England started to decline in late nineteenth century, but Germany started to rise after unification. This power vacuum at top allowed World War I to begin. England pulled it out by getting American aid. But Hitler tried it again. He… Continue Reading →

Papandreou cancelled the planned January referendum on the Greek bailout package agreed upon last week. He said that it was irrelevant now that the opposition party backed the bailout plan. He gave in to Merkel’s demands that he either accept… Continue Reading →

Merkel finally lost her patience with the Greeks today. She issued an ultimatum. She said either they shape up or ship out. She thinks that last weeks summit on Greece was something to be thankful for. She expended a lot… Continue Reading →

We’ve known it all along, but somehow now that it’s ready to happen, we’re surprised. The Troika has been pouncing on Greece for months. They’ve demanded more and more austerity measures. Greeks are losing their jobs. Now the Prime Minister… Continue Reading →

Italy has bond problems. The yield rose to levels not seen since August when the EU had to step in with his bond buying program. 10-year-bonds , BTU’s, jumped to 6.1%. Italy might be at the center of the crisis,… Continue Reading →

All data now points to a decline in GDP for the EU. That will make coming to a deal to fix the EU economics all the more difficult. This will be the first decline since the 2009 recession. The Euopean… Continue Reading →

I saw immediately that it was deja vu. Now everybody agrees with me. All the relief about the new EU deal is quickly evaporating — even more quickly than in July. All the leaders did was announce that they intended… Continue Reading →

The Germans keep on telling Greece to cut, cut, cut. They urge the Greeks to implement more and more austerity measures. But what is the result? Greece suffers from daily strikes and rising unemployment. They’ve been through five years of… Continue Reading →

Is it late October or July? It seems like a flashback to several months ago when an EU deal is announced but few details are released about how it will be implemented. They talk about a 50% haircut for Greek… Continue Reading →

The only way Merkel could get the German Parliament to agree to the bailout fund was to remind them of the cost of failure. She raised the specter of World War I and World War II. She said she couldn’t… Continue Reading →