Monday Market Madness – Greek “Fix” Blasts Us Higher

Look at Europe go!   

2.5% moves are HUGE for a single day on major indexes and we’re already (7:30 EST) past that point for Germany (EWG), France (EWQ) and Spain (EWP) in anticipation of a last-second deal with Greece that will put off the next crisis for more than 30 days.  Already this morning, the ECB has increased the amount of emergency loans available to Greek banks to offset the massive daily outflows of capital as depositors flee the banking system.   See – all is well!  

What they are really celebrating is that there is no problem the Central Banksters will not throw money at and that’s very encouraging as everybody has problems to one degree or another in the Eurozone and, as long as no one wonders where all this free Central Bank money comes from, we can paper over these problems seemingly forever.   That is the true glory of a monetary Union – you have a Central Bank that endlessly prints currency that is removed from your own country’s bond market so, when you are Germany (for example) you get to act “holier than thou” even though you are just as irresponsible as everyone else.

Greece’s markets (GREK) are up 10% this morning as Greece submitted a proposal that would increase pension contributions by wealthy employers (earning over 500,000 Euros) while phasing out some payments to it’s poorest pensioners (the ones least likely to fight back) and eliminating early retirement options.  

It’s a good move by Socialist Tsipras, who is now forcing the ECB to be the bad guy if they turn down a plan that is solving their balance sheet problem by placing a burden on Greece’s top 1% – the very people the ECB serves.  This is a very dangerous precedent so the deal may still blow up (with other excuses, of course) before any other countries get an idea that this is a way to fix deficits.  

Tsipars’s move means that those other EU corporations who are licking thier chops as the force Greece to privatize their vital services may be walking into a tax trap as they fall under the Greek Government’s umbrella.  It had been hoped, by the…