The Beat Goes On

Jose Socrates, Prime Minister of Portugal, failed this week to get his country to complete the fiscal austerity program designed to save Portugal from defaulting on their sovereign debt. The truth is that no one cares about Portugal. The big concern is Spain. Portugal is a relatively small economy and EU bailout fund could easily accommodate Portugal's needs (and probably will do so soon). But, that leaves Spain. Spain's problems are so immense that the EU has no serious way of dealing with it.

Thoughts of Portugal lead to the contemplation of Spain, in true domino-theory progression. It is hard to see what the EU will do when Spain is the headline. That could be game over (and we haven't even begun to speak of Italy).

All of this is a policy of wishful thinking by the EU, of course. It is simply a matter of time until all the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) default on their sovereign debt and are forced to nationalize their largest banks. Why they think putting this off is a good idea is something of a mystery. It only gets worse with time.

The US is not far behind.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"You Can Keep Your Existing Health Insurance"

I wondered about this statement at the time Obama made it.  Clearly, by changing all the rules of health care insurance and mandating conformity, it was unlikely that the vast majority of Americans would not find themselves forced by 'The Affordable Care Act' to have to deal with a completely different health insurance plan and completely different set of health care providers. I now understand what Obama meant.   He was speaking to his immediate family and (politician) friends.  They are exempt from the "Affordable Care Act."  Clearly what he meant to say was: "if you are exempt from Obamacare, like me and my family, you can keep your existing health insurance."  He never meant to mislead.
Read more

Things We Now Know

The poor are losing ground in the new Obama world.  The facts are showing up even in the halls of collectivist extremes like the New York Times.  The rich are getting richer and poor are being locked in place.  Big government is throttling the economy and the hopes and dreams of lower and middle class Americans. Today's Wall Street Journal's article by Simon Constable lays out some of the simple and obvious facts of the Obama era: "The richest 20% of households account for 38% of spending, according to government data for 2011, the latest available.  Compare that with 2003 when the top earners spent 26% of the total."  The article goes on to say..."it could get even worse."  It will. Who really benefits when the regulators strangle the banks?  Do banks really need to get much more conservative in their lending practices?  Why does the government know best?  How far can you stretch the FDIC guarantees before American banking is simply a subsidiary of the US g
Read more

Why Gold and Silver? Why Online Store?

Image
Are you first time gold and silver buyers? Why don't you invest in these popular metals? If you did so, you have had a wonderful investing experience after 2008 global financial crisis. But, do you really understand these metals? Were they really precious (especially now)? Traditionally, gold and silver were one form of exchange. Because of the invention of fiat money, they were being turned into some short of "back-up" currency , in case our fiat money system go burst. It's natural when things go wrong, gold and silver tends to appreciate in value. In other words, people hold precious metals to preserve the value of their assets. 3 Reasons Why Gold and Silver... Still hot in demand , especially by emerging affluent Chinese. Traditionally, Chinese loves gold. They bought it for events such as new born baby, new year, wedding and even funeral ceremony. Strengthening USD ??? Yes. It's a correct reason also. Why? Because of news that US going to stop QE3, USD is str
Read more