Spain's borrowing costs hit 14-year high

A person I know (ever so slightly, and only on line)has berated me for EVER even THINKING the Eurozone, or the Euro, was, is, or ever has been, in trouble.

It's all the fault of us Americans, and all our economists are, at best, neo-liberal, neo-feudal, neo-something. This person also thinks "the Greeks" are a lazy lot, and deserve what they get, etc., etc., etc.

Even though I know that the failure of the EU and/or the Euro would be/is a TERRIBLE thing for the world, there is a certain fascination watching the pillars of The Eurozone destroy their handiwork -- like a slow motion video of a "controlled demolition" - the entire edifice crashing down onto itself -- especially since they gloated when we had our "problems" (is THAT what that was, "problems"?).

Now that we have a world where many "leaders" in the USA seem to be channeling one or another Fascist dictator, and ELECTED European governments are swept aside so some so called "techocrats" (unelected, and - it seems - chosen by the bankers) can rule --- under the leadership of Germany (interesting that no?), I see little from that person.

Now, as far as the Euro goes -- the hits just keep on coming. Here a little note from BBC Business News (please follow link to original-
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Spain's borrowing costs hit 14-year high

Spain's borrowing costs have risen at its latest bond auction, as Spaniards prepare to vote for a new government to tackle its financial crisis

On money borrowed today, payable in 10 years, Spain has to pay an interest rate of 6.975%, the highest since 1997.

A high rate or yield indicates investors may not have confidence in a government to fully repay its debts.

The figure is perilously close to 7% - the level at which other eurozone countries have had to seek bailouts.

The average yield on 10-year Spanish government bonds soared from 5.433% in October.

Italian 10-year bond yields passed 7% earlier this month.

Opinion polls indicate that the opposition Popular Party will win Spain's general election on Sunday, ending seven years of Socialist government.
'Dreadful' result

The Spanish government sold 3.56bn euros (£3.04bn; $4.79bn) worth of bonds out of a maximum target of 4bn euros.

The auction attracted bids worth 1.5 times the securities offered. The so-called bid-to-cover ratio was down from 1.8 in October.

"The result was dreadful. They didn't manage to raise the full amount and the bid-to-cover is really poor," said Achilleas Georgolopoulos, rates strategist at Lloyds in London.

"The fiscal profiles of Spain and Italy are different but their yields seem to be aligning now."

A similar auction in France saw French short-term borrowing costs - for its two and four-year bonds - also rise by about half a percentage point.

The government raised 6.98bn euros through the sale, but the interest rate on its four-year bond jumped to 2.82% from 2.31% in October.

The spread between French and German 10-year bond yields widened to more than two percentage points - the widest since the euro was created in 1999 - amid fears that France will be the next eurozone country to face a debt crisis..........................

Please go to the original for the rest of the story.