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Economics

The Fed is Europe’s new dealer

Europe may not go to rehab before it is too late THE US Federal Reserve took steps yesterday to make it easier for European banks to borrow and lend dollars. The Fed is now providing such cheap money to Europe that the European Central Bank can borrow from the Fed at lower interest rates than American banks. The […]

Categories
Economics

Europe: a house of cards

EUROPEAN leaders have tried to characterise the October writedown of Greek debt as “private-sector involvement”. While the writedown would appear to be a default in all but name, efforts to maintain investor confidence have so far been surprisingly successful. Yesterday, US stocks and Asian stocks rallied amid optimism that European leaders are taking steps to […]

Categories
Economics

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds

THE MARKETS have been temporarily buoyed amid optimism that European leaders will find a solution to the debt crisis.  Unfortunately, the optimism is likely to be short lived because the problem with Greece is not just that they owe everyone a lot of money.  Greek debt is a symptom of a more endemic problem rooted in the […]