Europe: A Thousand Miles Behind
Production and exports are plummeting in Italy, Holland, Finland, Germany, just about anywhere; in China, production growth falls sharply. But your "leaders" will keep on talking about restoring growth, recovery etc. Spain will - secretly - ask for some $200-300 billion in bank bail-outs on Saturday (and get much less, the Wall Street Journal reports it will be €125), and 24 hours later play its first game in the Euro Cup, for which it's the great favorite.
The potential Spain bailout will need to be financed through EFSF bonds. The IMF has stated that the banks will need €40 billion, but that number looks ridiculously low. €40 billion every week over the entire summer sounds more like it.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard quotes a few voices:
Is a Spanish bail-out viable?
Megan Greene, from Roubini Global Economics, says Spain's banks will need up to €250bn - a claim that no longer looks extreme. New troubles are emerging daily. The Bank of Spain said yesterday that Catalunya Caixa and Novagalicia will need a total of €9bn in new state funds.
JP Morgan is expecting the final package for Spain to rise above €350bn, while RBS says the rescue will "morph" into a full-blown rescue of €370bn to €450bn over time - by far the largest in world history.
But then there's always that nasty and inconvenient question:
http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/europe-a-thousand-miles-behind.html
I especially like this thought....the Super Terrific Ultra Providencial Insurance Disbursment (STUPID) fund issuing yet ANOTHER set of bonds to roll over the old ones.
Breaking Market News: JPM told IMF to stick EFSF bonds where the sun don't shine....
8 days.....
