Blog published on 11th September 2023
Article as published in the Daily Express on 31 August 2023
With the Eurozone’s money supply shrinking for the first time since 2010, a banking expert has said Europe’s economy has been damaged by what he called “incoherent financial vandalism”.
Bob Lyddon also believes the situation is being exacerbated by members of […]
My book, upon which all is based
Published on 7th September 2023
After my presentation at the IES-IREF Summer School in Aix-en-Provence about the European Stability Mechanism and its dependency on France’s retaining its AA-rating, the French business website contrepoints.org asked me a series of follow up questions, and here are the answers in English.
Here is a […]
Collapsing Euro is riskier than ‘gambling on Bitcoin’
Published on 6th September 2023
The Express reinforced my Comment piece themselves the following day:https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1800197/collapsing-euro-bitcoin-gambling-debtA leading economist has warned that the Euro is only being sustained because the credit rating agencies have not downgraded Germany yet.
Writing for Express.co.uk Bob Lyddon, has warned that investing in the currency is now less safe than “gambling on bitcoin” […]
Keeping the flag flying for the euro
Published on 2th September 2023
This piece appeared as a Comment in the Daily Express. It is about the implications of the European Stability Mechanism being so weak, given that it is the main backing for the euro:https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1799489/EU-latest-news-euro-against-pound-euro-collapse
Digital currencies – bitcoin, stablecoin, Britcoin et al – makes your head spin. […]
Published on 5th September 2023
The Daily Express picked up on my article pubished through IREF about the European Stability Mechanism:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1797868/eurozone-euro-eu-france-credit-rating
The ESM’s firepower – to back the debts of Eurozone member states and thereby to act as the backstop for the currency itself – depends upon its having backers of sufficient size and with high enough […]
Bruges Group book summary
Published on 5th September 2023
The Campaign for an Independent Britain published this piece that the UK’s debt is not larger than the EU’s as the Daily Telegraph had claimed, if the EU member states’ shadow debts and contingent liabilities are factored in:https://cibuk.org/eurozone-debt-dwarfs-that-of-the-uk/
My figures on the EU are drawfrom my book ‘The shadow […]
As presented at the IES-IREF Summer University in Aix 20-22 July 2023
Published on 27th July 2023
I made a presentation at the IES-IREF Summer University in Aix-en-Provence about an aspect of my book, ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability’.
The relevant aspect is the build-up of off-balance […]
The ESM and its image
Published on 26th July 2023
As previously published on IREF Europe: https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-european-stability-mechanism-hangs-by-a-thread-on-frances-credit-rating/
Introduction
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) backstops the euro. Its nominal size is €705 billion but its lending capacity is lower at €500 billion, and the main condition attached to that is that the member states guarantees of the ESM’s solvency […]
Published by The Bruges Group on 29 June 2023
Published on 7th July 2023
The German Federal Audit Office (‘Bundesrechnungshof’) has warned that the Bundesbank may need a bailout due to losses on the EUR650 billion of bonds it bought as part of the Eurozone’s equivalent of Quantitative Easing. The Daily Telegraph reported on this on 26 […]
As published on IREF Europe
Published on 6th July 2023
UK Consumer Price Inflation remained at 8.7% in May. The Bank of England has raised the cost of overnight money to 5% via increases in its Base Rate, and has caused the cost of medium-term money to rise by selling off the bonds that it bought since […]