ECB’s Top German Representative Resigns – WSJ.com

Germany’s top representative on the European Central Bank resigned in an apparent protest of the bank’s recent interventions in euro-zone debt markets…….Jürgen Stark is stepping down “for personal reasons,” the ECB said in a statement…… Mr. Stark, one of the ECB’s most outspoken anti-inflation “hawks,” had opposed the ECB’s decision last month to reactivate its government bond purchase program….

via ECB’s Top German Representative Resigns – WSJ.com.

Troika Talks on Aid to Greece Stall – WSJ.com

“I expect a hard default definitely before March, maybe this year, and it could come with this program review,” said a senior IMF economist who is keeping close tabs on the situation. “The chances for a second program are slim.”

Failure of Greece to meet its targets, growing reluctance by some euro members to continue lending and the fact that private-sector participation in a second bailout won’t significantly alter Greece’s debt profile are the primary factors, the IMF official said.

via Troika Talks on Aid to Greece Stall – WSJ.com.

When debt levels turn cancerous – Telegraph Blogs

The professoriat has been a little too cavalier in arguing that debt does not really matter for the world as a whole because we all owe it to ourselves. Debtors are offset by creditors (not always from friendly countries). Common sense suggest that this academic solipsism is preposterous, and so it now proves to be.

“As modern macroeconomics developed over the last half-century, most people either ignored or finessed the issue of debt. Yet, as the mainstream was building and embracing the New Keynesian orthodoxy, there was a nagging concern that something had been missing…..There are intrinsic differences between borrowers and lenders; non-linearities, discontinuities… It is the asymmetry between those who are highly indebted and those who are not that leads to a decline in aggregate demand.”

Creditors do not step up spending to cover the shortfall when debtors are forced to retrench suddenly. So the economy tanks.

via Ambrose Evans-Pritchard|When debt levels turn cancerous – Telegraph Blogs.