And these are the 'smartest people in the room that the world is entrusting to save the status quo. In one brief interview, ECB's Coeure explained how lower oil prices are great for the EU economy (but that low oil prices hurt deflation and thus QE should be used to stoke inflation - and thus higher oil prices?) and then said discussions of a Greek exit from the euro are "meaningless," that "no one is preparing for the exit," and that "restructuring ECB Greek bond holdings is illegal." One wonders what he will do when Greece just decides to stop paying...
Bloomberg headlines...
- *ECB'S COEURE SAYS OIL-PRICE DROP IS GOOD NEWS FOR EURO ECONOMY (awesome!)
- *COEURE SAYS OIL PRICES ALSO A CHALLENGE FOR ECB INFLATION GOAL (wait what?)
- *COEURE SAYS EURO AREA IS NOT IN DEFLATION (oh ok so no need for action then!)
- *COEURE: OIL-PRICE DROP REINFORCES SIGNALS POLICY ACTION NEEDED (wait what?)
And then
- *ECB'S COEURE SAYS `TOO EARLY' TO CALL ON QUANTATIVE EASING (but you just said?)
Because...
- *ECB'S COEURE SAYS GREEK ELECTION WON'T SPEED DECISION ON QE (hhmm)
- *COEURE SAYS GREECE NEEDS THE EURO, EUROPE NEEDS GREECE (not sure the Greeks would agree)
- *ECB'S COEURE: NO-ONE'S WORKING ON A GREEK EXIT AT THE MOMENT (apart from the Germans?)
And remember...
- *COEURE SAYS GREEK DEBT HELD BY ECB CANNOT BE RESTRUCTURED
- *ECB'S COEURE: ILLEGAL TO RESTRUCTURE ECB GREEK BOND HOLDINGS
So - it may be illegal but what happens when Greece just decides to stop paying?
