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Economics

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds

THE MARKETS have been temporarily buoyed amid optimism that European leaders will find a solution to the debt crisis.  Unfortunately, the optimism is likely to be short lived because the problem with Greece is not just that they owe everyone a lot of money.  Greek debt is a symptom of a more endemic problem rooted in the […]

Categories
Economics

Greek default in all but name

Whatever you say it is, it isn’t ~ Alfred Korzybski IN OCTOBER 2011, private banks accepted a 50% writedown on Greek debt. European leaders negotiated the writedown to avoid a technical default. It is surprising that ratings agencies did not classify the writedown as a default when you consider that S&P defines sovereign default as […]

Categories
Economics

Would a Bund by any other name smell as sweet?

ON WEDNESDAY November 23rd, an auction of German government bonds (known as “Bunds”) managed to sell only €3.6 billion out of a total €6 billion worth of Bunds on offer (source: Economist). Germany is one of the most financially stable countries in the Euro-zone, so its failure to sell all of its Bunds is worth […]