From today’s Open Europe news summary:
ECB lending to banks in Portugal reached €50.2bn in July, its highest level for seven months. Bloomberg WSJ Reuters Irish Independent
As explained by Professor Philip Bagus in this essay, the European Central Bank supports profligate countries via its START2 program, whereby deficit banks never really do settle accounts. Whereas EU treaties prohibit the ECB from buying sovereign debt, the ECB bypasses this restriction by “lending” euros to still extant national central banks, taking sovereign debt as collateral. Thus, treaties mean nothing…put your faith in gold. Patrick Barron
