Central Perk

luni, 20 iunie 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 04:37 AM PDT

This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.

handshake Dictionary.com defines a link as "anything serving to connect one part or thing with another; a bond or tie." Interestingly, the given definition for a relationship is "a connection, association, or involvement." From a semantic point of view, these two words seem to be synonyms. Yet from an SEO point of view, all too often they are mortal enemies.

Let's be honest, link building is not the most glamorous task out there. We all know it has to be done. We all know search engine algorithms heavily weight link metrics. But no one ever looks forward to sitting down and building links.

I believe this paradigm is self-defeating. If you don't want to do something but still do it because you have to, how can you expect to be successful? In sports you hear phrases like "the other team just wanted it more" or "they didn't show up to play" or something similar. When athletes are just going through the motions it is pretty obvious. What would make link building any different?

I think it is time to offer a new perspective on link building. Let's start thinking of it as relationship building instead. Please bear in mind, I'm not talking about low level linking tactics like social bookmarks, directory submissions or article publication. No real relationship is involved in acquiring these links.

However, for those who like to leave blog comments, request link exchanges or email webmasters, it's time to get your head in the game.

Building A Relationship Online

I'm not talking about eHarmony here. I'm talking about the relationships we can build with webmasters, which in turn naturally play out in their websites and ours. Let me start with a personal example.

I started a college football blog a few years ago. After about a year of the routine link building tactics, I decided it was time to start building relationships. For those of you familiar with the BCS, I am aggressively opposed to it. I did, however, know of a blog or two that favored it.

I decided to reach out to one of these webmasters. I suggested that he first post an argument in favor of the BCS. I would then respond on my blog and reference his original argument. The debate ended up going back and forth over a few months and several blog posts.

Naturally, I followed his blog and he followed mine. I linked to his blog and he linked to mine. My readers visited his blog and his readers visited mine. All the good things you are supposed to get from a successful SEO campaign naturally came to both of us through that relationship.

What would have happened if I was just another link in his blogroll? What would have happened if he was just another link in my comments? Perhaps our rankings would have improved slightly, but we both would have missed out on the extra visitors and subscriptions.

A Case Study: Danny Sullivan

If you have been in the SEO industry for more than a day you probably know who Danny Sullivan is. Suppose you have a new blog about search engine marketing and really want a link from Search Engine Land. Is the best way to do this to simply scan the blog for an hour and then email the webmaster, asking for a link exchange?

Probably not. You probably want to build a relationship with Danny, which would in turn do more for your blog than that one link anyway. So how could you go about doing this?

First, find as much information as you can about Danny without being a creepy stalker. A quick Google search could tell you he runs Search Engine Land, has a personal blog at Daggle.com, has a Twitter and Facebook account, uploads photos to Flickr, answers questions on Quora, shares stories on Digg, posts videos on YouTube and even has a Wikipedia entry.

This can take all of 10 minutes and in that superficial research you can learn a lot about Danny as well as see other connections he has in the industry which could benefit you as well.

After doing the research, you should start engaging Danny in various ways. Some obvious methods would be to comment on his blog posts at Search Engine Land, interact on Twitter or reply to his answers on Quora. After a few weeks, Danny may start to recognize your name when he sees it.

The next thing I would try would probably be pitching a topic for SMX. If you write to Danny, who by now has a general idea of who you are, and come up with a great pitch for a great lecture at SMX, there's a good chance you could present in front of hundreds of people in your industry.

Which do you suppose is more valuable, a link from Search Engine Land or a 15 minute introduction and presentation in front of other industry experts? Not to mention at that point you will have interacted directly with Danny as a result of being an SMX speaker. An aspiring SEO blogger would do well to have one of the most influential people in the industry as a friend on Facebook and follower on Twitter, don't you think?

Finding Relationship Opportunities

Most of the time our existing relationships are what lead us to new relationships. You may not know Danny Sullivan or Rand Fishkin, but do you know someone who works at Search Engine Land or SEOMoz? The best relationship opportunities can be found in our existing relationships. Networking can be a very powerful tool in building new relationships.

One of the best books I've read in a long time is called The City Of Influence. I highly recommend it for those looking for more information on the value of relationships and how to network in order to build new relationships.

Another easy way to build a new relationship is by looking for guest blogging opportunities. For example, I just did a Google search for 'finance + guest + blog' and found several websites that publish guest posts as well as tips for being a guest blogger. If you were in the finance industry, these could be great relationships.

Bloggers seem to be the most open to making new connections, so another technique is to simply Google your keyword + blog. Look for blogs in your industry and find people you can reach out to. Another method would be to search Twitter for your keywords and see who you can connect with.

Speaking from personal experience, I get emails all the time from people looking for links. I ignore them. Every once in a while I get an inquiry from my personal blog, or a direct message in Twitter, or an email proposal that doesn't involve links at all. I pay attention to these and other webmasters do too.

Conclusion

Rand Fishkin has a brilliant slideshow that explains the history and future of Google rankings. Evidence is pretty strong that social media is starting to have a big impact on organic rankings. In other words, relationships, not links, are poised to become the top ranking factor. Search engines openly say they calculate a users authority and trust. A tweet, like, citation or mention from an authority user is going to go a long way in the future of SEO.

So remember, links matter now and you need to have them to be successful. Don't stop looking for link opportunities. But I would stress that the link building of the future is going to be relationship building. People are going to influence rankings more than links do.

So let's stop focusing on the link building and start focusing on the relationship building. I believe we'll all be better off for it.

P.S. Don't miss Rand's great post Head Smacking Tip #20: Don't Ask Sites for Links. Find People and Connect that he wrote after this post was initially written.

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Building Faceted Navigation That Doesn't Suck

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 01:48 PM PDT

Posted by MikeCP

Back in February I wrote a post here on SEOmoz called "Tips and Must-Haves for your eCommerce Platform". One of the essentials I mentioned was faceted navigation that doesn't suck. The fact is, a good faceted navigation system is hard to come by because of the intricacies involved. In this post I'd like to dive a bit deeper into this topic.

-----

Developers and technical SEOs have heard the search engine mouthpieces say it over and over:

"Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines".

If you ask me, there's one big reason why "primarily" sneaks itself into that statement: Faceted Navigation. Oh, how nice it would be to be able to build faceted navigation into a site without concern for the search engines. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and in this post I'll attempt to break down what it takes to do it right for both users and search engines.

But hold on here. Let's first define faceted navigation. Faceted navigation is most often found on eCommerce sites, and is a means to allow the user to apply filters (ok, or "facets") as they browse through thousands of products. You'll find faceted navigation on most any eCommerce site with a ton of products, like Best Buy.

an example of how faceted navigation is used

In the example above, I've filtered my way down to find the perfect product:

I want a laptop
I hear good things about Apple. I want an Apple laptop.
I need at least 300 GB of hard drive space.
I'm not interested in the cheap stuff! Just show me laptops over $900.

As a user, that was enjoyable. I can add and subtract filters all day until I've found exactly what I want.

For the search engine, there can be a number of unfavorable consequences.

Naive Faceted Navigation

The search engine might begin to crawl through these facets, wrecklessly adding and subtracting filters and indexing whatever the hell it wants. Eventually crawl fatigue catches up to it, and it leaves your site. Sounds like someone I know:

that sleepy ass honey badger

This is the naive way to build faceted navigation because it allows all pages to be crawled and indexed, and the hope is that the engines figure out what's important on their own. SPOILER ALERT: They won't. More than likely, plenty of actually important pages will not get the crawl love they deserve.

Can I Noindex or Nofollow?

There are plenty of eCommerce packages out there that utilize the robots = noindex and nofollow as a solution to this problem, but it's really not helping too much. Each has their own shortcomings.

Noindex - Well, you've managed to keep the really ugly, over-faceted pages out of the index, but the noindex does nothing to stop the search engines from wasting crawl bandwidth.

Nofollow - Remember, robots=nofollow doesn't mean the engines aren't going to crawl through the link, it just means no link equity will flow through the link. Again, this isn't a good method to preserving crawl bandwidth.

Now, the extreme opposite way to handle faceted navigation...

The Hatchet Approach

This is the method that Best Buy appears to be employing. The top-level categories are crawled and indexed, but once any sort of facet is applied the pages are excluded via robots.txt. It's the reason why their main "Laptops" page is in the index, but "Apple Laptops" is not.

And therein lie the fault with the hatchet approach. You might very well be missing out on some really strong organic landing pages. Don't you think Best Buy would like to rank for "Apple Laptops"?* They don't.

* I'm merely using Best Buy as an example of the hatchet approach. There could very well be some ulterior reasoning for not having an indexed "Apple Laptops" page.

So How To Build Faceted Navigation That Doesn't Suck?

The principles of great faceted navigation should be becoming clear...

Faceted Navigation Should:

Be simple and easy to use for the user
Not allow the search engines to go buck wild crawling in and out of facets (whether those facets are being indexed or not)
Allow for indexation of particular facet combinations with high-volume search traffic

Easier said then done, but let's talk about potential ways to make it happen.

Solution 1: AJAX

Over the last 2 years or so, the search engines have made strides in the indexation of AJAX content. By following some standards set by Google, webmasters are now able to have their AJAX content indexed (to some degree). With the user experience created by AJAX so favorable, websites are beginning to take advantage.

All that aside, in my example I want use AJAX in a way that keeps the engines from crawling through and indexing pages that are only navigable through AJAX. There are a few eCommerce sites that are doing this right now with their navigation.

The JavaScript-enabled User

AJAX can make the user experience of applying and unapplying filters to your navigation fast and enjoyable. In this example, we want an uncrawlable AJAX faceted navigation. For this segment of our user base, our needs are met. Take the 'narrow your search' feature on FramesDirect for a live example.

Oakley sunglasses landing page

Here we are on the Oakley glasses static page. We can add and subtract facets. The page won't reload, the URL won't change, and the items will filter right there on-page.

narrowed down facets

Non-JavaScript Users and the All Important Search Engines

This is where it gets tricky, but it's also where the magic happens. We want to build our AJAX navigation in a way that the fallback for non-JavaScript users is a static HTML navigation block. This HTML block contains faux-facets that are just links to deeper html pages, which we've chosen to build based on search volume.

Let's demonstrate

While shopping at Stinky Jim's Smile-Time eCommerce Shoppe, the JavaScript enabled user sees this:

ajax navigation example

That navigation is generated at page load via JavaScript, so when the non-JavaScript user (and the search engine) arrives, it never loads. Instead, our fallback is presented:

static navigation example

Now, we've got our 'top categories' (AKA organic landing pages) indexed, and the engines are only spending time crawling pages that matter.

Unfortunately, I've never actually seen this solution implemented anywhere, so I can't link to a live example. In theory, this is a great way to tackle this problem.

Mockups courtesy of Mockingbird. I wish there embed feature was better, but it's a great mockup tool!

Wait...Is This Cloaking?

Cloaking is the practice of showing different content to users and search engines. In my opinion, this is not cloaking, and actually I think Google would quite like this solution. Forgetting the search engines for a minute, we're providing a means for the non-JavaScript user to navigate through an eCommerce site, when otherwise it would be a frustrating experience. Building a universally accessible site is surely something of which Google would approve.

Solution 2: Selective Robots.txt

This solution is the happy medium between the Naive and the Hatchet approach. With the selective robots.txt solution, we'll define a URL parameter that will serve as road block to the search engines. Let's call that "crawl=no". Our robots.txt file might look like this:

User-agent: * Disallow: /*crawl=no

Now, we'll need to create some server-side rules that define when that "crawl=no" is appended to a URL. One simple idea might be to append "crawl=no" from the third facet application forward. To describe:

User is on "laptops" page (indexed)
User applies "Apple" filter. Page changes to /laptops?manufacturer=apple. (indexed)
User applies "Macbook" filter. Page changes to /laptops?manufacturer=apple&model=macbook. (indexed)
Any filter applied from here on is blocked. So, user applies "below $1,000" filter, and page changes to /laptops?manufacturer=apple&model=macbook&price=1000&crawl=no

Take a look at the faceted navigation on TrendToGo. They've implemented almost exactly this method of dealing with facets.

Honestly, I like the AJAX solution better because of the AJAX user experience, but both should get the job done.

Any More Solutions or Live Examples?

I expect that a lot of the folks who are able to innovate with their navigation are those smaller, more agile businesses. These are the sites that might be under most peoples' radars, including my own. If you know of any other excellently built faceted navigation implementations on the web, I'd love to hear about it in the comments or let me know on Twitter.

Follow @MikeCP

P.S. If you're one of the million people calling to hire my dog, you can now stop. Space is now happily employed by SEOmoz, where he's making a VERY competitive salary of treats.

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Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Pounds Has Been Awarded To Your ID In The Premier Oil Plc Programmed Cash Offer,Provide Us Your

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Photo: The President, the First Lady, and a crying baby

Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, June 20, 2011

Photo of the Day

Check out the video of this adorable moment in the latest edition of West Wing Week
(skip to the last 30 seconds).

First Lady Michelle Obama reacts as President Barack Obama soothes a crying baby while they greet guests at the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, June 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Seth's Blog : Dangerous (in a good way)

Dangerous (in a good way)

A path on the way to building a reputation:

When someone asks you a question, they get an answer bigger than they ever expected.
When someone gives you a project, they get a plan scarier than they hoped for.
When you take on a project, you finish it.

If this is your reputation, what sort of projects and gigs will you find yourself getting? Not a good way to fit in, but an excellent way to be the one people seek out.

• Email to a friend •

duminică, 19 iunie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Vote For Whoever You Want, Bailout Policies Won´t Change One Bit; A Look at Eurozone and US Politics; Would it Have Mattered if McCain Won in 2008?
Der Spiegel Claims Merkel-Sarkozy Agreement Has Collapsed; Bloomberg Reports Europe May Withhold Half of Greek Payment
UK Banks Abandon Eurozone; Greek PM Seeks Constitutional Changes; Trichet Blames Everyone but Europe for Global Imbalances; Credit Crunch Coming Up?

Vote For Whoever You Want, Bailout Policies Won´t Change One Bit; A Look at Eurozone and US Politics; Would it Have Mattered if McCain Won in 2008?

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 05:52 PM PDT

Take a good look at policies in Ireland, in Spain, in Portugal, in Greece. In Ireland, voters overwhelmingly rejected the policies and leadership of Prime Minister Brian Cowen in the biggest rout in history as noted in Timeline Ireland.

Did it matter? How?

Enda Kenny, the new prime minister quickly caved-in to the ECB and EU regarding haircuts on government bonds.

Similar setups are underway in Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

Also, take a look at policies in Germany where chancellor Angela Merkel completely and totally caved-in to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet regarding rollover of Greek debt.

If ever, if ever a ~~wizard~~ wimp there was, Merkel is it.

Simply put, bankers insist on being bailed out, and under threats of Armageddon they are. Taxpayers foot the bill regardless of who they vote for.

Socialize the Losses, Privatize the Gains

The EU Observers reports The junta of experts tells us: 'Vote how you like, but policies cannot change'

The formal trappings of clean elections - in which political parties with competing manifestoes contest a ballot free of voter intimidation - are all still there, but someone else has decided in advance what the result will be.

It's not the voters that are intimidated any more: it's the parties that are.

The count of EU member states now tallies to four - Ireland, Portugal, Finland and Greece - where this post-political phenomenon has materialised, but committed democrats across the Union should wonder which country is next.

This has not happened by putsch or coup d'etat, at least not one involving any guns or tanks. There are no colonels or partisans who have captured the garrisons and seized the telephone exchange.

Yet a junta has installed itself nonetheless, a junta of 'experts', technocrats, those educated in the knowledge of What Needs To Be Done. Wherever these masters of the European universe happen to be hovering at any one moment, the refrain in effect is the same: 'Of course, there is no question that you are still allowed to vote however you like. Nevertheless, the policies absolutely cannot change even if the government does.'

Apart from a handful of Irish democrats, on a European level, the democratic implications of this orchestration went largely unnoticed. It was only when Portugal became the focus of the European engineers that ears pricked up.

One week in April, Portuguese banks announced they would stop buying government bonds if Lisbon did not seek a rescue. Later that week, the head of the country's banking association, Antonio de Sousa, admitted that he had been given "clear instructions" from the ECB and the Bank of Portugal to cut off the tap.

Without the support of domestic banks, Socrates had no choice but to request an external lifeline. Days before, the opposition Social Democrats withdrew their support for the government over an austerity programme they would later sign up to, forcing the minority government into a snap election.

The very day that Portugal finally capitulated, EU and ECB experts demanded that even though the parties were in the middle of an electoral campaign, all main parties sign an accord endorsing the bail-out memorandum, no matter the result of the vote.

Letting the people decide what was best for them was out of the question. "Let's not have a public dialogue every day," [Irish Economy Commissioner] Olli Rehn declared.

His ECB colleague, Jean-Claude Trichet, echoed his concerns, saying simply that bail-out negotiations were "certainly not for public" discussion.

Experts and colonels

And here's the kicker.

According to a poll conducted by Greece's Kappa Institute two weeks ago, 30 percent of Greek respondents actually want the country to be led by "a group of experts and technocrats."

A plurality of Greeks have now become so disillusioned with sovereignty and democracy that they think at least the experts could deliver something better than the seemingly insurmountable unemployment, corruption and economic collapse they see around them.

The same survey said that less than a quarter believed that a democratically-elected government will be able to overcome the ordeal they are going through.

But if the experts, the technocrats who are sidelining democracy in their subtle way, feel heartened by such polls, they should pause when they read the rest of this census.

A full 22.7 percent want "a strongman" to resolve the ongoing crisis.

There is much more in the Observer article, especially in regards to Ireland. Inquiring minds may wish to give it a closer look.

Is it Any Different in the US?

For all the political bickering in the US would it have mattered if McCain won the last election? If so how?

Would McCain have bailed out the banks and voted for nonsensical stimulus programs? Of course. Indeed McCain voted for bailouts while the 2008 election campaign was still in progress.

Flashback October 01, 2008: Obama, McCain Vote for $700B Bailout Bill in Senate

McCain now says he was "misled" as noted in Talking Points Memo McCain Rewrites Own History On Bailout Vote

McCain said recently that he only voted for the $700 billion package because Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke misled him, by assuring him it would focus on the housing meltdown, rather than on Wall Street. But that appears to be directly contradicted by the record.

McCain said recently that he only voted for the $700 billion package because Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke misled him, by assuring him it would focus on the housing meltdown, rather than on Wall Street. But that appears to be directly contradicted by the record.

Regardless, the key point is nothing about the bailouts would have changed.

Would Iraq or Afghanistan be Different?

Would US troops still be in Afghanistan? You bet! Would US troops still be in Iraq? You bet! Would the US still be wasting money stationing troops in 140 countries? You bet!

McCain Supports Obama on Libya

Please consider McCain uneasy over Republican 'isolationism'

US Senator John McCain on Sunday expressed concern about growing isolationism in the Republican party, particularly among those vying for the 2012 presidential nomination.

"There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan (a former Republican presidential contender) wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak," he said.

There is no question that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made the right choice in lending US military support to the NATO mission in Libya, McCain told ABC's "This Week" program.

McCain tries to differentiate on war policy but for all practical purposes McCain and Obama are twins.

Moreover, Obama promised "change you can believe in" but carried out similar economic policies and warmongering of president Push.

McCain on Balancing the Budget

Would McCain have balanced the budget? Hardly. We would have the same Senatorial impasse we have today.

Worse yet, the senator proposed a nonsensical plan in 2008 to Balance Budget by 2013.

In his proposal, Mr. McCain said he would hold overall spending growth to 2.4 percent a year. That is a tall order because federal spending has been growing an average of more than 6 percent a year in the last five years.

Mr. McCain said he would also slow the growth of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and fiscal experts agree that he would need to do that to achieve his goal. But Mr. McCain did not give details of how he would alter those benefit programs, which have powerful constituencies, including older Americans, a huge health care industry and state and local government officials.

A longtime foe of pet projects known as earmarks, Mr. McCain said he would stop such spending. The Bush White House says earmarks this year total $17 billion, a comparatively small share of a $2.9 trillion budget.

Mr. McCain proposed a one-year freeze in most domestic spending subject to annual appropriations, "to allow for a comprehensive review." This proposal would affect education, scientific research, law enforcement and scores of other programs.

Would any of McCain´s proposals have done a thing to balance the budget? Only a fool would answer yes. So what would have changed regarding the budget? The sad answer is next to nothing.

Obamacare

To be fair, Obamacare would not have passed under McCain. However, it is also fair to point out Obamacare passed only because of a procedural move, and the Supreme Court may soon invalidate key provisions of that legislation.

Bailouts, Budgets, Warmongering

The sad state of affairs is that when it comes to the bailouts, budgets, and warmongering trifecta, things would not be much different under president McCain than we see right now under president Obama.

There are many reasons for this, but at the top of the list are campaign contributions from bankers, warmongers, homebuilders, etc, to candidates of both parties.

Does any candidate really want reform? The answer is "Yes, until they are elected and start receiving campaign contributions".

Fear of touching the "third rail" of messing too much with Medicare and Social Security is another piece of the puzzle.

Republicans do want to do something about public unions.

However, Republicans lack the votes or bargain the votes away in compromises to get other things they want. The result is "no progress" on something that would genuinely help: national right-to-work laws and scrapping of Davis-Bacon.

Senator Rand Paul had a proposal to balance the budget. It gathered 7 of 100 votes in the Senate. President Obama´s proposal gathered 0 out of 100 votes. Does anyone really want to do anything or do they just want to pretend they do?

I look at the Republican presidential candidates other than Ron Paul in dismay.

I see little hope in balancing the budget or getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan soon. I see nothing on campaign finance reform. I see nothing on reducing military spending. I see no structural reforms on pensions or public unions.

Most of all, I see how little it would have mattered if McCain won the last election or how any candidate other than Ron Paul promises genuine solutions about the mess we are in today.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Der Spiegel Claims Merkel-Sarkozy Agreement Has Collapsed; Bloomberg Reports Europe May Withhold Half of Greek Payment

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 12:02 PM PDT

Two interesting stories regarding Greece have hit the wires today. It´s difficult to know if they are related.

First, Der Spiegel claims the agreement negotiated between German chancellor Merkel and French president Sarkozy has collapsed; Second, Bloomberg reports Europe will pressure Greece by withholding half of the next tranche of money.

The pattern is for Eurozone officials and the IMF to deny Der Spiegel claims, only to find out later that Der Spiegel sources were impeccable.

Is it different this time?

Voluntary Rollover Plan Off the Table?

Please consider Germany 'dismisses Greek debt compromise plan'

A German compromise plan to resolve a dispute with the European Central Bank over the Greek rescue that was reported by Der Spiegel magazine is no longer on the table, a government source said Sunday.

Der Spiegel had reported ahead of its Monday issue that the German finance ministry called for a beefed-up version of Europe's temporary bailout mechanism lending to Greek banks to insure they have adequate collateral with the ECB.

It would boost the effective lending capacity of the Emergency Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to 440 billion euros ($629 billion) and see member states double the amount of guarantees they provide the fund.

Germany's share of guarantees would climb to 246 billion euros from 123 billion euros, according to the report.

But a German official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that while "several options" were being debated to involve private creditors in an Athens rescue, the reported proposal was "no longer on the agenda".

The source added that the initial plan had differed from the reported proposal in "key aspects".

German officials say they seek a plan with as few "unwanted side effects" as possible.

Europe May Withhold Half of Greek Payment

Bloomberg reports Europe May Withhold Half of Greek Payment

European governments weighed withholding half of Greece's next 12 billion-euro ($17.2 billion) aid payment, seeking to keep the country solvent while maintaining pressure on the government to slash the debt that pitched the euro area into crisis.

Euro-area finance ministers may authorize only a 6 billion- euro loan to tide Greece through bond redemptions in July, while further aid hinges on Greek budget cuts, Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said.

"We will in any case try to release the necessary funds for the short term," Reynders told reporters before a meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Luxembourg tonight.

Tonight's euro-area finance ministers' meeting coincided with the start of a three-day Greek parliamentary debate in Athens over a confidence vote in a new cabinet at what Papandreou called a "critical crossroads." Papandreou has 155 seats in the 300-seat parliament.

Germany, which as Europe's largest economy is the biggest guarantor of aid packages to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, insists on an "ambitious" economic overhaul in Athens, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.

"We will surely work on laying the groundwork for paying out the tranche," Schaeuble said. "It also depends on Greece making the necessary decisions with a fundamental consensus of the political parties so that we can be confident that Greece will live up to its commitments."

While Germany bowed to European Central Bank and French demands not to compel investors to buy new Greek bonds as old ones expire, the lines are blurry between a "voluntary" and "compulsory" rollover that would lead rating companies to declare Greece in default.

On the table are incentives for bondholders to maintain their exposure to Greece, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker, chairman of the talks. He ruled out an agreement tonight on a new three-year package for Greece, pointing to July for a "final and overall answer."

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

UK Banks Abandon Eurozone; Greek PM Seeks Constitutional Changes; Trichet Blames Everyone but Europe for Global Imbalances; Credit Crunch Coming Up?

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 05:40 AM PDT

The Telegraph reports liquidity dries up as UK banks abandon eurozone over Greek default fears

Senior sources have revealed that leading banks, including Barclays and Standard Chartered, have radically reduced the amount of unsecured lending they are prepared to make available to eurozone banks, raising the prospect of a new credit crunch for the European banking system.

Standard Chartered is understood to have withdrawn tens of billions of pounds from the eurozone inter-bank lending market in recent months and cut its overall exposure by two-thirds in the past few weeks as it has become increasingly worried about the finances of other European banks.

Barclays has also cut its exposure in recent months as senior managers have become increasingly concerned about developments among banks with large exposures to the troubled European countries Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Moves by stronger banks to cut back their lending to weaker banks is reminiscent of the build-up to the financial crisis in 2008, when the refusal of banks to lend to one another led to a

seizing-up of the markets that eventually led to the collapse of several major banks and taxpayer bail-outs of many more.

While the funding position of UK banks is far stronger now than it was back in 2008, the banking systems of several other major European countries, including Spain, Germany and Italy, are showing increasing signs of weakness.

Analysts at UBS have warned that eurozone banks are "particularly exposed" having not done enough since the crisis to cut their reliance on the wholesale funding markets and remain acutely sensitive to the withdrawal of liquidity from the inter-bank market.

Simon Adamson, a banks analyst at CreditSights, said it was clear many eurozone banks had been having trouble funding themselves for several months.

Trichet Blames Everyone but Europe for Global Imbalances

Lately, every time ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet opens his mouth, something silly come out. Please consider Trichet warns of widening global imbalances

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Sunday raised concern about widening global imbalances after the financial crisis, calling them one of the main challenges for the economy.

He said the euro area does not contribute to global imbalances, pointing to projections by the International Monetary Fund which see the region's current account broadly balanced this year and up to 2015.

Trichet added: "The euro area has a significant stake in effective global rebalancing, notably through sounder domestic policies worldwide which, in turn, would contribute to global external stability."

The euro's international role underscores a high degree of stability, he added.

The Eurozone is at risk of imploding, Greece needs another bailout, Spain and Italy are on the brink of disaster, and we are to believe Europe is adding stability?

Greek PM Seeks Constitutional Changes

Yahoo Finance reports Greek PM calls for referendum on constitution

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Sunday for a fall referendum on "changes to the political system," including to the country's constitution.

Opening a three-day parliamentary debate that will culminate in a confidence vote late Tuesday, Papandreou blamed Greece's bloated and inefficient state sector for bringing the country to its knees and vowed to effect deep changes.

"I ask for a vote of confidence because we are at a critical juncture...the debt and deficits are national problems that have brought Greece into a state of (diminished sovereignty) that may have protected us from bankruptcy, but which we need to get out of," Papandreou said.

Papandreou told parliament Greece is also in talks for a new bailout package "roughly equal" to the first package agreed to in May 2010.

He said the original package's projection that Greece would be able to borrow from the markets in 2012 had been disproved, but said this was not the fault of his government, which had done all it was required to, passing painful measures and reducing the deficit as a percentage of GDP by 5 percent in 2010.

Instead, he blamed ratings agencies, tax havens, "derivatives speculators" and the media, which have spread panic and discouraged potential investors.

Opposition leader Antonis Samaras called for early elections and said Papandreou's referendum proposal was an evasive maneuver masking his inability to govern.

Blaming rating agencies and derivatives speculators for the mess Greece is in is exceptionally lame.

Papandreou is hanging on by a thread. If he fails the vote of confidence, this mess will become unglued in a hurry. I think that would actually be a good thing because the longer EU officials kick the can down the road, the bigger the systemic losses.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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