Archive - Jul 13, 2015

Hillary Clinton is set to deliver her first economic policy speech in what is sure to be wonderfully leftist 'fair and balanced' populist attack on her financial backers (the banks) in favor of her minions (everyday Americans). The somewhat confusing leaks about the speech suggest growth through tax cuts for small business and government infrastructure spending which would be funded by higher taxes on the wealthy (small businesses) and minimuj wage hikes (ouch small businesses). Grab your popcorn (and the inflight vomit bag) and enjoy...

Germany's largest public TV broadcaster's most popular show explains how "Greece was assigned to its place..."

Now that Greece has capitulated and offered up its sovereignty in what can only be described as an unconditional surrender to Berlin and Brussels, here's what's next for the country, the government, and the Greek people.

"Exit from the currency block is now officially something that can be used as a threat to those that don’t behave the German way."

"The last six months' crisis has exposed weaknesses in the Eurozone's governance framework that will likely reverberate for months and years into the future."

"Greece will continue to fight, and we will continue to fight, so that we can return to growth, regain our lost national sovereignty"

Even with a deal in place and a new program for Greece on the horizon, the country's banks are by no means in the clear as deposit outflows, limited breathing room under ELA, and deteriorating asset quality present formidable stumbling blocks going forward.

• Greece Capitulates to Creditors’ Demands to Cling to Euro (BBG)
• Euro zone strikes deal with Greece after all-night struggle (Reuters)
• Tsipras Moves From Predator to Prey at Euro 'Torture' Summit (BBG)
• Euro’s Greek Boost Evaporates as Analysts Predict Losses to Come (BBG)
• Greek Fury Meets Resignation at Demands for Concessions (BBG)
• Poland Blames ‘Carefree’ Greek Populists for Tough EU Aid Deal (BBG)
• Europeans Press for Iran Nuclear Deal on Monday (WSJ)
• Iran nuclear talks: Deal 'near completion' (BBC)
• In speech, Clinton to put wages at heart of economic policy (Reuters)
• China’s Incendiary Market Is Fanned by Borrowers and Manipulation (NYT)

... It was on the table. And that means that to some extent, the genie is now out of the bottle. Brussels is officially discussing how to engineer Greece’s departure. The euro is not irreversible. Clearly, they will not do “whatever it takes” to keep it together.

For once the Chinese stock market rollercoaster (where the Shanghai Composite closed up 2.4% after another day of early selling) was fully upstaged by events in Europe.

Just around 9am CET, after a 17-hour mammoth all-night session, Greece did manage to cobble together a "deal" if one may call this latest embarrassing can-kicking that, which was nothing short of total capitulation by Tsipras. As part of the deal, Greece "surrendered to European demands for immediate action to qualify for up to 86 billion euros ($95 billion) of aid Greece needs to stay in the euro" in the words of Bloomberg.