Financial, Real Estate, Stock Markets Trends and Current Affairs

Well, not if they are able to pull off their stated austerity measures. Let's see how well they are doing thus far...

Papandreou Says First Deficit Is Greece's Credibility Gap Jan. ...

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Greece's first "deficit" is its credibility gap, Prime Minister George Papandreou said today at a panel event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Greek Markets Rattled as EU Says Deficit Forecasts ‘Unreliable ... Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Greek stocks and bonds tumbled after the European Commission said "severe irregularities" in the nation's statistical data leave the accuracy of the European Union's largest budget deficit in doubt.

So, in order to gain credibility, Greece has to apply austerity measures and close its large budget. Can Greece accomplish this mission? After all, they are trying to close a fiscal deficit at an unprecedented pace... Let's gauge both their progress and the populace's reactions...

Greek Customs Workers' Strike Dents Exports, Cuts Fuel Supplies‎

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Greek motorists lined up at gas stations as fuel stocks dwindled while a strike by customs workers over government austerity measures stretched into a fourth day, hurting imports and exports.

The Federation of Greek Customs Workers called a three-day strike on Feb. 16 and decided yesterday to extend the action by six days to protest government austerity measures aimed at trimming Europe’s biggest budget deficit.

Greece is once again “hostage to strikes by powerful labor union groups,” theNational Federation of Greek Commerce said in an e-mailed statement. The strike is “catastrophic” for the country’s trade and industry as well as shipping, food and transport companies and the Greek consumer, said the Athens- based organization, which represents Greek commerce groups.

Exports have fallen 18 percent since the beginning of the customs strike as the shipping of goods via maritime, rail and air links is paralyzed, Christina Sakellaridi, president of the Panhellenic Union of Exporters, told private Skai radio today.

The total value of goods exported by her organization’s members reached 11.4 billion euros ($15.4 billion) in 2009, according to Central Bank of Greece data.

Customs workers in parts of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second- largest city, and on Crete, the biggest Greek island, returned to work today, the state-run Athens News Agency reported. That contradicted a statement by the customs workers’ union on its Web site that continued participation in the industrial action was “universal.”

Cab Drivers Join In

Greece’s taxi drivers also staged a 24-hour strike today, the second in as many weeks, to protest measures including an increase in fuel tax and the obligation to give customers receipts, part of the Greek government’s efforts to clamp down on tax evasion.

Private and public sector unions strike for 24 hours on Feb. 24 over measures introduced by Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government to reduce a budget gap of 12.7 percent of gross domestic product by 4 percentage points this year. The government has frozen wages for public workers and trimmed bonuses, while raising taxes on consumer goods such as tobacco and gasoline.

I suggest subscribers take another look at those exposed Greek banks:

Greek Banking Fundamental Tear Sheet

I'm going to end the Euro-Sovereign debt crisis in two more installments, and they will be hard hitting ones. In the meantime, make sure you are caught up because I will be creating a road map that will track where the dominoes fall - If (actually, when) they start falling...

1. Can China Control the "Side-Effects" of its Stimulus-Led Growth? Let's Look at the Facts - Explains the potential fallout of the excessive fiscal stimulus in China. While not European, it is quite likely to kick off the daisy chain effect.
2. The Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis - introduces the crisis and identified it as a pan-European problem, not a localized one.
3. What Country is Next in the Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis? - illustrates the potential for the domino effect
4. The Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis: If I Were to Short Any Country, What Country Would That Be.. - attempts to illustrate the highly interdependent weaknesses in Europe's sovereign nations can effect even the perceived "stronger" nations.
5. The Coming Pan-European Soverign Debt Crisis, Pt 4: The Spread to Western European Countries