Europe needs growth to get out of its mess, says Vanguard's Jonathan Lemco. However, you can't...

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DVW Comments (157)
 
How does buying Eastern Europe's debt spur confidence? It's the opposite for me! The Germans have it right!
6 Jan 2012, 08:26 PM Reply Like

SoldHigh Comments (696)
 
Throwing more bad money in an attempt to support bad, unsustainable debt just kicks the can down the road and makes the ultimate failure all the greater. That's why there is no confidence - because failure is already known, it's just not fully accepted yet. Reality and the truth can only be denied for so long.
6 Jan 2012, 09:26 PM Reply Like

mike mohr Comments (444)
 
Yeah we have seen how this worked here at home. People even do not believe the job numbers released today. Everyone know the market is rigged so is the data. With more debt you build confidence.The only way to build confidence is throw the criminals behind bars and help the average citizens with their costs such as COLLEGE.
6 Jan 2012, 09:56 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (491)
 
I agreed with you up until you said educations should be paid for:
http://bit.ly/ztcDc4
7 Jan 2012, 12:09 AM Reply Like

untrusting investor Comments (9879)
 
What nonsense .... buy EU PIIGS debt to generate growth & confidence. Growth comes from productivity, innovation, competition, etc. not from high risk debt and having the ECB effectively print more money to buy up high risk debt, create inflationary pressures, and subsidize inefficiency.

Let the damn markets work the way they are supposed to work and let the markets and economies resolve the huge structural issues in EU economies. Let the bad debts get written off, let the shareholders and bondholders and IMF and ECB and other stakeholders take the losses on the bad loans they have made.
6 Jan 2012, 10:28 PM Reply Like

The Geoffster Comments (3715)
 
Keynesian alchemy is finally being revealed as the fraud it is. If governments ran surpluses in boom times, perhaps the alchemy would work if there was actual capital to deploy in recessions. But throwing money made out of thin air at bad money only enriches those front running the central banks. When people lose confidence in their currencies, it happens quickly and that's when you'll be glad you own actual stuff like gold and silver and not paper.
6 Jan 2012, 10:42 PM Reply Like

UndiversifyBC Comments (47)
 
I'm pretty skeptical about any view that has the premise you need confidence to get growth.

It seems more likely that growth is needed to generate confidence.

I think that a major part of the economic problems we face (and why I think they worsen a bit over time) is that most of the powers that be are so stuck on trying to build confidence that they have missed any sort of opportuntiy to fix the underlying problems that are hindering growth.

Of course, Wall Street loves nothing better than a plan that emphasizes image over reality. The problem is when central banks and governments buy into that viewpoint you can end up with a really big mess on everybody's hands.
7 Jan 2012, 04:03 AM Reply Like

Poor Texan Comments (3499)
 
"Of course, Wall Street loves nothing better than a plan that emphasizes image over reality."

Yes, the Hollywood mentality has spread to Wall Street and D.C. Too bad life isn't a sit-com or a half-hour drama. But not to worry, there is or will be an app for that.
7 Jan 2012, 11:31 AM Reply Like

sr1977 Comments (318)
 
I think we should just cut to the chase and have a "World Bond": The sovereign debt of every nation rolled into one bond. It could be divided up into tranches, with the riskier nations tranches paying higher rates. Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay off the ratings agencies (who will then give the bond a AAA rating) in exchange for the rights to be the sole distributor of the bond. We can then use the (now un-needed) EU bailout fund to re-capitalize AG so they can write CDS's on the new bond. This way everyone feels safe and Goldman Sachs can (as usual) bet against the turd they are selling.

I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this yet, after all we tried a similar thing with the MBS's a few years ago and it produced remarkable results.
7 Jan 2012, 08:53 AM Reply Like