Proton Bank: Scandal?

Is it a scandal? My view is that it is, for at least three reasons, without going into the nitty-gritty details of the matter. First, because actions taken by the minister of finance were illegal and were noted by the heads of the Treasury, which were dismissed with demeaning comments by the minister of finance(!), second, because of the actions taken by the Greek anti-laundering authorities,  and third, and perhaps more important, because the media in Greece did not play it at all(!), except the newspaper ``Eleutherotypia”, who is the one that made it public (some blogs and some other newspapers did include some comments on the matter but mainly the whole story has passed unnoticed). It is extremely suspicious that none of the main TV channels and major newspapers did find it worth mentioning that 1) the Bank of Greece and the minister of finance urgently decided to subsidize Proton Bank, after/and that 2)  the authorities in Greece for laundering money freezed the private properties and accounts of all the chief executives of the Proton Bank, including the owner and well known business person of the bank, on suspicious transfers of money (laundering, expropriation). I believe that both events are headlines’ events. You do not get every day private properties and accounts of so powerful people to be freezed!

For those who did not read about it and in order to make up your own conclusions, I compile a list of articles that explain the actions of the anti-laundering authorities, the actions by the minister of finance and the surprise of the IMF and the European leaders about the developments on this problem. (All the articles are in Greek)

1. Article 1                                    2. Article 2

3. Article 3                                   4. Article 4

5. Article 5                                   6. Article 6

7. Article 7                                  8. Article 8

9. Article 9                                  10. Article 10

11. Article 11                              12. Article 12

13. Article 13                             14. Article 14

Some Headlines Today

The headlines draw the picture.

1. Pimco’s Bill Gross and BlackRock’s Peter Fisher say U.S. economy is at a tipping point.

2. Unemployment rose in nearly all U.S. cities.

3. Avoid disasters, get out of U.S. assets.

4. If recession hits, investors should prepare for a drop in stocks, says Mauldin.

5. White House: No double-dip recession seen.

Milton Friedman On Government

An educational video providing material for thought. The bright professor Milton Friedman in an interview about taxation, government intervention and many more.

Same Treatment In The Two Sides Of The Atlantic

As expected, a last minute deal could not be a bold deal or one that would “fix” the problem. It just gives a breather, until the problem comes back to us again. The techniques to approach serious problems are extremely identical in the two sides of the Atlantic!: Push the can down the road. It is impossible for the human phycology to do the optimal; to stand above the short term goals and pressures. This is a universal law. Washington did exactly what Brussels did, given the battle they found themselves into. No supremacy of the New World was demonstrated in handling the same problem and this “plan” is not a fix, the same way that the recent deal in Europe is not a fix.

Greek Rescue Increases Its Debt

Yes you read it right! Increases, not decreases the Greek debt. After the dust went away and the parties from the recent summit are over, people started to analyze the so called “deal” about the Greek debt.

Here are three articles that argue that the Greek plan is no solution. Charles Forelle from the WSJ and Hugo Dixon from Reuters explain why the Greek debt will increase and not decrease as a consequence of the “deal”. Also, Wolfgang Munchau of FT argues why the Eurozone crisis is not over and why a 50% reduction on the Greek debt was necessary.