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"Recapitalization Time" The Latest Conflicting Data On Greece

Tyler Durden's picture




This latest on Greece, this time from Dow Jones. Why is Obama speaking about windmills as the future of global moral hazard, Larry Summers edition, is being decided in Berlin?

Germany and other EU member states are weighing measures to help Greece climb out of its financial emergency and plan to discuss the matter this week at the European Commission, Germany's finance ministry said Tuesday.

Finance Ministry spokesman Michael Offer said EU members wanted "to develop further recapitalization measures that calm the markets."

A government source said Tuesday that parliamentarians from the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right government, will meet Wednesday to discuss possible aid for Greece.




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Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:00 | Link to Comment Going Down
Going Down's picture

 

"There are no facts, only interpretations."

 

-Nietzsche

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:02 | Link to Comment exportbank
exportbank's picture

No one is happier than Germany with a nice big decline in the value of the Euro. The past week has done wonders for the export business in the D-mark domain. They may dance around the edges of helping but they're loving this too much and they don't want the Euro to move back up.
This of course doesn't help with the plan on this side (or every side) of the ocean since every country currently plans to export their way back to prosperity.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:21 | Link to Comment crosey
crosey's picture

+1.  Nothing like a hyper-export dependent global economy to fuel a systemic correction.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:28 | Link to Comment knukles
knukles's picture

Bing-gie-o.  Deutschland is the biggest winner with the weak Euro.  They're the X-port driven economy and the problem with the good old D-mark was that it was always an expensive currency.

Sooooooo, wanting to keep the Euro intact, depreciated by the PIIGS or whatevers, got to keep Greece as a basket case on life support.  Means emptying bed pans periodically, but a mere minor inconvenience.  

No tin foil hat from Germany's perspective.  Clear as a fine pilsner. 

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:08 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:02 | Link to Comment John McCloy
John McCloy's picture

One thing is clear. Someone made alot of money going both ways today on these "rumors". Meanwhile S&P downgrade of BAC & C are disregarded. They both were on their way to breaking KEY support levels. Something is afoot

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:08 | Link to Comment Joe Sixpack
Joe Sixpack's picture

As I said in one of the previuos rumor pieces:

 

"I wonder who got paid how much to say what at the strategic moment so who could buy/sell what at what price to make a killing?"

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/here-comes-selling-germany-claims-greek-bailout-rumors-are-unfounded-confusion-reigns#comment-223576

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:02 | Link to Comment glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

just another shell game, moving the risk around once again.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:07 | Link to Comment Daedal
Daedal's picture

glenlloyd,

You're comment is elegant in its simplicity and profound in its lucidity.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:31 | Link to Comment glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

why thank you.

I have to wonder whether the rumors spread about Germany et al stepping up to bailout Greece were nothing more than fabrications concocted purely for the sake of staving off the pending market corrections for another day (or two). Afterall, there certainly was a lot of contradictory information flowing about...more than usual IMO.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:04 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:09 | Link to Comment OutLookingIn
OutLookingIn's picture

Good luck on the "further recapitalization measures".

The discussion now being the amount of the print run. Fingers are poised above the keyboards, awaiting the go-ahead to start the presses. At least this will keep the Euro valuations from rising. 

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:12 | Link to Comment theprofromdover
theprofromdover's picture

The French are keeping oh-so quiet in all this.

I wonder why, and how long their financial data has been massaged to slip under the debt limits.

Perhaps to the PIIGS should be added France & UK, but that would spell something nawrrty.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:41 | Link to Comment H.W. Plainview
H.W. Plainview's picture

With all this talk about PIIGS I'm surprised we aren't yet talking about the CAGRUFS here at home.

 

California

Arizona

Georgia

Rhode Island

Utah

Florida

South Carolina

 

"I am an oil man"

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:51 | Link to Comment jmc8888
jmc8888's picture

You mean

 

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming, and of course D.C. and perhaps our territories.

 

We're all screwed

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:12 | Link to Comment Cursive
Cursive's picture

Recapitalization:  Issuing yet more debt to payoff the debt and interest from the last time.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:24 | Link to Comment jschurchin
jschurchin's picture

Exactly how it works. And somehow the market thinks this is a great idea.

Heres the real question though. What about Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and the rest who are in the same position as Greece. Who bails them out?

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:24 | Link to Comment Commander Cody
Commander Cody's picture

In a fractional reserve fiat currency monetary system, more debt is always the answer.  The taxed populations always pay.  And, the controllers of all this chaos truly do... play with themselves.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:12 | Link to Comment jc125d
jc125d's picture

They must be all out of Big Fat Greek Maxi-Pads.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:12 | Link to Comment godfader
godfader's picture

CDS on German bunds is bound to soar over the intermediate term. To an extent, Bunds will be synonymous with Club Med debt. The Reichsbank did an excellent job of protecting their export industry by snuffing the EUR rally.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:17 | Link to Comment mtkd
mtkd's picture

Race to the bottom

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:20 | Link to Comment Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

 

My Pet...Windmill?

 

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:21 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:07 | Link to Comment E pluribus unum
E pluribus unum's picture

"Gay abandon"?  So that's why Barney Frank loves those Wall Street guys so much

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:29 | Link to Comment Going Down
Going Down's picture

 

Hidden Treasure!

 

How might a deal like this work? Let’s say that Greece issues a bond for $10 billion, which it would then normally swap into euros at the prevailing interest rate, getting $10 billion worth of euros up front. In this case, it seems, the swap was tweaked so that Greece got $11 billion worth of euros up front — and, of course, has to pay just as many euros back when the bond matures. Essentially, it has borrowed $11 billion rather than $10 billion. But for the purposes of Greece’s official debt statistics, it has borrowed only $10 billion: the extra $1 billion is hidden in the swap.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Goldman came up with a clever capital-markets deal to help a European country get around the Maastricht rules: as far back as 2004, Goldman put together something called Aries Vermoegensverwaltungs for Germany, in which Germany essentially borrowed money at much higher than market rates just so that the borrowing wouldn’t show up in the official statistics. And according to Balzli, Italy has been doing something almost identical to the Greek swap operation, using a different, unnamed, bank.

 

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/02/09/how-greece-hid-its-borr...

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:30 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:50 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:32 | Link to Comment Prof Gulliver
Prof Gulliver's picture

The Greece story was fun while it lasted. It really revved up the ZH base. But the resolution will be just what the market wants: Just sweep it under the rug, extend and pretend, just like here. And guess what? It worked here and will work there. No problems: Let's just move on to Spain and Portugal. Or we can get back to Armageddan predictions and bashing GS. Did you see Taibbi's new GS story? He has proof they were short the Colts. The referee looked a lot like a GS prop-desk trader who was "on vacation" last week. Damn squid.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 15:45 | Link to Comment Porter
Porter's picture

That makes for a huge lump under the rug.  When is debt not real?

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:14 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:57 | Link to Comment Prof Gulliver
Prof Gulliver's picture

So clever! No wonder you're Anonymous!

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:03 | Link to Comment tom a taxpayer
tom a taxpayer's picture

 

Finance Ministry spokesman Michael Offer said EU members wanted "to develop further recapitalization measures that calm the markets." 

recapitalization measures? or,

recapitulation measures? or, 

recrapitalization measures?

 

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:08 | Link to Comment BlackBeard
BlackBeard's picture

Brace yourselves mortals! God's work is about to get DONE!

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:12 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:22 | Link to Comment carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

I wonder who got the phone calls before the Almunia rumor was released?

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 16:28 | Link to Comment asdf
asdf's picture

 

IS THE RISK TRADE BACK ON?

 

http://pragcap.com/is-the-risk-trade-back-on

 

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:05 | Link to Comment MarketTruth
MarketTruth's picture

Wow, between this and the Paulson/GrandPa Buff show...

ARE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THIS STUPID?

Seems to me that many markets/countries all around the world are frucked and now they have stopped even trying, so how about Ftv plays reruns of Captn Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers?

Here is an idea, since obviously Ftv has run out of quality commentary... Perhaps CNBC needs to break out Tinky Winky instead of those trust fund absolute idiots who have no clue about the REAL markets. You know, the 'less bad' and 'signs of stabilization' guys. CNBC went downhill long ago and now Bloom is sinking fast.

Thank goodness for ZH!!!! :)

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:35 | Link to Comment glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

in a word....yes, yes they are

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 17:20 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 21:10 | Link to Comment ghostfaceinvestah
ghostfaceinvestah's picture

Agree, either way the EU, and the Euro, are done.

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 18:23 | Link to Comment Highrev
Highrev's picture

Greek Bailout? Maybe. European QE? I doubt it. I'm thinking “bridge loan” stuff. Germany plays banker, and banks a banker's margin. Good, sound business. What better loan than to a *client* state with taxation powers? When I say client state that’s what I mean – something like “we own you”. With that kind of “guarantee”, Greece is triple A. The “bet” then becomes a bet not against Greece, but rather a bet against the EU. Do you think the EU is in danger of ruin? Me either. Do you think the EU needs QE? Me either. There’s no real estate bubble, well almost (there’s only Spain with a “sub-prime” mess – that would be similar to the U.S. with *only* California as a problem – and the UK doesn’t count because it’s not in the monetary union). The underlying fundamentals of the European economy are much better than North America’s; in fact, the real big problems in Europe stem in large measure from U.S. derivatives  …

Mon, 04/19/2010 - 10:41 | Link to Comment Tom123456
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