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Without going into the detail of my member posts, here's what I can say: it is clear Greece will eventually exit the euro zone. The question is the timing. But, the political about-face necessary to prevent contagion is a lot larger than…

In the links today are a lot of links in both English and Spanish about the bailout of Spain's fourth largest bank Bankia. With the partial nationalisation, Spain is moving one step closer to Ireland in committing the sovereign government…

Earlier this week I wrote a post called "Europe edges closer to the endgame" in reaction to the French and Greek elections. Today I want to expand on this for the weekly members' post. While I think we are finally arriving at the…

Mindless austerity is losing policy credibility in some Eurozone nations. This column suggests governments shouldn’t mix long-term growth and fiscal discipline nor produce another Lisbon strategy. Instead, they should adopt a framework for…

In last week's weekly newsletter, I explained why Spain was in big trouble. Today I want to present the full context euro zone-wide and why there will be more sovereign defaults to come in the euro zone. This will be a very comprehensive…

A common denominator runs throughout recorded history: a rising proportion of debts cannot be paid. Adam Smith remarked that no government ever had repaid its debt, and today the same can be said of the overall volume of private-sector…

I like Jonathan Tepper's commentary about currency unions over the past century. His analysis says that the breakups have been feasible. The real problem in Europe's case is overindebtedness meaning that the potential exiting euro zone…

One Greek outstanding bond is a 450 mln euro FRN that is due May 15. It has a 30-day grace period to make the payment, according to press reports. The new Greek 10-year bond yield rose today to 20.55%. It is the fifth consecutive session…

Despite comparisons with Greece, Portugal is not in entirely the same situation, at least not yet it isn't. Crucially, Portugal is currently under no obligation to deal with international or national creditors to increasing government debt…

Rich nations worldwide have a problem with debt. In the past, such problems have been dealt with by several tactics, including “financial repression”. This column explains how the tactic works and documents its resurgence in the wake of the…