The European Central Bank has cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point under new head Mario Draghi to boost weakening growth in a eurozone struggling with a crisis over too much government debt. The move, which comes earlier than expected by many economists, takes the bank’s benchmark rate to 1.25 per cent.
European growth is expected to slow to near or below zero in the last three months of the year.
via European Central Bank makes surprise rate cut – World – CBC News.
Amid rising speculation he will have to resign his post, Mr. Papandreou’s overture to the center-right New Democracy party [to drop referendum plans if they can secure broad support for a new loan agreement and austerity measures] was a clear sign the prime minister and his Pasok socialist party no longer had the political clout to impose increasing financial hardships on its people to comply with aid conditions. Political insiders now predict a coalition as caretaker government to complete aid talks, followed by snap elections early next year.
The euro retreated below $1.40 and is now consolidating at $1.36. Failure of medium-term support would test the primary level at $1.32. In the long-term, breach of $1.32 (if the Greeks vote “No”) would offer a target of $1.22*. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum holding below the zero line suggests continuation of the primary down-trend.
* Target calculation: 1.32 – (1.42 – 1.32 ) = 1.22
63-Day Twiggs Momentum similarly suggests continuation of the primary down-trend for the Pound. Breach of primary support at $1.53 would confirm, offering a target of $1.46*.
* Target calculation: 1.53 – ( 1.60 – 1.53 ) = 1.46
“Does Greece want to remain part of the euro zone or not,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “That is the question the Greek people must now answer.”
…. if voters spurn the bailout deal, Greece could face national bankruptcy and exit from the euro, while leaving Europe confronting an almighty financial panic and an economic slump.
The spokesman of French president Nicolas Sarkozy…. said the [Greek] move was “irrational and dangerous”. Rainer Brüderle, Bundestag leader of the Free Democrats, said the Greeks appear to be “wriggling out” of a solemn commitment. They face outright bankruptcy, he blustered.
Well yes, but at least the Greeks are stripping away the self-serving claims of the creditor states that their “rescue” loan packages are to “save Greece”. They are nothing of the sort. Greece has been subjected to the greatest fiscal squeeze ever attempted in a modern industrial state, without any offsetting monetary stimulus or devaluation.
Economist Editor: 2012 is going to be pretty sluggish — with risk of “self-induced” stagnation
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ATHENS—-Embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has called an emergency cabinet meeting later Tuesday amid an open revolt in his Socialist party that could topple his government.
“Papandreou is trying to control a growing revolt in the party after the defections and calls for him to resign. The future of the government may be decided at the cabinet meeting,” a senior party official told Dow Jones Newswires…….
The referendum is seen as a high-stakes gamble aimed at quelling a public backlash against controversial austerity policies but at the risk of derailing plans aimed at solving the euro zone’s debt crisis.
Dow Jones Europe Index has fallen hard since Greece announced it will hold a referendum on the austerity measures it has to take in return for the EU/IMF bailout proposal. Bearish divergence on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow indicates medium-term selling pressure. Breach of medium-term support at 230 would signal another test of primary support at 210. And failure of 210 would signal a decline to the 2009 low of 150*.
* Target calculation: 210 – ( 270 – 210 ) = 150
Both in Europe and the U.S., structural weakness stems from government excess and slow economic growth. More important than stemming contagion is reversing the policies that created the problem in the first place.
via Edward P. Lazear: The Euro Crisis—Doubting the ‘Domino’ Effect – WSJ.com.
In fact “normal” for the last half century has been an unsustainable growth in debt, which has finally reached an apogee from which it will fall. As it falls–by an unwillingness to lend by bankers and to borrow by businesses and households, by deliberate debt reductions, by default and bankruptcy–aggregate demand will be reduced well below aggregate supply. The economy will therefore falter–and only regular government stimuli will revive it.
This however will be a Zombie Capitalism: the private sector’s reductions in debt will counter the public sector’s attempts to stimulate the economy via debt-financed spending. Growth, if it occurs, will not be sufficiently high to prevent growing unemployment, and growth is likely to evaporate as soon as stimulus packages are removed.
The only sensible course is to reduce the debt levels. As Michael Hudson argues, a simple dynamic is now being played out: debts that cannot be repaid, won’t be repaid. The only thing we have to do is work out how that should occur.
via Debtwatch No 41, December 2009: 4 Years of Calling the GFC | Steve Keen’s Debtwatch.
Nothing seems to have changed since Steve Keen wrote this in December 2009. Almost two years later and any private sector deleveraging has been compensated by increases in public debt to finance stimulus spending. Greece’s “default” may be the first step in a long journey — and the jury is still out as to whether recapitalization of European banks (after their “haircut”) will be funded out of debt or new equity.
