The deficit in the Netherlands has been over the 3% hurdle for four years straight. Yet somehow there is no talk of disciplining the nation or ensuring compliance. The Netherlands’ debt to GDP is also well over the 60% hurdle now as well.

Portugal : le plan d’austérité est menacé par les juges

The Portuguese austerity plan may be declared illegal by judges in Portugal. If this occurs, it will present Portugal and the euro zone with another problem. It is not clear how the Portuguese can deal with this and also move out of their dependence on Troika bailout funds.

La dette française atteint un nouveau record

Good outline of the French debt and deficit situation with charts showing the progression over the last 4 years. The national debt is at a record of $1.8 trillion even while deficits have gone down in each of the last three years. Now France is in recession and so the debt will go even higher.

ekathimerini.com | Retail sales in January slump 16.4 percent

“Greek retail sales by volume slumped by 16.4 percent year-on-year in January after a revised 8.3 percent drop in the previous month, statistics service (ELSTAT) data showed on Friday.
Austerity measures imposed by the debt-laden country’s foreign lenders have hurt private consumption, the main driver of its economy.
Retail sales volume dropped 12 percent in 2012, bringing total contraction in 2009-2012 to 34 percent”

La dette publique atteint le record de 90,2% du PIB

After recording a deficit of 4.8% in 2012, France’s national debt rose to 90.2% of GDP and stands at 1.8338 trillion euros.

Slovenia faces contagion from Cyprus as banking crisis deepens – Telegraph

“Slovenia’s borrowing costs have rocketed over recent days as it grapples with a festering financial crisis, becoming the first victim of contagion from Cyprus.”

Rosenberg: The Risk Of US Recession – Business Insider

” If there is a risk, it is probably on the fiscal front an that policymakers pull off some sort of 1937-38 stunt (the FDR recession) or the premature sales tax hike in Japan in 1997-98 which sent the economy back into a tailspin.
If in fact we avoid a fiscal mistake, then the risks of a recession go down sharply (some Fed district banks peg the odds at a mere 6%) and what we are left with is what we have had all along, which is a muddle-through post-bubble deleveraging economy”

Deutsche Bank Slides as S&P Considers Rating Cut – Bloomberg

“Deutsche Bank, the least capitalized of Europe’s biggest investment banks, faces “substantial risks” to its capital due to the debt crisis, litigation and stricter regulation, S&P said. That has stoked concern among some investors that the firm will have to sell shares to boost its reserves, said Ingo Frommen, an analyst with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany.”

Sixth Quarter of Contraction Looms for Euro Zone – WSJ.com

“An indicator that has correctly recorded contractions in the euro zone suggests the currency area’s economy shrank for a sixth straight quarter in the three months to the end of March, a development that would underline the difficulties faced by governments in resolving the currency area’s fiscal crisis.”

ekathimerini.com | Cyprus euro controls may last years as Sarris vows ‘weeks’

“Countries from Argentina to Iceland have used similar measures in the past to defend against devaluation. Being part of the euro zone may make it harder for the Mediterranean island to enforce restrictions, as any money that leaves the banking system can be taken out of Cyprus without losing value.
That also may make it more difficult to meet the goal set Wednesday by Finance Minister Michael Sarris to lift any controls in “a matter of weeks.” When economies in Asia and Latin America tried to stem the outflow of money in the 1980s and 1990s, they ended up keeping the measures in effect for six months to two years. Iceland, another island nation with an outsize banking system, still has capital controls five years after its banks collapsed in 2008.
“Thanks to political mismanagement, we now have a first: capital controls in the euro zone,” said Nicolas Veron, a senior fellow at Bruegel in Brussels and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “How long is temporary? It could turn out like Iceland, extending to many years.””

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