The Can Kicking Is Ending - Key Upcoming Dates For Europe's Patient Zero

The proverbial $hit hits the fan for Greece in March.  You've been warned. 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/can-kicking-ending-key-upcoming-dates-europes-patient-zero

Stockton, California, Warns of Possible Default on 2006 Debt

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-21/stockton-california-warns-of-possible-default-on-2006-debt.html

As Greece Denies, Germany Begins Greek Default Preparations

Whenever a treasury official, central banker, finance minister or government leader denies rumors of financial distress, illiquidity, insolvency, bankruptcy, debt default, or imminent credit downgrades, believe the rumors. 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-denies-germany-begins-greek-default-preparations

DEFAULT OPTION IS BACK ON THE TABLE IN GREECE

In the "no $hit, Sherlock" category: 

http://pragcap.com/default-option-is-back-on-the-table-in-greece

Iceland Declares Independence from International Banks

Good for Iceland for giving UK and Dutch banks the middle finger.

http://netrightdaily.com/2011/04/iceland-declares-independence-from-international-banks/

Is it fixable?

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/is-it-fixable

US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross

As stated many times, Greece will default, despite desperate denials from bankers in the Euro zone and worldwide.  The only question is how and when. 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Greece-falls-to-SPs-lowest-rb-4175011898.html?x=0

Here's the scariest part:  the world's biggest bond investor just declared US finances are in worse shape than Greece's. 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43378973

When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.

Getty Images

Much of the public focus is on the nation's public debt, which is $14.3 trillion. But that doesn't include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to $50 trillion, according to government figures.

The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show.

Taken together, Gross puts the total at "nearly $100 trillion," that while perhaps a bit on the high side, places the country in a highly unenviable fiscal position that he said won't find a solution overnight.

Does this all sound familiar?  Who thinks I'm crazy now?

Republican mainstream flirts with brief default

Yes, a US Treasury technical default--vs. an outright default, would be troubling, but it could also restore the creditworthiness of an already insolvent US government, so all this talk of panics in bond markets is hyperbolic.  See Stanley Druckenmiller's opinion  <click here> on a technical default, which could help bond investors avoid a haircut should the US outright default.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-usa-debt-skepticism-idUSTRE75700720110608

An idea once confined to the fringe of the Republican party is seeping into its mainstream -- that a brief default might be an acceptable price to pay if it forces the White House to deal with runaway spending.

An increasing number of Republicans do not believe the Obama administration's dire predictions of economic "catastrophe" if the debt limit is not increased. They argue a period of technical default can be managed without plunging markets into chaos.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/idINIndia-57573120110608?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FINbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+IN+%2F+Business+News%29

The Republicans' theory is that bondholders would accept a brief delay in interest payments if it meant Washington finally addressed its long-term fiscal problems, putting the country in a stronger position to meet its debt obligations later on.

But interviews with government officials and investors show they consider a default such a grim -- and remote -- possibility that it was nearly impossible to imagine.