One of my favorite weekend reads is the “Succinct Summation of Week’s Events” written by Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture.  It’s a list of all the important events over the last week that affected the economy, broken up into “positive” or “negative” impact.  I’d like to review this week’s list with you but with some added language “Easy” style.  Here’s a link to the article that I’m highlighting below:

Positives

Only a few more countries left to approve EFSF, moment of truth soon arriving for Greek bondholders past the debt exchange currently being done

Easy Translation: Greece is in trouble.  There is basically about a 100% chance that the Greek government will default on some of its loan obligations.  One of the ways that countries in the Eurozone (17 of the countries in Europe that work together in money matters) have decided to ensure countries in the region would be able to get aid in such situations is by setting up the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility).  Basically, all the members of the Eurozone contribute money to this fund, which can then provide bailout money to troubled governments.  The size of the fund is in the process of growing substantially, but not all the members of the Eurozone have approved this increase yet.  It is believed to be helpful to have more aid in case a Greek default leads to defaults by other countries in succession.  The good news to which Barry is referring is that the approval of the EFSF increase in size appears to be closer now.

Greece takes another step in getting next tranche with property tax hike

Easy Translation: As part of the agreement to getting a bunch of loans, the Greek government is supposed to make drastic cuts in its budget and/or find ways to increase tax revenue.  They approved a big property tax hike this week, which helps this cause.

Chicago PMI surprises to upside likely led by auto sector continue reading…