Needed: A Little Humillacion
Here was the front page of El Mundo, Spain's popular daily paper:
"Rescue Without Humiliation"
And here were the (non) humiliating terms, from Reuters:
Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks and Madrid said it would specify precisely how much it needs once independent audits report in just over a week.
After a 2 1/2-hour conference call of the 17 finance ministers, which several sources described as heated, the Eurogroup and Madrid said the amount of the bailout would be sufficiently large to banish any doubts.
It turns out that for a huge bailout, the terms were pretty good:
Conditions in the plan did not appear to add to the austerity measures and structural economic reforms which Rajoy's government has already put in place.
"Since the funds being asked for are to attend to financial sector needs, the conditionality, as agreed in the Eurogroup meeting, will be specifically for the financial sector," de Guindos said.
EU and German officials have cited national pride in the euro zone's fourth largest economy as a barrier to requesting a full assistance program.
National pride. A nice thing, that. Hope you can eat it, or pay your bills with it.
- Comment (24)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
FOR SALE Nice country with view of Atlantic. Sunny Clime. Needs work, perfect for IMF fixer-upper. Comes with lots of used solar panels. Good football club. Please note: Big Rock not included. Involved in property dispute since 1713.
Mar '11
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Spain's debt is not much higher than California's...
Dec '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Great.
Mar '11
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Beyond farcical. This "100 billion euros" is not even in existence, the ESM bailout mechanism has not been ratified by Germany and in fact the SPD and Greens are almost certain to kill it.
A pretend bailout with nonexistent funds to continue make believe austerity. You could not make something up this ridiculous.
Apr '11
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
I've read sources that claim Spain will need something closer to 400b euro to shore up its banks. 100b isn't going to do the job. Drop meet bucket.
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
So this may be a little tasteless, but think about the lives lost beating back the Germans... so that within 70 years they're just taking back the continent by default... so they can hold it until their old allies, the Muslims, are ready to take it over through majority populations.
I am depresssed.
Oct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
This is the insanity of a common currency without a common deposit insurer. Bank bailouts are inevitable; that's why Americans invented deposit insurance--the vast majority of banks pay for their future bailouts, it's only a dozen or so megabanks at the top who avoid this and get true taxpayer backing.
Of course, any insurance scheme would require Continent-wide bank regulation or else it wouldn't be true insurance at all (keep in mind private insurance regulates too, via private contracts, to prevent free-riders).
The Europhiles argued that national governments could handle banking problems best, and Spain was the number one posterboy. They were the cutting edge in Euro banking policy, pioneering many of the provisions now in Basal III. Needless to say, it didn't work.
Oct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
EJHill: So this may be a little tasteless, but think about the lives lost beating back the Germans... so that within 70 years they're just taking back the continent by default... so they can hold it until their old allies, the Muslims, are ready to take it over through majority populations.
I am depresssed. · 1 minute ago
Muslims are old allies of the Germans? What, did the Germanic hoards live side-by-side with Muslims before they conquered the Roman Empire? Please, enlighten me.
I agree that Germany will inevitably dominate the continent, but like America in the aftermath of World War II, I don't think they will be very enthusiastic about it, just as we had to be prodded by our allies to take a more active role in world affairs after the second world war.
May '11
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Joseph Eagar
EJHill:so they can hold it until their old allies, the Muslims, are ready to take it over through majority populations.
I am depresssed. · 1 minute ago
Muslims are old allies of the Germans? What, did the Germanic hoards live side-by-side with Muslims before they conquered the Roman Empire? Please, enlighten me.
The WWII Germans (Nazis) made common cause with the muslim world during WWII. They encouraged the mulsims in Egypt and Iraq to rebel against the British colonial powers. There were a few small specific muslim units in the SS toward the end of the war. The Nazi jew-hatred went over very well among the muslim populations in the middle east.
Oct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
The only adult-based content on that front page is in the upper-left corner.
Oct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
David Knights
The WWII Germans (Nazis) made common cause with the muslim world during WWII. They encouraged the mulsims in Egypt and Iraq to rebel against the British colonial powers. There were a few small specific muslim units in the SS toward the end of the war. The Nazi jew-hatred went over very well among the muslim populations in the middle east. · 3 minutes ago
That's hardly a strong case for historic ties. The Nazis aided Muslims? It's quite common for totalitarian nations at war to mobilize minority groups to aid them, but that doesn't mean they become blood brothers. More often than not, they use the minorities then discard them after the war, much as Andrew Jackson did with blacks.
If there were ties going back centuries I could believe you. But one renegade fascist regime being friendly to Muslims? That's nothing.
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
The Arabs and the Nazis were linked through their mutual enemies, namely the British, because of the British Mandate for Palestine, and of course, the Jews.
In 1941, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Palestine met with Hitler to beg him for a closer alliance. While Hitler was overstretched and did not want to push his little military venture into the Middle East he promised to raise al-Husseini after the Germans defeated the Allies and eliminated Jewry from Europe.
To their mutual benefit al-Husseini recruited Muslim volunteers for the SS that participated in the genocide of Jews in Croatia and Hungary. He escaped French custody after the war and made his way to Cairo. He died in Beirut on July 4, 1974.
To this day, Mein Kampf remains a best seller in the Arab world.
Edited on June 11, 2012 at 8:58pmMay '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
As opposed to our historic ties? As the runaway children of the British Empire, our ancestors fought and allied with... everybody.
Oct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
But how is this a historic tie? Again, one rogue regime working with Muslims is not enough. Besides, no serious person argues that Germany today is heavily influenced by Nazism.
Edited on June 11, 2012 at 9:05pmOct '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
EJHill
As opposed to ourhistoric ties? As the runaway children of the British Empire, our ancestors fought and allied with... everybody. · 2 minutes ago
Which is a perfect example. We've hardly been consistent when it comes to "historic ties", have we? Our strongest ally today is the very country we seceded from!
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Precisely. In the quest to prevail in an argument one can not set a standard that has never been in place. Heck, we've even been to, and planned, war with Canada.
There is no standard for "historical" ties. An old ally is an old ally, just as an old enemy is an old enemy.
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
A little sanity on CNBC this morning.
May '11
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Joseph Eagar
Muslims are old allies of the Germans? What, did the Germanic hoards live side-by-side with Muslims before they conquered the Roman Empire? Please, enlighten me.
The Germans and Ottomans were also allies during World War 1.
May '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
The historical ties of Germans and Muslims matter less than the latter's imminent de facto conquest of Europe via careless immigration policies, fiscal insanity and self-destructive multiculturalism. Whatever the future holds on that continent, it won't be pretty.
Jul '10
Re: Needed: A Little Humillacion
Interestingly, "rescate" is also the Spanish word for "ransom".