Thursday, March 25, 2010

The No-Bailout Bailout

Is this a joke?  Do these Eurodudes really think this deal is going to work?

The joint eurozone and IMF bailout program comes with strict conditions and makes no money available right now.


It could be tapped only if Greece or other financially troubled eurozone members cannot raise funds from financial markets. It would require the unanimous agreement of the 16 eurozone countries to release the loan funds.

Requiring unanimous agreement is funny; Germany will probably still say no.  All this does is buy more time for remaining eurozone insiders to unwind any investments they have that will suffer when Greece collapses.  The markets have been put on warning that the EU is unable to force its members to abide by its criteria for membership. 

Playing "kick the can" must be a lot more fun when you can do it with other people's money.

My portfolio has no exposure to Europe at this time.