Eurozone debt crisis

[superfrank]

Greece Spends Bailout Cash On European Military Purchases
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-sp ... -purchases

[Iron]

Germany managed to sell negative yield bonds today, ie people were actually paying Germany for the priviliege of lending money to them!

If only Britain could do that! It would solve all our debt problems in one fell swoop!

Jeff

[CaerMyrddin]

Hi Frank, in the article you posted you could read:

"as after the Portuguese (another obviously stressed nation), the Greeks are the largest buyers of German war weapons"

Well, this is were it get's really interesting. It's all a matter of perception. The portuguese army still uses the same rifles that served in the colonial wars back in the 60's and 70's (what a disgrace, I know), portuguese youngsters aren't recruited anymore (I never set foot in the army and I'm 32 now), so I would dare to say we are a pretty demilitarized country.

Curiously, we made a major military investment in the past years, we bought Germany not one but two submarines what was and still is a very controversial decision. Can't tell how this would help deal with some sort of coup?

[superfrank]

arms dealing makes banking look respectable.

it's hard to see why the likes of Greece and Portugal feel the need to invest in new hardware in times like these.

[CaerMyrddin]

The decision to invest was made way before this crisis hit the roof. Regarding he submarines, it was decided in 2004 and they were delivered a couple of years ago. You missed my point I'm affraid. Tyler Durden is wrong on this subject. You can't look to the amount a country spent and simply suppose they are getting ready to face a riot. No submarine can face a riot

[superfrank]

The decision to invest was made way before this crisis hit the roof. Regarding he submarines, it was decided in 2004 and they were delivered a couple of years ago. You missed my point I'm affraid. Tyler Durden is wrong on this subject. You can't look to the amount a country spent and simply suppose they are getting ready to face a riot. No submarine can face a riot

Sorry, I don't claim to know a thing about the Portuguese military... I only read the stuff about the more recent Greek buying.

I agree about zh and td, they do tend to exaggerate a bit sometimes- but it's entertaining!

[CaerMyrddin]

Oh yes it is and sometimes pretty amusing too.

[Iron]

From the Telegraph:

'The UK sold £700m of debt today at an average yield of -0.116pc. Investors are so keen to find somewhere safe for their cash that they're willing to let the UK skim a little from the top.'

Happy days!

Jeff

[superfrank]

the central banks might have achieved low yields (for now) with their monetisation, but it stores up problems for the future because the risk is clearly being mispriced (how can any debt have a negative risk of default?!).

I know this is about Bernanke (but Mystic Merv and the ECB are pursuing the same policy)...

Ben Bernanke's zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP) and command-economy efforts to maintain mispricing of risk, debt and assets are destroying capital and capitalism. No wonder his policies have failed so miserably. Bernanke's policy is to punish capital accumulation and reward leveraged debt expansion. Rather than enforce the market's discipline and transparent pricing of risk, debt and assets, Bernanke has explicitly set out to re-inflate a destructive, massively unproductive credit bubble. This is why Bernanke has failed so completely, and why he will continue to fail. He is not engaged in capitalism, he is engaged in the destruction of capital, investment discipline and the open pricing of risk, debt and assets.

Why Bernanke Has Failed, And Will Continue To Fail
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-pos ... tinue-fail

[Iron]

Mafia is Italy's biggest business - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... iness.html

[Euler]

Brace yourself

Eurozone governments are bracing for new debt-crisis turbulence after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s told them it would downgrade two of the eurozone’s six triple A nations.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78bf6fb4-3df6 ... z1jLvDTAWR

[Iron]

Even the Dow is tanking!

Jeff

[Iron]

Greece debt write-off talks with banks stall - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16553532

[Euler]

Greek debt restructuring talks collapse

Talks over Greece’s debt restructuring collapsed on Friday, an unexpected breakdown that makes it increasingly likely Athens will become the first government of a developed country in more than 60 years to suffer a full-scale default on its debt.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1de4bb7e-3dfd ... z1jLvDTAWR

[superfrank]

the Euro fell all day (the £ slumped too, but that goes without saying!).

if only all moves were as smooth as that!... EURUSD: