Markets Tumble on Europe’s Debt Crisis

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Stocks on Wall Street took a tumble on Monday, following Asian and European markets lower, as concerns about the euro zone debt crisis continued to overwhelm investors around the world.

Monday’s weak start in the financial markets reflected a series of blows, with a hangover of disappointing economic news from the United States over jobs data and debt talks last week, along with lingering worries as European officials met in Brussels to discuss fiscal troubles in the euro zone.

After weeks of uncertainty related to bailouts for Greece, the Italian authorities moved to rein in short-selling on the Milan stock exchange as fears mounted that Italy could become the next victim of the sovereign debt crisis.

At noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 144.48 points, or about 1.14 percent, to 12,512.72. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 20.95 points, or 1.56 percent. The Nasdaq composite, heavy with technology shares, lost 46.43 points, or 1.62 percent. “There is so much going on in the world that you almost need a scorecard to keep up,” Kevin H. Giddis, the executive managing director and president for fixed-income capital markets at Morgan Keegan & Company, wrote in a research note. “Domestically, we have the debt ceiling, the budget, the economy, jobs, inflation and taxes. Internationally, we have Greece, Italy, the E.C.B., China and a potential contagion,” he said, referring to the European Central Bank.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html

[Moostache]

1. Welcome to Great Depression II - this time, its personal.

The first Great Depression did not start and end with Black Thursday just as this current one did not start and end with subprime mortgages...the underlying fundamentals of both economies were profoundly sick and took a long, painful time to unwind.

Its going to be worse this time because the banksters were not forced to take their medicine and go under. They got the bailout and the funding that the rest of the economy needs now. The only way to get the funding necessary to re-generate demand would have been to use the Trillions of $ that was essentially given away by the Fed and the IMF to their investor pals and bankster assholes.

We will be in this depression for a long time and the length is going to be determined by the "deal" that Obama and the Republicans are hacking away at....if Obama cuts SS/Medicare and gets nothing in return, this depression may last 12-15 years. If he gets token cuts to SS and Medicare (billing reform and the like) AND repeals ALL of the Bush tax cuts AND reinvests the revenue in equal measures to deficit reduction AND infrastructure repair/development/job creation, then the depression could last only 3-4 MORE years.

There is NO DEMAND....NONE....IT IS NOT A SUPPLY SIDE PROBLEM AND CANNOT BE SOLVED WITH SUPPLY SIDE MEASURES....that message should lead every newscast and paper editorial until it takes hold in the soft minds of the "middle"...