A
Stress Test for Mario Draghi, Europe's Top Banker - (www.nytimes.com) Mario Draghi indulged the photographers and their
rapid-fire shutters for a few moments, making his first appearance for the news
media in the European
Central Bank’s
ostentatious new high-rise headquarters in Frankfurt. Then he shooed the
cameras away. He had an important message to deliver. Mr. Draghi, the central
bank’s president, told reporters on that early December afternoon that it was ready to deploy new
weapons against
the eurozone’s dangerously low inflation rate. Though this 19-nation bloc is
one of the world’s richest economies, it has never really recovered from the
2008 global financial crisis. And low inflation is one of the impediments to
growth. Emphasizing every word, Mr. Draghi said that the bank’s governing
council had just agreed to prepare “for further measures, which could, if
needed, be implemented in a timely manner.”
The
new spectre haunting Europe: Greece's Syriza - (www.france24.com) After years of painful belt-tightening, wage
cuts and spiralling unemployment, Greek voters will be asked to choose between
more of the same and a leap into the unknown. The unknown is left-wing party Syriza, a once radical leftist group that has toned
down its rhetoric and policies as it draws closer to power. Polls suggest the
party – whose name stands for “Coalition of the Radical Left” – will come first
in the January 25 vote, though whether it could form a majority by itself is
still in dispute. While the party has softened its sharp edges, it remains
unpalatable to much of the EU establishment, which has begun deploying the
customary scare tactics ahead of the election. Even before MPs failed to elect a new
president on
Monday, automatically triggering an election, senior European officials were
urging Greeks to support the ruling coalition of conservatives and social
democrats. "I wouldn't like extreme forces to come to power. I would
prefer if familiar faces show up," Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the
European Commission, told reporters earlier this month.
Praet
Warning of Oil Effects Signals Higher Chance of ECB QE - (www.bloomberg.com) European
Central Bank Chief Economist Peter Praet warned in an interview with German
newspaper Boersen-Zeitung that lower oil prices increasingly risk de-anchoring inflation
expectations, indicating that quantitative easing is becoming more likely. The
euro-area could see “negative inflation during a substantial part of 2015” amid
a slide in the cost of crude, and the Governing Council “cannot simply look
through” that, Praet said in comments published on the ECB’s website today. “Inflation
expectations are extremely fragile” and “the risk of second-round effects seems
to be greater today than it was in the past,” he said.
Ukraine
in ‘full-blown financial crisis' -- National Bank head – (www.rt.com) Ukraine’s
GDP shrank by 7.5 percent from January till November 2014, as foreign exchange
reserves fell to their lowest level since 2009, and inflation jumped to 21
percent by November, admits the head of the Ukraine’s National Bank, Valeriya
Gontareva. The country’s foreign exchange reserves shrank to $9.9 billion, as
Kiev gave Naftogaz an estimated $8.6 billion to buy gas and settle state
guaranteed Eurobonds. $3.1 billion went to settle the
debt with Russia’s Gazprom, Gontareva explained. The conflict over Russia’s
reunification with Crimea has killed more than 4,700 people has also killed the
economy. “There is a full-blown financial crisis,” Gontareva told
reporters Tuesday. “We can only overcome it if we implement quick and even
extreme reforms.”
Anti-Police Protesters Release List Of 'Demands' --
And They're Crazy - (www.dailycaller.com) There
have been marches in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere
demanding “justice” of some sort — or else there would be no “peace.” They’ve
been invited to meet with President Barack Obama in the White House, been praised
by the Mayor of New York and countless other Democrats. But what do they want,
aside from “justice”? And what exactly constitutes “justice” in the minds of
those laying down in traffic and in malls has always remained nebulous, but no
more – they’ve been kind enough to put their “demands” down on paper. On
fliers handed out at the New York City protest on New Year’s Eve, the
“#BlackLivesMatter” movement spelled out what they “demand.” One such demand is
essentially an end to access to the court system for police officers charged
with a crime:
·
We demand a
total independent investigative body that has full and total investigative
powers, and unhindered access to any scene and full access to all evidence,”
they write. “This investigative body will have full prosecuting power, and the
authority to mete out punishment. This agency will have the power to
immediately sequester any and all officers that are involved and/or on the
scene.
Simon
Johnson: Whoever Wants to Break Up Big Banks Will Win 2016 Presidential
Election - (www.moneynews.com)
Bluff
of the Day: Germany Claims Greece No Longer of Systemic Importance - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
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