Bailout

ECB’s Hyper Mario Introduces Unlimited Bond-Buying In Boldest Attempt Yet To End Euro Crisis

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Commentary:

In case some of you still think that politicians and central banksters won’t lie to you:

Flashback: Quotes from the Great Depression

In other news:

– Financial Markets Cheer The Death Of The Bundesbank (Welt, Sep 6, 2012) – Bundesbank Text: Weidmann Reiterated Bond-Buy Criticism

– Hyper Mario Draghi: ‘Euro Is Irreversible’ – ECB Announces Sweeping Program For Buying Bonds, Giving The Bank Potentially Unprecedented Power

– The ESM Violates The Law And EU Treaties (Welt, Sep 4, 2012)

War Is Peace!

… and …

Printing Money (QE) Is Saving The Euro!

Quantitative easing (QE) = printing money = creating money out of thin air = increasing the money supply = inflation = hidden tax on monetary assets = theft!

The ECB will just delay the coming (necessary) collapse for a while. This will be EXTREMELY beneficial for the elitists and the banksters …

… and the middle class and the poor will be totally and utterly destroyed:

“When a country embarks on deficit financing and inflationism you wipe out the middle class and wealth is transferred from the middle class and the poor to the rich.”
– Ron Paul

Here is, AGAIN, where elite puppet Draghi is coming from:

– Mario Draghi (Wikipedia):

Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005). A controversy existed on his duties while employed at Goldman Sachs. Pascal Canfin (MEP) asserted Draghi was involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries’ economic status.

The ECB will have to monetize TRILLIONS of bad debt!!!


Got physical gold, silver and a remote farm (food, water, etc.)?

Central bank governor Mario Draghi overcomes Germany’s fears over inflation to announce new intervention in debt markets


ECB president Mario Draghi was careful to address German objections in his presentation of the unlimited bond-buying policy. Photograph: Alex Domanski/Reuters

– ECB introduces unlimited bond-buying in boldest attempt yet to end euro crisis (Guardian, Sep 6, 2012):

The European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled its boldest attempt yet to stabilise the battered single currency on Thursday when its president, Mario Draghi, announced a new programme of open-ended, unlimited buying of distressed government bonds.

The scheme is aimed at depressing the costs of borrowing for Spain and Italy and countering the risks of a fragmentation of the eurozone and the unravelling of the single currency.

But Draghi also set strict terms for triggering the bond-buying programme, putting pressure on the eurozone’s political leaders to request help, enter austerity programmes, and agree on direct bailouts for struggling governments before the ECB will act.

Draghi brushed aside strong resistance from Germany’s powerful Bundesbank, which lodged the only vote against the new policy in the ECB’s 23-strong governing council, to come good on his pledge in London six weeks ago that the central bank would do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.

Read moreECB’s Hyper Mario Introduces Unlimited Bond-Buying In Boldest Attempt Yet To End Euro Crisis

‘Spain Requests Bailout On September 14’

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– “Spain Requests Bailout On September 14” – Goldman’s Definitive Post-Mortem On Europe’s Third Bond Buying Attempt (ZeroHedge, Sep 6, 2012):

Yesterday, when Bloomberg leaked every single detail of today’s ECB announcement, which thus means today’s conference was not a surprise at all, yet the market sure would like to make itself believe it was, we noted that everything that was leaked, and today confirmed, came from a Goldman memorandum issued hours before. Simply said everything that happens at the ECB gets its marching orders somewhere within the tentacular empire headquartered at 200 West. Which is why when it comes to the definitive summary of what “happened” today, we go to the firm that pre-ordained today’s events weeks ago. Goldman Sachs.Perhaps the most important part is this: “September 13-14: Spain to make formal request for EFSF support at the Eurogroup meeting. With a large (and uncovered) redemption looming at the end of October (and under pressure from other Euro area governments), we expect Spain to move towards seeking support.” In other words, Rajoy has one more week before he is sacked and the Spanish festivities begin.

Read more‘Spain Requests Bailout On September 14’

AND NOW: Eurozone Demands Six-Day Working Week For Greece

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– Eurozone demands six-day week for Greece (Guardian, Sep 4, 2012):

Government in Athens under pressure to introduce a six-day working week as part of the terms for a second bailout

Greece’s eurozone creditors are demanding that the government in Athens introduce a six-day working week as part of the stiff terms for the country’s second bailout.

The demand is contained in a leaked letter from the “troika” of the country’s lenders, the European commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund. In the letter, the officials policing Greece’s compliance with the austerity package imposed in return for the bailout insist on radical labour market reforms, from minimum wages to overtime limits to flexible working hours, that are likely to worsen the standoff between the government and organised labour in Greece.

Read moreAND NOW: Eurozone Demands Six-Day Working Week For Greece

The German Economy Tanks, The ECB Throws Gasoline On The Fire, And Eurozone Bailouts Enter Phantasy Land

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– The German Economy Tanks, The ECB Throws Gasoline On The Fire, And Eurozone Bailouts Enter Phantasy Land (ZeroHedge, Sep 4, 2012):

Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007, went on a borrowing binge that blind bond buyers eagerly made possible, dousing some of its two million people with riches, creating a real estate bubble that has since burst, and driving up its external debt by 110%. And in October, it may go bankrupt, admitted Prime Minister Janez Jansa. Because borrowing binges can last only so long if you can’t print your own money. The sixth Eurozone country, of seventeen, to need a bailout. But it’s just a speck, compared to Spain, which will strain the bailout funds, and Italy, which is too large to get bailed out. The other option is the European Central Bank. Its printing press—the one it is not supposed to have—could easily bail out the once blind but now seeing bondholders. As in all bailouts, workers and taxpayers would get a haircut. And in Germany, the debate itself may tear up the Eurozone—just as its economy is tanking.

New car sales in Germany had been holding up well through June—a miracle in face of the fiasco playing out in the Eurozone’s auto industry. But they caved in July; and instead of miraculously recovering in August, they caved again: down 4.7% from August 2011 and down 8.6% from July. Ominously, sales of medium-heavy and heavy trucks, a thermometer of the business investment climate, fell off a cliff: -18.8% for trucks over 12 metric tons, -15.1% for trucks over 20 tons, and -9.4% for tractors (now down 5% for the year!).

Read moreThe German Economy Tanks, The ECB Throws Gasoline On The Fire, And Eurozone Bailouts Enter Phantasy Land

Spain: For Whom The Bell Now Tolls

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– Spain: For Whom The Bell Now Tolls (ZeroHedge, Sep 2, 2012):

Via Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box,“It is an old saying; the Devil lurks behind the cross. All is not gold that glitters. From the tail of the plough, Bamba was made King of Spain; and from his silks and riches was Rodrigo cast to be devoured by the snakes.”

-Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

It was not so long ago that I spoke at the “Strategic Forum” which was sponsored in part by TD bank. After my presentation about Europe where I had stated, quite clearly, that Spain would hit the wall I found myself accosted by the economist of one of Spain’s major banks. Fortunately Craig Alexander, the senior economist at TD, was walking next to me and as the quite impolite lady from Spain tried to verbally incase me in the famous “iron lady” of the Spanish Inquisition he grabbed my arm and led me out to the patio to speak with some other people and so saved me from not only the diatribe of the loca senorita but from saying several impolite things which I was about to say in retort. As I consider the latest data about Spain I think of this incident and take some delight in saying, “I told you so” or other things inadmissible in my commentary.

To use the analogy offered by Senor Cervantes I would say that Rodrigo, as representing Spain, is about to be devoured by the snakes. The central bank of Spain just released the net capital outflow numbers and they are disastrous. During the month of June alone $70.90 billion left the Spanish banks and in July it was worse at $92.88 billion which is 4.7% of total bank deposits in Spain. For the first seven months of the year the outflow adds up to $368.80 billion or 17.7% of the total bank deposits of Spain and the trajectory of the outflow is increasing dramatically. Reality is reality and Spain is experiencing a full-fledged run on its banks whether anyone in Europe wants to admit it or not.

Read moreSpain: For Whom The Bell Now Tolls

GAO Audit Of The Federal Reserve Reveals $16 TRILLION In Secret Bailouts

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From the article:

Comment: It’s not “socialism for the rich”; that’s an oxymoron.

It’s corporatism, i.e. fascism, as defined by Benito Mussolini.

– Audit of the Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts (Sott.net, Sep 1, 2012):

The first ever GAO (Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator, and Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator, led the charge for a Federal Reserve audit in the Senate, but watered down the original language of the house bill(HR1207), so that a complete audit would not be carried out.

Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and various other bankers vehemently opposed the audit and lied to Congress about the effects an audit would have on markets. Nevertheless, the results of the first audit in the Federal Reserve’s nearly 100 year history were posted on Senator Sander’s webpage earlier this morning.

What was revealed in the audit was startling:

Read moreGAO Audit Of The Federal Reserve Reveals $16 TRILLION In Secret Bailouts

Spain: Catalonia Region Demands €5 Billion Bailout, Will Not Tolerate Conditions

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– Spain’s Catalonia Region Demands €5 Billion Bailout, Will Not Tolerate Conditions(ZeroHedge, Aug 28, 2012):

Beggars can once again be choosers. In other news, non-news (the Catalan bailout was announced at least two times before) is news again, and magically drives the amnesiac market all over again.From Cinco Dias, courtesy of the always amusing google translate, which makes any news, no matter how tragic, quite hilarious without fail:

Catalonia 5,023,000 calls but will not accept the State Policies

The Catalan government today applied to join the Spanish Government Autonomous Liquidity Fund, which will borrow EUR 5.023 million, but has warned he will not accept “political conditions” to provide some resources “that are of the Catalans”.

Read moreSpain: Catalonia Region Demands €5 Billion Bailout, Will Not Tolerate Conditions

Here Is What Happens If You Do Not Bail Out The Banksters And Avoid Getting Raped By The IMF

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– IMF Says Bailouts Iceland-Style Hold Lessons in Crisis Times (Bloomberg, Aug 13, 2012):

Iceland holds some key lessons for nations trying to survive bailouts after the island’s approach to its rescue led to a “surprisingly” strong recovery, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief to the country said.

Iceland’s commitment to its program, a decision to push losses on to bondholders instead of taxpayers and the safeguarding of a welfare system that shielded the unemployed from penury helped propel the nation from collapse toward recovery, according to the Washington-based fund.

“Iceland has made significant achievements since the crisis,” Daria V. Zakharova, IMF mission chief to the island, said in an interview. “We have a very positive outlook on growth, especially for this year and next year because it appears to us that the growth is broad based.”

Read moreHere Is What Happens If You Do Not Bail Out The Banksters And Avoid Getting Raped By The IMF

Marc Faber On Keynesian Folly, The ‘Missing’ Inflation, And Bubble-Blowing (Video)

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– Marc Faber On Keynesian Folly, The ‘Missing’ Inflation, And Bubble-Blowing (ZeroHedge, Aug 22, 2012):

In as-comprehensive-an-explanation-as-we-have-seen of the monetary malfeasance and misunderstanding of the standard Keynesian central-banker, Gloom-Boom-Doom’s Marc Faber addressed an instutional audience in the Middle East earlier this year. Faber begins by explaining his (correct) view that ‘Keynesian’ intervention into the free-market or capitalistic society (with fiscal and monetary measures), in order to ‘smooth’ the business cycle, has in fact created a more violent business cycle – as they attempt to address long-term structural problems with short-term fixes (or bubbles). His lecture expands from his insight that in 1970 not a single investment bank was public – they were all private partnerships (implicitly playing with their own money as opposed to other-people’s – dramatically impacting the risk profile in the world) to the notion that central bank money printing (pushing dollars out the door) does have inflationary symptoms – but they do not necessarily have to show up in wages or CPI in the US (think Chinese wage inflation, or commodity price rises, or Aussie housing bubbles). Central bankers can determine the quantity of money but they cannot determine what we do with those USD bills. Must watch.Faber covers it all – from macro-economics to energy supply-and-demand and from the consequences of incessant money printing and how to hedge for the long-term.

With volumes still muted, and a general malaise of hand-sitters, it seems now is a great time to spend 45 minutes clarifying your perspective on just what the experimental efforts of our global elite is doing to the world – and whether that is a good thing economically or not… we suspect the conclusion will not surprise you…


YouTube

Germany: New Lawsuit Filed Against ESM Threatens Further Bailout Fund Delay

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– New Lawsuit Filed Against ESM Threatens Further Bailout Fund Delay (ZeroHedge, Aug 13, 2012):

Just as we were complaining about lack of newsflow, here comes Germany, coincidentally just as Merkel comes back from vacation, with an update from Karlsruhe that the Constitutional court, which may reject the ESM as is in its September 12th decision, will likely be delayed even more following the filing of a brand new lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ESM.

From Handelsblatt, loosely google translated:

The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has received a further appeal against the euro rescue package, which could upset the timetable for the euro rescue. According to information from Reuters Online, a group of plaintiffs to the € critic Professor Markus Kerber has filed a constitutional complaint, including an emergency petition. The key message is: Since the last ten days at the European Court in Luxembourg, the complaint is similar to an Irish MPs to decide, the German judges would wait until the spoke on the matter higher court judgment. The original date expected for an announcement, the 12th September, at which they would decide on the fast track in terms of admissibility of ESM and Fiscal Pact was likely untenable.

Read moreGermany: New Lawsuit Filed Against ESM Threatens Further Bailout Fund Delay

Belgian National Bank Governor Gets It: Bailing Out Spain ‘Makes No Sense’

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– Belgian National Bank Governor Gets It: Bailing Out Spain “Makes No Sense” (ZeroHedge, Aug 11, 2012):

A week ago we explained quite clearly why instead of encouraging self-defeating, short-termist behavior by promising to save Europe’s insolvent countries if and when needed, which does nothing to resolves Europe’s problems and make it worse in exchange for a brief respite from bond selling, the ECB should be doing precisely the opposite: encouraging local governments to understand that there is no magic bazooka from the central banks. Specifically we said that “this Catch 22 of confounding cause and event can continue seemingly indefinitely, although in reality it can’t. Because fundamentally what the bond market does is keep sovereigns “honest” – just as Schauble said a week ago, Spanish yields at 7% are not the end of the world – instead what they are is a signal to the country to get its spending in control in order to reduce its deficit, and fundamentally get its house in order – yes, that means getting government spending to a sustainable level and firing hundreds of thousands of workers, as well as probably raising taxes even more. It also means pain all around, but the pain is inevitable and will only be worse the longer reality is denied.” This logic is so clear that only a lifelong economist, PhD or Goldman apparatchik can not grasp it: sadly that accounts for most of the people “in charge.”

Which is why we were delighted to read that at least one person “gets it” – Belgian national bank governor Luc Coene, the same Belgium that is also the clogged heart of the Burtonian bureaucratic labyrinth known as the EU, who told Belgium’s two largest newspaper that “buying the bonds of these countries would only serve to weaken the ECB and do nothing to resolve underlying issues of competitiveness.  “It makes no sense for the ECB to start financing those countries,” said Mr Coene, “It would only lead to the ECB taking on the whole public debt of Spain and Italy onto its balance sheet.” Bingo. And not a moment too soon – we really were starting to pull a Mogatu here.

Read moreBelgian National Bank Governor Gets It: Bailing Out Spain ‘Makes No Sense’

U.S. Treasury’s Secretive $2.4 TRILLION Fund Guarantee (CNBC)

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– Treasury’s Secretive $2.4 Trillion Fund Guarantee (CNBC, Aug 9, 2012):

Details about a secretive government program to bail out money-market mutual funds are finally coming to light.

Acting without any explicit Congressional authority, the U.S. Treasury guaranteed in excess of $2.4 trillion of money market funds after the giant Reserve Primary Fund “broke the buck” following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The program, which ended on Sept. 18, 2009, seems to have successfully prevented a panicked run by money-market fund investors.

But until now the Treasury has kept the identities of the funds that received government backing and the amounts guaranteed secret. It was not clear how many funds obtained backing or for how much taxpayers were on the hook during the program’s duration.

Read moreU.S. Treasury’s Secretive $2.4 TRILLION Fund Guarantee (CNBC)

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: The Dispossessed Majority – ‘The US Is Ruled By A Private Oligarchy. The Government Is Merely Their Front.’

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From the article:

“The oligarchs have succeeded in making americans a dispossessed majority in their own country. In November americans will again give their approval to one of the oligarchy’s two candidates.”

“If americans had any sense, they would stay home and not vote.”

See also:

– Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: ‘War Criminals Run The State Department And The Entire US Government’

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

paul-craig-roberts
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

– The Dispossessed Majority (Paul Craig Roberts, Aug 8, 2012):

The bumper sticker on the beat-up pickup truck read: “Friends don’t let friends vote Democrat.”

The driver was obviously not affluent. Yet, despite all the news about mega-trillion dollar bankster bailouts, mega-million dollar bonuses for financial crooks, and unimaginable compensation packages for corporate CEOs who have moved middle class jobs out of America, something made the down-and-out pickup truck driver associate with the political party of the super-rich.

As I wondered at this strange alliance of the dirt poor with the mega-rich, I remembered that in 2004 Thomas Frank wondered about how the Republicans had managed to convince the poor to vote against their best interests. Frank’s answer, or part of his answer, is that the Republicans use “social issues,” such as gay marriage and Janet Jackson’s exposed nipple to work up indignation over the threat to moral values posed by liberal Democrats.

The working poor have been convinced by Republican propaganda that voting Democrat means giving the working poor’s tax dollars to the non-working poor, to providing medical care and schooling for illegal aliens, and being soft on terrorism.

To the pick-up truck driver, standing up for America means standing up for bankster bailouts and the military/security complex’s multi-trillion dollar wars.

Read moreDr. Paul Craig Roberts: The Dispossessed Majority – ‘The US Is Ruled By A Private Oligarchy. The Government Is Merely Their Front.’

Greece: Political Leaders Agree To €11.5 BILLION ‘Troika’ Cuts

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– Greece agrees to £9bn ‘troika’ cuts (Telegraph, Aug 2, 2012):

Greek political leaders have agreed to €11.5bn (£9bn) of austerity cuts demanded under its bailout terms, opening the way for a deal with foreign lenders within the month, Greek officials said.

The junior partners in the conservative-led coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras set aside demands for an immediate renegotiation of the terms of the deal to ease talks with the troika of IMF and EU lenders.

With €3.2bn-worth of bond payments due in August, the clock is ticking for Greece to please visiting troika inspectors, who will rule on whether Athens gets more cash from its €130bn bailout.

Read moreGreece: Political Leaders Agree To €11.5 BILLION ‘Troika’ Cuts

TEPCO Receives $12.8 BILLION BAILOUT

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– TEPCO receives $12.8 billion public bailout (AFP, July 30, 2012):

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant was effectively nationalised Tuesday as it received one trillion yen ($12.8 billion) of taxpayer money to stay afloat.

The public bailout of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in the wake of last year’s tsunami-triggered accident gives the government 50.11 percent of the utility’s voting rights.

And the deal has an option which allows the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund to raise the stake up to 75.84 percent to impose stronger control if TEPCO fails to push reforms.

The country’s biggest utility will remain under state control for a “considerably long period of time”, Yukio Edano, the minister of economy, trade and industry, told a news conference.

Read moreTEPCO Receives $12.8 BILLION BAILOUT

Six Reasons Why Spain Will Be Forced To Request A Sovereign Bailout

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– Six Reasons Why Spain Will Be Forced To Request A Sovereign Bailout (ZeroHedge, July 24, 2012):

Just as the summer finally arrives in Northern Europe, the Eurozone crisis is heating up once again. With an increasingly flat (heading to inversion) yield curve, and spreads at record wides,  Spain appears to be in a downward spiral of market turmoil that might require a full-fledged TROIKA bail out. However, as UBS points out, rather than taking the country off the market, the program would have to allow Spain to keep borrowing from private investors. Any bail out of Spain would have to be designed in a way that would also be applicable to Italy. Spain has been the most recent crisis focus, and looks to intensify further with nothing immediately in sight that could reverse the trend. We, like UBS, have argued for some time that a full-fledged TROIKA program will ultimately be unavoidable and the following six reasons briefly explain why anything else is a pipe-dream.

Via UBS FX Strategy:

The Eurogroup last week formally approved a €100bn bank bailout but as our banking colleagues have argued, the programme generates no equity and no funding and is thus unlikely to make any lasting difference either to the limited market access of the banks or to the credit crunch affecting the country. Also, the decision at the June EU summit to take a first step towards a banking union has done very little to ease the pressure. The market initially assumed that the €100bn would be offloaded from the sovereign balance sheet to the ESM by the October or December EU summits once an ‘effective supervisory mechanism’ had been created.

However, subsequently it became clear that:

Read moreSix Reasons Why Spain Will Be Forced To Request A Sovereign Bailout

Spain: It’s The Greatest Depression, Stupid! – ‘Sadly, The Nightmare In Spain Is Just Beginning.’

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From the article:

#10 The unemployment rate in Spain is up to an astounding 24.6 percent. The unemployment rate in Spain is already higher than it was in the United States at the peak of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

#11 The youth unemployment rate in Spain is now over 52 percent.

That is a depression, not a recession.

AND:

– Spain Is Out Of Money In 40 Days … And ‘Spain Has No Plan B’ (FAZ)

Prepare for the collapse of the euro:

– Billionaire Eric Sprott: ‘There Isn’t A Solution To The Problem’ – ‘If The People Had Any Sense They Would Be Buying (PHYSICAL) Gold And/Or Silver’

– 12 Signs That Spain Is Shifting Gears From Recession To Depression (Economic Collapse, July 23, 2012):

Where have we seen this before?  Bond yields soar above the 7 percent danger level.  Check.  The stock market crashes to new lows.  Check.  Industrial activity plummets like a rock and the economy contracts.  Check.  The unemployment rate skyrockets to more than 20 percent.  Check.  The bursting of a massive real estate bubble pushes the banking system to the brink of implosion.  Check.  Broke local governments beg the broke national government for bailouts.  Check.  The international community pressures the national government to implement deep austerity measures which will slow down the economy even more and hordes of violent protesters take to the streets.  Check.  All of this happened in Greece, it is happening right now in Spain, and mark my words it will eventually happen in the United States.  Every debt bubble eventually bursts, and right now Spain is experiencing a level of economic pain that very, very few people saw coming.  The recession in Spain is rapidly becoming a full-blown economic depression, and at this point there is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel.

The bad news for the global economy is that Spain is much larger than Greece.  According to the United Nations, the Greek economy is the 32nd largest economy in the world.  The Spanish economy, on the other hand, is the 4th largest economy in the eurozone and the 12th largest economy on the entire planet.  It is nearly five times the size of the Greek economy.

Read moreSpain: It’s The Greatest Depression, Stupid! – ‘Sadly, The Nightmare In Spain Is Just Beginning.’

Floodgates Open As 4 More Spanish Regions Seek Bailout; German Nürburgring Faces Bankruptcy

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– Floodgates Open As Four More Spanish Regions Seek Bailout; German Nürburgring Faces Bankruptcy (ZeroHedge, July 22, 2012):

Even as Europe has become an utterly dysfunctional experiment in everything relating to modern economics and monetary theory, it has one redeeming feature: it has proven that the Defection regime under Game Theory is 100% correct. It says that once the defections from an unstable Nash equilibrium begin, there is no stopping until the entire system collapses under its own weight. This is precisely what has happened in Spain, where first Catalunya, then Valencia on Friday, and now virtually everyone else is set to demand a bailout. From Bloomberg: The Balearic Islands and Catalonia are among six Spanish regions that may ask for aid from the central government after Valencia sought a bailout, El Pais reported. Castilla-La-Mancha, Murcia, the Canary Islands and possibly Andalusia are also having difficulty funding themselves and some of these regions are studying plans to tap the recently created emergency-loan fund that Valencia said it would use yesterday, the newspaper said, without citing anyone.”

“Spain created the 18 billion-euro ($23 billion) bailout mechanism last week to help cash-strapped regions even as its own access to financial markets narrows.” What Spain’s perfectly insolvent and highly corrupt regions also know is that the bailout money, like in the case of the ESM, will be sufficient for one, perhaps two, of the applicants. The rest will be out of luck.

Where the bailout money will come from? Ultimately from Germany of course. There is however one minor glitch. Some 80 millions Germans may soon be rather angry to learn that while they are working extra hours to fund the rescue of a few insolvent windmills, their own most legendary racetrack, the Nürburgring, is facing bankruptcy as soon as next week. From Spiegel:

Read moreFloodgates Open As 4 More Spanish Regions Seek Bailout; German Nürburgring Faces Bankruptcy

Spain’s Not Getting a Bailout… Neither is Italy… It’s the END GAME Folks

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– Spain’s Not Getting a Bailout… Neither is Italy… It’s the END GAME Folks (ZeroHedge, July 7, 2012):

Spain got a “bailout” or so the media claimed. Because I cannot find any entity in Europe with the funds to actually bailout Spain (the EUFN is tapped out, the ESM has major political issues, and Germany is risking a credit downgrade and insolvency based on its backdoor EU props).

As one would expect in this situation, things are rapidly going into hyper-drive in Spain. The weekend before last the country implemented capital controls including

  • A minimum fine of  €10,000 for taxpayers who do not report their foreign accounts.
  • Secondary fines of  €5,000 for each additional account
  • No cash transactions greater than €2,500
  • Cash transaction restrictions apply to individuals and businesses

Does this sound like the actions of an economy with a sound banking system?

On a related note, Italy is once again back on the brink: in the last 2 weeks Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti has said that the country is “flirting with economic disaster… [and] in a crisis.” He, like Spain’s PM Rajoy, has pushed for the ESM to buy sovereign bonds. He’s also asked the ECB to implement a mechanism through which it would buy Italian sovereign bonds whenever the spread between them and German bunds grows too large (a type of bailout).

Indeed, things are so desperate that he invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to an emergency meeting in Rome over the weekend. His goal was to convince EU leaders to allow Italy to receive funding directly from the EFSF and ESM.

The ECB and Germany have already rebuked this idea:

Read moreSpain’s Not Getting a Bailout… Neither is Italy… It’s the END GAME Folks

The Exact Moment Greece Will Leave The Euro

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– The Exact Moment Greece Will Leave the Euro (ZeroHedge, July 2, 2012):

…the second Greek parliamentary elections in as many months came and went. While the media is making a big deal of the fact that the anti-bailout SYRIZA party didn’t win, the facts remain that the elections haven’t really accomplished anything of significance for Greece’s fiscal condition or the likelihood of it staying within the EU.

What I mean by this is that while the game of political musical chairs in Europe creates the appearance of change, the fact remains that Greece is broke and that the only thing stopping it from facing systemic collapse is continued support from the EU, particularly Germany.

Read moreThe Exact Moment Greece Will Leave The Euro

Nigel Farage: Van Rompuy, Barroso Worst People In EU Since 1945 – ‘All We Do Is Kick The Can Down The Road’ – ‘The Whole Thing Is Headed For A Gigantic Bust’ – ‘There Is Not Enough Money In Europe To Bail Out Italy’ (Video)

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YouTube Added: 29.06.2012

Description:

After a tough night of wrangling, EU leaders have agreed to set up a new authority – tasked with keeping sinking banks afloat. And to do that, the new agency will be given access to Europe’s mammoth bailout funds – stocked in a large part by taxpayer money. This exact function was previously carried out by governments. But now, the EU can bailout a nation’s banks – without adding to the government’s debt levels – at least on the books. It’s something that Germany strongly opposed, but was forced to relent on due to Spanish and Italian insistence. Nigel Farage, a member of the European Parliament and leader of the UK Independence Party, believes that it’s Germany who plays the deciding role in these talks.