Its All Greek to Me!
By Barry Ritholtz - December 23rd, 2010, 9:15AM
I love this series of quotes:
1. “Spain is not Greece.”
Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, Feb. 20102. “Portugal is not Greece.”
The Economist, 22nd April 2010.3. “Ireland is not in ‘Greek Territory.’”
Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.4. “Greece is not Ireland.”
George Papaconstantinou, Greek Finance minister, 8th November, 2010.5. “Spain is neither Ireland nor Portugal.”
Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, 16 November 2010.6. “Neither Spain nor Portugal is Ireland.”
Angel Gurria, Secretary-general OECD, 18th November, 2010.
Hat tip: The Speculative Investor
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December 23rd, 2010 at 9:31 am
they may have a point in there somewhere
they each have their own distinct aroma
Greek govt debt
Spain housing and “Casa” debt
Ireland bank debt
But they all smell
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:53 am
I think this was a logic puzzle question on my LSAT.
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 am
like describing different shady areas … but still in death valley
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 am
What I think is more ironic is that they all used to smugly say, “At least we’re not Iceland,” but now they wail: “Alas, we are not Iceland.”
This is what happens when European bank interests have more sway in policy decisions than anyone else. Crippling recession so that bankers’ reckless gambles can be paid off by pensioners, students, and working people.
The bankers’ and financiers’ economic logic, apparently, is that in a recession it’s important every other economic sector be starved of funds for investment and consumption, so that we can keep financial market insiders and their top bondholders flush in caviar and secure in the knowledge that they have big piles of money doing nothing productive. Apparently, this is the path out of recession and towards growth. It’s closely linked to their “let’s starve all forms of public investment and crack down on the wages that fuel real consumption, so that people send their money to us and we get market booms and big bonuses” theory of economic growth.
It’s completely insane that we’re still listening to the people who led us down this primrose path.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
at least none of them said, “[sic] is not California, or New Jersey, etc.” At least not yet.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Tierra Del Fuego is not the south of France.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:45 am
Apparently the Irish gov just can’t get enough RE exposure! They’ve now put Irish taxpayers completely on the hook for all the funding the Euro banks advanced to the Irish banks. Every new round of RE writedowns will wipe out the savings from minimum wage, public pension austerity measures. Gotta hand it to the UK and continental bankers they’re wringing every last drop of blood out of the Irish before they drop kick them onto the Atlantic floor next to Atlantis.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1223/breaking12.html
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:49 am
I wonder how many Euro member countries will have to go down like Ireland and Greece before the Euro starts to break up. My Guess is within one year of all of the PIGS getting bailed out, the Euro will collapse. Any other ideas?
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 am
If only we could get Papaconstantinou to say “Greece is not ‘Greece’” I think the set would be complete.
December 23rd, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Where is the Bernanke quote, saying “America is not Greece”?
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
With Bernanke, “America will be Greece”.
The FED is not “Reserve” and is not “Federal”.
Politicians and bankers must let go to the market.
Greetings,
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Germany are apparently working on a european IMF/style fund, backed by gold.
The link is in French.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2010/12/23/04016-20101223ARTFIG00457-berlin-defendrait-un-fmi-a-l-europeenne.php
December 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Can anyone validate the Brian Lenihan quote, or is it just a tweet paraphrase. Here is what he actually said on December 1:
“Indeed the arguments put forward have been patently wrong. For example, it has been claimed that we are paying a higher interest rate than Greece even though Greece is now seeking our terms. The interest on Greek loans is 5.2 per cent for three year loans. Ireland’s interest rate will be 5.8 per cent for loans that are on average for seven and a half years. A basic fact of sovereign borrowing is that the longer a country borrows money, the higher the interest rate paid.”
December 23rd, 2010 at 5:11 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_N1OjGhIFc
December 23rd, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Early Alzheimer’s. These poor creatures are struggling to remember their geography lessons. Economics and finance are too complicated for them to grasp.
December 23rd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
rktbrkr has a good take on Ireland but forgets one thing” the Irish political class and the Irish bankers will grow richer from impoverishing Ireland. They would also grow richer from making Ireland prosperous. Doesn’t matter one way or the other to them.
December 23rd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Does not bode well for the future of the euro, does it?
Almost half the member states are effectively saying, “Officer, I’ve never seen this man before in my life.”
December 24th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Actually, Spain is Greece is Italy is Portugal is Ireland is California is Illinois is Cook County is Chicago. All are Monetarily Non-Sovereign. So all need money coming in from outside, because it is a mathematical fact that because of inflation, no monetarily non-sovereign nation can survive long-term on tax receipts alone.
.
(And Monetarily Sovereign nations don’t need taxes at all).
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Did Mr. Lenihan really say, “A basic fact of sovereign borrowing is that the longer a country borrows money, the higher the interest rate paid”? Interesting how reality doesn’t impinge on intuition. The U.S. interest rate is functionally zero.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell