Update:
According to VEH, the Home Owners Association, the Government had already reserved extra money to keep the stamp tax at the low 2%, while it was officially set to return to 6 percent in July. So these plans are now up in the air. It will be very interesting to see how the housing problem plays out this week as part of the budget talks. But obviously, the government was going to introduce savage cuts elsewhere to pay for this seeing growth estimates have been lowered again. It will be very interesting to see what politicians and voters will find important. I will be posting the latest opinion polls soon. As I have said, the housing market is continuing to suck up more and more potential taxes and subsidies at an accelerating rate. It is also not hard to guess what the banks consider their short term interest on this question. I salute you.
These are interesting times in the Netherlands. I'm glad things are shaking up personally. Things have been going nowhere fast, with no indications from the elites of any real solutions to the euro crisis. Dutch politicians generally say they'd still like to send a budget to Brussels by the end of the month, and hold elections.
An interesting article on nu.nl states that Olivier Blanchard of the IMF demands Germany accept eurobonds now that all countries have accepted a budget treaty. Not sure how I should interpret this, it comes out of the blue. In our situation of course, it adds pressure to present a budget as planned. What the Germans or anyone else thinks about this?
A good article on z24 shows the required Dutch bond sales for this year and you may be able to interpret it:
http://www.z24.nl/economie/artikel_345157.z24/Rente_Nederland_stijgt__br... [7]
If not, I will answer questions.
As we know the markets are nervous this morning. The Dutch 10 year has crept up 10 basis points. I won't say much about the AEX, it will likely be a bit more fickle, but it was down 2.48% at one point.
Pension associations are not thanking Wilders for repeatedly stating his objection to cuts in public pensions in defending his move to walk in his moment with the press on Saturday. One association representative does say however they are ready for elections and that there have already been many cuts since this Cabinet took office.
Wilders stated that the 3 percent deficit target was not mandatory and seeing the slumping economy and rising unemployment he would have accepted 3.5 or 4 percent.
It is time to be patient and wait for events to play out this week. More news soon.