Now why would they be having

Beetlejuice — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:02:02 +0000

In reply to Spain and Italy Turn Against

Now why would they be having a hissy fit with their fellow sister from the Club Med cartel of the Euro Zone?

Perhaps ...

Ten-year yields for Italian bonds edged up to 4.8 percent on Monday, from 4.7 percent last week. Rates for Spain’s comparable bonds rose to 5.5 percent, up from 5.2 percent.

I think Frau Merkel said it best though ...

"It is also important that people in countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal are not able to retire earlier than in Germany -- that everyone exerts themselves more or less equally. That is important."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,763294,00.html

Here's the problem. Seems Grecian reforms to its pension system were aimed at reducing early retirement and raising the average age of retirement to 63. Incentives to keep workers in the labor market beyond 65 have likewise been adopted.

However, in Germany they just raised the retirement age from 65 to 67.

So on one hand there's a Club Med mentality in Greece, Italy and Spain to go easy on themselves and enjoy the largess of what the Euro zone has to offer

And on the other hand, their northern partners of the Euro union make it difficult for their people to retire early and are expected to tow the line and work to pay taxes so the ECB is flush with cash to ease the financial burden in the Club Med region because of a lack of work ethics.

But the true significance is what just happened to Spain and Italy, as mentioned above, will happen to the US if the GOPer's push the deficit debate to the wire. At the moment the US pays doodley-squat in interest rates for borrowed money...at the very least you get back exactly what you put in and don't have to worry about loosing you ass if the market goes tits up again. If the US defaults, they''re gonna want interest to offset the possibility of another GOP attempt to pretend to know what they're doing.

Spain and Italy Turn Against

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:22:58 +0000

In reply to U.S. Stocks Tumble as Concern Over Europe’s Debt Crisis Heightens

Spain and Italy Turn Against Greece Over Reform Efforts
By Landon Thomas Jr., New York Times, May 23, 2011

LONDON — When Greece’s financial decision makers were summoned to secret talks at a Luxembourg castle by their euro zone partners this month, they knew a tongue-lashing was coming over the country’s stumbling reform efforts.

What they did not expect was that it would be Spain and Italy, as opposed to Germany, that would take the lead in upbraiding Greece for not pushing faster on privatization and tax overhauls.

“The peripherals were furious,” said a person who was present at the talks but who was not authorized to speak publicly about them. “They were accusing Greece of threatening to bring contagion back to their markets.”

In many respects the meeting in Luxembourg, called to enforce unity and common thinking over the 17-member euro zone’s strategy for Greece, has become an embarrassing illustration of just how disunited this monetary union has become....

dagblog - Comments for "U.S. Stocks Tumble as Concern Over Europe’s Debt Crisis Heightens"

Now why would they be having

Spain and Italy Turn Against