Der Spiegel – Up To Two Trillion Europe Plans To Leverage Euro-Zone Bailout Fund – 24 September 2012

Officially, the ESM permanent euro-zone bailout fund is worth 500 billion euros. That, though, might not be enough, which is why euro-zone governments are now planning to introduce levers that could mobilize up to 2trillion euros, SPIEGEL has learned. Finland, though, is skeptical of the idea.

With the launch of the permanent common-currency bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), just around the corner, euro-zone member states are looking into ways to leverage the €500 billion ($647 billion) available to the fund, SPIEGEL has learned. But with Finland still concerned about the leveraging plans, it is unlikely that they will be initially included when the ESM is launched on Oct. 8.

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John Ward – Eclusive : ‘Bankfurt And The Us Out To Stop Draghi’ – German Bankers, IMF ‘Blocking ECB Plans For Bank Union And Greek Rescue’ – 14 September 2012

 

I’ve been saying for months now that Greece ‘will not be allowed’ to leave the single currency, because Merkel and Draghi accept that the chaos would be fatal for the eurozone. I also recently noted that the ‘done-deal after a suitable period of fisticuffs’ I’d predicted was surfacing. It still is: reduced interest rates on extended periods of Greek debt repayment (plus both ECB and sovereign EU member haircuts) are now being openly discussed by officials in Berlin, Brussels, and Paris.

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – Finland, Netherlands Reject ESM Model; Finland Insists On Collateral For Loans To Spain – 3 July 2012

How long Finland and the Netherlands are willing to put up with not having a say in how the ESM (or anything else in the EMU runs) remains to be seen, but both countries expect collateral for any loans to Spain.

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – IMF Pressures Spain To Lower Salaries, Raise The VAT, Eliminate Housing Deduction – 16 June 2012

My friend Bran reports from Spain that IMF urging Spain to raise VAT, reduce public pay and positions, and eliminate housing deduction is the headline of every main news broadcast and newspaper.

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – “Dead Before Arrival”: Bundesbank Shoots Down EU Banking-Union Proposal; Eight Lessons The EU Needs To Learn – 13 June 2012

A group of eurozone Nannycrats has agreed to meet later this month to devise a master plan for a eurozone fiscal and banking union.

Here is a synopsis from my post on Sunday Details of the Secret “Nannyplan” Emerge; Proposed Nannygroup Uniforms

John Ward – Euroblown : Merkel The Merciful Offers Athens A Clear Choice… – 9 June 2012

The Angela of Death

…stay in the eurozone and die, or leave the eurozone and be poor.

I wonder if ‘choice’ is perhaps the most twisted reinvention of a word in the history of language. Jeremy *unt is a great choice driveller: choice of 56 Murdoch Channels all showing braindead soft-porn sh*te. Lansley is another one: choice in the health services available to all. Bollocks: the choice is between having money and getting some service, or the opposite of that.

RT – Eu Health Commission : Monsanto Strain Won’t Be Banned – 26 May 2012

Members of the “Occupy” movement in the Midwest protest against Monsanto’s agricultural practices in front of the Missouri Botanical Garden during the “Occupy the Midwest” regional conference in St. Louis, Missouri March 16, 2012 (Reuters/Sarah Conard)

Invincible agricultural giant Monsanto has once again demonstrated its ability to crush countries on the legal battlefield. The EFSA has ruled there is no “scientific evidence” of damage caused by consuming genetically-modified maize.

Common Dreams Staff – Greeks Compare Austerity To “Dictatorship” As 48 Hour Strike Begins – 11 February 2012

In the second national strike this week, Greeks walked off the job today and violence erupted in the streets of Athens as they again express their outrage to state austerity measures demanded by the “troika” – the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF, and the EU – in a pending bailout agreement.