Greece misses deficit target
Any bets on whether even the current estimate for 2012 will prove estimate? This is a black hole for the EU and the US.
Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough.
The dire forecasts came while inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, were in Athens scouring the country's books to decide whether to approve a loan tranche. Without that installment, Greece would run out of cash as soon as this month.
The 2012 draft budget approved by cabinet on Sunday predicts a deficit of 8.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2011, well short of the 7.6 percent target.
The 2012 deficit is set to meet a nominal target of 14.6 billion euros, but at 6.8 percent of GDP it falls short of a target of 6.5 percent, because the economy will shrink further.
"Three critical months remain to finish 2011, and the final estimate of 8.5 percent of GDP deficit can be achieved if the state mechanism and citizens respond accordingly," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. . . .
posted by John Lott at 8:49 AM
1 Comments:
Greece will be bailed out. The Euro-socialists will do it. They're not inclined to see irresponsible socialism go unrewarded.
The economy is still sinking. Bloodbath in the markets again today. Not a pretty way to start the last quarter. The GDP looks positive, they say, but things still seem to be getting worse. The Russell 2000 went off a cliff in August and none of the new highs reach up as far as the old lows. That's supposed to be where America's growth is going to come from. We can't blame our own failure on Greece. Greece? We're being delusional and not taking responsibility for our own country's failure. It's not Greece, it's us. Forget about Greece, we'll be all right if we fix things here. This is where the problem is. We need to repair America, not a little country on the other side of the world that has an economy the size of that of Maryland. We need to stop spending time shifting the blame and work on addressing our own issues.
Problem #1 is the Rogue Trader-in-Chief in the White House. He did a great job of investing that half billion of our money in Solyndra, didn't he? The SEC should have him locked up. He's a danger to the public and the public's money.
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