Tag Archives: ECB

Will the prophet Putin be proven right?

Posted on 3 March 2012 by craigjameswilly

Last November, when the euro-shit really started to hit the fan, Vladimir Putin – with his habitual freedom of expression – predicted the European Central Bank would need to intervene to the tune of €1.5 trillion. Mario Draghi, who became … Continue reading →

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Draghi : L’équilibre budgétaire passe exclusivement par des réductions de dépenses

Posted on 27 February 2012 by craigjameswilly

Mario Draghi, le président de la Banque centrale européenne, a été appelé dans le magazine Foreign Policy « L’homme ennuyeux le plus important du monde ». En effet, dans le contexte actuel de crise financière et budgétaire, la BCE est peut-être l’institution … Continue reading →

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Draghi: Balanced budgets to be achieved through spending cuts alone

Posted on 27 February 2012 by craigjameswilly

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, has been called “The world’s most important boring man”. Indeed, in this context of financial-fiscal fiscal crisis, there is perhaps no more powerful institution in Europe than that which he heads. Its … Continue reading →

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Eurostat: Eurozone debt actually decreasing

Posted on 9 February 2012 by craigjameswilly

…last year. Between June and September 2011, the debt of eurozone governments as a percentage of GDP fell from 87.7% to 87.4%. The recovery’s combination of GDP growth, rising revenue, and falling unemployment meant debt was falling at an annualized … Continue reading →

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Eurozone, the Unravelling (III): The Fake Jobs & Growth Plan

Posted on 3 February 2012 by craigjameswilly

I’ve been reading Molly Ivins so I almost put “like heartless, dumb bastards” but that wasn’t quite in keeping with the style of the publication: Was it the fact that both the IMF and the World Bank warned that the … Continue reading →

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Europe on Autopilot: How Krugman predicted the euro-mess in… 1998

Posted on 29 January 2012 by craigjameswilly

I came across a December 1998 article in Fortune magazine by the indomitable Liberal economist and Nobel prize winner in which he takes a critical look at the monetary union the Europeans were creating. It’s quite amazing how much has not changed … Continue reading →

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Eurozone, the Unraveling (I): A recession for Christmas

Posted on 15 December 2011 by craigjameswilly

We’ve reached a new stage in EU history: the most significant exercise in federalism – the euro – has in its current form caused a double-dip recession. This is a tragedy and a perfectly avoidable one at that. This slow-motion … Continue reading →

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Eurocalypse 101: Three articles for understanding where we’re at

Posted on 6 December 2011 by craigjameswilly

The eurozone crisis appears to be heading towards some kind of climax. Haven’t we heard this before? Like ahead of every eurosummit of past two years? While a truly “decisive” solution appears impossible almost by definition given the nature of … Continue reading →

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ECB (finally) gets bashed in Spanish elections

Posted on 30 October 2011 by craigjameswilly

The EU typically plays a minor role in Spanish electoral campaigns. However, El País reports that “the crisis has also upset this, and for the first time since the 80s, the Spanish campaign has begun with a clash between the … Continue reading →

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