Euro rocking on its heels

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
We will see if the Euro survives or not. Now that China and Russia have tied their tails to it I hope it fails big time.

SOURCE

Year of bullying, bluff and bailouts leaves euro fighting for its life

Merkel will call the shots at tomorrow's EU summit – but will she kill or cure the patient?

or cure the patient?

Ian Traynor Europe editor guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 15 December 2010 20.50 GMT

Inside a freezing, derelict military barracks on the crest of a hill in the middle of Germany, Bernd Niesel single-handedly carries on with his labour of love.

The 67-year-old retired serviceman oversees a shrine to the Deutsche Mark, the symbol of postwar German success, running a small museum devoted to the remarkable birth and lamented death of the currency. The mark was born behind barbed wire in total secrecy in this barracks in 1948 in what became known as the "conclave of Rothwesten". The currency met an early death at the age of 50 in 1998 (though notes and coins were in circulation until 2001). But as the German opinion polls show every week at the moment, 30%-40% are hoping for a resurrection.

"Certainly for the older generation," said Niesel, "the feeling is very much one of nostalgia – 'if only we had the D-mark again'." The sentiment is hardly surprising given the turmoil besetting the D-mark's successor, the euro.

Only 12 years after it was launched to great fanfare and after early success, the euro is fighting for its short life. Two of the 16 countries using the currency have had to be bailed out, despite the ban on such rescues in 1992's Maastricht treaty that created Europe's monetary union.

Following the traumas of Greece and Ireland, Portugal may be next in line. There are worries about Spain.

In Brussels tomorrow the leaders of 27 countries, as well as the heads of the European commission and the European Central Bank, gather for their seventh EU summit this year, all consumed by the crisis surrounding the single currency.

The air of rancour and pessimism is pervasive. Bitterness is widespread, particularly among the smaller EU countries and those who feel they are being bullied by the most powerful.

"There is no appetite anywhere for another Franco-German plan to save the euro," said an east European government minister.

[more]
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The EU must make the Euro work .... or be proven incompetent fools. They'll see nations destroyed before that happens.
 
The Euro was ill fated from the start

"nations destroyed by incompetent fools"

haven't we seen this one before?
 
An Osama Christmas

I want the Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
 
How about one of these?

Colt_AR-15_SP1_SP495xx_.JPG
 
I've never fired one of those though.
How accurate are they over a distance...say 100 yards?
 
The bottom half is accurate @ 100yds, ....so is the upper with minimal shoulder issues.

It looks like the stupid unions are winning in Greece, another loss for the great socialist utopia.
 
Ste your gun up properly & they all can be adjusted to near perfection.
 
The AR platform is more expensive and more extensive to play with but the AK is a great deal of fun too. I've enjoyed both the AK and SK, how could a hundred on going revolutions be wrong?

You can mod the AR to a .50, .308, .22 etc. ...and then there are some interesting mods that are questionable depending on your state.

The market is good right now, everyone I know has been buying/selling. We got all the girls air rifle upgrayedd's for xmas.

I love watching eurotrash throwing rock and molotov's for the socialist good.
 
Revisiting an old thread on the impending death of the Euro, we have some fresh news.

SOURCE

Euro on ‘Death Watch’ After Investors Spurn German Bonds
Published: Wednesday, 23 Nov 2011 | 1:42 PM ET

Investors began to fear the worst for the euro after unusually weak demand at an auction for bonds from Germany, the region’s largest economy. One analyst went so far as to put the currency on a “death watch.”

pe’s safe harbor marks a new stage for the crisis.

“No bunds wanted equals no Euros wanted equals the Euro death watch,” wrote Mark Steele, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets. “We have seen many poor German auctions. This is not the issue. The issue is how badly the euro is doing after the weak auction.”

The euro [EUR=X 1.3393 0.005 (+0.37%) ] fell more than 1 percent against the dollar to a 7-week low against the Greenback. The currency threatened to break through the October lows that came amid the height of turmoil in Italy and Greece. Both countries would go on to install new Technocrat leaders, lifting confidence in the currency briefly.

The European Financial Stability Facility does not give the European Central Bank the same firepower or freedom of the Federal Reserve, which it utilized in the aftermath of the U.S. credit crisis with two rounds of massive purchases of Treasurys (QE) [cnbc explains] . Germany has been reluctant to follow the Fed’s lead and buy up other countries bad debt because of fear over inflation.

German Chancellor “Merkel has been opposed to using the ECB as a monetizer of debt,” said Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter. “Germany doesn’t even like to think in these terms, but they may not have a choice.”

Recent reports have hinted at different workarounds of the euro treaty being discussed to effectively replicate quantitative easing in Europe. One option discussed was for the ECB to lend money to the IMF, which in turn would buy the toxic debt before it could spread to yet another country.

“It’s too late for a bazooka,” said Mitchell Goldberg, president of ClientFirst Strategy. “Now we need inter-continental ballistic missiles. This is getting worse very quickly.”

Investors had kept buying German bonds as they fled crisis after crisis in the region: first in Ireland, then in Greece and Italy, and now in Spain and Belgium. But Wednesday, 10-year bunds dropped significantly after the failed auction, pushing the yields above 2.05 percent, but perhaps more importantly above the U.S. treasury with the same maturity for the first time since early October.

“We are seeing the end of the euro currency as we know it,” said Brian Stutland of Stutland Volatility Group. “I don't see a single thing that causes the euro to rally other than the Fed announcing a ‘QE3’ in which they buy euro foreign debt.”

For the best market insight, catch 'Fast Money' each night at 5pm ET, and the ‘Halftime Report’ each afternoon at 12:00 ET on CNBC. Follow @CNBCMelloy on Twitter.
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Bigger government and higher taxes, whether in Greece or California,
are not a prescription for economic growth.
 
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