http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-06/charts-day-greek-unemployment-hits-escape-velocity
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/06/2012 08:09 -0500
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_06/12/2012_473329
and......
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/06/debt-crisis
Silvio Berlusconi watches AC Milan vs Zenit St Petersburg at the Champions League on Tuesday. Photograph: Olycom SPA/Rex Features
Charts Of The Day: Greek Unemployment Hits Escape Velocity
It took one month for the 2013-2014 Greek medium-term unemployment target rate to be hit. The target rate? A grotesque, all time high 26%. Because as Elstat reports, this is what Greek unemployment was in the month of September. Which means that at the time Greece was preparing its latest "Third Greek Bailout" projections in November, the rate was already well above the long-term target. Elstat also tells us that in September, the total number of actively employed Greek workers (including government) was a tiny 3,695,053. The number of persons unemployed: 1,295,203, while the inactive ranks swelled to 3,373,692. As a reminder, last month's 25.4% unemployment rate has been promptly surpassed in a few weeks. Finally, that powderkeg of conflict, youth unemployment, was a jawdropping 56.4%.
So without further ado, here are the charts that summarize this.
Total workers employed:
Total workers unemployed:
And the unemployment rate:
And yes, by returning to the Drachma, Greece would at least have some chance of curing the unfixable internal and external imbalances, which unless resolved, will send this rate into the stratosphere, and a far bigger chart will soon be needed.
Source: ElStat
Concessions in tax bill
Draft presented to party officials balances higher income tax with family benefits 
The draft of a new tax bill aimed at bringing in 3 billion euros in much-needed revenue over the next two years, presented by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras to members of the three parties in the coalition on Thursday, combines an increase in income tax with a stricter system of issuing social benefits for families.
The draft, which must be approved by all three party leaders before it is submitted in Parliament next week, sets out less harsh increases to income tax than an earlier ministry proposal. It also offers benefits for families with children and low incomes. To make up for the revenue lost by offering this safety net to low-income families, the draft foresees an increase in the annual levy paid by self-employed professionals and businesses, from 500 euros to 650 euros and 1,000 euros respectively.
According to the plan, incomes of up to 25,000 euros will be taxed at a rate of 21 percent, incomes between 25,000 and 40,000 euros at 36 percent and incomes over 40,000 at 40 percent.
The income tax-free threshold of 5,000 euros will be abolished and a 1,950-euro reduction in taxes introduced for those earning up to 18,000 euros per year. This reduction will be smaller for higher incomes. The tax break will be boosted by 5 percent for every child in a family.
If the draft law is approved, a family with one child and an income of 30,000 euros would pay 630 euros more in income tax than now.
To offset the additional tax burden on ordinary citizens, the government has said it will come down harder on wealthier Greeks. Greece and Switzerland could be in a position to approve an agreement for the taxation of deposits held by Greek citizens in Swiss banks, a Finance Ministry official told Kathimerini. The key issue to be resolved is the rate at which the Greek savings in the Swiss banks will be taxed. According to sources, the two sides are considering a sliding scale of between 15 and 38 percent depending on the size of the deposit. Of some 38 billion euros held by Greeks at Swiss bank, about a third belongs to shipowners, sources said.
and....
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_06/12/2012_473340
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and......
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/06/debt-crisis
He is "very confident" the eurozone will reach an agreement on banking supervision, says the benefits of a single supervisor are not disputed.
Draghi says it is natural that different countries in the eurozone pay different levels of interest to borrow money.
I haven't said that higher credit costs are unjustified, acutally different credit costs are quite natural but [within a range].
He says today's rate decision was by consensus. But the ECB did discuss the possibility of negative interest rates.
We are operationally ready [for negative deposit rates].
Questions...
Is Italy precipitating into an abyss? This is a question markets are asking. What signal is necessary for markets to ensure Italy is going forward?
Draghi: no comment.
Draghi says a single supervisory mechanism for banks is a "crucial move towards reintegrating the banking system". Twice. It's that crucial.
ECB expects eurozone GDP to shrink by between 0.6% and 0.4% this year, and again next year by between 0.9% and 0.3%. Draghi only expects the region will get back to growth in 2014, of between 0.2% and 2.2%.
He says the ECB kept rates on hold, owing to high energy prices, an increase in taxes in some countries, inflation rates have been elevated for some time. Recently they fell and are expected to fall below 2% next year.
Inflation expectations remain aligned to target of staying below but close to 2%.
Italian government bond yields continue to rise in response to the growing uncertainty over the future of the government. Tradeweb data shows theyield on the 10-year debt – effectively the interest rate – climbing to 4.57%.
Monti feels the heat
Is Italy entering a new era of political instability (see 12.01pm)? Open Europe thinks so.
The leader of Berlusconi's senators, Maurizio Gasparri, said ahead of the vote, "Our attitude [today] signals...the shift of our group to a position of abstention towards the government." This seems to suggest that Berlusconi's party has withdrawn its support for Monti's government.If all of Berlusconi's senators and MPs show next time and abstain (which, by the way, cannot be taken for granted, given the internal divisions created by Il Cavaliere's latest hints to a comeback), Monti would be in danger of losing his majority - since the absents' votes do not count and bring the required majority down, as happened in the Italian Senate a couple of hours ago.The big question is: was today's an isolated incident or a definitive change of position? Gasparri's words seem to suggest the latter could be true. Should this be the case, Berlusconi could be about to trigger another round of political uncertainty Italy really doesn't need.
Berlusconi party bails on Monti confidence vote
Meanwhile, in Rome, Berlusconi's party (PDL) has walked out of the Senate ahead of a confidence vote on prime minister Mario Monti's austerity bill.
Reuters writes that the "symbolic move" does not threaten the government's survival but shows strong disapproval of Monti's administration from the largest party backing him.
PDL senate leader Maurizio Gasparri said the party would not take part in the vote on Monti's latest package of reforms but would not vote against the decree or formally abstain, either of which would cause the government to fall.
Growing crisis in Italian government
Our Southern Europe editor John Hooper reports on the growing crisis in the Italian government.
Just an hour or so ago, I was saying I thought the markets were underestimating the potential for instability in Italy. But I didn't expect to be proved right quite so swiftly.The absence (or abstention) of senators from Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People (PDL) movement in the crucial vote this morning on the government's second economic stimulus package has not killed off the measure, nor – for the moment – the government. The bill went through by 127 to 17 with 23 abstentions. And there were enough lawmakers present to ensure a quorum. But the stimulus package (which
has still to be approved in the lower house) is far from safe. And the same could be said of Mario Monti's non-party government.The PDL's move could be dismissed as a reprisal for a remark by the bill's sponsor, the economic development minister, Corrado Passera. In a clear reference to Berlusconi's hint that he was about to re-enter the race for prime minister, Passera said that "turning back is not a good thing for Italy".But it is worth stressing that the leader of Berlusconi's troops in the upper house did not say it was a one-off rap over the knuckles. Maurizio Gasparri said the PDL's move signalled "the passage of our group to a position of abstention in relationship to the government".If that is the case, then the Monti government has just lost its
majority in the upper house: La Repubblica calculated a few minutes ago that the government can only now count on 131 votes out of the 161 it needs.Monti is not doomed. But no one in and around the Italian parliament is going to need reminding that Silvio Berlusconi left office in November 2011 after he too lost the support of one – and only one – of the two chambers.
Greek unemployment set to overshooot troika targets
Back to the Greek unemployment data briefly. Thinktank Open Europe notes that the target set by the troika of lenders – the EU, the IMF and ECB – for joblessness was 22.4% by the end of 2012. That is some way away from September's rate of 26%.
Greek unemployment 26% in Sept, troika target for end of 2012 is 22.4%, 1st target of revised programme to be missed? bit.ly/TJoPxh
Updated
Greek protests begin
Riot police are out in force in Greece for the protests marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of a teenager by a police officer, according to reports on Twitter.
#6dgr banner: "This day is always yours because the cops shot your generation" via@MakisSinodinos #rbnews pic.twitter.com/sxJFVwJM #Greece
Berlusconi returns to the field
Here's a story to keep you awake at night, Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is planning his return to mainstream politics. Our Southern Europe editor John Hooper writes:
All the talk in Italy this morning is of a statement put out late last night by - I'm afraid so - Silvio Berlusconi, strongly implying he intends to return as the candidate for the right in the general
election that has to be held in Italy by the spring. He had a meeting yesterday with top officials of his Freedom People (PDL) movement. An agency dispatch said he had told them he was not going to run because no one wanted him to. His statement said: "The reality is the opposite". The website of his family's newspaper, Il Giornale, headlined its frontpage with "Berlusconi returns to the field".Certainly, Berlusconi's return would electrify politics in Italy, even though the PDL is currently getting only about 16% in the polls. But at least as significant as the billionaire TV magnate's intentions were the terms in which his statement was couched. Implicitly condemning the non-party government of Mario Monti, which took over from his in November 2011, he said: "The situation today is a good deal more serious than a year ago." He spoke of a country "on the brink of the abyss": unemployment was up by a million; public debt had increased; Italians' disposable incomes had collapsed and taxation was
at "intolerable levels".There is inevitably speculation that Berlusconi might now try to bring down Monti's government before it completes its legislative programme (including some direly needed structural reforms) and that he will fight the next campaign on an anti-austerity, anti-Merkel platform. As Paul Krugman and any number of other economists will tell you, there are some pretty good arguments for a policy that puts growth before austerity. But Berlusconi is scarcely the man to implement such a policy. While he was in office, Italy's economy grew by less than
almost any other in the world.With Italian sovereign bond yields, relative to safe-haven Bunds, at their lowest for two years, it is clear the markets are dismissing the risk of renewed political instability in Italy. That would seem to be a remarkably complacent view.
Silvio Berlusconi watches AC Milan vs Zenit St Petersburg at the Champions League on Tuesday. Photograph: Olycom SPA/Rex FeaturesECB leaves rates on hold
And the European Central Bank has...
Bank of England leaves rates at 0.5%
Bank of England leaves rates at 0.5%
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