Ireland Asks for Massive Bailout (page 2)

leavingwt

Will the Euro break apart?

. . .

Eventually, the euro breaks apart into a northern euro and a southern euro," said Gartman, explaining that the Continent's many languages, religions and cultures are too diverse for the singular currency to work.

Gartman said he thinks Europe's debt troubles won't stop with Ireland's bailout and mounting concerns in Spain and Portugal. He thinks it's a "rolling contagion from one country to the next," which will likely claim Belgium next.

Being as he thinks Europe's problems are long-term, he would sell any rallies in the euro.

With more than 30 years of experience as a currency and commodities trader, Gartman is a "Fast Money" contributor and publisher of the widely read "The Gartman Letter."

Watch the video to see the full conversation with Gartman.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40363300

BurnTheShips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo

leavingwt

Paul Krugman . . .

Can Europe Be Saved?

. . .

Yet Europe is in deep crisis — because its proudest achievement, the single currency adopted by most European nations, is now in danger. More than that, it’s looking increasingly like a trap. Ireland, hailed as the Celtic Tiger not so long ago, is now struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Spain, a booming economy until recent years, now has 20 percent unemployment and faces the prospect of years of painful, grinding deflation .

The tragedy of the Euromess is that the creation of the euro was supposed to be the finest moment in a grand and noble undertaking: the generations-long effort to bring peace, democracy and shared prosperity to a once and frequently war-torn continent. But the architects of the euro, caught up in their project’s sweep and romance, chose to ignore the mundane difficulties a shared currency would predictably encounter — to ignore warnings, which were issued right from the beginning, that Europe lacked the institutions needed to make a common currency workable. Instead, they engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the nobility of their mission transcended such concerns.

The result is a tragedy not only for Europe but also for the world, for which Europe is a crucial role model. The Europeans have shown us that peace and unity can be brought to a region with a history of violence, and in the process they have created perhaps the most decent societies in human history, combining democracy and human rights with a level of individual economic security that America comes nowhere close to matching. These achievements are now in the process of being tarnished, as the European dream turns into a nightmare for all too many people. How did that happen?

. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16Europe-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

wobble

If all the irish Theme bars in the World donate 50% of their profits, it would solve Irelands debt problems. Tee Hee.

skeeter1

Burn the Ships - love the video!

leavingwt

Euro Crisis: The only way to save the euro is the destruction of its members

. . .

In theory, these new structures would work easily. But they mark a fundamental and revolutionary change in the structure of the EU. Mr Delors’s Maastricht Treaty envisaged each member state taking responsibility for its debts. The common bail-out fund and eurobond set out by Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy abandon that principle, though Germany has yet to fully acknowledge this killer point.

Once implemented, all member states (and Mrs Merkel in particular is agonisingly aware of this) will take responsibility for each others’ debts. From that moment, Europe will transform once and for all into one country. This is the historic turning point Mr Fillon was discussing yesterday, and he asked for Britain’s assistance. David Cameron pledged that Britain “will be a helpful partner”. But our true interests lie elsewhere. Europe is our greatest trading partner and we have a visceral interest in its prosperity and growth.

Already the dogmatic adherence of the European elite to the single currency has had a devastating impact on many eurozone countries, converting Greece and Ireland (to quote my colleague Ambrose Evans-Pritchard) into economic protectorates of Brussels, a fate likely to befall Portugal and Spain.

The act of a true friend would have been to warn Mr Fillon against digging himself and Europe into a deeper hole. Meanwhile, our Government would be wise to lecture bankers, not about the size of their bonuses, but about the scale of their exposure to European sovereign debt.

. . .

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100071895/the-only-way-to-save-the-euro-is-the-destruction-of-its-members/