Threat of Eurozone Sovereign Default Moves Front and Center

Will Anglo Irish Bank backstop be withdrawn?

Every man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.
—Song of Solomon

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Downward pressure on the securities-based Ponzi scheme that is the global financial system proceeds unabated...




"The number" Sedgwick reports simply is the sum of good money to be thrown after bad. Here's the problem. Much as nuclear weapons give otherwise weak nations negotiating leverage, the threat of sovereign default increasingly offers much the same power. This edge simply would not be were there any hope such securities as are at risk here could be made whole as a result of the backstop that, thus far has been mustered across the globe. However, that financial crisis just keeps a spiraling out of control reveals the backstop entirely inadequate. This raises the question, then: will Ireland threaten default?

—Tom Chechatka