Eurozone Crackup

[Crewleader]

August 22, 2011

"Open Your Eyes: the Euro and Europe are on the Edge of the Precipice"

Eurozone Crackup

By MIKE WHITNEY

"We believe that the market has now entered a major downtrend. It is a mistake to dismiss the slide we’ve seen to date as mindless and devoid of fundamentals as many strategists maintain. These are not just scary headlines—-they are scary fundamentals.... There will undoubtedly be some more sharp rallies that will be interpreted as new bull markets. In our view, however, the bear market has only begun, and has a long way to go."

-- Comstock Partners, "Bear Market Rally Far From Over", Pragmatic Capitalism


A toxic combo of poor economic data in the US and a widening credit crunch in the eurozone has sent stocks plunging for a 4th consecutive week. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrials fell 172 points as jittery investors exited equities for the safe haven of cash and government debt. Global equities have lost more than $6 trillion in the last month alone while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped to a record 1.99 per cent on Thursday. The low yields on Treasuries indicate the growing fear that troubles in the EU are reaching a crisis-phase. Political gridlock has increased volatility and triggered a slow-motion run on the EU banking system. The same process unfolded in the US for a full year before Lehman Brothers collapsed (from July 2007 to Sept 2008) putting the financial system into a death-spiral. Now it's Europe's turn. This is from the Wall Street Journal:

"A dramatic sell-off in European financial markets on Thursday renewed fears that Europe's banks are too weak to withstand the Continent's debt crisis, increasing the chances that the region's leaders will be forced to pursue radical steps toward fiscal union in order to preserve their single currency....

“That realization has in recent days prompted Germany, the region's economic powerhouse and an opponent of fiscal union, to reconsider proposals that would force it to accept responsibility for the debts of its neighbors. Thursday's markets rout, the worst in Europe in more than two years, suggests Berlin and Paris may have to act quickly. If investors lose confidence in the region's banks, Europe's financial system could seize up, tipping the euro zone into another recession." (" Renewed Fears Europe's Banks Too Weak To Withstand Debt Crisis", Wall Street Journal)

The situation is progressively getting worse. Money markets, commercial paper and the repo markets--where banks get their funding--are all under pressure. The time to act is now, but EU leaders remain frozen in the headlights.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney08222011.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Maybe they'll just start printing money

like the US does.

[Hawkowl]

2. They can't

That's the problem. They have a Euro but no Eurobonds. It would be as if the US had a dollar but no Treasury bills, only California bonds, and Wyoming bonds and Alabama bonds, a whole mish mash of individual state (European country) bonds.

The US Fed has been buying Treasuries, counting them as assets and loaning the money interest free to US banks and rich people. The Europeans have no such option. Now the European Central Bank (kind of like the US Fed) can trade their Euro's to the US Fed Reserve for dollars and loan the money to European banks that way, but it is problematic.

Not the least of which is that US money market funds are withdrawing access to their funds post haste from European banks.

See http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/europe-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Csorry-bad-address%E2%80%9D

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Excellent point, and of course points out the sticky wicket, doesn't it?

Europe can't print, and over here, it is common knowledge that we have printed past fail safe.

[Turbineguy]

3. Merkel and Zarkozy

are afraid of their electorate and so do nothing. Right-wing nutjobs becoming more popular. Democracy is in trouble.

[truedelphi]

4. Democracy in Iceland seems to be doing just fine.

Only the "Democracies" that are trying to fall all over themselves in an attempt to placate the Biggest Fianncial Players have the biggest worries.

[OllieLotte]

6. Would you cosign for a loan...

....for someone that already was defaulting on a loan and you knew could not repay?