Wednesday's Top 10 with NZ Mint: Greece's (even) darker and stormier night; the conspiracy around LIBOR; Guanxi's 22% wage increase; The debt pall over Australia; Dilbert

Here's my Top 10 links from around the Internet at 11 pm in association with NZ Mint.

I welcome your additions in the comments below or via email tobernard.hickey@interest.co.nz.

I'll pop the extras into the comment stream. See all previous Top 10s here.

I quite liked #6. I'm in Wellington tomorrow and Friday for Webstock.

1. A dark and stormy night - Reuters reports European leaders are pushing Greece to the brink.

They really seem to mean it.

Yikes.

Everyone thinks the Europeans will capitulate at the last minute to do a deal and avoid a default....

But the tone of the comments from the Europeans is not encouraging. Mainly because the Greeks have already started backtracking on their committments from Monday...

Here's a sample:

Samaras has criticized the measures, which parliament passed early on Monday as rioters wrecked buildings across central Athens. He says the cuts could plunge the country, already in its fifth year of recession, into an even bigger slump.

When parliament debated the austerity package on Sunday he indicated that he would try to renegotiate the terms of the bailout, increasing doubt in the minds of European leaders.

"So far Samaras has not given a letter of commitment and this is a problem," a source familiar with the bailout negotiations told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Samaras's New Democracy party declined to comment.

2. The problems with LIBOR - Bloomberg reports on the scandal with the way the LIBOR (London Interbank Offer Rate) is set daily. This is important because so many interest rates globally are set off this rate. US$360 trillion is an unimaginably large number.

“The entire story is very embarrassing for the banks,” said Tom Kirchmaier, a fellow in the financial-markets group at the London School of Economics. “I don’t know how they will eradicate this. The regulators have to rethink the way they set Libor.”

The rate, a benchmark for about US$360 trillion of financial products worldwide, is derived from a survey of banks conducted daily on behalf of the British Bankers’ Association in London.

3. The euro = the rouble - Citigroup's Chief Economist Willem Buiter via FTAlphaville reckons the decision by the European Central Bank to allow its constituent central banks to accept any old collateral in its Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) makes the euro zone look more like the rouble zone.

We consider this to be a dangerous and potentially disastrous decision. Not because it means a relaxation of collateral requirements in the Eurozone, but because it introduces this relaxation in only part of the Eurozone – the soft part…

In fact, we think the February 9 decision brings the Eurozone much closer to the position of the Rouble Zone following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

4. Now that's an increase - ChinaDaily reports the Chinese province of Guanxi has increased its minimum wage by 22%.

5. The China story - Here's Patrick Chovanec and Nouriel Roubini on the China slowdown and its leadership transition.

6. Debt's pall over the lucky country - Alan Kohler at BusinessSpectator unleashes on Australia's staggering debt complex underpinning stupid property prices. Good. We have the same problem. HT Leith at Macroblog.

I’ve been wondering for a while whether there is any underlying problem in this country, or just lots of little things with the exchange rate among the biggest of them.

The only thing that makes sense as a single cause of Australia’s misery is excessive debt. Debt is making everyone grumpy and hypersensitive. When ANZ put up its mortgage rate by just 6 basis points last week – 0.06 per cent for heaven’s sake! – there was national outrage and attacks in parliament.

7.  What's really going on in Greece - The New York Times has a good article on this.

8. Creative destruction? - The Business Roundtable and the NZ Institute are thinking of merging, Fran O'Sullivan reports.

9. This is funny and naughty - From Cactus Kate on Murray McCully's hacked emails.

10. Totally irrelevant video on the Linsanity - I'm a basketball fan so love this story. An economist makes it in the NBA. Yay!