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At Least One Eurozone Country Will Default if Brent Crude Rises to $150 a Barrel

If the price of Brent crude oil surges to $150 a barrel, one eurozone country will default and the whole region will fall into recession, according to Marie Diron of Ernst and Young (via Ambrose Evans-Pritchard).

The result of this rise would be particularly bad for Ireland, where the economy would shrink by 3% in 2011 as a result. Even worse, according to the report, if Brent crude prices hold around $120, which seems more likely, Ireland is still going to see its GDP shrink by 2.6%. Brent is around $116 right now.

"We think the peripheral countries would suffer most. Spain, Greece, and Portugal face a double whammy since they have no room to offset the oil shock by slowing the pace of fiscal consolidation," says Diron.

The Ernst and Young report adds to concerns over the cost of inflation to the strength of the eurozone's economy. Just this morning, Eurostat reported rising producer prices, largely a result of higher energy costs.

It may explain the more direct approach of British Prime Minister David Cameron when it comes to dealing with the issue of Libya. He's been out in front of the problem, calling for a no fly zone, but has recently had his administration back off earlier bullishness, after the Obama administration seemed to shy away from military action.

By. Gregory White


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  • Anonymous on March 02 2011 said:
    I think the Irish should strike a deal with Qaddafi and get Libyan oil for less and show the Eurogang the middle finger. These gangsters are going to flush Ireland down the drain anyways. The only way is the Iceland way. F$ck the banksters, don't give them a chence to pull their agenda.
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    I could see Greece and Israel taking military action against Gaddafi and helping the Provisional Government to keep control of Eastern Libya and it's oil reserves. A breakaway Cyreniaica (Eastern Libya) might not get much diplomatic recognition and might be dependent on Israel and Greece to survive but Greece could dump the Euro, go back to the Drachma and pay Eastern Libya for oil in Drachmas (and Israel in Shekels) which would buy what they need. And another country defaults. Which would be better for Greece than a Libya with an Iranian naval base (Syria already has one)only 200 miles away from Greece.
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    I thought that the stupidity of the US foreign secretary and ambassador to the UN were tough to take, but the proposal of Martin Katchen takes the cake. Gaddafi is a choir boy as compared to George W. Bush, who starts a war on the basis of a lie, which in turn ends up with tens of thousands of casualties, and perhaps a million residents of Iraq forced to leave their homes. And yet those two ignoramuses can face the world and call Gaddafi "delusional".
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    ["Fred Banks"]I thought that the stupidity of the US foreign secretary and ambassador to the UN were tough to take, but the proposal of Martin Katchen takes the cake. Gaddafi is a choir boy as compared to George W. Bush, who starts a war on the basis of a lie, which in turn ends up with tens of thousands of casualties, and perhaps a million residents of Iraq forced to leave their homes. And yet those two ignoramuses can face the world and call Gaddafi "delusional".[/quote
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    Somehow, this betrayal of Mubarack and Kahdaphi and the other Facebook inspired uprisings in oil producing Countries, has the flavor of the CIA/State Dept. all over it.So, what new game is the Satanist's in Washington up to now? Divide & Conquer?
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    Funny, I thought I remembered that Congress voted to go into Iraq. And I do remember W telling me he is a brother in Christ since he had been a bad alcoholic, and so is believable, when he says THEY DIDN'T KNOW. :-*
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    Here we go again. When the left wing, conspiracy theory, hateful, nut jobs run out of useful, truthful things to say they revert to the old blame it all on Bush. How infantile and childish.
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    Sadam was a bloodthirsty tyrant who murdered 10s of thousands of his own people, maybe over 100 Kurds alone. He ruthlessly tortured, murdered and confined the 60% majority Shiites to squalor and 2nd class status. Bush liberated them. Of course he opened a bottle of trouble. But he did usher in a new era of democracy and freedom. Libtard, commie saboteur lefists always have to lie and make up things to defend their stance. Liberals will scream bloody murder when anybody is oppressed, but when somebody does something about it, they complain, unless, of course they are liberals (like Clinton). Typical double standard of liberals.. :D
  • Anonymous on March 03 2011 said:
    As long as we keep believing in a "right/left" paradigm the banksters win. Their plan is to "divide and conquer" the American people. We have 2 choices, unite as Sovereign Americans, neither Democrat nor Republican, or submit to their New World Order plan. This is NOT about right or left, please get that through your thick skulls, it is about total world domination by the ruling elite. Your precious democrats nor republicans will save you, because 99% of them have been bought and paid for by the Rothchilds, Rockefellers and the like. Let's march against the true villians and kick the Federal Reserve Bank out before they monetize (ie taxpayers are forced to foot the bill) the $1.5 quadrillion dollars of derivatives. Wake up folks, you have been duped and our country has been sold out from under us!!
  • Anonymous on March 04 2011 said:
    Vincent Scott, the war in Iraq was started on the basis of a lie about WMD. The survey team sent to Iraq by the US government, with a former captain in the Marine Corps as its boss, said that there were no WNDs in that country. No WMDs, thousands of American casualties, more than a 100,000 Iraqui casualties, many of them women and children, and of course a possible one million people in Iraq forced to leave their homes for one reason or another.And yet we are forced to hear ignorant politicians and bureaucrats refer to Gaddafi as "delusional". It was the American voters who were delusional when they gave George W. a second term.The way to solve this thing in Libya is through compromises, and not civil war. I know that Susan RIce, Barack Obama, John McCain and Hilary Clinton and a few more are too stupid to come to the right conclusion, but if YOU finished primary school You should be able to work it out and help them. Good Luck.

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