Grab your wallet: Obama says US 'stands ready' to help in euro zone crisis

Grab your wallet: Obama says US 'stands ready' to help in euro zone crisis

Rick Moran

Maybe it's a disease, this desire to bail out banks who gambled and lost in the market and even governments who can't control their spending urges. More like a compulsion, I guess. The president has never met a bail out he didn't like - even if the target is overseas.
ABC News:

As the European debt crisis continues to escalate, President Obama urged European Union leaders today to act quickly to resolve the eurozone crisis, saying that "the United States stands ready to do our part to help them resolve this issue.

"This is of huge importance to our own economy. If Europe is contracting or if Europe is having difficulties, then it's much more difficult for us to create good jobs here at home because we send so many of our products and services to Europe; it is such an important trading partner for us," the president said following an annual meeting between U.S. and EU officials. "We've got a stake in their success, and we will continue to work in a constructive way to try to resolve this issue in the near future."
While Obama did not say what kind of assistance the U.S. would be willing to provide, earlier today the White House ruled out any financial contributions from U.S. taxpayers. "We do not in any way believe that additional resources are required from the United States or from American taxpayers," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
"This is a European issue, that Europe has the resources and capacity to deal with it and that they need to act decisively and conclusively to resolve this problem," Carney said.

Do these guys even understand the huge irony in lecturing the europeans about how to solve their debt crisis when Obama has sat on the sidelines and failed to address ours?

Considering the track record of this administration, everything they say is true - until it isn't. If the debt crisis looks like it is going to spin out of control, the administration could turn on a dime and make that statement above moot.
The possibility of direct US aid is remote. But considering the cavalier way this administration - and the Federal Reserve - has treated our money, anything is possible.

Originally Posted by Marshall

Marshall when you go to sleep Obama will still be POTUS and when you wake up tomorrow Obama will still be POTUS!!!

and your point is, WE?

I agree with COG, the best thing we can do is get our own house in order. We don't have the money to lend / give (more than likely give) to the Europeans. They wanted their currency to be big dogs, well it is now.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Germans, the French and any other healthy economy in Europe, why should we bail out countries that have their retirement age at 55. Why should be bail out countries that would tell us to go piss up a rope? Why should we bail out countries that the other Europeans don't want to bail out? Why should we bail out a currency that is strong, more than beneficial and economically viable in exporting countries like Germany and suffocating and strangling other counties where it is too strong for the economy?

The Euro is not viable over the long haul because it isn't tied to any one country and their policies. The Euro is too strong a medicine for the 2nd world European nations. It just won't work. All the charts and economic theory won't change that. Why throw good money after bad at all let alone when we can't afford it?

A hot babe agrees with me!

I agree with COG, the best thing we can do is get our own house in order. We don't have the money to lend / give (more than likely give) to the Europeans. Originally Posted by OliviaHoward

If you show that you are willing to lend, then you don't actually have to lend. That's the logic behind lender of last resort central banking. The European countries are easily able to pay their debts if the interest rate is at a market level. What they can't do is pay the interest if the debt is artificially tripped by a default premium that isn't linked to the fundamentals of the country in question, but is instead linked to the fact the ECB won't act like a real central bank.

A glance at Finland and Sweden's borrowing costs is very instructive in this regard. They are similar sized economies with similar sized debts, relative to GDP. Finland is in the Euro zone. Sweden is not. The only substantial difference is that Sweden controls its own currency fate, whereas Finland is tied to the Euro (although it is in much better shape financially than many of the southern Eurozone countries because of more progressive social programs and higher tax rates).

Look at what has happened to their borrowing costs over the past year of so.

Sweden's borrowing costs continue to decline, just as those of the U.S.:



Meanwhile, Finland, a nation that does not control it's own currency and must live with the ECB's failure show a willingness to act as a lender of last resort, has seen it's borrowing costs soar in the past weeks:



Here is a chart that shows the numbers superimposed on one another, that is even more striking:



See:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/201...he-euro-curse/

http://www.businessinsider.com/swede...inland-2011-11

So we don't have to actually lend. We only have to be willing to convince the markets that we will lend (as in the case of the Swedish Central Bank) if necessary, thus calming the bond markets and bringing their interest cost back down to a more normal level.

Contagion. . Originally Posted by TexTushHog

You can stop right there. No one will understand you past that point. This is beyond their understanding.

Paul Krugman. Good god!

So what do Sweden and Finland have to do with this? And where does the Fed's manipulation of the dollar fit in? And what happens if the loan guarantees are called in? Interest is a reflection of market risk, among other things. We can't pay back our debts. Any lender foolish enough to loan us money would have charge enormous interest. That's why we have the Fed happily printing money, and then lending it to us. We have to pay that back through taxation. As I've said before, there isn't enough wealth to cover our debt.

This is like the California earthquake. Everyone knows it's coming, but nobody is really doing anything about it. Since is hasn't happened yet, hey, we're ok! But it is coming, as is our financial collapse unless concrete action is taken immediately.

Krugman is one of those who think spending and spending and spending is just fine. He needs to turn in his economist card.

This is like the California earthquake. Everyone knows it's coming, but nobody is really doing anything about it. Since is hasn't happened yet, hey, we're ok! But it is coming, as is our financial collapse unless concrete action is taken immediately. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Why so gloomy? Not having fun any more?
Cheer up. You have marshall and olivia on your side.

Wearing that ignorance like a badge again?

You should take the time to find out what CA has done and what they are doing to prepare for earthquakes of the future.

Then while you are still red-faced and properly chagrined, maybe you could look into the steps the US has taken to pour new concrete. I'm sure that Naturalnews is following the progress closely.

How dense can you be? This thread is not about California, it is about our financial system's imminent collapse.

Natural News is a hell of a lot more reliable than CNN or Fox.

You don't guarantee loans. You threaten to, or show a willingness, to buy bonds. Then interest rates go down and the customary bond buyers come back into the market because they no longer fear default.

But I think it's a given that somebody who has a thread on ending the Fed doesn't have a clue on how central banks work.

I'd put my knowledge up against an aristocratic Keynsian any time. But here is someone who truly understands central banks.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs."
- Thomas Jefferson

I think I can't give any realistic opinion in this whole matter (of course I do have one) because I benefit heavily from the whole situation.
Never in my life have I made 12K in exactly 6 minutes like 20 hours ago when the 5 Central Banks decided to intervene with combined action.
The monthly costs for advanced news services really pay off.