IT'S STILL GOOD! IT'S STILL GOOD! IT'S JUST A LITTLE DOWNGRADE!

• It's just a little dirty.
• It's still good, it's still good!


• It's just a little slimy.
• It's still good, it's still good!


• It's just a little airborne
• It's still good, it's still good!

Homer Simpson

Hi,

My fans have been asking me, "Manny, what's this PIGS they always talking about in the news?"

Well readers, PIGS is what we call an acronym. Each letter in the word represents a different European country

• Portugual
• Italy
• Greece
• Spain.

Nowadays, they add Ireland (FOR PIIGS); and sometimes Great Britain (FOR PIIGGS).

I think this acronym was started around 1997 (long, long before I was born) by British bankers (and I think it was Goldman Sachs, my world domination heroes). It was suppose to refer to countries whose debt was 100% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or going to be.
(Click the graph to see how bad it really is.)

Now, I wrote about Greece before (see here, here, and here). By the way, I translated the first post for you, since I wrote it before I learned English.

Last week, many bad things happened for Spain (the S in PIGS). This company named Fitch lowered their rating of Spain from AAA to AA+. This is not a big deal, but still means there is very, very small chance Spain will default on their payments. It's not good.

Spain is a bigger problem than Greece, just because Spain is a bigger country than Greece. Too big to fail, but also to big to bail out. The Spanish government tried to pass austerity measures to cut spending by EUR15.0M (USD$18.0M) and it barely passed. The vote was 169-168-13. This is also not good.

To make things worse, it looks like the Spanish public doesn't want their government to cut spending. If they had an election right now, the opposition party would win most of the votes. I think that the Spanish Prime Minister has to call an election soon, since the vote was so close. It's too bad he doesn't have a smoking hot wife. to help him get votes. Instead, his daughters are kind of scary.

More on Italy next.

Thanks,
Manny

O HAI,

MAI FANZ HAZ BEEN ASKING ME, "MANNIE WHUTZ THIS PIGS THEY ALWAYZ TALKING ABOUT IN TEH NEWZ?"

WELL REEDERZ, PIGS IZ WHUT WE CALL AN ACRONYM. EACH LETTER IN TEH WURD REPRESENTZ A DIFFERENT YOURUPEEAN COUNTREE

• PORTUGAL
• ITALY
• GREECE
• SPAIN.

NAOADAZE, THEY ADDZ IRELAND (FOR PIIGS); AND SUMTIMEZ GREAT BRITAIN (FOR PIIGGS).

I THINKZ THIS ACRONYM WUZ STARTED AROUND 1997 (LONG, LONG BEFOAR I WUZ BORN) BY BRITISH BANKERZ (AND I THINKZ IT WUZ GOLDMAN SACKZ, MAI WURLD DOMINATION HEROZ). IT WUZ SUPPOZ TO REFER TO COUNTREEZ WHOZ DEBT WUZ 100% OV GDP (GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT) OR GOANING TO BE.
(CLICKZ TEH GRAPH TO SEE HOW BADZ IT REELY IZ)

NAO, I ROTEZ ABOUT GREECE BEFOAR (SEE HERE, HERE, AND HERE). BAI TEH WAI, I TRANZLATED TEH FIRST POST FOAR YOU, SINCE I ROTE BEFOAR I LERNT ENGLISH.

LAST WEEK, MANY BAD THINGZ HAPPENZ FOAR SPAIN (TEH S IN PIGS). THIS COMPANEE NAYMED FITCH LOWERD THIER RATING OV SPAIN FRUM AAA to AA+. THIS IZ NOT HOOJ DEAL, BUT STILL MEANZ THERE IZ VERY, VERY SMALL CHANCE SPAIN WILL DEFAULT ON THIER PAYMENTZ. IZ NOT GUD.

SPAIN IZ BIGGER PROBLEM THAN GREECE, JUST BECAUZ SPAIN IZ BIGGER COUNTREE THAN GREECE. IZ TOO HOOJ TO FAIL, BUT IZ ALSO TOO HOOJ TO BAIL OUT. TEH SPANISH GUBBERMENT TRIEZ TO PASS AUSTERITY MEASURZ TO CUT SPENDING BAI EUR15.0M (USD$18.0M) AND IT BARELY PASSED. THE VOTE WUZ 169-168-13. THIS IZ ALSO NOT GUD.

TO MAKEZ THINGZ WURZ, IT LOOKZ LIEK TEH SPANISH PUBLIC DUZNT WANT THIER GUBBERMENT TO CUT SPENDING. IF THEY HAZ TEH ELECSHUN RITE NAO, TEH OPPOSISHUN PARTEE WUD WIN MOST OV TEH VOTEZ. I THINKZ THAT TEH SPANISH PRIME MINISTER HAZ TO CALL ELECSHUN SOON SINCE TEH VOTE WUZ SO CLOSE. IZ TOO BAD THAT HE DUZNT HAZ SMOKING HOT WIFE TO HELP HIM GETZ VOTEZ. INSTEAD, HIZ DAUGHTERZ IZ KIND OV SCAREE.

MOAR ON ITALY NEXT.

K THX BAI,
MANNIE