Showing posts with label Eurozone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurozone. Show all posts

Monday, December 10, 2012

The Fiscal Cliff-Hanger: Were the Mayans Right?

Good news!  The US Government has confirmed the end of civilization as we know it WON'T happen on December 21, 2012 - the end of the Mayan Calendar.  The bad news? The Mayans may only have been off by 10 days.  The US will plunge off the so-called "fiscal cliff" on December 31, 2012.  Many folks are probably wondering what this "fiscal cliff" is all about anyways? The "fiscal cliff" is the phrase coined by the United States top economist, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, to characterize the man-made impending economic cataclysm created by our US Congress.
Bernanke said, "Under current law, on Jan. 1, 2013, there's going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases. I hope that Congress will look at that and figure out ways to achieve the same long-run fiscal improvement without having it all happen at one date."
Congress, in its infinite insanity, decided playing chicken with the US economy via the man-made "debt ceiling" and "budget" crises at least twice every year, was not exciting enough.  So, Congress purposely set up the US economy to drive over a cliff, unless the most dysfunctional group of 535 people ever assembled in world  history, comes to an agreement on whether to steer left, or right and avoid plunging into the abyss.



So, the big question is, "which is Thelma and which is Louise" in this picture from our real-time historical econo-drama?  I'm sure we can all agree that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (a.k.a TurboTax Tim among the CPA crowd) is Brad Pitt in this analogy.

My second question is, "should I trademark the term econo-drama?"  Just think of the royalties Dr. Bernanke could have earned had he trademarked "fiscal cliff?"

And lastly, "who will bail out the U.S." if we continue to write our own version of the similar econo-drama, and Greek tragedy, "The Five Little PIIGS" that is playing out on the European stage simultaneously? 

Friday, December 2, 2011

The Eurozone Will Survive When PIGS Fly

Below I've attempted to simply explain the European Sovereign Debt Crisis.

P = Portugal
I = Italy or Ireland (take your pick)
G = Greece
S = Spain

The above 5 countries are the weakest link in the Eurozone.  The Eurozone are the 17 countries within the 27 country European Union that use the Euro as their single common currency.  Monetary policy for the Eurozone can only be decided with a unanimous vote of the 17 member countries (nearly impossible), however