The Financial Times (October 19)
“The debt drama in Washington stirred a jumble of emotions in Europe. Cold fear that a US default could tip the world back into a slump jostled with schadenfreude as Europeans recalled the stern American lectures on their handling of the euro crisis. The eurozone may be dysfunctional, but so too is the US.”
Tags: Americans, Default, Dysfunctional, Emotions, Euro crisis, Europe, Europeans, eurozone, Schadenfreude, U.S., Washington
Washington Post (October 17)
“At almost literally the eleventh hour, Congress has approved legislation that will end a costly 16-day partial government shutdown and avert the potentially greater disaster of a default on federal obligations.” Unfortunately, the deal “buys only a short interval of peace.” When that period expires early next year, “it is all too possible that Congress will fail to agree and will deliver the country to the brink of another shutdown or default.”
Tags: Congress, Default, Government, Legislation, Obligations, Peace, Shutdown, U.S.
Washington Post (October 15)
“A reopening, for now, of government, a postponement for a few months of a possible default on federal debts, a promise to negotiate again over fiscal disagreements — in a rational, functional world, these meager accomplishments would not be cause for celebration. In today’s Washington, they would count as achievements.”“A reopening, for now, of government, a postponement for a few months of a possible default on federal debts, a promise to negotiate again over fiscal disagreements — in a rational, functional world, these meager accomplishments would not be cause for celebration. In today’s Washington, they would count as achievements.”
Tags: Achievements, Celebration, Default, Federal debt, Functional, Government, Rational, Reopening, Washington
Washington Post (October 8)
John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”
Tags: Danger, Debt, Default, Democrats, House, John Boehner, Lifeline, Obama, Predicament, Republicans, Shutdown, U.S.
Guardian (January 25, 2012)
“The euro fell sharply on the foreign exchanges today after the legendary speculator George Soros said that growing economic and political tensions could destroy the European Union.” At the World Economic Forum in Davos, other economists have added their voices to his warnings. Soro’s said, “Unfortunately, the European authorities had little understanding of how financial markets really work, and did everything wrong.” He pointed out that Greece is now on the verge of default.
New York Times (September 5)
The United States Postal Service (USPS) stands on the verge of bankruptcy. Volume has been shrinking in the digital age and the USPS deficit is expected to reach $9.2 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. The postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, is seeking Congressional approval of his plan for “eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers.” Without drastic measures, the USPS will default on pension payments this month and “sometime early next year… run out of money to pay its employees and gas up its trucks… forcing it to stop delivering the roughly three billion pieces of mail it handles weekly.”
The Economist (August 20)
Europe’s leaders and, in particular, Angela Merkel correctly sense the lack of domestic support needed to fix the euro zone crisis. What they overlook is the need to cultivate this support. Half-measures will not work and a euro zone collapse would be damaging. “The current rescue plan for the euro is just not working. The markets continue to price in default…. A year ago it was said that the euro zone could take care of two or three small countries but that Spain was too big to fail. Today, with Italy and even France looming into the picture, the very survival of the euro is coming into question.”
The Economist (June 30)
Markets breathed a sigh of relief when Greece passed recent austerity measures, but the “new plan to cut Greece’s debt looks doomed to fail.” The plan is both too draconian and too light on real reform. “It does too little to prevent the epic folly of Greece’s railways and other ruinous schemes. It will screw down too hard on ordinary Greeks, with new taxes, spending cuts and a rushed privatisation scheme. And it will almost certainly condemn Greece to recession, strife and an eventual debt default.”
Financial Times (June 22)
“Bond investors are already pricing Greece’s government debt as though it has defaulted.” The Financial Times presents the four scenarios most likely to play out in the ongoing Greek saga: Disorderly default, Orderly default, Staggering on and Leaving the euro. None of them are pretty and the actual course will likely be revealed in the next few weeks.
“Bond investors are already pricing Greece’s government debt as though it has defaulted.” The Financial Times presents the four scenarios most likely to play out in the ongoing Greek saga: Disorderly default, Orderly default, Staggering on and Leaving the euro. None of them are pretty and the actual course will likely be revealed in the next few weeks.
Bloomberg (May 17)
“A Greek default would be “highly destabilizing” for banks, causing losses that “far exceed” the size of their loans and investments there, according to Moody’s Investors Service.” European banks hold approximately €95 billion of Greek assets. Moody’s calculated direct possible losses on these assets at €34.4 billion.
