08:06 – The other shoe dropped yesterday when S&P finally downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt by two levels, to one level above junk status. That was actually a gift, although Spain professes to be shocked that it was downgraded at all. But as the markets are perfectly aware, S&P should long ago have downgraded Spain to pure junk status. Italy is next.
And, speaking of wishful thinking, the MSM are reporting that Merkel’s position on Greece has softened and that she will likely approve more time and perhaps more money for Greece. I note that Merkel said absolutely nothing about granting Greece more time, let alone more money. She was too polite to say so, but Merkel along with the rest of Germany has already written off Greece. Any actions she takes now will be aimed at minimizing the adverse impact of Greece on Germany, not on helping Greece. German taxpayers are already on the hook for roughly a trillion euros of bad PIIGS debt. Enough is enough.
I’m one of those rare people who are being pursued by both major parties: an undecided swing-state voter. Not that there’s any chance at all that I’d vote for Obama. The last four years of Obama have been catastrophic; the country might not survive another four years with him as president. Romney isn’t much better, but he is marginally so in some respects. So, the question is, do I vote for Gary Johnson, who would actually be a good president but has zero chance of winning, or do I vote for Romney, who’d be only marginally better than Obama but has a good chance of winning? I really would hate to see Obama carry North Carolina by one vote.