Hell, if I had any brains, I'd resign.
Of all the actions I least expected, this one is the hardest to understand.
A common currency has been the only pillar of strength in Europe, and now they throw it all away with the stroke of a central bank policy pen.
The Euro won't survive for long if it has to buy the bonds of all the incompetent, socialist governments of Europe.
I guess the bet now is who's next? Spain, Ireland, Portugal, or a country we're not aware of?
I'm taking a week off from currency prognostications to cool the fevered brain.
* * * * * J B K * * * * *
San Francisco
European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet, who capitulated on a January pledge not to relax lending rules for the sake of one country, may have to sacrifice more principles to prevent Greece from bringing down the euro.
Trichet yesterday diluted rules for the second time in a month to guarantee the ECB will keep taking Greek government bonds as collateral for loans. The central bank may have to extend that to other nations, renew a program of lending unlimited cash to banks for a year, and even start buying government debt if the 110 billion-euro ($146 billion) bailout plan for Greece fails to stem the euro's slide, economists said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aMSO_VQTTzAU
