08:14 – The markets have reacted pretty much as I expected to the announcement of the €750 billion Spain/Italy bailout, which is to say that Spanish/Italian bond yields have fallen by 10 or 15 basis points (0.1% to 0.15%). The markets aren’t stupid. All along, the EU has been trying to fool the markets. Promise them anything, but don’t commit to spending any real money. And this so-called €750 billion bailout–which hasn’t even been approved by Germany and probably will not be–is actually backed by only about €20 billion of real assets. The rest of the money is to come from, you guessed it, selling bonds, at which the EFSF hasn’t been notably successful. Ultimately, everything depends on the ESM being given a banking license, which would give it essentially unlimited credit to borrow from the ECB. Germany is almost certain to veto a banking license for the ESM, recognizing that this would be just a back-door way of allowing the ECB to monetize the debt of the profligate southern-tier countries and ultimately shifting the debt to taxpayers. German taxpayers.
I am still trying to get an answer from UPS and FexEx to what seems a simple question. How much would it cost to have them pick up an ORM-D box of specific dimensions and weight and customs value from our address and deliver it via ground to a specific Canadian address? All I want is a number, but that’s apparently impossible to get. But I’m persistent.