dagblog - Comments for "Spain makes explicit plea for bank aid"

Open letter to Chancellor

artappraiser — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:53:14 +0000

In reply to Spain makes explicit plea for bank aid

Open letter to Chancellor Merkel: Sacrifice Spain
By "Spengler," Asia Times Online, June 5, 2012

Dear Federal Chancellor:

[....] Ultimately, you will have sacrifice Spain. That will compromise the French banks, which in turn will require German support. Spain is unsalvageable. It is better to take the pain early and deliberately, rather than later and chaotically. Dealing expeditiously with Spain, moreover, should convince Italy to adopt the reforms which can prevent it from following Spain and Greece into de facto national bankruptcy.

Whether Greece chooses national bankruptcy putting the left in power on June 17 or not is a minor matter. The decisive question before you is Spain. Spain has lied and continues to lie systematically about the scale of its financial problems. Its banking system is worthless, and its debt as well as equity should be written down to zero. The facts are that: [....]

Spain calls for new tax pact

artappraiser — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:22:47 +0000

In reply to Spain makes explicit plea for bank aid

Spain calls for new tax pact to save euro
Madrid calls for Europe-wide plan but resists 'humiliation' of national bailout

By Ian Traynor in Brussels and Nicholas Watt, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 June 2012 15.12 EDT

Spain is warning that Europe's single currency will unravel unless its leaders decide within weeks to centralise budget and tax policies in the eurozone and agree on a strategy to pool responsibility for failing banks.

As Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, came under mounting international pressure to accept the eurozone's fourth national bailout in two years, the government in Madrid angrily rejected the demands, insisting that it did not need rescuing. With fears of a euro meltdown having rapidly shifted from Greece to Spain, Rajoy is pleading for a direct eurozone rescue of his country's banks, to avoid the humiliation attached to requesting a national bailout.

Sources familiar with the Spanish government's thinking said its negotiating position was that the fundamental quandary facing the eurozone was not Spain, but a European failure of leadership in persuading the financial markets that the euro would be defended at all costs [....]

And Greece is in a death

artappraiser — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:11:36 +0000

In reply to Spain makes explicit plea for bank aid

And Greece is in a death spiral:

Greece Warns of Going Broke as Tax Proceeds Dry Up
By Liz Alderman, New York Times, June 5, 2012

ATHENS — As European leaders grapple with how to preserve their monetary union, Greece is rapidly running out of money.

Government coffers could be empty as soon as July, shortly after this month’s pivotal elections. In the worst case, Athens might have to temporarily stop paying for salaries and pensions, along with imports of fuel, food and pharmaceuticals.

Officials, scrambling for solutions, have considered dipping into funds that are supposed to be for Greece’s troubled banks. Some are even suggesting doling out i.o.u.’s.

Greek leaders said that despite their latest bailout of 130 billion euros, or $161.7 billion, they face a shortfall of 1.7 billion euros because tax revenue and other sources of potential income are drying up. [....]