http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-13/greek-consumers-most-pessimistic-earth-40-have-no-disposable-income
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/13/2013 16:33 -0500
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_13/02/2013_483000
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_13/02/2013_483017
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_13/02/2013_483016
and.....
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_12/02/2013_482869
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-12/greek-economy-grinds-halt-new-construction-implodes-666
Some time ago we used to joke that the Greek economy, and by implication society, is literally falling apart due to its sacrifice at the altar of preserving the European, and thus global, status quo. It is no longer a joke, and the latest confirmation of the absolute halt in the Greek economy, which is now way beyond the liqudity trap and is now in a liquidity (and everything else) tiger cage is data on Greece Construction activity which according to data released on Tuesday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority is in complete freefall. From Kathimerini "In November 2012, total activity dropped 66.6 percent year-on-year in terms of building permits, 63.3 percent in terms of surface area and 65.4 percent in terms of volume." Just 1,156 permits were issued across the country, corresponding to 197,000 square meters and 706,900 cubic meters. In the first 11 months of last year construction activity shrank by 36.4 percent in terms of permits, 30.3 percent in surface area and 28.7 percent in volume, compared with the same period in 2011. The statistics observed in private construction activity are virtually the same as the above, as activity in the public sector has effectively ground to a halt.
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/12/2013 09:56 -0500
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/02/12/actualidad/1360704551_942012.html
Greek Consumers Most Pessimistic On Earth: 40% Have No Disposable Income
Chronicling the collapsing Greek socioeconomic reality would be an interesting business school case study of what a zombie monetary regime kept alive at all costs does to the "weakest link(s)" (most recently "Greek Economy Grinds To A Halt As New Construction Implodes By 66.6%" and "Person Trampled As Fight Breaks Out At Greek Free Food Handout"), if only there weren't real men and women suffering as a result of the stupidity and greed of a few entrenched individuals who will stop at nothing to see their paper wealth preserved at all costs. The latest salvo of the utter misery Greek society finds itself in comes from Nielsen research, which reports that Greeks are now the most pessimistic consumers on the planet, with the Greek consumer confidence index dropping to 35 points in the last quarter of 2012. That is the lowest level among a total of 58 countries surveyed and 11 points lower than the same period last year in Greece.
It gets worse.
As Kathimerini reports: "Four out of 10 Greeks told the same survey that they no longer have any disposable money left after covering their basic needs, which is the highest rate ever recorded in Greece and the biggest in the October-December period in Europe. A year earlier (in Q4 2011) that rate had stood at 34 percent and in Q4 of 2010 it had been at 25 percent." Obligatory spin: once nobody hasany disposable income, things can only get better. Unless, as Rajoy might add, they get worse.
What little money Greek do have is spent "toward the payment of loan and credit card installments (31 percent) or savings (22 percent). Only a very small number of consumers use their disposable income for entertainment, vacations and buying clothes, which helps to explain the turnover slump in of the sectors of food catering, domestic tourism and apparel stores."
With unemployment soaring to unprecedented levels, it comes as no surprise that finding and/or keeping a job constitutes the greatest concern among Greeks, which, at a rate of 44 percent, is among the highest in the world. The state of the economy ranks second, at 38 percent, debts are third at 26 percent and the increasing level of utility bills are fourth, on 21 percent.Shrinking disposable incomes combined with insecurity have led to a change in Greeks' shopping habits, with 77 percent stating they have curtailed spending on entertainment outside the home, 67 percent saying they choose cheaper commodities (mostly own-label supermarket products) and more than half (54 percent) say they have cut down on fuel and electricity.No wonder nobody tries to sell Europe on forecasts of a second half improvement in2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 anymore. By now virtually all of them have given up.The same survey found that the country with the most optimistic citizens is India, with an index reading of 121 points, followed by the Philippines with 119 and Indonesia with 117. Asia generally appears to be the most optimistic continent on the planet, with Europe being the most pessimistic. In total, the global index came to 91 points in the last quarter of 2012, dropping by one point from the previous quarter.In addition to being the most optimistic, India is the one place in the world where gold is as functional a currency, and a store of wealth, as paper money (much to its central bankers' chagrin). One wonders if there is a connection...As for the Greek gold: one wonders just which deep underground London vault it has been "rehypothecated" to these days?
and.....
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_13/02/2013_483000
Rehn tries to douse Greek hopes of program change due to fiscal multipliers
A day after European Union finance ministers met in Brussels, Rehn took the unusual step of sending a letter to all the ECOFIN officials regarding, among other things, the so-called fiscal multipliers for Greece’s program. The letter was also copied to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, European Stability Mechanism chief Klaus Regling and the IMF, which triggered the debate by admitting that it underestimated the impact Greece’s adjustment program would have on its economic output by as much as three times. Rehn’s comments suggest he believes that any hope the Greek government has of changing the program should be nipped in the bud. “Recent studies on fiscal multipliers are of particularly limited use when it comes to the case of Greece,” said Rehn, who referred to an article by IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard in Sunday’s Kathimerini that said it was a “fundamental misreading of historical record” to suggest the Greek program had veered off track because it was badly designed. Rehn suggested other factors affected the Greek program, such as “persistent uncertainty and problems with implementation” at the start of the program that blocked the “confidence effects” which would have lessened the impact of austerity. Rehn also suggested the IMF’s analysis was not broad enough and that several other factors came into play, such as a general economic downturn in the eurozone. Rehn stressed that December’s agreement to release more funding had “removed the uncertainty” surrounding a Greek euro exit and that Athens’s focus should be on implementing the program, which had already been adjusted to take into account Greece’s worsening economic condition, which led to Athens being given two more years until 2016 to meet its targets. The timing of Rehn’s intervention suggests that he was unhappy with Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras bringing up the issue at the ECOFIN and with the IMF for raising an issue that he deems irrelevant to the immediate challenges facing Greece and the eurozone. |
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_13/02/2013_483017
DEPA, DESFA, OPAP to go by end-April
After meeting with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras on Wednesday, TAIPED chief Takis Athanasopoulos stated that binding offers for OPAP will be submitted by April 5 and for DEPA and DESFA by April 12, with the winning bids chosen by the end of that month. By the same date, Athanasopoulos also expects agreements for the sale of the Afandou plot on Rhodes and six state properties located overseas that are in the process of concession. |
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_13/02/2013_483016
Fuel prices rise as incomes fall
Each visit to a gas station is a painful experience for local consumers these days as the price of gasoline in Greece is among the highest in the world while disposable incomes continue to slide. Out of 60 countries surveyed by Bloomberg, Greece was found to have the sixth highest gasoline prices, whilethe country ranks 21st in relation to purchasing power. The reduction in Greeks’ incomes and their habit of using cars for most of their transport needs mean that consumers in this country on average spend 4.8 percent of their total income on gasoline, which is the highest among the 60 countries surveyed. Using prices in the period from January 3 to 18, the Bloomberg survey showed that Greeks have to spend some 15 percent of their daily wage in order to purchase one liter of gasoline. The final price of gasoline is so high in Greece as it depends on international oil rates that have gone up recently, while fuel taxes have risen considerably over the last three years. The most recent report by the Market Monitoring Agency showed that the average price of unleaded gasoline was 1.745 euros/lt. The refinery price a day earlier had stood at 0.6525 euros/lt, with tax and other charges accounting for 1.019 euros/lt and some 0.0816 remaining as the profit margin for fuel trading companies and gas stations. The price of unleaded gasoline has increased by 3.62 percent since the start of the year. The world’s most expensive gasoline was found in Turkey, where its rate is close to 2 euros per liter, owing to the very high consumption tax imposed on fuel in the last few years. |
and.....
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_12/02/2013_482869
No threat to minimum wage, say ministries
The Finance and Labor ministries insisted on Tuesday that Greece has no intention of lowering its minimum wage any further after a government official suggested that at 586 euros gross per month, the lowest salaries in Greece might still be too high.
Speaking at an insurance conference in Athens, Finance Ministry general secretary Giorgos Mergos suggested that Greece should examine its minimum wage, which was reduced by 22 percent last year under pressure from the troika, in its bid to drive growth.
Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis reacted by saying that the minimum wage would remain at its current levels until Greece completes its fiscal adjustment program, which is due to conclude in 2016.
The Finance Ministry also said there was no question of the government tampering with the minimum wage.
The government’s swift denials regarding basic pay were not enough to stop the criticism from opposition parties.
“He has admitted the coalition government’s real intentions, which is to reduce wages to the same level as Romania and Bulgaria,” said SYRIZA MP Dimitris Stratoulis, who added that a change in legislation last year allows the government to set the minimum wage from April 1, rather than for it to be the product of negotiations between unions and employers.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_12/02/2013_482885
Greece takes up fiscal multipliers case, eyes concessions from troika
Sources said that Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras raised the issue regarding the IMF's reassessment of the so-called fiscal multipliers at yesterday's ECOFIN meeting in Brussels and received support from his Portuguese and Irish counterparts. European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, however, expressed doubts about the IMF's calculations and stressed the impact that political instability had on Greece's economy last year. The finance ministers decided to study the issue in more detail and discuss it again when they meet next. Stournaras referred to the issue of the IMF underestimating by as much as three times the Greek program's fiscal multiplier following Monday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers. "I will ask the IMF to inform us about the conclusions it draws with regard to Greece from its report about fiscal multipliers," he said. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde was at the Eurogroup meeting but did not comment on the subject. Speaking to Skai TV's New Files program, Klaus Regling, the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) played down the importance of the IMF's miscalculation. "I do not totally agree with the IMF's analysis on fiscal multipliers,» he said. «We believe there is a problem with the date they present. There were serious reasons for the multipliers being bigger but this is not the main issue." Regling said that when the program was drawn up, Greece's situation was so dire that the size of the fiscal multipliers were of secondary importance.
|
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-12/greek-economy-grinds-halt-new-construction-implodes-666
Greek Economy Grinds To A Halt As New Construction Implodes By 66.6%
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/12/2013 18:30 -0500
Some time ago we used to joke that the Greek economy, and by implication society, is literally falling apart due to its sacrifice at the altar of preserving the European, and thus global, status quo. It is no longer a joke, and the latest confirmation of the absolute halt in the Greek economy, which is now way beyond the liqudity trap and is now in a liquidity (and everything else) tiger cage is data on Greece Construction activity which according to data released on Tuesday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority is in complete freefall. From Kathimerini "In November 2012, total activity dropped 66.6 percent year-on-year in terms of building permits, 63.3 percent in terms of surface area and 65.4 percent in terms of volume." Just 1,156 permits were issued across the country, corresponding to 197,000 square meters and 706,900 cubic meters. In the first 11 months of last year construction activity shrank by 36.4 percent in terms of permits, 30.3 percent in surface area and 28.7 percent in volume, compared with the same period in 2011. The statistics observed in private construction activity are virtually the same as the above, as activity in the public sector has effectively ground to a halt.
And for those curious how the people are surviving, the answer is simple: nobody ispaying taxes:
More and more professionals are withholding value-added tax from the authorities in a bid to maintain cash flows.Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) inspections last months led to fines imposed for the nonpayment of VAT and the tax on salaried service growing by 51 percent within a period of just one year: In January 2013 the fines amounted to 35.3 million euros, compared to 23.3 million in January 2012.In total the fines imposed by SDOE inspectors last month amounted to 258 million euros, from 217.4 million euros in January 2012. Notably, while there were more inspections conducted (1,559 against 1,460) and while more fines were imposed, the violations identified were actually lower in number: In January 2012 the violations numbered 5,332, while last month there were just 2,999 identified. Most of those violations concerned the issuing of fake financial data.The question now is how these fines will be collected, as experience to date shows that despite the imposition of fines, debtors often fail to turn up to settle their accounts, at the expense of public coffers.Good luck with the collections Greece, especially if they are at night as soon the public utilities themselves will soon be halted:The phenomenon of electricity theft has grown out of control due to the economic crisis and the inability of many to pay their bills.While before the crisis power theft was only seen in certain downgraded areas such as Roma settlements, it has now spread across the country and into expensive areas too, including the northern suburbs of Athens.Officials at the Hellenic Electrical Energy Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE) estimate that the turnover from electricity theft at businesses alone has quadrupled within just one year, climbing from 10 million euros in 2011 to 40 million in 2012.The methods employed to steal power vary although authorities believe that in many cases electricians are paid to carry out the illicit connection. Public Power Corporation’s data on its lost income have been compiled from checks on corporate supplies, as there are no inspectors available to conduct random checks on household meters.“Unfortunately [the illegal] connections are conducted in such a way that cannot be noticed by inspectors who check the meters once every four months,” a DEDDIE official told Kathimerini. “We have information about con artists who have made electricity theft their profession, but this information is not sufficient for us to catch them.”
So to paraphrase Rajoy, when excluding everything else, Greece is fine.
and.........
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-12/mario-draghi-speaks-spanish-congress-media-blackout-ensues
Mario Draghi Speaks In Spanish Congress, Media Blackout Ensues
Just because Europe is such a vast and open democracy, where nobody keeps secrets from anyone, it is only logical that Mario Draghi's visit to Spain, where he spoke to domestic lawmakers in the Congress, would be shrouded in secrecy so stringent and oppressive, that all forms of electronic communication were purposefully killed ahead of the speech.
As El Diaro reports: "This morning congress services have cut wi-fi signals and frequency inhibitors have been used to limit the operation of cell phone lines. All with one goal: to prevent the words of ECB President Mario Draghi, to leave the closed room and become public." This was a last minute decision as it "caught by surprise" deputies who had announced their intention to live broadcast the words of the president of the ECB up through a website created for the occasion. It gets better: "The digital lock in the lower house tax has caused chaos among accredited journalists, who have had to continue to do their work without internet connection, with difficulty using their mobile phones without any signal to communicate with the outside." And the culmination: "This chronicle has been dictated from a pay phone." It almost makes one wonder just what latest set of top secret "truth" that can not possibly see the light of day for cross reference purposes, Mario Draghi is currently spreading in Spain. Almost.
And now that the closed door meeting has concluded, Draghi is speaking live at the following webcast:
and here are the bits for the public after Draghi requested a closed door session..... from El Pais....
The PP Barcenas paid a fixed amount per month until December 2012
The party paid Social Security and prorated € 400,000 settlement
In 2010 negotiated with the party that paid their monthly settlement
Went to the headquarters and had a room for him until Jan. 16
Prosecutor confirmed last week that the PP still paid in 2011 and 2012
The PP insists Luis Barcenas he split the party in 2009, when he temporarily left the post of national treasurer. But not only did Barcenas preferential treatment until a month ago, with a room for your documents, free entry in Genoa 13 and a secretary in the party that kept calling for him. addition continued to receive a monthly amount of PP until less than two months at the end of 2012. The party was paying that money every month and also took care of Social Security coverage. It's what they agreed in April 2010 Barcenas and the party leadership in a move that could only be taken with the consent of Rajoy.
The left extesorero then, a year and a half after the outbreak of theGürtel scandal, militancy in the PP and his record as senator. He remained unpaid public, and asked to rejoin the party as an employee of the house they were yet entered AP, PP sources said. Was agreed with it then unfair dismissal in an amount of at least 400,000 euros, the sources said, and asked Barcenas not the pay of a blow but the gradually give every month until December 2012 and further that the PP is hicera by Social Security costs. And the party agreed, so the extesorero has been linked directly to this political formation until a few days before it was known that he had a Swiss bank account with € 22 million, on January 16. The PP says that was just a settlement Barcenas prorated and performed no work for the PP since 2010, when he negotiated his departure.
The Barcenas own products was reported last week the prosecutor Antonio Romeral, the anti-corruption prosecutor, when he was called to testify in the investigation open after publication in the country of extesorero papers. Amid this interrogation, which lasted about three hours, the prosecutor wanted to know details of the employment relationship with the PP Barcenas. The extesorero then explained that he had left the party in 2010 but continued to pay him in 2011 and 2012 by way of a kind of termination prorated. That is, the PP continued paying privately and without informing anyone and he was constantly leaving the seat while moving in public was an image that had broken completely with him.
Something similar happened in 2010, when the PP, always secretly, agreed with Barcenas would continue paying the attorney long after they stopped being theoretically treasurer. It is a special treat that only had him. The PP retained this privilege, the opinion against Dolores Cospedal, until the country published in February 2010 that the party was taking care of your expensive extesorero defense, led by Michael Bass, one of the lawyers prestigious Madrid. Then Cospedal also decided to cut it, and a few months later, in April, Barcenas said in a statement that since that time the lawyer was paid out of pocket, but then there was a confrontation with the secretary general to pay him the front.
Still, Barcenas continued to enjoy a space, l to Andalucía room, reserved exclusively for him. Two and a half years after leaving the game theory, the extesorero frequently kept coming home to Genoa 13, where he spoke with several leaders and pressure was applied to favor their legal situation. The presence of the headquarters Barcenas was constant until, on 16 January, it was learned that he had come to be up to 22 million euros in Switzerland. That day Barcenas stopped going to the site and was not seen again by. Cospedal has been very hard on him in public, but Mariano Rajoy has not criticized in no time and has not even said his name.
Barcenas relations with the PP have been a problem for Rajoy since the outbreak of the Gürtel case. The president resisted every effort to dismiss his treasurer. While other leaders involved fell, especially those in Madrid to the commands ofEsperanza Aguirre, very touched by the scandal at first, Rajoy held against all odds Barcenas. Finally had to force him to stop being treasurer in July 2009. But the statement made clear that it was in a "temporary" and Rajoy said in those days that "no one" could "prove Barcenas is not innocent."
The senator remained a whole year until the extesorero, tired of the pressure, photographers daily at the door of his house, and convinced that Judge Antonio Pedreira, the Superior of Madrid, would fare better than the Supreme Court decided to resign. Yet the relationship of Barcenas and Rajoy was always close.The Cospedal extesorero faced but always felt that Rajoy had treated him well.
This cautious attitude of the president with a man whose career has outraged the PP leaders and has generated many internal reviews.Aguirre, for example, has called openly for the PP querelle against Barcenas and attack him.
The withering dismissal of Jesus Sepulveda, another defendant in Gürtel, which also has come only after the press had issued its situation and generate a significant social pressure, has caused many home workers and middle managers wonder what relationship labor has Barcenas with PP. The party has never officially reported his dismissal actually far conditions have been reached with him. Everything about the relationship extesorero the game that was everything-came from AP and many of today's workers signed their contract with him, because he had 18 years before being appointed manager treasurer in 2008 - has always been shrouded in mystery.
"We are aware that Spaniards are going through bad times," Draghi tells Congress
The president of the ECB meets with Spanish politicians behind closed doors
Leftist-green group ICV leaks videos of private meeting
Mario Draghi waves before a meeting at La Moncloa prime ministerial palace in Madrid. / DANI POZO (AFP)
European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said Tuesday that he understood the frustrations felt by many Spaniards because of the government’s harsh reforms but asked for patience because they will “take time” to produce positive results.
Speaking at a news conference after meeting behind closed doors with deputies in Congress, the ECB chief said that he came to Spain “to listen as well as recognize all the efforts” that are being undertaken by the government.
“We are well aware that people are going through bad times, including the ones who have lost their jobs,” he said.
Draghi went on to say that Spain has made a lot of improvements in policies regarding the banking industry and jobs sectors, “where there is greater flexibility, but there is still a lot to be done.”
He also commended the government for making advances to increase competition and reduce the deficit, which he acknowledged is “a very complicated road” that no country has been able to complete.
The ECB president agreed to accept an invitation by Congress to discuss different issues regarding Spain and European fiscal policies. Draghi made a similar appearance before the German parliament recently. The Socialists and other opposition groups protested the ruling Popular Party’s (PP) decision to hold the meeting behind closed doors.
But the leftist-green ICVposted videos of Draghi’s private appearance before lawmakers on its website.
“Despite signs of improvement, adjustments are still not producing visible improvements in the everyday lives of people,” Draghi is seen to say on the video. “For that reason, it is understandable the frustrations of some sectors of the population. The results of the reforms will take time.”
Nevertheless, he said that the reforms are for the overall benefit of Spaniards.
Congress speaker Jesús Posada said that the ICV’s actions to release the video were “unfortunate” but clarified he would not take any disciplinary measures.
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