UPDATE: The European Debt Crisis

The EURO is in trouble, the monetary union is threatened, the sovereign debt contagion is now spreading from Greece to Spain, Portugal, Poland and will soon engulf Ireland and Italy.  While I will still occasionally publish one of these stories either here or on the headlines page, I will utilize this 'tracking post' as the primary means of updating breaking European stories.

Whenever I post a new story, I will move this post to the top of the site, which is the cue that something has been added inside. 

The newest stories will always be at the top.

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May 4

Guess Who's Paying For The Greece Bailout? That's Right -- YOU (Henry Blodget)

Euro market meltdown resumes despite Greek deal (Reuters)

Greek State Workers Escalate Protests Over Budget Cuts (Bloomberg)

Why A Eurozone Break-Up Would Trigger The Mother Of All Financial Crises

Trichet May Need to Rewrite ECB Rules to Tame Greek Threat

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May 3

EU, IMF agree 110 bln euro bailout for Greece (Reuters)

Greece:  Collapse or Salvation (UK Mail)

RIGGED: Markets chief promotes idea of EU credit rating agency

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May 2

Greece Faces `Unprecedented' Cuts as $159B Rescue Nears (Bloomberg)

Greece erupts in violent protest as IMF prepares to wield axe (UK Mail)

Greece Gets Aid, Promises Austerity (WSJ)

Smart Money Is Short Debt Of Greece, Spain, Portugal (Forbes)

Europe's sovereign-debt crisis: Acropolis now (The Economist)

Thousands join May Day protests in Europe (Reuters)

Roubini And Milken Debate How Quickly The World Will Collapse

5 Terrifying Parallels Between The Crisis In Europe And The Great Depression

Europe Is Finished Unless It Changes The Rules Fast (Der Spiegel -- Germany)

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April 28

Roubini on European Monetary Union: Could Dissolve In A Matter Of Weeks

EU Scrambles for Solutions as Greece Turns Viral

Hesitation and Patronizing Advice: How Germany Made the Greek Crisis Worse

Spain Suffers Fallout From Greece, Debt Rating Cut to AA

Portugal's economy: The importance of not being Greece

Swaps Not Responsible for Crisis, Greece Is: Papantoniou

Greece Bondholders May Lose $265 Billion in Default

Greece's Credit Rating Cut To Junk Status As Europe's Debt Crises Worsens

Portuguese Bank CDS Go Vertical

Aflac Shares Slide on $1 Billion Greek Bank-Bond Holding

Update on May 2, 2010 at 11:30 AM by DailyBail

Updated May 2

Comments

[Zarathustra]

"The current Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has also defined himself as a socialist[1] and admitted to adhering to socialist policies, as do a great deal of his top Cabinet ministers, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, who believes thatLabour should talk up the massive redistribution of wealth it has achieved.

In Britain we have no problem defining people as socialists, nor do people on the left have a problem calling themselves socialists." Adam Shaw from American Thinker

But how do those socialist really feel about its pensioners or its Joe the Plumber...lets take a look....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG0pJpSeVRI

[DailyBail]

It's As If The More Japan's Ancient Printing Press Keeps Churning, The More Prices Keep Deflating

http://www.businessinsider.com/more-deflation-means-more-of-the-same-old-failed-interest-rate-policy-in-japan-2010-4

[DailyBail]

Roubini: Significant Risk Of Bond Vigilantes Waking Up To U.S. Problems In Two Years

http://www.businessinsider.com/roubini-us-sovereign-concerns-coming-in-just-a-few-years-2010-4

[DailyBail]

The Economic Policy Error Behind the Stock Market Rally and the Next Phase of the Financial Crisis

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/04/policy-failure-if-stock-market-crashes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JessesCafeAmericain+%28Jesse%27s+Caf%C3%A9+Am%C3%A9ricain%29

[DailyBail]

Homebuyer Tax Credit Ends, But Other Incentives Emerge

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36828305

[DailyBail]

Madoff Sons, Brother Could Face Charges: AP

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/madoff-sons-brother-charg_n_558937.html

[James H]

Choice quote from Jesse's Cafe Americain article:

"Bernanke is famously a student of the first Great Depression, even as General Joffre, the architect of the Ligne Maginot, was a student of the first World War. And Larry Summers is remarkably similar to Marshal Pétain. Tim, on the other hand, seems to be a student of very little, not even apparently of the tax code which he administers, except perhaps the art of being a manservant, a valet to the powerful."

I'm going to use that Maginot Line quip every chance I get. (Much more effective than starting in on Keynesian economics or whatnot.)

[Zarathustra]

It looks like Buffett likes the casino. These days it makes you wonder if he too has something to hide or something to protect.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7MjyvkDO_XA&pos=7

[Zarathustra]

Plutonomy

What Does Plutonomy Mean?

Economic growth that is powered and consumed by the wealthiest upper class of society. Plutonomy refers to a society where the majority of the wealth is controlled by an ever-shrinking minority; as such, the economic growth of that society becomes dependent on the fortunes of that same wealthy minority.