Greece's New PM & Italy May Be Next!

Congratulations PM Papademos! Good luck, you are going to need it...

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577029693901976370.html

As the Greek scare slowly dies down, the Italian scare begins...

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577028463184282238.html

Well, no worries! The ECB will bail Italy out, right? WRONG!

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577025721503238352.html

So how does the future of the EU look? Not so good...

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577029442286713940.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

UPDATE: Referendum Plan

First, I would like to say how hilarious Greece's PM actions were! They sounded so childish and power hungry to me that I believe he deserved this reaction...

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577015130025553196.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

This evening...Finally, PM Papandreou came to his senses! (With a little help.)

The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577015130025553196.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

EU's Deal with Greece

Today, the European Union came to an agreement on how to handle Greece's debt. They stuck a deal with private banks/investors; a "voluntary" 50% reduction in Greece's debt. This had a very positive effect on markets around the world, causing the value of the Euro to increase from $1.32 to $1.40 in a matter of hours. This is a good sign for the future of the European economy as well as the possibility that Russia and China might take on an active role in Europe's financial rescue.

Some good articles to look at are:
The New York Times...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/world/europe/europe-in-accord-on-basics-of-plan-to-save-the-euro.html?_r=1&ref=world
and if you subscribe to The Wall Street Journal...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504576654901570712070.html?mod=world_newsreel

Response to "The Breakdown" Podcast

This podcast is about the recent history of America's financial institutions, as well as the present institution. Chris Hayes starts with the financial institution in place from about 1936 to 1980. Towards the middle of the podcast Hayes lists 3 aspects of that institution:
1) More localism (Affected by the locals, not Wall Street)
2) Finance as a means versus an end (More focused on customers than Wall Street
3) Short term versus long term (Able to make long-term decisions without the quarterly reports of Wall Street)
Hayes then moves on from the "golden era" of finance to the 1980s to the present. It is mentioned that there is a "wave of deregulation." Basically, this means that there is decreased concentration of businesses in the banking sector; leading to the rise of a few major banks. Banks become more closely connected to Wall Street. Debt becomes a "corporate weapon." (Becomes more popular among banks) More focus on stocks versus unemployment, and short term versus long term. Describe this as the "shareholder revolution." According to Hayes, this is where we are today.

In my opinion, if we can find a middle ground between our current financial institution and the "golden era," then the economy might return to it previous glory (and beyond).

The Current Economic Crisis

Having read the two articles discussing our current economic crisis and why we have not had any progress, I must agree (mostly) with Paul Krugman in his statement that "the slump in the United States and other advanced economies is the result of a failure of demand." My main concern with the "Larry Summers and Barack Obama" article is that the evidence it provides sounds and feels like gossip to me. I have a very hard time believing that the reason that we have not had any progess with the economy is because of (allegedly) mistreating women. I have to agree with concrete evidence, whether it is the only reason or not. Not only is there evidence in Krugman's article, but it also makes a good amount of sense. I would be very interested to find out others opinions or negations of Krugman's argument.