published by Tom Sullivan on Mon, 2012-09-17 09:47
More than 150,000 people marched through the streets of Portugal to voice anger against a planned tax hike announced by the center-right government. Chanting, "Out of here! IMF is hunger and misery!", the mob called for the government to resign.
published by Tom Sullivan on Wed, 2012-05-02 10:01
The German austerity dictat is leading to new economic and social turbulence in the indebted counties of the southern Euro-zone.
published by Tom Sullivan on Tue, 2011-06-14 21:23
With Greece forced to seek a second bail-out to avoid bankruptcy, Open Europe has today published a briefing cataloguing how the eurozone crisis could drive the European Central Bank itself into insolvency, with taxpayers likely to pick up a big chunk of the bill.
The role of the ECB in the ongoing eurozone and banking crisis has been significantly understated. By propping up struggling eurozone governments and providing cheap credit to ailing banks, the ECB has put billions worth of risky assets on its books.
published by Tom Sullivan on Sat, 2011-04-16 09:08
This week has witnessed two very different reactions to European debt. At one end of Europe, Iceland's voters decided once again not to accept the payment terms of their 'creditors', the British and Dutch governments, following the collapse of Icelandic banks in 2008. At the other, Portugal is being pushed down the path of shock therapy by the European Union, with the people of that country cut out of a process which will change their lives dramatically.
published by Tom Sullivan on Sun, 2011-01-09 23:51
Pressure is growing on Portugal from Germany, France and other euro zone countries to seek financial help from the EU and IMF to stop the bloc's debt crisis from spreading, a senior euro zone source said on Sunday.
published by Tom Sullivan on Wed, 2010-12-22 00:11
Overdrawn American cities could face financial collapse in 2011, defaulting on hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowings and derailing the US economic recovery. Nor are European cities safe – Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice: all are in trouble
published by Tom Sullivan on Thu, 2010-05-20 19:49
Among the mega-forces moving the tectonic plates and imperiling the nation-states of the world from above and below are these:
First, ethno-nationalism, which threatens nations with secession and break-up. We see it in the Uighurs of China, the Naga of India, the Baluch of Iran and Pakistan, the Kurds of Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, the Chechens of the Russian Caucasus and the Walloons of Belgium.
Second, transnationalism. This is the project of global elites who seek to reduce nations to ethno-cultural enclaves in a new world order run by these same bloodless bureaucrats whose loyalty is neither to the land nor people whence they came.
published by Tom Sullivan on Fri, 2010-05-14 11:38
Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Spain can sue Canada for damages from global financial crisis
By Timothy Madden, National Examiner, 10 May 2010
published by Tom Sullivan on Mon, 2010-05-03 10:42
It is fitting that Greece is at the heart of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis because the financial calamity which began three years ago is unfolding with all the grim predictability of a classical tragedy.
The Telegraph, 1 May 2010
Indeed, it is the inevitability of the sequence that goes some way to explaining the relatively sanguine response of the equity markets to the gyrations in government bonds.
published by Tom Sullivan on Tue, 2010-04-27 07:54
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Portugal risks becoming the new Greece.
With a higher debt burden and a slower 10-year growth rate than Greece, Western Europe’s poorest country is being punished by investors as the sovereign debt crisis spreads. The risk premium on Portuguese bonds rose to more than double the past year’s average this month. Portugal’s credit default swaps show investors rank its debt as the world’s eighth-riskiest, worse than for Lebanon and Guatemala.
published by Tom Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-17 20:52
Down on the Euro Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others, finds Eric Walberg
published by Tom Sullivan on Mon, 2010-03-08 08:53
According to a report out last week, there is huge off-balance-sheet debt guaranteed by Greece and the other PIIGS, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.
published by Tom Sullivan on Sun, 2010-03-07 12:54
Public sector workers in Portugal have gone on strike in protest to the so-called austerity measures imposed by the government to cut national debt.
Press TV, 5 March 2010
published by Tom Sullivan on Fri, 2010-02-05 21:50
The Greek debt crisis has spread to Spain and Portugal in a dangerous escalation as global markets test whether Europe is willing to shore up monetary union with muscle rather than mere word
