There are three options for Germany to deal with Greece’s debts: 1)let them default 2)make the bond holders take a haircut, meaning they will get less 3)guarantee the loans to persuade banks to rollover the old Greek bonds and buy… Continue Reading →

In the Wall Street Journal article of Saturday, June 25, ‘2011, “Swiss Renew Push For Bomb Shelters”, the American reporter criticizes the Swiss government for being paranoid and building way too many bomb shelters.They claim that Switzerland, which is of… Continue Reading →

Germans have a tradition of saving that goes back at least to World War I, World War II, and the hyper-inflation of the 1920’s. It also harkens back to the nineteenth century. Apparently Germans were just as frugal back then…. Continue Reading →

Greece yesterday and today at the summit of European leaders and finance ministers asked to get out of some of the proposed austerity measures. They met wit a resounding no. Merkel addressed the Greeks personally, telling them they would have… Continue Reading →

Germany should know better, but then it is playing politics. It’s going along with a farce invented by Jean-Claude Trichet to pretend that Europe’s best banks are not losing money on Greece’s bonds when they are. Everyone now acts as… Continue Reading →

Though Greek protestors were dogging him, Greek Prime Minister Papandreou survived a no confidence vote on Tuesday. He had 155 votes in a 300-seat Parliament. which everyone says now means that his government is going to pass the austerity measures… Continue Reading →

Germany is talking out of two side of its mouth. Juncker’s group of European finance ministers met Sunday and Monday and announced that Greece will get its next quarterly installment of money, 12 billion euros, only if the Greek Parliament… Continue Reading →

Mass confusion reigns in Europe’s latest attempt at a balancing act over the Greek debt crisis. On Friday Merkel backed off her insistence on Greek debt restructuring for the greater good of the euro. But still we have a grand… Continue Reading →

Before the ink is dry on the agreement about the Greek bailout, Germany faces a new challenge to its fiscal union with the rest of Europe. In a Saturday, June 18, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal, “Moody’s Warns… Continue Reading →

Merkel engaged in an act of statesmanship on Friday when she decided that she would set aside objections on the part of German voters and try to preserve the euro as the currency for all of Europe. She would back… Continue Reading →