Voice

"They are the latest example of an uprising of the lost generation, that mass of people on Europe's periphery who are under the age of 40, desperate, unemployed and who have very little left to lose. The public outrage in Europe came to a boil in tent camps in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. It inspired the Occupy Wall Street activists. And it continued in Greece, where youth unemployment has reached 59.4 percent, and where there are no jobs and no economic recovery. In the eyes of many, the power of the politicians only serves their own interests." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItalian Elections: Europe’s Lost Generation Finds Its Voice

Ireland is the poster-child of EMU cruelty and folly

"It has stabilized the colossal debts left from taking on the gambling losses of Anglo Irish Bank at EU behest, that is to say from shielding German, British, Dutch and Belgian lenders from systemic contagion at a critical moment. Deo volente, it will be the first of the EMU victim states to escape control of the EU-IMF Troika, though it will answer to inspectors for another 20 years and the yet unborn will be paying off the €67bn of Troika indenture until 2042. A mass exodus of 40,000 to 50,000 each year to the four corners of the Irish Diaspora have kept unemployment down to 14.1pc, 'What we need here in Ireland is a good dose of inflation,' confided one official." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIreland is the poster-child of EMU cruelty and folly

Fears of Return of Euro Crisis Plague Central Bankers and IMF

"Last year, the ECB supported ailing Greece for months, because the EU couldn't agree on a bailout package for so long. It recently looked the other way when the Irish central bank came to the aid of a bank, and the prohibition on directly funding public budgets was cunningly circumvented. If the ECB were now forced to help an Italian government that is unwilling to institute reforms, its credibility would be destroyed once and for all. Many central bankers are no longer willing to cooperate with the lawmakers behind Europe's rescue programs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFears of Return of Euro Crisis Plague Central Bankers and IMF

Hundreds of thousands march against austerity in Portugal

"Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon and other Portuguese cities Saturday to protest against the government's austerity measures. The rallies were organised by a non-political movement which claimed 500,000 marched in the country's capital and another 400,000 in the main northern city of Porto. But the mood of the crowd was clearly political, calling for new elections with banners declaring 'Portugal to the polls!' and 'If you fall asleep in a democracy, you wake up in a dictatorship'. Another banner showed a picture of centre-right Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho with the caption: 'Today I am in the street, tomorrow it will be you.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHundreds of thousands march against austerity in Portugal

Italian newcomer Grillo predicts collapse in six months

"Italy's comedian turned protest politician, Beppe Grillo, has told German news magazine 'Focus' that he believes the country's political system could crumble within the year. 'I'd give the old parties another six months - then it will be all over here,' Grillo said in excerpts of the interview released on Saturday ahead of Focus' publication. 'Then they won't be able to cover pension payments or public sector salaries anymore.' Grillo, a populist who pledged a referendum on Italy withdrawing from the euro during the country's recent election campaign, said that Italy's national debt was becoming unsustainable and that its terms had to be renegotiated." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItalian newcomer Grillo predicts collapse in six months