DE GROTE EURO ZONE CRISIS : The Endgame

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Duitsland wil extra belastingen innen...

Slecht nieuws voor de Duitse houders bankrekeningen in Zwitserland.

BBC - Tax evasion treaty signed by Switzerland and Germany
German politicians have long complained about Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy

Germany has signed a new tax evasion treaty with Switzerland, but opposition MPs are threatening to block it.

If approved, the deal could bring Germany 10bn euros (£8.3bn, $13.1bn) next year, its finance ministry estimates.

The agreement is the latest in a long-running dispute about German nationals who hide taxable income in banks in neighbouring Switzerland.

It was toughened after opposition MPs objected, but may still be voted down.

It is not clear how much money Germans have banked in Switzerland.

...

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De zelfmoordnota van de Griekse gepensioneerde apotheker...

The occupation government of Tsolagoglou (reference to the Occupation govt of the ex-Defence Minister Tsolagoglou who became Quisling Prime Minister of the 3rd Reich) has erased essentially any possibility of my survival which was based on a decent pension which for 35 years, I alone (without the intervention of the state) had paid.

I am at an age which doesn’t give me the individual capacity for a dynamic intervention (without of course precluding that if one Greek took up arms-Kalashnikovs, the second person would be me) I cant find another solution from a decent end before I end up looking in the rubbish bins for food.

I believe that the young without a future, one day will take up arms and in Sindagma Sq will hang upside down the national traitors like the Italians did with Mussolini (Piazza Poreto Milan)



BRON : This is what an IMF suicide note looks like

[Munglik]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door zonbron

De zelfmoordnota van de Griekse gepensioneerde apotheker...

De Grieken zijn weer productief bezig...

[D'ARTOIS]

Pathetisch maar ook dramatisch. Wij hoeven nog niet in de vuilnisbakken te zoeken maar ook die tijd zal nog komen.
Wat als ze uw loon halveren en alle prijzen blijven optrekken.
Binnen enkele maanden zit de benzine op of boven de 2 euro per liter.
Overheid en multi' s gaan jullie uitbenen tot op het bot.

[patrickve]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door zonbron

De zelfmoordnota van de Griekse gepensioneerde apotheker...

Die man heeft gelijk. De juiste manier van doen.
Spijtig dat hij destijds zoveel geïnvesteerd heeft in een failliet sociaal systeem.

Maar hij heeft een goed leven gehad en besluit van er tijdig een punt achter te zetten.

[-=EXCALIBUR=-]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door patrickve

Maar hij heeft een goed leven gehad en besluit van er tijdig een punt achter te zetten.

Hij had er beter een paar meegenomen.

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Het Carmel Asset Management - rapport voorspelt grootse problemen voor Spanje en Europa. Lees het volledig/originele (scribd) document via onderstaande link.

ZEROHEDGE - Spain: The Ultimate Doomsday Presentation



Since we have grown tired of variations on the theme of "The Pain in ...." (having been guilty of encouraging it ourselves), we will spare readers this triteness, and instead summarize the attached must read slidedeck from Carmel Asset Management as the ultimate Spanish doomsday presentation. Naive and/or idealistic Spanish readers are advised to resume sticking their heads in the sand, and to stay as far away as possible from the attached 54 pages, which prove without any doubt why not only was Greece the appetizer (have your UK law:non-UK Law divergence trade on yet?) but why things in Europe are about to get far, far worse, as the Hurricane shifts to its next preferred location, somewhere above and just south of the Pyrenees.

In summary, here are Carmel's five reasons why Spain's problems are worse than the market anticipates:

1. Spain’s national debt is 50% greater than the headline numbers

Spain’s debt-to-GDP balloons from 60% to 90% of GDP with regional and other debts

2. Spain’s housing prices will fall by an additional 35%

Spain built one house for every additional person added to the population during the past two decades; the fall will decrease GDP by ~2% each of the next two years

3. Spain has “zombie” banks with massive loans to developers and to homeowners

Banks have not begun to realize losses and are vastly undercapitalized

4. Spain’s economy has not stabilized and will continue to deteriorate

Spain has the highest unemployment in the developed world, one of the highest overall debt loads, and the most uncompetitive labor market in Europe

5. The EU will not have the firepower or political will to bail out Spain

Rescue fund headline numbers are misleading and count capital that is not yet committed

And here are the problems that will manifest themselves over the next 12 months:

Spain’s true debt burden will pass the 90% “tipping point” identified by Rogoff and Reinhart
Housing prices will fall further and faster than anticipated (consensus is 15%; CAM estimate is 35%)
Banks underestimate the residential real estate loan defaults (consensus estimate is 2.8% vs. CAM estimate of 11%)
Expected housing price depreciation and loan defaults will deepen Spain’s recession (additional 2% contraction in 2012 and 2013)
Spain will need to refinance €186.1 Billion in 2012 alone

End result: surging CDS and/or plunging bond prices, if faith in the sovereign CDS market continues to be at rock bottom lows courtesy of ISDA nearly blowing its own head off.

Full presentation: scribd DOCUMENT - Investment Focus The Pain in Spain

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De Amerikaanse centrale planning en hun pamperbeleid; vergelijkbaar met die van het Europees (equivalent) beleid ?

ZERHEDGE - America : A governement out of control

<sub>"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have"

Thomas Jefferson</sub>

Something odd and not quite as planned happened as America grew from its "City on a Hill" origins, on its way to becoming the world's superpower: government grew. A lot. In fact, the government, which by definition does not create any wealth but merely reallocates it based on the whims of a select few, has transformed from a virtually invisible bystander in the economy, to the largest single employer, and a spending behemoth whose annual cash needs alone are nearly $4 trillion a year, and where tax revenues no longer cover even half the outflows. One can debate why this happened until one is blue in the face: the allures of encroaching central planning, the law of large numbers, and the corollary of corruption, inefficiency and greed, cheap credit, the transition to a welfare nanny state as America's population grew older, sicker and lazier, you name it. The reality is that the reasons for government's growth do not matter as much as realizing where we are, and deciding what has to be done: will America's central planners be afforded ever more power to decide the fates of not only America's population, but that of the world, or will the people reclaim the ideals that the founders of this once great country had when they set off on an experiment, which is now failing with every passing year?

As the following video created by New America Now, using content by Brandon Smith whose work has been featured extensively on the pages of Zero Hedge, notes, "we tend to view government as an inevitability of life, but the fact is government is not a force of nature. It is an imperfect creation of man and it can be dismantled by man just as easily as it can be established." Unfortunately, the realization that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and absolute central planning leads to epic catastrophes without fail, seems a long way away: most seem content with their lot in life, with lies that their welfare money is safe, even as the future is plundered with greater fury and aggression every passing year, until one day the ability to transfer wealth (benefiting primarily the uber rich, to the detriment of the middle class which is pillaged on an hourly basis), from the future to the present is gone, manifesting in either a failed bond auction or hyperinflation. The timing or shape of the transition itself is irrelevant, what is certain is that America is now on collision course with certain collapse unless something changes. And one of the things that has to change for hope in the great American dream to be restored, is the role, composition and motivations of government, all of which have mutated to far beyond what anyone envisioned back in 1776. Because America is now saddled with a Government Out Of Control.

Lees verder via ZEROHEDGE + Video America: A Government Out of Control

America: A Government Out of Control (Part 1)

America: A Government Out of Control (Part 2)

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Italiaanse banken doen het slecht op de beurs (-8.5% gedurende de laatste 2 dagen).
Broeit er wat ?

ZEROHEDGE - Carnage Ala Milanese: Italian Stock Bloodbath
UPDATE: *ITALY'S FTSE MIB INDEX SLIDES 5% and Spanish 10Y at 6%

Italian bank shares are down over 8.5% in the last two trading days as all the majors (Intesa SanPaolo, Unicredit, Banco Popolare -7.14%, UBI Banca, Banca Pop Milano -6.3%) are still HALTED. As 10Y BTP spreads break above 400bps for the first time in over two months, it seems the marginal buyer of last resort has left the building and with little if any performing collateral left, credit spreads (and LTRO Stigma most notably) is breaking to close to record wides.
...

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Ondertussen steeds minder olie-import vanuit Iran. Men zal het voelen aan de pomp...
Deze olie zal naar China & India vloeien.

ZEROHEDGE - Iran Escalates Again, Cuts Off Oil Shipments To Spain

Those hoping for a quick and painless resolution to the Iranian question may have just seen their hopes dashed, following the breaking news from Iranian Press TV, according to which not only is Iran not seeking to appease its Western counterparts, but is, in fact escalating. From Press TV: "Tehran has cut oil supply to Spain after stopping crude export to Greece as part of its countersanctions, unnamed sources confirmed on Tuesday. Tehran also mulls cutting oil supply to Germany and Italy." "Countersactions" - lovely: another Swiss watch plan by the insolvent developed world. Said otherwise, one can hardly threaten to do something to a country, which is already doing so voluntarily, in the process hurting Europe's already crippled economies even more by removing the cheapest source of energy for both. Which however begs the question: just how much more Iranian crude are China and India importing despite promises to the contrary, and open warnings from the US not to do so?

...

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Blijkbaar broeit er wat. Liquiditeitsproblemen op komst ?

ZEROHEDGE - Europe's Old Nemesis, Illiquidity, Is Back

One of the most-watched stress indicators from the European crisis (pre-LTRO) is starting to flash orange warning lights again. The 3-month EUR-USD basis swap (or how to get USD funding when no-one else will help) has just deteriorated its most over the past 5 days since mid-December. Having never realized more normalized levels from early last year, the rapid acceleration in this funding instrument's use last year and now this year is perhaps why bank stocks are under such incredible pressure as insolvency meets illiquidity head on once again.

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De Europese banken vandaag terug in vrije val.

ZEROHEDGE - Stocks Stalled At Post-NFP VWAP As European Banks Resume Freefall

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Survival map...

Map of the dead - Zombie Survival Map
On a long enough timeline... the zombies will arise, and exhibit a sudden craving for brain stew. So what is a person who will have survived the great central bank collapse to do? Full interactive map for any specific location in the US can be found.

Werkt ook in Europa.

[kameleon]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door zonbron

Blijkbaar broeit er wat. Liquiditeitsproblemen op komst ?

Om over de solvabiliteitsproblemen nog te zwijgen. Maar dat lossen we wel jaar per jaar op.

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De Italianen besparen...

Financial crisis targets Italians holidays

The latest figures show Italian people cut down their expenses during Easter weekend, confirming that the deepening economic crisis has hit the European nation severely.

According to Italy’s farmers association Coldiretti, Italians spent an estimated total of 1.2 billion euros on food and drink for Easter, which shows a 7 percent decrease compared to last year.

"The big debate over the labor market reform together with economic crisis, of course is having a negative impact on people’s expectations and on consumers’ confidence. Italians have slashed their spending amid fears of plummeting economy," said Antonello Oliva, a member of Italy’s Shopkeepers Association.

Coldiretti further added that 8 out of 10 Italians stayed at home over the Easter weekend, as the economic crisis has forced people to change their lifestyle habits.

...

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Te gek voor woorden, feiten die aanwijzen wat Europa te wachten staat.

De top 27 (statistieken)...

theeconomiccollapseblog - 27 Statistics About The European Economic Crisis That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

The economic crisis in Europe continues to get worse and eventually it is going to unravel into a complete economic nightmare. All over Europe, national governments have piled up debts that are completely unsustainable. But whenever they start significantly cutting government spending it results in an economic slowdown. So politicians in Europe are really caught between a rock and a hard place. They can't keep racking up these unsustainable debts, but if they continue to cut government spending it is going to push their economies into deep recession and their populations will riot. Greece is a perfect example of this.

...

The following are 27 statistics about the European economic crisis that are almost too crazy to believe....

Greece

#1 The Greek economy shrank by 6 percent during 2011, and it has been shrinking for five years in a row.

#2 The average unemployment rate in Greece in 2010 was 12.5 percent. During 2011, the average unemployment rate was 17.3 percent, and now the unemployment rate in Greece is up to 21.8 percent.

#3 The youth unemployment rate in Greece is now over 50 percent.

#4 The unemployment rate in the port town is Perama is about 60 percent.

#5 In Greece, 20 percent of all retail stores have closed down during the economic crisis.

#6 Greece now has a debt to GDP ratio of approximately 160 percent.

#7 Some of the austerity measures that have been implemented in Greece have been absolutely brutal. For example, Greek civil servants have had their incomes slashed by about 40 percent since 2010.

#8 Despite all of the austerity measures, it is being projected that Greece will still have a budget deficit equivalent to 7 percent of GDP in 2012.

#9 Greece is still facing unfunded liabilities in future years that are equivalent to approximately 800 percent of GDP.

#10 In the midst of all the poverty in Greece, several serious diseases are making a major comeback. The following comes from a recent article in the Guardian....

_{The incidence of HIV/Aids among intravenous drug users in central Athens soared by 1,250% in the first 10 months of 2011 compared with the same period the previous year, according to the head of Médecins sans Frontières Greece, while malaria is becoming endemic in the south for the first time since the rule of the colonels, which ended in the 1970s.}

Spain

#11 The unemployment rate in Spain is now up to 23.6 percent.

#12 The youth unemployment rate in Spain is now over 50 percent.

#13 The total value of all toxic loans in Spain is equivalent to approximately 13 percent of Spanish GDP.

#14 The GDP of Spain is about 1.4 trillion dollars. The three largest Spanish banks have approximately 2.7 trillion dollars in assets and they are all on the verge of failing.

#15 Home prices in Spain fell by 11.2 percent during 2011.

#16 The number of property repossessions in Spain rose by 32 percent during 2011.

#17 The ratio of government debt to GDP in Spain will rise by more than 11 percent during 2012.

#18 On top of everything else, Spain is dealing with the worst drought it has seen in 70 years.

Portugal

#19 The unemployment rate in Portugal is up to 15 percent.

#20 The youth unemployment rate in Portugal is now over 35 percent.

#21 Banks in Portugal borrowed a record 56.3 billion euros from the European Central Bank in March.

#22 It is being projected that the Portuguese economy will shrink by 5.7 percent during 2012.

#23 When you add up all forms of debt in Portugal (government, business and consumer) the total is equivalent to approximately 360 percent of GDP.

Italy

#24 Youth unemployment in Italy is up to 31.9 percent - the highest level ever.

#25 Italy's national debt is approximately 2.7 times larger than the national debts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal put together.

#26 If you add the maturing debt that the Italian government must roll over in 2012 to the projected budget deficit, it comes to approximately 23.1 percent of Italy's GDP.

#27 Italy now has a debt to GDP ratio of approximately 120 percent.

So why hasn't Europe crashed already?

Well, the powers that be are pulling out all their tricks.

For example, the European Central Bank decided to start loaning gigantic mountains of money to European banks. That accomplished two things....

1) It kept those European banks from collapsing.

2) European banks used that money to buy up sovereign bonds and that kept interest rates down.

Unfortunately, all of this game playing has also put the European Central Bank in a very vulnerable position.

The balance sheet of the European Central Bank has expanded by more than 1 trillion dollars over the past nine months. The balance sheet of the European Central Bank is now larger than the entire GDP of Germany and the ECB is now leveraged 36 to 1.

So just how far can you stretch the rubberband before it snaps?

Perhaps we are about to find out.

The European financial system is leveraged like crazy right now. Even banking systems in countries that you think of as "stable" are leveraged to extremes.

For example, major German banks are leveraged 32 to 1, and those banks are holding a massive amount of European sovereign debt.

When Lehman Brothers finally collapsed, it was only leveraged 30 to 1.

You can't solve a debt crisis with more debt. But the European Central Bank has been able to use more debt to kick the can down the road a few more months.

At some point the sovereign debt bubble is going to burst.

All financial bubbles eventually burst.

What goes up must come down.

Right now, the major industrialized nations of the world are approximately 55 trillion dollars in debt.

It has been a fun ride, but this fraudulent pyramid of risk, debt and leverage is going to come crashing down at some point.

It is only a matter of time.

Already, there are a whole bunch of signs that some very serious economic trouble is on the horizon.

Hopefully we still have a few more months until it hits.

But in this day and age nothing is guaranteed.

What does seem abundantly clear is that the current global financial system is inevitably going to fail.

When it does, what "solutions" will our leaders try to impose upon us?

That is something to think about.

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Soros brengt goed nieuws !


huffingtonpost - Soros: If Germany Persists, Europe Is Over



<sub>Soros: If Germany Persists, Europe Is Over
Posted: 04/14/2012 12:39 pm

Video , George Soros , George Soros Europe , George Soros Europe Crisis , George Soros Eurozone , Politics News




George Soros has gone to Berlin to tell the Germans that their policies are leading to the disintegration of not just the Euro, but Europe itself.

Yesterday in a panel on the "Future of Europe" at a conference organized by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Soros said:

The Euro has really broken down. It has sprung defects, some of which could have been anticipated and some were anticipated. But some actually couldn't. Effectively, heavily indebted countries [in Europe] have ended up in the position of a third world country that is heavily indebted in a foreign currency. And that is only one of the unanticipated results of how things worked out [with the Euro].

Soros went on to say that Europe is simultaneously suffering from a Euro Crisis, a sovereign debt crisis, a balance of payments crisis, a banking crisis, a competitiveness crisis and suffering from other serious structural defects.


Bottom line. Soros thinks Europe is over unless Germany immediately changes course and develops a policy framework that is far more flexible and pragmatic than it is forcing now.</sub>




Bekijk ook : Video George Soros: The Future of Europe 3/6

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Wie begeleidt ons naar onze financiële en sociale afgrond ?

<sub>Independent - What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe
While ordinary people fret about austerity and jobs, the eurozone's corridors of power have been undergoing a remarkable transformation



Goldman Sachs: Investing in political influence
A Venn diagram released by Harvard law professor and political activist Larry Lessig reveals the shocking connections between our government and banking and investment giant Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs was a major contributor to (and beneficiary of) the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis that helped initiate the current depression. The bank then proceeded to heavily avail itself of bailout payments and other monetary assistance from the federal government.



...


FAIR Whistleblowers - Revolving Door Between Government, Big Business
A series of Venn diagrams shows visually how strong the links are between the US Government and big business: dozens of people moving to and fro between top positions in government and in politically-connected corporations.

It is blatant conflicts of interest like these that lead to regulatory capture, corruption and crony capitalism. The industries covered in this analysis are: Big Oil, Comcast, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Media, Monsanto and Pharmaceuticals.</sub>

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Goldman over de verkiezingen in Griekenland...

Zero Hedge - Goldman On The Greek Elections
Goldman Sachs: General Elections Called in Greece


<sub>-Greek elections could lead to an anti-Euro government, which could interrupt the adjustment efforts underway and create risks to local financial stability.

-Pro-austerity Coalition Government is the Most Likely Outcome

...

This has created market concerns that the Greek elections could lead to an anti-Euro government, which could interrupt the adjustment efforts underway and create risks to local financial stability. We think this is unlikely for the following reasons:

Given the electoral law described above, even under current polling rates, the two leading parties (PASOK and ND) would likely gather enough parliamentary votes (>151) to form a majority government jointly.
The opposition parties are plentiful but fragmented. There are stark ideological differences among the parties of the left – and much more so between those of the far left and the far right. The agendas and the pursuits are very different, as are the positions on EMU participation. The probability that the opposition parties form a stable and coherent coalition of their own is fairly low, in our view.
Polling companies continue to warn that the high percentage of undecided voters creates a wide margin of error around current polls. Given the high public support for the EUR (typically north of 60% in past surveys), the current polls probably understate the actual ballot results for PASOK and ND (the parties most clearly pro-EUR).

...</sub>

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Update...

Zero Hedge - On The Goldman Path To Complete World Domination: Mark Carney On His Way To Head The Bank Of England?

<sub>Back in November we penned "The Complete And Annotated Guide To The European Bank Run (Or The Final Phase Of Goldman's World Domination Plan)" in which we described what the long-term reality of Europe, not that interrupted by the occasional transitory LTRO cash injection and other stop-gap central bank measure, would look like. And yet there was one piece missing: after Goldman unceremoniously set up its critical plants in Italy via Mario Monti and the ECB via Mario Draghi, one key target of Goldman domination was still missing. The place?

And most importantly, we can now update the map of Goldman conquests so kindly put together by The Independent last year, from this:



to this:



Is anyone left?

...</sub>