Julia Gillard Slammed for “Lecturing” European Nations

It’s sure to have been a compelling speech by Mme Gillard. Did she tell the Europeans “You are You”? 😯

Exactly what I was thinking, el gordo. Who TF is she to be lecturing on economics, and where did she get her advice? Wayne Swan? 🙂

Hi reb. If you’re goin’ for the most blog reincarnations ever, I think you dunnit.

Niall Ferguson: “If young Americans knew what was good for them, they would all be in the Tea Party.”

*guffaw…

This being a return to serious blogging, I’m going to ask some serious questions.

Why, when representing our country in Mexico, is Gillard pictured in The Age today, wearing a neckline about 4 inches lower than is appropriate for a mature woman?

It wasn’t just the lecturing that was lacking in finesse.

If you are interested in the financial markets and specifically Spain well here’s one of the latest updates.

Otherwise just carry on…………….

From Dow Jones Wire Service……….

SPAIN SAYS NO NEED FOR FULL BAIL OUT :BUTWE DONT BELIEVE THEM

20/06/2012 09:58AM AEST

Spain has rejected any need for a full-blown bailout as it prepared an official request for up to 100 billion euros ($A123.07 billion) to save its stricken banks.

Fears mounted among investors that soaring market rates could eventually force the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy to seek an international rescue like Greece, Ireland and Portugal before it.

But Spain was in no such danger, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro told parliament on Wednesday.

“Spain has not been rescued because it does need to be rescued. Spain has the support of its European partners and European institutions,” the minister said.

Spain’s eurozone partners agreed June 9 to extend a loan of up to 100 billion euros to salvage banks laden with bad loans extended during a real estate bubble that imploded in 2008.

Madrid is expected to transmit an official request for the aid to its partners at a eurozone finance ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday, a European Union diplomat said in Brussels.

“The details are expected to be negotiated tomorrow,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified.

The size of the request will depend on two independent audits on Spain’s troubled banks that are expected to be finalised on Thursday, one from German firm Roland Berger, the other from US firm Oliver Wyman.

“The absence of details (on the size and timing of the aid) has been prejudicial,” said the source.

Despite the Spanish banking rescue deal and weekend Greek elections, which averted the immediate threat of Athens leaving the eurozone, debt markets have punished Spain.

The yield on Spanish benchmark 10-year government bonds shattered the 7.0 per cent barrier on Monday for the first time since the creation of the euro in 1999, pushing above 7.2 per cent.

On Wednesday, the yield on 10-year bonds still hovered just below seven per cent, a rate that the government has conceded is unsustainable over the longer term.

Spain managed to raise 3.04 billion euros in an auction of 12 and 18-month notes on Tuesday but it had to pay sharply higher borrowing rates of more than five per cent a year.

The battered economy faces a second major test on Thursday when it seeks to raise up to two billion euros in an auction of two-, three- and five-year bonds.

Spain’s budget minister hailed a Group of 20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, where leaders issued a statement saying they welcomed both Spain’s plan to recapitalise the banks and the eurozone’s loan.

“Spain has, as we found out last night, the express support of the G20 for the programs the Spanish government is pursuing, among them the recapitalisation of the banking sector,” Montoro said.

“What we have to send to the Spanish people is a message of confidence, of calm, of security,” he said.

“We are in Europe, we are Europe, we are the euro.”

The leaders of Spain, Italy, France and Germany meet in Rome on Friday to thrash out a common position on the debt crisis ahead of a full European Union summit in Brussels from June 28-29.
Spain bailout fears mount
20/06/2012 04:38AM AEST

Fears of a full-scale bailout for Spain have mounted as its borrowing costs spiked to danger levels on concern over the nation’s stricken banks and fast-rising debt.

After Greek elections averted the immediate threat of Athens exiting the eurozone, concern turned to Spain where the banks have been thrown a eurozone lifeline of up to 100 billion euros ($A125 billion).

As Greece’s pro-bailout parties negotiated the terms of a coalition government, Spain’s troubles mounted.

Tapping the markets for the first time since the Greek vote on Sunday, Spain raised 3.04 billion euros, beating its 2.0-3.0 billion euro target in an auction of 12- and 18-month notes.

But it had to pay exorbitant rates to lure investors – 5.074 per cent for 12-month debt and 5.107 per cent for 18-month debt.

The yield on Spanish benchmark 10-year government bonds shattered the 7.0 per cent barrier on Monday for the first time since the creation of the euro in 1999, pushing above 7.2 per cent.

On Tuesday, the yield on 10-year bonds was at 7.003 per cent.

“It now appears inevitable that Spain will require a sovereign bailout, possibly very soon,” said Capital Economics chief European economist Jonathan Loynes.

Rising bond yields reflected a belief that the banking bailout, agreed with eurozone partners on June 9, would not address broader fiscal problems, he said.

Spain’s plan to cut the public deficit from 8.9 per cent of economic output last year to 5.3 per cent this year and 3.0 per cent in 2013 relied on a “very unlikely” recovery from recession next year, Loynes said.

Markets held out little hope for quick help from Europe.

The leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Spain will hold a summit on the eurozone crisis on June 22 in Rome, ahead of a full European Union summit from June 28-29.

Kathleen Brooks, research chief at brokerage Forex.com, said Spain could avoid a rescue only if its debts were underwritten by stronger eurozone partners and if the European Central Bank bought its debt.

“But at the rate its yields are rising, Spain doesn’t have enough time to wait for Europe’s politicians to decide whether or not to underwrite the debts of the weakest states, it needs action now.”

Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy, faces its next debt market test on Thursday, when it will try to raise up to two billion euros in a mix of two-, three- and five-year bonds.

In a sign that the crisis is reaching into the heart of the eurozone, investor confidence in Germany took its steepest fall in 14 years in June, according to a survey.

The ZEW think tank’s economic expectations index, having fallen by more than 12 points last month, plunged a further 27.7 points this month to minus 16.9 points, the lowest level since January.