germany you cannot save a country that size you cannot bail him out like you would be allowed greece or portugal spain is a big country is one trillion euros g.d.p. per year. that's simply too big for any country or any group of countries in the european in the euro zone to bail out france and germany cannot bail out spain so the only solution and i think of this is inevitable is first spain to exit the euro zone and go back to the process devalue and start rebuilding its economy and that i think will likely happen in the next government after hoyer who who i think unfortunately is going to fare and the government after that will be left wing government and they will probably exit the eurozone and go back to the past and devalue and do what has to be done because this government unfortunately they have the best of intentions and i have no doubt that they are very capable and competent but they just don't have what it takes to do what's necessary which is exit the euro. turning eighteen minutes past the hour here in the russian capital let's turn our attention now to some other news from around t

currencies split without any great difficulty at all i am not pretending that in the case of greece or portugal this can happen painlessly it won't be an easy thing to do but it's a damn sight better to take a tough decision and to give yourself a chance than to die the slow economic and social day that is currently going on with russia let's get back to that summit in time nigel farage their member the european parliament leader of the u.k. independence party talking to largo brussels always good to hear from you thank you . well it's also a second day of strikes across europe as we've just been talking about as walkouts paralyze transport from athens to rome as some of the biggest public demonstrations in recent history protesting against desperate government cuts to budgets designed to appease international paymasters but the measures are taking their toll and as our teams tom brown reports. sentiment is reverberating across europe. in belgium protests saying austerity cuts have gone too far in cities all across france and especially big demonstration in paris with the same message thousands

you cannot save a country that size you cannot be able amount like you would be allowed greece or ireland or portugal spain is a big country it is one trillion euros g.d.p. per year. that's simply too big for any country or any group of countries in the european in the euro zone to bail out france and germany cannot be allowed spain so the only solution and i think that this is inevitable is for spain to exit the euro zone go back to the present devalue and start rebuilding its economy and that i think will likely happen in the next government after the hoyo who i think unfortunately is going to fail and the government after that will be left wing government and they will probably exit the eurozone and go back to the and devalue and do what has to be done because this government unfortunately the have the best of intentions and i have no doubt that they are very capable and competent but they just don't have what it takes to do what's necessary which is exit the euro turn now to some other stories making headlines across the globe north korea has started plans for a rocket launch scheduled for april

fairly safe place for people to put their money and so they're not going to buy bonds from greece or portugal or spain or england or many of the -- many other countries that have relatively unstable economies and relatively and or politically unstable. >> well, from what you know about economics, though, how far can this go? >> well, there's a limit. there's limit. and you know, what a lot of people don't realize is that our country can become just like greece. i mean, that -- and if you look at the numbers the per capita debt in the united states right now is around $44, $45 million for each american. and greece, it's somewhere around $42 million. and so, i think that as we spend -- as we -- as government gets large and larger we're going to be less able to take care of our debt. and what's going to happen is that the government's just going to repudiate the debt. there's no way in the world that we're going to be able to pay $14, $15, $16 trillion in debt. we're going to repudiate it and one way that nations typically repudiate debt is by inflating the currency. >> when you're teaching, how

a right balance and so on, as we talk about austerity in greece or in portugal, in any country, we talk about austerity here and particularly, mr. secretary, aren't we agreeing that we're trying to get to the same position, whatever that sweet spot is of promoting growth through not taking it all to the government, and that we're only debating when you talk about this, the rate of austerity, we're not debating where we need to get to. where we need to get to so that the private sector flourish is probably very similar to where we're telling the countries of europe to get to. so that the difference of the austerity we ask for others and the austerity with plead to get to may be about how much time we have to get there more than it is about where we need -- what we freed to achieve. isn't that true? >> that's probably right. the fundamental reality, the fundamental constraints we all have to live with, get the deficit down to a point where the debt stops growing as the share of the economy starts to climb and you have to stabilize it at a level that's -- that's acceptable. >> and i want t

but looking at countries like greece or portugal, you can see how quickly these things change. each 1% increase in interest rate means of $150 billion more that you have to pay in terms of interest for the federal debt. so just a few percent increase. 500 billion year. what may be at one. $3 trillion debt could be near to. when you start having the status of deficits and the increase in debt, if your credit rating falls more, you know, your interest rates go up. you quickly find yourself in a situation where what was difficult to pay becomes almost impossible. and in your credit rating falls more. interest rates go up even further. you quickly find yourself in a real crisis. and that is what's, you know, even a small country like greece -- greece. they have not tried to solve the problems because others bail them out. look. as to up your first question, what caused the problems here, lots of regulatory issues. i think the clear one was what has happened in mortgage markets we go through this and we talk about how people like summers and geithner, the role that they play and oba

if you are a farmer increase or -- in greece or a fisherman in portugal or a shopkeeper in sweden, you can have access to the legislation that impact on your life in your own language. it exists here it is the one you should refer to prove you can talk to engage with european institutions in your own modern tongue, so there is full protection of the rights of languages of all the members. >> what are you going to do about the most cantankerous major member, my former homeland, britain? >> the united kingdom is an important member of the european union. it has decided in a few areas to opt out, as we call it. it has decided not to join the single currency. it has decided to stay out in some areas of the common policy, a common action, but it is still a full member of the european union. i have seen in this country sometimes confusion between the fact that britain did not sign to this new international treaty that has just been signed in brussels, meaning that britain is leading the european union. -- leaving the european union. that is not true. the united kingdom is a full member of th

retirement age in germany versus say the retirement age in greece or retirement age in spain you look at the public sector of greece of spain or portugal compare that to the public sector and all the public unions seem to get fiscal policies that did not match along comes the eurozone lowering the interest rate across the board you know at a time when really spain needed a higher interest rate greece needed a higher interest rate so what you heard it is. unsound borrowing in greece and you had unsound investment in spain and in ireland. where we had all these property goals portugal and italy meanwhile are just you know clotting along this is not done him any good hasn't done him any arm good in aggregate it's done harm to everyone i mean and it's going to bust apart the throwing more money at these problems simply cannot fix these fundamental flaws of interest rates fundamental flaws in fiscal policies they're trying to do it now but they're doing it in a way that's going to force more austerity on greece it cannot possibly work more austerity on portugal cannot possibly work and we're seeing resistance right now from spain saying ess

in the economy, there are businesses that will be resilient regardless of what is going in greece or portugalguest host. sitting in our seat to keep it warm. do you have a question for mr. ackman? >> yes, i was wondering in this issue of single family hopes, how do you factor in the demographic shift? we're going from 35 million retired people to 70 million retired people, the baby boom generation, the largest generation, the generation that basically drove the homeowner market in the '70s, '80s, '90s and into the 2000s and the generation has gone through a massive change because it's the first generation retiring without a defined contribution plan which took a huge hit in 2008, so all these folks are trying to retrench and rebuild their asset base and they don't like to buy a home, they would actually like to try to get rid of the home they're in. that means they've been the engine of this economy for three decades. do you factor that at all into this home buying atmosphere? because it seems to me they would not have the same energy to buy homes that we've seen back in the '80s and '90s? >>

they will not buy bonds from greece, were from portugal or spain, or england or many of the other countries that have relatively unstable economies, that are politically unstable. >> how far can this go? >> what a lot of people don't realize is that our country can become just like greece. the per capita debt in the united states is around $44 million for each american, and in greece this is about $42 million. as we spend it, and as the government gets larger and larger, we will be less able to take care of our debt. what will happen is that the government is just going to repudiate the debt. there is no way in the world we will be able to pay $14 trillion in debt. and one way that nation's repudiate the debt is by inflating their currency. >> when you are teaching, how often do you see students change their attitude about anything? >> the kind of conversations we're having now, the subjects of my syndicated columns, then leveled -- never appear in my classroom. i think that it is dishonest, academically dishonest for a professor to use his classroom to process students. and i tell the stud

or about $934 billion. the gus cle200 billion euros to rescuing greece, portugal and ireland. vestors may question whether the funds willenoho hp bigger troubled economies like spain or italy. >>> japan's self-defense forces have been ordered to shoot down any part of a rocket that enters japanese territory. north korean leaderses say they'll fire off a rocket next month to put a satellite into space. officials from japan, south korea and elsewhere say the launch is a cover to test technology for a ballistic missile. nhworld repos. >> reporter: japan's defense minister naoki tanaka issued the order on friday after meeting withinistry and sdf officials. the plan was then approved by the government's security council. the sdf will deploy patriot antiballistic missiles that will be set up on islands in okinawa prefecture and in the tokyo metropolitan area. the sdf will also position aegis destroyers in waters around okinawa. the destroyers are fitted with sm-3 interceptors. the north korean rocket is expected to fly over the southern island chain of sakishima southwest of okinawa'

and i think there's still a big quell whether or not greece can survive and maybe italy, spain, portugal and so for the. so to what extent are we exposed if this so-called european recovery does not take place, and can you give us the figures or at least roughly the figures both directly and indirectly as far as the exposure is concerned? and do your numbers include foreign currency swaps or other assistance from the federal reserve or the treasury? i know that's a lot. but if you could run through that, i'd appreciate it. >> may i respond? >> sure. >> on swaps as you said, the maximum was $109 billion. it's down to 65 because it's been very constructive and it's been beneficial to the united states as well as to europe. if the euro devalues or depreciates it has no effect whatsoever on our value of our liability because we get paid back in dollars. so they take any -- the european condition central bank makes any foreign exchange risk. if the banks they lend the money to don't repay, we still get paid back in full because the ecb takes the credit risk. we're not taking any credit rick.

is the market view now that we may be out of the woods in greece provided everything can be made to stick and now the big issue is portugal or are people perhaps relatively relaxed on portugal now that greece has been resolved? >> i think you've got to say when you say you use the terms out of the woods, you have to be careful of what we're talking about. greece has a whole load of issues it has to get through to get the economy back on track. in terms of the debt crisis we may have moved the next sticking point on. regards to portugal, i think by avoiding a disorderly default we may have staved portugal from further problems. the market would focus there but perhaps with what we have from america coming out later, we may see a few days' rest and hopefully that will keep things positive. >> we'll be watching those spreads on the eurozone debt. thank you very much, indeed. will hedden joining us live from ig in london. andrew? >>> charles, stock markets in asia ending higher. that was what it looked like at the end of the day. as you see, some pretty strong numbers. green arrows across the board. it was lively due to investor

greece with a bailout are holding a general strike against the austerity measures. this amid concerns that portugal may have trouble paying off debts and might have to ask for a reprieve or haircut on debts like greece got. in contrast to portugal, we have the head of the ecb, mario draghi, telling a newspaper in germany that according to him. the worst of the eurozone crisis is over. andrew, mixed messages for the market but for the moment, a third day of decline so far in the four days of trading. >> interesting to see that the politicians and key bankers are talking up the eurozone recovery even as the markets have caution. it's jun pinned by the fact that we have had a good run upside. some money will come off the table at some stage. let's quickly see what happens in the u.s. overnight. a bit of a mixed session. the dow finishing the day down by 45 points. hewlett-packard, the pc maker among the biggest losers there. announcing it's combining its printer and personal computer divisions. just a fraction of a gain to the nasdaq. shares of green mountain coffee roasters boosting index. news dealing with starbucks, a little more on that later in the show. the broadest m

i think there's still a big question whether or not greece can survive, maybe italy, spaceship, portugal we exposed if this so-called european recovery does not take place? can you give us the figures or at least roughly the figures both directly and indirectly as far as the exposure is concerned? and do your numbers include foreign currency swaps or other assistance from the federal reserve or the treasury? i know that's a lot but if you could kind of run through that, i'd appreciate. >> it may i respond? >> sure. >> on the swaps, the maximum was $109 billion, it's down to 65 because it's been very constructive and has helped improve the market, it's been beneficial to the united states as well as to europe. if the euro devalues or dpreesh depreciates, it has no effect on the value of our liability because we get paid back in dollars. so the european central bank takes any foreign exchange risk. we get paid back in full because the they take all the credit risk. we're not taking any credit risk or foreign exchange risk. the chances of losing any money in this are very, very low. and the

enables us to potentially give greece more money or island or portugal. but it's nowhere near the sort of trillions we were talking about. interestingly of course it will staggered, sue, over a number of years. if you've ever had spain or italy in difficulty, they would withdraw from putting support in there. it may not be as strong as it appears at first blush. >> where do you think the next focus will be, simon, as spain unveils a painful new budget -- >> yes. >> we still have worries however not only about portugal but other countries in europe, what's the focus going to be? >> let me focus on spain. i hope the united states never has to go through what spain is going through at the moment, but i think with the tea party, sue, should watch it very closely. spain is out there on its own. nobody has enough money to bail out spain therefore it's in a battle to convince world investors to still lend for it, that it's good for debt and interest rates will be manageable. last year a budget deficit of 8.5%. that's not far off what the united states will run t

together for the drachma value such as own exchange rates or the comparisons of level get its exports moving the idea that greece spain portugal and all these meds draining countries could exist within the same eurozone as a country like germany was completely farcical from the. reset it really predicted this it was impossible article where the only way that this thing can move on is for probably the nordic countries to form their own eurozone and for this little country to fall out altogether to go back home for good on couldn't but i think what you will see is heaven forbid you might see a shift of the far right if they continue down this line because people are very unhappy and these are not just one happy about the economic problems but they're also unhappy about open door immigration policies which seem to be promoted by the european union so i think you will probably see a euro skeptic right across northern europe in particular trip aboard the european elections in two thousand and fourteen and i just don't know what's going to happen in the southern european states because maybe in greece it's gone beyond that maybe you

or to demonstrate coordination and to be defeated to handle the problem. for countries like greece and probably a similar solution to get over to portugal and ireland this is good. not. i mean it would be worse news that is that. debt liabilities of. some guidance of european states or not all. good like you said still some european states cannot be perceived as as priest free be free of that investment bankers. have to put more effort in bringing their credit analysis education. for only the greek default will impact the psychology of the bull markets is not going to fundamentally change the way that they do business well. my view is that. it has been a cure and i think that this new use should price if i cannot financial markets i mean richard every use uncertainty of what the market this point in the future. well. projection. i mean i think that. the most important ingredient for the most part of. this piece of the news is that it's. all. probably a situation rich. guy not. something that's all we've got time for i'm afraid this hour we'll have to wrap it up because of the new economic school thank you very much indeed that's all the business will be ba

if greece wasn't in default, do you see the possibility of contagion to italy, portugal and spain, or are they such a small part of this that it doesn't matter? >> the time of the gentleman is expired, so mr. chairman, if you could give a brief answer. >> i would just say that leaving the euro would be very difficult and unorderly default would create a lot of problems. >> the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman, and thank you, general bernanke, for being with us today. if i could switch gears and ask about the vocal rule. it's obviously a topic of discussion in the financial services industry. in section 619, it becomes effective this july. just last month, the federal government's mentioned that it probably wouldn't be implemented, completed until january 2013. when do you expect the vocal rule to be finalized, and do you expect that there will be a reproposal for public comment? >> well, i don't think it will be ready for july. we have closed the -- just a few weeks ago, we closed the comment period. we had about 17,000 comments. we have a lot of very d

comes out of the all together of the drachma values or its own exchange rate of combatants of level get this exports moving the idea that greece spain portugal and all these mediterranean countries can exist within the same euro zone used a country like germany was completely possible from the start. we said it really predicted this it was impossible it's a way the only way that this thing can move on is for probably the north a country form their own eurozone and for this little country to fall out altogether to go back on their own couldn't be i think what you will see is heaven forbid you might see a shift of the far right if they continue down this line because people are very unhappy in these not just on happy about the economic problems but also unhappy about open door immigration policies which seem to be promoted by the european union so i think you will probably see a euro skeptic right across northern europe in particular the boards in the european elections in two thousand and fourteen and i just don't know what's going to happen in this world in your p.c. because maybe in greece it's not beyond that maybe you will have the revolu

stronger financial support could help the phone call with or not to play alliance and some experts fear it hasn't got enough cash so far greece and portugal have been bailed out i'm going to say it's against spain although. sometimes take a look at the markets here in russia so we can see that there are still stuck in there right there in the can in their losses yards the u.s. is now down over one and a half percent now let's take a look at the individual travelers on the my side most of the energy shares are down this hour blue color is in the red one percent russia's biggest lender is also losing its over half a percent lower and that's after posting that its net profit rose seventy four percent last year but that was much lower than and dissipated by analysts so we also have bucking the trend as car maker come on and it's more than one percent higher ok that we can see now the picture of for oil through this coming down from almost a one week call is there enough after reports showed that u.s. consumer confidence was low and u.s. policy was on their minds and also another factor from the us was that it's thinking about releasing its ro

is there are therapy isn't the way the it has to be or that had to be you know one of the other options not only for greece but for spain for portugal for italy. well austerity in the face of an ass of recession is a sick joke made living of you know the gaily floggings will continue until of morale improves around here so they are gaily flogging the economy which already has insufficient demand and making it worse what they ought to be doing is giving people jobs and having them work and productive things and they cannot do that effectively under the euro structure so the periphery needs to get out of the euro it needs to regain its economic sovereignty by going back in the talent face and developing the lira again and what we're really seeing is when you give up your economic sovereignty it's only a short step to giving up your political sovereignty and freedom as well as you're seeing in greece right now is what you're saying that so. you know i'm also curious do you think that this invalidates any monetary in the end you think the euro as i just happen to be a horrible failed experiment or should there never be a monetary union

and greece is going to be in the headlines again. >> is portugal, spain or italy next? will we see a similar type of haircut in one, two or three of those countries? or none? >> i think everybody wants to avoid that. to be terribly honest, i do not think we can afford to have the same situation happening in these countries. the bigger the country, the more you are facing a systemic risk for europe as a whole. so the answer is is no. and what europe has tried to do is fence it, isolate it and make sure that we can now focus on moving forward. >> have a good evening there. we'll chat with you soon hopefully under better circumstances. thank you. up next, another month and another shot of hopium for the jobs market. and another expert set to tell us if this is for real. >> and tim cook unveiled a new ipad and announced that the pc is dead. is he dead wrong? a new report says yes. the details and debate coming up when "street signs" returns. [ female announcer ] it's time for the annual shareholders meeting. ♪ there'll be the usual presentations on research. and development

issue is not america's economy or sovereign debt the issue is if the european union and international monetary fund spend hundred of euros to aid greece, ireland, portugal and will america be drawn into this problem. can america afford one sovereign debt crisis such as greece? i believe after over a year of watching the greece on again off again crisis there's a certain assumption that eventually it will be solved, a certain assumption that we know what we're doing, a certain assumption that, in fact, it will in time be solved. clearly this hearing which builds on the good work of chairman patrick mchenry is, in fact, to ask a greater question. the greater question is what if we go beyond greece? assumptions are that between hedging and in fact other means that the problem is manageable. our obligation is to say what if it's not. our witnesses today are the two most important individuals at the center of this. our fed chairman, certainly has a good understanding of our economy, what the fed's capabilities are, and ultimately what he can do if, in fact, things go wrong. secretary geithner who has been a loyal servant of the american people both at the fe

it's helpful if we have to bail out greece again, more in ireland, portugal, or arguably with the spanishhave to go in and help italy or spain in a major way. it's not capable of doing that. but at least it exists and of course they will draw down over the next three years to create that ability. >> fair to say it creates second banana? >> how many times have they talked about 1 trillion, 2 trillion euros? the ecb put its money where the mouth is. and there is concern that there is wide spreads between those that took the ltr money and those that are not. there is still major concern. we are flying without trouble here. >> see you later this week. gary kominski is up next. what have you got? >> well, take a look at six banks. hopefully we have that full screen back there. do we, guys? all right. let's bring it up. take a look. banner corp, first financial holdings, main source financial group, and seacoast. do you know what they have in common? >> no. >> the treasury sold out stakes in those four banks as well as wfss financial. there was another one. the point is these banks -- for the t

or financial expert. i would lake to ask this question one more time. that is, if there is a default in europe by greece, italy, spain, portugal, some of these other countries, and the european central bank has to start printing more euros, which would cause an inflationary problem and devalue their currency, you said a while ago that we were not in any trouble because they would pay us back in dollars that were in holding. but what if they can't? they have to pay for the dollars they're going to repay us with currency that's been devalued substantially. how are we going to get our money, number one? number two, would we refinance that debt? >> ecb has been very clear that they are not going to be financing sovereign debtors. and they have not. and their primary commitment is to the 2% inflation rate in the euro. i don't see any necessity or even likelihood that the ecb would print inflationary amounts of money in order to address a sovereign default. >> it seems to me that europe is absolutely committed to keeping greece in the european union and make sure that nobody is leaving. and if these continue, these expenses continue in greece and they have these

or growing? >> well, it's certainly not growing rapid leigh but obviously europe is very heavily challenged. we knows what's going on in greece. we knows what's going on in portugal. we know the dangers of that for, and ireland. we know the dangers of that for countries like italy. >> sir martin sorrell, along with us, c.e.o. of advertising giant wpp. >> thank you very much. >> tom: with fresh signs of a strengthening u.s. economy, oil prices resumed their rally. crude for april delivery rose almost 2% to $108.84 a barrel in new york trading. it topped $110 a barrel in late electronic trading after rumors of a pipeline blast in saudi arabia, something the saudi's deny. meanwhile, pump prices continue their five-week-long march higher, rising to a national average of $3.74 a gallon. some areas have already topped the $4 mark. >> susie: those higher gas prices lead to big sales of small cars last month. and chrysler led the pack-- february sales jumped 40%. its tiny fiat 500 posted its biggest month ever. ford rose 14%, as sales doubled for its gas-sipping ford focus compact. but general motors was the exception, up only 1%. japanese auto makers finally had small,

or things will end badly. >> the atmosphere on the streets of lisbon is not nearly as heated as in athens, although the unions have called for protests. with the world's attention on greece, it appears portugalas so far managed to dodge the worse. marques has had enough of being a taxi driver. he wants to retire and return to his home town in the north of the country, but he cannot afford it. he has been one of the losers in the crisis. >> i would have to continue working. what would i do at home? i would not get any money. in my taxi, by at least manage to make a little. >> his story is just one example of the problems faced by many people in portugal. despite the optimistic tone of the celebrations, it appears portugals glory days are truly over, at least for now. >> after this -- after the slovaks split from the checks some 20 years ago, they experienced one of the fastest economic growth in europe and have since become an eu member state, but slovakia could never shake off the suspicion that many politicians were lining their own pockets. now, recent allegations from an intelligence file have said many politicians there into free fall. >> stealth and speed are tonight's main priorities.

moment ago with 0 our guest, and greece is resolved one direction or the other, attention is turning back to the other peripheral european countries particularly spain and portugal as well. italy under a great deal of pressure. yields continuing to dip currently sending 4.82. in spain just over 5% right now. treasuries across the state the ten year is just over 2%. on to the energy markets. anyone watching the markets last week would have seen in the last three days of the trading week we have moved higher for equities here in europe and we also saw the markets moving in the same direction. so brent in the last three days of the year -- the last two days of last week, rather, moved higher. we can see that from the seven-day chart. downsized by half of a percent, a turnaround for three days moving convincingly to the upside last week. chloe? >>> ref yeah, over here in asia quite a bit of negativity. the greek event really ending without a huge, major havoc boiled down to china's huge trade it deficit in the month of february. in fact, the worst in 20 years, and the sum of it was further tempered by comments by the central bank governor saying they are not going t

or not that greece comes out of the oil altogether of the track. the value set its own exchange rate a combatant of level get this exports moving the idea that restrain portugal and all these mediterranean countries can exist within the same eurozone as a country like germany was completely facile from the start. we said it. was impossible article where the only way that this thing can move on is for probably the nordic countries to form their own euro zone and for the so-called countries to fall out altogether or go back on their own countries. in southern europe the euro dream is fast becoming a nightmare in spain there being a huge protest against austerity cuts a new labor laws which opponents say will make it easier for workers to be fired in a country where unemployment rates are among europe's highest and the financial crisis isn't stopping you regulations from brussels as a correspondent reports. there is much ado about these feathered creatures. on january first of this year the european commission's welfare of laying hands directive that the use of battery cages like this and now requires at least seven hundred fifty square centimeters of cage per h