A 12-year-old coffee mug has a permanent place on the right corner of my office desk. Given to me by an Allianz executive to commemorate Pimco’s marriage in 1999, it reads: “You can always tell a German but you can’t tell him much.”
It was hilarious then, but less so today given the events of the past several months, which have exposed a rather dysfunctional euroland family. Still, my mug might now legitimately be joined by others that jointly bear the burden of dysfunctionality.
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” could be one; “Luck of the Irish” another; and how about a giant Italian five-letter “Scusi” to sum up the current predicament?
The fact is that euroland’s fingers are pointing in all directions, each member believing they have done more than their fair share to resolve a crisis that appears intractable and never-ending. The world is telling them to come together; they’re telling each other the same; but as of now, it appears that you can’t tell any of them very much.
The investment message to be taken from this policy food fight is that sovereign credit is a legitimate risk spread from now until the “twelfth of never.”
For entire Bill Gross article: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cc1ada48-0c4d-11e1-8ac6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1dsFPMYhj
