Greece’s crisis could presage America’s | The Town Talk

Posted by Matt in March 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Financial, Alan Greenspan, Chairman Alan Greenspan, Debtor, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Chairman, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Fiscal Problems, Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Greece, Thetowntalk, United States, World Economy

How long can the United States remain the world’s largest economy as well as the world’s largest debtor?
“Not indefinitely,” suggests former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. “History tells us that great powers when they’ve gotten into very significant fiscal problems have ceased to be great powers.”
Raum: Greece’s crisis could presage America’s | thetowntalk.com | The [...]

A Long Way From Economic Normalcy

Posted by Matt in March 13th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Aftermath, Balance Sheets, Banks, China, Consumers, Debt Crisis, Developing Economies, Economy, Europe, Fiscal Stimulus, Fourth Quarter, Greece, Inventory Replenishment, National Journal Magazine, Normalcy, Overhang, Property Values, Signs, Sovereign Debt, Spurt

The economy grew 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, but the number is not as strong as it looks. Most of it is based on temporary factors, notably a spurt of inventory replenishment and the now-waning fiscal stimulus. An overhang of debt and low property values continues to weigh down banks’ and consumers’ [...]

How Greece’s Debt Crisis Affects America – US News and World Report

Posted by Matt in March 11th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Area Exports, Brown Brothers Harriman, Council Of Economic Advisers, Currency, Debt Crisis, Economic Downturns, Economic Report, Financial Crisis, Gaps, Global Head, Greece, Interest Rates, Investment Firm, News World, Recession, S Council, Us News And World Report, White House

If Greece defaults, “it risks exacerbating the economic downturns and could even reignite an acute financial crisis” through higher interest rates, Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman, wrote in a report.
A Greek default would hit Americans hard in one major area: exports. According to the Economic Report of [...]

Preparing for the Next Bubble and the Bang When It Bursts – NYTimes.com

Posted by Matt in February 28th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Financial, China, Financial Bets, Greece, Last Time, Money, Nytimes, Offensive Moves, Pop, Treasury Bonds

Individuals, as always, may be tempted to make their own financial bets, too. Last time, they bought overpriced homes with too much borrowed money. Next time, who knows what the bubble will be? And that’s the problem, as it always is. How do you identify the next thing that will pop? Is it China? Or [...]

ABC The Drum – Infectious misery of a Greek tragedy

Posted by Matt in February 26th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Financial, Abc, Bearing, Debts, Dilemma, Face, Greece, Greek Tragedy, Greeks, Misery, Public Debt, Southern Europe

Beware of Greeks bearing debts. However you look at the emerging crisis in southern Europe, it doesn’t look good.
European nations such as Greece with high levels of public debt face a terrible dilemma.
ABC The Drum – Infectious misery of a Greek tragedy

The Demise of the European Welfare Nation

Posted by Matt in February 17th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Europe, Adult Life, Adults, Birth Rates, Chunk, Demise, Early Retirement, Gdp, Greece, Industrialized Nations, Italy Population, Italy S Population, Life Expectancy, Norm, Pensions, Populations, Retirement Age, Spain, Troubled Countries, Welfare Nation, Workforce

Europe’s other most troubled countries share many of Greece’s characteristics. Italy and Spain have birth rates that have slipped as low as Greece’s and shrinking labor working age populations. Yet early retirement is the norm. In Italy the average retirement age is 59, among the lowest in industrialized nations, and Spain is ranked only slightly [...]

America’s debt spiral resembles Greece’s crisis – washingtonpost.com

Posted by Matt in February 16th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Ancient Ruins, Anne Applebaum, Cheese, Debt Spiral, Decade, Financial Crisis, Greece, Greeks, Hamburgers, Midwest, Texans, United States

I have seen America’s future, and it is Greece.
By this I do not mean that the Midwest will soon be covered with ancient ruins or that Texans will swap hamburgers for feta cheese. I mean that the ongoing Greek financial crisis is the kind of crisis the United States might face in a few years, [...]

Why Greece matters, and why it might be worse than you think

Posted by Matt in February 16th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Europe, Admission, Circumstance, Circumstances, Currencies, Deficit Spending, Exchange Rate, Faces, Fiscal Discipline, Government Debt, Greece, Greek Government, History Matters, Interest Rates, Mediterranean Countries, Northern Countries, Path Dependence, Political Choices, Predicament, Pundits, Regard

A Path-Dependent World
Path dependence explains how the set of decisions one faces for any given circumstance is limited by the decisions one has made in the past, even though past circumstances may no longer be relevant. In essence, history matters.
With regard to the future, the choices we make determine the paths we will take. As [...]

Greece’s economic crisis could signal trouble for its neighbors – washingtonpost.com

Posted by Matt in February 9th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Debt Crisis, Economic Crisis, Economic Problems, European Countries, Government Spending, Greece, Neighbors, Sovereign Debt

But the underlying economic problems facing Greece and some other European countries mean that radical cutbacks in government spending and more social pain are likely to follow as these countries move to avert a sovereign debt crisis, in which nations find themselves unable to pay on their obligations.
Greece’s economic crisis could signal trouble for [...]

A Financial Crisis That Just Keeps Moving – NYTimes.com

Posted by Matt in February 8th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Chairman Of The Federal Reserve, Chairman Of The Federal Reserve Board, Countries In The Euro, Economic Problems, Economy, Euro Zone, Fair Game, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Board, Financial Crisis, Financial Leaders, Greece, Henry M Paulson, Henry M Paulson Jr, Indebted Countries, Investors, Nonsense, Portugal, Subprime Mortgage, Treasury Secretary

YOU know we’re in trouble when we’re told that the economic problems in Greece, Portugal and Spain, the most indebted countries in the euro zone, are likely to remain safely contained in those nations.
After all, we heard the same nonsense in 2007 from United States financial leaders talking about the subprime mortgage mess. Both Ben [...]