Not quite as popular as Branjelina and Kimye,
‘Grexit’ (short for Greek Exit) has gained traction as a nickname during the
past few months. The British press appropriated a variation, Brexit, when they
discovered that the Bank of England was researching the potential risks of
renegotiating membership in the European Union, or possibly even leaving the
group—but that’s another story.
This is about Greece, and it’s a Grexhausting
tale. Last week, The Economist
explained the state of affairs this way,
“…euro-zone finance ministers failed for the
third time in four days [on June 25] to find a breakthrough in their talks over
Greece's bail-out…But four days before its twice-extended bail-out expires and
a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) payment to the [International Monetary Fund] IMF
falls due, Greece and its far-left prime minister, Alexis Tsipras… still have
no deal.”
By Saturday, a deal was off the table. After
days of negotiations, CNN Money
stated, “Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras…could not accept the terms being offered
by Europe and the IMF. He said he would recommend that Greeks vote against them
in a referendum on July 5.” The move was perceived to be a delaying tactic and,
when Greece requested bailout extension, European finance ministers refused.
Greece owes about 1.5 billion euros to the
IMF, and a payment is due on Tuesday. In the meantime, the European Central
Bank (ECB) has been providing emergency funding—a line of credit currently
worth about $95 billion—to keep Greek banks from collapse.
It’s unclear whether Greece will be able to
make the payment due to the IMF this week. If it does not, Bloomberg Business reported the country is at risk of joining a
rather disreputable club: countries that have failed to repay the IMF on time.
Current membership includes Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Cambodia, and
Honduras.
CNN
Money explained
that Greeks are queuing at ATMs, banks are strapped for cash, and the European
Central Bank may decide to curtail emergency funding. On Sunday, in an attempt
to manage the financial fallout, Greece decided to keep its banks closed on
Monday and close the Athens stock exchange.
One expert cited by the International Business Times suggested that a Greek default could
make international credit markets unavailable to the country for many years. In
addition, Greece may experience rapidly accelerating inflation and economic
decline.
If the economic effects of default prove less
dire than anticipated, other debt-strapped Eurozone countries such as Italy,
Spain, and Portugal, may decide to follow suit. The possibility has many
worried about the future of the Euro.
There is a good chance markets
will be volatile this week as events play out.
has Your
car joined the internet of everything? Auto buyers have mixed feelings about cars and connectivity.
A McKinsey
& Company survey found that more than 25 percent of participating car
buyers in Brazil, China, Germany, and the United States prioritized automobile
connectivity ahead of traditional features like engine power and fuel
efficiency. Thirteen percent wouldn’t even consider purchasing a vehicle unless
it had Internet access.
At the other end of
the spectrum, 37 percent of respondents said they would not buy a car that was
connected to the Internet — although here were significant regional
differences. Concerns about potential privacy violations were highest in
Germany (51 percent), the United States (45 percent), and Brazil (37 percent).
Just 21 percent of Chinese respondents said digital safety and data privacy was
an issue.
Of greater concern to
respondents was the chance that connected vehicles could be hacked. Fifty-nine
percent of Germans and Brazilians were worried that others could take control
of connected vehicles and manipulate them. Fifty-three percent of the Chinese
shared this concern, and 43 percent of Americans.
Hacking is a serious issue. Last summer, a group of automobile engineers,
policy-makers, security experts, and high school and college students had a
confab. The topic of discussion was the security of connected automobiles. Autoblog wrote that a student was tasked
with remotely infiltrating a car; an assignment some security experts predicted
would take months of planning. They were wrong. The student spent $15 on
equipment, built his own circuit board, and took control of the car.
After a technician
from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration laboratory used his
mobile phone to switch off the engine of a test car being driven by a
representative from Consumer Reports,
the magazine cautioned readers against plugging any unknown or unscreened
devices—even thumb drives with music—into their cars’ USB or OBD-II diagnostic
ports.
Connected
cars are here, but there are a few bugs to be worked out.
Weekly Focus –
Think About It
“Beware of little expenses. A
small leak will sink a great ship.”
-- Benjamin Franklin, Founding
Father of the United States
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