PowerSwitch

Greece:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/ ... 0G20120420

ATHENS, April 20 (Reuters) - Greece's top banks posted historic losses for 2011 on Friday, hit by a bond swap last month that blew holes in their balance sheets and nearly wiped out their capital base.

Together, National, Alpha, Eurobank and Piraeus, posted an aggregate loss of 28.2 billion euros ($37.3 billion), about 10 times their current market worth or 13 percent of the country's GDP.

Spain:

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/20 ... e-collapse

Czech republic:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/ ... BH20120421

Czechs in mass march against austerity as government wobbles

France:

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-u ... euro-zone/

The Netherlands:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012 ... sfeed=true

Eurozone crisis live: Dutch government on brink after austerity talks collapse

Australia joining the party:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... rewed.html

In short, Australian banks are screwed, retailers are screwed, home owners are screwed, home builders are screwed, those long Australian stocks will be screwed, and those expecting strong commodity prices to bail out Australia will also be screwed.

It seems the only western nation that isn't screwed is Norway.

Nice set of links UE I think the UK belongs in there somewhere as well, though not until the Olympics are done.

Sarkozy comes second in the Polls and looks very unlikely to win the second round. Worringly the far right come a quite close third. Your French link could happen a lot faster than we think. The general population definately seems to be at the end of their patience with the EU now the handouts are failing.

Hopefully it'll all implode this year so the Conspiracy Theorists can have a field day over the Mayan 'predictions'

SleeperService wrote:Nice set of links UE I think the UK belongs in there somewhere as well, though not until the Olympics are done.

Sarkozy comes second in the Polls and looks very unlikely to win the second round. Worringly the far right come a quite close third. Your French link could happen a lot faster than we think. The general population definately seems to be at the end of their patience with the EU now the handouts are failing.

Hopefully it'll all implode this year so the Conspiracy Theorists can have a field day over the Mayan 'predictions'

Hopefully, yes!

What is less clear is going to happen outside of the eurozone, and how quickly, when the eurozone implodes. I think the question now is whether or not the Federal Reserve would step in to bail out the rest of the western world with newly-printed dollars, or whether internal political resistance would prevent this from happening.

The Grauniad is reporting that the Dutch government has collapsed, formal resignation at 2pm.

The cabinet refused to back austerity budget presented by the prime minister. Holland has previously been hardline on inflicting austerity on Greece and all...

They will probably have an IMF imposed banker's coup, as in Italy.

Bye bye democracy. It would have been nice to know you...

RalphW wrote:The Grauniad is reporting that the Dutch government has collapsed, formal resignation at 2pm.

The cabinet refused to back austerity budget presented by the prime minister. Holland has previously been hardline on inflicting austerity on Greece and all...

Yeah... Such hypocrisy from the northern European nations who lent Greece all its cash and whose balance sheets, in the cold light of day, are every bit as dire. Without ours being among the very worst.

So our systems haven't been as blatantly corrupt as the Mediterranean ones, but that's only because our corruption is legalised, systematised.

RalphW wrote: They will probably have an IMF imposed banker's coup, as in Italy.

It is ironic that the benefactors are those who created the problem in the first place. Hardly surprising, though.

SleeperService wrote: I think the UK belongs in there somewhere as well, though not until the Olympics are done.

Breaking:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17809650

Government departments asked to find £35bn more savings

Danny Alexander Danny Alexander said departments would share spending information with the Treasury each month

Government departments are being asked to identify a further £35bn of spending cuts which could be made if needed to pay for any unforeseen events.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, says they must identify 5% of their budgets as part of measures to tighten financial management.

I'm not sure how a further £35bn in cuts actually helps to get us out of the debt death spiral. This is to keep the markets happy, not an attempt to solve any of the actual problems.

RalphW wrote:The Grauniad is reporting that the Dutch government has collapsed, formal resignation at 2pm.

The cabinet refused to back austerity budget presented by the prime minister. Holland has previously been hardline on inflicting austerity on Greece and all...

They will probably have an IMF imposed banker's coup, as in Italy.

Bye bye democracy. It would have been nice to know you...

Now confirmed here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17811509

A key question facing the political parties is whether to hold general elections before or after the summer recess.

They're obviously in a hurry to sort the problem out though.

A weak € is a boon to those who want to retain the $ as the global reserve currency. I don't think the US or China would delight at a collapsed € but maybe a weakened one wouldn't be too bad from their point of view.

As for the extra 5% cut - a lot of the funding for the Government comes not from tax receipts but from government bonds. At the moment about the only buyers for Govt bonds are central banks. If confidence in central banks fails then our Govt will have an immediate cash flow problem.

Tonight, Germany stands alone. The French and Dutch are turning against them. I'm beginning to wonder whether this is the beginning of the end of the EU.

Sommat up in Denmark: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Let_th ... e/?wfkAaab

Not exactly a mine of information. Democracy is a bit like vapourware anyway. The reality is it doesn't have much substance. I think David Taylor's vote will carry little weight.

UK now formally back in recession.

GDP declined by 0.2 % in first quarter.

Hands up anyone who is surprised?