70% Unemployment

by Larry Levin

It appears that Greece may be making headlines again. But that's odd; I thought the (Euro) money printing by the ECB had fixed everything? I also thought that the Greek banks had passed the so-called "stress tests" with ease? Were the tests another scam?

Zero Hedge picks up the Greek news, which can be found in its entirety here:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-bonds-slump-austerity-backfires-country-enters-death-spiral-and-violent-end-game-appro

Those patiently following the Greek Bond-Bund spread to its inevitable conclusion have been fully aware that the plan that Europe is betting its entire future on, is patently flawed: namely that austerity, by its definition does not, and will not work. In fact, instead of bringing stability, austerity will slowly but surely eat away at the economy of whatever country it is instituted in - in some cases slowly, in others, like Greece, very rapidly.

Indeed, the Greek spread has now risen to levels last seen during the early May near-revolution in Athens, at well over 800 bps. And for the specific consequences of austerity, Germany's Spiegel has done a terrific summary of what it defines as a "death spiral" for the Mediterranean country: "Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70 percent in some places.

Frustrated workers are threatening to strike back.A mixture of fear, hopelessness and anger is brewing in Greek society." Spiegel quotes a atypical Greek: ""If you take away my family's bread, I'll take you down -- the government needs to know that. And don't call us anarchists if that happens! We're heads of our families and we're desperate."

All those who think violent strikes in the PIIGS are a thing of the past, we have news for you. The (pseudo) vacation season is over, and millions of workers are coming back. They may not have money, but they have lots of free time, lots of unemployment, and even more pent up anger. Things are about to get very heated once again, first in Greece, and soon after, everywhere else.

Hmm, the last time there was a major Greek conflagration and the stock market was going up on ridiculously low volume and volatility, there was something called a Flash Crash. Yes, I recall something like that...but I can't remember if it was a big deal? (Sarcasm off)

Is Flash Crash version 2.0 in the offing?



Previous Day's Trading Room Results:

Trade Date: 8/18/10

E-Mini S&P Trades*
(before fees and commissions):


1) VA buy @ 8:50am at 1084.25 = +0.75 & +2.25 (2 lots)

2) VA buy @ 10:19am at 1088.00 = +0.75 (1 lot)

3) Algorithm positions (3)

4) “Reading the Tape” positions (1) combined Secret’s, Algo, & “Reading the Tape” total… +2.25



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