Sovereign debt bubble thread

[garbon]

No, she knifed all of them in the back.

I guess if they needed a successor right now it would be Ursula von der Leyen.

I know this is a weird thing to notice on a politician's wiki but holy crap she has seven kids?  Nobody can accuse her of not doing her part in combatting the German demographic decline.

And what is wrong with that young man? I note a hint of disapproval in your post.

I'll outright disapprove.

[Zanza]

No, she knifed all of them in the back.

I guess if they needed a successor right now it would be Ursula von der Leyen.

I know this is a weird thing to notice on a politician's wiki but holy crap she has seven kids?  Nobody can accuse her of not doing her part in combatting the German demographic decline.

She and her husband are both from old money (her father was governor of Lower Saxony, her husband's family has princes of the HRE among its ancestors, you can't get more old money than that), so she could always afford it. I am sure she never needed to work a minute of her life, it's all just ambition.

[The Larch]

She also had two ponies and two goats as well? Yowzers,

[Valmy]

She and her husband are both from old money (her father was governor of Lower Saxony, her husband's family has princes of the HRE among its ancestors, you can't get more old money than that), so she could always afford it. I am sure she never needed to work a minute of her life, it's all just ambition.

Well I would hate to think one would be so irresponsible as to have seven kids one could not afford.

Anyway so she burns with a desire to gain power and rule over Germany and Europe like a God-Empress?  That just means she is a politician...and how many German politicians are actually doing it to pay the bills?  I am shocked that she would dress her identical twins in identical outfits though.  That is just cruel.

[Ed Anger]

She also had two ponies and two goats as well? Yowzers,

Even I don't have that.

[Zanza]

Anyway so she burns with a desire to gain power and rule over Germany and Europe like a God-Empress?  That just means she is a politician...and how many German politicians are actually doing it to pay the bills? 

Our previous chancellor Schröder was raised by a single mum (his father fell in WW2) who worked as a cleaner in very humble circumstances. I guess our politicians are generally well-off, but they aren't all plutocrats like American politicians nowadays seem to be.

[Iormlund]

Someone linked in P'dox to the latest Commission's forecast reports. I found amusing that the prediction for unemployment for Spain was obsolete before the ink was dry. 2013 Forecast: 27.0%. Actual 1Q figure: 27.2%.

It's like they are not even trying anymore.

So it is completely unthinkable that the next three quarters have unemployment at 26.9%? That's not really such a great achievement and it would be all that's needed to make the prognosis true. Just takes some more workers in tourism and agriculture in summer and it works out.

You might have been on to something here. The government is gloating about the best second quarter in ages, with unemployment down to 26.26%.

What they are not saying, though, is that much of that is because of people that have given up on finding a job, have retired, migrated, or will be working just for the tourist season. The latter will of course find themselves without a job come October. But if enough people give up hope, we might hit those forecasts.

[alfred russel]

Anyway so she burns with a desire to gain power and rule over Germany and Europe like a God-Empress?  That just means she is a politician...and how many German politicians are actually doing it to pay the bills? 

Our previous chancellor Schröder was raised by a single mum (his father fell in WW2) who worked as a cleaner in very humble circumstances. I guess our politicians are generally well-off, but they aren't all plutocrats like American politicians nowadays seem to be.

Obama?

[CountDeMoney]

She also had two ponies and two goats as well? Yowzers,

Even I don't have that.

Proper German offensives still rely on mobility, man.

[Ed Anger]

She also had two ponies and two goats as well? Yowzers,

Even I don't have that.

Proper German offensives still rely on mobility, man.

My kampfgruppe is fully motorized.

[citizen k]

Our previous chancellor Schröder was raised by a single mum (his father fell in WW2) who worked as a cleaner in very humble circumstances. I guess our politicians are generally well-off, but they aren't all plutocrats like American politicians nowadays seem to be.

Obama?

Compared to the average American, he's wealthy.

[Neil]

Anyway so she burns with a desire to gain power and rule over Germany and Europe like a God-Empress?  That just means she is a politician...and how many German politicians are actually doing it to pay the bills? 

Our previous chancellor Schröder was raised by a single mum (his father fell in WW2) who worked as a cleaner in very humble circumstances. I guess our politicians are generally well-off, but they aren't all plutocrats like American politicians nowadays seem to be.

Which is why he decided he was never going to be poor, and he sold his country out to the Russians.

[alfred russel]

Our previous chancellor Schröder was raised by a single mum (his father fell in WW2) who worked as a cleaner in very humble circumstances. I guess our politicians are generally well-off, but they aren't all plutocrats like American politicians nowadays seem to be.

Obama?

Compared to the average American, he's wealthy.

So is Schröder. The point is he didn't have the background of a plutocrat.

[frunk]

So is Schröder. The point is he didn't have the background of a plutocrat.

Neither did Obama or Clinton.

[citizen k]

EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - The savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.

The EU is looking for ways to wean the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment.

"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.

The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said.

Banks have complained they are hindered from lending to the economy by post-crisis rules forcing them to hold much larger safety cushions of capital and liquidity.

The document said the "appropriateness" of the EU capital and liquidity rules for long-term financing will be reviewed over the next two years, a process likely to be scrutinized in the United States and elsewhere to head off any risk of EU banks gaining an unfair advantage.

The EU executive will also complete a study by the end of this year on the feasibility of introducing an EU savings account, open to individuals whose funds could be pooled and invested in small companies.

The Commission also plans to study this year whether changes are needed to help fund small businesses by creating a liquid and transparent secondary market for trading corporate bonds in the EU.

It is also seeking to revive the securitization market, which pools loans like mortgages into bonds that banks can sell to raise funding for themselves or companies. The market was tarnished by the financial crisis when bonds linked to U.S. home loans began defaulting in 2007, sparking the broader global markets meltdown over the ensuing two years.

The document says the Commission will "take into account possible future increases in the liquidity of a number of securitization products" when it comes to finalizing a new rule on what assets banks can place in their new liquidity buffers. This signals a possible loosening of the definition of eligible assets from the bloc's banking watchdog.

The Commission will also "review" how EU rules treat covered bonds by the end of this year, the document says, a step that will be welcomed by Denmark with its large market in bonds used by banks to finance home loans.

Other steps to boost financing in the EU include possible steps to aid crowdfunding, where many people contribute relatively small amounts of money to create a sizeable funding pool.

The document said investors and asset managers also have a role and it will propose a revision of EU rules on shareholder rights to "ensure better disclosure of institutional investors' engagement and voting policies".

More controversially, the Commission will consider whether the use of fair value or pricing assets at the going rate in a new globally agreed accounting rule "is appropriate, in particular regarding long-term investing business models".


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/us-eu-banks-savings-idUSBREA1B1ZI20140212