Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups






















« Man Arrested In Separate Oslo Attack; Attack Targeted... Youth Camp | Main | 4th O'Keefe Medicaid Sting Video Hits Virginia »
July 22, 2011

Europe Declares Euro Too Big To Fail; Germany Becomes, Essentially, Manager of Greece

This seems ill-advised.

Germany now becomes the one-nation Marshall Plan for the debtor nations of Europe. This only works if it works. When you strap yourself to a drowning man, there's a very good chance you will be dragged under, rather than holding the drowning man afloat.

In addition, democracy is effectively suspended in Greece as European Union technocrats will be managing its affairs.

It’s not quite what some are portraying it as – the day that Europe signed up to the creation of a superstate – but it’s another big step in that direction...

By creating extreme moral hazard through ultra low interest rates for the afflicted nations, it also threatens to sow the seeds for an even worse eurozone debt crisis at some stage in the future.

Agreement on the package is one thing, deliverability is quite another. Once Germans realise that what is being proposed is a transfer union by stealth, you have to wonder what political future there is for the leaders who agreed it. Angela Merkel is staring election defeat in the face, rather in the way that agreeing to German participation in the euro was arguably what did for Chancellor Helmut Kohl back in the late 1990s.

...

The agreement refers to a “European Marshall Plan” to restore competitiveness to Greece. This doesn’t appear to mean money. Instead it seems to refer to the provision of “exceptional technical assistance to help Greece implement its reforms”. In other words, someone else will be running Greece’s affairs. That might be regarded as a positive development. Greece has, after all, proved quite incapable of running them for itself. Democracy has nevertheless been suspended.

Monty calls this a default by Greece. I believe he means this: Credit rating firms have stated previously that any failure of Greece to pay its obligations would be charged as a "default," even if the creditors agreed "voluntarily" to take a haircut. (No one really "volunteers" for a haircut; this is done just to get some money out of a bad investment.)

I think the theory is that more and more of Greece's debt is held by the European Central Bank and by lending them vast amounts of money at low interest rates (which they clearly haven't earned), this is as a much as a "default" as simply not paying up.

This all seems very bad.

Oh: Monty now explains. Apparently the bondholders did take a haircut:

It's a default because bondholders have to take haircuts -- willingly or not, it's still coercive. (I.e., if I read the deal correctly, getting their bonds at par with the full coupon is not an option.)

It's a legalism, though, as I explained in my solvency article. [This will be posted later -- ace.] "Default" is a legalism, and one that sovereigns (especially the ECB) play a lot of tricks to avoid.

An extension of term is still a haircut even if the par value is retained. A bond is a contract, and if I buy, say, a 1-year Greek bond with a 2% coupon, that's a contract. An extension of term means my principal remains "locked up" for longer than I wish, and I may or may not get the agreed-upon coupon rate at the end of the renegotiated term. (Just because the sovereign *promises* a higher coupon -- interest rate -- on the extended bond doesn't mean they'll actually pay it. After all, the previous defaulted bond was a promise too.) In other words, I'm incurring an opportunity cost (not getting my principal plus original interest back) without being properly compensated for it. And there is the reality that there will be a sure-enough bond default not long from now because this whole "voluntary" thing won't have enough takers, I'm betting -- Greece would need to impose haircuts of at least 50%-70% on outstanding debt to even have a *chance* of paying it back. This whole "Brady Bond" approach is yet another delaying action, not a real solution.

Nevertheless, it is also a technical default on bonds -- the only reason markets aren't freaking out about it is that they priced in default a long time ago. (The Euro actually got a small bump on the
news.)



digg this
posted by Ace at 02:43 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
www.chatterbatecam.com: "For the second aspect of the recipe, I was working ..."

julissa la toxica porn: "Sometimes it is caused by a head injury (and anoth ..."

Skip : "Not a great night but time to get rolling ..."

Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Got a long day today: dr.'s appt. in the afternoon ..."

Lucy Mercer: "Farmer - No. Wish I could help though. You have yo ..."

Sexy Porn Com: "Top dolls from all over the environment in a broad ..."

you pornos: "Included on the 2017 rundown was Shibby de Guzman, ..."

sex offender Lookup: "If you feel embarrassed about asking for a time-ou ..."

Alteria Pilgram: "New Yorker anonymous smears: February, 2015 ..."

Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Morning, fellow insomaniacals! Woden's Day hath b ..."

Natasha: "Sappho and Socrates, How Can One Explain the Love ..."

Ciampino - doritos? tostitos?: "383 Senate needs to get over themselves..I dont re ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64