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This Could Sink Banks in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy
This Could Sink Banks in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy
Not that much has changed in Spain since the climax of the debt crisis during which its collapsing banks were bailed out. Some of them were recombined into a bank with a new name – Bankia – and sold to the public via an IPO that immediately sank into red ink and scandal. Spanish government debt sported yields that reflected the risks of owning it. At this time in 2012, six-month T-bills yielded over 3.2%.
But that part has changed. In this absurd era when risks no longer exist in a quantifiable manner, the Spanish government today joined a growing club: it issued its first debt – 6-month T-bills – with a negative yield. Spain!
But the European Commission is now contemplating pulling the rug out from under the banking miracles in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy.
Turns out, these four countries have been smart in how they propped up their rickety banks. They and their banks have declared something a “high quality” asset even though it has a dubious value, no market price, and can’t be sold. And they have included this totally illiquid asset of dubious value in the “core capital” of the banks. This asset significantly increases the “capital buffers” and makes the bank more resistant to shock and collapse, on paper. That’s how they solved their banking crisis.
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Plan B? Major European “Allies” Desert Obama, Join China-led Infrastructure Bank
Plan B? Major European “Allies” Desert Obama, Join China-led Infrastructure Bank
It appears the sea of de-dollarization has reached the shores of Europe. With Australia and UK having already moved in the direction of joining the China-led AIIB, The FT reports that France, Germany, and Italy have now all agreed to join the development bank as ‘pivot to Asia’ appears to be Plan B for Europe. As Greg Sheridan previously noted, “the saga of the China Bank is almost a textbook case of the failure of Obama’s foreign policy,” but as The FT concludes, the European decisions represent a significant setback for the Obama administration, which has argued that western countries could have more influence over the workings of the new bank if they stayed together on the outside. As Forbes notes, this leaves Obama with 3 uncomfortable options…
As The FT reports,
France, Germany and Italy have all agreed to follow Britain’s lead and join a China-led international development bank, according to European officials, delivering a blow to US efforts to keep leading western countries out of the new institution.The decision by the three European governments comes after Britain announced last week that it would join the $50bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a potential rival to the Washington-based World Bank.
…
The European decisions represent a significant setback for the Obama administration, which has argued that western countries could have more influence over the workings of the new bank if they stayed together on the outside and pushed for higher lending standards.
The AIIB, which was formally launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, is one element of a broader Chinese push to create new financial and economic institutions that will increase its international influence. It has become a central issue in the growing contest between China and the US over who will define the economic and trade rules in Asia over the coming decades.
This follows Australia and UK…
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Boiling point: Hundreds of anti-fascist protesters clash with police in Italy
Boiling point: Hundreds of anti-fascist protesters clash with police in Italy
Clashes broke out at an anti-fascist rally in Cremona, Italy when around 2,000 protesters took to the streets to object to an attack by far-right group supporters. The fracas left a political activist in hospital.
A couple of thousand anti-fascist protesters attended the rally on Saturday, which started off peacefully. The protesters marched through the city center chanting slogans and waving banners to draw awareness to the plight of anti-fascist activist Emilio Visigalli, who is currently in hospital in a serious condition, following last week’s attack by the far-right group CasaPound. He was injured when the event organized by the CSA Dordoni cultural center was attacked on January 18 by dozens of neo-Nazi supporters.
However, midway through the rally, a group of youths appeared wearing helmets, dressed in black and carrying sticks. They began to throw stones, bottles, flares and smoke bombs at the police. Law enforcement officers responded by firing tear gas at the rioters, who according to the Turin based newspaper, La Stampa, had arrived from different parts of Italy. The standoff lasted for around two hours.
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‘We want our jobs!’ Thousands march against Italian labor reforms (VIDEO) — RT News
‘We want our jobs!’ Thousands march against Italian labor reforms (VIDEO) — RT News.
Some 40,000 protesters took to the streets of Rome on Friday, as Italy was gripped by protests against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s reforms. Demonstrations turned violent in Milan and Turin as protesters clashed with police.
A general strike called by CGIL and UIL, two of Italy’s major trade unions, prompted huge rallies in over 50 cities nationwide. The unions have denounced government reforms, claiming they pose a threat to job security.
Strikers believe the burden of reform is being placed unfairly on workers.
“We want jobs and you can’t create jobs by cutting the rights of the workers. We want to reclaim our rights, we want democracy, which they are stealing, together with the dignity of the Italian people and the workers,” a protestor told ABC.
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‘F**k austerity’: Protesters clash with cops outside opening night at La Scala, Milan — RT News
‘F**k austerity’: Protesters clash with cops outside opening night at La Scala, Milan — RT News.
At least 300 protesters clashed with riot police in an anti-austerity march in Milan, Italy, outside La Scala which opened its glamorous opera season. Activists threw Molotov cocktails and flares, leaving two officers injured.
The demonstrators were protesting against the austerity policies of Italian PM Matteo Renzi. They demanded rights for social housing after authorities launched a series of squatter evictions.
Among the protesters there were public workers and students who voiced their criticism against Italy’s labor reforms.
About 1,000 officers attempted to hold back the protesters, who were carrying banners reading “fight the power”, “we resist!” and “Jobs Act = Bad Jobs.” Some of the banners were slightly more radical, with expressions like “F**k austerity.”
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West’s action in Libya in 2011 was a ‘mistake’ – Italy’s foreign ministry — RT News
West’s action in Libya in 2011 was a ‘mistake’ – Italy’s foreign ministry — RT News.
Western countries made a ‘mistake’ three years ago, when they intervened in Libya to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, according to Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The statement came amid reports of the US discussing airstrikes on Libya’s territory.
“Three years ago we might have made a mistake, when international forces interfered without thinking through the scenario, what will happen afterwards. Italian voice was too weak,” Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni said in a TV interview with national broadcaster RAI, as quoted by Tass news agency.
While meeting international journalists on Friday, the minister said that stabilizing the situation in Libya – which at the moment is an uncontrollable land of “chaos” – and in the whole Mediterranean region was a key priority of Italy’s foreign policy.
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“An injury to all”: the class struggle is back in Italy | ROAR Magazine
“An injury to all”: the class struggle is back in Italy | ROAR Magazine.
As Renzi’s center-left government intensifies the project of neoliberal restructuring, a wave of self-organized class struggle takes off across Italy.
Back in 2006, Warren Buffet, the notorious billionaire speculator, confessedduring an interview that: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Since then, that class warfare has been ever tougher in Italy. Since 2000, real wages have been decreasing, registering an even sharper downturn since the beginning of the crisis in 2007-’08. In real terms, wages nowadays are as high as in 1990.
At the same time, unemployment has skyrocketed. The number of unemployed people was registered at 3.23 million in September 2014. Italy’s jobless rate increased to 12.6 percent in the same month, while its youth unemployment rate (aged 15-24) was 42.9 percent. In September 1983, the two rates were respectively 7.5 and 25.9 percent, respectively. The Gini coefficient, the most common measure of economic inequality, has gone back to the same levels of the 1970s. In 2012 it averaged out at 34.9 per cent, a level as high as in 1979.
But probably, since the beginning of the last economic crisis (2007-08), the most evident indicator of the ongoing class war in Italy has been the increasing disposal income of the bourgeoisie and the steadily decreasing income of the working class, which shows to what extent the crisis has been an opportunity for the rich to privatize profits and socialize losses.
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