MoreLiver's Daily: 8th Apr

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl admitted he would never have won a referendum on the adoption of the euro in his country and said he acted "like a dictator" to see the common currency introduced.

Margaret Thatcher Was Freakishly Correct About Why The Euro Would Be Such A Big Disaster – BI

Three New Lessons of the Euro Crisis – Project Syndicate

While some observers argue that the key lesson of the eurozone’s baptism by fire is that greater fiscal and banking integration are needed to sustain the currency union, many economists pointed this out even before the euro’s introduction. The real lessons of the euro crisis lie elsewhere – and they are genuinely new and surprising.

European stocks: Uptrends broken

The lesson from Cyprus is that large bank deposits are potentially at risk in other struggling Eurozone countries – Europp / LSE

Is Cyprus More Important Than You Think? – EconoMonitor

The Commission on Portugal: Is This for Real? – fsaraceno

To summarize, the Commission is happy that the Portuguese government chose to ignore a ruling of its constitutional court (“welcomes that…”); it threatens to cut funding if the Portuguese government does not follow its prescriptions (“it is a precondition for a decision…”); it is in a state of denial on confidence (“the growing investor confidence…”); it recommends that democratic discussion does not take place (“it is essential that key political institutions are united in their support…”) This goes beyond my wildest thoughts.

New Trouble for Euro in Portugal – NYT

The ECB, OMT, and Moral Hazard – Krugman / NYT

So as I said, there is some clear moral hazard here; the ECB’s intervention has let some people off the hook, and encouraged them to continue with bad policies. But the people in question aren’t spendthrift governments, they’re pain-inflicting troika members, who have been given license to keep on inflicting pain.

Germany’s Net Foreign Assets Exceed €1 Trillion; 10 Compete Failures of the Eurozone – Mish’s

UNITED STATES

Q1 Earnings Preview - Can The Banks Save The Quarter? – ZH

Inequality and monetary policy – alphaville / FT

Charts du jour, labour force participation kill the old edition – alphaville / FT

Structural Employment Problems – Big Picture

Weak Jobs Report Is Sign of Weak Jobs Report. Period. – View / BB

Vanishing workforce weighs on growth – WP

ASIA

Why Abenomics Matters – CFR

Be excited, be, be excited: BoJ edition – alphaville / FT

OTHER

Risk limits are made to be broken – alphaville / FT

FT Alphaville is (still) poring over (and enjoying) the staff report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on the JPMorgan “whale” trades in its Chief Investment Office that lost the bank over $6bn.

The Intellectual Contradictions of Sado-Monetarism – Krugman / NYT

So sadomonetarism is intellectually inconsistent. It wants to blame central banks for all the instability in the economy, it preaches a doctrine of non-intervention, but it can only make the case by insisting that financial markets are irrational and unstable to begin with, in which case it’s hard to see why laissez-faire makes sense under any conditions.

Bail-In vs. Bailout – David Kotok / The BigPicture

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Monday, April 8

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