Europe
- Ten days of secret planning to rescue markets | Reuters
Britain orchestrated this week’s bold move by central banks to stave off a cash crunch in global markets, helping drive a plan that began to take shape around 10 days ago.
- Euro Region’s Central Banks Seen Providing Up to $270 Billion Through IMF – Bloomberg
A European proposal to channel central bank loans through the International Monetary Fund may deliver as much as 200 billion euros ($270 billion) to fight the debt crisis, two people familiar with the negotiations said.
- From bonds to binds: How can bailout conditions be enforced? | Comment is free | The Guardian
Similarly stern undertakings to balance the books were written into Maastricht treaty but the rules were still broken
- Growth fears rise as Irish export orders fall for a third month – Irish, Business – Independent.ie
NEW Irish export orders fell for the third month in a row in November, as markets dry up for Irish goods abroad. The latest news has further heightened fears that a promised export-led economic recovery has petered out.
- Killing the Euro – NYTimes.com
Can the euro be saved? Not long ago we were told that the worst possible outcome was a Greek default. Now a much wider disaster seems all too likely.
- Germany is the ultimate victim of EMU – Telegraph Blogs
Enough is enough. Please stop defaming Germany out there in the blogosphere. The Germans are not engaged in a mercantilist conspiracy to subjugate and milk southern Europe. They are not conducting "warfare by other means", or heaven forbid, trying to establish a Fourth Reich. The German people entered monetary union for honourable motives, believing they were acting as good Europeans
- Macro and Other Market Musings: The Eurozone Crisis is a Monetary Crisis, Not a Fiscal One
Yes, nominal GDP is crashing in Eurozone’s periphery while it is close to trend in Germany. This is nothing new for Germany which has a history of maintaining stable monetary conditions at home no matter the cost to the rest of the Europe. The question now is whether Germany values the Eurozone project enough to allow the monetary solution to be implemented. So far it has not been terribly interested in the monetary solution.
- macroblog: The ongoing lender of last resort debate
Two days do not a policy success make, and it is a fool’s game to tie the merits of a policy action to a short-term stock market cycle. But at first blush it does certainly appear that Wednesday’s announcement of coordinated central bank actions to provide liquidity support to the global financial system had a positive effect.
- Angela Merkel takes action to stop euro collapse | Business | The Guardian
German chancellor demands tougher budget controls in decisive week for currency, leading to optimism on stock markets
- Fiscal union is only way we’ll fix this longterm, declares Angela Merkel | World news | The Guardian
ECB can buy time, says chancellor, but Europe has to set joint rules to govern debt and Lisbon treaty will need renegotiating
- Greece in revolt over property tax | World news | The Guardian
Civil disobedience among Greeks grows after tax was incorporated into electricity bills
- Which eurozone countries will survive fiscal union? | Heather Stewart | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Merkel and Sarkozy have a plan that will help secure the single currency but some members will probably have to go
US
- MF Global accessed client funds for weeks – FT.com
MF Global had been dipping into client funds for weeks before its failure – rather than just in its final days as had been previously reported – say US authorities investigating the broker-dealer’s collapse.
- Matt Stoller: A Real Third Party? An Anti-Big Bank Republican? Yup. « naked capitalism
Like many of you, I had mostly given up on electoral politics. One time I went through a log of Hank Paulson’s phone calls when he was Treasury Secretary, and then Tim Geithner’s phone calls when he was Treasury Secretary. And I realized that both men were talking to essentially the same people, even though they were ostensibly in different parties. When a switch in the party in power does not result in policy changes, there’s little point in electoral politics. I’ve seen two new intriguing developments that are worth noting. The most interesting is former Democrat and ex-Mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson forming what he is calling "The Justice Party". Now I love the Justice frame, because it really gets to the heart of what is missing from our technocratic overlords.
- Wall St. Groups Sue Regulator to Challenge New Trading Rule – NYTimes.com
Wall Street sought to deliver another blow to the financial regulatory overhaul on Friday, as two industry trade groups sued a federal regulator over a new rule restricting speculative trading.
- GMAC Mugs Massachusetts for Insisting on the Rule of Law, Suspends Mortgage Lending in the State « naked capitalism
This move by GMAC, now Ally, is remarkably brazen. GMAC has effectively said that Massachusetts must hew to its demands of how to deal with foreclosures. It announced it is withdrawing from mortgage lending in the state in an effort to bring it to heel.
Technology
- Carrier IQ, Samsung, And HTC All Facing Class Action Lawsuits | TechCrunch
To say that Carrier IQ has been going through a lot is a bit of an understatement, and it looks like things are only getting worse. PaidContent reports that two class action lawsuits – one from Missouri and the other from Illinois – have been filed against the Mountain View-based company for supposedly violating the Federal Wiretap Act.