Rescue Me! — Yadda, Yadda, Yadda Edition

I mean no disrespect to the long-suffering people of Spain or any other eurozone country — Dave

I guess we will never know whether or not [Spanish Prime Minister] Mariano Rajoy uttered the two magic words so effectively immortalized in song by Aretha Franklin Fontella Bass...

 

... that Saturday afternoon in late May as he cruised down the Chicago River in what Spanish media called a Love Boat ride

 

What is obviously true is that Spain is in trouble, and needs help yadda, yadda, yadda...

Capitalism's Epic Fail

Five years after the Global Financial Crisis broke out unemployment is at 25% of the labor force (and rising), house prices continue to fall, non-performing loans continue to rise in the banking sector, bank credit to the private sector is falling yadda, yadda, yadda...

and, as Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said two weeks ago, the sovereign is having increasing difficulty financing itself. Hence the bank bailout yadda, yadda yadda...

Socialism's Epic Fail

Via Bloomberg, here are those surging Spanish bond yields that everyone’s been talking about this morning, that is, now that the election in Greece is over, ushering in new hope that a government will be formed that will continue with its austerity program yadda, yadda, yadda...

.... attention turns to Spanish debt, what now appears to be the most likely catalyst for pushing the eurozone into the abyss yadda, yadda, yadda

Spain Is Not Greece

“Spain is not Greece.”
Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, Feb. 2010

“Portugal is not Greece.”
The Economist, 22nd April 2010.

“Ireland is not in ‘Greek Territory.”
Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

“Greece is not Ireland.”
George Papaconstantinou, Greek Finance minister, 8th November, 2010.

“Spain is neither Ireland nor Portugal.”
Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, 16 November 2010.

“Neither Spain nor Portugal is Ireland.”
Angel Gurria, Secretary-general OECD, 18th November, 2010.

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda...

 

Sources:

Rescue Me
Another Week in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis Begins
Spain Is Not Greece (and other anecdotes)
Spanish Borrowing Costs Rise Ahead of Bond Sale

Bonus Video — French Taunting

 

Comments

[Anywhere But Here Is Better]

Dave, yaddamn funny you are. I'm not sure what epitaph is being planned for you, but I foresee wit writ large.

Bu**er the lifeboats, I've decided to play the bugle as the ship goes down, tooting a tune specially composed for the occasion: Dave's Last Post. Guess who it's dedicated to.

Until then, keep on keeping on, this comedy is more hilarious by the day.

[MJK]

"Capitalism's Epic Fail"

Have to disagree, at least here in the good ole USofA, capitalism has not existed since at least the creation of the federal reserve, and many would argue that capitalism has never really existed outside of textbooks.

I like to imagine a world where companies (and individuals and investors) go out of business, loose everything, have to move from gated communities with private security to public housing where they can fend for themselves. BUT, bailouts rule and so thousands of corporations and other business models exist that should have been liquidated a generation ago.

[James]

MJK- That's a bit disingenuous, don't you think? Sort of like saying there are no real communist states- only Communist. While they might not nail it exactly, I think self proclaiming an economic model to the point that you become the poster boy is close enough.

True, no nation has ever been precisely molded to any philosophic concept, but that is the nature of the beast. Such ideals only exist in the abstract.

Of course, you correctly point out why the implementation is failing. Because the so called "free markets" are anything but.

[Bill Hicks]

Dave, since we have shared quite a few of the same readers, I just wanted to let everyone know that I have taken a brief break from my sabbatical away from the yadda, yadda to comment on a Nation article about how Bain Capital is killing my home town and how The Nation scrupulously avoid mentioning Democratic complicity in the crime.

http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/06/nation-some-towns-just-dont-count-like.html

[Anywhere But Here Is Better]

Bill - Yep, partisanship is the engine that is accelerating the downward spiral, as each camp nit-pick with each other like brainless zombies rather than putting the country's needs first.

The same craps happens in the UK too, and if there is going to be a population 'adjustment', we may as well start with the entire useless political class. I'm told that with their oily skin and over-lunched fatty bulk, they make fine logs for an open fire, which shortly will be the only source of heat for cooking roots and tubers found in the wild.

[Lew Stewell]

Dave... I love new wildcard vocabulary (yadda yadda) Might I also suggest boom shakalaka and gabba gabba hey.