Free Republic 1st Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $58,647
72%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 72%!! Thank you everyone!! God bless.

Keyword: spaincrisis

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Stealth Bailout of 2 Franken-Banks Now Happening in Spain

    10/02/2016 7:39:51 PM PDT · by Lorianne · 2 replies
    Wolf Street ^ | October 1, 2016 | Don Quijones
    Obscured somewhat by the spectacular antics of Deutsche Bank, there appears to be another bailout of two of Spain’s franken-banks: mostly state-owned Bankia and wholly state-owned Banco Mare Nostrum (BMN). The news was released so quietly that even in Spain barely a living soul is aware it’s happening. For the moment, BMN is completely state-owned, after its four constituent state-owned parts — Caja Murcia, Caixa Penedès, Caja Granada y Sa Nostra — were rescued by Spain’s taxpayers and lumped together for the modest price of €1.6 billion in 2010. But by the end of this year all that was supposed...
  • Spain's public debt surpasses 100% in 20-year high

    06/15/2016 10:34:36 AM PDT · by familyop · 7 replies
    AFP, Yahoo News ^ | June 15, 2016 | AFP
    Madrid (AFP) - Spain's public debt rose above 100 percent in the first quarter to its highest level in 20 years, the central bank said Wednesday as Madrid faces an EU sanctions threat for public overspending. Debt as a proportion of economic output hit 100.5 percent in the first quarter up from 99.2 percent at the end of 2015, the bank said in a statement.
  • The Worst Unemployment Crisis In Modern History Is Unfolding Right Now (Spain 27+%)

    05/06/2013 2:23:03 PM PDT · by blam · 29 replies
    TBI ^ | 5-6-2013 | Matthew Boesler
    <p>"Jobless. Help me. Thanks."</p> <p>At 27.2%, Spain is suffering the worst unemployment rate in modern history.</p> <p>Spain is tied with Greece, and is worse than the approximately 25% unemployment rate that the U.S. saw during The Great Depression.</p> <p>The causes, by now, are familiar — the end of a massive, bubble-fueled construction boom in 2008 led to spiraling unemployment and a deep recession, wreaking havoc on the Spanish economy.</p>
  • Buy a House, Get a Visa: Coming Soon Everywhere?

    12/01/2012 8:22:56 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 8 replies
    The Atlantic ^ | 12/01/2012 | HENRY GRABAR
    For the last two years, Spain has been in the thick of a massive housing crisis. There are somewhere between 700,000 and a million new, unsold homes in the country. (The U.S., by contrast, with five times the population of Spain, has only 145,000 new unsold homes.) Spanish banks hold nearly 200 billion euros worth of bad mortgage loans. So Spain is offering a deal. Buy a house worth more than the mean home price and receive something that had been, until now, priceless: Spanish residency papers. Spain isn't the first European country that's tried to stimulate the housing market...
  • 450,000 Businesses Shut Down in Italy; Constitutional Crisis in Spain

    11/26/2012 6:32:01 PM PST · by Kaslin · 28 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | November 26, 2012 | Mike Shedlock
    Here are a couple of interesting economic links from Italy courtesy of reader Andrea. The translations from Italian are a bit choppy, but the gist of the articles is easily understandable. Non-Performing Loans Jump 15.3%, Write-Downs 21.6% From Thompson Financial News: Non-Performing Loans Jump 15.3% Non-performing loans amounted to approximately 117.6 billion, 1.8 billion more 'than in August and 15.6 billion in more' than in September 2011, marking an annual increase of 15.3%. With regard to loans net of write-downs at the end of September totaled 67.2 billion, about 1.5 billion more 'than a month before and almost 12 billion...
  • Daniel Hannan: Spain teeters on the brink

    09/28/2012 4:56:32 AM PDT · by Cincinatus' Wife · 11 replies
    Telegraph - UK ^ | September 27, 2012 | Daniel Hannan
    All of a sudden, the talk is of the breakdown, not just of the single currency, but of the parliamentary system on which it rests. Commentators across Europe fret that Spain, which emerged from dictatorship less than 40 years ago, might give up on multi-party politics. Every round of economic figures is worse than the last. The deficit is massively larger than forecast. A bailout of unprecedented size is becoming inevitable, even as the prime minister gives his countrymen a ‘one hundred per cent assurance’ that he won’t apply for one. (He said much the same thing a few days...
  • EU: Spain pumps 4.5 bn euros into Bankia

    09/03/2012 11:29:19 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 1 replies
    France 24 ^ | 9/3/2012
    Spain said Monday it is urgently injecting 4.5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) into Bankia, a state-rescued lender still losing billions of euros. The state-backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) said its governing board had agreed to pump in the capital "with immediate effect" to restore its balance sheet. Bankia lies at the heart of Spain's financial sector crisis, which led to eurozone members agreeing in June to extend a rescue loan to Madrid of up to 100 billion euros. The FROB said it would inject the money by subscribing to a capital increase by Bankia, stressing that the decision...
  • Eurozone agrees to lend Spain up to €100 billion ($125 billion)

    06/09/2012 12:50:03 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 30 replies
    Reuters ^ | Sat Jun 9, 2012 3:37pm EDT | Luke Baker and Julien Toyer
    Eurozone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to €100 billion ($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 2½-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. "The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, estimated as summing up to €100 billion in total," a Eurogroup statement...
  • El-Erian Explains Why Spain Desperately Needs To Avoid The 'Roach Motel' Of Outside Funding

    06/07/2012 7:26:48 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 1 replies
    TBI ^ | 06/06/12 | Mamta Badkar
    El-Erian Explains Why Spain Desperately Needs To Avoid The 'Roach Motel' Of Outside Funding After months of resisting external aid, Spanish budget minister Cristobal Montoro said European institutions should help shore up the nation’s lenders. In fact reports suggest that there is a plan in place that would allow Spain to recapitalize its weakest banks with help from European partners. But in a Financial Times editorial, PIMCO's Mohamed El-Erian says there's a reason Spain had long avoided emergency European funding: "So far, emergency European funding has been impossible to exit, like a “roach motel”.
  • EU: Spanish rescue draws closer as Cyprus buckles

    06/03/2012 10:30:28 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 6 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 6/3/2012 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
    Spain's ruling party has begun to crack under pressure, signalling for the first time that the country may need a European rescue to shore up its banking system. "A bail-out would not be the apocalypse," said José María Beneyto, foreign affairs spokesman in Spain's parliament. "You have to live with it. We have got to escape this or we'll go mad worrying about bonds spreads." Mr Benyeto accepted that it would mean cuts in salaries and pensions dictated by a Troika from the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. "Portugal is living with it relatively passively,...
  • Spain is in 'total emergency’, the EU in total denial

    06/03/2012 7:39:52 PM PDT · by Texas Fossil · 101 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 02 Jun 2012 | Janet Daley
    After a Spanish exit from the euro, there would be nothing left to exit from. I’ve never actually heard the term “total emergency” before, at least not in the context of global economics. It sounds like the title of a disaster movie. When it is uttered in sober tones by the elder statesman of an advanced democracy to describe his country’s financial condition, the effect is rather startling. The man who delivered this apocalyptic judgment, former Spanish prime minister Felipe González, being a socialist, might be expected to detest austerity programmes that require cuts to government spending. But there seemed...
  • Euro crisis ensnares Spain

    05/17/2012 1:20:20 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 4 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 5/17/2012 | Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor, Fiona Govan
    Spain moved back into the eye of the eurozone storm on Thursday as the country’s borrowing costs rocketed to unsustainable levels, the authorities were forced to deny that one of its biggest banks was in meltdown and the economy tipped back into recession. Shares in Bankia, the country’s fourth biggest bank, plunged 29pc amid reports that depositors had pulled out €1bn in the past week. Madrid was then forced to pay 50pc more than in March to drum up interest in a €2.5bn (£2bn) bond. By then end of the day, borrowing costs for benchmark 10-year sovereign debt in Spain...
  • Spain nationalises Bankia as euro crisis escalates

    05/09/2012 2:44:52 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 1 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 5/9/2012 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
    Spain has nationalised crippled lender Bankia in a dramatic move to contain the esalating crisis and restore faith in the country's management. The forced rescue was ordered by premier Mariano Rajoy after auditors Deloitte refused to sign off the bank's books, amid allegations of €3.5bn (£2.8bn) of inflated assets. Half of the bank's €37bn of property exposure is deemed "problematic" by regulators. The lender has asked for €4.5bn in loans, converting the cash into ordinary shares. The Spanish government holding 45pc of the bank in return. Bank of Spain has also demanded Bankia dispose of assets as part of the...
  • New eurozone crisis looms as Spain prepares bail-out

    05/07/2012 11:29:53 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 3 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 5/7/2012 | Roland Gribben and Fiona Govan, Madrid
    A new eurozone crisis is looming as Spain signalled on Monday it was ready to bail out ailing banks after markets shrugged off election results in France and Greece. Spain is already struggling to cope with an austerity drive that has pushed the jobless total up to nearly 25pc of the workforce. Prime minister Marian Rajoy indicated the Government was ready to intervene to save banks wrestling with the collapse of the housing market. Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank, is the first in line for state aid. Rodrigo Rato, chairman and former IMF managing director, swiftly resigned after it was...
  • Spain falls into recession

    04/30/2012 5:45:41 AM PDT · by Oldeconomybuyer · 9 replies
    CNN Money ^ | April 30, 2012 | By Chris Isidore
    (CNNMoney) -- Spain has fallen into its second recession since 2009 as its economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, according to a government report Monday. There are now a dozen European nations that have had their economies shrink for two consecutive quarters, a condition that generally equates to a recession. The Spanish economy, struggling with the aftermath of the bursting of a housing bubble, has been particularly hard hit by the economic turmoil rolling across Europe. On Friday, the government reported that Spain's unemployment rate hit record high of 24.4%.
  • Spanish unemployment hits record 5.64 million

    04/27/2012 7:46:52 AM PDT · by AngelesCrestHighway · 31 replies
    BBC News ^ | 04/27/12 | BBCStaff
    The number of unemployed people reached 5,639,500 at the end of March, with the unemployment rate hitting 24.4%, the national statistics agency said. The figures came hours after rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Spanish sovereign debt. Official figures due out on Monday are expected to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession. Earlier this week, the Bank of Spain said the economy contracted by 0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.
  • S&P cuts Spain ratings two notches to BBB-plus [ Socialism Fails, again ]

    04/26/2012 5:33:45 PM PDT · by NoLibZone · 2 replies
    Reuters ^ | April 26 2012 | Reuters
    Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut its credit rating on Spain to BBB-plus from A, a two-notch downgrade, citing its expectation the government's budget deficit will deteriorate even more than previously thought due to economic contraction. The ratings agency put a negative outlook on the credit and said it believes the government will also have to provide more financial support for the euro zone nation's banking sector. Moody's Investors Service rates Spain one notch higher at A3 with a negative outlook, and Fitch Ratings has it two notches higher at A, also with a negative outlook.
  • Spain Is Doomed: Why Austerity Is Destroying Europe

    04/18/2012 7:43:02 AM PDT · by ctdonath2 · 63 replies
    The Atlantic ^ | Apr 18 2012, 10:00 AM ET | Matthew O'Brien - Matthew O'Brien
    Let's try a thought experiment. Imagine you walked into the bank, told them you were going to be taking pay cuts for the next few years, and then asked for a loan. You'd be laughed out of the office or else pay an interest rate so high that "usurious" wouldn't do it justice. The logic is simple: If you're in debt and your income is shrinking, it's mighty hard to pay back what you already owe. ... Nearly a quarter of Spain's population is unemployed. Half of its youth are out of work. And it's only going to get worse....
  • EU: Spanish epiphany as depression deepens?

    04/13/2012 3:55:14 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 10 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 4/11/2012 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
    Spain’s industrial output is sliding at an accelerating rate, as is entirely predictable if you enforce draconian fiscal tightening on an economy in deep recession with no offsetting monetary stimulus or exchange rate devaluation. The latest data show that output fell 5.1% (y/y) in February, after 4.3% in January and 3.5% in December. Durable goods fell 14.8pc, the sixth successive monthly fall. Capital goods output fell 10.6pc, according to Raj Badiani from IHS Global Insight. This is politically untenable. Unemployment is already 23.6pc on the Eurostat measure. David Owen from Jefferies Fixed Income expects this to reach 27.5pc by the...
  • Stock and bond markets rocked by fears of Italian and Spanish debt spirals

    04/10/2012 5:46:30 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 17 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 4/10/2012 | Louise Armitstead
    Global stock and bond markets suffered a rout as traders fled the renewed spectre of a eurozone default and fresh evidence of a global recession. Italy's leading MIB index plunged 5pc and Spain's Ibex fell 3pc amid fears that the eurozone's third and fourth biggest economies were in the grip of a deadly and uncontrollable spiral of debt and recession. The borrowing costs of both "sinner states" soared. The yield on Italy's benchmark 10-year bonds jumped to 5.7pc, heading into the danger zone that is considered unsustainably high. The equivalent Spanish debt climbed to 6pc. Meanwhile, the yield on safe-haven...