“Gastarbeiter” of the European South Unite! You got a new employer! A German one! The German Railways (Deutsche Bahn) want to recruit personnel from the EZ-bailout countries of the European South like Greece, Spain and Portugal to address the company’s personnel shortcomings. “We really think in this direction,” DB-Personnel Chief Ulrich …
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Some PIIGS are more equal…: Spain Gets One Extra Year To Reach Deficit Targets
George Orwell was a prophet when he summarized in a single phrase the equality in the Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others“. Paraphrasing the line of pig Napoleon and adjusting it to the farm of the Euro Zone, the famous line can very clearly …
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Europeans in Financial Distress and Deteriorating Social Conditions; 68% of Greeks Below Poverty Line
Labour market and social situation for many European citizens is deteriorating. These are the results of European Commission review, published in the Quarterly EU Employment and Social Situation Review at overall EU level. The gap between the South and the North is increasing. Unemployment hits mostly the countries that received bailout aid, …
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EU Commission Predictions: Greece Recession -4.7%; Rest of EZ-South Does Not Feel Better Either…
I think it’s high time for European bureaucrats to take a deep, passionate look into the euro zone countries realities and thoroughly review their economic strategies. In its 2012 forecast report about growth within the EZ, the European Commission announced the griming predictions for the EZ in general and the European South in …
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What Will Happen if Greece Leaves the Euro?
There is so much talk these days about a possible euro exit of Greece, especially under a left, anti-bailout government. I found an very interesting article about the consequences for Greece and the other Euro countries. The author, an Italian, asked several market experts on the impacts that “such a shock” would …
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EU bank Offers Non-Euro Payment to Greek Firms – Portuguese, Irish to Follow?
It looks as if the taxpayer-funded European Investement Bank is preparing for the euro collapse and/or for the euro-exit of countries applying the economic stability program. That is, the bailout that has so far “helped” Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The EIB has started to include a new legal clause in its contracts …
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EU Public Survey: One in Two Greeks Could Not Buy Food at Some Point
A European Union public opinion survey on the impact of the crisis and poverty revealed the sad realities in Greece. Conducted in December 2011, i.e. before the second bailout, the EU poll showed that Greeks secure a grim ‘championship’ among the people of the 27 members states when it comes to poverty …
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IMF to Replace Poul Thomsen from Greek Post?
Does the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers to replace Poul Thomsen? Will the Danish numbers-Wizard will have to leave his favorite Greek post? According to daily TA NEA, rumors have it that the Danish head of IMF in Greece will be replaced by the same man who replaced him in …
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Germany To Fish Young Jobless Greeks and Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians
I hear the dogs bark, and there go the caravans of post-modern Gastarbeiter to Germany. Young, talented and skilled jobless from Greece and Spain, Portugal and Italy. Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen wants to hold jobless young people to Germany so they can escape the misery of unemployment in …
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Pimco:”Greece was a Zit, Portugal is a Boil, Spain is a Tumor”
That’s an economic analysis and dermatological condition description in 140 characters. Bill Gross, bond guru and manager at the world’s biggest investment management company PIMCO used his Twitter account to schratch some pimples from the bottom side of his Frankenstein moon. “Bill Gross, the world’s biggest bond manager, put the matter …
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Bundesbank: No ban on Sovereign Debt Collateral from Greece, Ireland & Portugal
UPDATE: Germany΄s Bundesbank said on Monday (April 2/2012) that it will continue to accept all euro zone sovereign bonds as collateral in its lending operations, rejecting media reports that it had stopped taking debt from EU/IMF programme countries. On March 30, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, that Germany’s Bundesbank …
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IMF’s Thomsen: Minimum Wages in Greece 50% Higher than in Portugal
Am I confused or they just don’t know what they’re talking about? I am again impressed by the manipulated mathematics of the IMF &Co when it comes to minimum wages in Greece and the infamous competitiveness. During a hearing at the European Parliament, IMF’s man in Greece, Poul Thomsen claimed that …
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Germany, Greece and Seven Other EZ Members Support the Tobin Tax
Germany, Greece and seven other eurozone member countries support the idea of “Tobin Tax” (FTT) on financial transactions. German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported, the finance ministers of Germany, Greece, Italy, France, Austria, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Portugal sent a letter to EU Danish Presidency and request to “overcome all relevant difficulties until …
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Eurostat: Recession in Greece at -7% in Q4 2011
Recession in Greece hit -7% in the last three months of the 2011, in comparison to the same period of 2010, according to latest Eurostat report. Recession has been also recorded in Portugal (-2.7%), Slovenia (-1.5%), the Netherlands (0.7%), Italy and Cyprus (-0.5%). The biggest growth was recorded in Lithuania …
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Venizelos’ Dilemma “PSI or Albania” Throws Greeks into New Identity Crisis
Greeks are deep identity crisis. They do not know who they are. They do not know if they are still Greeks or not. This has to do with the fact that national and international politicians want to turn Greeks into something else. Right after the elections of 2009, PM George Papandreou …
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German FinMin’s Sweet Whispering: Schaeuble Promises to Rescue Portugal, Once Finished with Greece (video)
There they are at the Eurogroup meeting on Thusrday, Feb 9, 2012: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his counterpart from debt-ribben Portugal, Vitor Caspar. The two men speak with a low voice, secretly. In fact, it is the German FinMin who gives the tune and the Portuguese bows his head approvingly. Schaeuble: “If then there would be …
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IMF’s Thomsen Earns as Much as 35 Greeks or 53 Portuguese Annually?
The talented Mr Thomsen, the surgeon who tries to finish people’s lives with a fine scalpel, the ambitious Poul Thomsen from IMF allegedly earns $240,000 or €185,000 annually, with the largest part of his income being tax free. The man who tries to make people in Greece and Portugal to work …
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Is Portugal the Next Greece? And How About Ireland?
While Greece struggles in Brussels to convince its European partners of its good intentions, Portugal seems to follow the path of Greece. The IMF prescription programme didn’t help the Portuguese economy either. On Monday borrowing costs for Portugal rose to euro-era highs. The same happened with CDS that hit a record of …
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Troika-EU Repr. Kröger: Portugese Are Better than Greeks!?
Apparently, debt-ridden and well-behaved Portuguese are better than broke and defiant Greeks. In fact, “Portuguese are good and Greeks are …bad (?)” if we want to believe German Juergen Kroeger, EU representative of the Troika group supervising the bailout package in Portugal. This sentence from Kroeger angered the journalists in Portugal …
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The Never Ending Plight of Greek Debt Drives CDS & Spreads High
ECB President Jean Claude Trichet made on Thursday a clear point on Greek Debt and the additional bailout. “ECB’s position does not change. Participation of private sector is voluntary. We don’t want a ‘selective default”. Trichet was speaking during a press conference and gave this answer when he was asked …
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