The Turd in the Eurozone Pool

This time, it’s not a Baby Ruth!  When Greece poops, it’s everyone out of the Europool. This demonstration that the euro is, in fact, reversible would lead, in turn, to runs on Spanish and Italian banks. Once again the European Central Bank would have to choose whether to provide open-ended…

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Austerity Dealt A Crushing Blow in Germany

Angela Merkel’s conservative party, whose government has led the austerity charge in the Eurozone, has suffered a stunning electoral defeat in Germany’s largest state on Sunday.  The left is rising across Europe. The election in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), a western German state with a bigger population than the Netherlands and…

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How Germany Ate the Eurozone

A chart from Paul Krugman’s latest book, End This Depression Now! which goes a long way towards explaining WTF happened to the Eurozone. It wasn’t profligacy by the Eurozone periphery, it was the massive trade imbalances created by cheap credit in the periphery and the export engine of the Germans.  Germany’s…

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Highway to Hell – Eurozone Edition

Yes, Krugsandra has issued another proclamation from his Fortress of Macroeconomics high on the slopes of Mount OMFGWTF. Germany believes that its successful adjustment was the result of its own virtue, but in reality it was successful in large part because of an inflationary boom in the rest of Europe. And…

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In Literature, Would This Qualify as “Foreshadowing?”

Foreshadowing is a technique used by writers to hint at something coming down the plot highway.  One type of foreshadowing is called telegraphing… Spotted by Sean Keane It was also interesting to note an easily overlooked article in Greek online newspaper Kathimerini saying that the European Commission is pressuring the European…

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The Golden Euro

Not to be confused with The Golden Snitch…  Paul Krugman today aligns himself with the MMTers (Modern Monetary Theorists) in explaining why the Eurozone is failing so spectacularly and seems so incapable of coming up with a remedy.  He examines the two current narratives as to why the Eurozone is…

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Keynes Predicts the Failure of the Eurozone

President of the Economic Psychic Friends Network and the father of macroeconomics, John Maynard Keynes, explains to the Masters of the Eurozone why they are doomed. It was at Bretton Woods that Keynes identified one of the key problems at the heart of international economics – that imbalances in trade…

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Punk Economics: Episode 2

Enjoy! If you missed it, here’s the link to Episode One.

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Arrival of the Autocracy

Autocracy arrives in Europe. When Wolfgang Schäuble proposed that Greece should postpone its elections as a condition for further help, I knew that the game would soon be up. We are at the point where success is no longer compatible with democracy. The German finance minister wants to prevent a “wrong” democratic choice. Similar…

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Punk Economics: Episode 1

Great review of the crisis in Europe by Irish economist David McWilliams!  McWilliams has worked as an economist with the Central Bank of Ireland and as a banker with UBS bank and the Banque Nationale de Paris.  He currently does documentary television. Listen for the bit around 7:30 where McWilliams…

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