Krugman’s Still Wrong

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

By Michael Tanner

Paul Krugman has never been shy about proclaiming that he is right and everyone else is wrong — and not just wrong, but “knaves and fools.” Lately, however, one begins to worry that he might actually hurt himself, so vigorously has he been patting himself on the back for his opposition to “austerity” (defined as any cut in government spending, anytime, anywhere).

IMF: Greece making progress but must do more on taxes

By Anna Yukhananov

10:04am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Greece has made progress in reducing government debt and improving its competitiveness, but needs to follow through on structural reforms to ensure its economy recovers, the IMF said on Monday after a mission visit to the country.

Three men charged with undermining Boston bombing probe

3:26pm EDT

By Scott Malone, Tim McLaughlin and Mark Hosenball

BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Wednesday charged three men with interfering with the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing, accusing two students from Kazakhstan of hiding a laptop computer and backpack belonging to one of the suspected bombers.

The third man, a U.S. citizen named Robel Phillipos, was charged with making false statements to investigators.

UPDATE 9-Oil tumbles on weak U.S., euro zone economic reports

Tue, Apr 30 2013
* Brent-WTI spread settles below $9 for first time since 2011
* Brent oil down over 7 pct, biggest monthly fall since May 2012
* Coming Up: EIA data, Wednesday 10:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT
By Anna Louie Sussman and Jonathan Leff

Greek Parliament Passes Plan for Layoffs

The New York Times

April 28, 2013

By NIKI KITSANTONIS

ATHENS — Greece’s Parliament late Sunday approved a contentious plan to dismiss 15,000 civil servants by the end of next year as part of a new package of economic measures that the country must enforce to clinch crucial financing from foreign creditors.

Euro zone set to approve 2.8 billion euros for Greece on Monday

ATHENS | Sat Apr 27, 2013 1:42pm BST

(Reuters) - Senior euro zone officials will meet on Monday to approve payment of another 2.8 billion euros (2.35 billion pounds) in rescue loans for Greece, on condition that the country's lawmakers approve a reform law the day before, the country's finance minister said on Saturday.

Greece is right to expose German loans hypocrisy

The Guardian
As the Athens-Berlin spat intensifies, both sides must approach the eurozone crisis with humility or face dire consequences

Adolf Hitler's military chief, Walther von Brauchitsch, centre, and colleagues at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in 1941. Photograph: Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Greece forgets much of its history when it demands Germany repays loans made during the second world war.

Greece Internal Devaluation Update

April 23, 2013, 2:48 PM ET

ByMatthew Dalton

The Wall Street Journal

            Without the tool of currency devaluation, the euro zone is hoping “internal devaluation” can restore competitiveness to the bloc’s periphery. What’s that?

It’s an economy-wide fall in wages and, more broadly, prices. Officials have been careful not to say the “D” word – that’s “deflation” – but Europe’s policies call for a period of deflation in euro-zone countries with the worst competitiveness problems.

Greece may get bailout cash advance to pay bills –reports

 ATHENS, April 20 | Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:10am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece might receive 3.2 billion euros of earmarked rescue aid earlier than planned to cover part of its financing needs, two Greek newspapers reported on Saturday.

The Excel Depression

April 18, 2013

The New York Times

By PAUL KRUGMAN

 In this age of information, math errors can lead to disaster. NASA’s Mars Orbiter crashed because engineers forgot to convert to metric measurements; JPMorgan Chase’s “London Whale” venture went bad in part because modelers divided by a sum instead of an average. So, did an Excel coding error destroy the economies of the Western world?

With Boston Manhunt, Media Is Part of a Story It Is Covering

The New York Times

April 19, 2013

By BRIAN STELTER

Reporters, camera crews and ordinary citizens with cellphone cameras were squarely in the middle of the manhunt in Boston that gripped the nation on Friday, and the result was some of the most startling, and at times unnerving, news coverage in years.

Police officer shot to death at MIT campus near Boston

By Scott Malone

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts | Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:28am EDT

(Reuters) - A police officer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was shot to death on Thursday night at the school's Cambridge campus, touching off a manhunt in a community on edge just days after the Boston Marathon bombing.

Greece 2013

By  Andrew Stuttaford

April 18, 2013 6:51 PM

The New York Times reports:

 ATHENS — As an elementary school principal, Leonidas Nikas is used to seeing children play, laugh and dream about the future. But recently he has seen something altogether different, something he thought was impossible in Greece: children picking through school trash cans for food; needy youngsters asking playmates for leftovers; and an 11-year-old boy, Pantelis Petrakis, bent over with hunger pains. “He had eaten almost nothing at home,” Mr. Nikas said, sitting in his cramped school office near the port of Piraeus, a working-class suburb of Athens, as the sound of a jump rope skittered across the playground. He confronted Pantelis’s parents, who were ashamed and embarrassed but admitted that they had not been able to find work for months. Their savings were gone, and they were living on rations of pasta and ketchup.

Boston bomb suspect identified on video, no arrest made

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Scott Malone

BOSTON | Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:35pm EDT

(Reuters) - Investigators believe they have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing from security video, a law enforcement source said on Wednesday, but no arrest had yet been made.

Police may make an appeal to the public for more information at a news conference scheduled for later on Wednesday, a government source said.

Earlier, CNN reported a suspect was in custody, citing Boston and law enforcement sources, but later retracted its report.

Greece Reaches New Deal With Lenders

April 15, 2013

The New York Times

By NIKI KITSANTONIS

 ATHENS — After nearly two weeks of tense negotiations, Greece and its troika of foreign creditors said Monday that they had clinched an agreement on economic measures it must enforce to secure the release of further crucial rescue money, including thousands of layoffs in the civil service.

 “We wrapped it up; we have a deal with the troika,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters.

UPDATE 2-Troika concludes Greek bailout review, next aid tranche soon – source

Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:09pm EDT

* EU/IMF conclude Greek bailout review of reform progress

* Eurogroup, IMF likely to discuss deal in May

* Greece to wrap up talks with troika by Monday night

By Annika Breidthardt and Renee Maltezou

DUBLIN/ATHENS, April 13 (Reuters) - An inspection team of international lenders has finished its review of Greece's austerity programme, paving the way for another 10 billion euros aid payment, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Saturday.

Greece Beats 1Q Budget Targets for 2013

By Dow Jones Business News,  April 10, 2013, 08:25:00 AM EDT

ATHENS--Greek budget figures for the first quarter Wednesday were better than expected, a finance ministry official said Wednesday, with both primary and state budgets exceeding the goals set by the country's international creditors, largely as a result of government spending cuts.

Greece’s Unemployment Rate Increased to Record High in January

By Tom Stoukas - Apr 11, 2013 1:45 PM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

Greece’s unemployment rate increased to a record in January as the country’s economic downturn entered a sixth year.

The seasonally adjusted rate rose to 27.2 percent from a revised 25.7 percent in December, the Athens-based Hellenic Statistical Authority said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s the highest level since the agency began publishing monthly data in 2004.

UPDATE 1-Deposits flew into Greek banks during Cypriot crisis

Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:21am EDT

(Adds details)

(Reuters) - Greek bank deposits rose by more than 1.5 billion euros in March despite fears Cyprus's banking crisis would trigger deposit outflows in other indebted euro zone economies, Greece's central bank chief said.

More than 19 billion euros have returned to Greece since mid-June last year when the election of a pro-bailout government allayed fears of a messy Greek exit from the euro zone.

Greece enters deflation for first time in 45 years

Greek consumer prices fell year-on-year in March, taking the battered economy into deflationary territory for the first time since 1968.

By Denise Roland

1:58PM BST 09 Apr 2013

March prices slumped 0.2pc year-on-year, according to figures from the Greek government's statistical agency Elstat.